Ivan soon found himself received into the best society of the place.  All were glad to welcome the adventurous trader from Yakoutsk; and when he intimated that his boxes of treasure, his brandy and tea, and rum and tobacco, were to be laid out in the hire of dogs and sledges, he found ample applicants, though, from the very first, all refused to accompany his party as guardians of the dogs.  Sakalar, however, who had expected this, was nothing daunted, but, bidding Ivan amuse himself as best he could, undertook all the preparations.  But Ivan found as much pleasure in teaching what little he knew to Kolina as in frequenting the fashionable circles of Kolimsk.  Still, he could not reject the numerous polite invitations to evening parties and dances which poured upon him.  I have said evening parties, for though there was no day, yet still the division of the hours was regularly kept, and parties began at five P.M., to end at ten.  There was singing and dancing, and gossip and tea, of which each individual would consume ten or twelve large cups; in fact, despite the primitive state of the inhabitants, and the vicinity to the Polar Sea, these assemblies very much resembled in style those of Paris and London.  The costumes, the saloons, and the hours, were different, while the manners were less refined, but the facts were the same.

When the carnival came round, Ivan, who was a little vexed at the exclusion of Kolina from the fashionable Russian society, took care to let her have the usual amusement of sliding down a mountain of ice, which she did to her great satisfaction.  But he took care also at all times to devote to her his days, while Sakalar wandered about from yourte to yourte in search of hints and information for the next winter’s journey.  He also hired the requisite nartas, or sledges, and the thirty-nine dogs which were to draw them, thirteen to each.  The he bargained for a large stock of frozen and dry fish for the dogs, and other provisions for themselves.  But what mostly puzzled the people were his assiduous efforts to get a man to go with them who would harness twenty dogs to an extra sledge.  To the astonishment of everybody, three young men at last volunteered, and three extra sledges were then procured.

The summer soon came round, and then Ivan and his friends started out at once with the hunters, and did their utmost to be useful.  As the natives of Kolimsk went during the chase a long distance toward Cape Sviatoi, the spot where the adventurers were to quit the land and venture on the Frozen Sea, they took care, at the furthest extremity of their hunting trip, to leave a deposit of provisions.  They erected a small platform, which they covered with drift wood, and on this they placed the dried fish.  Above were laid heavy stones, and every precaution used to ward off the isatis and the glutton.  Ivan during the summer added much to his stock of hunting knowledge.