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23

on the coasts of Okhotsk Sea, Yakout labourers are tolerable, nevertheless they require considerable driving and we will have much trouble with them until they become accustomed to our work and get fairly started.

Two days after Kennan's and Dodd's departure for Anadysk, I left Ghijiga in the opposite direction.

The intercourse between Ghijiga and Okhaotsk is very limited. The yearly mail and a dozen of Sleighs with goods for some trader, are the only passengers over this distance.

You may imagine that there can be no regular road; travelers follow no track but go in certain directions, guided by the environing mountains, streams, woods etc. Snow storms or a stormy atmosphere frequently conceal the signs, by which the traveler can find his way and force him to remain stationery for days and even weeks.

A compass cannot be of much use in this mountainous country, where a false step or a team of dogs becoming unmanageable can lead to fatal consequences.

Transcription Notes:
Periods and commas are extremely difficult to tell apart.