Gloves and mittens, lined with squirrel skin, are made at Ghijiga, and worn in all the region within a thousand miles.
A great hindrance to winter travel in Northeastern Siberia is the prevalence of _poorgas_, or snow storms with wind.

On the bleak tundras where there is no shelter, the poorgas sweep with pitiless severity.

Some last but a few hours, with the thermometer ten or twenty degrees below zero.

Sometimes the wind takes up whole masses of snow and forms drifts several feet deep in a few moments.

Travelers, dogs, and sledges are frequently buried out of sight, and remain in the snow till the storm is over.
Dogs begin to howl at the approach of a poorga, long before men can see any indication of it.