I hired a man in Purkijaur to accompany me pearl-fishing and gave him 6 daler for doing so. He made a raft of 5 logs, each as fat as I am, and 12 feet long. He hammered a wedge in at the far end to attach the anchor, which was a stone of about 18 pounds wrapped in a basketwork of birch so that it could not fall and disappear. The anchor rope consisted of 2 withies attached end to end, so the whole thing was 12 feet long. He also had a 12 foot pole – at any greater depth than that it is impossible to see the bottom of the river clearly. Thus equipped he set off into the mighty rapids, steering his raft with the pole. When he could see the bottom clearly he dropped his stone, attached the other end of the cable to the wedge, and the raft stayed still. When he wanted to move to another spot he drew up the stone.