initial commit of ebook 12328HEADmain

4 files changed, 28098 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/old/12328-8.txt b/old/12328-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c65206
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12328-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,14049 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tent Life in Siberia, by George Kennan
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Tent Life in Siberia
+
+Author: George Kennan
+
+Release Date: May 12, 2004 [EBook #12328]
+Last Updated: December 8, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TENT LIFE IN SIBERIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+TENT-LIFE IN
+
+SIBERIA
+
+By GEORGE KENNAN
+
+[Illustration: George Kennan 1868]
+
+
+
+
+Tent Life in Siberia
+
+A New Account of an Old Undertaking
+
+
+Adventures among the Koraks and
+Other Tribes In Kamchatka and Northern Asia
+
+By
+
+George Kennan
+
+Author of "Siberia and the Exile System," "Campaigning in Cuba," "The
+Tragedy of Pelee," "Folk Tales of Napoleon"
+
+_With 32 Illustrations and Maps_
+
+1910
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION.
+
+
+This narrative of Siberian life and adventure was first given to the
+public in 1870--just forty years ago. Since that time it has never
+been out of print, and has never ceased to find readers; and the
+original plates have been sent to the press so many times that they
+are nearly worn out. This persistent and long-continued demand for the
+book seems to indicate that it has some sort of perennial interest,
+and encourages me to hope that a revised, illustrated, and greatly
+enlarged edition of it will meet with a favourable reception.
+
+_Tent Life in Siberia_ was put to press for the first time while I
+was absent in Russia. I wrote the concluding chapters of it in St.
+Petersburg, and sent them to the publishers from there in the early
+part of 1870. I was then so anxious to get started for the mountains
+of the Caucasus that I cut the narrative as short as I possibly could,
+and omitted much that I should have put in if I had had time enough
+to work it into shape. The present edition contains more than fifteen
+thousand words of new matter, including "Our Narrowest Escape" and
+"The Aurora of the Sea," and it also describes, for the first time,
+the incidents and adventures of a winter journey overland from the
+Okhotsk Sea to the Volga River--a straightaway sleigh-ride of more
+than five thousand miles.
+
+The illustrations of the present edition, which will, I hope, add
+greatly to its interest, are partly from paintings by George A. Frost,
+who was with me on both of my Siberian expeditions; and partly from
+photographs taken by Messrs. Jochelson and Bogoras, two Russian
+political exiles, who made the scientific investigations for the Jesup
+North Pacific Expedition on the Asiatic side of Bering Strait.
+
+I desire gratefully to acknowledge my indebtedness to The Century
+Company for permission to use parts of two articles originally written
+for _St. Nicholas_; to Mrs. A.D. Frost, of North Cambridge, Mass.,
+for photographs of her late husband's paintings; and to the American
+Museum of Natural History for the right to reproduce the Siberian
+photographs of Messrs. Jochelson and Bogoras.
+
+GEORGE KENNAN.
+
+BEAUFORT, S.C.
+
+February 16, 1910.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+The attempt which was made by the Western Union Telegraph Company, in
+1865-66 and 67, to build an overland line to Europe via Alaska,
+Bering Strait, and Siberia, was in some respects the most remarkable
+undertaking of the nineteenth century. Bold in its conception, and
+important in the ends at which it aimed, it attracted at one time
+the attention of the whole civilised world, and was regarded as the
+greatest telegraphic enterprise which had ever engaged American
+capital. Like all unsuccessful ventures, however, in this progressive
+age, it has been speedily forgotten, and the brilliant success of the
+Atlantic cable has driven it entirely out of the public mind. Most
+readers are familiar with the principal facts in the history of this
+enterprise, from its organisation to its ultimate abandonment; but
+only a few, even of its original projectors, know anything about the
+work which it accomplished in British Columbia, Alaska, and Siberia;
+the obstacles which were met and overcome by its exploring and working
+parties; and the contributions which it made to our knowledge of an
+hitherto untravelled, unvisited region. Its employees, in the
+course of two years, explored nearly six thousand miles of unbroken
+wilderness, extending from Vancouver Island on the American coast to
+Bering Strait, and from Bering Strait to the Chinese frontier in
+Asia. The traces of their deserted camps may be found in the wildest
+mountain fastnesses of Kamchatka, on the vast desolate plains of
+north-eastern Siberia, and throughout the gloomy pine forests of
+Alaska and British Columbia. Mounted on reindeer, they traversed the
+most rugged passes of the north Asiatic mountains; they floated in
+skin canoes down the great rivers of the north; slept in the smoky
+_pologs_ of the Siberian Chukchis (chook'-chees); and camped out upon
+desolate northern plains in temperatures of 50° and 60° below zero.
+The poles which they erected and the houses which they built now stand
+alone in an encircling wilderness,--the only results of their three
+years' labour and suffering, and the only monuments of an abandoned
+enterprise.
+
+It is not my purpose to write a history of the Russian-American
+telegraph. The success of its rival, the Atlantic cable, has
+completely overshadowed its early importance, and its own failure
+has deprived it of all its interest for American readers. Though its
+history, however, be unimportant, the surveys and explorations which
+were planned and executed under its auspices have a value and an
+interest of their own, aside from the object for which they were
+undertaken. The territory which they covered is little known to the
+reading world, and its nomadic inhabitants have been rarely visited
+by civilised man. Only a few adventurous traders and fur-hunters have
+ever penetrated its almost unbroken solitudes, and it is not probable
+that civilised men will ever follow in their steps. The country holds
+out to the ordinary traveller no inducement commensurate with the risk
+and hardship which its exploration involves.
+
+Two of the employees of the Russian-American Telegraph Company,
+Messrs. Whymper and Dall, have already published accounts of their
+travels in various parts of British Columbia and Alaska; and believing
+that a history of the Company's explorations on the other side
+of Bering Strait will possess equal interest, I have written the
+following narrative of two years' life in north-eastern Siberia. It
+makes no pretensions whatever to fulness of scientific information,
+nor to any very extraordinary researches of any kind. It is intended
+simply to convey as clear and accurate an idea as possible of the
+inhabitants, scenery, customs, and general external features of a
+new and comparatively unknown country. It is essentially a personal
+narrative of life in Siberia and Kamchatka; and its claim to attention
+lies rather in the freshness of the subject, than in any special
+devotion to science or skill of treatment.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Head covering used in stalking seals]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE OVERLAND TELEGRAPH LINE TO RUSSIA--SAILING OF THE FIRST SIBERIAN
+EXPLORING PARTY FROM SAN FRANCISCO
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+CROSSING THE NORTH PACIFIC--SEVEN WEEKS IN A RUSSIAN BRIG
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE PICTURESQUE COAST OF KAMCHATKA--ARRIVAL IN PETROPAVLOVSK
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THINGS RUSSIAN IN KAMCHATKA--A VERDANT AND FLOWERY LAND--THE VILLAGE
+OF TWO SAINTS
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+FIRST ATTEMPT TO LEARN RUSSIAN--PLAN OF EXPLORATION--DIVISION OF PARTY
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A COSSACK WEDDING--THE PENINSULA OF KAMCHATKA
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+STARTING NORTHWARD--KAMCHATKAN SCENERY, VILLAGES, AND PEOPLE
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+BRIDLE PATHS OF SOUTHERN KAMCHATKA--HOUSES AND FOOD OF THE
+PEOPLE--REINDEER TONGUES AND WILD-ROSE PETALS--A KAMCHATKAN DRIVER'S
+CANTICLE
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF GENAL--WALLS OF LITERATURE--SCARING UP A
+BEAR--END OF HORSEBACK RIDE
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE KAMCHATKA RIVER--LIFE ON A CANOE RAFT--RECEPTION AT
+MILKOVA--MISTAKEN FOR THE TSAR
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ARRIVAL AT KLUCHEI--THE KLUCHEFSKOI VOLCANO--A QUESTION OF ROUTE--A
+RUSSIAN "BLACK BATH"
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+CANOE TRAVEL ON THE YOLOFKA--VOLCANIC CONVERSATION--"O
+SUSANNA!"--TALKING "AMERICAN"--A DIFFICULT ASCENT
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A DISMAL NIGHT--CROSSING THE KAMCHATKAN DIVIDE--ANOTHER BEAR
+HUNT--BREAKNECK RIDING--TIGIL--STEPPES OF NORTHERN KAMCHATKA
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+OKHOTSK SEACOAST--LESNOI--THE "DEVIL'S PASS"--LOST IN
+SNOW-STORM--SAVED BY BRASS BOX--WILD SCENE
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+CUT OFF BY STORM--STARVATION THREATENED--RACE WITH A RISING TIDE--TWO
+DAYS WITH FOOD--RETURN TO LESNOI
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+KAMCHATKAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS--CHARACTER OF PEOPLE--
+SALMON-FISHING--SABLE-TRAPPING--KAMCHADAL LANGUAGE--NATIVE
+MUSIC--DOG-DRIVING--WINTER DRESS
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A FRESH START--CROSSING THE SAMANKA MOUNS ON A KORAK ENCAMPMENT--
+NOMADS AND THEIR TENTS--DOOR-HOLES AND DOGS--POLOGS--KORAK BREAD
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+WHY THE KORAKS WANDER--THEIR INDEPENDENCE--CHEERLESS LIFE--USES OF
+THE REINDEER--KORAK IDEAS OF DISTANCE--"MONARCH OF THE BRASS-HANDLED
+SWORD."
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE SNOW-DRIFT COMPASS--MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE--AN INTOXICATING
+FUNGUS--MONOTONY OF KORAK LIFE
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE KORAK TONGUE--RELIGION OF TERROR--INCANTATIONS OF SHAMANS--KILLING
+OF OLD AND SICK--REINDEER SUPERSTITION--KORAK CHARACTER
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+FIRST FROST-BITE--THE SETTLED KORAKS--HOUR-GLASS YURTS--CLIMBING
+DOWN CHIMNEYS--YURT INTERIORS--LEGS AS FEATURES--TRAVELLING BY
+"PAVOSKA"--BAD CHARACTER OF SETTLED KORAKS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+FIRST ATTEMPT AT DOG-DRIVING--UNPREMEDITATED PROFANITY--A
+RUNAWAY--ARRIVAL AT GIZHIGA--HOSPITALITY OF THE ISPRAVNIK--PLANS FOR
+THE WINTER
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+DOG-SLEDGE TRAVEL--ARCTIC MIRAGES--CAMP AT NIGHT A HOWLING
+CHORUS--NORTHERN LIGHTS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+DISMAL SHELTER--ARRIVAL OF A COSSACK COURIER--AMERICANS ON THE
+ANADYR--ARCTIC FIREWOOD--A SIBERIAN BLIZZARD--LOST ON THE STEPPE
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+PENZHINA--POSTS FOR ELEVATED ROAD--FIFTY-THREE BELOW ZERO--TALKED
+OUT--ASTRONOMICAL LECTURES--EATING PLANETS--THE HOUSE OF A PRIEST
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+ANADYRSK--AN ARCTIC OUTPOST--SEVERE CLIMATE--CHRISTMAS SERVICES
+AND CAROLS--A SIBERIAN BALL--MUSIC AND REFRESHMENTS--EXCITED
+DANCING--HOLIDAY AMUSEMENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+NEWS FROM THE ANADYR PARTY--PLAN FOR ITS RELIEF--THE STORY OF A
+STOVE-PIPE--START FOR THE SEACOAST
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+A SLEDGE JOURNEY EASTWARD--REACHING TIDEWATER--A NIGHT SEARCH FOR
+A STOVE-PIPE--FINDING COMRADES--A VOICE FROM A STOVE--STORY OF THE
+ANADYR PARTY
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+CLASSIFICATION OF NATIVES--INDIAN TYPE, MONGOLIAN TYPE, AND TURKISH
+TYPE--EASTERN VIEW OF WESTERN ARTS AND FASHIONS--AN AMERICAN SAINT
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+AN ARCTIC AURORA--ORDERS FROM THE MAJOR--ADVENTURES OF MACRAE AND
+ARNOLD WITH THE CHUKCHIS--RETURN TO GIZHIGA--REVIEW OF WINTER'S WORK
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+LAST WORK OF THE WINTER--BIRDS AND FLOWERS OF SPRING--CONTINUOUS
+DAYLIGHT--SOCIAL LIFE IN GIZHIGA--A CURIOUS SICKNESS--SUMMER DAYS AND
+NIGHTS--NEWS FROM AMERICA
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+DULL LIFE--ARCTIC MOSQUITOES--WAITING FOR SUPPLIES--SHIPS
+SIGNALLED--BARK "CLARA BELL"--RUSSIAN CORVETTE "VARAG"
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+ARRIVAL OF BARK "PALMETTO"--DRIVEN ASHORE BY GALE--DISCHARGING
+CARGO UNDER DIFFICULTIES--NEGRO CREW MUTINIES--LONELY TRIP TO
+ANADYRSK--STUPID KORAKS--EXPLOSIVE PROVISIONS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+A MEETING IN THE NIGHT--HARDSHIPS OF BUSH'S PARTY--SIBERIAN
+FAMINES--FISH SAVINGS BANKS--WORK IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT--STARVING
+POLE CUTTERS--A JOURNEY TO YAMSK
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+YURT ON THE TOPOLOFKA--THE VALLEY OF TEMPESTS--RIVER OF THE
+LOST--STORM BOUND--ESCAPE BY THE ICE-FOOT--A SLEEPLESS NIGHT--LEET
+REPORTED DEAD--YAMSK AT LAST
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI BRIGHT ANTICIPATIONS---A WHALE-SHIP SIGNALLED--THE BARK
+"SEA BREEZE"--NEWS FROM THE ATLANTIC CABLE--REPORTED ABANDONMENT OF
+THE OVERLAND LINE
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION OF THE BAD NEWS--THE ENTERPRISE ABANDONED--A
+VOYAGE TO OKHOTSK--THE AURORA OF THE SEA
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+CLOSING UP THE BUSINESS--A BARGAIN SALE--TELEGRAPH TEACUPS
+REDUCED--CHEAP SHOVELS FOR GRAVE-DIGGING--WIRE FISH NETS AT A
+SACRIFICE--OUR NARROWEST ESCAPE--BLOWN OUT TO SEA--SAVED BY THE
+"ONWARD"
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+START FOR ST. PETERSBURG--ROUTE TO YAKUTSK--A TUNGUSE ENCAMPMENT--
+CROSSING THE STANAVOI MOUNTAINS--SEVERE COLD--FIRE-LIGHTED SMOKE
+PILLARS--ARRIVAL IN YAKUTSK
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+THE GREATEST HORSE-EXPRESS SERVICE IN THE WORLD--EQUIPMENT FOR
+THE ROAD--A SIBERIAN "SEND-OFF"--POST TRAVEL ON THE ICE--BROKEN
+SLEEP--DRIVING INTO AN AIR-HOLE--REPAIRING DAMAGES--FIRST SIGHT OF
+IRKUTSK
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+A PLUNGE INTO CIVILISATION--THE NOBLES' BALL--SHOCKING LANGUAGE--
+SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLISH--THE GREAT SIBERIAN ROAD--PASSING TEA
+CARAVANS--RAPID TRAVEL--FIFTY-SEVEN HUNDRED MILES IN ELEVEN
+WEEKS--ARRIVAL IN ST. PETERSBURG
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+GEORGE KENNAN, 1868
+
+A TENT OF THE WANDERING KORAKS IN SUMMER
+
+TOWARD NIGHT: A TIRED DOG-TEAM From a painting by George A. Frost.
+
+WANDERING KORAKS WITH THEIR REINDEER AND SLEDGES From a painting by
+George A. Frost.
+
+A MAN OF THE WANDERING KORAKS
+
+TENTS AND REINDEER OF THE WANDERING KORAKS From a painting by George
+A. Frost.
+
+DRAWINGS OF THE KORAKS. ILLUSTRATIVE OF THEIR MYTHS
+
+A KORAK GIRL
+
+KORAK DOGS SACRIFICED TO PROPITIATE THE SPIRITS OF EVIL
+
+A RACE OF WANDERING KORAK REINDEER TEAMS From a painting by George A.
+Frost.
+
+HOUR-GLASS HOUSES OF THE SETTLED KORAKS From a model in The American
+Museum of Natural History.
+
+INTERIOR OF A KORAK YURT. GETTING FIRE WITH THE FIRE DRILL From a
+photograph in The American Museum of Natural History.
+
+A WOMAN ENTERING A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS
+
+SETTLED KORAKS IN A TRIAL OF STRENGTH
+
+AN OLD MAN OF THE SETTLED KORAKS From a photograph in The American
+Museum of Natural History.
+
+YURT AND DOG-TEAM OF THE SETTLED KORAKS From a painting by George A.
+Frost.
+
+A WOMAN FEEDING A DOG-TEAM IN GIZHIGA From a, painting by George A.
+Frost.
+
+INTERIOR OF A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS
+
+DOG-TEAMS DESCENDING A STEEP MOUNTAIN SLOPE
+
+CHUKCHIS ASSEMBLING AT ANADYRSK FOR THE WINTER FAIR
+
+ANADYRSK IN WINTER
+
+A MAN OF THE YUKAGIRS
+
+A MAN OF THE WANDERING CHUKCHIS
+
+TUNGUSE MAN AND WOMAN IN BEST SUMMER DRESS
+
+A TUNGUSE SUMMER TENT
+
+A CHUKCHI RUG OF REINDEER SKIN
+
+TUNGUSES ON REINDEER-BACK MOVING THEIR ENCAMPMENT From a photograph in
+The American Museum of Natural History.
+
+A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS IN MIDWINTER
+
+AN ARCTIC FUNERAL
+
+THE YURT IN THE "STORMY GORGE OF THE VILIGA" From a painting by George
+A. Frost.
+
+MAPS
+
+
+
+
+TENT LIFE IN SIBERIA
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+THE OVERLAND TELEGRAPH LINE TO RUSSIA--SAILING OF THE FIRST SIBERIAN
+EXPLORING PARTY FROM SAN FRANCISCO.
+
+The Russian-American Telegraph Company, otherwise known as the
+"Western Union Extension," was organised at New York in the summer
+of 1864. The idea of a line from America to Europe, by way of Bering
+Strait, had existed for many years in the minds of several prominent
+telegraphers, and had been proposed by Perry McD. Collins, as early
+as 1857, when he made his trip across northern Asia. It was never
+seriously considered, however, until after the failure of the first
+Atlantic cable, when the expediency of an overland line between the
+two continents began to be earnestly discussed. The plan of Mr.
+Collins, which was submitted to the Western Union Telegraph Company of
+New York as early as 1863, seemed to be the most practicable of all
+the projects which were suggested for intercontinental communication.
+It proposed to unite the telegraphic systems of America and Russia by
+a line through British Columbia, Russian America, and north-eastern
+Siberia, meeting the Russian lines at the mouth of the Amur (ah-moor)
+River on the Asiatic coast, and forming one continuous girdle of wire
+nearly round the globe.
+
+This plan possessed many very obvious advantages. It called for
+no long cables. It provided for a line which would run everywhere
+overland, except for a short distance at Bering Strait, and which
+could be easily repaired when injured by accident or storm. It
+promised also to extend its line eventually down the Asiatic coast to
+Peking, and to develop a large and profitable business with China.
+All these considerations recommended it strongly to the favour of
+capitalists and practical telegraph men, and it was finally adopted
+by the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1863. It was foreseen, of
+course, that the next Atlantic cable might succeed, and that such
+success would prove very damaging, if not fatal, to the prospects
+of the proposed overland line. Such an event, however, did not seem
+probable, and in view of all the circumstances, the Company decided to
+assume the inevitable risk.
+
+A contract was entered into with the Russian Government, providing for
+the extension of the latter's line through Siberia to the mouth of
+the Amur River, and granting to the Company certain extraordinary
+privileges in Russian territory. Similar concessions were obtained
+in 1864 from the British Government; assistance was promised by the
+United States Congress; and the Western Union Extension Company was
+immediately organised, with a nominal capital of $10,000,000. The
+stock was rapidly taken, principally by the stockholders of the
+original Western Union Company, and an assessment of five per cent.
+was immediately made to provide funds for the prosecution of the
+work. Such was the faith at this time in the ultimate success of
+the enterprise that in less than two months its stock sold for
+seventy-five dollars per share, with only one assessment of five
+dollars paid in.
+
+In August, 1864, Colonel Charles S. Bulkley, formerly Superintendent
+of Military Telegraphs in the Department of the Gulf, was appointed
+engineer-in-chief of the proposed line, and in December he sailed from
+New York for San Francisco, to organise and fit out exploring parties,
+and to begin active operations.
+
+Led by a desire of identifying myself with so novel and important an
+enterprise, as well as by a natural love of travel and adventure which
+I had never before been able to gratify, I offered my services as an
+explorer soon after the projection of the line. My application was
+favourably considered, and on the 13th of December I sailed from New
+York with the engineer-in-chief, for the proposed headquarters of
+the Company at San Francisco. Colonel Bulkley, immediately after his
+arrival, opened an office in Montgomery Street, and began organising
+exploring parties to make a preliminary survey of the route of the
+line. No sooner did it become noised about the city that men were
+wanted to explore the unknown regions of British Columbia, Russian
+America, and Siberia, than the Company's office was thronged with
+eager applicants for positions, in any and every capacity.
+
+Adventurous Micawbers, who had long been waiting for something of
+this kind to turn up; broken-down miners, who hoped to retrieve their
+fortunes in new gold-fields yet to be discovered in the north; and
+returned soldiers thirsting for fresh excitement,--all hastened to
+offer their services as pioneers in the great work. Trained and
+skilled engineers were in active demand; but the supply of only
+ordinary men, who made up in enthusiasm what they lacked in
+experience, was unlimited.
+
+Month after month passed slowly away in the selection, organisation,
+and equipment of parties, until at last, in June, 1865, the Company's
+vessels were reported ready for sea.
+
+The plan of operations, so far as it had then been decided upon, was
+to land one party in British Columbia, near the mouth of the Frazer
+River; one in Russian-America, at Norton Sound; and one on the Asiatic
+side of Bering Strait, at the mouth of the Anadyr (ah-nah'-dyr) River.
+These parties, under the direction respectively of Messrs. Pope,
+Kennicott, and Macrae, were directed to push back into the interior,
+following as far as practicable the courses of the rivers near which
+they were landed; to obtain all possible information with regard to
+the climate, soil, timber, and inhabitants of the regions traversed;
+and to locate, in a general way, a route for the proposed line.
+
+The two American parties would have comparatively advantageous bases
+of operations at Victoria and Fort St. Michael; but the Siberian
+party, if left on the Asiatic coast at all, must be landed near Bering
+Strait, on the edge of a barren, desolate region, nearly a thousand
+miles from any known settlement. Thrown thus upon its own resources,
+in an unknown country, and among nomadic tribes of hostile natives,
+without any means of interior transportation except canoes, the safety
+and success of this party were by no means assured. It was even
+asserted by many friends of the enterprise, that to leave men in such
+a situation, and under such circumstances, was to abandon them to
+almost certain death; and the Russian consul at San Francisco wrote a
+letter to Colonel Bulkley, advising him strongly not to land a party
+on the Asiatic coast of the North Pacific, but to send it instead to
+one of the Russian ports of the Okhotsk Sea, where it could establish
+a base of supplies, obtain information with regard to the interior,
+and procure horses or dog-sledges for overland explorations in any
+desired direction.
+
+The wisdom and good sense of this advice were apparent to all; but
+unfortunately the engineer-in-chief had no vessel that he could send
+with a party into the Okhotsk Sea, and if men were landed at all that
+summer on the Asiatic coast, they must be landed near Bering Strait.
+
+Late in June, however, Colonel Bulkley learned that a small Russian
+trading-vessel named the _Olga_ was about to sail from San Francisco
+for Kamchatka (kam-chat'-kah) and the south-western coast of the
+Okhotsk Sea, and he succeeded in prevailing upon the owners to take
+four men as passengers to the Russian settlement of Nikolaievsk
+(nik-o-lai'-evsk), at the mouth of the Amur River. This, although not
+so desirable a point for beginning operations as some others on the
+northern coast of the Sea, was still much better than any which could
+be selected on the Asiatic coast of the North Pacific; and a party was
+soon organised to sail in the _Olga_ for Kamchatka and the mouth of
+the Amur. This party consisted of Major S. Abaza, a Russian gentleman
+who had been appointed superintendent of the work, and leader of the
+forces in Siberia; James A. Mahood, a civil engineer of reputation in
+California; R. J. Bush, who had just returned from three years' active
+service in the Carolinas, and myself,--not a very formidable force in
+point of numbers, nor a very remarkable one in point of experience,
+but strong in hope, self-reliance, and enthusiasm.
+
+On the 28th of June, we were notified that the brig _Olga_ had nearly
+all her cargo aboard, and would have "immediate despatch."
+
+This marine metaphor, as we afterward learned, meant only that she
+would sail some time in the course of the summer; but we, in our
+trustful inexperience, supposed that the brig must be all ready to
+cast off her moorings, and the announcement threw us into all
+the excitement and confusion of hasty preparation for a start.
+Dress-coats, linen shirts, and fine boots were recklessly thrown or
+given away; blankets, heavy shoes, and overshirts of flannel were
+purchased in large quantities; rifles, revolvers, and bowie-knives of
+formidable dimensions gave our room the appearance of a disorganised
+arsenal; pots of arsenic, jars of alcohol, butterfly-nets, snake-bags,
+pill-boxes, and a dozen other implements and appliances of science
+about which we knew nothing, were given to us by our enthusiastic
+naturalists and packed away in big boxes; Wrangell's (vrang'el's)
+_Travels_, Gray's _Botany_, and a few scientific works were added to
+our small library; and before night we were able to report ourselves
+ready--armed and equipped for any adventure, from the capture of a new
+species of bug, to the conquest of Kamchatka!
+
+As it was against all precedent to go to sea without looking at the
+ship, Bush and I appointed ourselves an examining committee for the
+party, and walked down to the wharf where she lay. The captain, a
+bluff Americanised German, met us at the gangway and guided us through
+the little brig from stem to stern. Our limited marine experience
+would not have qualified us to pass an _ex cathedra_ judgment upon the
+seaworthiness of a mud-scow; but Bush, with characteristic impudence
+and versatility of talent, discoursed learnedly to the skipper upon
+the beauty of his vessel's "lines" (whatever those were), her spread
+of canvas and build generally,--discussed the comparative merits
+of single and double topsails, and new patent yard-slings, and
+reef-tackle, and altogether displayed such an amount of nautical
+learning that it completely crushed me and staggered even the captain.
+
+I strongly suspected that Bush had acquired most of his knowledge of
+sea terms from a cursory perusal of Bowditch's _Navigator_, which
+I had seen lying on the office table, and I privately resolved to
+procure a compact edition of Marryat's sea tales as soon as I should
+go ashore, and overwhelm him next time with such accumulated stores of
+nautical erudition that he would hide his diminished head. I had a dim
+recollection of reading something in Cooper's novels about a ship's
+deadheads and cat's eyes, or cat-heads and deadeyes, I could not
+remember which, and, determined not to be ignored as an inexperienced
+landlubber, I gazed in a vague way into the rigging, and made a
+few very general observations upon the nature of deadeyes and
+spanker-booms. The captain, however, promptly annihilated me by
+demanding categorically whether I had ever seen the spanker-boom
+jammed with the foretopsailyard, with the wind abeam. I replied
+meekly that I believed such a catastrophe had never occurred under
+my immediate observation, and as he turned to Bush with a smile of
+commiseration for my ignorance I ground my teeth and went below to
+inspect the pantry. Here I felt more at home. The long rows of canned
+provisions, beef stock, concentrated milk, pie fruits, and a small
+keg, bearing the quaint inscription, "Zante cur.," soon soothed my
+perturbed spirit and convinced me beyond the shadow of a doubt that
+the _Olga_ was stanch and seaworthy, and built in the latest and most
+improved style of marine architecture.
+
+I therefore went up to tell Bush that I had made a careful and
+critical examination of the vessel below, and that she would
+undoubtedly do. I omitted to state the nature of the observations
+upon which this conclusion was founded, but he asked no troublesome
+questions, and we returned to the office with a favourable report of
+the ship's build, capacity, and outfit.
+
+On Saturday, July 1st, the _Olga_ took in the last of her cargo, and
+was hauled out into the stream.
+
+Our farewell letters were hastily written home, our final preparations
+made, and at nine o'clock on Monday morning we assembled at the Howard
+Street wharf, where the steam-tug lay which was to tow us out to sea.
+
+A large party of friends had gathered to bid us good-bye; and the
+pier, covered with bright dresses and blue uniforms, presented quite a
+holiday appearance in the warm clear sunshine of a California morning.
+
+Our last instructions were delivered to us by Colonel Bulkley, with
+many hearty wishes for our health and success; laughing invitations
+to "come and see us" were extended to our less fortunate comrades who
+were left behind; requests to send back specimens of the North
+pole and the aurora borealis were intermingled with directions for
+preserving birds and collecting bugs; and amid a general confusion
+of congratulations, good wishes, cautions, bantering challenges, and
+tearful farewells, the steamer's bell rang. Dall, ever alive to the
+interests of his beloved science, grasped me cordially by the hand,
+saying, "Good-bye, George. God bless you! Keep your eye out for
+land-snails and skulls of the wild animals!"
+
+Miss B---- said pleadingly: "Take care of my dear brother"; and as I
+promised to care for him as if he were my own, I thought of another
+sister far away, who, could she be present, would echo the request:
+"Take care of my dear brother." With waving handkerchiefs and repeated
+good-byes, we moved slowly from the wharf, and, steaming round in a
+great semicircle to where the _Olga_ was lying, we were transferred to
+the little brig, which, for the next two months, was to be our home.
+
+The steamer towed us outside the "heads" of the Golden Gate, and then
+cast off; and as she passed us on her way back, our friends gathered
+in a little group on the forward deck, with the colonel at their head,
+and gave three generous cheers for the "first Siberian exploring
+party." We replied with three more,--our last farewell to
+civilisation,--and silently watched the lessening figure of the
+steamer, until the white handkerchief which Arnold had tied to the
+backstays could no longer be seen, and we were rocking alone on the
+long swells of the Pacific.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+CROSSING THE NORTH PACIFIC--SEVEN WEEKS IN A RUSSIAN BRIG
+
+"He took great content and exceeding delight in his voyage, as who doth
+not as shall attempt the like."--BURTON.
+
+  AT SEA, 700 MILES N.W. OF SAN FRANCISCO.
+  _Wednesday, July 12, 1865_.
+
+Ten days ago, on the eve of our departure for the Asiatic coast, full
+of high hopes and joyful anticipations of pleasure, I wrote in a fair
+round hand on this opening page of my journal, the above sentence
+from Burton; never once doubting, in my enthusiasm, the complete
+realisation of those "future joys," which to "fancy's eye" lay in such
+"bright uncertainty," or suspecting that "a life on the ocean wave"
+was not a state of the highest felicity attainable on earth. The
+quotation seemed to me an extremely happy one, and I mentally blessed
+the quaint old Anatomist of Melancholy for providing me with a motto
+at once so simple and so appropriate. Of course "he took great content
+and exceeding delight in his voyage"; and the wholly unwarranted
+assumption that because "he" did, every one else necessarily must, did
+not strike me as being in the least absurd.
+
+On the contrary, it carried all the weight of the severest logical
+demonstration, and I would have treated with contempt any suggestion
+of possible disappointment. My ideas of sea life had been derived
+principally from glowing poetical descriptions of marine sunsets, of
+"summer isles of Eden, lying in dark purple spheres of sea," and of
+those "moonlight nights on lonely waters" with which poets have for
+ages beguiled ignorant landsmen into ocean voyages. Fogs, storms,
+and seasickness did not enter at all into my conceptions of marine
+phenomena; or if I did admit the possibility of a storm, it was only
+as a picturesque, highly poetical manifestation of wind and water in
+action, without any of the disagreeable features which attend those
+elements under more prosaic circumstances. I had, it is true,
+experienced a little rough weather on my voyage to California, but my
+memory had long since idealised it into something grand and poetical;
+and I looked forward even to a storm on the Pacific as an experience
+not only pleasant, but highly desirable. The illusion was very
+pleasant while it lasted; but--it is over. Ten days of real sea life
+have converted the "bright uncertainty of future joys" into a dark
+and decided certainty of future misery, and left me to mourn the
+incompatibility of poetry and truth. Burton is a humbug, Tennyson a
+fraud, I'm a victim, and Byron and Procter are accessories before the
+fact. Never again will I pin my faith to poets. They may tell the
+truth nearly enough for poetical consistency, but their judgment is
+hopelessly perverted, and their imagination is too luxuriantly vivid
+for a truthful realistic delineation of sea life. Byron's _London
+Packet_ is a brilliant exception, but I remember no other in the whole
+range of poetical literature.
+
+Our life since we left port has certainly been anything but poetical.
+
+For nearly a week, we suffered all the indescribable miseries of
+seasickness, without any alleviating circumstances whatever. Day after
+day we lay in our narrow berths, too sick to read, too unhappy to
+talk, watching the cabin lamp as it swung uneasily in its well-oiled
+gimbals, and listening to the gurgle and swash of the water around the
+after dead-lights, and the regular clank, clank of the blocks of the
+try-sail sheet as the rolling of the vessel swung the heavy boom from
+side to side.
+
+We all professed to be enthusiastic supporters of the Tapleyan
+philosophy--jollity under all circumstances; but we failed most
+lamentably in reconciling our practice with our principles. There was
+not the faintest suggestion of jollity in the appearance of the four
+motionless, prostrate figures against the wall. Seasickness had
+triumphed over philosophy! Prospective and retrospective reverie of
+a decidedly gloomy character was our only occupation. I remember
+speculating curiously upon the probability of Noah's having ever
+been seasick; wondering how the sea-going qualities of the Ark would
+compare with those of our brig, and whether she had our brig's
+uncomfortable way of pitching about in a heavy swell.
+
+If she had--and I almost smiled at the idea--what an unhappy
+experience it must have been for the poor animals!
+
+I wondered also if Jason and Ulysses were born with sea-legs, or
+whether they had to go through the same unpleasant process that we did
+to get them on.
+
+Concluded finally that sea-legs, like some diseases must be a
+diabolical invention of modern times, and that the ancients got along
+in some way without them. Then, looking intently at the fly-specks
+upon the painted boards ten inches from my eyes, I would recall all
+the bright anticipations with which I had sailed from San Francisco,
+and turn over, with a groan of disgust, to the wall.
+
+I wonder if any one has ever written down on paper his seasick
+reveries. There are "Evening Reveries," "Reveries of a Bachelor," and
+"Seaside Reveries" in abundance; but no one, so far as I know, has
+ever even attempted to do his seasick reveries literary justice. It is
+a strange oversight, and I would respectfully suggest to any aspiring
+writer who has the reverie faculty, that there is here an unworked
+field of boundless extent. One trip across the North Pacific in a
+small brig will furnish an inexhaustible supply of material.
+
+Our life thus far has been too monotonous to afford a single
+noticeable incident. The weather has been cold, damp, and foggy, with
+light head winds and a heavy swell; we have been confined closely to
+our seven-by-nine after-cabin; and its close, stifling atmosphere,
+redolent of bilge-water, lamp oil, and tobacco smoke, has had a most
+depressing influence upon our spirits. I am glad to see, however,
+that all our party are up today, and that there is a faint interest
+manifested in the prospect of dinner; but even the inspiriting strains
+of the Faust march, which the captain is playing upon a wheezy old
+accordion, fail to put any expression of animation into the woebegone
+faces around the cabin table. Mahood pretends that he is all
+right, and plays checkers with the captain with an air of assumed
+tranquillity which approaches heroism, but he is observed at irregular
+intervals to go suddenly and unexpectedly on deck, and to return every
+time with a more ghastly and rueful countenance. When asked the object
+of these periodical visits to the quarter-deck, he replies, with a
+transparent affectation of cheerfulness, that he only goes up "to look
+at the compass and see how she's heading." I am surprised to find that
+looking at the compass is attended with such painful and melancholy
+emotions as those expressed in Mahood's face when he comes back; but
+he performs the self-imposed duty with unshrinking faithfulness, and
+relieves us of a great deal of anxiety about the safety of the ship.
+The captain seems a little negligent, and sometimes does not observe
+the compass once a day; but Mahood watches it with unsleeping
+vigilance.
+
+  BRIG "OLGA," 800 MILES N.W. OF SAN FRANCISCO.
+  _Sunday, July 16, 1865_.
+
+The monotony of our lives was relieved night before last, and our
+seasickness aggravated, by a severe gale of wind from the north-west,
+which compelled us to lie to for twenty hours under one close-reefed
+maintopsail. The storm began late in the afternoon, and by nine
+o'clock the wind was at its height and the sea rapidly rising.
+The waves pounded like Titanic sledgehammers against the vessel's
+quivering timbers; the gale roared a deep diapason through the
+cordage; and the regular thud, thud, thud of the pumps, and the long
+melancholy whistling of the wind through the blocks, filled our minds
+with dismal forebodings, and banished all inclination for sleep.
+
+Morning dawned gloomily and reluctantly, and its first grey light,
+struggling through the film of water on the small rectangular deck
+lights, revealed a comical scene of confusion and disorder. The ship
+was rolling and labouring heavily, and Mahood's trunk, having in some
+way broken from its moorings, was sliding back and forth across the
+cabin floor. Bush's big meerschaum, in company with a corpulent
+sponge, had taken up temporary quarters in the crown of my best hat,
+and the Major's box of cigars revolved periodically from corner to
+corner in the close embrace of a dirty shirt. Sliding and rolling over
+the carpet in every direction were books, papers, cigars, brushes,
+dirty collars, stockings, empty wine-bottles, slippers, coats, and old
+boots; and a large box of telegraph material threatened momentarily to
+break from its fastenings and demolish everything. The Major, who was
+the first to show any signs of animation, rose on one elbow in bed,
+gazed fixedly at the sliding and revolving articles, and shaking
+his head reflectively, said: "It is a c-u-r-ious thing! It _is_
+a _c-u-r-_ious thing!" as if the migratory boots and cigar-boxes
+exhibited some new and perplexing phenomena not to be accounted for by
+any of the known laws of physics. A sudden roll in which the vessel
+indulged at that particular moment gave additional force to the
+sentiment of the soliloquy; and with renewed convictions, I have no
+doubt, of the original and innate depravity of matter generally,
+and of the Pacific Ocean especially, he laid his head back upon the
+pillow.
+
+It required no inconsiderable degree of resolution to "turn out" under
+such unpromising circumstances; but Bush, after two or three groans
+and a yawn, made the attempt to get up and dress. Climbing hurriedly
+down when the ship rolled to windward, he caught his boots in one hand
+and trousers in the other, and began hopping about the cabin with
+surprising agility, dodging or jumping over the sliding trunk and
+rolling bottles, and making frantic efforts, apparently, to put both
+legs simultaneously into one boot. Surprised in the midst of this
+arduous task by an unexpected lurch, he made an impetuous charge upon
+an inoffensive washstand, stepped on an erratic bottle, fell on his
+head, and finally brought up a total wreck in the corner of the
+room. Convulsed with laughter, the Major could only ejaculate
+disconnectedly, "I tell you--it is a--curious thing how she--rolls!"
+"Yes," rejoined Bush savagely, as he rubbed one knee, "I should think
+it was! Just get up and try it!" But the Major was entirely satisfied
+to see Bush try it, and did nothing but laugh at his misfortunes. The
+latter finally succeeded in getting dressed, and after some hesitation
+I concluded to follow his example. By dint of falling twice over the
+trunk, kneeling upon my heels, sitting on my elbows, and executing
+several other equally impracticable feats, I got my vest on inside
+out, both feet in the wrong boots respectively, and staggered up the
+companionway on deck. The wind was still blowing a gale, and we showed
+no canvas but one close-reefed maintopsail. Great massive mounds of
+blue water piled themselves up in the concealment of the low-hanging
+rain-clouds, rushed out upon us with white foaming crests ten feet
+above the quarterdeck, and broke into clouds of blinding, strangling
+spray over the forecastle and galley, careening the ship until the
+bell on the quarter-deck struck and water ran in over the lee gunwale.
+It did not exactly correspond with my preconceived ideas of a storm,
+but I was obliged to confess that it had many of the characteristic
+features of the real phenomenon. The wind had the orthodox howl
+through the rigging, the sea was fully up to the prescribed standard,
+and the vessel pitched and rolled in a way to satisfy the most
+critical taste. The impression of sublimity, however, which I had
+anticipated, was almost entirely lost in the sense of personal
+discomfort. A man who has just been pitched over a skylight by one of
+the ship's eccentric movements, or drenched to the skin by a burst of
+spray, is not in a state of mind to contemplate sublimity; and after
+going through a varied and exhaustive course of such treatment, any
+romantic notions which he may previously have entertained with regard
+to the ocean's beauty and sublimity are pretty much knocked and
+drowned out of him. Rough weather makes short work of poetry and
+sentiment. The "wet sheet" and "flowing sea" of the poet have a
+significance quite the reverse of poetical when one discovers the "wet
+sheet" in his bed and the "flowing sea" all over the cabin floor,
+and our experience illustrates not so much the sublimity as the
+unpleasantness and discomfort of a storm at sea.
+
+  BRIG "OLGA," AT SEA,
+  _July 27, 1865_.
+
+I used often to wonder, while living in San Francisco, where the
+chilling fogs that toward night used to drift in over Lone Mountain
+and through the Golden Gate came from. I have discovered the
+laboratory. For the past two weeks we have been sailing continually in
+a dense, wet, grey cloud of mist, so thick at times as almost to hide
+the topgallant yards, and so penetrating as to find its way even into
+our little after-cabin, and condense in minute drops upon our clothes.
+It rises, I presume, from the warm water of the great Pacific Gulf
+Stream across which we are passing, and whose vapour is condensed
+into fog by the cold north-west winds from Siberia. It is the most
+disagreeable feature of our voyage.
+
+Our life has finally settled down into a quiet monotonous routine of
+eating, smoking, watching the barometer, and sleeping twelve hours a
+day. The gale with which we were favoured two weeks ago afforded
+a pleasant thrill of temporary excitement and a valuable topic of
+conversation; but we have all come to coincide in the opinion of the
+Major, that it was a "curious thing," and are anxiously awaiting the
+turning up of something else. One cold, rainy, foggy day succeeds
+another, with only an occasional variation in the way of a head wind
+or a flurry of snow. Time, of course, hangs heavily on our hands. We
+are waked about half-past seven in the morning by the second mate, a
+funny, phlegmatic Dutchman, who is always shouting to us to "turn out"
+and see an imaginary whale, which he conjures up regularly before
+breakfast, and which invariably disappears before we can get on deck,
+as mysteriously as "Moby Dick." The whale, however, fails to draw
+after a time, and he resorts to an equally mysterious and eccentric
+sea-serpent, whose wonderful appearance he describes in comical broken
+English with the vain hope that we will crawl out into the raw foggy
+atmosphere to look at it. We never do. Bush opens his eyes, yawns, and
+keeps a sleepy watch of the breakfast table, which is situated in the
+captain's cabin forward. I cannot see it from my berth, so I watch
+Bush. Presently we hear the humpbacked steward's footsteps on the deck
+above our heads, and, with a quick succession of little bumps, half a
+dozen boiled potatoes come rolling down the stairs of the companionway
+into the cabin. They are the forerunners of breakfast. Bush watches
+the table, and I watch Bush more and more intently as the steward
+brings in the eatables; and by the expression of Bush's face, I judge
+whether it be worth while to get up or not. If he groans and turns
+over to the wall, I know that it is only hash, and I echo his groan
+and follow his example; but if he smiles, and gets up, I do likewise,
+with the full assurance of fresh mutton-chops or rice curry and
+chicken. After breakfast the Major smokes a cigarette and looks
+meditatively at the barometer, the captain gets his old accordion and
+squeezes out the Russian National Hymn, while Bush and I go on deck
+to inhale a few breaths of pure fresh fog, and chaff the second mate
+about his sea-serpent. In reading, playing checkers, fencing, and
+climbing about the rigging when the weather permits, we pass away the
+day, as we have already passed away twenty and must pass twenty more
+before we can hope to see land.
+
+  AT SEA, NEAR THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.
+  _August 6, 1865_.
+
+"Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren
+ground, ling, heath, broom, furze, anything," except this wearisome
+monotonous waste of water! Let Kamchatka be what it will, we shall
+welcome it with as much joy as that with which Columbus first saw the
+flowery coast of San Salvador. I am prepared to look with complacency
+upon a sandbar and two spears of grass, and would not even insist upon
+the grass if I could only be sure of the sand-bar. We have now been
+thirty-four days at sea without once meeting a sail or getting a
+glimpse of land.
+
+Our chief amusement lately has been the discussion of controverted
+points of history and science, and wonderful is the forensic and
+argumentative ability which these debates have developed. They are
+getting to be positively interesting. The only drawback to them is,
+that in the absence of any decisive authority they never come to any
+satisfactory conclusion. We have now been discussing for sixteen days
+the uses of a whale's blow-holes; and I firmly believe that if our
+voyage were prolonged, like the Flying Dutchman's, to all eternity, we
+should never reach any solution of the problem that would satisfy all
+the disputants. The captain has an old Dutch _History of the World_,
+in twenty-six folio volumes, to which he appeals as final authority in
+all questions under the heavens, whether pertaining to love, science,
+war, art, politics, or religion; and no sooner does he get cornered in
+a discussion than he entrenches himself behind these ponderous folios,
+and keeps up a hot fire of terrific Dutch polysyllables until we are
+ready to make an unconditional surrender. If we venture to suggest
+a doubt as to the intimacy of the connection between a whale's
+blow-holes and the _History of the World_, he comes down upon us with
+the most withering denunciations as wrongheaded sceptics who won't
+even believe what is _printed_--and in a Dutch history too! As the
+captain dispenses the pie, however, at dinner, I have found it
+advisable to smother my convictions as to the veracity of his Teutonic
+historian, and join him in denouncing that pernicious heretic Bush,
+who is wise beyond what is written. Result--Bush gets only one small
+piece of pie, and I get two, which of course is highly gratifying
+to my feelings, as well as advantageous to the dispersion of sound
+historical learning!
+
+I begin to observe at dinner an increasing reverence on Bush's part
+for Dutch histories.
+
+[Illustration: Snow Scrapers]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+THE PICTURESQUE COAST OP KAMCHATKA--ARRIVAL IN PETROPAVLOVSK
+
+  BRIG "OLGA," AT SEA, 200 MILES FROM KAMCHATKA.
+  _August 17, 1865._
+
+Our voyage is at last drawing to a close, and after seven long weeks
+of cold, rainy, rough weather our eyes are soon to be gladdened again
+by the sight of land, and never was it more welcome to weary mariner
+than it will be to us. Even as I write, the sound of scraping and
+scrubbing is heard on deck, and proclaims our nearness to land. They
+are dressing the vessel to go once more into society. We were only 255
+miles from the Kamchatkan seaport of Petropavlovsk (pet-ro-pav'-lovsk)
+last night, and if this favourable breeze holds we expect to reach
+there to-morrow noon. It has fallen almost to a dead calm, however,
+this morning, so that we may be delayed until Saturday.
+
+  AT SEA, OFF THE COAST OF KAMCHATKA.
+  _Friday, August 18, 1865._
+
+We have a fine breeze this morning; and the brig, under every stitch
+of canvas that will draw, is staggering through the seas enveloped in
+a dense fog, through which even her topgallant sails show mistily.
+Should the wind continue and the fog be dissipated we may hope to see
+land tonight.
+
+  11 A.M.
+
+I have just come down from the topgallant yard, where for the last
+three hours I have been clinging uncomfortably to the backstays,
+watching for land, and swinging back and forth through the fog in the
+arc of a great circle as the vessel rolled lazily to the seas. We
+cannot discern any object at a distance of three ships' lengths,
+although the sky is evidently cloudless. Great numbers of gulls,
+boobies, puffin, fish-hawks, and solan-geese surround the ship, and
+the water is full of drifting medusae.
+
+  NOON.
+
+Half an hour ago the fog began to lift, and at 11.40 the captain, who
+had been sweeping the horizon with a glass, shouted cheerily, "Land
+ho! Land ho! Hurrah!" and the cry was echoed simultaneously from stem
+to stern, and from the galley to the topgallant yard. Bush, Mahood,
+and the Major started at a run for the forecastle; the little
+humpbacked steward rushed frantically out of the galley with his hands
+all dough, and climbed up on the bulwarks; the sailors ran into the
+rigging, and only the man at the wheel retained his self-possession.
+Away ahead, drawn in faint luminous outlines above the horizon,
+appeared two high conical peaks, so distant that nothing but the white
+snow in their deep ravines could be seen, and so faint that they
+could hardly be distinguished from the blue sky beyond. They were
+the mountains of Villuchinski (vil-loo'-chin-ski) and Avacha
+(ah-vah'-chah), on the Kamchatkan coast, fully a hundred miles away.
+The Major looked at them through a glass long and eagerly, and then
+waving his hand proudly toward them, turned to us, and said with a
+burst of patriotic enthusiasm, "You see before you my country--the
+great Russian Empire!" and then as the fog drifted down again upon the
+ship, he dropped suddenly from his declamatory style, and with a look
+of disgust exclaimed, "Chort znaiet shto etta takoi [the Devil only
+knows what it means]--it _is_ a curious thing! fog, fog, nothing but
+fog!"
+
+In five minutes the last vestige of "the great Russian Empire"
+had disappeared, and we went below to dinner in a state of joyful
+excitement, which can never be imagined by one who has not been
+forty-six days at sea in the North Pacific.
+
+  4 P.M.
+
+We have just been favoured with another view of the land. Half an hour
+ago I could see from the topgallant yard, where I was posted, that the
+fog was beginning to break away, and in a moment it rose slowly like a
+huge grey curtain, unveiling the sea and the deep-blue sky, letting in
+a flood of rosy light from the sinking sun, and revealing a picture of
+wonderful beauty. Before us, stretching for a hundred and fifty miles
+to the north and south, lay the grand coast-line of Kamchatka, rising
+abruptly in great purple promontories out of the blue sparkling sea,
+flecked here with white clouds and shreds of fleecy mist, deepening in
+places into a soft quivering blue, and sweeping backward and upward
+into the pure white snow of the higher peaks. Two active volcanoes,
+10,000 and 16,000 feet in height, rose above the confused jagged
+ranges of the lower mountains, piercing the blue sky with sharp white
+triangles of eternal snow, and drawing the purple shadows of evening
+around their feet. The high bold coast did not appear, in that clear
+atmosphere, to be fifteen miles away, and it seemed to have risen
+suddenly like a beautiful mirage out of the sea. In less than five
+minutes the grey curtain of mist dropped slowly down again over the
+magnificent picture, and it faded gradually from sight, leaving us
+almost in doubt whether it had been a reality, or only a bright
+deceptive vision. We are enveloped now, as we have been nearly all
+day, in a thick clammy fog.
+
+  HARBOUR OP PETROPAVLOVSK, KAMCHATKA.
+  _August 19, 1865._
+
+At dark last night we were distant, as we supposed, about fifteen
+miles from Cape Povorotnoi (po-vo-rote'-noi) and as the fog had closed
+in again denser than ever, the captain dared not venture any nearer.
+The ship was accordingly put about, and we stood off and on all night,
+waiting for sunrise and a clear atmosphere, to enable us to approach
+the coast in safety. At five o'clock I was on deck. The fog was colder
+and denser than ever, and out of it rolled the white-capped waves
+raised by a fresh south-easterly breeze. Shortly before six o'clock
+it began to grow light, the brig was headed for the land, and under
+foresail, jib, and topsails, began to forge steadily through the
+water. The captain, glass in hand, anxiously paced the quarterdeck,
+ever and anon reconnoitring the horizon, and casting a glance up to
+windward to see if there were any prospect of better weather. Several
+times he was upon the point of putting the ship about, fearing to run
+on a lee shore in that impenetrable mist; but it finally lightened up,
+the fog disappeared, and the horizon line came out clear and distinct.
+To our utter astonishment, not a foot of land could be seen in any
+direction! The long range of blue mountains which had seemed the
+previous night to be within an hour's sail--the lofty snowy peaks--the
+deep gorges and the bold headlands, had all
+
+  "--melted into thin air,
+  Leaving not a rack behind."
+
+There was nothing to indicate the existence of land within a thousand
+miles, save the number and variety of the birds that wheeled curiously
+around our wake, or flew away with a spattering noise from under our
+bows. Many were the theories which were suggested to account for the
+sudden disappearance of the high bold land. The captain attempted to
+explain it by the supposition that a strong current, sweeping off
+shore, had during the night carried us away to the south-east. Bush
+accused the mate of being asleep on his watch, and letting the ship
+run over the land, while the mate declared solemnly that he did not
+believe that there had been any land there at all; that it was only a
+mirage. The Major said it was "pagánni" (abominable) and "a curious
+thing," but did not volunteer any solution of the problem. So there we
+were.
+
+We had a fine leading wind from the south-east, and were now going
+through the water at the rate of seven knots. Eight o'clock, nine
+o'clock, ten o'clock, and still no appearance of land, although we
+had made since daylight more than thirty miles. At eleven o'clock,
+however, the horizon gradually darkened, and all at once a bold
+headland, terminating in a precipitous cliff, loomed up out of a thin
+mist at a distance of only four miles. All was at once excitement. The
+topgallant sails were clewed up to reduce the vessel's speed, and her
+course was changed so that we swept round in a curve broadside to the
+coast, about three miles distant. The mountain peaks, by which we
+might have ascertained our position, were hidden by the clouds and
+fog, and it was no easy matter to ascertain exactly where we were.
+
+Away to the left, dimly defined in the mist, were two or three more
+high blue headlands, but what they were, and where the harbour of
+Petropavlovsk might be, were questions that no one could answer. The
+captain brought his charts, compass, and drawing instruments on deck,
+laid them on the cabin skylight, and began taking the bearings of the
+different headlands, while we eagerly scanned the shore with glasses,
+and gave free expressions to our several opinions as to our situation.
+The Russian chart which the captain had of the coast was fortunately
+a good one, and he soon determined our position, and the names of the
+headlands first seen. We were just north of Cape Povorotnoi, about
+nine miles south of the entrance of Avacha Bay. The yards were now
+squared, and we went off on the new tack before a steady breeze from
+the south-east. In less than an hour we sighted the high isolated
+rocks known as the "Three Brothers," passed a rocky precipitous
+island, surrounded by clouds of shrieking gulls and parrot-billed
+ducks, and by two o'clock were off "the heads" of Avacha Bay, on which
+is situated the village of Petropavlovsk. The scenery at the entrance
+more than equalled our highest anticipations. Green grassy valleys
+stretched away from openings in the rocky coast until they were lost
+in the distant mountains; the rounded bluffs were covered with clumps
+of yellow birch and thickets of dark-green chaparral; patches of
+flowers could be seen on the warm sheltered slopes of the hills; and
+as we passed close under the lighthouse bluff, Bush shouted
+joyously, "Hurrah, there's clover!" "Clover!" exclaimed the captain
+contemptuously, "there ain't any clover in the Ar'tic Regions!" "How
+do you know, you've never been there," retorted Bush caustically; "it
+_looks_ like clover, and"--looking through a glass--"it _is_ clover";
+and his face lighted up as if the discovery of clover had relieved his
+mind of a great deal of anxiety as to the severity of the Kamchatkan
+climate. It was a sort of vegetable exponent of temperature, and out
+of a little patch of clover, Bush's imagination developed, in a style
+undreamt of by Darwin, the whole luxuriant flora of the temperate
+zone.
+
+The very name of Kamchatka had always been associated in our minds
+with everything barren and inhospitable, and we did not entertain
+for a moment the thought that such a country could afford beautiful
+scenery and luxuriant vegetation. In fact, with us all it was a mooted
+question whether anything more than mosses, lichens, and perhaps a
+little grass maintained the unequal struggle for existence in that
+frozen clime. It may be imagined with what delight and surprise we
+looked upon green hills covered with trees and verdant thickets;
+upon valleys white with clover and diversified with little groves of
+silver-barked birch, and even the rocks nodding with wild roses and
+columbine, which had taken root in their clefts as if nature strove to
+hide with a garment of flowers the evidences of past convulsions.
+
+Just before three o'clock we came in sight of the village of
+Petropavlovsk--a little cluster of red-roofed and bark-thatched log
+houses; a Greek church of curious architecture, with a green dome;
+a strip of beach, a half-ruined wharf, two whale-boats, and the
+dismantled wreck of a half-sunken vessel. High green hills swept in a
+great semicircle of foliage around the little village, and almost shut
+in the quiet pond-like harbour--an inlet of Avacha Bay--on which it
+was situated. Under foresail and maintopsail we glided silently under
+the shadow of the encircling hills into this landlocked mill-pond, and
+within a stone's throw of the nearest house the sails were suddenly
+clewed up, and with a quivering of the ship and a rattle of chain
+cable our anchor dropped into the soil of Asia.
+
+[Illustration: Boy's Boots of Sealskin]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+THINGS RUSSIAN IN KAMCHATKA--A VERDANT AND FLOWERY LAND--THE VILLAGE OF
+TWO SAINTS.
+
+It has been well observed by Irving, that to one about to visit
+foreign countries a long sea voyage is an excellent preparative.
+To quote his words, "The temporary absence of worldly scenes and
+employments produces a state of mind peculiarly fitted to receive
+new and vivid impressions." And he might have added with equal
+truth--favourable impressions. The tiresome monotony of sea life
+predisposes the traveller to regard favourably anything that will
+quicken his stagnating faculties and perceptions and furnish new
+matter for thought; and the most commonplace scenery and circumstances
+afford him gratification and delight. For this reason one is apt, upon
+arriving after a long voyage in a strange country, to form a more
+favourable opinion of its people and scenery than his subsequent
+experience will sustain. But it seems to me particularly fortunate
+that our first impressions of a new country, which are most clear and
+vivid and therefore most lasting, are also most pleasant, so that in
+future years a retrospective glance over our past wanderings will show
+the most cheerful pictures drawn in the brightest and most enduring
+colours. I am sure that the recollection of my first view of the
+mountains of Kamchatka, the delight with which my eye drank in their
+bright aërial tints, and the romance with which my ardent fancy
+invested them, will long outlive the memory of the hardships I have
+endured among them, the snow-storms that have pelted me on their
+summits, and the rains that have drenched me in their valleys.
+Fanciful perhaps, but I believe true.
+
+The longing for land which one feels after having been five or six
+weeks at sea is sometimes so strong as to be almost a passion. I
+verily believe that if the first land we saw had been one of those
+immense barren moss steppes which I afterward came to hold in such
+detestation, I should have regarded it as nothing less than the
+original site of the Garden of Eden. Not all the charms which nature
+has lavished upon the Vale of Tempe could have given me more pleasure
+than did the little green valley in which nestled the red-roofed and
+bark-covered log houses of Petropavlovsk.
+
+The arrival of a ship in that remote and unfrequented part of the
+world is an event of no little importance; and the rattling of our
+chain cable through the hawse-holes created a very perceptible
+sensation in the quiet village. Little children ran bareheaded out of
+doors, looked at us for a moment, and then ran hastily back to call
+the rest of the household; dark-haired natives and Russian peasants,
+in blue shirts and leather trousers, gathered in a group at the
+landing; and seventy-five or a hundred half-wild dogs broke out
+suddenly into a terrific chorus of howls in honour of our arrival.
+
+It was already late in the afternoon, but we could not restrain
+our impatience to step once more upon dry land; and as soon as the
+captain's boat could be lowered, Bush, Mahood, and I went ashore to
+look at the town.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Petropavlovsk is laid out in a style that is very irregular, without
+being at all picturesque. The idea of a street never seems to
+have suggested itself either to the original settlers or to their
+descendants; and the paths, such as they are, wander around aimlessly
+among the scattered houses, like erratic sheepwalks. It is impossible
+to go for a hundred yards in a straight line, in any direction,
+without either bringing up against the side of a house or trespassing
+upon somebody's backyard; and in the night one falls over a slumbering
+cow, upon a fair average, once every fifty feet. In other respects it
+is rather a pretty village, surrounded as it is by high green hills,
+and affording a fine view of the beautiful snowy peak of Avacha, which
+rises to a height of 11,000 feet directly behind the town.
+
+Mr. Fluger, a German merchant of Petropavlovsk who had boarded us in a
+small boat outside the harbour, now constituted himself our guide; and
+after a short walk around the village, invited us to his house, where
+we sat in a cloud of fragrant cigar-smoke, talking over American war
+news, and the latest _on dit_ of Kamchatkan society, until it finally
+began to grow dark. I noticed, among other books lying upon Mr.
+Fluger's table, _Life Thoughts_, by Beecher, and _The Schönberg-Cotta
+Family,_ and wondered that the latter had already found its way to the
+distant shores of Kamchatka.
+
+As new-comers, it was our first duty to pay our respects to the
+Russian authorities; and, accompanied by Mr. Fluger and Mr. Bollman,
+we called upon Captain Sutkovoi (soot-ko-voi'), the resident "Captain
+of the port." His house, with its bright-red tin roof, was almost
+hidden by a large grove of thrifty oaks, through which tumbled, in
+a succession of little cascades, a clear, cold mountain stream. We
+entered the gate, walked up a broad travelled path under the shade of
+the interlocking branches, and, without knocking, entered the house.
+Captain Sutkovoi welcomed us cordially, and notwithstanding our
+inability to speak any language but our own, soon made us feel quite
+at home. Conversation however languished, as every remark had to be
+translated through two languages before it could be understood by the
+person to whom it was addressed; and brilliant as it might have been
+in the first place, it lost its freshness in being passed around
+through Russian, German, and English to us.
+
+I was surprised to see so many evidences of cultivated and refined
+taste in this remote corner of the world, where I had expected barely
+the absolute necessaries of life, or at best a few of the most common
+comforts. A large piano of Russian manufacture occupied one corner of
+the room, and a choice assortment of Russian, German, and American
+music testified to the musical taste of its owner. A few choice
+paintings and lithographs adorned the walls, and on the centre-table
+rested a stereoscope with a large collection of photographic views,
+and an unfinished game of chess, from which Captain and Madame
+Sutkovoi had risen at our entrance.
+
+After a pleasant visit of an hour we took our leave, receiving an
+invitation to dinner on the following day.
+
+It was not yet decided whether we should continue our voyage to the
+Amur River, or remain in Petropavlovsk and begin our northern journey
+from there, so we still regarded the brig as our home and returned,
+every night to our little cabin. The first night in port was strangely
+calm, peaceful, and quiet, accustomed as we had become to the rolling,
+pitching, and creaking of the vessel, the swash of water, and the
+whistling of the wind. There was not a zephyr abroad, and the surface
+of the miniature bay lay like a dark mirror, in which were obscurely
+reflected the high hills which formed its setting. A few scattered
+lights from the village threw long streams of radiance across the dark
+water, and from the black hillside on our right was heard at intervals
+the faint lonely tinkle of a cow-bell or the long melancholy howl of
+a wolf-like dog. I tried hard to sleep; but the novelty of our
+surroundings, the thought that we were now in Asia, and hundreds
+of conjectures and forecastings as to our future prospects and
+adventures, put sleep for a long time at defiance.
+
+The hamlet of Petropavlovsk, which, although not the largest, is one
+of the most important settlements in the Kamchatkan peninsula, has
+a population of perhaps two or three hundred natives and Russian
+peasants, together with a few German and American merchants, drawn
+thither by the trade in sables. It is not fairly a representative
+Kamchatkan village, for it has felt in no inconsiderable degree the
+civilising influences of foreign intercourse, and shows in its manners
+and modes of life and thought some evidences of modern enterprise and
+enlightenment. It has existed since the early part of the eighteenth
+century, and is old enough to have acquired some civilisation of its
+own; but age in a Siberian settlement is no criterion of development,
+and Petropavlovsk either has not attained the enlightenment of
+maturity, or has passed into its second childhood, for it is still in
+a benighted condition. Why it was and is called Petropavlovsk--the
+village of St. Peter and St. Paul--I failed, after diligent inquiry,
+to learn. The sacred canon does not contain any epistle to the
+Kamchatkans, much as they need it, nor is there any other evidence to
+show that the ground on which the village stands was ever visited by
+either of the eminent saints whose names it bears. The conclusion to
+which we are driven therefore is, that its inhabitants, not being
+distinguished for apostolic virtues, and feeling their need of saintly
+intercession, called the settlement after St. Peter and St. Paul, with
+the hope that those Apostles would feel a sort of proprietary interest
+in the place, and secure its final salvation without any unnecessary
+inquiries into its merits. Whether that was the idea of its original
+founders or not I cannot say; but such a plan would be eminently
+adapted to the state of society, in most of the Siberian settlements,
+where faith is strong, but where works are few in number and
+questionable in tendency.
+
+The sights of Petropavlovsk, speaking after the manner of tourists,
+are few and uninteresting. It has two monuments erected to the memory
+of the distinguished navigators Bering and La Perouse, and there are
+traces on its hills of the fortifications built during the Crimean War
+to repel the attack of the allied French and English squadrons; but
+aside from these, the town can boast of no objects or places of
+historical interest. To us, however, who had been shut up nearly two
+months in a close dark cabin, the village was attractive enough of
+itself, and early on the following morning we went ashore for a ramble
+on the wooded peninsula which separates the small harbour from Avacha
+Bay. The sky was cloudless, but a dense fog drifted low over the
+hilltops and veiled the surrounding mountains from sight. The whole
+landscape was green as emerald and dripping with moisture, but the
+sunshine struggled occasionally through the grey cloud of vapour, and
+patches of light swept swiftly across the wet hillsides, like sunny
+smiles upon a tearful face. The ground everywhere was covered with
+flowers. Marsh violets, dotted the grass here and there with blue;
+columbine swung its purple spurred corollas over the grey mossy rocks;
+and wild roses appeared everywhere in dense thickets, with their
+delicate pink petals strewn over the ground beneath them like a
+coloured shadow.
+
+Climbing up the slope of the steep hill between the harbour and the
+bay, shaking down little showers of water from every bush, we touched,
+and treading under foot hundreds of dewy flowers, we came suddenly
+upon the monument of La Perouse. I hope his countrymen, the French,
+have erected to his memory some more tasteful and enduring token of
+their esteem than this. It is simply a wooden frame, covered with
+sheet iron, and painted black. It bears no date or inscription
+whatever, and looks more like the tombstone over the grave of a
+criminal, than a monument to keep fresh the memory of a distinguished
+navigator.
+
+Bush sat down on a little grassy knoll to make a sketch of the scene,
+while Mahood and I wandered on up the hill toward the old Russian
+batteries. They are several in number, situated along the crest of
+the ridge which divides the inner from the outer bay, and command the
+approaches to the town from the west. They are now almost overgrown
+with grass and flowers, and only the form of the embrasures
+distinguishes them from shapeless mounds of earth. It would be thought
+that the remote situation and inhospitable climate of Kamchatka would
+have secured to its inhabitants an immunity from the desolating
+ravages of war. But even this country has its ruined forts and
+grass-grown battle-fields; and its now silent hills echoed not long
+ago to the thunder of opposing cannon. Leaving Mahood to make a
+critical survey of the entrenchments--an occupation which his tastes
+and pursuits rendered more interesting to him than to me--I strolled
+on up the hill to the edge of the cliff from which the storming party
+of the Allies was thrown by the Russian gunners. No traces now remain
+of the bloody struggle which took place upon the brink of this
+precipice. Moss covers with its green carpet the ground which was torn
+up in the death grapple; and the nodding bluebell, as it bends to the
+fresh sea-breeze, tells no story of the last desperate rally, the hand
+to hand conflict, and the shrieks of the overpowered as they were
+thrown from the Russian bayonets upon the rocky beach a hundred feet
+below.
+
+It seems to me that it was little better than wanton cruelty in the
+Allies to attack this unimportant and isolated post, so far from the
+real centre of conflict. Could its capture have lessened in any way
+the power or resources of the Russian Government, or, by creating a
+diversion, have attracted attention from the decisive struggle in
+the Crimea, it would perhaps have been justifiable; but it could not
+possibly have any direct or indirect influence upon the ultimate
+result, and only brought misery upon a few inoffensive Kamchadals who
+had never heard of Turkey or the Eastern Question and whose first
+intimation of a war probably was the thunder of the enemy's cannon and
+the bursting of shells at their very doors. The attack of the Allied
+fleet, however, was signally repulsed, and its admiral, stung with
+mortification at being foiled by a mere handful of Cossacks and
+peasants, committed suicide. On the anniversary of the battle it is
+still customary for all the inhabitants, headed by the priests, to
+march in solemn procession round the village and over the hill from
+which the storming party was thrown, chanting hymns of joy and praise
+for the victory.
+
+After botanising a while upon the battle-field, I was joined by Bush,
+who had completed his sketch, and we all returned, tired and wet,
+to the village. Our appearance anywhere on shore always created a
+sensation among the inhabitants. The Russian and native peasants whom
+we met removed their caps, and held them respectfully in their hands
+while we passed; the windows of the houses were crowded with heads
+intent upon getting a sight of the "Amerikanski chinóvniki" (American
+officers); and even the dogs broke into furious barks and howls at
+our approach. Bush declared that he could not remember a time in his
+history when he had been of so much consequence and attracted
+such general attention as now; and he attributed it all to the
+discrimination and intelligence of Kamchatkan society. Prompt and
+instinctive recognition of superior genius he affirmed to be a
+characteristic of that people, and he expressed deep regret that it
+was not equally so of some other people whom he could mention. "No
+reference to an allusion intended!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+FIRST ATTEMPT TO LEARN RUSSIAN--PLAN OF EXPLORATION--DIVISION OP PARTY
+
+One of the first things which the traveller notices in any foreign
+country is the language, and it is especially noticeable in Kamchatka,
+Siberia, or any part of the great Russian Empire. What the ancestors
+of the Russians did at the Tower of Babel to have been afflicted with
+such a complicated, contorted, mixed up, utterly incomprehensible
+language, I can hardly conjecture. I have thought sometimes that they
+must have built their side of the Tower higher than any of the other
+tribes, and have been punished for their sinful industry with this
+jargon of unintelligible sounds, which no man could possibly hope to
+understand before he became so old and infirm that he could never work
+on another tower. However they came by it, it is certainly a thorn in
+the flesh to all travellers in the Russian Empire. Some weeks before
+we reached Kamchatka I determined to learn, if possible, a few common
+expressions, which would be most useful in our first intercourse with
+the natives, and among them the simple declarative sentence, "I want
+something to eat." I thought that this would probably be the first
+remark that I should have to make to any of the inhabitants, and I
+determined to learn it so thoroughly that I should never be in danger
+of starvation from ignorance. I accordingly asked the Major one day
+what the equivalent expression was in Russian. He coolly replied that
+whenever I wanted anything to eat, all that I had to do was to say,
+"Vashavwesokeeblagarodiaeeveeleekeeprevoskhodeetelstvoeetakdalshai."
+I believe I never felt such a sentiment of reverential admiration for
+the acquired talents of any man as I did for those of the Major when
+I heard him pronounce, fluently and gracefully, this extraordinary
+sentence. My mind was hopelessly lost in attempting to imagine the
+number of years of patient toil which must have preceded his
+first request for food, and I contemplated with astonishment the
+indefatigable perseverance which has borne him triumphant through the
+acquirement of such a language. If the simple request for something
+to eat presented such apparently insurmountable obstacles to
+pronunciation, what must the language be in its dealings with the
+more abstruse questions of theological and metaphysical science?
+Imagination stood aghast at the thought.
+
+I frankly told the Major that he might print out this terrible
+sentence on a big placard and hang it around my neck; but as for
+learning to pronounce it, I could not, and did not propose to try. I
+found out afterwards that he had taken advantage of my inexperience
+and confiding disposition by giving me some of the longest and worst
+words in his barbarous language, and pretending that they meant
+something to eat. The real translation in Russian would have been bad
+enough, and it was wholly unnecessary to select peculiarly hard words.
+
+The Russian language is, I believe, without exception, the most
+difficult of all modern languages to learn. Its difficulty does not
+lie, as might be supposed, in pronunciation. Its words are all spelled
+phonetically, and have only a few sounds which are foreign to English;
+but its grammar is exceptionally involved and intricate. It has seven
+cases and three genders; and as the latter are dependent upon no
+definite principle whatever, but are purely arbitrary, it is almost
+impossible for a foreigner to learn them so as to give nouns and
+adjectives their proper terminations. Its vocabulary is very copious;
+and its idioms have a peculiarly racy individuality which can hardly
+be appreciated without a thorough acquaintance with the colloquial
+talk of the Russian peasants.
+
+The Russian, like all the Indo-European languages, is closely related
+to the ancient Sanscrit, and seems to have preserved unchanged, in a
+greater degree than any of the others, the old Vedic words. The first
+ten numerals, as spoken by a Hindoo a thousand years before the
+Christian era, would, with one or two exceptions, be understood by a
+modern Russian peasant.
+
+During our stay in Petropavlovsk we succeeded in learning the Russian
+for "Yes," "No," and "How do you do?" and we congratulated ourselves
+not a little upon even this slight progress in a language of such
+peculiar difficulty.
+
+Our reception at Petropavlovsk by both Russians and Americans was most
+cordial and enthusiastic, and the first three or four days after our
+arrival were spent in one continuous round of visits and dinners. On
+Thursday we made an excursion on horseback to a little village called
+Avacha, ten or fifteen versts distant across the bay, and came back
+charmed with the scenery, climate, and vegetation of this beautiful
+peninsula. The road wound around the slopes of grassy, wooded hills,
+above the clear blue water of the bay, commanding a view of the bold
+purple promontories which formed the gateway to the sea, and revealing
+now and then, between the clumps of silver birch, glimpses of long
+ranges of picturesque snow-covered mountains, stretching away along
+the western coast to the white solitary peak of Villúchinski, thirty
+or forty miles distant. The vegetation everywhere was almost tropical
+in its rank luxuriance. We could pick handfuls of flowers almost
+without bending from our saddles, and the long wild grass through
+which we rode would in many places sweep our waists. Delighted to
+find the climate of Italy where we had anticipated the biting air of
+Labrador, and inspirited by the beautiful scenery, we woke the echoes
+of the hills with American songs, shouted, halloed, and ran races on
+our little Cossack ponies until the setting sun warned us that it was
+time to return.
+
+Upon the information which he obtained in Petropavlovsk, Major Abaza
+formed a plan of operations for the ensuing winter, which was briefly
+as follows: Mahood and Bush were to go on in the _Olga_ to Nikolaievsk
+at the mouth of the Amur River, on the Chinese frontier, and, making
+that settlement their base of supplies, were to explore the rough
+mountainous region lying west of the Okhotsk Sea and south of the
+Russian seaport of Okhotsk. The Major and I, in the meantime, were
+to travel northward with a party of natives through the peninsula of
+Kamchatka, and strike the proposed route of the line about midway
+between Okhotsk and Bering Strait. Dividing again here, one of
+us would go westward to meet Mahood and Bush at Okhotsk, and
+one northward to a Russian trading station called Anadyrsk
+(ah-nah'-dyrsk), about four hundred miles west of the Strait. In this
+way we should cover the whole ground to be traversed by our line,
+with the exception of the barren desolate region between Anadyrsk
+and Bering Strait, which our chief proposed to leave for the present
+unexplored. Taking into consideration our circumstances and the
+smallness of our force, this plan was probably the best which could
+be devised, but it made it necessary for the Major and me to travel
+throughout the whole winter without a single companion except our
+native teamsters. As I did not speak Russian, it would be next to
+impossible for me to do this without an interpreter, and the Major
+engaged in that capacity a young American fur-trader, named Dodd, who
+had been living seven years in Petropavlovsk, and who was familiar
+with the Russian language and the habits and customs of the natives.
+With this addition our whole force numbered five men, and was to be
+divided into three parties; one for the western coast of the Okhotsk
+Sea, one for the northern coast, and one for the country between
+the Sea and the Arctic Circle. All minor details, such as means of
+transportation and subsistence, were left to the discretion of the
+several parties. We were to live on the country, travel with the
+natives, and avail ourselves of any and every means of transportation
+and subsistence which the country afforded. It was no pleasure
+excursion upon which we were about to enter. The Russian authorities
+at Petropavlovsk gave us all the information and assistance in their
+power, but did not hesitate to express the opinion that five men would
+never succeed in exploring the eighteen hundred miles of barren,
+almost uninhabited country between the Amur River and Bering Strait.
+It was not probable, they said, that the Major could get through the
+peninsula of Kamchatka at all that fall as he anticipated, but that if
+he did, he certainly could not penetrate the great desolate steppes
+to the northward, which were inhabited only by wandering tribes of
+Chukchis (chook'-chees) and Koraks. The Major replied simply that he
+would show them what we could do, and went on with his preparations.
+
+On Saturday morning, August 26th, the _Olga_ sailed with Mahood
+and Bush for the Amur River, leaving the Major, Dodd, and me at
+Petropavlovsk, to make our way northward through Kamchatka.
+
+As the morning was clear and sunny, I engaged a boat and a native
+crew, and accompanied Bush and Mahood out to sea.
+
+As we began to feel the fresh morning land-breeze, and to draw out
+slowly from under the cliffs of the western coast, I drank a farewell
+glass of wine to the success of the "Amur River Exploring Party,"
+shook hands with the captain and complimented his Dutch _History_,
+and bade good-bye to the mates and men. As I went over the side, the
+second mate seemed overcome with emotion at the thought of the perils
+which I was about to encounter in that heathen country, and cried out
+in funny, broken English, "Oh, Mr. Kinney! [he could not say Kennan]
+who's a g'un to cook for ye, and ye can't get no potatusses?" as if
+the absence of a cook and the lack of potatoes were the summing up of
+all earthly privations. I assured him cheerfully that we could cook
+for ourselves and eat roots; but he shook his head, mournfully, as if
+he saw in prophetic vision the state of misery to which Siberian roots
+and our own cooking must inevitably reduce us. Bush told me afterward
+that on the voyage to the Amur he frequently observed the second mate
+in deep and melancholy reverie, and upon approaching him and asking
+him what he was thinking about, he answered, with a mournful shake of
+the head and an indescribable emphasis: "Poor Mr. Kinney! _Poor_ Mr.
+Kinney!" Notwithstanding the scepticism with which I treated his
+sea-serpent, he gave me a place in his rough affections, second only
+to "Tommy," his favourite cat, and the pigs.
+
+As the _Olga_ sheeted home her topgallant sails, changed her course
+more to the eastward, and swept slowly out between the heads, I caught
+a last glimpse of Bush, standing on the quarter-deck by the wheel, and
+telegraphing some unintelligible words in the Morse alphabet with his
+arm. I waved my hat in response, and turning shoreward, with a lump in
+my throat, ordered the men to give way. The _Olga_ was gone, and the
+last tie which connected us with the civilised world seemed severed.
+
+[Illustration: Bone Knife or Scraper]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+A COSSACK WEDDING--THE PENINSULA OP KAMCHATKA
+
+Our time in Petropavlovsk, after the departure of the _Olga_, was
+almost wholly occupied in making preparations for our northern journey
+through the Kamchatkan peninsula. On Tuesday, however, Dodd told me
+that there was to be a wedding at the church, and invited me to go
+over and witness the ceremony. It took place in the body of the
+church, immediately after some sort of morning service, which had
+nearly closed when we entered. I had no difficulty in singling out the
+happy individuals whose fortunes were to be united in the holy
+bonds of matrimony. They betrayed their own secret by their assumed
+indifference and unconsciousness.
+
+The unlucky (lucky?) man was a young, round-headed Cossack about
+twenty years of age, dressed in a dark frock-coat trimmed with scarlet
+and gathered like a lady's dress above the waist, which, with a
+reckless disregard for his anatomy, was assumed to be six inches below
+his armpits. In honour of the extraordinary occasion he had donned a
+great white standing collar which projected above his ears, as the
+mate of the _Olga_ would say, "like fore to'gallant studd'n' s'ls."
+Owing to a deplorable lack of understanding between his cotton
+trousers and his shoes they failed to meet by about six inches, and
+no provision had been made for the deficiency. The bride was
+comparatively an old woman--at least twenty years the young man's
+senior, and a _widow_. I thought with a sigh of the elder Mr. Weller's
+parting injunction to his son, "Bevare o' the vidders," and wondered
+what the old gentleman would say could he see this unconscious
+"wictim" walking up to the altar "and thinkin' in his 'art that it was
+all wery capital." The bride wore a dress of that peculiar sort of
+calico known as "furniture prints," without trimming or ornaments of
+any kind. Whether it was cut "bias" or with "gores," I'm sorry to say
+I do not know, dress-making being as much of an occult science to
+me as divination. Her hair was tightly bound up in a scarlet silk
+handkerchief, fastened in front with a little gilt button. As soon as
+the church service was concluded the altar was removed to the
+middle of the room, and the priest, donning a black silk gown which
+contrasted strangely with his heavy cowhide boots, summoned the couple
+before him.
+
+After giving to each three lighted candles tied together with blue
+ribbon, he began to read in a loud sonorous voice what I supposed to
+be the marriage service, paying no attention whatever to stops, but
+catching his breath audibly in the midst of a sentence and hurrying on
+again with tenfold rapidity. The candidates for matrimony were silent,
+but the deacon, who was looking abstractedly out of a window on the
+opposite side of the church, interrupted him occasionally with doleful
+chanted responses.
+
+At the conclusion of the reading they all crossed themselves devoutly
+half a dozen times in succession, and after asking them the decisive
+question the priest gave them each a silver ring. Then came more
+reading, at the end of which he administered to them a teaspoonful
+of wine out of a cup. Reading and chanting were again resumed and
+continued for a long time, the bridegroom and bride crossing and
+prostrating themselves continually, and the deacon closing up his
+responses by repeating with the most astounding rapidity,
+fifteen times in five seconds, the words "Gáspodi pomilui"
+(goss'-po-dee-po-mee'-loo-ee), "God have mercy upon us." He then
+brought in two large gilt crowns ornamented with medallions, and,
+blowing off the dust which had accumulated upon them since the last
+wedding, he placed them upon the heads of the bridegroom and bride.
+
+The young Cossack's crown was altogether too large, and slipped down
+over his head like a candle-extinguisher until it rested upon his
+ears, eclipsing his eyes entirely. The bride's hair--or rather the
+peculiar manner in which it was "done up"--precluded the possibility
+of making a crown stay on her head, and an individual from among the
+spectators was detailed to hold it there. The priest then made the
+couple join hands, seized the groom's hand himself, and they all began
+a hurried march around the altar--the priest first, dragging along the
+Cossack, who, blinded by the crown, was continually stepping on his
+leader's heels; the bride following the groom, and trying to keep
+the crown from pulling her hair down; and lastly, the supernumerary
+stepping on the bride's dress and holding the gilt emblem of royalty
+in its place. The whole performance was so indescribably ludicrous
+that I could not possibly keep my countenance in that sober frame
+which befitted the solemnity of the occasion, and nearly scandalised
+the whole assembly by laughing out loud. Three times they marched in
+this way around the altar, and the ceremony was then ended. The bride
+and groom kissed the crowns reverently as they took them off, walked
+around the church, crossing themselves and bowing in succession before
+each of the pictures of saints which hung against the wall, and at
+last turned to receive the congratulations of their friends. It was
+expected of course that the "distinguished Americans," of whose
+intelligence, politeness, and suavity so much had been heard would
+congratulate the bride upon this auspicious occasion; but at least one
+distinguished but unfortunate American did not know how to do it. My
+acquirements in Russian were limited to "Yes," "No," and "How do you
+do?" and none of these expressions seemed fully to meet the emergency.
+Desirous, however, of sustaining the national reputation for
+politeness, as well as of showing my good-will to the bride, I
+selected the last of the phrases as probably the most appropriate, and
+walking solemnly, and I fear awkwardly, up I asked the bride with a
+very low bow, and in very bad Russian--how she did; she graciously
+replied, "Cherasvwechiano khorasho pakornashae vass blagadoroo," and
+the distinguished American retired with a proud consciousness of
+having done his duty. I was not very much enlightened as to the state
+of the bride's health; but, judging from the facility with which she
+rattled off this tremendous sentence, we concluded that she must be
+well. Nothing but a robust constitution and the most excellent health
+would have enabled her to do it. Convulsed with laughter, Dodd and I
+made our escape from the church and returned to our quarters. I have
+since been informed by the Major that the marriage ceremony of the
+Greek Church, when properly performed, has a peculiar impressiveness
+and solemnity; but I shall never be able to see it now without having
+my solemnity overcome by the recollection of that poor Cossack,
+stumbling around the altar after the priest with his head extinguished
+in a crown!
+
+From the moment when the Major decided upon the overland journey
+through Kamchatka, he devoted all his time and energies to the work of
+preparation. Boxes covered with sealskin, and intended to be hung from
+pack-saddles, were prepared for the transportation of our stores;
+tents, bearskins, and camp equipage were bought and packed away in
+ingeniously contrived bundles; and everything that native experience
+could suggest for lessening the hardships of outdoor life was provided
+in quantities sufficient for two months' journey. Horses were then
+ordered from all the adjacent villages, and a special courier was sent
+throughout the peninsula by the route that we intended to follow, with
+orders to apprise the natives everywhere of our coming, and to direct
+them to remain at home with all their horses until after our party
+should pass.
+
+Thus prepared, we set out on the 4th of September for the Far North.
+
+The peninsula of Kamchatka, through which we were about to travel, is
+a long irregular tongue of land lying east of the Okhotsk Sea, between
+the fifty-first and sixty-second degrees of north latitude, and
+measuring in extreme length about seven hundred miles. It is almost
+entirely of volcanic formation, and the great range of rugged
+mountains by which it is longitudinally divided comprises even now
+five or six volcanoes in a state of almost uninterrupted activity.
+This immense chain of mountains, which has never even been named,
+stretches from the fifty-first to the sixtieth degree of latitude in
+one almost continuous ridge, and at last breaks off abruptly into the
+Okhotsk Sea, leaving to the northward a high level steppe called
+the "dole" or desert, which is the wandering ground of the Reindeer
+Koraks. The central and southern parts of the peninsula are broken
+up by the spurs and foot-hills of the great mountain range into deep
+sequestered valleys of the wildest and most picturesque character, and
+afford scenery which, for majestic and varied beauty, is not surpassed
+in all northern Asia. The climate everywhere, except in the extreme
+north, is comparatively mild and equable, and the vegetation has an
+almost tropical freshness and luxuriance totally at variance with all
+one's ideas of Kamchatka. The population of the peninsula I estimate
+from careful observation at about 5000, and it is made up of three
+distinct classes--the Russians, the Kamchadals or settled natives, and
+the Wandering Koraks. The Kamchadals, who compose the most numerous
+class, are settled in little log villages throughout the peninsula,
+near the mouths of small rivers which rise in the central range
+of mountains and fall into the Okhotsk Sea or the Pacific. Their
+principal occupations are fishing, fur-trapping, and the cultivation
+of rye, turnips, cabbages, and potatoes, which grow thriftily as far
+north as lat. 58°. Their largest settlements are in the fertile
+valley of the Kamchatka River, between Petropavlovsk and Kluchei
+(kloo-chay'). The Russians, who are comparatively few in number,
+are scattered here and there among the Kamchadal villages, and are
+generally engaged in trading for furs with the Kamchadals and the
+nomadic tribes to the northward. The Wandering Koraks, who are the
+wildest, most powerful, and most independent natives in the peninsula,
+seldom come south of the 58th parallel of latitude, except for the
+purpose of trade. Their chosen haunts are the great desolate steppes
+lying east of Penzhinsk (pen'-zhinsk) Gulf, where they wander
+constantly from place to place in solitary bands, living in large fur
+tents and depending for subsistence upon their vast herds of tamed and
+domesticated reindeer. The government under which all the inhabitants
+of Kamchatka nominally live is administered by a Russian officer
+called an "ispravnik" (is-prav'-nik) or local governor [Footnote:
+Strictly, a chief of district police.] who is supposed to settle all
+questions of law which may arise between individuals or tribes, and to
+collect the annual "yassák" or tax of furs, which is levied upon every
+male inhabitant in his province. He resides in Petropavlovsk, and
+owing to the extent of country over which he has jurisdiction, and the
+imperfect facilities which it affords for getting about, he is seldom
+seen outside of the village where he has his headquarters. The only
+means of transportation between the widely separated settlements of
+the Kamchadals are packhorses, canoes, and dog-sledges, and there is
+not such a thing as a road in the whole peninsula. I may have occasion
+hereafter to speak of "roads," but I mean by the word nothing more
+than the geometrician means by a "line"--simple longitudinal extension
+without any of the sensible qualities which are popularly associated
+with it.
+
+[Illustration: A TENT OF THE WANDERING KORAKS IN SUMMER]
+
+Through this wild, sparsely populated region, we purposed to travel by
+hiring the natives along our route to carry us with their horses from
+one settlement to another until we should reach the territory of the
+Wandering Koraks. North of that point we could not depend upon any
+regular means of transportation, but would be obliged to trust to luck
+and the tender mercies of the arctic nomads.
+
+[Illustration: Reindeer Bridle and Snow Shovel.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+STARTING NORTHWARD--KAMCHATKAN SCENERY, VILLAGES, AND PEOPLE
+
+I cannot remember any journey in my whole life which gave me more
+enjoyment at the time, or which is more pleasant in recollection, than
+our first horseback ride of 275 versts over the flowery hills and
+through the green valleys of southern Kamchatka. Surrounded as we
+continually were by the wildest and most beautiful scenery in all
+northern Asia, experiencing for the first time the novelty and
+adventurous excitement of camp life, and rejoicing in a newly found
+sense of freedom and perfect independence, we turned our backs gaily
+on civilisation, and rode away with light hearts into the wilderness,
+making the hills ring to the music of our songs and halloos.
+
+Our party, aside from drivers and guides, consisted of four men--Major
+Abaza, chief of Asiatic exploration, Dodd the young American, whom we
+had engaged in Petropavlovsk, Viushin (view'-shin) a Cossack orderly,
+and myself. The biting sarcasm directed by Mithridates at the army of
+Lucullus--that if they came as ambassadors they were too many, if as
+soldiers too few--would have applied with equal force to our small
+party made up as it was of only four men; but strength is not always
+to be measured by numbers, and we had no fears that we should not be
+able to cope with any obstacles which might lie in our way. We could
+certainly find subsistence where a larger party might starve.
+
+On Sunday, September 3d, our horses were loaded and despatched in
+advance to a small village on the opposite side of the bay, where we
+intended to meet them with a whale-boat. On Monday the 4th, we made
+our farewell calls upon the Russian authorities, drank an inordinate
+quantity of champagne to our own health and success, and set out
+in two whale-boats for Avacha, accompanied by the whole American
+population of Petropavlovsk. Crossing the bay under spritsail and jib,
+with a slashing breeze from the south-west, we ran swiftly into the
+mouth of the Avacha River, and landed at the village to refresh
+ourselves for the fifteenth time with "fifteen drops," and take leave
+of our American friends, Pierce, Hunter, and Fronefield. Copious
+libations were poured out to the tutelary saint of Kamchatkan
+explorers, and giving and receiving three hearty cheers we pushed off
+and began to make our way slowly up the river with poles and paddles
+toward the Kamchadal settlement of Okuta (o-koo'-tah).
+
+Our native crew, sharing in the universal dissipation which had
+attended our departure, and wholly unaccustomed to such reckless
+drinking, were reduced by this time to a comical state of happy
+imbecility, in which they sang Kamchadal songs, blessed the Americans,
+and fell overboard alternately, without contributing in any marked
+degree to the successful navigation of our heavy whale-boat. Viushin,
+however, with characteristic energy, hauled the drowning wretches in
+by their hair, rapped them over the head with a paddle to restore
+consciousness, pushed the boat off sand-bars, kept its head up stream,
+poled, rowed, jumped into the water, shouted, swore, and proved
+himself fully equal to any emergency.
+
+It was considerably after noon when we left Petropavlovsk, and owing
+to the incompetency of our Kamchadal crew, and the frequency of
+sand-bars, night overtook us on the river some distance below Okuta.
+Selecting a place where the bank was dry and accessible, we beached
+our whale-boat and prepared for our first bivouac in the open air.
+Beating down the high wet grass, Viushin pitched our little cotton
+tent, carpeted it with warm, dry bearskins, improvised a table and
+a cloth out of an empty candle-box and a clean towel, built a fire,
+boiled tea, and in twenty minutes set before us a hot supper which
+would not have done discredit to the culinary skill of Soyer himself.
+After supper we sat by the fire smoking and talking until the long
+twilight died away in the west, and then, rolling ourselves up in
+heavy blankets, we lay down on our bearskins and listened to the low
+quacking of a half-awakened duck in the sedges, and the lonely cries
+of night birds on the river until at last we fell asleep.
+
+Day was just breaking in the east when I awoke. The mist, which for a
+week had hung in grey clouds around the mountains, had now vanished,
+and the first object which met my eyes through the open door of the
+tent was the great white cone of Villuchinski gleaming spectrally
+through the greyness of the dawn. As the red flush in the east
+deepened, all nature seemed to awake. Ducks and geese quacked from
+every bunch of reeds along the shore; the strange wailing cries of
+sea-gulls could be heard from the neighbouring coast; and from the
+clear, blue sky came down the melodious trumpeting of wild swans, as
+they flew inland to their feeding-places. I washed my face in the
+clear, cold water of the river, and waked Dodd to see the mountains.
+Directly behind our tent, in one unbroken sheet of snow, rose the
+colossal peak of Korátskoi (ko-rat'-skoi), ten thousand five hundred
+feet in height, its sharp white summit already crimsoning with the
+rays of the rising sun, while the morning star yet throbbed faintly
+over the cool purple of its eastern slope. A little to the right was
+the huge volcano of Avacha, with a long banner of golden smoke hung
+out from its broken summit, and the Raselskoi (rah'-sel-skoi) volcano
+puffing out dark vapour from three craters. Far down the coast, thirty
+miles away, stood the sharp peak of Villúchinski, with the watch-fires
+of morning already burning upon its summit, and beyond it the hazy
+blue outlines of the coast range. Shreds of fleecy mist here and there
+floated up the mountain sides, and vanished like the spirits of
+the night dews rising from earth to heaven in bright resurrection.
+Steadily the warm, rosy flush of sunrise crept down the snowy slopes
+of the mountains, until at last, with a quick sudden burst, it poured
+a flood of light into the valley, tinging our little white tent with a
+delicate pink, like that of a wild-rose petal, turning every pendent
+dewdrop into a twinkling brilliant, and lighting up the still water
+of the river, until it became a quivering, flashing mass of liquid
+silver.
+
+  "I'm not romantic, but, upon my word,
+  There are some moments when one can't help feeling
+  As if his heart's chords were so strongly stirred
+  By things around him, that 'tis vain concealing
+  A little music in his soul still lingers,
+  Whene'er the keys are touched by Nature's fingers."
+
+I was just delivering the above quotation in impassioned style, when
+Dodd, who never allowed his enthusiasm for the beauties of nature to
+interfere with a proper regard for the welfare of his stomach, emerged
+from the tent, and, with a mock solemn apology for interrupting
+my soliloquy, said that if I could bring my mind down to the
+contemplation of material things he would inform me that breakfast
+was ready, and begged to suggest that the little music in my soul be
+allowed to "linger," since it could do so with less detriment than the
+said breakfast. The force of this suggestion, seconded as it was by a
+savoury odour from the interior of the tent, could not be denied. I
+went, but still continued between the spoonfuls of hot soup to "rave,"
+as Dodd expressed it, about the scenery. After breakfast the tent was
+struck, camp equipage packed up, and taking seats in the stern-sheets
+of our whale-boat we pushed off and resumed our slow ascent of the
+river.
+
+The vegetation everywhere, untouched as yet by the autumn frosts,
+seemed to have an almost tropical luxuriance. High wild grass, mingled
+with varicoloured flowers, extended to the very river's brink; Alpine
+roses and cinquefoil grew in dense thickets along the bank, and
+dropped their pink and yellow petals like fairy boats upon the surface
+of the clear still water; yellow columbine drooped low over the
+river, to see its graceful image mirrored beside that of the majestic
+volcano; and strange black Kamchatkan lilies, with downcast looks,
+stood here and there in sad loneliness, mourning in funeral garb some
+unknown flowery bereavement.
+
+Nor was animal life wanting to complete the picture. Wild ducks, with
+long outstretched necks, shot past us, continually in their swift
+level flight, uttering hoarse quacks of curiosity and apprehension;
+the honking of geese came to us, softened by distance, from the
+higher slopes of the mountains; and now and then a magnificent eagle,
+startled from his solitary watch on some jutting rock, expanded his
+broad-barred wings, launched himself into air, and soared upward in
+ever-widening circles until he became a mere moving speck against
+the white snowy crater of the Avachinski volcano. Never had I seen a
+picture of such wild primitive loneliness as that presented by
+this beautiful fertile valley, encircled by smoking volcanoes and
+snow-covered mountains, yet green as the Vale of Tempe, teeming with
+animal and vegetable life, yet solitary, uninhabited by man, and
+apparently unknown. About noon the barking of dogs announced our
+approach to a settlement, and turning an abrupt bend in the river we
+came in sight of the Kamchadal village of Okuta (o-koo'-tah).
+
+A Kamchadal village differs in some respects so widely from an
+American frontier settlement, that it is worthy, perhaps, of a brief
+description. It is situated generally on a little elevation near the
+bank of some river or stream, surrounded by scattered clumps of poplar
+and yellow birch, and protected by high hills from the cold northern
+winds. Its houses, which are clustered irregularly together near the
+beach, are very low, and are made of logs squared and notched at the
+ends, and chinked with masses of dry moss. The roofs are covered with
+a rough thatch of long coarse grass or with overlapping strips of
+tamarack bark, and project at the ends and sides into wide overhanging
+eaves. The window-frames, although occasionally glazed, are more
+frequently covered with an irregular patchwork of translucent fish
+bladders, sewn together with thread made of the dried and pounded
+sinews of the reindeer. The doors are almost square, and the chimneys
+are nothing but long straight poles, arranged in a circle and
+plastered over thickly with clay. Here and there between the houses
+stand half a dozen curious architectural quadrupeds called "balagáns"
+(bah-lah-gans'), or fish storehouses. They are simply conical log
+tents, elevated from the ground on four posts to secure their contents
+from the dogs, and resemble as much as anything small haystacks trying
+to walk away on four legs. High square frames of horizontal poles
+stand beside every house, filled with thousands of drying salmon; and
+"an ancient and fish-like smell," which pervades the whole atmosphere,
+betrays the nature of the Kamchadals' occupation and of the food upon
+which they live. Half a dozen dugout canoes lie bottom upward on the
+sandy shelving beach, covered with large neatly tied seines; two or
+three long, narrow dog-sledges stand up on their ends against every
+house, and a hundred or more sharp-eared wolfish dogs, tied at
+intervals to long heavy poles, lie panting in the sun, snapping
+viciously at the flies and mosquitoes which disturb their rest. In the
+centre of the village, facing the west, stands, in all the glory of
+Kamchatko-Byzantine architecture, red paint, and glittering domes,
+the omnipresent Greek church, contrasting strangely with the rude log
+houses and conical _balagáns_ over which it extends the spiritual
+protection of its resplendent golden cross. It is built generally of
+carefully hewn logs, painted a deep brick-red, covered with a green
+sheet-iron roof, and surmounted by two onion-shaped domes of tin
+which are sometimes coloured sky-blue and spangled with golden
+stars. Standing with all its glaring contrasts of colour among a few
+unpainted log houses in a primitive wilderness, it has a strange
+picturesque appearance not easily described. If you can imagine a
+rough American backwoods settlement of low log houses clustered round
+a gaily coloured Turkish mosque, half a dozen small haystacks mounted
+on high vertical posts, fifteen or twenty Titanic wooden gridirons
+similarly elevated and hung full of drying fish, a few dog-sledges and
+canoes lying carelessly around, and a hundred or more grey wolves tied
+here and there between the houses to long heavy poles, you will have a
+general but tolerably accurate idea of a Kamchadal settlement of the
+better class. They differ somewhat in respect to their size and their
+churches; but the grey log houses, conical _balagáns_ drying fish,
+wolfish dogs, canoes, sledges, and fishy odours are all invariable
+features.
+
+The inhabitants of these native settlements in southern Kamchatka
+are a dark swarthy race, considerably below the average stature of
+Siberian natives, and are very different in all their characteristics
+from the wandering tribes of Koraks and Chukchis who live farther
+north. The men average perhaps five feet three or four inches in
+height, have broad flat faces, prominent cheek bones, small and rather
+sunken eyes, no beards, long, lank, black hair, small hands and feet,
+very slender limbs, and a tendency to enlargement and protrusion of
+the abdomen. They are probably of central Asiatic origin, but they
+certainly have had no very recent connection with any other Siberian
+tribe with which I am acquainted, and are not at all like the
+Chukchis, Koraks, Yakuts (yah-koots'), or Tunguses (toon-goo'-ses).
+From the fact of their living a settled instead of a wandering life
+they were brought under Russian subjection much more easily than their
+nomadic neighbours, and have since experienced in a greater degree the
+civilising influences of Russian intercourse. They have adopted almost
+universally the religion, customs, and habits of their conquerors, and
+their own language, which is a very curious one, is already falling
+into disuse. It would be easy to describe their character by
+negatives. They are not independent, self-reliant, or of a combative
+disposition like the northern Chukchis and Koraks; they are not
+avaricious or dishonest, except where those traits are the results of
+Russian education; they are not suspicious or distrustful, but rather
+the contrary; and for generosity, hospitality, simple good faith, and
+easy, equable good-nature under all circumstances, I have never met
+their equals. As a race they are undoubtedly becoming extinct.
+Since 1780, they have diminished in numbers more than one half, and
+frequently recurring epidemics and famines will soon reduce them to
+a comparatively weak and unimportant tribe, which will finally be
+absorbed in the growing Russian population of the peninsula. They have
+already lost most of their distinctive customs and superstitions, and
+only an occasional sacrifice of a dog to some malignant spirit of
+storm or disease enables the modern traveller to catch a glimpse of
+their original paganism. They depend mainly for subsistence upon the
+salmon, which every summer run into these northern rivers in immense
+numbers to spawn, and are speared, caught in seines, and trapped in
+weirs by thousands. These fish, dried without salt in the open air,
+are the food of the Kamchadals and of their dogs throughout the long,
+cold northern winter. During the summer, however, their bill of fare
+is more varied. The climate and soil of the river bottoms in southern
+Kamchatka admit of the cultivation of rye, potatoes, and turnips, and
+the whole peninsula abounds in animal life. Reindeer and black and
+brown bears roam everywhere over the mossy plains and through the
+grassy valleys; wild sheep and a species of ibex are not unfrequently
+found in the mountains; and millions upon millions of ducks, geese,
+and swans, in almost endless variety, swarm about every river and
+little marshy lake throughout the country. These aquatic fowls are
+captured in great multitudes while moulting by organised "drives" of
+fifty or seventy-five men in canoes, who chase the birds in one
+great flock up some narrow stream, at the end of which a huge net
+is arranged for their reception. They are then killed with clubs,
+cleaned, and salted for winter use. Tea and sugar have been introduced
+by the Russians, and have been received with great favour, the
+annual consumption now being more than 20,000 pounds of each in the
+Kamchatkan peninsula alone. Bread is now made of rye, which the
+Kamchadals raise and grind for themselves; but previous to the
+settlement of the country by the Russians, the only native substitute
+for bread was a sort of baked paste, consisting chiefly of the
+grated tubers of the purple Kamchatkan lily. [Footnote: A species of
+fritillaria.] The only fruits in the country are berries and a species
+of wild cherry. Of the berries, however, there are fifteen or twenty
+different kinds, of which the most important are blueberries,
+"maróshkas" (mah-ro'-shkas), or yellow cloud-berries, and dwarf
+cranberries. These the natives pick late in the fall, and freeze
+for winter consumption. Cows are kept in nearly all the Kamchadal
+settlements, and milk is always plenty. A curious native dish of sour
+milk, baked curds, and sweet cream, covered with powdered sugar and
+cinnamon, is worthy of being placed upon a civilised table.
+
+It will thus be seen that life in a Kamchatkan settlement,
+gastronomically considered, is not altogether so disagreeable as we
+have been led to believe. I have seen natives in the valley of the
+Kamchatka as pleasantly situated, and enjoying as much comfort and
+almost as many luxuries, as nine tenths of the settlers upon the
+frontiers of our western States and Territories.
+
+
+[Illustration: Travelling Bag made of Reindeer skin]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+BRIDLE PATHS OP SOUTHERN KAMCHATKA--HOUSES AND FOOD OF THE
+PEOPLE--REINDEER TONGUES AND WILD-ROSE PETALS--A KAMCHATKAN DRIVER'S
+CANTICLE
+
+At Okuta we found our horses and men awaiting our arrival; and after
+eating a hasty lunch of bread, milk, and blueberries in a little
+native house, we clambered awkwardly into our saddles, and filed away
+in a long irregular line through the woods, Dodd and I taking the
+advance, singing _Bonnie Dundee_.
+
+We kept continually near the group of mountains which had presented so
+beautiful an appearance in the morning; but, owing to the forest of
+birch and mountain ash which clothed the foot-hills, we caught only
+occasional glimpses between the tree-tops of their white snowy
+summits.
+
+Just before sunset, we rode into another little native village, whose
+ingeniously constructed name defied all my inexperienced attempts to
+pronounce it or write it down. Dodd was good-natured enough to
+repeat it to me five or six times; but as it sounded worse and more
+unintelligible every time, I finally called it Jerusalem, and let it
+go at that. For the sake of geographical accuracy I have so marked it
+down on my map; but let no future commentator point to it triumphantly
+as a proof that the lost tribes of Israel emigrated to Kamchatka;
+I don't believe that they did, and I know that this unfortunate
+settlement, before I took pity on it and called it Jerusalem, was
+distinguished by a name so utterly barbarous that neither the Hebrew
+alphabet nor any other known to ancient literature could have begun to
+do it justice.
+
+Tired by the unusual exercise of horseback riding, I entered Jerusalem
+at a walk, and throwing my bridle to a Kamchadal in blue nankeen
+shirt and buckskin trousers, who saluted me with a reverential bow, I
+wearily dismounted and entered the house which Viushin indicated as
+the one we were to occupy.
+
+The best room, which had been prepared for our reception, was a low
+bare apartment about twelve feet square, whose walls, ceiling, and
+floor of unpainted birch planks were scoured to a smooth snowy purity
+which would have been creditable even to the neat housewives of the
+Dutch paradise of Broek. An immense clay oven, neatly painted red,
+occupied one side of the room; a bench, three or four rude chairs, and
+a table, were arranged with severe propriety against the other. Two
+windows of glass, shaded by flowery calico curtains, admitted the
+warm sunshine; a few coarse American lithographs hung here and there
+against the wall; and the air of perfect neatness, which prevailed
+everywhere, made us suddenly and painfully conscious of our own muddy
+boots and rough attire. No tools except axes and knives had been
+used in the construction of the house or of its furniture; but the
+unplaned, unpainted boards had been diligently scrubbed with water
+and sand to a delicate creamy whiteness, which made amends for all
+rudeness of workmanship. There was not a plank in the floor from which
+the most fastidious need have hesitated to eat. The most noticeable
+peculiarity of this, as of all the other Kamchadal houses which we saw
+in southern Kamchatka, was the lowness of its doors. They seemed to
+have been designed for a race of beings whose only means of locomotion
+were hands and knees, and to enter them without making use of those
+means required a flexibility of spinal vertebrae only to be acquired
+by long and persevering practice. Viushin and Dodd, who had travelled
+in Kamchatka before, experienced no difficulty in accommodating
+themselves to this peculiarity of native architecture; but the Major
+and I, during the first two weeks of our journey, bore upon the fore
+parts of our heads, bumps whose extraordinary size and irregularity
+of development would have puzzled even Spurzheim and Gall. If the
+abnormal enlargement of the bumps had only been accompanied by a
+corresponding enlargement of the respective faculties, there would
+have been some compensation for this disfiguration of our heads; but
+unfortunately "perception" might be suddenly developed by the lintel
+of a door until it looked like a goose-egg, without enabling us to
+perceive the very next beam which came in our way until after we had
+struck our heads against it.
+
+The Cossack who had been sent through the peninsula as an
+avant-courier to notify the natives of our coming, had carried the
+most exaggerated reports of our power and importance, and elaborate
+preparations had been made by the Jerusalemites for our reception.
+The house that was to be honoured by our presence had been carefully
+scrubbed, swept, and garnished; the women had put on their most
+flowery calico dresses, and tied their hair up in their brightest silk
+handkerchiefs; most of the children's faces had been painfully washed
+and polished with soap, water, and wads of fibrous hemp; the whole
+village had been laid under contribution to obtain the requisite
+number of plates, cups, and spoons, for our supper-table, while
+offerings of ducks, reindeer-tongues, blueberries, and clotted cream
+poured in upon us with a profusion which testified to the good-will
+and hospitality of the inhabitants, as well as to their ready
+appreciation of tired travellers' wants. In an hour we sat down, with
+appetites sharpened by the pure mountain air, to an excellent supper
+of cold roast duck, broiled reindeer-tongues, black-bread and fresh
+butter, blueberries and cream, and wild-rose petals crushed with white
+sugar into a rich delicious jam. We had come to Kamchatka with minds
+and mouths heroically made up for an unvarying diet of blubber, tallow
+candles, and train-oil; but imagine our surprise and delight at being
+treated instead to such Sybaritic luxuries as purple blueberries,
+cream, and preserved rose-leaves! Did Lucullus ever feast upon
+preserved rose-petals in his, vaunted pleasure-gardens of Tusculum?
+Never! The original recipe for the preparation of celestial ambrosia
+had been lost before ever "Lucullus supped with Lucullus"; but it was
+rediscovered by the despised inhabitants of Kamchatka, and is now
+offered, to the world as the first contribution of the Hyperboreans to
+gastronomical science. Take equal quantities of white loaf sugar
+and the petals of the Alpine rose, add a little juice of crushed
+blueberries, macerate together to a rich crimson paste, serve in the
+painted cups of trumpet honeysuckles, and imagine yourself feasting
+with the gods upon the summit of high Olympus!
+
+As soon as possible after supper, I stretched myself out upon the
+floor under a convenient table, which answered practically and
+aesthetically all the purposes of a four-post bedstead, inflated my
+little rubber pillow, rolled myself up, _à la_ mummy, in a blanket,
+and slept.
+
+The Major, always an early riser, was awake on the following morning
+at daylight. Dodd and I, with a coincidence of opinion as rare as it
+was gratifying, regarded early rising as a relic of barbarism which no
+American, with a proper regard for the civilisation of the nineteenth
+century, would demean himself by encouraging. We had therefore entered
+into a mutual agreement upon this occasion to sleep peacefully until
+the "caravan," as Dodd irreverently styled it, should be ready to
+start, or at least until we should receive a summons for breakfast.
+Soon after daybreak, however, a terrific row began about something,
+and with a vague impression that I was attending a particularly
+animated primary meeting in the Ninth Ward, I sprang up, knocked my
+head violently against a table-leg, opened my eyes in amazement, and
+stared wildly at the situation. The Major, in a scanty _déshabillé,_
+was storming furiously about the room, cursing our frightened drivers
+in classical Russian, because the horses had all stampeded during the
+night and gone, as he said with expressive simplicity, "Chort
+tolko znal kooda"--"the devil only knew where." This was rather an
+unfortunate beginning of our campaign; but in the course of two hours
+most of the wandering beasts were found, packs were adjusted, and
+after an unnecessary amount of profanity from the drivers, we turned
+our backs on Jerusalem and rode slowly away over the rolling grassy
+foot-hills of the Avachinski volcano.
+
+It was a warm, beautiful Indian summer day, and a peculiar stillness
+and Sabbath-like quiet seemed to pervade all nature. The leaves of the
+scattering birches and alders along the trail hung motionless in the
+warm sunshine, the drowsy cawing of a crow upon a distant larch came
+to our ears with strange distinctness, and we even imagined that we
+could hear the regular throbbing of the surf upon the far-away coast.
+A faint murmurous hum of bees was in the air, and a rich fruity
+fragrance came up from the purple clusters of blueberries which our
+horses crushed under foot at every step. All things seemed to unite
+in tempting the tired traveller to stretch himself out on the warm
+fragrant grass, and spend the day in luxurious idleness, listening to
+the buzzing of the sleepy bees, inhaling the sweet smell of crushed
+blueberries, and watching the wreaths of curling smoke which rose
+lazily from the lofty crater of the great white volcano. I laughingly
+said to Dodd that instead of being in Siberia--the frozen land of
+Russian exiles--we had apparently been transported by some magical
+Arabian Night's contrivance to the clime of the "Lotus Eaters," which
+would account for the dreamy, drowsy influence of the atmosphere.
+"Clime of the Lotus Eaters be hanged!" he broke out impetuously,
+making a furious slap at his face; "the poet doesn't say that the
+Lotus Eaters were eaten up themselves by such cursed mosquitoes as
+these, and they're sufficient evidence that we're in Kamchatka--they
+don't grow as big as bumblebees in any other country!" I reminded him
+mildly that according to Walton--old Isaac--every misery we missed was
+a new mercy, and that, consequently, he ought to be thankful for every
+mosquito that didn't bite him. His only reply was that he "wished he
+had old Isaac there." What summary reprisals were to be made upon old
+Isaac I did not know, but it was evident that Dodd did not approve of
+his philosophy, or of my attempt at consolation, so I desisted.
+
+Maximof (max-im'-off), the chief of our drivers, labouring under a
+vague impression that, because everything was so still and quiet, it
+must be Sunday, rode slowly through the scattered clumps of silver
+birch which shaded the trail, chanting in a loud, sonorous voice a
+part of the service of the Greek Church, suspending this devotional
+exercise, occasionally, to curse his vagrant horses in a style which
+would have excited the envy and admiration of the most profane trooper
+of the army in Flanders.
+
+"Oh! let my pray-er be-e-e (_Here! you pig! Keep in the road_!)
+set forth as the in-cense; and let the lifting up of my han-n-n-ds
+be--(_Get up! you korova! You old, blind, broken-legged son of the
+Evil Spirit! Where you going to_!)--an eve-n-ing sacrifice: let not my
+heart be inclined to--(_Lie down again, will you! Thwack? Take that,
+you old sleepy-headed svinya proclatye_!)--any e-vil thing; let me not
+be occupied with any evil works (_Akh! What a horse! Bokh s'nim_!).
+Set a watch before my mouth, and keep the do-o-o-r of my lips--(_Whoa!
+You merzavitz! What did you run into that tree for? Ecca voron!
+Podletz! Slepoi takoi! Chart tibi vasmee_!)"--and Maximof lapsed
+into a strain of such ingenious and metaphorical profanity that my
+imagination was left to supply the deficiencies of my imperfect
+comprehension. He did not seem to be conscious of any inconsistency
+between the chanted psalm and the profane interjections by which
+it was accompanied; but, even if he had been fully aware of it, he
+probably would have regarded the chanting as a fair offset to the
+profanity, and would have gone on his way with serene indifference,
+fully assured that if he sang a sacred verse every time he swore, his
+celestial account must necessarily balance!
+
+The road, or rather trail, from Jerusalem turned away to the westward,
+and wound around the bases of a range of low bare mountains, through a
+dense forest of poplar and birch. Now and then we would come out into
+little grassy openings, where the ground was covered with blueberries,
+and every eye would be on the lookout for bears; but all was still and
+motionless--even the grasshoppers chirping sleepily and lazily, as
+if they too were about to yield to the somnolence which seemed to
+overpower all nature.
+
+To escape the mosquitoes, whose relentless persecution became almost
+unendurable, we rode on more briskly through a broad, level valley,
+filled with a dense growth of tall umbelliferous plants, trotted
+swiftly up a little hill, and rode at a thundering gallop into the
+village of Korak, amid the howling and barking of a hundred and fifty
+half-wild dogs, the neighing of horses, running to and fro of men, and
+a scene of general confusion.
+
+At Korak we changed most of our horses and men, ate an _al fresco_
+lunch under the projecting eaves of a mossy Kamchadal house, and
+started at two o'clock for Malqua, another village, fifty or sixty
+miles distant, across the watershed of the Kamchatka River. About
+sunset, after a brisk ride of fifteen or eighteen miles, we suddenly
+emerged from the dense forest of poplar, birch, and mountain ash which
+had shut in the trail, and came out into a little grassy opening,
+about an acre in extent, which seemed to have been made expressly with
+a view to camping out. It was surrounded on three sides by woods, and
+opened on the fourth into a wild mountain gorge, choked up with rocks,
+logs, and a dense growth of underbrush and weeds. A clear cold stream
+tumbled in a succession of tinkling cascades down the dark ravine, and
+ran in a sandy flower-bordered channel through the grassy glade, until
+it disappeared in the encircling forest. It was useless to look for
+a better place than this to spend the night, and we decided to stop
+while we still had daylight. To picket our horses, collect wood for a
+fire, hang over our teakettles, and pitch our little cotton tent, was
+the work of only a few moments, and we were soon lying at full length
+upon our warm bearskins, around our towel-covered candle-box, drinking
+hot tea, discussing Kamchatka, and watching the rosy flush of sunset
+as it slowly faded over the western mountains.
+
+As I was lulled to sleep that night by the murmuring plash of falling
+water, and the tinkling of our horses' bells from the forest behind
+our tent, I thought that nothing could be more delightful than camp
+life in Kamchatka.
+
+We reached Malqua on the following day, in a generally exhausted
+and used-up condition. The road had been terribly rough and broken,
+running through narrow ravines blocked up with rocks and fallen trees,
+across wet mossy swamps, and over rugged precipitous hills, where we
+dared not attempt to ride our horses. We were thrown repeatedly from
+our saddles; our provision-boxes were smashed against trees, and wet
+through by sinking in swamps; girths gave way, drivers swore, horses
+fell down, and we all came to grief, individually and collectively.
+The Major, unaccustomed as he was to these vicissitudes of Kamchatkan
+travel, held out like a Spartan; but I noticed that for the last ten
+miles he rode upon a pillow, and shouted at short intervals to Dodd,
+who, with stoical imperturbability, was riding quietly in advance:
+"Dodd! oh, Dodd! haven't we got most to that _con-found-ed_ Malqua
+yet?" Dodd would strike his horse a sharp blow with a willow switch,
+turn half round in his saddle, and reply, with a quizzical smile, that
+we were "not most there yet, but would be soon!"--an equivocal sort of
+consolation which did not inspire us with much enthusiasm. At last,
+when it had already begun to grow dark, we saw a high column of white
+steam in the distance, which rose, Dodd and Viushin said, from the hot
+springs of Malqua; and in fifteen minutes we rode, tired, wet, and
+hungry, into the settlement. Supper was a secondary consideration with
+me _that_ night. All I wanted was to crawl under a table where no one
+would step on me, and be let alone. I had never before felt such a
+vivid consciousness of my muscular and osseous system. Every separate
+bone and tendon in my body asserted its individual existence by a
+distinct and independent ache, and my back in twenty minutes was as
+inflexible as an iron ramrod. I felt a melancholy conviction that I
+never should measure five feet ten inches again, unless I could lie on
+some Procrustean bed and have my back stretched out to its original
+longitude. Repeated perpendicular concussions had, I confidently
+believed, telescoped my spinal vertebrae into each other, so that
+nothing short of a surgical operation would ever restore them to their
+original positions. Revolving in my mind such mournful considerations,
+I fell asleep under a table, without even pulling off my boots.
+
+[Illustration: Cap of brown and white fur]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF GENAL--WALLS OF LITERATURE--SCARING UP A
+BEAR--END OF HORSEBACK RIDE
+
+It was hard work on the following morning to climb again into the
+saddle, but the Major was insensible to all appeals for delay. Stern
+and inflexible as Rhadamanthus, he mounted stiffly upon his feather
+pillow and gave the signal for a start. With the aid of two
+sympathetic Kamchadals, who had perhaps experienced the misery of a
+stiff back, I succeeded in getting astride a fresh horse, and we
+rode away into the Genal (gen-ahl') valley--the garden of southern
+Kamchatka.
+
+The village of Malqua lies on the northern slope of the Kamchatka
+River watershed, surrounded by low barren granite hills, and reminded
+me a little in its situation of Virginia City, Nevada. It is noted
+chiefly for its hot mineral springs, but as we did not have time to
+visit these springs ourselves, we were compelled to take the natives'
+word for their temperature and their medicinal properties, and content
+ourselves with a distant view of the pillar of steam which marked
+their location.
+
+North of the village opens the long narrow valley of Genal--the most
+beautiful as well as the most fertile spot in all the Kamchatkan
+peninsula. It is about thirty miles in length, and averages three in
+breadth, and is bounded on both sides by chains of high snow-covered
+mountains, which stretch away from Malqua in a long vista of white
+ragged peaks and sharp cliffs, almost to the head-waters of the
+Kamchatka River. A small stream runs in a tortuous course through the
+valley, fringed with long wild grass four or five feet in height, and
+shaded here and there by clumps of birches, willows, and alders. The
+foliage was beginning already to assume the brilliant colours of
+early autumn, and broad stripes of crimson, yellow, and green ran
+horizontally along the mountain sides, marking on a splendid chromatic
+scale the successive zones of vegetation as they rose in regular
+gradation from the level of the valley to the pure glittering snows of
+the higher peaks.
+
+As we approached the middle of the valley just before noon, the
+scenery assumed a vividness of colour and grandeur of outline which
+drew forth the most enthusiastic exclamations of delight from our
+little party. For twenty-five miles in each direction lay the sunny
+valley, through which the Genal River was stretched like a tangled
+chain of silver, linking together the scattered clumps of birch and
+thickets of alder, which at intervals diversified its banks. Like the
+Happy Valley of Rasselas, it seemed to be shut out from the rest of
+the world by impassable mountains, whose snowy peaks and pinnacles
+rivalled in picturesque beauty, in variety and singularity of form,
+the wildest dream of eastern architect. Half down their sides was a
+broad horizontal belt of dark-green pines, thrown into strong and
+beautiful contrast with the pure white snow of the higher summits and
+the rich crimson of the mountain ash which flamed below. Here and
+there the mountains had been cleft asunder by some Titanic power,
+leaving deep narrow gorges and wild ravines where the sunlight could
+hardly penetrate, and the eye was lost in soft purple haze. Imagine
+with all this, a warm fragrant atmosphere and a deep blue sky in which
+floated a few clouds, too ethereal even to cast shadows, and you will
+perhaps have a faint idea of one of the most beautiful landscapes in
+all Kamchatka. The Sierra Nevadas may afford views of more savage
+wildness, but nowhere in California or Nevada have I ever seen the
+distinctive features of both winter and summer--snow and roses, bare
+granite and brilliantly coloured foliage--blended into so harmonious
+a picture as that presented by the Genal valley on a sunshiny day in
+early autumn.
+
+Dodd and I devoted most of our leisure time during the afternoon to
+picking and eating berries. Galloping furiously ahead until we
+had left the caravan several miles behind, we would lie down in a
+particularly luxuriant thicket by the river bank, tie our horses to
+our feet, and bask in the sunshine and feast upon yellow honeyed
+"moroshkas" (mo-ro'-shkas) and the dark purple globes of delicious
+blueberries, until our clothes were stained with crimson spots, and
+our faces and hands resembled those of a couple of Comanches painted
+for the war-path.
+
+The sun was yet an hour high when we approached the native village of
+Genal. We passed a field where men and women were engaged in cutting
+hay with rude sickles, returned their stare of amazement with
+unruffled serenity, and rode on until the trail suddenly broke off
+into a river beyond which stood the village.
+
+Kneeling upon our saddles we succeeded in fording the shallow stream
+without getting wet, but in a moment we came to another of about the
+same size. We forded that, and were confronted by a third. This we
+also passed, but at the appearance of the fourth river the Major
+shouted despairingly to Dodd, "Ay! Dodd! How many _pagánni_ rivers do
+we have to wade through in getting to this beastly village?" "Only
+one," replied Dodd composedly. "One! Then how many times does this
+one river run past this one settlement?" "Five times," was the calm
+response. "You see," he explained soberly, "these poor Kamchadals
+haven't got but one river to fish in, and that isn't a very big one,
+so they have made it run past their settlement five times, and by this
+ingenious contrivance they catch five times as many salmon as they
+would if it only passed once!" The Major was surprised into silence,
+and seemed to be considering some abstruse problem. Finally he raised
+his eyes from the pommel of his saddle, transfixed the guilty Dodd
+with a glance of severe rebuke, and demanded solemnly, "How many times
+must a given fish swim past a given settlement, in order to supply the
+population with food, provided the fish is caught every time he goes
+past?" This _reductio ad absurdum_ was too much for Dodd's gravity;
+he burst into a laugh, and digging his heels into his horse's ribs,
+dashed with a great splatter into the fourth arm or bend of the river,
+and rode up on the other side into the village of Genal.
+
+We took up our quarters at the house of the "starosta" (stah'-ro-stah)
+or head man of the village, and spread our bearskins out on the clean
+white floor of a low room, papered in a funny way with old copies
+of the _Illustrated London News_. A coloured American lithograph,
+representing the kiss of reconciliation between two offended lovers,
+hung against the wall on one side, and was evidently regarded with
+a good deal of pride by the proprietor, as affording incontestable
+evidence of culture and refined taste, and proving his familiar
+acquaintance with American art, and the manners and customs of
+American society.
+
+Dodd and I, notwithstanding our fatigue, devoted the evening entirely
+to literary pursuits; searching diligently with tallow candles over
+the wall and ceiling for consecutive numbers of the _Illustrated
+London News_, reading court gossip from a birch plank in the corner,
+and obituaries of distinguished Englishmen from the back of a door. By
+dint of industry and perseverance we finished one whole side of the
+house before bedtime, and having gained a vast amount of valuable
+information with regard to the war in New Zealand, we were encouraged
+to pursue our investigations in the morning upon the three remaining
+sides and the ceiling. To our great regret, however, we were obliged
+to start on our pilgrimage without having time to find out how that
+war terminated, and we have never been able to ascertain to this day!
+Long before six o'clock we were off with fresh horses for a long ride
+of ninety versts to Pushchin (poosh´-chin).
+
+The costumes of our little party had now assumed a very motley and
+brigandish appearance, every individual having discarded from time
+to time, such articles of his civilised dress as proved to be
+inconvenient or uncomfortable, and adopted various picturesque
+substitutes, which filled more nearly the requirements of a barbarous
+life. Dodd had thrown away his cap, and tied a scarlet and yellow
+handkerchief around his head. Viushin had ornamented his hat with a
+long streamer of crimson ribbon, which floated gayly in the wind
+like a whip-pennant. A blue hunting-shirt and a red Turkish fez had
+superseded my uniform coat and cap. We all carried rifles slung
+across our backs, and revolvers belted around our waists, and were
+transformed generally into as fantastic brigands as ever sallied
+forth from the passes of the Apennines to levy blackmail upon unwary
+travellers. A timid tourist, meeting us as we galloped furiously
+across the plain toward Pushchin would have fallen on his knees and
+pulled out his purse without asking any unnecessary questions.
+
+Being well mounted on fresh, spirited horses, the Major, Dodd,
+Viushin, and I rode far in advance of the rest of the party throughout
+the day. Late in the afternoon, as we were going at a slashing rate
+across the level plain known as the Kamchatkan _tundra_, [Footnote: A
+treeless expanse carpeted with moss and low berry-bushes.] the Major
+suddenly drew his horse violently back on his haunches, wheeled half
+round, and shouted, "Medveid! medveid!" and a large black bear rose
+silently out of the long grass at his very feet.
+
+The excitement, I can conscientiously affirm, was terrific. Viushin
+unslung his double-barrelled fowling-piece, and proceeded to pepper
+him with duck-shot; Dodd tugged at his revolver with frantic energy
+while his horse ran away with him over the plain; the Major dropped
+his bridle, and implored me by all I held sacred not to shoot _him_,
+while the horses plunged, kicked, and snorted in the most animated
+manner. The only calm and self-possessed individual in the whole party
+was the bear! He surveyed the situation coolly for a few seconds, and
+then started at an awkward gallop for the woods. In an instant our
+party recovered its conjoint presence of mind, and charged with the
+most reckless heroism upon his flying footsteps, shouting frantically
+to "stop him!" popping away in the most determined and unterrified
+manner with four revolvers and a shotgun, and performing prodigies
+of valour in the endeavour to capture the ferocious beast, without
+getting in his way or coming nearer to him than a hundred yards. All
+was in vain. The bear vanished in the forest like a flying shadow;
+and, presuming from his known ferocity and vindictiveness that he had
+prepared an ambuscade for us in the woods, we deemed it the better
+part of valour to abandon the pursuit. Upon comparing notes, we found
+that we had all been similarly impressed with his enormous size, his
+shagginess, and his generally savage appearance, and had all been
+inspired at the same moment with an irresistible inclination to take
+him by the throat and rip him open with a bowie-knife, in a manner
+so beautifully illustrated by the old geographies. Nothing but the
+fractiousness of our horses and the rapidity of his flight had
+prevented this desirable consummation. The Major even declared
+positively that he had seen the bear a long time before, and only
+rode over him "to scare him up," and said almost in the words of the
+redoubtable Falstaff, "that if we would do him honour for it, so; if
+not, we might scare up the next bear ourselves." Looking at the matter
+calmly and dispassionately afterward, I thought it extremely probable
+that if another bear did not scare the Major up, he never would go
+out of his way to scare up another bear. We felt it to be our duty,
+however, to caution him against imperilling the success of our
+expedition by such reckless exploits in the way of scaring up wild
+beasts.
+
+Long before we reached Pushchin it grew dark; but our tired horses
+freshened up after sunset, with the cool evening air, and about eight
+o'clock we heard the distant howling of dogs, which we had already
+come to associate with hot tea, rest, and sleep. In twenty minutes we
+were lying comfortably on our bearskins in a Kamchadal house.
+
+We had made sixty miles since daybreak; but the road had been good.
+We were becoming more accustomed to horseback riding, and were by
+no means so tired as we had been at Malqua. Only thirty versts now
+intervened between us and the head-waters of the Kamchatka River,
+where we were to abandon our horses and float down two hundred and
+fifty miles on rafts or in native canoes.
+
+A sharp trot of four hours over a level plain brought us on the
+following morning to Sherom (sheh-rome´), where rafts had already been
+prepared for our use.
+
+It was with no little regret that I ended for the present my horseback
+travel. The life suited me in every respect, and I could not recall
+any previous journey which had ever afforded me more pure, healthful
+enjoyment, or seemed more like a delightful pleasure excursion than
+this. All Siberia, however, lay before us; and our regret at
+leaving scenes which we should never again revisit was relieved by
+anticipations of future adventures equally novel, and prospective
+scenery grander even than anything which we had yet witnessed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+THE KAMCHATKA RIVER--LIFE ON A CANOE RAFT--RECEPTION AT
+MILKOVA--MISTAKEN FOR THE TSAR
+
+To a person of an indolent disposition there is something particularly
+pleasant in floating in a boat down a river. One has all the
+advantages of variety, and change of incident and scenery, without any
+exertion; all the lazy pleasures--for such they must be called--of
+boat life, without any of the monotony which makes a long sea voyage
+so unendurable. I think it was Gray who said that his idea of paradise
+was "To lie on a sofa and read eternally new romances of Marivaux and
+Crebillon." Could the author of the "Elegy" have stretched himself out
+on the open deck of a Kamchadal boat, covered to a depth of six inches
+with fragrant flowers and freshly cut hay; could he have floated
+slowly down a broad, tranquil river through ranges of snow-clad
+mountains, past forests glowing with yellow and crimson, and vast
+steppes waving with tall, wild grass; could he have watched the
+full moon rise over the lonely, snowy peak of the Kluchefskoi
+(kloo'-chef-skoi') volcano, bridging the river with a narrow trail
+of quivering light, and have listened to the plash of the boatman's
+paddles, and the low melancholy song to which they kept time--he would
+have thrown Marivaux and Crebillon overboard, and have given a better
+example of the pleasures of paradise.
+
+I know that I am laying myself open to the charge of exaggeration by
+thus praising Kamchatkan scenery, and that my enthusiasm will perhaps
+elicit a smile of amusement from the more experienced traveller who
+has seen Italy and the Alps; still, I am describing things as they
+appeared to me, and do not assert that the impressions they made were
+those that should or would have been made upon a man of more extensive
+experience and wider observation. To use the words of a Spanish
+writer, which I have somewhere read, "The man who has never seen the
+glory of the sun cannot be blamed for thinking that there is no glory
+like that of the moon; nor he who has never seen the moon, for talking
+of the unrivalled brightness of the morning star." Had I ever sailed
+down the Rhine, climbed the Matterhorn, or seen the moon rise over
+the Bay of Naples, I should have taken perhaps a juster and less
+enthusiastic view of Kamchatka; but, compared with anything that I had
+previously seen or imagined, the mountain landscapes of southern and
+central Kamchatka were superb.
+
+At Sherom, thanks to the courier who had preceded us, we found a boat,
+or Kamchatkan raft, ready for our reception. It was composed of three
+large dugout canoes placed parallel to one another at distances of
+about three feet, and lashed with sealskin thongs to stout transverse
+poles. Over these was laid a floor or platform about ten feet by
+twelve, leaving room at the bow and stern of each canoe for men with
+paddles who were to guide and propel the unwieldy craft in some
+unknown, but, doubtless, satisfactory manner. On the platform, which
+was covered to a depth of six inches with freshly cut grass, we
+pitched our little cotton tent, and transformed it with bearskins,
+blankets, and pillows into a very cosy substitute for a stateroom.
+Rifles and revolvers were unstrapped from our tired bodies, and hung
+up against the tent poles; heavy riding boots were unceremoniously
+kicked off, and replaced by soft buckskin _torbasses_ [Footnote:
+Moccasin boots.]; saddles were stored away in convenient nooks for
+future use; and all our things disposed with a view to the enjoyment
+of as much luxury as was compatible with our situation.
+
+After a couple of hours' rest, during which our heavy baggage was
+transferred to another similar raft, we walked down to the sandy
+beach, bade good-bye to the crowd which had assembled to see us off,
+and swung slowly out into the current, the Kamchadals on the shore
+waving hats and handkerchiefs until a bend in the river hid them from
+sight. The scenery of the upper Kamchatka for the first twenty miles
+was comparatively tame and uninteresting, as the mountains were
+entirely concealed by a dense forest of pine, birch, and larch,
+which extended down to the water's edge. It was sufficient pleasure,
+however, at first, to lie back in the tent upon our soft bearskins,
+watching the brilliantly coloured and ever varying foliage of the
+banks, to sweep swiftly but silently around abrupt bends into long
+vistas of still water, startling the great Kamchatkan eagle from
+his lonely perch on some jutting rock, and frightening up clouds of
+clamorous waterfowl, which flew in long lines down the river until out
+of sight. The navigation of the upper Kamchatka is somewhat intricate
+and dangerous at night, on account of the rapidity of the current and
+the frequency of snags; and as soon as it grew dark our native boatmen
+considered it unsafe to go on. We accordingly beached our rafts and
+went ashore to wait for moonrise.
+
+A little semicircle was cut in the thick underbrush at the edge of the
+beach, fires were built, kettles of potatoes and fish hung over to
+boil, and we all gathered around the cheerful blaze to smoke, talk,
+and sing American songs until supper time. The scene to civilised eyes
+was strangely wild and picturesque. The dark, lonely river gurgling
+mournfully around sunken trees in its channel; the dense primeval
+forest whispering softly to the passing wind its amazement at this
+invasion of its solitude; the huge flaming camp-fire throwing a
+red lurid glare over the still water, and lighting up weirdly the
+encircling woods; and the groups of strangely dressed men lounging
+carelessly about the blaze upon shaggy bearskins--all made up a
+picture worthy of the pencil of Rembrandt.
+
+After supper we amused ourselves by building an immense bonfire of
+driftwood on the beach, and hurling blazing firebrands at the leaping
+salmon as they passed up the river, and the frightened ducks which had
+been roused from sleep by the unusual noise and light. When nothing
+remained of our bonfire but a heap of glowing embers, we spread our
+bearskins upon the soft, yielding sand by the water's edge, and lay
+staring up at the twinkling stars until consciousness faded away into
+dreams, and dreams into utter oblivion.
+
+I was waked about midnight by the splashing of rain in my face and the
+sobbing of the rising wind in the tree-tops, and upon crawling out of
+my water-soaked blankets found that Dodd and the Major had brought the
+tent ashore, pitched it among the trees, and availed themselves of
+its shelter, but had treacherously left me exposed to a pelting
+rain-storm, as if it were a matter of no consequence whatever whether
+I slept in a tent or a mud-puddle! After mentally debating the
+question whether I had better go inside or revenge myself by pulling
+the tent down over their heads, I finally decided to escape from the
+rain first and seek revenge at some more propitious time. Hardly had
+I fallen asleep again when "spat" came the wet canvas across my face,
+accompanied by a shout of "Get up! it is time to start"; and crawling
+out from under the fallen tent I walked sullenly down to the raft,
+revolving in my mind various ingenious schemes for getting even with
+the Major and Dodd, who had first left me out in the rain, and then
+waked me up in the middle of the night by pulling a wet tent down
+over my head. It was one o'clock in the morning--dark, rainy, and
+dismal--but the moon was supposed to have risen, and our Kamchadal
+boatmen said that it was light enough to start. I didn't believe that
+it was, but my sleepily expressed opinions had no weight with the
+Major, and my protests were utterly ignored. Hoping in the bitterness
+of my heart that we _should_ run against a snag, I lay down sullenly
+in the rain on the wet soaking grass of our raft, and tried to forget
+my misery in sleep. On account of the contrary wind we could not put
+up our tent, and were obliged to cover ourselves as best we could with
+oilcloth blankets and shiver away the remainder of the night.
+
+About an hour after daylight we approached the Kamchadal settlement of
+Milkova (mil'-ko-vah), the largest native village in the peninsula.
+The rain had ceased, and the clouds were beginning to break away, but
+the air was still cold and raw. A courier, who had been sent down in a
+canoe from Sherom on the previous day, had notified the inhabitants of
+our near approach, and the signal gun which we fired as we came round
+the last bend of the river brought nearly the whole population running
+helter-skelter to the beach. Our reception was "a perfect ovation."
+The "city fathers," as Dodd styled them, to the number of twenty,
+gathered in a body at the landing and began bowing, taking off their
+hats, and shouting "Zdrastvuitie?" [Footnote: How do you do?] while we
+were yet fifty yards from the shore; a salute was fired from a dozen
+rusty flint-lock muskets, to the imminent hazard of our lives; and
+a dozen natives waded into the water to assist us in getting safely
+landed. The village stood a short distance back from the river's bank,
+and the natives had provided for our transportation thither four
+of the worst-looking horses that I had seen in Kamchatka. Their
+equipments consisted of wooden saddles, modelled after the gables of
+an angular house; stirrups about twelve inches in length, patched up
+from discarded remnants of sealskin thongs; cruppers of bearskin,
+and halters of walrus hide twisted around the animals' noses. The
+excitement which prevailed when we proceeded to mount was unparalleled
+I believe in the annals of that quiet settlement. I don't know how the
+Major succeeded in getting upon his horse, but I do know that a
+dozen long-haired Kamchadals seized Dodd and me, regardless of our
+remonstrances, hauled us this way and that until the struggle to get
+hold of some part of our unfortunate persons resembled the fight over
+the dead body of Patroclus, and finally hoisted us triumphantly into
+our saddles in a breathless and exhausted condition. One more such
+hospitable reception would forever have incapacitated us for the
+service of the Russian American Telegraph Company! I had only time to
+cast a hurried glance back at the Major. He looked like a frightened
+landsman straddling the end of a studdingsail-boom run out to leeward
+on a fast clipper, and his face was screwed up into an expression of
+mingled pain, amusement, and astonishment, which evidently did not
+begin to do justice to his conflicting emotions. I had no opportunity
+of expressing my sympathetic participation in his sufferings; for
+an excited native seized the halter of my horse, three more with
+reverently bared heads fell in on each side, and I was led away in
+triumph to some unknown destination! The inexpressible absurdity of
+our appearance did not strike me with its full force until I looked
+behind me just before we reached the village. There were the Major,
+Viushin, and Dodd, perched upon gaunt Kamchadal horses, with their
+knees and chins on nearly the same level, half a dozen natives in
+eccentric costumes straggling along by their sides at a dog-trot, and
+a large procession of bareheaded men and boys solemnly bringing up
+the rear, punching the horses with sharp sticks into a temporary
+manifestation of life and spirit. It reminded me faintly of a Roman
+triumph--the Major, Dodd, and I being the victorious heroes, and the
+Kamchadals the captives, whom we had compelled to go _sub jugum_,
+and who now graced our triumphal entry into the Seven-hilled City. I
+mentioned this fancy of mine to Dodd, but he declared that one would
+have had to do violence to his imagination to make "victorious heroes"
+out of us on that occasion, and suggested "heroic victims" as equally
+poetical and more in accordance with the facts. His severely practical
+mind objected to any such fanciful idealisation of our misery. The
+excitement increased rather than diminished as we entered the
+village. Our motley escort gesticulated, ran to and fro, and shouted
+unintelligible orders in the most frantic manner; heads appeared and
+disappeared with startling kaleidoscopic abruptness at the windows
+of the houses; and three hundred dogs contributed to the general
+confusion by breaking out into an infernal canine peace jubilee which
+fairly made the air quiver with sound. At last we stopped in front of
+a large one-story log house, and were assisted by twelve or fifteen
+natives to dismount and enter. As soon as Dodd could collect his
+confused faculties he demanded: "What in the name of all the Russian
+saints is the matter with this settlement; is everybody insane?"
+Viushin was ordered to send for the _starosta_, or head man of the
+village, and in a few moments he made his appearance, bowing with the
+impressive persistency of a Chinese mandarin.
+
+A prolonged colloquy then took place in Russian between the Major and
+the _starosta_, broken by explanatory commentaries in the Kamchadal
+language, which did not tend materially to elucidate the subject. An
+evident and increasing disposition to smile gradually softened the
+stern lines of the Major's face, until at last he burst into a laugh
+of such infectious hilarity that, notwithstanding my ignorance of the
+nature of the fun, I joined in with hearty sympathy. As soon as he
+partially recovered his composure he gasped out, "The natives took you
+for the Emperor!"--and then he went off in another spasm of merriment
+which threatened to terminate either in suffocation or apoplexy.
+Lost in bewilderment I could only smile feebly until he recovered
+sufficiently to give me a more intelligible explanation of his mirth.
+It appeared that the courier who had been sent from Petropavlovsk
+to apprise the natives throughout the peninsula of our coming, had
+carried a letter from the Russian governor giving the names and
+occupations of the members of our party, and that mine had been put
+down as "Yagor Kennan, Telegraphist and _Operator_." It so happened
+that the _starosta_ of Milkova possessed the rare accomplishment of
+knowing how to read Russian writing, and the letter had been handed
+over to him to be communicated to the inhabitants of the village. He
+had puzzled over the unknown word "telegraphist" until his mind was in
+a hopeless state of bewilderment, but had not been able to give even
+the wildest conjecture as to its probable meaning. "_Operator_,"
+however, had a more familiar sound; it was not spelled exactly in the
+way to which he had been accustomed, but it was evidently intended
+for "Imperator," the Emperor!--and with his heart throbbing with the
+excitement of this startling discovery and his hair standing on end
+from the arduous nature of his exegetical labours, he rushed furiously
+out to spread the news that the Tsar of all the Russias was on a visit
+to Kamchatka and would pass through Milkova in the course of three
+days! The excitement which this alarming announcement created can
+better be imagined than described. The all-absorbing topic of
+conversation was, how could Milkova best show its loyalty and
+admiration for the Head of the Imperial Family, the Right Arm of the
+Holy Orthodox Church, and the Mighty Monarch of seventy millions of
+devoted souls? Kamchadal ingenuity gave it up in despair! What could a
+poor Kamchatkan village do for the entertainment of its august master?
+When the first excitement passed away, the _starosta_ was questioned
+closely as to the nature of the letter which had brought this news,
+and was finally compelled to admit that it did not say distinctly,
+"Alexander Nikolaivitch, _Imperator_," but "Yagor" something
+"_Operator,_" which he contended was substantially the same thing,
+because if it didn't mean the Emperor himself it meant one of his
+most intimate relations, who was entitled to equal honour and must be
+treated with equal reverence. The courier had already gone, and had
+said nothing about the rank of the travellers whom he heralded, except
+that they had arrived at Petropavlovsk in a ship, wore gorgeous
+uniforms of blue and gold, and were being entertained by the governor
+and the captain of the port. Public opinion finally settled down into
+the conviction that "_Op_-erator", etymologically considered, was
+first cousin to "_Im_-perator," and that it must mean some dignitary
+of high rank connected with the imperial family. With this impression
+they had received us when we arrived, and had, poor fellows, done
+their very best to show us proper honour and respect. It had been a
+severe ordeal to us, but it had proved in the most unmistakable manner
+the loyalty of the Kamchadal inhabitants of Milkova to the reigning
+family of Russia.
+
+The Major explained to the _starosta_ our real rank and occupation,
+but it did not seem to make any difference whatever in the cordial
+hospitality of our reception. We were treated to the very best that
+the village afforded, and were stared at with a curiosity which showed
+that travellers through Milkova had hitherto been few and far between.
+After eating bread and reindeer meat and tasting experimentally
+various curiously compounded native dishes, we returned in state to
+the landing-place, accompanied by another procession, received a
+salute of fifteen guns, and resumed our voyage down the river.
+
+[Illustration: War and Hunting Knives.]
+
+[Illustration: Snowbeaters used for beating snow from the clothing.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+ARRIVAL AT KLUCHEI--THE KLUCHEFSKOI VOLCANO--A QUESTION OF ROUTE--A
+RUSSIAN "BLACK BATH"
+
+The valley of this river is unquestionably the most fertile part of
+the whole Kamchatkan peninsula. Nearly all of the villages that we
+passed were surrounded by fields of rye and neatly fenced gardens; the
+banks everywhere were either covered with timber or waving with wild
+grass five feet in height; and the luxuriant growth in many places of
+flowers and weeds testified to the richness of the soil and the
+warm humidity of the climate. Primroses, cowslips, marsh violets,
+buttercups, wild-roses, cinquefoil, iris, and azure larkspur grow
+everywhere throughout the valley in the greatest abundance; and a
+peculiar species of umbelliferae, with hollow-jointed stems, attains
+in many places a height of six feet, and grows so densely that its
+huge serrated leaves hide a man from sight at a distance of a few
+yards. All this is the growth of a single summer.
+
+There are twelve native settlements between the head-waters of the
+river and the Kluchefskoi volcano, and nearly all are situated in
+picturesque locations, and surrounded by gardens and fields of rye.
+Nowhere does the traveller see any evidences of the barrenness,
+sterility, and frigid desolation which have always been associated
+with the name of Kamchatka.
+
+After leaving our hospitable native friends and our imperial dignity
+at Milkova, on Monday morning, we floated slowly down the river for
+three days, catching distant glimpses of the snowy mountain ranges
+which bounded the valley, roaming through the woods in search of bears
+and wild cherries, camping at night on the river-bank among the trees,
+and living generally a wild, free, delightful life. We passed
+the native settlements of Kirgánic (keer-gan'-ic), Márshura
+(mar'-shoo-rah), Shchápina (shchap'-in-ah), and Tolbachic, where we
+were received with boundless hospitality; and on Wednesday, September
+13th, camped in the woods south of Kazerefski (kaz-er-ef'-ski), only
+a hundred and twenty versts distant from the village of Kluchei
+(kloo-chay'). It rained nearly all day Wednesday, and we camped at
+night among the dripping trees, with many apprehensions that the storm
+would hide the magnificent scenery of the lower Kamchatka, through
+which we were about to pass. It cleared away, however, before
+midnight; and I was awakened at an early hour in the morning by a
+shouted summons from Dodd to get up and look at the mountains. There
+was hardly a breath of air astir, and the atmosphere had that peculiar
+crystalline transparency which may sometimes be seen in California. A
+heavy hoar-frost lay white on the boats and grass, and a few withered
+leaves dropped wavering through the still cool air from the yellow
+birch trees which overhung our tent. There was not a sound to break
+harshly upon the silence of dawn; and only the tracks of wild reindeer
+and prowling wolves, on the smooth sandy beach showed that there was
+life in the quiet lonely wilderness around us. The sun had not yet
+risen, but the eastern heavens were aglare with yellow light, even up
+to the morning-star, which, although "paling its ineffectual fires,"
+still maintained its position as a glittering outpost between the
+contending powers of night and day. Far away to the north-eastward,
+over the yellow forest, in soft purple relief against the red sunrise,
+stood the high sharp peaks of Kluchei, grouped around the central
+wedge-like cone of the magnificent Kluchefskoi volcano. Nearly a month
+before I had seen these noble mountains from the tossing deck of a
+little brig, seventy-five miles at sea; but I little thought then
+that I should see them again from a lonely camp in the woods of the
+Kamchatka River.
+
+For nearly half an hour Dodd and I sat quietly on the beach,
+absent-mindedly throwing pebbles into the still water, watching the
+illumination of the distant mountains by the rising sun, and
+talking over the adventures which we had experienced since leaving
+Petropavlovsk. With what different impressions had I come to look at
+Siberian life since I first saw the precipitous coast of Kamchatka
+looming up out of the blue water of the Pacific!
+
+Then it was an unknown, mysterious land of glaciers and snowy
+mountains, filled with possibilities of adventure, but lonely and
+forbidding in its uninhabited wildness. Now it was no longer lonely
+or desolate. Every mountain peak was associated with some hospitable
+village nestled at its feet; every little stream was connected with
+the great world of human interests by some pleasant recollection of
+camp life. The possibilities of adventure were still there, but the
+imaginary loneliness and desolation had vanished with one week's
+experience. I thought of the vague conceptions which I had formed in
+America of this beautiful country, and tried to compare them with the
+more recent impressions by which they had been crowded out, but the
+effort was vain. I could not surround myself again with the lost
+intellectual atmosphere of civilisation, nor reconcile those earlier
+anticipations with this strangely different experience. The absurd
+fancies, which had seemed so vivid and so true only three months
+before, had now faded away into the half-remembered imagery of a
+dream, and nothing was real but the tranquil river which flowed at my
+feet, the birch tree which dropped its yellow leaves upon my head, and
+the far-away purple mountains.
+
+I was roused from my reverie by the furious beating of a tin
+mess-kettle, which was the summons to breakfast. In half an hour
+breakfast was despatched, the tent struck, camp equipage packed up,
+and we were again under way. We floated all day down the river toward
+Kluchei, getting ever-changing views of the mountains as they were
+thrown into new and picturesque combinations by our motion to the
+northward. We reached Kazerefski at dark, and, changing our crew,
+continued our voyage throughout the night. At daybreak on Friday we
+passed Kristi (kris-tee'), and at two o'clock in the afternoon arrived
+at Kluchei, having been just eleven days out from Petropavlovsk.
+
+The village of Kluchei is situated in an open plain on the right
+bank of the Kamchatka River, at the very foot of the magnificent
+Kluchefskoi volcano, and has nothing to distinguish it from other
+Kamchadal towns, except the boldness and picturesque beauty of its
+situation. It lies exactly in the midst of the group of superb
+isolated peaks which guard the entrance to the river, and is shadowed
+over frequently by the dense, black smoke of two volcanoes. It was
+founded early in the eighteenth century by a few Russian peasants who
+were taken from their homes in central Russia, and sent with seeds and
+farming utensils to start a colony in far-away Kamchatka. After a
+long adventurous journey of six thousand miles across Asia by way of
+Tobolsk (to-bolsk'), Irkutsk (eer-kootsk'), Yakutsk (yah-kootsk'), and
+Kolyma (kol-e-mah'), the little band of involuntary emigrants finally
+reached the peninsula, and settled boldly on the Kamchatka River,
+under the shadow of the great volcano. Here they and their descendants
+have lived for more than a hundred years, until they have almost
+forgotten how they came there and by whom they were sent.
+Notwithstanding the activity and frequent eruption of the two
+volcanoes behind the village, its location never has been changed, and
+its inhabitants have come to regard with indifference the occasional
+mutterings of warning which come from the depths of the burning
+craters, and the showers of ashes which are frequently sifted over
+their houses and fields. Never having heard of Herculaneum or Pompeii,
+they do not associate any possible danger with the fleecy cloud of
+smoke which floats in pleasant weather from the broken summit of
+Kluchefskoi, or the low thunderings by which its smaller, but equally
+dangerous, neighbour asserts its wakefulness during the long winter
+nights. Another century may perhaps elapse without bringing any
+serious disaster upon the little village; but after hearing the
+Kluchefskoi volcano rumble at a distance of sixty miles, and seeing
+the dense volumes of black vapour which it occasionally emitted, I
+felt entirely satisfied to give its volcanic majesty a wide berth, and
+wondered at the boldness of the Kamchadals in selecting such a site
+for their settlement.
+
+The Kluchefskoi is one of the highest as well as one of the most
+uninterruptedly active volcanoes in all the great volcanic chain of
+the North Pacific. Since the seventeenth century very few years have
+elapsed without an eruption of greater or less violence, and even
+now, at irregular intervals of a few months, it bursts into flame and
+scatters ashes over the whole width of the peninsula and on both seas.
+The snow in winter is frequently so covered with ashes for twenty-five
+miles around Kluchei that travel upon sledges becomes almost
+impossible. Many years ago, according to the accounts of the natives,
+there was an eruption of terrible magnificence. It began in the middle
+of a clear, dark winter's night, with loud thunderings and tremblings
+of the earth, which startled the inhabitants of Kluchei from their
+sleep and brought them in affright to their doors. Far up in the dark
+winter's sky, 16,000 feet above their heads, blazed a column of lurid
+flame from the crater, crowned by a great volume of fire-lighted
+vapour. Amid loud rumblings, and dull reverberations from the
+interior, the molten lava began to flow in broad fiery rivers down the
+snow-covered mountain side, until for half the distance to its base it
+was one glowing mass of fire which lighted, up the villages of Kristi,
+Kazerefski, and Kluchei like the sun, and illuminated the whole
+country within a radius of twenty-five miles. This eruption is said to
+have scattered ashes over the peninsula for three hundred versts to a
+depth of an inch and a half.
+
+The lava has never yet descended much, if any, below the snow line;
+but I see no reason why it may not at some future time overwhelm the
+settlement of Kluchei and fill the channel of the Kamchatka River with
+a fiery flood.
+
+The volcano, so far as I know, has never been ascended, and its
+reported height, 16,500 feet, is probably the approximative estimate
+of some Russian officer. It is certainly, however, the highest peak
+of the Kamchatkan peninsula, and is more likely to exceed 16,000 feet
+than fall below it. We felt a strong temptation to try to scale its
+smooth snowy sides and peer over into its smoking crater; but it
+would have been folly to make the attempt without two or three weeks'
+training, and we had not the time to spare. The mountain is nearly a
+perfect cone, and from the village of Kluchei it is so deceitfully
+foreshortened that the last 3,000 feet appear to be absolutely
+perpendicular. There is another volcano whose name, if it have any,
+I could not ascertain, standing a short distance south-east of the
+Kluchefskoi, and connected with it by an irregular broken ridge. It
+does not approach the latter in height, but it seems to draw its fiery
+supplies from the same source, and is constantly puffing out black
+vapour, which an east wind drives in great clouds across the white
+sides of Kluchefskoi until it is sometimes almost hidden from sight.
+
+We were entertained at Kluchei in the large comfortable house of the
+_starosta_, or local magistrate of the village. The walls of our room
+were gayly hung with figured calico, the ceiling was covered with
+white cotton drill, and the rude pine furniture was scoured with soap
+and sand to the last attainable degree of cleanliness. A coarsely
+executed picture, which I took to be Moses, hung in a gilt frame in
+the corner; but the sensible prophet had apparently shut his eyes to
+avoid the smoke of the innumerable candles which had been burned in
+his honour, and the expression of his face was somewhat marred in
+consequence. Table-cloths of American manufacture were spread on the
+tables, pots of flowers stood in the curtained windows, a little
+mirror hung against the wall opposite the door, and all the little
+fixtures and rude ornaments of the room were disposed with a taste and
+a view to general effect which the masculine mind may admire but never
+can imitate. American art, too, had lent a grace to this cottage in
+the wilderness, for the back of one of the doors was embellished with
+pictorial sketches of Virginian life and scenery from the skilful
+pencil of Porte Crayon. I thought of the well-known lines of Pope:
+
+  "The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare,
+  But wonder how the d---- they came there."
+
+In such comfortable, not to say luxurious, quarters as these, we
+succeeded, of course, in passing away pleasantly the remainder of the
+day.
+
+At Kluchei we were called upon to decide what route we would adopt in
+our journey to the northward. The shortest, and in many respects the
+best, was that usually taken by the Russian traders--crossing the
+central range of mountains to Tigil (tee-gill'), by the pass of the
+Yolofka (yo-loff'-ka), and then following up the west coast of the
+peninsula to the head of the Okhotsk Sea. The only objections to this
+were the lateness of the season and the probability of finding deep
+snow in the mountain passes. Our only alternative was to continue
+our journey from Kluchei up the eastern coast to a settlement called
+Dranka (dran'-kah), where the mountains sank into insignificant hills,
+and cross there to the Kamchadal village of Lesnoi (less-noi') on the
+Okhotsk Sea. This route was considerably longer than the one by the
+Yolofka pass, but its practicability was much more certain.
+
+After a great many prolonged consultations with sundry natives, who
+were supposed to know something about the country, but who carefully
+avoided responsibility by telling as little as possible, the Major
+concluded to try the Yolofka pass, and ordered canoes to be ready on
+Saturday morning to carry us up the Yolofka River.
+
+At the worst, we could only fail to get over the mountains, and there
+would be time enough then to return to Kluchei, and try the other
+route before the opening of winter.
+
+As soon as we had decided the momentous question of our route, we gave
+ourselves up to the unrestrained enjoyment of the few pleasures
+which the small and sedate village of Kluchei afforded. There was
+no afternoon promenade where we could, as the Russians say, "show
+ourselves and see the people"; nor would an exhibition of our tattered
+and weather-stained garments on a public promenade have been quite the
+proper thing, had it been possible. We must try something else. The
+only places of amusement of which we could hear were the village
+bath-house and the church; and the Major and I started out, late in
+the afternoon, with the intention of "doing" these points of interest
+in the most approved style of modern tourists. For obvious reasons we
+took the bath-house first. Taking a steam-bath was a very mild sort
+of dissipation; and if it were true that "cleanliness was next to
+godliness," the bath-house certainly should precede the church. I had
+often heard Dodd speak of the "black baths" of the Kamchadals; and
+without knowing definitely what he meant, I had a sort of vague
+impression that these "black baths" were taken in some inky fluid of
+Kamchatkan manufacture, which possessed peculiar detersive properties.
+I could think of no other reason than this for calling a bath "black."
+Upon entering the "black bath," however, at Kluchei, I saw my mistake,
+and acknowledged at once the appropriateness of the adjective. Leaving
+our clothes in a little rude entry, which answered the purposes
+without affording any of the conveniences of a dressing-room, we
+stooped to a low fur-clad door and entered the bath-room proper, which
+was certainly dark enough and black enough to justify the gloomiest,
+murkiest adjective in the language. A tallow candle, which was burning
+feebly on the floor, gave just light enough to distinguish the
+outlines of a low, bare apartment, about ten feet square, built
+solidly of unhewn logs, without a single opening for the admission of
+air or light. Every square inch of the walls and ceiling was perfectly
+black with a sooty deposit from the clouds of smoke with which the
+room had been filled in the process of heating. A large pile of
+stones, with a hollow place underneath for a fire, stood in one end
+of the room, and a series of broad steps, which did not seem to lead
+anywhere, occupied the other. As soon as the fire had gone out, the
+chimney-hole had been closed and hermetically sealed, and the pile
+of hot stones was now radiating a fierce dry heat, which made
+_res_piration a painful duty, and _per_spiration an unpleasant
+necessity. The presiding spirit of this dark, infernal place of
+torture soon made his appearance in the shape of a long-haired, naked
+Kamchadal, and proceeded to throw water upon the pile of red-hot
+stones until they hissed like a locomotive, and the candle burned blue
+in the centre of a steamy halo. I thought it was hot before, but
+it was a Siberian winter compared with the temperature which this
+manoeuvre produced. My very bones seemed melting with fervent heat.
+After getting the air of the room as nearly as possible up to 212°,
+the native seized me by the arm, spread me out on the lowest of the
+flight of steps, poured boiling suds over my face and feet with
+reckless impartiality, and proceeded to knead me up, as if he fully
+intended to separate me into my original elements. I will not attempt
+to describe the number, the variety, and the diabolical ingenuity of
+the tortures to which I was subjected during the next twenty minutes.
+I was scrubbed, rolled, pounded, drenched with cold water and scalded
+with hot, beaten with bundles of birch twigs, rubbed down with wads
+of hemp which scraped like brickbats, and finally left to recover my
+breath upon the highest and hottest step of the whole stairway. A
+douse of cold water finally put an end to the ordeal and to my misery;
+and, groping my way out into the entry, I proceeded, with chattering
+teeth, to dress. In a moment I was joined by the Major, and we resumed
+our walk, feeling like disembodied spirits.
+
+Owing to the lateness of the hour, we were compelled to postpone
+indefinitely our visit to the church; but we had been sufficiently
+amused for one day, and returned to the house satisfied, if not
+delighted, with our experience of Kamchatkan black baths.
+
+The evening was spent in questioning the inhabitants of the village
+about the northern part of the peninsula, and the facilities for
+travel among the wandering Koraks; and before nine o'clock we went
+to bed, in order that we might make an early start on the following
+morning.
+
+[Illustration: Wooden Mortar used for grinding Tobacco]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+CANOE TRAVEL ON THE YOLOFKA--VOLCANIC CONVERSATION--"O
+SUSANNA!"--TALKING "AMERICAN"--A DIFFICULT ASCENT
+
+There was a great variety in the different methods of transportation
+which we were compelled to adopt in our journey through Kamchatka; and
+to this fact was attributable perhaps, in a great degree, the sense
+of novelty and freshness which during our three months' travel in
+the peninsula never entirely wore off. We experienced in turn the
+pleasures and discomforts of whale-boats, horses, rafts, canoes,
+dog-sledges, reindeer-sledges, and snow-shoes; and no sooner did we
+begin to tire of the pleasures and ascertain the discomforts of one,
+than we were introduced to another.
+
+At Kluchei we abandoned our rafts, and took Kamchadal log canoes,
+which could be propelled more easily against the rapid current of
+the Yolofka River, which we had now to ascend. The most noticeable
+peculiarity of this species of craft, and a remarkable one it is, is a
+decided and chronic inclination to turn its bottom side upward and its
+upper side bottomward without the slightest apparent provocation.
+I was informed by a reliable authority that a boat capsized on the
+Kamchatka, just previous to our arrival, through the carelessness of a
+Kamchadal in allowing a jack-knife to remain in his right-hand pocket
+without putting something of a corresponding weight into the other;
+and that the Kamchadal fashion of parting the hair in the middle
+originated in attempts to preserve personal equilibrium while
+navigating these canoes. I should have been somewhat inclined to doubt
+these remarkable and not altogether new stories, were it not for the
+reliability and unimpeachable veracity of my informant, Mr. Dodd. The
+seriousness of the subject is a sufficient guarantee that he would not
+trifle with my feelings by making it the pretext for a joke.
+
+We indulged ourselves on Saturday morning in a much later sleep than
+was consistent with our duty, and it was almost eight o'clock before
+we went down to the beach.
+
+Upon first sight of the frail canoes, to which our destinies and
+the interests of the Russian-American Telegraph Company were to
+be intrusted, there was a very general expression of surprise and
+dissatisfaction. One of our party, with the rapid _à priori_ reasoning
+for which he was distinguished, came at once to the conclusion that a
+watery death would be the inevitable termination of a voyage made in
+such vessels, and he evinced a very marked disinclination to embark.
+It is related of a great warrior, whose _Commentaries_ were the
+detestation of my early life, that during a very stormy passage of the
+Ionian Sea he cheered up his sailors with the sublimely egotistical
+assurance that they carried "Caesar and his fortunes"; and that,
+consequently, nothing disastrous could possibly happen to them. The
+Kamchatkan Caesar, however, on this occasion seemed to distrust his
+own fortunes, and the attempts at consolation came from the opposite
+quarter. His boatman did not tell him, "Cheer up, Caesar, a Kamchadal
+and his fortunes are carrying you," but he _did_ assure him that he
+had navigated the river for several years, and had "never been drowned
+_once_." What more could Caesar ask!--After some demur we all took
+seats upon bearskins in the bottoms of the canoes, and pushed off.
+
+All other features of natural scenery in the vicinity of Kluchei sink
+into subordination to the grand central figure of the Kluchefskoi
+volcano, the monarch of Siberian mountains, whose sharp summit, with
+its motionless streamer of golden smoke, can be seen anywhere within a
+radius of a hundred miles. All other neighbouring beauties of scenery
+are merely tributary to this, and are valued only according to their
+capability of relieving and setting forth this magnificent peak, whose
+colossal dimensions rise in one unbroken sweep of snow from the grassy
+valleys of the Kamchatka and Yolofka, which terminate at its base.
+"Heir of the sunset and herald of morning," its lofty crater is
+suffused with a roseate blush long before the morning mists and
+darkness are out of the valleys, and long after the sun has set behind
+the purple mountains of Tigil. At all times, under all circumstances,
+and in all its ever-varying moods, it is the most beautiful mountain I
+have ever seen. Now it lies bathed in the warm sunshine of an Indian
+summer's day, with a few fleecy clouds resting at the snow-line and
+dappling its sides with purple shadows; then it envelops itself in
+dense volumes of black volcanic smoke, and thunders out a hoarse
+warning to the villages at its feet; and finally, toward evening, it
+gathers a mantle of grey mists around its summit, and rolls them
+in convulsed masses down its sides, until it stands in the clear
+atmosphere a colossal pillar of cloud, sixteen thousand feet in
+height, resting upon fifty square miles of shaggy pine forest.
+
+You think nothing can be more beautiful than the delicate tender
+colour, like that of a wild-rose leaf, which tinges its snows as the
+sun sinks in a swirl of red vapours in the west; but "visit it by the
+pale moonlight," when its hood of mist is edged with silver, when
+black shadows gather in its deep ravines and white misty lights gleam
+from its snowy pinnacles, when the host of starry constellations seems
+to circle around its lofty peak, and the tangled silver chain of the
+Pleiades to hang upon one of its rocky spires--then say, if you can,
+that it is more beautiful by daylight.
+
+We entered the Yolofka about noon. This river empties into the
+Kamchatka from the north, twelve versts above Kluchei. Its shores are
+generally low and marshy, and thickly overgrown with rushes and reedy
+grass, which furnish cover for thousands of ducks, geese, and wild
+swans. We reached, before night, a native village called Harchina
+(har'-chin-ah) and sent at once for a celebrated Russian guide by the
+name of Nicolai Bragan (nick-o-lai' brag'-on) whom we hoped to induce
+to accompany us across the mountains.
+
+From Bragan we learned that there had been a heavy fall of snow on
+the mountains during the previous week; but he thought that the warm
+weather of the last three or four days had probably melted most of it
+away, and that the trail would be at least passable. He was willing
+at all events to try to take us across. Relieved of a good deal of
+anxiety, we left Harchina early on the morning of the 17th, and
+resumed our ascent of the river. On account of the rapidity of the
+current in the main stream, we turned aside into one of the many
+"protoks" (pro-tokes') or arms into which the river was here divided,
+and poled slowly up for four hours. The channel was very winding and
+narrow, so that one could touch with a paddle the bank on either
+side, and in many places the birches and willows met over the stream,
+dropping yellow leaves upon our heads as we passed underneath. Here
+and there long scraggy tree-trunks hung over the bank into the water,
+logs green with moss thrust their ends up from the depths of the
+stream, and more than once we seemed about to come to a stop in the
+midst of an impassable swamp. Nicolai Alexandrovich, our guide, whose
+canoe preceded ours, sang for our entertainment some of the monotonous
+melancholy songs of the Kamchadals, and Dodd and I in turn made
+the woods ring with the enlivening strains of "Kingdom Coming" and
+"Upidee." When we tired of music we made an amicable adjustment of our
+respective legs in the narrow canoe, and lying back upon our bearskins
+slept soundly, undisturbed by the splash of the water and the scraping
+of poles at our very ears. We camped that night on a high sandy beach
+over the water, ten or twelve miles south of Yolofka.
+
+It was a warm still evening, and as we all sat on our bearskins around
+the camp-fire, smoking and talking over the day's adventures, our
+attention was suddenly attracted by a low rumbling, like distant
+thunder, accompanied by occasional explosions. "What's that?" demanded
+the Major quickly. "That," said Nicolai soberly, as he emptied his
+lungs of smoke, "is the Kluchefskoi volcano talking to the peak of
+Suveilich" (soo-veil'-itch). "Nothing private in the conversation, I
+suppose," observed Dodd dryly; "he shouts it out loud enough."
+The reverberations continued for several minutes, but the peak of
+Suveilich made no response. That unfortunate mountain had recklessly
+expended its volcanic energies in early life, and was now left without
+a voice to answer the thundering shouts of its mighty comrade. There
+was a time when volcanoes were as numerous in Kamchatka as knights
+around the table of King Arthur, and the peninsula trembled to the
+thunder of their shoutings and midnight jollity; but one after
+another they had been suffocated with the fiery streams of their own
+eloquence, until at last Kluchefskoi was left alone, calling to its
+old companions throughout the silent hours of long winter nights, but
+hearing no response save the faint far-away echoes of its own mighty
+voice.
+
+I was waked early on the following morning by the jubilant music of
+"Oh, Su-_san'_-na-a-a, don't ye cry for me!" and crawling out of the
+tent I surprised one of our native boatmen in the very act of drumming
+on a frying-pan and yelling out joyously:
+
+  "Litenin' struck de telegraf,
+  Killed two thousand niggers;
+  Shut my eyes to hole my breff,
+  Su-_san'_-na-a-a, don't ye cry!"
+
+A comical skin-clad native, in the heart of Kamchatka, playing on a
+frying-pan and singing, "Oh, Susanna!" like an arctic negro minstrel,
+was too much for my gravity, and I burst into a fit of laughter,
+which, soon brought out Dodd. The musician, who had supposed that he
+was exercising his vocal organs unheard, stopped suddenly, and looked
+sheepishly around, as if conscious that he had been making himself
+ridiculous in some way, but did not know exactly how.
+
+"Why, Andrei," said Dodd, "I didn't know you could sing in English."
+
+"I can't, Barin," was the reply; "but I can sing a little in
+_American_."
+
+Dodd and I went off in another roar of laughter, which puzzled poor
+Andrei more and more.
+
+"Where did you learn?" Dodd asked.
+
+"The sailors of a whaling-ship learned it to me when I was in
+Petropavlovsk, two years ago; isn't it a good song?" he said,
+evidently fearing that there might be something improper in the
+sentiment.
+
+"It's a capital song," Dodd replied reassuringly; "do you know any
+more American words?"
+
+"Oh yes, your honour!" (proudly) "I know 'dam yerize,' 'by 'm bye
+tomorry,' 'no savey John,' and 'goaty hell,' but I don't know what
+they all mean."
+
+It was evident that he didn't! His American education was of limited
+extent and doubtful utility; but not even Cardinal Mezzofanti himself
+could have been more proud of his forty languages than poor Andrei
+was of "dam yerize" and "goaty hell." If ever he reached America, the
+blessed land that he saw in his happier dreams, these questionable
+phrases would be his passports to the first society.
+
+While we had been talking with Andrei, Viushin had built a fire and
+prepared breakfast, and just as the sun peered into the valley we sat
+down on bearskins around our little candle-box and ate some "selánka,"
+or sour soup, upon which Viushin particularly prided himself, and
+drank tumbler after tumbler of steaming tea. _Selánka_, hardtack, and
+tea, with an occasional duck roasted before the fire on a sharp stick,
+made up our bill of fare while camping out. Only in the settlements
+did we enjoy such luxuries as milk, butter, fresh bread, preserved
+rose-petals, and fish pies.
+
+Taking our places again in the canoes after breakfast, we poled on
+up the river, shooting occasionally at flying ducks and swans, and
+picking as we passed long branches full of wild cherries which drooped
+low over the water. About noon we left the canoes to go around a
+long bend in the river, and started on foot with a native guide for
+Yolofka. The grass in the river bottom and on the plains was much
+higher than our waists, and walking through it was very fatiguing
+exercise; but we succeeded in reaching the village about one o'clock,
+long before our canoes came in sight.
+
+Yolofka, a small Kamchadal settlement of half a dozen houses, is
+situated among the foot-hills of the great central Kamchatkan range,
+immediately below the pass which bears its name, and on the direct
+route to Tigil and the west coast. It is the head of canoe navigation
+on the Yolofka River, and the starting-point for parties intending to
+cross the mountains. Anticipating difficulty in getting horses enough
+for our use at this small village, the Major had sent eight or ten
+overland from Kluchei, and we found them there awaiting our arrival.
+
+Nearly the whole afternoon was spent in packing the horses and getting
+ready for a start, and we camped for the night beside a cold mountain
+spring only a few versts away from the Village. The weather, hitherto,
+had been clear and warm, but it clouded up during the night, and we
+began the ascent of the mountains Tuesday morning the 19th, in a
+cold, driving rain-storm from the north-west. The road, if a wretched
+foot-path ten inches wide can be said in any metaphorical sense to
+_be_ a road, was simply execrable. It followed the track of a swollen
+mountain torrent, which had its rise in the melting snows of the
+summit, and tumbled in roaring cascades down a narrow, dark,
+precipitous ravine. The path ran along the edge of this stream, first
+on one side, then on the other, and then in the water, around enormous
+masses of volcanic rock, over steep lava slopes, where the water ran
+like a mill-race through dense entangling thickets of trailing pine,
+into ragged heaps of fallen tree-trunks, and along narrow ledges of
+rock where it would be thought that a mountain sheep could hardly
+pass. I would guarantee, with twenty men, to hold that ravine against
+the combined armies of Europe! Our packhorses rolled down steep banks
+into the stream, tore their loads off against tree-trunks, stumbled,
+cut their legs in falling over broken volcanic rocks, took flying
+leaps across narrow chasms of roaring water, and performed feats which
+would have been utterly beyond the strength and endurance of any but
+Kamchatkan horses. Finally, in attempting to leap a distance of eight
+or ten feet across the torrent, I was thrown violently from the
+saddle, and my left foot caught firmly, just above the instep, in the
+small iron stirrup. The horse scrambled up the other side and started
+at a frightened gallop up the ravine, dragging my body over the ground
+by one leg. I remember making a desperate effort to protect my head,
+by raising myself upon my elbows, but the horse kicked me suddenly in
+the side, and I knew nothing more until I found myself lying upon the
+ground with my foot still entangled in the broken stirrup, while the
+horse galloped away up the ravine. The giving way of a single strap
+had saved my skull from being crushed like an egg-shell against the
+jagged rocks. I was badly bruised and very faint and dizzy, but no
+bones seemed to be broken, and I got up without assistance. Thus far
+the Major had kept his quick temper under strong control; but this was
+too much, and he hurled the most furious invectives at poor Nicolai
+for leading us over the mountains by such a horrible pass, and
+threatened him with the direst punishment when we should reach Tigil.
+It was of no use for Nicolai to urge in self-defence that there _was_
+no other pass; it was his business to _find_ another, and not imperil
+men's lives by leading them into a God-forsaken ravine like this,
+choked up with landslides, fallen trees, water, lava, and masses of
+volcanic rock! If anything happened to any member of our party in this
+cursed gorge, the Major swore he would shoot Nicolai on the spot! Pale
+and trembling with fright, the poor guide caught my horse, mended my
+stirrup strap, and started on ahead to show that he was not afraid to
+go where he asked us to follow.
+
+I believe we must have jumped our horses across that mountain torrent
+fifty times in an ascent of 2000 feet, to avoid the rocks and
+landslides which appeared first on one side and then on the other.
+One of our packhorses had given out entirely, and several others were
+nearly disabled, when, late in the afternoon, we finally reached the
+summit of the mountains, 4000 feet above the sea. Before us, half
+hidden by grey storm-clouds and driving mist, lay a great expanse of
+level table-land, covered to a depth of eighteen inches with a soft
+dense cushion of arctic moss, and holding water like an enormous
+sponge. Not a tree nor a landmark of any kind could be seen--nothing
+but moss and flying scud. A cold piercing wind from the north swept
+chilly storm-clouds across the desolate mountain top, and drove tiny
+particles of half-frozen rain into our faces with blinding, stinging
+force. Drenched to the skin by eight or nine hours' exposure to the
+storm, tired and weak from long climbing, with boots full of icy
+water, and hands numb and stiff from cold, we stopped for a moment
+to rest our horses and decide upon our course. Brandy was dealt out
+freely to all our men in the cover of a tin pail, but its stimulating
+influence was so counteracted by cold that it was hardly perceptible.
+The poor _starosta_ of Yolofka, with dripping clothes, blue lips,
+chattering teeth, and black hair plastered over his white cheeks,
+seemed upon the point of giving out. He caught eagerly at the
+pail-cover full of brandy which the Major handed to him, but every
+limb was shaking spasmodically, and he spilled most of it in getting
+it to his mouth.
+
+Fearing that darkness would overtake us before we could reach shelter,
+we started on toward a deserted, half-ruined "yurt" (yoort) [Footnote:
+A Mongolian name for a portable or permanent house-like shelter, made
+of logs, skins, or felt.] which Nicolai said stood near the western
+edge of this elevated plateau, about eight versts distant. Our horses
+sank to the knee at every step in the soft, spongy cushion of wet
+moss, so that we could travel no faster than a slow walk, and the
+short distance of eight versts seemed to be interminable. After four
+more dreary hours, spent in wandering about through grey drifting
+clouds, exposed to a bitter north-west wind, and a temperature of just
+32°, we finally arrived in a half-frozen condition at the _yurt_. It
+was a low, empty hut, nearly square in shape, built of variously sized
+logs, and banked over with two or three feet of moss and grass-grown
+earth, so as to resemble an outdoor cellar. Half of one side had been
+torn down by storm-besieged travellers for firewood; its earthen floor
+was dank and wet with slimy tricklings from its leaky roof; the wind
+and rain drove with a mournful howl down through its chimney-hole;
+its door was gone, and it presented altogether a dismal picture of
+neglected dilapidation. Nothing daunted, Viushin tore down another
+section of the ruined side to make a fire, hung over teakettles, and
+brought our provision boxes under such shelter as the miserable hut
+afforded. I never could ascertain where Viushin obtained the water
+that night for our tea, as there was no available stream within ten
+miles, and the drippings of the roof were thick and discoloured with
+mud. I have more than a suspicion, however, that he squeezed it out
+of bunches of moss which he tore up from the soaking _tundra_
+(toon'-drah). Dodd and I took off our boots, poured about a pint of
+muddy water out of each, dried our feet, and, as the steam rose in
+clouds from our wet clothes, began to feel quite comfortable.
+
+Viushin was in high good humour. He had voluntarily assumed the whole
+charge of our drivers during the day, had distinguished himself by
+most unwearied efforts in raising fallen horses, getting them over
+breakneck places, and cheering up the disconsolate Kamchadals, and
+he now wrung the water out of his shirt, and squeezed his wet hair
+absent-mindedly into a kettle of soup, with a countenance of such
+beaming serenity and a laugh of such hearty good-nature that it was
+of no use for anybody to pretend to be cross, tired, cold, or hungry.
+With that sunny face irradiating the smoky atmosphere of the ruined
+_yurt_, and that laugh ringing joyously in our ears, we made fun of
+our misery and persuaded ourselves that we were having a good time.
+After a scanty supper of _selánka_, dried fish, hardtack, and tea,
+we stretched our tired bodies out in the shallowest puddles we could
+find, covered ourselves with blankets, overcoats, oilcloths, and
+bearskins, and succeeded, in spite of our wet clothes and wetter beds,
+in getting to sleep.
+
+[Illustration: Horn Spoon]
+
+[Illustration: Drinking Vessel made of horn]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+A DISMAL NIGHT--CROSSING THE KAMCHATKAN DIVIDE--ANOTHER BEAR
+HUNT--BREAKNECK RIDING--TIGIL--STEPPES OF NORTHERN KAMCHATKA
+
+I awoke about midnight with cold feet and shivering limbs. The fire on
+the wet muddy ground had died away to a few smouldering embers, which
+threw a red glow over the black, smoky logs, and sent occasional
+gleams of flickering light into the dark recesses of the _yurt_.
+The wind howled mournfully around the hut, and the rain beat with
+intermittent dashes against the logs and trickled through a hundred
+crevices upon my already water-soaked blankets. I raised myself upon
+one elbow and looked around. The hut was deserted, and I was alone.
+For a moment of half-awakened consciousness I could not imagine
+where I was, or how I came in such a strange, gloomy situation; but
+presently the recollection of the previous day's ride came back and I
+went to the door to see what had become of all our party. I found that
+the Major and Dodd, with all the Kamchadals, had pitched tents upon
+the spongy moss outside, and were spending the night there, instead of
+remaining in the _yurt_ and having their clothes and blankets spoiled
+by the muddy droppings of its leaky roof. The tents were questionable
+improvements; but I agreed with them in preferring clean water to mud,
+and gathering up my bedding I crawled in by the side of Dodd. The wind
+blew the tent down once during the night, and left us exposed for a
+few moments to the storm; but it was repitched in defiance of the
+wind, ballasted with logs torn from the sides of the _yurt_, and we
+managed to sleep after a fashion until morning.
+
+We were a melancholy-looking party when we emerged from the tent at
+daylight. Dodd looked ruefully at his wet blankets, made a comical
+grimace as he felt of his water-soaked clothes, and then declared that
+
+  "The weather was not what he knew it once--
+  The nights were terribly damp;
+  And he never was free from the rheumatiz
+  Except when he had the cramp!"
+
+In which poetical lament we all heartily sympathised if we did not
+join.
+
+Our wet, low-spirited horses were saddled at daylight; and as the
+storm showed signs of a disposition to break away, we started again,
+immediately after breakfast, for the western edge of the high
+table-land which here formed the summit of the mountain range. The
+scenery from this point in clear weather must be magnificent, as it
+overlooks the Tigil Valley and the Okhotsk Sea on one side, and the
+Pacific Ocean, the valleys of the Yolofka and the Kamchatka, and the
+grand peaks of Suveilich and Kluchefskoi on the other. We caught
+occasional glimpses, through openings in the mist, of the Yolofka
+River, thousands of feet below, and the smoke-plumed head of the
+distant volcano, floating in a great sea of bluish clouds; but a new
+detachment of straggling vapours from the Okhotsk Sea came drifting
+across the mountain-top, and breaking furiously in our faces, blotted
+out everything except the mossy ground, over which plodded our tired,
+dispirited horses.
+
+It did not seem possible that human beings could live, or would care
+to live, on this desolate plain of moss, 4000 feet above the sea,
+enveloped half the time in drifting clouds, and swept by frequent
+storms of rain and snow. But even here the Wandering Koraks herd their
+hardy reindeer, set up their smoky tent-poles, and bid contemptuous
+defiance to the elements. Three or four times during the day we passed
+heaps of reindeer's antlers, and piles of ashes surrounded by large
+circles of evergreen twigs, which marked the sites of Korak tents; but
+the band of wild nomads which had left these traces had long before
+disappeared, and was now perhaps herding its deer on the wind-swept
+shores of the Arctic Ocean.
+
+Owing to the dense mist in which we were constantly enveloped we could
+get no clear ideas as to the formation of the mountain range over
+which we were passing, or the extent and nature of this great plain of
+moss which lay so high up among extinct volcanic peaks. I only know
+that just before noon we left the _tundra_, as this kind of moss
+steppe is called, and descended gradually into a region of the
+wildest, rockiest character, where all vegetation disappeared except
+a few stunted patches of trailing-pine. For at least ten miles the
+ground was covered everywhere with loose slab-shaped masses of igneous
+rock, varying in size from five cubic feet to five hundred, and lying
+one upon another in the greatest disorder. The heavens at some
+unknown geological period seemed to have showered down huge volcanic
+paving-stones, until the earth was covered fifty feet deep with their
+broken fragments. Nearly all of these masses had two smooth flat
+sides, and resembled irregular slices of some black Plutonian pudding
+hardened into stone. I was not familiar enough with volcanic phenomena
+to be able to decide in what manner or by what agency the earth had
+been thus overwhelmed with loose rocky slabs; but it looked precisely
+as if great sheets of solidified lava had fallen successively from the
+sky, and had been shattered, as they struck the earth, into millions
+of angular slabs. I thought of Scott's description of the place where
+Bruce and the Lord of the Isles landed after leaving the Castle of
+Lorn, as the only one I had ever read which gave me an idea of such a
+scene.
+
+We drank tea at noon on the west side of this rocky wilderness, and
+before night reached a spot where bushes, grass, and berries again
+made their appearance. We camped in a storm of wind and rain, and at
+daybreak on the 21st continued our descent of the western slope of the
+mountains. Early in the forenoon we were inspirited by the sight of
+fresh men and horses which had been sent out to meet us from a native
+village called Sidanka (see-dahn'-kah), and exchanging our tired,
+lame, and disheartened animals for these fresh recruits, we pushed
+rapidly on. The weather soon cleared up warm and bright, the trail
+wound around among the rolling foot-hills through groves of yellow
+birch and scarlet mountain ash, and as the sun gradually dried our
+water-soaked clothes, and brought a pleasant glow of returning
+circulation to our chilled limbs, we forgot the rain and dreary
+desolation of the mountain-top and recovered our usual buoyancy of
+spirit.
+
+I have once before, I believe, given the history of a bear hunt in
+which our party participated while crossing the Kamchatka _tundra_;
+but as that was a mere skirmish, which did not reflect any great
+credit upon the individuals concerned, I am tempted to relate one
+more bear adventure which befell us among the foot-hills of the Tigil
+mountains. It shall be positively the last.
+
+Ye who listen with credulity to the stories of hunters, and pursue
+with eagerness the traces of bears; who expect that courage will
+rise with the emergency and that the deficiencies of bravery will
+be supplied by the tightness of the fix, attend to the history of
+Rasselas, an inexperienced bear-slayer. About noon, as we were making
+our way along the edge of a narrow grassy valley, bordered by a dense
+forest of birch, larch, and pine, one of our drivers suddenly raised
+the cry of _medveid_, and pointed eagerly down the valley to a large
+black bear rambling carelessly through the long grass in search of
+blueberries, and approaching gradually nearer and nearer to our side
+of the ravine. He evidently had not yet seen us, and a party to attack
+him was soon made up of two Kamchadals, the Major, and myself, all
+armed to the teeth with rifles, axes, revolvers, and knives. Creeping
+cautiously around through the timber, we succeeded in gaining
+unobserved a favourable position at the edge of the woods directly in
+front of his Bruinic majesty, and calmly awaited his approach. Intent
+upon making a meal of blueberries, and entirely unconscious of his
+impending fate, he waddled slowly and awkwardly up to within fifty
+yards. The Karnchadals kneeled down, threw forward their long heavy
+rifles, fixed their sharp-pronged rests firmly in the ground, crossed
+themselves devoutly three times, drew a long breath, took a deadly and
+deliberate aim, shut their eyes, and fired. The silence was broken by
+a long fizzle, during which the Kamchadals conscientiously kept their
+eyes shut, and finally a terrific bang announced the catastrophe,
+followed immediately by two more sharp reports from the rifles of the
+Major and myself. As the smoke cleared away I looked eagerly to see
+the brute kicking around in the agonies of death; but what was my
+amazement to find that instead of kicking around in the agonies of
+death, as a beast with any sense of propriety _would_ after such a
+fusillade, the perverse animal was making directly for us at a gallop!
+Here was a variation introduced that was not down in the programme! We
+had made no calculations upon a counter-attack, and the ferocity of
+his appearance, as he came tearing through the bushes, left no room
+for doubt as to the seriousness of his intentions. I tried to think of
+some historic precedent which would justify me in climbing a tree; but
+my mind was in a state of such agitation that I could not avail myself
+of my extensive historical knowledge. "A man may know the seven
+portions of the Koran by heart, but when a bear gets after him he will
+not be able to remember his alphabet!" What we should have done in the
+last extremity will never be known. A shot from the Major's revolver
+seemed to alter the bear's original plan of operations, and, swerving
+suddenly to one side, he crashed through the bushes ten feet from the
+muzzles of our empty rifles, and disappeared in the forest. A careful
+examination of the leaves and grass failed to reveal any signs of
+blood, and we were reluctantly forced to the conclusion that he
+escaped unscathed.
+
+Hunting a bear with a Russian rifle is a very pleasant and entirely
+harmless diversion. The animal has plenty of time, after the gun
+begins to fizzle, to eat a hearty dinner of blueberries, run fifteen
+miles across a range of mountains into a neighbouring province, and
+get comfortably asleep in his hole before the deadly explosion takes
+place!
+
+It would have been unsafe for any one to suggest "bear steaks" to the
+Major or me at any time during the succeeding week.
+
+We camped for the night under the huge spreading branches of a gnarled
+birch, a few versts from the scene of our exploit, and early Friday
+morning were off for Sidanka. When about fifteen versts from the
+village Dodd suggested a gallop, to try the mettle of our horses and
+warm our blood. As we were both well mounted, I challenged him to a
+steeplechase as far as the settlement. Of all the reckless breakneck
+riding that we ever did in Kamchatka, this was the worst. The horses
+soon became as excited as their riders, and tore through the bushes
+and leaped over ravines, logs, rocks, and swamps with a perfect
+frenzy. Once I was dragged from my saddle by the catching of my rifle
+against a limb, and several times we both narrowly escaped knocking
+our brains out against trees. As we approached the town we saw three
+or four Kamchadals cutting wood a short distance ahead. Dodd gave a
+terrifying shout like a Sioux war-whoop, put spurs to his horse, and
+we came upon them like a thunderbolt. At the sight of two swarthy
+strangers in blue hunting-shirts, top-boots, and red caps, with
+pistols belted around their waists, and knives dangling at their
+girdles, charging down upon them like Mamelukes at the battle of the
+Pyramids, the poor Kamchadals flung away their axes and fled for their
+lives to the woods. Except when I was dragged off my horse, we never
+once drew rein until our animals stood panting and foaming in the
+village. If you wish to draw a flash of excitement from Dodd's eyes,
+ask him if he remembers the steeplechase to Sidanka.
+
+That night we floated down the Tigil River to Tigil, where we arrived
+just at dark, having accomplished in sixteen days a journey of eleven
+hundred and thirty versts.
+
+My recollections of Tigil are somewhat vague and indefinite. I
+remember that I was impressed with the inordinate quantities of
+champagne, cherry cordial, white rum, and "vodka" which its Russian
+inhabitants were capable of drinking, and thought that Tigil was a
+somewhat less ugly village than the generality of Kamchatkan towns,
+but nothing more. Next to Petropavlovsk, however, it is the most
+important settlement in the peninsula, and is the trading centre of
+the whole western coast. A Russian supply steamer and an American
+trading vessel touch at the mouth of the Tigil River every summer,
+and leave large quantities of rye flour, tea, sugar, cloth, copper
+kettles, tobacco, and strong Russian vodka, for distribution through
+the peninsula. The Brágans, Vorrebeoffs (vor-re-be-offs'), and two or
+three other trading firms make it headquarters, and it is the winter
+rendezvous of many of the northern tribes of Chukchis and Koraks. As
+we should pass no other trading post until we reached the settlement
+of Gizhiga (gee'-zhee-gah'), at the head of the Okhotsk Sea, we
+determined to remain a few days at Tigil to rest and refit.
+
+We were now about to enter upon what we feared would prove the most
+difficult part of our journey--both on account of the nature of the
+country and the lateness of the season. Only seven more Kamchadal
+towns lay between us and the steppes of the Wandering Koraks, and
+we had not yet been able to think of any plan of crossing these
+inhospitable wastes before the winter's snows should make them
+passable on reindeer-sledges. It is difficult for one who has had no
+experience of northern life to get from a mere verbal description
+a clear idea of a Siberian moss steppe, or to appreciate fully the
+nature and extent of the obstacles which it presents to summer travel.
+It is by no means easy to cross, even in winter, when it is frozen and
+covered with snow; but in summer it becomes practically impassable.
+For three or four hundred square miles the eternally frozen ground is
+covered to a depth of two feet with a dense luxuriant growth of soft,
+spongy arctic moss, saturated with water, and sprinkled here and there
+with little hillocks of stunted blueberry bushes and clusters of
+labrador tea. It never dries up, never becomes hard enough to afford
+stable footing. Prom June to September it is a great, soft, quaking
+cushion of wet moss. The foot may sink in it to the knee, but as soon
+as the pressure is removed it rises again with spongy elasticity,
+and no trace is left of the step. Walking over it is precisely like
+walking over an enormous wet sponge. The causes which produce this
+extraordinary, and apparently abnormal, growth of moss are those
+which exercise the most powerful influence over the development of
+vegetation everywhere,--viz., heat, light, and moisture,--and these
+agencies, in a northern climate, are so combined and intensified
+during the summer months as to stimulate some kinds of vegetation
+into almost tropical luxuriance. The earth thaws out in spring to an
+average depth of perhaps two feet, and below that point there is a
+thick, impenetrable layer of solid frost. The water produced by the
+melting of the winter's snows is prevented by this stratum of frozen
+ground from sinking any farther into the earth, and has no escape
+except by slow evaporation. It therefore saturates the cushion of moss
+on the surface, and, aided by the almost perpetual sunlight of June
+and July, excites it to a rapid and wonderfully luxuriant growth.
+
+It will readily be seen that travel in summer, over a great steppe
+covered with soft elastic moss, and soaking with water, is a very
+difficult if not absolutely impracticable undertaking. A horse sinks
+to his knees in the spongy surface at every step, and soon becomes
+exhausted by the severe exertion which such walking necessitates. We
+had had an example of such travel upon the summit of the Yolofka pass,
+and it was not strange that we should look forward with considerable
+anxiety to crossing the great moss steppes of the Koraks in the
+northern part of the peninsula. It would have been wiser, perhaps, for
+us to wait patiently at Tigil until the establishment of winter travel
+upon dog-sledges; but the Major feared that the chief engineer of the
+enterprise might have landed a party of men in the dangerous region
+around Bering Strait, and he was anxious to get where he could find
+out something about it as soon as possible. He determined, therefore,
+to push on at all hazards to the frontier of the Korak steppes, and
+then cross them on horses, if possible.
+
+A whale-boat was purchased at Tigil, and forwarded with a native crew
+to Lesnoi, so that in case we failed to get over the Korak steppes we
+might cross the head of the Okhotsk Sea to Gizhiga by water before the
+setting in of winter. Provisions, trading-goods, and fur clothes of
+all sorts were purchased and packed away in skin boxes, and every
+preparation made which our previous experience could suggest for rough
+life and bad weather.
+
+[Illustration: Drill]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+OKHOTSK SEACOAST--LESNOI--THE "DEVIL'S PASS"--LOST IN
+SNOW-STORM--SAVED BY BRASS BOX--WILD SCENE
+
+On Wednesday, September 27th, we again took the field, with two
+Cossacks, a Korak interpreter, eight or ten men, and fourteen horses.
+A little snow fell on the day previous to our departure, but it did
+not materially affect the road, and only served as a warning to us
+that winter was at hand, and we should not expect much more pleasant
+weather. We made our way as rapidly as possible along the coast of the
+Okhotsk Sea, partly on the beach under the cliffs, and partly over low
+wooded hills and valleys, extending down to the coast from the central
+mountain range. We passed the settlements of Amanina (ah-man'-in-ah),
+Vaempolka (vah-yem'-pol-kah), Kakhtana (kakh'-tan-ah'), and Polan
+(po-lahn'), changing horses and men at every village and finally, on
+the 3d of October, reached Lesnoi--the last Kamchadal settlement in
+the peninsula. Lesnoi was situated, as nearly as we could ascertain,
+in lat. 59° 20', long. 160° 25', about a hundred and fifty versts
+south of the Korak steppes, and nearly two hundred miles in an air
+line from the settlement of Gizhiga, which for the present was our
+objective point.
+
+We had hitherto experienced little difficulty in making our way
+through the peninsula, as we had been especially favoured by weather,
+and there had been few natural obstacles to stop or delay our
+progress. Now, however, we were about to enter a wilderness which was
+entirely uninhabited, and little known even to our Kamchadal guides.
+North of Lesnoi the great central range of the Kamchatka mountains
+broke off abruptly into the Okhotsk Sea, in a long line of tremendous
+precipices, and interposed a great rugged wall between us and the
+steppes of the Wandering Koraks. This mountain range was very
+difficult to pass with horses, even in midsummer, and was of course
+infinitely worse now, when the mountain streams were swollen by the
+fall rains into foaming torrents, and the storms which herald the
+approach of winter might be at any moment expected. The Kamchadals at
+Lesnoi declared positively that it was of no use to attempt to cross
+this range until the rivers should freeze over and snow enough fall to
+permit the use of dog-sledges, and that they were not willing to risk
+fifteen or twenty horses, to say nothing of their own lives, in any
+such adventure. The Major told them, in language more expressive than
+polite, that he didn't believe a word of any such yarn; that the
+mountains had to be crossed, and that go they must and should. They
+had evidently never had to deal before with any such determined,
+self-willed individual as the Major proved to be, and, after some
+consultation among themselves, they agreed to make the attempt with
+eight unloaded horses, leaving all our baggage and heavy equipage
+at Lesnoi. This the Major at first would not listen to; but after
+thinking the situation over he decided to divide our small force
+into two parties--one to go around the mountains by water with the
+whale-boat and heavy baggage, and one over them with twenty unloaded
+horses. The road over the mountains was supposed to lie near the
+seacoast, so that the land party would be most of the time within
+signalling distance of the whale-boat, and in case either party
+met with any accident or found its progress stopped by unforeseen
+obstacles the other could come to its assistance. Near the middle of
+the mountainous tract, just west of the principal ridge, there was
+said to be a small river called the Samanka (sa-mahn'-kah), and the
+mouth of this river was agreed upon as a rendezvous for the two
+parties in case they lost sight of each other during storms or foggy
+weather. The Major decided to go with Dodd in the whale-boat, and gave
+me command of the land party, consisting of our best Cossack, Viushin,
+six Kamchadals, and twenty light horses. Flags were made, a code of
+signals was agreed upon, the heavy baggage was transferred to the
+whale-boat and a large sealskin canoe, and early on the morning of
+October 4th I bade the Major and Dodd good-bye at the beach, and they
+pushed off. We started up our train of horses as the boats disappeared
+around a projecting bluff, and cantered away briskly across the
+valley toward a gap in the mountains, through which we entered the
+"wilderness." The road for the first ten or fifteen versts was very
+good; but I was surprised to find that, instead of leading us along
+the seashore, it went directly back into the mountains away from the
+sea, and I began to fear that our arrangements for cooperation would
+be of little avail. Thinking that the whale-boat would not probably
+get far the first day under oars and without wind, we encamped early
+in a narrow valley between two parallel ranges of mountains. I tried,
+by climbing a low mountain back of our tent, to get a sight of the
+sea; but we were at least fifteen versts from the coast, and the view
+was limited by an intervening range of rugged peaks, many of which
+reach the altitude of perpetual snow. It was rather lonely to camp
+that night without seeing Dodd's cheerful face by the fireside, and
+I missed more than I thought I should the lively sallies, comical
+stories and good-humoured pleasantry which had hitherto brightened
+the long hours of camp life. If Dodd could have read my thoughts that
+evening, as I sat in solitary majesty by the fireside, he would have
+been satisfied that his society was not unappreciated, nor his absence
+unfelt. Viushin took especial pains with the preparation of my supper,
+and did the best he could, poor fellow, to enliven the solitary meal
+with stories and funny reminiscences of Kamchatkan travel; but the
+venison cutlets had lost somehow their usual savour, and the Russian
+jokes and stories I could not understand. After supper I lay down upon
+my bearskins in the tent, and fell asleep watching the round moon rise
+over a ragged volcanic peak east of the valley.
+
+On the second day we travelled through a narrow tortuous valley among
+the mountains, over spongy swamps of moss, and across deep narrow
+creeks, until we reached a ruined subterranean hut nearly half way
+from Lesnoi to the Samanka River. Here we ate a lunch of dried fish
+and hardbread, and started again up the valley in a heavy rain-storm,
+surrounded on all sides by rocks, snow-capped mountains, and extinct
+volcanic peaks. The road momentarily grew worse. The valley narrowed
+gradually to a wild rocky cañon, a hundred and fifty feet in depth,
+at the bottom of which ran a swollen mountain torrent, foaming around
+sharp black rocks, and falling over ledges of lava in magnificent
+cascades. Along the black precipitous sides of this "Devil's Pass"
+there did not seem to be footing for a chamois; but our guide said
+that he had been through it many times before, and dismounting from
+his horse he cautiously led the way along a narrow rocky ledge in
+the face of the cliff which I had not before noticed. Over this we
+carefully made our way, now descending nearly to the water's edge, and
+then rising again until the roaring stream was fifty feet below, and
+we could drop stones from our outstretched arms directly into the
+boiling, foaming waters. Presuming too much upon the sagacity of a
+sure-footed horse, I carelessly attempted the passage of the ravine
+without dismounting, and came near paying the penalty of my rashness
+by a violent death. About half way through, where the trail was only
+eight or ten feet above the bed of the torrent, the ledge, or a
+portion of it, gave way under my horse's feet, and we went down
+together in a struggling mass upon the rocks in the channel of the
+stream. I had taken the precaution to disengage my feet from the
+treacherous iron stirrups, and as we fell I threw myself toward the
+face of the cliff so as to avoid being crushed by my horse. The fall
+was not a very long one, and I came down uppermost, but narrowly
+escaped having my head broken by my animal's hoofs as he struggled to
+regain his feet. He was somewhat cut and bruised, but not seriously
+hurt, and tightening the saddle-girth I waded along through the
+water, leading him after me until I was able to regain the path. Then
+climbing into the saddle again, with dripping clothes and somewhat
+shaken nerves, I rode on.
+
+Just before dark we reached a point where further progress in that
+direction seemed to be absolutely cut off by a range of high mountains
+which ran directly across the valley. It was the central ridge of the
+Samanka Mountains. I looked around with a glance of inquiring surprise
+at the guide, who pointed directly over the range, and said that
+there lay our road. A forest of birch extended about half way up
+the mountain side, and was succeeded by low evergreen bushes,
+trailing-pine, and finally by bare black rocks rising high over all,
+where not even the hardy reindeer-moss could find soil enough to bury
+its roots. I no longer wondered at the positive declaration of the
+Kamchadals, that with loaded horses it would be impossible to cross,
+and began to doubt whether it could be done even with light horses. It
+looked very dubious to me, accustomed as I was to rough climbing and
+mountain roads. I decided to camp at once where we were, and obtain as
+much rest as possible, so that we and our horses would be fresh for
+the hard day's work which evidently lay before us. Night closed in
+early and gloomily, the rain still falling in torrents, so that we
+had no opportunity of drying our wet clothes. I longed for a drink
+of brandy to warm my chilled blood, but my pocket flask had been
+forgotten in the hurry of our departure from Lesnoi, and I was obliged
+to content myself with the milder stimulus of hot tea. My bedding,
+having been wrapped up in an oilcloth blanket, was fortunately dry,
+and crawling feet first, wet as I was, into my bearskin bag, and
+covering up warmly with heavy blankets, I slept in comparative
+comfort.
+
+Viushin waked me early in the morning with the announcement that it
+was snowing. I rose hastily and putting aside the canvas of the
+tent looked out. That which I most dreaded had happened. A driving
+snowstorm was sweeping down the valley, and Nature had assumed
+suddenly the stern aspect and white pitiless garb of winter. Snow had
+already fallen to a depth of three inches in the valley, and on the
+mountains, of course, it would be deep, soft, and drifted. I hesitated
+for a moment about attempting to cross the rugged range in such
+weather; but my orders were imperative to go on at least to the
+Samanka River, and a failure to do so might defeat the object of the
+whole expedition. Previous experience convinced me that the Major
+would not let a storm interfere with the execution of his plans; and
+if he should succeed in reaching the Samanka River and I should not, I
+never could recover from the mortification of the failure, nor be able
+to convince him that Anglo-Saxon blood was as good as Slavonic. I
+reluctantly gave the order therefore to break camp, and as soon as the
+horses could be collected and saddled we started for the base of the
+mountain range. Hardly had we ascended two hundred feet out of the
+shelter of the valley before we were met by a hurricane of wind from
+the northeast, which swept blinding, suffocating clouds of snow down
+the slope into our faces until earth and sky seemed mingled and lost
+in a great white whirling mist. The ascent soon became so steep and
+rocky that we could no longer ride our horses up it. We therefore
+dismounted, and wading laboriously through deep soft drifts, and
+climbing painfully over sharp jagged rocks, which cut open our
+sealskin boots, we dragged our horses slowly upward. We had ascended
+wearily in this way perhaps a thousand feet, when I became so
+exhausted that I was compelled to lie down. The snow in many places
+was drifted as high as my waist, and my horse refused to take a step
+until he was absolutely dragged to it. After a rest of a few moments
+we pushed on, and after another hour of hard work we succeeded in
+gaining what seemed to be the crest of the mountain, perhaps 2000 feet
+above the sea. Here the fury of the wind was almost irresistible.
+Dense clouds of driving snow hid everything from sight at a distance
+of a few steps, and we seemed to be standing on a fragment of a
+wrecked world enveloped in a whirling tempest of stinging snowflakes.
+Now and then a black volcanic crag, inaccessible as the peak of the
+Matterhorn, would loom out in the white mist far above our heads, as
+if suspended in mid-air, giving a startling momentary wildness to the
+scene; then it would disappear again in flying snow, and leave us
+staring blindly into vacancy. A long fringe of icicles hung round the
+visor of my cap, and my clothes, drenched with the heavy rain of the
+previous day, froze into a stiff crackling armour of ice upon my body.
+Blinded by the snow, with benumbed limbs and chattering teeth, I
+mounted my horse and let him go where he would, only entreating the
+guide to hurry and get down somewhere off from this exposed position.
+He tried in vain to compel his horse to face the storm. Neither shouts
+nor blows could force him to turn round, and he was obliged finally
+to ride along the crest of the mountain to the eastward. We went down
+into a comparatively sheltered valley, up again upon another ridge
+higher than the first, around the side of a conical peak where the
+wind blew with great force, down into another deep ravine and up still
+another ridge, until I lost entirely the direction of our route and
+the points of the compass, and had not the slightest idea where we
+were going. I only knew that we were half frozen and in a perfect
+wilderness of mountains.
+
+I had noticed several times within half an hour that our guide was
+holding frequent and anxious consultations with the other Kamchadals
+about our road, and that he seemed to be confused and in doubt as to
+the direction in which we ought to go. He now came to me with a gloomy
+face, and confessed that we were lost. I could not blame the poor
+fellow for losing the road in such a storm, but I told him to go on in
+what he believed to be the direction of the Samanka River, and if we
+succeeded in finding somewhere a sheltered valley we would camp and
+wait for better weather. I wished to caution him also against riding
+accidentally over the edges of precipices in the blinding snow, but I
+could not speak Russian enough to make myself understood.
+
+We wandered on aimlessly for two hours, over ridges, up peaks, and
+down into shallow valleys, getting deeper and deeper apparently into
+the heart of the mountains but finding no shelter from the storm. It
+became evident that something must be done, or we should all freeze
+to death. I finally called the guide, told him I would take the lead
+myself, and opening my little pocket compass, showed him the direction
+of the sea-coast. In that direction I determined to go until we should
+come out somewhere. He looked in stupid wonder for a moment at the
+little brass box with its trembling needle, and then cried out
+despairingly, "Oh, Barin! How does the come-_páss_ know anything about
+these accursed mountains? The come-_páss_ never has been over this
+road before. I've travelled here all my life, and, God forgive me, I
+don't know where the sea is!" Hungry, anxious, and half frozen as I
+was, I could not help smiling at our guide's idea of an inexperienced
+compass which had never travelled in Kamchatka, and could not
+therefore know anything about the road. I assured him confidently that
+the "come-_páss_" was a great expert at finding the sea in a storm;
+but he shook his head mournfully, as if he had little faith in its
+abilities, and refused to go in the direction that I indicated.
+Finding it impossible to make my horse face the wind, I dismounted,
+and, compass in hand, led him away in the direction of the sea,
+followed by Viushin, who, with an enormous bearskin wrapped around his
+head, looked like some wild animal. The guide, seeing that we were
+determined to trust in the compass, finally concluded to go with us.
+Our progress was necessarily very slow, as the snow was deep, our
+limbs chilled and stiffened by their icy covering, and a hurricane of
+wind blowing in our faces. About the middle of the afternoon, however,
+we came suddenly out upon the very brink of a storm-swept precipice a
+hundred and fifty feet in depth, against the base of which the sea was
+hurling tremendous green breakers with a roar that drowned the rushing
+noise of the wind. I had never imagined so wild and lonely a scene.
+Behind and around us lay a wilderness of white, desolate peaks,
+crowded together under a grey, pitiless sky, with here and there a
+patch of trailing-pine, or a black pinnacle of trap-rock, to intensify
+by contrast the ghastly whiteness and desolation of the weird snowy
+mountains. In front, but far below, was the troubled sea, rolling
+mysteriously out of a grey mist of snowflakes, breaking in thick
+sheets of clotted froth against the black cliff, and making long
+reverberations, and hollow, gurgling noises in the subterranean
+caverns which it had hollowed out. Snow, water, and mountains, and in
+the foreground a little group of ice-covered men and shaggy horses,
+staring at the sea from the summit of a mighty cliff! It was a simple
+picture, but it was full of cheerless, mournful suggestions. Our
+guide, after looking eagerly up and down the gloomy precipitous coast
+in search of some familiar landmark, finally turned to me with a
+brighter face, and asked to see the compass. I unscrewed the cover and
+showed him the blue quivering needle still pointing to the north. He
+examined it curiously, but with evident respect for its mysterious
+powers, and at last said that it was truly a "great master," and
+wanted to know if it always pointed toward the sea! I tried to explain
+to him its nature and use, but I could not make him understand, and
+he walked away firmly believing that there was something uncanny and
+supernatural about a little brass box that could point out the road to
+the sea in a country where it had never before been!
+
+We pushed on to the northward throughout the afternoon, keeping as
+near the coast as possible, winding around among the thickly scattered
+peaks and crossing no less than nine low ridges of the mountain range.
+
+I noticed throughout the day the peculiar phenomenon of which I had
+read in Tyndall's _Glaciers of the Alps_--the blue light which seemed
+to fill every footprint and little crevice in the snow. The hole made
+by a long slender stick was fairly luminous with what appeared to be
+deep blue vapour. I never saw this singular phenomenon so marked at
+any other time during nearly three years of northern travel.
+
+About an hour after dark we rode down into a deep lonely valley, which
+came out, our guide said, upon the sea beach near the mouth of the
+Samanka River. Here no snow had fallen, but it was raining heavily. I
+thought it hardly possible that the Major and Dodd could have reached
+the appointed rendezvous in such a storm; but I directed the men to
+pitch the tent, while Viushin and I rode on to the mouth of the river
+to ascertain whether the whale-boat had arrived or not. It was too
+dark to see anything distinctly, but we found no evidence that human
+beings had ever been there, and returned disappointed to camp. We were
+never more glad to get under a tent, eat supper, and crawl into our
+bearskin sleeping-bags, than after that exhausting day's work. Our
+clothes had been either wet or frozen for nearly forty-eight hours,
+and we had been fourteen hours on foot and in the saddle, without warm
+food or rest.
+
+[Illustration: Wooden Cup]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+CUT OFF BY STORM--STARVATION THREATENED--RACE WITH A RISING TIDE--TWO
+DAYS WITHOUT FOOD--RETURN TO LESNOI
+
+Early Saturday morning we moved on to the mouth of the valley, pitched
+our tent in a position to command a view of the approaches to the
+Samanka River, ballasted its edges with stones to keep the wind from
+blowing it down, and prepared to wait two days, according to orders,
+for the whale-boat. The storm still continued, and the heavy sea,
+which dashed sullenly all day against the black rocks under our tent,
+convinced me that nothing could be expected from the other party. I
+only hoped that they had succeeded in getting safely landed somewhere
+before the storm began. Caught by a gale under the frowning wall of
+rock which stretched for miles along the coast, the whale-boat, I
+knew, must either swamp with all on board, or be dashed to pieces
+against the cliffs. In either case not a soul could escape to tell the
+story.
+
+That night Viushin astonished and almost disheartened me with the news
+that we were eating the last of our provisions. There was no more
+meat, and the hardbread which remained was only a handful of
+water-soaked crumbs. He and all the Kamchadals, confidently expecting
+to meet the whale-boat at the Samanka River, had taken only three
+days' food. He had said nothing about it until the last moment, hoping
+that the whale-boat would arrive or something turn up; but it could no
+longer be concealed. We were three days' journey from any settlement,
+and without food. How we were to get back to Lesnoi I did not know,
+as the mountains were probably impassable now, on account of the snow
+which had fallen since we crossed, and the weather did not permit us
+to indulge a hope that the whale-boat would ever come. Much as we
+dreaded it, there was nothing to be done but to attempt another
+passage of the mountain range, and that without a moment's delay.
+I had been ordered to wait for the whale-boat two days; but
+circumstances, I thought, justified a disobedience of orders, and I
+directed the Kamchadals to be ready to start for Lesnoi early the next
+morning. Then, writing a note to the Major, and enclosing it in a tin
+can, to be left on the site of our camp, I crawled into my fur bag to
+sleep and get strength for another struggle with the mountains.
+
+The following morning was cold and stormy, and the snow was still
+falling in the mountains, and heavy rain in the valley. We broke camp
+at daylight, saddled our horses, distributed what little baggage we
+had among them, as equally as possible, and made every preparation for
+deep snow and hard climbing.
+
+Our guide, after a short consultation with his comrades, now came to
+me and proposed that we abandon our plan of crossing the mountains as
+wholly impracticable, and try instead to make our way along the narrow
+strip of beach which the ebbing tide would leave bare at the foot
+of the cliffs. This plan, he contended, was no more dangerous than
+attempting to cross the mountains, and was much more certain of
+success, as there were only a few points where at low water a horse
+could not pass with dry feet. It was not more than thirty miles to
+a ravine on the south side of the mountain range, through which we
+could, leave the beach and regain our old trail at a point within one
+hard day's ride of Lesnoi. The only danger was in being caught by high
+water before we could reach this ravine, and even then we might save
+ourselves by climbing up on the rocks, and abandoning our horses to
+their fate. It would be no worse for them than starving and freezing
+to death in the mountains. Divested of its verbal plausibility, his
+plan was nothing more nor less than a grand thirty-mile race with a
+high tide along a narrow beach, from which all escape was cut off by
+precipitous cliffs one and two hundred feet in height. If we reached
+the ravine in time, all would be well; but if not, our beach would be
+covered ten feet deep with water, and our horses, if not ourselves,
+would be swept away like corks. There was a recklessness and dash
+about this proposal which made it very attractive when compared with
+wading laboriously through snow-drifts, in frozen clothes, without
+anything to eat, and I gladly agreed to it, and credited our guide
+with more sense and spirit than I had ever before seen exhibited by a
+Kamchadal. The tide was now only beginning to ebb, and we had three or
+four hours to spare before it would be low enough to start. This
+time the Kamchadals improved by catching one of the dogs which had
+accompanied us from Lesnoi, killing him in a cold-blooded way with
+their long knives, and offering his lean body as a sacrifice to the
+Evil Spirit, in whose jurisdiction these infernal mountains were
+supposed to be. The poor animal was cut open, his entrails taken out
+and thrown to the four corners of the earth, and his body suspended
+by the neck from the top of a long pole set perpendicularly in the
+ground. The Evil Spirit's wrath, however, seemed implacable, for it
+stormed worse after the performance of these propitiatory rites than
+it did before. This did not weaken at all the faith of the Kamchadals
+in the efficacy of their atonement. If the storm did not abate, it
+was only because an unbelieving American with a diabolical brass box
+called a "come-_pass'_" had insisted upon crossing the mountains in
+defiance of the _genius loci_ and all his tempestuous warnings. One
+dead dog was no compensation at all for such a sacrilegious violation
+of the Evil Spirit's clearly expressed wishes! The sacrifice, however,
+seemed to relieve the natives' anxiety about their own safety; and,
+much as I pitied the poor dog thus ruthlessly slaughtered, I was glad
+to see the manifest improvement which it worked in the spirits of my
+superstitious comrades.
+
+About ten o'clock, as nearly as I could estimate the time without a
+watch, our guide examined the beach and said we must be off; we would
+have between four and five hours to reach the ravine. We mounted
+in hot haste, and set out at a swinging gallop along the beach,
+overshadowed by tremendous black cliffs on one side, and sprinkled
+with salt spray from the breakers on the other. Great masses of green,
+slimy seaweed, shells, water-soaked driftwood, and thousands of
+medusas, which had been thrown up by the storm, lay strewn in piles
+along the beach; but we dashed through and over them at a mad gallop,
+never drawing rein for an instant except to pick our way among
+enormous masses of rock, which in some places had caved away from
+the summit of the cliff and blocked up the beach with grey
+barnacle-encrusted fragments as large as freight-cars.
+
+We had got over the first eighteen miles in splendid style, when
+Viushin, who was riding in advance, stopped suddenly, with an
+abruptness which nearly threw him over his horse's head, and raised
+the familiar cry of "Medveidi! medveidi! dva." Bears they certainly
+seemed to be, making their way along the beach a quarter of a mile or
+so ahead; but how bears came in that desperate situation, where they
+must inevitably be drowned in the course of two or three hours, we
+could not conjecture. It made little difference to us, however,
+for the bears were there and we must pass. It was a clear case of
+breakfast for one party or the other. There could be no dodging or
+getting around, for the cliffs and the sea left us a narrow road.
+I slipped a fresh cartridge into my rifle and a dozen more into my
+pocket; Viushin dropped a couple of balls into his double-barrelled
+fowling-piece, and we crept forward behind the rocks to get a shot at
+them, if possible, before we should be seen. We were almost within
+rifle range when Viushin suddenly straightened up with a loud laugh,
+and cried out, "Liudi"--"They are people." Coming out from behind the
+rocks, I saw clearly that they were. But how came people there? Two
+natives, dressed in fur coats and trousers, approached us with violent
+gesticulations, shouting to us in Russian not to shoot, and holding
+up something white, like a flag of truce. As soon as they came near
+enough one of them handed me a wet, dirty piece of paper, with a
+low bow, and I recognised him as a Kamchadal from Lesnoi. They were
+messengers from the Major! Thanking God in my heart that the other
+party was safe, I tore open the note and read hastily:
+
+Sea Shore, 15 versts from Lesnoi, October 4th. Driven ashore here by
+the storm. Hurry back as fast as possible.
+
+S. Abaza.
+
+The Kamchadal messengers had left Lesnoi only one day behind us, but
+had been detained by the storm and bad roads, and had only reached on
+the previous night our second camp. Finding it impossible to cross the
+mountains on account of the snow, they had abandoned their horses,
+and were trying to reach the Samanka River on foot by way of the sea
+beach. They did not expect to do it in one tide but intended to take
+refuge on high rocks during the flood, and resume their journey as
+soon as the beach should be left bare by the receding water. There was
+no time for any more explanations. The tide was running in rapidly,
+and we must make twelve miles in a little over an hour, or lose our
+horses. We mounted the tired, wet Kamchadals on two of our spare
+animals, and were off again at a gallop. The situation grew more
+and more exciting as we approached the ravine. At the end of every
+projecting bluff the water was higher and higher, and in several
+places it had already touched with foam and spray the foot of the
+cliffs. In twenty minutes more the beach would be impassable. Our
+horses held out nobly, and the ravine was only a short distance
+ahead--only one more projecting bluff intervened. Against this the sea
+was already beginning to break, but we galloped past through several
+feet of water, and in five minutes drew rein at the mouth of the
+ravine. It had been a hard ride, but we had won the race with a clear
+ten minutes to spare, and were now on the southern side of the snowy
+mountain range, less than sixty miles from Lesnoi. Had it not been
+for our guide's good sense and boldness we should still have been
+floundering through the snow, and losing our way among the bewildering
+peaks, ten miles south of the Samanka River. The ravine up which
+our road lay was badly choked with massive rocks, patches of
+trailing-pine, and dense thickets of alder, and it cost us two hours'
+more hard work to cut a trail through it with axes.
+
+Before dark, however, we had reached the site of our second day's
+camp, and about midnight we arrived at the ruined _yurt_ where we had
+eaten lunch five days before. Exhausted by fourteen hours' riding
+without rest or food, we could go no farther. I had hoped to get
+something to eat from the Kamchadal messengers from Lesnoi, but was
+disappointed to find that their provisions had been exhausted the
+previous day. Viushin scraped a small handful of dirty crumbs out of
+our empty bread-bag, fried them in a little blubber, which I suppose
+he had brought to grease his gun with, and offered them to me; but,
+hungry as I was, I could not eat the dark, greasy mass, and he divided
+it by mouthfuls among the Kamchadals.
+
+The second day's ride without food was a severe trial of my strength,
+and I began to be tormented by a severe gnawing, burning pain in
+my stomach. I tried to quiet it by eating seeds from the cones of
+trailing-pine and drinking large quantities of water; but this
+afforded no relief, and I became so faint toward evening that I could
+hardly sit in my saddle.
+
+About two hours after dark we heard the howling of dogs from Lesnoi,
+and twenty minutes later we rode into the settlement, dashed up to the
+little log house of the _starosta_, and burst in upon the Major and
+Dodd as they sat at supper. Our long ride was over.
+
+Thus ended our unsuccessful expedition to the Samanka Mountains--the
+hardest journey I ever experienced in Kamchatka.
+
+Two days afterward, the anxiety and suffering which the Major had
+endured in a five days' camp on the sea beach during the storm,
+brought on a severe attack of rheumatic fever, and all thoughts of
+farther progress were for the present abandoned. Nearly all the horses
+in the village were more or less disabled, our Samanka mountain guide
+was blind from inflammatory erysipelas brought on by exposure to five
+days of storm, and half my party were unfit for duty. Under such
+circumstances, another attempt to cross the mountains before winter
+was impossible. Dodd and the Cossack Meranef (mer-ah'-nef) were sent
+back to Tigil after a physician and a new supply of provisions, while
+Viushin and I remained at Lesnoi to take care of the Major.
+
+[Illustration: Stone Lamps]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+KAMCHATKAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS--CHARACTER OF PEOPLE--SALMON-FISHING--
+SABLE-TRAPPING--KAMCHADAL LANGUAGE--NATIVE MUSIC--DOG-DRIVING--WINTER
+DRESS
+
+After our unsuccessful attempt to pass the Samanka Mountains, there
+was nothing for us to do but wait patiently at Lesnoi until the rivers
+should freeze over, and snow fall to a depth which would enable us
+to continue our journey to Gizhiga on dog-sledges. It was a long,
+wearisome delay, and I felt for the first time, in its full force, the
+sensation of exile from home, country, and civilisation. The Major
+continued very ill, and would show the anxiety which he had felt about
+the success of our expedition by talking deliriously for hours of
+crossing the mountains, starting for Gizhiga in the whale-boat, and
+giving incoherent orders to Viushin, Dodd, and myself, about horses,
+dog-sledges, canoes, and provisions. The idea of getting to Gizhiga,
+before the beginning of winter, filled his mind, to the exclusion of
+everything else. His sickness made the time previous to Dodd's return
+seem very long and lonesome, as I had absolutely nothing to do except
+to sit in a little log room, with opaque fish-bladder windows, and
+pore over Shakespeare and my Bible, until I almost learned them by
+heart. In pleasant weather I would sling my rifle across my back and
+spend whole days in roaming over the mountains in pursuit of reindeer
+and foxes; but I rarely met with much success. One deer and a few
+arctic ptarmigan were my only trophies. At night I would sit on the
+transverse section of a log in our little kitchen, light a rude
+Kamchadal lamp, made with a fragment of moss and a tin cup full of
+seal oil, and listen for hours to the songs and guitar-playing of the
+Kamchadals, and to the wild stories of perilous mountain adventure
+which they delighted to relate. I learned during these Kamchatkan
+Nights' Entertainments many interesting particulars of Kamchadal life,
+customs, and peculiarities of which I had before known nothing;
+and, as I shall have no occasion hereafter to speak of this curious
+little-known people, I may as well give here what account I can of
+their language, music, amusements, superstitions, and mode of life.
+
+The people themselves I have already described as a quiet,
+inoffensive, hospitable tribe of semi-barbarians, remarkable only
+for honesty, general amiability, and comical reverence for legally
+constituted authority. Such an idea as rebellion or resistance to
+oppression is wholly foreign to the Kamchadal character _now_,
+whatever it may have been in previous ages of independence. They will
+suffer and endure any amount of abuse and ill-treatment, without any
+apparent desire for revenge, and with the greatest good-nature and
+elasticity of spirit. They are as faithful and forgiving as a dog. If
+you treat them well, your slightest wish will be their law; and they
+will do their best in their rude way to show their appreciation of
+kindness, by anticipating and meeting even your unexpressed wants.
+During our stay at Lesnoi the Major chanced one day to inquire for
+some milk. The _starosta_ did not tell him that there was not a cow
+in the village, but said that he would try to get some. A man was
+instantly despatched on horseback to the neighbouring settlement of
+Kinkil, and before night he returned with a champagne-bottle under his
+arm, and the Major had milk that evening in his tea. From this time
+until we started for Gizhiga--more than a month--a man rode twenty
+miles every day to bring us a bottle of fresh milk. This seemed to be
+done out of pure kindness of heart, without any desire or expectation
+of future reward; and it is a fair example of the manner in which we
+were generally treated by all the Kamchadals in the peninsula.
+
+The settled natives of northern Kamchatka have generally two different
+residences, in which they live at different seasons of the year. These
+are respectively called the "zimovie" or winter settlement, and the
+"letovie" (let'-o-vye) or summer fishing-station, and are from one to
+five miles apart. In the former, which is generally situated under
+the shelter of timbered hills, several miles from the seacoast, they
+reside from September until June. The _letovie_ is always built near
+the mouth of an adjacent river or stream, and consists of a few
+_yurts_ or earth-covered huts, eight or ten conical _balagáns_ mounted
+on stilts, and a great number of wooden frames on which fish are hung
+to dry. To this fishing-station the inhabitants all remove early in
+June, leaving their winter settlement entirely deserted. Even the dogs
+and the crows abandon it for the more attractive surroundings and
+richer pickings of the summer _balagáns._ Early in July the salmon
+enter the river in immense numbers from the sea, and are caught by the
+natives in gill-nets, baskets, seines, weirs, traps, and a dozen other
+ingenious contrivances--cut open, cleaned, and boned by the women,
+with the greatest skill and celerity, and hung in long rows upon
+horizontal poles to dry. A fish, with all the confidence of sea life,
+enters the river as a sailor comes ashore, intending to have a good
+time; but before he fairly knows what he is about, he is caught in
+a seine, dumped out upon the beach with a hundred more equally
+unsophisticated and equally unfortunate sufferers, split open with
+a big knife, his backbone removed, his head cut off, his internal
+arrangements scooped out, and his mutilated remains hung over a pole
+to simmer in a hot July sun. It is a pity that he cannot enjoy the
+melancholy satisfaction of seeing the skill and rapidity with which
+his body is prepared for a new and enlarged sphere of usefulness!
+He is no longer a fish. In this second stage of passive unconscious
+existence he assumes a new name, and is called a "yukala"
+(yoo'-kah-lah).
+
+It is astonishing to see in what countless numbers and to what great
+distances these fish ascend the Siberian rivers. Dozens of small
+streams which we passed in the interior of Kamchatka, seventy miles
+from the seacoast, were so choked up with thousands of dying, dead,
+and decayed fish, that we could not use the water for any purpose
+whatever. Even in little mountain brooks, so narrow that a child could
+step across them, we saw salmon eighteen or twenty inches in length
+still working their way laboriously up stream, in water which was not
+deep enough to cover their bodies. We frequently waded in and threw
+them out by the dozen with our bare hands. They change greatly in
+appearance as they ascend a river. When they first come in from the
+sea their scales are bright and hard, and their flesh fat and richly
+coloured; but as they go higher and higher up stream; their scales
+lose their brilliancy and fall off, their flesh bleaches out until it
+is nearly white, and they become lean, dry, and tasteless. For this
+reason all the fishing-stations in Kamchatka are located, if possible,
+at or near the mouths of rivers. To the instinct which leads the
+salmon to ascend rivers for the purpose of depositing its spawn, is
+attributable the settlement of all north-eastern Siberia. If it were
+not for the abundance of fish, the whole country would be uninhabited
+and uninhabitable, except by the Reindeer Koraks. As soon as the
+fishing season is over, the Kamchadals store away their dried _yukala_
+in _balagáns_ and return to their winter quarters to prepare for the
+fall catch of sables. For nearly a month they spend all their time
+in the woods and mountains, making and setting traps. To make a
+sable-trap, a narrow perpendicular slot, fourteen inches by four in
+length and breadth, and five inches in depth, is cut in the trunk of a
+large tree, so that the bottom of the slot will be about at the height
+of a sable's head when he stands erect. The stem of another smaller
+tree is then trimmed, one of its ends raised to a height of three feet
+by a forked stick set in the ground, and the other bevelled off so as
+to slip up and down freely in the slot cut for its reception. This
+end is raised to the top of the slot and supported there by a simple
+figure-four catch, leaving a nearly square opening of about four
+inches below for the admission of the sable's head. The figure-four is
+then baited and the trap is ready. The sable rises upon his hind
+legs, puts his head into the hole, and the heavy log, set free by the
+dropping of the figure-four, falls and crushes the animal's skull,
+without injuring in the slightest degree the valuable parts of his
+skin. One native frequently makes and sets as many as a hundred of
+these traps in the fall, and visits them at short intervals throughout
+the winter. Not content, however, with this extensive and well
+organised system of trapping sables, the natives hunt them upon
+snow-shoes with trained dogs, drive them into holes which they
+surround with nets, and then, forcing them out with fire or axe, they
+kill them with clubs.
+
+The number of sables caught in the Kamchatkan peninsula annually
+varies from six to nine thousand, all of which are exported to Russia
+and distributed from there over northern Europe. A large proportion of
+the whole number of Russian sables in the European market are caught
+by the natives of Kamchatka and transported by _American_ merchants
+to Moscow. W.H. Bordman, of Boston, and an American house in
+China--known, I believe, as Russell & Co.--practically control the fur
+trade of Kamchatka and the Okhotsk seacoast. The price paid to the
+Kamchadals for an average sable skin in 1867 was nominally fifteen
+rubles silver, or about eleven dollars gold; but payment was made in
+tea, sugar, tobacco, and sundry other articles of merchandise, at the
+trader's own valuation, so that the natives actually realised only a
+little more than half the nominal price. Nearly all the inhabitants of
+central Kamchatka are engaged directly or indirectly during the winter
+in the sable trade and many of them have acquired by it a comfortable
+independence.
+
+Fishing and sable-hunting, therefore, are the serious occupations of
+the Kamchadals throughout the year; but as these are indications of
+the nature of the country rather than of the characteristics of its
+inhabitants, they give only an imperfect idea of the distinctive
+peculiarities of Kamchadals and Kamchadal life. The language, music,
+amusements, and superstitions of a people are much more valuable
+as illustrations of their real character than are their regular
+occupations.
+
+The Kamchadal language is to me one of the most curious of all the
+wild tongues of Asia; not on account of its construction, but simply
+from the strange, uncouth sounds with which it abounds, and its
+strangling, gurgling articulation. When rapidly spoken, it always
+reminded me of water running out of a narrow-mouthed jug! A Russian
+traveller in Kamchatka has said that "the Kamchadal language is spoken
+half in the mouth and half in the throat"; but it might be more
+accurately described as spoken half in the throat and half in the
+stomach. It has more guttural sounds than any other Asiatic language
+that I have ever heard, and differs considerably in this respect
+from the dialects of the Chukchis and Koraks. It is what comparative
+philologists call an agglutinative language, and seems to be made up
+of permanent unchangeable roots with variable prefixes. It has, so far
+as I could ascertain, no terminal inflections, and its grammar seemed
+to be simple and easily learned. Most of the Kamchadals throughout
+the northern part of the peninsula speak, in addition to their own
+language, Russian and Korak, so that, in their way, they are quite
+accomplished linguists.
+
+It has always seemed to me that the songs of a people, and especially
+of a people who have composed them themselves, and not adopted them
+from others, are indicative to a very great degree of their character;
+whether, as some author supposed, the songs have a reflex influence
+on the character, or whether they exist simply as its exponents, the
+result is the same, viz., a greater or less correspondence between the
+two. In none of the Siberian tribes is this more marked than in the
+Kamchadals. They have evidently never been a warlike, combative
+people. They have no songs celebrating the heroic deeds of their
+ancestors, or their exploits in the chase or in battle, as have many
+tribes of our North American Indians. Their ballads are all of a
+melancholy, imaginative character, inspired apparently by grief, love,
+or domestic feeling, rather than by the ruder passions of pride,
+anger, and revenge. Their music all has a wild, strange sound to a
+foreign ear, but it conveys to the mind in some way a sense of sorrow,
+and vague, unavailing regret for something that has for ever passed
+away, like the emotion excited by a funeral dirge over the grave of a
+dear friend. As Ossian says of the music of Carryl, "it is like the
+memory of joys that are past--sweet, yet mournful to the soul." I
+remember particularly a song called the Penzhinski, sung one night by
+the natives at Lesnoi, which was, without exception, the sweetest, and
+yet the most inexpressibly mournful combination of notes that I had
+ever heard. It was a wail of a lost soul, despairing, yet pleading for
+mercy. I tried in vain to get a translation of the words. Whether it
+was the relation of some bloody and disastrous encounter with their
+fiercer northern neighbours, or the lament over the slain body of some
+dear son, brother, or husband, I could not learn; but the music alone
+will bring the tears near one's eyes, and has an indescribable effect
+upon the singers, whose excitable feelings it sometimes works up
+almost to the pitch of frenzy. The dancing tunes of the Kamchadals
+are of course entirely different in character, being generally very
+lively, and made up of energetic staccato passages, repeated many
+times in succession, without variation. Nearly all the natives
+accompany themselves upon a three-cornered guitar with two strings,
+called a _ballalaika_ (bahl-lah-lai'-kah), and some of them play quite
+well upon rude home-made violins. All are passionately fond of music
+of every kind.
+
+The only other amusements in which they indulge are dancing, playing
+football on the snow in winter, and racing with dog-teams.
+
+The winter travel of the Kamchadals is accomplished entirely upon
+dog-sledges, and in no other pursuit of their lives do they spend more
+time or exhibit their native skill and ingenuity to better advantage.
+They may even be said to have made dogs for themselves in the first
+place, since the present Siberian animal is nothing more than a
+half-domesticated arctic wolf, and still retains all his wolfish
+instincts and peculiarities. There is probably no more hardy, enduring
+animal in the world. You may compel him to sleep out on the snow in a
+temperature of 70° below zero, drive him with heavy loads until his
+feet crack open and stain the snow with blood, or starve him until
+he eats up his harness; but his strength and his spirit seem alike
+unconquerable. I have driven a team of nine dogs more than a hundred
+miles in a day and a night, and have frequently worked them hard for
+forty-eight hours without being able to give them a particle of food.
+In general they are fed once a day, their allowance being a single
+dried fish, weighing perhaps a pound and a half or two pounds. This
+is given to them at night, so that they begin another day's work with
+empty stomachs.
+
+The sledge, or _nart_, to which they are harnessed is about ten
+feet in length and two in width, made of seasoned birch timber, and
+combines to a surprising degree the two most desirable qualities of
+strength and lightness. It is simply a skeleton framework, fastened
+together with lashings of dried sealskin, and mounted on broad, curved
+runners. No iron whatever is used in its construction, and it does not
+weigh more than twenty pounds; yet it will sustain a load of four or
+five hundred pounds, and endure the severest shocks of rough mountain
+travel. The number of dogs harnessed to this sledge varies from seven
+to fifteen, according to the nature of the country to be traversed and
+the weight of the load. Under favourable circumstances eleven dogs
+will make from forty to fifty miles a day with a man and a load of
+four hundred pounds. They are harnessed to the sledge in successive
+couples by a long central thong of sealskin, to which each individual
+dog is attached by a collar and a short trace. They are guided and
+controlled entirely by the voice and by a lead-dog who is especially
+trained for the purpose. The driver carries no whip, but has instead a
+stick about four feet in length and two inches in diameter, called
+an _oerstel_ (oar'-stel). This is armed at one end with a long iron
+spike, and is used to check the speed of the sledge in descending
+hills, and to stop the dogs when they leave the road, as they
+frequently do in pursuit of reindeer and foxes. The spiked end is then
+thrust down in front of one of the knees or uprights of the runners,
+and drags in that position through the snow, the upper end being
+firmly held by the driver. It is a powerful lever, and when skilfully
+used brakes up a sledge very promptly and effectively.
+
+[Illustration: TOWARD NIGHT; A TIRED DOG-TEAM
+From a painting by George A. Frost]
+
+The art of driving a dog-team is one of the most deceptive in the
+world. The traveller at first sight imagines that driving a dog-sledge
+is just as easy as driving a street-car, and at the very first
+favourable opportunity he tries it. After being run away with within
+the first ten minutes, capsized into a snow-drift, and his sledge
+dragged bottom upward a quarter of a mile from the road, the rash
+experimenter begins to suspect that the task is not quite so easy as
+he had supposed, and in less than one day he is generally convinced by
+hard experience that a dog-driver, like a poet, is born, not made.
+
+The dress of the Kamchadals in winter and summer is made for the most
+part of skins. Their winter costume consists of sealskin boots or
+_torbasses_ worn over heavy reindeerskin stockings and coming to the
+knee; fur trousers with the hair inside; a foxskin hood with a face
+border of wolverine skin; and a heavy _kukhlánka_ (kookh-lan'-kah), or
+double fur overshirt, covering the body to the knees. This is made of
+the thickest and softest reindeerskin, ornamented around the bottom
+with silk embroidery, trimmed at the sleeves and neck with glossy
+beaver, and furnished with a square flap under the chin, to be held up
+over the nose, and a hood behind the neck, to be drawn over the head
+in bad weather. In such a costume as this the Kamchadals defy for
+weeks at a time the severest cold, and sleep out on the snow safely
+and comfortably in temperatures of twenty, thirty, and even forty
+degrees below zero, Fahr.
+
+Most of our time during our long detention at Lesnoi was occupied in
+the preparation of such costumes for our own use, in making covered
+dog-sledges to protect ourselves from winter storms, sewing bearskins
+into capacious sleeping-bags, and getting ready generally for a hard
+winter's campaign.
+
+[Illustration: Root Digger]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+A FRESH START--CROSSING THE SAMANKA MOUNTAINS--DESCENT ON A KORAK
+ENCAMPMENT--NOMADS AND THEIR TENTS--DOOR-HOLES AND DOGS--POLOGS--KORAK
+BREAD
+
+About the 20th of October a Russian physician arrived from Tigil,
+and proceeded to reduce the little strength that the Major had by
+steaming, bleeding, and blistering him into a mere shadow of his
+former robust self. The fever, however, abated under this energetic
+treatment, and he began gradually to amend. Sometime during the same
+week, Dodd and Meranef returned from Tigil with a new supply of tea,
+sugar, rum, tobacco, and hardbread, and we began collecting dogs from
+the neighbouring settlements of Kinkil and Polan for another trip
+across the Samanka Mountains. Snow had fallen everywhere to a depth of
+two feet, the weather had turned clear and cold, and there was nothing
+except the Major's illness to detain us longer at Lesnoi. On the 28th
+he declared himself able to travel, and we packed up for a start. On
+November 1st we put on our heavy fur clothes, which turned us into
+wild animals of most ferocious appearance, bade good-by to all the
+hospitable people of Lesnoi, and set out with a train of sixteen
+sledges, eighteen men, two hundred dogs, and forty days' provisions,
+for the territory of the Wandering Koraks. We determined to reach
+Gizhiga this time, or, as the newspapers say, perish in the attempt.
+
+Late in the afternoon of November 3d, just as the long northern
+twilight was fading into the peculiar steely blue of an arctic night,
+our dogs toiled slowly up the last summit of the Samanka Mountains,
+and we looked down from a height of more than two thousand feet upon
+the dreary expanse of snow which stretched away to the far horizon. It
+was the land of the Wandering Koraks. A cold breeze from the sea swept
+across the mountain-top, soughing mournfully through the pines as
+it passed, and intensifying the loneliness and silence of the white
+wintry landscape. The faint pale light of the vanishing sun still
+lingered upon the higher peaks; but the gloomy ravines below us,
+shaggy with forests of larch and dense thickets of trailing-pine, were
+already gathering the shadows and indistinctness of night. At the foot
+of the mountains stood the first encampment of Koraks. As we rested
+our dogs a few moments upon the summit, before commencing our descent,
+we tried to discern through the gathering gloom the black tents which
+we imagined stood somewhere beneath our feet; but nothing save the
+dark patches of trailing-pine broke the dead white of the level
+steppe. The encampment was hidden by a projecting shoulder of the
+mountain.
+
+[Illustration: WANDERING KORAKS WITH THEIR REINDEER AND SLEDGES
+From a painting by George A. Frost]
+
+The rising moon was just throwing into dark, bold relief the shaggy
+outlines of the peaks on our right, as we roused up our dogs and
+plunged into the throat of a dark ravine which led downward to the
+steppe. The deceptive shadows of night, and the masses of rock which
+choked up the narrow defile made the descent extremely dangerous; and
+it required all the skill of our practised drivers to avoid accident.
+Clouds of snow flew from the spiked poles with which they vainly tried
+to arrest our downward rush; cries and warning shouts from those in
+advance, multiplied by the mountain echoes, excited our dogs to still
+greater speed, until we seemed, as the rocks and trees flew past, to
+be in the jaws of a falling avalanche, which was carrying us with
+breathless rapidity down the dark canon to certain ruin. Gradually,
+however, our speed slackened, and we came out into the moonlight on
+the hard, wind-packed snow of the open steppe. Half an hour's brisk
+travel brought us into the supposed vicinity of the Korak encampment,
+but we saw as yet no signs of either reindeer or tents. The disturbed,
+torn-up condition of the snow usually apprises the traveller of his
+approach to the _yurts_ of the Koraks, as the reindeer belonging to
+the band range all over the country within a radius of several miles,
+and paw up the snow in search of the moss which constitutes their
+food. Failing to find any such indications, we were discussing the
+probability of our having been misdirected, when suddenly our leading
+dogs pricked up their sharp ears, snuffed eagerly at the wind, and
+with short, excited yelps made off at a dashing gallop toward a low
+hill which lay almost at right angles with our previous course. The
+drivers endeavoured in vain to check the speed of the excited dogs;
+their wolfish instincts were aroused, and all discipline was forgotten
+as the fresh scent came down upon the wind from the herd of reindeer
+beyond. A moment brought us to the brow of the hill, and before us in
+the clear moonlight, stood the conical tents of the Koraks, surrounded
+by at least four thousand reindeer, whose branching antlers looked
+like a perfect forest of dry limbs. The dogs all gave voice
+simultaneously, like a pack of foxhounds in view of the game, and
+dashed tumultuously down the hill, regardless of the shouts of their
+masters, and the menacing cries of three or four dark forms which rose
+suddenly up from the snow between them and the frightened deer. Above
+the tumult I could hear Dodd's voice, hurling imprecations in Russian
+at his yelping dogs, which, in spite of his most strenuous efforts,
+were dragging him and his capsized sledge across the steppe. The vast
+body of deer wavered a moment and then broke into a wild stampede,
+with drivers, Korak sentinels, and two hundred dogs in full pursuit.
+
+Not desirous of becoming involved in the mêlée, I sprang from my
+sledge and watched the confused crowd as it swept with shout, bark,
+and halloo, across the plain. The whole encampment, which had seemed
+in its quiet loneliness to be deserted, was now startled into instant
+activity. Dark forms issued suddenly from the tents, and grasping the
+long spears which stood upright in the snow by the doorway, joined in
+the chase, shouting and hurling lassos of walrus hide at the dogs,
+with the hope of stopping their pursuit. The clattering of thousands
+of antlers dashed together in the confusion of flight, the hurried
+beat of countless hoofs upon the hard snow, the deep, hoarse barks of
+the startled deer, and the unintelligible cries of the Koraks, as they
+tried to rally their panic-stricken herd, created a Pandemonium of
+discordant sounds which could be heard far and wide through the
+still, frosty atmosphere of night. It resembled a midnight attack of
+Comanches upon a hostile camp, rather than the peaceful arrival of
+three or four American travellers; and I listened with astonishment to
+the wild uproar of alarm which we had unintentionally aroused.
+
+The tumult grew fainter and fainter as it swept away into the
+distance, and the dogs, exhausting the unnatural strength which the
+excitement had temporarily given them, yielded reluctantly to the
+control of their drivers and turned toward the tents. Dodd's dogs,
+panting with the violence of their exertions, limped sullenly back,
+casting longing glances occasionally in the direction of the deer, as
+if they more than half repented the weakness which had led them to
+abandon the chase.
+
+"Why didn't you stop them?" I inquired of Dodd, laughingly. "A driver
+of your experience ought to have better control of his team than
+that."
+
+"Stop them!" he exclaimed with an aggrieved air. "I'd like to see
+_you_ stop them, with a rawhide lasso round your neck, and a big Korak
+hauling like a steam windlass on the other end of it! It's all very
+well to cry 'stop 'em'; but when the barbarians haul you off the rear
+end of your sledge as if you were a wild animal, what course would
+your sublime wisdom suggest? I believe I've got the mark of a lasso
+round my neck now," and he felt cautiously about his ears for the
+impression of a sealskin thong.
+
+As soon as the deer had been gathered together again and a guard
+placed over them, the Koraks crowded curiously around the visitors who
+had entered so unceremoniously their quiet camp, and inquired through
+Meranef, our interpreter, who we were and what we wanted. A wild,
+picturesque group they made, as the moonlight streamed white and clear
+into their swarthy faces, and glittered upon the metallic ornaments
+about their persons and the polished blades of their long spears.
+Their high cheek-bones, bold, alert eyes, and straight, coal-black
+hair, suggested an intimate relationship with our own Indians; but the
+resemblance went no further. Most of their faces wore an expression
+of bold, frank honesty, which is not a characteristic of our western
+aborigines, and which we instinctively accepted as a sufficient
+guarantee of their friendliness and good faith. Contrary to our
+preconceived idea of northern savages, they were athletic, able-bodied
+men, fully up to the average height of Americans. Heavy _kukh-lánkas_
+(kookh-lan'-kas), or hunting-shirts of spotted deerskin, confined
+about the waist with a belt, and fringed round the bottom with the
+long black hair of the wolverine, covered their bodies from the neck
+to the knee, ornamented here and there with strings of small coloured
+beads, tassels of scarlet leather, and bits of polished metal. Fur
+trousers, long boots of sealskin coming up to the thigh, and wolfskin
+hoods, with the ears of the animal standing erect on each side of
+the head, completed the costume which, notwithstanding its _bizarre_
+effect, had yet a certain picturesque adaptation to the equally
+strange features of the moonlight scene. Leaving our Cossack Meranef,
+seconded by the Major, to explain our business and wants, Dodd and
+I strolled away to make a critical inspection of the encampment. It
+consisted of four large conical tents, built apparently of a framework
+of poles and covered with loose reindeerskins, confined in their
+places by long thongs of seal or walrus hide, which were stretched
+tightly over them from the apex of the cone to the ground. They seemed
+at first sight to be illy calculated to withstand the storms which
+in winter sweep down across this steppe from the Arctic Ocean; but
+subsequent experience proved that the severest gales cannot tear them
+from their fastenings. Neatly constructed sledges of various shapes
+and sizes were scattered here and there upon the snow, and two or
+three hundred pack-saddles for the reindeer were piled up in a
+symmetrical wall near the largest tent. Finishing our examination, and
+feeling somewhat bored by the society of fifteen or twenty Koraks who
+had constituted themselves a sort of supervisory committee to watch
+our motions, we returned to the spot where the representatives of
+civilisation and barbarism were conducting their negotiations. They
+had apparently come to an amicable understanding; for, upon our
+approach, a tall native with shaven head stepped out from the throng,
+and leading the way to the largest tent, lifted a curtain of skin and
+revealed a dark hole about two feet and a half in diameter, which he
+motioned to us to enter.
+
+Now, if there was any branch of Viushin's Siberian education upon
+which he especially prided himself, it was his proficiency in crawling
+into small holes. Persevering practice had given him a flexibility of
+back and a peculiar sinuosity of movement which we might admire but
+could not imitate; and although the distinction was not perhaps an
+altogether desirable one, he was invariably selected to explore all
+the dark holes and underground passages (miscalled doors) which came
+in our way. This seemed to be one of the most peculiar of the many
+different styles of entrance which we had observed; but Viushin,
+assuming as an axiom that no part of his body could be greater than
+the (w)hole, dropped into a horizontal position, and requesting Dodd
+to give his feet an initial shove, crawled cautiously in. A few
+seconds of breathless silence succeeded his disappearance, when,
+supposing that all must be right, I put my head into the hole and
+crawled warily after him. The darkness was profound; but, guided by
+Viushin's breathing, I was making very fair progress, when suddenly
+a savage snarl and a startling yell came out of the gloom in front,
+followed instantly by the most substantial part of Viushin's body,
+which struck me with the force of a battering-ram on the top of the
+head, and caused me, with the liveliest apprehensions of ambuscade
+and massacre, to back precipitately out. Viushin, with the awkward
+retrograde movements of a disabled crab, speedily followed.
+
+"What in the name of Chort [Footnote: The Devil.] is the matter?"
+demanded Dodd in Russian, as he extricated Viushin's head from the
+folds of the skin curtain in which it had become enveloped. "You back
+out as if Shaitan and all his imps were after you!"--"You don't
+suppose," responded Viushin, with excited gestures, "that I'm going to
+stay in that hole and be eaten up by Korak dogs? If I was foolish enough
+to go in, I've got discretion enough to know when to come out. I don't
+believe the hole leads anywhere, anyhow," he added apologetically; "and
+it's all full of dogs." With a quick perception of Viushin's difficulties
+and a grin of amusement at his discomfiture, our Korak guide entered the
+hole, drove out the dogs, and lifting up an inner curtain, allowed the
+red light of the fire to stream through. Crawling on hands and knees a
+distance of twelve or fifteen feet through the low doorway, we entered
+the large open circle in the interior of the tent. A crackling fire of
+resinous pine boughs burned brightly upon the ground in the centre,
+illuminating redly the framework of black, glossy poles, and
+flickering fitfully over the dingy skins of the roof and the swarthy
+tattooed faces of the women who squatted around. A large copper
+kettle, filled with some mixture of questionable odour and appearance,
+hung over the blaze, and furnished occupation to a couple of skinny,
+bare-armed women, who with the same sticks were alternately stirring
+its contents, poking up the fire, and knocking over the head two or
+three ill-conditioned but inquisitive dogs. The smoke, which rose
+lazily from the fire, hung in a blue, clearly defined cloud about five
+feet from the ground, dividing the atmosphere of the tent into a lower
+stratum of comparatively clear air, and an upper cloud region where
+smoke, vapours, and ill odours contended for supremacy.
+
+The location of the little pure air which the _yurt_ afforded made
+the boyish feat of standing upon one's head a very desirable
+accomplishment; and as the pungent smoke filled my eyes to the
+exclusion of everything else except tears, I suggested to Dodd that he
+reverse the respective positions of his head and feet, and try it--he
+would escape the smoke and sparks from the fire, and at the same time
+obtain a new and curious optical effect. With the sneer of contempt
+which always met even my most valuable suggestions, he replied that I
+might try my own experiments, and throwing himself down at full length
+on the ground, he engaged in the interesting diversion of making faces
+at a Korak baby. Viushin's time, as soon as his eyes recovered a
+little from the effects of the smoke, was about equally divided
+between preparations for our evening meal, and revengeful blows at the
+stray dogs which ventured in his vicinity; while the Major, who was
+probably the most usefully employed member of the party, negotiated
+for the exclusive possession of a _polog_. The temperature of a Korak
+tent in winter seldom ranges above 20° or 25° Fahr., and as constant
+exposure to such a degree of cold would be at least very disagreeable,
+the Koraks construct around the inner circumference of the tent small,
+nearly air-tight apartments called _pologs_, which are separated
+one from another by skin curtains, and combine the advantages of
+exclusiveness with the desirable luxury of greater warmth. These
+_pologs_ are about four feet in height, and six or eight feet in width
+and length. They are made of the heaviest furs sewn carefully together
+to exclude the air, and are warmed and lighted by a burning
+fragment of moss floating in a wooden bowl of seal oil. The law of
+compensation, however, which pervades all Nature, makes itself felt
+even in the _pologs_ of a Korak _yurt_, and for the greater degree of
+warmth is exacted the penalty of a closer, smokier atmosphere. The
+flaming wick of the lamp, which floats like a tiny burning ship in a
+miniature lake of rancid grease, absorbs the vital air of the _polog_,
+and returns it in the shape of carbonic acid gas, oily smoke, and
+sickening odours. In defiance, however, of all the known laws of
+hygiene, this vitiated atmosphere seems to be healthful; or, to
+state the case negatively, there is no evidence to prove its
+unhealthfulness. The Korak women, who spend almost the whole of their
+time in these _pologs_, live generally to an advanced age, and except
+a noticeable tendency to angular outlines, and skinniness, there is
+nothing to distinguish them physically from the old women of other
+countries. It was not without what I supposed to be a well-founded
+apprehension of suffocation, that I slept for the first time in a
+Korak _yurt_; but my uneasiness proved to be entirely groundless, and
+gradually wore away.
+
+[Illustration: A MAN OF THE WANDERING KORAKS]
+
+With a view to escape from the crowd of Koraks, who squatted around
+us on the earthen floor, and whose watchful curiosity soon became
+irksome, Dodd and I lifted up the fur curtain of the _polog_ which the
+Major's diplomacy had secured, and crawled in to await the advent of
+supper. The inquisitive Koraks, unable to find room in the narrow
+_polog_ for the whole of their bodies, lay down to the number of nine
+on the outside, and poking their ugly, half-shaven heads under the
+curtain, resumed their silent supervision. The appearance in a row of
+nine disembodied heads, whose staring eyes rolled with synchronous
+motion from side to side as we moved, was so ludicrous that we
+involuntarily burst into laughter. A responsive smile instantly
+appeared upon each of the nine swarthy faces, whose simultaneous
+concurrence in the expression of every emotion suggested the idea of
+some huge monster with nine heads and but one consciousness. Acting
+upon Dodd's suggestion that we try and smoke them out, I took my
+brier-wood pipe from my pocket and proceeded to light it with one of
+those peculiar snapping lucifers which were among our most cherished
+relics of civilisation. As the match, with a miniature fusillade of
+sharp reports, burst suddenly into flame, the nine startled heads
+instantly disappeared, and from beyond the curtain we could hear a
+chorus of long-drawn "tye-e-e's" from the astonished natives, followed
+by a perfect Babel of animated comments upon this diabolical method
+of producing fire. Fearful, however, of losing some other equally
+striking manifestation of the white men's supernatural power, the
+heads soon returned, reenforced by several others which the report of
+the wonderful occurrence had attracted. The fabled watchfulness of the
+hundred-eyed Argus was nothing compared with the scrutiny to which we
+were now subjected. Every wreath of curling smoke which rose from our
+lips was watched by the staring eyes as intently as if it were some
+deadly vapour from the bottomless pit, which would shortly burst into
+report and flame. A loud and vigorous sneeze from Dodd was the signal
+for a second panic-stricken withdrawal of the row of heads, and
+another comparison of respective experiences outside the curtain. It
+was laughable enough; but, tired of being stared at and anxious for
+something to eat, we crawled out of our _polog_ and watched with
+unassumed interest the preparation of supper.
+
+Out of a little pine box which contained our telegraphic instruments,
+Viushin had improvised a rude, legless mess-table, which he was
+engaged in covering with cakes of hardbread, slices of raw bacon, and
+tumblers of steaming tea. These were the luxuries of civilisation, and
+beside them on the ground, in a long wooden trough and a huge bowl of
+the same material, were the corresponding delicacies of barbarism. As
+to their nature and composition we could, of course, give only a
+wild conjecture; but the appetites of weary travellers are not very
+discriminating, and we seated ourselves, like cross-legged Turks, on
+the ground, between the trough and the instrument-box, determined to
+prove our appreciation of Korak hospitality by eating everything which
+offered itself. The bowl with its strange-looking contents arrested,
+of course, the attention of the observant Dodd, and, poking it
+inquiringly with a long-handled spoon, he turned to Viushin, who, as
+_chef-de-cuisine_, was supposed to know all about it, and demanded:
+
+"What's this you've got?"
+
+"That?" answered Viushin, promptly, "that's _kasha_" (hasty pudding
+made of rice).
+
+"_Kasha_!" exclaimed Dodd, contemptuously. "It looks more like the
+stuff that the children of Israel made bricks of. They don't seem to
+have wanted for straw, either," he added, as he fished up several
+stems of dried grass. "What is it, anyhow?"
+
+"That," said Viushin again, with a comical assumption of learning, "is
+the celebrated 'Jamuk chi a la Poosteretsk,' the national dish of the
+Koraks, made from the original recipe of His High Excellency
+Oollcot Ootkoo Minyegeetkin, Grand Hereditary Taiyon and Vwisokee
+Prevoskhodeetelstvo--"
+
+"Hold on!" exclaimed Dodd, with a deprecating gesture, "that's enough,
+I'll eat it"; and taking out a halfspoonful of the dark viscid mass,
+he put it to his lips.
+
+"Well," said we expectantly, after a moment's pause, "what does it
+taste like?"
+
+"Like the mud pies of infancy!" he replied sententiously. "A little
+salt, pepper, and butter, and a good deal of meat and flour, with a
+few well selected vegetables, would probably improve it; but it isn't
+particularly bad as it is."
+
+Upon the strength of this rather equivocal recommendation I tasted it.
+Aside from a peculiar earthy flavour, it had nothing about it which
+was either pleasant or disagreeable. Its qualities were all negative
+except its grassiness, which alone gave character and consistency to
+the mass.
+
+The mixture, known among the Koraks as _manyalla,_ is eaten by all
+the Siberian tribes as a substitute for bread, and is the nearest
+approximation which native ingenuity can make to the staff of life. It
+is valued, we were told, more for its medicinal virtues than for
+any intrinsic excellence of taste, and our limited experience fully
+prepared us to believe the statement. Its original elements are
+clotted blood, tallow, and half-digested moss, taken from the stomach
+of the reindeer, where it is supposed to have undergone some essential
+change which fits it for second-hand consumption. These curious and
+heterogeneous ingredients are boiled up together with a few handfuls
+of dried grass to give the mixture consistency, and the dark mass is
+then moulded into small loaves and frozen for future use. Our host was
+evidently desirous of treating us with every civility, and, as a mark
+of especial consideration, bit off several choice morsels from the
+large cube of venison in his grimy hand, and taking them from his
+mouth, offered them to me. I waived graciously the implied compliment,
+and indicated Dodd as the proper recipient of such attentions; but the
+latter revenged himself by requesting an old woman to bring me some
+raw tallow, which he soberly assured her constituted my only food
+when at home. My indignant denials, in English were not, of course,
+understood; and the woman, delighted to find an American whose tastes
+corresponded so closely with her own, brought the tallow. I was a
+helpless victim, and I could only add this last offence to the long
+list of grievances which stood to Dodd's credit, and which I hoped
+some time to settle in full.
+
+Supper, in the social economy of the Koraks, is emphatically the meal
+of the day. Around the kettle of _manyalla_, or the trough of reindeer
+meat; gather the men of the band, who during the hours of daylight
+have been absent, and who, between mouthfuls of meat or moss, discuss
+the simple subjects of thought which their isolated life affords. We
+availed ourselves of this opportunity to learn something of the tribes
+that inhabited the country to the northward, the reception with which
+we should probably meet, and the mode of travel which we should be
+compelled to adopt.
+
+[Illustration: Small Adze with bone headpiece]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+WHY THE KORAKS WANDER--THEIR INDEPENDENCE--CHEERLESS LIFE--USES OF
+THE REINDEER--KORAK IDEAS OF DISTANCE--"MONARCH OF THE BRASS-HANDLED
+SWORD"
+
+The Wandering Koraks of Kamchatka, who are divided into about forty
+different bands, roam over the great steppes in the northern part of
+the peninsula, between the 58th and the 63d parallels of latitude.
+Their southern limit is the settlement of Tigil, on the west coast,
+where they come annually to trade, and they are rarely found north
+of the village of Penzhina, two hundred miles from the head of the
+Okhotsk Sea. Within these limits they wander almost constantly with
+their great herds of reindeer, and so unsettled and restless are they
+in their habits, that they seldom camp longer than a week in any one
+place. This, however, is not attributable altogether to restlessness
+or love of change. A herd of four or five thousand reindeer will in a
+very few days paw up the snow and eat all the moss within a radius of
+a mile from the encampment, and then, of course, the band must move to
+fresh pasture ground. Their nomadic life, therefore, is not entirely a
+choice, but partly a necessity, growing out of their dependence upon
+the reindeer. They _must_ wander or their deer will starve, and then
+their own starvation follows as a natural consequence. Their
+unsettled mode of life probably grew, in the first place, out of the
+domestication of the reindeer, and the necessity which it involved of
+consulting first the reindeer's wants; but the restless, vagabondish
+habits thus produced have now become a part of the Korak's very
+nature, so that he could hardly live in any other way, even had he
+an opportunity of so doing. This wandering, isolated, independent
+existence has given to the Koraks all those characteristic traits of
+boldness, impatience of restraint, and perfect self-reliance, which
+distinguish them from the Kamchadals and the other settled inhabitants
+of Siberia. Give them a small herd of reindeer, and a moss steppe to
+wander over, and they ask nothing more from all the world. They are
+wholly independent of civilisation and government, and will neither
+submit to their laws nor recognise their distinctions. Every man is
+a law unto himself so long as he owns a dozen reindeer; and he can
+isolate himself, if he so chooses, from all human kind, and ignore
+all other interests but his own and his reindeer's. For the sake of
+convenience and society they associate themselves in bands of six or
+eight families each; but these bands are held together only by mutual
+consent, and recognise no governing head. They have a leader called a
+_taiyón_ who is generally the largest deer-owner of the band, and
+he decides all such questions as the location of camps and time of
+removal from place to place; but he has no other power, and must refer
+all graver questions of individual rights and general obligations
+to the members of the band collectively. They have no particular
+reverence for anything or anybody except the evil spirits who bring
+calamities upon them, and the "shamáns" or priests, who act as
+infernal mediators between these devils and their victims. Earthly
+rank they treat with contempt, and the Tsar of all the Russias, if he
+entered a Korak tent, would stand upon the same level with its owner.
+We had an amusing instance of this soon after we met the first Koraks.
+The Major had become impressed in some way with the idea that in order
+to get what he wanted from these natives he must impress them with a
+proper sense of his power, rank, wealth, and general importance in the
+world, and make them feel a certain degree of reverence and respect
+for his orders and wishes. He accordingly called one of the oldest and
+most influential members of the band to him one day, and proceeded
+to tell him, through an interpreter, how rich he was; what immense
+resources, in the way of rewards and punishments, he possessed; what
+high rank he held; how important a place he filled in Russia, and how
+becoming it was that an individual of such exalted attributes should
+be treated by poor wandering heathen with filial reverence and
+veneration. The old Korak, squatting upon his heels on the ground,
+listened quietly to the enumeration of all our leader's admirable
+qualities and perfections without moving a muscle of his face; but
+finally, when the interpreter had finished, he rose slowly, walked up
+to the Major with imperturbable gravity, and with the most benignant
+and patronising condescension, patted him softly on the head! The
+Major turned red and broke into a laugh; but he never tried again to
+overawe a Korak.
+
+Notwithstanding this democratic independence of the Koraks, they are
+almost invariably hospitable, obliging, and kind-hearted; and we were
+assured at the first encampment where we stopped, that we should
+have no difficulty in getting the different bands to carry us on
+deer-sledges from one encampment to another until we should reach the
+head of Penzhinsk Gulf. After a long conversation with the Koraks who
+crowded around us as we sat by the fire, we finally became tired and
+sleepy, and with favourable impressions, upon the whole, of this new
+and strange people, we crawled into our little _polog_ to sleep. A
+voice in another part of the _yurt_ was singing a low, melancholy air
+in a minor key as I closed my eyes, and the sad, oft-repeated refrain,
+so different from ordinary music, invested with peculiar loneliness
+and strangeness my first night in a Korak tent.
+
+To be awakened in the morning by a paroxysm of coughing, caused by
+the thick, acrid smoke of a low-spirited fire--to crawl out of a skin
+bedroom six feet square into the yet denser and smokier atmosphere of
+the tent--to eat a breakfast of dried fish, frozen tallow, and venison
+out of a dirty wooden trough, with an ill-conditioned dog standing at
+each elbow and disputing one's right to every mouthful, is to enjoy
+an experience which only Korak life can afford, and which only Korak
+insensibility can long endure. A very sanguine temperament may find
+in its novelty some compensation for its discomfort, but the novelty
+rarely outlasts the second day, while the discomfort seems to increase
+in a direct ratio with the length of the experience. Philosophers
+may assert that a rightly constituted mind will rise superior to all
+outward circumstances; but two weeks in a Korak tent would do more to
+disabuse their minds of such an erroneous impression than any amount
+of logical argument. I do not myself profess to be preternaturally
+cheerful, and the dismal aspect of things when I crawled out of my
+fur sleeping-bag, on the morning after our arrival at the first
+encampment, made me feel anything but amiable. The first beams of
+daylight were just struggling in misty blue lines through the smoky
+atmosphere of the tent. The recently kindled fire would not burn but
+would smoke; the air was cold and cheerless; two babies were crying
+in a neighbouring _polog_; the breakfast was not ready, everybody was
+cross, and rather than break the harmonious impression of general
+misery, I became cross also. Three or four cups of hot tea, however,
+which were soon forthcoming, exerted their usual inspiriting
+influence, and we began gradually to take a more cheerful view of
+the situation. Summoning the _taiyón,_ and quickening his dull
+apprehension with a preliminary pipe of strong Circassian tobacco, we
+succeeded in making arrangements for our transportation to the next
+Korak encampment in the north, a distance of about forty miles.
+Orders were at once given for the capture of twenty reindeer and the
+preparation of sledges. Snatching hurriedly a few bites of hardbread
+and bacon by way of breakfast, I donned fur hood and mittens, and
+crawled out through the low doorway to see how twenty trained deer
+were to be separated from a herd of four thousand wild ones.
+
+[Illustration: TENTS AND REINDEER OF THE WANDERING KORAKS]
+
+Surrounding the tent in every direction were the deer belonging to
+the band, some pawing up the snow with their sharp hoofs in search of
+moss, others clashing their antlers together and barking hoarsely in
+fight, or chasing one another in a mad gallop over the steppe. Near
+the tent a dozen men with lassos arranged themselves in two parallel
+lines, while twenty more, with a thong of sealskin two or three
+hundred yards in length, encircled a portion of the great herd, and
+with shouts and waving lassos began driving it through the narrow
+gantlet. The deer strove with frightened bounds to escape from the
+gradually contracting circle, but the sealskin cord, held at short
+distances by shouting natives, invariably turned them back, and they
+streamed in a struggling, leaping throng through the narrow opening
+between the lines of lassoers. Ever and anon a long cord uncoiled
+itself in air, and a sliding noose fell over the antlers of some
+unlucky deer whose slit ears marked him as trained, but whose
+tremendous leaps and frantic efforts to escape suggested very grave
+doubts as to the extent of the training. To prevent the interference
+and knocking together of the deer's antlers when they should be
+harnessed in couples, one horn was relentlessly chopped off close to
+the head by a native armed with a heavy sword-like knife, leaving a
+red ghastly stump from which the blood trickled in little streams over
+the animal's ears. They were then harnessed to sledges in couples, by
+a collar and trace passing between the forelegs; lines were affixed to
+small sharp studs in the headstall, which pricked the right or left
+side of the head when the corresponding rein was jerked, and the
+equipage was ready.
+
+Bidding good-by to the Lesnoi Kamchadals, who returned from here, we
+muffled ourselves from the biting air in our heaviest furs, took
+seats on our respective sledges, and at a laconic "tok" (go) from the
+_taiyón_ we were off; the little cluster of tents looking like a group
+of conical islands behind us as we swept out upon the limitless ocean
+of the snowy steppe. Noticing that I shivered a little in the keen
+air, my driver pointed away to the northward, and exclaimed with a
+pantomimic shrug, "Tam _shipka_ kholodno"--"There it's awful cold." We
+needed not to be informed of the fact; the rapidly sinking thermometer
+indicated our approach to the regions of perpetual frost, and I looked
+forward with no little apprehension to the prospect of sleeping
+outdoors in the arctic temperatures of which I had read, but which I
+had never yet experienced.
+
+This was my first trial of reindeer travel, and I was a little
+disappointed to find that it did not quite realise the expectations
+that had been excited in my boyish days by the pictures of galloping
+Lapland deer in the old geographies. The reindeer were there, but they
+were not the ideal reindeer of early fancy, and I felt a vague sense
+of personal injury and unjustifiable deception at the substitution
+of these awkward, ungainly beasts for the spirited and fleet-footed
+animals of my boyish imagination. Their trot was awkward and heavy,
+they carried their heads low, and their panting breaths and gaping
+mouths were constantly suggestive of complete exhaustion, and excited
+pity for their apparently laborious exertions, rather than admiration
+for the speed which they really did exhibit. My ideal reindeer would
+never have demeaned himself by running with his mouth wide open. When
+I learned, as I afterward did, that they were compelled to breathe
+through their mouths, on account of the rapid accumulation of frost in
+their nostrils, it relieved my apprehensions of their breaking down,
+but did not alter my firm conviction that my ideal reindeer was
+infinitely superior in an aesthetic point of view to the real animal.
+I could not but admit, however, the inestimable value of the reindeer
+to his wandering owners. Besides carrying them from place to place, he
+furnishes them with clothes, food, and covering for their tents; his
+antlers are made into rude implements of all sorts; his sinews are
+dried and pounded into thread, his bones are soaked in seal oil and
+burned for fuel, his entrails are cleaned, filled with tallow, and
+eaten; his blood, mixed with the contents of his stomach, is made
+into _manyalla_; his marrow and tongue are considered the greatest
+of delicacies; the stiff, bristly skin of his legs is used to cover
+snow-shoes; and finally his whole body, sacrificed to the Korak gods,
+brings down upon his owners all the spiritual and temporal blessings
+which they need. It would be hard to find another animal which fills
+so important a place in the life of any body of men, as the reindeer
+does in the life and domestic economy of the Siberian Koraks. I cannot
+now think of one which furnishes even the four prime requisites of
+food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. It is a singular fact,
+however, that the Siberian natives--the only people, so far as I know,
+who have ever domesticated the reindeer, except the Laps--do not
+use in any way the animal's milk. Why so important and desirable an
+article of food should be neglected, when every other part of the
+deer's body is turned to some useful account, I cannot imagine. It is
+certain, however, that no one of the four great wandering tribes of
+north-eastern Siberia, Koraks, Chukchis, Tunguses, and Lamutkis, uses
+in any way the reindeer's milk.
+
+By two o'clock in the afternoon it began to grow dark, but we
+estimated that we had accomplished at least half of our day's journey,
+and halted for a few moments to allow our deer to eat. The last half
+of the distance seemed interminable. The moon rose round and bright as
+the shield of Achilles, and lighted up the vast, lonely _tundra_ with
+noonday brilliancy; but the silence and desolation, the absence of any
+dark object upon which the fatigued eye could rest, and the apparently
+boundless extent of this Dead Sea of snow, oppressed us with new
+and strange sensations of awe. A dense mist or steam, which is an
+unfailing indication of intense cold, rose from the bodies of the
+reindeer and hung over the road long after we had passed. Beards
+became tangled masses of frozen iron wire; eyelids grew heavy with
+white rims of frost and froze together when we winked; noses assumed
+a white, waxen appearance with every incautious exposure, and only by
+frequently running beside our sledges could we keep any "feeling" in
+our feet. Impelled by hunger and cold, we repeated twenty times the
+despairing question, "How much farther is it?" and twenty times we
+received the stereotyped but indefinite answer of "cheimuk," near,
+or occasionally the encouraging assurance that we would arrive in a
+minute. Now we knew very well that we _should not_ arrive in a minute,
+nor probably in forty minutes; but it afforded temporary relief to be
+_told_ that we would. My frequent inquiries finally spurred my driver
+into an attempt to express the distance arithmetically, and with
+evident pride in his ability to speak Russian, he assured me that it
+was only "dva verst," or two versts more. I brightened up at once with
+anticipations of a warm fire and an infinite number of cups of hot
+tea, and by imagining prospective comfort, succeeded in forgetting
+the present sense of suffering. At the expiration, however, of
+three-quarters of an hour, seeing no indication of the promised
+encampment, I asked once more if it were much farther away. One Korak
+looked around over the steppe with a well assumed air of seeking some
+landmark, and then turning to me with a confident nod, repeated the
+word "verst" and held up _four fingers_! I sank back upon my sledge
+in despair. If we had been three-quarters of an hour in losing two
+versts, how long would be we in losing versts enough to get back to
+the place from which we started. It was a discouraging problem, and
+after several unsuccessful attempts to solve it by the double rule
+of three backwards, I gave it up. For the benefit of the future
+traveller, I give, however, a few native expressions for distances,
+with their numerical equivalents: "cheimuk"--near, twenty versts;
+"bolshe nyet"--there is no more, fifteen versts; "sey chas
+priyédem"--we will arrive this minute, means any time in the course of
+the day or night; and "dailóko"--far, is a week's journey. By bearing
+in mind these simple values, the traveller will avoid much bitter
+disappointment, and _may_ get through without entirely losing faith in
+human veracity. About six o'clock in the evening, tired, hungry, and
+half-frozen, we caught sight of the sparks and fire-lit smoke which
+arose from the tents of the second encampment, and amid a general
+barking of dogs and hallooing of men we stopped among them. Jumping
+hurriedly from my sledge, with no thought but that of getting to a
+fire, I crawled into the first hole which presented itself, with a
+firm belief, founded on the previous night's experience, that it must
+be a door. After groping about some time in the dark, crawling over
+two dead reindeer and a heap of dried fish, I was obliged to shout for
+assistance. Great was the astonishment of the proprietor, who came to
+the rescue with a torch, to find a white man and a stranger crawling
+around aimlessly in his fish storehouse. He relieved his feelings with
+a ty-e-e-e of amazement, and led the way, or rather crawled away, to
+the interior of the tent, where I found the Major endeavouring with a
+dull Korak knife to cut his frozen beard loose from his fur hood and
+open communication with his mouth through a sheet of ice and hair. The
+teakettle was soon simmering and spouting over a brisk fire, beards
+were thawed out, noses examined for signs of frost-bites, and in half
+an hour we were seated comfortably on the ground around a candle-box,
+drinking tea and discussing the events of the day.
+
+Just as Viushin was filling up our cups for the third time, the skin
+curtain of the low doorway at our side was lifted up, and the most
+extraordinary figure which I ever beheld in Kamchatka crawled silently
+in, straightened up to its full height of six feet, and stood
+majestically before us. It was an ugly, dark-featured man about thirty
+years of age. He was clothed in a scarlet dress-coat with blue facings
+and brass buttons, with long festoons of gold cord hung across the
+breast, trousers of black, greasy deerskin, and fur boots. His hair
+was closely shaven from the crown of his head, leaving a long fringe
+of lank, uneven locks hanging about his ears and forehead. Long
+strings of small coloured beads depended from his ears, and over one
+of them he had plastered for future use a huge quid of masticated
+tobacco. About his waist was tied a ragged sealskin thong, which
+supported a magnificent silver-hilted sword and embossed scabbard. His
+smoky, unmistakably Korak face, shaven head, scarlet coat, greasy
+skin trousers, gold cord, sealskin belt, silver-hilted sword, and fur
+boots, made up such a remarkable combination of glaring contrasts
+that we could do nothing for a moment but stare at him in utter
+_amazement_. He reminded me of "Talipot, the Immortal Potentate of
+Manacabo, Messenger of the Morning, Enlightener of the Sun, Possessor
+of the Whole Earth, and Mighty Monarch of the Brass-handled Sword."
+
+"Who are you?" suddenly demanded the Major, in Russian. A low bow was
+the only response. "Where in the name of Chort did you come from?"
+Another bow. "Where did you get that coat? Can't you say something?
+Ay! Meranef! Come and talk to this--fellow, I can't make him say
+anything." Dodd suggested that he might be a messenger from the
+expedition of Sir John Franklin, with late advices from the Pole
+and the North-west Passage, and the silent owner of the sword bowed
+affirmatively, as if this were the true solution of the mystery. "Are
+you a pickled cabbage?" suddenly inquired Dodd in Russian. The Unknown
+intimated by a very emphatic bow that he was. "_He_ doesn't understand
+anything!" said Dodd in disgust; "where's Meranef?" Meranef soon made
+his appearance, and began questioning the mysterious visitor in a
+scarlet coat as to his residence, name, and previous history. For the
+first time he now found a voice. "What does he say?" asked the Major;
+"what's his name?"
+
+"He says his name is Khanálpooginuk."
+
+"Where did he get that coat and sword?"
+
+"He says 'the Great White Chief' gave it to him for a dead reindeer."
+This was not very satisfactory, and Meranef was instructed to get some
+more intelligible information. Who the "Great White Chief" might be,
+and why he should give a scarlet coat and a silver-hilted sword for a
+dead reindeer, were questions beyond our ability to solve. Finally,
+Meranef's puzzled face cleared up, and he told us that the coat and
+sword had been presented to the Unknown by the Emperor, as a reward
+for reindeer given to the starving Russians of Kamchatka during a
+famine. The Korak was asked if he had received no paper with these
+gifts, and he immediately left the tent, and returned in a moment with
+a sheet of paper tied up carefully with reindeer's sinews between a
+couple of thin boards. This paper explained everything. The coat and
+sword had been given to the present owner's father, during the reign
+of Alexander I., by the Russian Governor of Kamchatka as a reward for
+succour afforded the Russians in a famine. From the father they
+had descended to the son, and the latter, proud of his inherited
+distinction, had presented himself to us as soon as he heard of our
+arrival. He wanted nothing in particular except to show himself, and
+after examining his sword, which was really a magnificent weapon, we
+gave him a few bunches of tobacco and dismissed him. We had hardly
+expected to find in the interior of Kamchatka any relics of Alexander
+I., dating back to the time of Napoleon.
+
+[Illustration: Iron Skin Scraper]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+THE SNOW-DRIFT COMPASS--MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE--AN INTOXICATING
+FUNGUS--MONOTONY OF KORAK LIFE
+
+On the following morning at daybreak we continued our journey, and
+rode until four hours after dark, over a boundless level steppe,
+without a single guiding landmark to point the way. I was surprised
+to see how accurately our drivers could determine the points of the
+compass and shape their course by simply looking at the snow. The
+heavy north-east winds which prevail in this locality throughout the
+winter sweep the snow into long wave-like ridges called _sastrugi_
+(sas-troo'-gee), which are always perpendicular to the course of the
+wind, and which almost invariably run in a north-west and south-east
+direction. They are sometimes hidden for a few days by fresh-fallen
+snow; but an experienced Korak can always tell by removing the upper
+layer which way is north, and he travels to his destination by night
+or day in a nearly straight line.
+
+We reached the third encampment about six o'clock, and upon entering
+the largest tent were surprised to find it crowded with natives, as if
+in expectation of some ceremony or entertainment. Inquiry through
+our interpreter elicited the interesting fact that the ceremony of
+marriage was about to be performed for, or rather by, two members
+of the band; and instead of taking up our quarters, as we at first
+intended, in another less crowded tent, we determined to remain
+and see in what manner this rite would be solemnised by a wholly
+uncivilised and barbarous people.
+
+The marriage ceremony of the Koraks is especially remarkable for its
+entire originality, and for the indifference which it manifests to the
+sensibilities of the bridegroom. In no other country does there
+exist such a curious mixture of sense and absurdity as that which is
+dignified in the social life of the Koraks with the name of marriage;
+and among no other people, let us charitably hope, is the unfortunate
+bridegroom subjected to such humiliating indignities. The
+contemplation of marriage is, or ought to be, a very serious thing
+to every young man; but to a Korak of average sensibility it must be
+absolutely appalling. No other proof of bravery need ever be exhibited
+than a certificate of marriage (if the Koraks have such documents),
+and the bravery rises into positive heroism when a man marries two or
+three times. I once knew a Korak in Kamchatka who had four wives, and
+I felt as much respect for his heroic bravery as if he had charged
+with the Six Hundred at Balaklava.
+
+The ceremony, I believe, has never been described; and inadequate as a
+description may be to convey an idea of the reality, it will perhaps
+enable American lovers to realise what a calamity they escaped when
+they were born in America and not in Kamchatka. The young Korak's
+troubles begin when he first falls in love; this, like Achilles'
+wrath, is "the direful spring of woes unnumbered." If his intentions
+are serious, he calls upon the damsel's father and makes formal
+proposals for her hand, ascertains the amount of her dower in
+reindeer, and learns her estimated value. He is probably told that he
+must work for his wife two or three years--a rather severe trial of
+any young man's affection. He then seeks an interview with the young
+lady herself, and performs the agreeable or disagreeable duty
+which corresponds in Korak to the civilised custom of "popping the
+question." We had hoped to get some valuable hints from the Koraks as
+to the best method which their experience suggested for the successful
+accomplishment of this delicate task; but we could learn nothing that
+would be applicable to the more artificial relations of civilised
+society. If the young man's sentiments are reciprocated, and he
+obtains a positive promise of marriage, he goes cheerfully to work,
+like Ferdinand in _The Tempest_ for Miranda's father, and spends two
+or three years in cutting and drawing wood, watching reindeer,
+making sledges, and contributing generally to the interests of his
+prospective father-in-law. At the end of this probationary period
+comes the grand "experimentum crucis," which is to decide his fate and
+prove the success or the uselessness of his long labour.
+
+At this interesting crisis we had surprised our Korak friends in the
+third encampment. The tent which we had entered was an unusually large
+one, containing twenty-six _pologs_, arranged in a continuous circle
+around its inner circumference. The open space in the centre around
+the fire was crowded with the dusky faces and half-shaven heads of the
+Korak spectators, whose attention seemed about equally divided between
+sundry kettles and troughs of _manyalla_, boiled venison, marrow,
+frozen tallow, and similar delicacies, and the discussion of some
+controverted point of marriage etiquette. Owing to my ignorance of the
+language, I was not able to enter thoroughly into the merits of the
+disputed question; but it seemed to be ably argued on both sides.
+Our sudden entrance seemed to create a temporary diversion from
+the legitimate business of the evening. The tattooed women and
+shaven-headed men stared in open-mouthed astonishment at the
+pale-faced guests who had come unbidden to the marriage-feast, having
+on no wedding garments. Our faces were undeniably dirty, our blue
+hunting-shirts and buckskin trousers bore the marks of two months'
+rough travel, in numerous rips, tears, and tatters, which were only
+partially masked by a thick covering of reindeer hair from our fur
+_kukhlánkas._ Our general appearance, in fact, suggested a more
+intimate acquaintance with dirty _yurts_, mountain thickets, and
+Siberian storms, than with the civilising influences of soap, water,
+razors, and needles. We bore the curious scrutiny of the assemblage,
+however, with the indifference of men who were used to it, and
+sipped our hot tea while waiting for the ceremony to begin. I looked
+curiously around to see if I could distinguish the happy candidates
+for matrimonial honours; but they were evidently concealed in one of
+the closed _pologs_. The eating and drinking seemed by this time to be
+about finished, and an air of expectation and suspense pervaded the
+entire crowd. Suddenly we were startled by the loud and regular
+beating of a native _barabán_ or bass drum, which fairly filled the
+tent with a great volume of sound. At the same instant the tent opened
+to permit the passage of a tall, stern-looking Korak, with an
+armful of willow sprouts and alder branches, which he proceeded
+[Illustration: DRAWINGS OF THE KORAKS. ILLUSTRATIVE OF THEIR MYTHS.]
+to distribute in all the _pologs_ of the tent. "What do you suppose
+that's for?" asked Dodd in an undertone. "I don't know," was the
+reply; "keep quiet and you'll see." The regular throbs of the drum
+continued throughout the distribution of the willow sticks and at
+its close the drummer began to sing a low, musical recitative, which
+increased gradually in volume and energy until it swelled into a wild,
+barbarous chant, timed by the regular beats of the heavy drum. A
+slight commotion followed, the front curtains of all the _pologs_ were
+thrown up, the women stationed themselves in detachments of two or
+three at the entrance of each polog, and took up the willow branches
+which had been provided. In a moment a venerable native, whom we
+presumed to be the father of one of the parties, emerged from one of
+the _pologs_ near the door, leading a good-looking young Korak and the
+dark-faced bride. Upon their appearance the excitement increased to
+the pitch of frenzy, the music redoubled its rapidity, the men in the
+centre of the tent joined in the uncouth chant, and uttered at short
+intervals peculiar shrill cries of wild excitement. At a given signal
+from the native who had led out the couple, the bride darted suddenly
+into the first _polog_, and began a rapid flight around the tent,
+raising the curtains between the _pologs_ successively, and passing
+under. The bridegroom instantly followed in hot pursuit; but the women
+who were stationed in each compartment threw every possible impediment
+in his way, tripping up his unwary feet, holding down the curtains
+to prevent his passage, and applying the willow and alder switches
+unmercifully to a very susceptible part of his body as he stooped
+to raise them. The air was filled with drum-beats, shouts of
+encouragement and derision, and the sound of the heavy blows which
+were administered to the unlucky bridegroom by each successive
+detachment of women as he ran the gantlet. It became evident at once
+that despite his most violent efforts he would fail to overtake the
+flying Atalanta before she completed the circuit of the tent. Even the
+golden apples of Hesperides would have availed him little against such
+disheartening odds; but with undismayed perseverance he pressed
+on, stumbling headlong over the outstretched feet of his female
+persecutors, and getting constantly entangled in the ample folds of
+the reindeerskin curtains, which were thrown with the skill of a
+matador over his head and eyes. In a moment the bride had entered the
+last closed _polog_ near the door, while the unfortunate bridegroom
+was still struggling with his accumulating misfortunes about half-way
+around the tent. I expected to see him relax his efforts and give up
+the contest when the bride disappeared, and was preparing to protest
+strongly in his behalf against the unfairness of the trial; but, to my
+surprise, he still struggled on, and with a final plunge burst through
+the curtains of the last _polog_ and rejoined his bride. The music
+suddenly ceased, and the throng began to stream out of the tent. The
+ceremony was evidently over. Turning to Meranef, who with a delighted
+grin had watched its progress, we inquired what it all meant. "Were
+they married?"--"Da's," was the affirmative reply. "But," we objected,
+"he didn't catch her."--"She waited for him, your honour, in the last
+_polog_, and if he caught her there it was enough."--"Suppose he had
+_not_ caught her there, then what?"--"Then," answered the Cossack,
+with an expressive shrug of commiseration, "the _beidnak_ [poor
+fellow] would have had to work two more years." This was pleasant--for
+the bridegroom! To work two years for a wife, undergo a severe course
+of willow sprouts at the close of his apprenticeship, and then have
+no security against a possible breach of promise on the part of the
+bride. His faith in her constancy must be unlimited. The intention of
+the whole ceremony was evidently to give the woman an opportunity to
+marry the man or not, as she chose, since it was obviously impossible
+for him to catch her under such circumstances, unless she voluntarily
+waited for him in one of the _pologs_. The plan showed a more
+chivalrous regard and deference for the wishes and preferences of the
+gentler sex than is common in an unreconstructed state of society; but
+it seemed to me, as an unprejudiced observer, that the same result
+might have been obtained without so much abuse of the unfortunate
+bridegroom! Some regard ought to have been paid to his feelings, if
+he _was_ a man. I could not ascertain the significance of the
+chastisement which was inflicted by the women upon the bridegroom with
+the willow switches. Dodd suggested that it might be emblematical of
+married life--a sort of foreshadowing of future domestic experience;
+but in view of the masculine Korak character, this hardly seemed to
+me probable. No woman in her senses would try the experiment a second
+time upon one of the stern, resolute men who witnessed that ceremony,
+and who seemed to regard it _then_ as perfectly proper. Circumstances
+would undoubtedly alter cases.
+
+Mr. A.S. Bickmore, in the _American Journal of Science_ for May,
+1868, notices this curious custom of the Koraks, and says that the
+chastisement is intended to test the young man's "ability to bear up
+against the ills of life"; but I would respectfully submit that the
+ills of life do not generally come in that shape, and that switching
+a man over the back with willow sprouts is a very singular way of
+preparing him for future misfortunes of any kind.
+
+Whatever may be the motive, it is certainly an infringement upon the
+generally recognised prerogatives of the sterner sex, and should be
+discountenanced by all Koraks who favour masculine supremacy. Before
+they know it, they will have a woman's suffrage association on their
+hands, and female lecturers will be going about from band to band
+advocating the substitution of hickory clubs and slung-shots for the
+harmless willow switches, and protesting against the tyranny which
+will not permit them to indulge in this interesting diversion at least
+three times a week. [Footnote: It is now well known that this ceremony
+is a form of "marriage by capture" which is widely prevalent among
+barbarous peoples.--G.K. (1909).]
+
+After the conclusion of the ceremony we removed to an adjacent tent,
+and were surprised, as we came out into the open air, to see three
+or four Koraks shouting and reeling about in an advanced stage of
+intoxication--celebrating, I suppose, the happy event which had just
+transpired. I knew that there was not a drop of alcoholic liquor in
+all northern Kamchatka, nor, so far as I knew, anything from which it
+could be made, and it was a mystery to me how they had succeeded in
+becoming so suddenly, thoroughly, hopelessly, undeniably drunk. Even
+Ross Browne's beloved Washoe, with its "howling wilderness" saloons,
+could not have turned out more creditable specimens of intoxicated
+humanity than those before us. The exciting agent, whatever it might
+be, was certainly as quick in its operation, and as effective in its
+results, as any "tanglefoot" or "bottled lightning" known to modern
+civilisation. Upon inquiry we learned to our astonishment that they
+had been eating a species of the plant vulgarly known as toadstool.
+There is a peculiar fungus of this class in Siberia, known to the
+natives as "muk-a-moor," and as it possesses active intoxicating
+properties, it is used as a stimulant by nearly all the Siberian
+tribes. [Footnote: _Agaricus muscarius_ or fly-agaric.] Taken in large
+quantities it is a violent narcotic poison; but in small doses it
+produces all the effects of alcoholic liquor. Its habitual use,
+however, completely shatters the nervous system, and its sale by
+Russian traders to the natives has consequently been made a penal
+offence by Russian law. In spite of all prohibitions, the trade is
+still secretly carried on, and I have seen twenty dollars' worth of
+furs bought with a single fungus. The Koraks would gather it for
+themselves, but it requires the shelter of timber for its growth, and
+is not to be found on the barren steppes over which they wander; so
+that they are obliged for the most part to buy it, at enormous prices,
+from the Russian traders. It may sound strangely to American ears, but
+the invitation which a convivial Korak extends to his passing friend
+is not, "Come in and have a drink," but, "Won't you come in and take a
+toadstool?" Not a very alluring proposal perhaps to a civilised toper,
+but one which has a magical effect upon a dissipated Korak. As the
+supply of these toadstools is by no means equal to the demand, Korak
+ingenuity has been greatly exercised in the endeavour to economise the
+precious stimulant, and make it go as far as possible. Sometimes, in
+the course of human events, it becomes imperatively necessary that a
+whole band shall get drunk together, and they have only one toadstool
+to do it with. For a description of the manner in which this band gets
+drunk collectively and individually upon one fungus, and keeps drunk
+for a week, the curious reader is referred to Goldsmith's _Citizen
+of the World_, Letter 32. It is but just to say, however, that this
+horrible practice is almost entirely confined to the settled Koraks of
+Penzhinsk Gulf--the lowest, most degraded portion of the whole tribe.
+It may prevail to a limited extent among the wandering natives, but I
+never heard of more than one such instance outside of the Penzhinsk
+Gulf settlements.
+
+Our travel for the next few days after leaving the third encampment
+was fatiguing and monotonous. The unvarying routine of our daily life
+in smoky Korak tents, and the uniform flatness and barrenness of the
+country over which we journeyed, became inexpressibly tiresome, and we
+looked forward in longing anticipation to the Russian settlement of
+Gizhiga, at the head of Gizhiginsk Gulf, which was the Mecca of our
+long pilgrimage. To spend more than a week at one time with the
+Wandering Koraks without becoming lonesome or homesick, requires an
+almost inexhaustible fertility of mental resource. One is thrown for
+entertainment entirely upon himself. No daily paper, with its fresh
+material for thought and discussion, comes to enliven the long blank
+evenings by the tent fire; no wars or rumours of wars, no _coup
+d'état_ of diplomacy, no excitement of political canvass ever agitates
+the stagnant intellectual atmosphere of Korak existence. Removed to an
+infinite distance, both physically and intellectually, from all of the
+interests, ambitions, and excitements which make up our world, the
+Korak simply exists, like a human oyster, in the quiet waters of his
+monotonous life. An occasional birth or marriage, the sacrifice of a
+dog, or, on rare occasions, of a man to the Korak Ahriman, and the
+infrequent visits of a Russian trader, are the most prominent events
+in his history, from the cradle to the grave. I found it almost
+impossible sometimes to realise, as I sat by the fire in a Korak tent,
+that I was still in the modern world of railroads, telegraphs,
+and daily newspapers. I seemed to have been carried back by some
+enchantment through the long cycles of time, and made a dweller in
+the tents of Shem and Japheth. Not a suggestion was there in all our
+surroundings of the vaunted enlightenment and civilisation of the
+nineteenth century, and as we gradually accustomed ourselves to the
+new and strange conditions of primitive barbarism, our recollections
+of a civilised life faded into the unreal imagery of a vivid dream.
+
+[Illustration: Ice scratcher used in stalking seals]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+THE KORAK TONGUE--RELIGION OF TERROR--INCANTATIONS OF SHAMANS--KILLING
+OF OLD AND SICK--REINDEER SUPERSTITION--KORAK CHARACTER
+
+Our long intercourse with the Wandering Koraks gave us an opportunity
+of observing many of their peculiarities, which would very likely
+escape the notice of a transient visitor; and as our journey until we
+reached the head of Penzhinsk Gulf was barren of incident, I shall
+give in this chapter all the information I could gather relative to
+the language, religion, superstitions, customs, and mode of life of
+the Kamchatkan Koraks.
+
+There can be no doubt whatever that the Koraks and the powerful
+Siberian tribe known as Chukchis (or Tchucktchis, according to
+Wrangell) descended originally from the same stock, and migrated
+together from their ancient locations to the places where they now
+live. Even after several centuries of separation, they resemble each
+other so closely that they can hardly be distinguished, and their
+languages differ less one from the other than the Portuguese differs
+from the Spanish. Our Korak interpreters found very little difficulty
+in conversing with Chukchis; and a comparison of vocabularies which we
+afterward made showed only a slight dialectical variation, which could
+be easily accounted for by a few centuries of separation. None of
+the Siberian languages with which I am acquainted are written,
+and, lacking a fixed standard of reference, they change with great
+rapidity. This is shown by a comparison of a modern Chukchi vocabulary
+with the one compiled by M. de Lesseps in 1788. Many words have
+altered so materially as to be hardly recognisable. Others, on the
+contrary, such as "tin tin," ice, "oottoot," wood, "weeñgay," no,
+"ay," yes, and most of the numerals up to ten, have undergone no
+change whatever. Both Koraks and Chukchis count by fives instead of
+tens, a peculiarity which is also noticeable in the language of the
+Co-Yukons in Alaska. The Korak numerals are:--
+
+  Innín,                           One.
+  Née-ak°h,                        Two.
+  Nee-ók°h,                        Three.
+  Née-ák°h,                        Four.
+  Míl-li-gen,                      Five.
+  In-nín míl-li-gen,               Five-one.
+  Née-ak°h   "                     Five-two.
+  Nee-ók°h   "                     Five-three.
+  Née-ák°h   "                     Five-four.
+  Meen-ye-geet-k°hin,              Ten.
+
+After ten they count ten-one, ten-two, etc., up to fifteen, and then
+ten-five-one; but their numerals become so hopelessly complicated when
+they get above twenty, that is would be easier to carry a pocketful of
+stones and count with them, than to pronounce the corresponding words.
+
+Fifty-six, for instance, is
+"Nee-akh-khleep-kin-meen-ye-geet-khin-par-ol-in-nín-míl-li-gen," and
+it is only fifty-six after it is all pronounced! It ought to be at
+least two hundred and sixty-three millions nine hundred and fourteen
+thousand seven hundred and one--and then it would be long. But the
+Koraks rarely have occasion to use high numbers; and when they do,
+they have an abundance of time. It would be a hard day's work for a
+boy to explain in Korak one of the miscellaneous problems in Ray's
+Higher Arithmetic. To say 324 × 5260 = 1,704,240 would certainly
+entitle him to a recess of an hour and a reward of merit. We
+were never able to trace any resemblance whatever between the
+Koraki-Chukchi language and the languages spoken by the natives on the
+eastern side of Bering Strait. If there be any resemblance, it must be
+in grammar rather than in vocabulary.
+
+[Illustration: A KORAK GIRL]
+
+The religion of all the natives of north-eastern Siberia, wandering
+and settled, including six or seven widely different tribes, is that
+corrupted form of Buddhism known as Shamanism. It is a religion which
+varies considerably in different places and among different people;
+but with the Koraks and Chukchis it may be briefly defined as the
+worship of the evil spirits who are supposed to be embodied in all the
+mysterious powers and manifestations of Nature, such as epidemic and
+contagious diseases, severe storms, famines, eclipses, and brilliant
+auroras. It takes its name from the shamáns or priests, who act as
+interpreters of the evil spirits' wishes and as mediators between them
+and man. All unnatural phenomena, and especially those of a disastrous
+and terrible nature, are attributed to the direct action of these
+evil spirits, and are considered as plain manifestations of their
+displeasure. It is claimed by many that the whole system of Shamanism
+is a gigantic imposture practised by a few cunning priests upon
+the easy credulity of superstitious natives. This I am sure is a
+prejudiced view. No one who has ever lived with the Siberian natives,
+studied their character, subjected himself to the same influences that
+surround them, and put himself as far as possible in their places,
+will ever doubt the sincerity of either priests or followers, or
+wonder that the worship of evil spirits should be their only religion.
+It is the only religion possible for such men in such circumstances.
+A recent writer [Footnote: W.E.H. Lecky, _History of Rationalism
+in Europe_.] of great fairness and impartiality has described so
+admirably the character of the Siberian Koraks, and the origin and
+nature of their religious belief, that I cannot do better than quote
+his words:--
+
+"Terror is everywhere the beginning of religion. The phenomena which
+impress themselves most forcibly on the mind of the savage are not
+those which enter manifestly into the sequence of natural laws, and
+which are productive of most beneficial effects; but those which are
+disastrous and apparently abnormal. Gratitude is less vivid than
+fear, and the smallest infraction of a natural law produces a deeper
+impression than the most sublime of its ordinary operations. When,
+therefore, the most startling and terrible aspects of Nature are
+presented to his mind--when the more deadly forms of disease or
+natural convulsion desolate his land, the savage derives from them an
+intensely realised perception of diabolical presence. In the darkness
+of the night; amid the yawning chasms and the wild echoes of the
+mountain gorge; under the blaze of the comet or the solemn gloom of
+the eclipse; when famine has blasted the land; when the earthquake
+and the pestilence have slaughtered their thousands; in every form
+of disease which refracts and distorts the reason, in all that is
+strange, portentous, and deadly, he feels and cowers before the
+supernatural. Completely exposed to all the influences of Nature, and
+completely ignorant of the chain of sequence that unites its various
+parts, he lives in continual dread of what he deems the direct and
+isolated acts of evil spirits. Feeling them continually near him, he
+will naturally endeavour to enter into communion with them. He will
+strive to propitiate them with gifts. If some great calamity has
+fallen upon him, or if some vengeful passion has mastered his reason,
+he will attempt to invest himself with their authority, and his
+excited imagination will soon persuade him that he has succeeded in
+his desire."
+
+These pregnant words are the key to the religion of the Siberian
+natives, and afford the only intelligible explanation of the origin of
+shamans. If any proof were needed that this system of religion is the
+natural outgrowth of human nature in certain conditions of barbarism,
+it would be furnished by the universal prevalence of Shamanism in
+north-eastern Siberia among so many diverse tribes of different
+character and different origin. The tribe of Tunguses for instance,
+is certainly of Chinese descent, and the tribe of Yakuts is certainly
+Turkish. Both came from different regions, bringing different beliefs,
+superstitions, and modes of thought; but, when both were removed from
+all disturbing agencies and subjected to the same external influences,
+both developed precisely the same system of religious belief. If
+a band of ignorant, barbarous Mahometans were transported to
+north-eastern Siberia, and compelled to live alone in tents, century
+after century, amid the wild, gloomy scenery of the Stanavoi
+Mountains, to suffer terrific storms whose causes they could not
+explain, to lose their reindeer suddenly by an epidemic disease which
+defied human remedies, to be frightened by magnificent auroras that
+set the whole universe in a blaze, and decimated by pestilences whose
+nature they could not understand and whose disastrous effects they
+were powerless to avert--they would almost inevitably lose by degrees
+their faith in Allah and Mahomet, and become precisely such Shamanists
+as the Siberian Koraks and Chukchis are today. Even a whole century of
+partial civilisation and Christian training cannot wholly counteract
+the irresistible Shamanistic influence which is exerted upon the mind
+by the wilder, more terrible manifestations of Nature in these lonely
+and inhospitable regions. The Kamchadals who accompanied me to the
+Samanka Mountains were the sons of Christian parents, and had been
+brought up from infancy in the Greek Church; they were firm believers
+in the Divine atonement and in Divine providence, and prayed always
+night and morning for safety and preservation; yet, when overtaken
+by a storm in that gloomy range of mountains, the sense of the
+supernatural overcame their religious convictions, God seemed far away
+while evil spirits were near and active, and they sacrificed a dog,
+like very pagans, to propitiate the diabolical wrath of which the
+storm was an evidence. I could cite many similar instances, where the
+strongest and apparently most sincere convictions of the reality
+of Divine government and superintendence have been overcome by
+the influence upon the imagination of some startling and unusual
+phenomenon of Nature. Man's actions are governed not so much by what
+he intellectually believes as by what he vividly realises; and it is
+this vivid realisation of diabolical presence which has given rise to
+the religion of Shamanism.
+
+The duties of the shamans or priests among the Koraks are, to make
+incantations over the sick, to hold communication with the evil
+spirits, and to interpret their wishes and decrees to man. Whenever
+any calamity, such as disease, storm, or famine, comes upon a band, it
+is of course attributed to some spirit's displeasure, and the shaman
+is consulted as to the best method of appeasing his wrath. The priest
+to whom application is made assembles the people in one of the largest
+tents of the encampment, puts on a long robe marked with fantastic
+figures of birds and beasts and curious hieroglyphic emblems, unbinds
+his long black hair, and taking up a large native drum, begins to sing
+in a subdued voice to the accompaniment of slow, steady drum-beats. As
+the song progresses it increases in energy and rapidity, the priest's
+eyes seem to become fixed, he contorts his body as if in spasms, and
+increases the vehemence of his wild chant until the drum-beats make
+one continuous roll. Then, springing to his feet and jerking his head
+convulsively until his long hair fairly snaps, he begins a frantic
+dance about the tent, and finally sinks apparently exhausted into his
+seat. In a few moments he delivers to the awe-stricken natives the
+message which he has received from the evil spirits, and which
+consists generally of an order to sacrifice to them a certain number
+of dogs or reindeer, or perhaps a man.
+
+[Illustration: KORAK DOGS SACRIFICED TO PROPITIATE THE SPIRITS OF
+EVIL]
+
+In these wild incantations the priests sometimes practise all sorts of
+frauds upon their credulous followers, by pretending to swallow live
+coals and to pierce their bodies with knives; but, in a majority of
+instances, the shaman seems actually to believe that he is under
+the control and guidance of diabolical intelligence. The natives
+themselves, however, seem to doubt occasionally the priest's pretended
+inspiration, and whip him severely to test the sincerity of his
+professions and the genuineness of his revelations. If his fortitude
+sustains him under the infliction without any exhibition of human
+weakness or suffering, his authority as a minister of the evil spirits
+is vindicated, and his commands obeyed. Aside from the sacrifices
+which are ordered by the shamans, the Koraks offer general oblations
+at least twice a year, to assure a good catch of fish and seal and a
+prosperous season. We frequently saw twenty or thirty dogs suspended
+by the necks on long poles over a single encampment. Quantities of
+green grass are collected during the, summer and twisted into wreaths,
+to be hung around the necks of the slaughtered animals; and offerings
+of tobacco are always thrown to the evil spirits when the Koraks
+cross the summit of a mountain. The bodies of the dead, among all the
+wandering tribes, are burned, together with all their effects, in the
+hope of a final resurrection of both spirit and matter; and the sick,
+as soon as their recovery becomes hopeless, are either stoned to
+death or speared. We found it to be true, as we had been told by the
+Russians and the Kamchadals, that the Koraks murdered all their old
+people as soon as sickness or the infirmities of age unfitted them
+for the hardships of a nomadic life. Long experience has given them
+a terrible familiarity with the best and quickest methods of taking
+life; and they often explained to us with the most sickening
+minuteness, as we sat at night in their smoky _pologs_, the different
+ways in which a man could be killed, and pointed out the vital parts
+of the body where a spear or knife thrust would prove most instantly
+fatal. I thought of De Quincey's celebrated Essay upon "Murder
+Considered as One of the Fine Arts," and of the field which a Korak
+encampment would afford to his "Society of Connoisseurs in Murder."
+All Koraks are taught to look upon such a death as the natural end of
+their existence, and they meet it generally with perfect composure.
+Instances are rare where a man desires to outlive the period of
+his physical activity and usefulness. They are put to death in
+the presence of the whole band, with elaborate but unintelligible
+ceremonies; their bodies are then burned, and the ashes suffered to be
+scattered and blown away by the wind.
+
+These customs of murdering the old and sick, and burning the bodies of
+the dead, grow naturally out of the wandering life which the Koraks
+have adopted, and are only illustrations of the powerful influence
+which physical laws exert everywhere upon the actions and moral
+feelings of men. They both follow logically and almost inevitably from
+the very nature of the country and climate. The barrenness of the soil
+in north-eastern Siberia, and the severity of the long winter, led
+man to domesticate the reindeer as the only means of obtaining
+a subsistence; the domestication of the reindeer necessitated a
+wandering life; a wandering life made sickness and infirmity unusually
+burdensome to both sufferers and supporters; and this finally led to
+the murder of the old and sick, as a measure both of policy and mercy.
+The same causes gave rise to the custom of burning the dead. Their
+nomadic life made it impossible for them to have any one place of
+common sepulture, and only with the greatest difficulty could they dig
+graves at all in the perpetually frozen ground. Bodies could not be
+left to be torn by wolves, and burning them was the only practicable
+alternative. Neither of these customs presupposes any original and
+innate savageness or barbarity on the part of the Koraks themselves.
+They are the natural development of certain circumstances, and only
+prove that the strongest emotions of human nature, such as filial
+reverence, fraternal affection, selfish love of life, and respect for
+the remains of friends, all are powerless to oppose the operation of
+great natural laws. The Russian Church is endeavouring by missionary
+enterprise to convert all the Siberian tribes to Christianity; and
+although they have met with a certain degree of apparent success among
+the settled tribes of Yukagirs (yoo-kag'-eers), Chuances (choo-an'-ces),
+and Kamchadals, the wandering natives still cling to Shamanism, and
+there are more than 70,000 followers of that religion in the scanty
+population of north-eastern Siberia. Any permanent and genuine
+conversion of the Wandering Koraks and Chukchis must be preceded by
+some educational enlightenment and an entire change in their mode of
+life.
+
+Among the many superstitions of the Wandering Koraks and Chukchis,
+one of the most noticeable is their reluctance to part with a living
+reindeer. You may purchase as many dead deer as you choose, up to five
+hundred, for about seventy cents apiece; but a living deer they will
+not give to you for love nor money. You may offer them what they
+consider a fortune in tobacco, copper kettles, beads, and scarlet
+cloth, for a single live reindeer, but they will persistently refuse
+to sell him; yet, if you will allow them to kill the very same animal,
+you can have his carcass for one small string of common glass beads.
+It is useless to argue with them about this absurd superstition. You
+can get no reason for it or explanation of it, except that "to sell a
+live reindeer would be _atkin_ [bad]." As it was very necessary in the
+construction of our proposed telegraph line to have trained reindeer
+of our own, we offered every conceivable inducement to the Koraks to
+part with one single deer; but all our efforts were in vain. They
+could sell us a hundred dead deer for a hundred pounds of tobacco; but
+five hundred pounds would not tempt them to part with a single animal
+as long as the breath of life was in his body. During the two years
+and a half which we spent in Siberia, no one of our parties, so far as
+I know, ever succeeded in buying from the Koraks or Chukchis a single
+living reindeer. All the deer which we eventually owned--some eight
+hundred--we obtained from the Wandering Tunguses. [Footnote: This
+feeling or superstition eventually disappeared or was overcome. Many
+years later, living reindeer were bought in north-eastern Siberia for
+transportation to Alaska.]
+
+[Illustration: A RACE OF WANDERING KORAK REINDEER TEAMS]
+
+The Koraks are probably the wealthiest deer-owners in Siberia, and
+consequently in the world. Many of the herds which we saw in northern
+Kamchatka numbered from eight to twelve thousand; and we were told
+that a certain rich Korak, who lived in the middle of the great
+tundra, had three immense herds in different places, numbering in
+the aggregate thirty thousand head. The care of these great herds is
+almost the only occupation of the Koraks' lives. They are obliged to
+travel constantly from place to place to find them food, and to watch
+them night and day to protect them from wolves. Every day eight or ten
+Koraks, armed with spears and knives, leave the encampment just before
+dark, walk a mile or two to the place where the deer happen to be
+pastured, build themselves little huts of trailing pine branches,
+about three feet in height and two in diameter, and squat in them
+throughout the long, cold hours of an arctic night, watching for
+wolves. The worse the weather is, the greater the necessity for
+vigilance. Sometimes, in the middle of a dark winter's night, when a
+terrible north-easterly storm is howling across the steppe in clouds
+of flying snow, a band of wolves will make a fierce, sudden attack
+upon a herd of deer, and scatter it to the four winds. This it is
+the business of the Korak sentinels to prevent. Alone and almost
+unsheltered on a great ocean of snow, each man squats down in his
+frail beehive of a hut, and spends the long winter nights in watching
+the magnificent auroras, which seem to fill the blue vault of heaven
+with blood and dye the earth in crimson, listening to the pulsating of
+the blood in his ears and the faint distant howls of his enemies the
+wolves. Patiently he endures cold which freezes mercury and storms
+which sweep away his frail shelter like chaff in a mist of flying
+snow. Nothing discourages him; nothing frightens him into seeking the
+shelter of the tents. I have seen him watching deer at night, with
+nose and cheeks frozen so that they had turned black; and have come
+upon him early cold winter mornings, squatting under three or four
+bushes, with his face buried in his fur coat, as if he were dead. I
+could never pass one of those little bush huts on a great desolate
+tundra without thinking of the man who had once squatted in it alone,
+and trying to imagine what had been his thoughts while watching
+through long dreary nights for the first faint flush of dawn. Had he
+never wondered, as the fiery arms of the aurora waved over his head,
+what caused these mysterious streamers? Had the solemn far-away stars
+which circled ceaselessly above the snowy plain never suggested to him
+the possibility of other brighter, happier worlds than this? Had not
+some
+
+  "--revealings faint and far,
+  Stealing down from moon and star,
+  Kindled in that human clod
+  Thought of Destiny and God?"
+
+Alas for poor unaided human nature! Supernatural influences he could
+and did feel; but the drum and wild shrieks of the shamán showed how
+utterly he failed to understand their nature and teachings.
+
+The natural disposition of the Wandering Koraks is thoroughly good.
+They treat their women and children with great kindness; and during
+all my intercourse with them, extending over two years, I never saw a
+woman or a child struck. Their honesty is remarkable. Frequently they
+would harness up a team of reindeer after we had left their tents in
+the morning, and overtake us at a distance of five or ten miles, with
+a knife, a pipe, or some such trifle which we had overlooked and
+forgotten in the hurry of departure. Our sledges, loaded with tobacco,
+beads, and trading goods of all kinds, were left unguarded outside
+their tents; but never, so far as we knew, was a single article
+stolen. We were treated by many bands with as much kindness and
+generous hospitality as I ever experienced in a civilised country and
+among Christian people; and if I had no money or friends, I would
+appeal to a band of Wandering Koraks for help with much more
+confidence than I should ask the same favour of many an American
+family. Cruel and barbarous they may be, according to our ideas of
+cruelty and barbarity; but they have never been known to commit an act
+of treachery, and I would trust my life as unreservedly in their hands
+as I would in the hands of any other uncivilised people whom I have
+ever known.
+
+Night after night, as we journeyed northward, the polar star
+approached nearer and nearer to the zenith, until finally, at the
+sixty-second parallel of latitude, we caught sight of the white peaks
+of the Stanavoi Mountains, at the head of Penzhinsk Gulf, which marked
+the northern boundary of Kamchatka. Under the shelter of their
+snowy slopes we camped for the last time in the smoky tents of the
+Kamchatkan Koraks, ate for the last time from their wooden troughs,
+and bade good-by with little regret to the desolate steppes of the
+peninsula and to tent life with its wandering people.
+
+[Illustration: Women's Knives used in making clothing]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+FIRST FROST-BITE--THE SETTLED KORAKS HOUR-GLASS YURTS--CLIMBING
+DOWN CHIMNEYS--YURT INTERIORS--LEGS AS FEATURES--TRAVELLING BY
+"PAVOSKA"--BAD CHARACTER OF SETTLED KORAKS
+
+On the morning of November 23d, in a clear, bracing atmosphere of
+twenty-five degrees below zero, we arrived at the mouth of the large
+river called the Penzhina, which empties into Penzhinsk Gulf, at the
+head of the Okhotsk Sea. A dense cloud of frozen mist, which hung over
+the middle of the gulf, showed the presence there of open water; but
+the mouth of the river was completely choked up with great hummocks,
+rugged green slabs, and confused masses of ice, hurled in by a
+south-westerly storm, and frozen together in the wildest shapes of
+angular disorder. Through the grey mist we could see dimly, on a high
+bluff opposite, the strange outlines of the X-shaped _yurts_ of the
+Kamenoi Koraks.
+
+Leaving our drivers to get the reindeer and sledges across as best
+they could, the Major, Dodd, and I started on foot, picking our way
+between huge irregular blocks of clear green ice, climbing on hands
+and knees over enormous bergs, falling into wide, deep crevices, and
+stumbling painfully across the _chevaux-de-frise_ of sharp splintered
+fragments into which the ice had been broken by a heavy sea. We had
+almost reached the other side, when Dodd suddenly cried out, "_Oh_,
+Kennan! Your nose is all white; rub it with snow--quick!" I have not
+the slightest doubt that the rest of my face also turned white at this
+alarming announcement; for the loss of my nose at the very outset of
+my arctic career would be a very serious misfortune. I caught up a
+handful of snow, however, mixed with sharp splinters of ice, and
+rubbed the insensible member until there was not a particle of skin
+left on the end of it, and then continued the friction with my mitten
+until my arm ached. If energetic treatment would save it, I was
+determined not to lose it that time. Feeling at last a painful thrill
+of returning circulation, I relaxed my efforts, and climbed up the
+steep bluff behind Dodd and the Major, to the Korak village of
+Kamenoi.
+
+The settlement resembled as much as anything a collection of titanic
+wooden hour-glasses, which had been half shaken down and reduced to a
+state of rickety dilapidation by an earthquake. The houses--if houses
+they could be called--were about twenty feet in height, rudely
+constructed of driftwood which had been brought down by the river, and
+could be compared in shape to nothing but hour-glasses. They had no
+doors, or windows of any kind, and could be entered only by climbing
+up a pole on the outside, and sliding down another pole through the
+chimney--a mode of entrance whose practicability depended entirely
+upon the activity and intensity of the fire which burned underneath.
+The smoke and sparks, although sufficiently disagreeable, were trifles
+of comparative insignificance. I remember being told, in early
+infancy, that Santa Claus always came into a house through the
+chimney; and although I accepted the statement with the unreasoning
+faith of childhood, I could never understand how that singular feat
+of climbing down a chimney could be safely accomplished. To satisfy
+myself, I felt a strong inclination, every Christmas, to try the
+experiment, and was only prevented from doing so by the consideration
+of stove-pipes. I might succeed, I thought, in getting down the
+chimney; but coming out into a room through an eight-inch stove-pipe
+and a narrow stove-door was utterly out of the question. My first
+entrance into a Korak _yurt_, however, at Kamenoi, solved all my
+childish difficulties, and proved the possibility of entering a house
+in the eccentric way which Santa Claus is supposed to adopt. A large
+crowd of savage-looking fur-clad natives had gathered around us when
+we entered the village, and now stared at us with stupid curiosity as
+we made our first attempt at climbing a pole to get into a house.
+Out of deference for the Major's rank and superior attainments, we
+permitted him to go first. He succeeded very well in getting up the
+first pole, and lowered himself with sublime faith into the dark
+narrow chimney hole, out of which were pouring clouds of smoke; but
+at this critical moment, when his head was still dimly visible in the
+smoke, and his body out of sight in the chimney, he suddenly came to
+grief. The holes in the log down which he was climbing were too small
+to admit even his toes, covered as they were with heavy fur boots;
+and there he hung in the chimney, afraid to drop and unable to climb
+out--a melancholy picture of distress. Tears ran out of his closed
+eyes as the smoke enveloped his head, and he only coughed and
+strangled whenever he tried to shout for help. At last a native on the
+inside, startled at the appearance of his struggling body, came to
+his assistance, and succeeded in lowering him safely to the ground.
+Profiting by his experience, Dodd and I paid no attention to the
+holes, but putting our arms around the smooth log, slid swiftly down
+until we struck bottom. As I opened my tearful eyes, I was saluted
+by a chorus of drawling "zda-ro'-o-o-va's" from half a dozen skinny,
+greasy old women, who sat cross-legged on a raised platform around the
+fire, sewing fur clothes.
+
+The interior of a Korak _yurt_--that is, of one of the wooden _yurts_
+of the _settled_ Koraks--presents a strange and not very inviting
+appearance to one who has never become accustomed by long habit to its
+dirt, smoke, and frigid atmosphere. It receives its only light, and
+that of a cheerless, gloomy character, through the round hole, about
+twenty feet above the floor, which serves as window, door, and
+chimney, and which is reached by a round log with holes in it, that
+stands perpendicularly in the centre. The beams, rafters, and logs
+which compose the _yurt_ are all of a glossy blackness, from the smoke
+in which they are constantly enveloped. A wooden platform, raised
+about a foot from the earth, extends out from the walls on three sides
+to a width of six feet, leaving an open spot eight or ten feet in
+diameter in the centre for the fire and a huge copper kettle of
+melting snow. On the platform are pitched three or four square skin
+_pologs_, which serve as sleeping apartments for the inmates and as
+refuges from the smoke, which sometimes becomes almost unendurable.
+A little circle of flat stones on the ground, in the centre of the
+_yurt_, forms the fireplace, over which is usually simmering a kettle
+of fish or reindeer meat, which, with dried salmon, seal's blubber,
+and rancid oil, makes up the Korak bill of fare. Everything that you
+see or touch bears the distinguishing marks of Korak origin--grease
+and smoke. Whenever any one enters the _yurt_, you are apprised of the
+fact by a total eclipse of the chimney hole and a sudden darkness, and
+as you look up through a mist of reindeer hairs, scraped off from the
+coming man's fur coat, you see a thin pair of legs descending the pole
+in a cloud of smoke. The legs of your acquaintances you soon learn to
+recognise by some peculiarity of shape or covering; and their faces,
+considered as means of personal identification, assume a secondary
+importance. If you see Ivan's legs coming down the chimney, you feel a
+moral certainty that Ivan's head is somewhere above in the smoke; and
+Nicolai's boots, appearing in bold relief against the sky through the
+entrance hole, afford as satisfactory proof of Nicolai's identity as
+his head would, provided that part of his body came in first. Legs,
+therefore, are the most expressive features of a Korak's countenance,
+when considered from an interior standpoint. When snow drifts up
+against the _yurt_, so as to give the dogs access to the chimney, they
+take a perfect delight in lying around the hole, peering down into the
+_yurt_, and snuffing the odours of boiling fish which rise from
+the huge kettle underneath. Not unfrequently they get into a grand
+comprehensive free fight for the best place of observation; and just
+as you are about to take your dinner of boiled salmon off the fire,
+down comes a struggling, yelping dog into the kettle, while his
+triumphant antagonist looks down through the chimney hole with all
+the complacency of gratified vengeance upon his unfortunate victim. A
+Korak takes the half-scalded dog by the back of the neck, carries
+him up the chimney, pitches him over the edge of the _yurt_ into a
+snow-drift, and returns with unruffled serenity to eat the fish-soup
+which has thus been irregularly flavoured with dog and thickened
+with hairs. Hairs, and especially reindeer's hairs, are among the
+indispensable ingredients of everything cooked in a Korak _yurt_, and
+we soon came to regard them with perfect indifference. No matter what
+precautions we might take, they were sure to find their way into our
+tea and soup, and stick persistently to our fried meat. Some one was
+constantly going out or coming in over the fire, and the reindeerskin
+coats scraping back and forth through the chimney hole shed a perfect
+cloud of short grey hairs, which sifted down over and into everything
+of an eatable nature underneath. Our first meal in a Korak _yurt_,
+therefore, at Kamenoi, was not at all satisfactory.
+
+[Illustration: HOUR-GLASS HOUSES OF THE SETTLED KORAKS From a model in
+The American Museum of Natural History]
+
+We had not been twenty minutes in the settlement before the _yurt_
+that we occupied was completely crowded with stolid, brutal-looking
+men, dressed in spotted deerskin clothes, wearing strings of coloured
+beads in their ears, and carrying heavy knives two feet in length in
+sheaths tied around their legs. They were evidently a different class
+of natives from any we had yet seen, and their savage animal faces did
+not inspire us with much confidence. A good-looking Russian, however,
+soon made his appearance, and coming up to us with uncovered head,
+bowed and introduced himself as a Cossack from Gizhiga, sent to meet
+us by the Russian governor at that place. The courier who had preceded
+us from Lesnoi had reached Gizhiga ten days before us, and the
+governor had despatched a Cossack at once to meet us at Kamenoi, and
+conduct us through the settled Korak villages around the head of
+Penzhinsk Gulf. The Cossack soon cleared the _yurt_ of natives, and
+the Major proceeded to question him about the character of the country
+north and west of Gizhiga, the distance from Kamenoi to the Russian
+outpost of Anadyrsk, the facilities for winter travel, and the time
+necessary for the journey. Fearful for the safety of the party of men
+which he presumed to have been landed by the engineer-in-chief at the
+mouth of the Anadyr River, Major Abaza had intended to go directly
+from Kamenoi to Anadyrsk himself in search of them, and to send Dodd
+and me westward along the coast of the Okhotsk Sea to meet Mahood
+and Bush. The Cossack, however, told us that a party of men from the
+Anadyr River had arrived at Gizhiga on dog-sledges just previous to
+his departure, and that they had brought no news of any Americans
+in the vicinity of Anadyrsk or on the river. Col. Bulkley, the
+chief-engineer of the enterprise, had promised us, when we sailed from
+San Francisco, that he would land a party of men with a whale boat at
+or near the mouth of the Anadyr River, early enough in the season so
+that they could ascend the river to the settlement of Anadyrsk and
+open communication with us by the first winter road. This he had
+evidently failed to do; for, if a party had been so landed, the
+Anadyrsk people would certainly have heard something about it. The
+unfavourable nature of the country around Bering Strait, or the
+lateness of the season when the Company's vessels reached that point,
+had probably compelled the abandonment of this part of the original
+plan. Major Abaza had always disapproved the idea of leaving a
+party near Bering Strait; but he could not help feeling a little
+disappointment when he found that no such party had been landed, and
+that he was left with only four men to explore the eighteen hundred
+miles of country between the strait and the Amur River. The Cossack
+said that no difficulty would be experienced in getting dog-sledges
+and men at Gizhiga to explore any part of the country west or north of
+that place, and that the Russian governor would give us every possible
+assistance.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A KORAK YURT. GETTING FIRE WITH THE FIRE
+DRILL Photograph in The American Museum of Natural History]
+
+Under these circumstances there was nothing to be done but to push on
+to Gizhiga, which could be reached, the Cossack said, in two or three
+days. The Kamenoi Koraks were ordered to provide a dozen dog-sledges
+at once, to carry us on to the next settlement of Shestakóva; and the
+whole village was soon engaged, under the Cossack's superintendence,
+in transferring our baggage and provisions from the deer-sledges of
+the Wandering Koraks to the long, narrow dog-sledges of their settled
+relations. Our old drivers were then paid off in tobacco, beads,
+and showy calico prints, and after a good deal of quarrelling
+and disputing about loads between the Koraks and our new Cossack
+Kerrillof, everything was reported ready. Although it was now almost
+noon, the air was still keen as a knife; and, muffling up our faces
+and heads in great tippets, we took seats on our respective sledges,
+and the fierce Kamenoi dogs went careering out of the village and down
+the bluff in a perfect cloud of snow, raised by the spiked _oerstels_
+of their drivers.
+
+The Major, Dodd, and I were travelling in covered sledges, known to
+the Siberians as "pavoskas" (pah-voss'-kahs), and the reckless driving
+of the Kamenoi Koraks made us wish, in less than an hour, that we had
+taken some other means of conveyance, from which we could escape more
+readily in case of accident or overturn. As it was, we were so boxed
+up that we could hardly move without assistance. Our _pavoskas_
+resembled very much long narrow coffins, covered with sealskin,
+mounted on runners, and roofed over at the head by a stiff hood just
+large enough to sit up in. A heavy curtain was fastened to the edge
+of this top or hood, and in bad weather it could be pulled down and
+buttoned so as to exclude the air and flying snow. When we were seated
+in these sledges our legs were thrust down into the long coffin-shaped
+boxes upon which the drivers sat, and our heads and shoulders
+sheltered by the sealskin hoods. Imagine an eight-foot coffin mounted
+on runners, and a man sitting up in it with a bushel basket over his
+head, and you will have a very correct idea of a Siberian _pavoska_.
+Our legs were immovably fixed in boxes, and our bodies so wedged in
+with pillows and heavy furs that we could neither get out nor turn
+over. In this helpless condition we were completely at our drivers'
+mercy; if they chose to let us slide over the edge of a precipice
+in the mountains, all we could do was to shut our eyes and trust in
+Providence. Seven times in less than three hours my Kamenoi driver,
+with the assistance of fourteen crazy dogs and a spiked stick, turned
+my _pavoska_ exactly bottom side up, dragged it in that position until
+the hood was full of snow, and then left me standing on my head, with
+my legs in a box and my face in a snow-drift, while he took a smoke
+and calmly meditated upon the difficulties of mountain travel and
+the versatility of dog-sledges! It was enough to make Job curse his
+grandmother! I threatened him with a revolver, and swore indignantly
+by all the evil spirits in the Korak theogony, that if he upset me in
+that way again I would kill him without benefit of clergy, and carry
+mourning and lamentation to the houses of all his relatives. But it
+was of no use. He did not know enough to be afraid of a pistol, and
+could not understand my murderous threats. He merely squatted down
+upon his heels on the snow, puffed his cheeks out with smoke, and
+stared at me in stupid amazement, as if I were some singular species
+of wild animal, which exhibited a strange propensity to jabber and
+gesticulate in the most ridiculous manner without any apparent cause.
+Then, whenever he wanted to ice his sledge-runners, which was as often
+as three times an hour, he coolly capsized the _pavoska_, propped it
+up with his spiked stick, and I stood on my head while he rubbed the
+runners down with water and a piece of deerskin. This finally drove
+me to desperation, and I succeeded, after a prolonged struggle, in
+getting out of my coffin-shaped box, and seated myself with indignant
+feelings and murderous inclinations by the side of my imperturbable
+driver. Here my unprotected nose began to freeze again, and my time,
+until we reached Shestakóva, was about equally divided between rubbing
+that troublesome feature with one hand, holding on with the other, and
+picking myself up out of snow-drifts with both.
+
+The only satisfaction I had was in seeing the state of exasperation
+to which the Major was reduced by the stupidity and ugliness of his
+driver. Whenever he wanted to go on, the driver insisted upon stopping
+to take a smoke; when he wanted to smoke, the driver capsized
+him skilfully into a snow-drift; when he wanted to walk down a
+particularly steep hill, the driver shouted to his dogs and carried
+him to the bottom like an avalanche, at the imminent peril of his
+life; when he desired to sleep, the driver intimated by impudent
+gestures that he had better get out and walk up the side of a
+mountain; until, finally, the Major called Kerrillof and made him tell
+the Korak distinctly and emphatically, that if he did not obey orders
+and show a better disposition, he would be lashed on his sledge,
+carried to Gizhiga, and turned over to the Russian governor for
+punishment. He paid some attention to this; but all our drivers
+exhibited an insolent rudeness which we had never before met with in
+Siberia, and which was very provoking. The Major declared that when
+our line should be in process of construction and he should have force
+enough to do it, he would teach the Kamenoi Koraks a lesson that they
+would not soon forget.
+
+We travelled all the afternoon over a broken country, perfectly
+destitute of vegetation, which lay between a range of bare white
+mountains and the sea, and just before dark reached the settlement of
+Shestakóva, which was situated on the coast, at the mouth of a small
+wooded stream. Stopping there only a few moments to rest our dogs, we
+pushed on to another Korak village called Mikina (Mee-kin-ah), ten
+miles farther west, where we finally stopped for the night.
+
+[Illustration: A WOMAN ENTERING A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS]
+
+Mikina was only a copy of Kamenoi on a smaller scale. It had the same
+hour-glass houses, the same conical _balagáns_ elevated on stilts, and
+the same large skeletons of sealskin _baideras_ (bai'-der-ahs') or
+ocean canoes were ranged in a row on the beach. We climbed up
+the best-looking _yurt_ in the village--over which hung a dead
+disembowelled dog, with a wreath of green grass around his neck--and
+slid down the chimney into a miserable room filled to suffocation with
+blue smoke, lighted only by a small fire on the earthen floor, and
+redolent of decayed fish and rancid oil. Viushin soon had a teakettle
+over the fire, and in twenty minutes we were seated like cross-legged
+Turks on the raised platform at one end of the _yurt_, munching
+hardbread and drinking tea, while about twenty ugly, savage-looking
+men squatted in a circle around us and watched our motions. The
+settled Koraks of Penzhinsk Gulf are unquestionably the worst,
+ugliest, most brutal and degraded natives in all north-eastern
+Siberia. They do not number more than three or four hundred, and live
+in five different settlements along the seacoast; but they made us
+more trouble than all the other inhabitants of Siberia and Kamchatka
+together. They led, originally, a wandering life like the other
+Koraks; but, losing their deer by some misfortune or disease, they
+built themselves houses of driftwood on the seacoast, settled down,
+and now gain a scanty subsistence by fishing, catching seals, and
+hunting for carcasses of whales which have been killed by American
+whaling vessels, stripped of blubber, and then cast ashore by the
+sea. They are cruel and brutal in disposition, insolent to everybody,
+revengeful, dishonest, and untruthful. Everything which the Wandering
+Koraks are they are not. The reasons for the great difference between
+the settled and the Wandering Koraks are various. In the first place,
+the former live in fixed villages, which are visited very frequently
+by the Russian traders; and through these traders and Russian peasants
+they have received many of the worst vices of civilisation without any
+of its virtues. To this must be added the demoralising influence of
+American whalers, who have given the settled Koraks rum and cursed
+them with horrible diseases, which are only aggravated by their diet
+and mode of life. They have learned from the Russians to lie, cheat,
+and steal; and from whalers to drink rum and be licentious. Besides
+all these vices, they eat the intoxicating Siberian toadstool in
+inordinate quantities, and this habit alone will in time debase and
+brutalise any body of men to the last degree. From nearly all these
+demoralising influences the Wandering Koraks are removed by the very
+nature of their life. They spend more of their time in the open air,
+they have healthier and better-balanced physical constitutions, they
+rarely see Russian traders or drink Russian vodka, and they are
+generally temperate, chaste, and manly in their habits. As a
+natural consequence they are better men, morally, physically, and
+intellectually, than the settled natives ever will or can be. I have
+very sincere and hearty admiration for many Wandering Koraks whom I
+met on the great Siberian tundras but their settled relatives are the
+worst specimens of men that I ever saw in all northern Asia, from
+Bering Strait to the Ural Mountains.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+FIRST ATTEMPT AT DOG-DRIVING--UNPREMEDITATED PROFANITY--A
+RUNAWAY--ARRIVAL AT GIZHIGA--HOSPITALITY OF THE ISPRAVNIK--PLANS FOR
+THE WINTER
+
+We left Mikina early, November 23d, and started out upon another great
+snowy plain, where there was no vegetation whatever except a little
+wiry grass and a few meagre patches of trailing-pine.
+
+Ever since leaving Lesnoi I had been studying attentively the art,
+or science, whichever it be, of dog-driving, with the fixed but
+unexpressed resolution that at some future time, when everything
+should be propitious, I would assume the control of my own team, and
+astonish Dodd and the natives with a display of my skill as a _kaiur_
+(kai-oor).
+
+[Illustration: SETTLED KORAKS IN A TRIAL OF STRENGTH]
+
+I had found by some experience that these unlettered Koraks estimated
+a man, not so much by what he knew which they did not, as by what
+he knew concerning their own special and peculiar pursuits; and I
+determined to demonstrate, even to their darkened understandings, that
+the knowledge of civilisation was universal in its application, and
+that the white man, notwithstanding his disadvantage in colour, could
+drive dogs better by intuition than they could by the aggregated
+wisdom of centuries; that in fact he could, if necessary, "evolve
+the principles of dog-driving out of the depths of his moral
+consciousness." I must confess, however, that I was not a thorough
+convert to my own ideas; and I did not disdain therefore to avail
+myself of the results of native experience, as far as they coincided
+with my own convictions, as to the nature of the true and beautiful
+in dog-driving. I had watched every motion of my Korak driver; had
+learned theoretically the manner of thrusting the spiked stick between
+the-uprights of the runners into the snow, to act as a brake;
+had committed to memory and practised assiduously the guttural
+monosyllables which meant, in dog-language, "right" and "left," as
+well as many others which meant something else, but which I had heard
+addressed to dogs; and I laid the flattering unction to my soul that I
+could drive as well as a Korak, if not better. To my inexperienced eye
+it was as easy as losing money in California mining stocks. On this
+day, therefore, as the road was good and the weather propitious, I
+determined to put my ideas, original as well as acquired, to the test
+of practice. I accordingly motioned my Korak driver to take a back
+seat and deliver up to me the insignia of office. I observed in the
+expression of his lips, as he handed me the spiked stick, a sort of
+latent smile of ridicule, which indicated a very low estimate of my
+dog-driving abilities; but I treated it as knowledge should always
+treat the sneers of ignorance--with silent contempt; and seating
+myself firmly astride the sledge back of the arch, I shouted to the
+dogs, "Noo! Pashol!" My voice failed to produce the startling effect
+that I had anticipated. The leader--a grim, bluff Nestor of a
+dog--glanced carelessly over his shoulder and very perceptibly
+slackened his pace. This sudden and marked contempt for my authority
+on the part of the dogs did more than all the sneers of the Koraks to
+shake my confidence in my own skill. But my resources were not yet
+exhausted, and I hurled monosyllable, dissyllable, and polysyllable
+at their devoted heads, shouted "Akh! Te shelma! Proclataya takaya!
+Smatree! Ya tibi dam!" but all in vain; the dogs were evidently
+insensible to rhetorical fireworks of this description, and manifested
+their indifference by a still slower gait. As I poured out upon them
+the last vial of my verbal wrath, Dodd, who understood the language
+that I was so recklessly using, drove slowly up, and remarked
+carelessly, "You swear pretty well for a beginner." Had the ground
+opened beneath me I should have been less astonished. "Swear! I swear!
+You don't mean to say that I've been swearing?"--"Certainly you have,
+like a pirate." I dropped my spiked stick in dismay. Were these the
+principles of dog-driving which I had evolved out of the depths of my
+_moral_ consciousness? They seemed rather to have come from the depths
+of my _im_moral _un_consciousness. "Why, you reckless reprobate!"
+I exclaimed impressively, "didn't you teach me those very words
+yourself?"--"Certainly I did," was the unabashed reply; "but you
+didn't ask me what they meant; you asked how to pronounce them
+correctly, and I told you. I didn't know but that you were making
+researches in comparative philology--trying to prove the unity of the
+human race by identity of oaths, or by a comparison of profanity to
+demonstrate that the Digger Indians are legitimately descended from
+the Chinese. You know that your head (which is a pretty good one
+in other respects) always _was_ full of such nonsense."--"Dodd," I
+observed, with a solemnity which I intended should awaken repentance
+in his hardened sensibilities, "I have been betrayed unwittingly into
+the commission of sin; and as a little more or less won't materially
+alter my guilt, I've as good a notion as ever I had to give you the
+benefit of some of your profane instruction." Dodd laughed derisively
+and drove on. This little episode considerable dampened my enthusiasm,
+and made me very cautious in my use of foreign language. I feared the
+existence of terrific imprecations in the most common dog-phrases,
+and suspected lurking profanity even in the monosyllabic "Khta" and
+"Hoogh," which I had been taught to believe meant "right" and "left."
+The dogs, quick to observe any lack of attention on the part of their
+driver, now took encouragement from my silence and exhibited a doggish
+propensity to stop and rest, which was in direct contravention of
+all discipline, and which they would not have dared to do with an
+experienced driver. Determined to vindicate my authority by more
+forcible measures, I launched my spiked stick like a harpoon at the
+leader, intending to have it fall so that I could pick it up as the
+sledge passed. The dog however dodged it cleverly, and it rolled
+away ten feet from the road. Just at that moment three or four wild
+reindeer bounded out from behind a little rise of ground three or
+four hundred yards away, and galloped across the steppe toward a deep
+precipitous ravine, through which ran a branch of the Mikina River.
+The dogs, true to their wolfish instincts, started with fierce,
+excited howls in pursuit. I made a frantic grasp at my spiked stick
+as we rushed past, but failed to reach it, and away we went over the
+tundra toward the ravine, the sledge half the time on one runner, and
+rebounding from the hard _sastrugi_ (sas-troo'-gee) or snow-drifts
+with a force that suggested speedy dislocation of one's joints. The
+Korak, with more common sense than I had given him credit for, had
+rolled off the sledge several seconds before, and a backward glance
+showed a miscellaneous bundle of arms and legs revolving rapidly over
+the snow in my wake. I had no time, however, with ruin staring me in
+the face, to commiserate his misfortune. My energies were all devoted
+to checking the terrific speed with which we were approaching the
+ravine. Without the spiked stick I was perfectly helpless, and in a
+moment we were on the brink. I shut my eyes, clung tightly to the
+arch, and took the plunge. About half-way down, the descent became
+suddenly steeper, and the lead-dog swerved to one side, bringing the
+sledge around like the lash of a whip, overturning it, and shooting me
+like a huge living meteor through the air into a deep soft drift of
+snow at the bottom. I must have fallen at least eighteen feet, for I
+buried myself entirely, with the exception of my lower extremities,
+which, projecting above the snow, kicked a faint signal for rescue.
+Encumbered with heavy furs, I extricated myself with difficulty; and
+as I at last emerged with three pints of snow down my neck, I saw
+the round, leering face of my late driver grinning at me through the
+bushes on the edge of the bluff. "Ooma," he hailed. "Well," replied
+the snowy figure standing waist-high in the drift.--"Amerikanski nyett
+dobra kaiur, eh?" [American no good driver]. "Nyett sofsem dobra" was
+the melancholy reply as I waded out. The sledge, I found, had become
+entangled in the bushes near me, and the dogs were all howling in
+chorus, nearly wild with the restraint. I was so far satisfied with my
+experiment that I did not desire to repeat it at present, and made no
+objections to the Korak's assuming again his old position. I was
+fully convinced, by the logic of circumstances, that the science of
+dog-driving demanded more careful and earnest consideration than I
+had yet given to it; and I resolved to study carefully its elementary
+principles, as expounded by its Korak professors, before attempting
+again to put my own ideas upon the subject into practice.
+
+As we came out of the ravine upon the open steppe I saw the rest of
+our party a mile away, moving rapidly toward the Korak village of Kuil
+(Koo-eel'). We passed Kuil late in the afternoon, and camped for the
+night in a forest of birch, poplar, and aspen trees, on the banks of
+the Paren River.
+
+We were now only about seventy miles from Gizhiga. On the following
+night we reached a small log _yurt_ on a branch of the Gizhiga River,
+which had been built there by the government to shelter travellers,
+and Friday morning, November 25th, about eleven o'clock, we caught
+sight of the red church-steeple which marked the location of the
+Russian settlement of Gizhiga. No one who has not travelled for three
+long months through a wilderness like Kamchatka, camped out in storms
+among desolate mountains, slept for three weeks in the smoky tents,
+and yet smokier and dirtier _yurts_ of the Koraks, and lived
+altogether like a perfect savage or barbarian---no one who has not
+experienced this can possibly understand with what joyful hearts we
+welcomed that red church steeple, and the civilisation of which it was
+the sign. For almost a month we had slept every night on the ground
+or the snow; had never seen a chair, a table, a bed, or a mirror; had
+never been undressed night or day; and had washed our faces only three
+or four times in an equal number of weeks! We were grimy and smoky
+from climbing up and down Korak chimneys; our hair was long and matted
+around our ears; the skin had peeled from our noses and cheek-bones
+where it had been frozen; our cloth coats and trousers were grey with
+reindeer hairs from our fur _kukhlankas_; and we presented, generally,
+as wild and neglected an appearance as men could present, and still
+retain any lingering traces of better days. We had no time or
+inclination, however, to "fix up"; our dogs dashed at a mad gallop
+into the village with a great outcry, which awakened a responsive
+chorus of howls from two or three hundred other canine throats; our
+drivers shouted "Khta! khta! hoogh! hoogh!" and raised clouds of snow
+with their spiked sticks as we rushed through the streets, and the
+whole population came running to their doors to ascertain the cause
+of the infernal tumult. One after another our fifteen sledges went
+careering through the village, and finally drew up before a large,
+comfortable house, with double glass windows, where arrangements had
+been made, Kerrillof said, for our reception. Hardly had we entered a
+large, neatly swept and scrubbed room, and thrown off our heavy frosty
+furs, than the door again opened, and in rushed a little impetuous,
+quick-motioned man, with a heavy auburn moustache, and light hair cut
+short all over his head, dressed in neat broadcloth coat and trousers
+and a spotless linen shirt, with seal rings on his fingers, a plain
+gold chain at his vest button, and a cane. We recognised him at once
+as the ispravnik, or Russian governor. Dodd and I made a sudden
+attempt to escape from the room, but we were too late, and saluting
+our visitor with "zdrastvuitia," [Footnote: "Good health," or "Be in
+health," the Russian greeting.] we sat down awkwardly enough on our
+chairs, rolled our smoky hands up in our scarlet and yellow cotton
+handkerchiefs, and, with a vivid consciousness of our dirty faces and
+generally disreputable appearance, tried to look self-possessed,
+and to assume the dignity which befitted officers of the great
+Russian-American Telegraph Expedition! It was a pitiable failure. We
+could not succeed in looking like anything but Wandering Koraks in
+reduced circumstances. The ispravnik, however, did not seem to notice
+anything unusual in our appearance, but rattled away with an incessant
+fire of quick, nervous questions, such as "When did you leave
+Petropavlovsk? Are you just from America? I sent a Cossack. Did you
+meet him? How did you cross the tundras; with the Koraks? _Akh!_ those
+_proclatye_ Koraks! Any news from St. Petersburg? You must come over
+and dine with me. How long will you stay in town? You can take a bath
+now before dinner. Ay! _lòodee!_ [very loud and peremptory]. Go and
+tell my Ivan to heat up the bath quick! _Akh Chort yeekh! vazmee!_"
+and the restless little man finally stopped from sheer exhaustion, and
+began pacing nervously across the room, while the Major related our
+adventures, gave him the latest news from Russia, explained our plans,
+the object of our expedition, told him of the murder of Lincoln, the
+end of the Rebellion, the latest news from the French invasion of
+Mexico, the gossip of the Imperial Court, and no end of other news
+which had been old with us for six months, but of which the poor
+exiled ispravnik had never heard a word. He had had no communication
+with Russia in almost eleven months. After insisting again upon our
+coming over to his house immediately to dine, he bustled out of the
+room, and gave us an opportunity to wash and dress.
+
+Two hours afterward, in all the splendour of blue coats, brass
+buttons, and shoulder-straps, with shaven faces, starched shirts, and
+polished leather boots, the "First Siberian Exploring Party" marched
+over to the ispravnik's to dine. The Russian peasants whom we met
+instinctively took off their frosty fur hoods and gazed wonderingly
+at us as we passed, as if we had mysteriously dropped down from some
+celestial sphere. No one would have recognised in us the dirty, smoky,
+ragged vagabonds who had entered the village two hours before. The
+grubs had developed into blue and golden butterflies! We found the
+ispravnik waiting for us in a pleasant, spacious room furnished with,
+all the luxuries of a civilised home. The walls were papered and
+ornamented with costly pictures and engravings, the windows were hung
+with curtains, the floor was covered with a soft, bright-coloured
+carpet, a large walnut writing-desk occupied one corner of the room, a
+rosewood melodeon the other, and in the centre stood the dining-table,
+covered with a fresh cloth, polished china, and glittering silver. We
+were fairly dazzled at the sight of so much unusual and unexpected
+magnificence. After the inevitable "fifteen drops" of brandy, and the
+lunch of smoked fish, rye bread, and caviar, which always precedes a
+Russian dinner, we took seats at the table and spent an hour and a
+half in getting through the numerous courses of cabbage soup, salmon
+pie, venison cutlets, game, small meat pies, pudding, and pastry,
+which were successively set before us, and in discussing the news of
+all the world, from the log villages of Kamchatka to the imperial
+palaces of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Our hospitable host then ordered
+champagne, and over tall, slender glasses of cool beaded Cliquot we
+meditated upon the vicissitudes of Siberian life. Yesterday we sat
+on the ground in a Korak tent and ate reindeer meat out of a wooden
+trough with our fingers, and today we dined with the Russian governor,
+in a luxurious house, upon venison cutlets, plum pudding, and
+champagne. With the exception of a noticeable but restrained
+inclination on the part of Dodd and myself to curl up our legs and sit
+on the floor, there was nothing I believe in our behaviour to betray
+the barbarous freedom of the life which we had so recently lived, and
+the demoralising character of the influences to which we had been
+subjected. We handled our knives and forks, and leisurely sipped our
+champagne with a grace which would have excited the envy of Lord
+Chesterfield himself. But it was hard work. No sooner did we return to
+our quarters than we threw off our uniform coats, spread our bearskins
+on the floor and sat down upon them with crossed legs, to enjoy a
+comfortable smoke in the good old free-and-easy style. If our faces
+had only been just a little dirty we should have been perfectly happy!
+
+The next ten days of our life at Gizhiga were passed in comparative
+idleness. We walked out a little when the weather was not too cold,
+received formal calls from the Russian merchants of the place, visited
+the ispravnik and drank his delicious "flower tea" and smoked his
+cigarettes in the evening, and indemnified ourselves for three months
+of rough life by enjoying to the utmost such mild pleasures as the
+little village afforded. This pleasant, aimless existence, however,
+was soon terminated by an order from the Major to prepare for the
+winter's campaign, and hold ourselves in readiness to start for the
+Arctic Circle or the west coast of the Okhotsk Sea at a moment's
+notice. He had determined to explore a route for our proposed line
+from Bering Strait to the Amur River before spring should open, and
+there was no time to be lost. The information which we could gather
+at Gizhiga with regard to the interior of the country was scanty,
+indefinite, and unsatisfactory. According to native accounts, there
+were only two settlements between the Okhotsk Sea and Bering Strait,
+and the nearest of these--Penzhina--was four hundred versts distant.
+The intervening country consisted of great moss tundras impassable
+in summer, and perfectly destitute of timber; and that portion of it
+which lay north-east of the last settlement was utterly uninhabitable
+on account of the absence of wood. A Russian officer by the name of
+Phillippeus had attempted to explore it in the winter of 1860, but had
+returned unsuccessful, in a starving and exhausted condition. In the
+whole distance of eight hundred versts between Gizhiga and the mouth
+of the Anadyr River there were said to be only four or five places
+where timber could be found large enough for telegraph poles, and
+over most of the route there was no wood except occasional patches
+of trailing-pine. A journey from Gizhiga to the last settlement,
+Anadyrsk, on the Arctic Circle, would occupy from twenty to thirty
+days, according to weather, and beyond that point there was no
+possibility of going under any circumstances. The region west of
+Gizhiga, along the coast of the Okhotsk Sea, was reported to be
+better, but very rugged and mountainous, and heavily timbered with
+pine and larch. The village of Okhotsk, eight hundred versts distant,
+could be reached on dog-sledges in about a month. This, in brief, was
+all the information we could get, and it did not inspire us with very
+much confidence in the ultimate success of our enterprise. I
+realised for the first time the magnitude of the task which the
+Russian-American Telegraph Company had undertaken. We were "in for
+it," however, now, and our first duty was obviously to go through
+the country, ascertain its extent and nature, and find out what
+facilities, if any, it afforded for the construction of our line.
+
+[Illustration: AN OLD MAN OF THE SETTLED KORAKS Photograph in The
+American Museum of Natural History]
+
+The Russian settlements of Okhotsk and Gizhiga divided the country
+between Bering Strait and the Amur River into three nearly equal
+sections, of which two were mountainous and wooded, and one
+comparatively level and almost barren. The first of these sections,
+between the Amur and Okhotsk, had been assigned to Mahood and Bush,
+and we presumed that they were already engaged, in its exploration.
+The other two sections, comprising all the region between Okhotsk
+and Bering Straits, were to be divided between the Major, Dodd, and
+myself. In view of the supposed desolation of the unexplored territory
+immediately west of Bering Strait, it was thought best to leave
+it unsurveyed until spring, and perhaps until another season. The
+promised co-operation of the Anadyr River party had failed us, and
+without more men, the Major did not think it expedient to undertake
+the exploration of a region which presented so many and so great
+obstacles to midwinter travel. The distance which remained to be
+traversed, therefore, was only about fourteen hundred versts from
+Okhotsk to the Russian outpost of Anadyrsk, just south of the Arctic
+Circle. After some deliberation the Major concluded to send Dodd
+and me with a party of natives to Anadyrsk, and to start himself on
+dog-sledges for the settlement of Okhotsk, where he expected to meet
+Mahood and Bush. In this way it was hoped that we should be able in
+the course of five months to make a rough but tolerably accurate
+survey of nearly the whole route of the line. The provisions which
+we had brought from Petropavlovsk had all been used up, with the
+exception of some tea, sugar, and a few cans of preserved beef; but we
+obtained at Gizhiga two or three _puds_ (poods) [Footnote: One _pud_ =
+36 lbs.] of black rye-bread, four or five frozen reindeer, some salt,
+and an abundant supply of _yukala_ or dried fish. These, with some
+tea and sugar, and a few cakes of frozen milk, made up our store of
+provisions. We provided ourselves also with six or eight _puds_ of
+Circassian leaf tobacco to be used instead of money; divided equally
+our little store of beads, pipes, knives, and trading-goods, purchased
+new suits of furs throughout, and made every preparation for three or
+four months of camp life in an arctic climate. The Russian governor
+ordered six of his Cossacks to transport Dodd and me on dog-sledges as
+far as the Korak village of Shestakóva, and sent word to Penzhina by
+the returning Anadyrsk people to have three or four men and dog-teams
+at the former place by December 20th, ready to carry us on to Penzhina
+and Anadyrsk. We engaged an old and experienced Cossack named Gregorie
+Zinovief as guide and Chukchi interpreter, hired a young Russian
+called Yagór as cook and aid-de-camp (in the literal sense), packed
+our stores on our sledges and secured them with lashings of sealskin
+thongs, and by December 13th were ready to take the field. That
+evening the Major delivered to us our instructions. They were simply
+to follow the regular sledge road to Anadyrsk via Shestakóva and
+Penzhina, to ascertain what facilities it offered in the way of timber
+and soil for the construction of a telegraph line, to set the natives
+at work cutting poles at Penzhina and Anadyrsk, and to make side
+explorations where possible in search of timbered rivers connecting
+Penzhinsk Gulf with Bering Sea. Late in the spring we were to return
+to Gizhiga with all the information which we could gather relative
+to the country between that point and the Arctic Circle. The Major
+himself would remain at Gizhiga until about December 17th, and then
+leave on dog-sledges with Viushin and a small party of Cossacks for
+the settlement of Okhotsk. If he made a junction with Mahood and Bush,
+at that place, he would return at once, and meet us again at Gizhiga
+by the first of April, 1866.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+DOG-SLEDGE TRAVEL--ARCTIC MIRAGES--CAMP AT NIGHT--A HOWLING
+CHORUS--NORTHERN LIGHTS
+
+The morning of December 13th dawned clear, cold, and still, with a
+temperature of thirty-one degrees below zero; but as the sun did not
+rise until half-past ten, it was nearly noon before we could get our
+drivers together, and our dogs harnessed for a start. Our little party
+of ten men presented quite a novel and picturesque appearance in their
+gaily embroidered fur coats, red sashes, and yellow foxskin hoods,
+as they assembled in a body before our house to bid good-bye to the
+ispravnik and the Major. Eight heavily loaded sledges were ranged in
+a line in front of the door, and almost a hundred dogs were springing
+frantically against their harnesses, and raising deafening howls
+of impatience, as we came out of the house into the still, frosty
+atmosphere. We bade everybody good-bye, received a hearty "God bless
+you, boys!" from the Major, and were off in a cloud of flying snow,
+which stung our faces like burning sparks of fire. Old Paderin, the
+chief of the Gizhiga Cossacks, with white frosty hair and beard, stood
+out in front of his little red log house as we passed, and waved us a
+last good-bye with his fur hood as we swept out upon the great level
+steppe behind the town.
+
+It was just midday; but the sun, although at its greatest altitude,
+glowed like a red ball of fire low down in the southern horizon, and a
+peculiar gloomy twilight hung over the white wintry landscape. I could
+not overcome the impression that the sun was just rising and that it
+would soon be broad day. A white ptarmigan now and then flew up with
+a loud whir before us, uttered a harsh "querk, querk, querk" of
+affright, and sailing a few rods away, settled upon the snow and
+suddenly became invisible. A few magpies sat motionless in the
+thickets of trailing-pine as we passed, but their feathers were
+ruffled up around their heads, and they seemed chilled and stupefied
+by the intense cold. The distant blue belt of timber along the Gizhiga
+River wavered and trembled in its outlines as if seen through currents
+of heated air, and the white ghost-like mountains thirty miles away
+to the southward were thrown up and distorted by refraction into a
+thousand airy, fantastic shapes which melted imperceptibly one into
+another, like a series of dissolving views. Every feature of the
+scenery was strange, weird, arctic. The red sun rolled slowly along
+the southern horizon, until it seemed to rest on a white snowy peak
+far away in the south-west, and then, while we were yet expecting day,
+it suddenly disappeared and the gloomy twilight deepened gradually
+into night. Only three hours had elapsed since sunrise, and yet stars
+of the first magnitude could already be plainly distinguished.
+
+[Illustration: YURT AND DOG-TEAM OF THE SETTLED KORAKS.
+From a painting by George A. Frost]
+
+We stopped for the night at the house of a Russian peasant who lived
+on the bank of the Gizhiga River, about fifteen versts east of the
+settlement. While we were drinking tea a special messenger arrived
+from the village, bringing two frozen blueberry pies as a parting
+token of regard from the Major, and a last souvenir of civilisation.
+Pretending to fear that something might happen to these delicacies
+if we should attempt to carry them with us, Dodd, as a precautionary
+measure, ate one of them up to the last blueberry; and rather than
+have him sacrifice himself to a mistaken idea of duty by trying to eat
+the other, I attended to its preservation myself and put it for ever
+beyond the reach of accidental contingencies.
+
+On the following day we reached the little log _yurt_ on the Malmofka,
+where we had spent one night on our way to Gizhiga; and as the cold
+was still intense we were glad to avail ourselves again of its
+shelter, and huddle around the warm fire which Yagór kindled on a sort
+of clay altar in the middle of the room. There was not space enough on
+the rough plank floor to accommodate all our party, and our men built
+a huge fire of tamarack logs outside, hung over their teakettles,
+thawed out their frosty beards, ate dry fish, sang jolly Russian
+songs, and made themselves so boisterously happy, that we were tempted
+to give up the luxury of a roof for the sake of sharing in their
+out-door amusements and merriment. Our thermometers, however, marked
+35° below zero, and we did not venture out of doors except when an
+unusually loud burst of laughter announced some stupendous Siberian
+joke which we thought would be worth hearing. The atmosphere outside
+seemed to be just cool enough to exert an inspiriting influence
+upon our lively Cossacks, but it was altogether too bracing for
+unaccustomed American constitutions. With a good fire, however, and
+plenty of hot tea, we succeeded in making ourselves very comfortable
+inside the _yurt_, and passed away the long evening in smoking
+Circassian tobacco and pine bark, singing American songs, telling
+stories, and quizzing our good-natured but unsophisticated Cossack
+Meranef.
+
+It was quite late when we finally crawled into our fur bags to sleep;
+but long afterward we could hear the songs, jokes, and laughter of our
+drivers as they sat around the camp-fire, and told funny stories of
+Siberian travel.
+
+We were up on the following morning long before daylight; and, after a
+hasty breakfast of black-bread, dried fish, and tea, we harnessed our
+dogs, wet down our sledge-runners with water from the teakettle to
+cover them with a coating of ice, packed up our camp equipage, and,
+leaving the shelter of the tamarack forest around the _yurt_, drove
+out upon the great snowy Sahara which lies between the Malmofka River
+and Penzhinsk Gulf. It was a land of desolation. A great level steppe,
+as boundless to the weary eye as the ocean itself, stretched away in
+every direction to the far horizon, without a single tree or bush
+to relieve its white, snowy surface. Nowhere did we see any sign of
+animal or vegetable life, any suggestion of summer or flowers or warm
+sunshine, to brighten the dreary waste of storm-drifted snow.
+
+White, cold, and silent, it lay before us like a vast frozen ocean,
+lighted up faintly by the slender crescent of the waning moon in the
+east, and the weird blue streamers of the aurora, which went racing
+swiftly back and forth along the northern horizon. Even when the sun
+rose, huge and fiery, in a haze of frozen moisture at the south,
+it did not seem to infuse any warmth or life into the bleak wintry
+landscape. It only drowned, in a dull red glare, the blue, tremulous
+streamers of the aurora and the white radiance of the moon and stars,
+tinged the snow with a faint colour like a stormy sunset, and lighted
+up a splendid mirage in the north-west which startled us with its
+solemn mockery of familiar scenes. The wand of the Northern Enchanter
+touched the barren snowy steppe, and it suddenly became a blue
+tropical lake, upon whose distant shore rose the walls, domes, and
+slender minarets of a vast oriental city. Masses of luxuriant foliage
+seemed to overhang the clear blue water, and to be reflected in its
+depths, while the white walls above just caught the first flush of the
+rising sun. Never was the illusion of summer in winter, of life in
+death, more palpable or more perfect. One almost instinctively glanced
+around to assure himself, by the sight of familiar objects, that it
+was not a dream; but as his eyes turned again to the north-west across
+the dim blue lake, the vast tremulous outlines of the mirage still
+confronted him in their unearthly beauty, and the "cloud-capped towers
+and gorgeous palaces" seemed, by their mysterious solemnity, to rebuke
+the doubt which would ascribe them to a dream. The bright apparition
+faded, glowed, and faded again into indistinctness, and from its ruins
+rose two colossal pillars sculptured from rose quartz, which gradually
+united their capitals and formed a titanic arch like the grand portal
+of heaven. This, in turn, melted into an extensive fortress, with,
+massive bastions and buttresses, flanking towers and deep embrasures,
+and salient and re-entering angles whose shadows and perspective were
+as natural as reality itself. Nor was it only at a distance that these
+deceptive mirages seemed to be formed. A crow, standing upon the
+snow at a distance of perhaps two hundred yards, was exaggerated and
+distorted beyond recognition; and once, having lingered a little
+behind the rest of the party, I was startled at seeing a long line of
+shadowy dog-sledges moving swiftly through the air a short distance
+ahead, at a height of eight or ten feet from the ground. The mock
+sledges were inverted in position, and the mock dogs trotted along
+with their feet in the air; but their outlines were almost as clear
+as those of the real sledges and real dogs underneath. This curious
+phenomenon lasted only a moment, but it was succeeded by others
+equally strange, until at last we lost faith in our eyesight entirely,
+and would not believe in the existence of anything unless we could
+touch it with our hands. Every bare hillock or dark object on the snow
+was a nucleus around which were formed the most deceptive images, and
+two or three times we started out with our rifles in pursuit of wolves
+or black foxes, which proved, upon closer inspection, to be nothing
+but crows. I had never before known the light and atmosphere to be so
+favourable to refraction, and had never been so deceived in the size,
+shape, and distance of objects on the snow.
+
+[Illustration: A WOMAN FEEDING A DOG-TEAM IN GIZHIGA From a painting
+by George A. Frost]
+
+The thermometer at noon marked -35°, and at sunset it was -38°, and
+sinking. We had seen no wood since leaving the _yurt_ on the Malmofka
+River, and, not daring to camp without a fire, we travelled for five
+hours after dark, guided only by the stars and a bluish aurora which
+was playing away in the north. Under the influence of the intense
+cold, frost formed in great quantities upon everything which was
+touched by our breaths. Beards became stiff tangled masses of frozen
+iron wire, eyelids grew heavy with long white rims of frost, and froze
+together when we winked, and our dogs, enveloped in dense clouds of
+steam, looked like snowy polar wolves. Only by running constantly
+beside our sledges could we keep any sensation of life in our feet.
+About eight o'clock a few scattered trees loomed up darkly against the
+eastern sky, and a joyful shout from our leading drivers announced the
+discovery of wood. We had reached a small stream called the Usinova
+(Oo-seen'-ova), seventy-five versts east of Gizhiga, in the very
+middle of the great steppe. It was like coming to an island after
+having been long at sea. Our dogs stopped and curled themselves up
+into little round balls on the snow, as if conscious that the long
+day's journey was ended, while our drivers proceeded to make rapidly
+and systematically a Siberian half-faced camp. Three sledges were
+drawn up together, so as to make a little semi-enclosure about ten
+feet square; the snow was all shovelled out of the interior, and
+banked up around the three closed sides, like a snow fort, and a huge
+fire of trailing-pine branches was built at the open end. The bottom
+of this little snow-cellar was then strewn to a depth of three or four
+inches with twigs of willow and alder, shaggy bearskins were spread
+down to make a warm, soft carpet, and our fur sleeping-bags arranged
+for the night. Upon a small table extemporised out of a candle-box,
+which stood in the centre, Yagór soon placed two cups of steaming
+hot tea and a couple of dried fish. Then stretching ourselves out in
+luxurious style upon our bearskin carpet, with our feet to the fire
+and our backs against pillows, we smoked, drank tea, and told stories
+in perfect comfort. After supper the drivers piled dry branches of
+trailing-pine upon the fire until it sent up a column of hot ruddy
+flame ten feet in height, and then gathering in a picturesque group
+around the blaze, they sang for hours the wild melancholy songs of the
+Kamchadals, and told never-ending stories of hardship and adventure on
+the great steppes and along the coast of the "Icy Sea." At last the
+great constellation of Orion marked bedtime. Amid a tumult of snarling
+and fighting the dogs were fed their daily allowance of one dried fish
+each, fur stockings, moist with perspiration, were taken off and dried
+by the fire, and putting on our heaviest fur _kukhlankas_ we crawled
+feet first into our bearskin bags, pulled them up over our heads, and
+slept.
+
+A camp in the middle of a clear, dark winter's night presents a
+strange, wild appearance. I was awakened, soon after midnight, by cold
+feet, and, raising myself upon one elbow, I pushed my head out of my
+frosty fur bag to see by the stars what time it was. The fire had died
+away to a red heap of smouldering embers. There was just light enough
+to distinguish the dark outlines of the loaded sledges, the fur-clad
+forms of our men, lying here and there in groups about the fire, and
+the frosty dogs, curled up into a hundred little hairy balls upon the
+snow. Away beyond the limits of the camp stretched the desolate steppe
+in a series of long snowy undulations, which blended gradually into
+one great white frozen ocean, and were lost in the distance and
+darkness of night. High overhead, in a sky which was almost black,
+sparkled the bright constellations of Orion and the Pleiades--the
+celestial clocks which marked the long, weary hours between sunrise
+and sunset. The blue mysterious streamers of the aurora trembled in
+the north, now shooting up in clear bright lines to the zenith, then
+waving back and forth in great majestic curves over the silent camp,
+as if warning back the adventurous traveller from the unknown regions
+around the Pole. The silence was profound, oppressive. Nothing but
+the pulsating of the blood in my ears, and the heavy breathing of the
+sleeping men at my feet, broke the universal lull. Suddenly there rose
+upon the still night air a long, faint, wailing cry like that of a
+human being in the last extremity of suffering. Gradually it swelled
+and deepened until it seemed to fill the whole atmosphere with its
+volume of mournful sound, dying away at last into a low, despairing
+moan. It was the signal-howl of a Siberian dog; but so wild and
+unearthly did it seem in the stillness of the arctic midnight, that
+it sent the startled blood bounding through my veins to my very
+finger-ends. In a moment the mournful cry was taken up by another dog,
+upon a higher key--two or three more joined in, then ten, twenty,
+forty, sixty, eighty, until the whole pack of a hundred dogs howled
+one infernal chorus together, making the air fairly tremble with
+sound, as if from the heavy bass of a great organ. For fully a minute
+heaven and earth seemed to be filled with yelling, shrieking fiends.
+Then one by one they began gradually to drop off, the unearthly tumult
+grew momentarily fainter and fainter, until at last it ended as it
+began, in one long, inexpressibly melancholy wail, and all was still.
+One or two of our men moved restlessly in their sleep, as if the
+mournful howls had blended unpleasantly with their dreams; but no
+one awoke, and a death-like silence again pervaded heaven and earth.
+Suddenly the aurora shone out with increased brilliancy, and its
+waving swords swept back and forth in great semicircles across the
+dark starry sky, and lighted up the snowy steppe with transitory
+flashes of coloured radiance, as if the gates of heaven were opening
+and closing upon the dazzling brightness of the celestial city.
+Presently it faded away again to a faint diffused glow in the north,
+and one pale-green streamer, slender and bright as the spear of
+Ithuriel, pushed slowly up toward the zenith until it touched with its
+translucent point the jewelled belt of Orion; then it, too, faded and
+vanished, and nothing but a bank of pale white mist on the northern
+horizon showed the location of the celestial armory whence the arctic
+spirits drew the gleaming swords and lances which they shook and
+brandished nightly over the lonely Siberian steppes. Crawling back
+into my bag as the aurora disappeared, I fell asleep, and did not wake
+until near morning. With the first streak of dawn the camp began to
+show signs of animation. The dogs crawled out of the deep holes which
+their warm bodies had melted in the snow; the Cossacks poked their
+heads out of their frosty fur coats, and whipped off with little
+sticks the mass of frost which had accumulated around their
+breathing-holes; a fire was built, tea boiled, and we crawled out of
+our sleeping-bags to shiver around the fire and eat a hasty breakfast
+of rye-bread, dried fish, and tea. In twenty minutes the dogs were
+harnessed, sledges packed, and runners covered with ice, and one after
+another we drove away at a brisk trot from the smoking fire, and began
+another day's journey across the barren steppe.
+
+In this monotonous routine of riding, camping, and sleeping on the
+snow, day after day slowly passed until, on December 20th, we arrived
+at the Settled Korak village of Shestakóva, near the head of Penzhinsk
+Gulf. From this point our Gizhiga Cossacks were to return, and here we
+were to wait until the expected sledges from Penzhina should arrive.
+We lowered our bedding, pillows, camp-equipage, and provisions down
+through the chimney hole of the largest _yurt_ in the small village,
+arranged them as tastefully as possible on the wide wooden platform
+which extended out from the wall on one side, and made ourselves as
+comfortable as darkness, smoke, cold, and dirt would permit.
+
+[Illustration: Korak Adzes]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+DISMAL SHELTER--ARRIVAL OF A COSSACK COURIER AMERICANS ON THE
+ANADYR--ARCTIC FIREWOOD A SIBERIAN BLIZZARD LOST ON THE STEPPE
+
+Our short stay at Shestakóva, while waiting for the Penzhina sledges,
+was dismal and lonesome beyond expression. It began to storm furiously
+about noon on the 20th, and the violent wind swept up such tremendous
+clouds of snow from the great steppe north of the village, that the
+whole earth was darkened as if by an eclipse, and the atmosphere, to a
+height of a hundred feet from the ground, was literally packed with a
+driving mist of white snowflakes. I ventured to the top of the chimney
+hole once, but I was nearly blown over the edge of the _yurt_, and,
+blinded and choked by snow, I hastily retreated down the chimney,
+congratulating myself that I was not obliged to lie out all day on
+some desolate plain, exposed to the fury of such a storm. To keep
+out the snow, we were obliged to extinguish the fire and shut up the
+chimney hole with a sort of wooden trap-door, so that we were left to
+total darkness and a freezing atmosphere. We lighted candles and stuck
+them against the black smoky logs above our heads with melted grease,
+so that we could see to read; but the cold was so intense that we
+were finally compelled to give up the idea of literary amusement, and
+putting on fur coats and hoods, we crawled into our bags to try to
+sleep away the day. Shut up in a dark half-underground dungeon, with
+a temperature ten degrees below the freezing-point, we had no other
+resource.
+
+It is a mystery to me how human beings with any feeling at all can be
+satisfied to live in such abominable, detestable houses as those of
+the Settled Koraks. They have not one solitary redeeming feature.
+They are entered through the chimney, lighted by the chimney, and
+ventilated by the chimney; the sunshine falls into them only once a
+year--in June; they are cold in winter, close and uncomfortable in
+summer, and smoky all the time. They are pervaded by a smell of rancid
+oil and decaying fish; their logs are black as jet and greasy with
+smoke, and their earthen floors are an indescribable mixture of
+reindeer hairs and filth dried and trodden hard. They have no
+furniture except wooden bowls of seal oil, in which burn fragments of
+moss, and black wooden troughs which are alternately used as dishes
+and as seats. Sad is the lot of children born in such a place. Until
+they are old enough to climb up the chimney pole they never see the
+outside world.
+
+The weather on the day after our arrival at Shestakóva was much
+better, and our Cossack Meranef, who was on his way back to Tigil,
+bade us good-bye, and started with two or three natives for Kamenoi.
+Dodd and I managed to pass away the day by drinking tea eight or ten
+times simply as an amusement, reading an odd volume of Cooper's novels
+which we had picked up at Gizhiga, and strolling along the high bluffs
+over the gulf with our rifles in search of foxes. Soon after dark,
+just as we were drinking tea in final desperation for the seventh
+time, our dogs who were tied around the _yurt_ set up a general howl,
+and Yagór came sliding down the chimney in the most reckless and
+disorderly manner, with the news that a Russian Cossack had just
+arrived from Petropavlovsk, bringing letters for the Major. Dodd
+sprang up in great excitement, kicked over the teakettle, dropped his
+cup and saucer, and made a frantic rush for the chimney pole; but
+before he could reach it we saw somebody's legs coming down into the
+_yurt_, and in a moment a tall man in a spotted reindeerskin coat
+appeared, crossed himself carefully two or three times, as if in
+gratitude for his safe arrival, and then turned to us with the Russian
+salutation, "Zdrastvuitia."--"At kooda?"--"Where from?" demanded
+Dodd, quickly. "From Petropavlovsk with letters for the _Maiur_,"
+(mai-oor'), was the reply; "three telegraph ships have been there,
+and I am sent with important letters from the American _nachalnik_
+[Footnote: Commander.]; I have been thirty-nine days and nights on the
+road from Petropavlovsk." This was important news. Colonel Bulkley
+had evidently touched at the southern end of Kamchatka on his return
+from Bering Sea, and the letters brought by the courier would
+undoubtedly explain why he had not landed the party at the mouth of
+the Anadyr River, as he had intended. I felt a strong temptation to
+open the letters; but not thinking that they could have any bearing
+upon my movements, I finally concluded to send them on without a
+moment's delay to Gizhiga, in the faint hope that the Major had not
+yet left there for Okhotsk. In twenty minutes the Cossack was gone,
+and we were left to form all sorts of wild conjectures as to the
+contents of the letters, and the movements of the parties which
+Colonel Bulkley had carried up to Bering Strait. I regretted a hundred
+times that I had not opened the letters, and found out to a certainty
+that the Anadyr River party had not been landed. But it was too late
+now, and we could only hope that the courier would overtake the Major
+before he had started from Gizhiga, and that the latter would send
+somebody to us at Anadyrsk with the news.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS]
+
+There were no signs yet of the Penzhina sledges, and we spent another
+night and another long dreary day in the smoky _yurt_ at Shestakóva,
+waiting for transportation. Late in the evening of December 2d, Yagór,
+who acted in the capacity of sentinel, came down the chimney with
+another sensation. He had heard the howling of dogs in the direction
+of Penzhina. We went up on the roof of the _yurt_ and listened for
+several minutes, but hearing nothing but the wind, we concluded that
+Yagór had either been mistaken, or that a pack of wolves had howled
+in the valley east of the settlement. Yagór however was right; he had
+heard dogs on the Penzhina road, and in less than ten minutes the
+long-expected sledges drew up, amid general shouting and barking,
+before our _yurt_. In the course of conversation with the new
+arrivals, I thought I understood one of the Penzhina men to say
+something about a party who had mysteriously appeared near the mouth
+of the Anadyr River, and who were building a house there as if with
+the intention of spending the winter. I did not yet understand Russian
+very well, but I guessed at once that the long-talked-of Anadyr River
+party had been landed, and springing up in considerable excitement, I
+called Dodd to interpret. It seemed from all the information which
+the Penzhina men could give us that a small party of Americans had
+mysteriously appeared, early in the winter, near the mouth of the
+Anadyr, and had commenced to build a house of driftwood and a few
+boards which had been landed from the vessel in which they came. What
+their intentions were, who they were, or how long they intended to
+stay, no one knew, as the report came through bands of Wandering
+Chukchis, who had never seen the Americans themselves, but who had
+heard of them from others. The news had been passed along from one
+encampment of Chukchis to another until it had finally reached
+Penzhina, and had thus been brought on to us at Shestakóva, more than
+five hundred miles from the place where the Americans were said to be.
+We could hardly believe that Colonel Bulkley had landed an exploring
+party in the desolate region south of Bering Strait, at the very
+beginning of an arctic winter; but what could Americans be doing
+there, if they did not belong to our expedition? It was not a place
+which civilised men would be likely to select for a winter residence,
+unless they had in view some very important object. The nearest
+settlement--Anadyrsk--was almost two hundred and fifty miles distant;
+the country along the lower Anadyr was said to be wholly destitute
+of wood, and inhabited only by roving bands of Chukchis, and a
+party landed there without an interpreter would have no means of
+communicating even with these wild, lawless natives, or of obtaining
+any means whatever of transportation. If there were any Americans
+there, they were certainly in a very unpleasant situation. Dodd and I
+talked the matter over until nearly midnight, and finally concluded
+that upon our arrival at Anadyrsk we would make up a strong party of
+experienced natives, take thirty days' provisions, and push through
+to the Pacific Coast on dog-sledges in search of these mysterious
+Americans. It would be an adventure just novel and hazardous enough
+to be interesting, and if we succeeded in reaching the mouth of the
+Anadyr in winter, we should do something never before accomplished and
+never but once attempted. With this conclusion we crawled into our
+fur bags and dreamed that we were starting for the Open Polar Sea in
+search of Sir John Franklin.
+
+On the morning of December 23d, as soon as it was light enough to see,
+we loaded our tobacco, provisions, tea, sugar, and trading-goods upon
+the Penzhina sledges, and started up the shallow bushy valley of the
+Shestakóva River toward a mountainous ridge, a spur of the great
+Stanavoi range, in which the stream had its source. We crossed the
+mountain early in the afternoon, at a height of about a thousand feet,
+and slid swiftly down its northern slope into a narrow valley, which
+opened upon the great steppes which bordered the river Aklán. The
+weather was clear and not very cold, but the snow in the valley was
+deep and soft, and our progress was provokingly slow. We had hoped to
+reach the Aklán by night, but the day was so short and the road so
+bad that we travelled five hours after dark, and then had to stop ten
+versts south of the river. We were rewarded, however, by seeing
+two very fine mock moons, and by finding a magnificent patch of
+trailing-pine, which furnished us with dry wood enough for a glorious
+camp-fire. The curious tree or bush known to the Russians as
+_kedrovnik_ (keh-drove'-nik), and rendered in the English translation
+of Wrangell's Travels as "trailing cedar," is one of the most singular
+productions of Siberia. I hardly know whether to call it a tree, a
+bush, or a vine, for it partakes more or less of the characteristics
+of all three, and yet does not look much like any of them. It
+resembles as much as anything a dwarf pine tree, with a remarkably
+gnarled, crooked, and contorted trunk, growing horizontally like a
+neglected vine along the ground, and sending up perpendicular branches
+through the snow. It has the needles and cones of the common white
+pine, but it never stands erect like a tree, and grows in great
+patches from a few yards to several acres in extent. A man might walk
+over a dense growth of it in winter and yet see nothing but a few
+bunches of sharp green needles, sticking up here and there through the
+snow. It is found on the most desolate steppes and upon the rockiest
+mountain-sides from the Okhotsk Sea to the Arctic Ocean, and seems to
+grow most luxuriantly where the soil is most barren and the storms
+most severe. On great ocean-like plains, destitute of all other
+vegetation, this trailing-pine lurks beneath the snow, and covers
+the ground in places with a perfect network of gnarled, twisted, and
+interlocking trunks. For some reason it always seems to die when it
+has attained a certain age, and wherever you find its green spiny
+foliage you will also find dry white trunks as inflammable as tinder.
+It furnishes almost the only firewood of the Wandering Koraks and
+Chukchis, and without it many parts of north-eastern Siberia would
+be absolutely uninhabitable by man. Scores of nights during our
+explorations in Siberia, we should have been compelled to camp without
+fire, water, or warm food, had not Nature provided everywhere an
+abundance of trailing-pine, and stored it away under the snow for the
+use of travellers.
+
+[Illustration: DOG-TEAMS DESCENDING A STEEP MOUNTAIN SLOPE]
+
+We left our camp in the valley early on the following morning, pushed
+on across the large and heavily timbered river called the Aklán, and
+entered upon the great steppe which stretches away from its northern
+bank toward Anadyrsk. For two days we travelled over this barren
+snowy plain, seeing no vegetation but stunted trees and patches of
+trailing-pine along the banks of occasional streams, and no life
+except one or two solitary ravens and a red fox. The bleak and dreary
+landscape could have been described in two words--snow and sky. I had
+come to Siberia with full confidence in the ultimate success of the
+Russian-American Telegraph line, but as I penetrated deeper and deeper
+into the country and saw its utter desolation I grew less and less
+sanguine. Since leaving Gizhiga we had travelled nearly three hundred
+versts, had found only four places where we could obtain poles, and
+had passed only three settlements. Unless we could find a better
+route than the one over which we had been, I feared that the Siberian
+telegraph line would be a failure.
+
+Up to this time we had been favoured with unusually fine weather; but
+it was a season of the year when storms were of frequent occurrence,
+and I was not surprised to be awakened Christmas night by the roaring
+of the wind and the hissing sound of the snow as it swept through our
+unprotected camp and buried up our dogs and sledges. We were having a
+slight touch of a Siberian _purga_ (poor'-gah = blizzard). A fringe of
+trees along the little stream on which we were camped sheltered us
+in a measure from the storm, but out on the steppe it was evidently
+blowing a gale. We rose as usual at daylight and made an attempt to
+travel; but no sooner did we leave the cover of the trees than our
+dogs became almost unmanageable, and, blinded and half suffocated
+with flying snow, we were driven back again into the timber. It was
+impossible to see thirty feet, and the wind blew with such fury that
+our dogs would not face it. We massed our sledges together as a sort
+of breastwork against the drifting snow, spread our fur bags down
+behind them, crawled in, covered up our heads with deerskins and
+blankets, and prepared for a long dismal siege. There is nothing so
+thoroughly, hopelessly dreary and uncomfortable, as camping out upon a
+Siberian steppe in a storm. The wind blows with such violence that a
+tent cannot possibly be made to stand; the fire is half extinguished
+by drifting snow, and fills the eyes with smoke and cinders when it
+burns at all; conversation is impossible on account of the roaring
+of the wind and the beating of the snow in one's face; bearskins,
+pillows, and furs become stiff and icy with half-melted sleet, sledges
+are buried up, and there remains nothing for the unhappy traveller to
+do but crawl into his sleeping-bag, cover up his head, and shiver away
+the long, dismal hours.
+
+We lay out on the snow in this storm for two days, spending nearly all
+the time in our fur bags and suffering severely from the cold during
+the long, dark nights. On the 28th, about four o'clock in the morning,
+the storm began to abate, and by six we had dug out our sledges and
+were under way. There was a low spur of the Stanavoi Mountains about
+ten versts north of our camp, and our men said that if we could get
+across that before daylight we should probably have no more bad
+weather until we reached Penzhina. Our dog-food was entirely
+exhausted, and we must make the settlement within the next twenty-four
+hours if possible. The snow had been blown hard by the wind, our dogs
+were fresh from two days' rest, and before daylight we had crossed
+the ridge and stopped in a little valley on the northern slope of
+the mountain to drink tea. When compelled to travel all night, the
+Siberian natives always make a practice of stopping just before
+sunrise and allowing their dogs to get to sleep. They argue that if a
+dog goes to sleep while it is yet dark, and wakes up in an hour and
+finds the sun shining, he will suppose that he has had a full night's
+rest and will travel all day without thinking of being tired. An
+hour's stop, however, at any other time will be of no use whatever. As
+soon as we thought we had deluded our dogs into the belief that they
+had slept all night, we roused them up and started down the valley
+toward a tributary of the Penzhina River, known as the Uskanova
+(Oo-skan'-o-vah). The weather was clear and not very cold, and we all
+enjoyed the pleasant change and the brief two hours of sunshine which
+were vouchsafed us before the sun sank behind the white peaks of
+Stanavoi. Just at dark we crossed the river Kondra, fifteen miles from
+Penzhina, and in two hours more we were hopelessly lost on another
+great level steppe, and broken up into two or three separate and
+bewildered parties. I had fallen asleep soon after passing the Kondra,
+and had not the slightest idea how we were progressing or whither we
+were going, until Dodd shook me by the shoulder and said, "Kennan,
+we're lost." Rather a startling announcement to wake a man with, but
+as Dodd did not seem to be much concerned about it, I assured him that
+I didn't care, and lying back on my pillow went to sleep again, fully
+satisfied that my driver would find Penzhina sometime in the course of
+the night.
+
+Guided by the stars, Dodd, Gregorie, and I, with one other sledge
+which remained with us, turned away to the eastward, and about nine
+o'clock came upon the Penzhina River somewhere below the settlement.
+We started up it on the ice, and had gone but a short distance when we
+saw two or three sledges coming down the river. Surprised to find men
+travelling away from the village at that hour of the night, we hailed
+them with a "Halloo!"
+
+"Halloo!"
+
+"Vwe kooda yáydetia?"--"Where are you going?"
+
+"We're going to Penzhina; who are you?"
+
+"We're Gizhigintsi, also going to Penzhina; what you coming down the
+river for?"
+
+"We're trying to find the village, devil take it; we've been
+travelling all night and can't find anything!"
+
+Upon this Dodd burst into a loud laugh, and as the mysterious sledges
+drew nearer we recognised in their drivers three of our own men who
+had separated from us soon after dark, and who were now trying to
+reach Penzhina by going down the river toward the Okhotsk Sea. We
+could hardly convince them that the village did not lie in that
+direction. They finally turned back with us, however, and some time
+after midnight we drove into Penzhina, roused the sleeping inhabitants
+with a series of unearthly yells, startled fifty or sixty dogs into a
+howling protest against such untimely disturbance, and threw the whole
+settlement into a general uproar.
+
+In ten minutes we were seated on bearskins before a warm fire in
+a cozy Russian house, drinking cup after cup of fragrant tea, and
+talking over our night's adventures.
+
+[Illustration: Ladle made of Caribou antler]
+
+[Illustration: Woman's knife for cutting meat]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+PENZHINA--POSTS FOR ELEVATED ROAD--FIFTY-THREE BELOW ZERO--TALKED
+OUT--ASTRONOMICAL LECTURES--EATING PLANETS--THE HOUSE OF A PRIEST
+
+The village of Penzhina is a little collection of log houses,
+flat-topped _yurts_, and four-legged _balagáns,_ situated on the north
+bank of the river which bears its name, about half-way between the
+Okhotsk Sea and Anadyrsk. It is inhabited principally by _meshcháns_
+(mesh-chans'), or free Russian peasants, but contains also in its
+scanty population a few "Chuances" or aboriginal Siberian natives, who
+were subjugated by the Russian Cossacks in the eighteenth century,
+and who now speak the language of their conquerors and gain a scanty
+subsistence by fishing and trading in furs. The town is sheltered on
+the north by a very steep bluff about a hundred feet in height, which,
+like all hills in the vicinity of Russian settlements, bears upon
+its summit a Greek cross with three arms. The river opposite the
+settlement is about a hundred yards in width, and its banks are
+heavily timbered with birch, larch, poplar, willow, and aspen. Owing
+to warm springs in its bed, it never entirely freezes over at this
+point, and in a temperature of 40° below zero gives off dense clouds
+of steam which hide the village from sight as effectually as a London
+fog.
+
+We remained at Penzhina three days, gathering information about the
+surrounding country and engaging men to cut poles for our line. We
+found the people to be cheerful, good-natured, and hospitable, and
+disposed to do all in their power to further our plans; but of course
+they had never heard of a telegraph, and could not imagine what we
+were going to do with the poles which we were so anxious to have cut.
+Some said that we intended to build a wooden road from Gizhiga to
+Anadyrsk, so that it would be possible to travel back and forth in the
+summer; others contended with some show of probability that two men,
+even if they _were_ Americans, could not construct a wooden road, six
+hundred versts long, and that our real object was to build some
+sort of a huge house. When questioned as to the use of this immense
+edifice, however, the advocates of the house theory were covered with
+confusion, and could only insist upon the physical impossibility of
+a road, and call upon their opponents to accept the house or suggest
+something better. We succeeded in engaging sixteen able-bodied men,
+however, to cut poles for a reasonable compensation, gave them the
+required dimensions--twenty-one feet long and five inches in diameter
+at the top--and instructed them to cut as many as possible, and pile
+them up along the banks of the river.
+
+I may as well mention here, that when I returned from Anadyrsk in
+March I went to look at the poles, 500 in number, which the Penzhina
+men had cut. I found, to my great astonishment, that there was hardly
+one of them less than twelve inches in diameter at the top, and that
+the majority were so heavy and unwieldy that a dozen men could not
+move them. I told the natives that they would not do, and asked why
+they had not cut smaller ones, as I had directed. They replied that
+they supposed I wanted to build some kind of a road on the tops of
+these poles, and they knew that poles only five inches in diameter
+would not be strong enough to hold it up! They had accordingly cut
+trees large enough to be used as pillars for a state-house. They still
+lie there, buried in arctic snows; and I have no doubt that many years
+hence, when Macaulay's New Zealander shall have finished sketching the
+ruins of St. Paul's and shall have gone to Siberia to complete his
+education, he will be entertained by his native drivers with stories
+of how two crazy Americans once tried to build an elevated railroad
+from the Okhotsk Sea to Bering Strait. I only hope that the New
+Zealander will write a book, and confer upon the two crazy Americans
+the honour and the immortality which their labours deserved, but which
+the elevated railroad failed to give.
+
+We left Penzhina on the 31st day of December for Anadyrsk. After
+travelling all day, as usual, over a barren steppe, we camped for
+the night near the foot of a white isolated peak called Nalgim, in a
+temperature of 53° below zero. It was New Year's Eve; and as I sat by
+the fire in my heaviest furs, covered from head to foot with frost,
+I thought of the great change which a single year had made in my
+surroundings. New Year's Eve, 1864, I had spent in Central America,
+riding on a mule from Lake Nicaragua to the Pacific coast, through a
+magnificent tropical forest. New Year's Eve, 1865, found me squatting
+on a great snowy plain near the Arctic Circle, trying, in a
+temperature of 53° below zero, to eat up my soup before it froze
+solidly to the plate. Hardly could there have been a greater contrast.
+
+Our camp near Mount Nalgim abounded in trailing-pine and we made a
+fire which sent up a column of ruddy flame ten feet in height; but it
+did not seem to have much influence upon the atmosphere. Our eyelids
+froze together while we were drinking tea; our soup, taken hot from
+the kettle, froze in our tin plates before we could possibly finish
+eating it; and the breasts of our fur coats were covered with a white
+rime, while we sat only a few feet from a huge blazing camp-fire. Tin
+plates, knives, and spoons burned the bare hand when touched, almost
+exactly as if they were red-hot; and water, spilled on a little piece
+of board only fourteen inches from the fire, froze solid in less than
+two minutes. The warm bodies of our dogs gave off clouds of steam; and
+even the bare hand, wiped perfectly dry, exhaled a thin vapour
+when exposed to the air. We had never before experienced so low a
+temperature; but we suffered very little except from cold feet, and
+Dodd declared that with a good fire and plenty of fat food he would
+not be afraid to try fifteen degrees lower. The greatest cause of
+suffering in Siberia is wind. Twenty degrees below zero, with a fresh
+breeze, is very trying; and a gale of wind, with a temperature
+of -40°, is almost unendurable. Intense cold of itself is not
+particularly dangerous to life. A man who will eat a hearty supper of
+dried fish and tallow, dress himself in a Siberian costume, and crawl
+into a heavy fur bag, may spend a night out-doors in a temperature of
+-70° without any serious danger; but if he is tired out, with long
+travel, if his clothes are wet with perspiration, or if he has not
+enough to eat, he may freeze to death with the thermometer at zero.
+The most important rules for an arctic traveller are: to eat plenty of
+fat food; to avoid over-exertion and night journeys; and never to
+get into a profuse perspiration by violent exercise for the sake of
+temporary warmth. I have seen Wandering Chukchis in a region destitute
+of wood and in a dangerous temperature, travel all day with aching
+feet rather than exhaust their strength by trying to warm them in
+running. They would never exercise except when it was absolutely
+necessary to keep from freezing. As a natural consequence, they were
+almost as fresh at night as they had been in the morning, and if they
+failed to find wood for a fire, or were compelled by some unforeseen
+exigency to travel throughout the twenty-four hours, they had
+the strength to do it. An inexperienced traveller under the same
+circumstances, would have exhausted all his energy during the day in
+trying to keep perfectly warm; and at night, wet with perspiration and
+tired out by too much violent exercise, he would almost inevitably
+have frozen to death.
+
+For two hours after supper, Dodd and I sat by the fire, trying
+experiments to see what the intense cold would do. About eight o'clock
+the heavens became suddenly overcast with clouds, and in less than an
+hour the thermometer had risen nearly thirty degrees. Congratulating
+ourselves upon this fortunate change in the weather, we crawled into
+our fur bags and slept away as much as we could of the long arctic
+night.
+
+Our life for the next few days was the same monotonous routine of
+riding, camping, and sleeping with which we were already so familiar.
+The country over which we passed was generally bleak, desolate, and
+uninteresting; the weather was cold enough for discomfort, but not
+enough so to make outdoor life dangerous or exciting; the days were
+only two or three hours in length and the nights were interminable.
+Going into camp early in the afternoon, when the sun disappeared, we
+had before us about twenty hours of darkness, in which we must either
+amuse ourselves in some way, or sleep. Twenty hours' sleep for any one
+but a Rip Van Winkle was rather an over-dose, and during at least half
+that time we could think of nothing better to do than sit around the
+camp-fire on bearskins and talk. Ever since leaving Petropavlovsk,
+talking had been our chief amusement; and although it had answered
+very well for the first hundred nights or so, it was now becoming a
+little monotonous and our mental resources were running decidedly low.
+We could not think of a single subject about which we knew anything
+that had not been talked over, criticised, and discussed to the very
+bone. We had related to each other in detail the whole history of our
+respective lives, together with the lives of all our ancestors as far
+back as we knew anything about them. We had discussed in full every
+known problem of Love, War, Science, Politics, and Religion, including
+a great many that we knew nothing whatever about, and had finally been
+reduced to such topics of conversation as the size of the army with
+which Xerxes invaded Greece and the probable extent of the Noachian
+deluge. As there was no possibility of arriving at any mutually
+satisfactory conclusion with regard to either of these important
+questions, the debate had been prolonged for twenty or thirty
+consecutive nights and the questions finally left open for future
+consideration. In cases of desperate emergency, when all other topics
+of conversation failed, we knew that we could return to Xerxes and the
+Flood; but these subjects had been dropped by the tacit consent of
+both parties soon after leaving Gizhiga, and were held in reserve as a
+"dernier ressort" for stormy nights in Korak _yurts_. One night as we
+were encamped on a great steppe north of Shestakóva, the happy idea
+occurred to me that I might pass away these long evenings out of
+doors, by delivering a course of lectures to my native drivers upon
+the wonders of modern science. It would amuse me and at the same time
+instruct them--or at least I hoped it would, and I proceeded at
+once to put the plan into execution. I turned my attention first to
+astronomy. Camping out on the open steppe, with no roof above except
+the starry sky, I had every facility for the illustration of my
+subject, and night after night as we travelled northward I might have
+been seen in the centre of a group of eager natives, whose swarthy
+faces were lighted up by the red blaze of the camp-fire, and who
+listened with childish curiosity while I explained the phenomena of
+the seasons, the revolution of the planets around the sun, and the
+causes of a lunar eclipse. I was compelled, like John Phoenix, to
+manufacture my own orrery, and I did it with a lump of frozen, tallow
+to represent the earth, a chunk of black bread for the moon, and small
+pieces of dried meat for the lesser planets. The resemblance to the
+heavenly bodies was not, I must confess, very striking; but by making
+believe pretty hard we managed to get along. A spectator would have
+been amused could he have seen with what grave solemnity I circulated
+the bread and tallow in their respective orbits, and have heard the
+long-drawn exclamations of astonishment from the natives as I brought
+the bread into eclipse behind the lump of tallow. My first lecture
+would have been a grand success if my native audience had only been
+able to understand the representative and symbolical character of
+the bread and tallow. The great trouble was that their imaginative
+faculties were weak. They could not be made to see that bread stood
+for the moon and tallow-for the earth, but persisted in regarding them
+as so many terrestrial products having an intrinsic value of their
+own. They accordingly melted up the earth to drink, devoured the
+moon whole, and wanted another lecture immediately. I endeavoured
+to explain to them that these lectures were intended to be
+_as_tronomical, not _gas_tronomical, and that eating and drinking
+up the heavenly bodies in this reckless way was very improper.
+Astronomical science I assured them did not recognise any such
+eclipses as those produced by swallowing the planets, and however
+satisfactory such a course might be to them, it was very demoralising
+to my orrery. Remonstrances had very little effect, and I was
+compelled to provide a new sun, moon, and earth for every, lecture. It
+soon became evident to me that these astronomical feasts were becoming
+altogether too popular, for my audience thought nothing of eating up
+a whole solar system every night, and planetary material was becoming
+scarce. I was finally compelled, therefore, to use stones and
+snowballs to represent celestial bodies, instead of bread and tallow,
+and from that time the interest in astronomical phenomena gradually
+abated and the popularity of my lectures steadily declined until I was
+left without a single hearer.
+
+The short winter day of three hours had long since closed and the
+night was far advanced when after twenty-three days of rough travel
+we drew near our final destination--the _ultima Thule_ of Russian
+civilisation. I was lying on my sledge nearly buried in heavy furs and
+half asleep, when the distant barking of dogs announced our approach
+to the village of Anadyrsk. I made a hurried attempt to change my
+thick fur _torbassa_ and overstockings for American boots, but was
+surprised in the very act by the drawing up of my sledge before the
+house of the Russian priest, where we intended to stop until we could
+make arrangements for a house of our own.
+
+A crowd of curious spectators had gathered about the door to see the
+wonderful Amerikanse about whom they had heard, and prominent in the
+centre of the fur-clad group stood the priest, with long flowing hair
+and beard, dressed in a voluminous black robe, and holding above his
+head a long tallow candle which flared wildly in the cold night air.
+As soon as I could disencumber my feet of my overstockings I alighted
+from my sledge, amid profound bows and "zdrastvuitias" from the crowd,
+and received a hearty welcome from the patriarchal priest. Three weeks
+roughing it in the wilderness had not, I fancy, improved my personal
+appearance, and my costume would have excited a sensation anywhere
+except in Siberia. My face, which was not over clean, was darkened by
+three weeks' growth of beard; my hair was in confusion and hung in
+long ragged locks over my forehead, and the fringe of shaggy black
+bearskin around my face gave me a peculiarly wild and savage
+expression of countenance. The American boots which I had hastily
+drawn on as we entered the village were all that indicated any
+previous acquaintance with civilisation. Replying to the respectful
+salutations of the Chuances, Yukagirs, and Russian Cossacks who in
+yellow fur hoods and potted deerskin coats crowded about the door, I
+followed the priest into the house. It was the second dwelling worthy
+the name of house which I had entered in twenty-two days, and after
+the smoky Korak _yurts_ of Kuil, Mikina, and Shestakóva, it seemed
+to me to be a perfect palace. The floor was carpeted with soft, dark
+deerskins in which one's feet sank deeply at every step; a blazing
+fire burned in a neat fireplace in one corner, and flooded the room
+with cheerful light; the tables were covered with bright American
+table-cloths; a tiny gilt taper was lighted before a massive gilt
+shrine opposite the door; the windows were of glass instead of the
+slabs of ice and the smoky fish bladders to which I had become
+accustomed; a few illustrated newspapers lay on a stand in one corner,
+and everything in the house was arranged with a taste and a view
+to comfort which were as welcome to a tired traveller as they were
+unexpected in this land of desolate steppes and uncivilised people.
+Dodd, who was driving his own sledge, had not yet arrived; but from
+the door we could hear a voice in the adjoining forest singing "Won't
+I be glad when I get out of the wilderness, out o' the wilderness, out
+o' the wilderness," the musician being entirely unconscious that he
+was near the village, or that his melodiously expressed desire to "get
+out o' the wilderness" was overheard by any one else. My Russian
+was not extensive or accurate enough to enable me to converse very
+satisfactorily with the priest, and I was heartily glad when Dodd
+_got_ out of the wilderness, and appeared to relieve my embarrassment.
+He didn't look much better than I did; that was one comfort. I drew
+mental comparisons as soon as he entered the room and convinced myself
+that one looked as much like a Korak as the other, and that neither
+could claim precedence in point of civilisation on account of superior
+elegance of dress. We shook hands with the priest's wife--a pale
+slender lady with light hair and dark eyes,--made the acquaintance of
+two or three pretty little children, who fled from us in affright as
+soon as they were released, and finally seated ourselves at the table
+to drink tea.
+
+Our host's cordial manner soon put us at our ease, and in ten minutes
+Dodd was rattling off fluently a highly coloured account of our
+adventures and sufferings, laughing, joking, and drinking vodka with
+the priest, as unceremoniously as if he had known him for ten years
+instead of as many minutes. That was a peculiar gift of Dodd's, which
+I often used to envy. In five minutes, with the assistance of a little
+vodka, he would break down the ceremonious reserve of the severest
+old patriarch in the whole Greek Church, and completely carry him by
+storm; while I could only sit by and smile feebly, without being able
+to say a word. Great is "the gift o' gab."
+
+After an excellent supper of _shchi_ (shchee) or cabbage-soup, fried
+cutlets, white bread and butter, we spread our bearskins down on the
+floor, undressed ourselves for the second time in three weeks,
+and went to bed. The sensation of sleeping without furs, and with
+uncovered heads, was so strange, that for a long time we lay awake,
+watching the red flickering firelight on the wall, and enjoying
+the delicious warmth of soft, fleecy blankets, and the luxury of
+unconfined limbs and bare feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+ANADYRSK--AN ARCTIC OUTPOST--SEVERE CLIMATE CHRISTMAS SERVICES AND
+CAROLS--A SIBERIAN BALL--MUSIC AND REFRESHMENTS--EXCITED DANCING
+HOLIDAY AMUSEMENTS
+
+The four little Russian and native villages, just south of the Arctic
+Circle, which are collectively known as Anadyrsk, form the last link
+in the great chain of settlements which extends in one almost unbroken
+line from the Ural Mountains to Bering Strait. Owing to their
+peculiarly isolated situation, and the difficulties and hardships of
+travel during the only season in which they are accessible, they had
+never, previous to our arrival, been visited by any foreigner, with
+the single exception of a Swedish officer in the Russian service,
+who led an exploring party from Anadyrsk toward Bering Strait in the
+winter of 1859-60. Cut off, during half the year, from all the rest of
+the world, and visited only at long intervals by a few half-civilised
+traders, this little quadruple village was almost as independent and
+self-sustained as if it were situated on an island in the midst of the
+Arctic Ocean. Even its existence, to those who had no dealings with
+it, was a matter of question. It was founded early in the eighteenth
+century, by a band of roving, adventurous Cossacks, who, having
+conquered nearly all the rest of Siberia, pushed through the mountains
+from Kolyma to the Anadyr, drove out the Chukchis, who resisted their
+advance, and established a military post on the river, a few versts
+above the site of the present settlement. A desultory warfare then
+began between the Chukchis and the Russian invaders, which lasted,
+with varying success, for many years. During a considerable part of
+the time Anadyrsk was garrisoned by a force of six hundred men and
+a battery of artillery; but after the discovery and settlement of
+Kamchatka it sank into comparative unimportance, the troops were
+mostly withdrawn, and it was finally captured by the Chukchis and
+burned. During the war which resulted in the destruction of Anadyrsk,
+two native tribes, Chuances and Yukagirs, who had taken sides with the
+Russians, were almost annihilated by the Chukchis, and were never able
+afterward to regain their distinct tribal individuality. The few
+who were left lost all their reindeer and camp-equipage, and were
+compelled to settle down with their Russian allies and gain a
+livelihood by hunting and fishing. They have gradually adopted Russian
+customs and lost all their distinctive traits of character; and in a
+few years not a single living soul will speak the languages of those
+once powerful tribes. By the Russians, Chuances, and Yukagirs,
+Anadyrsk was finally rebuilt, and became in time a trading-post of
+considerable importance. Tobacco, which had been introduced by the
+Russians, soon acquired great popularity with the Chukchis; and
+for the sake of obtaining this highly prized luxury they ceased
+hostilities, and began making yearly visits to Anadyrsk for the
+purpose of trade. They never entirely lost, however, a certain feeling
+of enmity toward the Russians who had invaded their territory, and for
+many years would have no dealings with them except at the end of a
+spear. They would hang a bundle of furs or a choice walrus tooth upon
+the sharp polished blade of a long Chukchi lance, and if a Russian
+trader chose to take it off and suspend in its place a fair equivalent
+in the shape of tobacco, well and good; if not, there was no trade.
+This plan guaranteed absolute security against fraud, for there was
+not a Russian in all Siberia who dared to cheat one of these fierce
+savages, with the blade of a long lance ten inches from his breast
+bone. Honesty was emphatically the best policy, and the moral suasion
+of a Chukchi spear developed the most disinterested benevolence in the
+breast of the man who stood at the sharp end. The trade which was thus
+established still continues to be a source of considerable profit to
+the inhabitants of Anadyrsk, and to the Russian merchants who come
+there every year from Gizhiga.
+
+[Illustration: CHUKCHIS ASSEMBLING AT ANADYRSK FOR THE WINTER FAIR]
+
+The four small villages which compose the settlement, and which are
+distinctively known as "Pokorukof," "Osolkin," "Markova," and "The
+Crepast," have altogether a population of perhaps two hundred souls.
+The central village, called Markova, is the residence of the priest
+and boasts a small rudely built church, but in winter it is a dreary
+place. Its small log houses have no windows other than thick slabs of
+ice cut from the river; many of them are sunken in the ground for the
+sake of greater warmth, and all are more or less buried in snow. A
+dense forest of larch, poplar, and aspen surrounds the town, so that
+the traveller coming from Gizhiga sometimes has to hunt for it a whole
+day, and if he be not familiar with the net-work of channels into
+which the Anadyr River is here divided, he may not find it at all.
+The inhabitants of all four settlements divide their time in summer
+between fishing, and hunting the wild reindeer which make annual
+migrations across the river in immense herds. In winter they are
+generally absent with their sledges, visiting and trading with bands
+of Wandering Chukchis, going with merchandise to the great annual
+fair at Kolyma, and hiring their services to the Russian traders from
+Gizhiga. The Anadyr River, in the vicinity of the village and for a
+distance of seventy-five miles above, is densely wooded with trees
+from eighteen to twenty-four inches in diameter, although the latitude
+of the upper portion of it is 66° N. The climate is very severe;
+meteorological observations which we made at Markova in February,
+1867, showed that on sixteen days in that month the thermometer went
+to -40°, on eight days it went below -50°, five days below -60°, and
+once to -68°. This was the lowest temperature we ever experienced
+in Siberia. The changes from intense cold to comparative warmth are
+sometimes very rapid. On February 18th, at 9 A.M., the thermometer
+stood at -52°, but in twenty-seven hours it had risen seventy-three
+degrees and stood at +21°. On the 21st it marked +3° and on the 22d
+-49°, an equally rapid change in the other direction. Notwithstanding
+the climate, however, Anadyrsk is as pleasant a place to live as are
+nine tenths of the Russian settlements in north-eastern Siberia, and
+we enjoyed the novelty of our life there in the winter of 1866 as much
+as we had enjoyed any part of our previous Siberian experience.
+
+The day which succeeded our arrival we spent in resting and making
+ourselves as presentable as possible with the limited resources
+afforded by our sealskin trunks.
+
+Thursday, January 6th, N.S. was the Russian Christmas, and we all rose
+about four hours before daylight to attend an early service in the
+church. Everybody in the house was up; a fire burned brightly in the
+fireplace; gilded tapers were lighted before all the holy pictures and
+shrines in our room, and the air was fragrant with incense. Out of
+doors there was not yet a sign of daybreak. The Pleiades were low down
+in the west, the great constellation of Orion had begun to sink, and a
+faint aurora was streaming up over the tree-tops north of the village.
+From every chimney rose a column of smoke and sparks, which showed
+that the inhabitants were all astir. We walked over to the little log
+church as quickly as possible, but the service had already commenced
+when we entered and silently took our places in the crowd of bowing
+worshippers. The sides of the room were lined with pictures of
+patriarchs and Russian saints, before which were burning long wax
+candles wound spirally with strips of gilded paper. Clouds of blue
+fragrant incense rolled up toward the roof from swinging censers,
+and the deep intonation of the gorgeously attired priest contrasted
+strangely with the high soprano chanting of the choir. The service of
+the Greek Church is more impressive, if possible, than that of the
+Romish; but as it is conducted in the old Slavonic language, it is
+almost wholly unintelligible. The priest is occupied, most of the
+time, in gabbling rapid prayers which nobody can understand; swinging
+a censer, bowing, crossing himself, and kissing a huge Bible, which
+I should think would weigh thirty pounds. The administration of the
+sacrament and the ceremonies attending the transubstantiation of the
+bread and wine are made very effective. The most beautiful feature in
+the whole service of the Greco-Russian Church is the music. No one can
+listen to it without emotion, even in a little log chapel far away in
+the interior of Siberia. Rude as it may be in execution, it breathes
+the very spirit of devotion; and I have often stood through a long
+service of two or three hours, for the sake of hearing a few chanted
+psalms and prayers. Even the tedious, rapid, and mixed-up jabbering
+of the priest is relieved at short intervals by the varied and
+beautifully modulated "Gospodi pameelui" [God, have mercy!] and "Padai
+Gospodin" [Grant, O Lord!] of the choir. The congregation stands
+throughout even the longest service, and seems to be wholly absorbed
+in devotion. All cross themselves and bow incessantly in response to
+the words of the priest, and not unfrequently prostrate themselves
+entirely, and reverently press their foreheads and lips to the floor.
+To a spectator this seems very curious. One moment he is surrounded
+by a crowd of fur-clad natives and Cossacks, who seem to be listening
+quietly to the service; then suddenly the whole congregation goes down
+upon the floor, like a platoon of infantry under the fire of a masked
+battery, and he is left standing alone in the midst of nearly a
+hundred prostrate forms. At the conclusion of the Christmas morning
+service the choir burst forth into a jubilant hymn, to express the
+joy of the angels over the Saviour's birth; and amid the discordant
+jangling of a chime of bells, which hung in a little log tower at the
+door, Dodd and I made our way out of the church, and returned to the
+house to drink tea. I had just finished my last cup and lighted a
+cigarette, when the door suddenly opened, and half a dozen men, with
+grave, impassive countenances, marched in in single file, stopped a
+few paces from the holy pictures in the corner, crossed themselves
+devoutly in unison, and began to sing a simple but sweet Russian
+melody, beginning with the words, "Christ is born." Not expecting to
+hear Christmas carols in a little Siberian settlement on the Arctic
+Circle, I was taken completely by surprise, and could only stare in
+amazement--first at Dodd, to see what he thought about it, and then at
+the singers. The latter, in their musical ecstasy, seemed entirely to
+ignore our presence, and not until they had finished did they turn to
+us, shake hands, and wish us a merry Christmas. Dodd gave each of them
+a few kopecks, and with repeated wishes of merry Christmas, long life,
+and much happiness to our "High Excellencies," the men withdrew to
+visit in turn the other houses of the village. One band of singers
+came after another, until at daylight all the younger portion of the
+population had visited our house, and received our kopecks. Some of
+the smaller boys, more intent upon the acquisition of coppers than
+they were upon the solemnity of the ceremony, rather marred its effect
+by closing up their hymn with "Christ is born, gim'me some money!"
+but most of them behaved with the utmost propriety, and left us
+greatly pleased with a custom so beautiful and appropriate. At sunrise
+all the tapers were extinguished, the people donned their gayest
+apparel, and the whole village gave itself up to the unrestrained
+enjoyment of a grand holiday. Bells jangled incessantly from the
+church tower; dog-sledges, loaded with girls, went dashing about the
+streets, capsising into snow-drifts and rushing furiously down hills
+amid shouts of laughter; women in gay flowery calico dresses, with
+their hair tied up in crimson silk handkerchiefs, walked from house to
+house, paying visits of congratulation and talking over the arrival of
+the distinguished American officers; crowds of men played football
+on the snow, and the whole settlement presented an animated, lively
+appearance.
+
+On the evening of the third day after Christmas, the priest gave in
+our honour a grand Siberian ball, to which all the inhabitants of
+the four villages were invited, and for which the most elaborate
+preparations were made. A ball at the house of a priest on Sunday
+night struck me as implying a good deal of inconsistency and I
+hesitated about sanctioning so plain a violation of the fourth
+commandment. Dodd, however, proved to me in the most conclusive manner
+that, owing to difference in time, it was Saturday in America and not
+Sunday at all; that our friends at that very moment were engaged in
+business or pleasure and that our happening to be on the other side
+of the world was no reason why we should not do what our antipodal
+friends were doing at exactly the same time. I was conscious that
+this reasoning was sophistical, but Dodd mixed me up so with his
+"longitude," "Greenwich time," "Bowditch's _Navigator_," "Russian
+Sundays" and "American Sundays," that I was hopelessly bewildered, and
+could not have told for my life whether it was today in America or
+yesterday, or when a Siberian Sunday did begin. I finally concluded
+that as the Russians kept Saturday night, and began another week at
+sunset on the Sabbath, a dance would perhaps be sufficiently innocent
+for that evening. According to Siberian ideas of propriety it was just
+the thing.
+
+A partition was removed in our house, the floor made bare, the room
+brilliantly illuminated with candles stuck against the wall with
+melted grease, benches placed around three sides of the house for the
+ladies, and about five o'clock the pleasure-seekers began to assemble.
+Rather an early hour perhaps for a ball, but it seemed a very long
+time after dark. The crowd which soon gathered numbered about forty,
+the men being all dressed in heavy fur _kukhlánkas,_ fur trousers,
+and fur boots, and the ladies in thin white muslin and flowery calico
+prints. The costumes of the respective sexes did not seem to harmonise
+very well, one being light and airy enough for an African summer,
+while the other seemed suitable for an arctic expedition in search of
+Sir John Franklin. However, the general effect was very picturesque.
+The orchestra which was to furnish the music consisted of two rudely
+made violins, two _ballalaikas_ (bal-la-lai'-kahs) or triangular
+native guitars with two strings each, and a huge comb prepared with
+a piece of paper in a manner familiar to all boys. Feeling a little
+curiosity to see how an affair of this kind would be managed upon
+Siberian principles of etiquette, I sat quietly in a sheltered corner
+and watched the proceedings. The ladies, as fast as they arrived,
+seated themselves in a solemn row along a wooden bench at one end
+of the room, and the men stood up in a dense throng at the other.
+Everybody was preternaturally sober. No one smiled, no one said
+anything; and the silence was unbroken save by an occasional rasping
+sound from an asthmatic fiddle in the orchestra, or a melancholy toot,
+toot, as one of the musicians tuned his comb. If this was to be the
+nature of the entertainment, I could not see any impropriety in having
+it on Sunday. It was as mournfully suggestive as a funeral. Little did
+I know, however, the capabilities of excitement which were concealed
+under the sober exteriors of those natives. In a few moments a little
+stir around the door announced refreshments, and a young Chuancee
+brought round and handed to me a huge wooden bowl, holding about four
+quarts of raw frozen cranberries. I thought it could not be possible
+that I was expected to eat four quarts of frozen cranberries! but
+I took a spoonful or two, and looked to Dodd for instructions. He
+motioned to me to pass them along, and as they tasted like acidulated
+hailstones, and gave me a toothache, I was very glad to do so.
+
+The next course consisted of another wooden bowl, filled with what
+seemed to be white pine shavings, and I looked at it in perfect
+astonishment. Frozen cranberries and pine shavings were the most
+extraordinary refreshments that I had ever seen--even in Siberia; but
+I prided myself upon my ability to eat almost anything, and if the
+natives could stand cranberries and shavings I knew I could. What
+seemed to be white pine shavings I found upon trial to be thin
+shavings of raw frozen fish--a great delicacy among the Siberians, and
+one with which, under the name of "struganini" (stroo-gan-nee'-nee),
+I afterward became very familiar. I succeeded in disposing of these
+fish-shavings without any more serious result than an aggravation of
+my toothache. They were followed by white bread and butter, cranberry
+tarts, and cups of boiling hot tea, with which the supper finally
+ended. We were then supposed to be prepared for the labours of the
+evening; and after a good deal of preliminary scraping and tuning the
+orchestra struck up a lively Russian dance called "kapalooshka." The
+heads and right legs of the musicians all beat time emphatically to
+the music, the man with the comb blew himself red in the face, and the
+whole assembly began to sing. In a moment one of the men, clad in a
+spotted deerskin coat and buckskin trousers, sprang into the centre
+of the room and bowed low to a lady who sat upon one end of a long
+crowded bench. The lady rose with a graceful courtesy and they began
+a sort of half dance half pantomime about the room, advancing and
+retiring in perfect time to the music, crossing over and whirling
+swiftly around, the man apparently making love to the lady, and the
+lady repulsing all his advances, turning away and hiding her face
+with her handkerchief. After a few moments of this dumb show the lady
+retired and another took her place; the music doubled its energy
+and rapidity, the dancers began the execution of a tremendous
+"break-down," and shrill exciting cries of "Heekh! Heekh! Heekh!
+Vallai-i-i! Ne fstavai-i-i!" resounded from all parts of the room,
+together with terrific tootings from the comb and the beating of half
+a hundred feet on the bare planks. My blood began to dance in my veins
+with the contagious excitement. Suddenly the man dropped down upon his
+stomach on the floor at the feet of his partner, and began jumping
+around like a huge broken-legged grasshopper upon his elbows and the
+ends of his toes! This extraordinary feat brought down the house in
+the wildest enthusiasm, and the uproar of shouting and singing drowned
+all the instruments except the comb, which still droned away like a
+Scottish bagpipe in its last agonies! Such singing, such dancing,
+and such excitement, I had never before witnessed. It swept away my
+self-possession like the blast of a trumpet sounding a charge. At
+last, the man, after dancing successively with all the ladies in
+the room, stopped apparently exhausted--and I have no doubt that he
+was--and with the perspiration rolling in streams down his face, went
+in search of some frozen cranberries to refresh himself after his
+violent exertion. To this dance, which is called the "Russki"
+(roo'-ski), succeeded another known as the "Cossack waltz," in which
+Dodd to my great astonishment promptly joined. I knew I could dance
+anything he could; so, inviting a lady in red and blue calico to
+participate, I took my place on the floor. The excitement was
+perfectly indescribable, when the two Americans began revolving
+swiftly around the room; the musicians became almost frantic in their
+endeavours to play faster, the man with the comb blew himself into
+a fit of coughing and had to sit down, and a regular tramp, tramp,
+tramp, from fifty or sixty feet, marked time to the music, together
+with encouraging shouts of "Vallai! Amerikansi! Heekh! Heekh! Heekh!"
+and the tumultuous singing of the whole crazy multitude. The pitch of
+excitement to which these natives work themselves up in the course
+of these dances is almost incredible, and it has a wonderfully
+inspiriting effect even upon a foreigner. Had I not been temporarily
+insane with unnatural enthusiasm, I should never have made myself
+ridiculous by attempting to dance that Cossack waltz. It is regarded
+as a great breach of etiquette in Siberia, after once getting upon
+the floor, to sit down until you have danced, or at least offered
+to dance, with all the ladies in the room; and if they are at all
+numerous, it is a very fatiguing sort of amusement. By the time
+Dodd and I finished we were ready to rush out-doors, sit down on a
+snow-bank, and eat frozen fish and cranberry hailstones by the quart.
+Our whole physical system seemed melting with fervent heat.
+
+As an illustration of the esteem with which Americans are regarded in
+that benighted settlement of Anadyrsk, I will just mention that in the
+course of my Cossack waltz I stepped accidentally with my heavy boot
+upon the foot of a Russian peasant. I noticed that his face wore for
+a moment an expression of intense pain, and as soon as the dance
+was over, I went to him, with Dodd as interpreter, to apologise. He
+interrupted me with a profusion of bows, protested that it didn't hurt
+him _at all_, and declared, with an emphasis which testified to his
+sincerity, that he regarded it as an honour to have his toe stepped on
+by an American! I had never before realised what a proud and enviable
+distinction I enjoyed in being a native of our highly favoured
+country! I could stalk abroad into foreign lands with a reckless
+disregard for everybody's toes, and the full assurance that the more
+toes I stepped on the more honour I would confer upon benighted
+foreigners, and the more credit I would reflect upon my own benevolent
+disposition! This was clearly the place for unappreciated Americans to
+come to; and if any young man finds that his merits are not properly
+recognised at home, I advise him in all seriousness to go to Siberia,
+where the natives will regard it as an honour to have him step on
+their toes.
+
+Dances interspersed with curious native games and frequent
+refreshments of frozen cranberries prolonged the entertainment until
+two o'clock, when it finally broke up, having lasted nine hours. I
+have described somewhat in detail this dancing party because it is
+the principal amusement of the semi-civilised inhabitants of all the
+Russian settlements in Siberia, and shows better than anything else
+the careless, happy disposition of the people.
+
+Throughout the holidays the whole population did nothing but pay
+visits, give tea parties, and amuse themselves with dancing,
+sleigh-riding, and playing ball. Every evening between Christmas and
+New Year, bands of masqueraders dressed in fantastic costumes went
+around with music to all the houses in the village and treated the
+inmates to songs and dances. The inhabitants of these little
+Russian settlements in north-eastern Siberia are the most careless,
+warmhearted, hospitable people in the world, and their social life,
+rude as it is, partakes of all these characteristics. There is no
+ceremony or affectation, no "putting on of style" by any particular
+class. All mingle unreservedly together and treat each other with the
+most affectionate cordiality, the men often kissing one another when
+they meet and part, as if they were brothers. Their isolation from all
+the rest of the world seems to have bound them together with ties of
+mutual sympathy and dependence, and banished all feelings of envy,
+jealousy, and petty selfishness. During our stay with the priest we
+were treated with the most thoughtful consideration and kindness, and
+his small store of luxuries, such as flour, sugar, and butter, was
+spent lavishly in providing for our table. As long as it lasted he was
+glad to share it with us, and never hinted at compensation or seemed
+to think that he was doing any more than hospitality required.
+
+[Illustration: ANADYRSK IN WINTER]
+
+With the first ten days of our stay at Anadyrsk are connected some of
+the pleasantest recollections of our Siberian life.
+
+[Illustration: Woman's Mittens of Elk skin]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+NEWS FROM THE ANADYR PARTY--PLAN FOR ITS RELIEF--THE STORY OF A
+STOVE-PIPE--START FOR THE SEACOAST
+
+Immediately after our arrival at Anadyrsk we I had made inquiries as
+to the party of Americans who were said to be living somewhere near
+the mouth of the Anadyr River; but we were not able to get any
+information in addition to that we already possessed. Wandering
+Chukchis had brought the news to the settlement that a small band of
+white men had been landed on the coast south of Bering Strait late in
+the fall, from a "fire-ship" or steamer; that they had dug a sort of
+cellar in the ground, covered it over with bushes and boards, and gone
+into winter quarters. Who they were, what they had come for, and how
+long they intended to stay, were questions which now agitated the
+whole Chukchi nation, but which no one could answer. Their little
+subterranean hut had been entirely buried, the natives said, by the
+drifting snows of winter, and nothing but a curious iron tube out of
+which came smoke and sparks showed where the white men lived. This
+curious iron tube which so puzzled the Chukchis we at once supposed to
+be a stove-pipe, and it furnished the strongest possible confirmation
+of the truth of the story. No Siberian native could ever have invented
+the idea of a stove-pipe--somebody must have seen one; and this fact
+alone convinced us beyond a doubt that there were Americans living
+somewhere on the coast of Bering Sea--probably an exploring party
+landed by Colonel Bulkley to cooperate with us.
+
+The instructions which the Major gave me when we left Gizhiga did not
+provide for any such contingency as the landing of this party near
+Bering Strait, because at that time we had abandoned all hope of such
+cooperation and expected to explore the country by our own unaided
+exertions. The engineer-in-chief had promised faithfully, when we
+sailed from San Francisco, that, if he should leave a party of men at
+the mouth of the Anadyr River at all, he would leave them there early
+in the season with a large whale-boat, so that they could ascend the
+river to a settlement before the opening of winter. When we met the
+Anadyrsk people, therefore, at Gizhiga, late in November, and learned
+that nothing had been heard of any such party, we of course concluded
+that for some reason the plan which Colonel Bulkley proposed had been
+given up. No one dreamed that he would leave a mere handful of men
+in the desolate region south of Bering Strait at the beginning of an
+arctic winter, without any means whatever of transportation, without
+any shelter, surrounded by fierce tribes of lawless natives, and
+distant more than two hundred miles from the nearest civilised human
+being. What was such an unfortunate party to do? They could only live
+there in inactivity until they starved, were murdered, or were brought
+away by an expedition sent to their rescue from the interior. Such was
+the situation when Dodd and I arrived at Anadyrsk. Our orders were to
+leave the Anadyr River unexplored until another season; but we knew
+that as soon as the Major should receive the letters which had passed
+through our hands at Shestakóva he would learn that a party had been
+landed south of Bering Strait, and would send us orders by special
+courier to go in search of it and bring it to Anadyrsk, where it would
+be of some use. We therefore determined to anticipate these orders and
+hunt up that American stove-pipe upon our own responsibility.
+
+Our situation, however, was a very peculiar one. We had no means of
+finding out where we were ourselves, or where the American party was.
+We had not been furnished with instruments for making astronomical
+observations, could not determine with any kind of accuracy our
+latitude and longitude, and did not know whether we were two hundred
+miles from the Pacific coast or five hundred. According to the report
+of Lieutenant Phillippeus, who had partially explored the Anadyr
+River, it was about a thousand versts from the settlement to Anadyr
+Bay, while according to the dead reckoning which we had kept from
+Gizhiga it could not be over four hundred. The real distance was to us
+a question of vital importance, because we should be obliged to carry
+dog-food for the whole trip, and if it was anything like a thousand
+versts we should in all probability lose our dogs by starvation before
+we could possibly get back. Besides this, when we finally reached
+Anadyr Bay, if we ever did, we should have no means of finding out
+where the Americans were; and unless we happened to meet a band of
+Chukchis who had seen them, we might wander over those desolate plains
+for a month without coming across the stove-pipe, which was the only
+external sign of their subterranean habitation. It would be far worse
+than the proverbial search for a needle in a haystack.
+
+When we made known to the people of Anadyrsk our intention of going to
+the Pacific coast, and called for volunteers to make up a party,
+we met with the most discouraging opposition. The natives declared
+unanimously that such a journey was impossible, that it had never been
+accomplished, that the lower Anadyr was swept by terrible storms and
+perfectly destitute of wood, that the cold there was always intense,
+and that we should inevitably starve to death, freeze to death,
+or lose all our dogs. They quoted the experience of Lieutenant
+Phillippeus, who had narrowly escaped starvation in the same region in
+1860, and said that while he started in the spring we proposed to
+go in midwinter, when the cold was most intense and the storms most
+severe. Such an adventure they declared was almost certain to end in
+disaster. Our Cossack Gregorie, a brave and trustworthy old man, had
+been Lieutenant Phillippeus's guide and Chukchi interpreter in 1860,
+had been down the river about a hundred and fifty miles in winter,
+and knew something about it. We accordingly dismissed the natives and
+talked the matter over with him. He said that as far as he had ever
+gone towards Anadyr Bay there was trailing-pine enough along the banks
+of the river to supply us with firewood, and that the country was no
+worse than much of that over which we had already travelled between
+Gizhiga and Anadyrsk. He said that he was entirely willing to
+undertake the trip, and would go with his own team of dogs wherever we
+would lead the way. The priest also, who had been down the river in
+summer, believed the journey to be practicable, and said he would
+go himself if he could do any good. Upon the strength of this
+encouragement we gave the natives our final decision, showed them
+the letter which we brought from the Russian governor at Gizhiga
+authorising us to demand men and sledges for all kinds of service, and
+told them that if they still refused to go we would send a special
+messenger to Gizhiga and report their disobedience. This threat
+and the example of our Cossack Gregorie, who was known to be an
+experienced guide from the Okhotsk Sea to the Arctic Ocean, finally
+had the desired effect. Eleven men agreed to go, and we began at once
+to collect dog-food and provisions for an early start. We had as yet
+only the vaguest, most indefinite information with regard to the
+situation of the American party, and we determined to wait a few days
+until a Cossack named Kozhevin (ko-zhay'-vin), who had gone to visit a
+band of Wandering Chukchis, should return. The priest was sure that
+he would bring later and more trustworthy intelligence, because the
+wandering natives throughout the whole country knew of the arrival
+of the mysterious white men, and would probably tell Kozhevin
+approximately where they were. In the meantime we made some additions
+to our heavy suits of furs, prepared masks of squirrelskin to be worn
+over the face in extremely low temperatures, and set all the women in
+the village at work upon a large fur tent.
+
+On Saturday, Jan. 20th, N.S., Kozhevin returned from his visit to the
+Chukchis north of Anadyrsk, bringing as we expected later and fuller
+particulars with regard to the party of exiled Americans south
+of Bering Strait. It consisted, according to the best Chukchi
+intelligence, of only five men, and was located on or near the Anadyr
+River, about one day's journey above its mouth. These five men were
+living, as we had previously been told, in a little subterranean
+house rudely constructed of bushes and boards, and entirely buried in
+drifted snow. They were said to be well supplied with provisions,
+and had a great many barrels, which the Chukchis supposed to contain
+vodka, but which we presumed to be barrels of salt-beef. They made a
+fire, the natives said, in the most wonderful manner by burning "black
+stones in an iron box," while all the smoke came out mysteriously
+through a crooked iron tube which turned around when the wind blew!
+In this vivid but comical description we of course recognised a coal
+stove and a pipe with a rotary funnel. They had also, Kozhevin was
+told, an enormous tame black bear, which they allowed to run loose
+around the house, and which chased away the Chukchis in a most
+energetic manner. When I heard this I could no longer restrain a
+hurrah of exultation. The party was made up of our old San Francisco
+comrades, and the tame black bear was Robinson's Newfoundland dog! I
+had petted him a hundred times in America and had his picture among my
+photographs. He was the dog of the expedition. There could no longer
+be any doubt whatever that the party thus living under the snow on the
+great steppes south of Bering Strait was the long talked of Anadyr
+River exploring party, under the command of Lieutenant Macrae; and our
+hearts beat fast with excitement as we thought of the surprise which
+we should give our old friends and comrades by coming upon them
+suddenly in that desolate, Godforsaken region, almost two thousand
+miles away from the point where they supposed we had landed. Such a
+meeting would repay us tenfold for all the hardships of our Siberian
+life.
+
+Everything, by this time, was ready for a start. Our sledges were
+loaded five feet high with provisions and dog-food for thirty days;
+our fur tent was completed and packed away, to be used if necessary
+in intensely cold weather; bags, overstockings, masks, thick
+sleeping-coats, snow-shovels, axes, rifles, and long Siberian
+snow-shoes were distributed around among the different sledges, and
+everything which Gregorie, Dodd, and I could think of was done to
+insure the success of the expedition.
+
+On Monday morning, Jan. 22d, the whole party assembled in front of
+the priest's house. For the sake of economising transportation, and
+sharing the fortunes of our men, whatever they might be, Dodd and I
+abandoned our _pavoskas_, and drove our own loaded sledges. We did not
+mean to have the natives say that we compelled them to go and then
+avoided our share of work and hardships. The entire population of the
+village, men, women, and children, turned out to see us off, and
+the street before the priest's house was blocked up with a crowd
+of dark-faced men in spotted fur coats, scarlet sashes, and
+fierce-looking foxskin hoods, anxious-faced women running to and fro
+and bidding their husbands and brothers good-bye, eleven long, narrow
+sledges piled high with dried fish and covered with yellow buckskin
+and lashings of sealskin thongs, and finally a hundred and twenty-five
+shaggy wolfish dogs, who drowned every other sound with their combined
+howls of fierce impatience.
+
+Our drivers went into the priest's house, and crossed themselves and
+prayed before the picture of the Saviour, as is their custom
+when starting on a long journey; Dodd and I bade good-bye to the
+kind-hearted priest, and received the cordial "s' Bokhem" (go with
+God), which is the Russian farewell; and then springing upon our
+sledges, and releasing our frantic dogs, we went flying out of the
+village in a cloud of snow which glittered like powdered jewel-dust in
+the red sunshine.
+
+Beyond the two or three hundred miles of snowy desert which lay before
+us we could see, in imagination, a shadowy stove-pipe rising out of a
+bank of snow--the "San greal" of which we, as arctic knights-errant,
+were in search.
+
+[Illustration: Ceremonial Masks of Wood]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+A SLEDGE JOURNEY EASTWARD--REACHING TIDE-WATER--A NIGHT SEARCH FOR
+A STOVE-PIPE--FINDING COMRADES--A VOICE FROM A STOVE--STORY OF THE
+ANADYR PARTY
+
+I will not detain the reader long with the first part of our journey
+from Anadyrsk to the Pacific Coast, as it did not differ much from
+our previous Siberian experience. Riding all day over the ice of the
+river, or across barren steppes, and camping out at night on the snow,
+in all kinds of weather, made up our life; and its dreary monotony was
+relieved only by anticipations of a joyful meeting with our exiled
+friends and the exciting consciousness that we were penetrating a
+country never before visited by civilised man. Day by day the fringe
+of alder bushes along the river bank grew lower and more scanty, and
+the great steppes that bordered the river became whiter and more
+barren as the river widened toward the sea. Finally we left behind us
+the last vestige of vegetation, and began the tenth day of our journey
+along a river which had increased to a mile in width, and amidst
+plains perfectly destitute of all life, which stretched away in one
+unbroken white expanse until they blended with the distant sky. It
+was not without uneasiness that I thought of the possibility of being
+overtaken by a ten days' storm in such a region as this. We had made,
+as nearly as we could estimate, since leaving Anadyrsk, about two
+hundred versts; but whether we were anywhere near the seacoast or not
+we had no means of knowing. The weather for nearly a week had been
+generally clear, and not very cold; but on the night of February 1st
+the thermometer sank to -35°, and we could find only just enough small
+green bushes to boil our teakettle. We dug everywhere in the snow
+in search of wood, but found nothing except moss, and a few small
+cranberry bushes which would not burn. Tired with the long day's
+travel, and the fruitless diggings for wood, Dodd and I returned to
+camp, and threw ourselves down upon our bearskins to drink tea. Hardly
+had Dodd put his cup to his lips when I noticed that a curious,
+puzzled expression came over his face, as if he found something
+singular and unusual in the taste of the tea. I was just about to
+ask him what was the matter, when he cried in a joyful and surprised
+voice, "Tide-water! The tea is salt!" Thinking that perhaps a little
+salt might have been dropped accidentally into the tea, I sent the men
+down to the river for some fresh ice, which we carefully melted. It
+was unquestionably salt. We had reached the tide-water of the Pacific,
+and the ocean itself could not be far distant. One more day must
+certainly bring us to the house of the American party, or to the mouth
+of the river. From all appearances we should find no more wood; and
+anxious to make the most of the clear weather, we slept only about six
+hours, and started on at midnight by the light of a brilliant moon.
+
+[Illustration: A MAN OF THE YUKAGIRS]
+
+On the eleventh day after our departure from Anadyrsk, toward the
+close of the long twilight which succeeds an arctic day, our little
+train of eleven sledges drew near the place where, from Chukchi
+accounts, we expected to find the long-exiled party of Americans. The
+night was clear, still, and intensely cold, the thermometer at sunset
+marking forty-four degrees below zero, and sinking rapidly to -50°
+as the rosy flush in the west grew fainter and fainter, and darkness
+settled down upon the vast steppe. Many times before, in Siberia and
+Kamchatka, I had seen nature in her sterner moods and winter garb;
+but never before had the elements of cold, barrenness, and desolation
+seemed to combine into a picture so dreary as the one which was
+presented to us that night near Bering Strait. Far as eye could pierce
+the gathering gloom in every direction lay the barren steppe like a
+boundless ocean of snow, blown into long wave-like ridges by previous
+storms. There was not a tree, nor a bush, nor any sign of animal or
+vegetable life, to show that we were not travelling on a frozen ocean.
+All was silence and desolation. The country seemed abandoned by God
+and man to the Arctic Spirit, whose trembling banners of auroral
+light flared out fitfully in the north in token of his conquest and
+dominion. About eight o'clock the full moon rose huge and red in the
+east, casting a lurid glare over the vast field of snow; but, as if it
+too were under the control of the Arctic Spirit, it was nothing more
+than the mockery of a moon, and was constantly assuming the most
+fantastic and varied shapes. Now it extended itself laterally into a
+long ellipse, then gathered itself up into the semblance of a huge red
+urn, lengthened out to a long perpendicular bar with rounded ends,
+and finally became triangular. It can hardly be imagined what added
+wildness and strangeness this blood-red distorted moon gave to a scene
+already wild and strange. We seemed to have entered upon some frozen
+abandoned world, where all the ordinary laws and phenomena of Nature
+were suspended, where animal and vegetable life were extinct, and from
+which even the favour of the Creator had been withdrawn. The intense
+cold, the solitude, the oppressive silence, and the red, gloomy
+moonlight, like the glare of a distant but mighty conflagration, all
+united to excite in the mind feelings of awe, which were perhaps
+intensified by the consciousness that never before had any human
+being, save a few Wandering Chukchis, ventured in winter upon these
+domains of the Frost King. There was none of the singing, joking,
+and hallooing, with which our drivers were wont to enliven a night
+journey. Stolid and unimpressible though they might be, there was
+something in the scene which even _they_ felt and were silent. Hour
+after hour wore slowly away until midnight. We had passed by more than
+twenty miles the point on the river where the party of Americans was
+supposed to be; but no sign had been found of the subterranean house
+or its projecting stove-pipe, and the great steppe still stretched
+away before us, white, ghastly, and illimitable as ever. For nearly
+twenty-four hours we had travelled without a single stop, night or
+day, except one at sunrise to rest our tired dogs; and the intense
+cold, fatigue, anxiety, and lack of warm food, began at last to tell
+upon our silent but suffering men. We realised for the first time the
+hazardous nature of the adventure in which we were engaged, and the
+almost absolute hopelessness of the search which we were making for
+the lost American party. We had not one chance in a hundred of finding
+at midnight on that vast waste of snow a little buried hut, whose
+location we did not know within fifty miles, and of whose very
+existence we were by no means certain. Who could tell whether the
+Americans had not abandoned their subterranean house two months
+before, and removed with some friendly natives to a more comfortable
+and sheltered situation? We had heard nothing from them later than
+December 1st, and it was now February. They might in that time have
+gone a hundred miles down the coast looking for a settlement, or have
+wandered far back into the interior with a band of Reindeer Chukchis.
+It was not probable that they would have spent four months in that
+dreary, desolate region without making an effort to escape. Even if
+they were still in their old camp, however, how were we to find them?
+We might have passed their little underground hut unobserved hours
+before, and might be now going farther and farther away from it, from
+wood, and from shelter. It had seemed a very easy thing before we left
+Anadyrsk, to simply go down the river until we came to a house on the
+bank, or saw a stove-pipe sticking out of a snow-drift; but now, two
+hundred and fifty or three hundred miles from the settlement, in a
+temperature of 50° below zero, when our lives perhaps depended upon
+finding that little buried hut, we realised how wild had been our
+anticipations, and how faint were our prospects of success. The
+nearest wood was more than fifty miles behind us, and in our chilled
+and exhausted condition we dared not camp without a fire. We must go
+either forward or back--find the hut within four hours, or abandon the
+search and return as rapidly as possible to the nearest wood. Our dogs
+were beginning already to show unmistakable signs of exhaustion, and
+their feet, lacerated by ice which had formed between the toes, were
+now spotting the snow with blood at every step. Unwilling to give up
+the search while there remained any hope, we still went on to the
+eastward, along the edges of high bare bluffs skirting the river,
+separating our sledges as widely as possible, and extending our line
+so as to cover a greater extent of ground. A full moon now high in the
+heavens, lighted up the vast lonely plain on the north side of the
+river as brilliantly as day; but its whiteness was unbroken by any
+dark object, save here and there little hillocks of moss or swampy
+grass from which the snow had been swept by furious winds.
+
+We were all suffering severely from cold, and our fur hoods and the
+breasts of our fur coats were masses of white frost which had
+been formed by our breaths. I had put on two heavy reindeerskin
+_kukhlankas_ weighing in the aggregate about thirty pounds, belted
+them tightly about the waist with a sash, drawn their thick hoods up
+over my head and covered my face with a squirrelskin mask; but in
+spite of all I could only keep from freezing by running beside
+my sledge. Dodd said nothing, but was evidently disheartened and
+half-frozen, while the natives sat silently upon their sledges as if
+they expected nothing and hoped for nothing. Only Gregorie and an old
+Chukchi whom we had brought with us as a guide showed any energy or
+seemed to have any confidence in the ultimate discovery of the party.
+They went on in advance, digging everywhere in the snow for wood,
+examining carefully the banks of the river, and making occasional
+détours into the snowy plain to the northward. At last Dodd, without
+saying anything to me, gave his spiked stick to one of the natives,
+drew his head and arms into the body of his fur coat, and lay down
+upon his sledge to sleep, regardless of my remonstrances, and paying
+no attention whatever to my questions. He was evidently becoming
+stupefied by the deadly chill, which struck through the heaviest
+furs, and which was constantly making insidious advances from the
+extremities to the seat of life. He probably would not live through
+the night unless he could be roused, and might not live two hours.
+Discouraged by his apparently hopeless condition, and exhausted by
+the constant struggle to keep warm, I finally lost all hope and
+reluctantly decided to abandon the search and camp. By stopping where
+we were, breaking up one of our sledges for firewood, and boiling a
+little tea, I thought that Dodd might be revived; but to go on to the
+eastward seemed to be needlessly risking the lives of all without any
+apparent prospect of discovering the party or of finding wood. I had
+just given the order to the natives nearest me to camp, when I thought
+I heard a faint halloo in the distance. All the blood in my veins
+suddenly rushed with a great throb to the heart as I threw back my fur
+hood and listened. Again, a faint, long-drawn cry came back through
+the still atmosphere from the sledges in advance. My dogs pricked up
+their ears at the startling sound and dashed eagerly forward, and in a
+moment I came upon several of our leading drivers gathered in a little
+group around what seemed to be an old overturned whale-boat, which lay
+half buried in snow by the river's bank. The footprint in the sand was
+not more suggestive to Robinson Crusoe than was this weather-beaten,
+abandoned whale-boat to us, for it showed that somewhere in the
+vicinity were shelter and life. One of the men a few moments before
+had driven over some dark, hard object in the snow, which he at first
+supposed to be a log of driftwood; but upon stopping to examine it, he
+found it to be an American whale-boat. If ever we thanked God from the
+bottom of our hearts, it was then. Brushing away with my mitten the
+long fringes of frost which hung to my eyelashes, I looked eagerly
+around for a house, but Gregorie had been quicker than I, and a joyful
+shout from a point a little farther down the river announced another
+discovery. I left my dogs to go where they chose, threw away my spiked
+stick, and started at a run in the direction of the sound. In a moment
+I saw Gregorie and the old Chukchi standing beside a low mound of
+snow, about a hundred yards back from the river-bank, examining some
+dark object which projected from its smooth white surface. It was the
+long talked-of, long-looked-for stove-pipe! The Anadyr River party was
+found.
+
+The unexpected discovery, at midnight, of this party of countrymen,
+when we had just given up all hope of shelter, and almost of life,
+was a God-send to our disheartened spirits, and I hardly knew in my
+excitement what I did. I remember now walking hastily back and forth
+in front of the snow-drift, repeating softly to myself at every step,
+"Thank God!" "Thank God!" but at the time I was not conscious of
+anything except the great fact that we had found that party. Dodd, who
+had been roused from his half-frozen lethargy by the strong excitement
+of the discovery, now suggested that we try to find the entrance to
+the house and get in as quickly, as possible, as he was nearly dead
+from cold and exhaustion. There was no sound of life in the lonely
+snow-drift before us, and the inmates, if it had any, were evidently
+asleep. Seeing no sign anywhere of a door, I walked up on the drift,
+and shouted down through the stove-pipe in tremendous tones, "Halloo
+the house!" A startled voice from under my feet demanded "Who's
+there?"
+
+"Come out and see! Where's the door?"
+
+My voice seemed to the astounded Americans inside to come out of
+the stove--a phenomenon which was utterly unparalleled in all their
+previous experience; but they reasoned very correctly that any stove
+which could ask in good English for the door in the middle of the
+night had an indubitable right to be answered; and they replied in
+a hesitating and half-frightened tone that the door was "on the
+south-east corner." This left us about as wise as before. In the first
+place we did not know which way south-east was, and in the second
+a snow-drift could not properly be described as having a corner. I
+started around the stove-pipe, however, in a circle, with the hope of
+finding some sort of an entrance. The inmates had dug a deep ditch or
+trench about thirty feet in length for a doorway, and had covered it
+over with sticks and reindeerskins to keep out the drifting snow.
+Stepping incautiously upon this frail roof I fell through just as one
+of the startled men was coming out in his shirt and drawers, holding a
+candle above his head, and peering through the darkness of the tunnel
+to see who would enter. The sudden descent through the roof of such an
+apparition as I knew myself to be, was not calculated to restore the
+steadiness of startled nerves. I had on two heavy _kukhlankas_ which
+swelled out my figure to gigantic proportions; two thick reindeerskin
+hoods with long frosty fringes of black bearskin were pulled up over
+my head, a squirrelskin mask frozen into a sheet of ice concealed my
+face, and nothing but the eyes peering out through tangled masses of
+frosty hair showed that the furs contained a human being. The man took
+two or three frightened steps backward and nearly dropped his candle.
+I came in such a "questionable shape" that he might well demand
+"whether my intents were wicked or charitable!" As I recognised his
+face, however, and addressed him again in English, he stopped; and
+tearing off my mask and fur hoods I spoke my name. Never was
+there such rejoicing as that which then took place in that little
+underground cellar, as I recognised in the exiled party two of my old
+comrades and friends, to whom eight months before I had bid good-bye,
+as the _Olga_ sailed out of the Golden Gate of San Francisco. I little
+thought when I shook hands with Harder and Robinson then, that I
+should next meet them at midnight, in a little snow-covered cellar, on
+the great lonely steppes of the lower Anadyr. As soon as we had taken
+off our heavy furs and seated ourselves beside a warm fire, we began
+to feel the sudden reaction which necessarily followed twenty-four
+hours of such exposure, suffering, and anxiety. Our overstrained
+nerves gave way all at once, and in ten minutes I could hardly raise a
+cup of coffee to my lips. Ashamed of such womanish weakness, I tried
+to conceal it from the Americans, and I presume they do not know to
+this day that Dodd and I nearly fainted several times within the first
+twenty minutes, from the suddenness of the change from 50° below zero
+to 70° above, and the nervous exhaustion produced by anxiety and lack
+of sleep. We felt an irresistible craving for some powerful stimulant
+and called for brandy, but there was no liquor of any kind to be had.
+This weakness, however, soon passed away, and we proceeded to relate
+to one another our respective histories and adventures, while our
+drivers huddled together in a mass at one end of the little hut and
+refreshed themselves with hot tea.
+
+The party of Americans which we had thus found buried in the snow,
+more than three hundred versts from Anadyrsk, had been landed there by
+one of the Company's vessels, some time in September. Their intention
+had been to ascend the river in a whale-boat until they should reach
+some settlement, and then try to open communication with us; but
+winter set in so suddenly, and the river froze over so unexpectedly,
+that this plan could not be carried out. Having no means of
+transportation but their boat, they could do nothing more than build
+themselves a house, and go into winter quarters, with the faint hope
+that, some time before spring, Major Abaza would send a party of men
+to their relief. They had built a sort of burrow underground, with
+bushes, driftwood, and a few boards which had been left by the vessel,
+and there they had been living by lamp-light for five months, without
+ever seeing the face of a civilised human being. The Wandering
+Chukchis had soon found out their situation and frequently visited
+them on reindeer-sledges, and brought them fresh meat, and blubber
+which they used for lamp-oil; but these natives, on account of a
+superstition which I have previously mentioned, refused to sell
+them any living reindeer, so that all their efforts to procure
+transportation were unavailing. The party originally consisted of
+five men--Macrae, Arnold, Robinson, Harder, and Smith; but Macrae
+and Arnold, about three weeks previous to our arrival, had organised
+themselves into a "forlorn hope," and had gone away with a large band
+of Wandering Chukchis in search, of some Russian settlement. Since
+that time nothing had been heard from them, and Robinson, Harder, and
+Smith had been living alone.
+
+Such was the situation when we found the party. Of course, there was
+nothing to be done but carry these three men and all their stores back
+to Anadyrsk, where we should probably find Macrae and Arnold awaiting
+our arrival. The Chukchis came to Anadyrsk, I knew, every winter, for
+the purpose of trade, and would probably bring the two Americans with
+them.
+
+After three days spent in resting, refitting, and packing up, we
+started back with the rescued party, and on February 6th we returned
+in safety to Anadyrsk.
+
+[Illustration: Stone Hatchet for cutting edible grass]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+CLASSIFICATION OF NATIVES--INDIAN TYPE, MONGOLIAN TYPE, AND TURKISH
+TYPE--EASTERN VIEW OF WESTERN ARTS AND FASHIONS--AN AMERICAN SAINT
+
+All the inhabitants of the settlement were in the streets to meet us
+when we returned; but we were disappointed not to see among them the
+faces of Macrae and Arnold. Many bands of Chukchis from the lower
+Anadyr had arrived at the village, but nothing had been heard of the
+missing men. Forty-five days had now elapsed since they left their
+camp on the river, and, unless they had died or been murdered, they
+ought long since to have arrived. I should have sent a party in search
+of them, but I had not the slightest clue to the direction in which
+they had gone, or the intentions of the party that had carried them
+away; and to look for a band of Wandering Chukchis on those great
+steppes was as hopeless as to look for a missing vessel in the middle
+of the Pacific Ocean, and far more dangerous. We could only wait,
+therefore, and hope for the best. We spent the first week after our
+return in resting, writing up our journals, and preparing a report of
+our explorations, to be forwarded by special courier to the Major.
+During this time great numbers of wild, wandering natives--Chukchis,
+Lamutkis (la-moot'-kees) and a few Koraks--came into the settlement
+to exchange their furs and walrus teeth for tobacco, and gave us an
+excellent opportunity of studying their various characteristics and
+modes of life. The Wandering Chukchis, who visited us in the greatest
+numbers, were evidently the most powerful tribe in north-eastern
+Siberia, and impressed us very favourably with their general
+appearance and behaviour. Except for their dress, they could hardly
+have been distinguished from North American Indians--many of them
+being as tall, athletic, and vigorous specimens of savage manhood as
+I had ever seen. They did not differ in any essential particular from
+the Wandering Koraks, whose customs, religion, and mode of life I have
+already described.
+
+[Illustration: A MAN OF THE WANDERING CHUKCHIS]
+
+The Lamutkis, however, were an entirely different race, and resembled
+the Chukchis only in their nomadic habits. All the natives in
+north-eastern Siberia, except the Kamchadals, Chuances, and Yukagirs,
+who are partially Russianised, may be referred to one or another of
+three great classes. The first of these, which may be called the North
+American Indian class, comprises the wandering and settled Chukchis
+and Koraks, and covers that part of Siberia lying between the 160th
+meridian of east longitude and Bering Strait. It is the only class
+which has ever made a successful stand against Russian invasion, and
+embraces without doubt the bravest, most independent savages in all
+Siberia. I do not think that this class numbers all together more than
+six or eight thousand souls, although the estimates of the Russians
+are much larger.
+
+The second class comprises all the natives in eastern Siberia who
+are evidently and unmistakably of Mongolian origin, including the
+Tunguses, the Lamutkis, the Manchus, and the Gilyaks of the Amur
+River. It covers a greater extent of ground probably than both of the
+other classes together, its representatives being found as far west as
+the Yenesei, and as far east as Anadyrsk, in 169° E. long. The only
+branches of this class that I have ever seen are the Lamutkis and the
+Tunguses. They are almost exactly alike, both being very slenderly
+built men, with straight black hair, dark olive complexions, no
+beards, and more or less oblique eyes. They do not resemble a Chukchi
+or a Korak any more than a Chinaman resembles a Comanche or a Sioux.
+Their dress is very peculiar. It consists of a fur hood, tight fur
+trousers, short deerskin boots, a Masonic apron, made of soft flexible
+buckskin and elaborately ornamented with beads and pieces of metal,
+and a singular-looking frock-coat cut in very civilised style out of
+deerskin, and ornamented with long strings of coloured reindeer
+hair made into chenille. You can never see one without having the
+impression that he is dressed in some kind of a regalia or uniform.
+The men and women resemble each other very much in dress and
+appearance, and by a stranger cannot be distinguished apart. Like the
+Chukchis and Koraks, they are reindeer nomads, but differ somewhat
+from the former in their mode of life. Their tents are smaller and
+differently constructed and instead of dragging their tent-poles from
+place to place as the Chukchis do, they leave them standing; when they
+break camp, and either cut new ones or avail themselves of frames left
+standing by other bands. Tent-poles in this way serve as landmarks,
+and a day's, journey is from one collection of frames to another. Few
+of the Tunguses or Lamutkis own many deer. Two or three hundred are
+considered to be a large herd, and a man who owns more than that is
+regarded as a sort of millionaire. Such herds as are found among the
+Koraks in northern Kamchatka, numbering from five to ten thousand, are
+never to be seen west of Gizhiga. The Tunguses, however, use their few
+deer to better advantage and in a greater variety of ways than do
+the Koraks. The latter seldom ride their deer or train them to carry
+packs, while the Tunguses do both. The Tunguses are of a mild, amiable
+disposition, easily governed and easily influenced, and seem to have
+made their way over so large an extent of country more through the
+sufferance of other tribes than through any aggressive power or
+disposition of their own. Their original religion was Shamanism,
+but they now profess almost universally the Greco-Russian faith and
+receive Christian names. They acknowledge also their subjection to
+the authority of the Tsar, and pay a regular annual tribute in furs.
+Nearly all the Siberian squirrelskins which reach the European market
+are bought by Russian traders from Wandering Tunguses around the
+Okhotsk Sea. When I left the settlement of Okhotsk, in the fall of
+1867, there were more than seventy thousand squirrelskins there in the
+hands of one Russian merchant, and this was only a small part of the
+whole number caught by the Tunguses during that summer. The Lamutkis,
+who are first cousins to the Tunguses, are fewer in number, but live
+in precisely the same way. I never met more than three or four
+bands during two years of almost constant travel in all parts of
+north-eastern Siberia.
+
+The third great class of natives is the Turkish. It comprises only the
+Yakuts (yah-koots') who are settled chiefly along the Lena River from
+its head-waters to the Arctic Ocean. Their origin is unknown, but
+their language is said to resemble the Turkish or modern Osmanli so
+closely that a Constantinopolitan of the lower class could converse
+fairly well with a Yakut from the Lena. I regret that I was not enough
+interested in comparative philology while in Siberia to compile
+a vocabulary and grammar of the Yakut language. I had excellent
+opportunities for doing so, but was not aware at that time of its
+close resemblance to the Turkish, and looked upon it only as
+an unintelligible jargon which proved nothing but the active
+participation of the Yakuts in the construction of the Tower of Babel.
+The bulk of this tribe is settled immediately around the Asiatic pole
+of cold, and they can unquestionably endure a lower temperature with
+less suffering than any other natives in Siberia. They are called by
+the Russian explorer Wrangell, "iron men," and well do they deserve
+the appellation. The thermometer at Yakutsk, where several thousands
+of them are settled, _averages_ during the three winter months
+thirty-seven degrees below zero; but this intense cold does not seem
+to occasion them the slightest inconvenience. I have seen them in a
+temperature of -40°, clad only in a shirt and one sheepskin coat,
+standing quietly in the street, talking and laughing as if it were a
+pleasant summer's day and they were enjoying the balmy air! They are
+the most thrifty, industrious natives in all northern Asia. It is a
+proverbial saying in Siberia, that if you take a Yakut, strip him
+naked, and set him down in the middle of a great desolate steppe, and
+then return to that spot at the expiration of a year, you will find
+him living in a large, comfortable house, surrounded by barns and
+haystacks, owning herds of horses and cattle, and enjoying himself
+like a patriarch. They have all been more or less civilised by Russian
+intercourse, and have adopted Russian manners and the religion of the
+Greek Church. Those settled along the Lena cultivate rye and hay, keep
+herds of Siberian horses and cattle, and live principally upon coarse
+black-bread, milk, butter, and horse-flesh. They are notorious
+gluttons. All are very skilful in the use of the "topor" or short
+Russian axe, and with that instrument alone will go into a primeval
+forest, cut down trees, hew out timber and planks, and put up a
+comfortable house, complete even to panelled doors and window-sashes.
+They are the only natives in all north-eastern Siberia who can do and
+are willing to do hard continuous work.
+
+[Illustration: TUNGUSE MAN AND WOMAN IN BEST SUMMER DRESS]
+
+These three great classes, viz., American Indian natives, Mongolian
+natives, and Turko-Yakut natives, comprise all the aboriginal
+inhabitants of north-eastern Siberia except the Kamchadals, the
+Chuances, and the Yukagirs. [Footnote: There are a few Eskimo-like
+natives living in permanent habitations near Bering Strait, but we did
+not see them.] These last have been so modified by Russian influence,
+that it is hard to tell to which class they are most nearly allied,
+and the ethnologist will shortly be relieved from all further
+consideration of the problem by their inevitable extinction. The
+Chuances and Yukagirs have already become mere fragments of tribes,
+and their languages will perish with the present generation.
+
+The natives of whom we saw most at Anadyrsk were, as I have already
+said, the Chukchis. They frequently called upon us in large parties,
+and afforded us a great deal of amusement by their naïve and childlike
+comments upon Americans, American instruments, and the curious
+American things generally which we produced for their inspection. I
+shall never forget the utter astonishment with which a band of them
+once looked through my field-glass. I had been trying it one clear
+cold day out-of-doors, and quite a crowd of Chukchis and Yukagirs had
+gathered around me to see what I was doing. Observing their curiosity,
+I gave the glass to one of them and told him to look through it at
+another native who happened to be standing out on the plain, at
+a distance of perhaps a hundred yards. The expression of blank,
+half-incredulous surprise which gradually came over his features as
+he saw that native brought up, apparently within a few feet, was
+irresistibly comical. He did not dream for a moment that it was a
+mere optical illusion; he supposed that the wonderful instrument had
+actually transported the man physically from a distance of a hundred
+yards up to the place where he stood, and as he held the glass to his
+eyes with one hand, he stretched out the other to try to catch hold of
+him. Finding to his great astonishment that he could not, he removed
+the glass, and saw the man standing quietly as before, a hundred yards
+away. The idea then seemed to occur to him that if he could only
+get this mysterious instrument to his eyes quickly enough, he would
+surprise the man in the very act of coming up--catch him perhaps about
+half-way--and find out how it was done. He accordingly raised the
+glass toward his face very slowly (watching the man meanwhile
+intently, to see that he took no unfair advantage and did not start
+too soon) until it was within an inch of his eyes, and then looked
+through it suddenly. But it was of no use. The man was right beside
+him again, but how he came there he didn't know. Perhaps he could
+catch him if he made a sudden dash, and he tried it. This, however,
+was no more successful than his previous experiments, and the other
+natives looked at him in perfect amazement, wondering what he was
+trying to do with all these singular motions. He endeavoured to
+explain to them in great excitement that the man had been brought up
+apparently within arm's length, and yet he could not touch him. His
+comrades of course denied indignantly that the man had moved at all,
+and they engaged in a furious dispute as to whether this innocent and
+unconscious man had been anywhere near them or not. The native who
+maintained the affirmative appealed to me; but, convulsed with
+laughter, I could make no reply, and he started off at a run, to see
+the man and find out whether he had been brought up or not, and how it
+felt to be transported over a hundred yards of space in an instant of
+time! We who are familiar with these discoveries of science can hardly
+realise how they appear to a wholly uneducated savage; but if a
+superior race of beings should come from the planet Mars and show us
+a mysterious instrument which enabled a man to be in two different
+places at the same time, we should understand the sensations of a
+Chukchi in looking through a field-glass.
+
+Soon after this I happened to be encamped one night on a great plain
+near Anadyrsk, with a party of these same natives; and having received
+a note from Dodd by a special messenger, I was engaged in reading it
+by the camp-fire. At several humorous passages I burst into a loud
+laugh; whereupon the natives nudged one another with their elbows and
+pointed significantly at me, as much as to say, "Just look at the
+crazy American! What's the matter with him now?" Finally one of them,
+an old grey-haired man, asked me what I was laughing at. "Why," said
+I, "I am laughing at this," and pointed to the piece of paper. The old
+man thought about it for a moment, compared notes with the others, and
+they all thought about it; but no one seemed to succeed in getting
+any light as to the cause of my incomprehensible laughter. In a few
+moments the old man picked up a half-burned stick which was lying by
+the fire and said: "Now suppose I should look at this stick for a
+minute and then laugh; what would you think?" "Why," said I candidly,
+"I should think you were a fool." "Well," he rejoined with grave
+satisfaction, "that's just exactly what I think of you!" He seemed to
+be very much pleased to find that our several opinions of such insane
+conduct so exactly coincided. Looking at a stick and laughing, and
+looking at a piece of paper and laughing, seemed to him equally
+absurd. The languages of the Chukchis and Koraks have never-been
+reduced to writing; nor, so far as I know, do either of those tribes
+ever attempt to express ideas by signs or pictures. Written thought is
+to many of them an impossible conception. It can be imagined, perhaps,
+with what wonder and baffled curiosity they pore over the illustrated
+newspapers which are occasionally given to them by the sailors of
+whaling vessels which visit the coast. Some of the pictures they
+recognise as representations of things with which they are acquainted;
+but by far the greater number are as incomprehensible as the
+hieroglyphics of the Aztecs. I remember that a Korak once brought to
+me an old tattered fashion-plate from _Frank Leslie's Illustrated
+Newspaper_ containing three or four full-length figures of imaginary
+ladies, in the widest expansion of crinoline which fashion at that
+time prescribed. The poor Korak said he had often wondered what those
+curious objects could be; and now, as I was an American, perhaps I
+could tell him. He evidently had not the most remote suspicion that
+they were intended to represent human beings. I told him that those
+curious objects, as he called them, were American women. He burst out
+into a "tyée-e-e-e!" of amazement, and asked with a wondering look,
+"Are _all_ the women in your country as big as that at the bottom?" It
+was a severe reflection upon our ladies' dress, and I did not venture
+to tell him that the bigness was artificial, but merely replied sadly
+that they were. He looked curiously down at my feet and then at the
+picture, and then again at my feet, as if he were trying to trace some
+resemblance between the American man and the American woman; but he
+failed to do it, and wisely concluded that they must be of widely
+different species.
+
+[Illustration: A TUNGUSE SUMMER TENT]
+
+The pictures from these papers are sometimes put to curious uses. In
+the hut of a Christianised but ignorant native near Anadyrsk, I once
+saw an engraved portrait, cut from _Harper's Weekly_, of Major General
+Dix, framed, hung up in a corner of the room and worshipped as a
+Russian saint! A gilded candle was burning before his smoky features,
+and every night and morning a dozen natives crossed themselves and
+said their prayers to a major-general in the United States Army! It
+is the only instance, I believe, on record, where a major-general has
+been raised to the dignity of a saint without even being dead.
+St. George of England, we are told, was originally a corrupt army
+contractor of Cappadocia, but he was not canonised until long
+after his death, when the memory of his contracts was no more. For
+Major-General Dix was reserved the peculiar privilege of being at the
+same time United States Minister in Paris and a saint in Siberia!
+
+[Illustration: Woman's fur lined Hood]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+AN ARCTIC AURORA--ORDERS FROM THE MAJOR--ADVENTURES OF MACRAE AND
+ARNOLD WITH THE CHUKCHIS--RETURN TO GIZHIGA--REVIEW OF WINTER'S WORK
+
+Among the few pleasures which reward the traveller for the hardships
+and dangers of life in the Far North, there are none which are
+brighter or longer remembered than the magnificent auroral displays
+which occasionally illumine the darkness of the long polar night, and
+light up with a celestial glory the whole blue vault of heaven. No
+other natural phenomenon is so grand, so mysterious, so terrible in
+its unearthly splendour as this. The veil which conceals from mortal
+eyes the glory of the eternal throne seems drawn aside, and the awed
+beholder is lifted out of the atmosphere of his daily life into the
+immediate presence of God.
+
+On the 20th of February, while we were all yet living together at
+Anadyrsk, there occurred one of the grandest displays of the arctic
+aurora which had been observed there for more than fifty years, and
+which exhibited such unusual and extraordinary brilliancy as to
+astonish and frighten even the natives. It was a cold, dark, but clear
+winter's night, and the sky in the earlier part of the evening showed
+no signs of the magnificent illumination which was already being
+prepared. A few streamers wavered now and then in the north, and a
+faint radiance like that of the rising moon shone above the dark
+belt of shrubbery which bordered the river; but these were common
+occurrences, and excited no notice or remark. Late in the evening,
+just as we were preparing to go to bed, Dodd happened to go outside
+for a moment to look after his dogs; but no sooner had he reached the
+outer door of the entry than he came rushing back, his face ablaze
+with excitement, shouting: "Kennan! Robinson! Come out, quick!" With
+a vague impression that the village must be on fire, I sprang up, and
+without stopping to put on my furs, fan hastily out, followed closely
+by Robinson, Harder, and Smith. As we emerged into the open air there
+burst suddenly upon our startled eyes the grandest exhibition of vivid
+dazzling light and colour of which the mind can conceive. The whole
+universe seemed to be on fire. A broad arch of brilliant prismatic
+colours spanned the heavens from east to west like a gigantic rainbow,
+with a long fringe of crimson and yellow streamers stretching up
+from its convex edge to the very zenith. At intervals of one or two
+seconds, wide, luminous bands, parallel with the arch, rose suddenly
+out of the northern horizon and swept with a swift, steady majesty
+across the whole heavens, like long breakers of phosphorescent light
+rolling in from some limitless ocean of space.
+
+Every portion of the vast arch was momentarily wavering, trembling,
+and changing colour, and the brilliant streamers which fringed its
+edge swept back and forth in great curves, like the fiery sword of the
+angel at the gate of Eden. In a moment the great auroral rainbow, with
+all its wavering streamers, began to move slowly up toward the zenith,
+and a second arch of equal brilliancy formed directly under it,
+shooting up a long serried row of slender, coloured lances toward the
+North Star, like a battalion of the celestial host presenting arms to
+its commanding angel. Every instant the display increased in unearthly
+grandeur. The luminous bands revolved swiftly, like the spokes of a
+great wheel of light, across the heavens; the streamers hurried back
+and forth with swift, tremulous motion from the ends of the arches to
+the centre; and now and then a great wave of crimson would surge up
+from the north and fairly deluge the whole sky with colour, tingeing
+the white snowy earth far and wide with its rosy reflection. But as
+the words of the prophecy, "And the heavens shall be turned to blood,"
+formed themselves upon my lips, the crimson suddenly vanished, and
+a lightning flash of vivid orange startled us with its wide,
+all-pervading glare, which extended even to the southern horizon, as
+if the whole volume of the atmosphere had suddenly taken fire. I even
+held my breath a moment, as I listened for the tremendous crash of
+thunder which it seemed to me must follow this sudden burst of vivid
+light; but in heaven or earth there was not a sound to break the
+stillness of midnight save the hastily muttered prayers of the
+frightened native at my side, as he crossed himself and kneeled down
+before the visible majesty of God. I could not imagine any possible
+addition which even Almighty power could make to the grandeur of the
+aurora as it now appeared. The rapid alternations of crimson, blue,
+green, and yellow in the sky were reflected so vividly from the white
+surface of the snow, that the whole world seemed now steeped in blood,
+and then quivering in an atmosphere of pale, ghastly green, through
+which shone the unspeakable glories of the two mighty crimson and
+yellow arches. But the end was not yet. As we watched with upturned
+faces the swift ebb and flow of these great celestial tides of
+coloured light, the last seal of the glorious revelation was suddenly
+broken, and both arches were simultaneously shivered into a thousand
+parallel perpendicular bars, every one of which displayed in regular
+order, from top to bottom, the primary colours of the solar spectrum.
+From horizon to horizon there now stretched two vast curving bridges
+of coloured bars, across which we almost expected to see, passing and
+repassing, the bright inhabitants of another world. Amid cries of
+astonishment and exclamations of "God have mercy!" from the startled
+natives, these innumerable bars began to move back and forth, with a
+swift dancing motion, along the whole extent of both arches, passing
+one another from side to side with such bewildering rapidity that
+the eye was lost in the attempt to follow them. The whole concave of
+heaven seemed transformed into one great revolving kaleidoscope of
+shattered rainbows. Never had I even dreamed of such an aurora as
+_this_, and I am not ashamed to confess that its magnificence for a
+moment overawed and almost frightened me. The whole sky, from zenith
+to horizon, was "one molten mantling sea of colour and fire;--crimson
+and purple, and scarlet and green, and colours for which there are no
+words in language and no ideas in the mind--things which can only be
+conceived while they are visible." The "signs and portents" in the
+heavens were grand enough to herald the destruction of a world;
+flashes of rich quivering colour, covering half the sky for an instant
+and then vanishing like summer lightning; brilliant green streamers
+shooting swiftly but silently up across the zenith; thousands of
+variegated bars sweeping past one another in two magnificent arches,
+and great luminous waves rolling in from the inter-planetary spaces
+and breaking in long lines of radiant glory upon the shallow
+atmosphere of a darkened world.
+
+With the separation of the two arches into bars the aurora reached its
+utmost magnificence, and from that time its supernatural beauty slowly
+but steadily faded. The first arch broke up, and soon after it the
+second; the flashes of colour appeared less and less frequently; the
+luminous bands ceased to revolve across the zenith; and in an hour
+nothing remained in the dark starry heavens to remind us of the
+aurora, except a few faint Magellan clouds of luminous vapour.
+
+The month of February wore slowly away, and March found us still
+living in Anadyrsk, without any news from the Major, or from the
+missing men, Arnold and Macrae. Fifty-seven days had now elapsed since
+they left their camp on the lower Anadyr, and we began to fear that
+they would never again be seen. Whether they had starved, or frozen
+to death on some great desolate plain south of Bering Strait, or been
+murdered by the Chukchis, we could not conjecture, but their long
+absence was a proof that they had met with some misfortune.
+
+I was not at all satisfied with the route over which we had passed
+from Shestakóva to Anadyrsk, on account of its barrenness, and the
+impossibility of transporting heavy telegraph poles over its great
+snowy steppes from the few wooded rivers by which it was traversed. I
+accordingly started from Anadyrsk with five dog-sledges on March 4th,
+to try to find a better route between the Anadyr and the head-waters
+of the Penzhina River. Three days after our departure we met, on the
+road to Penzhina, a special messenger from Gizhiga, bringing a letter
+from the Major dated Okhotsk, January 19th. Enclosed were letters from
+Colonel Bulkley, announcing the landing of the Anadyr River party
+under Lieutenant Macrae, and a map showing the location of their camp.
+The Major wrote as follows: "In case--what God forbid--Macrae and
+party have not arrived at Anadyrsk, you will immediately, upon the
+receipt of this letter, do your utmost to deliver them from their
+too long winter quarters at the mouth of the Anadyr, where they were
+landed in September. I was told that Macrae would be landed _only in
+case of perfect certainty_ to reach Anadyrsk in boats, and I confess I
+don't like such surprises as Colonel Bulkley has made me now. For the
+present our duty consists in doing our utmost to extricate them from
+where they are, and you must get every dog-sledge you can, stuff them
+with dog-food and provisions, and go at once in search of Macrae's
+camp." These directions I had already anticipated and carried out, and
+Macrae's party, or at least all I could find of it, was now living
+in Anadyrsk. When the Major wrote this letter, however, he did not
+suppose that Dodd and I would hear of the landing of the party through
+the Wandering Chukchis, or that we would think of going in search of
+them without orders. He knew that he had told us particularly not to
+attempt to explore the Anadyr River until another season, and did not
+expect that we would go beyond the last settlement. I wrote a hasty
+note to Dodd upon the icy runner of my overturned sledge--freezing two
+fingers in the operation--and sent the courier on to Anadyrsk with the
+letters. The mail also included letters to me from Captain Scammon,
+commander of the Company's fleet, and one from my friend W.H. Dall,
+who had returned with the vessels to San Francisco, and had written me
+while stopping a few days at Petropavlovsk. He begged me, by all the
+sacred interests of Science, not to let a single bug or living thing
+of any kind escape my vigilant eye; but, as I read his letter that
+night by the camp-fire, I thought with a smile that snowy Siberian
+steppes and temperatures of 30° and 40° below zero were not very
+favourable to the growth and dispersion of bugs, nor to efforts for
+their capture and preservation.
+
+I will not go into a detailed account of the explorations which
+Lieutenant Robinson and I made in search of a more practicable route
+for our line between the Penzhina River and Anadyrsk. We found that
+the river system of the Anadyrsk was divided from that of the Penzhina
+only by a low mountain ridge, which could be easily passed, and that,
+by following up certain tributaries of the latter, crossing the
+watershed, and descending one of the branches of the Anadyr, we should
+have almost unbroken water communication between the Okhotsk Sea and
+Bering Strait. Along these rivers timber was generally abundant, and
+where there was none, poles could be distributed easily in rafts. The
+route thus indicated was everything which could be desired; and, much
+gratified by the results of our labours, we returned on March 13th to
+Anadyrsk.
+
+We were overjoyed to learn from the first man who met us after we
+entered the settlement that Macrae and Arnold had arrived, and in five
+minutes we were shaking them by the hand, congratulating them, upon
+their safe arrival, and overwhelming them with questions as to their
+travels and adventures, and the reasons of their long absence.
+
+For sixty-four days they had been living with the Wandering Chukchis,
+and making their way slowly and by a circuitous route towards
+Anadyrsk. They had generally been well treated, but the band with
+which they travelled had been in no hurry to reach the settlement, and
+had been carrying them at the rate of ten or twelve miles a day all
+over the great desolate steppes which lie south of the Anadyr River.
+They had experienced great hardships; had lived upon reindeer's
+entrails and tallow for weeks at a time; had been alive almost
+constantly with vermin; had spent the greater part of two long months
+in smoky Chukchi _pologs_, and had despaired, sometimes, of ever
+reaching a Russian settlement or seeing again a civilised human being;
+but hope and courage had sustained them through it all, and they had
+finally arrived at Anadyrsk safe and well. The sum-total of their
+baggage when they drove into the settlement was a quart bottle
+of whisky wrapped up in an American flag! As soon as we were all
+together, we raised the flag on a pole over our little log house,
+made a whisky punch out of the liquor which had traversed half
+north-eastern Siberia, and drank it in honour of the men who had lived
+sixty-four days with the Wandering Chukchis, and carried the stars and
+stripes through the wildest, least known region on the face of the
+globe.
+
+Having now accomplished all that could be done in the way of
+exploration, we began making preparations for a return to Gizhiga. The
+Major had directed me to meet him there with Macrae, Arnold, Robinson,
+and Dodd, as soon as the first of April, and the month of March was
+now rapidly drawing to a close.
+
+[Illustration: A CHUKCHI RUG OF REINDEER SKIN]
+
+On the 20th we packed up our stores, and bidding good-bye to the
+kind-hearted, hospitable people of Anadyrsk, we set out with a long
+train of sledges for the coast of the Okhotsk Sea.
+
+Our journey was monotonous and uneventful, and on the second of April,
+late at night, we left behind us the white desolate steppe of the
+Paren, and drew near the little flat-topped _yurt_ on the Malmofka,
+which was only twenty-five versts from Gizhiga. Here we met fresh men,
+dogs, and sledges, sent out to meet us by the Major, and, abandoning
+our loaded sledges and tired dogs, we took seats upon the light
+_narts_ of the Gizhiga Cossacks, and dashed away by the light of a
+brilliant aurora toward the settlement.
+
+About one o'clock we heard the distant barking of dogs, and in a few
+moments we rushed furiously into the silent village, and stopped
+before the house of the Russian merchant Vorrebeof (vor'-re-be-off')
+where we had lived the previous fall, and where we expected to find
+the Major. I sprang from my sledge, and groping my way through the
+entry into a warm dark room I shouted "Fstavaitia!" to arouse the
+sleeping inmates. Suddenly some one rose up from the floor at my feet,
+and, grasping me by the arm, exclaimed in a strangely familiar voice,
+"Kennan, is that you?" Startled and bewildered with half-incredulous
+recognition, I could only reply, "Bush, is that you?" and, when a
+sleepy boy came in with a light, he was astonished to find a man
+dressed in heavy frosty furs embracing another who was clad only in a
+linen shirt and drawers.
+
+There was a joyful time in that log house when the Major, Bush,
+Macrae, Arnold, Robinson, Dodd, and I gathered around a steaming
+samovar or tea-urn which stood on a pine table in the centre of the
+room, and discussed the adventures, haps, and mishaps of our first
+arctic winter. Some of us had come from the extremity of Kamchatka,
+some from the frontier of China, and some from Bering Strait, and we
+all met that night in Gizhiga, and congratulated ourselves and one
+another upon the successful exploration of the whole route of the
+proposed Russian-American telegraph line from Anadyr Bay to the Amur
+River. The different members of the party there assembled had, in
+seven months, travelled in the aggregate almost ten thousand miles.
+
+The results of our winter's work were briefly as follows: Bush and
+Mahood, after leaving the Major and me at Petropavlovsk, had gone on
+to the Russian settlement of Nikolaievsk, at the mouth of the Amur
+River, and had entered promptly upon the exploration of the west coast
+of the Okhotsk Sea. They had travelled with the Wandering Tunguses
+through the densely timbered region between Nikolaievsk and Aian,
+ridden on the backs of reindeer over the rugged mountains of the
+Stanavoi range south of Okhotsk, and had finally met the Major at the
+latter place on the 22d. of February. The Major, alone, had explored
+the whole north coast of the Okhotsk Sea and had made a visit to the
+Russian city of Yakutsk, six hundred versts west of Okhotsk, in quest
+of labourers and horses. He had ascertained the possibility of hiring
+a thousand Yakut labourers in the settlements along the Lena River, at
+the rate of sixty dollars a year for each man, and of purchasing
+there as many Siberian horses as we should require at very reasonable
+prices. He had located a route for the line from Gizhiga to Okhotsk,
+and had superintended generally the whole work of exploration. Macrae
+and Arnold had explored nearly all the region lying south of the
+Anadyr and along the lower Myan, and had gained much valuable
+information concerning the little-known tribe of Wandering Chukchis.
+Dodd, Robinson, and I had explored two routes from Gizhiga to
+Anadyrsk, and had found a chain of wooded rivers connecting the
+Okhotsk Sea with the Pacific Ocean near Bering Strait. The natives we
+had everywhere found to be peaceable and well disposed, and many of
+them along the route of the line were already engaged in cutting
+poles. The country, although by no means favourable to the
+construction of a telegraph line, presented no obstacles which energy
+and perseverance could not overcome; and, as we reviewed our winter's
+work, we felt satisfied that the enterprise in which we were engaged,
+if not altogether an easy one, held out at least a fair prospect of
+success.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+LAST WORK OF THE WINTER--BIRDS AND FLOWERS OF SPRING CONTINUOUS
+DAYLIGHT--SOCIAL LIFE IN GIZHIGA--A CURIOUS SICKNESS--SUMMER DAYS AND
+NIGHTS--NEWS FROM AMERICA
+
+The months of April and May, owing to the great length of the days
+and the comparative mildness of the weather, are the most favourable
+months in north-eastern Siberia for outdoor work and travel; and as
+the Company's vessels could not be expected to arrive at Gizhiga
+before the early part of June, Major Abaza determined to make the
+most of the intervening time. As soon as he had recovered a little,
+therefore, from the fatigue of his journey, he started with Bush,
+Macrae, and the Russian governor, for Anadyrsk, intending to
+engage there fifty or sixty native labourers and begin at once the
+construction of station-houses and the cutting and distribution of
+poles along the Anadyr River. My own efforts to that end, owing to the
+laziness of the Anadyrsk people, had been unsuccessful; but it
+was hoped that through the influence and cooperation of the civil
+authority something might perhaps be done.
+
+Major Abaza returned by the very last winter road in May. His
+expedition had been entirely successful; Mr. Bush had been put in
+command of the Northern District from Penzhina to Bering Strait, and
+he, together with Macrae, Harder, and Smith, had been left at Anadyrsk
+for the summer. As soon as the Anadyr River should open, this party
+was directed to descend it in canoes to its mouth, and there await
+the arrival of one of the Company's vessels from San Francisco, with
+reinforcements and supplies. In the meantime fifty native labourers
+from Anadyrsk, Osolkin, and Pokorukof, had been hired and placed at
+their disposal, and it was hoped that by the time the ice should be
+out of the river they would have six or eight station-houses prepared,
+and several thousand poles cut, ready for distribution in rafts
+between the settlements of Anadyrsk and the Pacific coast. Having thus
+accomplished all that it was possible to accomplish with the limited
+means and force at his disposal, Major Abaza returned to Gizhiga,
+to await the arrival of the promised vessels from America with men,
+material, and supplies, for the prosecution of the work.
+
+The season for dog-sledge travel was now over; and as the country
+afforded no other means of interior transportation, we could not
+expect to do any more work, or have any further communication with
+our outlying parties at Anadyrsk and Okhotsk until the arrival of
+our vessels. We therefore rented for ourselves a little log house
+overlooking the valley, of the Gizhiga River, furnished it as
+comfortably as possible with a few plain wooden chairs and tables,
+hung up our maps and charts on the rough log-walls, displayed our
+small library of two books--Shakespeare and the New Testament--as
+advantageously as possible in one corner, and prepared for at least a
+month of luxurious idleness.
+
+It was now June. The snow was rapidly disappearing under the influence
+of the warm long-continued sunshine; the ice in the river showed
+unmistakable signs of breaking up; patches of bare ground appeared
+here and there along the sunny hillsides, and everything foretold the
+speedy approach of the short but hot arctic summer. Winter in most
+parts of north-eastern Siberia begins to break up in May, and summer
+advances with rapid strides upon its retreating footsteps, covering
+instantly with grass and flowers the ground that it reclaims from
+the melting snow-drifts of winter. Hardly is the snow off the ground
+before the delicate wax-like petals of the blueberry and star-flower,
+and the great snowy clusters of labrador tea begin to whiten the mossy
+plains; the birches, willows, and alders burst suddenly into leaf, the
+river banks grow green with a soft carpet of grass, and the warm still
+air is filled all day with the trumpet-like cries of wild swans and
+geese, as they come in great triangular flocks from the sea and
+pass high overhead toward the far North. In three weeks after the
+disappearance of the last snow all Nature has put on the garments of
+midsummer and rejoices in almost perpetual sunshine. There is no long
+wet, lingering spring, no gradual unfolding of buds and leaves one by
+one as with us. The vegetation, which has been held in icy fetters
+for eight long months, bursts suddenly its bonds, and with one great
+irresistible sweep takes the world by storm. There is no longer any
+night; one day blends almost imperceptibly into another, with only a
+short interval of twilight, which has all the coolness and repose of
+night without its darkness. You may sit by your open window and read
+until twelve o'clock, inhaling the fragrance of flowers which is
+brought to you on the cool night wind, listening to the murmur and
+plash of the river in the valley below, and tracing the progress of
+the hidden sun by the flood of rosy light which streams up in the
+North from behind the purple mountains. It is broad daylight, and yet
+all Nature is asleep, and a strange mysterious stillness, like that
+of a solar eclipse, pervades heaven and earth. You can even hear the
+faint roar of the surf on the rocky coast ten miles away. Now and then
+a song-sparrow hidden in the alder thicket by the river bank dreams
+that it is morning and breaks out into a quick unconscious trill of
+melody; but as he wakes he stops himself suddenly and utters a few
+"peeps" of perplexity, as if not quite sure whether it be morning, or
+only last evening, and whether he ought to sing or go to sleep again.
+He finally seems to decide upon the latter course, and all becomes
+silent once more save the murmur of the river over its rocky bed and
+the faint roar of the distant sea. Soon after one o'clock a glittering
+segment of the sun appears between the cloud-like peaks of the distant
+mountains, a sudden flash of golden light illumines the green dewy
+landscape, the little sparrow in the alder thicket triumphantly takes
+up again his unfinished song, the ducks, geese, and aquatic birds
+renew their harsh discordant cries from the marshy flats along the
+river, and all animated nature wakes suddenly to a consciousness of
+daylight as if it were a new thing. There has been no night--but it is
+another day.
+
+The traveller who has never before experienced an arctic summer, and
+who has been accustomed to think of Siberia as a land of eternal snow
+and ice, cannot help being astonished at the sudden and wonderful
+development of animal and vegetable life throughout that country in
+the month of June, and the rapidity of the transition from winter to
+summer in the course of a few short weeks. In the early part of June
+it is frequently possible to travel in the vicinity of Gizhiga upon
+dog-sledges, while by the last of the same month the trees are all in
+full leaf, primroses, cowslips, buttercups, valerian, cinquefoil, and
+labrador tea, blossom everywhere upon the higher plains and river
+banks, and the thermometer at noon frequently reaches 70° Fahr. in the
+shade. There is no spring, in the usual acceptation of the word, at
+all. The disappearance of snow and the appearance of vegetation are
+almost simultaneous; and although the _tundras_ or moss steppes,
+continue for some time to hold water like a saturated sponge, they
+are covered with flowers and blossoming blueberry bushes, and show no
+traces of the long, cold winter which has so recently ended. In less
+than a month after the disappearance of snow in 1860, I collected
+from one high plain about five acres in extent, near the mouth of the
+Gizhiga River, more than sixty species of flowers. Animal life of all
+kinds is equally prompt in making its appearance. Long before the ice
+is out of the gulfs and bays along the coast, migratory birds begin to
+come in from the sea in immense numbers. Innumerable species of
+ducks, geese, and swans--many of them unknown to the American
+ornithologist--swarm about every little pool of water in the valleys
+and upon the lower plains; gulls, fish-hawks, and eagles, keep up a
+continual screaming about the mouths of the numerous rivers; and the
+rocky precipitous coast of the sea is literally alive with countless
+millions of red-beaked puffin or sea-parrots, which build their nests
+in the crevices and upon the ledges of the most inaccessible cliffs,
+and at the report of a pistol fly in clouds which fairly darken the
+air. Besides these predatory and aquatic birds, there are many others
+which are not so gregarious in their habits, and which, consequently,
+attract less notice. Among these are the common barn and chimney
+swallows, crows, ravens, magpies, thrushes, plover, ptarmigan, and
+a kind of grouse known to the Russians as "teteref." Only one
+singing-bird, as far as I know, is to be found in the country, and
+that is a species of small ground-sparrow which frequents the drier
+and more grassy plains in the vicinity of the Russian settlements.
+
+The village of Gizhiga, where we had temporarily established our
+headquarters, was a small settlement of perhaps fifty or sixty plain
+log houses, situated upon the left bank of the Gizhiga River, eight or
+ten miles from the gulf. It was at that time one of the most important
+and flourishing settlements upon the coast of the Okhotsk Sea, and
+controlled all the trade of north-eastern Siberia as far north at the
+Anadyr and as far west as the village of Okhotsk. It was the residence
+of a local governor, the headquarters of four or five Russian
+merchants, and was visited annually by a government supply steamer,
+and several trading vessels belonging to wealthy American houses.
+Its population consisted principally of Siberian Cossacks and the
+descendants of compulsory emigrants from Russia proper, who had
+received their freedom as compensation for forcible expatriation.
+Like all other _settled_ inhabitants of Siberia and Kamchatka, they
+depended for their subsistence principally upon fish; but as the
+country abounded in game, and the climate and soil in the valley of
+the Gizhiga River permitted the cultivation of the hardier kinds of
+garden vegetables, their condition was undoubtedly much better than
+it would have been in Russia proper. They were perfectly free, could
+dispose of their time and services as they chose, and by hiring
+themselves and their dog-sledges to Russian traders in the winter,
+they earned money enough to keep themselves supplied with the simpler
+luxuries, such as tea, sugar, and tobacco, throughout the year. Like
+all the inhabitants of Siberia, and indeed like all Russians, they
+were extremely hospitable, good-natured, and obliging, and they
+contributed not a little to our comfort and amusement during the long
+months which we were obliged to spend in their far-away isolated
+settlement.
+
+The presence of Americans in a village so little frequented by
+strangers as Gizhiga had a very enlivening influence upon society,
+and as soon as the inhabitants ascertained by experiment that these
+distinguished sojourners did not consider it beneath their dignity to
+associate with the _prostoi narod_, or common people, they overwhelmed
+us with invitations to tea-parties and evening dances. Anxious to see
+more of the life of the people, and glad to do anything which would
+diversify our monotonous existence, we made it a point to accept every
+such invitation which we received, and many were the dances which
+Arnold and I attended during the absence of the Major and the Russian
+governor at Anadyrsk. We had no occasion to ask our Cossack Yagór when
+there was to be another dance. The question was rather, "Where is the
+dance to be tonight?" because we knew to a certainty that there would
+be one somewhere, and wished only to know whether the house in which
+it was to be held had a ceiling high enough to insure the safety of
+our heads. It would seem like a preposterous idea to invite people to
+dance the Russian jig in a room which was too low to permit a man of
+average stature to stand upright; but it did not seem at all so to
+these enthusiastic pleasure-seekers in Gizhiga, and night after night
+they would go hopping around a seven-by-nine room to the music of a
+crazy fiddle and a two-stringed guitar, stepping on one another's toes
+and bumping their heads against the ceiling with the most cheerful
+equanimity imaginable. At these dancing parties the Americans always
+received a hearty welcome, and were fed with berries, black-bread, and
+tea, until they could eat and dance no more. Occasionally, however,
+Siberian hospitality took a form which, to say the least, was not
+altogether pleasant. For instance, Dodd and I were invited one evening
+to some kind of an entertainment at the house of one of the Cossacks,
+and, as was customary in such cases, our host set before us a plain
+lunch of black-bread, salt, raw frozen fish, and a small pepper-sauce
+bottle about half full of some liquid which he declared to be vodka.
+Knowing that there was no liquor in the settlement except what we
+had, Dodd inquired where he had obtained it. He replied with evident
+embarrassment that it was some which he had bought from a trading
+vessel the previous fall, and which he had reserved for cases
+of emergency! I didn't believe that there was a Cossack in all
+north-eastern Siberia who was capable of _reserving_ a bottle of
+liquor for any such length of time, and in view of his evident
+uneasiness we thought best to decline to partake of the liquid
+refreshments and to ask no further questions. It might be vodka, but
+it was not free from suspicion. Upon our return home I called our boy
+and inquired if he knew anything about the Cossack's liquor--how he
+obtained it, and where it came from at that season of the year, when
+none of the Russian merchants had any for sale. The boy hesitated a
+moment, but upon being questioned closely he explained the mystery. It
+appeared that the liquor was ours. Whenever any of the inhabitants of
+the village came to call upon us, as they frequently did, especially
+upon holidays, it was customary to give each one of them a drink.
+Taking advantage of this custom, our friend the Cossack used to
+provide himself with a small bottle, hang it about his neck with a
+string, conceal it under his fur coat, and present himself at our
+house every now and then for the ostensible purpose of congratulating
+us upon some Russian holiday. Of course we were expected to reward
+this disinterested sociability with a drink. The Cossack would swallow
+all he could of the fiery stuff, and then holding as much as possible
+in his mouth he would make a terrible grimace, cover his face with one
+hand as if the liquor were very strong, and start hurriedly for the
+kitchen to get some water. As soon as he was secure from observation
+he would take out his bottle, deposit in it the last mouthful of
+liquor which he had _not_ swallowed, and return in a few-moments to
+thank us for our hospitality--and our vodka. This manoeuvre he had
+been practising at our expense for an unknown length of time, and had
+finally accumulated nearly a pint. He then had the unblushing audacity
+to set this half-swallowed vodka before us in an old pepper-sauce
+bottle, and pretend that it was some that he had reserved since
+the previous fall for cases of emergency! Could human impudence go
+farther?
+
+I will relate one other incident which took place during the first
+month of our residence at Gizhiga, and which illustrates another phase
+of the popular character, viz. extreme superstition. As I was sitting
+in the house one morning, drinking tea, I was interrupted by the
+sudden entrance of a Russian Cossack named Kolmagórof. He seemed to
+be unusually sober and anxious about something, and as soon as he had
+bowed and bade me good-morning, he turned to our Cossack, Viushin,
+and began in a low voice to relate to him something which had just
+occurred, and which seemed to be of great interest to them both. Owing
+to my imperfect knowledge of the language, and the low tone in which
+the conversation was carried on, I failed to catch its purport; but
+it closed with an earnest request from Kolmagórof that Viushin should
+give him some article of clothing, which I understood to be a scarf or
+tippet. Viushin immediately went to a little closet in one corner of
+the room, where he was in the habit of storing his personal effects,
+dragged out a large sealskin bag, and began searching in it for the
+desired article. After pulling out three or four pair of fur boots,
+a lump of tallow, some dogskin stockings, a hatchet, and a bundle of
+squirrelskins, he finally produced and held up in triumph one-half
+of an old, dirty, moth-eaten woollen tippet, and handing it to
+Kolmagórof, he resumed his search for the missing piece. This also he
+presently found, in a worse state of preservation, if possible, than
+the other. They looked as if they had been discovered in the bag of
+some poor rag-picker who had fished them up out of a gutter in the
+Five Points. Kolmagórof tied the two pieces together, wrapped them up
+carefully in an old newspaper, thanked Viushin for his trouble, and,
+with an air of great relief, bowed again to me and went out. Wondering
+what use he could make of such a worn, dirty, tattered article of
+clothing as that which he had received, I applied to Viushin for a
+solution of the mystery.
+
+"What did he want that tippet for?" I inquired; "it isn't good for
+anything."
+
+"I know," replied Viushin, "it is a miserable old thing; but there is
+no other in the village, and his daughter has got the 'Anadyrski bol'"
+(Anadyrsk sickness).
+
+"Anadyrski bol!" I repeated in astonishment, never having heard of the
+disease in question; "what has the 'Anadyrski bol' got to do with an
+old tippet?"
+
+"Why, you see, his daughter has asked for a tippet, and as she has
+the Anadyrsk sickness, they must get one for her. It don't make any
+difference about its being old."
+
+This struck me as being a very singular explanation of a very curious
+performance, and I proceeded to question Viushin more closely as to
+the nature of this strange disease, and the manner in which an old
+moth-eaten tippet could afford relief. The information which I
+gathered was briefly as follows: The "Anadyrski bol," so called from
+its having originated at Anadyrsk, was a peculiar form of disease,
+resembling very much the modern spiritual "trance," which had long
+prevailed in north-eastern Siberia, and which defied all ordinary
+remedies and all usual methods of treatment. The persons attacked by
+it, who were generally women, became unconscious of all surrounding
+things, acquired suddenly an ability to speak languages which they
+had never heard, particularly the Yakut language, and were gifted
+temporarily with a sort of second sight or clairvoyance which enabled
+them to describe accurately objects that they could not see and never
+had seen. While in this state they would frequently ask for some
+particular thing, whose appearance and exact location they would
+describe, and unless it were brought to them they would apparently go
+into convulsions, sing in the Yakut language, utter strange cries,
+and behave generally as if they were insane. Nothing could quiet
+them until the article for which they had asked was produced. Thus
+Kolmagórof's daughter had imperatively demanded a woollen tippet,
+and as the poor Cossack had nothing of the sort in the house, he
+had started out through the village to find one. This was all the
+information that Viushin could give me. He had never seen one of these
+possessed persons himself, and had only heard of the disease from
+others; but he said that Paderin, the chief of the Gizhiga Cossacks,
+could undoubtedly tell me all about it, as his daughter had been
+similarly afflicted. Surprised to find among the ignorant peasantry of
+north-eastern Siberia a disease whose symptoms resembled so closely
+the phenomena of modern spiritualism, I determined to investigate
+the subject as far as possible, and as soon as the Major came in,
+I persuaded him to send for Paderin. The chief of the Cossacks--a
+simple, honest old fellow, whom it was impossible to suspect of
+intentional deception--confirmed all that Viushin had told me, and
+gave us many additional particulars. He said that he had frequently
+heard his daughter talk the Yakut language while in one of these
+trances, and had even known her to relate events which were occurring
+at a distance of several hundred miles. The Major inquired how he knew
+that it was the Yakut language which his daughter spoke. He said he
+did not know certainly that it was; but it was not Russian, nor Korak,
+nor any other native language with which he was familiar, and it
+sounded very much like Yakut. I inquired what was done in case the
+sick person demanded some article which it was impossible to obtain.
+Paderin replied that he had never heard of such an instance; if the
+article asked for were an uncommon one, the girl always stated where
+it was to be found--frequently describing with the greatest minuteness
+things which, so far as he knew, she had never seen. On one occasion,
+he said his daughter asked for a particular spotted dog which he was
+accustomed to drive in his team. The dog was brought into the room,
+and the girl at once became quiet; but from that time the dog itself
+became so wild and restless as to be almost unmanageable, and he was
+finally obliged to kill him. "And do you believe in all this stuff?"
+broke in the Major impatiently, as Paderin hesitated for a moment.
+
+"I believe in God and in our Saviour Jesus Christ," replied the
+Cossack, as he crossed himself devoutly.
+
+"That's all right, and so you ought," rejoined the Major; "but that
+has nothing whatever to do with the 'Anadyrski bol.' Do you really
+believe that these women talk in the Yakut language, which they have
+never heard, and describe things which they have never seen?"
+
+[Illustration: TUNGUSES ON REINDEER-BACK MOVING THEIR ENCAMPMENT
+Photograph in The American Museum of Natural History]
+
+Paderin shrugged his shoulders expressively and said that he believed
+what he saw. He then proceeded to relate to us further and still more
+incredible particulars as to the symptoms of the disease, and the
+mysterious powers which it developed in the persons attacked,
+illustrating his statements by reference to the case of his own
+daughter. He was evidently a firm believer in the reality of the
+sickness, but would not say to what agency he ascribed the phenomena
+of second sight and the ability to speak strange languages, which were
+its most remarkable symptoms.
+
+During the day we happened to call upon the ispravnik or Russian
+governor, and in course of conversation mentioned the "Anadyrski bol,"
+and related some of the stories which we had heard from Paderin. The
+ispravnik--skeptical upon all subjects, and especially upon this--said
+that he had often heard of the disease, and that his wife was a
+firm believer in it, but that in his opinion it was a humbug, which
+deserved no other treatment than severe corporal punishment. The
+Russian peasantry, he said, were very superstitious and would believe
+almost anything, and the "Anadyrski bol" was partly a delusion and
+partly an imposition practised by the women upon their male relatives
+to further some selfish purpose. A woman who wanted a new bonnet, and
+who could not obtain it by the ordinary method of teasing, found it
+very convenient as a _dernier ressort_ to fall into a trance state and
+demand a bonnet as a physiological necessity. If the husband still
+remained obdurate, a few well-executed convulsions and a song or two
+in the so-called Yakut language were generally sufficient to bring him
+to terms. He then related an instance of a Russian merchant whose wife
+was attacked by the "Anadyrski bol," and who actually made a winter
+journey from Gizhiga to Yamsk--a distance of 300 versts--to procure a
+silk dress for which she had asked and which could not be elsewhere
+obtained! Of course the women do not always ask for articles which
+they might be supposed to want in a state of health. If they did, it
+would soon arouse the suspicions of their deluded husbands, fathers,
+and brothers, and lead to inconvenient inquiries, if not to still more
+unpleasant experiment, upon the character of the mysterious disease.
+To avoid this, and to blind the men to the real nature of the
+deception, the women frequently ask for dogs, sledges, axes, and other
+similar articles of which they can make no possible use, and thus
+persuade their credulous male relatives that their demands are
+governed only by diseased caprice and have in view no definite object.
+Such was the rationalistic explanation which the ispravnik gave of the
+curious delusion known as the "Anadyrski bol"; and although it argued
+more subtlety on the part of the women and more credulity on the part
+of the men than I had supposed either sex to be capable of, I could
+not but admit that the explanation was a plausible one, and accounted
+satisfactorily for most of the phenomena.
+
+In view of this remarkable piece of feminine strategy, our
+strong-minded women in America must admit that their Siberian sisters
+show greater ingenuity in obtaining their rights and throwing dust in
+the eyes of their lords and masters than has yet been exhibited by all
+the Women's Rights Associations in Christendom. To invent an imaginary
+disease with such peculiar symptoms, cause it to prevail as an
+epidemic throughout a whole country, and use it as a lever to open
+the masculine pocketbooks and supply feminine wants, is the greatest
+triumph which woman's craft has ever achieved over man's stupidity.
+
+The effect of the ispravnik's revelation upon Dodd was very singular.
+He declared that he felt the premonitory symptoms of the "Anadyrski
+bol" coming on, and was sure that he was destined to be a victim to
+the insidious disease. He therefore requested the Major not to be
+surprised if he should come home some day and find him in strong
+convulsions, singing "Yankee Doodle" in the Yakut language, and
+demanding his back pay! The Major assured him that, in a case of such
+desperate emergency, he should be compelled to apply the ispravnik's
+remedy, viz., twenty lashes on the bare back, and advised him to
+postpone his convulsions until the exchequer of the Siberian Division
+should be in a condition to meet his demands.
+
+Our life at Gizhiga during the early part of June was a very decided
+improvement upon the experience of the previous six months. The
+weather was generally warm and pleasant, the hills and valleys were
+green with luxuriant vegetation, daylight had become perpetual, and we
+had nothing to do but ramble about the country in pursuit of game, row
+down to the mouth of the river occasionally to look for vessels, and
+plan all sorts of amusements to pass away the time.
+
+The nights were the most glorious parts of the days, but the perpetual
+light seemed even more strange to us at first than the almost
+perpetual darkness of winter. We could never decide to our own
+satisfaction when one day ended and another began, or when it was
+time to go to bed. It seemed ridiculous to make any preparations for
+retiring before the sun had set; and yet, if we did not, it was sure
+to rise again before we could possibly get to sleep, and then it
+seemed just as preposterous to lie in bed as it did in the first
+place. We finally compromised the matter by putting tight wooden
+shutters over all our windows, and then, by lighting candles inside,
+succeeded in persuading our unbelieving senses that it was night,
+although the sun outside was shining with noonday brilliancy. When we
+awoke, however, another difficulty presented itself. Did we go to bed
+today? or was it yesterday? And what time is it now? Today, yesterday,
+and to-morrow were all mixed up, and we found it almost impossible to
+distinguish one from the other. I caught myself repeatedly making two
+entries in my journal in the course of twenty-four hours, with the
+mistaken impression that two days had passed.
+
+As soon as the ice was fairly out of Gizhiginsk Gulf, so that vessels
+might be expected to enter, Major Abaza caused a number of Cossacks to
+be stationed at the mouth of the river, with orders to watch night and
+day for sails and warn us at once if any appeared.
+
+On the 18th of June the trading brig _Hallie Jackson_, belonging to
+W.H. Bordman, of Boston, entered the gulf, and, as soon as the tide
+permitted, ran into the mouth of the river to discharge her cargo.
+This vessel brought us the first news from the great outside world
+which we had received in more than eleven months, and her arrival was
+hailed with the greatest enthusiasm by both Russians and Americans.
+Half the population of the village came hurrying down to the mouth of
+the river as soon as it became known that a ship had arrived and the
+landing-place for several days was a scene of unwonted activity and
+excitement. The _Jackson_ could give us no information with regard
+to the vessels of our Company, except that when she sailed from San
+Francisco in March they were being rapidly loaded and fitted for
+sea. She brought, however, all the stores which we had left at
+Petropavlovsk the previous fall, as well as a large cargo of tea,
+sugar, tobacco, and sundries for the Siberian trade.
+
+We had found by our winter's experience that money could not be used
+to advantage in payment for native labour, except in the settlements
+of Okhotsk, Gizhiga, and Anadyrsk; and that tea, sugar, and tobacco
+were in every way preferable, on account of the universal consumption
+of those articles throughout the country and the high price which they
+commanded during the winter months. A labourer or teamster, who would
+demand _twenty_ roubles _in money_ for a month's work, was entirely
+satisfied if we gave him eight pounds of tea and ten pounds of sugar
+in its stead; and as the latter cost us only _ten_ roubles, we made
+a saving of one-half in all our expenditures. In view of this fact,
+Major Abaza determined to use as little money as possible, and pay for
+labour in merchandise at current rates. He accordingly purchased from
+the _Jackson_ 10,000 lbs. of tea and 15,000 or 20,000 lbs. of white
+loaf-sugar, which he stored away in the government magazines, to be
+used during the coming winter instead of money.
+
+The _Jackson_ discharged all the cargo that she intended to leave at
+Gizhiga, and as soon as the tide was sufficiently high to enable
+her to cross the bar at the mouth of the river, she sailed for
+Petropavlovsk and left us again alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+DULL LIFE--ARCTIC MOSQUITOES--WAITING FOR SUPPLIES--SHIPS
+SIGNALLED--BARK "CLARA BELL"--RUSSIAN CORVETTE "VARAG"
+
+After the departure of the _Jackson_, we began to look forward
+with eager anticipation to the arrival of our own vessels and the
+termination of our long imprisonment at Gizhiga. Eight months of
+nomadic camp life had given us a taste for adventure and excitement
+which nothing but constant travel could gratify, and as soon as the
+first novelty of idleness wore off we began to tire of our compulsory
+inactivity, and became impatient for work. We had exhausted all the
+amusements of Gizhiga, read all the newspapers which had been brought
+by the _Jackson_, discussed their contents to the minutest details,
+explored every foot of ground in the vicinity of the settlement, and
+tried everything which our ingenuity could devise to pass away
+the time, but all to no avail. The days seemed interminable, the
+long-expected ships did not come, and the mosquitoes and gnats made
+our life a burden. About the tenth of July, the mosquito--that curse
+of the northern summer--rises out of the damp moss of the lower
+plains, and winds his shrill horn to apprise all animated nature of
+his triumphant resurrection and his willingness to furnish musical
+entertainment to man and beast upon extremely reasonable terms. In
+three or four days, if the weather be still and warm, the whole
+atmosphere will be literally filled with clouds of mosquitoes and from
+that time until the 10th of August they persecute every living thing
+with a bloodthirsty eagerness which knows no rest and feels no pity.
+Escape is impossible and defence useless; they follow their unhappy
+victims everywhere, and their untiring perseverance overcomes every
+obstacle which human ingenuity can throw in their way. Smoke of
+any ordinary density they treat with contemptuous indifference;
+mosquito-bars they either evade or carry by assault, and only by
+burying himself alive can man hope to finally escape their relentless
+persecution. In vain we wore gauze veils over our heads and concealed
+ourselves under calico _pologs_. The multitude of our tiny assailants
+was so great that some of them sooner or later were sure to find an
+unguarded opening, and just when we thought ourselves most secure we
+were suddenly surprised and driven out of our shelter by a fresh and
+unexpected attack. Mosquitoes, I know, do not enter into the popular
+conception of Siberia; but never in any tropical country have I seen
+them in such immense numbers as in north-eastern Siberia during the
+month of July. They make the great moss tundras in some places utterly
+uninhabitable, and force even the reindeer to seek the shelter and the
+cooler atmosphere of the mountains. In the Russian settlements they
+torment dogs and cattle until the latter run furiously about in a
+perfect frenzy of pain, and fight desperately for a place to stand in
+the smoke of a fire. As far north as the settlement of Kolyma, on the
+coast of the Arctic Ocean, the natives are compelled, in still, warm
+weather, to surround their houses with a circle of smudges, to protect
+themselves and their domestic animals from the ceaseless persecution
+of mosquitoes.
+
+Early in July all the inhabitants of Gizhiga, with the exception of
+the governor and a few Russian merchants, closed their winter-houses,
+and removed to their "letovies" or summer fishing-stations along the
+banks of the river, to await the arrival of the salmon. Finding the
+deserted village rather dull, Dodd, Robinson, Arnold, and I removed
+to the mouth of the river, and took up our quarters once more in the
+empty government storehouse which we had occupied during the stay of
+the _Hallie Jackson_.
+
+I shall not dwell long upon the monotonous discomfort of the life
+which we led for the next month. It may all be comprised in four
+words--inactivity, disappointment, mosquitoes, and misery. Looking for
+vessels was our only duty, fighting mosquitoes our only diversion; and
+as the former never appeared and the latter never disappeared, both
+occupations were equally unprofitable and unsatisfactory. Twenty times
+a day we put on our gauze veils, tied our clothing down at the wrists
+and ankles, and climbed laboriously to the summit of a high bluff to
+look for vessels; but twenty times a day we returned disappointed to
+our bare, cheerless rooms, and vented our indignation indiscriminately
+upon the country, the Company, the ships, and the mosquitoes. We could
+not help feeling as if we had dropped out of the great current of
+human affairs, as if our places in the distant busy world had been
+filled and our very existence forgotten.
+
+The chief engineer of our enterprise had promised faithfully that
+ships with men, material, and supplies for the immediate prosecution
+of the work, should be at Gizhiga and at the mouth of the Anadyr River
+as early in the season as ice would permit them to enter; but it was
+now August, and they had not yet made their appearance. Whether they
+had been lost, or whether the whole enterprise had been abandoned,
+we could only conjecture; but as week after week passed away without
+bringing any news, we gradually lost all hope and began to discuss the
+advisability of sending some one to the Siberian capital to inform the
+Company by telegraph of our situation.
+
+It is but justice to Major Abaza to say that during all these long
+weary months of waiting he never entirely gave up to discouragement,
+or allowed himself to doubt the perseverance of the Company in the
+work which it had undertaken. The ships might have been belated or
+have met with some misfortune, but he did not think it possible that
+the work had been abandoned, and he continued throughout the summer to
+make such preparations as he could for another winter's campaign.
+
+Early in August, Dodd and I, tired of looking for vessels which never
+came, and which we firmly believed never would come, returned on foot
+to the settlement, leaving Arnold and Robinson to maintain the watch
+at the mouth of the river.
+
+Late in the afternoon of the 14th, while I was busily engaged in
+drawing maps to illustrate the explorations of the previous winter,
+our Cossack servant came rushing furiously into the house, breathless
+with haste and excitement, crying out: "Pooshka! soodna!"--"A cannon!
+a ship!" Knowing that three cannon-shots were the signals which Arnold
+and Robinson had been directed to make in case a vessel was seen
+entering the gulf, we ran hurriedly out of doors and listened eagerly
+for a second report. We had not long to wait. Another faint, dull
+explosion was heard in the direction of the lighthouse, followed at an
+interval of a moment by a third, leaving no room for a doubt that the
+long-expected ships had arrived. Amid great excitement a canoe was
+hastily prepared and launched, and taking our seats upon bearskins
+in the bottom, we ordered our Cossack rowers to push off. At every
+_letoie_ or fishing-station which we passed in our rapid descent of
+the river, we were hailed with shouts of: "Soodnat soodna"--"Aship!
+aship!" and at the last one--Volinkina (vo-lin'-kin-ah)--where we
+stopped for a moment to rest our men, we were told that the vessel was
+now in plain sight from the hills, and that she had anchored near an
+island known as the Matuga (mat'-oo-gah), about twelve miles distant
+from the mouth of the river. Assured that it was no false alarm, we
+pushed on with redoubled speed, and in fifteen minutes more landed at
+the head of the gulf. Arnold and Robinson, with the Russian pilot,
+Kerrillof, had already gone off to the vessel in the government
+whale-boat, so that there remained nothing for us to do but climb to
+the summit of lighthouse bluff and watch impatiently for their return.
+
+It was late in the afternoon when the signal of a vessel in sight had
+been given, and by the time we reached the mouth of the river, it was
+nearly sunset. The ship, which was a good-sized bark, lay quietly at
+anchor near the middle of the gulf, about twelve miles distant, with
+a small American flag flying at her peak. We could see the government
+whale-boat towing astern, and knew that Arnold and Robinson must be
+on board; but the ship's boats still hung at the davits, and no
+preparations were apparently being made to come ashore. The Russian
+governor had made us promise, when we left the settlement, that if the
+reported vessel turned out a reality and not a delusion, we would
+fire three more guns. Frequent disappointment had taught him the
+fallibility of human testimony touching the arrival of ships at that
+particular port, and he did not propose to make a journey to the
+lighthouse in a leaky canoe, unless further intelligence should fully
+justify it. As there could no longer be any doubt about the fact, we
+loaded up the old rusty cannon once more, stuffed it full of wet grass
+to strengthen its voice, and gave the desired signals, which echoed in
+successive crashes from every rocky promontory along the coast, and
+died away to a faint mutter far out at sea.
+
+In the course of an hour the governor made his appearance, and as it
+was beginning to grow dark, we all climbed once more to the summit of
+the bluff to take a last look at the ship before she should be hidden
+from sight. There was no appearance of activity on board, and the
+lateness of the hour made it improbable that Arnold and Robinson would
+return before morning. We went back therefore to the empty government
+house, or "kazarm," and spent half the night in fruitless conjectures
+as to the cause of the vessel's late arrival and the nature of the
+news which she would bring.
+
+With the earliest morning twilight, Dodd and I clambered again to the
+crest of the bluff, to assure ourselves by actual observation that
+the ship had not vanished like the _Flying Dutchman_ under cover of
+darkness, and left us to mourn another disappointment. There was
+little ground for fear. Not only was the bark still in the position
+which she had previously occupied, but there had been another arrival
+during the night. A large three-masted steamer, of apparently 2000
+tons, was lying in the offing, and three small boats could be seen a
+few miles distant pulling swiftly toward the mouth of the river.
+Great was the excitement which this discovery produced. Dodd rushed
+furiously down the hill to the _kazarm_, shouting to the Major that
+there was a steamer in the gulf, and that boats were within five miles
+of the lighthouse. In a few moments we were all gathered in a group on
+the highest point of the bluff, speculating upon the character of the
+mysterious steamer which had thus taken us by surprise, and watching
+the approach of the boats. The largest of these was now within three
+miles, and our glasses enabled us to distinguish in the long, regular
+sweep of its oars, the practised stroke of a man-of-war's crew, and in
+its stem-sheets the peculiar shoulder-straps of Russian officers. The
+steamer was evidently a large war-ship, but what had, brought her to
+that remote, unfrequented part of the world we could not conjecture.
+
+In half an hour more, two of the boats were abreast of lighthouse
+bluff, and we descended to the landing-place to meet them in a state
+of excitement not easily imagined. Fourteen months had elapsed since
+we had heard from home, and the prospect of receiving letters and
+of getting once more to work was a sufficient excuse for unusual
+excitement. The smallest boat was the first to reach the shore, and as
+it grated on the sandy beach an officer in blue naval uniform sprang
+out and introduced himself as Captain Sutton, of the Russian-American
+Telegraph Company's bark _Clara Bell_, two months from San Francisco,
+with men and material for the construction of the line. "Where have
+you been all summer?" demanded the Major as he shook hands with the
+captain; "we have been looking for you ever since June, and had about
+come to the conclusion that the work was abandoned." Captain Sutton
+replied that all of the Company's vessels had been late in leaving
+San Francisco, and that he had also been detained some time in
+Petropavlovsk by circumstances explained in his letters. "What steamer
+is that lying at anchor beyond the _Clara Bell_?" inquired the Major.
+"That is the Russian corvette _Varag_, from Japan."--"But what is she
+doing up here?" "Why," said the captain with a quizzical smile, "you
+ought to know, sir; I understand that she reports to you for orders. I
+believe she has been detailed by the Russian Government to assist in
+the construction of the line; at least that was what I was told when
+we met her at Petropavlovsk. She has a Russian Commissioner on board,
+and a correspondent of the _New York Herald_." This was unexpected
+news. We had heard that the Navy Departments of Russia and the United
+States had been instructed to send ships to Bering Sea to assist the
+Company in making soundings and laying down the cable between the
+American and Siberian coasts, but we had never expected to see either
+of these vessels at Gizhiga. The simultaneous arrival of a loaded
+bark, a steam corvette, a Russian Commissioner, and a correspondent
+of the _New York Herald_ certainly looked like business, and we
+congratulated ourselves and each other upon the improving prospects of
+the Siberian Division.
+
+The corvette's boat by this time had reached the shore, and after
+making the acquaintance of Mr. Anóssof, Colonel Knox, the _Herald_
+correspondent, and half a dozen Russian officers who spoke English
+with the greatest fluency, we proceeded to open and read our
+long-delayed mail.
+
+The news, as far as it related to the affairs of the Company and the
+prospects of the enterprise, was very satisfactory. Colonel Bulkley,
+the engineer-in-chief, had touched at Petropavlovsk on his way north,
+and had written us from there, by the _Varag_ and the _Clara Bell_,
+full particulars as to his movements and dispositions. Three
+vessels--the _Clara Bell, Palmetto_, and _Onward_--had been sent from
+San Francisco to Gizhiga with a force of about sixty men, and large
+assorted cargoes to the value of sixty thousand dollars. One of these,
+the _Clara Bell_, loaded with brackets and insulators, had already
+arrived; and the other two, with commissary stores, wire, instruments,
+and men, were _en route_. A fourth vessel with thirty officers and
+workmen, a small river-steamer, and a full supply of tools and
+provisions, had also been sent to the mouth of the Anadyr River, where
+it would be received by Lieutenant Bush. The corvette _Varag_ had been
+detailed by the Russian Navy Department to assist in laying the cable
+across Bering Strait; but as the cable, which was ordered in England,
+had not arrived, there was nothing in particular for the _Varag_ to
+do, and Colonel Bulkley had sent her with the Russian Commissioner to
+Gizhiga. Owing to her great draught of water--twenty-two feet--she
+could not safely come within less than fifteen or twenty miles of the
+Okhotsk Sea coast, and could not, of course, give us much assistance;
+but her very presence, with a special Russian Commissioner on board,
+invested our enterprise with a sort of governmental authority and
+sanction, which enabled us to deal more successfully with the local
+authorities and people than would otherwise have been possible.
+
+It had been Major Abaza's intention, as soon as one of the Company's
+vessels should arrive, to go to the Russian city and province of
+Yakutsk, on the Lena River, engage there five or six hundred native
+labourers, purchase three hundred horses, and make arrangements for
+their distribution along the whole route of the line. The peculiar
+state of affairs, however, at the time the _Varag_ and the _Clara
+Bell_ reached Gizhiga, made it almost impossible for him to leave.
+Two vessels--the _Onward_ and the _Palmetto_--were yet to arrive with
+large and valuable cargoes, whose distribution along the coast of the
+Okhotsk Sea he wished to superintend in person. He decided, therefore,
+to postpone his trip to Yakutsk until later in the fall, and to do
+what he could in the meantime with the two vessels already at his
+disposal. The _Clara Bell_, in addition to her cargo of brackets and
+insulators, brought a foreman and three or four men as passengers,
+and these Major Abaza determined to send under command of Lieutenant
+Arnold to Yamsk, with orders to hire as many native labourers as
+possible and begin at once the work of cutting poles and preparing
+station-houses. The _Varag_ he proposed to send with stores and
+despatches to Mahood, who had been living alone at Okhotsk almost five
+months without news, money, or provisions, and who it was presumed
+must be nearly discouraged.
+
+On the day previous to the _Varag's_ departure, we were all invited by
+her social and warm-hearted officers to a last complimentary dinner;
+and although we had not been and should not be able with our scanty
+means to reciprocate such attentions, we felt no hesitation in
+accepting the invitation and tasting once more the pleasures of
+civilised life. Nearly all the officers of the _Varag_, some thirty in
+number, spoke English; the ship itself was luxuriously fitted up; a
+fine military band welcomed us with "Hail, Columbia!" when we came
+on board, and played selections from _Martha, Traviata_, and _Der
+Freischütz_ while we dined, and all things contributed to make our
+visit to the _Varag_ a bright spot in our Siberian experience.
+
+On the following morning at ten o'clock, we returned to the _Clara
+Bell_ in one of the latter's small-boats, and the corvette steamed
+slowly out to sea, her officers waving their hats from the
+quarter-deck in mute farewell, and her band playing the Pirate's
+Chorus--"Ever be happy and blest as thou art"--as if in mockery of our
+lonely, cheerless exile! It was a gloomy party of men which returned
+that afternoon to a supper of reindeer-meat and cabbage in the bare
+deserted rooms of the government storehouse at Gizhiga! We realised
+then, if never before, the difference between _life_ in "God's
+country" and _existence_ in north-eastern Asia.
+
+As soon as possible after the departure of the _Varag_, the _Clara
+Bell_ was brought into the mouth of the river, her cargo of brackets
+and insulators discharged, Lieutenant Arnold and party sent on board,
+and with the next high tide, August 26th, she sailed for Yamsk and
+San Francisco, leaving no one at Gizhiga but the original Kamchatkan
+party, Dodd, the Major, and myself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+ARRIVAL OF BARK "PALMETTO"--DRIVEN ASHORE BY GALE--DISCHARGING
+CARGO UNDER DIFFICULTIES--NEGRO CREW MUTINIES--LONELY TRIP TO
+ANADYRSK--STUPID KORAKS--EXPLOSIVE PROVISIONS
+
+The brief excitement produced by the arrival of the _Varag_ and the
+_Clara Bell_ was succeeded by another long, dreary month of waiting,
+during which we lived as before in lonely discomfort at the mouth of
+the Gizhiga River. Week after week passed away without bringing any
+tidings from the missing ships, and at last the brief northern summer
+closed, snow appeared upon the mountains, and heavy long-continued
+storms announced the speedy approach of another winter. More than
+three months had elapsed since the supposed departure of the _Onward_
+and _Palmetto_ from San Francisco, and we could account for their
+non-appearance only by the supposition that they had either been
+disabled or lost at sea. On the 18th of September, Major Abaza
+determined to send a messenger to the Siberian capital, to telegraph
+the Company for instructions. Left as we were at the beginning of a
+second winter without men, tools, or materials of any kind, except
+50,000 insulators and brackets, we could do nothing toward the
+construction of the line, and our only resource was to make our
+unpleasant situation known to the Company. On the 19th, however,
+before this resolution could be carried into effect, the long-expected
+bark _Palmetto_ arrived, followed closely by the Russian
+supply-steamer _Saghalin_, from Nikolaievsk. The latter, being
+independent of wind and drawing very little water, had no difficulty
+in crossing the bar and gaining the shelter of the river; but the
+_Palmetto_ was compelled to anchor outside and await a higher tide.
+The weather, which for several days had been cold and threatening,
+grew momentarily worse, and on the 22d the wind was blowing a
+close-reefed-topsail gale from the south-east, and rolling a
+tremendous sea into the unprotected gulf. We felt the most serious
+apprehensions for the safety of the unfortunate bark; but as the water
+would not permit her to cross the bar at the mouth of the river,
+nothing could be done until another high tide. On the 23d, it became
+evident that the _Palmetto_--upon which now rested all our hopes--must
+inevitably go ashore. She had broken her heaviest anchor, and was
+drifting slowly but surely against the rocky, precipitous coast on the
+eastern side of the river, where nothing could prevent her from being
+dashed to pieces. As there was now no other alternative, Captain
+Arthur slipped his cable, got his ship under way, and stood directly
+in for the mouth of the river. He could no longer avoid going ashore
+somewhere, and it was better to strike on a yielding bar of sand than
+to drift helplessly against a black perpendicular wall of rock, where
+destruction would be certain. The bark came gallantly in until she
+was only half a mile distant from the lighthouse, and then grounded
+heavily in about seven feet of water. As soon as she struck she began
+pounding with tremendous violence against the bottom while the seas
+broke in great white clouds of spray entirely over her quarter-deck.
+It did not seem probable, that she would live through the night. As
+the tide rose, however, she drove farther and farther in toward the
+mouth of the river until, at full flood, she was only a quarter of
+a mile distant. Being a very strongly built ship, she suffered less
+damage than we had supposed, and, as the tide ran out, she lay high
+and dry on the bar, with no more serious injury than the loss of her
+false keel and a few sections of her copper sheathing.
+
+As she was lying on her beam-ends, with her deck careened at an angle
+of forty-five degrees, it was impossible to hoist anything out of her
+hold, but we made preparations at once to discharge her cargo in boats
+as soon as another tide should raise her into an upright position.
+We felt little hope of being able to save the ship, but it was
+all-important that her cargo should be discharged before she should go
+to pieces. Captain Tobézin, of the Russian steamer _Saghalin_, offered
+us the use of all his boats and the assistance of his crew, and on the
+following day we began work with six or seven boats, a large lighter,
+and about fifty men. The sea still continued to run very high; the
+bark recommenced her pounding against the bottom; the lighter swamped
+and sank with a full load about a hundred yards from shore, and a
+miscellaneous assortment of boxes, crates, and flour-barrels went
+swimming up the river with the tide. Notwithstanding all these
+misfortunes, we kept perseveringly at work with the boats as long as
+there was water enough around the bark to float them, and by the time
+the tide ran out we could congratulate ourselves upon having saved
+provisions enough to insure us against starvation, even though the
+ship should go to pieces that night. On the 25th, the wind abated
+somewhat in violence, the sea went down, and as the bark did not seem
+to be seriously injured we began to entertain some hope of saving both
+ship and cargo. From the 25th until the 29th of September, all the
+boats of the _Saghalin_ and of the _Palmetto_, with the crews of both
+vessels, were constantly engaged in transporting stores from the bark
+to the shore, and on the 30th at least half of the _Palmetto's_ cargo
+was safely discharged. So far as we could judge, there would be
+nothing to prevent her from going to sea with the first high tide
+in October. A careful examination proved that she had sustained no
+greater injury than the loss of her false keel, and this, in the
+opinion of the _Saghalin's_ officers, would not make her any the
+less seaworthy, or interfere to any extent with her sailing. A new
+difficulty, however, presented itself. The crew of the _Palmetto were_
+all negroes; and as soon as they learned that Major Abaza intended to
+send the bark to San Francisco that fall, they promptly refused to go,
+declaring that the vessel was unseaworthy, and that they preferred
+to spend the winter in Siberia rather than risk a voyage in her to
+America. Major Abaza immediately called a commission of the officers
+of the _Saghalin_, and requested them to make another examination
+of the bark and give him their opinion in writing as to her
+seaworthiness. The examination was made, and the opinion given that
+she was entirely fit for a voyage to Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, and
+probably to San Francisco. This decision was read to the negroes,
+but they still persisted in their refusal. After warning them of the
+consequences of mutiny, the Major ordered their ringleader to be put
+in irons, and he was conveyed on board the _Saghalin_ and imprisoned
+in the "black hole"; but his comrades still held out. It was of vital
+importance that the _Palmetto_ should go to sea with the first high
+tide, because the season was already far advanced, and she must
+inevitably be wrecked by ice if she remained in the river later than
+the middle of October.
+
+Besides this, Major Abaza would be compelled to leave for Yakutsk on
+the steamer _Saghalin_, and the latter was now ready to go to sea. On
+the afternoon of the 1st, just as the _Saghalin_ was getting up steam
+to start, the negroes sent word to the Major that if he would release
+the man whom he had caused to be put in irons, they would do their
+best to finish unloading the _Palmetto_ and to get her back to San
+Francisco. The man was promptly released, and two hours afterwards
+Major Abaza sailed on the _Saghalin_ for Okhotsk, leaving us to do the
+best we could with our half-wrecked stranded ship and her mutinous
+crew.
+
+The cargo of the bark was still only half discharged, and we
+continued for the next five days to unload in boats, but it was hard,
+discouraging work, as there were only six hours in the twenty-four
+during which boats could reach the ship, and those six hours were from
+eleven o'clock P.M. to five in the morning. At all other times the
+ship lay on her beam-ends, and the water around her was too shallow to
+float even a plank. To add, if possible, to our difficulties and to
+our anxiety, the weather became suddenly colder, the thermometer fell
+to zero, masses of floating ice came in with every tide and tore off
+great sheets of the vessel's copper as they drifted past, and the
+river soon became so choked up with icy fragments that we were obliged
+to haul the boats back and forth with ropes. In spite of weather,
+water, and ice, however, the vessel's cargo was slowly but steadily
+discharged, and by the 10th of October nothing remained on board
+except a few hogsheads of flour, some salt-beef and pork which we
+did not want, and seventy-five or a hundred tons of coal. These we
+determined to let her carry back to San Francisco as ballast. The
+tides were now getting successively higher and higher every day, and
+on the 11th the _Palmetto_ floated for the first time in almost three
+weeks. As soon as her keel cleared the bar she was swung around into
+the channel, head to sea, and moored with light kedge-anchors, ready
+for a start on the following day. Since the intensely cold weather of
+the previous week, her crew of negroes had expressed no further
+desire to spend a winter in Siberia, and, unless the wind should veer
+suddenly to the southward, we could see nothing to prevent her from
+getting safely out of the river. The wind for once proved favourable,
+and at 2 P.M. on the 12th of October the _Palmetto_ shook out her
+long-furled courses and topsails, cut the cables of her kedge-anchors,
+and with a light breeze from the north-east, moved slowly out into the
+gulf. Never was music more sweet to my ears than the hearty "Yo heave
+ho!" of her negro crew as they sheeted home the topgallant sails
+outside the bar! The bark was safely at sea. She was not a day too
+soon in making her escape. In less than a week after her departure,
+the river and the upper part of the gulf were so packed with ice that
+it would have been impossible for her to move or to avoid total wreck.
+
+The prospects of the enterprise at the opening of the second winter
+were more favourable than they had been at any time since its
+inception. The Company's vessels, it is true, had been very late in
+their arrival, and one of them, the _Onward_, had not come at all;
+but the _Palmetto_ had brought twelve or fourteen more men and a full
+supply of tools and provisions, Major Abaza had gone to Yakutsk to
+hire six or eight hundred native labourers and purchase three hundred
+horses, and we hoped that the first of February would find the work
+progressing rapidly along the whole extent of the line.
+
+As soon as possible after the departure of the _Palmetto_, I sent
+Lieutenant Sandford and the twelve men whom she had brought into the
+woods on the Gizhiga River above the settlement, supplied them with
+axes, snow-shoes, dog-sledges, and provisions, and set them at work
+cutting poles and building houses, to be distributed across the
+steppes between Gizhiga and Penzhinsk Gulf. I also sent a small party
+of natives under Mr. Wheeler to Yamsk, with five or six sledge-loads
+of axes and provisions for Lieutenant Arnold, and despatches to be
+forwarded to Major Abaza. For the present, nothing more could be done
+on the coast of the Okhotsk Sea, and I prepared to start once more
+for the north. We had heard nothing whatever from Lieutenant Bush
+and party since the first of the previous May, and we were of course
+anxious to know what success he had met with in cutting and rafting
+poles down the Anadyr River, and what were his prospects and plans for
+the winter. The late arrival of the _Palmetto_ at Gizhiga had led us
+to fear that the vessel destined for the Anadyr might also have
+been detained and have placed Lieutenant Bush and party in a very
+unpleasant if not dangerous situation. Major Abaza had directed me,
+therefore, when he sailed for Okhotsk, to go by the first winter road
+to Anadyrsk and ascertain whether the Company's vessels had been at
+the mouth of the river, and whether Bush needed any assistance. As
+there was no longer anything to detain me at Gizhiga, I packed up my
+camp-equipage and extra fur clothes, loaded five sledges with tea,
+sugar, tobacco, and provisions, and on November 2d started with six
+Cossacks for my last journey to the Arctic Circle.
+
+In all my Siberian experience I can recall no expedition which was so
+lonely and dismal as this. For the sake of saving transportation, I
+had decided not to take any of my American comrades with me; but by
+many a silent camp-fire did I regret my self-denying economy, and
+long for the hearty laugh and good-humoured raillery of my "fidus
+Achates"--Dodd. During twenty-five days I did not meet a civilised
+being or speak a word of my native language, and at the end of that
+time I should have been glad to talk to an intelligent American dog.
+"Aloneness," says Beecher, "is to social life what rests are to
+music"; but a journey made up entirely of "aloneness" is no more
+entertaining than a piece of music made up entirely of rests--only a
+vivid imagination can make anything out of either.
+
+[Illustration: A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS IN MIDWINTER]
+
+At Kuil, on the coast of Penzhinsk Gulf, I was compelled to leave
+my good-humoured Cossacks and take for drivers half a dozen stupid,
+sullen, shaven-headed Koraks, and from that time I was more lonesome
+than ever. I had been able to talk a little with the Cossacks, and
+had managed to pass away the long winter evenings by the camp-fire in
+questioning them about their peculiar beliefs and superstitions, and
+listening to their characteristic stories of Siberian life; but now,
+as I could not speak the Korak language, I was absolutely without any
+resource for amusement.
+
+My new drivers were the ugliest, most villainous-looking Koraks that
+it would have been possible to select in all the Penzhinsk Gulf
+settlements, and their obstinacy and sullen stupidity kept me in
+a chronic state of ill-humour from the time we left Kuil until we
+reached Penzhina. Only by threatening them periodically with a
+revolver could I make them go at all. The art of camping out
+comfortably in bad weather they knew nothing whatever about, and in
+vain did I try to teach them. In spite of all my instructions and
+illustrations, they would persist night after night in digging a deep
+narrow hole in the snow for a fire, and squatting around the top of it
+like frogs around the edge of a well, while I made a camp for myself.
+Of the art of cooking they were equally ignorant, and the mystery of
+canned provisions they could never fathom. Why the contents of one can
+should be boiled, while the contents of another precisely similar
+can should be fried--why one turned into soup and another into a
+cake--were questions which they gravely discussed night after
+night, but about which they could never agree. Astounding were the
+experiments which they occasionally tried upon the contents of these
+incomprehensible tin boxes. Tomatoes they brought to me fried into
+cakes with butter, peaches they mixed with canned beef and boiled for
+soup, green corn they sweetened, and desiccated vegetables they broke
+into lumps with stones. Never by any accident did they hit upon
+the right combination, unless I stood over them constantly and
+superintended personally the preparation of my own supper. Ignorant as
+they were, however, of the nature of these strange American eatables,
+they always manifested a great curiosity to taste them, and their
+experiments in this way were sometimes very amusing. One evening, soon
+after we left Shestakóva, they happened to see me eating a pickled
+cucumber, and as this was something which had never come within the
+range of their limited gastronomical experience, they asked me for
+a piece to taste. Knowing well what the result would be, I gave the
+whole cucumber to the dirtiest, worst-looking vagabond in the party,
+and motioned to him to take a good bite. As he put it to his lips his
+comrades watched him with breathless curiosity to see how he liked it.
+For a moment his face wore an expression of blended surprise, wonder,
+and disgust, which was irresistibly ludicrous, and he seemed disposed
+to spit the disagreeable morsel out; but with a strong effort he
+controlled himself, forced his features into a ghastly imitation
+of satisfaction, smacked his lips, declared it was "akhmel
+nemélkhin"--very good,--and handed the pickle to his next neighbour.
+The latter was equally astonished and disgusted with its unexpected
+sourness, but, rather than admit his disappointment and be laughed at
+by the others, he also pretended that it was delicious, and passed it
+along. Six men in succession went through with this transparent farce
+with the greatest solemnity; but when they had all tasted it, and all
+been victimised, they burst out into a simultaneous "ty-e-e-e" of
+astonishment, and gave free expression to their long-suppressed
+emotions of disgust. The vehement spitting, coughing, and washing out
+of mouths with snow, which succeeded this outburst, proved that the
+taste for pickles is an acquired one, and that man in his aboriginal
+state does not possess it. What particularly amused me, however, was
+the way in which they imposed on one another. Each individual Korak,
+as soon as he found that he had been victimised, saw at once the
+necessity of getting even by victimising the next man, and not one of
+them would admit that there was anything bad about the pickle until
+they had all tasted it. "Misery loves company," and human nature is
+the same all the world over. Dissatisfied as they were with the result
+of this experiment, they were not at all daunted, but still continued
+to ask me for samples of every tin can I opened. Just before we
+reached Penzhina, however, a catastrophe occurred which relieved
+me from their importunity, and inspired them with a superstitious
+reverence for tin cans which no subsequent familiarity could ever
+overcome. We were accustomed, when we came into camp at night, to set
+our cans into a bed of hot ashes and embers to thaw out, and I had
+cautioned my drivers repeatedly not to do this until after the cans
+had been opened. I could not of course explain to them that the
+accumulation of steam would cause the cans to burst; but I did tell
+them that it would be "atkin"--bad--if they did not make a hole in the
+cover before putting the can on the fire. One evening, however, they
+forgot or neglected to take this precaution, and while they were all
+squatting in a circle around the fire, absorbed in meditation, one of
+the cans suddenly blew up with a tremendous explosion, set free an
+immense cloud of steam, and scattered fragments of boiling hot mutton
+in every direction. Had a volcano opened suddenly under the camp-fire,
+the Koraks could not have been more dismayed. They had not time to get
+up and run away, so they rolled over backward with their heels in the
+air, shouted "Kammuk!"--"The Devil!"--and gave themselves up for lost.
+My hearty laughter finally reassured them, and made them a little
+ashamed of their momentary panic; but from that time forward they
+handled tin cans as if they were loaded percussion shells, and could
+never again be induced to taste a morsel of their contents.
+
+Our progress toward Anadyrsk after we left the coast of the Okhotsk
+Sea was very slow, on account both of the shortness of the days, and
+the depth and softness of the freshly fallen snow. Frequently, for ten
+or fifteen miles at a stretch, we were compelled to break a road on
+snow-shoes for our heavily loaded sledges, and even then our tired
+dogs could hardly struggle through the soft powdery drifts. The
+weather, too, was so intensely cold that my mercurial thermometer,
+which indicated only -23°, was almost useless. For several days the
+mercury never rose out of the bulb, and I could only estimate the
+temperature by the rapidity with which my supper froze after being
+taken from the fire. More than once soup turned from a liquid to a
+solid in my hands, and green corn froze to my tin plate before I could
+finish eating it.
+
+On the fourteenth day after leaving Gizhiga we reached the native
+settlement of Penzhina, two hundred versts from Anadyrsk. Ours was
+the first arrival at that place since the previous May, and the whole
+population of the village--men, women, children, and dogs--turned out
+_en masse_ to meet us, with the most joyful demonstrations. Six months
+had elapsed since they last saw a strange face or heard from the
+outside world, and they proceeded to fire a salute from half a dozen
+rusty old muskets, as a faint expression of their delight.
+
+I had confidently expected when I left Gizhiga that I should meet
+somewhere on the road a courier with news and despatches from Bush;
+and I was very much disappointed and a little alarmed when I reached
+Penzhina to find that no one had arrived at that place from Anadyrsk,
+and that nothing had been heard from our party since the previous
+spring. I felt a presentiment that something was wrong, because Bush
+had been expressly directed to send a courier to Gizhiga by the first
+winter road, and it was now late in November.
+
+On the following day my worst anticipations were realised. Late in the
+evening, as I was sitting in the house of one of the Russian peasants
+drinking tea, the cry was raised that "Anadyrski yaydoot"--"Some one
+is coming from Anadyrsk"; and running hastily out of the house I met
+the long-haired Anadyrsk priest just as he stepped from his sledge in
+front of the door. My first question of course was, "Where's Bush?"
+But my heart sank as the priest replied: "Bokh yevo znaiet"--"God
+only knows." "But where did you see him last?--Where did he spend the
+summer?" I inquired. "I saw him last at the mouth of the Anadyr River,
+in July," said the priest, "and since that time nothing has been heard
+from him." A few more questions brought out the whole dismal story.
+Bush, Macrae, Harder, and Smith had gone down the Anadyr River in June
+with a large raft of station-houses, intended for erection along its
+banks. After putting up these houses at necessary points, they had
+gone on in canoes to Anadyr Bay, to await the arrival of the Company's
+vessels from San Francisco. Here the priest had joined them and had
+lived with them several weeks; but late in July their scanty supply
+of provisions had given out, the expected ships had not come, and the
+priest returned to the settlement, leaving the unfortunate Americans
+in a half-starving condition at the mouth of the river. Since that
+time nothing had been heard from them, and, as the priest mournfully
+said, "God only knew" where they were and what had happened to them.
+This was bad news, but it was not the worst. In consequence of the
+entire failure of the salmon fisheries of the Anadyr River that
+season, a terrible famine had broken out at Anadyrsk, part of the
+inhabitants and nearly all the dogs had died of starvation, and the
+village was almost deserted. Everybody who had dogs enough to draw a
+sledge had gone in search of the Wandering Chukchis, with whom they
+could live until another summer; and the few people who were left in
+the settlement were eating their boots and scraps of reindeerskin to
+keep themselves alive. Early in October a party of natives had gone in
+search of Bush and his comrades on dog-sledges, but more than a month
+had now elapsed since their departure and they had not yet returned.
+In all probability they had starved to death on the great desolate
+plains of the lower Anadyr, as they had been compelled to start with
+only ten days' provisions, and it was doubtful whether they would meet
+Wandering Chukchis who could supply them with more.
+
+Such was the first news which I heard from the Northern District--a
+famine at Anadyrsk, Bush and party absent since July, and eight
+natives and dog-sledges missing since the middle of October. I did
+not see how the state of affairs could be any worse, and I spent a
+sleepless night in thinking over the situation and trying to decide
+upon some plan of operations. Much as I dreaded another journey to the
+mouth of the Anadyr in midwinter, I saw no way of avoiding it. The
+fact that nothing had been heard from Bush in four months proved that
+he had met with some misfortune, and it was clearly my duty to go to
+Anadyr Bay in search of him if there was a possibility of doing so. On
+the following morning, therefore, I began buying a supply of dog-food,
+and before night I had collected 2000 dried fish and a quantity of
+seals' blubber, which I felt sure would last five dog teams at least
+forty days. I then sent for the chief of a band of Wandering Koraks
+who happened to be encamped near Penzhina, and prevailed upon him to
+drive his herd of reindeer to Anadyrsk, and kill enough to supply the
+starving inhabitants with food until they could get other help. I also
+sent two natives back to Gizhiga on dog-sledges, with a letter to the
+Russian governor, apprising him of the famine, and another to Dodd,
+directing him to load all the dog-sledges he could get with provisions
+and send them at once to Penzhina, where I would make arrangements for
+their transportation to the famine-stricken settlement.
+
+I started myself for Anadyrsk on November 20th with five of the best
+men and an equal number of the best dog-teams in Penzhina. These men
+and dogs I intended to take with me to the mouth of the Anadyr River
+if I heard nothing from Bush before I reached Anadyrsk.
+
+[Illustration: Box for holding cups and teapot]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+
+A MEETING IN THE NIGHT--HARDSHIPS OF BUSH'S PARTY--SIBERIAN
+FAMINES--FISH SAVINGS BANKS--WORK IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT--STARVING
+POLE CUTTERS--A JOURNEY TO YAMSK
+
+Availing ourselves of the road which had been broken by the sledges
+of the priest, we made more rapid progress toward Anadyrsk than I had
+anticipated, and on November 22d we camped at the foot of a range of
+low mountains known as the "Russki Krebet," only thirty versts south
+of the settlement. With the hope of reaching our destination before
+the next morning, we had intended to travel all night; but a storm
+sprang up most inopportunely just before dark and prevented us from
+getting over the pass. About midnight the wind abated a little, the
+moon came out occasionally through rifts in the clouds, and, fearing
+that we should have no better opportunity, we roused up our tired dogs
+and began the ascent of the mountain. It was a wild, lonely scene.
+The snow was drifting in dense clouds down the pass, half hiding from
+sight the bare white peaks on either side, and blotting out all the
+landscape behind us as we ascended. Now and then the misty moonbeams
+would struggle faintly through the clouds of flying snow and light up
+for a moment the great barren slope of the mountain above our heads;
+then they would be suddenly smothered in dark vapour, the wind would
+come roaring down the ravine again, and everything would vanish in
+clouds and darkness. Blinded and panting for breath, we finally gained
+the summit, and as we stopped for a moment to rest our tired dogs, we
+were suddenly startled by the sight of a long line of dark objects
+passing swiftly across the bare mountain-top only a few yards away and
+plunging down into the ravine out of which we had just come. I caught
+only a glimpse of them, but they seemed to be dog-sledges, and with a
+great shout we started in pursuit. Dog-sledges they were, and as we
+drew nearer I recognised among them the old sealskin covered _pavoska_
+which I had left at Anadyrsk the previous winter, and which I knew
+must be occupied by an American. With heart beating fast from
+excitement I sprang from my sledge, ran up to the _pavoska_, and
+demanded in English, "Who is it?" It was too dark to recognise faces,
+but I knew well the voice that answered "Bush!" and never was that
+voice more welcome. For more than three weeks I had not seen a
+countryman nor spoken a word of English; I was lonely and disheartened
+by constantly accumulating misfortunes, when suddenly at midnight on
+a desolate mountain-top, in a storm, I met an old friend and comrade
+whom I had almost given up as dead. It was a joyful meeting. The
+natives who had gone to Anadyr Bay in search of Bush and his party had
+returned in safety, bringing Bush with them, and he was on his way to
+Gizhiga to carry the news of the famine and get provisions and help.
+He had been stopped by the storm as we had, and when it abated a
+little at midnight we had both started from opposite sides to cross
+the mountain, and had thus met upon the summit.
+
+We went back together to my deserted camp on the south side of the
+mountain, blew up the embers of my still smouldering fire, spread down
+our bearskins, and sat there talking until we were as white as polar
+bears with the drifting snow, and day began to break in the East.
+
+Bush brought more bad news. They had gone down to the mouth of the
+Anadyr, as the priest had already informed me, in the early part of
+June, and had waited there for the Company's vessels almost four
+months. Their provisions had finally given out, and they had been
+compelled to subsist upon the few fish that they were able to catch
+from day to day, and go hungry when they could catch none. For salt
+they scraped the staves of an old pork-barrel which had been left at
+Macrae's camp the previous winter, and for coffee they drank burned
+rice water. At last, however, salt and rice both failed, and they were
+reduced to an unvarying and often scanty diet of boiled fish, without
+coffee, bread, or salt. Living in the midst of a great moss swamp
+fifty miles from the nearest tree, dressing in skins for the want of
+anything else, suffering frequently from hunger, tormented constantly
+by mosquitoes, from which they had no protection, and looking day
+after day and week after week for vessels which never came, their
+situation was certainly miserable. The Company's bark _Golden Gate_
+had finally arrived in October, bringing twenty-five men and a small
+steamer; but winter had already set in, and five days afterwards,
+before they could finish discharging the vessel's cargo, she was
+wrecked by ice. Her crew and nearly all her stores were saved, but by
+this misfortune the number of the party was increased from twenty-five
+to forty-seven, without any corresponding increase in the quantity of
+provisions for their subsistence. Fortunately, however, there were
+bands of Wandering Chukchis within reach, and from them Bush succeeded
+in buying a considerable number of reindeer, which he caused to be
+frozen and stored away for future use. After the freezing over of the
+Anadyr River, Bush was left, as Macrae had been the previous winter,
+without any means of getting up to the settlement, a distance of 250
+miles; but he had foreseen this difficulty, and had left orders at
+Anadyrsk that if he failed to return in canoes before the river
+closed, dog-sledges should be sent to his assistance. Notwithstanding
+the famine the dog-sledges were sent, and Bush, with two men, had
+returned on them to Anadyrsk. Finding that settlement famine-stricken
+and deserted, he had started without a moment's delay for Gizhiga, his
+exhausted and starving dogs dying along the road.
+
+The situation of affairs, then, when I met Bush on the summit of the
+Russki Krebet, was briefly as follows:
+
+Forty-four men were living at the mouth of the Anadyr River, 250 miles
+from the nearest settlement, without provisions enough to last them
+through the winter, and without any means whatever of getting away.
+The village of Anadyrsk was deserted, and with the exception of a few
+teams at Penzhina, there were no available dogs in all the Northern
+District, from the Okhotsk Sea to Bering Strait. Under such
+circumstances, what could be done? Bush and I discussed the question
+all night beside our lonely camp-fire under the Russki Krebet, but
+could come to no decision, and after sleeping three or four hours
+we started for Anadyrsk. Late in the afternoon we drove into the
+settlement--but it could be called a settlement no longer. The two
+upper villages--"Osolkin" and "Pokorukof," which on the previous
+winter had presented so thriving an appearance, were now left without
+a single inhabitant, and Markova itself was occupied only by a few
+starving families whose dogs had all died, and who were therefore
+unable to get away. No chorus of howls announced our arrival; no
+people came out to meet us; the windows of the houses were closed with
+wooden shutters, and half buried in drifts; the snow was unbroken by
+paths, and the whole village was silent and desolate. It looked as if
+one-half of the inhabitants had died and the other half had gone
+to the funeral! We stopped at a small log-house where Bush had
+established his headquarters, and spent the remainder of the day in
+talking over our respective experiences.
+
+The unpleasant situation in which we found ourselves placed was due
+almost entirely to the famine at Anadyrsk. The late arrival and
+consequent wreck of the _Golden Gate_ was of course a great
+misfortune; but it would not have been irretrievable had not the
+famine deprived us of all means of transportation. The inhabitants of
+Anadyrsk, as well as of all the other Russian settlements in Siberia,
+are dependent for their very existence upon the fish which enter the
+rivers every summer to spawn, and are caught by thousands as they make
+their way up-stream toward the shallow water of the tributary brooks
+in the interior of the country. As long as these migrations of
+the fish are regular the natives have no difficulty in providing
+themselves with an abundance of food; but once in every three or four
+years, for some unexplained reason, the fish fail to come, and the
+following winter brings precisely such a famine as the one which I
+have described at Anadyrsk, only frequently much worse. In 1860
+more than a hundred and fifty natives died of starvation in four
+settlements on the coast of Penzhinsk Gulf, and the peninsula of
+Kamchatka has been swept by famines again and again since the Russian
+conquest, until its population has been reduced more than one-half.
+Were it not for the Wandering Koraks, who come to the relief of the
+starving people with their immense herds of reindeer, I firmly believe
+that the _settled_ population of Siberia, including the Russians,
+Chuances, Yukagirs, and Kamchadals, would become extinct in less than
+fifty years. The great distance of the settlements one from another,
+and the absence of any means of intercommunication in summer, make
+each village entirely dependent upon its own resources, and prevent
+any mutual support and assistance, until it is too late to be of any
+avail. The first victims of such famines are always the dogs; and the
+people being thus deprived of their only means of transportation,
+cannot get away from the famine-stricken settlement, and after eating
+their boots, sealskin thongs, and scraps of untanned leather, they
+finally die of pure starvation. For this, however, their own careless
+improvidence is primarily responsible. They might catch and dry fish
+enough in one year to last them three; but instead of doing this, they
+provide barely food enough to last them through one winter, and
+take the chances of starvation on the next. No experience, however
+severe--no suffering, however great, teaches them prudence. A man who
+has barely escaped starvation one winter, will run precisely the same
+risk on the next, rather than take a little extra trouble and catch a
+few more fish. Even when they see that a famine is inevitable, they
+take no measures to mitigate its severity or to obtain relief, until
+they find themselves absolutely without a morsel to put in their
+mouths.
+
+[Illustration: AN ARCTIC FUNERAL]
+
+A native of Anadyrsk once happened to tell me, in the course of
+conversation, that he had only five days' dog-food left. "But," said
+I, "what do you intend to do at the end of those five days?"--"Bokh
+yevo znaiet"--God only knows!--was the characteristic response,
+and the native turned carelessly away as if it were a matter of no
+consequence whatever. If God only knew, he seemed to think that it
+made very little difference whether anybody else knew or not. After he
+had fed his dogs the last dried fish in his storehouse, it would be
+time enough to look about for more; but until then he did not propose
+to borrow any unnecessary trouble. This well known recklessness and
+improvidence of the natives finally led the Russian Government to
+establish at several of the north-eastern Siberian settlements a
+peculiar institution which may be called a Fish Savings Bank, or
+Starvation Insurance Office. It was organised at first by the gradual
+purchase from the natives of about a hundred thousand dried fish, or
+_yukala_, which constituted the capital stock of the bank. Every male
+inhabitant of the settlement was then obliged by law to pay into this
+bank annually one-tenth of all the fish he caught, and no excuse was
+admitted for a failure. The surplus fund thus created was added every
+year to the capital, so that as long as the fish continued to come
+regularly, the resources of the bank were constantly accumulating.
+When, however, the fish for any reason failed and a famine
+was threatened, every depositor--or, more strictly speaking,
+tax-payer--was allowed to borrow from the bank enough fish to supply
+his immediate wants, upon condition of returning the same on the
+following summer, together with the regular annual payment of ten per
+cent. It is evident that an institution once thoroughly established
+upon such a basis, and managed upon such principles, could never fail,
+but would constantly increase its capital of dried fish until the
+settlement would be perfectly secure against even the possibility
+of famine. At Kolyma, a Russian post on the Arctic Ocean, where the
+experiment was first tried, it proved a complete success. The bank
+sustained the inhabitants of the village through severe famines during
+two consecutive winters, and its capital in 1867 amounted to 300,000
+dried fish, and was accumulating at the rate of 20,000 a year.
+Anadyrsk, not being a Russian military post, had no bank of this kind;
+but had our work been continued another year, we intended to petition
+the Government for the organisation of such institutions at all the
+settlements, Russian and native, along the whole route of our line.
+
+In the meantime, however, the famine was irremediable, and on December
+1, 1867, poor Bush found himself in a deserted settlement 600 versts
+from Gizhiga without money, without provisions, and without means of
+transportation--but with a helpless party of forty-four men, at the
+mouth of the Anadyr River, dependent upon him for support. Building a
+telegraph line under such circumstances was out of the question. All
+that he could hope to do would be to keep his parties supplied with
+provisions until the arrival of horses and men from Yakutsk should
+enable him to resume work.
+
+On November 29th, finding that I could be of no further assistance at
+Anadyrsk, and that I was only helping to eat up more rapidly Bush's
+scanty supply of provisions, I started with two Penzhina sledges for
+Gizhiga. As I did not again visit the Northern District, and shall
+have no further occasion to refer to it, I will relate briefly here
+the little which I afterward learned by letter with regard to the
+misfortunes and unhappy experiences of the Company's employés in that
+region. The sledges that I had ordered from Gizhiga reached Penzhina
+late in December, with about 3000 pounds of beans, rice, hard-bread,
+and assorted stores. As soon as possible after their arrival Bush sent
+half a dozen sledges and a small quantity of provisions to the party
+at the mouth of the Anadyr River and in February they returned,
+bringing six men. Determined to accomplish something, however
+little, Bush sent these six men to a point on the Myan River, about
+seventy-five versts from Anadyrsk, and set them at work on snow-shoes
+cutting poles along the route of the line. Later in the winter another
+expedition was sent to Anadyr Bay, and on the 4th of March it also
+returned, bringing Lieutenant Macrae and seven more men. This party
+experienced terrible weather on its way from the mouth of the river
+to Anadyrsk, and one of its members--a man named Robinson--died in
+a storm about 150 versts east of the settlement. His body was left
+unburied in one of the houses which Bush had erected the previous
+summer and his comrades pushed on. As soon as they reached Anadyrsk
+they were sent to the Myan, and by the middle of March the two parties
+together had cut and distributed along the banks of that river about
+3000 poles. In April, however, their provisions began again to run
+short, they were gradually reduced to the verge of starvation,
+and Bush started a second time for Gizhiga with a few miserable
+half-starved and exhausted dog-teams, to get more provisions. During
+his absence the unfortunate parties on the Myan were left to take
+care of themselves, and after consuming their last morsel of food and
+eating up three horses which had previously been sent to them from
+Anadyrsk, they organised themselves into a forlorn hope, and started
+on snow-shoes for the settlement. It was a terrible walk for
+half-starving men; and although they reached their destination in
+safety, they were entirely exhausted, and when they approached the
+village could hardly go a hundred yards at a time without falling.
+At Anadyrsk they succeeded in obtaining a small quantity of
+reindeer-meat, upon which they lived until the return of Lieutenant
+Bush from Gizhiga with provisions, some time in May. Thus ended the
+second winter's work in the Northern District. As far as practical
+results were concerned, it was an almost complete failure; but it
+developed in our officers and men a courage, a perseverance, and a
+patient endurance of hardships which deserved, and which under more
+favourable auspices would have achieved, the most brilliant success.
+In the month of February, while Mr. Norton and his men were at work
+on the Myan River, the thermometer indicated more than forty degrees
+below zero during sixteen days out of twenty-one, sank five times to
+-60° and once to -68°, or one hundred degrees below the freezing point
+of water. Cutting poles on snow-shoes, in a temperature ranging
+from 40° to 60° below zero is, in itself, no slight trial of men's
+hardihood; but when to this are added the sufferings of hunger and the
+peril of utter starvation in a perfect wilderness, it passes human
+endurance, and the only wonder is that Norton and Macrae could
+accomplish as much as they did.
+
+Returning from Anadyrsk, I reached Gizhiga on the 15th of December,
+after a hard and lonely journey of sixteen days. A special courier
+had just arrived there from Yakutsk, bringing letters and orders from
+Major Abaza.
+
+He had succeeded, with the sanction and cooperation of the governor of
+that province, in hiring for a period of three years a force of eight
+hundred Yakut labourers, at a fixed rate of sixty rubles, or about
+forty dollars a year for each man. He had also purchased three hundred
+Yakut horses and pack-saddles, and an immense quantity of material
+and provisions of various kinds for the equipment and subsistence of
+horses and workmen. A portion of these men were already on their way
+to Okhotsk, and the whole force would be sent thither in successive
+detachments as rapidly as possible, and distributed from there along
+the whole route of the line. It would be necessary, of course, to
+put this large force of native labourers under skilled American
+superintendence; and as we had not foremen enough in all our parties
+to oversee more than five or six gangs of men, Major Abaza determined
+to send a courier to Petropavlovsk for the officers who had sailed
+from San Francisco in the bark _Onward_, and who he presumed had been
+landed by that vessel in Kamchatka. He directed me, therefore, to make
+arrangements for the transportation of these men from Petropavlovsk to
+Gizhiga; to prepare immediately for the reception of fifty or sixty
+Yakut labourers; to send six hundred army rations to Yamsk for the
+subsistence of our American party there, and three thousand pounds of
+rye flour for a party of Yakuts who would reach there in February.
+To fill all these requisitions I had at my disposal about fifteen
+dog-sledges, and even these had gone with provisions to Penzhina for
+the relief of Lieutenant Bush. With the assistance of the Russian
+governor I succeeded in getting two Cossacks to go to Petropavlovsk
+after the Americans who were presumed to have been left there by the
+_Onward_, and half a dozen Koraks to carry provisions to Yamsk, while
+Lieutenant Arnold himself sent sledges for the six hundred rations. I
+thus retained my own fifteen sledges to supply Lieutenant Sandford
+and party, who were now cutting poles on the Tilghai River, north of
+Penzhinsk Gulf. One day late in December, while Dodd and I were out
+on the river above the settlement training a team of dogs, word was
+brought to us that an American had arrived from Kamchatka, bringing
+news from the long-missing bark _Onward_ and the party of men whom
+she landed at Petropavlovsk. Hurrying back to the village with all
+possible speed, we found Mr. Lewis, the American in question, seated
+comfortably in our house drinking tea. This enterprising young
+man--who, by the way, was a telegraph operator, wholly unaccustomed
+to rough life--without being able to speak a word of Russian, had
+traversed alone, in mid-winter, the whole wilderness of Kamchatka from
+Petropavlovsk to Gizhiga. He had been forty-two days on the road, and
+had travelled on dog-sledges nearly twelve hundred miles, with no
+companions except a few natives and a Cossack from Tigil. He seemed
+disposed to look upon this achievement very modestly, but in some
+respects it was one of the most remarkable journeys ever made by one
+of the Company's employés.
+
+The _Onward_, as we had supposed, being unable to reach Gizhiga, on
+account of the lateness of the season, had discharged her cargo and
+landed most of her passengers at Petropavlovsk; and Mr. Lewis had been
+sent by the chief of the party to report their situation to Major
+Abaza, and find out what they should do.
+
+After the arrival of Mr. Lewis nothing of special importance occurred
+until March. Arnold at Yamsk, Sandford on the Tilghai, and Bush at
+Anadyrsk, were trying, with the few men they had, to accomplish some
+work; but, owing to deep snow-storms, intensely cold weather, and a
+general lack everywhere of provisions and dogs, their efforts were
+mostly fruitless. In January I made an excursion with twelve or
+fifteen sledges to Sandford's camp on the Tilghai, and attempted to
+move his party to another point thirty or forty versts nearer Gizhiga;
+but in a severe storm on the Kuil steppe we were broken up, dispersed,
+and all lost separately, and after wandering around four or five
+days in clouds of drifting snow which hid even our dogs from sight,
+Sandford with a portion of his party returned to the Tilghai, and I
+with the remainder to Gizhiga.
+
+Late in February the Cossack Kolmagórof arrived from Petropavlovsk,
+Kamchatka, bringing three of the men who had been landed there by the
+_Onward_.
+
+In March I received by a special courier from Yakutsk another letter
+and more orders from Major Abaza. The eight hundred labourers whom he
+had engaged were being rapidly sent forward to Okhotsk, and more than
+a hundred and fifty were already at work at that place and at Yamsk.
+The equipment and transportation of the remainder still required his
+personal supervision, and it would be impossible, he wrote, for him to
+return that winter to Gizhiga. He could come however, as far as
+the settlement of Yamsk, three hundred versts west of Gizhiga, and
+requested me to meet him at that place within twelve days after the
+receipt of his letter. I started at once with one American companion
+named Leet, taking twelve days' dog-food and provisions.
+
+The country between Gizhiga and Yamsk was entirely different in
+character from anything which I had previously seen in Siberia. There
+were no such great desolate plains as those between Gizhiga and
+Anadyrsk and in the northern part of Kamchatka. On the contrary, the
+whole coast of the Okhotsk Sea, for nearly six hundred miles west
+of Gizhiga, was one wilderness of rugged, broken, almost impassable
+mountains, intersected by deep valleys and ravines, and heavily
+timbered with dense pine and larch forests. The Stanavoi range of
+mountains, which sweeps up around the Okhotsk Sea from the Chinese
+frontier, keeps everywhere near the coast line, and sends down between
+its lateral spurs hundreds of small rivers and streams which run
+through deep wooded valleys to the sea. The road, or rather the
+travelled route from Gizhiga to Yamsk, crosses all these streams and
+lateral spurs at right angles, keeping about midway between the great
+mountain range and the sea. Most of the dividing ridges between these
+streams are nothing but high, bare watersheds, which can be easily
+crossed; but at one point, about a hundred and fifty versts west of
+Gizhiga, the central range sends out to the seacoast, a great spur of
+mountains 2500 or 3000 feet in height, which completely blocks up the
+road. Along the bases of these mountains runs a deep, gloomy valley
+known as the Viliga, whose upper end pierces the central Stanavoi
+range and affords an outlet to the winds pent up between the steppes
+and the sea. In winter when the open water of the Okhotsk Sea is
+warmer than the frozen plains north of the mountains, the air over the
+former rises, and a colder atmosphere rushes through the valley of the
+Viliga to take its place. In summer, while the water of the sea is
+still chilled with masses of unmelted ice, the great steppes behind
+the mountains are covered with vegetation and warm with almost
+perpetual sunshine, and the direction of the wind is consequently
+reversed. This valley of the Viliga, therefore, may be regarded as
+a great natural breathing-hole, through which the interior steppes
+respire once a year. At no other point does the Stanavoi range afford
+an opening through which the air can pass back and forth between the
+steppes and the sea, and as a natural consequence this ravine is swept
+by one almost uninterrupted storm. While the weather everywhere else
+is calm and still, the wind blows through the Viliga in a perfect
+hurricane, tearing up great clouds of snow from the mountain sides and
+carrying them far out to sea. For this reason it is dreaded by all
+natives who are compelled to pass that way, and is famous throughout
+north-eastern Siberia as "the stormy gorge of the Viliga!"
+
+On the fifth day after leaving Gizhiga, our small party, increased
+by a Russian postilion and three or four sledges carrying the annual
+Kamchatkan mail, drew near the foot of the dreaded Viliga Mountains.
+Owing to deep snow our progress had not been so rapid as we had
+anticipated, and we were only able to reach on the fifth night a small
+_yurt_ built to shelter travellers, near the mouth of a river called
+the Topólofka, thirty versts from the Viliga. Here we camped, drank
+tea, and stretched ourselves out on the rough plank floor to sleep,
+knowing that a hard day's work awaited us on the morrow.
+
+[Illustration: Head covering used in stalking seals]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+
+YURT ON THE TOPOLOFKA--THE VALLEY OF TEMPESTS--RIVER OF THE
+LOST--STORM BOUND--ESCAPE BY THE ICE-FOOT--A SLEEPLESS NIGHT--LEET
+REPORTED DEAD--YAMSK AT LAST
+
+"Kennan! Oh, Kennan! Turn out! It's day light!" A sleepy grunt and a
+still more drowsy "Is it?" from the pile of furs lying on the rough
+plank floor betrayed no very lively interest on the part of the
+prostrate figure in the fact announced, while the heavy, long-drawn
+breathing which soon succeeded this momentary interruption proved that
+more active measures must be taken to recall him from the land of
+dreams. "I say! Kennan! Wake up! Breakfast has been ready this
+half-hour." The magic word "breakfast" appealed to a stronger feeling
+than drowsiness, and, thrusting my head out from beneath its covering
+of furs, I took a sleepy, blinking view of the situation, endeavouring
+in a feeble sort of way to recollect where I was and how I came there.
+A bright crackling fire of resinous pine boughs was burning on the
+square log altar in the centre of the hut, radiating a fierce heat to
+its remotest corner, and causing the perspiration to stand in great
+beads on its mouldy logs and rough board ceiling. The smoke rose
+lazily through the square hole in the roof toward the white,
+solemn-looking stars, which winked soberly at us between the dark
+overhanging branches of the larches. Mr. Leet, who acted as the Soyer
+of our campaign, was standing over me with a slice of bacon impaled
+on a bowie-knife in one hand, and a poker in the other--both of which
+insignia of office he was brandishing furiously, with the intention
+of waking me up more effectually. His frantic gesticulations had the
+desired result. With a vague impression that I had been shipwrecked on
+the Cannibal Islands and was about to be sacrificed to the tutelary
+deities, I sprang up and rubbed my eyes until I gathered together my
+scattered senses. Mr. Leet was in high glee. Our travelling companion,
+the postilion, had manifested for several days an inclination to shirk
+work and allow us to do all the road-breaking, while he followed
+comfortably in our tracks, and by this strategic manoeuvre had
+incurred Mr. Leet's most implacable hatred. The latter, therefore, had
+waked the unfortunate man up before he had been asleep five hours, and
+had deluded him into the belief that the aurora borealis was the first
+flush of daylight. He had accordingly started off at midnight and was
+laboriously breaking a road up the steep mountain side through three
+feet of soft snow, relying upon Mr. Leet's promise that we would be
+along before sunrise. At five o'clock, when I got up, the voices of
+the postilion's men could still be heard shouting to their exhausted
+dogs near the summit of the mountain. We all breakfasted as slowly as
+possible, in order to give them plenty of time to break a road for us,
+and did not finally start until after six o'clock.
+
+It was a beautifully clear, still morning when we crossed the mountain
+above the _yurt_, and wound around through bare open valleys, among
+high hills, toward the seacoast. The sun had risen over the eastern
+hill-tops, and the snow glittered as if strewn with diamonds, while
+the distant peaks of the Viliga, appeared--
+
+  "Bathed in the tenderest purple of distance
+  Tinted and shadowed by pencils of air"--
+
+as calm and bright in their snowy majesty as if the suspicion of
+a storm had never attached to their smooth white slopes and sharp
+pinnacles. The air, although intensely cold, was clear and bracing;
+and as our dogs bounded at a gallop over the hard, broken road, the
+exhilarating motion caused the very blood in our veins
+
+  "--to dance
+  Blithe as the sparkling wine of France."
+
+About noon we came out of the mountains upon the sea beach and
+overtook the postilion, who had stopped to rest his tired dogs. Our
+own being fresh, we again took the lead, and drew rapidly near to the
+valley of the Viliga.
+
+I was just mentally congratulating myself upon our good fortune in
+having clear weather to pass this dreaded point, when my attention was
+attracted by a curious white cloud or mist, extending from the mouth
+of the Viliga ravine far out over the black open water of the Okhotsk
+Sea. Wondering what it could be, I pointed it out to our guide, and
+inquired if it were fog. His face clouded up with anxiety as he
+glanced at it, and replied laconically, "Viliga dooreet," or "The
+mountains are fooling." This oracular response did not enlighten me
+very much, and I demanded an explanation. I was then told, to my
+astonishment and dismay, that the curious white mist which I had taken
+to be fog was a dense driving cloud of snow, hurled out of the mouth
+of the ravine by a storm, which had apparently just begun in the upper
+gorges of the Stanavoi range. It would be impossible, our guide said,
+to cross the valley, and dangerous to attempt it until the wind should
+subside. I could not see either the impossibility or the danger, and
+as there was another _yurt_ or shelter-house on the other side of the
+ravine, I determined to go on and make the attempt at least to cross.
+Where we were the weather was perfectly calm and still; a candle
+would have burned in the open air without flickering; and I could
+not realise the tremendous force of the hurricane which, only a mile
+ahead, was vomiting snow out of the mouth of that ravine and carrying
+it four miles to sea. Seeing that Leet and I were determined to cross
+the valley, our guide shrugged his shoulders expressively, as much as
+to say, "You will soon regret your haste," and we went on.
+
+As we gradually approached the white curtain of mist, we began to feel
+sharp intermittent puffs of wind and little whirlwinds of snow, which
+increased constantly in strength and frequency as we drew nearer and
+nearer to the mouth of the ravine. Our guide once more remonstrated
+with us upon the folly of going deliberately into such a storm as this
+evidently would be; but Leet laughed him to scorn, declaring in broken
+Russian that he had seen storms in the Sierra Nevadas to which this
+was not a circumstance--"Bolshoi storms, you bet!" But in five minutes
+more Mr. Leet himself was ready to admit that this storm on the Viliga
+would not compare unfavourably with anything of the kind that he had
+ever seen in California. As we rounded the end of a protecting bluff
+on the edge of the ravine, the gale burst upon us in all its fury,
+blinding and suffocating us with dense clouds of driving snow, which
+blotted out instantly the sun and the clear blue sky, and fairly
+darkened the whole earth. The wind roared as it sometimes does through
+the cordage of a ship at sea. There was something almost supernatural
+in the suddenness of the change from bright sunshine and calm still
+air to this howling, blinding tempest, and I began to feel doubtful
+myself as to the practicability of crossing the valley. Our guide
+turned with a despairing look to me, as if reproaching me with my
+obstinacy in coming into the storm against his advice, and then urged
+on with shouts and blows his cowering dogs. The sockets of the poor
+brutes' eyes were completely plastered up with snow, and out of many
+of them were oozing drops of blood; but blind as they were they still
+struggled on, uttering at intervals short mournful cries, which
+alarmed me more than the roaring of the storm. In a moment we were at
+the bottom of the ravine; and before we could check the impetus of our
+descent we were out on the smooth glare ice of the "Propashchina," or
+"River of the Lost," and sweeping rapidly down toward the open water
+of the Okhotsk Sea, only a hundred yards below. All our efforts to
+stop our sledges were at first unavailing against the force of the
+wind, and I began to understand the nature of the danger to which our
+guide had alluded. Unless we could stop our sledges before we should
+reach the mouth of the river we must inevitably be blown off the ice
+into three or four fathoms of water. Precisely such a disaster had
+given the river its ominous name, Leet and the Cossack Paderin, who
+were alone upon their respective sledges, and who did not get so far
+from the shore in the first place, finally succeeded with the aid of
+their spiked sticks in getting back; but the old guide and I were
+together upon one sledge, and our voluminous fur clothes caught so
+much wind that our spiked sticks would not stop or hold us, and
+our dogs could not keep their feet. Believing that the sledge must
+inevitably be blown into the sea if we both clung to it, I finally
+relinquished my hold and tried to stop myself by sitting down, and
+then by lying down flat upon my face on the ice; but all was of no
+avail; my slippery furs took no hold of the smooth, treacherous
+surface, and I drifted away even faster than before. I had already
+torn off my mittens, and as I slid at last over a rough place in
+the ice I succeeded in getting my finger-nails into the little
+corrugations of the surface and in stopping my perilous drift; but I
+hardly dared breathe lest I should lose my hold. Seeing my situation,
+Leet slid to me the sharp iron-spiked _oerstel_, which is used to
+check the speed of a sledge in descending hills, and by digging this
+into the ice at short intervals I crept back to shore, only a short
+distance above the open water at the mouth of the river, into which my
+mittens had already gone. Our guide was still sliding slowly and at
+intervals down stream, but Paderin went to his assistance with another
+_oerstel_, and together they brought his sledge once more to land. I
+would have been quite satisfied now to turn back and get out of the
+storm; but our guide's blood was up, and cross the valley he would if
+we lost all our sledges in the sea. He had warned us of the danger and
+we had insisted upon coming on; we must now take the consequences.
+As it was evidently impossible to cross the river at this point, we
+struggled up its left bank in the teeth of the storm almost half a
+mile, until we reached a bend which put land between us and the open
+water. Here we made a second attempt, and were successful. Crossing a
+low ridge on the west side of the "Propashchina," we reached another
+small stream known as the Viliga, at the foot of the Viliga Mountains.
+Along this there extended a narrow strip of dense timber, and in this
+timber, somewhere, stood the _yurt_ of which we were in search. Our
+guide seemed to find the road by a sort of instinct, for the drifting
+clouds of snow hid even our-leading dogs from sight, and all that we
+could see of the country was the ground on which we stood. About an
+hour before dark, tired and chilled to the bone, we drew up before
+a little log hut in the woods, which our guide said was the Viliga
+_yurt_. The last travellers who had occupied it had left the chimney
+hole open, and it was nearly filled with snow, but we cleared it out
+as well as we could, built a fire on the ground in the centre, and,
+regardless of the smoke, crouched around it to drink tea. We had seen
+nothing of the postilion since noon, and hardly thought it possible
+that he could reach the _yurt_; but just as it began to grow dark we
+heard the howling of his dogs in the woods, and in a few moments he
+made his appearance. Our party now numbered nine men--two Americans,
+three Russians, and four Koraks--and a wild-looking crowd it was, as
+it squatted around the fire in that low smoke-blackened hut, drinking
+tea and listening to the howling wind. As there was not room enough
+for all to sleep inside the _yurt_, the Koraks camped out-doors on the
+snow, and before morning were half buried in a drift.
+
+[Illustration: THE YURT IN THE "STORMY GORGE OF THE VILIGA" From a
+painting by George A. Frost]
+
+All night the wind roared a deep, hoarse bass through the forest which
+sheltered the _yurt_, and at daylight on the following morning there
+was no abatement of the storm. We knew that it might blow without
+intermission in that ravine for two weeks, and we had only four days'
+dog-food and provisions left. Something must be done. The Viliga
+Mountains which blocked up the road to Yamsk were cut by three gaps
+or passes, all of which opened into the valley, and in clear weather
+could be easily found and crossed. In such a storm, however, as the
+one which had overtaken us, a hundred passes would be of no avail,
+because the drifting snow hid everything from sight at a distance of
+thirty feet, and we were as likely to go up the side of a peak as up
+the right pass, even if we could make our dogs face the storm at all,
+which was doubtful. After breakfast we held a council of war for the
+purpose of determining what it would be best to do. Our guide thought
+that our best course would be to go down the Viliga River to the
+coast, and make our way westward, if possible, along what he called
+the "pripaika"--a narrow strip of sea ice generally found at the
+water's edge under the cliffs of a precipitous coast line. He could
+not promise us that this route would be practicable, but he had heard
+that there was a beach for at least a part of the distance between the
+Viliga and Yamsk, and he thought that we might make our way along this
+beach and the _pripaika_, or ice-foot, to a ravine, twenty-five or
+thirty miles farther west, which would lead us up on the tundra beyond
+the mountains. We could at least try this shelf of ice under the
+cliffs, and if we should find it impassable we could return, while if
+we went into the mountains in such a blizzard we might never get back.
+The plan suggested by the guide seemed to me a bold and attractive one
+and I decided to adopt it. Making our way down the river, in clouds of
+flying snow, we soon reached the coast, and started westward, along a
+narrow strip of ice-encumbered beach, between the open water of the
+sea and a long line of black perpendicular cliffs, one hundred and
+fifty to three hundred feet in height. We were making very fair
+progress when we found ourselves suddenly confronted by an entirely
+unexpected and apparently insurmountable obstacle. The beach, as far
+as we could see to the westward, was completely filled up from the
+water's edge to a height of seventy-five or a hundred feet by enormous
+drifts of snow, which had been gradually accumulating there throughout
+the winter, and which now masked the whole face of the precipice, and
+left no room for passage between it and the sea. These snow-drifts,
+by frequent alternations of warm and cold weather, had been rendered
+almost as hard and slippery as ice, and as they sloped upward toward
+the tops of the cliffs at an angle of seventy-five or eighty degrees,
+it was impossible to stand upon them without first cutting places for
+the feet with an axe. Along the face of this smooth, snowy escarpment,
+which rose directly out of two or three fathoms of water, lay our only
+route to Yamsk. The prospect of getting over it without meeting with
+some disaster seemed very faint, for the slightest caving away of
+the snow would tumble us all into the open sea; but as there was no
+alternative, we fastened our dogs to cakes of ice, distributed our
+axes and hatchets, threw off our heavy fur coats, and began cutting
+out a road.
+
+We worked hard all day, and by six o'clock in the evening had cut a
+deep trench three feet in width along the face of the escarpment to a
+point about a mile and a quarter west of the mouth of the Viliga. Here
+we were again stopped, however, by a difficulty infinitely worse than
+any that we had surmounted. The beach, which had previously extended
+in one unbroken line along the foot of the cliffs, here suddenly
+disappeared, and the mass of snow over which we had been cutting a
+road came to an abrupt termination. Unsupported from beneath, the
+whole escarpment had caved away into the sea, leaving a gap of open
+water about thirty-five feet in width, out of which rose the black
+perpendicular wall of the coast. There was no possibility of getting
+across without the assistance of a pontoon bridge. Tired and
+disheartened, we were compelled to camp on the slope of the escarpment
+for the night, with no prospect of being able to do anything in the
+morning except return with all possible speed to the Viliga, and
+abandon the idea of reaching Yamsk altogether.
+
+A wilder, more dangerous location for a camp than that which we
+occupied could hardly be found in Siberia, and I watched with the
+greatest uneasiness the signs of the weather as it began to grow dark.
+The huge sloping snow-drift upon which we stood rose directly out of
+the water, and, so far as we knew, it might have no other foundation
+than a narrow strip of ice. If so, the faintest breeze from any
+direction except north would roll in waves high enough to undermine
+and break up the whole escarpment, and either precipitate us with
+an avalanche of snow into the open sea, or leave us clinging like
+barnacles to the bare face of the precipice, seventy-five feet above
+it. Neither alternative was pleasant to contemplate, and I determined,
+if possible, to find a place of greater security. Leet, with his usual
+recklessness, dug himself out what he called a "bedroom" in the snow
+about fifty feet above the water, and promised me "a good night's
+sleep" if I would accept his hospitality and share his cave; but under
+the circumstances I thought best to decline. His "bedroom," bed, and
+bedding might all tumble into the sea before morning, and his "good
+night's sleep" be indefinitely prolonged. Going back a short distance
+in the direction of the Viliga, I finally discovered a place where a
+small stream had once fallen over the summit of the cliff, and had
+worn out a steep narrow channel in its face. In the rocky, uneven bed
+of this little ravine the natives and I stretched ourselves out for
+the night, our bodies inclined at an angle of forty-five degrees--our
+heads, of course, up-hill.
+
+If the reader can imagine himself camping out on the steep sloping
+roof of a great cathedral, with a precipice a hundred feet high over
+his head and three or four fathoms of open water at his feet, he will
+be able, perhaps, to form some idea of the way in which we spent that
+dismal night.
+
+With the first streak of dawn we were up. While we were gloomily
+making preparations to return to the Viliga, one of the Koraks who
+had gone to take a last look at the gap of open water came hurriedly
+climbing back, shouting joyfully, "Mozhno perryékat, mozhno
+perryékat!"--"It is possible to cross." The tide, which had risen
+during the night, had brought in two or three large cakes of broken
+ice, and had jammed them into the gap in such a manner as to make a
+rude bridge. Fearing, however, that it would not support a very heavy
+weight, we unloaded all our sledges, carried the loads, sledges, and
+dogs across separately, loaded up again on the other side, and
+went on. The worst of our difficulties was past. We still had some
+road-cutting to do through occasional snow-drifts; but as we went
+farther and farther to the westward the beach became wider and higher,
+the ice disappeared, and by night we were thirty versts nearer to our
+destination. The sea on one side, and the cliffs on the other, still
+hemmed us in; but on the following day we succeeded in making our
+escape through the valley of the Kánanaga River.
+
+The twelfth day of our journey found us on a great steppe called the
+Málkachán, only thirty miles from Yamsk; and although our dog-food and
+provisions were both exhausted, we hoped to reach the settlement
+late in the night. Darkness came on, however, with another blinding
+snow-storm, in which we again lost our way; and, fearing that we might
+drive over the edges of the precipices into the sea by which the
+steppe was bounded on the east, we were finally compelled to stop. We
+could find no wood for a fire; but even had we succeeded in making a
+fire, it would have been instantly smothered by the clouds of snow
+which the furious wind drove across the plain. Spreading down our
+canvas tent upon the ground, and capsizing a heavy dog-sledge upon one
+edge of it to hold it fast, we crawled under it to get away from the
+suffocating snow. Lying there upon our faces, with the canvas flapping
+furiously against our backs, we scraped our bread-bag for the last few
+frozen crumbs which remained, and ate a few scraps of raw meat which
+Mr. Leet found on one of the sledges. In the course of fifteen or
+twenty minutes we noticed that the flappings of the canvas were
+getting shorter and shorter, and that it seemed to be tightening
+across our bodies, and upon making an effort to get out we found that
+we were fastened down. The snow had drifted in such masses upon the
+edges of the tent and had packed there with such solidity that it
+could not be moved, and after trying once or twice to break out we
+concluded to lie still and make the best of our situation. As long as
+the snow did not bury us entirely, we were better off under the tent
+than anywhere else, because we were protected from the wind. In half
+an hour the drift had increased to such an extent that we could no
+longer turn over, and our supply of air was almost entirely cut off.
+We must either get out or be suffocated. I had drawn my sheath-knife
+fifteen minutes before in expectation of such a crisis, and as it was
+already becoming difficult to breathe, I cut a long slit in the canvas
+above my head and we crawled out. In an instant eyes and nostrils were
+completely plastered up with snow, and we gasped for breath as if the
+stream of a fire-engine had been turned suddenly in our faces. Drawing
+our heads and arms into the bodies of our _kukhlankas_, we squatted
+down upon the snow to wait for daylight. In a moment I heard Mr. Leet
+shouting down into the neck-hole of my fur coat, "What would our
+mothers say if they could see us now?" I wanted to ask him how this
+would compare with a gale in his boasted Sierra Nevadas, but he was
+gone before I could get my head out, and I heard nothing more from him
+that night. He went away somewhere in the darkness and squatted down
+alone upon the snow, to suffer cold, hunger and anxiety until
+morning. For more than ten hours we sat in this way on that desolate
+storm-swept plain, without fire, food, or sleep, becoming more and
+more chilled and exhausted, until it seemed as if daylight would never
+come.
+
+Morning dawned at last through gray drifting clouds of snow, and,
+getting up with stiffened limbs, we made feeble attempts to dig out
+our buried sledges. But for the unwearied efforts of Mr. Leet we
+should hardly have succeeded, as my hands and arms were so benumbed
+with cold that I could not hold an axe or a shovel, and our drivers,
+frightened and discouraged, seemed unable to do anything. By Mr.
+Leet's individual exertions the sledges were dug out and we started.
+His brief spasm of energy was the last effort of a strong will to
+uphold a sinking and exhausted body, and in half an hour he requested
+to be tied on his sledge. We lashed him on from head to foot with
+sealskin thongs, covered him up with bearskins, and drove on. In about
+an hour his driver, Padarin, came back to me with a frightened look in
+his face, and said that Mr. Leet was dead; that he had shaken him and
+called him several times, but could get no reply. Alarmed and shocked,
+I sprang from my sledge and ran up to the place where he lay, shouted
+to him, shook him by the shoulder, and tried to uncover his head,
+which he had drawn down into the body of his fur coat. In a moment, to
+my great relief, I heard his voice, saying that he was all right and
+could hold out, if necessary, until night; that he had not answered
+Padarin because it was too much trouble, but that I need not be
+alarmed about his safety; and then I thought he added something about
+"worse storms in the Sierra Nevadas," which convinced me that he
+was far from being used up yet. As long as he could insist upon the
+superiority of Californian storms, there was certainly hope.
+
+Early in the afternoon we reached the Yamsk River and, after wandering
+about for an hour or two in the timber, came upon one of Lieutenant
+Arnold's Yakut working-parties and were conducted to their camp, only
+a few miles from the settlement. Here we obtained some rye bread and
+hot tea, warmed our benumbed limbs, and partially cleared the snow out
+of our clothing. When I saw Mr. Leet undressed I wondered that he had
+not died. While squatting out on the ground during the storm of the
+previous night, snow in great quantities had blown in at his neck,
+had partially melted with the warmth of his body, and had then frozen
+again in a mass of ice along his whole spine, and in that condition he
+had lived to be driven twenty versts. Nothing but a strong will and
+the most intense vitality enabled him to hold out during these last
+six dismal hours. When we had warmed, rested, and dried ourselves at
+the camp-fire of the Yakuts, we resumed our journey, and late in the
+afternoon we drove into the settlement of Yamsk, after thirteen
+days of harder experience than usually falls to the lot of Siberian
+travellers, Mr. Leet so soon recovered his strength and spirits that
+three days afterwards he started for Okhotsk, where the Major wished
+him to take charge of a gang of Yakut labourers. The last words that I
+remember to have ever heard him speak were those which he shouted to
+me in the storm and darkness of that gloomy night on the Málkachán
+steppe: "What would our mothers say if they could see us now?" The
+poor fellow was afterwards driven insane by excitements and hardships
+such as these which I have described, and probably to some extent
+by this very expedition, and finally committed suicide by shooting
+himself at one of the lonely Siberian settlements on the coast of the
+Okhotsk Sea.
+
+I have described somewhat in detail this trip to Yamsk because it
+illustrates the darkest side of Siberian life and travel. It is not
+often that one meets with such an experience, or suffers so many
+hardships in any one journey; but in a country so wild and sparsely
+populated as Siberia, winter travel is necessarily attended with more
+or less suffering and privation.
+
+[Illustration: Iron Skin Scraper]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+
+BRIGHT ANTICIPATIONS--A WHALE-SHIP SIGNALLED--THE BARK SEA
+BREEZE--NEWS FROM THE ATLANTIC CABLE--REPORTED ABANDONMENT OF THE
+OVERLAND LINE
+
+When, in the latter part of March, Major Abaza returned to Yakutsk to
+complete the organisation and equipment of our Yakut labourers, and I
+to Gizhiga to await once more the arrival of vessels from America, the
+future of the Russian-American Telegraph Company looked much brighter.
+We had explored and located the whole route of the line, from the Amur
+River to Bering Sea; we had half a dozen working-parties in the field,
+and expected to reinforce them soon with six or eight hundred hardy
+native labourers from Yakutsk; we had cut and prepared fifteen or
+twenty thousand telegraph poles, and were bringing six hundred
+Siberian ponies from Yakutsk to distribute them; we had all the wire
+and insulators for the Asiatic Division on the ground, as well as an
+abundant supply of tools and provisions; and we felt more than hopeful
+that we should be able to put our part of the overland line to
+St. Petersburg in working order before the beginning of 1870. So
+confident, indeed, were some of our men, that, in the pole-cutting
+camps, they were singing in chorus every night, to the air of a well
+known war-song.
+
+  "In eighteen hundred and sixty-eight
+  Hurrah! Hurrah!
+  In eighteen hundred and sixty-eight
+  Hurrah! Hurrah!
+  In eighteen hundred and sixty-eight,
+  The cable will be in a miserable state,
+  And we'll all feel gay
+  When they use it to fish for whales.
+
+  "In eighteen hundred and sixty-nine
+  Hurrah! Hurrah!
+  In eighteen hundred and sixty-nine
+  Hurrah! Hurrah!
+  In eighteen hundred and sixty-nine
+  We're going to finish this overland line;
+  And we'll all feel gay
+  When it brings us good news from home."
+
+But it was fated that our next news from home should not be brought by
+the overland line, and should not be of such a nature as to make any
+of us "feel gay."
+
+On the evening of May 31, 1867, as I sat trying to draw a
+topographical map in the little one-story log house which served as
+the headquarters of the Asiatic Division, I was interrupted by the
+sudden and hasty entrance of my friend and comrade Mr. Lewis, who
+rushed into the room crying excitedly: "O Mr. Kennan! Did you hear
+the cannon?" I had not heard it, but I understood instantly the
+significance of the inquiry. A cannon-shot meant that there was a ship
+in sight from the beacon-tower at the mouth of the river. We were
+accustomed, every spring, to get our earliest news from the civilised
+world through American whaling vessels, which resort at that season of
+the year to the Okhotsk Sea. About the middle of May, therefore, we
+generally sent a couple of Cossacks to the harbour at the mouth of
+the river, with instructions to keep a sharp lookout from the log
+beacon-tower on the bluff, and fire three cannon-shots the moment they
+should see a whaler or other vessel cruising in the Gulf.
+
+In less than ten minutes, the news that there was a vessel in sight
+from the beacon-tower had reached every house in the village, and a
+little group of Cossacks gathered at the landing-place, where a boat
+was being prepared to take Lewis, Robinson, and me to the sea-coast.
+Half an hour later we were gliding swiftly down the river in one of
+the light skiffs known in that part of Siberia as "lodkas." We had a
+faint hope that the ship which had been signalled would prove to
+be one of our own vessels; but even if she should turn out to be a
+whaler, she would at least bring us late news from the outside world,
+and we felt a burning curiosity to know what had been the result of
+the second attempt to lay the Atlantic cable. Had our competitors
+beaten us, or was there still a fighting chance that we might beat
+them?
+
+We reached the mouth of the river late in the evening, and were met at
+the landing by one of the Cossacks from the beacon-tower.
+
+"What ship is it?" I inquired.
+
+"We don't know," he replied. "We saw dark smoke, like the smoke of a
+steamer, off Matuga Island just before we fired the cannon, but in a
+little while it blew away and we have seen nothing since."
+
+"If it's a whaler trying out oil," said Robinson, "we'll find her
+there in the morning."
+
+Leaving the Cossack to take our baggage out of the _lodka_, we all
+climbed up to the beacon-tower, with the hope that, as it was still
+fairly light, we might be able to see with a glass the vessel that had
+made the smoke; but from the high black cliffs of Matuga Island on one
+side of the Gulf, to the steep slope of Cape Catherine on the other,
+there was nothing to break the horizon line except here and there a
+field of drifting ice. Returning to the Cossack barrack, we spread
+our bearskins and blankets down on the rough plank floor and went
+disconsolate to bed.
+
+Early the next morning, I was awakened by one of the Cossacks with
+the welcome news that there was a large square-rigged vessel in the
+offing, five or six miles beyond Matuga Island. I climbed hastily up
+the bluff, and had no difficulty in making out with a glass the masts
+and sails of a good-sized bark, evidently a whaler, which, although
+hull down, was apparently cruising back and forth with a light
+southerly breeze across the Gulf.
+
+We ate breakfast hastily, put on our fur _kukhlankas_ and caps, and
+started in a whale-boat under oars for the ship, which was distant
+about fifteen miles. Although the wind was light and the sea
+comparatively smooth, it was a hard, tedious pull; and we did not get
+alongside until after ten o'clock. Pacing the quarter-deck, as we
+climbed on board was a good-looking, ruddy-faced, gray-haired man whom
+I took to be the captain. He evidently thought, from our outer fur
+dress, that we were only a party of natives come off to trade; and he
+paid no attention whatever to us until I walked aft and said: "Are you
+the captain of this bark?"
+
+At the first word of English, he stopped as if transfixed, stared at
+me for a moment in silence, and then exclaimed in a tone of profound
+astonishment: "Well! I'll be dod-gasted! Has the universal Yankee got
+up here?"
+
+"Yes, Captain," I replied, "he is not only here, but he has been here
+for two years or more. What bark is this?"
+
+"The _Sea Breeze_, of New Bedford, Massachusetts," he replied, "and I
+am Captain Hamilton. But what are you doing up in this God-forsaken
+country? Have you been shipwrecked?"
+
+"No," I said, "we're up here trying to build a telegraph line."
+
+"A telegraph line!" he shouted. "Well, if that ain't the craziest
+thing I ever heard of! Who's going to telegraph from here?"
+
+I explained to him that we were trying to establish telegraphic
+communication between America and Europe by way of Alaska, Bering
+Strait, and Siberia, and asked him if he had never heard of the
+Russian-American Telegraph Company.
+
+"Never," he replied. "I didn't know there was such a company; but I've
+been out two years on a cruise, and I haven't kept up very well with
+the news."
+
+"How about the Atlantic cable?" I inquired. "Do you know anything
+about that?"
+
+"Oh, yes," he replied cheerfully, as if he were giving me the best
+news in the world, "the cable is laid all right."
+
+"Does it work?" I asked, with a sinking heart.
+
+"Works like a snatch-tackle," he responded heartily. "The 'Frisco
+papers are publishing every morning the London news of the day before.
+I've got a lot of 'em on board that I'll give you. Perhaps you'll find
+something in them about your Company."
+
+I think the captain must have noticed, from the sudden change in the
+expression of our faces, that his news about the Atlantic cable was
+a staggering blow to us, for he immediately dropped the subject and
+suggested the expediency of going below.
+
+We all went down into the cosy, well-furnished cabin, where
+refreshments were set before us by the steward, and where we talked
+for an hour about the news of the world, from whaling in the South
+Pacific to dog-driving in Arctic Asia, and from Weston's walk across
+the North American continent to Karakozef's attempt to assassinate the
+Tsar. But it was, on our side at least, a perfunctory conversation.
+The news of the complete success of the Atlantic cable was as
+unexpected as it was disheartening, and it filled our minds to the
+exclusion of everything else. The world would have no use for an
+overland telegraph-line through Alaska and Siberia if it already
+possessed a working cable between London and New York.
+
+We left the hospitable cabin of the _Sea Breeze_ about noon, and
+prepared to return to Gizhiga. Captain Hamilton, with warm-hearted
+generosity, not only gave us all the newspapers and magazines he had
+on board, but literally filled our boat with potatoes, pumpkins,
+bananas, oranges, and yams, which he had brought up from the Sandwich
+Islands. I think he saw that we were feeling somewhat disheartened,
+and wanted to cheer us up in the only way he could--by giving us some
+of the luxuries of civilised life. We had not seen a potato, nor
+tasted any other fresh vegetable or fruit, in nearly two years.
+
+We left the ship reluctantly, at last, giving three cheers and a
+"tiger" for Captain Hamilton and the _Sea Breeze_, as we went over the
+side.
+
+When we had pulled three or four miles away from the bark, Lewis
+suggested that instead of returning at once to the mouth of the river
+we should go ashore at the nearest point on the coast, and look
+over the newspapers while the Cossacks made a fire and roasted some
+potatoes. This seemed to us all a good plan, and half an hour later we
+were sitting around a fire of driftwood on the beach, each of us with
+a newspaper in one hand and a banana or an orange in the other, and
+all feeding mind and body simultaneously. The papers were of various
+dates from September, 1866, to March, 1867, and were so mixed up that
+it was impossible to follow the course of events chronologically or
+consecutively. We were not long, however, in ascertaining not only
+that the new Atlantic cable had been successfully laid, but that the
+broken and abandoned cable of 1865 had been picked up in mid-ocean,
+repaired, and put in perfect working order. I think this discouraged
+us more than anything else. If cables could be found in the middle of
+the Atlantic, picked up in ten or twelve thousand feet of water, and
+repaired on the deck of a steamer, the ultimate success of submarine
+telegraphy was assured, and we might as well pack up our trunks and go
+home. But there was worse news to come. A few minutes later, Lewis,
+who was reading an old copy of the San Francisco _Bulletin_, struck
+his knee violently with his clenched fist and exclaimed;
+
+"Boys! The jig is up! Listen to this!
+
+  "'Special Dispatch to the _Bulletin_
+
+  "'New York, October 15.
+
+  "'In consequence of the success of the Atlantic
+  cable, all work on the Russian-American telegraph
+  line has been stopped and the enterprise has been
+  abandoned.'"
+
+"Well!" said Robinson, after a moment of thoughtful silence, "that
+seems to settle it. The cable has knocked us out."
+
+Late in the afternoon, we pulled back, with heavy hearts, to the
+beacon-tower at the mouth of the river, and on the following day
+returned to Gizhiga, to await the arrival of a vessel from San
+Francisco with an official notification of the abandonment of the
+enterprise.
+
+[Illustration: Women's Knives used in making clothing]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+
+OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION OF THE BAD NEWS--THE ENTERPRISE ABANDONED--A
+VOYAGE TO OKHOTSK--THE AURORA OF THE SEA
+
+On the 15th of July, the Company's bark _Onward_ (which should have
+been named _Backward_) arrived at Gizhiga with orders to sell all of
+our stores that were salable; use the proceeds in the payment of our
+debts; discharge our native labourers; gather up our men, and return
+to the United States. The Atlantic cable had proved to be a complete
+success, and our Company, after sinking about $3,000,000 in the
+attempt to build an overland line from America to Europe, had finally
+decided to put up with its loss and abandon the undertaking. Letters
+from the directors to Major Abaza, stated that they would be willing
+to go on with the work, in spite of the success of the Atlantic cable,
+if the Russian Government would agree to complete the line on the
+Siberian side of Bering Strait; but they did not think they should be
+required, under the circumstances, to do all the work on the American
+side and half of that on the Russian.
+
+Major Abaza, hoping that he could prevail upon the Russian Minister of
+Ways and Communications to take the Asiatic Division off the hands of
+the American Company, and thus prevent the complete abandonment of
+the enterprise, decided at once to go to St. Petersburg overland. He
+therefore sailed in the _Onward_ with me for Okhotsk, intending to
+disembark there, start for Yakutsk on horseback, and send me back in
+the ship to pick up our working parties along the coast.
+
+The last of July found us becalmed, about fifty miles off the harbour
+and river of Okhotsk. I had been playing chess all the evening in the
+cabin, and it was almost eleven o'clock when the second mate called to
+me down the companionway to come on deck. Wondering if we had taken a
+favourable slant of wind, I went up.
+
+It was one of those warm, still, almost tropical nights, so rarely
+seen on northern waters, when a profound calm reigns in the moonless
+heavens, and the hush of absolute repose rests upon the tired,
+storm-vexed sea. There was not the faintest breath of air to stir even
+the reef-points of the motionless sails, or roughen the dark, polished
+mirror of water around the ship. A soft, almost imperceptible haze
+concealed the line of the far horizon, and blended sky and water into
+one great hollow sphere of twinkling stars. Earth and sea seemed to
+have passed away, and our motionless ship floated, spell-bound, in
+vacancy--the only earthly object in an encircling universe of stars
+and planets. The great luminous band of the Milky Way seemed to sweep
+around beneath us in a complete circle of white, misty light, and far
+down under our keel gleamed the three bright stars in the belt of
+Orion. Only when a fish sprang with a little splash out of one of
+these submarine constellations and shattered it into trembling
+fragments of broken light could we realise that it was nothing but a
+mirrored reflection of the heavens above.
+
+Absorbed in the beauty of the scene, I had forgotten to ask the mate
+why he had called me on deck, and started with surprise as he touched
+me on the shoulder and said: "Curious thing, ain't it?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, supposing that he referred to the reflection of the
+heavens in the water, "it's the most wonderful night I ever saw at
+sea. I can hardly make myself believe that we _are_ at sea--the ship
+seems to be hanging in space with a great universe of stars above and
+below."
+
+"What do you suppose makes it?" he inquired.
+
+"Makes what--the reflection?"
+
+"No, that light. Don't you see it?"
+
+Following the direction of his outstretched arm, I noticed, for the
+first time, a bank of pale, diffused radiance, five or six degrees in
+height, stretching along the northern horizon from about N.N.W. to
+E.N.E. and resembling very closely the radiance of a faint aurora. The
+horizon line could not be distinguished; but the luminous appearance
+seemed to rise in the haze that hid it from sight.
+
+"Have you ever seen anything like it before?" I inquired.
+
+"Never," the mate replied; "but it looks like the northern lights on
+the water."
+
+Wondering what could be the nature of this mysterious light, I climbed
+into the shrouds, in order to get a better view. As I watched it, it
+suddenly began to lengthen out at both ends, like a rapidly spreading
+fire, and drew a long curtain of luminous mist around the whole
+northern horizon. Another similar light then appeared in the
+south-east, and although it was not yet connected with the first, it
+also seemed to be extending itself laterally, and in a moment the two
+luminous curtains united, forming a great semicircular band of pale,
+bluish-white radiance around the heavens, like a celestial equator
+belting a vast universe of stars. I could form, as yet, no conjecture
+as to the cause or nature of this strange phenomenon which looked and
+behaved like an aurora, but which seemed to rise out of the water.
+After watching it five or ten minutes, I went below to call the
+captain.
+
+Hardly had I reached the foot of the companionway when the mate
+shouted again; "O Kennan! Come on deck quick!" and rushing hastily
+up I saw for the first time, in all its glorious splendour, the
+phosphorescence of the sea. With almost incredible swiftness, a mantle
+of bluish-white fire had covered nearly all the dark water north of
+us, and its clearly defined edge wavered and trembled for an instant,
+like the arch of an aurora, within half a mile of the ship. Another
+lightning-like flash brought it all around us, and we floated,
+literally, in a sea of liquid radiance. Not a single square foot of
+dark water could be seen, in any direction, from the maintop, and all
+the rigging of the ship, to the royal yards, was lighted up with a
+faint, unearthly, blue glare. The ocean looked like a vast plain of
+snow, illuminated by blue fire and overhung by heavens of almost inky
+blackness. The Milky Way disappeared completely in the blaze of light
+from the sea, and stars of the first magnitude twinkled dimly, as if
+half hidden by fog.
+
+Only a moment before, the dark, still water had reflected vividly a
+whole hemisphere of spangled constellations, and the outlines of the
+ship's spars were projected as dusky shadows against the Milky Way.
+Now, the sea was ablaze with opaline light, and the yards and sails
+were painted in faint tints of blue on a background of ebony. The
+metamorphosis was sudden and wonderful beyond description! The polar
+aurora seemed to have left its home in the higher regions of the
+atmosphere and descended in a sheet of vivid electrical fire upon the
+ocean. As we stood, silent with amazement, upon the quarter-deck, this
+sheet of bluish flame suddenly vanished, over at least ten square
+miles of water, causing, by its almost instantaneous disappearance, a
+sensation of total blindness, and leaving the sea, for a moment, an
+abyss of blackness. As the pupils of our eyes, however, gradually
+dilated, we saw, as before, the dark shining mirror of water around
+the ship, while far away on the horizon rose the faint luminous
+appearance which had first attracted our attention, and which
+was evidently due to the lighting up of the haze by areas of
+phosphorescent water below the horizon line.
+
+In a moment the mate shouted excitedly: "Here it comes again!" and
+again the great tide of fire came sweeping up around the vessel, and
+we floated in a sea of radiance that extended in every direction
+beyond the limits of vision.
+
+As soon as I had recovered a little from the bewildered amazement into
+which I was thrown by the first phosphorescent flash, I observed, as
+closely and carefully as possible, the nature and conditions of the
+extraordinary phenomenon. In the first place, I satisfied myself
+beyond question, that the radiance was phosphorescent and not
+electrical, although it simulated the light of the aurora in the
+rapidity of its movements of translation from one area to another.
+When it flashed around the ship the second time, I got down close to
+the luminous surface and discovered that what seemed, from the deck,
+to be a mantle of bluish fire was, in reality, a layer of water
+closely packed with fine bright spangles. It looked like water in
+which luminous sand was constantly being stirred or churned up. The
+points of light were so numerous that, at a distance of ten or twelve
+feet, the eye failed to notice that there was any dark water in
+the interspaces, and received merely an impression of diffused and
+unbroken radiance.
+
+In the second place, I became convinced that the myriads of
+microscopic organisms which pervaded the water did not light up
+their tiny lamps in response to a mechanical shock, such as would be
+produced by agitation of the medium in which they floated. There was
+no breeze, at any time, nor was there the faintest indication of
+a ripple on the glassy surface of the sea. Between the flashes of
+phosphorescence, the polished mirror of dark water was not blurred by
+so much as a breath. The sudden lighting up of myriads of infusorial
+lamps over vast areas of unruffled water was not due, therefore, to
+mechanical agitation, and must have had some other and more subtle
+cause. What the nature was of the impulse that stimulated whole square
+miles of floating protoplasm into luminous activity so suddenly as
+to produce the visual impression of an electric flash, I could not
+conjecture. The officers of the U. S. revenue cutter _McCulloch_
+observed and recorded in Bering Sea, in August, 1898, a display of
+phosphorescence which was almost as remarkable as the one I am trying
+to describe [Footnote: _N.Y. Sun_, Nov. 11 1899.]; but in that case
+the sea was rough; there were no sudden flashes of appearance and
+disappearance; and the excitation of the light-bearing organisms may
+have been due--and probably was due--to mechanical shock.
+
+In the third place, I observed that in the intervals between the
+flashes, when the water was dark, all objects immersed in that water
+were luminous. The ship's copper was so bright that I could count
+every tack and seam; the rudder was lighted to its lowest pintle; and
+medusae, or jelly-fish, drifting past, with slow pulsations, at a
+depth of ten or twelve feet, looked like submerged moons. It thus
+appeared that protozoa floating freely in the water lighted their
+lamps only in response to excitation, of some sort, which affected,
+almost instantaneously, areas many square miles in extent; while those
+that were attached to, or in contact with, solid matter kept their
+lamps lighted all the time.
+
+During one of the periods of illumination, which lasted several
+minutes, I hauled up a bucketful of the phosphorescent liquid and took
+it into the cabin. Nothing whatever could be seen in it by artificial
+light, but when the light had been removed, the inside of the bucket
+glowed, although the water itself remained dark.
+
+The sea in the vicinity of the ship became phosphorescent three or
+four times; the sheet of fire in every case, sweeping down upon us
+from the north at a rate of speed that seemed to be about equal to the
+speed of sound-waves in air. The duration of the phosphorescence, at
+each separate appearance, was from a minute and a half to three or
+four minutes, and it vanished every time with a flash-like movement of
+translation to another and remoter area. The whole display, so far as
+we were concerned, was over in about twenty minutes; but long after
+the sheet of phosphorescence disappeared from the neighbourhood of the
+ship, we could see it lighting up the overhanging haze as it moved
+swiftly from place to place beyond the horizon line. At one time,
+there were three or four such areas of bright water north of us, but
+as they were below the curve of the earth's convexity we could not
+see them, and traced them only by the shifting belts or patches of
+irradiated mist.
+
+[Illustration: Reindeer Bridle Snow Shovel]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+
+CLOSING UP THE BUSINESS--A BARGAIN SALE--TELEGRAPH TEACUPS
+REDUCED--CHEAP SHOVELS FOR GRAVE DIGGING--WIRE FISH NETS AT A
+SACRIFICE--OUR NARROWEST ESCAPE--BLOWN OUT TO SEA--SAVED BY THE
+"_Onward_"
+
+We reached Okhotsk about the 1st of August, and after seeing the Major
+off for St. Petersburg, I sailed again in the _Onward_ and spent
+most of the next month in cruising along the coast, picking up our
+scattered working-parties, and getting on board such stores and
+material as happened to be accessible and were worth saving.
+
+Early in September, I returned to Gizhiga and proceeded to close
+up the business and make preparations for final departure. Our
+instructions from the Company were to sell all of our stores that were
+salable and use the proceeds in the payment of our debts. I have no
+doubt that this seemed to our worthy directors a perfectly feasible
+scheme, and one likely to bring in a considerable amount of ready
+money; but, unfortunately, their acquaintance with our environment
+was very limited, and their plan, from our point of view, was open to
+several objections. In the first place, although we had at Gizhiga
+fifteen or twenty thousand dollars' worth of unused material, most of
+it was of such a nature as to be absolutely unsalable in that country.
+In the second place, the villages of Okhotsk, Yamsk, and Gizhiga,
+taken together, did not have more than five hundred inhabitants, and
+it was doubtful whether the whole five hundred could make up a purse
+of as many rubles, even to ensure their eternal salvation. Assuming,
+therefore, that the natives wanted our crowbars, telegraph poles,
+and pickaxes they had little or no money with which to pay for them.
+However orders were orders; and as soon as practicable we opened, in
+front of our principal storehouse, a sort of international bazaar,
+and proceeded to dispose of our superfluous goods upon the best terms
+possible. We put the price of telegraph wire down until that luxury
+was within the reach of the poorest Korak family. We glutted the
+market with pickaxes and long-handled shovels, which we assured the
+natives would be useful in burying their dead, and threw in a lot of
+frozen cucumber pickles and other anti-scorbutics which we warranted
+to fortify the health of the living. We sold glass insulators by the
+hundred as patent American teacups, and brackets by the thousand
+as prepared American kindling-wood. We offered soap and candles as
+premiums to anybody who would buy our salt pork and dried apples, and
+taught the natives how to make cooling drinks and hot biscuits,
+in order to create a demand for our redundant lime-juice and
+baking-powder. We directed all our energies to the creation of
+artificial wants in that previously happy and contented community, and
+flooded the whole adjacent country with articles that were of no more
+use to the poor natives than ice-boats and mouse-traps would be to the
+Tuaregs of the Saharan desert. In short, we dispensed the blessings of
+civilisation with a free hand. But the result was not as satisfactory
+as our directors doubtless expected it to be. The market at last
+refused to absorb any more brackets and pickaxes; telegraph wire did
+not make as good fish-nets and dog-harnesses as some of our salesmen
+confidently predicted that it would; and lime-juice and water, as
+a beverage, even when drunk out of pressed-crystal insulators,
+beautifully tinted with green, did not seem to commend itself to
+the aboriginal mind. So we finally had to shut up our store. We
+had gathered in--if I remember rightly--about three hundred rubles
+($150.), which, with the money that Major Abaza had left us, amounted
+to something like five hundred. I did not use this cash, however, in
+the payment of the Company's debts. I expected to have to return to
+the United States through Siberia, and I did not propose to put myself
+in such a position that I should be compelled to defray my travelling
+expenses by peddling lime-juice, cucumber pickles, telegraph wire,
+dried apples, glass insulators, and baking-powder along the road. I
+therefore persuaded the Company's creditors, who, fortunately, were
+not very numerous, to take tea and sugar in satisfaction of their
+claims, so that I might save all the cash I had for the overland trip
+from Okhotsk to St. Petersburg.
+
+Our business in Gizhiga was finally adjusted and settled; our
+working-parties were all called in; and we were just about to sail in
+the bark _Onward_ for Okhotsk, when we were suddenly confronted by
+the deadliest peril that we had encountered in more than two years of
+arctic experience. Every explorer who goes into a wild, unknown part
+of the world to make scientific researches, to find a new route for
+commerce, or to gratify an innate love of adventure, has, now and
+then, an escape from a violent death which is so extraordinary that he
+classifies it under the head of "narrow." The peril that he incurs may
+be momentary in duration, or it may be prolonged for hours, or even
+days; but in any case, while it lasts it is imminent and deadly. It is
+something more than ordinary danger--it is peril in which the chances
+of death are a hundred and of life only one. Such peril advances, as
+a rule, with terrifying swiftness and suddenness; and if one be
+unaccustomed to danger, he is liable to be beaten down and overwhelmed
+by the quick and unexpected shock of the catastrophe. He has no time
+to rally his nervous forces, or to think how he will deal with the
+emergency. The crisis comes like an instantaneous "Vision of Sudden
+Death," which paralyses all his faculties before he has a chance to
+exercise them. Swift danger of this kind tests to the utmost a man's
+inherited or acquired capacity for instinctive and purely automatic
+action; but as it generally passes before it has been fairly
+comprehended, it is not so trying, I think, to the nerves and to
+the character as the danger that is prolonged to the point of full
+realisation, and that cannot then be averted or lessened by any
+possible action. It is only when a man has time to understand and
+appreciate the impending catastrophe, and can do absolutely nothing to
+avert it, that he fully realises the possibility of death. Action of
+any kind is tonic, and when a man can fight danger with his muscles or
+his brain, he is roused and excited by the struggle; but when he can
+do nothing except wait, watch the suspended sword of Damocles, and
+wonder how soon the stroke will come, he must have strong nerves long
+to endure the strain.
+
+Just before we sailed from Gizhiga in the _Onward_, eight of us had
+an escape from death in which the peril came with great swiftness and
+suddenness, and was prolonged almost to the extreme limit of nervous
+endurance. On account of the lateness of the season and the rocky,
+precipitous, and extremely dangerous character of the coast in the
+vicinity of Gizhiga, the captain of the bark had not deemed it prudent
+to run into the mouth of the Gizhiga River at the point of the long
+A-shaped gulf, but had anchored on a shoal off the eastern coast, at a
+distance from the beacon-tower of nearly twenty miles. From our point
+of view on land, the vessel was entirely out of sight; but I knew
+where she lay, and did not anticipate any difficulty in getting on
+board as soon as I should finish my work ashore.
+
+I intended to go off to the ship with the last of Sandford's party on
+the morning of September 11th, but I was detained unexpectedly by the
+presentation of a number of native claims and other unforeseen matters
+of business, and when I had finally settled and closed up everything
+it was four o'clock in the afternoon. In the high latitude of
+north-eastern Siberia a September night shuts in early, and I felt
+some hesitation about setting out at such an hour, in an open boat,
+for a vessel lying twenty miles at sea; but I knew that the captain
+of the _Onward_ was very nervous and anxious to get away from that
+dangerous locality; the wind, which was blowing a fresh breeze off
+shore, would soon take us down the coast to the vessel's anchorage;
+and after a moment of indecision I gave the order to start. There were
+eight men of us, including Sandford, Bowsher, Heck, and four others
+whose names I cannot now recall.
+
+Our boat was an open sloop-rigged sail-boat, about twenty-five feet in
+length, which we had bought from a Russian merchant named Phillipeus.
+I had not before that time paid much attention to her, but so far as I
+knew she was safe and seaworthy. There was some question, however, as
+to whether she carried ballast enough for her sail-area, and at the
+last moment, to make sure of being on the safe side, I had two of
+Sandford's men roll down and put on board two barrels of sugar from
+the Company's storehouse. I then bade good-bye to Dodd and Frost, the
+comrades who had shared with me so many hardships and perils, took a
+seat in the stern-sheets of the little sloop, and we were off.
+
+It was a dark, gloomy, autumnal evening, and the stiff north-easterly
+breeze which came to us in freshening gusts over the snow-whitened
+crest of the Stanavoi range had a keen edge, suggestive of approaching
+winter. The sea, however, was comparatively smooth, and until we got
+well out into the gulf the idea of possible danger never so much
+as suggested itself to me. But as we left the shelter of the high,
+iron-bound coast the wind seemed to increase in strength, the sea
+began to rise, and the sullen, darkening sky, as the gloom of night
+gathered about us, gave warning of heavy weather. It would have been
+prudent, while it was still light, to heave the sloop to and take
+a reef, if not a double reef, in the mainsail; but Heck, who was
+managing the boat, did not seem to think this necessary, and in
+another hour, when the necessity of reefing had become apparent to
+everybody, the sea was so high and dangerous that we did not dare to
+come about for fear of capsizing, or shipping more green water than we
+could readily dispose of. So we staggered on before the rising gale,
+trusting to luck, and hoping every moment that we should catch sight
+of the _Onward's_ lights.
+
+It has always seemed to me that the most dangerous point of sailing
+in a small open boat in a high combing sea is running dead before
+the wind. When you are sailing close-hauled, you can luff up into a
+squall, if necessary, or meet a steep, dangerous sea bow on; but when
+you are scudding you are almost helpless. You can neither luff, nor
+spill the wind out of the sail by slackening off the sheet, nor put
+your boat in a position to take a heavy sea safely. The end of your
+long boom is liable to trip as you roll and wallow through the waves,
+and every time you rise on the crest of a big comber your rudder comes
+out of water, and your bow swings around until there is imminent
+danger of an accidental jibe.
+
+Heck, who managed our sloop, was a fairly good sailor, but as the wind
+increased, the darkness thickened, and the sea grew higher and higher,
+it became evident to me that nothing but unusually good luck would
+enable us to reach the ship in safety. We were not shipping any water,
+except now and then a bucketful of foam and spray blown from the crest
+of a wave; but the boat was yawing in a very dangerous way as she
+mounted the high, white-capped rollers, and I was afraid that sooner
+or later she would swing around so far that even with the most skilful
+steering a jibe would be inevitable.
+
+It was very dark; I had lost sight of the land; and I don't know
+exactly in what part of the gulf we were when the dreaded catastrophe
+came. The sloop rose on the back of an exceptionally high, combing
+sea, hung poised for an instant on its crest, and then, with a wide
+yaw to starboard which the rudder was powerless to check, swooped down
+sidewise into the hollow, rolling heavily to port and pointing her
+boom high up into the gale. When I saw the dark outline of the leech
+of the mainsail waver for an instant, flap once or twice, and then
+suddenly collapse, I knew what was coming, and shouting at the top of
+my voice, "Look out Heck! She'll jibe!" I instinctively threw myself
+into the bottom of the boat to escape the boom. With a quick, sudden
+rush, ending in a great crash, the long heavy spar swept across the
+boat from starboard to port, knocking Bowsher overboard and carrying
+away the mast. The sloop swung around into the trough of the sea, in a
+tangle of sails, sheets, halyards, and standing rigging; and the next
+great comber came plump into her, filling her almost to the gunwales
+with a white smother of foam. I thought for a moment that she had
+swamped and was sinking; but as I rose to a crouching posture and
+rubbed the saltwater out of my eyes, I saw that she was less than half
+full, and that if we did not ship another sea too soon, prompt and
+energetic bailing might yet keep her afloat.
+
+"Bail her out, boys! For your lives! With your hats!" I shouted: and
+began scooping out the water with my fur hood.
+
+Eight men bailing for life, even with hats and caps, can throw a great
+deal of water out of a boat in a very short time; and within five or
+ten minutes the first imminent danger of sinking was over. Bowsher,
+who was a good swimmer and had not been seriously hurt by the boom,
+climbed back into the boat; we cut away the standing rigging, freed
+the sloop from the tangle of cordage, and got the water-soaked
+mainsail on board; and then, tying a corner of this sail to the stump
+of the mast, we spread it as well as we could, so that it would catch
+a little wind and give the boat steerage-way. Under the influence of
+this scrap of canvas the sloop swung slowly around, across the seas;
+the water ceased to come into her; and wringing out our wet caps and
+clothing, we began to breathe more freely.
+
+When the first excitement of the crisis had passed and I recovered
+my self-possession, I tried to estimate, as coolly as possible, our
+prospects and our chances. The situation seemed to me almost hopeless.
+We were in a dismasted boat, without oars, without a compass, without
+a morsel of food or a mouthful of water, and we were being blown out
+to sea in a heavy north-easterly gale. It was so dark that we could
+not see the land on either side of the constantly widening gulf; there
+was no sign of the _Onward_; and in all probability there was not
+another vessel in any part of the Okhotsk Sea. The nearest land was
+eight or ten miles distant; we were drifting farther and farther away
+from it; and in our disabled and helpless condition there was not the
+remotest chance of our reaching it. In all probability our sloop would
+not live through the night in such a gale; and even should she remain
+afloat until morning, we should then be far out at sea, with nothing
+to eat or drink, and with no prospect of being picked up. If the wind
+should hold in the direction in which it was blowing, it would carry
+us past the _Onward_ at a distance of at least three miles; we had no
+lantern with which to attract the attention of the ship's watch, even
+should we happen to drift past her within sight; the captain did not
+know that we were coming off to the bark that night, and would not
+think of looking out for us; and so far as I could discover, there was
+not a ray of hope for us in any direction.
+
+How long we drifted out in black darkness, and in that tumbling,
+threatening, foam-crested sea, I do not know. It seemed to me many
+hours. I had a letter in my pocket which I had written the day before
+to my mother, and which I had intended to send down to San Francisco
+with the bark. In it I assured her that she need not feel any further
+anxiety about my safety, because the Russian-American telegraph line
+had been abandoned. I was to be landed by the _Onward_ at Okhotsk; I
+was coming home by way of St. Petersburg over a good post-road; and
+I should not be exposed to any more dangers. As I sat there in the
+dismasted sloop, shivering with cold and drifting out to sea before a
+howling arctic gale, I remembered this letter, and wondered what my
+poor mother would think if she could read its contents and at the same
+time see in a mental vision the situation of the writer.
+
+So far as I can remember, there was very little talking among the men
+during these long, dark hours of suspense. None of us, I think, had
+any hope; it was hard to make one's voice heard above the roaring of
+the wind; and we all sat or cowered in the bottom of the boat, waiting
+for an end which could not be very far away. Now and then a heavy sea
+would break over us, and we would all begin bailing again with our
+hats; but aside from this there was nothing to be done. It did not
+seem to me probable that the half-wrecked sloop would live more than
+three or four hours. The gale was constantly rising, and every few
+minutes we were lashed with stinging whips of icy spray, as a fierce
+squall struck the water to windward, scooped off the crests of the
+waves, and swept them horizontally in dense white clouds across the
+boat.
+
+It must have been about nine o'clock when somebody in the bow shouted
+excitedly, "I see a light!"
+
+"Where away?" I cried, half rising from the bottom of the boat in the
+stern-sheets.
+
+"Three or four points off the port bow," the voice replied.
+
+"Are you sure?" I demanded.
+
+"I'm not quite sure, but I saw the twinkle of something away over
+on the Matuga Island side. It's gone now," the voice added, after a
+moment's pause; "but I saw something."
+
+We all looked eagerly and anxiously in the direction indicated; but
+strain our vision as we might, we could not see the faintest gleam or
+twinkle in the impenetrable darkness to leeward. If there was a light
+visible, in that or in any other direction, it could only be the
+anchor-light of the _Onward_, because both coasts of the gulf were
+uninhabited; but it seemed to me probable that the man had been
+deceived by a sparkle of phosphorescence or the gleam of a white
+foam-crest.
+
+For fully five minutes no one spoke, but all stared into the thick
+gloom ahead. Then, suddenly, the same voice cried aloud in a tone
+of still greater excitement, assurance, and certainty, "There it is
+again! I knew I saw it! It's a ship's light!"
+
+In another moment I caught sight of it myself--a faint, distant,
+intermittent twinkle on the horizon nearly dead ahead.
+
+"It's the anchor-light of the _Onward_!" I shouted in fierce
+excitement. "Spread the corner of the mainsail a little more if you
+can, boys, so as to give her better steerage-way. We've got to make
+that ship! Hold her steady on the light, Heck, even if you have to put
+her in the trough of the sea. We might as well founder as drift past!"
+
+The men forward caught up the loose edges of the mainsail and extended
+it as widely as possible to the gale, clinging to the thwarts and the
+stump of the mast to avoid being jerked overboard by the bellying
+canvas. Heck brought the sloop's head around so that the light was
+under our bow, and on we staggered through the dark, storm-lashed
+turmoil of waters, shipping a sea now and then, but half sailing, half
+drifting toward the anchored bark. The wind came in such fierce
+gusts and squalls that one could hardly say from what quarter it was
+blowing; but, as nearly as I could judge in the thick darkness, it had
+shifted three or four points to the westward. If such were the case,
+we had a fair chance of making the ship, which lay nearer the eastern
+than the western coast of the gulf.
+
+"Don't let her head fall off any, Heck," I cried. "Jam her over to the
+eastward as much as you can, even if the sea comes into her. We can
+keep her clear with our hats. If we drift past we're gone!"
+
+As we approached the bark the light grew rapidly brighter: but I did
+not realise how near we were until the lantern, which was hanging in
+the ship's fore-rigging, swung for an instant behind the jib-stay, and
+the vessel's illuminated cordage suddenly came out in delicate tracery
+against the black sky, less than a hundred yards away.
+
+"There she is!" shouted Sandford. "We're close on her!"
+
+The bark was pitching furiously to her anchors, and as we drifted
+rapidly down upon her we could hear the hoarse roar of the gale
+through her rigging, and see a pale gleam of foam as the sea broke in
+sheets of spray against her bluff bows.
+
+"Shall I try to round to abreast of her?" cried Heck to me, "or shall
+I go bang down on her?"
+
+"Don't take any chances," I shouted. "Better strike her, and go to
+pieces alongside, than miss her and drift past. Make ready now to hail
+her--all together--one,--two,--three! Bark aho-o-y! Stand by to throw
+us a line!"
+
+But no sound came from the huge black shadow under the pitching
+lantern save the deep bass roar of the storm through the cordage.
+
+We gave one more fierce, inarticulate cry as the dark outline of the
+bark rose on a sea high above our heads; and then, with a staggering
+shock and a great crash, the boat struck the ship's bow.
+
+What happened in the next minute I hardly know. I have a confused
+recollection of being thrown violently across a thwart in a white
+smother of foam; of struggling to my feet and clutching frantically at
+a wet, black wall, and of hearing some one shout in a wild, despairing
+voice: "Watch ahoy! We're sinking! For God's sake throw us a
+line!"--but that is all.
+
+The water-logged sloop seesawed up and down past the bark's side, one
+moment rising on a huge comber until I could almost grasp the rail,
+and the next sinking into a deep hollow between the surges, far below
+the line of the copper sheathing. We tore the ends of our finger-nails
+off against the ship's side in trying to stop the boat's drift, and
+shouted despairingly again and again for help and a line; but our
+voices were drowned in the roar of the gale, there was no response,
+and the next sea carried us under the bark's counter. I made one last
+clutch at the smooth, wet planks; and then, as we drifted astern past
+the ship, I abandoned hope.
+
+The sloop was sinking rapidly,--I was already standing up to my knees
+in water,--and in thirty seconds more we should be out of sight of the
+bark, in the dark, tumbling sea to leeward, with no more chance of
+rescue than if we were drowning in mid-Atlantic. Suddenly a dark
+figure in the boat beside me,--I learned afterward that it was
+Bowsher,--tore off his coat and waistcoat and made a bold leap into
+the sea to windward. He knew that it was certain death to drift out of
+sight of the bark in that sinking sloop, and he hoped to be able to
+swim alongside until he should be picked up. I myself had not thought
+of this before, but I saw instantly that it offered a forlorn hope of
+escape, and I was just poised in the act of following his example when
+on the quarter-deck of the bark, already twenty feet away, a white
+ghost-like figure appeared with uplifted arm, and a hoarse voice
+shouted, "Stand by to catch a line!"
+
+It was the _Onward's_ second mate. He had heard our cries in his
+state-room as we drifted under the ship's counter, and had instantly
+sprung from his berth and rushed on deck in his night-shirt.
+
+By the dim light of the binnacle I could just see the coil of rope
+unwind as it left his hand; but I could not see where it fell; I knew
+that there would be no time for another throw; and it seemed to me
+that my heart did not beat again until I heard from the bow of the
+sloop a cheery shout of "All right! I've got the line! Slack off till
+I make it fast!"
+
+In thirty seconds more we were safe. The second mate roused the watch,
+who had apparently taken refuge in the forecastle from the storm; the
+sloop was hauled up under the bark's stern; a second line was thrown
+to Bowsher, and one by one we were hoisted, in a sort of improvised
+breeches-buoy, to the _Onward's_ quarterdeck. As I came aboard,
+coatless, hatless, and shivering from cold and excitement, the captain
+stared at me in amazement for a moment, and then exclaimed: "Good God!
+Mr. Kennan, is that you? What possessed you to come off to the ship
+such a night as this?"
+
+"Well, Captain," I replied, trying to force a smile, "it didn't blow
+in this way when we started; and we had an accident--carried our mast
+away."
+
+"But," he remonstrated, "it has been blowing great guns ever since
+dark. We've got two anchors down, and we've been dragging them both. I
+finally had them buoyed, and told the mate that if they dragged again
+we'd slip the cables and run out to sea. You might not have found us
+here at all, and then where would you have been?"
+
+"Probably at the bottom of the gulf," I replied. "I haven't expected
+anything else for the last three hours."
+
+The ill-fated sloop from which we made this narrow escape was so
+crushed in her collision with the bark that the sea battered her to
+pieces in the course of the night, and when I went on deck the next
+morning, a few ribs and shattered planks, floating awash at the end of
+the line astern, were all of her that remained.
+
+[Illustration: War and Hunting Knives.
+Snowbeaters used for beating snow from the clothing.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+
+START FOR ST. PETERSBURG ROUTE TO YAKUTSK--A TUNGUSE ENCAMPMENT--
+CROSSING THE STANAVOI MOUNTAINS--SEVERE COLD--FIRE-LIGHTED SMOKE
+PILLARS--ARRIVAL IN YAKUTSK
+
+When we reached Okhotsk, about the middle of September, I found a
+letter from Major Abaza, brought by special courier from Yakutsk,
+directing me to come to St. Petersburg by the first winter road. The
+_Onward_ sailed for San Francisco at once, carrying back to home and
+civilisation all of our employees except four, viz., Price, Schwartz,
+Malchanski, and myself. Price intended to accompany me to St.
+Petersburg, while Schwartz and Malchanski, who were Russians, decided
+to go with us as far as Irkutsk, the east-Siberian capital.
+
+Snow fell in sufficient quantities to make good sledging about the 8th
+of October; but the rivers did not freeze over so that they could be
+crossed until two weeks later. On the 21st of the month, Schwartz and
+Malchanski started with three or four light dog-sledges to break a
+road through the deep, freshly fallen snow, in the direction of the
+Stanavoi Mountains, and on the 24th Price and I followed with the
+heavier baggage and provisions. The whole population of the village
+turned out to see us off. The long-haired priest, with his cassock
+flapping about his legs in the keen wind of a wintry morning, stood
+bareheaded in the street and gave us his farewell blessing; the
+women, whose hearts we had made glad with American baking-powder and
+telegraph teacups, waved bright-coloured handkerchiefs to us from
+their open doors; cries of "Good-bye!" "God grant you a fortunate
+journey!" came to us from the group of fur-clad men who surrounded our
+sledges; and the air trembled with the incessant howls of a hundred
+wolfish dogs, as they strained impatiently against their broad
+sealskin collars.
+
+"Ai! Maxim!" shouted the ispravnik to our leading driver, "are you all
+ready?"
+
+"All ready," was the reply.
+
+"Well, then, go, with God!" and, amid a chorus of good wishes and
+good-byes from the crowd, the spiked sticks which held our sledges
+were removed; the howls instantly ceased as the dogs sprang eagerly
+into their collars, and the group of fur-clad men, the green, bulbous
+church domes, and the grey, unpainted log houses of the dreariest
+village in all Siberia vanished behind us forever in a cloud of
+powdery snow.
+
+The so-called "post-road" from Kamchatka to St. Petersburg, which
+skirts the Okhotsk Sea for more than a thousand miles, passes through
+the village of Okhotsk, and then, turning away from the coast, ascends
+one of the small rivers that rise in the Stanavoi Mountains; crosses
+that range at a height of four or five thousand feet; and finally
+descends into the great valley of the Lena. It must not be supposed,
+however, that this "post-road" resembles anything that we know by that
+name. The word "road," in north-eastern Siberia, is only a verbal
+symbol standing for an abstraction. The thing symbolised has no more
+real, tangible existence than a meridian of longitude. It is simply
+lineal extension in a certain direction. The country back of Okhotsk,
+for a distance of six hundred miles, is an unbroken wilderness of
+mountains and evergreen forests, sparsely inhabited by Wandering
+Tunguses, with here and there a few hardy Yakut squirrel hunters.
+Through this wilderness there is not even a trail, and the so-called
+"road" is only a certain route which is taken by the government
+postilion who carries the yearly mail to and from Kamchatka. The
+traveller who starts from the Okhotsk Sea with the intention of going
+across Asia by way of Yakutsk and Irkutsk must make up his mind to be
+independent of roads;--at least for the first fifteen hundred miles.
+The mountain passes, the great rivers, and the post-stations, will
+determine his general course; but the wilderness through which he
+must make his way has never been subdued by the axe and spade of
+civilisation. It is now, as it always has been, a wild, primeval land
+of snowy mountains, desolate steppes, and shaggy pine forests, through
+which the great arctic rivers and their tributaries have marked out
+the only lines of intercommunication.
+
+The worst and most difficult part of the post-route between Okhotsk
+and Yakutsk, viz., the mountainous part, is maintained by a half-wild
+tribe of arctic nomads known to the Russians as Tunguses. Living
+originally, as they did, in skin tents, moving constantly from place
+to place, and earning a scanty subsistence by breeding reindeer, they
+were easily persuaded by the Russian Government to encamp permanently
+along the route, and furnish reindeer and sledges for the
+transportation of couriers and the imperial mails, together with
+such travellers as should be provided with government orders, or
+"podorozhnayas." In return for this service they were exempted from
+the annual tax levied by Russia upon her other Siberian subjects; were
+supplied with a certain yearly allowance of tea and tobacco; and were
+authorised to collect from the travellers whom they carried a fare to
+be computed at the rate of about two and a half cents per mile for
+every reindeer furnished. Between Okhotsk and Yakutsk, along the line
+of this post-route, there are seven or eight Tunguse encampments,
+which vary a little in location, from season to season, with the
+shifting areas of available pasturage, but which are kept as nearly
+as possible equidistant from one another in a direct line across the
+Stanavoi range.
+
+We hoped to make the first post-station on the third day after our
+departure; but the soft freshly fallen snow so retarded our progress
+that it was nearly dark on the fourth day before we caught sight of
+the little group of Tunguse tents where we were to exchange our dogs
+for reindeer. If there be, in "all the white world," as the Russians
+say, anything more hopelessly dreary than one of the Tunguse mountain
+settlements in winter, I have never seen it. Away up above the
+forests, on some elevated plateau, or desolate, storm-swept height,
+where nothing but berry bushes and arctic moss will grow, stand the
+four or five small, grey reindeerskin tents which make up the nomad
+encampment. There are no trees or shrubs around them to shut out a
+part of the sky, limit the horizon, or afford the least semblance of
+shelter to the lonely settlement, and there is no wall or palisade to
+fence in and domesticate for finite purposes a little corner of the
+infinite. The grey tents seem to stand alone in the great universe of
+God, with never-ending space and unbounded desolation stretching away
+from their very doors. Take your stand near such an encampment and
+look at it more closely. The surface of the snowy plain around you,
+as far as you can see, has been trampled and torn up by reindeer in
+search of moss. Here and there between the tents stand the large
+sledges upon which the Tunguses load their camp-equipage when they
+move, and in front is a long, low wall, made of symmetrically piled
+reindeer packs and saddles. A few driving deer wander around, with
+their noses to the ground, looking for something that they never
+seem to find; evil-looking ravens--the scavengers of Tunguse
+encampments--flap heavily past with hoarse croaks to a patch of
+blood-stained snow where a reindeer has recently been slaughtered;
+and in the foreground, two or three grey, wolfish dogs with cruel,
+light-coloured eyes, are gnawing at a half-stripped reindeer's head.
+The thermometer stands at forty-five degrees below zero, Fahrenheit,
+and the breasts of deer, ravens, and dogs are white with frost. The
+thin smoke from the conical fur tents rises perpendicularly to a great
+height in the clear, still air; the ghostly mountain peaks in
+the distance look like white silhouettes on a background of dark
+steel-blue; and the desolate snow-covered landscape is faintly tinged
+with a yellow glare by the low-hanging wintry sun. Every detail of the
+scene is strange, wild, arctic,--even to the fur-clad, frost-whitened
+men who come riding up to the tents astride the shoulders of panting
+reindeer and salute you with a drawling "Zdar-o-o-va!" as they put one
+end of their balancing poles to the ground and spring from their flat,
+stirrupless saddles. You can hardly realise that you are in the same
+active, bustling, money-getting world in which you remember once to
+have lived. The cold, still atmosphere, the white, barren mountains,
+and the great lonely wilderness around you are all full of cheerless,
+depressing suggestions, and have a strange unearthliness which you
+cannot reconcile or connect with any part of your pre-Siberian life.
+
+At the first Tunguse encampment we took a rest of twenty-four hours,
+and then, exchanging our dogs for reindeer, we bade good-bye to our
+Okhotsk drivers and, under the guidance of half a dozen bronze-faced
+Tunguses in spotted reindeerskin coats, pushed westward, through
+snow-choked mountain ravines, toward the river Aldan. Our progress,
+for the first two weeks, was slow and fatiguing and attended with
+difficulties and hardships of almost every possible kind. The Tunguse
+encampments were sometimes three or four days' journey apart; the
+cold, as we ascended the Stanavoi range, steadily increased in
+intensity until it became so severe as to endanger life, and day
+after day we plodded wearily on snowshoes ahead of our heavily
+loaded sledges, breaking a road in three feet of soft snow for our
+struggling, frost-whitened deer. We made, on an average, about thirty
+miles a day; but our deer often came in at night completely exhausted,
+and the sharp ivory goads of our Tunguse drivers were red with frozen
+blood. Sometimes we bivouacked at night in a wild mountain gorge
+and lighted up the snow-laden forest with the red glare of a mighty
+camp-fire; sometimes we shovelled the drifted snow out of one of the
+empty _yurts_, or earth-covered cabins, built by the government along
+the route to shelter its postilions, and took refuge therein from
+a howling blizzard. Hardened as we were by two previous winters of
+arctic travel, and accustomed as we were to all the vicissitudes of
+northern life, the crossing of the Stanavoi range tried our powers of
+endurance to the uttermost. For four successive days, near the summit
+of the pass on the western slope, mercury froze at noon. [Footnote:
+We had only a mercurial thermometer, so that we did not know how much
+below -39° the temperature was.] The faintest breath of air seared the
+face like a hot iron; beards became tangled masses of frosty wire;
+eyelids grew heavy with long snowy fringes which half obscured the
+sight; and only the most vigorous exercise would force the blood back
+into the benumbed extremities from which it was constantly being
+driven by the iron grasp of the cold. Schwartz, the oldest member of
+our party, was brought into a Tunguse encampment one night in a state
+of unconsciousness that would soon have ended in death, and even our
+hardy native drivers came in with badly frozen hands and faces. The
+temperature alone would have been sufficient evidence, if evidence
+were needed, that we were entering the coldest region on the
+globe--the Siberian province of Yakutsk. [Footnote: In some parts of
+this province the freezing point of mercury, or about forty degrees
+below zero Fahrenheit, is the average temperature of the three winter
+months, and eighty-five degrees below zero have sometimes been
+observed.]
+
+In a monotonous routine of walking on snowshoes, riding on
+reindeer-sledges, camping in the open, or sleeping in smoky Tunguse
+tents, day after day and week after week passed, until at last we
+approached the valley of the Aldan--one of the eastern tributaries of
+that great arctic river the Lena. Climbing the last outlying ridge of
+the Stanavoi range, one dark, moonless evening in November, we found
+ourselves at the head of a wild ravine leading downward into an
+extensive open plain. Away below and in front, outlined against the
+intense blackness of the hills beyond the valley, rose four or five
+columns of luminous mist, like pillars of fire in the wilderness of
+the Exodus.
+
+"What are those?" I inquired of my Tunguse driver.
+
+"Yakut," was the brief reply.
+
+They were columns of smoke, sixty or seventy feet in height, over the
+chimneys of Yakut farmhouses; and they stood so vertically in the
+cold, motionless air of the arctic night that they were lighted up, to
+their very summits, by the hearth-fires underneath. As I stood looking
+at them, there came faintly to my ears the far-away lowing of cattle.
+"Thank God!" I said to Malchanski, who at that moment rode up, "we are
+getting, at last, where they live in houses and keep cows!" No one can
+fully understand the pleasure that these columns of fire-lighted smoke
+gave us until he has ridden on dog- or reindeer-sledges, or walked on
+snowshoes, for twenty interminable days, through an arctic wilderness.
+It seemed to me a year since our departure from Okhotsk; for weeks we
+had not taken off our heavy armour of furs; mirrors, beds and clean
+linen were traditions of the remote past; and American civilisation,
+as we looked back at it across twenty-seven months of barbarism, faded
+into the unreal imagery of a dream. But the pillars of fire-lighted
+smoke and the lowing of domestic cattle were a promise of better
+things.
+
+In less than two hours, we were sitting before the glowing fireplace
+of a comfortable Yakut house, with a soft carpet under our feet;
+real crockery cups of fragrant Kiakhta tea on a table beside us, and
+pictures on the wall over our heads. The house, it is true, had slabs
+of ice for windows; the carpet was made of deerskins; and the pictures
+were only woodcuts from _Harper's Weekly_ and _Frank Leslie's_; but to
+us, fresh from the smoky tents of the Tunguses, windows, carpets, and
+pictures, of any kind, were things to be wondered at and admired.
+
+Between the Yakut settlements on the Aldan and the town of Yakutsk,
+there was a good post-road--really a road; so, harnessing shaggy white
+Yakut ponies to our Okhotsk dog-sledges, we drove swiftly westward, to
+the unfamiliar music of Russian sleigh-bells, changing horses at every
+post-station and riding from fifteen to eighteen hours out of the
+twenty-four.
+
+On the 16th of November, after twenty-three days of continuous travel,
+we reached Yakutsk; and there, in the house of a wealthy Russian
+merchant who threw his doors open to us with warm-hearted hospitality,
+we washed from our bodies the smoke and grime of Tunguse tents and
+_yurts_; put on clean, fresh clothes; ate a well cooked and daintily
+served supper; drank five tumblers of fragrant overland tea; smoked
+two Manila cheroots; and finally went to bed, excited but happy, in
+beds that were provided with hair mattresses, fleecy Russian blankets,
+and linen sheets. The sensation of lying without furs and between
+sheets in a civilised bed was so novel and extraordinary that I lay
+awake for an hour, trying experiments with that wonderful mattress and
+luxuriously exploring, with bare feet, the smooth cool expanses of
+linen sheeting.
+
+[Illustration: Travelling Bag made of Reindeer skin]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+
+THE GREATEST HORSE-EXPRESS SERVICE IN THE WORLD--EQUIPMENT FOR
+THE ROAD--A SIBERIAN "SEND-OFF"--POST TRAVEL ON THE ICE--BROKEN
+SLEEP--DRIVING INTO AN AIR-HOLE--REPAIRING DAMAGES--FIRST SIGHT OF
+IRKUTSK
+
+We remained in Yakutsk only four days--just long enough to make the
+necessary preparations for a continuous sleigh-ride of five thousand
+one hundred and fourteen miles to the nearest railway in European
+Russia. The Imperial Russian Post, by which we purposed to travel from
+Yakutsk to Nizhni Novgorod, was, at that time, the longest and best
+organised horse-express service in the world. It employed 3000 or 4000
+drivers, with twice as many _telegas, tarantases_ and sleighs, and
+kept in readiness for instant use more than 10,000 horses, distributed
+among 350 post-stations, along a route that covered a distance as
+great as that between New York City and the Sandwich Islands. If one
+had the requisite physical endurance, and could travel night and
+day without stop, it was possible, with a courier's "podorozhnaya"
+(po-do-rozh'-na-yah), or road-ticket, to go from Yakutsk to Nizhni
+Novgorod, a distance of 5114 miles, in twenty-five days, or only
+eleven days more than the time occupied by a railway train in covering
+about the same distance. Before the establishment of telegraphic
+communication between China and Russia, imperial couriers, carrying
+important despatches from Peking, often made the distance between
+Irkutsk and St. Petersburg--3618 miles--in sixteen days, with two
+hundred and twelve changes of horses and drivers. In order to
+accomplish this feat they had to eat, drink, and sleep in their
+sleighs and make an average speed-rate of ten miles an hour for nearly
+four hundred consecutive hours. We did not expect, of course, to
+travel with such rapidity as this; but we intended to ride night and
+day, and hoped to reach St. Petersburg before the end of the year.
+With the aid and advice of Baron Maidel, a Russian scientist who had
+just come over the route that we purposed to follow, Price and I
+bought a large open _pavoska_ or Siberian travelling sleigh, which
+looked like a huge, burlap-covered baby-carriage on runners; had it
+brought into the courtyard of our house, and proceeded to fit it up
+for six weeks' occupancy as a bedchamber and sitting-room. First of
+all, we repacked our luggage in soft, flat, leather pouches, and
+stowed it away in the bottom of the deep and capacious vehicle as a
+foundation for our bed. We then covered these flat pouches with a
+two-foot layer of fragrant hay, to lessen the shock of jolting on a
+rough road; spread over the hay a big wolfskin sleeping-sack, about
+seven feet in length and wide enough to hold our two bodies; covered
+that with two pairs of blankets; and finally lined the whole back part
+of the sleigh with large, soft, swan's-down pillows. At the foot of
+the sleeping-sack, under the driver's seat, we stowed away a bag of
+dried rye-bread, another bag filled with cakes of frozen soup, two or
+three pounds of tea, a conical loaf of white sugar, half a dozen dried
+and smoked salmon, and a padded box containing teapot, tea-cannister,
+sugar-jar, spoons, knives and forks, and two glass tumblers. Schwartz;
+and Malchanski bought another _pavoska_ and fitted it up in similar
+fashion, and on the 19th of November we obtained from the Bureau
+of Posts two _podorozhnayas_, or, as Price called them, "ukases,"
+directing every post-station master between Yakutsk and Irkutsk to
+furnish us, "by order of his Imperial Majesty Alexander Nikolaivitch,
+Autocrat of All the Russias," etc., etc., six horses and two drivers
+to carry us on our way.
+
+In every part of the world except Siberia it is customary to start on
+a long journey in the morning. In Siberia, however, the proper time is
+late in the evening, when all your friends can conveniently assemble
+to "provozhat," or, in colloquial English, give you a send-off.
+Judging from our experience in Yakutsk, the Siberian custom has the
+support of sound reason, inasmuch as the amount of drinking involved
+in the riotous ceremony of "provozhanie" unfits a man for any place
+except bed, and any occupation more strenuous than slumber. A man
+could never see his friend off in the morning and then go back to his
+business. He would see double, if not quadruple, and would hardly be
+able to speak his native language without a foreign accent. When
+the horses came from the post-station for us, at ten o'clock on the
+evening of November 20th, we had had one dinner and two or three
+incidental lunches; had "sampled" every kind of beverage that our host
+had in the house, from vodka and cherry cordial to "John Collins" and
+champagne; had sung all the songs we knew, from "John Brown's Body"
+in English to "Nastóichka travnáya" in Russian; and Schwartz and
+Malchanski were ready, apparently, to make a night of it, send the
+horses back to the station, and have another _provozhanie_ the next
+day. Price and I, however, insisted that the Czar's ukase to the
+station-masters was good only for that evening; that if we didn't
+take the horses immediately we should have to pay demurrage; that the
+curfew bell had rung; that the town gates would close at ten thirty
+sharp; and that if we didn't get under way at once, we should probably
+be arrested for riotous disturbance of the peace!
+
+We put on our _kukhlankas_ and fur hoods at last; shook hands once
+more all around; and finally got out into the street;--Malchanski
+dragging Schwartz off to his sleigh singing the chorus of a Russian
+drinking song that ended in "Ras-to-chee'-tel-no! Vos-khe-tee'-tel-no!
+Oo-dee-vee'-tel-no!" We then drank a farewell stirrup cup, which our
+bareheaded host brought out to us after we had taken our seats, and
+were just about to start, when Baron Maidel shouted to me, with an
+air of serious concern, "Have you got a club--for the drivers and
+station-masters?"
+
+"No," I replied, "I don't need a club; I can talk to them in the most
+persuasive Russian you ever heard."
+
+"Akh! Neilza!" ("Impossible") he exclaimed. "It is impossible to go
+so! You must have a club! Wait a minute!" and he rushed back into
+the house to get me a bludgeon from his private armory. My driver,
+meanwhile, who evidently disapproved, on personal grounds, of this
+suggestion, laid his whip across his horses' backs with a cry of "Noo,
+rebatta!" ("Now then, boys") and we dashed away from the house, just
+as the Baron reappeared on the steps brandishing a formidable cudgel
+and shouting: "Pastoy! Neilza!" ("Stop, it's impossible.") "You can't
+go without a club!" When we turned a neighbouring corner and lost
+sight of the house, our host was waving a bottle in one hand and a
+lighted candle in the other; Baron Maidel was still gesticulating on
+the steps, shouting: "Neilza! Hold on! Club! For your drivers! It's
+impossible to go so!" and the little group of "provozhatters" on the
+sidewalk were laughing, cheering, and shouting "Good-bye! Good luck!
+With God!"
+
+We dashed away at a gallop through the snow-drifted streets, past
+earth-banked _yurts_ whose windows of ice were irradiated with a warm
+glow by the open fires within; past columns of luminous smoke rising
+from the wide chimneys of Yakut houses; past a red stuccoed church
+upon whose green, balloon-shaped domes golden stars glittered in the
+frosty moonlight; past a lonely graveyard on the outskirts of the
+city; and finally down a gentle decline to the snow-covered river,
+which had a width of nearly four miles and which stretched away to the
+westward like a frozen lake surrounded by dark wooded hills. Up this
+great river--the Lena--we were to travel on the ice for a distance of
+nearly a thousand miles, following a sinuous, never-ending line of
+small evergreen trees, which had been cut in the neighbouring forests
+and set up at short intervals in the snow, to guide the drivers in
+storms and to mark out a line of safety around air-holes and between
+areas of thin ice or stretches of open water. I fell asleep, shortly
+after leaving Yakutsk, but was awakened, two or three hours later,
+at the first post-station, by the voice of our driver shouting: "Ai!
+Boys! Out with the horses--lively!" Two of us then had to alight from
+our sleighs, go into the post-station, show our _podorozhnayas_ to the
+station-master, and superintend the harnessing of two fresh teams.
+Getting back into my fur bag, I lay awake for the next three hours,
+listening to the jangle of a big bell on the wooden arch over the
+thill-horse's back, and watching, through frosty eyelashes, the dark
+outlines of the high wooded shores as they seemed to drift swiftly
+past us to the eastward.
+
+The severest hardship of post travel in eastern Siberia in winter is
+not the cold, but the breaking up of all one's habits of sleep. In the
+first stages of our journey, when the nights were clear and the river
+ice was smooth and safe, we made the distances between stations in
+from two to three hours; and at the end of every such period we were
+awakened, and had to get out of our warm fur bags into a temperature
+that was almost always below zero and sometimes forty or fifty degrees
+below. When we got back into our vehicles and resumed our journey,
+we were usually cold, and just as we would get warm enough to go to
+sleep, we would reach another station and again have to turn out.
+Sleeping in short snatches, between shivers, to the accompaniment of
+a jangling dinner-bell and a driver's shouts, and getting out into
+an arctic temperature every two or three hours, night and day, for a
+whole week, reduces one to a very fagged and jaded condition. At the
+end of the first four days, it seemed to me that I should certainly
+have to stop somewhere for an unbroken night's rest; but man is an
+animal that gets accustomed to things, and in the course of a week I
+became so used to the wild cries of the driver and the jangle of the
+thill-horse's bell that they no longer disturbed me, and I gradually
+acquired the habit of sleeping, in brief cat-naps, at all hours of the
+day and night. As we ascended the river, the moon rose later and
+later and the nights were often so dark that our drivers had great
+difficulty in following the line of evergreen trees that marked the
+road. Finally, about five hundred miles from Yakutsk, a particularly
+reckless or self-confident driver got off the road, went ahead at a
+venture instead of stopping to look for the evergreen trees, and just
+after midnight drove us into an air-hole, about a quarter of a mile
+from shore, where the water was thirty feet deep. Price and I were
+fast asleep, and were awakened by the crashing of ice, the snorting of
+the terrified horses, and the rush of water into the sleigh. I cannot
+remember how we got out of our fur bags and gained the solid ice. I
+was so bewildered by sleep and so completely taken by surprise that I
+must have acted upon blind impulse, without any clear consciousness of
+what I was doing. From subsequent examination of the air-hole and the
+sleigh, I concluded that we must have jumped from the widely extended
+outriggers, which were intended to guard against an accidental
+capsize, which had a span of ten or twelve feet, and which rested
+on the broken ice around the margin of the hole in such a way as to
+prevent the sleigh from becoming completely submerged. But be that as
+it may, we all got out on the solid ice in some way, and the first
+thing I remember is standing on the edge of the hole, staring at the
+swimming, snorting horses, the outlines of whose heads and necks
+I could just make out, and wondering whether this were not a
+particularly vivid and terrifying nightmare. For an instant, I could
+not be absolutely sure that I was awake. In a moment, the other
+sleigh, which was only a short distance behind, loomed up through the
+darkness and its driver shouted to our man, "What's the matter?"
+
+"Oootonoole!" ("We got drowned") was the reply. "Get out your ropes,
+quick, while I run to the shore for some driftwood. The horses
+will freeze and sink in a few minutes. Akh! My God! My God! What a
+punishment!" and, tearing off his outer fur coat, he started at a run
+for the shore. I did not know what he expected to do with driftwood,
+but he seemed to have a clear vital idea of some sort, so Price and
+I rushed away after him. "We must get a tree, or a small log," he
+explained breathlessly as we overtook him, "so I can crawl out on it
+and cut the horses loose. But God knows," he added, "whether they'll
+hold out till we get back. The water is killing cold." After a few
+minutes on the snowy beach, we found a long, slender tree-trunk that
+our driver said would do, and began to drag it across the ice. Our
+breath, by this time, was coming in short, panting gasps, and when
+Schwartz, Malchanski, and the other driver, who ran to our assistance,
+took hold of the heavy log, we were on the verge of physical collapse.
+When we got back to the air-hole, the horses were still swimming
+feebly, but they were fast becoming chilled and exhausted, and it
+seemed doubtful whether we should save them. We pushed the log out
+over the broken edge of the ice, and five of us held it while our
+driver, with a knife between his teeth and a rope about his shoulders,
+crawled out on it, cut loose one of the outside horses and fastened
+the line around its neck. He then crept back, and we all hauled on the
+line until we dragged the poor beast out by the head. It was very much
+exhausted and badly scraped by the sharp edge of the ice, but it had
+strength enough to scramble to its feet. We then cut loose and hauled
+out in the same way the outside horse on the other side. This one was
+nearly dead and made no attempt to get up until it had been cruelly
+flogged, but it struggled to its feet at last. Cutting loose the
+thill-horse was more difficult, as its body was completely submerged
+and it was hard to get at the rawhide fastening that held the collar,
+the wooden arch, and the thills together, but our plucky driver
+succeeded at last, and we dragged the half-frozen animal out. Rescue
+came for him, however, too late. He could not rise to his feet and
+died, a few moments afterward, from exhaustion and cold. Fastening
+ropes to the half-submerged sleigh and harnessing to it the horses of
+the other team, we finally pulled that up on the ice. Leaving it there
+for the present, we made traverses back and forth across the river
+until we found the line of evergreen trees, and then started for the
+nearest post-station--Price and I riding with Malchanski and Schwartz
+while our driver followed with the two rescued horses. When we reached
+the post-station, which was about seven miles away, it was between
+three and four o'clock in the morning; and, after rousing the
+station-master and sending a driver with a team of fresh horses after
+the abandoned sleigh, we drank two or three tumblerfuls of hot tea,
+brought in blankets and pillows from the sleigh of Schwartz and
+Malchanski, and went to bed on the floor. As a result of this
+misadventure, our homeward progress was stopped, and we had to stay at
+the village of Krestófskaya two days, while we repaired damages. Our
+sleigh, when it came in that morning, was a mass of ice; our fur bag,
+blankets, pillows, and spare clothing were water-soaked and frozen
+solid; and the contents of our leather pouches were almost ruined.
+By distributing our things among half a dozen houses we succeeded in
+getting them thawed out and dried in time to make another start at the
+end of the second day; but after that time I did not allow myself to
+fall asleep at night. We had escaped once, but we might not be so
+fortunate again, and I decided to watch the line of evergreen bushes
+myself. When we lost the road in the darkness afterward, as we
+frequently did, I made the driver stop and searched the river myself
+on foot until I found it. The danger that I feared was not so much
+getting drowned as getting wet. In temperatures that were almost
+continuously below zero, and often twenty or thirty degrees below, a
+man in water-soaked clothing would freeze to death in a very short
+time, and there were so many air-holes and areas of thin ice that
+watchfulness was a matter of vital necessity.
+
+Day after day and night after night we rode swiftly westward, up a
+river that was always more than a mile in width and often two or
+three; past straggling villages of unpainted log houses clinging
+to the steep sides of the mountainous shores; through splendid
+precipitous gorges, like those above the Iron Gate of the Danube;
+along stretches of flat pasture land where shaggy, white Yakut
+ponies were pawing up the snow to get at the withered grass; through
+good-sized towns like Kirinsk and Vitimsk, where we began to see
+signs of occidental civilisation; and finally, past a stern-wheel,
+Ohio-River steamboat, of primitive type, tied up and frozen in near
+the head of navigation at Verkholénsk. "Just look at that steamer!"
+cried Price, with an unwonted glow of enthusiasm in his boyish face.
+"Doesn't that look like home?" At Verkholénsk we abandoned the Lena,
+which we had followed up almost to its source, and, leaving the ice
+for the first time in two weeks, we started across country in a line
+nearly parallel with the western coast of Lake Baikal. We had been
+forty-one days on the road from Okhotsk; had covered a distance of
+about 2300 miles, and were within a day's ride of Irkutsk.
+
+One bright sunshiny morning in early December, from the crest of
+a high hill on the Verkholénsk road, we got our first view of the
+east-Siberian capital--a long compact mass of wooden houses with
+painted window-shutters; white-walled buildings with roofs of metallic
+green; and picturesque Russo-Byzantine churches whose snowy towers
+were crowned with inverted balloons of gold or covered with domes of
+ultramarine blue spangled with golden stars. Long lines of loaded
+sledges from the Mongolian frontier could be seen entering the city
+from the south; the streets were full of people; flags were flying
+here and there over the roofs of government buildings; and from the
+barracks down the river came faintly the music of a regimental band.
+Our driver stopped his horses, took off his hat, and turning to us,
+with the air of one who owns what he points out, said, proudly,
+"Irkutsk!" If he expected us to be impressed--as he evidently did--he
+was not disappointed; because Irkutsk, at that time and from that
+point of view, was a very striking and beautiful city. We, moreover,
+had just come from the desolate moss tundras and wild, lonely forests
+of arctic Asia and were in a state of mind to be impressed by anything
+that had architectural beauty, or indicated culture, luxury, and
+wealth. We had seen nothing that even remotely suggested a city in two
+years and a half; and we felt almost as if we were Gothic barbarians
+gazing at Rome. It did not even strike us as particularly funny when
+our Buriat driver informed us seriously that Irkutsk was so great a
+place that its houses had to be numbered in order to enable their
+owners to find them! To us, fresh from Gizhiga, Penzhina, and Okhotsk,
+a city with numbered houses was really too remarkable and impressive
+a thing to be treated with levity, and we therefore received the
+information with proper awe and in silence. We could share the native
+feeling, even if numbered houses had once been known to us.
+
+Twenty minutes later, we dashed into the city at a gallop, as if we
+were imperial couriers with war news; rushed at break-neck speed past
+markets, bazaars, telegraph poles, street lamps, big shops with gilded
+sign-boards, polished droshkies drawn by high-stepping Orloff horses,
+officers in uniform, grey-coated policemen with sabres, and pretty
+women hooded in white Caucasian _bashliks_; and finally drew up with a
+flourish in front of a comfortable-looking stuccoed hotel--the first
+one we had seen in more than twenty-nine months.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+
+A PLUNGE INTO CIVILISATION--THE NOBLES' BALL--SHOCKING LANGUAGE--
+SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLISH--THE GREAT SIBERIAN ROAD--PASSING TEA
+CARAVANS--RAPID TRAVEL--FIFTY-SEVEN HUNDRED MILES IN ELEVEN
+WEEKS--ARRIVAL IN ST. PETERSBURG
+
+At Irkutsk, we plunged suddenly from a semi-barbaric environment into
+an environment of high civilisation and culture; and our attempts to
+adjust ourselves to the new and unfamiliar conditions were attended,
+at first, with not a little embarrassment and discomfort. As we were
+among the first Americans who had been seen in that Far Eastern
+capital, and were officers, moreover, of a company with which the
+Russian Government itself had been in partnership, we were not only
+treated with distinguished consideration, but were welcomed everywhere
+with warm-hearted kindness and hospitality; and we found it necessary
+at once to exchange calls with high officials; accept invitations to
+dinner; share the box of the Governor-General's chief of staff at the
+theatre, and go to the weekly ball of the "noble-born" in the hall
+of the "Blagorodnaya Sobrania," (Assembly of Nobles). The first
+difficulty that we encountered, of course, was the lack of suitable
+clothing. After two and a half years of campaigning in an arctic
+wilderness, we had no raiment left that was fit to wear in such a city
+as Irkutsk, and--worse than that--we had little money with which to
+purchase a new supply. The two hundred and fifty dollars with which
+we left Okhotsk had gradually dribbled away in the defrayment of
+necessary expenses along the road, and we had barely enough left to
+pay for a week's stay at the hotel. In this emergency we fell back
+upon our telegraph-company uniforms. They had been soaked in the Lena,
+frozen into masses of ice, and stretched all out of shape in the
+process of wringing and drying at Krestófskaya; but we got an Irkutsk
+tailor to press them and polish up the tarnished gilt buttons, and
+after spending most of the money we had left in the purchase of new
+fur overcoats to replace the dirty, travel-worn _kukhlankas_ in which
+we had arrived, we got ourselves up in presentable form to call on the
+Governor-General.
+
+The severest ordeal through which we had to pass, however, was the
+dance at the hall of the Blagorodnaya Sobrania to which we were
+escorted by General Kukel (koo'-kel), the Governor-General's chief of
+staff. The spacious and brilliantly lighted apartment, draped with
+flags and decorated with evergreens; the polished dancing-floor;
+the crash and blare of the music furnished by a military band; the
+beautiful women in rich evening toilettes; and the throng of handsome
+young officers in showy and diversified uniforms, simply overwhelmed
+us with feelings of mingled excitement and embarrassment. I felt,
+myself, like a uniformed Eskimo at a Charity Ball, and should have
+been glad to skulk in a corner behind the band! All I wanted was an
+opportunity to watch, unobserved, the brilliant picture of colour and
+motion, and to feel the thrill of the music as the band swept, with
+wonderful dash, swing, and precision, through the measures of a
+spirited Polish mazurka. General Kukel, however, had other views
+for us, and not only took us about the hall, introducing us to more
+beautiful women than we had seen, we thought, in the whole course of
+our previous existence, but said to every lady, as he presented us:
+"Mr. Kennan and Mr. Price, you know, speak Russian perfectly." Price,
+with discretion beyond his years, promptly disclaimed the imputed
+accomplishment; but I was rash enough to admit that I did have some
+knowledge of the language in question, and was forthwith drawn into a
+stream of rapid Russian talk by a young woman with sympathetic face
+and sparkling eyes, who encouraged me to describe dog-sledge travel
+in north-eastern Asia and the vicissitudes of tent life with the
+Wandering Koraks. On this conversational ground I felt perfectly at
+home; and I was succeeding, as I thought, admirably, when the girl
+suddenly blushed, looked a trifle shocked, and then bit her lip in
+a manifest effort to restrain a smile of amusement not warranted by
+anything in the life that I was trying to describe. She was soon
+afterward carried away by a young Cossack officer who asked her to
+dance, and I was promptly engaged in conversation by another lady, who
+also wanted "to hear an American talk Russian." My self-confidence had
+been a little shaken by the blush and the amused smile of my previous
+auditor, but I rallied my intellectual forces, took a firm grip of my
+Russian vocabulary, and, as Price would say, "sailed in." But I soon
+struck another snag. This young woman, too, began to show symptoms
+of shock, which, in her case, took the form of amazement. I was
+absolutely sure that there was nothing in the subject-matter of my
+remarks to bring a blush to the cheek of innocence, or give a shock to
+the virgin mind of feminine youth, and yet it was perfectly evident
+that there was something wrong. As soon as I could make my escape,
+I went to General Kukel and said: "Will you please tell me, Your
+Excellency, what's the matter with my Russian?"
+
+"What makes you think there's anything the matter with it?" he replied
+evasively, but with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.
+
+"It doesn't seem to go very well," I said, "in conversation with
+women. They appear to understand it all right, but it gives them a
+shock. Is my pronunciation so horribly bad?"
+
+"You speak Russian," he said, "with quite extraordinary fluency,
+and with a-a-really interesting and engaging accent; but--excuse
+me please--shall I be entirely frank? You see you have learned the
+language, under many disadvantages, among the Koraks, Cossacks, and
+Chukchis of Kamchatka and the Okhotsk Sea coast, and--quite innocently
+and naturally of course--you have picked up a few words and
+expressions that are not--well, not--"
+
+"Not used in polite society," I suggested.
+
+"Hardly so much as that," he replied deprecatingly. "They're a little
+queer, that 's all--quaint--bizarre--but it's nothing! nothing at all!
+All you need is a little study of good models--books, you know--and a
+few months of city life."
+
+"That settles it!" I said. "I talk no more Russian to ladies in
+Irkutsk."
+
+When, upon my arrival in St. Petersburg, I had an opportunity to study
+the language in books, and to hear it spoken by educated people, I
+found that the Russian I had picked up by Kamchatkan camp-fires and
+in Cossack _izbas_ on the coast of the Okhotsk Sea resembled, in many
+respects, the English that a Russian would acquire in a Colorado
+mining camp, or among the cowboys in Montana. It was fluent, but, as
+General Kukel said, "quaint--bizarre," and, at times, exceedingly
+profane.
+
+I was not the only person in Irkutsk, however, whose vocabulary was
+peculiar and whose diction was "quaint" and "bizarre." A day or two
+after the ball of the Blagorodnaya Sobrania we received a call from a
+young Russian telegraph operator who had heard of our arrival and who
+wished to pay his respects to us as brother telegraphers from America.
+I greeted him cordially in Russian; but he began, at once, to speak
+English, and said that he would prefer to speak that language, for
+the sake of practice. His pronunciation, although queer, was fairly
+intelligible, and I had little difficulty in understanding him; but
+his talk had a strange, mediaeval flavour, due, apparently, to the use
+of obsolete idioms and words. In the course of half an hour, I
+became satisfied that he was talking the English of the fifteenth
+century--the English of Shakespeare, Beaumont, and Fletcher--but how
+he had learned such English, in the nineteenth century and in the
+capital of eastern Siberia, I could not imagine. I finally asked him
+how he had managed to get such command of the language in a city
+where, so far as I knew, there was no English teacher. He replied that
+the Russian Government required of its telegraph operators a knowledge
+of Russian and French, and then added two hundred and fifty rubles
+a year to their salaries for every additional language that they
+learned. He wanted the two hundred and fifty rubles, so he began the
+study of English with a small English-French dictionary and an old
+copy of Shakespeare. He got some help in acquiring the pronunciation
+from educated Polish exiles, and from foreigners whom he occasionally
+met, but, in the main, he had learned the language alone, and by
+committing to memory dialogues from Shakespeare's plays. I described
+to him my recent experience with Russian, and told him that his method
+was, unquestionably, better than mine. He had learned English from the
+greatest master of the language that ever lived; while I had picked
+up my Russian from Cossack dog-drivers and illiterate Kamchadals. He
+could talk to young women in the eloquent and impassioned words of
+Romeo, while my language was fit for backwoodsmen only.
+
+At the end of our first week in Irkutsk, we were ready to resume our
+journey; but we had no money with which to pay our hotel bill, still
+less our travelling expenses. I had telegraphed to Major Abaza
+repeatedly for funds, but had received no reply, and I was finally
+compelled to go, in humiliation of spirit, to Governor General
+Sheláshnikoff, and borrow five hundred rubles.
+
+On the 13th of December, we were again posting furiously along the
+Great Siberian Road, past caravans, of tea from Hankow; detachments
+of Cossacks convoying gold from the placers of the Lena; parties of
+hard-labour convicts on their way to the mines of the trans-Baikal;
+and hundreds of sleighs loaded with the products or manufactures of
+Russia, Siberia, and the Far East.
+
+For the first thousand miles, our progress was retarded and our rest
+greatly broken--particularly at night--by tea caravans. With the
+establishment of the winter road, in November, hundreds of low,
+one-horse sledges, loaded with hide-bound boxes of tea that had come
+across the desert of Gobi from Peking, left Irkutsk, every day, for
+Nizhni Novgorod. They moved in solid caravans, a quarter of a mile to
+a mile in length, and in every such caravan there were from fifty to
+two hundred sledges. As the tea-horses went at a slow, plodding
+walk, their drivers were required, by law, to turn out for private
+travellers and give the latter the road; but they seldom did anything
+of the kind. There were only twelve or fifteen of them to a caravan
+of a hundred sledges; and as they usually curled up on their loads at
+night and went fast asleep, it was practically impossible to arouse
+them and get the caravan out of the middle of the road. In order to
+pass, therefore, we ourselves had to turn out and drive three quarters
+of a mile, or possibly a mile, through the deep soft snow on one side
+of the beaten track. This so exasperated our driver that he would
+give every horse and every sleeping teamster in the whole caravan
+a slashing cut with his long rawhide whip, shouting, in almost
+untranslatable Russian, "Wake up!" (Whack.) "Get a move on you!"
+(Whack.) "What are you doing in the middle of the road there?"
+(Whack.) "Akh! You ungodly Tartar pagans!" (Whack.) "GO TO SLEEP IN
+THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, WILL YOU?" (Whack, whack.) Meanwhile, the
+strongly braced outrigger of our _pavoska_, on the caravan side, would
+strike every one of the tea-sledges, as we passed, and the long series
+of violent shocks, combined with the rolling and pitching of our
+vehicle, as it wallowed through the deep snow, would be enough to
+awaken a man from anything except the last sleep of death. Usually, we
+were aroused by our driver's preliminary shouts when we first came in
+sight of a caravan; but sometimes we were in such a stupor of sleep
+that we did not awake until the outrigger collided with the first load
+of tea and brought us suddenly to consciousness with a half-dazed
+impression that we had been struck by lightning, or hit by a falling
+tree. If we had had to undergo this experience only once or twice
+in the course of the night, it would not have been so bad; but we
+sometimes passed half a dozen caravans between sunset and dawn; threw
+every one of them into disorder and confusion with outrigger and whip;
+and left behind us a wake of Russian and Tartar profanity almost
+fiery enough to be luminous in the dark. Shortly after leaving Tomsk,
+however, we passed the vanguard of these tea caravans and saw them no
+more.
+
+The road in western Siberia was hard and smooth, and the horses were
+so good that we made very rapid progress with comparatively little
+discomfort. We stopped only twice a day for meals, and every night
+found us 175 or 200 miles nearer our destination than we had been the
+night before. We succeeded in getting across the Urals before the end
+of the year, and on the 7th of January, after twenty-five days of
+almost incessant night-and-day travel, we drew up before a hotel in
+the city of Nizhni Novgorod, which, at that time, was the eastern
+terminus of the Russian railway system. We sold our sleigh, fur bag,
+pillows, tea-equipment, and the provisions we had left, for what
+they would bring--a beggarly sum; took a train the same day for St.
+Petersburg; and reached the Russian capital on the 9th of January,
+eleven weeks from the Okhotsk Sea by way of Yakutsk, Irkutsk, Tomsk,
+Tiumen, Ekaterineburg, and Nizhni Novgorod. In the eleven weeks we
+had changed dogs, reindeer, or horses more than two hundred and sixty
+times and had made a distance of five thousand seven hundred and
+fourteen miles, nearly all of it in a single sleigh.
+
+[Illustration: Wooden Cup]
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  A
+
+  Abaza, Major S., appointed superintendent of Siberian division;
+  forms plan of operations;
+  starts northward from Petropavlovsk;
+  scares up a bear;
+  falls ill at Lesnoi;
+  leaves Gizhiga for Okhotsk;
+  orders from;
+  returns to Gizhiga;
+  makes trip to Anadyrsk;
+  sails for Okhotsk;
+  visits Yakutsk;
+  comes to Yamsk;
+  returns to Yakutsk;
+  starts for St. Petersburg;
+  letter from.
+  Agaricus muscarius, Korak intoxicant.
+  Air-hole, driving into
+  Aklán, river
+  Aldan, river
+  Amur, river
+  Anadyr, river;
+  work on.
+  Anadyr River party;
+  finding of;
+  experience of;
+  orders concerning.
+  Anadyrsk, village;
+  arrival at;
+  priest's house in;
+  history and description of;
+  climate of;
+  ball at;
+  character of inhabitants;
+  famine at.
+  Anadyrsk sickness
+  Animals, of Kamchatka
+  Anóssof, Russian commissioner
+  Arnold, member of Anadyr River party
+  Astronomical lectures
+  Atlantic cable, failure of first;
+  final success of.
+  Aurora borealis;
+  remarkable display of.
+  Aurora of the sea
+  Avacha, bay
+  Avacha, river
+  Avacha, village
+  Avacha, volcano
+
+
+  B
+
+  "Baideras," Korak skin boats
+  "Balagáns," fish storehouses
+  Ball, at Anadyrsk;
+  at Irkutsk.
+  "Ballalaikas," Siberian guitars
+  "Barabans," Korak drums
+  Baths, "black," Kamchatkan steam baths
+  Bear hunts
+  Bears
+  Bering, monument to, in Petropavlovsk
+  Berries
+  Bickmore, A.S., reference to Korak marriage ceremony
+  Birds
+  Bivouacs, Kamchatkan
+  Blueberries
+  Bollman, merchant in Petropavlovsk
+  Bordman, W.H.
+  Bowsher, member of Sandford's party
+  Bragan, Nicolai, guide
+  Bragans, Kamchatkan traders
+  British Columbia
+  British Government, concessions from
+  Bulkley, Colonel Charles S.
+  Bush, Richard J., becomes member of Siberian party;
+  sails for Amur River;
+  meeting with, at Gizhiga;
+  put in command of Northern District;
+  bad news from;
+  night meeting with;
+  experience in summer of 1866
+  Buttercups
+
+
+  C
+
+  Cable, Atlantic, failure of first;
+  final success of
+  Camp, a winter
+  Camps
+  Canoe travel
+  Canticle, a driver's
+  Christmas, in a storm;
+  in Anadyrsk
+  Christmas carols
+  Chuances
+  Chukchis
+  Church, Greek, architecture and color;
+  services
+  Cinquefoil
+  _Clara Bell_, bark
+  Climate
+  Clover
+  Cold, Asiatic pole of;
+  phenomena of;
+  on Myan River;
+  lowest temperature observed;
+  in Stanavoi mountains
+  Collins, P. McD., suggests overland telegraph to Europe
+  Congress, of U. S., promises assistance
+  Cossack waltz
+  Cossacks
+  Cows
+  Cowslips
+  Crimean war, connection of Petropavlovsk with
+  Crinoline, Korak comment on
+  Crows
+
+
+  D
+
+  Dall, W. H.
+  Dances, Siberian
+  Distance, Korak ideas of
+  Divide, Kamchatkan, crossing of
+  Dix, Major General, worshipped as a saint
+  Dodd, James, engaged as member of party in Petropavlovsk;
+  goes to Tigil;
+  left in Gizhiga
+  Dogs, ancestry:
+  endurance;
+  food;
+  sledges;
+  loads;
+  driving of;
+  first experiment in driving;
+  howling of, in chorus;
+  rest;
+  cutting of feet by ice
+  "Dole," arctic desert
+  Dranka, village
+  Dress;
+  of Kamchadals;
+  of Wandering Koraks;
+  of Zamutkis and Tunguses
+  Drunkenness, from poisonous toadstool
+  Ducks
+
+
+  E
+
+  Eagles
+  English, Shakespearian, in Irkutsk
+  Equipment, in San Francisco;
+  in Petropavlovsk;
+  in Lesnoi;
+  in Gizhiga;
+  in Anadyrsk;
+  in Yakutsk
+  Escape, narrowest
+  Eskimo-like natives
+  Ethnology, of Siberian natives
+  Evil spirits, propitiation of
+  Exploration, plans for
+
+
+  F
+
+  Famines
+  Fashion-plate, Korak comment on
+  Field glass, Chukchi experiments with
+  Fish-hawks
+  Fish savings banks
+  Flowers, in Gizhiga;
+  in Petropavlovsk;
+  in Kamchatka
+  Fluger, German merchant in Petropavlovsk
+  Fly agaric, as intoxicant
+  Food, of Kamchadals
+  Fort St. Michael
+  _Frank Leslie's_, fashion-plate from;
+  pictures from
+  Frazer River
+  Fritillaria;
+  bulbs eaten
+  Fronefield, American in Petropavlovsk
+  Frost, George A.
+  Fruits, of Kamchatka
+  Fur trade, of Kamchatka
+
+
+  G
+
+  Gale, in North Pacific
+  Geese
+  Genal, valley
+  Genal, village
+  Gilyaks
+  Gizhiga, village;
+  arrival at;
+  first days in;
+  departure from;
+  return to, from Anadyrsk;
+  spring in;
+  climate of;
+  dancing parties in
+  _Golden Gate_, bark, wreck of
+  Goldsmith, Oliver, reference to Korak intoxicant
+  Grouse "teteer"
+  Gulls
+
+
+  H
+
+  _Hallie Jackson_, brig
+  Hamilton, captain of whaling bark _Sea Breeze_
+  Harchina, village
+  Harder, member of Anadyr River party
+  _Harper's Weekly_, pictures from
+  Heck, member of Sandford's party
+  _Herald, N.Y._, correspondent of
+  Horseback travel
+  Horse-express, Siberian
+  Houses, Kamchadal
+  Hunter, American in Petropavlovsk
+
+
+  I
+
+  _Illustrated London News_, as wall paper
+  Imperator and operator
+  Indian type, of Siberian native
+  Intoxicant, Korak
+  Irkutsk, city
+  "Ispravnik," local governor of Petropavlovsk;
+  of Gizhiga;
+  of Okhotsk
+
+
+  J
+
+  Jelly-fish;
+  luminous
+  "Jerusalem," village
+
+  K
+
+  Kamchadals, character;
+  food;
+  language;
+  music;
+  numbers;
+  physique;
+  religion;
+  sable trapping;
+  summer settlements;
+  transportation
+  Kamchatka, animals;
+  berries;
+  birds;
+  climate;
+  first impressions;
+  first view of coast;
+  flowers;
+  fruits;
+  government;
+  mail;
+  population;
+  scenery;
+  topography;
+  transportation;
+  volcanoes
+  Kamchatka River;
+  raft, life on;
+  valley of
+  Kamchatkan Divide, crossing of
+  Kamchatkan lily
+  Kamchatkan mountains
+  Kamenoi
+  Kazarefski, village
+  "Kazarm," a Russian barrack
+  "Kedrovnik," see "Pine"
+  Kennicott, leader of Alaskan exploring party
+  Kirinsk, town on Lena River
+  Kluchei, village
+  Kluchefskoi volcano
+  Knox, Colonel T. W., correspondent of _N.Y. Herald_
+  Kolyma, mosquitoes in
+  Korak, village
+  Koraks, Settled, appearance;
+  experiments with American food;
+  in Kamenoi;
+  stupidity and ugliness;
+  yurts
+  Koraks, Wandering, arrival at first encampment;
+  appearance;
+  character;
+  comment on dress of American woman;
+  food;
+  geographical range;
+  intoxicant;
+  language;
+  marriage ceremony;
+  monotonous life;
+  old and sick killed;
+  pologs;
+  reindeer;
+  relation to Chukchis;
+  relieve starving Anadyrsk people;
+  religion;
+  social organisation;
+  superstitions;
+  tents
+  Koratskoi, volcano
+  Krestofskaya, village
+  Kristi, village
+  Kuil, village of Settled Koraks
+  Kukel, General
+  "Kukhlanka" fur overshirt
+
+
+  L
+
+  Labrador tea
+  Lamutkis
+  Land, longing for
+  Language, "American";
+  Russian difficulty of learning;
+  grammar of;
+  specimen;
+  experience with, in Irkutsk
+  La Perouse, monument to, in Petropavlovsk
+  Lecky, W.H., reference to religion of terror
+  Lectures, astronomical
+  Leet, American brought by bark _Onward_;
+  suicide of
+  Lesnoi, village
+  Letovies, summer settlements
+  Lewis, Richard, telegraph operator brought by bark _Onward_
+  Lily, Kamchatkan
+  "Lodkas," Siberian skiffs
+
+
+  M
+
+  Macrae, leader of Anadyr River party
+  Macrae and Arnold, go with Chukchis;
+  no news from;
+  arrive in Anadyrsk;
+  experience with Chukchis;
+  first winter's work
+  Magpies
+  Mahood, Captain James A.
+  Mahood and Bush
+  Maidel, Baron
+  Malchanski
+  Malqua, village
+  Manchus
+  "Manyalla," Korak bread
+  Marriage ceremonies, Russian
+  Korak
+  Matches, Koraks see for first time
+  Matuga, island
+  Maximof, Kamchatkan driver
+  Medusae;
+  luminous
+  Mikina, village
+  Milkova, village
+  Mirages
+  Mongolian type of natives
+  "Moroshkas," berries
+  Mosquitoes
+  Moss steppe
+  Mountains, Kamchatkan
+  "Muk-a-moor," Korak intoxicant
+  Music, American, in Kamchatka;
+  of Kamchadals;
+  of Greek Church;
+  on corvette _Varag_
+  Myan, river
+
+
+  N
+
+  Nalgim, mountain
+  "Nart," Siberian dog-sledge
+  _New York Herald_, correspondent of
+  Nights, in summer
+  Nikolaievsk, town
+  Nizhni Novgorod
+  Northern District, famine in;
+  work in
+  Norton, forearm of pole-cutting party
+  Norton, sound
+
+
+  O
+
+  "Oerstel," a spiked stick
+  Okhotsk Sea;
+  coast of;
+  temperatures of;
+  phosphorescence of
+  Okuta, village
+  _Olga_, brig, passage engaged on;
+  inspection of;
+  sails from San Francisco;
+  life on;
+  sails for Amur River
+  _Onward_, bark
+  Operator and imperator
+
+
+  P
+
+  _Palmetto_, bark
+  Paren, river
+  "Pavoskas," travelling sleighs or sledges
+  Penzhina, river
+  Penzhina, village
+  Penzhinsk Gulf
+  Petropavlovsk
+  Phillippeus, trip down the Anadyr;
+  boat of
+  Phosphorescence, of the sea
+  Pierce, American in Petropavlovsk
+  Pine, trailing or "Kedrovnik"
+  Plans, at Gizhiga
+  Plover
+  "Podorozhnaya," order for post-horses
+  "Pologs," skin bedrooms
+  Pope, leader of Alaskan party
+  Porte Crayon, sketches of, in Kamchatka
+  Post-road to Irkutsk
+  Povorotnoi, cape
+  Price, telegraph operator, brought by _Onward_
+  Primroses
+  "Pripaika," ice-foot
+  Propashchina, River of the Lost
+  "Protoks," arms of stream
+  Ptarmigan
+  Puffin
+  "Purgas," blizzards
+  Pushchin, village
+
+
+  R
+
+  Raft, Kamchatkan
+  Raft travel
+  Raselskoi, volcano
+  Ravens
+  Reception, Kamchatkan
+  Reindeer
+  catching;
+  driving;
+  food;
+  guarding;
+  habits;
+  of Koraks;
+  of Tunguses;
+  stampede;
+  superstition
+  about sale of;
+  uses
+  Reindeer Koraks, see "Koraks,
+  Wandering"
+  Reindeer-sledge travel
+  Religion, of Kamchadals;
+  of Wandering Koraks
+  Reveries, seasick
+  River of the Lost
+  Roads
+  Robinson, member of Anadyr
+  River party
+  Roses, wild
+  Route of line
+  Routes from Kluchei
+  Russell and Co.
+  Russian-American Telegraph Co.
+  organisation of
+  failure of
+  Russian Government
+  Russian language
+
+
+  S
+
+  Sables, trapping;
+  trade in skins
+  _Saghalin_, Russian supply steamer
+  St. Petersburg
+  Sale, a bargain
+  Salmon, catching and curing;
+  failure of;
+  frozen;
+  dependence of Siberians upon
+  Samanka Mountains
+  Samanka River
+  Sandford, Lieut., foreman of
+  pole-cutting party
+  "Sastrugi," permanent drifts
+  of snow
+  Scammon, Captain, commander
+  of Company's fleet
+  Scenery of Kamchatka
+  Scenery, Siberian, in winter
+  Schwartz
+  _Sea Breeze_, whaling bark
+  Sea life
+  "Selánka," Kamchatkan soup
+  Send-off, a Siberian
+  Shamanism
+  "Shchi," cabbage soup
+  Sheláshnikoff, Governor-General
+  Sherom, village
+  Shestakóva, village
+  Sidanka, village
+  Smith, member of Anadyr River
+  party
+  Sparrow song
+  Spring, in Gizhiga
+  Squirrel skins
+  Stanavoi Mountains
+  Star-flower
+  "Starosta," head man of village
+  Steeplechase, to Sidanka
+  Stock, of Western Union Extension
+  Co.
+  Storm in Northern Pacific;
+  on the Viliga River;
+  on the Málkachán steppe;
+  in Gizhiginsk Gulf
+  Stovepipe, search for;
+  finding of
+  "Struganini," frozen fish
+  Sugar, used instead of money
+  Sulkavoi, captain of port of Petropavlovsk
+  Sutton, captain of bark _Clara Bell_
+  Suveilich, volcano
+  Swallows
+  Swans
+  Sword-bearer
+
+
+  T
+
+  "Taiyon," Korak chief
+  "Tarantas," Siberian travelling carriage
+  Tea, used instead of money
+  "Tea caravans,"
+  Telega, four-wheeled Siberian wagon
+  Tents, of Koraks, life in
+  "Teteer," Russian grouse
+  Thrushes
+  Tide, a race with
+  Tigil, village
+  Time, expedients to pass away
+  Tobacco, used instead of money
+  Tobézin, captain of steamer, _Saghalin_
+  Topolofka, river
+  "Topor," Russian axe
+  "Torbasses," fur boots
+  Trances, in Anadyrsk sickness
+  Trailing-pine. See "Pine"
+  Transportation, means of, in Kamchatka
+  Tundras, mossy plains
+  Tunguses;
+  encampments
+  Turkish type of natives
+
+
+  U
+
+  Ural Mountains
+  Usinova, brook
+
+
+  V
+
+  Valerian
+  _Varag_, Russian corvette
+  Verkholénsk, town on Lena River
+  Victoria
+  Viliga, stormy gorge of;
+  mountains
+  Villages, Kamchatkan, descriptions
+  Villuchinski, volcano
+  Vitimsk, town on Lena River
+  Volcanoes of Kamchatka
+  Vorrebeoffs, Kamchatkan traders,
+
+
+  W
+
+  Wages, paid Yakut laborers
+  Wedding, in Petropavlovsk;
+  in Korak tent
+  Western Union Extension Co.
+  Western Union Telegraph Co.
+  Wheeler, sent to Yamsk
+  Whymper, book of
+  Wild-rose petals, as food
+  Women, American, Korak comment on dress of
+  Work accomplished up to March 1886
+  Writing, Korak and Chukchi, ignorance of
+
+
+  Y
+
+  Yakuts
+  Yakutsk;
+  winter temperatures
+  Yamsk, village;
+  trip to, in March
+  "Yassak," a tax on furs
+  Yolofka, pass
+  Yolofka, river, canoe travel on
+  Yolofka, village
+  "Yukola," dried fish
+  "Yurts," Asiatic habitations;
+  of settled Koraks,
+
+
+  Z
+
+  "Zimovie," winter settlement
+  Zinovief, Gregorie, Cossack guide
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tent Life in Siberia, by George Kennan
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TENT LIFE IN SIBERIA ***
+
+***** This file should be named 12328-8.txt or 12328-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/3/2/12328/
+
+Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team.
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year. For example:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL
+
+
diff --git a/old/12328-8.zip b/old/12328-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28a48f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12328-8.zip
diff --git a/old/12328.txt b/old/12328.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce2d6fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12328.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,14049 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tent Life in Siberia, by George Kennan
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Tent Life in Siberia
+
+Author: George Kennan
+
+Release Date: May 12, 2004 [EBook #12328]
+Last Updated: December 8, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TENT LIFE IN SIBERIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+TENT-LIFE IN
+
+SIBERIA
+
+By GEORGE KENNAN
+
+[Illustration: George Kennan 1868]
+
+
+
+
+Tent Life in Siberia
+
+A New Account of an Old Undertaking
+
+
+Adventures among the Koraks and
+Other Tribes In Kamchatka and Northern Asia
+
+By
+
+George Kennan
+
+Author of "Siberia and the Exile System," "Campaigning in Cuba," "The
+Tragedy of Pelee," "Folk Tales of Napoleon"
+
+_With 32 Illustrations and Maps_
+
+1910
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION.
+
+
+This narrative of Siberian life and adventure was first given to the
+public in 1870--just forty years ago. Since that time it has never
+been out of print, and has never ceased to find readers; and the
+original plates have been sent to the press so many times that they
+are nearly worn out. This persistent and long-continued demand for the
+book seems to indicate that it has some sort of perennial interest,
+and encourages me to hope that a revised, illustrated, and greatly
+enlarged edition of it will meet with a favourable reception.
+
+_Tent Life in Siberia_ was put to press for the first time while I
+was absent in Russia. I wrote the concluding chapters of it in St.
+Petersburg, and sent them to the publishers from there in the early
+part of 1870. I was then so anxious to get started for the mountains
+of the Caucasus that I cut the narrative as short as I possibly could,
+and omitted much that I should have put in if I had had time enough
+to work it into shape. The present edition contains more than fifteen
+thousand words of new matter, including "Our Narrowest Escape" and
+"The Aurora of the Sea," and it also describes, for the first time,
+the incidents and adventures of a winter journey overland from the
+Okhotsk Sea to the Volga River--a straightaway sleigh-ride of more
+than five thousand miles.
+
+The illustrations of the present edition, which will, I hope, add
+greatly to its interest, are partly from paintings by George A. Frost,
+who was with me on both of my Siberian expeditions; and partly from
+photographs taken by Messrs. Jochelson and Bogoras, two Russian
+political exiles, who made the scientific investigations for the Jesup
+North Pacific Expedition on the Asiatic side of Bering Strait.
+
+I desire gratefully to acknowledge my indebtedness to The Century
+Company for permission to use parts of two articles originally written
+for _St. Nicholas_; to Mrs. A.D. Frost, of North Cambridge, Mass.,
+for photographs of her late husband's paintings; and to the American
+Museum of Natural History for the right to reproduce the Siberian
+photographs of Messrs. Jochelson and Bogoras.
+
+GEORGE KENNAN.
+
+BEAUFORT, S.C.
+
+February 16, 1910.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+The attempt which was made by the Western Union Telegraph Company, in
+1865-66 and 67, to build an overland line to Europe via Alaska,
+Bering Strait, and Siberia, was in some respects the most remarkable
+undertaking of the nineteenth century. Bold in its conception, and
+important in the ends at which it aimed, it attracted at one time
+the attention of the whole civilised world, and was regarded as the
+greatest telegraphic enterprise which had ever engaged American
+capital. Like all unsuccessful ventures, however, in this progressive
+age, it has been speedily forgotten, and the brilliant success of the
+Atlantic cable has driven it entirely out of the public mind. Most
+readers are familiar with the principal facts in the history of this
+enterprise, from its organisation to its ultimate abandonment; but
+only a few, even of its original projectors, know anything about the
+work which it accomplished in British Columbia, Alaska, and Siberia;
+the obstacles which were met and overcome by its exploring and working
+parties; and the contributions which it made to our knowledge of an
+hitherto untravelled, unvisited region. Its employees, in the
+course of two years, explored nearly six thousand miles of unbroken
+wilderness, extending from Vancouver Island on the American coast to
+Bering Strait, and from Bering Strait to the Chinese frontier in
+Asia. The traces of their deserted camps may be found in the wildest
+mountain fastnesses of Kamchatka, on the vast desolate plains of
+north-eastern Siberia, and throughout the gloomy pine forests of
+Alaska and British Columbia. Mounted on reindeer, they traversed the
+most rugged passes of the north Asiatic mountains; they floated in
+skin canoes down the great rivers of the north; slept in the smoky
+_pologs_ of the Siberian Chukchis (chook'-chees); and camped out upon
+desolate northern plains in temperatures of 50 deg. and 60 deg. below zero.
+The poles which they erected and the houses which they built now stand
+alone in an encircling wilderness,--the only results of their three
+years' labour and suffering, and the only monuments of an abandoned
+enterprise.
+
+It is not my purpose to write a history of the Russian-American
+telegraph. The success of its rival, the Atlantic cable, has
+completely overshadowed its early importance, and its own failure
+has deprived it of all its interest for American readers. Though its
+history, however, be unimportant, the surveys and explorations which
+were planned and executed under its auspices have a value and an
+interest of their own, aside from the object for which they were
+undertaken. The territory which they covered is little known to the
+reading world, and its nomadic inhabitants have been rarely visited
+by civilised man. Only a few adventurous traders and fur-hunters have
+ever penetrated its almost unbroken solitudes, and it is not probable
+that civilised men will ever follow in their steps. The country holds
+out to the ordinary traveller no inducement commensurate with the risk
+and hardship which its exploration involves.
+
+Two of the employees of the Russian-American Telegraph Company,
+Messrs. Whymper and Dall, have already published accounts of their
+travels in various parts of British Columbia and Alaska; and believing
+that a history of the Company's explorations on the other side
+of Bering Strait will possess equal interest, I have written the
+following narrative of two years' life in north-eastern Siberia. It
+makes no pretensions whatever to fulness of scientific information,
+nor to any very extraordinary researches of any kind. It is intended
+simply to convey as clear and accurate an idea as possible of the
+inhabitants, scenery, customs, and general external features of a
+new and comparatively unknown country. It is essentially a personal
+narrative of life in Siberia and Kamchatka; and its claim to attention
+lies rather in the freshness of the subject, than in any special
+devotion to science or skill of treatment.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Head covering used in stalking seals]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE OVERLAND TELEGRAPH LINE TO RUSSIA--SAILING OF THE FIRST SIBERIAN
+EXPLORING PARTY FROM SAN FRANCISCO
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+CROSSING THE NORTH PACIFIC--SEVEN WEEKS IN A RUSSIAN BRIG
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE PICTURESQUE COAST OF KAMCHATKA--ARRIVAL IN PETROPAVLOVSK
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THINGS RUSSIAN IN KAMCHATKA--A VERDANT AND FLOWERY LAND--THE VILLAGE
+OF TWO SAINTS
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+FIRST ATTEMPT TO LEARN RUSSIAN--PLAN OF EXPLORATION--DIVISION OF PARTY
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A COSSACK WEDDING--THE PENINSULA OF KAMCHATKA
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+STARTING NORTHWARD--KAMCHATKAN SCENERY, VILLAGES, AND PEOPLE
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+BRIDLE PATHS OF SOUTHERN KAMCHATKA--HOUSES AND FOOD OF THE
+PEOPLE--REINDEER TONGUES AND WILD-ROSE PETALS--A KAMCHATKAN DRIVER'S
+CANTICLE
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF GENAL--WALLS OF LITERATURE--SCARING UP A
+BEAR--END OF HORSEBACK RIDE
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE KAMCHATKA RIVER--LIFE ON A CANOE RAFT--RECEPTION AT
+MILKOVA--MISTAKEN FOR THE TSAR
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ARRIVAL AT KLUCHEI--THE KLUCHEFSKOI VOLCANO--A QUESTION OF ROUTE--A
+RUSSIAN "BLACK BATH"
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+CANOE TRAVEL ON THE YOLOFKA--VOLCANIC CONVERSATION--"O
+SUSANNA!"--TALKING "AMERICAN"--A DIFFICULT ASCENT
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A DISMAL NIGHT--CROSSING THE KAMCHATKAN DIVIDE--ANOTHER BEAR
+HUNT--BREAKNECK RIDING--TIGIL--STEPPES OF NORTHERN KAMCHATKA
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+OKHOTSK SEACOAST--LESNOI--THE "DEVIL'S PASS"--LOST IN
+SNOW-STORM--SAVED BY BRASS BOX--WILD SCENE
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+CUT OFF BY STORM--STARVATION THREATENED--RACE WITH A RISING TIDE--TWO
+DAYS WITH FOOD--RETURN TO LESNOI
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+KAMCHATKAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS--CHARACTER OF PEOPLE--
+SALMON-FISHING--SABLE-TRAPPING--KAMCHADAL LANGUAGE--NATIVE
+MUSIC--DOG-DRIVING--WINTER DRESS
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A FRESH START--CROSSING THE SAMANKA MOUNS ON A KORAK ENCAMPMENT--
+NOMADS AND THEIR TENTS--DOOR-HOLES AND DOGS--POLOGS--KORAK BREAD
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+WHY THE KORAKS WANDER--THEIR INDEPENDENCE--CHEERLESS LIFE--USES OF
+THE REINDEER--KORAK IDEAS OF DISTANCE--"MONARCH OF THE BRASS-HANDLED
+SWORD."
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE SNOW-DRIFT COMPASS--MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE--AN INTOXICATING
+FUNGUS--MONOTONY OF KORAK LIFE
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE KORAK TONGUE--RELIGION OF TERROR--INCANTATIONS OF SHAMANS--KILLING
+OF OLD AND SICK--REINDEER SUPERSTITION--KORAK CHARACTER
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+FIRST FROST-BITE--THE SETTLED KORAKS--HOUR-GLASS YURTS--CLIMBING
+DOWN CHIMNEYS--YURT INTERIORS--LEGS AS FEATURES--TRAVELLING BY
+"PAVOSKA"--BAD CHARACTER OF SETTLED KORAKS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+FIRST ATTEMPT AT DOG-DRIVING--UNPREMEDITATED PROFANITY--A
+RUNAWAY--ARRIVAL AT GIZHIGA--HOSPITALITY OF THE ISPRAVNIK--PLANS FOR
+THE WINTER
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+DOG-SLEDGE TRAVEL--ARCTIC MIRAGES--CAMP AT NIGHT A HOWLING
+CHORUS--NORTHERN LIGHTS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+DISMAL SHELTER--ARRIVAL OF A COSSACK COURIER--AMERICANS ON THE
+ANADYR--ARCTIC FIREWOOD--A SIBERIAN BLIZZARD--LOST ON THE STEPPE
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+PENZHINA--POSTS FOR ELEVATED ROAD--FIFTY-THREE BELOW ZERO--TALKED
+OUT--ASTRONOMICAL LECTURES--EATING PLANETS--THE HOUSE OF A PRIEST
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+ANADYRSK--AN ARCTIC OUTPOST--SEVERE CLIMATE--CHRISTMAS SERVICES
+AND CAROLS--A SIBERIAN BALL--MUSIC AND REFRESHMENTS--EXCITED
+DANCING--HOLIDAY AMUSEMENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+NEWS FROM THE ANADYR PARTY--PLAN FOR ITS RELIEF--THE STORY OF A
+STOVE-PIPE--START FOR THE SEACOAST
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+A SLEDGE JOURNEY EASTWARD--REACHING TIDEWATER--A NIGHT SEARCH FOR
+A STOVE-PIPE--FINDING COMRADES--A VOICE FROM A STOVE--STORY OF THE
+ANADYR PARTY
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+CLASSIFICATION OF NATIVES--INDIAN TYPE, MONGOLIAN TYPE, AND TURKISH
+TYPE--EASTERN VIEW OF WESTERN ARTS AND FASHIONS--AN AMERICAN SAINT
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+AN ARCTIC AURORA--ORDERS FROM THE MAJOR--ADVENTURES OF MACRAE AND
+ARNOLD WITH THE CHUKCHIS--RETURN TO GIZHIGA--REVIEW OF WINTER'S WORK
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+LAST WORK OF THE WINTER--BIRDS AND FLOWERS OF SPRING--CONTINUOUS
+DAYLIGHT--SOCIAL LIFE IN GIZHIGA--A CURIOUS SICKNESS--SUMMER DAYS AND
+NIGHTS--NEWS FROM AMERICA
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+DULL LIFE--ARCTIC MOSQUITOES--WAITING FOR SUPPLIES--SHIPS
+SIGNALLED--BARK "CLARA BELL"--RUSSIAN CORVETTE "VARAG"
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+ARRIVAL OF BARK "PALMETTO"--DRIVEN ASHORE BY GALE--DISCHARGING
+CARGO UNDER DIFFICULTIES--NEGRO CREW MUTINIES--LONELY TRIP TO
+ANADYRSK--STUPID KORAKS--EXPLOSIVE PROVISIONS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+A MEETING IN THE NIGHT--HARDSHIPS OF BUSH'S PARTY--SIBERIAN
+FAMINES--FISH SAVINGS BANKS--WORK IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT--STARVING
+POLE CUTTERS--A JOURNEY TO YAMSK
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+YURT ON THE TOPOLOFKA--THE VALLEY OF TEMPESTS--RIVER OF THE
+LOST--STORM BOUND--ESCAPE BY THE ICE-FOOT--A SLEEPLESS NIGHT--LEET
+REPORTED DEAD--YAMSK AT LAST
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI BRIGHT ANTICIPATIONS---A WHALE-SHIP SIGNALLED--THE BARK
+"SEA BREEZE"--NEWS FROM THE ATLANTIC CABLE--REPORTED ABANDONMENT OF
+THE OVERLAND LINE
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION OF THE BAD NEWS--THE ENTERPRISE ABANDONED--A
+VOYAGE TO OKHOTSK--THE AURORA OF THE SEA
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+CLOSING UP THE BUSINESS--A BARGAIN SALE--TELEGRAPH TEACUPS
+REDUCED--CHEAP SHOVELS FOR GRAVE-DIGGING--WIRE FISH NETS AT A
+SACRIFICE--OUR NARROWEST ESCAPE--BLOWN OUT TO SEA--SAVED BY THE
+"ONWARD"
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+START FOR ST. PETERSBURG--ROUTE TO YAKUTSK--A TUNGUSE ENCAMPMENT--
+CROSSING THE STANAVOI MOUNTAINS--SEVERE COLD--FIRE-LIGHTED SMOKE
+PILLARS--ARRIVAL IN YAKUTSK
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+THE GREATEST HORSE-EXPRESS SERVICE IN THE WORLD--EQUIPMENT FOR
+THE ROAD--A SIBERIAN "SEND-OFF"--POST TRAVEL ON THE ICE--BROKEN
+SLEEP--DRIVING INTO AN AIR-HOLE--REPAIRING DAMAGES--FIRST SIGHT OF
+IRKUTSK
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+A PLUNGE INTO CIVILISATION--THE NOBLES' BALL--SHOCKING LANGUAGE--
+SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLISH--THE GREAT SIBERIAN ROAD--PASSING TEA
+CARAVANS--RAPID TRAVEL--FIFTY-SEVEN HUNDRED MILES IN ELEVEN
+WEEKS--ARRIVAL IN ST. PETERSBURG
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+GEORGE KENNAN, 1868
+
+A TENT OF THE WANDERING KORAKS IN SUMMER
+
+TOWARD NIGHT: A TIRED DOG-TEAM From a painting by George A. Frost.
+
+WANDERING KORAKS WITH THEIR REINDEER AND SLEDGES From a painting by
+George A. Frost.
+
+A MAN OF THE WANDERING KORAKS
+
+TENTS AND REINDEER OF THE WANDERING KORAKS From a painting by George
+A. Frost.
+
+DRAWINGS OF THE KORAKS. ILLUSTRATIVE OF THEIR MYTHS
+
+A KORAK GIRL
+
+KORAK DOGS SACRIFICED TO PROPITIATE THE SPIRITS OF EVIL
+
+A RACE OF WANDERING KORAK REINDEER TEAMS From a painting by George A.
+Frost.
+
+HOUR-GLASS HOUSES OF THE SETTLED KORAKS From a model in The American
+Museum of Natural History.
+
+INTERIOR OF A KORAK YURT. GETTING FIRE WITH THE FIRE DRILL From a
+photograph in The American Museum of Natural History.
+
+A WOMAN ENTERING A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS
+
+SETTLED KORAKS IN A TRIAL OF STRENGTH
+
+AN OLD MAN OF THE SETTLED KORAKS From a photograph in The American
+Museum of Natural History.
+
+YURT AND DOG-TEAM OF THE SETTLED KORAKS From a painting by George A.
+Frost.
+
+A WOMAN FEEDING A DOG-TEAM IN GIZHIGA From a, painting by George A.
+Frost.
+
+INTERIOR OF A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS
+
+DOG-TEAMS DESCENDING A STEEP MOUNTAIN SLOPE
+
+CHUKCHIS ASSEMBLING AT ANADYRSK FOR THE WINTER FAIR
+
+ANADYRSK IN WINTER
+
+A MAN OF THE YUKAGIRS
+
+A MAN OF THE WANDERING CHUKCHIS
+
+TUNGUSE MAN AND WOMAN IN BEST SUMMER DRESS
+
+A TUNGUSE SUMMER TENT
+
+A CHUKCHI RUG OF REINDEER SKIN
+
+TUNGUSES ON REINDEER-BACK MOVING THEIR ENCAMPMENT From a photograph in
+The American Museum of Natural History.
+
+A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS IN MIDWINTER
+
+AN ARCTIC FUNERAL
+
+THE YURT IN THE "STORMY GORGE OF THE VILIGA" From a painting by George
+A. Frost.
+
+MAPS
+
+
+
+
+TENT LIFE IN SIBERIA
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+THE OVERLAND TELEGRAPH LINE TO RUSSIA--SAILING OF THE FIRST SIBERIAN
+EXPLORING PARTY FROM SAN FRANCISCO.
+
+The Russian-American Telegraph Company, otherwise known as the
+"Western Union Extension," was organised at New York in the summer
+of 1864. The idea of a line from America to Europe, by way of Bering
+Strait, had existed for many years in the minds of several prominent
+telegraphers, and had been proposed by Perry McD. Collins, as early
+as 1857, when he made his trip across northern Asia. It was never
+seriously considered, however, until after the failure of the first
+Atlantic cable, when the expediency of an overland line between the
+two continents began to be earnestly discussed. The plan of Mr.
+Collins, which was submitted to the Western Union Telegraph Company of
+New York as early as 1863, seemed to be the most practicable of all
+the projects which were suggested for intercontinental communication.
+It proposed to unite the telegraphic systems of America and Russia by
+a line through British Columbia, Russian America, and north-eastern
+Siberia, meeting the Russian lines at the mouth of the Amur (ah-moor)
+River on the Asiatic coast, and forming one continuous girdle of wire
+nearly round the globe.
+
+This plan possessed many very obvious advantages. It called for
+no long cables. It provided for a line which would run everywhere
+overland, except for a short distance at Bering Strait, and which
+could be easily repaired when injured by accident or storm. It
+promised also to extend its line eventually down the Asiatic coast to
+Peking, and to develop a large and profitable business with China.
+All these considerations recommended it strongly to the favour of
+capitalists and practical telegraph men, and it was finally adopted
+by the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1863. It was foreseen, of
+course, that the next Atlantic cable might succeed, and that such
+success would prove very damaging, if not fatal, to the prospects
+of the proposed overland line. Such an event, however, did not seem
+probable, and in view of all the circumstances, the Company decided to
+assume the inevitable risk.
+
+A contract was entered into with the Russian Government, providing for
+the extension of the latter's line through Siberia to the mouth of
+the Amur River, and granting to the Company certain extraordinary
+privileges in Russian territory. Similar concessions were obtained
+in 1864 from the British Government; assistance was promised by the
+United States Congress; and the Western Union Extension Company was
+immediately organised, with a nominal capital of $10,000,000. The
+stock was rapidly taken, principally by the stockholders of the
+original Western Union Company, and an assessment of five per cent.
+was immediately made to provide funds for the prosecution of the
+work. Such was the faith at this time in the ultimate success of
+the enterprise that in less than two months its stock sold for
+seventy-five dollars per share, with only one assessment of five
+dollars paid in.
+
+In August, 1864, Colonel Charles S. Bulkley, formerly Superintendent
+of Military Telegraphs in the Department of the Gulf, was appointed
+engineer-in-chief of the proposed line, and in December he sailed from
+New York for San Francisco, to organise and fit out exploring parties,
+and to begin active operations.
+
+Led by a desire of identifying myself with so novel and important an
+enterprise, as well as by a natural love of travel and adventure which
+I had never before been able to gratify, I offered my services as an
+explorer soon after the projection of the line. My application was
+favourably considered, and on the 13th of December I sailed from New
+York with the engineer-in-chief, for the proposed headquarters of
+the Company at San Francisco. Colonel Bulkley, immediately after his
+arrival, opened an office in Montgomery Street, and began organising
+exploring parties to make a preliminary survey of the route of the
+line. No sooner did it become noised about the city that men were
+wanted to explore the unknown regions of British Columbia, Russian
+America, and Siberia, than the Company's office was thronged with
+eager applicants for positions, in any and every capacity.
+
+Adventurous Micawbers, who had long been waiting for something of
+this kind to turn up; broken-down miners, who hoped to retrieve their
+fortunes in new gold-fields yet to be discovered in the north; and
+returned soldiers thirsting for fresh excitement,--all hastened to
+offer their services as pioneers in the great work. Trained and
+skilled engineers were in active demand; but the supply of only
+ordinary men, who made up in enthusiasm what they lacked in
+experience, was unlimited.
+
+Month after month passed slowly away in the selection, organisation,
+and equipment of parties, until at last, in June, 1865, the Company's
+vessels were reported ready for sea.
+
+The plan of operations, so far as it had then been decided upon, was
+to land one party in British Columbia, near the mouth of the Frazer
+River; one in Russian-America, at Norton Sound; and one on the Asiatic
+side of Bering Strait, at the mouth of the Anadyr (ah-nah'-dyr) River.
+These parties, under the direction respectively of Messrs. Pope,
+Kennicott, and Macrae, were directed to push back into the interior,
+following as far as practicable the courses of the rivers near which
+they were landed; to obtain all possible information with regard to
+the climate, soil, timber, and inhabitants of the regions traversed;
+and to locate, in a general way, a route for the proposed line.
+
+The two American parties would have comparatively advantageous bases
+of operations at Victoria and Fort St. Michael; but the Siberian
+party, if left on the Asiatic coast at all, must be landed near Bering
+Strait, on the edge of a barren, desolate region, nearly a thousand
+miles from any known settlement. Thrown thus upon its own resources,
+in an unknown country, and among nomadic tribes of hostile natives,
+without any means of interior transportation except canoes, the safety
+and success of this party were by no means assured. It was even
+asserted by many friends of the enterprise, that to leave men in such
+a situation, and under such circumstances, was to abandon them to
+almost certain death; and the Russian consul at San Francisco wrote a
+letter to Colonel Bulkley, advising him strongly not to land a party
+on the Asiatic coast of the North Pacific, but to send it instead to
+one of the Russian ports of the Okhotsk Sea, where it could establish
+a base of supplies, obtain information with regard to the interior,
+and procure horses or dog-sledges for overland explorations in any
+desired direction.
+
+The wisdom and good sense of this advice were apparent to all; but
+unfortunately the engineer-in-chief had no vessel that he could send
+with a party into the Okhotsk Sea, and if men were landed at all that
+summer on the Asiatic coast, they must be landed near Bering Strait.
+
+Late in June, however, Colonel Bulkley learned that a small Russian
+trading-vessel named the _Olga_ was about to sail from San Francisco
+for Kamchatka (kam-chat'-kah) and the south-western coast of the
+Okhotsk Sea, and he succeeded in prevailing upon the owners to take
+four men as passengers to the Russian settlement of Nikolaievsk
+(nik-o-lai'-evsk), at the mouth of the Amur River. This, although not
+so desirable a point for beginning operations as some others on the
+northern coast of the Sea, was still much better than any which could
+be selected on the Asiatic coast of the North Pacific; and a party was
+soon organised to sail in the _Olga_ for Kamchatka and the mouth of
+the Amur. This party consisted of Major S. Abaza, a Russian gentleman
+who had been appointed superintendent of the work, and leader of the
+forces in Siberia; James A. Mahood, a civil engineer of reputation in
+California; R. J. Bush, who had just returned from three years' active
+service in the Carolinas, and myself,--not a very formidable force in
+point of numbers, nor a very remarkable one in point of experience,
+but strong in hope, self-reliance, and enthusiasm.
+
+On the 28th of June, we were notified that the brig _Olga_ had nearly
+all her cargo aboard, and would have "immediate despatch."
+
+This marine metaphor, as we afterward learned, meant only that she
+would sail some time in the course of the summer; but we, in our
+trustful inexperience, supposed that the brig must be all ready to
+cast off her moorings, and the announcement threw us into all
+the excitement and confusion of hasty preparation for a start.
+Dress-coats, linen shirts, and fine boots were recklessly thrown or
+given away; blankets, heavy shoes, and overshirts of flannel were
+purchased in large quantities; rifles, revolvers, and bowie-knives of
+formidable dimensions gave our room the appearance of a disorganised
+arsenal; pots of arsenic, jars of alcohol, butterfly-nets, snake-bags,
+pill-boxes, and a dozen other implements and appliances of science
+about which we knew nothing, were given to us by our enthusiastic
+naturalists and packed away in big boxes; Wrangell's (vrang'el's)
+_Travels_, Gray's _Botany_, and a few scientific works were added to
+our small library; and before night we were able to report ourselves
+ready--armed and equipped for any adventure, from the capture of a new
+species of bug, to the conquest of Kamchatka!
+
+As it was against all precedent to go to sea without looking at the
+ship, Bush and I appointed ourselves an examining committee for the
+party, and walked down to the wharf where she lay. The captain, a
+bluff Americanised German, met us at the gangway and guided us through
+the little brig from stem to stern. Our limited marine experience
+would not have qualified us to pass an _ex cathedra_ judgment upon the
+seaworthiness of a mud-scow; but Bush, with characteristic impudence
+and versatility of talent, discoursed learnedly to the skipper upon
+the beauty of his vessel's "lines" (whatever those were), her spread
+of canvas and build generally,--discussed the comparative merits
+of single and double topsails, and new patent yard-slings, and
+reef-tackle, and altogether displayed such an amount of nautical
+learning that it completely crushed me and staggered even the captain.
+
+I strongly suspected that Bush had acquired most of his knowledge of
+sea terms from a cursory perusal of Bowditch's _Navigator_, which
+I had seen lying on the office table, and I privately resolved to
+procure a compact edition of Marryat's sea tales as soon as I should
+go ashore, and overwhelm him next time with such accumulated stores of
+nautical erudition that he would hide his diminished head. I had a dim
+recollection of reading something in Cooper's novels about a ship's
+deadheads and cat's eyes, or cat-heads and deadeyes, I could not
+remember which, and, determined not to be ignored as an inexperienced
+landlubber, I gazed in a vague way into the rigging, and made a
+few very general observations upon the nature of deadeyes and
+spanker-booms. The captain, however, promptly annihilated me by
+demanding categorically whether I had ever seen the spanker-boom
+jammed with the foretopsailyard, with the wind abeam. I replied
+meekly that I believed such a catastrophe had never occurred under
+my immediate observation, and as he turned to Bush with a smile of
+commiseration for my ignorance I ground my teeth and went below to
+inspect the pantry. Here I felt more at home. The long rows of canned
+provisions, beef stock, concentrated milk, pie fruits, and a small
+keg, bearing the quaint inscription, "Zante cur.," soon soothed my
+perturbed spirit and convinced me beyond the shadow of a doubt that
+the _Olga_ was stanch and seaworthy, and built in the latest and most
+improved style of marine architecture.
+
+I therefore went up to tell Bush that I had made a careful and
+critical examination of the vessel below, and that she would
+undoubtedly do. I omitted to state the nature of the observations
+upon which this conclusion was founded, but he asked no troublesome
+questions, and we returned to the office with a favourable report of
+the ship's build, capacity, and outfit.
+
+On Saturday, July 1st, the _Olga_ took in the last of her cargo, and
+was hauled out into the stream.
+
+Our farewell letters were hastily written home, our final preparations
+made, and at nine o'clock on Monday morning we assembled at the Howard
+Street wharf, where the steam-tug lay which was to tow us out to sea.
+
+A large party of friends had gathered to bid us good-bye; and the
+pier, covered with bright dresses and blue uniforms, presented quite a
+holiday appearance in the warm clear sunshine of a California morning.
+
+Our last instructions were delivered to us by Colonel Bulkley, with
+many hearty wishes for our health and success; laughing invitations
+to "come and see us" were extended to our less fortunate comrades who
+were left behind; requests to send back specimens of the North
+pole and the aurora borealis were intermingled with directions for
+preserving birds and collecting bugs; and amid a general confusion
+of congratulations, good wishes, cautions, bantering challenges, and
+tearful farewells, the steamer's bell rang. Dall, ever alive to the
+interests of his beloved science, grasped me cordially by the hand,
+saying, "Good-bye, George. God bless you! Keep your eye out for
+land-snails and skulls of the wild animals!"
+
+Miss B---- said pleadingly: "Take care of my dear brother"; and as I
+promised to care for him as if he were my own, I thought of another
+sister far away, who, could she be present, would echo the request:
+"Take care of my dear brother." With waving handkerchiefs and repeated
+good-byes, we moved slowly from the wharf, and, steaming round in a
+great semicircle to where the _Olga_ was lying, we were transferred to
+the little brig, which, for the next two months, was to be our home.
+
+The steamer towed us outside the "heads" of the Golden Gate, and then
+cast off; and as she passed us on her way back, our friends gathered
+in a little group on the forward deck, with the colonel at their head,
+and gave three generous cheers for the "first Siberian exploring
+party." We replied with three more,--our last farewell to
+civilisation,--and silently watched the lessening figure of the
+steamer, until the white handkerchief which Arnold had tied to the
+backstays could no longer be seen, and we were rocking alone on the
+long swells of the Pacific.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+CROSSING THE NORTH PACIFIC--SEVEN WEEKS IN A RUSSIAN BRIG
+
+"He took great content and exceeding delight in his voyage, as who doth
+not as shall attempt the like."--BURTON.
+
+  AT SEA, 700 MILES N.W. OF SAN FRANCISCO.
+  _Wednesday, July 12, 1865_.
+
+Ten days ago, on the eve of our departure for the Asiatic coast, full
+of high hopes and joyful anticipations of pleasure, I wrote in a fair
+round hand on this opening page of my journal, the above sentence
+from Burton; never once doubting, in my enthusiasm, the complete
+realisation of those "future joys," which to "fancy's eye" lay in such
+"bright uncertainty," or suspecting that "a life on the ocean wave"
+was not a state of the highest felicity attainable on earth. The
+quotation seemed to me an extremely happy one, and I mentally blessed
+the quaint old Anatomist of Melancholy for providing me with a motto
+at once so simple and so appropriate. Of course "he took great content
+and exceeding delight in his voyage"; and the wholly unwarranted
+assumption that because "he" did, every one else necessarily must, did
+not strike me as being in the least absurd.
+
+On the contrary, it carried all the weight of the severest logical
+demonstration, and I would have treated with contempt any suggestion
+of possible disappointment. My ideas of sea life had been derived
+principally from glowing poetical descriptions of marine sunsets, of
+"summer isles of Eden, lying in dark purple spheres of sea," and of
+those "moonlight nights on lonely waters" with which poets have for
+ages beguiled ignorant landsmen into ocean voyages. Fogs, storms,
+and seasickness did not enter at all into my conceptions of marine
+phenomena; or if I did admit the possibility of a storm, it was only
+as a picturesque, highly poetical manifestation of wind and water in
+action, without any of the disagreeable features which attend those
+elements under more prosaic circumstances. I had, it is true,
+experienced a little rough weather on my voyage to California, but my
+memory had long since idealised it into something grand and poetical;
+and I looked forward even to a storm on the Pacific as an experience
+not only pleasant, but highly desirable. The illusion was very
+pleasant while it lasted; but--it is over. Ten days of real sea life
+have converted the "bright uncertainty of future joys" into a dark
+and decided certainty of future misery, and left me to mourn the
+incompatibility of poetry and truth. Burton is a humbug, Tennyson a
+fraud, I'm a victim, and Byron and Procter are accessories before the
+fact. Never again will I pin my faith to poets. They may tell the
+truth nearly enough for poetical consistency, but their judgment is
+hopelessly perverted, and their imagination is too luxuriantly vivid
+for a truthful realistic delineation of sea life. Byron's _London
+Packet_ is a brilliant exception, but I remember no other in the whole
+range of poetical literature.
+
+Our life since we left port has certainly been anything but poetical.
+
+For nearly a week, we suffered all the indescribable miseries of
+seasickness, without any alleviating circumstances whatever. Day after
+day we lay in our narrow berths, too sick to read, too unhappy to
+talk, watching the cabin lamp as it swung uneasily in its well-oiled
+gimbals, and listening to the gurgle and swash of the water around the
+after dead-lights, and the regular clank, clank of the blocks of the
+try-sail sheet as the rolling of the vessel swung the heavy boom from
+side to side.
+
+We all professed to be enthusiastic supporters of the Tapleyan
+philosophy--jollity under all circumstances; but we failed most
+lamentably in reconciling our practice with our principles. There was
+not the faintest suggestion of jollity in the appearance of the four
+motionless, prostrate figures against the wall. Seasickness had
+triumphed over philosophy! Prospective and retrospective reverie of
+a decidedly gloomy character was our only occupation. I remember
+speculating curiously upon the probability of Noah's having ever
+been seasick; wondering how the sea-going qualities of the Ark would
+compare with those of our brig, and whether she had our brig's
+uncomfortable way of pitching about in a heavy swell.
+
+If she had--and I almost smiled at the idea--what an unhappy
+experience it must have been for the poor animals!
+
+I wondered also if Jason and Ulysses were born with sea-legs, or
+whether they had to go through the same unpleasant process that we did
+to get them on.
+
+Concluded finally that sea-legs, like some diseases must be a
+diabolical invention of modern times, and that the ancients got along
+in some way without them. Then, looking intently at the fly-specks
+upon the painted boards ten inches from my eyes, I would recall all
+the bright anticipations with which I had sailed from San Francisco,
+and turn over, with a groan of disgust, to the wall.
+
+I wonder if any one has ever written down on paper his seasick
+reveries. There are "Evening Reveries," "Reveries of a Bachelor," and
+"Seaside Reveries" in abundance; but no one, so far as I know, has
+ever even attempted to do his seasick reveries literary justice. It is
+a strange oversight, and I would respectfully suggest to any aspiring
+writer who has the reverie faculty, that there is here an unworked
+field of boundless extent. One trip across the North Pacific in a
+small brig will furnish an inexhaustible supply of material.
+
+Our life thus far has been too monotonous to afford a single
+noticeable incident. The weather has been cold, damp, and foggy, with
+light head winds and a heavy swell; we have been confined closely to
+our seven-by-nine after-cabin; and its close, stifling atmosphere,
+redolent of bilge-water, lamp oil, and tobacco smoke, has had a most
+depressing influence upon our spirits. I am glad to see, however,
+that all our party are up today, and that there is a faint interest
+manifested in the prospect of dinner; but even the inspiriting strains
+of the Faust march, which the captain is playing upon a wheezy old
+accordion, fail to put any expression of animation into the woebegone
+faces around the cabin table. Mahood pretends that he is all
+right, and plays checkers with the captain with an air of assumed
+tranquillity which approaches heroism, but he is observed at irregular
+intervals to go suddenly and unexpectedly on deck, and to return every
+time with a more ghastly and rueful countenance. When asked the object
+of these periodical visits to the quarter-deck, he replies, with a
+transparent affectation of cheerfulness, that he only goes up "to look
+at the compass and see how she's heading." I am surprised to find that
+looking at the compass is attended with such painful and melancholy
+emotions as those expressed in Mahood's face when he comes back; but
+he performs the self-imposed duty with unshrinking faithfulness, and
+relieves us of a great deal of anxiety about the safety of the ship.
+The captain seems a little negligent, and sometimes does not observe
+the compass once a day; but Mahood watches it with unsleeping
+vigilance.
+
+  BRIG "OLGA," 800 MILES N.W. OF SAN FRANCISCO.
+  _Sunday, July 16, 1865_.
+
+The monotony of our lives was relieved night before last, and our
+seasickness aggravated, by a severe gale of wind from the north-west,
+which compelled us to lie to for twenty hours under one close-reefed
+maintopsail. The storm began late in the afternoon, and by nine
+o'clock the wind was at its height and the sea rapidly rising.
+The waves pounded like Titanic sledgehammers against the vessel's
+quivering timbers; the gale roared a deep diapason through the
+cordage; and the regular thud, thud, thud of the pumps, and the long
+melancholy whistling of the wind through the blocks, filled our minds
+with dismal forebodings, and banished all inclination for sleep.
+
+Morning dawned gloomily and reluctantly, and its first grey light,
+struggling through the film of water on the small rectangular deck
+lights, revealed a comical scene of confusion and disorder. The ship
+was rolling and labouring heavily, and Mahood's trunk, having in some
+way broken from its moorings, was sliding back and forth across the
+cabin floor. Bush's big meerschaum, in company with a corpulent
+sponge, had taken up temporary quarters in the crown of my best hat,
+and the Major's box of cigars revolved periodically from corner to
+corner in the close embrace of a dirty shirt. Sliding and rolling over
+the carpet in every direction were books, papers, cigars, brushes,
+dirty collars, stockings, empty wine-bottles, slippers, coats, and old
+boots; and a large box of telegraph material threatened momentarily to
+break from its fastenings and demolish everything. The Major, who was
+the first to show any signs of animation, rose on one elbow in bed,
+gazed fixedly at the sliding and revolving articles, and shaking
+his head reflectively, said: "It is a c-u-r-ious thing! It _is_
+a _c-u-r-_ious thing!" as if the migratory boots and cigar-boxes
+exhibited some new and perplexing phenomena not to be accounted for by
+any of the known laws of physics. A sudden roll in which the vessel
+indulged at that particular moment gave additional force to the
+sentiment of the soliloquy; and with renewed convictions, I have no
+doubt, of the original and innate depravity of matter generally,
+and of the Pacific Ocean especially, he laid his head back upon the
+pillow.
+
+It required no inconsiderable degree of resolution to "turn out" under
+such unpromising circumstances; but Bush, after two or three groans
+and a yawn, made the attempt to get up and dress. Climbing hurriedly
+down when the ship rolled to windward, he caught his boots in one hand
+and trousers in the other, and began hopping about the cabin with
+surprising agility, dodging or jumping over the sliding trunk and
+rolling bottles, and making frantic efforts, apparently, to put both
+legs simultaneously into one boot. Surprised in the midst of this
+arduous task by an unexpected lurch, he made an impetuous charge upon
+an inoffensive washstand, stepped on an erratic bottle, fell on his
+head, and finally brought up a total wreck in the corner of the
+room. Convulsed with laughter, the Major could only ejaculate
+disconnectedly, "I tell you--it is a--curious thing how she--rolls!"
+"Yes," rejoined Bush savagely, as he rubbed one knee, "I should think
+it was! Just get up and try it!" But the Major was entirely satisfied
+to see Bush try it, and did nothing but laugh at his misfortunes. The
+latter finally succeeded in getting dressed, and after some hesitation
+I concluded to follow his example. By dint of falling twice over the
+trunk, kneeling upon my heels, sitting on my elbows, and executing
+several other equally impracticable feats, I got my vest on inside
+out, both feet in the wrong boots respectively, and staggered up the
+companionway on deck. The wind was still blowing a gale, and we showed
+no canvas but one close-reefed maintopsail. Great massive mounds of
+blue water piled themselves up in the concealment of the low-hanging
+rain-clouds, rushed out upon us with white foaming crests ten feet
+above the quarterdeck, and broke into clouds of blinding, strangling
+spray over the forecastle and galley, careening the ship until the
+bell on the quarter-deck struck and water ran in over the lee gunwale.
+It did not exactly correspond with my preconceived ideas of a storm,
+but I was obliged to confess that it had many of the characteristic
+features of the real phenomenon. The wind had the orthodox howl
+through the rigging, the sea was fully up to the prescribed standard,
+and the vessel pitched and rolled in a way to satisfy the most
+critical taste. The impression of sublimity, however, which I had
+anticipated, was almost entirely lost in the sense of personal
+discomfort. A man who has just been pitched over a skylight by one of
+the ship's eccentric movements, or drenched to the skin by a burst of
+spray, is not in a state of mind to contemplate sublimity; and after
+going through a varied and exhaustive course of such treatment, any
+romantic notions which he may previously have entertained with regard
+to the ocean's beauty and sublimity are pretty much knocked and
+drowned out of him. Rough weather makes short work of poetry and
+sentiment. The "wet sheet" and "flowing sea" of the poet have a
+significance quite the reverse of poetical when one discovers the "wet
+sheet" in his bed and the "flowing sea" all over the cabin floor,
+and our experience illustrates not so much the sublimity as the
+unpleasantness and discomfort of a storm at sea.
+
+  BRIG "OLGA," AT SEA,
+  _July 27, 1865_.
+
+I used often to wonder, while living in San Francisco, where the
+chilling fogs that toward night used to drift in over Lone Mountain
+and through the Golden Gate came from. I have discovered the
+laboratory. For the past two weeks we have been sailing continually in
+a dense, wet, grey cloud of mist, so thick at times as almost to hide
+the topgallant yards, and so penetrating as to find its way even into
+our little after-cabin, and condense in minute drops upon our clothes.
+It rises, I presume, from the warm water of the great Pacific Gulf
+Stream across which we are passing, and whose vapour is condensed
+into fog by the cold north-west winds from Siberia. It is the most
+disagreeable feature of our voyage.
+
+Our life has finally settled down into a quiet monotonous routine of
+eating, smoking, watching the barometer, and sleeping twelve hours a
+day. The gale with which we were favoured two weeks ago afforded
+a pleasant thrill of temporary excitement and a valuable topic of
+conversation; but we have all come to coincide in the opinion of the
+Major, that it was a "curious thing," and are anxiously awaiting the
+turning up of something else. One cold, rainy, foggy day succeeds
+another, with only an occasional variation in the way of a head wind
+or a flurry of snow. Time, of course, hangs heavily on our hands. We
+are waked about half-past seven in the morning by the second mate, a
+funny, phlegmatic Dutchman, who is always shouting to us to "turn out"
+and see an imaginary whale, which he conjures up regularly before
+breakfast, and which invariably disappears before we can get on deck,
+as mysteriously as "Moby Dick." The whale, however, fails to draw
+after a time, and he resorts to an equally mysterious and eccentric
+sea-serpent, whose wonderful appearance he describes in comical broken
+English with the vain hope that we will crawl out into the raw foggy
+atmosphere to look at it. We never do. Bush opens his eyes, yawns, and
+keeps a sleepy watch of the breakfast table, which is situated in the
+captain's cabin forward. I cannot see it from my berth, so I watch
+Bush. Presently we hear the humpbacked steward's footsteps on the deck
+above our heads, and, with a quick succession of little bumps, half a
+dozen boiled potatoes come rolling down the stairs of the companionway
+into the cabin. They are the forerunners of breakfast. Bush watches
+the table, and I watch Bush more and more intently as the steward
+brings in the eatables; and by the expression of Bush's face, I judge
+whether it be worth while to get up or not. If he groans and turns
+over to the wall, I know that it is only hash, and I echo his groan
+and follow his example; but if he smiles, and gets up, I do likewise,
+with the full assurance of fresh mutton-chops or rice curry and
+chicken. After breakfast the Major smokes a cigarette and looks
+meditatively at the barometer, the captain gets his old accordion and
+squeezes out the Russian National Hymn, while Bush and I go on deck
+to inhale a few breaths of pure fresh fog, and chaff the second mate
+about his sea-serpent. In reading, playing checkers, fencing, and
+climbing about the rigging when the weather permits, we pass away the
+day, as we have already passed away twenty and must pass twenty more
+before we can hope to see land.
+
+  AT SEA, NEAR THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.
+  _August 6, 1865_.
+
+"Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren
+ground, ling, heath, broom, furze, anything," except this wearisome
+monotonous waste of water! Let Kamchatka be what it will, we shall
+welcome it with as much joy as that with which Columbus first saw the
+flowery coast of San Salvador. I am prepared to look with complacency
+upon a sandbar and two spears of grass, and would not even insist upon
+the grass if I could only be sure of the sand-bar. We have now been
+thirty-four days at sea without once meeting a sail or getting a
+glimpse of land.
+
+Our chief amusement lately has been the discussion of controverted
+points of history and science, and wonderful is the forensic and
+argumentative ability which these debates have developed. They are
+getting to be positively interesting. The only drawback to them is,
+that in the absence of any decisive authority they never come to any
+satisfactory conclusion. We have now been discussing for sixteen days
+the uses of a whale's blow-holes; and I firmly believe that if our
+voyage were prolonged, like the Flying Dutchman's, to all eternity, we
+should never reach any solution of the problem that would satisfy all
+the disputants. The captain has an old Dutch _History of the World_,
+in twenty-six folio volumes, to which he appeals as final authority in
+all questions under the heavens, whether pertaining to love, science,
+war, art, politics, or religion; and no sooner does he get cornered in
+a discussion than he entrenches himself behind these ponderous folios,
+and keeps up a hot fire of terrific Dutch polysyllables until we are
+ready to make an unconditional surrender. If we venture to suggest
+a doubt as to the intimacy of the connection between a whale's
+blow-holes and the _History of the World_, he comes down upon us with
+the most withering denunciations as wrongheaded sceptics who won't
+even believe what is _printed_--and in a Dutch history too! As the
+captain dispenses the pie, however, at dinner, I have found it
+advisable to smother my convictions as to the veracity of his Teutonic
+historian, and join him in denouncing that pernicious heretic Bush,
+who is wise beyond what is written. Result--Bush gets only one small
+piece of pie, and I get two, which of course is highly gratifying
+to my feelings, as well as advantageous to the dispersion of sound
+historical learning!
+
+I begin to observe at dinner an increasing reverence on Bush's part
+for Dutch histories.
+
+[Illustration: Snow Scrapers]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+THE PICTURESQUE COAST OP KAMCHATKA--ARRIVAL IN PETROPAVLOVSK
+
+  BRIG "OLGA," AT SEA, 200 MILES FROM KAMCHATKA.
+  _August 17, 1865._
+
+Our voyage is at last drawing to a close, and after seven long weeks
+of cold, rainy, rough weather our eyes are soon to be gladdened again
+by the sight of land, and never was it more welcome to weary mariner
+than it will be to us. Even as I write, the sound of scraping and
+scrubbing is heard on deck, and proclaims our nearness to land. They
+are dressing the vessel to go once more into society. We were only 255
+miles from the Kamchatkan seaport of Petropavlovsk (pet-ro-pav'-lovsk)
+last night, and if this favourable breeze holds we expect to reach
+there to-morrow noon. It has fallen almost to a dead calm, however,
+this morning, so that we may be delayed until Saturday.
+
+  AT SEA, OFF THE COAST OF KAMCHATKA.
+  _Friday, August 18, 1865._
+
+We have a fine breeze this morning; and the brig, under every stitch
+of canvas that will draw, is staggering through the seas enveloped in
+a dense fog, through which even her topgallant sails show mistily.
+Should the wind continue and the fog be dissipated we may hope to see
+land tonight.
+
+  11 A.M.
+
+I have just come down from the topgallant yard, where for the last
+three hours I have been clinging uncomfortably to the backstays,
+watching for land, and swinging back and forth through the fog in the
+arc of a great circle as the vessel rolled lazily to the seas. We
+cannot discern any object at a distance of three ships' lengths,
+although the sky is evidently cloudless. Great numbers of gulls,
+boobies, puffin, fish-hawks, and solan-geese surround the ship, and
+the water is full of drifting medusae.
+
+  NOON.
+
+Half an hour ago the fog began to lift, and at 11.40 the captain, who
+had been sweeping the horizon with a glass, shouted cheerily, "Land
+ho! Land ho! Hurrah!" and the cry was echoed simultaneously from stem
+to stern, and from the galley to the topgallant yard. Bush, Mahood,
+and the Major started at a run for the forecastle; the little
+humpbacked steward rushed frantically out of the galley with his hands
+all dough, and climbed up on the bulwarks; the sailors ran into the
+rigging, and only the man at the wheel retained his self-possession.
+Away ahead, drawn in faint luminous outlines above the horizon,
+appeared two high conical peaks, so distant that nothing but the white
+snow in their deep ravines could be seen, and so faint that they
+could hardly be distinguished from the blue sky beyond. They were
+the mountains of Villuchinski (vil-loo'-chin-ski) and Avacha
+(ah-vah'-chah), on the Kamchatkan coast, fully a hundred miles away.
+The Major looked at them through a glass long and eagerly, and then
+waving his hand proudly toward them, turned to us, and said with a
+burst of patriotic enthusiasm, "You see before you my country--the
+great Russian Empire!" and then as the fog drifted down again upon the
+ship, he dropped suddenly from his declamatory style, and with a look
+of disgust exclaimed, "Chort znaiet shto etta takoi [the Devil only
+knows what it means]--it _is_ a curious thing! fog, fog, nothing but
+fog!"
+
+In five minutes the last vestige of "the great Russian Empire"
+had disappeared, and we went below to dinner in a state of joyful
+excitement, which can never be imagined by one who has not been
+forty-six days at sea in the North Pacific.
+
+  4 P.M.
+
+We have just been favoured with another view of the land. Half an hour
+ago I could see from the topgallant yard, where I was posted, that the
+fog was beginning to break away, and in a moment it rose slowly like a
+huge grey curtain, unveiling the sea and the deep-blue sky, letting in
+a flood of rosy light from the sinking sun, and revealing a picture of
+wonderful beauty. Before us, stretching for a hundred and fifty miles
+to the north and south, lay the grand coast-line of Kamchatka, rising
+abruptly in great purple promontories out of the blue sparkling sea,
+flecked here with white clouds and shreds of fleecy mist, deepening in
+places into a soft quivering blue, and sweeping backward and upward
+into the pure white snow of the higher peaks. Two active volcanoes,
+10,000 and 16,000 feet in height, rose above the confused jagged
+ranges of the lower mountains, piercing the blue sky with sharp white
+triangles of eternal snow, and drawing the purple shadows of evening
+around their feet. The high bold coast did not appear, in that clear
+atmosphere, to be fifteen miles away, and it seemed to have risen
+suddenly like a beautiful mirage out of the sea. In less than five
+minutes the grey curtain of mist dropped slowly down again over the
+magnificent picture, and it faded gradually from sight, leaving us
+almost in doubt whether it had been a reality, or only a bright
+deceptive vision. We are enveloped now, as we have been nearly all
+day, in a thick clammy fog.
+
+  HARBOUR OP PETROPAVLOVSK, KAMCHATKA.
+  _August 19, 1865._
+
+At dark last night we were distant, as we supposed, about fifteen
+miles from Cape Povorotnoi (po-vo-rote'-noi) and as the fog had closed
+in again denser than ever, the captain dared not venture any nearer.
+The ship was accordingly put about, and we stood off and on all night,
+waiting for sunrise and a clear atmosphere, to enable us to approach
+the coast in safety. At five o'clock I was on deck. The fog was colder
+and denser than ever, and out of it rolled the white-capped waves
+raised by a fresh south-easterly breeze. Shortly before six o'clock
+it began to grow light, the brig was headed for the land, and under
+foresail, jib, and topsails, began to forge steadily through the
+water. The captain, glass in hand, anxiously paced the quarterdeck,
+ever and anon reconnoitring the horizon, and casting a glance up to
+windward to see if there were any prospect of better weather. Several
+times he was upon the point of putting the ship about, fearing to run
+on a lee shore in that impenetrable mist; but it finally lightened up,
+the fog disappeared, and the horizon line came out clear and distinct.
+To our utter astonishment, not a foot of land could be seen in any
+direction! The long range of blue mountains which had seemed the
+previous night to be within an hour's sail--the lofty snowy peaks--the
+deep gorges and the bold headlands, had all
+
+  "--melted into thin air,
+  Leaving not a rack behind."
+
+There was nothing to indicate the existence of land within a thousand
+miles, save the number and variety of the birds that wheeled curiously
+around our wake, or flew away with a spattering noise from under our
+bows. Many were the theories which were suggested to account for the
+sudden disappearance of the high bold land. The captain attempted to
+explain it by the supposition that a strong current, sweeping off
+shore, had during the night carried us away to the south-east. Bush
+accused the mate of being asleep on his watch, and letting the ship
+run over the land, while the mate declared solemnly that he did not
+believe that there had been any land there at all; that it was only a
+mirage. The Major said it was "paganni" (abominable) and "a curious
+thing," but did not volunteer any solution of the problem. So there we
+were.
+
+We had a fine leading wind from the south-east, and were now going
+through the water at the rate of seven knots. Eight o'clock, nine
+o'clock, ten o'clock, and still no appearance of land, although we
+had made since daylight more than thirty miles. At eleven o'clock,
+however, the horizon gradually darkened, and all at once a bold
+headland, terminating in a precipitous cliff, loomed up out of a thin
+mist at a distance of only four miles. All was at once excitement. The
+topgallant sails were clewed up to reduce the vessel's speed, and her
+course was changed so that we swept round in a curve broadside to the
+coast, about three miles distant. The mountain peaks, by which we
+might have ascertained our position, were hidden by the clouds and
+fog, and it was no easy matter to ascertain exactly where we were.
+
+Away to the left, dimly defined in the mist, were two or three more
+high blue headlands, but what they were, and where the harbour of
+Petropavlovsk might be, were questions that no one could answer. The
+captain brought his charts, compass, and drawing instruments on deck,
+laid them on the cabin skylight, and began taking the bearings of the
+different headlands, while we eagerly scanned the shore with glasses,
+and gave free expressions to our several opinions as to our situation.
+The Russian chart which the captain had of the coast was fortunately
+a good one, and he soon determined our position, and the names of the
+headlands first seen. We were just north of Cape Povorotnoi, about
+nine miles south of the entrance of Avacha Bay. The yards were now
+squared, and we went off on the new tack before a steady breeze from
+the south-east. In less than an hour we sighted the high isolated
+rocks known as the "Three Brothers," passed a rocky precipitous
+island, surrounded by clouds of shrieking gulls and parrot-billed
+ducks, and by two o'clock were off "the heads" of Avacha Bay, on which
+is situated the village of Petropavlovsk. The scenery at the entrance
+more than equalled our highest anticipations. Green grassy valleys
+stretched away from openings in the rocky coast until they were lost
+in the distant mountains; the rounded bluffs were covered with clumps
+of yellow birch and thickets of dark-green chaparral; patches of
+flowers could be seen on the warm sheltered slopes of the hills; and
+as we passed close under the lighthouse bluff, Bush shouted
+joyously, "Hurrah, there's clover!" "Clover!" exclaimed the captain
+contemptuously, "there ain't any clover in the Ar'tic Regions!" "How
+do you know, you've never been there," retorted Bush caustically; "it
+_looks_ like clover, and"--looking through a glass--"it _is_ clover";
+and his face lighted up as if the discovery of clover had relieved his
+mind of a great deal of anxiety as to the severity of the Kamchatkan
+climate. It was a sort of vegetable exponent of temperature, and out
+of a little patch of clover, Bush's imagination developed, in a style
+undreamt of by Darwin, the whole luxuriant flora of the temperate
+zone.
+
+The very name of Kamchatka had always been associated in our minds
+with everything barren and inhospitable, and we did not entertain
+for a moment the thought that such a country could afford beautiful
+scenery and luxuriant vegetation. In fact, with us all it was a mooted
+question whether anything more than mosses, lichens, and perhaps a
+little grass maintained the unequal struggle for existence in that
+frozen clime. It may be imagined with what delight and surprise we
+looked upon green hills covered with trees and verdant thickets;
+upon valleys white with clover and diversified with little groves of
+silver-barked birch, and even the rocks nodding with wild roses and
+columbine, which had taken root in their clefts as if nature strove to
+hide with a garment of flowers the evidences of past convulsions.
+
+Just before three o'clock we came in sight of the village of
+Petropavlovsk--a little cluster of red-roofed and bark-thatched log
+houses; a Greek church of curious architecture, with a green dome;
+a strip of beach, a half-ruined wharf, two whale-boats, and the
+dismantled wreck of a half-sunken vessel. High green hills swept in a
+great semicircle of foliage around the little village, and almost shut
+in the quiet pond-like harbour--an inlet of Avacha Bay--on which it
+was situated. Under foresail and maintopsail we glided silently under
+the shadow of the encircling hills into this landlocked mill-pond, and
+within a stone's throw of the nearest house the sails were suddenly
+clewed up, and with a quivering of the ship and a rattle of chain
+cable our anchor dropped into the soil of Asia.
+
+[Illustration: Boy's Boots of Sealskin]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+THINGS RUSSIAN IN KAMCHATKA--A VERDANT AND FLOWERY LAND--THE VILLAGE OF
+TWO SAINTS.
+
+It has been well observed by Irving, that to one about to visit
+foreign countries a long sea voyage is an excellent preparative.
+To quote his words, "The temporary absence of worldly scenes and
+employments produces a state of mind peculiarly fitted to receive
+new and vivid impressions." And he might have added with equal
+truth--favourable impressions. The tiresome monotony of sea life
+predisposes the traveller to regard favourably anything that will
+quicken his stagnating faculties and perceptions and furnish new
+matter for thought; and the most commonplace scenery and circumstances
+afford him gratification and delight. For this reason one is apt, upon
+arriving after a long voyage in a strange country, to form a more
+favourable opinion of its people and scenery than his subsequent
+experience will sustain. But it seems to me particularly fortunate
+that our first impressions of a new country, which are most clear and
+vivid and therefore most lasting, are also most pleasant, so that in
+future years a retrospective glance over our past wanderings will show
+the most cheerful pictures drawn in the brightest and most enduring
+colours. I am sure that the recollection of my first view of the
+mountains of Kamchatka, the delight with which my eye drank in their
+bright aerial tints, and the romance with which my ardent fancy
+invested them, will long outlive the memory of the hardships I have
+endured among them, the snow-storms that have pelted me on their
+summits, and the rains that have drenched me in their valleys.
+Fanciful perhaps, but I believe true.
+
+The longing for land which one feels after having been five or six
+weeks at sea is sometimes so strong as to be almost a passion. I
+verily believe that if the first land we saw had been one of those
+immense barren moss steppes which I afterward came to hold in such
+detestation, I should have regarded it as nothing less than the
+original site of the Garden of Eden. Not all the charms which nature
+has lavished upon the Vale of Tempe could have given me more pleasure
+than did the little green valley in which nestled the red-roofed and
+bark-covered log houses of Petropavlovsk.
+
+The arrival of a ship in that remote and unfrequented part of the
+world is an event of no little importance; and the rattling of our
+chain cable through the hawse-holes created a very perceptible
+sensation in the quiet village. Little children ran bareheaded out of
+doors, looked at us for a moment, and then ran hastily back to call
+the rest of the household; dark-haired natives and Russian peasants,
+in blue shirts and leather trousers, gathered in a group at the
+landing; and seventy-five or a hundred half-wild dogs broke out
+suddenly into a terrific chorus of howls in honour of our arrival.
+
+It was already late in the afternoon, but we could not restrain
+our impatience to step once more upon dry land; and as soon as the
+captain's boat could be lowered, Bush, Mahood, and I went ashore to
+look at the town.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Petropavlovsk is laid out in a style that is very irregular, without
+being at all picturesque. The idea of a street never seems to
+have suggested itself either to the original settlers or to their
+descendants; and the paths, such as they are, wander around aimlessly
+among the scattered houses, like erratic sheepwalks. It is impossible
+to go for a hundred yards in a straight line, in any direction,
+without either bringing up against the side of a house or trespassing
+upon somebody's backyard; and in the night one falls over a slumbering
+cow, upon a fair average, once every fifty feet. In other respects it
+is rather a pretty village, surrounded as it is by high green hills,
+and affording a fine view of the beautiful snowy peak of Avacha, which
+rises to a height of 11,000 feet directly behind the town.
+
+Mr. Fluger, a German merchant of Petropavlovsk who had boarded us in a
+small boat outside the harbour, now constituted himself our guide; and
+after a short walk around the village, invited us to his house, where
+we sat in a cloud of fragrant cigar-smoke, talking over American war
+news, and the latest _on dit_ of Kamchatkan society, until it finally
+began to grow dark. I noticed, among other books lying upon Mr.
+Fluger's table, _Life Thoughts_, by Beecher, and _The Schoenberg-Cotta
+Family,_ and wondered that the latter had already found its way to the
+distant shores of Kamchatka.
+
+As new-comers, it was our first duty to pay our respects to the
+Russian authorities; and, accompanied by Mr. Fluger and Mr. Bollman,
+we called upon Captain Sutkovoi (soot-ko-voi'), the resident "Captain
+of the port." His house, with its bright-red tin roof, was almost
+hidden by a large grove of thrifty oaks, through which tumbled, in
+a succession of little cascades, a clear, cold mountain stream. We
+entered the gate, walked up a broad travelled path under the shade of
+the interlocking branches, and, without knocking, entered the house.
+Captain Sutkovoi welcomed us cordially, and notwithstanding our
+inability to speak any language but our own, soon made us feel quite
+at home. Conversation however languished, as every remark had to be
+translated through two languages before it could be understood by the
+person to whom it was addressed; and brilliant as it might have been
+in the first place, it lost its freshness in being passed around
+through Russian, German, and English to us.
+
+I was surprised to see so many evidences of cultivated and refined
+taste in this remote corner of the world, where I had expected barely
+the absolute necessaries of life, or at best a few of the most common
+comforts. A large piano of Russian manufacture occupied one corner of
+the room, and a choice assortment of Russian, German, and American
+music testified to the musical taste of its owner. A few choice
+paintings and lithographs adorned the walls, and on the centre-table
+rested a stereoscope with a large collection of photographic views,
+and an unfinished game of chess, from which Captain and Madame
+Sutkovoi had risen at our entrance.
+
+After a pleasant visit of an hour we took our leave, receiving an
+invitation to dinner on the following day.
+
+It was not yet decided whether we should continue our voyage to the
+Amur River, or remain in Petropavlovsk and begin our northern journey
+from there, so we still regarded the brig as our home and returned,
+every night to our little cabin. The first night in port was strangely
+calm, peaceful, and quiet, accustomed as we had become to the rolling,
+pitching, and creaking of the vessel, the swash of water, and the
+whistling of the wind. There was not a zephyr abroad, and the surface
+of the miniature bay lay like a dark mirror, in which were obscurely
+reflected the high hills which formed its setting. A few scattered
+lights from the village threw long streams of radiance across the dark
+water, and from the black hillside on our right was heard at intervals
+the faint lonely tinkle of a cow-bell or the long melancholy howl of
+a wolf-like dog. I tried hard to sleep; but the novelty of our
+surroundings, the thought that we were now in Asia, and hundreds
+of conjectures and forecastings as to our future prospects and
+adventures, put sleep for a long time at defiance.
+
+The hamlet of Petropavlovsk, which, although not the largest, is one
+of the most important settlements in the Kamchatkan peninsula, has
+a population of perhaps two or three hundred natives and Russian
+peasants, together with a few German and American merchants, drawn
+thither by the trade in sables. It is not fairly a representative
+Kamchatkan village, for it has felt in no inconsiderable degree the
+civilising influences of foreign intercourse, and shows in its manners
+and modes of life and thought some evidences of modern enterprise and
+enlightenment. It has existed since the early part of the eighteenth
+century, and is old enough to have acquired some civilisation of its
+own; but age in a Siberian settlement is no criterion of development,
+and Petropavlovsk either has not attained the enlightenment of
+maturity, or has passed into its second childhood, for it is still in
+a benighted condition. Why it was and is called Petropavlovsk--the
+village of St. Peter and St. Paul--I failed, after diligent inquiry,
+to learn. The sacred canon does not contain any epistle to the
+Kamchatkans, much as they need it, nor is there any other evidence to
+show that the ground on which the village stands was ever visited by
+either of the eminent saints whose names it bears. The conclusion to
+which we are driven therefore is, that its inhabitants, not being
+distinguished for apostolic virtues, and feeling their need of saintly
+intercession, called the settlement after St. Peter and St. Paul, with
+the hope that those Apostles would feel a sort of proprietary interest
+in the place, and secure its final salvation without any unnecessary
+inquiries into its merits. Whether that was the idea of its original
+founders or not I cannot say; but such a plan would be eminently
+adapted to the state of society, in most of the Siberian settlements,
+where faith is strong, but where works are few in number and
+questionable in tendency.
+
+The sights of Petropavlovsk, speaking after the manner of tourists,
+are few and uninteresting. It has two monuments erected to the memory
+of the distinguished navigators Bering and La Perouse, and there are
+traces on its hills of the fortifications built during the Crimean War
+to repel the attack of the allied French and English squadrons; but
+aside from these, the town can boast of no objects or places of
+historical interest. To us, however, who had been shut up nearly two
+months in a close dark cabin, the village was attractive enough of
+itself, and early on the following morning we went ashore for a ramble
+on the wooded peninsula which separates the small harbour from Avacha
+Bay. The sky was cloudless, but a dense fog drifted low over the
+hilltops and veiled the surrounding mountains from sight. The whole
+landscape was green as emerald and dripping with moisture, but the
+sunshine struggled occasionally through the grey cloud of vapour, and
+patches of light swept swiftly across the wet hillsides, like sunny
+smiles upon a tearful face. The ground everywhere was covered with
+flowers. Marsh violets, dotted the grass here and there with blue;
+columbine swung its purple spurred corollas over the grey mossy rocks;
+and wild roses appeared everywhere in dense thickets, with their
+delicate pink petals strewn over the ground beneath them like a
+coloured shadow.
+
+Climbing up the slope of the steep hill between the harbour and the
+bay, shaking down little showers of water from every bush, we touched,
+and treading under foot hundreds of dewy flowers, we came suddenly
+upon the monument of La Perouse. I hope his countrymen, the French,
+have erected to his memory some more tasteful and enduring token of
+their esteem than this. It is simply a wooden frame, covered with
+sheet iron, and painted black. It bears no date or inscription
+whatever, and looks more like the tombstone over the grave of a
+criminal, than a monument to keep fresh the memory of a distinguished
+navigator.
+
+Bush sat down on a little grassy knoll to make a sketch of the scene,
+while Mahood and I wandered on up the hill toward the old Russian
+batteries. They are several in number, situated along the crest of
+the ridge which divides the inner from the outer bay, and command the
+approaches to the town from the west. They are now almost overgrown
+with grass and flowers, and only the form of the embrasures
+distinguishes them from shapeless mounds of earth. It would be thought
+that the remote situation and inhospitable climate of Kamchatka would
+have secured to its inhabitants an immunity from the desolating
+ravages of war. But even this country has its ruined forts and
+grass-grown battle-fields; and its now silent hills echoed not long
+ago to the thunder of opposing cannon. Leaving Mahood to make a
+critical survey of the entrenchments--an occupation which his tastes
+and pursuits rendered more interesting to him than to me--I strolled
+on up the hill to the edge of the cliff from which the storming party
+of the Allies was thrown by the Russian gunners. No traces now remain
+of the bloody struggle which took place upon the brink of this
+precipice. Moss covers with its green carpet the ground which was torn
+up in the death grapple; and the nodding bluebell, as it bends to the
+fresh sea-breeze, tells no story of the last desperate rally, the hand
+to hand conflict, and the shrieks of the overpowered as they were
+thrown from the Russian bayonets upon the rocky beach a hundred feet
+below.
+
+It seems to me that it was little better than wanton cruelty in the
+Allies to attack this unimportant and isolated post, so far from the
+real centre of conflict. Could its capture have lessened in any way
+the power or resources of the Russian Government, or, by creating a
+diversion, have attracted attention from the decisive struggle in
+the Crimea, it would perhaps have been justifiable; but it could not
+possibly have any direct or indirect influence upon the ultimate
+result, and only brought misery upon a few inoffensive Kamchadals who
+had never heard of Turkey or the Eastern Question and whose first
+intimation of a war probably was the thunder of the enemy's cannon and
+the bursting of shells at their very doors. The attack of the Allied
+fleet, however, was signally repulsed, and its admiral, stung with
+mortification at being foiled by a mere handful of Cossacks and
+peasants, committed suicide. On the anniversary of the battle it is
+still customary for all the inhabitants, headed by the priests, to
+march in solemn procession round the village and over the hill from
+which the storming party was thrown, chanting hymns of joy and praise
+for the victory.
+
+After botanising a while upon the battle-field, I was joined by Bush,
+who had completed his sketch, and we all returned, tired and wet,
+to the village. Our appearance anywhere on shore always created a
+sensation among the inhabitants. The Russian and native peasants whom
+we met removed their caps, and held them respectfully in their hands
+while we passed; the windows of the houses were crowded with heads
+intent upon getting a sight of the "Amerikanski chinovniki" (American
+officers); and even the dogs broke into furious barks and howls at
+our approach. Bush declared that he could not remember a time in his
+history when he had been of so much consequence and attracted
+such general attention as now; and he attributed it all to the
+discrimination and intelligence of Kamchatkan society. Prompt and
+instinctive recognition of superior genius he affirmed to be a
+characteristic of that people, and he expressed deep regret that it
+was not equally so of some other people whom he could mention. "No
+reference to an allusion intended!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+FIRST ATTEMPT TO LEARN RUSSIAN--PLAN OF EXPLORATION--DIVISION OP PARTY
+
+One of the first things which the traveller notices in any foreign
+country is the language, and it is especially noticeable in Kamchatka,
+Siberia, or any part of the great Russian Empire. What the ancestors
+of the Russians did at the Tower of Babel to have been afflicted with
+such a complicated, contorted, mixed up, utterly incomprehensible
+language, I can hardly conjecture. I have thought sometimes that they
+must have built their side of the Tower higher than any of the other
+tribes, and have been punished for their sinful industry with this
+jargon of unintelligible sounds, which no man could possibly hope to
+understand before he became so old and infirm that he could never work
+on another tower. However they came by it, it is certainly a thorn in
+the flesh to all travellers in the Russian Empire. Some weeks before
+we reached Kamchatka I determined to learn, if possible, a few common
+expressions, which would be most useful in our first intercourse with
+the natives, and among them the simple declarative sentence, "I want
+something to eat." I thought that this would probably be the first
+remark that I should have to make to any of the inhabitants, and I
+determined to learn it so thoroughly that I should never be in danger
+of starvation from ignorance. I accordingly asked the Major one day
+what the equivalent expression was in Russian. He coolly replied that
+whenever I wanted anything to eat, all that I had to do was to say,
+"Vashavwesokeeblagarodiaeeveeleekeeprevoskhodeetelstvoeetakdalshai."
+I believe I never felt such a sentiment of reverential admiration for
+the acquired talents of any man as I did for those of the Major when
+I heard him pronounce, fluently and gracefully, this extraordinary
+sentence. My mind was hopelessly lost in attempting to imagine the
+number of years of patient toil which must have preceded his
+first request for food, and I contemplated with astonishment the
+indefatigable perseverance which has borne him triumphant through the
+acquirement of such a language. If the simple request for something
+to eat presented such apparently insurmountable obstacles to
+pronunciation, what must the language be in its dealings with the
+more abstruse questions of theological and metaphysical science?
+Imagination stood aghast at the thought.
+
+I frankly told the Major that he might print out this terrible
+sentence on a big placard and hang it around my neck; but as for
+learning to pronounce it, I could not, and did not propose to try. I
+found out afterwards that he had taken advantage of my inexperience
+and confiding disposition by giving me some of the longest and worst
+words in his barbarous language, and pretending that they meant
+something to eat. The real translation in Russian would have been bad
+enough, and it was wholly unnecessary to select peculiarly hard words.
+
+The Russian language is, I believe, without exception, the most
+difficult of all modern languages to learn. Its difficulty does not
+lie, as might be supposed, in pronunciation. Its words are all spelled
+phonetically, and have only a few sounds which are foreign to English;
+but its grammar is exceptionally involved and intricate. It has seven
+cases and three genders; and as the latter are dependent upon no
+definite principle whatever, but are purely arbitrary, it is almost
+impossible for a foreigner to learn them so as to give nouns and
+adjectives their proper terminations. Its vocabulary is very copious;
+and its idioms have a peculiarly racy individuality which can hardly
+be appreciated without a thorough acquaintance with the colloquial
+talk of the Russian peasants.
+
+The Russian, like all the Indo-European languages, is closely related
+to the ancient Sanscrit, and seems to have preserved unchanged, in a
+greater degree than any of the others, the old Vedic words. The first
+ten numerals, as spoken by a Hindoo a thousand years before the
+Christian era, would, with one or two exceptions, be understood by a
+modern Russian peasant.
+
+During our stay in Petropavlovsk we succeeded in learning the Russian
+for "Yes," "No," and "How do you do?" and we congratulated ourselves
+not a little upon even this slight progress in a language of such
+peculiar difficulty.
+
+Our reception at Petropavlovsk by both Russians and Americans was most
+cordial and enthusiastic, and the first three or four days after our
+arrival were spent in one continuous round of visits and dinners. On
+Thursday we made an excursion on horseback to a little village called
+Avacha, ten or fifteen versts distant across the bay, and came back
+charmed with the scenery, climate, and vegetation of this beautiful
+peninsula. The road wound around the slopes of grassy, wooded hills,
+above the clear blue water of the bay, commanding a view of the bold
+purple promontories which formed the gateway to the sea, and revealing
+now and then, between the clumps of silver birch, glimpses of long
+ranges of picturesque snow-covered mountains, stretching away along
+the western coast to the white solitary peak of Villuchinski, thirty
+or forty miles distant. The vegetation everywhere was almost tropical
+in its rank luxuriance. We could pick handfuls of flowers almost
+without bending from our saddles, and the long wild grass through
+which we rode would in many places sweep our waists. Delighted to
+find the climate of Italy where we had anticipated the biting air of
+Labrador, and inspirited by the beautiful scenery, we woke the echoes
+of the hills with American songs, shouted, halloed, and ran races on
+our little Cossack ponies until the setting sun warned us that it was
+time to return.
+
+Upon the information which he obtained in Petropavlovsk, Major Abaza
+formed a plan of operations for the ensuing winter, which was briefly
+as follows: Mahood and Bush were to go on in the _Olga_ to Nikolaievsk
+at the mouth of the Amur River, on the Chinese frontier, and, making
+that settlement their base of supplies, were to explore the rough
+mountainous region lying west of the Okhotsk Sea and south of the
+Russian seaport of Okhotsk. The Major and I, in the meantime, were
+to travel northward with a party of natives through the peninsula of
+Kamchatka, and strike the proposed route of the line about midway
+between Okhotsk and Bering Strait. Dividing again here, one of
+us would go westward to meet Mahood and Bush at Okhotsk, and
+one northward to a Russian trading station called Anadyrsk
+(ah-nah'-dyrsk), about four hundred miles west of the Strait. In this
+way we should cover the whole ground to be traversed by our line,
+with the exception of the barren desolate region between Anadyrsk
+and Bering Strait, which our chief proposed to leave for the present
+unexplored. Taking into consideration our circumstances and the
+smallness of our force, this plan was probably the best which could
+be devised, but it made it necessary for the Major and me to travel
+throughout the whole winter without a single companion except our
+native teamsters. As I did not speak Russian, it would be next to
+impossible for me to do this without an interpreter, and the Major
+engaged in that capacity a young American fur-trader, named Dodd, who
+had been living seven years in Petropavlovsk, and who was familiar
+with the Russian language and the habits and customs of the natives.
+With this addition our whole force numbered five men, and was to be
+divided into three parties; one for the western coast of the Okhotsk
+Sea, one for the northern coast, and one for the country between
+the Sea and the Arctic Circle. All minor details, such as means of
+transportation and subsistence, were left to the discretion of the
+several parties. We were to live on the country, travel with the
+natives, and avail ourselves of any and every means of transportation
+and subsistence which the country afforded. It was no pleasure
+excursion upon which we were about to enter. The Russian authorities
+at Petropavlovsk gave us all the information and assistance in their
+power, but did not hesitate to express the opinion that five men would
+never succeed in exploring the eighteen hundred miles of barren,
+almost uninhabited country between the Amur River and Bering Strait.
+It was not probable, they said, that the Major could get through the
+peninsula of Kamchatka at all that fall as he anticipated, but that if
+he did, he certainly could not penetrate the great desolate steppes
+to the northward, which were inhabited only by wandering tribes of
+Chukchis (chook'-chees) and Koraks. The Major replied simply that he
+would show them what we could do, and went on with his preparations.
+
+On Saturday morning, August 26th, the _Olga_ sailed with Mahood
+and Bush for the Amur River, leaving the Major, Dodd, and me at
+Petropavlovsk, to make our way northward through Kamchatka.
+
+As the morning was clear and sunny, I engaged a boat and a native
+crew, and accompanied Bush and Mahood out to sea.
+
+As we began to feel the fresh morning land-breeze, and to draw out
+slowly from under the cliffs of the western coast, I drank a farewell
+glass of wine to the success of the "Amur River Exploring Party,"
+shook hands with the captain and complimented his Dutch _History_,
+and bade good-bye to the mates and men. As I went over the side, the
+second mate seemed overcome with emotion at the thought of the perils
+which I was about to encounter in that heathen country, and cried out
+in funny, broken English, "Oh, Mr. Kinney! [he could not say Kennan]
+who's a g'un to cook for ye, and ye can't get no potatusses?" as if
+the absence of a cook and the lack of potatoes were the summing up of
+all earthly privations. I assured him cheerfully that we could cook
+for ourselves and eat roots; but he shook his head, mournfully, as if
+he saw in prophetic vision the state of misery to which Siberian roots
+and our own cooking must inevitably reduce us. Bush told me afterward
+that on the voyage to the Amur he frequently observed the second mate
+in deep and melancholy reverie, and upon approaching him and asking
+him what he was thinking about, he answered, with a mournful shake of
+the head and an indescribable emphasis: "Poor Mr. Kinney! _Poor_ Mr.
+Kinney!" Notwithstanding the scepticism with which I treated his
+sea-serpent, he gave me a place in his rough affections, second only
+to "Tommy," his favourite cat, and the pigs.
+
+As the _Olga_ sheeted home her topgallant sails, changed her course
+more to the eastward, and swept slowly out between the heads, I caught
+a last glimpse of Bush, standing on the quarter-deck by the wheel, and
+telegraphing some unintelligible words in the Morse alphabet with his
+arm. I waved my hat in response, and turning shoreward, with a lump in
+my throat, ordered the men to give way. The _Olga_ was gone, and the
+last tie which connected us with the civilised world seemed severed.
+
+[Illustration: Bone Knife or Scraper]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+A COSSACK WEDDING--THE PENINSULA OP KAMCHATKA
+
+Our time in Petropavlovsk, after the departure of the _Olga_, was
+almost wholly occupied in making preparations for our northern journey
+through the Kamchatkan peninsula. On Tuesday, however, Dodd told me
+that there was to be a wedding at the church, and invited me to go
+over and witness the ceremony. It took place in the body of the
+church, immediately after some sort of morning service, which had
+nearly closed when we entered. I had no difficulty in singling out the
+happy individuals whose fortunes were to be united in the holy
+bonds of matrimony. They betrayed their own secret by their assumed
+indifference and unconsciousness.
+
+The unlucky (lucky?) man was a young, round-headed Cossack about
+twenty years of age, dressed in a dark frock-coat trimmed with scarlet
+and gathered like a lady's dress above the waist, which, with a
+reckless disregard for his anatomy, was assumed to be six inches below
+his armpits. In honour of the extraordinary occasion he had donned a
+great white standing collar which projected above his ears, as the
+mate of the _Olga_ would say, "like fore to'gallant studd'n' s'ls."
+Owing to a deplorable lack of understanding between his cotton
+trousers and his shoes they failed to meet by about six inches, and
+no provision had been made for the deficiency. The bride was
+comparatively an old woman--at least twenty years the young man's
+senior, and a _widow_. I thought with a sigh of the elder Mr. Weller's
+parting injunction to his son, "Bevare o' the vidders," and wondered
+what the old gentleman would say could he see this unconscious
+"wictim" walking up to the altar "and thinkin' in his 'art that it was
+all wery capital." The bride wore a dress of that peculiar sort of
+calico known as "furniture prints," without trimming or ornaments of
+any kind. Whether it was cut "bias" or with "gores," I'm sorry to say
+I do not know, dress-making being as much of an occult science to
+me as divination. Her hair was tightly bound up in a scarlet silk
+handkerchief, fastened in front with a little gilt button. As soon as
+the church service was concluded the altar was removed to the
+middle of the room, and the priest, donning a black silk gown which
+contrasted strangely with his heavy cowhide boots, summoned the couple
+before him.
+
+After giving to each three lighted candles tied together with blue
+ribbon, he began to read in a loud sonorous voice what I supposed to
+be the marriage service, paying no attention whatever to stops, but
+catching his breath audibly in the midst of a sentence and hurrying on
+again with tenfold rapidity. The candidates for matrimony were silent,
+but the deacon, who was looking abstractedly out of a window on the
+opposite side of the church, interrupted him occasionally with doleful
+chanted responses.
+
+At the conclusion of the reading they all crossed themselves devoutly
+half a dozen times in succession, and after asking them the decisive
+question the priest gave them each a silver ring. Then came more
+reading, at the end of which he administered to them a teaspoonful
+of wine out of a cup. Reading and chanting were again resumed and
+continued for a long time, the bridegroom and bride crossing and
+prostrating themselves continually, and the deacon closing up his
+responses by repeating with the most astounding rapidity,
+fifteen times in five seconds, the words "Gaspodi pomilui"
+(goss'-po-dee-po-mee'-loo-ee), "God have mercy upon us." He then
+brought in two large gilt crowns ornamented with medallions, and,
+blowing off the dust which had accumulated upon them since the last
+wedding, he placed them upon the heads of the bridegroom and bride.
+
+The young Cossack's crown was altogether too large, and slipped down
+over his head like a candle-extinguisher until it rested upon his
+ears, eclipsing his eyes entirely. The bride's hair--or rather the
+peculiar manner in which it was "done up"--precluded the possibility
+of making a crown stay on her head, and an individual from among the
+spectators was detailed to hold it there. The priest then made the
+couple join hands, seized the groom's hand himself, and they all began
+a hurried march around the altar--the priest first, dragging along the
+Cossack, who, blinded by the crown, was continually stepping on his
+leader's heels; the bride following the groom, and trying to keep
+the crown from pulling her hair down; and lastly, the supernumerary
+stepping on the bride's dress and holding the gilt emblem of royalty
+in its place. The whole performance was so indescribably ludicrous
+that I could not possibly keep my countenance in that sober frame
+which befitted the solemnity of the occasion, and nearly scandalised
+the whole assembly by laughing out loud. Three times they marched in
+this way around the altar, and the ceremony was then ended. The bride
+and groom kissed the crowns reverently as they took them off, walked
+around the church, crossing themselves and bowing in succession before
+each of the pictures of saints which hung against the wall, and at
+last turned to receive the congratulations of their friends. It was
+expected of course that the "distinguished Americans," of whose
+intelligence, politeness, and suavity so much had been heard would
+congratulate the bride upon this auspicious occasion; but at least one
+distinguished but unfortunate American did not know how to do it. My
+acquirements in Russian were limited to "Yes," "No," and "How do you
+do?" and none of these expressions seemed fully to meet the emergency.
+Desirous, however, of sustaining the national reputation for
+politeness, as well as of showing my good-will to the bride, I
+selected the last of the phrases as probably the most appropriate, and
+walking solemnly, and I fear awkwardly, up I asked the bride with a
+very low bow, and in very bad Russian--how she did; she graciously
+replied, "Cherasvwechiano khorasho pakornashae vass blagadoroo," and
+the distinguished American retired with a proud consciousness of
+having done his duty. I was not very much enlightened as to the state
+of the bride's health; but, judging from the facility with which she
+rattled off this tremendous sentence, we concluded that she must be
+well. Nothing but a robust constitution and the most excellent health
+would have enabled her to do it. Convulsed with laughter, Dodd and I
+made our escape from the church and returned to our quarters. I have
+since been informed by the Major that the marriage ceremony of the
+Greek Church, when properly performed, has a peculiar impressiveness
+and solemnity; but I shall never be able to see it now without having
+my solemnity overcome by the recollection of that poor Cossack,
+stumbling around the altar after the priest with his head extinguished
+in a crown!
+
+From the moment when the Major decided upon the overland journey
+through Kamchatka, he devoted all his time and energies to the work of
+preparation. Boxes covered with sealskin, and intended to be hung from
+pack-saddles, were prepared for the transportation of our stores;
+tents, bearskins, and camp equipage were bought and packed away in
+ingeniously contrived bundles; and everything that native experience
+could suggest for lessening the hardships of outdoor life was provided
+in quantities sufficient for two months' journey. Horses were then
+ordered from all the adjacent villages, and a special courier was sent
+throughout the peninsula by the route that we intended to follow, with
+orders to apprise the natives everywhere of our coming, and to direct
+them to remain at home with all their horses until after our party
+should pass.
+
+Thus prepared, we set out on the 4th of September for the Far North.
+
+The peninsula of Kamchatka, through which we were about to travel, is
+a long irregular tongue of land lying east of the Okhotsk Sea, between
+the fifty-first and sixty-second degrees of north latitude, and
+measuring in extreme length about seven hundred miles. It is almost
+entirely of volcanic formation, and the great range of rugged
+mountains by which it is longitudinally divided comprises even now
+five or six volcanoes in a state of almost uninterrupted activity.
+This immense chain of mountains, which has never even been named,
+stretches from the fifty-first to the sixtieth degree of latitude in
+one almost continuous ridge, and at last breaks off abruptly into the
+Okhotsk Sea, leaving to the northward a high level steppe called
+the "dole" or desert, which is the wandering ground of the Reindeer
+Koraks. The central and southern parts of the peninsula are broken
+up by the spurs and foot-hills of the great mountain range into deep
+sequestered valleys of the wildest and most picturesque character, and
+afford scenery which, for majestic and varied beauty, is not surpassed
+in all northern Asia. The climate everywhere, except in the extreme
+north, is comparatively mild and equable, and the vegetation has an
+almost tropical freshness and luxuriance totally at variance with all
+one's ideas of Kamchatka. The population of the peninsula I estimate
+from careful observation at about 5000, and it is made up of three
+distinct classes--the Russians, the Kamchadals or settled natives, and
+the Wandering Koraks. The Kamchadals, who compose the most numerous
+class, are settled in little log villages throughout the peninsula,
+near the mouths of small rivers which rise in the central range
+of mountains and fall into the Okhotsk Sea or the Pacific. Their
+principal occupations are fishing, fur-trapping, and the cultivation
+of rye, turnips, cabbages, and potatoes, which grow thriftily as far
+north as lat. 58 deg.. Their largest settlements are in the fertile
+valley of the Kamchatka River, between Petropavlovsk and Kluchei
+(kloo-chay'). The Russians, who are comparatively few in number,
+are scattered here and there among the Kamchadal villages, and are
+generally engaged in trading for furs with the Kamchadals and the
+nomadic tribes to the northward. The Wandering Koraks, who are the
+wildest, most powerful, and most independent natives in the peninsula,
+seldom come south of the 58th parallel of latitude, except for the
+purpose of trade. Their chosen haunts are the great desolate steppes
+lying east of Penzhinsk (pen'-zhinsk) Gulf, where they wander
+constantly from place to place in solitary bands, living in large fur
+tents and depending for subsistence upon their vast herds of tamed and
+domesticated reindeer. The government under which all the inhabitants
+of Kamchatka nominally live is administered by a Russian officer
+called an "ispravnik" (is-prav'-nik) or local governor [Footnote:
+Strictly, a chief of district police.] who is supposed to settle all
+questions of law which may arise between individuals or tribes, and to
+collect the annual "yassak" or tax of furs, which is levied upon every
+male inhabitant in his province. He resides in Petropavlovsk, and
+owing to the extent of country over which he has jurisdiction, and the
+imperfect facilities which it affords for getting about, he is seldom
+seen outside of the village where he has his headquarters. The only
+means of transportation between the widely separated settlements of
+the Kamchadals are packhorses, canoes, and dog-sledges, and there is
+not such a thing as a road in the whole peninsula. I may have occasion
+hereafter to speak of "roads," but I mean by the word nothing more
+than the geometrician means by a "line"--simple longitudinal extension
+without any of the sensible qualities which are popularly associated
+with it.
+
+[Illustration: A TENT OF THE WANDERING KORAKS IN SUMMER]
+
+Through this wild, sparsely populated region, we purposed to travel by
+hiring the natives along our route to carry us with their horses from
+one settlement to another until we should reach the territory of the
+Wandering Koraks. North of that point we could not depend upon any
+regular means of transportation, but would be obliged to trust to luck
+and the tender mercies of the arctic nomads.
+
+[Illustration: Reindeer Bridle and Snow Shovel.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+STARTING NORTHWARD--KAMCHATKAN SCENERY, VILLAGES, AND PEOPLE
+
+I cannot remember any journey in my whole life which gave me more
+enjoyment at the time, or which is more pleasant in recollection, than
+our first horseback ride of 275 versts over the flowery hills and
+through the green valleys of southern Kamchatka. Surrounded as we
+continually were by the wildest and most beautiful scenery in all
+northern Asia, experiencing for the first time the novelty and
+adventurous excitement of camp life, and rejoicing in a newly found
+sense of freedom and perfect independence, we turned our backs gaily
+on civilisation, and rode away with light hearts into the wilderness,
+making the hills ring to the music of our songs and halloos.
+
+Our party, aside from drivers and guides, consisted of four men--Major
+Abaza, chief of Asiatic exploration, Dodd the young American, whom we
+had engaged in Petropavlovsk, Viushin (view'-shin) a Cossack orderly,
+and myself. The biting sarcasm directed by Mithridates at the army of
+Lucullus--that if they came as ambassadors they were too many, if as
+soldiers too few--would have applied with equal force to our small
+party made up as it was of only four men; but strength is not always
+to be measured by numbers, and we had no fears that we should not be
+able to cope with any obstacles which might lie in our way. We could
+certainly find subsistence where a larger party might starve.
+
+On Sunday, September 3d, our horses were loaded and despatched in
+advance to a small village on the opposite side of the bay, where we
+intended to meet them with a whale-boat. On Monday the 4th, we made
+our farewell calls upon the Russian authorities, drank an inordinate
+quantity of champagne to our own health and success, and set out
+in two whale-boats for Avacha, accompanied by the whole American
+population of Petropavlovsk. Crossing the bay under spritsail and jib,
+with a slashing breeze from the south-west, we ran swiftly into the
+mouth of the Avacha River, and landed at the village to refresh
+ourselves for the fifteenth time with "fifteen drops," and take leave
+of our American friends, Pierce, Hunter, and Fronefield. Copious
+libations were poured out to the tutelary saint of Kamchatkan
+explorers, and giving and receiving three hearty cheers we pushed off
+and began to make our way slowly up the river with poles and paddles
+toward the Kamchadal settlement of Okuta (o-koo'-tah).
+
+Our native crew, sharing in the universal dissipation which had
+attended our departure, and wholly unaccustomed to such reckless
+drinking, were reduced by this time to a comical state of happy
+imbecility, in which they sang Kamchadal songs, blessed the Americans,
+and fell overboard alternately, without contributing in any marked
+degree to the successful navigation of our heavy whale-boat. Viushin,
+however, with characteristic energy, hauled the drowning wretches in
+by their hair, rapped them over the head with a paddle to restore
+consciousness, pushed the boat off sand-bars, kept its head up stream,
+poled, rowed, jumped into the water, shouted, swore, and proved
+himself fully equal to any emergency.
+
+It was considerably after noon when we left Petropavlovsk, and owing
+to the incompetency of our Kamchadal crew, and the frequency of
+sand-bars, night overtook us on the river some distance below Okuta.
+Selecting a place where the bank was dry and accessible, we beached
+our whale-boat and prepared for our first bivouac in the open air.
+Beating down the high wet grass, Viushin pitched our little cotton
+tent, carpeted it with warm, dry bearskins, improvised a table and
+a cloth out of an empty candle-box and a clean towel, built a fire,
+boiled tea, and in twenty minutes set before us a hot supper which
+would not have done discredit to the culinary skill of Soyer himself.
+After supper we sat by the fire smoking and talking until the long
+twilight died away in the west, and then, rolling ourselves up in
+heavy blankets, we lay down on our bearskins and listened to the low
+quacking of a half-awakened duck in the sedges, and the lonely cries
+of night birds on the river until at last we fell asleep.
+
+Day was just breaking in the east when I awoke. The mist, which for a
+week had hung in grey clouds around the mountains, had now vanished,
+and the first object which met my eyes through the open door of the
+tent was the great white cone of Villuchinski gleaming spectrally
+through the greyness of the dawn. As the red flush in the east
+deepened, all nature seemed to awake. Ducks and geese quacked from
+every bunch of reeds along the shore; the strange wailing cries of
+sea-gulls could be heard from the neighbouring coast; and from the
+clear, blue sky came down the melodious trumpeting of wild swans, as
+they flew inland to their feeding-places. I washed my face in the
+clear, cold water of the river, and waked Dodd to see the mountains.
+Directly behind our tent, in one unbroken sheet of snow, rose the
+colossal peak of Koratskoi (ko-rat'-skoi), ten thousand five hundred
+feet in height, its sharp white summit already crimsoning with the
+rays of the rising sun, while the morning star yet throbbed faintly
+over the cool purple of its eastern slope. A little to the right was
+the huge volcano of Avacha, with a long banner of golden smoke hung
+out from its broken summit, and the Raselskoi (rah'-sel-skoi) volcano
+puffing out dark vapour from three craters. Far down the coast, thirty
+miles away, stood the sharp peak of Villuchinski, with the watch-fires
+of morning already burning upon its summit, and beyond it the hazy
+blue outlines of the coast range. Shreds of fleecy mist here and there
+floated up the mountain sides, and vanished like the spirits of
+the night dews rising from earth to heaven in bright resurrection.
+Steadily the warm, rosy flush of sunrise crept down the snowy slopes
+of the mountains, until at last, with a quick sudden burst, it poured
+a flood of light into the valley, tinging our little white tent with a
+delicate pink, like that of a wild-rose petal, turning every pendent
+dewdrop into a twinkling brilliant, and lighting up the still water
+of the river, until it became a quivering, flashing mass of liquid
+silver.
+
+  "I'm not romantic, but, upon my word,
+  There are some moments when one can't help feeling
+  As if his heart's chords were so strongly stirred
+  By things around him, that 'tis vain concealing
+  A little music in his soul still lingers,
+  Whene'er the keys are touched by Nature's fingers."
+
+I was just delivering the above quotation in impassioned style, when
+Dodd, who never allowed his enthusiasm for the beauties of nature to
+interfere with a proper regard for the welfare of his stomach, emerged
+from the tent, and, with a mock solemn apology for interrupting
+my soliloquy, said that if I could bring my mind down to the
+contemplation of material things he would inform me that breakfast
+was ready, and begged to suggest that the little music in my soul be
+allowed to "linger," since it could do so with less detriment than the
+said breakfast. The force of this suggestion, seconded as it was by a
+savoury odour from the interior of the tent, could not be denied. I
+went, but still continued between the spoonfuls of hot soup to "rave,"
+as Dodd expressed it, about the scenery. After breakfast the tent was
+struck, camp equipage packed up, and taking seats in the stern-sheets
+of our whale-boat we pushed off and resumed our slow ascent of the
+river.
+
+The vegetation everywhere, untouched as yet by the autumn frosts,
+seemed to have an almost tropical luxuriance. High wild grass, mingled
+with varicoloured flowers, extended to the very river's brink; Alpine
+roses and cinquefoil grew in dense thickets along the bank, and
+dropped their pink and yellow petals like fairy boats upon the surface
+of the clear still water; yellow columbine drooped low over the
+river, to see its graceful image mirrored beside that of the majestic
+volcano; and strange black Kamchatkan lilies, with downcast looks,
+stood here and there in sad loneliness, mourning in funeral garb some
+unknown flowery bereavement.
+
+Nor was animal life wanting to complete the picture. Wild ducks, with
+long outstretched necks, shot past us, continually in their swift
+level flight, uttering hoarse quacks of curiosity and apprehension;
+the honking of geese came to us, softened by distance, from the
+higher slopes of the mountains; and now and then a magnificent eagle,
+startled from his solitary watch on some jutting rock, expanded his
+broad-barred wings, launched himself into air, and soared upward in
+ever-widening circles until he became a mere moving speck against
+the white snowy crater of the Avachinski volcano. Never had I seen a
+picture of such wild primitive loneliness as that presented by
+this beautiful fertile valley, encircled by smoking volcanoes and
+snow-covered mountains, yet green as the Vale of Tempe, teeming with
+animal and vegetable life, yet solitary, uninhabited by man, and
+apparently unknown. About noon the barking of dogs announced our
+approach to a settlement, and turning an abrupt bend in the river we
+came in sight of the Kamchadal village of Okuta (o-koo'-tah).
+
+A Kamchadal village differs in some respects so widely from an
+American frontier settlement, that it is worthy, perhaps, of a brief
+description. It is situated generally on a little elevation near the
+bank of some river or stream, surrounded by scattered clumps of poplar
+and yellow birch, and protected by high hills from the cold northern
+winds. Its houses, which are clustered irregularly together near the
+beach, are very low, and are made of logs squared and notched at the
+ends, and chinked with masses of dry moss. The roofs are covered with
+a rough thatch of long coarse grass or with overlapping strips of
+tamarack bark, and project at the ends and sides into wide overhanging
+eaves. The window-frames, although occasionally glazed, are more
+frequently covered with an irregular patchwork of translucent fish
+bladders, sewn together with thread made of the dried and pounded
+sinews of the reindeer. The doors are almost square, and the chimneys
+are nothing but long straight poles, arranged in a circle and
+plastered over thickly with clay. Here and there between the houses
+stand half a dozen curious architectural quadrupeds called "balagans"
+(bah-lah-gans'), or fish storehouses. They are simply conical log
+tents, elevated from the ground on four posts to secure their contents
+from the dogs, and resemble as much as anything small haystacks trying
+to walk away on four legs. High square frames of horizontal poles
+stand beside every house, filled with thousands of drying salmon; and
+"an ancient and fish-like smell," which pervades the whole atmosphere,
+betrays the nature of the Kamchadals' occupation and of the food upon
+which they live. Half a dozen dugout canoes lie bottom upward on the
+sandy shelving beach, covered with large neatly tied seines; two or
+three long, narrow dog-sledges stand up on their ends against every
+house, and a hundred or more sharp-eared wolfish dogs, tied at
+intervals to long heavy poles, lie panting in the sun, snapping
+viciously at the flies and mosquitoes which disturb their rest. In the
+centre of the village, facing the west, stands, in all the glory of
+Kamchatko-Byzantine architecture, red paint, and glittering domes,
+the omnipresent Greek church, contrasting strangely with the rude log
+houses and conical _balagans_ over which it extends the spiritual
+protection of its resplendent golden cross. It is built generally of
+carefully hewn logs, painted a deep brick-red, covered with a green
+sheet-iron roof, and surmounted by two onion-shaped domes of tin
+which are sometimes coloured sky-blue and spangled with golden
+stars. Standing with all its glaring contrasts of colour among a few
+unpainted log houses in a primitive wilderness, it has a strange
+picturesque appearance not easily described. If you can imagine a
+rough American backwoods settlement of low log houses clustered round
+a gaily coloured Turkish mosque, half a dozen small haystacks mounted
+on high vertical posts, fifteen or twenty Titanic wooden gridirons
+similarly elevated and hung full of drying fish, a few dog-sledges and
+canoes lying carelessly around, and a hundred or more grey wolves tied
+here and there between the houses to long heavy poles, you will have a
+general but tolerably accurate idea of a Kamchadal settlement of the
+better class. They differ somewhat in respect to their size and their
+churches; but the grey log houses, conical _balagans_ drying fish,
+wolfish dogs, canoes, sledges, and fishy odours are all invariable
+features.
+
+The inhabitants of these native settlements in southern Kamchatka
+are a dark swarthy race, considerably below the average stature of
+Siberian natives, and are very different in all their characteristics
+from the wandering tribes of Koraks and Chukchis who live farther
+north. The men average perhaps five feet three or four inches in
+height, have broad flat faces, prominent cheek bones, small and rather
+sunken eyes, no beards, long, lank, black hair, small hands and feet,
+very slender limbs, and a tendency to enlargement and protrusion of
+the abdomen. They are probably of central Asiatic origin, but they
+certainly have had no very recent connection with any other Siberian
+tribe with which I am acquainted, and are not at all like the
+Chukchis, Koraks, Yakuts (yah-koots'), or Tunguses (toon-goo'-ses).
+From the fact of their living a settled instead of a wandering life
+they were brought under Russian subjection much more easily than their
+nomadic neighbours, and have since experienced in a greater degree the
+civilising influences of Russian intercourse. They have adopted almost
+universally the religion, customs, and habits of their conquerors, and
+their own language, which is a very curious one, is already falling
+into disuse. It would be easy to describe their character by
+negatives. They are not independent, self-reliant, or of a combative
+disposition like the northern Chukchis and Koraks; they are not
+avaricious or dishonest, except where those traits are the results of
+Russian education; they are not suspicious or distrustful, but rather
+the contrary; and for generosity, hospitality, simple good faith, and
+easy, equable good-nature under all circumstances, I have never met
+their equals. As a race they are undoubtedly becoming extinct.
+Since 1780, they have diminished in numbers more than one half, and
+frequently recurring epidemics and famines will soon reduce them to
+a comparatively weak and unimportant tribe, which will finally be
+absorbed in the growing Russian population of the peninsula. They have
+already lost most of their distinctive customs and superstitions, and
+only an occasional sacrifice of a dog to some malignant spirit of
+storm or disease enables the modern traveller to catch a glimpse of
+their original paganism. They depend mainly for subsistence upon the
+salmon, which every summer run into these northern rivers in immense
+numbers to spawn, and are speared, caught in seines, and trapped in
+weirs by thousands. These fish, dried without salt in the open air,
+are the food of the Kamchadals and of their dogs throughout the long,
+cold northern winter. During the summer, however, their bill of fare
+is more varied. The climate and soil of the river bottoms in southern
+Kamchatka admit of the cultivation of rye, potatoes, and turnips, and
+the whole peninsula abounds in animal life. Reindeer and black and
+brown bears roam everywhere over the mossy plains and through the
+grassy valleys; wild sheep and a species of ibex are not unfrequently
+found in the mountains; and millions upon millions of ducks, geese,
+and swans, in almost endless variety, swarm about every river and
+little marshy lake throughout the country. These aquatic fowls are
+captured in great multitudes while moulting by organised "drives" of
+fifty or seventy-five men in canoes, who chase the birds in one
+great flock up some narrow stream, at the end of which a huge net
+is arranged for their reception. They are then killed with clubs,
+cleaned, and salted for winter use. Tea and sugar have been introduced
+by the Russians, and have been received with great favour, the
+annual consumption now being more than 20,000 pounds of each in the
+Kamchatkan peninsula alone. Bread is now made of rye, which the
+Kamchadals raise and grind for themselves; but previous to the
+settlement of the country by the Russians, the only native substitute
+for bread was a sort of baked paste, consisting chiefly of the
+grated tubers of the purple Kamchatkan lily. [Footnote: A species of
+fritillaria.] The only fruits in the country are berries and a species
+of wild cherry. Of the berries, however, there are fifteen or twenty
+different kinds, of which the most important are blueberries,
+"maroshkas" (mah-ro'-shkas), or yellow cloud-berries, and dwarf
+cranberries. These the natives pick late in the fall, and freeze
+for winter consumption. Cows are kept in nearly all the Kamchadal
+settlements, and milk is always plenty. A curious native dish of sour
+milk, baked curds, and sweet cream, covered with powdered sugar and
+cinnamon, is worthy of being placed upon a civilised table.
+
+It will thus be seen that life in a Kamchatkan settlement,
+gastronomically considered, is not altogether so disagreeable as we
+have been led to believe. I have seen natives in the valley of the
+Kamchatka as pleasantly situated, and enjoying as much comfort and
+almost as many luxuries, as nine tenths of the settlers upon the
+frontiers of our western States and Territories.
+
+
+[Illustration: Travelling Bag made of Reindeer skin]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+BRIDLE PATHS OP SOUTHERN KAMCHATKA--HOUSES AND FOOD OF THE
+PEOPLE--REINDEER TONGUES AND WILD-ROSE PETALS--A KAMCHATKAN DRIVER'S
+CANTICLE
+
+At Okuta we found our horses and men awaiting our arrival; and after
+eating a hasty lunch of bread, milk, and blueberries in a little
+native house, we clambered awkwardly into our saddles, and filed away
+in a long irregular line through the woods, Dodd and I taking the
+advance, singing _Bonnie Dundee_.
+
+We kept continually near the group of mountains which had presented so
+beautiful an appearance in the morning; but, owing to the forest of
+birch and mountain ash which clothed the foot-hills, we caught only
+occasional glimpses between the tree-tops of their white snowy
+summits.
+
+Just before sunset, we rode into another little native village, whose
+ingeniously constructed name defied all my inexperienced attempts to
+pronounce it or write it down. Dodd was good-natured enough to
+repeat it to me five or six times; but as it sounded worse and more
+unintelligible every time, I finally called it Jerusalem, and let it
+go at that. For the sake of geographical accuracy I have so marked it
+down on my map; but let no future commentator point to it triumphantly
+as a proof that the lost tribes of Israel emigrated to Kamchatka;
+I don't believe that they did, and I know that this unfortunate
+settlement, before I took pity on it and called it Jerusalem, was
+distinguished by a name so utterly barbarous that neither the Hebrew
+alphabet nor any other known to ancient literature could have begun to
+do it justice.
+
+Tired by the unusual exercise of horseback riding, I entered Jerusalem
+at a walk, and throwing my bridle to a Kamchadal in blue nankeen
+shirt and buckskin trousers, who saluted me with a reverential bow, I
+wearily dismounted and entered the house which Viushin indicated as
+the one we were to occupy.
+
+The best room, which had been prepared for our reception, was a low
+bare apartment about twelve feet square, whose walls, ceiling, and
+floor of unpainted birch planks were scoured to a smooth snowy purity
+which would have been creditable even to the neat housewives of the
+Dutch paradise of Broek. An immense clay oven, neatly painted red,
+occupied one side of the room; a bench, three or four rude chairs, and
+a table, were arranged with severe propriety against the other. Two
+windows of glass, shaded by flowery calico curtains, admitted the
+warm sunshine; a few coarse American lithographs hung here and there
+against the wall; and the air of perfect neatness, which prevailed
+everywhere, made us suddenly and painfully conscious of our own muddy
+boots and rough attire. No tools except axes and knives had been
+used in the construction of the house or of its furniture; but the
+unplaned, unpainted boards had been diligently scrubbed with water
+and sand to a delicate creamy whiteness, which made amends for all
+rudeness of workmanship. There was not a plank in the floor from which
+the most fastidious need have hesitated to eat. The most noticeable
+peculiarity of this, as of all the other Kamchadal houses which we saw
+in southern Kamchatka, was the lowness of its doors. They seemed to
+have been designed for a race of beings whose only means of locomotion
+were hands and knees, and to enter them without making use of those
+means required a flexibility of spinal vertebrae only to be acquired
+by long and persevering practice. Viushin and Dodd, who had travelled
+in Kamchatka before, experienced no difficulty in accommodating
+themselves to this peculiarity of native architecture; but the Major
+and I, during the first two weeks of our journey, bore upon the fore
+parts of our heads, bumps whose extraordinary size and irregularity
+of development would have puzzled even Spurzheim and Gall. If the
+abnormal enlargement of the bumps had only been accompanied by a
+corresponding enlargement of the respective faculties, there would
+have been some compensation for this disfiguration of our heads; but
+unfortunately "perception" might be suddenly developed by the lintel
+of a door until it looked like a goose-egg, without enabling us to
+perceive the very next beam which came in our way until after we had
+struck our heads against it.
+
+The Cossack who had been sent through the peninsula as an
+avant-courier to notify the natives of our coming, had carried the
+most exaggerated reports of our power and importance, and elaborate
+preparations had been made by the Jerusalemites for our reception.
+The house that was to be honoured by our presence had been carefully
+scrubbed, swept, and garnished; the women had put on their most
+flowery calico dresses, and tied their hair up in their brightest silk
+handkerchiefs; most of the children's faces had been painfully washed
+and polished with soap, water, and wads of fibrous hemp; the whole
+village had been laid under contribution to obtain the requisite
+number of plates, cups, and spoons, for our supper-table, while
+offerings of ducks, reindeer-tongues, blueberries, and clotted cream
+poured in upon us with a profusion which testified to the good-will
+and hospitality of the inhabitants, as well as to their ready
+appreciation of tired travellers' wants. In an hour we sat down, with
+appetites sharpened by the pure mountain air, to an excellent supper
+of cold roast duck, broiled reindeer-tongues, black-bread and fresh
+butter, blueberries and cream, and wild-rose petals crushed with white
+sugar into a rich delicious jam. We had come to Kamchatka with minds
+and mouths heroically made up for an unvarying diet of blubber, tallow
+candles, and train-oil; but imagine our surprise and delight at being
+treated instead to such Sybaritic luxuries as purple blueberries,
+cream, and preserved rose-leaves! Did Lucullus ever feast upon
+preserved rose-petals in his, vaunted pleasure-gardens of Tusculum?
+Never! The original recipe for the preparation of celestial ambrosia
+had been lost before ever "Lucullus supped with Lucullus"; but it was
+rediscovered by the despised inhabitants of Kamchatka, and is now
+offered, to the world as the first contribution of the Hyperboreans to
+gastronomical science. Take equal quantities of white loaf sugar
+and the petals of the Alpine rose, add a little juice of crushed
+blueberries, macerate together to a rich crimson paste, serve in the
+painted cups of trumpet honeysuckles, and imagine yourself feasting
+with the gods upon the summit of high Olympus!
+
+As soon as possible after supper, I stretched myself out upon the
+floor under a convenient table, which answered practically and
+aesthetically all the purposes of a four-post bedstead, inflated my
+little rubber pillow, rolled myself up, _a la_ mummy, in a blanket,
+and slept.
+
+The Major, always an early riser, was awake on the following morning
+at daylight. Dodd and I, with a coincidence of opinion as rare as it
+was gratifying, regarded early rising as a relic of barbarism which no
+American, with a proper regard for the civilisation of the nineteenth
+century, would demean himself by encouraging. We had therefore entered
+into a mutual agreement upon this occasion to sleep peacefully until
+the "caravan," as Dodd irreverently styled it, should be ready to
+start, or at least until we should receive a summons for breakfast.
+Soon after daybreak, however, a terrific row began about something,
+and with a vague impression that I was attending a particularly
+animated primary meeting in the Ninth Ward, I sprang up, knocked my
+head violently against a table-leg, opened my eyes in amazement, and
+stared wildly at the situation. The Major, in a scanty _deshabille,_
+was storming furiously about the room, cursing our frightened drivers
+in classical Russian, because the horses had all stampeded during the
+night and gone, as he said with expressive simplicity, "Chort
+tolko znal kooda"--"the devil only knew where." This was rather an
+unfortunate beginning of our campaign; but in the course of two hours
+most of the wandering beasts were found, packs were adjusted, and
+after an unnecessary amount of profanity from the drivers, we turned
+our backs on Jerusalem and rode slowly away over the rolling grassy
+foot-hills of the Avachinski volcano.
+
+It was a warm, beautiful Indian summer day, and a peculiar stillness
+and Sabbath-like quiet seemed to pervade all nature. The leaves of the
+scattering birches and alders along the trail hung motionless in the
+warm sunshine, the drowsy cawing of a crow upon a distant larch came
+to our ears with strange distinctness, and we even imagined that we
+could hear the regular throbbing of the surf upon the far-away coast.
+A faint murmurous hum of bees was in the air, and a rich fruity
+fragrance came up from the purple clusters of blueberries which our
+horses crushed under foot at every step. All things seemed to unite
+in tempting the tired traveller to stretch himself out on the warm
+fragrant grass, and spend the day in luxurious idleness, listening to
+the buzzing of the sleepy bees, inhaling the sweet smell of crushed
+blueberries, and watching the wreaths of curling smoke which rose
+lazily from the lofty crater of the great white volcano. I laughingly
+said to Dodd that instead of being in Siberia--the frozen land of
+Russian exiles--we had apparently been transported by some magical
+Arabian Night's contrivance to the clime of the "Lotus Eaters," which
+would account for the dreamy, drowsy influence of the atmosphere.
+"Clime of the Lotus Eaters be hanged!" he broke out impetuously,
+making a furious slap at his face; "the poet doesn't say that the
+Lotus Eaters were eaten up themselves by such cursed mosquitoes as
+these, and they're sufficient evidence that we're in Kamchatka--they
+don't grow as big as bumblebees in any other country!" I reminded him
+mildly that according to Walton--old Isaac--every misery we missed was
+a new mercy, and that, consequently, he ought to be thankful for every
+mosquito that didn't bite him. His only reply was that he "wished he
+had old Isaac there." What summary reprisals were to be made upon old
+Isaac I did not know, but it was evident that Dodd did not approve of
+his philosophy, or of my attempt at consolation, so I desisted.
+
+Maximof (max-im'-off), the chief of our drivers, labouring under a
+vague impression that, because everything was so still and quiet, it
+must be Sunday, rode slowly through the scattered clumps of silver
+birch which shaded the trail, chanting in a loud, sonorous voice a
+part of the service of the Greek Church, suspending this devotional
+exercise, occasionally, to curse his vagrant horses in a style which
+would have excited the envy and admiration of the most profane trooper
+of the army in Flanders.
+
+"Oh! let my pray-er be-e-e (_Here! you pig! Keep in the road_!)
+set forth as the in-cense; and let the lifting up of my han-n-n-ds
+be--(_Get up! you korova! You old, blind, broken-legged son of the
+Evil Spirit! Where you going to_!)--an eve-n-ing sacrifice: let not my
+heart be inclined to--(_Lie down again, will you! Thwack? Take that,
+you old sleepy-headed svinya proclatye_!)--any e-vil thing; let me not
+be occupied with any evil works (_Akh! What a horse! Bokh s'nim_!).
+Set a watch before my mouth, and keep the do-o-o-r of my lips--(_Whoa!
+You merzavitz! What did you run into that tree for? Ecca voron!
+Podletz! Slepoi takoi! Chart tibi vasmee_!)"--and Maximof lapsed
+into a strain of such ingenious and metaphorical profanity that my
+imagination was left to supply the deficiencies of my imperfect
+comprehension. He did not seem to be conscious of any inconsistency
+between the chanted psalm and the profane interjections by which
+it was accompanied; but, even if he had been fully aware of it, he
+probably would have regarded the chanting as a fair offset to the
+profanity, and would have gone on his way with serene indifference,
+fully assured that if he sang a sacred verse every time he swore, his
+celestial account must necessarily balance!
+
+The road, or rather trail, from Jerusalem turned away to the westward,
+and wound around the bases of a range of low bare mountains, through a
+dense forest of poplar and birch. Now and then we would come out into
+little grassy openings, where the ground was covered with blueberries,
+and every eye would be on the lookout for bears; but all was still and
+motionless--even the grasshoppers chirping sleepily and lazily, as
+if they too were about to yield to the somnolence which seemed to
+overpower all nature.
+
+To escape the mosquitoes, whose relentless persecution became almost
+unendurable, we rode on more briskly through a broad, level valley,
+filled with a dense growth of tall umbelliferous plants, trotted
+swiftly up a little hill, and rode at a thundering gallop into the
+village of Korak, amid the howling and barking of a hundred and fifty
+half-wild dogs, the neighing of horses, running to and fro of men, and
+a scene of general confusion.
+
+At Korak we changed most of our horses and men, ate an _al fresco_
+lunch under the projecting eaves of a mossy Kamchadal house, and
+started at two o'clock for Malqua, another village, fifty or sixty
+miles distant, across the watershed of the Kamchatka River. About
+sunset, after a brisk ride of fifteen or eighteen miles, we suddenly
+emerged from the dense forest of poplar, birch, and mountain ash which
+had shut in the trail, and came out into a little grassy opening,
+about an acre in extent, which seemed to have been made expressly with
+a view to camping out. It was surrounded on three sides by woods, and
+opened on the fourth into a wild mountain gorge, choked up with rocks,
+logs, and a dense growth of underbrush and weeds. A clear cold stream
+tumbled in a succession of tinkling cascades down the dark ravine, and
+ran in a sandy flower-bordered channel through the grassy glade, until
+it disappeared in the encircling forest. It was useless to look for
+a better place than this to spend the night, and we decided to stop
+while we still had daylight. To picket our horses, collect wood for a
+fire, hang over our teakettles, and pitch our little cotton tent, was
+the work of only a few moments, and we were soon lying at full length
+upon our warm bearskins, around our towel-covered candle-box, drinking
+hot tea, discussing Kamchatka, and watching the rosy flush of sunset
+as it slowly faded over the western mountains.
+
+As I was lulled to sleep that night by the murmuring plash of falling
+water, and the tinkling of our horses' bells from the forest behind
+our tent, I thought that nothing could be more delightful than camp
+life in Kamchatka.
+
+We reached Malqua on the following day, in a generally exhausted
+and used-up condition. The road had been terribly rough and broken,
+running through narrow ravines blocked up with rocks and fallen trees,
+across wet mossy swamps, and over rugged precipitous hills, where we
+dared not attempt to ride our horses. We were thrown repeatedly from
+our saddles; our provision-boxes were smashed against trees, and wet
+through by sinking in swamps; girths gave way, drivers swore, horses
+fell down, and we all came to grief, individually and collectively.
+The Major, unaccustomed as he was to these vicissitudes of Kamchatkan
+travel, held out like a Spartan; but I noticed that for the last ten
+miles he rode upon a pillow, and shouted at short intervals to Dodd,
+who, with stoical imperturbability, was riding quietly in advance:
+"Dodd! oh, Dodd! haven't we got most to that _con-found-ed_ Malqua
+yet?" Dodd would strike his horse a sharp blow with a willow switch,
+turn half round in his saddle, and reply, with a quizzical smile, that
+we were "not most there yet, but would be soon!"--an equivocal sort of
+consolation which did not inspire us with much enthusiasm. At last,
+when it had already begun to grow dark, we saw a high column of white
+steam in the distance, which rose, Dodd and Viushin said, from the hot
+springs of Malqua; and in fifteen minutes we rode, tired, wet, and
+hungry, into the settlement. Supper was a secondary consideration with
+me _that_ night. All I wanted was to crawl under a table where no one
+would step on me, and be let alone. I had never before felt such a
+vivid consciousness of my muscular and osseous system. Every separate
+bone and tendon in my body asserted its individual existence by a
+distinct and independent ache, and my back in twenty minutes was as
+inflexible as an iron ramrod. I felt a melancholy conviction that I
+never should measure five feet ten inches again, unless I could lie on
+some Procrustean bed and have my back stretched out to its original
+longitude. Repeated perpendicular concussions had, I confidently
+believed, telescoped my spinal vertebrae into each other, so that
+nothing short of a surgical operation would ever restore them to their
+original positions. Revolving in my mind such mournful considerations,
+I fell asleep under a table, without even pulling off my boots.
+
+[Illustration: Cap of brown and white fur]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF GENAL--WALLS OF LITERATURE--SCARING UP A
+BEAR--END OF HORSEBACK RIDE
+
+It was hard work on the following morning to climb again into the
+saddle, but the Major was insensible to all appeals for delay. Stern
+and inflexible as Rhadamanthus, he mounted stiffly upon his feather
+pillow and gave the signal for a start. With the aid of two
+sympathetic Kamchadals, who had perhaps experienced the misery of a
+stiff back, I succeeded in getting astride a fresh horse, and we
+rode away into the Genal (gen-ahl') valley--the garden of southern
+Kamchatka.
+
+The village of Malqua lies on the northern slope of the Kamchatka
+River watershed, surrounded by low barren granite hills, and reminded
+me a little in its situation of Virginia City, Nevada. It is noted
+chiefly for its hot mineral springs, but as we did not have time to
+visit these springs ourselves, we were compelled to take the natives'
+word for their temperature and their medicinal properties, and content
+ourselves with a distant view of the pillar of steam which marked
+their location.
+
+North of the village opens the long narrow valley of Genal--the most
+beautiful as well as the most fertile spot in all the Kamchatkan
+peninsula. It is about thirty miles in length, and averages three in
+breadth, and is bounded on both sides by chains of high snow-covered
+mountains, which stretch away from Malqua in a long vista of white
+ragged peaks and sharp cliffs, almost to the head-waters of the
+Kamchatka River. A small stream runs in a tortuous course through the
+valley, fringed with long wild grass four or five feet in height, and
+shaded here and there by clumps of birches, willows, and alders. The
+foliage was beginning already to assume the brilliant colours of
+early autumn, and broad stripes of crimson, yellow, and green ran
+horizontally along the mountain sides, marking on a splendid chromatic
+scale the successive zones of vegetation as they rose in regular
+gradation from the level of the valley to the pure glittering snows of
+the higher peaks.
+
+As we approached the middle of the valley just before noon, the
+scenery assumed a vividness of colour and grandeur of outline which
+drew forth the most enthusiastic exclamations of delight from our
+little party. For twenty-five miles in each direction lay the sunny
+valley, through which the Genal River was stretched like a tangled
+chain of silver, linking together the scattered clumps of birch and
+thickets of alder, which at intervals diversified its banks. Like the
+Happy Valley of Rasselas, it seemed to be shut out from the rest of
+the world by impassable mountains, whose snowy peaks and pinnacles
+rivalled in picturesque beauty, in variety and singularity of form,
+the wildest dream of eastern architect. Half down their sides was a
+broad horizontal belt of dark-green pines, thrown into strong and
+beautiful contrast with the pure white snow of the higher summits and
+the rich crimson of the mountain ash which flamed below. Here and
+there the mountains had been cleft asunder by some Titanic power,
+leaving deep narrow gorges and wild ravines where the sunlight could
+hardly penetrate, and the eye was lost in soft purple haze. Imagine
+with all this, a warm fragrant atmosphere and a deep blue sky in which
+floated a few clouds, too ethereal even to cast shadows, and you will
+perhaps have a faint idea of one of the most beautiful landscapes in
+all Kamchatka. The Sierra Nevadas may afford views of more savage
+wildness, but nowhere in California or Nevada have I ever seen the
+distinctive features of both winter and summer--snow and roses, bare
+granite and brilliantly coloured foliage--blended into so harmonious
+a picture as that presented by the Genal valley on a sunshiny day in
+early autumn.
+
+Dodd and I devoted most of our leisure time during the afternoon to
+picking and eating berries. Galloping furiously ahead until we
+had left the caravan several miles behind, we would lie down in a
+particularly luxuriant thicket by the river bank, tie our horses to
+our feet, and bask in the sunshine and feast upon yellow honeyed
+"moroshkas" (mo-ro'-shkas) and the dark purple globes of delicious
+blueberries, until our clothes were stained with crimson spots, and
+our faces and hands resembled those of a couple of Comanches painted
+for the war-path.
+
+The sun was yet an hour high when we approached the native village of
+Genal. We passed a field where men and women were engaged in cutting
+hay with rude sickles, returned their stare of amazement with
+unruffled serenity, and rode on until the trail suddenly broke off
+into a river beyond which stood the village.
+
+Kneeling upon our saddles we succeeded in fording the shallow stream
+without getting wet, but in a moment we came to another of about the
+same size. We forded that, and were confronted by a third. This we
+also passed, but at the appearance of the fourth river the Major
+shouted despairingly to Dodd, "Ay! Dodd! How many _paganni_ rivers do
+we have to wade through in getting to this beastly village?" "Only
+one," replied Dodd composedly. "One! Then how many times does this
+one river run past this one settlement?" "Five times," was the calm
+response. "You see," he explained soberly, "these poor Kamchadals
+haven't got but one river to fish in, and that isn't a very big one,
+so they have made it run past their settlement five times, and by this
+ingenious contrivance they catch five times as many salmon as they
+would if it only passed once!" The Major was surprised into silence,
+and seemed to be considering some abstruse problem. Finally he raised
+his eyes from the pommel of his saddle, transfixed the guilty Dodd
+with a glance of severe rebuke, and demanded solemnly, "How many times
+must a given fish swim past a given settlement, in order to supply the
+population with food, provided the fish is caught every time he goes
+past?" This _reductio ad absurdum_ was too much for Dodd's gravity;
+he burst into a laugh, and digging his heels into his horse's ribs,
+dashed with a great splatter into the fourth arm or bend of the river,
+and rode up on the other side into the village of Genal.
+
+We took up our quarters at the house of the "starosta" (stah'-ro-stah)
+or head man of the village, and spread our bearskins out on the clean
+white floor of a low room, papered in a funny way with old copies
+of the _Illustrated London News_. A coloured American lithograph,
+representing the kiss of reconciliation between two offended lovers,
+hung against the wall on one side, and was evidently regarded with
+a good deal of pride by the proprietor, as affording incontestable
+evidence of culture and refined taste, and proving his familiar
+acquaintance with American art, and the manners and customs of
+American society.
+
+Dodd and I, notwithstanding our fatigue, devoted the evening entirely
+to literary pursuits; searching diligently with tallow candles over
+the wall and ceiling for consecutive numbers of the _Illustrated
+London News_, reading court gossip from a birch plank in the corner,
+and obituaries of distinguished Englishmen from the back of a door. By
+dint of industry and perseverance we finished one whole side of the
+house before bedtime, and having gained a vast amount of valuable
+information with regard to the war in New Zealand, we were encouraged
+to pursue our investigations in the morning upon the three remaining
+sides and the ceiling. To our great regret, however, we were obliged
+to start on our pilgrimage without having time to find out how that
+war terminated, and we have never been able to ascertain to this day!
+Long before six o'clock we were off with fresh horses for a long ride
+of ninety versts to Pushchin (poosh'-chin).
+
+The costumes of our little party had now assumed a very motley and
+brigandish appearance, every individual having discarded from time
+to time, such articles of his civilised dress as proved to be
+inconvenient or uncomfortable, and adopted various picturesque
+substitutes, which filled more nearly the requirements of a barbarous
+life. Dodd had thrown away his cap, and tied a scarlet and yellow
+handkerchief around his head. Viushin had ornamented his hat with a
+long streamer of crimson ribbon, which floated gayly in the wind
+like a whip-pennant. A blue hunting-shirt and a red Turkish fez had
+superseded my uniform coat and cap. We all carried rifles slung
+across our backs, and revolvers belted around our waists, and were
+transformed generally into as fantastic brigands as ever sallied
+forth from the passes of the Apennines to levy blackmail upon unwary
+travellers. A timid tourist, meeting us as we galloped furiously
+across the plain toward Pushchin would have fallen on his knees and
+pulled out his purse without asking any unnecessary questions.
+
+Being well mounted on fresh, spirited horses, the Major, Dodd,
+Viushin, and I rode far in advance of the rest of the party throughout
+the day. Late in the afternoon, as we were going at a slashing rate
+across the level plain known as the Kamchatkan _tundra_, [Footnote: A
+treeless expanse carpeted with moss and low berry-bushes.] the Major
+suddenly drew his horse violently back on his haunches, wheeled half
+round, and shouted, "Medveid! medveid!" and a large black bear rose
+silently out of the long grass at his very feet.
+
+The excitement, I can conscientiously affirm, was terrific. Viushin
+unslung his double-barrelled fowling-piece, and proceeded to pepper
+him with duck-shot; Dodd tugged at his revolver with frantic energy
+while his horse ran away with him over the plain; the Major dropped
+his bridle, and implored me by all I held sacred not to shoot _him_,
+while the horses plunged, kicked, and snorted in the most animated
+manner. The only calm and self-possessed individual in the whole party
+was the bear! He surveyed the situation coolly for a few seconds, and
+then started at an awkward gallop for the woods. In an instant our
+party recovered its conjoint presence of mind, and charged with the
+most reckless heroism upon his flying footsteps, shouting frantically
+to "stop him!" popping away in the most determined and unterrified
+manner with four revolvers and a shotgun, and performing prodigies
+of valour in the endeavour to capture the ferocious beast, without
+getting in his way or coming nearer to him than a hundred yards. All
+was in vain. The bear vanished in the forest like a flying shadow;
+and, presuming from his known ferocity and vindictiveness that he had
+prepared an ambuscade for us in the woods, we deemed it the better
+part of valour to abandon the pursuit. Upon comparing notes, we found
+that we had all been similarly impressed with his enormous size, his
+shagginess, and his generally savage appearance, and had all been
+inspired at the same moment with an irresistible inclination to take
+him by the throat and rip him open with a bowie-knife, in a manner
+so beautifully illustrated by the old geographies. Nothing but the
+fractiousness of our horses and the rapidity of his flight had
+prevented this desirable consummation. The Major even declared
+positively that he had seen the bear a long time before, and only
+rode over him "to scare him up," and said almost in the words of the
+redoubtable Falstaff, "that if we would do him honour for it, so; if
+not, we might scare up the next bear ourselves." Looking at the matter
+calmly and dispassionately afterward, I thought it extremely probable
+that if another bear did not scare the Major up, he never would go
+out of his way to scare up another bear. We felt it to be our duty,
+however, to caution him against imperilling the success of our
+expedition by such reckless exploits in the way of scaring up wild
+beasts.
+
+Long before we reached Pushchin it grew dark; but our tired horses
+freshened up after sunset, with the cool evening air, and about eight
+o'clock we heard the distant howling of dogs, which we had already
+come to associate with hot tea, rest, and sleep. In twenty minutes we
+were lying comfortably on our bearskins in a Kamchadal house.
+
+We had made sixty miles since daybreak; but the road had been good.
+We were becoming more accustomed to horseback riding, and were by
+no means so tired as we had been at Malqua. Only thirty versts now
+intervened between us and the head-waters of the Kamchatka River,
+where we were to abandon our horses and float down two hundred and
+fifty miles on rafts or in native canoes.
+
+A sharp trot of four hours over a level plain brought us on the
+following morning to Sherom (sheh-rome'), where rafts had already been
+prepared for our use.
+
+It was with no little regret that I ended for the present my horseback
+travel. The life suited me in every respect, and I could not recall
+any previous journey which had ever afforded me more pure, healthful
+enjoyment, or seemed more like a delightful pleasure excursion than
+this. All Siberia, however, lay before us; and our regret at
+leaving scenes which we should never again revisit was relieved by
+anticipations of future adventures equally novel, and prospective
+scenery grander even than anything which we had yet witnessed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+THE KAMCHATKA RIVER--LIFE ON A CANOE RAFT--RECEPTION AT
+MILKOVA--MISTAKEN FOR THE TSAR
+
+To a person of an indolent disposition there is something particularly
+pleasant in floating in a boat down a river. One has all the
+advantages of variety, and change of incident and scenery, without any
+exertion; all the lazy pleasures--for such they must be called--of
+boat life, without any of the monotony which makes a long sea voyage
+so unendurable. I think it was Gray who said that his idea of paradise
+was "To lie on a sofa and read eternally new romances of Marivaux and
+Crebillon." Could the author of the "Elegy" have stretched himself out
+on the open deck of a Kamchadal boat, covered to a depth of six inches
+with fragrant flowers and freshly cut hay; could he have floated
+slowly down a broad, tranquil river through ranges of snow-clad
+mountains, past forests glowing with yellow and crimson, and vast
+steppes waving with tall, wild grass; could he have watched the
+full moon rise over the lonely, snowy peak of the Kluchefskoi
+(kloo'-chef-skoi') volcano, bridging the river with a narrow trail
+of quivering light, and have listened to the plash of the boatman's
+paddles, and the low melancholy song to which they kept time--he would
+have thrown Marivaux and Crebillon overboard, and have given a better
+example of the pleasures of paradise.
+
+I know that I am laying myself open to the charge of exaggeration by
+thus praising Kamchatkan scenery, and that my enthusiasm will perhaps
+elicit a smile of amusement from the more experienced traveller who
+has seen Italy and the Alps; still, I am describing things as they
+appeared to me, and do not assert that the impressions they made were
+those that should or would have been made upon a man of more extensive
+experience and wider observation. To use the words of a Spanish
+writer, which I have somewhere read, "The man who has never seen the
+glory of the sun cannot be blamed for thinking that there is no glory
+like that of the moon; nor he who has never seen the moon, for talking
+of the unrivalled brightness of the morning star." Had I ever sailed
+down the Rhine, climbed the Matterhorn, or seen the moon rise over
+the Bay of Naples, I should have taken perhaps a juster and less
+enthusiastic view of Kamchatka; but, compared with anything that I had
+previously seen or imagined, the mountain landscapes of southern and
+central Kamchatka were superb.
+
+At Sherom, thanks to the courier who had preceded us, we found a boat,
+or Kamchatkan raft, ready for our reception. It was composed of three
+large dugout canoes placed parallel to one another at distances of
+about three feet, and lashed with sealskin thongs to stout transverse
+poles. Over these was laid a floor or platform about ten feet by
+twelve, leaving room at the bow and stern of each canoe for men with
+paddles who were to guide and propel the unwieldy craft in some
+unknown, but, doubtless, satisfactory manner. On the platform, which
+was covered to a depth of six inches with freshly cut grass, we
+pitched our little cotton tent, and transformed it with bearskins,
+blankets, and pillows into a very cosy substitute for a stateroom.
+Rifles and revolvers were unstrapped from our tired bodies, and hung
+up against the tent poles; heavy riding boots were unceremoniously
+kicked off, and replaced by soft buckskin _torbasses_ [Footnote:
+Moccasin boots.]; saddles were stored away in convenient nooks for
+future use; and all our things disposed with a view to the enjoyment
+of as much luxury as was compatible with our situation.
+
+After a couple of hours' rest, during which our heavy baggage was
+transferred to another similar raft, we walked down to the sandy
+beach, bade good-bye to the crowd which had assembled to see us off,
+and swung slowly out into the current, the Kamchadals on the shore
+waving hats and handkerchiefs until a bend in the river hid them from
+sight. The scenery of the upper Kamchatka for the first twenty miles
+was comparatively tame and uninteresting, as the mountains were
+entirely concealed by a dense forest of pine, birch, and larch,
+which extended down to the water's edge. It was sufficient pleasure,
+however, at first, to lie back in the tent upon our soft bearskins,
+watching the brilliantly coloured and ever varying foliage of the
+banks, to sweep swiftly but silently around abrupt bends into long
+vistas of still water, startling the great Kamchatkan eagle from
+his lonely perch on some jutting rock, and frightening up clouds of
+clamorous waterfowl, which flew in long lines down the river until out
+of sight. The navigation of the upper Kamchatka is somewhat intricate
+and dangerous at night, on account of the rapidity of the current and
+the frequency of snags; and as soon as it grew dark our native boatmen
+considered it unsafe to go on. We accordingly beached our rafts and
+went ashore to wait for moonrise.
+
+A little semicircle was cut in the thick underbrush at the edge of the
+beach, fires were built, kettles of potatoes and fish hung over to
+boil, and we all gathered around the cheerful blaze to smoke, talk,
+and sing American songs until supper time. The scene to civilised eyes
+was strangely wild and picturesque. The dark, lonely river gurgling
+mournfully around sunken trees in its channel; the dense primeval
+forest whispering softly to the passing wind its amazement at this
+invasion of its solitude; the huge flaming camp-fire throwing a
+red lurid glare over the still water, and lighting up weirdly the
+encircling woods; and the groups of strangely dressed men lounging
+carelessly about the blaze upon shaggy bearskins--all made up a
+picture worthy of the pencil of Rembrandt.
+
+After supper we amused ourselves by building an immense bonfire of
+driftwood on the beach, and hurling blazing firebrands at the leaping
+salmon as they passed up the river, and the frightened ducks which had
+been roused from sleep by the unusual noise and light. When nothing
+remained of our bonfire but a heap of glowing embers, we spread our
+bearskins upon the soft, yielding sand by the water's edge, and lay
+staring up at the twinkling stars until consciousness faded away into
+dreams, and dreams into utter oblivion.
+
+I was waked about midnight by the splashing of rain in my face and the
+sobbing of the rising wind in the tree-tops, and upon crawling out of
+my water-soaked blankets found that Dodd and the Major had brought the
+tent ashore, pitched it among the trees, and availed themselves of
+its shelter, but had treacherously left me exposed to a pelting
+rain-storm, as if it were a matter of no consequence whatever whether
+I slept in a tent or a mud-puddle! After mentally debating the
+question whether I had better go inside or revenge myself by pulling
+the tent down over their heads, I finally decided to escape from the
+rain first and seek revenge at some more propitious time. Hardly had
+I fallen asleep again when "spat" came the wet canvas across my face,
+accompanied by a shout of "Get up! it is time to start"; and crawling
+out from under the fallen tent I walked sullenly down to the raft,
+revolving in my mind various ingenious schemes for getting even with
+the Major and Dodd, who had first left me out in the rain, and then
+waked me up in the middle of the night by pulling a wet tent down
+over my head. It was one o'clock in the morning--dark, rainy, and
+dismal--but the moon was supposed to have risen, and our Kamchadal
+boatmen said that it was light enough to start. I didn't believe that
+it was, but my sleepily expressed opinions had no weight with the
+Major, and my protests were utterly ignored. Hoping in the bitterness
+of my heart that we _should_ run against a snag, I lay down sullenly
+in the rain on the wet soaking grass of our raft, and tried to forget
+my misery in sleep. On account of the contrary wind we could not put
+up our tent, and were obliged to cover ourselves as best we could with
+oilcloth blankets and shiver away the remainder of the night.
+
+About an hour after daylight we approached the Kamchadal settlement of
+Milkova (mil'-ko-vah), the largest native village in the peninsula.
+The rain had ceased, and the clouds were beginning to break away, but
+the air was still cold and raw. A courier, who had been sent down in a
+canoe from Sherom on the previous day, had notified the inhabitants of
+our near approach, and the signal gun which we fired as we came round
+the last bend of the river brought nearly the whole population running
+helter-skelter to the beach. Our reception was "a perfect ovation."
+The "city fathers," as Dodd styled them, to the number of twenty,
+gathered in a body at the landing and began bowing, taking off their
+hats, and shouting "Zdrastvuitie?" [Footnote: How do you do?] while we
+were yet fifty yards from the shore; a salute was fired from a dozen
+rusty flint-lock muskets, to the imminent hazard of our lives; and
+a dozen natives waded into the water to assist us in getting safely
+landed. The village stood a short distance back from the river's bank,
+and the natives had provided for our transportation thither four
+of the worst-looking horses that I had seen in Kamchatka. Their
+equipments consisted of wooden saddles, modelled after the gables of
+an angular house; stirrups about twelve inches in length, patched up
+from discarded remnants of sealskin thongs; cruppers of bearskin,
+and halters of walrus hide twisted around the animals' noses. The
+excitement which prevailed when we proceeded to mount was unparalleled
+I believe in the annals of that quiet settlement. I don't know how the
+Major succeeded in getting upon his horse, but I do know that a
+dozen long-haired Kamchadals seized Dodd and me, regardless of our
+remonstrances, hauled us this way and that until the struggle to get
+hold of some part of our unfortunate persons resembled the fight over
+the dead body of Patroclus, and finally hoisted us triumphantly into
+our saddles in a breathless and exhausted condition. One more such
+hospitable reception would forever have incapacitated us for the
+service of the Russian American Telegraph Company! I had only time to
+cast a hurried glance back at the Major. He looked like a frightened
+landsman straddling the end of a studdingsail-boom run out to leeward
+on a fast clipper, and his face was screwed up into an expression of
+mingled pain, amusement, and astonishment, which evidently did not
+begin to do justice to his conflicting emotions. I had no opportunity
+of expressing my sympathetic participation in his sufferings; for
+an excited native seized the halter of my horse, three more with
+reverently bared heads fell in on each side, and I was led away in
+triumph to some unknown destination! The inexpressible absurdity of
+our appearance did not strike me with its full force until I looked
+behind me just before we reached the village. There were the Major,
+Viushin, and Dodd, perched upon gaunt Kamchadal horses, with their
+knees and chins on nearly the same level, half a dozen natives in
+eccentric costumes straggling along by their sides at a dog-trot, and
+a large procession of bareheaded men and boys solemnly bringing up
+the rear, punching the horses with sharp sticks into a temporary
+manifestation of life and spirit. It reminded me faintly of a Roman
+triumph--the Major, Dodd, and I being the victorious heroes, and the
+Kamchadals the captives, whom we had compelled to go _sub jugum_,
+and who now graced our triumphal entry into the Seven-hilled City. I
+mentioned this fancy of mine to Dodd, but he declared that one would
+have had to do violence to his imagination to make "victorious heroes"
+out of us on that occasion, and suggested "heroic victims" as equally
+poetical and more in accordance with the facts. His severely practical
+mind objected to any such fanciful idealisation of our misery. The
+excitement increased rather than diminished as we entered the
+village. Our motley escort gesticulated, ran to and fro, and shouted
+unintelligible orders in the most frantic manner; heads appeared and
+disappeared with startling kaleidoscopic abruptness at the windows
+of the houses; and three hundred dogs contributed to the general
+confusion by breaking out into an infernal canine peace jubilee which
+fairly made the air quiver with sound. At last we stopped in front of
+a large one-story log house, and were assisted by twelve or fifteen
+natives to dismount and enter. As soon as Dodd could collect his
+confused faculties he demanded: "What in the name of all the Russian
+saints is the matter with this settlement; is everybody insane?"
+Viushin was ordered to send for the _starosta_, or head man of the
+village, and in a few moments he made his appearance, bowing with the
+impressive persistency of a Chinese mandarin.
+
+A prolonged colloquy then took place in Russian between the Major and
+the _starosta_, broken by explanatory commentaries in the Kamchadal
+language, which did not tend materially to elucidate the subject. An
+evident and increasing disposition to smile gradually softened the
+stern lines of the Major's face, until at last he burst into a laugh
+of such infectious hilarity that, notwithstanding my ignorance of the
+nature of the fun, I joined in with hearty sympathy. As soon as he
+partially recovered his composure he gasped out, "The natives took you
+for the Emperor!"--and then he went off in another spasm of merriment
+which threatened to terminate either in suffocation or apoplexy.
+Lost in bewilderment I could only smile feebly until he recovered
+sufficiently to give me a more intelligible explanation of his mirth.
+It appeared that the courier who had been sent from Petropavlovsk
+to apprise the natives throughout the peninsula of our coming, had
+carried a letter from the Russian governor giving the names and
+occupations of the members of our party, and that mine had been put
+down as "Yagor Kennan, Telegraphist and _Operator_." It so happened
+that the _starosta_ of Milkova possessed the rare accomplishment of
+knowing how to read Russian writing, and the letter had been handed
+over to him to be communicated to the inhabitants of the village. He
+had puzzled over the unknown word "telegraphist" until his mind was in
+a hopeless state of bewilderment, but had not been able to give even
+the wildest conjecture as to its probable meaning. "_Operator_,"
+however, had a more familiar sound; it was not spelled exactly in the
+way to which he had been accustomed, but it was evidently intended
+for "Imperator," the Emperor!--and with his heart throbbing with the
+excitement of this startling discovery and his hair standing on end
+from the arduous nature of his exegetical labours, he rushed furiously
+out to spread the news that the Tsar of all the Russias was on a visit
+to Kamchatka and would pass through Milkova in the course of three
+days! The excitement which this alarming announcement created can
+better be imagined than described. The all-absorbing topic of
+conversation was, how could Milkova best show its loyalty and
+admiration for the Head of the Imperial Family, the Right Arm of the
+Holy Orthodox Church, and the Mighty Monarch of seventy millions of
+devoted souls? Kamchadal ingenuity gave it up in despair! What could a
+poor Kamchatkan village do for the entertainment of its august master?
+When the first excitement passed away, the _starosta_ was questioned
+closely as to the nature of the letter which had brought this news,
+and was finally compelled to admit that it did not say distinctly,
+"Alexander Nikolaivitch, _Imperator_," but "Yagor" something
+"_Operator,_" which he contended was substantially the same thing,
+because if it didn't mean the Emperor himself it meant one of his
+most intimate relations, who was entitled to equal honour and must be
+treated with equal reverence. The courier had already gone, and had
+said nothing about the rank of the travellers whom he heralded, except
+that they had arrived at Petropavlovsk in a ship, wore gorgeous
+uniforms of blue and gold, and were being entertained by the governor
+and the captain of the port. Public opinion finally settled down into
+the conviction that "_Op_-erator", etymologically considered, was
+first cousin to "_Im_-perator," and that it must mean some dignitary
+of high rank connected with the imperial family. With this impression
+they had received us when we arrived, and had, poor fellows, done
+their very best to show us proper honour and respect. It had been a
+severe ordeal to us, but it had proved in the most unmistakable manner
+the loyalty of the Kamchadal inhabitants of Milkova to the reigning
+family of Russia.
+
+The Major explained to the _starosta_ our real rank and occupation,
+but it did not seem to make any difference whatever in the cordial
+hospitality of our reception. We were treated to the very best that
+the village afforded, and were stared at with a curiosity which showed
+that travellers through Milkova had hitherto been few and far between.
+After eating bread and reindeer meat and tasting experimentally
+various curiously compounded native dishes, we returned in state to
+the landing-place, accompanied by another procession, received a
+salute of fifteen guns, and resumed our voyage down the river.
+
+[Illustration: War and Hunting Knives.]
+
+[Illustration: Snowbeaters used for beating snow from the clothing.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+ARRIVAL AT KLUCHEI--THE KLUCHEFSKOI VOLCANO--A QUESTION OF ROUTE--A
+RUSSIAN "BLACK BATH"
+
+The valley of this river is unquestionably the most fertile part of
+the whole Kamchatkan peninsula. Nearly all of the villages that we
+passed were surrounded by fields of rye and neatly fenced gardens; the
+banks everywhere were either covered with timber or waving with wild
+grass five feet in height; and the luxuriant growth in many places of
+flowers and weeds testified to the richness of the soil and the
+warm humidity of the climate. Primroses, cowslips, marsh violets,
+buttercups, wild-roses, cinquefoil, iris, and azure larkspur grow
+everywhere throughout the valley in the greatest abundance; and a
+peculiar species of umbelliferae, with hollow-jointed stems, attains
+in many places a height of six feet, and grows so densely that its
+huge serrated leaves hide a man from sight at a distance of a few
+yards. All this is the growth of a single summer.
+
+There are twelve native settlements between the head-waters of the
+river and the Kluchefskoi volcano, and nearly all are situated in
+picturesque locations, and surrounded by gardens and fields of rye.
+Nowhere does the traveller see any evidences of the barrenness,
+sterility, and frigid desolation which have always been associated
+with the name of Kamchatka.
+
+After leaving our hospitable native friends and our imperial dignity
+at Milkova, on Monday morning, we floated slowly down the river for
+three days, catching distant glimpses of the snowy mountain ranges
+which bounded the valley, roaming through the woods in search of bears
+and wild cherries, camping at night on the river-bank among the trees,
+and living generally a wild, free, delightful life. We passed
+the native settlements of Kirganic (keer-gan'-ic), Marshura
+(mar'-shoo-rah), Shchapina (shchap'-in-ah), and Tolbachic, where we
+were received with boundless hospitality; and on Wednesday, September
+13th, camped in the woods south of Kazerefski (kaz-er-ef'-ski), only
+a hundred and twenty versts distant from the village of Kluchei
+(kloo-chay'). It rained nearly all day Wednesday, and we camped at
+night among the dripping trees, with many apprehensions that the storm
+would hide the magnificent scenery of the lower Kamchatka, through
+which we were about to pass. It cleared away, however, before
+midnight; and I was awakened at an early hour in the morning by a
+shouted summons from Dodd to get up and look at the mountains. There
+was hardly a breath of air astir, and the atmosphere had that peculiar
+crystalline transparency which may sometimes be seen in California. A
+heavy hoar-frost lay white on the boats and grass, and a few withered
+leaves dropped wavering through the still cool air from the yellow
+birch trees which overhung our tent. There was not a sound to break
+harshly upon the silence of dawn; and only the tracks of wild reindeer
+and prowling wolves, on the smooth sandy beach showed that there was
+life in the quiet lonely wilderness around us. The sun had not yet
+risen, but the eastern heavens were aglare with yellow light, even up
+to the morning-star, which, although "paling its ineffectual fires,"
+still maintained its position as a glittering outpost between the
+contending powers of night and day. Far away to the north-eastward,
+over the yellow forest, in soft purple relief against the red sunrise,
+stood the high sharp peaks of Kluchei, grouped around the central
+wedge-like cone of the magnificent Kluchefskoi volcano. Nearly a month
+before I had seen these noble mountains from the tossing deck of a
+little brig, seventy-five miles at sea; but I little thought then
+that I should see them again from a lonely camp in the woods of the
+Kamchatka River.
+
+For nearly half an hour Dodd and I sat quietly on the beach,
+absent-mindedly throwing pebbles into the still water, watching the
+illumination of the distant mountains by the rising sun, and
+talking over the adventures which we had experienced since leaving
+Petropavlovsk. With what different impressions had I come to look at
+Siberian life since I first saw the precipitous coast of Kamchatka
+looming up out of the blue water of the Pacific!
+
+Then it was an unknown, mysterious land of glaciers and snowy
+mountains, filled with possibilities of adventure, but lonely and
+forbidding in its uninhabited wildness. Now it was no longer lonely
+or desolate. Every mountain peak was associated with some hospitable
+village nestled at its feet; every little stream was connected with
+the great world of human interests by some pleasant recollection of
+camp life. The possibilities of adventure were still there, but the
+imaginary loneliness and desolation had vanished with one week's
+experience. I thought of the vague conceptions which I had formed in
+America of this beautiful country, and tried to compare them with the
+more recent impressions by which they had been crowded out, but the
+effort was vain. I could not surround myself again with the lost
+intellectual atmosphere of civilisation, nor reconcile those earlier
+anticipations with this strangely different experience. The absurd
+fancies, which had seemed so vivid and so true only three months
+before, had now faded away into the half-remembered imagery of a
+dream, and nothing was real but the tranquil river which flowed at my
+feet, the birch tree which dropped its yellow leaves upon my head, and
+the far-away purple mountains.
+
+I was roused from my reverie by the furious beating of a tin
+mess-kettle, which was the summons to breakfast. In half an hour
+breakfast was despatched, the tent struck, camp equipage packed up,
+and we were again under way. We floated all day down the river toward
+Kluchei, getting ever-changing views of the mountains as they were
+thrown into new and picturesque combinations by our motion to the
+northward. We reached Kazerefski at dark, and, changing our crew,
+continued our voyage throughout the night. At daybreak on Friday we
+passed Kristi (kris-tee'), and at two o'clock in the afternoon arrived
+at Kluchei, having been just eleven days out from Petropavlovsk.
+
+The village of Kluchei is situated in an open plain on the right
+bank of the Kamchatka River, at the very foot of the magnificent
+Kluchefskoi volcano, and has nothing to distinguish it from other
+Kamchadal towns, except the boldness and picturesque beauty of its
+situation. It lies exactly in the midst of the group of superb
+isolated peaks which guard the entrance to the river, and is shadowed
+over frequently by the dense, black smoke of two volcanoes. It was
+founded early in the eighteenth century by a few Russian peasants who
+were taken from their homes in central Russia, and sent with seeds and
+farming utensils to start a colony in far-away Kamchatka. After a
+long adventurous journey of six thousand miles across Asia by way of
+Tobolsk (to-bolsk'), Irkutsk (eer-kootsk'), Yakutsk (yah-kootsk'), and
+Kolyma (kol-e-mah'), the little band of involuntary emigrants finally
+reached the peninsula, and settled boldly on the Kamchatka River,
+under the shadow of the great volcano. Here they and their descendants
+have lived for more than a hundred years, until they have almost
+forgotten how they came there and by whom they were sent.
+Notwithstanding the activity and frequent eruption of the two
+volcanoes behind the village, its location never has been changed, and
+its inhabitants have come to regard with indifference the occasional
+mutterings of warning which come from the depths of the burning
+craters, and the showers of ashes which are frequently sifted over
+their houses and fields. Never having heard of Herculaneum or Pompeii,
+they do not associate any possible danger with the fleecy cloud of
+smoke which floats in pleasant weather from the broken summit of
+Kluchefskoi, or the low thunderings by which its smaller, but equally
+dangerous, neighbour asserts its wakefulness during the long winter
+nights. Another century may perhaps elapse without bringing any
+serious disaster upon the little village; but after hearing the
+Kluchefskoi volcano rumble at a distance of sixty miles, and seeing
+the dense volumes of black vapour which it occasionally emitted, I
+felt entirely satisfied to give its volcanic majesty a wide berth, and
+wondered at the boldness of the Kamchadals in selecting such a site
+for their settlement.
+
+The Kluchefskoi is one of the highest as well as one of the most
+uninterruptedly active volcanoes in all the great volcanic chain of
+the North Pacific. Since the seventeenth century very few years have
+elapsed without an eruption of greater or less violence, and even
+now, at irregular intervals of a few months, it bursts into flame and
+scatters ashes over the whole width of the peninsula and on both seas.
+The snow in winter is frequently so covered with ashes for twenty-five
+miles around Kluchei that travel upon sledges becomes almost
+impossible. Many years ago, according to the accounts of the natives,
+there was an eruption of terrible magnificence. It began in the middle
+of a clear, dark winter's night, with loud thunderings and tremblings
+of the earth, which startled the inhabitants of Kluchei from their
+sleep and brought them in affright to their doors. Far up in the dark
+winter's sky, 16,000 feet above their heads, blazed a column of lurid
+flame from the crater, crowned by a great volume of fire-lighted
+vapour. Amid loud rumblings, and dull reverberations from the
+interior, the molten lava began to flow in broad fiery rivers down the
+snow-covered mountain side, until for half the distance to its base it
+was one glowing mass of fire which lighted, up the villages of Kristi,
+Kazerefski, and Kluchei like the sun, and illuminated the whole
+country within a radius of twenty-five miles. This eruption is said to
+have scattered ashes over the peninsula for three hundred versts to a
+depth of an inch and a half.
+
+The lava has never yet descended much, if any, below the snow line;
+but I see no reason why it may not at some future time overwhelm the
+settlement of Kluchei and fill the channel of the Kamchatka River with
+a fiery flood.
+
+The volcano, so far as I know, has never been ascended, and its
+reported height, 16,500 feet, is probably the approximative estimate
+of some Russian officer. It is certainly, however, the highest peak
+of the Kamchatkan peninsula, and is more likely to exceed 16,000 feet
+than fall below it. We felt a strong temptation to try to scale its
+smooth snowy sides and peer over into its smoking crater; but it
+would have been folly to make the attempt without two or three weeks'
+training, and we had not the time to spare. The mountain is nearly a
+perfect cone, and from the village of Kluchei it is so deceitfully
+foreshortened that the last 3,000 feet appear to be absolutely
+perpendicular. There is another volcano whose name, if it have any,
+I could not ascertain, standing a short distance south-east of the
+Kluchefskoi, and connected with it by an irregular broken ridge. It
+does not approach the latter in height, but it seems to draw its fiery
+supplies from the same source, and is constantly puffing out black
+vapour, which an east wind drives in great clouds across the white
+sides of Kluchefskoi until it is sometimes almost hidden from sight.
+
+We were entertained at Kluchei in the large comfortable house of the
+_starosta_, or local magistrate of the village. The walls of our room
+were gayly hung with figured calico, the ceiling was covered with
+white cotton drill, and the rude pine furniture was scoured with soap
+and sand to the last attainable degree of cleanliness. A coarsely
+executed picture, which I took to be Moses, hung in a gilt frame in
+the corner; but the sensible prophet had apparently shut his eyes to
+avoid the smoke of the innumerable candles which had been burned in
+his honour, and the expression of his face was somewhat marred in
+consequence. Table-cloths of American manufacture were spread on the
+tables, pots of flowers stood in the curtained windows, a little
+mirror hung against the wall opposite the door, and all the little
+fixtures and rude ornaments of the room were disposed with a taste and
+a view to general effect which the masculine mind may admire but never
+can imitate. American art, too, had lent a grace to this cottage in
+the wilderness, for the back of one of the doors was embellished with
+pictorial sketches of Virginian life and scenery from the skilful
+pencil of Porte Crayon. I thought of the well-known lines of Pope:
+
+  "The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare,
+  But wonder how the d---- they came there."
+
+In such comfortable, not to say luxurious, quarters as these, we
+succeeded, of course, in passing away pleasantly the remainder of the
+day.
+
+At Kluchei we were called upon to decide what route we would adopt in
+our journey to the northward. The shortest, and in many respects the
+best, was that usually taken by the Russian traders--crossing the
+central range of mountains to Tigil (tee-gill'), by the pass of the
+Yolofka (yo-loff'-ka), and then following up the west coast of the
+peninsula to the head of the Okhotsk Sea. The only objections to this
+were the lateness of the season and the probability of finding deep
+snow in the mountain passes. Our only alternative was to continue
+our journey from Kluchei up the eastern coast to a settlement called
+Dranka (dran'-kah), where the mountains sank into insignificant hills,
+and cross there to the Kamchadal village of Lesnoi (less-noi') on the
+Okhotsk Sea. This route was considerably longer than the one by the
+Yolofka pass, but its practicability was much more certain.
+
+After a great many prolonged consultations with sundry natives, who
+were supposed to know something about the country, but who carefully
+avoided responsibility by telling as little as possible, the Major
+concluded to try the Yolofka pass, and ordered canoes to be ready on
+Saturday morning to carry us up the Yolofka River.
+
+At the worst, we could only fail to get over the mountains, and there
+would be time enough then to return to Kluchei, and try the other
+route before the opening of winter.
+
+As soon as we had decided the momentous question of our route, we gave
+ourselves up to the unrestrained enjoyment of the few pleasures
+which the small and sedate village of Kluchei afforded. There was
+no afternoon promenade where we could, as the Russians say, "show
+ourselves and see the people"; nor would an exhibition of our tattered
+and weather-stained garments on a public promenade have been quite the
+proper thing, had it been possible. We must try something else. The
+only places of amusement of which we could hear were the village
+bath-house and the church; and the Major and I started out, late in
+the afternoon, with the intention of "doing" these points of interest
+in the most approved style of modern tourists. For obvious reasons we
+took the bath-house first. Taking a steam-bath was a very mild sort
+of dissipation; and if it were true that "cleanliness was next to
+godliness," the bath-house certainly should precede the church. I had
+often heard Dodd speak of the "black baths" of the Kamchadals; and
+without knowing definitely what he meant, I had a sort of vague
+impression that these "black baths" were taken in some inky fluid of
+Kamchatkan manufacture, which possessed peculiar detersive properties.
+I could think of no other reason than this for calling a bath "black."
+Upon entering the "black bath," however, at Kluchei, I saw my mistake,
+and acknowledged at once the appropriateness of the adjective. Leaving
+our clothes in a little rude entry, which answered the purposes
+without affording any of the conveniences of a dressing-room, we
+stooped to a low fur-clad door and entered the bath-room proper, which
+was certainly dark enough and black enough to justify the gloomiest,
+murkiest adjective in the language. A tallow candle, which was burning
+feebly on the floor, gave just light enough to distinguish the
+outlines of a low, bare apartment, about ten feet square, built
+solidly of unhewn logs, without a single opening for the admission of
+air or light. Every square inch of the walls and ceiling was perfectly
+black with a sooty deposit from the clouds of smoke with which the
+room had been filled in the process of heating. A large pile of
+stones, with a hollow place underneath for a fire, stood in one end
+of the room, and a series of broad steps, which did not seem to lead
+anywhere, occupied the other. As soon as the fire had gone out, the
+chimney-hole had been closed and hermetically sealed, and the pile
+of hot stones was now radiating a fierce dry heat, which made
+_res_piration a painful duty, and _per_spiration an unpleasant
+necessity. The presiding spirit of this dark, infernal place of
+torture soon made his appearance in the shape of a long-haired, naked
+Kamchadal, and proceeded to throw water upon the pile of red-hot
+stones until they hissed like a locomotive, and the candle burned blue
+in the centre of a steamy halo. I thought it was hot before, but
+it was a Siberian winter compared with the temperature which this
+manoeuvre produced. My very bones seemed melting with fervent heat.
+After getting the air of the room as nearly as possible up to 212 deg.,
+the native seized me by the arm, spread me out on the lowest of the
+flight of steps, poured boiling suds over my face and feet with
+reckless impartiality, and proceeded to knead me up, as if he fully
+intended to separate me into my original elements. I will not attempt
+to describe the number, the variety, and the diabolical ingenuity of
+the tortures to which I was subjected during the next twenty minutes.
+I was scrubbed, rolled, pounded, drenched with cold water and scalded
+with hot, beaten with bundles of birch twigs, rubbed down with wads
+of hemp which scraped like brickbats, and finally left to recover my
+breath upon the highest and hottest step of the whole stairway. A
+douse of cold water finally put an end to the ordeal and to my misery;
+and, groping my way out into the entry, I proceeded, with chattering
+teeth, to dress. In a moment I was joined by the Major, and we resumed
+our walk, feeling like disembodied spirits.
+
+Owing to the lateness of the hour, we were compelled to postpone
+indefinitely our visit to the church; but we had been sufficiently
+amused for one day, and returned to the house satisfied, if not
+delighted, with our experience of Kamchatkan black baths.
+
+The evening was spent in questioning the inhabitants of the village
+about the northern part of the peninsula, and the facilities for
+travel among the wandering Koraks; and before nine o'clock we went
+to bed, in order that we might make an early start on the following
+morning.
+
+[Illustration: Wooden Mortar used for grinding Tobacco]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+CANOE TRAVEL ON THE YOLOFKA--VOLCANIC CONVERSATION--"O
+SUSANNA!"--TALKING "AMERICAN"--A DIFFICULT ASCENT
+
+There was a great variety in the different methods of transportation
+which we were compelled to adopt in our journey through Kamchatka; and
+to this fact was attributable perhaps, in a great degree, the sense
+of novelty and freshness which during our three months' travel in
+the peninsula never entirely wore off. We experienced in turn the
+pleasures and discomforts of whale-boats, horses, rafts, canoes,
+dog-sledges, reindeer-sledges, and snow-shoes; and no sooner did we
+begin to tire of the pleasures and ascertain the discomforts of one,
+than we were introduced to another.
+
+At Kluchei we abandoned our rafts, and took Kamchadal log canoes,
+which could be propelled more easily against the rapid current of
+the Yolofka River, which we had now to ascend. The most noticeable
+peculiarity of this species of craft, and a remarkable one it is, is a
+decided and chronic inclination to turn its bottom side upward and its
+upper side bottomward without the slightest apparent provocation.
+I was informed by a reliable authority that a boat capsized on the
+Kamchatka, just previous to our arrival, through the carelessness of a
+Kamchadal in allowing a jack-knife to remain in his right-hand pocket
+without putting something of a corresponding weight into the other;
+and that the Kamchadal fashion of parting the hair in the middle
+originated in attempts to preserve personal equilibrium while
+navigating these canoes. I should have been somewhat inclined to doubt
+these remarkable and not altogether new stories, were it not for the
+reliability and unimpeachable veracity of my informant, Mr. Dodd. The
+seriousness of the subject is a sufficient guarantee that he would not
+trifle with my feelings by making it the pretext for a joke.
+
+We indulged ourselves on Saturday morning in a much later sleep than
+was consistent with our duty, and it was almost eight o'clock before
+we went down to the beach.
+
+Upon first sight of the frail canoes, to which our destinies and
+the interests of the Russian-American Telegraph Company were to
+be intrusted, there was a very general expression of surprise and
+dissatisfaction. One of our party, with the rapid _a priori_ reasoning
+for which he was distinguished, came at once to the conclusion that a
+watery death would be the inevitable termination of a voyage made in
+such vessels, and he evinced a very marked disinclination to embark.
+It is related of a great warrior, whose _Commentaries_ were the
+detestation of my early life, that during a very stormy passage of the
+Ionian Sea he cheered up his sailors with the sublimely egotistical
+assurance that they carried "Caesar and his fortunes"; and that,
+consequently, nothing disastrous could possibly happen to them. The
+Kamchatkan Caesar, however, on this occasion seemed to distrust his
+own fortunes, and the attempts at consolation came from the opposite
+quarter. His boatman did not tell him, "Cheer up, Caesar, a Kamchadal
+and his fortunes are carrying you," but he _did_ assure him that he
+had navigated the river for several years, and had "never been drowned
+_once_." What more could Caesar ask!--After some demur we all took
+seats upon bearskins in the bottoms of the canoes, and pushed off.
+
+All other features of natural scenery in the vicinity of Kluchei sink
+into subordination to the grand central figure of the Kluchefskoi
+volcano, the monarch of Siberian mountains, whose sharp summit, with
+its motionless streamer of golden smoke, can be seen anywhere within a
+radius of a hundred miles. All other neighbouring beauties of scenery
+are merely tributary to this, and are valued only according to their
+capability of relieving and setting forth this magnificent peak, whose
+colossal dimensions rise in one unbroken sweep of snow from the grassy
+valleys of the Kamchatka and Yolofka, which terminate at its base.
+"Heir of the sunset and herald of morning," its lofty crater is
+suffused with a roseate blush long before the morning mists and
+darkness are out of the valleys, and long after the sun has set behind
+the purple mountains of Tigil. At all times, under all circumstances,
+and in all its ever-varying moods, it is the most beautiful mountain I
+have ever seen. Now it lies bathed in the warm sunshine of an Indian
+summer's day, with a few fleecy clouds resting at the snow-line and
+dappling its sides with purple shadows; then it envelops itself in
+dense volumes of black volcanic smoke, and thunders out a hoarse
+warning to the villages at its feet; and finally, toward evening, it
+gathers a mantle of grey mists around its summit, and rolls them
+in convulsed masses down its sides, until it stands in the clear
+atmosphere a colossal pillar of cloud, sixteen thousand feet in
+height, resting upon fifty square miles of shaggy pine forest.
+
+You think nothing can be more beautiful than the delicate tender
+colour, like that of a wild-rose leaf, which tinges its snows as the
+sun sinks in a swirl of red vapours in the west; but "visit it by the
+pale moonlight," when its hood of mist is edged with silver, when
+black shadows gather in its deep ravines and white misty lights gleam
+from its snowy pinnacles, when the host of starry constellations seems
+to circle around its lofty peak, and the tangled silver chain of the
+Pleiades to hang upon one of its rocky spires--then say, if you can,
+that it is more beautiful by daylight.
+
+We entered the Yolofka about noon. This river empties into the
+Kamchatka from the north, twelve versts above Kluchei. Its shores are
+generally low and marshy, and thickly overgrown with rushes and reedy
+grass, which furnish cover for thousands of ducks, geese, and wild
+swans. We reached, before night, a native village called Harchina
+(har'-chin-ah) and sent at once for a celebrated Russian guide by the
+name of Nicolai Bragan (nick-o-lai' brag'-on) whom we hoped to induce
+to accompany us across the mountains.
+
+From Bragan we learned that there had been a heavy fall of snow on
+the mountains during the previous week; but he thought that the warm
+weather of the last three or four days had probably melted most of it
+away, and that the trail would be at least passable. He was willing
+at all events to try to take us across. Relieved of a good deal of
+anxiety, we left Harchina early on the morning of the 17th, and
+resumed our ascent of the river. On account of the rapidity of the
+current in the main stream, we turned aside into one of the many
+"protoks" (pro-tokes') or arms into which the river was here divided,
+and poled slowly up for four hours. The channel was very winding and
+narrow, so that one could touch with a paddle the bank on either
+side, and in many places the birches and willows met over the stream,
+dropping yellow leaves upon our heads as we passed underneath. Here
+and there long scraggy tree-trunks hung over the bank into the water,
+logs green with moss thrust their ends up from the depths of the
+stream, and more than once we seemed about to come to a stop in the
+midst of an impassable swamp. Nicolai Alexandrovich, our guide, whose
+canoe preceded ours, sang for our entertainment some of the monotonous
+melancholy songs of the Kamchadals, and Dodd and I in turn made
+the woods ring with the enlivening strains of "Kingdom Coming" and
+"Upidee." When we tired of music we made an amicable adjustment of our
+respective legs in the narrow canoe, and lying back upon our bearskins
+slept soundly, undisturbed by the splash of the water and the scraping
+of poles at our very ears. We camped that night on a high sandy beach
+over the water, ten or twelve miles south of Yolofka.
+
+It was a warm still evening, and as we all sat on our bearskins around
+the camp-fire, smoking and talking over the day's adventures, our
+attention was suddenly attracted by a low rumbling, like distant
+thunder, accompanied by occasional explosions. "What's that?" demanded
+the Major quickly. "That," said Nicolai soberly, as he emptied his
+lungs of smoke, "is the Kluchefskoi volcano talking to the peak of
+Suveilich" (soo-veil'-itch). "Nothing private in the conversation, I
+suppose," observed Dodd dryly; "he shouts it out loud enough."
+The reverberations continued for several minutes, but the peak of
+Suveilich made no response. That unfortunate mountain had recklessly
+expended its volcanic energies in early life, and was now left without
+a voice to answer the thundering shouts of its mighty comrade. There
+was a time when volcanoes were as numerous in Kamchatka as knights
+around the table of King Arthur, and the peninsula trembled to the
+thunder of their shoutings and midnight jollity; but one after
+another they had been suffocated with the fiery streams of their own
+eloquence, until at last Kluchefskoi was left alone, calling to its
+old companions throughout the silent hours of long winter nights, but
+hearing no response save the faint far-away echoes of its own mighty
+voice.
+
+I was waked early on the following morning by the jubilant music of
+"Oh, Su-_san'_-na-a-a, don't ye cry for me!" and crawling out of the
+tent I surprised one of our native boatmen in the very act of drumming
+on a frying-pan and yelling out joyously:
+
+  "Litenin' struck de telegraf,
+  Killed two thousand niggers;
+  Shut my eyes to hole my breff,
+  Su-_san'_-na-a-a, don't ye cry!"
+
+A comical skin-clad native, in the heart of Kamchatka, playing on a
+frying-pan and singing, "Oh, Susanna!" like an arctic negro minstrel,
+was too much for my gravity, and I burst into a fit of laughter,
+which, soon brought out Dodd. The musician, who had supposed that he
+was exercising his vocal organs unheard, stopped suddenly, and looked
+sheepishly around, as if conscious that he had been making himself
+ridiculous in some way, but did not know exactly how.
+
+"Why, Andrei," said Dodd, "I didn't know you could sing in English."
+
+"I can't, Barin," was the reply; "but I can sing a little in
+_American_."
+
+Dodd and I went off in another roar of laughter, which puzzled poor
+Andrei more and more.
+
+"Where did you learn?" Dodd asked.
+
+"The sailors of a whaling-ship learned it to me when I was in
+Petropavlovsk, two years ago; isn't it a good song?" he said,
+evidently fearing that there might be something improper in the
+sentiment.
+
+"It's a capital song," Dodd replied reassuringly; "do you know any
+more American words?"
+
+"Oh yes, your honour!" (proudly) "I know 'dam yerize,' 'by 'm bye
+tomorry,' 'no savey John,' and 'goaty hell,' but I don't know what
+they all mean."
+
+It was evident that he didn't! His American education was of limited
+extent and doubtful utility; but not even Cardinal Mezzofanti himself
+could have been more proud of his forty languages than poor Andrei
+was of "dam yerize" and "goaty hell." If ever he reached America, the
+blessed land that he saw in his happier dreams, these questionable
+phrases would be his passports to the first society.
+
+While we had been talking with Andrei, Viushin had built a fire and
+prepared breakfast, and just as the sun peered into the valley we sat
+down on bearskins around our little candle-box and ate some "selanka,"
+or sour soup, upon which Viushin particularly prided himself, and
+drank tumbler after tumbler of steaming tea. _Selanka_, hardtack, and
+tea, with an occasional duck roasted before the fire on a sharp stick,
+made up our bill of fare while camping out. Only in the settlements
+did we enjoy such luxuries as milk, butter, fresh bread, preserved
+rose-petals, and fish pies.
+
+Taking our places again in the canoes after breakfast, we poled on
+up the river, shooting occasionally at flying ducks and swans, and
+picking as we passed long branches full of wild cherries which drooped
+low over the water. About noon we left the canoes to go around a
+long bend in the river, and started on foot with a native guide for
+Yolofka. The grass in the river bottom and on the plains was much
+higher than our waists, and walking through it was very fatiguing
+exercise; but we succeeded in reaching the village about one o'clock,
+long before our canoes came in sight.
+
+Yolofka, a small Kamchadal settlement of half a dozen houses, is
+situated among the foot-hills of the great central Kamchatkan range,
+immediately below the pass which bears its name, and on the direct
+route to Tigil and the west coast. It is the head of canoe navigation
+on the Yolofka River, and the starting-point for parties intending to
+cross the mountains. Anticipating difficulty in getting horses enough
+for our use at this small village, the Major had sent eight or ten
+overland from Kluchei, and we found them there awaiting our arrival.
+
+Nearly the whole afternoon was spent in packing the horses and getting
+ready for a start, and we camped for the night beside a cold mountain
+spring only a few versts away from the Village. The weather, hitherto,
+had been clear and warm, but it clouded up during the night, and we
+began the ascent of the mountains Tuesday morning the 19th, in a
+cold, driving rain-storm from the north-west. The road, if a wretched
+foot-path ten inches wide can be said in any metaphorical sense to
+_be_ a road, was simply execrable. It followed the track of a swollen
+mountain torrent, which had its rise in the melting snows of the
+summit, and tumbled in roaring cascades down a narrow, dark,
+precipitous ravine. The path ran along the edge of this stream, first
+on one side, then on the other, and then in the water, around enormous
+masses of volcanic rock, over steep lava slopes, where the water ran
+like a mill-race through dense entangling thickets of trailing pine,
+into ragged heaps of fallen tree-trunks, and along narrow ledges of
+rock where it would be thought that a mountain sheep could hardly
+pass. I would guarantee, with twenty men, to hold that ravine against
+the combined armies of Europe! Our packhorses rolled down steep banks
+into the stream, tore their loads off against tree-trunks, stumbled,
+cut their legs in falling over broken volcanic rocks, took flying
+leaps across narrow chasms of roaring water, and performed feats which
+would have been utterly beyond the strength and endurance of any but
+Kamchatkan horses. Finally, in attempting to leap a distance of eight
+or ten feet across the torrent, I was thrown violently from the
+saddle, and my left foot caught firmly, just above the instep, in the
+small iron stirrup. The horse scrambled up the other side and started
+at a frightened gallop up the ravine, dragging my body over the ground
+by one leg. I remember making a desperate effort to protect my head,
+by raising myself upon my elbows, but the horse kicked me suddenly in
+the side, and I knew nothing more until I found myself lying upon the
+ground with my foot still entangled in the broken stirrup, while the
+horse galloped away up the ravine. The giving way of a single strap
+had saved my skull from being crushed like an egg-shell against the
+jagged rocks. I was badly bruised and very faint and dizzy, but no
+bones seemed to be broken, and I got up without assistance. Thus far
+the Major had kept his quick temper under strong control; but this was
+too much, and he hurled the most furious invectives at poor Nicolai
+for leading us over the mountains by such a horrible pass, and
+threatened him with the direst punishment when we should reach Tigil.
+It was of no use for Nicolai to urge in self-defence that there _was_
+no other pass; it was his business to _find_ another, and not imperil
+men's lives by leading them into a God-forsaken ravine like this,
+choked up with landslides, fallen trees, water, lava, and masses of
+volcanic rock! If anything happened to any member of our party in this
+cursed gorge, the Major swore he would shoot Nicolai on the spot! Pale
+and trembling with fright, the poor guide caught my horse, mended my
+stirrup strap, and started on ahead to show that he was not afraid to
+go where he asked us to follow.
+
+I believe we must have jumped our horses across that mountain torrent
+fifty times in an ascent of 2000 feet, to avoid the rocks and
+landslides which appeared first on one side and then on the other.
+One of our packhorses had given out entirely, and several others were
+nearly disabled, when, late in the afternoon, we finally reached the
+summit of the mountains, 4000 feet above the sea. Before us, half
+hidden by grey storm-clouds and driving mist, lay a great expanse of
+level table-land, covered to a depth of eighteen inches with a soft
+dense cushion of arctic moss, and holding water like an enormous
+sponge. Not a tree nor a landmark of any kind could be seen--nothing
+but moss and flying scud. A cold piercing wind from the north swept
+chilly storm-clouds across the desolate mountain top, and drove tiny
+particles of half-frozen rain into our faces with blinding, stinging
+force. Drenched to the skin by eight or nine hours' exposure to the
+storm, tired and weak from long climbing, with boots full of icy
+water, and hands numb and stiff from cold, we stopped for a moment
+to rest our horses and decide upon our course. Brandy was dealt out
+freely to all our men in the cover of a tin pail, but its stimulating
+influence was so counteracted by cold that it was hardly perceptible.
+The poor _starosta_ of Yolofka, with dripping clothes, blue lips,
+chattering teeth, and black hair plastered over his white cheeks,
+seemed upon the point of giving out. He caught eagerly at the
+pail-cover full of brandy which the Major handed to him, but every
+limb was shaking spasmodically, and he spilled most of it in getting
+it to his mouth.
+
+Fearing that darkness would overtake us before we could reach shelter,
+we started on toward a deserted, half-ruined "yurt" (yoort) [Footnote:
+A Mongolian name for a portable or permanent house-like shelter, made
+of logs, skins, or felt.] which Nicolai said stood near the western
+edge of this elevated plateau, about eight versts distant. Our horses
+sank to the knee at every step in the soft, spongy cushion of wet
+moss, so that we could travel no faster than a slow walk, and the
+short distance of eight versts seemed to be interminable. After four
+more dreary hours, spent in wandering about through grey drifting
+clouds, exposed to a bitter north-west wind, and a temperature of just
+32 deg., we finally arrived in a half-frozen condition at the _yurt_. It
+was a low, empty hut, nearly square in shape, built of variously sized
+logs, and banked over with two or three feet of moss and grass-grown
+earth, so as to resemble an outdoor cellar. Half of one side had been
+torn down by storm-besieged travellers for firewood; its earthen floor
+was dank and wet with slimy tricklings from its leaky roof; the wind
+and rain drove with a mournful howl down through its chimney-hole;
+its door was gone, and it presented altogether a dismal picture of
+neglected dilapidation. Nothing daunted, Viushin tore down another
+section of the ruined side to make a fire, hung over teakettles, and
+brought our provision boxes under such shelter as the miserable hut
+afforded. I never could ascertain where Viushin obtained the water
+that night for our tea, as there was no available stream within ten
+miles, and the drippings of the roof were thick and discoloured with
+mud. I have more than a suspicion, however, that he squeezed it out
+of bunches of moss which he tore up from the soaking _tundra_
+(toon'-drah). Dodd and I took off our boots, poured about a pint of
+muddy water out of each, dried our feet, and, as the steam rose in
+clouds from our wet clothes, began to feel quite comfortable.
+
+Viushin was in high good humour. He had voluntarily assumed the whole
+charge of our drivers during the day, had distinguished himself by
+most unwearied efforts in raising fallen horses, getting them over
+breakneck places, and cheering up the disconsolate Kamchadals, and
+he now wrung the water out of his shirt, and squeezed his wet hair
+absent-mindedly into a kettle of soup, with a countenance of such
+beaming serenity and a laugh of such hearty good-nature that it was
+of no use for anybody to pretend to be cross, tired, cold, or hungry.
+With that sunny face irradiating the smoky atmosphere of the ruined
+_yurt_, and that laugh ringing joyously in our ears, we made fun of
+our misery and persuaded ourselves that we were having a good time.
+After a scanty supper of _selanka_, dried fish, hardtack, and tea,
+we stretched our tired bodies out in the shallowest puddles we could
+find, covered ourselves with blankets, overcoats, oilcloths, and
+bearskins, and succeeded, in spite of our wet clothes and wetter beds,
+in getting to sleep.
+
+[Illustration: Horn Spoon]
+
+[Illustration: Drinking Vessel made of horn]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+A DISMAL NIGHT--CROSSING THE KAMCHATKAN DIVIDE--ANOTHER BEAR
+HUNT--BREAKNECK RIDING--TIGIL--STEPPES OF NORTHERN KAMCHATKA
+
+I awoke about midnight with cold feet and shivering limbs. The fire on
+the wet muddy ground had died away to a few smouldering embers, which
+threw a red glow over the black, smoky logs, and sent occasional
+gleams of flickering light into the dark recesses of the _yurt_.
+The wind howled mournfully around the hut, and the rain beat with
+intermittent dashes against the logs and trickled through a hundred
+crevices upon my already water-soaked blankets. I raised myself upon
+one elbow and looked around. The hut was deserted, and I was alone.
+For a moment of half-awakened consciousness I could not imagine
+where I was, or how I came in such a strange, gloomy situation; but
+presently the recollection of the previous day's ride came back and I
+went to the door to see what had become of all our party. I found that
+the Major and Dodd, with all the Kamchadals, had pitched tents upon
+the spongy moss outside, and were spending the night there, instead of
+remaining in the _yurt_ and having their clothes and blankets spoiled
+by the muddy droppings of its leaky roof. The tents were questionable
+improvements; but I agreed with them in preferring clean water to mud,
+and gathering up my bedding I crawled in by the side of Dodd. The wind
+blew the tent down once during the night, and left us exposed for a
+few moments to the storm; but it was repitched in defiance of the
+wind, ballasted with logs torn from the sides of the _yurt_, and we
+managed to sleep after a fashion until morning.
+
+We were a melancholy-looking party when we emerged from the tent at
+daylight. Dodd looked ruefully at his wet blankets, made a comical
+grimace as he felt of his water-soaked clothes, and then declared that
+
+  "The weather was not what he knew it once--
+  The nights were terribly damp;
+  And he never was free from the rheumatiz
+  Except when he had the cramp!"
+
+In which poetical lament we all heartily sympathised if we did not
+join.
+
+Our wet, low-spirited horses were saddled at daylight; and as the
+storm showed signs of a disposition to break away, we started again,
+immediately after breakfast, for the western edge of the high
+table-land which here formed the summit of the mountain range. The
+scenery from this point in clear weather must be magnificent, as it
+overlooks the Tigil Valley and the Okhotsk Sea on one side, and the
+Pacific Ocean, the valleys of the Yolofka and the Kamchatka, and the
+grand peaks of Suveilich and Kluchefskoi on the other. We caught
+occasional glimpses, through openings in the mist, of the Yolofka
+River, thousands of feet below, and the smoke-plumed head of the
+distant volcano, floating in a great sea of bluish clouds; but a new
+detachment of straggling vapours from the Okhotsk Sea came drifting
+across the mountain-top, and breaking furiously in our faces, blotted
+out everything except the mossy ground, over which plodded our tired,
+dispirited horses.
+
+It did not seem possible that human beings could live, or would care
+to live, on this desolate plain of moss, 4000 feet above the sea,
+enveloped half the time in drifting clouds, and swept by frequent
+storms of rain and snow. But even here the Wandering Koraks herd their
+hardy reindeer, set up their smoky tent-poles, and bid contemptuous
+defiance to the elements. Three or four times during the day we passed
+heaps of reindeer's antlers, and piles of ashes surrounded by large
+circles of evergreen twigs, which marked the sites of Korak tents; but
+the band of wild nomads which had left these traces had long before
+disappeared, and was now perhaps herding its deer on the wind-swept
+shores of the Arctic Ocean.
+
+Owing to the dense mist in which we were constantly enveloped we could
+get no clear ideas as to the formation of the mountain range over
+which we were passing, or the extent and nature of this great plain of
+moss which lay so high up among extinct volcanic peaks. I only know
+that just before noon we left the _tundra_, as this kind of moss
+steppe is called, and descended gradually into a region of the
+wildest, rockiest character, where all vegetation disappeared except
+a few stunted patches of trailing-pine. For at least ten miles the
+ground was covered everywhere with loose slab-shaped masses of igneous
+rock, varying in size from five cubic feet to five hundred, and lying
+one upon another in the greatest disorder. The heavens at some
+unknown geological period seemed to have showered down huge volcanic
+paving-stones, until the earth was covered fifty feet deep with their
+broken fragments. Nearly all of these masses had two smooth flat
+sides, and resembled irregular slices of some black Plutonian pudding
+hardened into stone. I was not familiar enough with volcanic phenomena
+to be able to decide in what manner or by what agency the earth had
+been thus overwhelmed with loose rocky slabs; but it looked precisely
+as if great sheets of solidified lava had fallen successively from the
+sky, and had been shattered, as they struck the earth, into millions
+of angular slabs. I thought of Scott's description of the place where
+Bruce and the Lord of the Isles landed after leaving the Castle of
+Lorn, as the only one I had ever read which gave me an idea of such a
+scene.
+
+We drank tea at noon on the west side of this rocky wilderness, and
+before night reached a spot where bushes, grass, and berries again
+made their appearance. We camped in a storm of wind and rain, and at
+daybreak on the 21st continued our descent of the western slope of the
+mountains. Early in the forenoon we were inspirited by the sight of
+fresh men and horses which had been sent out to meet us from a native
+village called Sidanka (see-dahn'-kah), and exchanging our tired,
+lame, and disheartened animals for these fresh recruits, we pushed
+rapidly on. The weather soon cleared up warm and bright, the trail
+wound around among the rolling foot-hills through groves of yellow
+birch and scarlet mountain ash, and as the sun gradually dried our
+water-soaked clothes, and brought a pleasant glow of returning
+circulation to our chilled limbs, we forgot the rain and dreary
+desolation of the mountain-top and recovered our usual buoyancy of
+spirit.
+
+I have once before, I believe, given the history of a bear hunt in
+which our party participated while crossing the Kamchatka _tundra_;
+but as that was a mere skirmish, which did not reflect any great
+credit upon the individuals concerned, I am tempted to relate one
+more bear adventure which befell us among the foot-hills of the Tigil
+mountains. It shall be positively the last.
+
+Ye who listen with credulity to the stories of hunters, and pursue
+with eagerness the traces of bears; who expect that courage will
+rise with the emergency and that the deficiencies of bravery will
+be supplied by the tightness of the fix, attend to the history of
+Rasselas, an inexperienced bear-slayer. About noon, as we were making
+our way along the edge of a narrow grassy valley, bordered by a dense
+forest of birch, larch, and pine, one of our drivers suddenly raised
+the cry of _medveid_, and pointed eagerly down the valley to a large
+black bear rambling carelessly through the long grass in search of
+blueberries, and approaching gradually nearer and nearer to our side
+of the ravine. He evidently had not yet seen us, and a party to attack
+him was soon made up of two Kamchadals, the Major, and myself, all
+armed to the teeth with rifles, axes, revolvers, and knives. Creeping
+cautiously around through the timber, we succeeded in gaining
+unobserved a favourable position at the edge of the woods directly in
+front of his Bruinic majesty, and calmly awaited his approach. Intent
+upon making a meal of blueberries, and entirely unconscious of his
+impending fate, he waddled slowly and awkwardly up to within fifty
+yards. The Karnchadals kneeled down, threw forward their long heavy
+rifles, fixed their sharp-pronged rests firmly in the ground, crossed
+themselves devoutly three times, drew a long breath, took a deadly and
+deliberate aim, shut their eyes, and fired. The silence was broken by
+a long fizzle, during which the Kamchadals conscientiously kept their
+eyes shut, and finally a terrific bang announced the catastrophe,
+followed immediately by two more sharp reports from the rifles of the
+Major and myself. As the smoke cleared away I looked eagerly to see
+the brute kicking around in the agonies of death; but what was my
+amazement to find that instead of kicking around in the agonies of
+death, as a beast with any sense of propriety _would_ after such a
+fusillade, the perverse animal was making directly for us at a gallop!
+Here was a variation introduced that was not down in the programme! We
+had made no calculations upon a counter-attack, and the ferocity of
+his appearance, as he came tearing through the bushes, left no room
+for doubt as to the seriousness of his intentions. I tried to think of
+some historic precedent which would justify me in climbing a tree; but
+my mind was in a state of such agitation that I could not avail myself
+of my extensive historical knowledge. "A man may know the seven
+portions of the Koran by heart, but when a bear gets after him he will
+not be able to remember his alphabet!" What we should have done in the
+last extremity will never be known. A shot from the Major's revolver
+seemed to alter the bear's original plan of operations, and, swerving
+suddenly to one side, he crashed through the bushes ten feet from the
+muzzles of our empty rifles, and disappeared in the forest. A careful
+examination of the leaves and grass failed to reveal any signs of
+blood, and we were reluctantly forced to the conclusion that he
+escaped unscathed.
+
+Hunting a bear with a Russian rifle is a very pleasant and entirely
+harmless diversion. The animal has plenty of time, after the gun
+begins to fizzle, to eat a hearty dinner of blueberries, run fifteen
+miles across a range of mountains into a neighbouring province, and
+get comfortably asleep in his hole before the deadly explosion takes
+place!
+
+It would have been unsafe for any one to suggest "bear steaks" to the
+Major or me at any time during the succeeding week.
+
+We camped for the night under the huge spreading branches of a gnarled
+birch, a few versts from the scene of our exploit, and early Friday
+morning were off for Sidanka. When about fifteen versts from the
+village Dodd suggested a gallop, to try the mettle of our horses and
+warm our blood. As we were both well mounted, I challenged him to a
+steeplechase as far as the settlement. Of all the reckless breakneck
+riding that we ever did in Kamchatka, this was the worst. The horses
+soon became as excited as their riders, and tore through the bushes
+and leaped over ravines, logs, rocks, and swamps with a perfect
+frenzy. Once I was dragged from my saddle by the catching of my rifle
+against a limb, and several times we both narrowly escaped knocking
+our brains out against trees. As we approached the town we saw three
+or four Kamchadals cutting wood a short distance ahead. Dodd gave a
+terrifying shout like a Sioux war-whoop, put spurs to his horse, and
+we came upon them like a thunderbolt. At the sight of two swarthy
+strangers in blue hunting-shirts, top-boots, and red caps, with
+pistols belted around their waists, and knives dangling at their
+girdles, charging down upon them like Mamelukes at the battle of the
+Pyramids, the poor Kamchadals flung away their axes and fled for their
+lives to the woods. Except when I was dragged off my horse, we never
+once drew rein until our animals stood panting and foaming in the
+village. If you wish to draw a flash of excitement from Dodd's eyes,
+ask him if he remembers the steeplechase to Sidanka.
+
+That night we floated down the Tigil River to Tigil, where we arrived
+just at dark, having accomplished in sixteen days a journey of eleven
+hundred and thirty versts.
+
+My recollections of Tigil are somewhat vague and indefinite. I
+remember that I was impressed with the inordinate quantities of
+champagne, cherry cordial, white rum, and "vodka" which its Russian
+inhabitants were capable of drinking, and thought that Tigil was a
+somewhat less ugly village than the generality of Kamchatkan towns,
+but nothing more. Next to Petropavlovsk, however, it is the most
+important settlement in the peninsula, and is the trading centre of
+the whole western coast. A Russian supply steamer and an American
+trading vessel touch at the mouth of the Tigil River every summer,
+and leave large quantities of rye flour, tea, sugar, cloth, copper
+kettles, tobacco, and strong Russian vodka, for distribution through
+the peninsula. The Bragans, Vorrebeoffs (vor-re-be-offs'), and two or
+three other trading firms make it headquarters, and it is the winter
+rendezvous of many of the northern tribes of Chukchis and Koraks. As
+we should pass no other trading post until we reached the settlement
+of Gizhiga (gee'-zhee-gah'), at the head of the Okhotsk Sea, we
+determined to remain a few days at Tigil to rest and refit.
+
+We were now about to enter upon what we feared would prove the most
+difficult part of our journey--both on account of the nature of the
+country and the lateness of the season. Only seven more Kamchadal
+towns lay between us and the steppes of the Wandering Koraks, and
+we had not yet been able to think of any plan of crossing these
+inhospitable wastes before the winter's snows should make them
+passable on reindeer-sledges. It is difficult for one who has had no
+experience of northern life to get from a mere verbal description
+a clear idea of a Siberian moss steppe, or to appreciate fully the
+nature and extent of the obstacles which it presents to summer travel.
+It is by no means easy to cross, even in winter, when it is frozen and
+covered with snow; but in summer it becomes practically impassable.
+For three or four hundred square miles the eternally frozen ground is
+covered to a depth of two feet with a dense luxuriant growth of soft,
+spongy arctic moss, saturated with water, and sprinkled here and there
+with little hillocks of stunted blueberry bushes and clusters of
+labrador tea. It never dries up, never becomes hard enough to afford
+stable footing. Prom June to September it is a great, soft, quaking
+cushion of wet moss. The foot may sink in it to the knee, but as soon
+as the pressure is removed it rises again with spongy elasticity,
+and no trace is left of the step. Walking over it is precisely like
+walking over an enormous wet sponge. The causes which produce this
+extraordinary, and apparently abnormal, growth of moss are those
+which exercise the most powerful influence over the development of
+vegetation everywhere,--viz., heat, light, and moisture,--and these
+agencies, in a northern climate, are so combined and intensified
+during the summer months as to stimulate some kinds of vegetation
+into almost tropical luxuriance. The earth thaws out in spring to an
+average depth of perhaps two feet, and below that point there is a
+thick, impenetrable layer of solid frost. The water produced by the
+melting of the winter's snows is prevented by this stratum of frozen
+ground from sinking any farther into the earth, and has no escape
+except by slow evaporation. It therefore saturates the cushion of moss
+on the surface, and, aided by the almost perpetual sunlight of June
+and July, excites it to a rapid and wonderfully luxuriant growth.
+
+It will readily be seen that travel in summer, over a great steppe
+covered with soft elastic moss, and soaking with water, is a very
+difficult if not absolutely impracticable undertaking. A horse sinks
+to his knees in the spongy surface at every step, and soon becomes
+exhausted by the severe exertion which such walking necessitates. We
+had had an example of such travel upon the summit of the Yolofka pass,
+and it was not strange that we should look forward with considerable
+anxiety to crossing the great moss steppes of the Koraks in the
+northern part of the peninsula. It would have been wiser, perhaps, for
+us to wait patiently at Tigil until the establishment of winter travel
+upon dog-sledges; but the Major feared that the chief engineer of the
+enterprise might have landed a party of men in the dangerous region
+around Bering Strait, and he was anxious to get where he could find
+out something about it as soon as possible. He determined, therefore,
+to push on at all hazards to the frontier of the Korak steppes, and
+then cross them on horses, if possible.
+
+A whale-boat was purchased at Tigil, and forwarded with a native crew
+to Lesnoi, so that in case we failed to get over the Korak steppes we
+might cross the head of the Okhotsk Sea to Gizhiga by water before the
+setting in of winter. Provisions, trading-goods, and fur clothes of
+all sorts were purchased and packed away in skin boxes, and every
+preparation made which our previous experience could suggest for rough
+life and bad weather.
+
+[Illustration: Drill]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+OKHOTSK SEACOAST--LESNOI--THE "DEVIL'S PASS"--LOST IN
+SNOW-STORM--SAVED BY BRASS BOX--WILD SCENE
+
+On Wednesday, September 27th, we again took the field, with two
+Cossacks, a Korak interpreter, eight or ten men, and fourteen horses.
+A little snow fell on the day previous to our departure, but it did
+not materially affect the road, and only served as a warning to us
+that winter was at hand, and we should not expect much more pleasant
+weather. We made our way as rapidly as possible along the coast of the
+Okhotsk Sea, partly on the beach under the cliffs, and partly over low
+wooded hills and valleys, extending down to the coast from the central
+mountain range. We passed the settlements of Amanina (ah-man'-in-ah),
+Vaempolka (vah-yem'-pol-kah), Kakhtana (kakh'-tan-ah'), and Polan
+(po-lahn'), changing horses and men at every village and finally, on
+the 3d of October, reached Lesnoi--the last Kamchadal settlement in
+the peninsula. Lesnoi was situated, as nearly as we could ascertain,
+in lat. 59 deg. 20', long. 160 deg. 25', about a hundred and fifty versts
+south of the Korak steppes, and nearly two hundred miles in an air
+line from the settlement of Gizhiga, which for the present was our
+objective point.
+
+We had hitherto experienced little difficulty in making our way
+through the peninsula, as we had been especially favoured by weather,
+and there had been few natural obstacles to stop or delay our
+progress. Now, however, we were about to enter a wilderness which was
+entirely uninhabited, and little known even to our Kamchadal guides.
+North of Lesnoi the great central range of the Kamchatka mountains
+broke off abruptly into the Okhotsk Sea, in a long line of tremendous
+precipices, and interposed a great rugged wall between us and the
+steppes of the Wandering Koraks. This mountain range was very
+difficult to pass with horses, even in midsummer, and was of course
+infinitely worse now, when the mountain streams were swollen by the
+fall rains into foaming torrents, and the storms which herald the
+approach of winter might be at any moment expected. The Kamchadals at
+Lesnoi declared positively that it was of no use to attempt to cross
+this range until the rivers should freeze over and snow enough fall to
+permit the use of dog-sledges, and that they were not willing to risk
+fifteen or twenty horses, to say nothing of their own lives, in any
+such adventure. The Major told them, in language more expressive than
+polite, that he didn't believe a word of any such yarn; that the
+mountains had to be crossed, and that go they must and should. They
+had evidently never had to deal before with any such determined,
+self-willed individual as the Major proved to be, and, after some
+consultation among themselves, they agreed to make the attempt with
+eight unloaded horses, leaving all our baggage and heavy equipage
+at Lesnoi. This the Major at first would not listen to; but after
+thinking the situation over he decided to divide our small force
+into two parties--one to go around the mountains by water with the
+whale-boat and heavy baggage, and one over them with twenty unloaded
+horses. The road over the mountains was supposed to lie near the
+seacoast, so that the land party would be most of the time within
+signalling distance of the whale-boat, and in case either party
+met with any accident or found its progress stopped by unforeseen
+obstacles the other could come to its assistance. Near the middle of
+the mountainous tract, just west of the principal ridge, there was
+said to be a small river called the Samanka (sa-mahn'-kah), and the
+mouth of this river was agreed upon as a rendezvous for the two
+parties in case they lost sight of each other during storms or foggy
+weather. The Major decided to go with Dodd in the whale-boat, and gave
+me command of the land party, consisting of our best Cossack, Viushin,
+six Kamchadals, and twenty light horses. Flags were made, a code of
+signals was agreed upon, the heavy baggage was transferred to the
+whale-boat and a large sealskin canoe, and early on the morning of
+October 4th I bade the Major and Dodd good-bye at the beach, and they
+pushed off. We started up our train of horses as the boats disappeared
+around a projecting bluff, and cantered away briskly across the
+valley toward a gap in the mountains, through which we entered the
+"wilderness." The road for the first ten or fifteen versts was very
+good; but I was surprised to find that, instead of leading us along
+the seashore, it went directly back into the mountains away from the
+sea, and I began to fear that our arrangements for cooperation would
+be of little avail. Thinking that the whale-boat would not probably
+get far the first day under oars and without wind, we encamped early
+in a narrow valley between two parallel ranges of mountains. I tried,
+by climbing a low mountain back of our tent, to get a sight of the
+sea; but we were at least fifteen versts from the coast, and the view
+was limited by an intervening range of rugged peaks, many of which
+reach the altitude of perpetual snow. It was rather lonely to camp
+that night without seeing Dodd's cheerful face by the fireside, and
+I missed more than I thought I should the lively sallies, comical
+stories and good-humoured pleasantry which had hitherto brightened
+the long hours of camp life. If Dodd could have read my thoughts that
+evening, as I sat in solitary majesty by the fireside, he would have
+been satisfied that his society was not unappreciated, nor his absence
+unfelt. Viushin took especial pains with the preparation of my supper,
+and did the best he could, poor fellow, to enliven the solitary meal
+with stories and funny reminiscences of Kamchatkan travel; but the
+venison cutlets had lost somehow their usual savour, and the Russian
+jokes and stories I could not understand. After supper I lay down upon
+my bearskins in the tent, and fell asleep watching the round moon rise
+over a ragged volcanic peak east of the valley.
+
+On the second day we travelled through a narrow tortuous valley among
+the mountains, over spongy swamps of moss, and across deep narrow
+creeks, until we reached a ruined subterranean hut nearly half way
+from Lesnoi to the Samanka River. Here we ate a lunch of dried fish
+and hardbread, and started again up the valley in a heavy rain-storm,
+surrounded on all sides by rocks, snow-capped mountains, and extinct
+volcanic peaks. The road momentarily grew worse. The valley narrowed
+gradually to a wild rocky canon, a hundred and fifty feet in depth,
+at the bottom of which ran a swollen mountain torrent, foaming around
+sharp black rocks, and falling over ledges of lava in magnificent
+cascades. Along the black precipitous sides of this "Devil's Pass"
+there did not seem to be footing for a chamois; but our guide said
+that he had been through it many times before, and dismounting from
+his horse he cautiously led the way along a narrow rocky ledge in
+the face of the cliff which I had not before noticed. Over this we
+carefully made our way, now descending nearly to the water's edge, and
+then rising again until the roaring stream was fifty feet below, and
+we could drop stones from our outstretched arms directly into the
+boiling, foaming waters. Presuming too much upon the sagacity of a
+sure-footed horse, I carelessly attempted the passage of the ravine
+without dismounting, and came near paying the penalty of my rashness
+by a violent death. About half way through, where the trail was only
+eight or ten feet above the bed of the torrent, the ledge, or a
+portion of it, gave way under my horse's feet, and we went down
+together in a struggling mass upon the rocks in the channel of the
+stream. I had taken the precaution to disengage my feet from the
+treacherous iron stirrups, and as we fell I threw myself toward the
+face of the cliff so as to avoid being crushed by my horse. The fall
+was not a very long one, and I came down uppermost, but narrowly
+escaped having my head broken by my animal's hoofs as he struggled to
+regain his feet. He was somewhat cut and bruised, but not seriously
+hurt, and tightening the saddle-girth I waded along through the
+water, leading him after me until I was able to regain the path. Then
+climbing into the saddle again, with dripping clothes and somewhat
+shaken nerves, I rode on.
+
+Just before dark we reached a point where further progress in that
+direction seemed to be absolutely cut off by a range of high mountains
+which ran directly across the valley. It was the central ridge of the
+Samanka Mountains. I looked around with a glance of inquiring surprise
+at the guide, who pointed directly over the range, and said that
+there lay our road. A forest of birch extended about half way up
+the mountain side, and was succeeded by low evergreen bushes,
+trailing-pine, and finally by bare black rocks rising high over all,
+where not even the hardy reindeer-moss could find soil enough to bury
+its roots. I no longer wondered at the positive declaration of the
+Kamchadals, that with loaded horses it would be impossible to cross,
+and began to doubt whether it could be done even with light horses. It
+looked very dubious to me, accustomed as I was to rough climbing and
+mountain roads. I decided to camp at once where we were, and obtain as
+much rest as possible, so that we and our horses would be fresh for
+the hard day's work which evidently lay before us. Night closed in
+early and gloomily, the rain still falling in torrents, so that we
+had no opportunity of drying our wet clothes. I longed for a drink
+of brandy to warm my chilled blood, but my pocket flask had been
+forgotten in the hurry of our departure from Lesnoi, and I was obliged
+to content myself with the milder stimulus of hot tea. My bedding,
+having been wrapped up in an oilcloth blanket, was fortunately dry,
+and crawling feet first, wet as I was, into my bearskin bag, and
+covering up warmly with heavy blankets, I slept in comparative
+comfort.
+
+Viushin waked me early in the morning with the announcement that it
+was snowing. I rose hastily and putting aside the canvas of the
+tent looked out. That which I most dreaded had happened. A driving
+snowstorm was sweeping down the valley, and Nature had assumed
+suddenly the stern aspect and white pitiless garb of winter. Snow had
+already fallen to a depth of three inches in the valley, and on the
+mountains, of course, it would be deep, soft, and drifted. I hesitated
+for a moment about attempting to cross the rugged range in such
+weather; but my orders were imperative to go on at least to the
+Samanka River, and a failure to do so might defeat the object of the
+whole expedition. Previous experience convinced me that the Major
+would not let a storm interfere with the execution of his plans; and
+if he should succeed in reaching the Samanka River and I should not, I
+never could recover from the mortification of the failure, nor be able
+to convince him that Anglo-Saxon blood was as good as Slavonic. I
+reluctantly gave the order therefore to break camp, and as soon as the
+horses could be collected and saddled we started for the base of the
+mountain range. Hardly had we ascended two hundred feet out of the
+shelter of the valley before we were met by a hurricane of wind from
+the northeast, which swept blinding, suffocating clouds of snow down
+the slope into our faces until earth and sky seemed mingled and lost
+in a great white whirling mist. The ascent soon became so steep and
+rocky that we could no longer ride our horses up it. We therefore
+dismounted, and wading laboriously through deep soft drifts, and
+climbing painfully over sharp jagged rocks, which cut open our
+sealskin boots, we dragged our horses slowly upward. We had ascended
+wearily in this way perhaps a thousand feet, when I became so
+exhausted that I was compelled to lie down. The snow in many places
+was drifted as high as my waist, and my horse refused to take a step
+until he was absolutely dragged to it. After a rest of a few moments
+we pushed on, and after another hour of hard work we succeeded in
+gaining what seemed to be the crest of the mountain, perhaps 2000 feet
+above the sea. Here the fury of the wind was almost irresistible.
+Dense clouds of driving snow hid everything from sight at a distance
+of a few steps, and we seemed to be standing on a fragment of a
+wrecked world enveloped in a whirling tempest of stinging snowflakes.
+Now and then a black volcanic crag, inaccessible as the peak of the
+Matterhorn, would loom out in the white mist far above our heads, as
+if suspended in mid-air, giving a startling momentary wildness to the
+scene; then it would disappear again in flying snow, and leave us
+staring blindly into vacancy. A long fringe of icicles hung round the
+visor of my cap, and my clothes, drenched with the heavy rain of the
+previous day, froze into a stiff crackling armour of ice upon my body.
+Blinded by the snow, with benumbed limbs and chattering teeth, I
+mounted my horse and let him go where he would, only entreating the
+guide to hurry and get down somewhere off from this exposed position.
+He tried in vain to compel his horse to face the storm. Neither shouts
+nor blows could force him to turn round, and he was obliged finally
+to ride along the crest of the mountain to the eastward. We went down
+into a comparatively sheltered valley, up again upon another ridge
+higher than the first, around the side of a conical peak where the
+wind blew with great force, down into another deep ravine and up still
+another ridge, until I lost entirely the direction of our route and
+the points of the compass, and had not the slightest idea where we
+were going. I only knew that we were half frozen and in a perfect
+wilderness of mountains.
+
+I had noticed several times within half an hour that our guide was
+holding frequent and anxious consultations with the other Kamchadals
+about our road, and that he seemed to be confused and in doubt as to
+the direction in which we ought to go. He now came to me with a gloomy
+face, and confessed that we were lost. I could not blame the poor
+fellow for losing the road in such a storm, but I told him to go on in
+what he believed to be the direction of the Samanka River, and if we
+succeeded in finding somewhere a sheltered valley we would camp and
+wait for better weather. I wished to caution him also against riding
+accidentally over the edges of precipices in the blinding snow, but I
+could not speak Russian enough to make myself understood.
+
+We wandered on aimlessly for two hours, over ridges, up peaks, and
+down into shallow valleys, getting deeper and deeper apparently into
+the heart of the mountains but finding no shelter from the storm. It
+became evident that something must be done, or we should all freeze
+to death. I finally called the guide, told him I would take the lead
+myself, and opening my little pocket compass, showed him the direction
+of the sea-coast. In that direction I determined to go until we should
+come out somewhere. He looked in stupid wonder for a moment at the
+little brass box with its trembling needle, and then cried out
+despairingly, "Oh, Barin! How does the come-_pass_ know anything about
+these accursed mountains? The come-_pass_ never has been over this
+road before. I've travelled here all my life, and, God forgive me, I
+don't know where the sea is!" Hungry, anxious, and half frozen as I
+was, I could not help smiling at our guide's idea of an inexperienced
+compass which had never travelled in Kamchatka, and could not
+therefore know anything about the road. I assured him confidently that
+the "come-_pass_" was a great expert at finding the sea in a storm;
+but he shook his head mournfully, as if he had little faith in its
+abilities, and refused to go in the direction that I indicated.
+Finding it impossible to make my horse face the wind, I dismounted,
+and, compass in hand, led him away in the direction of the sea,
+followed by Viushin, who, with an enormous bearskin wrapped around his
+head, looked like some wild animal. The guide, seeing that we were
+determined to trust in the compass, finally concluded to go with us.
+Our progress was necessarily very slow, as the snow was deep, our
+limbs chilled and stiffened by their icy covering, and a hurricane of
+wind blowing in our faces. About the middle of the afternoon, however,
+we came suddenly out upon the very brink of a storm-swept precipice a
+hundred and fifty feet in depth, against the base of which the sea was
+hurling tremendous green breakers with a roar that drowned the rushing
+noise of the wind. I had never imagined so wild and lonely a scene.
+Behind and around us lay a wilderness of white, desolate peaks,
+crowded together under a grey, pitiless sky, with here and there a
+patch of trailing-pine, or a black pinnacle of trap-rock, to intensify
+by contrast the ghastly whiteness and desolation of the weird snowy
+mountains. In front, but far below, was the troubled sea, rolling
+mysteriously out of a grey mist of snowflakes, breaking in thick
+sheets of clotted froth against the black cliff, and making long
+reverberations, and hollow, gurgling noises in the subterranean
+caverns which it had hollowed out. Snow, water, and mountains, and in
+the foreground a little group of ice-covered men and shaggy horses,
+staring at the sea from the summit of a mighty cliff! It was a simple
+picture, but it was full of cheerless, mournful suggestions. Our
+guide, after looking eagerly up and down the gloomy precipitous coast
+in search of some familiar landmark, finally turned to me with a
+brighter face, and asked to see the compass. I unscrewed the cover and
+showed him the blue quivering needle still pointing to the north. He
+examined it curiously, but with evident respect for its mysterious
+powers, and at last said that it was truly a "great master," and
+wanted to know if it always pointed toward the sea! I tried to explain
+to him its nature and use, but I could not make him understand, and
+he walked away firmly believing that there was something uncanny and
+supernatural about a little brass box that could point out the road to
+the sea in a country where it had never before been!
+
+We pushed on to the northward throughout the afternoon, keeping as
+near the coast as possible, winding around among the thickly scattered
+peaks and crossing no less than nine low ridges of the mountain range.
+
+I noticed throughout the day the peculiar phenomenon of which I had
+read in Tyndall's _Glaciers of the Alps_--the blue light which seemed
+to fill every footprint and little crevice in the snow. The hole made
+by a long slender stick was fairly luminous with what appeared to be
+deep blue vapour. I never saw this singular phenomenon so marked at
+any other time during nearly three years of northern travel.
+
+About an hour after dark we rode down into a deep lonely valley, which
+came out, our guide said, upon the sea beach near the mouth of the
+Samanka River. Here no snow had fallen, but it was raining heavily. I
+thought it hardly possible that the Major and Dodd could have reached
+the appointed rendezvous in such a storm; but I directed the men to
+pitch the tent, while Viushin and I rode on to the mouth of the river
+to ascertain whether the whale-boat had arrived or not. It was too
+dark to see anything distinctly, but we found no evidence that human
+beings had ever been there, and returned disappointed to camp. We were
+never more glad to get under a tent, eat supper, and crawl into our
+bearskin sleeping-bags, than after that exhausting day's work. Our
+clothes had been either wet or frozen for nearly forty-eight hours,
+and we had been fourteen hours on foot and in the saddle, without warm
+food or rest.
+
+[Illustration: Wooden Cup]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+CUT OFF BY STORM--STARVATION THREATENED--RACE WITH A RISING TIDE--TWO
+DAYS WITHOUT FOOD--RETURN TO LESNOI
+
+Early Saturday morning we moved on to the mouth of the valley, pitched
+our tent in a position to command a view of the approaches to the
+Samanka River, ballasted its edges with stones to keep the wind from
+blowing it down, and prepared to wait two days, according to orders,
+for the whale-boat. The storm still continued, and the heavy sea,
+which dashed sullenly all day against the black rocks under our tent,
+convinced me that nothing could be expected from the other party. I
+only hoped that they had succeeded in getting safely landed somewhere
+before the storm began. Caught by a gale under the frowning wall of
+rock which stretched for miles along the coast, the whale-boat, I
+knew, must either swamp with all on board, or be dashed to pieces
+against the cliffs. In either case not a soul could escape to tell the
+story.
+
+That night Viushin astonished and almost disheartened me with the news
+that we were eating the last of our provisions. There was no more
+meat, and the hardbread which remained was only a handful of
+water-soaked crumbs. He and all the Kamchadals, confidently expecting
+to meet the whale-boat at the Samanka River, had taken only three
+days' food. He had said nothing about it until the last moment, hoping
+that the whale-boat would arrive or something turn up; but it could no
+longer be concealed. We were three days' journey from any settlement,
+and without food. How we were to get back to Lesnoi I did not know,
+as the mountains were probably impassable now, on account of the snow
+which had fallen since we crossed, and the weather did not permit us
+to indulge a hope that the whale-boat would ever come. Much as we
+dreaded it, there was nothing to be done but to attempt another
+passage of the mountain range, and that without a moment's delay.
+I had been ordered to wait for the whale-boat two days; but
+circumstances, I thought, justified a disobedience of orders, and I
+directed the Kamchadals to be ready to start for Lesnoi early the next
+morning. Then, writing a note to the Major, and enclosing it in a tin
+can, to be left on the site of our camp, I crawled into my fur bag to
+sleep and get strength for another struggle with the mountains.
+
+The following morning was cold and stormy, and the snow was still
+falling in the mountains, and heavy rain in the valley. We broke camp
+at daylight, saddled our horses, distributed what little baggage we
+had among them, as equally as possible, and made every preparation for
+deep snow and hard climbing.
+
+Our guide, after a short consultation with his comrades, now came to
+me and proposed that we abandon our plan of crossing the mountains as
+wholly impracticable, and try instead to make our way along the narrow
+strip of beach which the ebbing tide would leave bare at the foot
+of the cliffs. This plan, he contended, was no more dangerous than
+attempting to cross the mountains, and was much more certain of
+success, as there were only a few points where at low water a horse
+could not pass with dry feet. It was not more than thirty miles to
+a ravine on the south side of the mountain range, through which we
+could, leave the beach and regain our old trail at a point within one
+hard day's ride of Lesnoi. The only danger was in being caught by high
+water before we could reach this ravine, and even then we might save
+ourselves by climbing up on the rocks, and abandoning our horses to
+their fate. It would be no worse for them than starving and freezing
+to death in the mountains. Divested of its verbal plausibility, his
+plan was nothing more nor less than a grand thirty-mile race with a
+high tide along a narrow beach, from which all escape was cut off by
+precipitous cliffs one and two hundred feet in height. If we reached
+the ravine in time, all would be well; but if not, our beach would be
+covered ten feet deep with water, and our horses, if not ourselves,
+would be swept away like corks. There was a recklessness and dash
+about this proposal which made it very attractive when compared with
+wading laboriously through snow-drifts, in frozen clothes, without
+anything to eat, and I gladly agreed to it, and credited our guide
+with more sense and spirit than I had ever before seen exhibited by a
+Kamchadal. The tide was now only beginning to ebb, and we had three or
+four hours to spare before it would be low enough to start. This
+time the Kamchadals improved by catching one of the dogs which had
+accompanied us from Lesnoi, killing him in a cold-blooded way with
+their long knives, and offering his lean body as a sacrifice to the
+Evil Spirit, in whose jurisdiction these infernal mountains were
+supposed to be. The poor animal was cut open, his entrails taken out
+and thrown to the four corners of the earth, and his body suspended
+by the neck from the top of a long pole set perpendicularly in the
+ground. The Evil Spirit's wrath, however, seemed implacable, for it
+stormed worse after the performance of these propitiatory rites than
+it did before. This did not weaken at all the faith of the Kamchadals
+in the efficacy of their atonement. If the storm did not abate, it
+was only because an unbelieving American with a diabolical brass box
+called a "come-_pass'_" had insisted upon crossing the mountains in
+defiance of the _genius loci_ and all his tempestuous warnings. One
+dead dog was no compensation at all for such a sacrilegious violation
+of the Evil Spirit's clearly expressed wishes! The sacrifice, however,
+seemed to relieve the natives' anxiety about their own safety; and,
+much as I pitied the poor dog thus ruthlessly slaughtered, I was glad
+to see the manifest improvement which it worked in the spirits of my
+superstitious comrades.
+
+About ten o'clock, as nearly as I could estimate the time without a
+watch, our guide examined the beach and said we must be off; we would
+have between four and five hours to reach the ravine. We mounted
+in hot haste, and set out at a swinging gallop along the beach,
+overshadowed by tremendous black cliffs on one side, and sprinkled
+with salt spray from the breakers on the other. Great masses of green,
+slimy seaweed, shells, water-soaked driftwood, and thousands of
+medusas, which had been thrown up by the storm, lay strewn in piles
+along the beach; but we dashed through and over them at a mad gallop,
+never drawing rein for an instant except to pick our way among
+enormous masses of rock, which in some places had caved away from
+the summit of the cliff and blocked up the beach with grey
+barnacle-encrusted fragments as large as freight-cars.
+
+We had got over the first eighteen miles in splendid style, when
+Viushin, who was riding in advance, stopped suddenly, with an
+abruptness which nearly threw him over his horse's head, and raised
+the familiar cry of "Medveidi! medveidi! dva." Bears they certainly
+seemed to be, making their way along the beach a quarter of a mile or
+so ahead; but how bears came in that desperate situation, where they
+must inevitably be drowned in the course of two or three hours, we
+could not conjecture. It made little difference to us, however,
+for the bears were there and we must pass. It was a clear case of
+breakfast for one party or the other. There could be no dodging or
+getting around, for the cliffs and the sea left us a narrow road.
+I slipped a fresh cartridge into my rifle and a dozen more into my
+pocket; Viushin dropped a couple of balls into his double-barrelled
+fowling-piece, and we crept forward behind the rocks to get a shot at
+them, if possible, before we should be seen. We were almost within
+rifle range when Viushin suddenly straightened up with a loud laugh,
+and cried out, "Liudi"--"They are people." Coming out from behind the
+rocks, I saw clearly that they were. But how came people there? Two
+natives, dressed in fur coats and trousers, approached us with violent
+gesticulations, shouting to us in Russian not to shoot, and holding
+up something white, like a flag of truce. As soon as they came near
+enough one of them handed me a wet, dirty piece of paper, with a
+low bow, and I recognised him as a Kamchadal from Lesnoi. They were
+messengers from the Major! Thanking God in my heart that the other
+party was safe, I tore open the note and read hastily:
+
+Sea Shore, 15 versts from Lesnoi, October 4th. Driven ashore here by
+the storm. Hurry back as fast as possible.
+
+S. Abaza.
+
+The Kamchadal messengers had left Lesnoi only one day behind us, but
+had been detained by the storm and bad roads, and had only reached on
+the previous night our second camp. Finding it impossible to cross the
+mountains on account of the snow, they had abandoned their horses,
+and were trying to reach the Samanka River on foot by way of the sea
+beach. They did not expect to do it in one tide but intended to take
+refuge on high rocks during the flood, and resume their journey as
+soon as the beach should be left bare by the receding water. There was
+no time for any more explanations. The tide was running in rapidly,
+and we must make twelve miles in a little over an hour, or lose our
+horses. We mounted the tired, wet Kamchadals on two of our spare
+animals, and were off again at a gallop. The situation grew more
+and more exciting as we approached the ravine. At the end of every
+projecting bluff the water was higher and higher, and in several
+places it had already touched with foam and spray the foot of the
+cliffs. In twenty minutes more the beach would be impassable. Our
+horses held out nobly, and the ravine was only a short distance
+ahead--only one more projecting bluff intervened. Against this the sea
+was already beginning to break, but we galloped past through several
+feet of water, and in five minutes drew rein at the mouth of the
+ravine. It had been a hard ride, but we had won the race with a clear
+ten minutes to spare, and were now on the southern side of the snowy
+mountain range, less than sixty miles from Lesnoi. Had it not been
+for our guide's good sense and boldness we should still have been
+floundering through the snow, and losing our way among the bewildering
+peaks, ten miles south of the Samanka River. The ravine up which
+our road lay was badly choked with massive rocks, patches of
+trailing-pine, and dense thickets of alder, and it cost us two hours'
+more hard work to cut a trail through it with axes.
+
+Before dark, however, we had reached the site of our second day's
+camp, and about midnight we arrived at the ruined _yurt_ where we had
+eaten lunch five days before. Exhausted by fourteen hours' riding
+without rest or food, we could go no farther. I had hoped to get
+something to eat from the Kamchadal messengers from Lesnoi, but was
+disappointed to find that their provisions had been exhausted the
+previous day. Viushin scraped a small handful of dirty crumbs out of
+our empty bread-bag, fried them in a little blubber, which I suppose
+he had brought to grease his gun with, and offered them to me; but,
+hungry as I was, I could not eat the dark, greasy mass, and he divided
+it by mouthfuls among the Kamchadals.
+
+The second day's ride without food was a severe trial of my strength,
+and I began to be tormented by a severe gnawing, burning pain in
+my stomach. I tried to quiet it by eating seeds from the cones of
+trailing-pine and drinking large quantities of water; but this
+afforded no relief, and I became so faint toward evening that I could
+hardly sit in my saddle.
+
+About two hours after dark we heard the howling of dogs from Lesnoi,
+and twenty minutes later we rode into the settlement, dashed up to the
+little log house of the _starosta_, and burst in upon the Major and
+Dodd as they sat at supper. Our long ride was over.
+
+Thus ended our unsuccessful expedition to the Samanka Mountains--the
+hardest journey I ever experienced in Kamchatka.
+
+Two days afterward, the anxiety and suffering which the Major had
+endured in a five days' camp on the sea beach during the storm,
+brought on a severe attack of rheumatic fever, and all thoughts of
+farther progress were for the present abandoned. Nearly all the horses
+in the village were more or less disabled, our Samanka mountain guide
+was blind from inflammatory erysipelas brought on by exposure to five
+days of storm, and half my party were unfit for duty. Under such
+circumstances, another attempt to cross the mountains before winter
+was impossible. Dodd and the Cossack Meranef (mer-ah'-nef) were sent
+back to Tigil after a physician and a new supply of provisions, while
+Viushin and I remained at Lesnoi to take care of the Major.
+
+[Illustration: Stone Lamps]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+KAMCHATKAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS--CHARACTER OF PEOPLE--SALMON-FISHING--
+SABLE-TRAPPING--KAMCHADAL LANGUAGE--NATIVE MUSIC--DOG-DRIVING--WINTER
+DRESS
+
+After our unsuccessful attempt to pass the Samanka Mountains, there
+was nothing for us to do but wait patiently at Lesnoi until the rivers
+should freeze over, and snow fall to a depth which would enable us
+to continue our journey to Gizhiga on dog-sledges. It was a long,
+wearisome delay, and I felt for the first time, in its full force, the
+sensation of exile from home, country, and civilisation. The Major
+continued very ill, and would show the anxiety which he had felt about
+the success of our expedition by talking deliriously for hours of
+crossing the mountains, starting for Gizhiga in the whale-boat, and
+giving incoherent orders to Viushin, Dodd, and myself, about horses,
+dog-sledges, canoes, and provisions. The idea of getting to Gizhiga,
+before the beginning of winter, filled his mind, to the exclusion of
+everything else. His sickness made the time previous to Dodd's return
+seem very long and lonesome, as I had absolutely nothing to do except
+to sit in a little log room, with opaque fish-bladder windows, and
+pore over Shakespeare and my Bible, until I almost learned them by
+heart. In pleasant weather I would sling my rifle across my back and
+spend whole days in roaming over the mountains in pursuit of reindeer
+and foxes; but I rarely met with much success. One deer and a few
+arctic ptarmigan were my only trophies. At night I would sit on the
+transverse section of a log in our little kitchen, light a rude
+Kamchadal lamp, made with a fragment of moss and a tin cup full of
+seal oil, and listen for hours to the songs and guitar-playing of the
+Kamchadals, and to the wild stories of perilous mountain adventure
+which they delighted to relate. I learned during these Kamchatkan
+Nights' Entertainments many interesting particulars of Kamchadal life,
+customs, and peculiarities of which I had before known nothing;
+and, as I shall have no occasion hereafter to speak of this curious
+little-known people, I may as well give here what account I can of
+their language, music, amusements, superstitions, and mode of life.
+
+The people themselves I have already described as a quiet,
+inoffensive, hospitable tribe of semi-barbarians, remarkable only
+for honesty, general amiability, and comical reverence for legally
+constituted authority. Such an idea as rebellion or resistance to
+oppression is wholly foreign to the Kamchadal character _now_,
+whatever it may have been in previous ages of independence. They will
+suffer and endure any amount of abuse and ill-treatment, without any
+apparent desire for revenge, and with the greatest good-nature and
+elasticity of spirit. They are as faithful and forgiving as a dog. If
+you treat them well, your slightest wish will be their law; and they
+will do their best in their rude way to show their appreciation of
+kindness, by anticipating and meeting even your unexpressed wants.
+During our stay at Lesnoi the Major chanced one day to inquire for
+some milk. The _starosta_ did not tell him that there was not a cow
+in the village, but said that he would try to get some. A man was
+instantly despatched on horseback to the neighbouring settlement of
+Kinkil, and before night he returned with a champagne-bottle under his
+arm, and the Major had milk that evening in his tea. From this time
+until we started for Gizhiga--more than a month--a man rode twenty
+miles every day to bring us a bottle of fresh milk. This seemed to be
+done out of pure kindness of heart, without any desire or expectation
+of future reward; and it is a fair example of the manner in which we
+were generally treated by all the Kamchadals in the peninsula.
+
+The settled natives of northern Kamchatka have generally two different
+residences, in which they live at different seasons of the year. These
+are respectively called the "zimovie" or winter settlement, and the
+"letovie" (let'-o-vye) or summer fishing-station, and are from one to
+five miles apart. In the former, which is generally situated under
+the shelter of timbered hills, several miles from the seacoast, they
+reside from September until June. The _letovie_ is always built near
+the mouth of an adjacent river or stream, and consists of a few
+_yurts_ or earth-covered huts, eight or ten conical _balagans_ mounted
+on stilts, and a great number of wooden frames on which fish are hung
+to dry. To this fishing-station the inhabitants all remove early in
+June, leaving their winter settlement entirely deserted. Even the dogs
+and the crows abandon it for the more attractive surroundings and
+richer pickings of the summer _balagans._ Early in July the salmon
+enter the river in immense numbers from the sea, and are caught by the
+natives in gill-nets, baskets, seines, weirs, traps, and a dozen other
+ingenious contrivances--cut open, cleaned, and boned by the women,
+with the greatest skill and celerity, and hung in long rows upon
+horizontal poles to dry. A fish, with all the confidence of sea life,
+enters the river as a sailor comes ashore, intending to have a good
+time; but before he fairly knows what he is about, he is caught in
+a seine, dumped out upon the beach with a hundred more equally
+unsophisticated and equally unfortunate sufferers, split open with
+a big knife, his backbone removed, his head cut off, his internal
+arrangements scooped out, and his mutilated remains hung over a pole
+to simmer in a hot July sun. It is a pity that he cannot enjoy the
+melancholy satisfaction of seeing the skill and rapidity with which
+his body is prepared for a new and enlarged sphere of usefulness!
+He is no longer a fish. In this second stage of passive unconscious
+existence he assumes a new name, and is called a "yukala"
+(yoo'-kah-lah).
+
+It is astonishing to see in what countless numbers and to what great
+distances these fish ascend the Siberian rivers. Dozens of small
+streams which we passed in the interior of Kamchatka, seventy miles
+from the seacoast, were so choked up with thousands of dying, dead,
+and decayed fish, that we could not use the water for any purpose
+whatever. Even in little mountain brooks, so narrow that a child could
+step across them, we saw salmon eighteen or twenty inches in length
+still working their way laboriously up stream, in water which was not
+deep enough to cover their bodies. We frequently waded in and threw
+them out by the dozen with our bare hands. They change greatly in
+appearance as they ascend a river. When they first come in from the
+sea their scales are bright and hard, and their flesh fat and richly
+coloured; but as they go higher and higher up stream; their scales
+lose their brilliancy and fall off, their flesh bleaches out until it
+is nearly white, and they become lean, dry, and tasteless. For this
+reason all the fishing-stations in Kamchatka are located, if possible,
+at or near the mouths of rivers. To the instinct which leads the
+salmon to ascend rivers for the purpose of depositing its spawn, is
+attributable the settlement of all north-eastern Siberia. If it were
+not for the abundance of fish, the whole country would be uninhabited
+and uninhabitable, except by the Reindeer Koraks. As soon as the
+fishing season is over, the Kamchadals store away their dried _yukala_
+in _balagans_ and return to their winter quarters to prepare for the
+fall catch of sables. For nearly a month they spend all their time
+in the woods and mountains, making and setting traps. To make a
+sable-trap, a narrow perpendicular slot, fourteen inches by four in
+length and breadth, and five inches in depth, is cut in the trunk of a
+large tree, so that the bottom of the slot will be about at the height
+of a sable's head when he stands erect. The stem of another smaller
+tree is then trimmed, one of its ends raised to a height of three feet
+by a forked stick set in the ground, and the other bevelled off so as
+to slip up and down freely in the slot cut for its reception. This
+end is raised to the top of the slot and supported there by a simple
+figure-four catch, leaving a nearly square opening of about four
+inches below for the admission of the sable's head. The figure-four is
+then baited and the trap is ready. The sable rises upon his hind
+legs, puts his head into the hole, and the heavy log, set free by the
+dropping of the figure-four, falls and crushes the animal's skull,
+without injuring in the slightest degree the valuable parts of his
+skin. One native frequently makes and sets as many as a hundred of
+these traps in the fall, and visits them at short intervals throughout
+the winter. Not content, however, with this extensive and well
+organised system of trapping sables, the natives hunt them upon
+snow-shoes with trained dogs, drive them into holes which they
+surround with nets, and then, forcing them out with fire or axe, they
+kill them with clubs.
+
+The number of sables caught in the Kamchatkan peninsula annually
+varies from six to nine thousand, all of which are exported to Russia
+and distributed from there over northern Europe. A large proportion of
+the whole number of Russian sables in the European market are caught
+by the natives of Kamchatka and transported by _American_ merchants
+to Moscow. W.H. Bordman, of Boston, and an American house in
+China--known, I believe, as Russell & Co.--practically control the fur
+trade of Kamchatka and the Okhotsk seacoast. The price paid to the
+Kamchadals for an average sable skin in 1867 was nominally fifteen
+rubles silver, or about eleven dollars gold; but payment was made in
+tea, sugar, tobacco, and sundry other articles of merchandise, at the
+trader's own valuation, so that the natives actually realised only a
+little more than half the nominal price. Nearly all the inhabitants of
+central Kamchatka are engaged directly or indirectly during the winter
+in the sable trade and many of them have acquired by it a comfortable
+independence.
+
+Fishing and sable-hunting, therefore, are the serious occupations of
+the Kamchadals throughout the year; but as these are indications of
+the nature of the country rather than of the characteristics of its
+inhabitants, they give only an imperfect idea of the distinctive
+peculiarities of Kamchadals and Kamchadal life. The language, music,
+amusements, and superstitions of a people are much more valuable
+as illustrations of their real character than are their regular
+occupations.
+
+The Kamchadal language is to me one of the most curious of all the
+wild tongues of Asia; not on account of its construction, but simply
+from the strange, uncouth sounds with which it abounds, and its
+strangling, gurgling articulation. When rapidly spoken, it always
+reminded me of water running out of a narrow-mouthed jug! A Russian
+traveller in Kamchatka has said that "the Kamchadal language is spoken
+half in the mouth and half in the throat"; but it might be more
+accurately described as spoken half in the throat and half in the
+stomach. It has more guttural sounds than any other Asiatic language
+that I have ever heard, and differs considerably in this respect
+from the dialects of the Chukchis and Koraks. It is what comparative
+philologists call an agglutinative language, and seems to be made up
+of permanent unchangeable roots with variable prefixes. It has, so far
+as I could ascertain, no terminal inflections, and its grammar seemed
+to be simple and easily learned. Most of the Kamchadals throughout
+the northern part of the peninsula speak, in addition to their own
+language, Russian and Korak, so that, in their way, they are quite
+accomplished linguists.
+
+It has always seemed to me that the songs of a people, and especially
+of a people who have composed them themselves, and not adopted them
+from others, are indicative to a very great degree of their character;
+whether, as some author supposed, the songs have a reflex influence
+on the character, or whether they exist simply as its exponents, the
+result is the same, viz., a greater or less correspondence between the
+two. In none of the Siberian tribes is this more marked than in the
+Kamchadals. They have evidently never been a warlike, combative
+people. They have no songs celebrating the heroic deeds of their
+ancestors, or their exploits in the chase or in battle, as have many
+tribes of our North American Indians. Their ballads are all of a
+melancholy, imaginative character, inspired apparently by grief, love,
+or domestic feeling, rather than by the ruder passions of pride,
+anger, and revenge. Their music all has a wild, strange sound to a
+foreign ear, but it conveys to the mind in some way a sense of sorrow,
+and vague, unavailing regret for something that has for ever passed
+away, like the emotion excited by a funeral dirge over the grave of a
+dear friend. As Ossian says of the music of Carryl, "it is like the
+memory of joys that are past--sweet, yet mournful to the soul." I
+remember particularly a song called the Penzhinski, sung one night by
+the natives at Lesnoi, which was, without exception, the sweetest, and
+yet the most inexpressibly mournful combination of notes that I had
+ever heard. It was a wail of a lost soul, despairing, yet pleading for
+mercy. I tried in vain to get a translation of the words. Whether it
+was the relation of some bloody and disastrous encounter with their
+fiercer northern neighbours, or the lament over the slain body of some
+dear son, brother, or husband, I could not learn; but the music alone
+will bring the tears near one's eyes, and has an indescribable effect
+upon the singers, whose excitable feelings it sometimes works up
+almost to the pitch of frenzy. The dancing tunes of the Kamchadals
+are of course entirely different in character, being generally very
+lively, and made up of energetic staccato passages, repeated many
+times in succession, without variation. Nearly all the natives
+accompany themselves upon a three-cornered guitar with two strings,
+called a _ballalaika_ (bahl-lah-lai'-kah), and some of them play quite
+well upon rude home-made violins. All are passionately fond of music
+of every kind.
+
+The only other amusements in which they indulge are dancing, playing
+football on the snow in winter, and racing with dog-teams.
+
+The winter travel of the Kamchadals is accomplished entirely upon
+dog-sledges, and in no other pursuit of their lives do they spend more
+time or exhibit their native skill and ingenuity to better advantage.
+They may even be said to have made dogs for themselves in the first
+place, since the present Siberian animal is nothing more than a
+half-domesticated arctic wolf, and still retains all his wolfish
+instincts and peculiarities. There is probably no more hardy, enduring
+animal in the world. You may compel him to sleep out on the snow in a
+temperature of 70 deg. below zero, drive him with heavy loads until his
+feet crack open and stain the snow with blood, or starve him until
+he eats up his harness; but his strength and his spirit seem alike
+unconquerable. I have driven a team of nine dogs more than a hundred
+miles in a day and a night, and have frequently worked them hard for
+forty-eight hours without being able to give them a particle of food.
+In general they are fed once a day, their allowance being a single
+dried fish, weighing perhaps a pound and a half or two pounds. This
+is given to them at night, so that they begin another day's work with
+empty stomachs.
+
+The sledge, or _nart_, to which they are harnessed is about ten
+feet in length and two in width, made of seasoned birch timber, and
+combines to a surprising degree the two most desirable qualities of
+strength and lightness. It is simply a skeleton framework, fastened
+together with lashings of dried sealskin, and mounted on broad, curved
+runners. No iron whatever is used in its construction, and it does not
+weigh more than twenty pounds; yet it will sustain a load of four or
+five hundred pounds, and endure the severest shocks of rough mountain
+travel. The number of dogs harnessed to this sledge varies from seven
+to fifteen, according to the nature of the country to be traversed and
+the weight of the load. Under favourable circumstances eleven dogs
+will make from forty to fifty miles a day with a man and a load of
+four hundred pounds. They are harnessed to the sledge in successive
+couples by a long central thong of sealskin, to which each individual
+dog is attached by a collar and a short trace. They are guided and
+controlled entirely by the voice and by a lead-dog who is especially
+trained for the purpose. The driver carries no whip, but has instead a
+stick about four feet in length and two inches in diameter, called
+an _oerstel_ (oar'-stel). This is armed at one end with a long iron
+spike, and is used to check the speed of the sledge in descending
+hills, and to stop the dogs when they leave the road, as they
+frequently do in pursuit of reindeer and foxes. The spiked end is then
+thrust down in front of one of the knees or uprights of the runners,
+and drags in that position through the snow, the upper end being
+firmly held by the driver. It is a powerful lever, and when skilfully
+used brakes up a sledge very promptly and effectively.
+
+[Illustration: TOWARD NIGHT; A TIRED DOG-TEAM
+From a painting by George A. Frost]
+
+The art of driving a dog-team is one of the most deceptive in the
+world. The traveller at first sight imagines that driving a dog-sledge
+is just as easy as driving a street-car, and at the very first
+favourable opportunity he tries it. After being run away with within
+the first ten minutes, capsized into a snow-drift, and his sledge
+dragged bottom upward a quarter of a mile from the road, the rash
+experimenter begins to suspect that the task is not quite so easy as
+he had supposed, and in less than one day he is generally convinced by
+hard experience that a dog-driver, like a poet, is born, not made.
+
+The dress of the Kamchadals in winter and summer is made for the most
+part of skins. Their winter costume consists of sealskin boots or
+_torbasses_ worn over heavy reindeerskin stockings and coming to the
+knee; fur trousers with the hair inside; a foxskin hood with a face
+border of wolverine skin; and a heavy _kukhlanka_ (kookh-lan'-kah), or
+double fur overshirt, covering the body to the knees. This is made of
+the thickest and softest reindeerskin, ornamented around the bottom
+with silk embroidery, trimmed at the sleeves and neck with glossy
+beaver, and furnished with a square flap under the chin, to be held up
+over the nose, and a hood behind the neck, to be drawn over the head
+in bad weather. In such a costume as this the Kamchadals defy for
+weeks at a time the severest cold, and sleep out on the snow safely
+and comfortably in temperatures of twenty, thirty, and even forty
+degrees below zero, Fahr.
+
+Most of our time during our long detention at Lesnoi was occupied in
+the preparation of such costumes for our own use, in making covered
+dog-sledges to protect ourselves from winter storms, sewing bearskins
+into capacious sleeping-bags, and getting ready generally for a hard
+winter's campaign.
+
+[Illustration: Root Digger]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+A FRESH START--CROSSING THE SAMANKA MOUNTAINS--DESCENT ON A KORAK
+ENCAMPMENT--NOMADS AND THEIR TENTS--DOOR-HOLES AND DOGS--POLOGS--KORAK
+BREAD
+
+About the 20th of October a Russian physician arrived from Tigil,
+and proceeded to reduce the little strength that the Major had by
+steaming, bleeding, and blistering him into a mere shadow of his
+former robust self. The fever, however, abated under this energetic
+treatment, and he began gradually to amend. Sometime during the same
+week, Dodd and Meranef returned from Tigil with a new supply of tea,
+sugar, rum, tobacco, and hardbread, and we began collecting dogs from
+the neighbouring settlements of Kinkil and Polan for another trip
+across the Samanka Mountains. Snow had fallen everywhere to a depth of
+two feet, the weather had turned clear and cold, and there was nothing
+except the Major's illness to detain us longer at Lesnoi. On the 28th
+he declared himself able to travel, and we packed up for a start. On
+November 1st we put on our heavy fur clothes, which turned us into
+wild animals of most ferocious appearance, bade good-by to all the
+hospitable people of Lesnoi, and set out with a train of sixteen
+sledges, eighteen men, two hundred dogs, and forty days' provisions,
+for the territory of the Wandering Koraks. We determined to reach
+Gizhiga this time, or, as the newspapers say, perish in the attempt.
+
+Late in the afternoon of November 3d, just as the long northern
+twilight was fading into the peculiar steely blue of an arctic night,
+our dogs toiled slowly up the last summit of the Samanka Mountains,
+and we looked down from a height of more than two thousand feet upon
+the dreary expanse of snow which stretched away to the far horizon. It
+was the land of the Wandering Koraks. A cold breeze from the sea swept
+across the mountain-top, soughing mournfully through the pines as
+it passed, and intensifying the loneliness and silence of the white
+wintry landscape. The faint pale light of the vanishing sun still
+lingered upon the higher peaks; but the gloomy ravines below us,
+shaggy with forests of larch and dense thickets of trailing-pine, were
+already gathering the shadows and indistinctness of night. At the foot
+of the mountains stood the first encampment of Koraks. As we rested
+our dogs a few moments upon the summit, before commencing our descent,
+we tried to discern through the gathering gloom the black tents which
+we imagined stood somewhere beneath our feet; but nothing save the
+dark patches of trailing-pine broke the dead white of the level
+steppe. The encampment was hidden by a projecting shoulder of the
+mountain.
+
+[Illustration: WANDERING KORAKS WITH THEIR REINDEER AND SLEDGES
+From a painting by George A. Frost]
+
+The rising moon was just throwing into dark, bold relief the shaggy
+outlines of the peaks on our right, as we roused up our dogs and
+plunged into the throat of a dark ravine which led downward to the
+steppe. The deceptive shadows of night, and the masses of rock which
+choked up the narrow defile made the descent extremely dangerous; and
+it required all the skill of our practised drivers to avoid accident.
+Clouds of snow flew from the spiked poles with which they vainly tried
+to arrest our downward rush; cries and warning shouts from those in
+advance, multiplied by the mountain echoes, excited our dogs to still
+greater speed, until we seemed, as the rocks and trees flew past, to
+be in the jaws of a falling avalanche, which was carrying us with
+breathless rapidity down the dark canon to certain ruin. Gradually,
+however, our speed slackened, and we came out into the moonlight on
+the hard, wind-packed snow of the open steppe. Half an hour's brisk
+travel brought us into the supposed vicinity of the Korak encampment,
+but we saw as yet no signs of either reindeer or tents. The disturbed,
+torn-up condition of the snow usually apprises the traveller of his
+approach to the _yurts_ of the Koraks, as the reindeer belonging to
+the band range all over the country within a radius of several miles,
+and paw up the snow in search of the moss which constitutes their
+food. Failing to find any such indications, we were discussing the
+probability of our having been misdirected, when suddenly our leading
+dogs pricked up their sharp ears, snuffed eagerly at the wind, and
+with short, excited yelps made off at a dashing gallop toward a low
+hill which lay almost at right angles with our previous course. The
+drivers endeavoured in vain to check the speed of the excited dogs;
+their wolfish instincts were aroused, and all discipline was forgotten
+as the fresh scent came down upon the wind from the herd of reindeer
+beyond. A moment brought us to the brow of the hill, and before us in
+the clear moonlight, stood the conical tents of the Koraks, surrounded
+by at least four thousand reindeer, whose branching antlers looked
+like a perfect forest of dry limbs. The dogs all gave voice
+simultaneously, like a pack of foxhounds in view of the game, and
+dashed tumultuously down the hill, regardless of the shouts of their
+masters, and the menacing cries of three or four dark forms which rose
+suddenly up from the snow between them and the frightened deer. Above
+the tumult I could hear Dodd's voice, hurling imprecations in Russian
+at his yelping dogs, which, in spite of his most strenuous efforts,
+were dragging him and his capsized sledge across the steppe. The vast
+body of deer wavered a moment and then broke into a wild stampede,
+with drivers, Korak sentinels, and two hundred dogs in full pursuit.
+
+Not desirous of becoming involved in the melee, I sprang from my
+sledge and watched the confused crowd as it swept with shout, bark,
+and halloo, across the plain. The whole encampment, which had seemed
+in its quiet loneliness to be deserted, was now startled into instant
+activity. Dark forms issued suddenly from the tents, and grasping the
+long spears which stood upright in the snow by the doorway, joined in
+the chase, shouting and hurling lassos of walrus hide at the dogs,
+with the hope of stopping their pursuit. The clattering of thousands
+of antlers dashed together in the confusion of flight, the hurried
+beat of countless hoofs upon the hard snow, the deep, hoarse barks of
+the startled deer, and the unintelligible cries of the Koraks, as they
+tried to rally their panic-stricken herd, created a Pandemonium of
+discordant sounds which could be heard far and wide through the
+still, frosty atmosphere of night. It resembled a midnight attack of
+Comanches upon a hostile camp, rather than the peaceful arrival of
+three or four American travellers; and I listened with astonishment to
+the wild uproar of alarm which we had unintentionally aroused.
+
+The tumult grew fainter and fainter as it swept away into the
+distance, and the dogs, exhausting the unnatural strength which the
+excitement had temporarily given them, yielded reluctantly to the
+control of their drivers and turned toward the tents. Dodd's dogs,
+panting with the violence of their exertions, limped sullenly back,
+casting longing glances occasionally in the direction of the deer, as
+if they more than half repented the weakness which had led them to
+abandon the chase.
+
+"Why didn't you stop them?" I inquired of Dodd, laughingly. "A driver
+of your experience ought to have better control of his team than
+that."
+
+"Stop them!" he exclaimed with an aggrieved air. "I'd like to see
+_you_ stop them, with a rawhide lasso round your neck, and a big Korak
+hauling like a steam windlass on the other end of it! It's all very
+well to cry 'stop 'em'; but when the barbarians haul you off the rear
+end of your sledge as if you were a wild animal, what course would
+your sublime wisdom suggest? I believe I've got the mark of a lasso
+round my neck now," and he felt cautiously about his ears for the
+impression of a sealskin thong.
+
+As soon as the deer had been gathered together again and a guard
+placed over them, the Koraks crowded curiously around the visitors who
+had entered so unceremoniously their quiet camp, and inquired through
+Meranef, our interpreter, who we were and what we wanted. A wild,
+picturesque group they made, as the moonlight streamed white and clear
+into their swarthy faces, and glittered upon the metallic ornaments
+about their persons and the polished blades of their long spears.
+Their high cheek-bones, bold, alert eyes, and straight, coal-black
+hair, suggested an intimate relationship with our own Indians; but the
+resemblance went no further. Most of their faces wore an expression
+of bold, frank honesty, which is not a characteristic of our western
+aborigines, and which we instinctively accepted as a sufficient
+guarantee of their friendliness and good faith. Contrary to our
+preconceived idea of northern savages, they were athletic, able-bodied
+men, fully up to the average height of Americans. Heavy _kukh-lankas_
+(kookh-lan'-kas), or hunting-shirts of spotted deerskin, confined
+about the waist with a belt, and fringed round the bottom with the
+long black hair of the wolverine, covered their bodies from the neck
+to the knee, ornamented here and there with strings of small coloured
+beads, tassels of scarlet leather, and bits of polished metal. Fur
+trousers, long boots of sealskin coming up to the thigh, and wolfskin
+hoods, with the ears of the animal standing erect on each side of
+the head, completed the costume which, notwithstanding its _bizarre_
+effect, had yet a certain picturesque adaptation to the equally
+strange features of the moonlight scene. Leaving our Cossack Meranef,
+seconded by the Major, to explain our business and wants, Dodd and
+I strolled away to make a critical inspection of the encampment. It
+consisted of four large conical tents, built apparently of a framework
+of poles and covered with loose reindeerskins, confined in their
+places by long thongs of seal or walrus hide, which were stretched
+tightly over them from the apex of the cone to the ground. They seemed
+at first sight to be illy calculated to withstand the storms which
+in winter sweep down across this steppe from the Arctic Ocean; but
+subsequent experience proved that the severest gales cannot tear them
+from their fastenings. Neatly constructed sledges of various shapes
+and sizes were scattered here and there upon the snow, and two or
+three hundred pack-saddles for the reindeer were piled up in a
+symmetrical wall near the largest tent. Finishing our examination, and
+feeling somewhat bored by the society of fifteen or twenty Koraks who
+had constituted themselves a sort of supervisory committee to watch
+our motions, we returned to the spot where the representatives of
+civilisation and barbarism were conducting their negotiations. They
+had apparently come to an amicable understanding; for, upon our
+approach, a tall native with shaven head stepped out from the throng,
+and leading the way to the largest tent, lifted a curtain of skin and
+revealed a dark hole about two feet and a half in diameter, which he
+motioned to us to enter.
+
+Now, if there was any branch of Viushin's Siberian education upon
+which he especially prided himself, it was his proficiency in crawling
+into small holes. Persevering practice had given him a flexibility of
+back and a peculiar sinuosity of movement which we might admire but
+could not imitate; and although the distinction was not perhaps an
+altogether desirable one, he was invariably selected to explore all
+the dark holes and underground passages (miscalled doors) which came
+in our way. This seemed to be one of the most peculiar of the many
+different styles of entrance which we had observed; but Viushin,
+assuming as an axiom that no part of his body could be greater than
+the (w)hole, dropped into a horizontal position, and requesting Dodd
+to give his feet an initial shove, crawled cautiously in. A few
+seconds of breathless silence succeeded his disappearance, when,
+supposing that all must be right, I put my head into the hole and
+crawled warily after him. The darkness was profound; but, guided by
+Viushin's breathing, I was making very fair progress, when suddenly
+a savage snarl and a startling yell came out of the gloom in front,
+followed instantly by the most substantial part of Viushin's body,
+which struck me with the force of a battering-ram on the top of the
+head, and caused me, with the liveliest apprehensions of ambuscade
+and massacre, to back precipitately out. Viushin, with the awkward
+retrograde movements of a disabled crab, speedily followed.
+
+"What in the name of Chort [Footnote: The Devil.] is the matter?"
+demanded Dodd in Russian, as he extricated Viushin's head from the
+folds of the skin curtain in which it had become enveloped. "You back
+out as if Shaitan and all his imps were after you!"--"You don't
+suppose," responded Viushin, with excited gestures, "that I'm going to
+stay in that hole and be eaten up by Korak dogs? If I was foolish enough
+to go in, I've got discretion enough to know when to come out. I don't
+believe the hole leads anywhere, anyhow," he added apologetically; "and
+it's all full of dogs." With a quick perception of Viushin's difficulties
+and a grin of amusement at his discomfiture, our Korak guide entered the
+hole, drove out the dogs, and lifting up an inner curtain, allowed the
+red light of the fire to stream through. Crawling on hands and knees a
+distance of twelve or fifteen feet through the low doorway, we entered
+the large open circle in the interior of the tent. A crackling fire of
+resinous pine boughs burned brightly upon the ground in the centre,
+illuminating redly the framework of black, glossy poles, and
+flickering fitfully over the dingy skins of the roof and the swarthy
+tattooed faces of the women who squatted around. A large copper
+kettle, filled with some mixture of questionable odour and appearance,
+hung over the blaze, and furnished occupation to a couple of skinny,
+bare-armed women, who with the same sticks were alternately stirring
+its contents, poking up the fire, and knocking over the head two or
+three ill-conditioned but inquisitive dogs. The smoke, which rose
+lazily from the fire, hung in a blue, clearly defined cloud about five
+feet from the ground, dividing the atmosphere of the tent into a lower
+stratum of comparatively clear air, and an upper cloud region where
+smoke, vapours, and ill odours contended for supremacy.
+
+The location of the little pure air which the _yurt_ afforded made
+the boyish feat of standing upon one's head a very desirable
+accomplishment; and as the pungent smoke filled my eyes to the
+exclusion of everything else except tears, I suggested to Dodd that he
+reverse the respective positions of his head and feet, and try it--he
+would escape the smoke and sparks from the fire, and at the same time
+obtain a new and curious optical effect. With the sneer of contempt
+which always met even my most valuable suggestions, he replied that I
+might try my own experiments, and throwing himself down at full length
+on the ground, he engaged in the interesting diversion of making faces
+at a Korak baby. Viushin's time, as soon as his eyes recovered a
+little from the effects of the smoke, was about equally divided
+between preparations for our evening meal, and revengeful blows at the
+stray dogs which ventured in his vicinity; while the Major, who was
+probably the most usefully employed member of the party, negotiated
+for the exclusive possession of a _polog_. The temperature of a Korak
+tent in winter seldom ranges above 20 deg. or 25 deg. Fahr., and as constant
+exposure to such a degree of cold would be at least very disagreeable,
+the Koraks construct around the inner circumference of the tent small,
+nearly air-tight apartments called _pologs_, which are separated
+one from another by skin curtains, and combine the advantages of
+exclusiveness with the desirable luxury of greater warmth. These
+_pologs_ are about four feet in height, and six or eight feet in width
+and length. They are made of the heaviest furs sewn carefully together
+to exclude the air, and are warmed and lighted by a burning
+fragment of moss floating in a wooden bowl of seal oil. The law of
+compensation, however, which pervades all Nature, makes itself felt
+even in the _pologs_ of a Korak _yurt_, and for the greater degree of
+warmth is exacted the penalty of a closer, smokier atmosphere. The
+flaming wick of the lamp, which floats like a tiny burning ship in a
+miniature lake of rancid grease, absorbs the vital air of the _polog_,
+and returns it in the shape of carbonic acid gas, oily smoke, and
+sickening odours. In defiance, however, of all the known laws of
+hygiene, this vitiated atmosphere seems to be healthful; or, to
+state the case negatively, there is no evidence to prove its
+unhealthfulness. The Korak women, who spend almost the whole of their
+time in these _pologs_, live generally to an advanced age, and except
+a noticeable tendency to angular outlines, and skinniness, there is
+nothing to distinguish them physically from the old women of other
+countries. It was not without what I supposed to be a well-founded
+apprehension of suffocation, that I slept for the first time in a
+Korak _yurt_; but my uneasiness proved to be entirely groundless, and
+gradually wore away.
+
+[Illustration: A MAN OF THE WANDERING KORAKS]
+
+With a view to escape from the crowd of Koraks, who squatted around
+us on the earthen floor, and whose watchful curiosity soon became
+irksome, Dodd and I lifted up the fur curtain of the _polog_ which the
+Major's diplomacy had secured, and crawled in to await the advent of
+supper. The inquisitive Koraks, unable to find room in the narrow
+_polog_ for the whole of their bodies, lay down to the number of nine
+on the outside, and poking their ugly, half-shaven heads under the
+curtain, resumed their silent supervision. The appearance in a row of
+nine disembodied heads, whose staring eyes rolled with synchronous
+motion from side to side as we moved, was so ludicrous that we
+involuntarily burst into laughter. A responsive smile instantly
+appeared upon each of the nine swarthy faces, whose simultaneous
+concurrence in the expression of every emotion suggested the idea of
+some huge monster with nine heads and but one consciousness. Acting
+upon Dodd's suggestion that we try and smoke them out, I took my
+brier-wood pipe from my pocket and proceeded to light it with one of
+those peculiar snapping lucifers which were among our most cherished
+relics of civilisation. As the match, with a miniature fusillade of
+sharp reports, burst suddenly into flame, the nine startled heads
+instantly disappeared, and from beyond the curtain we could hear a
+chorus of long-drawn "tye-e-e's" from the astonished natives, followed
+by a perfect Babel of animated comments upon this diabolical method
+of producing fire. Fearful, however, of losing some other equally
+striking manifestation of the white men's supernatural power, the
+heads soon returned, reenforced by several others which the report of
+the wonderful occurrence had attracted. The fabled watchfulness of the
+hundred-eyed Argus was nothing compared with the scrutiny to which we
+were now subjected. Every wreath of curling smoke which rose from our
+lips was watched by the staring eyes as intently as if it were some
+deadly vapour from the bottomless pit, which would shortly burst into
+report and flame. A loud and vigorous sneeze from Dodd was the signal
+for a second panic-stricken withdrawal of the row of heads, and
+another comparison of respective experiences outside the curtain. It
+was laughable enough; but, tired of being stared at and anxious for
+something to eat, we crawled out of our _polog_ and watched with
+unassumed interest the preparation of supper.
+
+Out of a little pine box which contained our telegraphic instruments,
+Viushin had improvised a rude, legless mess-table, which he was
+engaged in covering with cakes of hardbread, slices of raw bacon, and
+tumblers of steaming tea. These were the luxuries of civilisation, and
+beside them on the ground, in a long wooden trough and a huge bowl of
+the same material, were the corresponding delicacies of barbarism. As
+to their nature and composition we could, of course, give only a
+wild conjecture; but the appetites of weary travellers are not very
+discriminating, and we seated ourselves, like cross-legged Turks, on
+the ground, between the trough and the instrument-box, determined to
+prove our appreciation of Korak hospitality by eating everything which
+offered itself. The bowl with its strange-looking contents arrested,
+of course, the attention of the observant Dodd, and, poking it
+inquiringly with a long-handled spoon, he turned to Viushin, who, as
+_chef-de-cuisine_, was supposed to know all about it, and demanded:
+
+"What's this you've got?"
+
+"That?" answered Viushin, promptly, "that's _kasha_" (hasty pudding
+made of rice).
+
+"_Kasha_!" exclaimed Dodd, contemptuously. "It looks more like the
+stuff that the children of Israel made bricks of. They don't seem to
+have wanted for straw, either," he added, as he fished up several
+stems of dried grass. "What is it, anyhow?"
+
+"That," said Viushin again, with a comical assumption of learning, "is
+the celebrated 'Jamuk chi a la Poosteretsk,' the national dish of the
+Koraks, made from the original recipe of His High Excellency
+Oollcot Ootkoo Minyegeetkin, Grand Hereditary Taiyon and Vwisokee
+Prevoskhodeetelstvo--"
+
+"Hold on!" exclaimed Dodd, with a deprecating gesture, "that's enough,
+I'll eat it"; and taking out a halfspoonful of the dark viscid mass,
+he put it to his lips.
+
+"Well," said we expectantly, after a moment's pause, "what does it
+taste like?"
+
+"Like the mud pies of infancy!" he replied sententiously. "A little
+salt, pepper, and butter, and a good deal of meat and flour, with a
+few well selected vegetables, would probably improve it; but it isn't
+particularly bad as it is."
+
+Upon the strength of this rather equivocal recommendation I tasted it.
+Aside from a peculiar earthy flavour, it had nothing about it which
+was either pleasant or disagreeable. Its qualities were all negative
+except its grassiness, which alone gave character and consistency to
+the mass.
+
+The mixture, known among the Koraks as _manyalla,_ is eaten by all
+the Siberian tribes as a substitute for bread, and is the nearest
+approximation which native ingenuity can make to the staff of life. It
+is valued, we were told, more for its medicinal virtues than for
+any intrinsic excellence of taste, and our limited experience fully
+prepared us to believe the statement. Its original elements are
+clotted blood, tallow, and half-digested moss, taken from the stomach
+of the reindeer, where it is supposed to have undergone some essential
+change which fits it for second-hand consumption. These curious and
+heterogeneous ingredients are boiled up together with a few handfuls
+of dried grass to give the mixture consistency, and the dark mass is
+then moulded into small loaves and frozen for future use. Our host was
+evidently desirous of treating us with every civility, and, as a mark
+of especial consideration, bit off several choice morsels from the
+large cube of venison in his grimy hand, and taking them from his
+mouth, offered them to me. I waived graciously the implied compliment,
+and indicated Dodd as the proper recipient of such attentions; but the
+latter revenged himself by requesting an old woman to bring me some
+raw tallow, which he soberly assured her constituted my only food
+when at home. My indignant denials, in English were not, of course,
+understood; and the woman, delighted to find an American whose tastes
+corresponded so closely with her own, brought the tallow. I was a
+helpless victim, and I could only add this last offence to the long
+list of grievances which stood to Dodd's credit, and which I hoped
+some time to settle in full.
+
+Supper, in the social economy of the Koraks, is emphatically the meal
+of the day. Around the kettle of _manyalla_, or the trough of reindeer
+meat; gather the men of the band, who during the hours of daylight
+have been absent, and who, between mouthfuls of meat or moss, discuss
+the simple subjects of thought which their isolated life affords. We
+availed ourselves of this opportunity to learn something of the tribes
+that inhabited the country to the northward, the reception with which
+we should probably meet, and the mode of travel which we should be
+compelled to adopt.
+
+[Illustration: Small Adze with bone headpiece]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+WHY THE KORAKS WANDER--THEIR INDEPENDENCE--CHEERLESS LIFE--USES OF
+THE REINDEER--KORAK IDEAS OF DISTANCE--"MONARCH OF THE BRASS-HANDLED
+SWORD"
+
+The Wandering Koraks of Kamchatka, who are divided into about forty
+different bands, roam over the great steppes in the northern part of
+the peninsula, between the 58th and the 63d parallels of latitude.
+Their southern limit is the settlement of Tigil, on the west coast,
+where they come annually to trade, and they are rarely found north
+of the village of Penzhina, two hundred miles from the head of the
+Okhotsk Sea. Within these limits they wander almost constantly with
+their great herds of reindeer, and so unsettled and restless are they
+in their habits, that they seldom camp longer than a week in any one
+place. This, however, is not attributable altogether to restlessness
+or love of change. A herd of four or five thousand reindeer will in a
+very few days paw up the snow and eat all the moss within a radius of
+a mile from the encampment, and then, of course, the band must move to
+fresh pasture ground. Their nomadic life, therefore, is not entirely a
+choice, but partly a necessity, growing out of their dependence upon
+the reindeer. They _must_ wander or their deer will starve, and then
+their own starvation follows as a natural consequence. Their
+unsettled mode of life probably grew, in the first place, out of the
+domestication of the reindeer, and the necessity which it involved of
+consulting first the reindeer's wants; but the restless, vagabondish
+habits thus produced have now become a part of the Korak's very
+nature, so that he could hardly live in any other way, even had he
+an opportunity of so doing. This wandering, isolated, independent
+existence has given to the Koraks all those characteristic traits of
+boldness, impatience of restraint, and perfect self-reliance, which
+distinguish them from the Kamchadals and the other settled inhabitants
+of Siberia. Give them a small herd of reindeer, and a moss steppe to
+wander over, and they ask nothing more from all the world. They are
+wholly independent of civilisation and government, and will neither
+submit to their laws nor recognise their distinctions. Every man is
+a law unto himself so long as he owns a dozen reindeer; and he can
+isolate himself, if he so chooses, from all human kind, and ignore
+all other interests but his own and his reindeer's. For the sake of
+convenience and society they associate themselves in bands of six or
+eight families each; but these bands are held together only by mutual
+consent, and recognise no governing head. They have a leader called a
+_taiyon_ who is generally the largest deer-owner of the band, and
+he decides all such questions as the location of camps and time of
+removal from place to place; but he has no other power, and must refer
+all graver questions of individual rights and general obligations
+to the members of the band collectively. They have no particular
+reverence for anything or anybody except the evil spirits who bring
+calamities upon them, and the "shamans" or priests, who act as
+infernal mediators between these devils and their victims. Earthly
+rank they treat with contempt, and the Tsar of all the Russias, if he
+entered a Korak tent, would stand upon the same level with its owner.
+We had an amusing instance of this soon after we met the first Koraks.
+The Major had become impressed in some way with the idea that in order
+to get what he wanted from these natives he must impress them with a
+proper sense of his power, rank, wealth, and general importance in the
+world, and make them feel a certain degree of reverence and respect
+for his orders and wishes. He accordingly called one of the oldest and
+most influential members of the band to him one day, and proceeded
+to tell him, through an interpreter, how rich he was; what immense
+resources, in the way of rewards and punishments, he possessed; what
+high rank he held; how important a place he filled in Russia, and how
+becoming it was that an individual of such exalted attributes should
+be treated by poor wandering heathen with filial reverence and
+veneration. The old Korak, squatting upon his heels on the ground,
+listened quietly to the enumeration of all our leader's admirable
+qualities and perfections without moving a muscle of his face; but
+finally, when the interpreter had finished, he rose slowly, walked up
+to the Major with imperturbable gravity, and with the most benignant
+and patronising condescension, patted him softly on the head! The
+Major turned red and broke into a laugh; but he never tried again to
+overawe a Korak.
+
+Notwithstanding this democratic independence of the Koraks, they are
+almost invariably hospitable, obliging, and kind-hearted; and we were
+assured at the first encampment where we stopped, that we should
+have no difficulty in getting the different bands to carry us on
+deer-sledges from one encampment to another until we should reach the
+head of Penzhinsk Gulf. After a long conversation with the Koraks who
+crowded around us as we sat by the fire, we finally became tired and
+sleepy, and with favourable impressions, upon the whole, of this new
+and strange people, we crawled into our little _polog_ to sleep. A
+voice in another part of the _yurt_ was singing a low, melancholy air
+in a minor key as I closed my eyes, and the sad, oft-repeated refrain,
+so different from ordinary music, invested with peculiar loneliness
+and strangeness my first night in a Korak tent.
+
+To be awakened in the morning by a paroxysm of coughing, caused by
+the thick, acrid smoke of a low-spirited fire--to crawl out of a skin
+bedroom six feet square into the yet denser and smokier atmosphere of
+the tent--to eat a breakfast of dried fish, frozen tallow, and venison
+out of a dirty wooden trough, with an ill-conditioned dog standing at
+each elbow and disputing one's right to every mouthful, is to enjoy
+an experience which only Korak life can afford, and which only Korak
+insensibility can long endure. A very sanguine temperament may find
+in its novelty some compensation for its discomfort, but the novelty
+rarely outlasts the second day, while the discomfort seems to increase
+in a direct ratio with the length of the experience. Philosophers
+may assert that a rightly constituted mind will rise superior to all
+outward circumstances; but two weeks in a Korak tent would do more to
+disabuse their minds of such an erroneous impression than any amount
+of logical argument. I do not myself profess to be preternaturally
+cheerful, and the dismal aspect of things when I crawled out of my
+fur sleeping-bag, on the morning after our arrival at the first
+encampment, made me feel anything but amiable. The first beams of
+daylight were just struggling in misty blue lines through the smoky
+atmosphere of the tent. The recently kindled fire would not burn but
+would smoke; the air was cold and cheerless; two babies were crying
+in a neighbouring _polog_; the breakfast was not ready, everybody was
+cross, and rather than break the harmonious impression of general
+misery, I became cross also. Three or four cups of hot tea, however,
+which were soon forthcoming, exerted their usual inspiriting
+influence, and we began gradually to take a more cheerful view of
+the situation. Summoning the _taiyon,_ and quickening his dull
+apprehension with a preliminary pipe of strong Circassian tobacco, we
+succeeded in making arrangements for our transportation to the next
+Korak encampment in the north, a distance of about forty miles.
+Orders were at once given for the capture of twenty reindeer and the
+preparation of sledges. Snatching hurriedly a few bites of hardbread
+and bacon by way of breakfast, I donned fur hood and mittens, and
+crawled out through the low doorway to see how twenty trained deer
+were to be separated from a herd of four thousand wild ones.
+
+[Illustration: TENTS AND REINDEER OF THE WANDERING KORAKS]
+
+Surrounding the tent in every direction were the deer belonging to
+the band, some pawing up the snow with their sharp hoofs in search of
+moss, others clashing their antlers together and barking hoarsely in
+fight, or chasing one another in a mad gallop over the steppe. Near
+the tent a dozen men with lassos arranged themselves in two parallel
+lines, while twenty more, with a thong of sealskin two or three
+hundred yards in length, encircled a portion of the great herd, and
+with shouts and waving lassos began driving it through the narrow
+gantlet. The deer strove with frightened bounds to escape from the
+gradually contracting circle, but the sealskin cord, held at short
+distances by shouting natives, invariably turned them back, and they
+streamed in a struggling, leaping throng through the narrow opening
+between the lines of lassoers. Ever and anon a long cord uncoiled
+itself in air, and a sliding noose fell over the antlers of some
+unlucky deer whose slit ears marked him as trained, but whose
+tremendous leaps and frantic efforts to escape suggested very grave
+doubts as to the extent of the training. To prevent the interference
+and knocking together of the deer's antlers when they should be
+harnessed in couples, one horn was relentlessly chopped off close to
+the head by a native armed with a heavy sword-like knife, leaving a
+red ghastly stump from which the blood trickled in little streams over
+the animal's ears. They were then harnessed to sledges in couples, by
+a collar and trace passing between the forelegs; lines were affixed to
+small sharp studs in the headstall, which pricked the right or left
+side of the head when the corresponding rein was jerked, and the
+equipage was ready.
+
+Bidding good-by to the Lesnoi Kamchadals, who returned from here, we
+muffled ourselves from the biting air in our heaviest furs, took
+seats on our respective sledges, and at a laconic "tok" (go) from the
+_taiyon_ we were off; the little cluster of tents looking like a group
+of conical islands behind us as we swept out upon the limitless ocean
+of the snowy steppe. Noticing that I shivered a little in the keen
+air, my driver pointed away to the northward, and exclaimed with a
+pantomimic shrug, "Tam _shipka_ kholodno"--"There it's awful cold." We
+needed not to be informed of the fact; the rapidly sinking thermometer
+indicated our approach to the regions of perpetual frost, and I looked
+forward with no little apprehension to the prospect of sleeping
+outdoors in the arctic temperatures of which I had read, but which I
+had never yet experienced.
+
+This was my first trial of reindeer travel, and I was a little
+disappointed to find that it did not quite realise the expectations
+that had been excited in my boyish days by the pictures of galloping
+Lapland deer in the old geographies. The reindeer were there, but they
+were not the ideal reindeer of early fancy, and I felt a vague sense
+of personal injury and unjustifiable deception at the substitution
+of these awkward, ungainly beasts for the spirited and fleet-footed
+animals of my boyish imagination. Their trot was awkward and heavy,
+they carried their heads low, and their panting breaths and gaping
+mouths were constantly suggestive of complete exhaustion, and excited
+pity for their apparently laborious exertions, rather than admiration
+for the speed which they really did exhibit. My ideal reindeer would
+never have demeaned himself by running with his mouth wide open. When
+I learned, as I afterward did, that they were compelled to breathe
+through their mouths, on account of the rapid accumulation of frost in
+their nostrils, it relieved my apprehensions of their breaking down,
+but did not alter my firm conviction that my ideal reindeer was
+infinitely superior in an aesthetic point of view to the real animal.
+I could not but admit, however, the inestimable value of the reindeer
+to his wandering owners. Besides carrying them from place to place, he
+furnishes them with clothes, food, and covering for their tents; his
+antlers are made into rude implements of all sorts; his sinews are
+dried and pounded into thread, his bones are soaked in seal oil and
+burned for fuel, his entrails are cleaned, filled with tallow, and
+eaten; his blood, mixed with the contents of his stomach, is made
+into _manyalla_; his marrow and tongue are considered the greatest
+of delicacies; the stiff, bristly skin of his legs is used to cover
+snow-shoes; and finally his whole body, sacrificed to the Korak gods,
+brings down upon his owners all the spiritual and temporal blessings
+which they need. It would be hard to find another animal which fills
+so important a place in the life of any body of men, as the reindeer
+does in the life and domestic economy of the Siberian Koraks. I cannot
+now think of one which furnishes even the four prime requisites of
+food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. It is a singular fact,
+however, that the Siberian natives--the only people, so far as I know,
+who have ever domesticated the reindeer, except the Laps--do not
+use in any way the animal's milk. Why so important and desirable an
+article of food should be neglected, when every other part of the
+deer's body is turned to some useful account, I cannot imagine. It is
+certain, however, that no one of the four great wandering tribes of
+north-eastern Siberia, Koraks, Chukchis, Tunguses, and Lamutkis, uses
+in any way the reindeer's milk.
+
+By two o'clock in the afternoon it began to grow dark, but we
+estimated that we had accomplished at least half of our day's journey,
+and halted for a few moments to allow our deer to eat. The last half
+of the distance seemed interminable. The moon rose round and bright as
+the shield of Achilles, and lighted up the vast, lonely _tundra_ with
+noonday brilliancy; but the silence and desolation, the absence of any
+dark object upon which the fatigued eye could rest, and the apparently
+boundless extent of this Dead Sea of snow, oppressed us with new
+and strange sensations of awe. A dense mist or steam, which is an
+unfailing indication of intense cold, rose from the bodies of the
+reindeer and hung over the road long after we had passed. Beards
+became tangled masses of frozen iron wire; eyelids grew heavy with
+white rims of frost and froze together when we winked; noses assumed
+a white, waxen appearance with every incautious exposure, and only by
+frequently running beside our sledges could we keep any "feeling" in
+our feet. Impelled by hunger and cold, we repeated twenty times the
+despairing question, "How much farther is it?" and twenty times we
+received the stereotyped but indefinite answer of "cheimuk," near,
+or occasionally the encouraging assurance that we would arrive in a
+minute. Now we knew very well that we _should not_ arrive in a minute,
+nor probably in forty minutes; but it afforded temporary relief to be
+_told_ that we would. My frequent inquiries finally spurred my driver
+into an attempt to express the distance arithmetically, and with
+evident pride in his ability to speak Russian, he assured me that it
+was only "dva verst," or two versts more. I brightened up at once with
+anticipations of a warm fire and an infinite number of cups of hot
+tea, and by imagining prospective comfort, succeeded in forgetting
+the present sense of suffering. At the expiration, however, of
+three-quarters of an hour, seeing no indication of the promised
+encampment, I asked once more if it were much farther away. One Korak
+looked around over the steppe with a well assumed air of seeking some
+landmark, and then turning to me with a confident nod, repeated the
+word "verst" and held up _four fingers_! I sank back upon my sledge
+in despair. If we had been three-quarters of an hour in losing two
+versts, how long would be we in losing versts enough to get back to
+the place from which we started. It was a discouraging problem, and
+after several unsuccessful attempts to solve it by the double rule
+of three backwards, I gave it up. For the benefit of the future
+traveller, I give, however, a few native expressions for distances,
+with their numerical equivalents: "cheimuk"--near, twenty versts;
+"bolshe nyet"--there is no more, fifteen versts; "sey chas
+priyedem"--we will arrive this minute, means any time in the course of
+the day or night; and "dailoko"--far, is a week's journey. By bearing
+in mind these simple values, the traveller will avoid much bitter
+disappointment, and _may_ get through without entirely losing faith in
+human veracity. About six o'clock in the evening, tired, hungry, and
+half-frozen, we caught sight of the sparks and fire-lit smoke which
+arose from the tents of the second encampment, and amid a general
+barking of dogs and hallooing of men we stopped among them. Jumping
+hurriedly from my sledge, with no thought but that of getting to a
+fire, I crawled into the first hole which presented itself, with a
+firm belief, founded on the previous night's experience, that it must
+be a door. After groping about some time in the dark, crawling over
+two dead reindeer and a heap of dried fish, I was obliged to shout for
+assistance. Great was the astonishment of the proprietor, who came to
+the rescue with a torch, to find a white man and a stranger crawling
+around aimlessly in his fish storehouse. He relieved his feelings with
+a ty-e-e-e of amazement, and led the way, or rather crawled away, to
+the interior of the tent, where I found the Major endeavouring with a
+dull Korak knife to cut his frozen beard loose from his fur hood and
+open communication with his mouth through a sheet of ice and hair. The
+teakettle was soon simmering and spouting over a brisk fire, beards
+were thawed out, noses examined for signs of frost-bites, and in half
+an hour we were seated comfortably on the ground around a candle-box,
+drinking tea and discussing the events of the day.
+
+Just as Viushin was filling up our cups for the third time, the skin
+curtain of the low doorway at our side was lifted up, and the most
+extraordinary figure which I ever beheld in Kamchatka crawled silently
+in, straightened up to its full height of six feet, and stood
+majestically before us. It was an ugly, dark-featured man about thirty
+years of age. He was clothed in a scarlet dress-coat with blue facings
+and brass buttons, with long festoons of gold cord hung across the
+breast, trousers of black, greasy deerskin, and fur boots. His hair
+was closely shaven from the crown of his head, leaving a long fringe
+of lank, uneven locks hanging about his ears and forehead. Long
+strings of small coloured beads depended from his ears, and over one
+of them he had plastered for future use a huge quid of masticated
+tobacco. About his waist was tied a ragged sealskin thong, which
+supported a magnificent silver-hilted sword and embossed scabbard. His
+smoky, unmistakably Korak face, shaven head, scarlet coat, greasy
+skin trousers, gold cord, sealskin belt, silver-hilted sword, and fur
+boots, made up such a remarkable combination of glaring contrasts
+that we could do nothing for a moment but stare at him in utter
+_amazement_. He reminded me of "Talipot, the Immortal Potentate of
+Manacabo, Messenger of the Morning, Enlightener of the Sun, Possessor
+of the Whole Earth, and Mighty Monarch of the Brass-handled Sword."
+
+"Who are you?" suddenly demanded the Major, in Russian. A low bow was
+the only response. "Where in the name of Chort did you come from?"
+Another bow. "Where did you get that coat? Can't you say something?
+Ay! Meranef! Come and talk to this--fellow, I can't make him say
+anything." Dodd suggested that he might be a messenger from the
+expedition of Sir John Franklin, with late advices from the Pole
+and the North-west Passage, and the silent owner of the sword bowed
+affirmatively, as if this were the true solution of the mystery. "Are
+you a pickled cabbage?" suddenly inquired Dodd in Russian. The Unknown
+intimated by a very emphatic bow that he was. "_He_ doesn't understand
+anything!" said Dodd in disgust; "where's Meranef?" Meranef soon made
+his appearance, and began questioning the mysterious visitor in a
+scarlet coat as to his residence, name, and previous history. For the
+first time he now found a voice. "What does he say?" asked the Major;
+"what's his name?"
+
+"He says his name is Khanalpooginuk."
+
+"Where did he get that coat and sword?"
+
+"He says 'the Great White Chief' gave it to him for a dead reindeer."
+This was not very satisfactory, and Meranef was instructed to get some
+more intelligible information. Who the "Great White Chief" might be,
+and why he should give a scarlet coat and a silver-hilted sword for a
+dead reindeer, were questions beyond our ability to solve. Finally,
+Meranef's puzzled face cleared up, and he told us that the coat and
+sword had been presented to the Unknown by the Emperor, as a reward
+for reindeer given to the starving Russians of Kamchatka during a
+famine. The Korak was asked if he had received no paper with these
+gifts, and he immediately left the tent, and returned in a moment with
+a sheet of paper tied up carefully with reindeer's sinews between a
+couple of thin boards. This paper explained everything. The coat and
+sword had been given to the present owner's father, during the reign
+of Alexander I., by the Russian Governor of Kamchatka as a reward for
+succour afforded the Russians in a famine. From the father they
+had descended to the son, and the latter, proud of his inherited
+distinction, had presented himself to us as soon as he heard of our
+arrival. He wanted nothing in particular except to show himself, and
+after examining his sword, which was really a magnificent weapon, we
+gave him a few bunches of tobacco and dismissed him. We had hardly
+expected to find in the interior of Kamchatka any relics of Alexander
+I., dating back to the time of Napoleon.
+
+[Illustration: Iron Skin Scraper]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+THE SNOW-DRIFT COMPASS--MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE--AN INTOXICATING
+FUNGUS--MONOTONY OF KORAK LIFE
+
+On the following morning at daybreak we continued our journey, and
+rode until four hours after dark, over a boundless level steppe,
+without a single guiding landmark to point the way. I was surprised
+to see how accurately our drivers could determine the points of the
+compass and shape their course by simply looking at the snow. The
+heavy north-east winds which prevail in this locality throughout the
+winter sweep the snow into long wave-like ridges called _sastrugi_
+(sas-troo'-gee), which are always perpendicular to the course of the
+wind, and which almost invariably run in a north-west and south-east
+direction. They are sometimes hidden for a few days by fresh-fallen
+snow; but an experienced Korak can always tell by removing the upper
+layer which way is north, and he travels to his destination by night
+or day in a nearly straight line.
+
+We reached the third encampment about six o'clock, and upon entering
+the largest tent were surprised to find it crowded with natives, as if
+in expectation of some ceremony or entertainment. Inquiry through
+our interpreter elicited the interesting fact that the ceremony of
+marriage was about to be performed for, or rather by, two members
+of the band; and instead of taking up our quarters, as we at first
+intended, in another less crowded tent, we determined to remain
+and see in what manner this rite would be solemnised by a wholly
+uncivilised and barbarous people.
+
+The marriage ceremony of the Koraks is especially remarkable for its
+entire originality, and for the indifference which it manifests to the
+sensibilities of the bridegroom. In no other country does there
+exist such a curious mixture of sense and absurdity as that which is
+dignified in the social life of the Koraks with the name of marriage;
+and among no other people, let us charitably hope, is the unfortunate
+bridegroom subjected to such humiliating indignities. The
+contemplation of marriage is, or ought to be, a very serious thing
+to every young man; but to a Korak of average sensibility it must be
+absolutely appalling. No other proof of bravery need ever be exhibited
+than a certificate of marriage (if the Koraks have such documents),
+and the bravery rises into positive heroism when a man marries two or
+three times. I once knew a Korak in Kamchatka who had four wives, and
+I felt as much respect for his heroic bravery as if he had charged
+with the Six Hundred at Balaklava.
+
+The ceremony, I believe, has never been described; and inadequate as a
+description may be to convey an idea of the reality, it will perhaps
+enable American lovers to realise what a calamity they escaped when
+they were born in America and not in Kamchatka. The young Korak's
+troubles begin when he first falls in love; this, like Achilles'
+wrath, is "the direful spring of woes unnumbered." If his intentions
+are serious, he calls upon the damsel's father and makes formal
+proposals for her hand, ascertains the amount of her dower in
+reindeer, and learns her estimated value. He is probably told that he
+must work for his wife two or three years--a rather severe trial of
+any young man's affection. He then seeks an interview with the young
+lady herself, and performs the agreeable or disagreeable duty
+which corresponds in Korak to the civilised custom of "popping the
+question." We had hoped to get some valuable hints from the Koraks as
+to the best method which their experience suggested for the successful
+accomplishment of this delicate task; but we could learn nothing that
+would be applicable to the more artificial relations of civilised
+society. If the young man's sentiments are reciprocated, and he
+obtains a positive promise of marriage, he goes cheerfully to work,
+like Ferdinand in _The Tempest_ for Miranda's father, and spends two
+or three years in cutting and drawing wood, watching reindeer,
+making sledges, and contributing generally to the interests of his
+prospective father-in-law. At the end of this probationary period
+comes the grand "experimentum crucis," which is to decide his fate and
+prove the success or the uselessness of his long labour.
+
+At this interesting crisis we had surprised our Korak friends in the
+third encampment. The tent which we had entered was an unusually large
+one, containing twenty-six _pologs_, arranged in a continuous circle
+around its inner circumference. The open space in the centre around
+the fire was crowded with the dusky faces and half-shaven heads of the
+Korak spectators, whose attention seemed about equally divided between
+sundry kettles and troughs of _manyalla_, boiled venison, marrow,
+frozen tallow, and similar delicacies, and the discussion of some
+controverted point of marriage etiquette. Owing to my ignorance of the
+language, I was not able to enter thoroughly into the merits of the
+disputed question; but it seemed to be ably argued on both sides.
+Our sudden entrance seemed to create a temporary diversion from
+the legitimate business of the evening. The tattooed women and
+shaven-headed men stared in open-mouthed astonishment at the
+pale-faced guests who had come unbidden to the marriage-feast, having
+on no wedding garments. Our faces were undeniably dirty, our blue
+hunting-shirts and buckskin trousers bore the marks of two months'
+rough travel, in numerous rips, tears, and tatters, which were only
+partially masked by a thick covering of reindeer hair from our fur
+_kukhlankas._ Our general appearance, in fact, suggested a more
+intimate acquaintance with dirty _yurts_, mountain thickets, and
+Siberian storms, than with the civilising influences of soap, water,
+razors, and needles. We bore the curious scrutiny of the assemblage,
+however, with the indifference of men who were used to it, and
+sipped our hot tea while waiting for the ceremony to begin. I looked
+curiously around to see if I could distinguish the happy candidates
+for matrimonial honours; but they were evidently concealed in one of
+the closed _pologs_. The eating and drinking seemed by this time to be
+about finished, and an air of expectation and suspense pervaded the
+entire crowd. Suddenly we were startled by the loud and regular
+beating of a native _baraban_ or bass drum, which fairly filled the
+tent with a great volume of sound. At the same instant the tent opened
+to permit the passage of a tall, stern-looking Korak, with an
+armful of willow sprouts and alder branches, which he proceeded
+[Illustration: DRAWINGS OF THE KORAKS. ILLUSTRATIVE OF THEIR MYTHS.]
+to distribute in all the _pologs_ of the tent. "What do you suppose
+that's for?" asked Dodd in an undertone. "I don't know," was the
+reply; "keep quiet and you'll see." The regular throbs of the drum
+continued throughout the distribution of the willow sticks and at
+its close the drummer began to sing a low, musical recitative, which
+increased gradually in volume and energy until it swelled into a wild,
+barbarous chant, timed by the regular beats of the heavy drum. A
+slight commotion followed, the front curtains of all the _pologs_ were
+thrown up, the women stationed themselves in detachments of two or
+three at the entrance of each polog, and took up the willow branches
+which had been provided. In a moment a venerable native, whom we
+presumed to be the father of one of the parties, emerged from one of
+the _pologs_ near the door, leading a good-looking young Korak and the
+dark-faced bride. Upon their appearance the excitement increased to
+the pitch of frenzy, the music redoubled its rapidity, the men in the
+centre of the tent joined in the uncouth chant, and uttered at short
+intervals peculiar shrill cries of wild excitement. At a given signal
+from the native who had led out the couple, the bride darted suddenly
+into the first _polog_, and began a rapid flight around the tent,
+raising the curtains between the _pologs_ successively, and passing
+under. The bridegroom instantly followed in hot pursuit; but the women
+who were stationed in each compartment threw every possible impediment
+in his way, tripping up his unwary feet, holding down the curtains
+to prevent his passage, and applying the willow and alder switches
+unmercifully to a very susceptible part of his body as he stooped
+to raise them. The air was filled with drum-beats, shouts of
+encouragement and derision, and the sound of the heavy blows which
+were administered to the unlucky bridegroom by each successive
+detachment of women as he ran the gantlet. It became evident at once
+that despite his most violent efforts he would fail to overtake the
+flying Atalanta before she completed the circuit of the tent. Even the
+golden apples of Hesperides would have availed him little against such
+disheartening odds; but with undismayed perseverance he pressed
+on, stumbling headlong over the outstretched feet of his female
+persecutors, and getting constantly entangled in the ample folds of
+the reindeerskin curtains, which were thrown with the skill of a
+matador over his head and eyes. In a moment the bride had entered the
+last closed _polog_ near the door, while the unfortunate bridegroom
+was still struggling with his accumulating misfortunes about half-way
+around the tent. I expected to see him relax his efforts and give up
+the contest when the bride disappeared, and was preparing to protest
+strongly in his behalf against the unfairness of the trial; but, to my
+surprise, he still struggled on, and with a final plunge burst through
+the curtains of the last _polog_ and rejoined his bride. The music
+suddenly ceased, and the throng began to stream out of the tent. The
+ceremony was evidently over. Turning to Meranef, who with a delighted
+grin had watched its progress, we inquired what it all meant. "Were
+they married?"--"Da's," was the affirmative reply. "But," we objected,
+"he didn't catch her."--"She waited for him, your honour, in the last
+_polog_, and if he caught her there it was enough."--"Suppose he had
+_not_ caught her there, then what?"--"Then," answered the Cossack,
+with an expressive shrug of commiseration, "the _beidnak_ [poor
+fellow] would have had to work two more years." This was pleasant--for
+the bridegroom! To work two years for a wife, undergo a severe course
+of willow sprouts at the close of his apprenticeship, and then have
+no security against a possible breach of promise on the part of the
+bride. His faith in her constancy must be unlimited. The intention of
+the whole ceremony was evidently to give the woman an opportunity to
+marry the man or not, as she chose, since it was obviously impossible
+for him to catch her under such circumstances, unless she voluntarily
+waited for him in one of the _pologs_. The plan showed a more
+chivalrous regard and deference for the wishes and preferences of the
+gentler sex than is common in an unreconstructed state of society; but
+it seemed to me, as an unprejudiced observer, that the same result
+might have been obtained without so much abuse of the unfortunate
+bridegroom! Some regard ought to have been paid to his feelings, if
+he _was_ a man. I could not ascertain the significance of the
+chastisement which was inflicted by the women upon the bridegroom with
+the willow switches. Dodd suggested that it might be emblematical of
+married life--a sort of foreshadowing of future domestic experience;
+but in view of the masculine Korak character, this hardly seemed to
+me probable. No woman in her senses would try the experiment a second
+time upon one of the stern, resolute men who witnessed that ceremony,
+and who seemed to regard it _then_ as perfectly proper. Circumstances
+would undoubtedly alter cases.
+
+Mr. A.S. Bickmore, in the _American Journal of Science_ for May,
+1868, notices this curious custom of the Koraks, and says that the
+chastisement is intended to test the young man's "ability to bear up
+against the ills of life"; but I would respectfully submit that the
+ills of life do not generally come in that shape, and that switching
+a man over the back with willow sprouts is a very singular way of
+preparing him for future misfortunes of any kind.
+
+Whatever may be the motive, it is certainly an infringement upon the
+generally recognised prerogatives of the sterner sex, and should be
+discountenanced by all Koraks who favour masculine supremacy. Before
+they know it, they will have a woman's suffrage association on their
+hands, and female lecturers will be going about from band to band
+advocating the substitution of hickory clubs and slung-shots for the
+harmless willow switches, and protesting against the tyranny which
+will not permit them to indulge in this interesting diversion at least
+three times a week. [Footnote: It is now well known that this ceremony
+is a form of "marriage by capture" which is widely prevalent among
+barbarous peoples.--G.K. (1909).]
+
+After the conclusion of the ceremony we removed to an adjacent tent,
+and were surprised, as we came out into the open air, to see three
+or four Koraks shouting and reeling about in an advanced stage of
+intoxication--celebrating, I suppose, the happy event which had just
+transpired. I knew that there was not a drop of alcoholic liquor in
+all northern Kamchatka, nor, so far as I knew, anything from which it
+could be made, and it was a mystery to me how they had succeeded in
+becoming so suddenly, thoroughly, hopelessly, undeniably drunk. Even
+Ross Browne's beloved Washoe, with its "howling wilderness" saloons,
+could not have turned out more creditable specimens of intoxicated
+humanity than those before us. The exciting agent, whatever it might
+be, was certainly as quick in its operation, and as effective in its
+results, as any "tanglefoot" or "bottled lightning" known to modern
+civilisation. Upon inquiry we learned to our astonishment that they
+had been eating a species of the plant vulgarly known as toadstool.
+There is a peculiar fungus of this class in Siberia, known to the
+natives as "muk-a-moor," and as it possesses active intoxicating
+properties, it is used as a stimulant by nearly all the Siberian
+tribes. [Footnote: _Agaricus muscarius_ or fly-agaric.] Taken in large
+quantities it is a violent narcotic poison; but in small doses it
+produces all the effects of alcoholic liquor. Its habitual use,
+however, completely shatters the nervous system, and its sale by
+Russian traders to the natives has consequently been made a penal
+offence by Russian law. In spite of all prohibitions, the trade is
+still secretly carried on, and I have seen twenty dollars' worth of
+furs bought with a single fungus. The Koraks would gather it for
+themselves, but it requires the shelter of timber for its growth, and
+is not to be found on the barren steppes over which they wander; so
+that they are obliged for the most part to buy it, at enormous prices,
+from the Russian traders. It may sound strangely to American ears, but
+the invitation which a convivial Korak extends to his passing friend
+is not, "Come in and have a drink," but, "Won't you come in and take a
+toadstool?" Not a very alluring proposal perhaps to a civilised toper,
+but one which has a magical effect upon a dissipated Korak. As the
+supply of these toadstools is by no means equal to the demand, Korak
+ingenuity has been greatly exercised in the endeavour to economise the
+precious stimulant, and make it go as far as possible. Sometimes, in
+the course of human events, it becomes imperatively necessary that a
+whole band shall get drunk together, and they have only one toadstool
+to do it with. For a description of the manner in which this band gets
+drunk collectively and individually upon one fungus, and keeps drunk
+for a week, the curious reader is referred to Goldsmith's _Citizen
+of the World_, Letter 32. It is but just to say, however, that this
+horrible practice is almost entirely confined to the settled Koraks of
+Penzhinsk Gulf--the lowest, most degraded portion of the whole tribe.
+It may prevail to a limited extent among the wandering natives, but I
+never heard of more than one such instance outside of the Penzhinsk
+Gulf settlements.
+
+Our travel for the next few days after leaving the third encampment
+was fatiguing and monotonous. The unvarying routine of our daily life
+in smoky Korak tents, and the uniform flatness and barrenness of the
+country over which we journeyed, became inexpressibly tiresome, and we
+looked forward in longing anticipation to the Russian settlement of
+Gizhiga, at the head of Gizhiginsk Gulf, which was the Mecca of our
+long pilgrimage. To spend more than a week at one time with the
+Wandering Koraks without becoming lonesome or homesick, requires an
+almost inexhaustible fertility of mental resource. One is thrown for
+entertainment entirely upon himself. No daily paper, with its fresh
+material for thought and discussion, comes to enliven the long blank
+evenings by the tent fire; no wars or rumours of wars, no _coup
+d'etat_ of diplomacy, no excitement of political canvass ever agitates
+the stagnant intellectual atmosphere of Korak existence. Removed to an
+infinite distance, both physically and intellectually, from all of the
+interests, ambitions, and excitements which make up our world, the
+Korak simply exists, like a human oyster, in the quiet waters of his
+monotonous life. An occasional birth or marriage, the sacrifice of a
+dog, or, on rare occasions, of a man to the Korak Ahriman, and the
+infrequent visits of a Russian trader, are the most prominent events
+in his history, from the cradle to the grave. I found it almost
+impossible sometimes to realise, as I sat by the fire in a Korak tent,
+that I was still in the modern world of railroads, telegraphs,
+and daily newspapers. I seemed to have been carried back by some
+enchantment through the long cycles of time, and made a dweller in
+the tents of Shem and Japheth. Not a suggestion was there in all our
+surroundings of the vaunted enlightenment and civilisation of the
+nineteenth century, and as we gradually accustomed ourselves to the
+new and strange conditions of primitive barbarism, our recollections
+of a civilised life faded into the unreal imagery of a vivid dream.
+
+[Illustration: Ice scratcher used in stalking seals]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+THE KORAK TONGUE--RELIGION OF TERROR--INCANTATIONS OF SHAMANS--KILLING
+OF OLD AND SICK--REINDEER SUPERSTITION--KORAK CHARACTER
+
+Our long intercourse with the Wandering Koraks gave us an opportunity
+of observing many of their peculiarities, which would very likely
+escape the notice of a transient visitor; and as our journey until we
+reached the head of Penzhinsk Gulf was barren of incident, I shall
+give in this chapter all the information I could gather relative to
+the language, religion, superstitions, customs, and mode of life of
+the Kamchatkan Koraks.
+
+There can be no doubt whatever that the Koraks and the powerful
+Siberian tribe known as Chukchis (or Tchucktchis, according to
+Wrangell) descended originally from the same stock, and migrated
+together from their ancient locations to the places where they now
+live. Even after several centuries of separation, they resemble each
+other so closely that they can hardly be distinguished, and their
+languages differ less one from the other than the Portuguese differs
+from the Spanish. Our Korak interpreters found very little difficulty
+in conversing with Chukchis; and a comparison of vocabularies which we
+afterward made showed only a slight dialectical variation, which could
+be easily accounted for by a few centuries of separation. None of
+the Siberian languages with which I am acquainted are written,
+and, lacking a fixed standard of reference, they change with great
+rapidity. This is shown by a comparison of a modern Chukchi vocabulary
+with the one compiled by M. de Lesseps in 1788. Many words have
+altered so materially as to be hardly recognisable. Others, on the
+contrary, such as "tin tin," ice, "oottoot," wood, "weengay," no,
+"ay," yes, and most of the numerals up to ten, have undergone no
+change whatever. Both Koraks and Chukchis count by fives instead of
+tens, a peculiarity which is also noticeable in the language of the
+Co-Yukons in Alaska. The Korak numerals are:--
+
+  Innin,                           One.
+  Nee-ak deg.h,                        Two.
+  Nee-ok deg.h,                        Three.
+  Nee-ak deg.h,                        Four.
+  Mil-li-gen,                      Five.
+  In-nin mil-li-gen,               Five-one.
+  Nee-ak deg.h   "                     Five-two.
+  Nee-ok deg.h   "                     Five-three.
+  Nee-ak deg.h   "                     Five-four.
+  Meen-ye-geet-k deg.hin,              Ten.
+
+After ten they count ten-one, ten-two, etc., up to fifteen, and then
+ten-five-one; but their numerals become so hopelessly complicated when
+they get above twenty, that is would be easier to carry a pocketful of
+stones and count with them, than to pronounce the corresponding words.
+
+Fifty-six, for instance, is
+"Nee-akh-khleep-kin-meen-ye-geet-khin-par-ol-in-nin-mil-li-gen," and
+it is only fifty-six after it is all pronounced! It ought to be at
+least two hundred and sixty-three millions nine hundred and fourteen
+thousand seven hundred and one--and then it would be long. But the
+Koraks rarely have occasion to use high numbers; and when they do,
+they have an abundance of time. It would be a hard day's work for a
+boy to explain in Korak one of the miscellaneous problems in Ray's
+Higher Arithmetic. To say 324 x 5260 = 1,704,240 would certainly
+entitle him to a recess of an hour and a reward of merit. We
+were never able to trace any resemblance whatever between the
+Koraki-Chukchi language and the languages spoken by the natives on the
+eastern side of Bering Strait. If there be any resemblance, it must be
+in grammar rather than in vocabulary.
+
+[Illustration: A KORAK GIRL]
+
+The religion of all the natives of north-eastern Siberia, wandering
+and settled, including six or seven widely different tribes, is that
+corrupted form of Buddhism known as Shamanism. It is a religion which
+varies considerably in different places and among different people;
+but with the Koraks and Chukchis it may be briefly defined as the
+worship of the evil spirits who are supposed to be embodied in all the
+mysterious powers and manifestations of Nature, such as epidemic and
+contagious diseases, severe storms, famines, eclipses, and brilliant
+auroras. It takes its name from the shamans or priests, who act as
+interpreters of the evil spirits' wishes and as mediators between them
+and man. All unnatural phenomena, and especially those of a disastrous
+and terrible nature, are attributed to the direct action of these
+evil spirits, and are considered as plain manifestations of their
+displeasure. It is claimed by many that the whole system of Shamanism
+is a gigantic imposture practised by a few cunning priests upon
+the easy credulity of superstitious natives. This I am sure is a
+prejudiced view. No one who has ever lived with the Siberian natives,
+studied their character, subjected himself to the same influences that
+surround them, and put himself as far as possible in their places,
+will ever doubt the sincerity of either priests or followers, or
+wonder that the worship of evil spirits should be their only religion.
+It is the only religion possible for such men in such circumstances.
+A recent writer [Footnote: W.E.H. Lecky, _History of Rationalism
+in Europe_.] of great fairness and impartiality has described so
+admirably the character of the Siberian Koraks, and the origin and
+nature of their religious belief, that I cannot do better than quote
+his words:--
+
+"Terror is everywhere the beginning of religion. The phenomena which
+impress themselves most forcibly on the mind of the savage are not
+those which enter manifestly into the sequence of natural laws, and
+which are productive of most beneficial effects; but those which are
+disastrous and apparently abnormal. Gratitude is less vivid than
+fear, and the smallest infraction of a natural law produces a deeper
+impression than the most sublime of its ordinary operations. When,
+therefore, the most startling and terrible aspects of Nature are
+presented to his mind--when the more deadly forms of disease or
+natural convulsion desolate his land, the savage derives from them an
+intensely realised perception of diabolical presence. In the darkness
+of the night; amid the yawning chasms and the wild echoes of the
+mountain gorge; under the blaze of the comet or the solemn gloom of
+the eclipse; when famine has blasted the land; when the earthquake
+and the pestilence have slaughtered their thousands; in every form
+of disease which refracts and distorts the reason, in all that is
+strange, portentous, and deadly, he feels and cowers before the
+supernatural. Completely exposed to all the influences of Nature, and
+completely ignorant of the chain of sequence that unites its various
+parts, he lives in continual dread of what he deems the direct and
+isolated acts of evil spirits. Feeling them continually near him, he
+will naturally endeavour to enter into communion with them. He will
+strive to propitiate them with gifts. If some great calamity has
+fallen upon him, or if some vengeful passion has mastered his reason,
+he will attempt to invest himself with their authority, and his
+excited imagination will soon persuade him that he has succeeded in
+his desire."
+
+These pregnant words are the key to the religion of the Siberian
+natives, and afford the only intelligible explanation of the origin of
+shamans. If any proof were needed that this system of religion is the
+natural outgrowth of human nature in certain conditions of barbarism,
+it would be furnished by the universal prevalence of Shamanism in
+north-eastern Siberia among so many diverse tribes of different
+character and different origin. The tribe of Tunguses for instance,
+is certainly of Chinese descent, and the tribe of Yakuts is certainly
+Turkish. Both came from different regions, bringing different beliefs,
+superstitions, and modes of thought; but, when both were removed from
+all disturbing agencies and subjected to the same external influences,
+both developed precisely the same system of religious belief. If
+a band of ignorant, barbarous Mahometans were transported to
+north-eastern Siberia, and compelled to live alone in tents, century
+after century, amid the wild, gloomy scenery of the Stanavoi
+Mountains, to suffer terrific storms whose causes they could not
+explain, to lose their reindeer suddenly by an epidemic disease which
+defied human remedies, to be frightened by magnificent auroras that
+set the whole universe in a blaze, and decimated by pestilences whose
+nature they could not understand and whose disastrous effects they
+were powerless to avert--they would almost inevitably lose by degrees
+their faith in Allah and Mahomet, and become precisely such Shamanists
+as the Siberian Koraks and Chukchis are today. Even a whole century of
+partial civilisation and Christian training cannot wholly counteract
+the irresistible Shamanistic influence which is exerted upon the mind
+by the wilder, more terrible manifestations of Nature in these lonely
+and inhospitable regions. The Kamchadals who accompanied me to the
+Samanka Mountains were the sons of Christian parents, and had been
+brought up from infancy in the Greek Church; they were firm believers
+in the Divine atonement and in Divine providence, and prayed always
+night and morning for safety and preservation; yet, when overtaken
+by a storm in that gloomy range of mountains, the sense of the
+supernatural overcame their religious convictions, God seemed far away
+while evil spirits were near and active, and they sacrificed a dog,
+like very pagans, to propitiate the diabolical wrath of which the
+storm was an evidence. I could cite many similar instances, where the
+strongest and apparently most sincere convictions of the reality
+of Divine government and superintendence have been overcome by
+the influence upon the imagination of some startling and unusual
+phenomenon of Nature. Man's actions are governed not so much by what
+he intellectually believes as by what he vividly realises; and it is
+this vivid realisation of diabolical presence which has given rise to
+the religion of Shamanism.
+
+The duties of the shamans or priests among the Koraks are, to make
+incantations over the sick, to hold communication with the evil
+spirits, and to interpret their wishes and decrees to man. Whenever
+any calamity, such as disease, storm, or famine, comes upon a band, it
+is of course attributed to some spirit's displeasure, and the shaman
+is consulted as to the best method of appeasing his wrath. The priest
+to whom application is made assembles the people in one of the largest
+tents of the encampment, puts on a long robe marked with fantastic
+figures of birds and beasts and curious hieroglyphic emblems, unbinds
+his long black hair, and taking up a large native drum, begins to sing
+in a subdued voice to the accompaniment of slow, steady drum-beats. As
+the song progresses it increases in energy and rapidity, the priest's
+eyes seem to become fixed, he contorts his body as if in spasms, and
+increases the vehemence of his wild chant until the drum-beats make
+one continuous roll. Then, springing to his feet and jerking his head
+convulsively until his long hair fairly snaps, he begins a frantic
+dance about the tent, and finally sinks apparently exhausted into his
+seat. In a few moments he delivers to the awe-stricken natives the
+message which he has received from the evil spirits, and which
+consists generally of an order to sacrifice to them a certain number
+of dogs or reindeer, or perhaps a man.
+
+[Illustration: KORAK DOGS SACRIFICED TO PROPITIATE THE SPIRITS OF
+EVIL]
+
+In these wild incantations the priests sometimes practise all sorts of
+frauds upon their credulous followers, by pretending to swallow live
+coals and to pierce their bodies with knives; but, in a majority of
+instances, the shaman seems actually to believe that he is under
+the control and guidance of diabolical intelligence. The natives
+themselves, however, seem to doubt occasionally the priest's pretended
+inspiration, and whip him severely to test the sincerity of his
+professions and the genuineness of his revelations. If his fortitude
+sustains him under the infliction without any exhibition of human
+weakness or suffering, his authority as a minister of the evil spirits
+is vindicated, and his commands obeyed. Aside from the sacrifices
+which are ordered by the shamans, the Koraks offer general oblations
+at least twice a year, to assure a good catch of fish and seal and a
+prosperous season. We frequently saw twenty or thirty dogs suspended
+by the necks on long poles over a single encampment. Quantities of
+green grass are collected during the, summer and twisted into wreaths,
+to be hung around the necks of the slaughtered animals; and offerings
+of tobacco are always thrown to the evil spirits when the Koraks
+cross the summit of a mountain. The bodies of the dead, among all the
+wandering tribes, are burned, together with all their effects, in the
+hope of a final resurrection of both spirit and matter; and the sick,
+as soon as their recovery becomes hopeless, are either stoned to
+death or speared. We found it to be true, as we had been told by the
+Russians and the Kamchadals, that the Koraks murdered all their old
+people as soon as sickness or the infirmities of age unfitted them
+for the hardships of a nomadic life. Long experience has given them
+a terrible familiarity with the best and quickest methods of taking
+life; and they often explained to us with the most sickening
+minuteness, as we sat at night in their smoky _pologs_, the different
+ways in which a man could be killed, and pointed out the vital parts
+of the body where a spear or knife thrust would prove most instantly
+fatal. I thought of De Quincey's celebrated Essay upon "Murder
+Considered as One of the Fine Arts," and of the field which a Korak
+encampment would afford to his "Society of Connoisseurs in Murder."
+All Koraks are taught to look upon such a death as the natural end of
+their existence, and they meet it generally with perfect composure.
+Instances are rare where a man desires to outlive the period of
+his physical activity and usefulness. They are put to death in
+the presence of the whole band, with elaborate but unintelligible
+ceremonies; their bodies are then burned, and the ashes suffered to be
+scattered and blown away by the wind.
+
+These customs of murdering the old and sick, and burning the bodies of
+the dead, grow naturally out of the wandering life which the Koraks
+have adopted, and are only illustrations of the powerful influence
+which physical laws exert everywhere upon the actions and moral
+feelings of men. They both follow logically and almost inevitably from
+the very nature of the country and climate. The barrenness of the soil
+in north-eastern Siberia, and the severity of the long winter, led
+man to domesticate the reindeer as the only means of obtaining
+a subsistence; the domestication of the reindeer necessitated a
+wandering life; a wandering life made sickness and infirmity unusually
+burdensome to both sufferers and supporters; and this finally led to
+the murder of the old and sick, as a measure both of policy and mercy.
+The same causes gave rise to the custom of burning the dead. Their
+nomadic life made it impossible for them to have any one place of
+common sepulture, and only with the greatest difficulty could they dig
+graves at all in the perpetually frozen ground. Bodies could not be
+left to be torn by wolves, and burning them was the only practicable
+alternative. Neither of these customs presupposes any original and
+innate savageness or barbarity on the part of the Koraks themselves.
+They are the natural development of certain circumstances, and only
+prove that the strongest emotions of human nature, such as filial
+reverence, fraternal affection, selfish love of life, and respect for
+the remains of friends, all are powerless to oppose the operation of
+great natural laws. The Russian Church is endeavouring by missionary
+enterprise to convert all the Siberian tribes to Christianity; and
+although they have met with a certain degree of apparent success among
+the settled tribes of Yukagirs (yoo-kag'-eers), Chuances (choo-an'-ces),
+and Kamchadals, the wandering natives still cling to Shamanism, and
+there are more than 70,000 followers of that religion in the scanty
+population of north-eastern Siberia. Any permanent and genuine
+conversion of the Wandering Koraks and Chukchis must be preceded by
+some educational enlightenment and an entire change in their mode of
+life.
+
+Among the many superstitions of the Wandering Koraks and Chukchis,
+one of the most noticeable is their reluctance to part with a living
+reindeer. You may purchase as many dead deer as you choose, up to five
+hundred, for about seventy cents apiece; but a living deer they will
+not give to you for love nor money. You may offer them what they
+consider a fortune in tobacco, copper kettles, beads, and scarlet
+cloth, for a single live reindeer, but they will persistently refuse
+to sell him; yet, if you will allow them to kill the very same animal,
+you can have his carcass for one small string of common glass beads.
+It is useless to argue with them about this absurd superstition. You
+can get no reason for it or explanation of it, except that "to sell a
+live reindeer would be _atkin_ [bad]." As it was very necessary in the
+construction of our proposed telegraph line to have trained reindeer
+of our own, we offered every conceivable inducement to the Koraks to
+part with one single deer; but all our efforts were in vain. They
+could sell us a hundred dead deer for a hundred pounds of tobacco; but
+five hundred pounds would not tempt them to part with a single animal
+as long as the breath of life was in his body. During the two years
+and a half which we spent in Siberia, no one of our parties, so far as
+I know, ever succeeded in buying from the Koraks or Chukchis a single
+living reindeer. All the deer which we eventually owned--some eight
+hundred--we obtained from the Wandering Tunguses. [Footnote: This
+feeling or superstition eventually disappeared or was overcome. Many
+years later, living reindeer were bought in north-eastern Siberia for
+transportation to Alaska.]
+
+[Illustration: A RACE OF WANDERING KORAK REINDEER TEAMS]
+
+The Koraks are probably the wealthiest deer-owners in Siberia, and
+consequently in the world. Many of the herds which we saw in northern
+Kamchatka numbered from eight to twelve thousand; and we were told
+that a certain rich Korak, who lived in the middle of the great
+tundra, had three immense herds in different places, numbering in
+the aggregate thirty thousand head. The care of these great herds is
+almost the only occupation of the Koraks' lives. They are obliged to
+travel constantly from place to place to find them food, and to watch
+them night and day to protect them from wolves. Every day eight or ten
+Koraks, armed with spears and knives, leave the encampment just before
+dark, walk a mile or two to the place where the deer happen to be
+pastured, build themselves little huts of trailing pine branches,
+about three feet in height and two in diameter, and squat in them
+throughout the long, cold hours of an arctic night, watching for
+wolves. The worse the weather is, the greater the necessity for
+vigilance. Sometimes, in the middle of a dark winter's night, when a
+terrible north-easterly storm is howling across the steppe in clouds
+of flying snow, a band of wolves will make a fierce, sudden attack
+upon a herd of deer, and scatter it to the four winds. This it is
+the business of the Korak sentinels to prevent. Alone and almost
+unsheltered on a great ocean of snow, each man squats down in his
+frail beehive of a hut, and spends the long winter nights in watching
+the magnificent auroras, which seem to fill the blue vault of heaven
+with blood and dye the earth in crimson, listening to the pulsating of
+the blood in his ears and the faint distant howls of his enemies the
+wolves. Patiently he endures cold which freezes mercury and storms
+which sweep away his frail shelter like chaff in a mist of flying
+snow. Nothing discourages him; nothing frightens him into seeking the
+shelter of the tents. I have seen him watching deer at night, with
+nose and cheeks frozen so that they had turned black; and have come
+upon him early cold winter mornings, squatting under three or four
+bushes, with his face buried in his fur coat, as if he were dead. I
+could never pass one of those little bush huts on a great desolate
+tundra without thinking of the man who had once squatted in it alone,
+and trying to imagine what had been his thoughts while watching
+through long dreary nights for the first faint flush of dawn. Had he
+never wondered, as the fiery arms of the aurora waved over his head,
+what caused these mysterious streamers? Had the solemn far-away stars
+which circled ceaselessly above the snowy plain never suggested to him
+the possibility of other brighter, happier worlds than this? Had not
+some
+
+  "--revealings faint and far,
+  Stealing down from moon and star,
+  Kindled in that human clod
+  Thought of Destiny and God?"
+
+Alas for poor unaided human nature! Supernatural influences he could
+and did feel; but the drum and wild shrieks of the shaman showed how
+utterly he failed to understand their nature and teachings.
+
+The natural disposition of the Wandering Koraks is thoroughly good.
+They treat their women and children with great kindness; and during
+all my intercourse with them, extending over two years, I never saw a
+woman or a child struck. Their honesty is remarkable. Frequently they
+would harness up a team of reindeer after we had left their tents in
+the morning, and overtake us at a distance of five or ten miles, with
+a knife, a pipe, or some such trifle which we had overlooked and
+forgotten in the hurry of departure. Our sledges, loaded with tobacco,
+beads, and trading goods of all kinds, were left unguarded outside
+their tents; but never, so far as we knew, was a single article
+stolen. We were treated by many bands with as much kindness and
+generous hospitality as I ever experienced in a civilised country and
+among Christian people; and if I had no money or friends, I would
+appeal to a band of Wandering Koraks for help with much more
+confidence than I should ask the same favour of many an American
+family. Cruel and barbarous they may be, according to our ideas of
+cruelty and barbarity; but they have never been known to commit an act
+of treachery, and I would trust my life as unreservedly in their hands
+as I would in the hands of any other uncivilised people whom I have
+ever known.
+
+Night after night, as we journeyed northward, the polar star
+approached nearer and nearer to the zenith, until finally, at the
+sixty-second parallel of latitude, we caught sight of the white peaks
+of the Stanavoi Mountains, at the head of Penzhinsk Gulf, which marked
+the northern boundary of Kamchatka. Under the shelter of their
+snowy slopes we camped for the last time in the smoky tents of the
+Kamchatkan Koraks, ate for the last time from their wooden troughs,
+and bade good-by with little regret to the desolate steppes of the
+peninsula and to tent life with its wandering people.
+
+[Illustration: Women's Knives used in making clothing]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+FIRST FROST-BITE--THE SETTLED KORAKS HOUR-GLASS YURTS--CLIMBING
+DOWN CHIMNEYS--YURT INTERIORS--LEGS AS FEATURES--TRAVELLING BY
+"PAVOSKA"--BAD CHARACTER OF SETTLED KORAKS
+
+On the morning of November 23d, in a clear, bracing atmosphere of
+twenty-five degrees below zero, we arrived at the mouth of the large
+river called the Penzhina, which empties into Penzhinsk Gulf, at the
+head of the Okhotsk Sea. A dense cloud of frozen mist, which hung over
+the middle of the gulf, showed the presence there of open water; but
+the mouth of the river was completely choked up with great hummocks,
+rugged green slabs, and confused masses of ice, hurled in by a
+south-westerly storm, and frozen together in the wildest shapes of
+angular disorder. Through the grey mist we could see dimly, on a high
+bluff opposite, the strange outlines of the X-shaped _yurts_ of the
+Kamenoi Koraks.
+
+Leaving our drivers to get the reindeer and sledges across as best
+they could, the Major, Dodd, and I started on foot, picking our way
+between huge irregular blocks of clear green ice, climbing on hands
+and knees over enormous bergs, falling into wide, deep crevices, and
+stumbling painfully across the _chevaux-de-frise_ of sharp splintered
+fragments into which the ice had been broken by a heavy sea. We had
+almost reached the other side, when Dodd suddenly cried out, "_Oh_,
+Kennan! Your nose is all white; rub it with snow--quick!" I have not
+the slightest doubt that the rest of my face also turned white at this
+alarming announcement; for the loss of my nose at the very outset of
+my arctic career would be a very serious misfortune. I caught up a
+handful of snow, however, mixed with sharp splinters of ice, and
+rubbed the insensible member until there was not a particle of skin
+left on the end of it, and then continued the friction with my mitten
+until my arm ached. If energetic treatment would save it, I was
+determined not to lose it that time. Feeling at last a painful thrill
+of returning circulation, I relaxed my efforts, and climbed up the
+steep bluff behind Dodd and the Major, to the Korak village of
+Kamenoi.
+
+The settlement resembled as much as anything a collection of titanic
+wooden hour-glasses, which had been half shaken down and reduced to a
+state of rickety dilapidation by an earthquake. The houses--if houses
+they could be called--were about twenty feet in height, rudely
+constructed of driftwood which had been brought down by the river, and
+could be compared in shape to nothing but hour-glasses. They had no
+doors, or windows of any kind, and could be entered only by climbing
+up a pole on the outside, and sliding down another pole through the
+chimney--a mode of entrance whose practicability depended entirely
+upon the activity and intensity of the fire which burned underneath.
+The smoke and sparks, although sufficiently disagreeable, were trifles
+of comparative insignificance. I remember being told, in early
+infancy, that Santa Claus always came into a house through the
+chimney; and although I accepted the statement with the unreasoning
+faith of childhood, I could never understand how that singular feat
+of climbing down a chimney could be safely accomplished. To satisfy
+myself, I felt a strong inclination, every Christmas, to try the
+experiment, and was only prevented from doing so by the consideration
+of stove-pipes. I might succeed, I thought, in getting down the
+chimney; but coming out into a room through an eight-inch stove-pipe
+and a narrow stove-door was utterly out of the question. My first
+entrance into a Korak _yurt_, however, at Kamenoi, solved all my
+childish difficulties, and proved the possibility of entering a house
+in the eccentric way which Santa Claus is supposed to adopt. A large
+crowd of savage-looking fur-clad natives had gathered around us when
+we entered the village, and now stared at us with stupid curiosity as
+we made our first attempt at climbing a pole to get into a house.
+Out of deference for the Major's rank and superior attainments, we
+permitted him to go first. He succeeded very well in getting up the
+first pole, and lowered himself with sublime faith into the dark
+narrow chimney hole, out of which were pouring clouds of smoke; but
+at this critical moment, when his head was still dimly visible in the
+smoke, and his body out of sight in the chimney, he suddenly came to
+grief. The holes in the log down which he was climbing were too small
+to admit even his toes, covered as they were with heavy fur boots;
+and there he hung in the chimney, afraid to drop and unable to climb
+out--a melancholy picture of distress. Tears ran out of his closed
+eyes as the smoke enveloped his head, and he only coughed and
+strangled whenever he tried to shout for help. At last a native on the
+inside, startled at the appearance of his struggling body, came to
+his assistance, and succeeded in lowering him safely to the ground.
+Profiting by his experience, Dodd and I paid no attention to the
+holes, but putting our arms around the smooth log, slid swiftly down
+until we struck bottom. As I opened my tearful eyes, I was saluted
+by a chorus of drawling "zda-ro'-o-o-va's" from half a dozen skinny,
+greasy old women, who sat cross-legged on a raised platform around the
+fire, sewing fur clothes.
+
+The interior of a Korak _yurt_--that is, of one of the wooden _yurts_
+of the _settled_ Koraks--presents a strange and not very inviting
+appearance to one who has never become accustomed by long habit to its
+dirt, smoke, and frigid atmosphere. It receives its only light, and
+that of a cheerless, gloomy character, through the round hole, about
+twenty feet above the floor, which serves as window, door, and
+chimney, and which is reached by a round log with holes in it, that
+stands perpendicularly in the centre. The beams, rafters, and logs
+which compose the _yurt_ are all of a glossy blackness, from the smoke
+in which they are constantly enveloped. A wooden platform, raised
+about a foot from the earth, extends out from the walls on three sides
+to a width of six feet, leaving an open spot eight or ten feet in
+diameter in the centre for the fire and a huge copper kettle of
+melting snow. On the platform are pitched three or four square skin
+_pologs_, which serve as sleeping apartments for the inmates and as
+refuges from the smoke, which sometimes becomes almost unendurable.
+A little circle of flat stones on the ground, in the centre of the
+_yurt_, forms the fireplace, over which is usually simmering a kettle
+of fish or reindeer meat, which, with dried salmon, seal's blubber,
+and rancid oil, makes up the Korak bill of fare. Everything that you
+see or touch bears the distinguishing marks of Korak origin--grease
+and smoke. Whenever any one enters the _yurt_, you are apprised of the
+fact by a total eclipse of the chimney hole and a sudden darkness, and
+as you look up through a mist of reindeer hairs, scraped off from the
+coming man's fur coat, you see a thin pair of legs descending the pole
+in a cloud of smoke. The legs of your acquaintances you soon learn to
+recognise by some peculiarity of shape or covering; and their faces,
+considered as means of personal identification, assume a secondary
+importance. If you see Ivan's legs coming down the chimney, you feel a
+moral certainty that Ivan's head is somewhere above in the smoke; and
+Nicolai's boots, appearing in bold relief against the sky through the
+entrance hole, afford as satisfactory proof of Nicolai's identity as
+his head would, provided that part of his body came in first. Legs,
+therefore, are the most expressive features of a Korak's countenance,
+when considered from an interior standpoint. When snow drifts up
+against the _yurt_, so as to give the dogs access to the chimney, they
+take a perfect delight in lying around the hole, peering down into the
+_yurt_, and snuffing the odours of boiling fish which rise from
+the huge kettle underneath. Not unfrequently they get into a grand
+comprehensive free fight for the best place of observation; and just
+as you are about to take your dinner of boiled salmon off the fire,
+down comes a struggling, yelping dog into the kettle, while his
+triumphant antagonist looks down through the chimney hole with all
+the complacency of gratified vengeance upon his unfortunate victim. A
+Korak takes the half-scalded dog by the back of the neck, carries
+him up the chimney, pitches him over the edge of the _yurt_ into a
+snow-drift, and returns with unruffled serenity to eat the fish-soup
+which has thus been irregularly flavoured with dog and thickened
+with hairs. Hairs, and especially reindeer's hairs, are among the
+indispensable ingredients of everything cooked in a Korak _yurt_, and
+we soon came to regard them with perfect indifference. No matter what
+precautions we might take, they were sure to find their way into our
+tea and soup, and stick persistently to our fried meat. Some one was
+constantly going out or coming in over the fire, and the reindeerskin
+coats scraping back and forth through the chimney hole shed a perfect
+cloud of short grey hairs, which sifted down over and into everything
+of an eatable nature underneath. Our first meal in a Korak _yurt_,
+therefore, at Kamenoi, was not at all satisfactory.
+
+[Illustration: HOUR-GLASS HOUSES OF THE SETTLED KORAKS From a model in
+The American Museum of Natural History]
+
+We had not been twenty minutes in the settlement before the _yurt_
+that we occupied was completely crowded with stolid, brutal-looking
+men, dressed in spotted deerskin clothes, wearing strings of coloured
+beads in their ears, and carrying heavy knives two feet in length in
+sheaths tied around their legs. They were evidently a different class
+of natives from any we had yet seen, and their savage animal faces did
+not inspire us with much confidence. A good-looking Russian, however,
+soon made his appearance, and coming up to us with uncovered head,
+bowed and introduced himself as a Cossack from Gizhiga, sent to meet
+us by the Russian governor at that place. The courier who had preceded
+us from Lesnoi had reached Gizhiga ten days before us, and the
+governor had despatched a Cossack at once to meet us at Kamenoi, and
+conduct us through the settled Korak villages around the head of
+Penzhinsk Gulf. The Cossack soon cleared the _yurt_ of natives, and
+the Major proceeded to question him about the character of the country
+north and west of Gizhiga, the distance from Kamenoi to the Russian
+outpost of Anadyrsk, the facilities for winter travel, and the time
+necessary for the journey. Fearful for the safety of the party of men
+which he presumed to have been landed by the engineer-in-chief at the
+mouth of the Anadyr River, Major Abaza had intended to go directly
+from Kamenoi to Anadyrsk himself in search of them, and to send Dodd
+and me westward along the coast of the Okhotsk Sea to meet Mahood
+and Bush. The Cossack, however, told us that a party of men from the
+Anadyr River had arrived at Gizhiga on dog-sledges just previous to
+his departure, and that they had brought no news of any Americans
+in the vicinity of Anadyrsk or on the river. Col. Bulkley, the
+chief-engineer of the enterprise, had promised us, when we sailed from
+San Francisco, that he would land a party of men with a whale boat at
+or near the mouth of the Anadyr River, early enough in the season so
+that they could ascend the river to the settlement of Anadyrsk and
+open communication with us by the first winter road. This he had
+evidently failed to do; for, if a party had been so landed, the
+Anadyrsk people would certainly have heard something about it. The
+unfavourable nature of the country around Bering Strait, or the
+lateness of the season when the Company's vessels reached that point,
+had probably compelled the abandonment of this part of the original
+plan. Major Abaza had always disapproved the idea of leaving a
+party near Bering Strait; but he could not help feeling a little
+disappointment when he found that no such party had been landed, and
+that he was left with only four men to explore the eighteen hundred
+miles of country between the strait and the Amur River. The Cossack
+said that no difficulty would be experienced in getting dog-sledges
+and men at Gizhiga to explore any part of the country west or north of
+that place, and that the Russian governor would give us every possible
+assistance.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A KORAK YURT. GETTING FIRE WITH THE FIRE
+DRILL Photograph in The American Museum of Natural History]
+
+Under these circumstances there was nothing to be done but to push on
+to Gizhiga, which could be reached, the Cossack said, in two or three
+days. The Kamenoi Koraks were ordered to provide a dozen dog-sledges
+at once, to carry us on to the next settlement of Shestakova; and the
+whole village was soon engaged, under the Cossack's superintendence,
+in transferring our baggage and provisions from the deer-sledges of
+the Wandering Koraks to the long, narrow dog-sledges of their settled
+relations. Our old drivers were then paid off in tobacco, beads,
+and showy calico prints, and after a good deal of quarrelling
+and disputing about loads between the Koraks and our new Cossack
+Kerrillof, everything was reported ready. Although it was now almost
+noon, the air was still keen as a knife; and, muffling up our faces
+and heads in great tippets, we took seats on our respective sledges,
+and the fierce Kamenoi dogs went careering out of the village and down
+the bluff in a perfect cloud of snow, raised by the spiked _oerstels_
+of their drivers.
+
+The Major, Dodd, and I were travelling in covered sledges, known to
+the Siberians as "pavoskas" (pah-voss'-kahs), and the reckless driving
+of the Kamenoi Koraks made us wish, in less than an hour, that we had
+taken some other means of conveyance, from which we could escape more
+readily in case of accident or overturn. As it was, we were so boxed
+up that we could hardly move without assistance. Our _pavoskas_
+resembled very much long narrow coffins, covered with sealskin,
+mounted on runners, and roofed over at the head by a stiff hood just
+large enough to sit up in. A heavy curtain was fastened to the edge
+of this top or hood, and in bad weather it could be pulled down and
+buttoned so as to exclude the air and flying snow. When we were seated
+in these sledges our legs were thrust down into the long coffin-shaped
+boxes upon which the drivers sat, and our heads and shoulders
+sheltered by the sealskin hoods. Imagine an eight-foot coffin mounted
+on runners, and a man sitting up in it with a bushel basket over his
+head, and you will have a very correct idea of a Siberian _pavoska_.
+Our legs were immovably fixed in boxes, and our bodies so wedged in
+with pillows and heavy furs that we could neither get out nor turn
+over. In this helpless condition we were completely at our drivers'
+mercy; if they chose to let us slide over the edge of a precipice
+in the mountains, all we could do was to shut our eyes and trust in
+Providence. Seven times in less than three hours my Kamenoi driver,
+with the assistance of fourteen crazy dogs and a spiked stick, turned
+my _pavoska_ exactly bottom side up, dragged it in that position until
+the hood was full of snow, and then left me standing on my head, with
+my legs in a box and my face in a snow-drift, while he took a smoke
+and calmly meditated upon the difficulties of mountain travel and
+the versatility of dog-sledges! It was enough to make Job curse his
+grandmother! I threatened him with a revolver, and swore indignantly
+by all the evil spirits in the Korak theogony, that if he upset me in
+that way again I would kill him without benefit of clergy, and carry
+mourning and lamentation to the houses of all his relatives. But it
+was of no use. He did not know enough to be afraid of a pistol, and
+could not understand my murderous threats. He merely squatted down
+upon his heels on the snow, puffed his cheeks out with smoke, and
+stared at me in stupid amazement, as if I were some singular species
+of wild animal, which exhibited a strange propensity to jabber and
+gesticulate in the most ridiculous manner without any apparent cause.
+Then, whenever he wanted to ice his sledge-runners, which was as often
+as three times an hour, he coolly capsized the _pavoska_, propped it
+up with his spiked stick, and I stood on my head while he rubbed the
+runners down with water and a piece of deerskin. This finally drove
+me to desperation, and I succeeded, after a prolonged struggle, in
+getting out of my coffin-shaped box, and seated myself with indignant
+feelings and murderous inclinations by the side of my imperturbable
+driver. Here my unprotected nose began to freeze again, and my time,
+until we reached Shestakova, was about equally divided between rubbing
+that troublesome feature with one hand, holding on with the other, and
+picking myself up out of snow-drifts with both.
+
+The only satisfaction I had was in seeing the state of exasperation
+to which the Major was reduced by the stupidity and ugliness of his
+driver. Whenever he wanted to go on, the driver insisted upon stopping
+to take a smoke; when he wanted to smoke, the driver capsized
+him skilfully into a snow-drift; when he wanted to walk down a
+particularly steep hill, the driver shouted to his dogs and carried
+him to the bottom like an avalanche, at the imminent peril of his
+life; when he desired to sleep, the driver intimated by impudent
+gestures that he had better get out and walk up the side of a
+mountain; until, finally, the Major called Kerrillof and made him tell
+the Korak distinctly and emphatically, that if he did not obey orders
+and show a better disposition, he would be lashed on his sledge,
+carried to Gizhiga, and turned over to the Russian governor for
+punishment. He paid some attention to this; but all our drivers
+exhibited an insolent rudeness which we had never before met with in
+Siberia, and which was very provoking. The Major declared that when
+our line should be in process of construction and he should have force
+enough to do it, he would teach the Kamenoi Koraks a lesson that they
+would not soon forget.
+
+We travelled all the afternoon over a broken country, perfectly
+destitute of vegetation, which lay between a range of bare white
+mountains and the sea, and just before dark reached the settlement of
+Shestakova, which was situated on the coast, at the mouth of a small
+wooded stream. Stopping there only a few moments to rest our dogs, we
+pushed on to another Korak village called Mikina (Mee-kin-ah), ten
+miles farther west, where we finally stopped for the night.
+
+[Illustration: A WOMAN ENTERING A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS]
+
+Mikina was only a copy of Kamenoi on a smaller scale. It had the same
+hour-glass houses, the same conical _balagans_ elevated on stilts, and
+the same large skeletons of sealskin _baideras_ (bai'-der-ahs') or
+ocean canoes were ranged in a row on the beach. We climbed up
+the best-looking _yurt_ in the village--over which hung a dead
+disembowelled dog, with a wreath of green grass around his neck--and
+slid down the chimney into a miserable room filled to suffocation with
+blue smoke, lighted only by a small fire on the earthen floor, and
+redolent of decayed fish and rancid oil. Viushin soon had a teakettle
+over the fire, and in twenty minutes we were seated like cross-legged
+Turks on the raised platform at one end of the _yurt_, munching
+hardbread and drinking tea, while about twenty ugly, savage-looking
+men squatted in a circle around us and watched our motions. The
+settled Koraks of Penzhinsk Gulf are unquestionably the worst,
+ugliest, most brutal and degraded natives in all north-eastern
+Siberia. They do not number more than three or four hundred, and live
+in five different settlements along the seacoast; but they made us
+more trouble than all the other inhabitants of Siberia and Kamchatka
+together. They led, originally, a wandering life like the other
+Koraks; but, losing their deer by some misfortune or disease, they
+built themselves houses of driftwood on the seacoast, settled down,
+and now gain a scanty subsistence by fishing, catching seals, and
+hunting for carcasses of whales which have been killed by American
+whaling vessels, stripped of blubber, and then cast ashore by the
+sea. They are cruel and brutal in disposition, insolent to everybody,
+revengeful, dishonest, and untruthful. Everything which the Wandering
+Koraks are they are not. The reasons for the great difference between
+the settled and the Wandering Koraks are various. In the first place,
+the former live in fixed villages, which are visited very frequently
+by the Russian traders; and through these traders and Russian peasants
+they have received many of the worst vices of civilisation without any
+of its virtues. To this must be added the demoralising influence of
+American whalers, who have given the settled Koraks rum and cursed
+them with horrible diseases, which are only aggravated by their diet
+and mode of life. They have learned from the Russians to lie, cheat,
+and steal; and from whalers to drink rum and be licentious. Besides
+all these vices, they eat the intoxicating Siberian toadstool in
+inordinate quantities, and this habit alone will in time debase and
+brutalise any body of men to the last degree. From nearly all these
+demoralising influences the Wandering Koraks are removed by the very
+nature of their life. They spend more of their time in the open air,
+they have healthier and better-balanced physical constitutions, they
+rarely see Russian traders or drink Russian vodka, and they are
+generally temperate, chaste, and manly in their habits. As a
+natural consequence they are better men, morally, physically, and
+intellectually, than the settled natives ever will or can be. I have
+very sincere and hearty admiration for many Wandering Koraks whom I
+met on the great Siberian tundras but their settled relatives are the
+worst specimens of men that I ever saw in all northern Asia, from
+Bering Strait to the Ural Mountains.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+FIRST ATTEMPT AT DOG-DRIVING--UNPREMEDITATED PROFANITY--A
+RUNAWAY--ARRIVAL AT GIZHIGA--HOSPITALITY OF THE ISPRAVNIK--PLANS FOR
+THE WINTER
+
+We left Mikina early, November 23d, and started out upon another great
+snowy plain, where there was no vegetation whatever except a little
+wiry grass and a few meagre patches of trailing-pine.
+
+Ever since leaving Lesnoi I had been studying attentively the art,
+or science, whichever it be, of dog-driving, with the fixed but
+unexpressed resolution that at some future time, when everything
+should be propitious, I would assume the control of my own team, and
+astonish Dodd and the natives with a display of my skill as a _kaiur_
+(kai-oor).
+
+[Illustration: SETTLED KORAKS IN A TRIAL OF STRENGTH]
+
+I had found by some experience that these unlettered Koraks estimated
+a man, not so much by what he knew which they did not, as by what
+he knew concerning their own special and peculiar pursuits; and I
+determined to demonstrate, even to their darkened understandings, that
+the knowledge of civilisation was universal in its application, and
+that the white man, notwithstanding his disadvantage in colour, could
+drive dogs better by intuition than they could by the aggregated
+wisdom of centuries; that in fact he could, if necessary, "evolve
+the principles of dog-driving out of the depths of his moral
+consciousness." I must confess, however, that I was not a thorough
+convert to my own ideas; and I did not disdain therefore to avail
+myself of the results of native experience, as far as they coincided
+with my own convictions, as to the nature of the true and beautiful
+in dog-driving. I had watched every motion of my Korak driver; had
+learned theoretically the manner of thrusting the spiked stick between
+the-uprights of the runners into the snow, to act as a brake;
+had committed to memory and practised assiduously the guttural
+monosyllables which meant, in dog-language, "right" and "left," as
+well as many others which meant something else, but which I had heard
+addressed to dogs; and I laid the flattering unction to my soul that I
+could drive as well as a Korak, if not better. To my inexperienced eye
+it was as easy as losing money in California mining stocks. On this
+day, therefore, as the road was good and the weather propitious, I
+determined to put my ideas, original as well as acquired, to the test
+of practice. I accordingly motioned my Korak driver to take a back
+seat and deliver up to me the insignia of office. I observed in the
+expression of his lips, as he handed me the spiked stick, a sort of
+latent smile of ridicule, which indicated a very low estimate of my
+dog-driving abilities; but I treated it as knowledge should always
+treat the sneers of ignorance--with silent contempt; and seating
+myself firmly astride the sledge back of the arch, I shouted to the
+dogs, "Noo! Pashol!" My voice failed to produce the startling effect
+that I had anticipated. The leader--a grim, bluff Nestor of a
+dog--glanced carelessly over his shoulder and very perceptibly
+slackened his pace. This sudden and marked contempt for my authority
+on the part of the dogs did more than all the sneers of the Koraks to
+shake my confidence in my own skill. But my resources were not yet
+exhausted, and I hurled monosyllable, dissyllable, and polysyllable
+at their devoted heads, shouted "Akh! Te shelma! Proclataya takaya!
+Smatree! Ya tibi dam!" but all in vain; the dogs were evidently
+insensible to rhetorical fireworks of this description, and manifested
+their indifference by a still slower gait. As I poured out upon them
+the last vial of my verbal wrath, Dodd, who understood the language
+that I was so recklessly using, drove slowly up, and remarked
+carelessly, "You swear pretty well for a beginner." Had the ground
+opened beneath me I should have been less astonished. "Swear! I swear!
+You don't mean to say that I've been swearing?"--"Certainly you have,
+like a pirate." I dropped my spiked stick in dismay. Were these the
+principles of dog-driving which I had evolved out of the depths of my
+_moral_ consciousness? They seemed rather to have come from the depths
+of my _im_moral _un_consciousness. "Why, you reckless reprobate!"
+I exclaimed impressively, "didn't you teach me those very words
+yourself?"--"Certainly I did," was the unabashed reply; "but you
+didn't ask me what they meant; you asked how to pronounce them
+correctly, and I told you. I didn't know but that you were making
+researches in comparative philology--trying to prove the unity of the
+human race by identity of oaths, or by a comparison of profanity to
+demonstrate that the Digger Indians are legitimately descended from
+the Chinese. You know that your head (which is a pretty good one
+in other respects) always _was_ full of such nonsense."--"Dodd," I
+observed, with a solemnity which I intended should awaken repentance
+in his hardened sensibilities, "I have been betrayed unwittingly into
+the commission of sin; and as a little more or less won't materially
+alter my guilt, I've as good a notion as ever I had to give you the
+benefit of some of your profane instruction." Dodd laughed derisively
+and drove on. This little episode considerable dampened my enthusiasm,
+and made me very cautious in my use of foreign language. I feared the
+existence of terrific imprecations in the most common dog-phrases,
+and suspected lurking profanity even in the monosyllabic "Khta" and
+"Hoogh," which I had been taught to believe meant "right" and "left."
+The dogs, quick to observe any lack of attention on the part of their
+driver, now took encouragement from my silence and exhibited a doggish
+propensity to stop and rest, which was in direct contravention of
+all discipline, and which they would not have dared to do with an
+experienced driver. Determined to vindicate my authority by more
+forcible measures, I launched my spiked stick like a harpoon at the
+leader, intending to have it fall so that I could pick it up as the
+sledge passed. The dog however dodged it cleverly, and it rolled
+away ten feet from the road. Just at that moment three or four wild
+reindeer bounded out from behind a little rise of ground three or
+four hundred yards away, and galloped across the steppe toward a deep
+precipitous ravine, through which ran a branch of the Mikina River.
+The dogs, true to their wolfish instincts, started with fierce,
+excited howls in pursuit. I made a frantic grasp at my spiked stick
+as we rushed past, but failed to reach it, and away we went over the
+tundra toward the ravine, the sledge half the time on one runner, and
+rebounding from the hard _sastrugi_ (sas-troo'-gee) or snow-drifts
+with a force that suggested speedy dislocation of one's joints. The
+Korak, with more common sense than I had given him credit for, had
+rolled off the sledge several seconds before, and a backward glance
+showed a miscellaneous bundle of arms and legs revolving rapidly over
+the snow in my wake. I had no time, however, with ruin staring me in
+the face, to commiserate his misfortune. My energies were all devoted
+to checking the terrific speed with which we were approaching the
+ravine. Without the spiked stick I was perfectly helpless, and in a
+moment we were on the brink. I shut my eyes, clung tightly to the
+arch, and took the plunge. About half-way down, the descent became
+suddenly steeper, and the lead-dog swerved to one side, bringing the
+sledge around like the lash of a whip, overturning it, and shooting me
+like a huge living meteor through the air into a deep soft drift of
+snow at the bottom. I must have fallen at least eighteen feet, for I
+buried myself entirely, with the exception of my lower extremities,
+which, projecting above the snow, kicked a faint signal for rescue.
+Encumbered with heavy furs, I extricated myself with difficulty; and
+as I at last emerged with three pints of snow down my neck, I saw
+the round, leering face of my late driver grinning at me through the
+bushes on the edge of the bluff. "Ooma," he hailed. "Well," replied
+the snowy figure standing waist-high in the drift.--"Amerikanski nyett
+dobra kaiur, eh?" [American no good driver]. "Nyett sofsem dobra" was
+the melancholy reply as I waded out. The sledge, I found, had become
+entangled in the bushes near me, and the dogs were all howling in
+chorus, nearly wild with the restraint. I was so far satisfied with my
+experiment that I did not desire to repeat it at present, and made no
+objections to the Korak's assuming again his old position. I was
+fully convinced, by the logic of circumstances, that the science of
+dog-driving demanded more careful and earnest consideration than I
+had yet given to it; and I resolved to study carefully its elementary
+principles, as expounded by its Korak professors, before attempting
+again to put my own ideas upon the subject into practice.
+
+As we came out of the ravine upon the open steppe I saw the rest of
+our party a mile away, moving rapidly toward the Korak village of Kuil
+(Koo-eel'). We passed Kuil late in the afternoon, and camped for the
+night in a forest of birch, poplar, and aspen trees, on the banks of
+the Paren River.
+
+We were now only about seventy miles from Gizhiga. On the following
+night we reached a small log _yurt_ on a branch of the Gizhiga River,
+which had been built there by the government to shelter travellers,
+and Friday morning, November 25th, about eleven o'clock, we caught
+sight of the red church-steeple which marked the location of the
+Russian settlement of Gizhiga. No one who has not travelled for three
+long months through a wilderness like Kamchatka, camped out in storms
+among desolate mountains, slept for three weeks in the smoky tents,
+and yet smokier and dirtier _yurts_ of the Koraks, and lived
+altogether like a perfect savage or barbarian---no one who has not
+experienced this can possibly understand with what joyful hearts we
+welcomed that red church steeple, and the civilisation of which it was
+the sign. For almost a month we had slept every night on the ground
+or the snow; had never seen a chair, a table, a bed, or a mirror; had
+never been undressed night or day; and had washed our faces only three
+or four times in an equal number of weeks! We were grimy and smoky
+from climbing up and down Korak chimneys; our hair was long and matted
+around our ears; the skin had peeled from our noses and cheek-bones
+where it had been frozen; our cloth coats and trousers were grey with
+reindeer hairs from our fur _kukhlankas_; and we presented, generally,
+as wild and neglected an appearance as men could present, and still
+retain any lingering traces of better days. We had no time or
+inclination, however, to "fix up"; our dogs dashed at a mad gallop
+into the village with a great outcry, which awakened a responsive
+chorus of howls from two or three hundred other canine throats; our
+drivers shouted "Khta! khta! hoogh! hoogh!" and raised clouds of snow
+with their spiked sticks as we rushed through the streets, and the
+whole population came running to their doors to ascertain the cause
+of the infernal tumult. One after another our fifteen sledges went
+careering through the village, and finally drew up before a large,
+comfortable house, with double glass windows, where arrangements had
+been made, Kerrillof said, for our reception. Hardly had we entered a
+large, neatly swept and scrubbed room, and thrown off our heavy frosty
+furs, than the door again opened, and in rushed a little impetuous,
+quick-motioned man, with a heavy auburn moustache, and light hair cut
+short all over his head, dressed in neat broadcloth coat and trousers
+and a spotless linen shirt, with seal rings on his fingers, a plain
+gold chain at his vest button, and a cane. We recognised him at once
+as the ispravnik, or Russian governor. Dodd and I made a sudden
+attempt to escape from the room, but we were too late, and saluting
+our visitor with "zdrastvuitia," [Footnote: "Good health," or "Be in
+health," the Russian greeting.] we sat down awkwardly enough on our
+chairs, rolled our smoky hands up in our scarlet and yellow cotton
+handkerchiefs, and, with a vivid consciousness of our dirty faces and
+generally disreputable appearance, tried to look self-possessed,
+and to assume the dignity which befitted officers of the great
+Russian-American Telegraph Expedition! It was a pitiable failure. We
+could not succeed in looking like anything but Wandering Koraks in
+reduced circumstances. The ispravnik, however, did not seem to notice
+anything unusual in our appearance, but rattled away with an incessant
+fire of quick, nervous questions, such as "When did you leave
+Petropavlovsk? Are you just from America? I sent a Cossack. Did you
+meet him? How did you cross the tundras; with the Koraks? _Akh!_ those
+_proclatye_ Koraks! Any news from St. Petersburg? You must come over
+and dine with me. How long will you stay in town? You can take a bath
+now before dinner. Ay! _loodee!_ [very loud and peremptory]. Go and
+tell my Ivan to heat up the bath quick! _Akh Chort yeekh! vazmee!_"
+and the restless little man finally stopped from sheer exhaustion, and
+began pacing nervously across the room, while the Major related our
+adventures, gave him the latest news from Russia, explained our plans,
+the object of our expedition, told him of the murder of Lincoln, the
+end of the Rebellion, the latest news from the French invasion of
+Mexico, the gossip of the Imperial Court, and no end of other news
+which had been old with us for six months, but of which the poor
+exiled ispravnik had never heard a word. He had had no communication
+with Russia in almost eleven months. After insisting again upon our
+coming over to his house immediately to dine, he bustled out of the
+room, and gave us an opportunity to wash and dress.
+
+Two hours afterward, in all the splendour of blue coats, brass
+buttons, and shoulder-straps, with shaven faces, starched shirts, and
+polished leather boots, the "First Siberian Exploring Party" marched
+over to the ispravnik's to dine. The Russian peasants whom we met
+instinctively took off their frosty fur hoods and gazed wonderingly
+at us as we passed, as if we had mysteriously dropped down from some
+celestial sphere. No one would have recognised in us the dirty, smoky,
+ragged vagabonds who had entered the village two hours before. The
+grubs had developed into blue and golden butterflies! We found the
+ispravnik waiting for us in a pleasant, spacious room furnished with,
+all the luxuries of a civilised home. The walls were papered and
+ornamented with costly pictures and engravings, the windows were hung
+with curtains, the floor was covered with a soft, bright-coloured
+carpet, a large walnut writing-desk occupied one corner of the room, a
+rosewood melodeon the other, and in the centre stood the dining-table,
+covered with a fresh cloth, polished china, and glittering silver. We
+were fairly dazzled at the sight of so much unusual and unexpected
+magnificence. After the inevitable "fifteen drops" of brandy, and the
+lunch of smoked fish, rye bread, and caviar, which always precedes a
+Russian dinner, we took seats at the table and spent an hour and a
+half in getting through the numerous courses of cabbage soup, salmon
+pie, venison cutlets, game, small meat pies, pudding, and pastry,
+which were successively set before us, and in discussing the news of
+all the world, from the log villages of Kamchatka to the imperial
+palaces of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Our hospitable host then ordered
+champagne, and over tall, slender glasses of cool beaded Cliquot we
+meditated upon the vicissitudes of Siberian life. Yesterday we sat
+on the ground in a Korak tent and ate reindeer meat out of a wooden
+trough with our fingers, and today we dined with the Russian governor,
+in a luxurious house, upon venison cutlets, plum pudding, and
+champagne. With the exception of a noticeable but restrained
+inclination on the part of Dodd and myself to curl up our legs and sit
+on the floor, there was nothing I believe in our behaviour to betray
+the barbarous freedom of the life which we had so recently lived, and
+the demoralising character of the influences to which we had been
+subjected. We handled our knives and forks, and leisurely sipped our
+champagne with a grace which would have excited the envy of Lord
+Chesterfield himself. But it was hard work. No sooner did we return to
+our quarters than we threw off our uniform coats, spread our bearskins
+on the floor and sat down upon them with crossed legs, to enjoy a
+comfortable smoke in the good old free-and-easy style. If our faces
+had only been just a little dirty we should have been perfectly happy!
+
+The next ten days of our life at Gizhiga were passed in comparative
+idleness. We walked out a little when the weather was not too cold,
+received formal calls from the Russian merchants of the place, visited
+the ispravnik and drank his delicious "flower tea" and smoked his
+cigarettes in the evening, and indemnified ourselves for three months
+of rough life by enjoying to the utmost such mild pleasures as the
+little village afforded. This pleasant, aimless existence, however,
+was soon terminated by an order from the Major to prepare for the
+winter's campaign, and hold ourselves in readiness to start for the
+Arctic Circle or the west coast of the Okhotsk Sea at a moment's
+notice. He had determined to explore a route for our proposed line
+from Bering Strait to the Amur River before spring should open, and
+there was no time to be lost. The information which we could gather
+at Gizhiga with regard to the interior of the country was scanty,
+indefinite, and unsatisfactory. According to native accounts, there
+were only two settlements between the Okhotsk Sea and Bering Strait,
+and the nearest of these--Penzhina--was four hundred versts distant.
+The intervening country consisted of great moss tundras impassable
+in summer, and perfectly destitute of timber; and that portion of it
+which lay north-east of the last settlement was utterly uninhabitable
+on account of the absence of wood. A Russian officer by the name of
+Phillippeus had attempted to explore it in the winter of 1860, but had
+returned unsuccessful, in a starving and exhausted condition. In the
+whole distance of eight hundred versts between Gizhiga and the mouth
+of the Anadyr River there were said to be only four or five places
+where timber could be found large enough for telegraph poles, and
+over most of the route there was no wood except occasional patches
+of trailing-pine. A journey from Gizhiga to the last settlement,
+Anadyrsk, on the Arctic Circle, would occupy from twenty to thirty
+days, according to weather, and beyond that point there was no
+possibility of going under any circumstances. The region west of
+Gizhiga, along the coast of the Okhotsk Sea, was reported to be
+better, but very rugged and mountainous, and heavily timbered with
+pine and larch. The village of Okhotsk, eight hundred versts distant,
+could be reached on dog-sledges in about a month. This, in brief, was
+all the information we could get, and it did not inspire us with very
+much confidence in the ultimate success of our enterprise. I
+realised for the first time the magnitude of the task which the
+Russian-American Telegraph Company had undertaken. We were "in for
+it," however, now, and our first duty was obviously to go through
+the country, ascertain its extent and nature, and find out what
+facilities, if any, it afforded for the construction of our line.
+
+[Illustration: AN OLD MAN OF THE SETTLED KORAKS Photograph in The
+American Museum of Natural History]
+
+The Russian settlements of Okhotsk and Gizhiga divided the country
+between Bering Strait and the Amur River into three nearly equal
+sections, of which two were mountainous and wooded, and one
+comparatively level and almost barren. The first of these sections,
+between the Amur and Okhotsk, had been assigned to Mahood and Bush,
+and we presumed that they were already engaged, in its exploration.
+The other two sections, comprising all the region between Okhotsk
+and Bering Straits, were to be divided between the Major, Dodd, and
+myself. In view of the supposed desolation of the unexplored territory
+immediately west of Bering Strait, it was thought best to leave
+it unsurveyed until spring, and perhaps until another season. The
+promised co-operation of the Anadyr River party had failed us, and
+without more men, the Major did not think it expedient to undertake
+the exploration of a region which presented so many and so great
+obstacles to midwinter travel. The distance which remained to be
+traversed, therefore, was only about fourteen hundred versts from
+Okhotsk to the Russian outpost of Anadyrsk, just south of the Arctic
+Circle. After some deliberation the Major concluded to send Dodd
+and me with a party of natives to Anadyrsk, and to start himself on
+dog-sledges for the settlement of Okhotsk, where he expected to meet
+Mahood and Bush. In this way it was hoped that we should be able in
+the course of five months to make a rough but tolerably accurate
+survey of nearly the whole route of the line. The provisions which
+we had brought from Petropavlovsk had all been used up, with the
+exception of some tea, sugar, and a few cans of preserved beef; but we
+obtained at Gizhiga two or three _puds_ (poods) [Footnote: One _pud_ =
+36 lbs.] of black rye-bread, four or five frozen reindeer, some salt,
+and an abundant supply of _yukala_ or dried fish. These, with some
+tea and sugar, and a few cakes of frozen milk, made up our store of
+provisions. We provided ourselves also with six or eight _puds_ of
+Circassian leaf tobacco to be used instead of money; divided equally
+our little store of beads, pipes, knives, and trading-goods, purchased
+new suits of furs throughout, and made every preparation for three or
+four months of camp life in an arctic climate. The Russian governor
+ordered six of his Cossacks to transport Dodd and me on dog-sledges as
+far as the Korak village of Shestakova, and sent word to Penzhina by
+the returning Anadyrsk people to have three or four men and dog-teams
+at the former place by December 20th, ready to carry us on to Penzhina
+and Anadyrsk. We engaged an old and experienced Cossack named Gregorie
+Zinovief as guide and Chukchi interpreter, hired a young Russian
+called Yagor as cook and aid-de-camp (in the literal sense), packed
+our stores on our sledges and secured them with lashings of sealskin
+thongs, and by December 13th were ready to take the field. That
+evening the Major delivered to us our instructions. They were simply
+to follow the regular sledge road to Anadyrsk via Shestakova and
+Penzhina, to ascertain what facilities it offered in the way of timber
+and soil for the construction of a telegraph line, to set the natives
+at work cutting poles at Penzhina and Anadyrsk, and to make side
+explorations where possible in search of timbered rivers connecting
+Penzhinsk Gulf with Bering Sea. Late in the spring we were to return
+to Gizhiga with all the information which we could gather relative
+to the country between that point and the Arctic Circle. The Major
+himself would remain at Gizhiga until about December 17th, and then
+leave on dog-sledges with Viushin and a small party of Cossacks for
+the settlement of Okhotsk. If he made a junction with Mahood and Bush,
+at that place, he would return at once, and meet us again at Gizhiga
+by the first of April, 1866.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+DOG-SLEDGE TRAVEL--ARCTIC MIRAGES--CAMP AT NIGHT--A HOWLING
+CHORUS--NORTHERN LIGHTS
+
+The morning of December 13th dawned clear, cold, and still, with a
+temperature of thirty-one degrees below zero; but as the sun did not
+rise until half-past ten, it was nearly noon before we could get our
+drivers together, and our dogs harnessed for a start. Our little party
+of ten men presented quite a novel and picturesque appearance in their
+gaily embroidered fur coats, red sashes, and yellow foxskin hoods,
+as they assembled in a body before our house to bid good-bye to the
+ispravnik and the Major. Eight heavily loaded sledges were ranged in
+a line in front of the door, and almost a hundred dogs were springing
+frantically against their harnesses, and raising deafening howls
+of impatience, as we came out of the house into the still, frosty
+atmosphere. We bade everybody good-bye, received a hearty "God bless
+you, boys!" from the Major, and were off in a cloud of flying snow,
+which stung our faces like burning sparks of fire. Old Paderin, the
+chief of the Gizhiga Cossacks, with white frosty hair and beard, stood
+out in front of his little red log house as we passed, and waved us a
+last good-bye with his fur hood as we swept out upon the great level
+steppe behind the town.
+
+It was just midday; but the sun, although at its greatest altitude,
+glowed like a red ball of fire low down in the southern horizon, and a
+peculiar gloomy twilight hung over the white wintry landscape. I could
+not overcome the impression that the sun was just rising and that it
+would soon be broad day. A white ptarmigan now and then flew up with
+a loud whir before us, uttered a harsh "querk, querk, querk" of
+affright, and sailing a few rods away, settled upon the snow and
+suddenly became invisible. A few magpies sat motionless in the
+thickets of trailing-pine as we passed, but their feathers were
+ruffled up around their heads, and they seemed chilled and stupefied
+by the intense cold. The distant blue belt of timber along the Gizhiga
+River wavered and trembled in its outlines as if seen through currents
+of heated air, and the white ghost-like mountains thirty miles away
+to the southward were thrown up and distorted by refraction into a
+thousand airy, fantastic shapes which melted imperceptibly one into
+another, like a series of dissolving views. Every feature of the
+scenery was strange, weird, arctic. The red sun rolled slowly along
+the southern horizon, until it seemed to rest on a white snowy peak
+far away in the south-west, and then, while we were yet expecting day,
+it suddenly disappeared and the gloomy twilight deepened gradually
+into night. Only three hours had elapsed since sunrise, and yet stars
+of the first magnitude could already be plainly distinguished.
+
+[Illustration: YURT AND DOG-TEAM OF THE SETTLED KORAKS.
+From a painting by George A. Frost]
+
+We stopped for the night at the house of a Russian peasant who lived
+on the bank of the Gizhiga River, about fifteen versts east of the
+settlement. While we were drinking tea a special messenger arrived
+from the village, bringing two frozen blueberry pies as a parting
+token of regard from the Major, and a last souvenir of civilisation.
+Pretending to fear that something might happen to these delicacies
+if we should attempt to carry them with us, Dodd, as a precautionary
+measure, ate one of them up to the last blueberry; and rather than
+have him sacrifice himself to a mistaken idea of duty by trying to eat
+the other, I attended to its preservation myself and put it for ever
+beyond the reach of accidental contingencies.
+
+On the following day we reached the little log _yurt_ on the Malmofka,
+where we had spent one night on our way to Gizhiga; and as the cold
+was still intense we were glad to avail ourselves again of its
+shelter, and huddle around the warm fire which Yagor kindled on a sort
+of clay altar in the middle of the room. There was not space enough on
+the rough plank floor to accommodate all our party, and our men built
+a huge fire of tamarack logs outside, hung over their teakettles,
+thawed out their frosty beards, ate dry fish, sang jolly Russian
+songs, and made themselves so boisterously happy, that we were tempted
+to give up the luxury of a roof for the sake of sharing in their
+out-door amusements and merriment. Our thermometers, however, marked
+35 deg. below zero, and we did not venture out of doors except when an
+unusually loud burst of laughter announced some stupendous Siberian
+joke which we thought would be worth hearing. The atmosphere outside
+seemed to be just cool enough to exert an inspiriting influence
+upon our lively Cossacks, but it was altogether too bracing for
+unaccustomed American constitutions. With a good fire, however, and
+plenty of hot tea, we succeeded in making ourselves very comfortable
+inside the _yurt_, and passed away the long evening in smoking
+Circassian tobacco and pine bark, singing American songs, telling
+stories, and quizzing our good-natured but unsophisticated Cossack
+Meranef.
+
+It was quite late when we finally crawled into our fur bags to sleep;
+but long afterward we could hear the songs, jokes, and laughter of our
+drivers as they sat around the camp-fire, and told funny stories of
+Siberian travel.
+
+We were up on the following morning long before daylight; and, after a
+hasty breakfast of black-bread, dried fish, and tea, we harnessed our
+dogs, wet down our sledge-runners with water from the teakettle to
+cover them with a coating of ice, packed up our camp equipage, and,
+leaving the shelter of the tamarack forest around the _yurt_, drove
+out upon the great snowy Sahara which lies between the Malmofka River
+and Penzhinsk Gulf. It was a land of desolation. A great level steppe,
+as boundless to the weary eye as the ocean itself, stretched away in
+every direction to the far horizon, without a single tree or bush
+to relieve its white, snowy surface. Nowhere did we see any sign of
+animal or vegetable life, any suggestion of summer or flowers or warm
+sunshine, to brighten the dreary waste of storm-drifted snow.
+
+White, cold, and silent, it lay before us like a vast frozen ocean,
+lighted up faintly by the slender crescent of the waning moon in the
+east, and the weird blue streamers of the aurora, which went racing
+swiftly back and forth along the northern horizon. Even when the sun
+rose, huge and fiery, in a haze of frozen moisture at the south,
+it did not seem to infuse any warmth or life into the bleak wintry
+landscape. It only drowned, in a dull red glare, the blue, tremulous
+streamers of the aurora and the white radiance of the moon and stars,
+tinged the snow with a faint colour like a stormy sunset, and lighted
+up a splendid mirage in the north-west which startled us with its
+solemn mockery of familiar scenes. The wand of the Northern Enchanter
+touched the barren snowy steppe, and it suddenly became a blue
+tropical lake, upon whose distant shore rose the walls, domes, and
+slender minarets of a vast oriental city. Masses of luxuriant foliage
+seemed to overhang the clear blue water, and to be reflected in its
+depths, while the white walls above just caught the first flush of the
+rising sun. Never was the illusion of summer in winter, of life in
+death, more palpable or more perfect. One almost instinctively glanced
+around to assure himself, by the sight of familiar objects, that it
+was not a dream; but as his eyes turned again to the north-west across
+the dim blue lake, the vast tremulous outlines of the mirage still
+confronted him in their unearthly beauty, and the "cloud-capped towers
+and gorgeous palaces" seemed, by their mysterious solemnity, to rebuke
+the doubt which would ascribe them to a dream. The bright apparition
+faded, glowed, and faded again into indistinctness, and from its ruins
+rose two colossal pillars sculptured from rose quartz, which gradually
+united their capitals and formed a titanic arch like the grand portal
+of heaven. This, in turn, melted into an extensive fortress, with,
+massive bastions and buttresses, flanking towers and deep embrasures,
+and salient and re-entering angles whose shadows and perspective were
+as natural as reality itself. Nor was it only at a distance that these
+deceptive mirages seemed to be formed. A crow, standing upon the
+snow at a distance of perhaps two hundred yards, was exaggerated and
+distorted beyond recognition; and once, having lingered a little
+behind the rest of the party, I was startled at seeing a long line of
+shadowy dog-sledges moving swiftly through the air a short distance
+ahead, at a height of eight or ten feet from the ground. The mock
+sledges were inverted in position, and the mock dogs trotted along
+with their feet in the air; but their outlines were almost as clear
+as those of the real sledges and real dogs underneath. This curious
+phenomenon lasted only a moment, but it was succeeded by others
+equally strange, until at last we lost faith in our eyesight entirely,
+and would not believe in the existence of anything unless we could
+touch it with our hands. Every bare hillock or dark object on the snow
+was a nucleus around which were formed the most deceptive images, and
+two or three times we started out with our rifles in pursuit of wolves
+or black foxes, which proved, upon closer inspection, to be nothing
+but crows. I had never before known the light and atmosphere to be so
+favourable to refraction, and had never been so deceived in the size,
+shape, and distance of objects on the snow.
+
+[Illustration: A WOMAN FEEDING A DOG-TEAM IN GIZHIGA From a painting
+by George A. Frost]
+
+The thermometer at noon marked -35 deg., and at sunset it was -38 deg., and
+sinking. We had seen no wood since leaving the _yurt_ on the Malmofka
+River, and, not daring to camp without a fire, we travelled for five
+hours after dark, guided only by the stars and a bluish aurora which
+was playing away in the north. Under the influence of the intense
+cold, frost formed in great quantities upon everything which was
+touched by our breaths. Beards became stiff tangled masses of frozen
+iron wire, eyelids grew heavy with long white rims of frost, and froze
+together when we winked, and our dogs, enveloped in dense clouds of
+steam, looked like snowy polar wolves. Only by running constantly
+beside our sledges could we keep any sensation of life in our feet.
+About eight o'clock a few scattered trees loomed up darkly against the
+eastern sky, and a joyful shout from our leading drivers announced the
+discovery of wood. We had reached a small stream called the Usinova
+(Oo-seen'-ova), seventy-five versts east of Gizhiga, in the very
+middle of the great steppe. It was like coming to an island after
+having been long at sea. Our dogs stopped and curled themselves up
+into little round balls on the snow, as if conscious that the long
+day's journey was ended, while our drivers proceeded to make rapidly
+and systematically a Siberian half-faced camp. Three sledges were
+drawn up together, so as to make a little semi-enclosure about ten
+feet square; the snow was all shovelled out of the interior, and
+banked up around the three closed sides, like a snow fort, and a huge
+fire of trailing-pine branches was built at the open end. The bottom
+of this little snow-cellar was then strewn to a depth of three or four
+inches with twigs of willow and alder, shaggy bearskins were spread
+down to make a warm, soft carpet, and our fur sleeping-bags arranged
+for the night. Upon a small table extemporised out of a candle-box,
+which stood in the centre, Yagor soon placed two cups of steaming
+hot tea and a couple of dried fish. Then stretching ourselves out in
+luxurious style upon our bearskin carpet, with our feet to the fire
+and our backs against pillows, we smoked, drank tea, and told stories
+in perfect comfort. After supper the drivers piled dry branches of
+trailing-pine upon the fire until it sent up a column of hot ruddy
+flame ten feet in height, and then gathering in a picturesque group
+around the blaze, they sang for hours the wild melancholy songs of the
+Kamchadals, and told never-ending stories of hardship and adventure on
+the great steppes and along the coast of the "Icy Sea." At last the
+great constellation of Orion marked bedtime. Amid a tumult of snarling
+and fighting the dogs were fed their daily allowance of one dried fish
+each, fur stockings, moist with perspiration, were taken off and dried
+by the fire, and putting on our heaviest fur _kukhlankas_ we crawled
+feet first into our bearskin bags, pulled them up over our heads, and
+slept.
+
+A camp in the middle of a clear, dark winter's night presents a
+strange, wild appearance. I was awakened, soon after midnight, by cold
+feet, and, raising myself upon one elbow, I pushed my head out of my
+frosty fur bag to see by the stars what time it was. The fire had died
+away to a red heap of smouldering embers. There was just light enough
+to distinguish the dark outlines of the loaded sledges, the fur-clad
+forms of our men, lying here and there in groups about the fire, and
+the frosty dogs, curled up into a hundred little hairy balls upon the
+snow. Away beyond the limits of the camp stretched the desolate steppe
+in a series of long snowy undulations, which blended gradually into
+one great white frozen ocean, and were lost in the distance and
+darkness of night. High overhead, in a sky which was almost black,
+sparkled the bright constellations of Orion and the Pleiades--the
+celestial clocks which marked the long, weary hours between sunrise
+and sunset. The blue mysterious streamers of the aurora trembled in
+the north, now shooting up in clear bright lines to the zenith, then
+waving back and forth in great majestic curves over the silent camp,
+as if warning back the adventurous traveller from the unknown regions
+around the Pole. The silence was profound, oppressive. Nothing but
+the pulsating of the blood in my ears, and the heavy breathing of the
+sleeping men at my feet, broke the universal lull. Suddenly there rose
+upon the still night air a long, faint, wailing cry like that of a
+human being in the last extremity of suffering. Gradually it swelled
+and deepened until it seemed to fill the whole atmosphere with its
+volume of mournful sound, dying away at last into a low, despairing
+moan. It was the signal-howl of a Siberian dog; but so wild and
+unearthly did it seem in the stillness of the arctic midnight, that
+it sent the startled blood bounding through my veins to my very
+finger-ends. In a moment the mournful cry was taken up by another dog,
+upon a higher key--two or three more joined in, then ten, twenty,
+forty, sixty, eighty, until the whole pack of a hundred dogs howled
+one infernal chorus together, making the air fairly tremble with
+sound, as if from the heavy bass of a great organ. For fully a minute
+heaven and earth seemed to be filled with yelling, shrieking fiends.
+Then one by one they began gradually to drop off, the unearthly tumult
+grew momentarily fainter and fainter, until at last it ended as it
+began, in one long, inexpressibly melancholy wail, and all was still.
+One or two of our men moved restlessly in their sleep, as if the
+mournful howls had blended unpleasantly with their dreams; but no
+one awoke, and a death-like silence again pervaded heaven and earth.
+Suddenly the aurora shone out with increased brilliancy, and its
+waving swords swept back and forth in great semicircles across the
+dark starry sky, and lighted up the snowy steppe with transitory
+flashes of coloured radiance, as if the gates of heaven were opening
+and closing upon the dazzling brightness of the celestial city.
+Presently it faded away again to a faint diffused glow in the north,
+and one pale-green streamer, slender and bright as the spear of
+Ithuriel, pushed slowly up toward the zenith until it touched with its
+translucent point the jewelled belt of Orion; then it, too, faded and
+vanished, and nothing but a bank of pale white mist on the northern
+horizon showed the location of the celestial armory whence the arctic
+spirits drew the gleaming swords and lances which they shook and
+brandished nightly over the lonely Siberian steppes. Crawling back
+into my bag as the aurora disappeared, I fell asleep, and did not wake
+until near morning. With the first streak of dawn the camp began to
+show signs of animation. The dogs crawled out of the deep holes which
+their warm bodies had melted in the snow; the Cossacks poked their
+heads out of their frosty fur coats, and whipped off with little
+sticks the mass of frost which had accumulated around their
+breathing-holes; a fire was built, tea boiled, and we crawled out of
+our sleeping-bags to shiver around the fire and eat a hasty breakfast
+of rye-bread, dried fish, and tea. In twenty minutes the dogs were
+harnessed, sledges packed, and runners covered with ice, and one after
+another we drove away at a brisk trot from the smoking fire, and began
+another day's journey across the barren steppe.
+
+In this monotonous routine of riding, camping, and sleeping on the
+snow, day after day slowly passed until, on December 20th, we arrived
+at the Settled Korak village of Shestakova, near the head of Penzhinsk
+Gulf. From this point our Gizhiga Cossacks were to return, and here we
+were to wait until the expected sledges from Penzhina should arrive.
+We lowered our bedding, pillows, camp-equipage, and provisions down
+through the chimney hole of the largest _yurt_ in the small village,
+arranged them as tastefully as possible on the wide wooden platform
+which extended out from the wall on one side, and made ourselves as
+comfortable as darkness, smoke, cold, and dirt would permit.
+
+[Illustration: Korak Adzes]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+DISMAL SHELTER--ARRIVAL OF A COSSACK COURIER AMERICANS ON THE
+ANADYR--ARCTIC FIREWOOD A SIBERIAN BLIZZARD LOST ON THE STEPPE
+
+Our short stay at Shestakova, while waiting for the Penzhina sledges,
+was dismal and lonesome beyond expression. It began to storm furiously
+about noon on the 20th, and the violent wind swept up such tremendous
+clouds of snow from the great steppe north of the village, that the
+whole earth was darkened as if by an eclipse, and the atmosphere, to a
+height of a hundred feet from the ground, was literally packed with a
+driving mist of white snowflakes. I ventured to the top of the chimney
+hole once, but I was nearly blown over the edge of the _yurt_, and,
+blinded and choked by snow, I hastily retreated down the chimney,
+congratulating myself that I was not obliged to lie out all day on
+some desolate plain, exposed to the fury of such a storm. To keep
+out the snow, we were obliged to extinguish the fire and shut up the
+chimney hole with a sort of wooden trap-door, so that we were left to
+total darkness and a freezing atmosphere. We lighted candles and stuck
+them against the black smoky logs above our heads with melted grease,
+so that we could see to read; but the cold was so intense that we
+were finally compelled to give up the idea of literary amusement, and
+putting on fur coats and hoods, we crawled into our bags to try to
+sleep away the day. Shut up in a dark half-underground dungeon, with
+a temperature ten degrees below the freezing-point, we had no other
+resource.
+
+It is a mystery to me how human beings with any feeling at all can be
+satisfied to live in such abominable, detestable houses as those of
+the Settled Koraks. They have not one solitary redeeming feature.
+They are entered through the chimney, lighted by the chimney, and
+ventilated by the chimney; the sunshine falls into them only once a
+year--in June; they are cold in winter, close and uncomfortable in
+summer, and smoky all the time. They are pervaded by a smell of rancid
+oil and decaying fish; their logs are black as jet and greasy with
+smoke, and their earthen floors are an indescribable mixture of
+reindeer hairs and filth dried and trodden hard. They have no
+furniture except wooden bowls of seal oil, in which burn fragments of
+moss, and black wooden troughs which are alternately used as dishes
+and as seats. Sad is the lot of children born in such a place. Until
+they are old enough to climb up the chimney pole they never see the
+outside world.
+
+The weather on the day after our arrival at Shestakova was much
+better, and our Cossack Meranef, who was on his way back to Tigil,
+bade us good-bye, and started with two or three natives for Kamenoi.
+Dodd and I managed to pass away the day by drinking tea eight or ten
+times simply as an amusement, reading an odd volume of Cooper's novels
+which we had picked up at Gizhiga, and strolling along the high bluffs
+over the gulf with our rifles in search of foxes. Soon after dark,
+just as we were drinking tea in final desperation for the seventh
+time, our dogs who were tied around the _yurt_ set up a general howl,
+and Yagor came sliding down the chimney in the most reckless and
+disorderly manner, with the news that a Russian Cossack had just
+arrived from Petropavlovsk, bringing letters for the Major. Dodd
+sprang up in great excitement, kicked over the teakettle, dropped his
+cup and saucer, and made a frantic rush for the chimney pole; but
+before he could reach it we saw somebody's legs coming down into the
+_yurt_, and in a moment a tall man in a spotted reindeerskin coat
+appeared, crossed himself carefully two or three times, as if in
+gratitude for his safe arrival, and then turned to us with the Russian
+salutation, "Zdrastvuitia."--"At kooda?"--"Where from?" demanded
+Dodd, quickly. "From Petropavlovsk with letters for the _Maiur_,"
+(mai-oor'), was the reply; "three telegraph ships have been there,
+and I am sent with important letters from the American _nachalnik_
+[Footnote: Commander.]; I have been thirty-nine days and nights on the
+road from Petropavlovsk." This was important news. Colonel Bulkley
+had evidently touched at the southern end of Kamchatka on his return
+from Bering Sea, and the letters brought by the courier would
+undoubtedly explain why he had not landed the party at the mouth of
+the Anadyr River, as he had intended. I felt a strong temptation to
+open the letters; but not thinking that they could have any bearing
+upon my movements, I finally concluded to send them on without a
+moment's delay to Gizhiga, in the faint hope that the Major had not
+yet left there for Okhotsk. In twenty minutes the Cossack was gone,
+and we were left to form all sorts of wild conjectures as to the
+contents of the letters, and the movements of the parties which
+Colonel Bulkley had carried up to Bering Strait. I regretted a hundred
+times that I had not opened the letters, and found out to a certainty
+that the Anadyr River party had not been landed. But it was too late
+now, and we could only hope that the courier would overtake the Major
+before he had started from Gizhiga, and that the latter would send
+somebody to us at Anadyrsk with the news.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS]
+
+There were no signs yet of the Penzhina sledges, and we spent another
+night and another long dreary day in the smoky _yurt_ at Shestakova,
+waiting for transportation. Late in the evening of December 2d, Yagor,
+who acted in the capacity of sentinel, came down the chimney with
+another sensation. He had heard the howling of dogs in the direction
+of Penzhina. We went up on the roof of the _yurt_ and listened for
+several minutes, but hearing nothing but the wind, we concluded that
+Yagor had either been mistaken, or that a pack of wolves had howled
+in the valley east of the settlement. Yagor however was right; he had
+heard dogs on the Penzhina road, and in less than ten minutes the
+long-expected sledges drew up, amid general shouting and barking,
+before our _yurt_. In the course of conversation with the new
+arrivals, I thought I understood one of the Penzhina men to say
+something about a party who had mysteriously appeared near the mouth
+of the Anadyr River, and who were building a house there as if with
+the intention of spending the winter. I did not yet understand Russian
+very well, but I guessed at once that the long-talked-of Anadyr River
+party had been landed, and springing up in considerable excitement, I
+called Dodd to interpret. It seemed from all the information which
+the Penzhina men could give us that a small party of Americans had
+mysteriously appeared, early in the winter, near the mouth of the
+Anadyr, and had commenced to build a house of driftwood and a few
+boards which had been landed from the vessel in which they came. What
+their intentions were, who they were, or how long they intended to
+stay, no one knew, as the report came through bands of Wandering
+Chukchis, who had never seen the Americans themselves, but who had
+heard of them from others. The news had been passed along from one
+encampment of Chukchis to another until it had finally reached
+Penzhina, and had thus been brought on to us at Shestakova, more than
+five hundred miles from the place where the Americans were said to be.
+We could hardly believe that Colonel Bulkley had landed an exploring
+party in the desolate region south of Bering Strait, at the very
+beginning of an arctic winter; but what could Americans be doing
+there, if they did not belong to our expedition? It was not a place
+which civilised men would be likely to select for a winter residence,
+unless they had in view some very important object. The nearest
+settlement--Anadyrsk--was almost two hundred and fifty miles distant;
+the country along the lower Anadyr was said to be wholly destitute
+of wood, and inhabited only by roving bands of Chukchis, and a
+party landed there without an interpreter would have no means of
+communicating even with these wild, lawless natives, or of obtaining
+any means whatever of transportation. If there were any Americans
+there, they were certainly in a very unpleasant situation. Dodd and I
+talked the matter over until nearly midnight, and finally concluded
+that upon our arrival at Anadyrsk we would make up a strong party of
+experienced natives, take thirty days' provisions, and push through
+to the Pacific Coast on dog-sledges in search of these mysterious
+Americans. It would be an adventure just novel and hazardous enough
+to be interesting, and if we succeeded in reaching the mouth of the
+Anadyr in winter, we should do something never before accomplished and
+never but once attempted. With this conclusion we crawled into our
+fur bags and dreamed that we were starting for the Open Polar Sea in
+search of Sir John Franklin.
+
+On the morning of December 23d, as soon as it was light enough to see,
+we loaded our tobacco, provisions, tea, sugar, and trading-goods upon
+the Penzhina sledges, and started up the shallow bushy valley of the
+Shestakova River toward a mountainous ridge, a spur of the great
+Stanavoi range, in which the stream had its source. We crossed the
+mountain early in the afternoon, at a height of about a thousand feet,
+and slid swiftly down its northern slope into a narrow valley, which
+opened upon the great steppes which bordered the river Aklan. The
+weather was clear and not very cold, but the snow in the valley was
+deep and soft, and our progress was provokingly slow. We had hoped to
+reach the Aklan by night, but the day was so short and the road so
+bad that we travelled five hours after dark, and then had to stop ten
+versts south of the river. We were rewarded, however, by seeing
+two very fine mock moons, and by finding a magnificent patch of
+trailing-pine, which furnished us with dry wood enough for a glorious
+camp-fire. The curious tree or bush known to the Russians as
+_kedrovnik_ (keh-drove'-nik), and rendered in the English translation
+of Wrangell's Travels as "trailing cedar," is one of the most singular
+productions of Siberia. I hardly know whether to call it a tree, a
+bush, or a vine, for it partakes more or less of the characteristics
+of all three, and yet does not look much like any of them. It
+resembles as much as anything a dwarf pine tree, with a remarkably
+gnarled, crooked, and contorted trunk, growing horizontally like a
+neglected vine along the ground, and sending up perpendicular branches
+through the snow. It has the needles and cones of the common white
+pine, but it never stands erect like a tree, and grows in great
+patches from a few yards to several acres in extent. A man might walk
+over a dense growth of it in winter and yet see nothing but a few
+bunches of sharp green needles, sticking up here and there through the
+snow. It is found on the most desolate steppes and upon the rockiest
+mountain-sides from the Okhotsk Sea to the Arctic Ocean, and seems to
+grow most luxuriantly where the soil is most barren and the storms
+most severe. On great ocean-like plains, destitute of all other
+vegetation, this trailing-pine lurks beneath the snow, and covers
+the ground in places with a perfect network of gnarled, twisted, and
+interlocking trunks. For some reason it always seems to die when it
+has attained a certain age, and wherever you find its green spiny
+foliage you will also find dry white trunks as inflammable as tinder.
+It furnishes almost the only firewood of the Wandering Koraks and
+Chukchis, and without it many parts of north-eastern Siberia would
+be absolutely uninhabitable by man. Scores of nights during our
+explorations in Siberia, we should have been compelled to camp without
+fire, water, or warm food, had not Nature provided everywhere an
+abundance of trailing-pine, and stored it away under the snow for the
+use of travellers.
+
+[Illustration: DOG-TEAMS DESCENDING A STEEP MOUNTAIN SLOPE]
+
+We left our camp in the valley early on the following morning, pushed
+on across the large and heavily timbered river called the Aklan, and
+entered upon the great steppe which stretches away from its northern
+bank toward Anadyrsk. For two days we travelled over this barren
+snowy plain, seeing no vegetation but stunted trees and patches of
+trailing-pine along the banks of occasional streams, and no life
+except one or two solitary ravens and a red fox. The bleak and dreary
+landscape could have been described in two words--snow and sky. I had
+come to Siberia with full confidence in the ultimate success of the
+Russian-American Telegraph line, but as I penetrated deeper and deeper
+into the country and saw its utter desolation I grew less and less
+sanguine. Since leaving Gizhiga we had travelled nearly three hundred
+versts, had found only four places where we could obtain poles, and
+had passed only three settlements. Unless we could find a better
+route than the one over which we had been, I feared that the Siberian
+telegraph line would be a failure.
+
+Up to this time we had been favoured with unusually fine weather; but
+it was a season of the year when storms were of frequent occurrence,
+and I was not surprised to be awakened Christmas night by the roaring
+of the wind and the hissing sound of the snow as it swept through our
+unprotected camp and buried up our dogs and sledges. We were having a
+slight touch of a Siberian _purga_ (poor'-gah = blizzard). A fringe of
+trees along the little stream on which we were camped sheltered us
+in a measure from the storm, but out on the steppe it was evidently
+blowing a gale. We rose as usual at daylight and made an attempt to
+travel; but no sooner did we leave the cover of the trees than our
+dogs became almost unmanageable, and, blinded and half suffocated
+with flying snow, we were driven back again into the timber. It was
+impossible to see thirty feet, and the wind blew with such fury that
+our dogs would not face it. We massed our sledges together as a sort
+of breastwork against the drifting snow, spread our fur bags down
+behind them, crawled in, covered up our heads with deerskins and
+blankets, and prepared for a long dismal siege. There is nothing so
+thoroughly, hopelessly dreary and uncomfortable, as camping out upon a
+Siberian steppe in a storm. The wind blows with such violence that a
+tent cannot possibly be made to stand; the fire is half extinguished
+by drifting snow, and fills the eyes with smoke and cinders when it
+burns at all; conversation is impossible on account of the roaring
+of the wind and the beating of the snow in one's face; bearskins,
+pillows, and furs become stiff and icy with half-melted sleet, sledges
+are buried up, and there remains nothing for the unhappy traveller to
+do but crawl into his sleeping-bag, cover up his head, and shiver away
+the long, dismal hours.
+
+We lay out on the snow in this storm for two days, spending nearly all
+the time in our fur bags and suffering severely from the cold during
+the long, dark nights. On the 28th, about four o'clock in the morning,
+the storm began to abate, and by six we had dug out our sledges and
+were under way. There was a low spur of the Stanavoi Mountains about
+ten versts north of our camp, and our men said that if we could get
+across that before daylight we should probably have no more bad
+weather until we reached Penzhina. Our dog-food was entirely
+exhausted, and we must make the settlement within the next twenty-four
+hours if possible. The snow had been blown hard by the wind, our dogs
+were fresh from two days' rest, and before daylight we had crossed
+the ridge and stopped in a little valley on the northern slope of
+the mountain to drink tea. When compelled to travel all night, the
+Siberian natives always make a practice of stopping just before
+sunrise and allowing their dogs to get to sleep. They argue that if a
+dog goes to sleep while it is yet dark, and wakes up in an hour and
+finds the sun shining, he will suppose that he has had a full night's
+rest and will travel all day without thinking of being tired. An
+hour's stop, however, at any other time will be of no use whatever. As
+soon as we thought we had deluded our dogs into the belief that they
+had slept all night, we roused them up and started down the valley
+toward a tributary of the Penzhina River, known as the Uskanova
+(Oo-skan'-o-vah). The weather was clear and not very cold, and we all
+enjoyed the pleasant change and the brief two hours of sunshine which
+were vouchsafed us before the sun sank behind the white peaks of
+Stanavoi. Just at dark we crossed the river Kondra, fifteen miles from
+Penzhina, and in two hours more we were hopelessly lost on another
+great level steppe, and broken up into two or three separate and
+bewildered parties. I had fallen asleep soon after passing the Kondra,
+and had not the slightest idea how we were progressing or whither we
+were going, until Dodd shook me by the shoulder and said, "Kennan,
+we're lost." Rather a startling announcement to wake a man with, but
+as Dodd did not seem to be much concerned about it, I assured him that
+I didn't care, and lying back on my pillow went to sleep again, fully
+satisfied that my driver would find Penzhina sometime in the course of
+the night.
+
+Guided by the stars, Dodd, Gregorie, and I, with one other sledge
+which remained with us, turned away to the eastward, and about nine
+o'clock came upon the Penzhina River somewhere below the settlement.
+We started up it on the ice, and had gone but a short distance when we
+saw two or three sledges coming down the river. Surprised to find men
+travelling away from the village at that hour of the night, we hailed
+them with a "Halloo!"
+
+"Halloo!"
+
+"Vwe kooda yaydetia?"--"Where are you going?"
+
+"We're going to Penzhina; who are you?"
+
+"We're Gizhigintsi, also going to Penzhina; what you coming down the
+river for?"
+
+"We're trying to find the village, devil take it; we've been
+travelling all night and can't find anything!"
+
+Upon this Dodd burst into a loud laugh, and as the mysterious sledges
+drew nearer we recognised in their drivers three of our own men who
+had separated from us soon after dark, and who were now trying to
+reach Penzhina by going down the river toward the Okhotsk Sea. We
+could hardly convince them that the village did not lie in that
+direction. They finally turned back with us, however, and some time
+after midnight we drove into Penzhina, roused the sleeping inhabitants
+with a series of unearthly yells, startled fifty or sixty dogs into a
+howling protest against such untimely disturbance, and threw the whole
+settlement into a general uproar.
+
+In ten minutes we were seated on bearskins before a warm fire in
+a cozy Russian house, drinking cup after cup of fragrant tea, and
+talking over our night's adventures.
+
+[Illustration: Ladle made of Caribou antler]
+
+[Illustration: Woman's knife for cutting meat]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+PENZHINA--POSTS FOR ELEVATED ROAD--FIFTY-THREE BELOW ZERO--TALKED
+OUT--ASTRONOMICAL LECTURES--EATING PLANETS--THE HOUSE OF A PRIEST
+
+The village of Penzhina is a little collection of log houses,
+flat-topped _yurts_, and four-legged _balagans,_ situated on the north
+bank of the river which bears its name, about half-way between the
+Okhotsk Sea and Anadyrsk. It is inhabited principally by _meshchans_
+(mesh-chans'), or free Russian peasants, but contains also in its
+scanty population a few "Chuances" or aboriginal Siberian natives, who
+were subjugated by the Russian Cossacks in the eighteenth century,
+and who now speak the language of their conquerors and gain a scanty
+subsistence by fishing and trading in furs. The town is sheltered on
+the north by a very steep bluff about a hundred feet in height, which,
+like all hills in the vicinity of Russian settlements, bears upon
+its summit a Greek cross with three arms. The river opposite the
+settlement is about a hundred yards in width, and its banks are
+heavily timbered with birch, larch, poplar, willow, and aspen. Owing
+to warm springs in its bed, it never entirely freezes over at this
+point, and in a temperature of 40 deg. below zero gives off dense clouds
+of steam which hide the village from sight as effectually as a London
+fog.
+
+We remained at Penzhina three days, gathering information about the
+surrounding country and engaging men to cut poles for our line. We
+found the people to be cheerful, good-natured, and hospitable, and
+disposed to do all in their power to further our plans; but of course
+they had never heard of a telegraph, and could not imagine what we
+were going to do with the poles which we were so anxious to have cut.
+Some said that we intended to build a wooden road from Gizhiga to
+Anadyrsk, so that it would be possible to travel back and forth in the
+summer; others contended with some show of probability that two men,
+even if they _were_ Americans, could not construct a wooden road, six
+hundred versts long, and that our real object was to build some
+sort of a huge house. When questioned as to the use of this immense
+edifice, however, the advocates of the house theory were covered with
+confusion, and could only insist upon the physical impossibility of
+a road, and call upon their opponents to accept the house or suggest
+something better. We succeeded in engaging sixteen able-bodied men,
+however, to cut poles for a reasonable compensation, gave them the
+required dimensions--twenty-one feet long and five inches in diameter
+at the top--and instructed them to cut as many as possible, and pile
+them up along the banks of the river.
+
+I may as well mention here, that when I returned from Anadyrsk in
+March I went to look at the poles, 500 in number, which the Penzhina
+men had cut. I found, to my great astonishment, that there was hardly
+one of them less than twelve inches in diameter at the top, and that
+the majority were so heavy and unwieldy that a dozen men could not
+move them. I told the natives that they would not do, and asked why
+they had not cut smaller ones, as I had directed. They replied that
+they supposed I wanted to build some kind of a road on the tops of
+these poles, and they knew that poles only five inches in diameter
+would not be strong enough to hold it up! They had accordingly cut
+trees large enough to be used as pillars for a state-house. They still
+lie there, buried in arctic snows; and I have no doubt that many years
+hence, when Macaulay's New Zealander shall have finished sketching the
+ruins of St. Paul's and shall have gone to Siberia to complete his
+education, he will be entertained by his native drivers with stories
+of how two crazy Americans once tried to build an elevated railroad
+from the Okhotsk Sea to Bering Strait. I only hope that the New
+Zealander will write a book, and confer upon the two crazy Americans
+the honour and the immortality which their labours deserved, but which
+the elevated railroad failed to give.
+
+We left Penzhina on the 31st day of December for Anadyrsk. After
+travelling all day, as usual, over a barren steppe, we camped for
+the night near the foot of a white isolated peak called Nalgim, in a
+temperature of 53 deg. below zero. It was New Year's Eve; and as I sat by
+the fire in my heaviest furs, covered from head to foot with frost,
+I thought of the great change which a single year had made in my
+surroundings. New Year's Eve, 1864, I had spent in Central America,
+riding on a mule from Lake Nicaragua to the Pacific coast, through a
+magnificent tropical forest. New Year's Eve, 1865, found me squatting
+on a great snowy plain near the Arctic Circle, trying, in a
+temperature of 53 deg. below zero, to eat up my soup before it froze
+solidly to the plate. Hardly could there have been a greater contrast.
+
+Our camp near Mount Nalgim abounded in trailing-pine and we made a
+fire which sent up a column of ruddy flame ten feet in height; but it
+did not seem to have much influence upon the atmosphere. Our eyelids
+froze together while we were drinking tea; our soup, taken hot from
+the kettle, froze in our tin plates before we could possibly finish
+eating it; and the breasts of our fur coats were covered with a white
+rime, while we sat only a few feet from a huge blazing camp-fire. Tin
+plates, knives, and spoons burned the bare hand when touched, almost
+exactly as if they were red-hot; and water, spilled on a little piece
+of board only fourteen inches from the fire, froze solid in less than
+two minutes. The warm bodies of our dogs gave off clouds of steam; and
+even the bare hand, wiped perfectly dry, exhaled a thin vapour
+when exposed to the air. We had never before experienced so low a
+temperature; but we suffered very little except from cold feet, and
+Dodd declared that with a good fire and plenty of fat food he would
+not be afraid to try fifteen degrees lower. The greatest cause of
+suffering in Siberia is wind. Twenty degrees below zero, with a fresh
+breeze, is very trying; and a gale of wind, with a temperature
+of -40 deg., is almost unendurable. Intense cold of itself is not
+particularly dangerous to life. A man who will eat a hearty supper of
+dried fish and tallow, dress himself in a Siberian costume, and crawl
+into a heavy fur bag, may spend a night out-doors in a temperature of
+-70 deg. without any serious danger; but if he is tired out, with long
+travel, if his clothes are wet with perspiration, or if he has not
+enough to eat, he may freeze to death with the thermometer at zero.
+The most important rules for an arctic traveller are: to eat plenty of
+fat food; to avoid over-exertion and night journeys; and never to
+get into a profuse perspiration by violent exercise for the sake of
+temporary warmth. I have seen Wandering Chukchis in a region destitute
+of wood and in a dangerous temperature, travel all day with aching
+feet rather than exhaust their strength by trying to warm them in
+running. They would never exercise except when it was absolutely
+necessary to keep from freezing. As a natural consequence, they were
+almost as fresh at night as they had been in the morning, and if they
+failed to find wood for a fire, or were compelled by some unforeseen
+exigency to travel throughout the twenty-four hours, they had
+the strength to do it. An inexperienced traveller under the same
+circumstances, would have exhausted all his energy during the day in
+trying to keep perfectly warm; and at night, wet with perspiration and
+tired out by too much violent exercise, he would almost inevitably
+have frozen to death.
+
+For two hours after supper, Dodd and I sat by the fire, trying
+experiments to see what the intense cold would do. About eight o'clock
+the heavens became suddenly overcast with clouds, and in less than an
+hour the thermometer had risen nearly thirty degrees. Congratulating
+ourselves upon this fortunate change in the weather, we crawled into
+our fur bags and slept away as much as we could of the long arctic
+night.
+
+Our life for the next few days was the same monotonous routine of
+riding, camping, and sleeping with which we were already so familiar.
+The country over which we passed was generally bleak, desolate, and
+uninteresting; the weather was cold enough for discomfort, but not
+enough so to make outdoor life dangerous or exciting; the days were
+only two or three hours in length and the nights were interminable.
+Going into camp early in the afternoon, when the sun disappeared, we
+had before us about twenty hours of darkness, in which we must either
+amuse ourselves in some way, or sleep. Twenty hours' sleep for any one
+but a Rip Van Winkle was rather an over-dose, and during at least half
+that time we could think of nothing better to do than sit around the
+camp-fire on bearskins and talk. Ever since leaving Petropavlovsk,
+talking had been our chief amusement; and although it had answered
+very well for the first hundred nights or so, it was now becoming a
+little monotonous and our mental resources were running decidedly low.
+We could not think of a single subject about which we knew anything
+that had not been talked over, criticised, and discussed to the very
+bone. We had related to each other in detail the whole history of our
+respective lives, together with the lives of all our ancestors as far
+back as we knew anything about them. We had discussed in full every
+known problem of Love, War, Science, Politics, and Religion, including
+a great many that we knew nothing whatever about, and had finally been
+reduced to such topics of conversation as the size of the army with
+which Xerxes invaded Greece and the probable extent of the Noachian
+deluge. As there was no possibility of arriving at any mutually
+satisfactory conclusion with regard to either of these important
+questions, the debate had been prolonged for twenty or thirty
+consecutive nights and the questions finally left open for future
+consideration. In cases of desperate emergency, when all other topics
+of conversation failed, we knew that we could return to Xerxes and the
+Flood; but these subjects had been dropped by the tacit consent of
+both parties soon after leaving Gizhiga, and were held in reserve as a
+"dernier ressort" for stormy nights in Korak _yurts_. One night as we
+were encamped on a great steppe north of Shestakova, the happy idea
+occurred to me that I might pass away these long evenings out of
+doors, by delivering a course of lectures to my native drivers upon
+the wonders of modern science. It would amuse me and at the same time
+instruct them--or at least I hoped it would, and I proceeded at
+once to put the plan into execution. I turned my attention first to
+astronomy. Camping out on the open steppe, with no roof above except
+the starry sky, I had every facility for the illustration of my
+subject, and night after night as we travelled northward I might have
+been seen in the centre of a group of eager natives, whose swarthy
+faces were lighted up by the red blaze of the camp-fire, and who
+listened with childish curiosity while I explained the phenomena of
+the seasons, the revolution of the planets around the sun, and the
+causes of a lunar eclipse. I was compelled, like John Phoenix, to
+manufacture my own orrery, and I did it with a lump of frozen, tallow
+to represent the earth, a chunk of black bread for the moon, and small
+pieces of dried meat for the lesser planets. The resemblance to the
+heavenly bodies was not, I must confess, very striking; but by making
+believe pretty hard we managed to get along. A spectator would have
+been amused could he have seen with what grave solemnity I circulated
+the bread and tallow in their respective orbits, and have heard the
+long-drawn exclamations of astonishment from the natives as I brought
+the bread into eclipse behind the lump of tallow. My first lecture
+would have been a grand success if my native audience had only been
+able to understand the representative and symbolical character of
+the bread and tallow. The great trouble was that their imaginative
+faculties were weak. They could not be made to see that bread stood
+for the moon and tallow-for the earth, but persisted in regarding them
+as so many terrestrial products having an intrinsic value of their
+own. They accordingly melted up the earth to drink, devoured the
+moon whole, and wanted another lecture immediately. I endeavoured
+to explain to them that these lectures were intended to be
+_as_tronomical, not _gas_tronomical, and that eating and drinking
+up the heavenly bodies in this reckless way was very improper.
+Astronomical science I assured them did not recognise any such
+eclipses as those produced by swallowing the planets, and however
+satisfactory such a course might be to them, it was very demoralising
+to my orrery. Remonstrances had very little effect, and I was
+compelled to provide a new sun, moon, and earth for every, lecture. It
+soon became evident to me that these astronomical feasts were becoming
+altogether too popular, for my audience thought nothing of eating up
+a whole solar system every night, and planetary material was becoming
+scarce. I was finally compelled, therefore, to use stones and
+snowballs to represent celestial bodies, instead of bread and tallow,
+and from that time the interest in astronomical phenomena gradually
+abated and the popularity of my lectures steadily declined until I was
+left without a single hearer.
+
+The short winter day of three hours had long since closed and the
+night was far advanced when after twenty-three days of rough travel
+we drew near our final destination--the _ultima Thule_ of Russian
+civilisation. I was lying on my sledge nearly buried in heavy furs and
+half asleep, when the distant barking of dogs announced our approach
+to the village of Anadyrsk. I made a hurried attempt to change my
+thick fur _torbassa_ and overstockings for American boots, but was
+surprised in the very act by the drawing up of my sledge before the
+house of the Russian priest, where we intended to stop until we could
+make arrangements for a house of our own.
+
+A crowd of curious spectators had gathered about the door to see the
+wonderful Amerikanse about whom they had heard, and prominent in the
+centre of the fur-clad group stood the priest, with long flowing hair
+and beard, dressed in a voluminous black robe, and holding above his
+head a long tallow candle which flared wildly in the cold night air.
+As soon as I could disencumber my feet of my overstockings I alighted
+from my sledge, amid profound bows and "zdrastvuitias" from the crowd,
+and received a hearty welcome from the patriarchal priest. Three weeks
+roughing it in the wilderness had not, I fancy, improved my personal
+appearance, and my costume would have excited a sensation anywhere
+except in Siberia. My face, which was not over clean, was darkened by
+three weeks' growth of beard; my hair was in confusion and hung in
+long ragged locks over my forehead, and the fringe of shaggy black
+bearskin around my face gave me a peculiarly wild and savage
+expression of countenance. The American boots which I had hastily
+drawn on as we entered the village were all that indicated any
+previous acquaintance with civilisation. Replying to the respectful
+salutations of the Chuances, Yukagirs, and Russian Cossacks who in
+yellow fur hoods and potted deerskin coats crowded about the door, I
+followed the priest into the house. It was the second dwelling worthy
+the name of house which I had entered in twenty-two days, and after
+the smoky Korak _yurts_ of Kuil, Mikina, and Shestakova, it seemed
+to me to be a perfect palace. The floor was carpeted with soft, dark
+deerskins in which one's feet sank deeply at every step; a blazing
+fire burned in a neat fireplace in one corner, and flooded the room
+with cheerful light; the tables were covered with bright American
+table-cloths; a tiny gilt taper was lighted before a massive gilt
+shrine opposite the door; the windows were of glass instead of the
+slabs of ice and the smoky fish bladders to which I had become
+accustomed; a few illustrated newspapers lay on a stand in one corner,
+and everything in the house was arranged with a taste and a view
+to comfort which were as welcome to a tired traveller as they were
+unexpected in this land of desolate steppes and uncivilised people.
+Dodd, who was driving his own sledge, had not yet arrived; but from
+the door we could hear a voice in the adjoining forest singing "Won't
+I be glad when I get out of the wilderness, out o' the wilderness, out
+o' the wilderness," the musician being entirely unconscious that he
+was near the village, or that his melodiously expressed desire to "get
+out o' the wilderness" was overheard by any one else. My Russian
+was not extensive or accurate enough to enable me to converse very
+satisfactorily with the priest, and I was heartily glad when Dodd
+_got_ out of the wilderness, and appeared to relieve my embarrassment.
+He didn't look much better than I did; that was one comfort. I drew
+mental comparisons as soon as he entered the room and convinced myself
+that one looked as much like a Korak as the other, and that neither
+could claim precedence in point of civilisation on account of superior
+elegance of dress. We shook hands with the priest's wife--a pale
+slender lady with light hair and dark eyes,--made the acquaintance of
+two or three pretty little children, who fled from us in affright as
+soon as they were released, and finally seated ourselves at the table
+to drink tea.
+
+Our host's cordial manner soon put us at our ease, and in ten minutes
+Dodd was rattling off fluently a highly coloured account of our
+adventures and sufferings, laughing, joking, and drinking vodka with
+the priest, as unceremoniously as if he had known him for ten years
+instead of as many minutes. That was a peculiar gift of Dodd's, which
+I often used to envy. In five minutes, with the assistance of a little
+vodka, he would break down the ceremonious reserve of the severest
+old patriarch in the whole Greek Church, and completely carry him by
+storm; while I could only sit by and smile feebly, without being able
+to say a word. Great is "the gift o' gab."
+
+After an excellent supper of _shchi_ (shchee) or cabbage-soup, fried
+cutlets, white bread and butter, we spread our bearskins down on the
+floor, undressed ourselves for the second time in three weeks,
+and went to bed. The sensation of sleeping without furs, and with
+uncovered heads, was so strange, that for a long time we lay awake,
+watching the red flickering firelight on the wall, and enjoying
+the delicious warmth of soft, fleecy blankets, and the luxury of
+unconfined limbs and bare feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+ANADYRSK--AN ARCTIC OUTPOST--SEVERE CLIMATE CHRISTMAS SERVICES AND
+CAROLS--A SIBERIAN BALL--MUSIC AND REFRESHMENTS--EXCITED DANCING
+HOLIDAY AMUSEMENTS
+
+The four little Russian and native villages, just south of the Arctic
+Circle, which are collectively known as Anadyrsk, form the last link
+in the great chain of settlements which extends in one almost unbroken
+line from the Ural Mountains to Bering Strait. Owing to their
+peculiarly isolated situation, and the difficulties and hardships of
+travel during the only season in which they are accessible, they had
+never, previous to our arrival, been visited by any foreigner, with
+the single exception of a Swedish officer in the Russian service,
+who led an exploring party from Anadyrsk toward Bering Strait in the
+winter of 1859-60. Cut off, during half the year, from all the rest of
+the world, and visited only at long intervals by a few half-civilised
+traders, this little quadruple village was almost as independent and
+self-sustained as if it were situated on an island in the midst of the
+Arctic Ocean. Even its existence, to those who had no dealings with
+it, was a matter of question. It was founded early in the eighteenth
+century, by a band of roving, adventurous Cossacks, who, having
+conquered nearly all the rest of Siberia, pushed through the mountains
+from Kolyma to the Anadyr, drove out the Chukchis, who resisted their
+advance, and established a military post on the river, a few versts
+above the site of the present settlement. A desultory warfare then
+began between the Chukchis and the Russian invaders, which lasted,
+with varying success, for many years. During a considerable part of
+the time Anadyrsk was garrisoned by a force of six hundred men and
+a battery of artillery; but after the discovery and settlement of
+Kamchatka it sank into comparative unimportance, the troops were
+mostly withdrawn, and it was finally captured by the Chukchis and
+burned. During the war which resulted in the destruction of Anadyrsk,
+two native tribes, Chuances and Yukagirs, who had taken sides with the
+Russians, were almost annihilated by the Chukchis, and were never able
+afterward to regain their distinct tribal individuality. The few
+who were left lost all their reindeer and camp-equipage, and were
+compelled to settle down with their Russian allies and gain a
+livelihood by hunting and fishing. They have gradually adopted Russian
+customs and lost all their distinctive traits of character; and in a
+few years not a single living soul will speak the languages of those
+once powerful tribes. By the Russians, Chuances, and Yukagirs,
+Anadyrsk was finally rebuilt, and became in time a trading-post of
+considerable importance. Tobacco, which had been introduced by the
+Russians, soon acquired great popularity with the Chukchis; and
+for the sake of obtaining this highly prized luxury they ceased
+hostilities, and began making yearly visits to Anadyrsk for the
+purpose of trade. They never entirely lost, however, a certain feeling
+of enmity toward the Russians who had invaded their territory, and for
+many years would have no dealings with them except at the end of a
+spear. They would hang a bundle of furs or a choice walrus tooth upon
+the sharp polished blade of a long Chukchi lance, and if a Russian
+trader chose to take it off and suspend in its place a fair equivalent
+in the shape of tobacco, well and good; if not, there was no trade.
+This plan guaranteed absolute security against fraud, for there was
+not a Russian in all Siberia who dared to cheat one of these fierce
+savages, with the blade of a long lance ten inches from his breast
+bone. Honesty was emphatically the best policy, and the moral suasion
+of a Chukchi spear developed the most disinterested benevolence in the
+breast of the man who stood at the sharp end. The trade which was thus
+established still continues to be a source of considerable profit to
+the inhabitants of Anadyrsk, and to the Russian merchants who come
+there every year from Gizhiga.
+
+[Illustration: CHUKCHIS ASSEMBLING AT ANADYRSK FOR THE WINTER FAIR]
+
+The four small villages which compose the settlement, and which are
+distinctively known as "Pokorukof," "Osolkin," "Markova," and "The
+Crepast," have altogether a population of perhaps two hundred souls.
+The central village, called Markova, is the residence of the priest
+and boasts a small rudely built church, but in winter it is a dreary
+place. Its small log houses have no windows other than thick slabs of
+ice cut from the river; many of them are sunken in the ground for the
+sake of greater warmth, and all are more or less buried in snow. A
+dense forest of larch, poplar, and aspen surrounds the town, so that
+the traveller coming from Gizhiga sometimes has to hunt for it a whole
+day, and if he be not familiar with the net-work of channels into
+which the Anadyr River is here divided, he may not find it at all.
+The inhabitants of all four settlements divide their time in summer
+between fishing, and hunting the wild reindeer which make annual
+migrations across the river in immense herds. In winter they are
+generally absent with their sledges, visiting and trading with bands
+of Wandering Chukchis, going with merchandise to the great annual
+fair at Kolyma, and hiring their services to the Russian traders from
+Gizhiga. The Anadyr River, in the vicinity of the village and for a
+distance of seventy-five miles above, is densely wooded with trees
+from eighteen to twenty-four inches in diameter, although the latitude
+of the upper portion of it is 66 deg. N. The climate is very severe;
+meteorological observations which we made at Markova in February,
+1867, showed that on sixteen days in that month the thermometer went
+to -40 deg., on eight days it went below -50 deg., five days below -60 deg., and
+once to -68 deg.. This was the lowest temperature we ever experienced
+in Siberia. The changes from intense cold to comparative warmth are
+sometimes very rapid. On February 18th, at 9 A.M., the thermometer
+stood at -52 deg., but in twenty-seven hours it had risen seventy-three
+degrees and stood at +21 deg.. On the 21st it marked +3 deg. and on the 22d
+-49 deg., an equally rapid change in the other direction. Notwithstanding
+the climate, however, Anadyrsk is as pleasant a place to live as are
+nine tenths of the Russian settlements in north-eastern Siberia, and
+we enjoyed the novelty of our life there in the winter of 1866 as much
+as we had enjoyed any part of our previous Siberian experience.
+
+The day which succeeded our arrival we spent in resting and making
+ourselves as presentable as possible with the limited resources
+afforded by our sealskin trunks.
+
+Thursday, January 6th, N.S. was the Russian Christmas, and we all rose
+about four hours before daylight to attend an early service in the
+church. Everybody in the house was up; a fire burned brightly in the
+fireplace; gilded tapers were lighted before all the holy pictures and
+shrines in our room, and the air was fragrant with incense. Out of
+doors there was not yet a sign of daybreak. The Pleiades were low down
+in the west, the great constellation of Orion had begun to sink, and a
+faint aurora was streaming up over the tree-tops north of the village.
+From every chimney rose a column of smoke and sparks, which showed
+that the inhabitants were all astir. We walked over to the little log
+church as quickly as possible, but the service had already commenced
+when we entered and silently took our places in the crowd of bowing
+worshippers. The sides of the room were lined with pictures of
+patriarchs and Russian saints, before which were burning long wax
+candles wound spirally with strips of gilded paper. Clouds of blue
+fragrant incense rolled up toward the roof from swinging censers,
+and the deep intonation of the gorgeously attired priest contrasted
+strangely with the high soprano chanting of the choir. The service of
+the Greek Church is more impressive, if possible, than that of the
+Romish; but as it is conducted in the old Slavonic language, it is
+almost wholly unintelligible. The priest is occupied, most of the
+time, in gabbling rapid prayers which nobody can understand; swinging
+a censer, bowing, crossing himself, and kissing a huge Bible, which
+I should think would weigh thirty pounds. The administration of the
+sacrament and the ceremonies attending the transubstantiation of the
+bread and wine are made very effective. The most beautiful feature in
+the whole service of the Greco-Russian Church is the music. No one can
+listen to it without emotion, even in a little log chapel far away in
+the interior of Siberia. Rude as it may be in execution, it breathes
+the very spirit of devotion; and I have often stood through a long
+service of two or three hours, for the sake of hearing a few chanted
+psalms and prayers. Even the tedious, rapid, and mixed-up jabbering
+of the priest is relieved at short intervals by the varied and
+beautifully modulated "Gospodi pameelui" [God, have mercy!] and "Padai
+Gospodin" [Grant, O Lord!] of the choir. The congregation stands
+throughout even the longest service, and seems to be wholly absorbed
+in devotion. All cross themselves and bow incessantly in response to
+the words of the priest, and not unfrequently prostrate themselves
+entirely, and reverently press their foreheads and lips to the floor.
+To a spectator this seems very curious. One moment he is surrounded
+by a crowd of fur-clad natives and Cossacks, who seem to be listening
+quietly to the service; then suddenly the whole congregation goes down
+upon the floor, like a platoon of infantry under the fire of a masked
+battery, and he is left standing alone in the midst of nearly a
+hundred prostrate forms. At the conclusion of the Christmas morning
+service the choir burst forth into a jubilant hymn, to express the
+joy of the angels over the Saviour's birth; and amid the discordant
+jangling of a chime of bells, which hung in a little log tower at the
+door, Dodd and I made our way out of the church, and returned to the
+house to drink tea. I had just finished my last cup and lighted a
+cigarette, when the door suddenly opened, and half a dozen men, with
+grave, impassive countenances, marched in in single file, stopped a
+few paces from the holy pictures in the corner, crossed themselves
+devoutly in unison, and began to sing a simple but sweet Russian
+melody, beginning with the words, "Christ is born." Not expecting to
+hear Christmas carols in a little Siberian settlement on the Arctic
+Circle, I was taken completely by surprise, and could only stare in
+amazement--first at Dodd, to see what he thought about it, and then at
+the singers. The latter, in their musical ecstasy, seemed entirely to
+ignore our presence, and not until they had finished did they turn to
+us, shake hands, and wish us a merry Christmas. Dodd gave each of them
+a few kopecks, and with repeated wishes of merry Christmas, long life,
+and much happiness to our "High Excellencies," the men withdrew to
+visit in turn the other houses of the village. One band of singers
+came after another, until at daylight all the younger portion of the
+population had visited our house, and received our kopecks. Some of
+the smaller boys, more intent upon the acquisition of coppers than
+they were upon the solemnity of the ceremony, rather marred its effect
+by closing up their hymn with "Christ is born, gim'me some money!"
+but most of them behaved with the utmost propriety, and left us
+greatly pleased with a custom so beautiful and appropriate. At sunrise
+all the tapers were extinguished, the people donned their gayest
+apparel, and the whole village gave itself up to the unrestrained
+enjoyment of a grand holiday. Bells jangled incessantly from the
+church tower; dog-sledges, loaded with girls, went dashing about the
+streets, capsising into snow-drifts and rushing furiously down hills
+amid shouts of laughter; women in gay flowery calico dresses, with
+their hair tied up in crimson silk handkerchiefs, walked from house to
+house, paying visits of congratulation and talking over the arrival of
+the distinguished American officers; crowds of men played football
+on the snow, and the whole settlement presented an animated, lively
+appearance.
+
+On the evening of the third day after Christmas, the priest gave in
+our honour a grand Siberian ball, to which all the inhabitants of
+the four villages were invited, and for which the most elaborate
+preparations were made. A ball at the house of a priest on Sunday
+night struck me as implying a good deal of inconsistency and I
+hesitated about sanctioning so plain a violation of the fourth
+commandment. Dodd, however, proved to me in the most conclusive manner
+that, owing to difference in time, it was Saturday in America and not
+Sunday at all; that our friends at that very moment were engaged in
+business or pleasure and that our happening to be on the other side
+of the world was no reason why we should not do what our antipodal
+friends were doing at exactly the same time. I was conscious that
+this reasoning was sophistical, but Dodd mixed me up so with his
+"longitude," "Greenwich time," "Bowditch's _Navigator_," "Russian
+Sundays" and "American Sundays," that I was hopelessly bewildered, and
+could not have told for my life whether it was today in America or
+yesterday, or when a Siberian Sunday did begin. I finally concluded
+that as the Russians kept Saturday night, and began another week at
+sunset on the Sabbath, a dance would perhaps be sufficiently innocent
+for that evening. According to Siberian ideas of propriety it was just
+the thing.
+
+A partition was removed in our house, the floor made bare, the room
+brilliantly illuminated with candles stuck against the wall with
+melted grease, benches placed around three sides of the house for the
+ladies, and about five o'clock the pleasure-seekers began to assemble.
+Rather an early hour perhaps for a ball, but it seemed a very long
+time after dark. The crowd which soon gathered numbered about forty,
+the men being all dressed in heavy fur _kukhlankas,_ fur trousers,
+and fur boots, and the ladies in thin white muslin and flowery calico
+prints. The costumes of the respective sexes did not seem to harmonise
+very well, one being light and airy enough for an African summer,
+while the other seemed suitable for an arctic expedition in search of
+Sir John Franklin. However, the general effect was very picturesque.
+The orchestra which was to furnish the music consisted of two rudely
+made violins, two _ballalaikas_ (bal-la-lai'-kahs) or triangular
+native guitars with two strings each, and a huge comb prepared with
+a piece of paper in a manner familiar to all boys. Feeling a little
+curiosity to see how an affair of this kind would be managed upon
+Siberian principles of etiquette, I sat quietly in a sheltered corner
+and watched the proceedings. The ladies, as fast as they arrived,
+seated themselves in a solemn row along a wooden bench at one end
+of the room, and the men stood up in a dense throng at the other.
+Everybody was preternaturally sober. No one smiled, no one said
+anything; and the silence was unbroken save by an occasional rasping
+sound from an asthmatic fiddle in the orchestra, or a melancholy toot,
+toot, as one of the musicians tuned his comb. If this was to be the
+nature of the entertainment, I could not see any impropriety in having
+it on Sunday. It was as mournfully suggestive as a funeral. Little did
+I know, however, the capabilities of excitement which were concealed
+under the sober exteriors of those natives. In a few moments a little
+stir around the door announced refreshments, and a young Chuancee
+brought round and handed to me a huge wooden bowl, holding about four
+quarts of raw frozen cranberries. I thought it could not be possible
+that I was expected to eat four quarts of frozen cranberries! but
+I took a spoonful or two, and looked to Dodd for instructions. He
+motioned to me to pass them along, and as they tasted like acidulated
+hailstones, and gave me a toothache, I was very glad to do so.
+
+The next course consisted of another wooden bowl, filled with what
+seemed to be white pine shavings, and I looked at it in perfect
+astonishment. Frozen cranberries and pine shavings were the most
+extraordinary refreshments that I had ever seen--even in Siberia; but
+I prided myself upon my ability to eat almost anything, and if the
+natives could stand cranberries and shavings I knew I could. What
+seemed to be white pine shavings I found upon trial to be thin
+shavings of raw frozen fish--a great delicacy among the Siberians, and
+one with which, under the name of "struganini" (stroo-gan-nee'-nee),
+I afterward became very familiar. I succeeded in disposing of these
+fish-shavings without any more serious result than an aggravation of
+my toothache. They were followed by white bread and butter, cranberry
+tarts, and cups of boiling hot tea, with which the supper finally
+ended. We were then supposed to be prepared for the labours of the
+evening; and after a good deal of preliminary scraping and tuning the
+orchestra struck up a lively Russian dance called "kapalooshka." The
+heads and right legs of the musicians all beat time emphatically to
+the music, the man with the comb blew himself red in the face, and the
+whole assembly began to sing. In a moment one of the men, clad in a
+spotted deerskin coat and buckskin trousers, sprang into the centre
+of the room and bowed low to a lady who sat upon one end of a long
+crowded bench. The lady rose with a graceful courtesy and they began
+a sort of half dance half pantomime about the room, advancing and
+retiring in perfect time to the music, crossing over and whirling
+swiftly around, the man apparently making love to the lady, and the
+lady repulsing all his advances, turning away and hiding her face
+with her handkerchief. After a few moments of this dumb show the lady
+retired and another took her place; the music doubled its energy
+and rapidity, the dancers began the execution of a tremendous
+"break-down," and shrill exciting cries of "Heekh! Heekh! Heekh!
+Vallai-i-i! Ne fstavai-i-i!" resounded from all parts of the room,
+together with terrific tootings from the comb and the beating of half
+a hundred feet on the bare planks. My blood began to dance in my veins
+with the contagious excitement. Suddenly the man dropped down upon his
+stomach on the floor at the feet of his partner, and began jumping
+around like a huge broken-legged grasshopper upon his elbows and the
+ends of his toes! This extraordinary feat brought down the house in
+the wildest enthusiasm, and the uproar of shouting and singing drowned
+all the instruments except the comb, which still droned away like a
+Scottish bagpipe in its last agonies! Such singing, such dancing,
+and such excitement, I had never before witnessed. It swept away my
+self-possession like the blast of a trumpet sounding a charge. At
+last, the man, after dancing successively with all the ladies in
+the room, stopped apparently exhausted--and I have no doubt that he
+was--and with the perspiration rolling in streams down his face, went
+in search of some frozen cranberries to refresh himself after his
+violent exertion. To this dance, which is called the "Russki"
+(roo'-ski), succeeded another known as the "Cossack waltz," in which
+Dodd to my great astonishment promptly joined. I knew I could dance
+anything he could; so, inviting a lady in red and blue calico to
+participate, I took my place on the floor. The excitement was
+perfectly indescribable, when the two Americans began revolving
+swiftly around the room; the musicians became almost frantic in their
+endeavours to play faster, the man with the comb blew himself into
+a fit of coughing and had to sit down, and a regular tramp, tramp,
+tramp, from fifty or sixty feet, marked time to the music, together
+with encouraging shouts of "Vallai! Amerikansi! Heekh! Heekh! Heekh!"
+and the tumultuous singing of the whole crazy multitude. The pitch of
+excitement to which these natives work themselves up in the course
+of these dances is almost incredible, and it has a wonderfully
+inspiriting effect even upon a foreigner. Had I not been temporarily
+insane with unnatural enthusiasm, I should never have made myself
+ridiculous by attempting to dance that Cossack waltz. It is regarded
+as a great breach of etiquette in Siberia, after once getting upon
+the floor, to sit down until you have danced, or at least offered
+to dance, with all the ladies in the room; and if they are at all
+numerous, it is a very fatiguing sort of amusement. By the time
+Dodd and I finished we were ready to rush out-doors, sit down on a
+snow-bank, and eat frozen fish and cranberry hailstones by the quart.
+Our whole physical system seemed melting with fervent heat.
+
+As an illustration of the esteem with which Americans are regarded in
+that benighted settlement of Anadyrsk, I will just mention that in the
+course of my Cossack waltz I stepped accidentally with my heavy boot
+upon the foot of a Russian peasant. I noticed that his face wore for
+a moment an expression of intense pain, and as soon as the dance
+was over, I went to him, with Dodd as interpreter, to apologise. He
+interrupted me with a profusion of bows, protested that it didn't hurt
+him _at all_, and declared, with an emphasis which testified to his
+sincerity, that he regarded it as an honour to have his toe stepped on
+by an American! I had never before realised what a proud and enviable
+distinction I enjoyed in being a native of our highly favoured
+country! I could stalk abroad into foreign lands with a reckless
+disregard for everybody's toes, and the full assurance that the more
+toes I stepped on the more honour I would confer upon benighted
+foreigners, and the more credit I would reflect upon my own benevolent
+disposition! This was clearly the place for unappreciated Americans to
+come to; and if any young man finds that his merits are not properly
+recognised at home, I advise him in all seriousness to go to Siberia,
+where the natives will regard it as an honour to have him step on
+their toes.
+
+Dances interspersed with curious native games and frequent
+refreshments of frozen cranberries prolonged the entertainment until
+two o'clock, when it finally broke up, having lasted nine hours. I
+have described somewhat in detail this dancing party because it is
+the principal amusement of the semi-civilised inhabitants of all the
+Russian settlements in Siberia, and shows better than anything else
+the careless, happy disposition of the people.
+
+Throughout the holidays the whole population did nothing but pay
+visits, give tea parties, and amuse themselves with dancing,
+sleigh-riding, and playing ball. Every evening between Christmas and
+New Year, bands of masqueraders dressed in fantastic costumes went
+around with music to all the houses in the village and treated the
+inmates to songs and dances. The inhabitants of these little
+Russian settlements in north-eastern Siberia are the most careless,
+warmhearted, hospitable people in the world, and their social life,
+rude as it is, partakes of all these characteristics. There is no
+ceremony or affectation, no "putting on of style" by any particular
+class. All mingle unreservedly together and treat each other with the
+most affectionate cordiality, the men often kissing one another when
+they meet and part, as if they were brothers. Their isolation from all
+the rest of the world seems to have bound them together with ties of
+mutual sympathy and dependence, and banished all feelings of envy,
+jealousy, and petty selfishness. During our stay with the priest we
+were treated with the most thoughtful consideration and kindness, and
+his small store of luxuries, such as flour, sugar, and butter, was
+spent lavishly in providing for our table. As long as it lasted he was
+glad to share it with us, and never hinted at compensation or seemed
+to think that he was doing any more than hospitality required.
+
+[Illustration: ANADYRSK IN WINTER]
+
+With the first ten days of our stay at Anadyrsk are connected some of
+the pleasantest recollections of our Siberian life.
+
+[Illustration: Woman's Mittens of Elk skin]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+NEWS FROM THE ANADYR PARTY--PLAN FOR ITS RELIEF--THE STORY OF A
+STOVE-PIPE--START FOR THE SEACOAST
+
+Immediately after our arrival at Anadyrsk we I had made inquiries as
+to the party of Americans who were said to be living somewhere near
+the mouth of the Anadyr River; but we were not able to get any
+information in addition to that we already possessed. Wandering
+Chukchis had brought the news to the settlement that a small band of
+white men had been landed on the coast south of Bering Strait late in
+the fall, from a "fire-ship" or steamer; that they had dug a sort of
+cellar in the ground, covered it over with bushes and boards, and gone
+into winter quarters. Who they were, what they had come for, and how
+long they intended to stay, were questions which now agitated the
+whole Chukchi nation, but which no one could answer. Their little
+subterranean hut had been entirely buried, the natives said, by the
+drifting snows of winter, and nothing but a curious iron tube out of
+which came smoke and sparks showed where the white men lived. This
+curious iron tube which so puzzled the Chukchis we at once supposed to
+be a stove-pipe, and it furnished the strongest possible confirmation
+of the truth of the story. No Siberian native could ever have invented
+the idea of a stove-pipe--somebody must have seen one; and this fact
+alone convinced us beyond a doubt that there were Americans living
+somewhere on the coast of Bering Sea--probably an exploring party
+landed by Colonel Bulkley to cooperate with us.
+
+The instructions which the Major gave me when we left Gizhiga did not
+provide for any such contingency as the landing of this party near
+Bering Strait, because at that time we had abandoned all hope of such
+cooperation and expected to explore the country by our own unaided
+exertions. The engineer-in-chief had promised faithfully, when we
+sailed from San Francisco, that, if he should leave a party of men at
+the mouth of the Anadyr River at all, he would leave them there early
+in the season with a large whale-boat, so that they could ascend the
+river to a settlement before the opening of winter. When we met the
+Anadyrsk people, therefore, at Gizhiga, late in November, and learned
+that nothing had been heard of any such party, we of course concluded
+that for some reason the plan which Colonel Bulkley proposed had been
+given up. No one dreamed that he would leave a mere handful of men
+in the desolate region south of Bering Strait at the beginning of an
+arctic winter, without any means whatever of transportation, without
+any shelter, surrounded by fierce tribes of lawless natives, and
+distant more than two hundred miles from the nearest civilised human
+being. What was such an unfortunate party to do? They could only live
+there in inactivity until they starved, were murdered, or were brought
+away by an expedition sent to their rescue from the interior. Such was
+the situation when Dodd and I arrived at Anadyrsk. Our orders were to
+leave the Anadyr River unexplored until another season; but we knew
+that as soon as the Major should receive the letters which had passed
+through our hands at Shestakova he would learn that a party had been
+landed south of Bering Strait, and would send us orders by special
+courier to go in search of it and bring it to Anadyrsk, where it would
+be of some use. We therefore determined to anticipate these orders and
+hunt up that American stove-pipe upon our own responsibility.
+
+Our situation, however, was a very peculiar one. We had no means of
+finding out where we were ourselves, or where the American party was.
+We had not been furnished with instruments for making astronomical
+observations, could not determine with any kind of accuracy our
+latitude and longitude, and did not know whether we were two hundred
+miles from the Pacific coast or five hundred. According to the report
+of Lieutenant Phillippeus, who had partially explored the Anadyr
+River, it was about a thousand versts from the settlement to Anadyr
+Bay, while according to the dead reckoning which we had kept from
+Gizhiga it could not be over four hundred. The real distance was to us
+a question of vital importance, because we should be obliged to carry
+dog-food for the whole trip, and if it was anything like a thousand
+versts we should in all probability lose our dogs by starvation before
+we could possibly get back. Besides this, when we finally reached
+Anadyr Bay, if we ever did, we should have no means of finding out
+where the Americans were; and unless we happened to meet a band of
+Chukchis who had seen them, we might wander over those desolate plains
+for a month without coming across the stove-pipe, which was the only
+external sign of their subterranean habitation. It would be far worse
+than the proverbial search for a needle in a haystack.
+
+When we made known to the people of Anadyrsk our intention of going to
+the Pacific coast, and called for volunteers to make up a party,
+we met with the most discouraging opposition. The natives declared
+unanimously that such a journey was impossible, that it had never been
+accomplished, that the lower Anadyr was swept by terrible storms and
+perfectly destitute of wood, that the cold there was always intense,
+and that we should inevitably starve to death, freeze to death,
+or lose all our dogs. They quoted the experience of Lieutenant
+Phillippeus, who had narrowly escaped starvation in the same region in
+1860, and said that while he started in the spring we proposed to
+go in midwinter, when the cold was most intense and the storms most
+severe. Such an adventure they declared was almost certain to end in
+disaster. Our Cossack Gregorie, a brave and trustworthy old man, had
+been Lieutenant Phillippeus's guide and Chukchi interpreter in 1860,
+had been down the river about a hundred and fifty miles in winter,
+and knew something about it. We accordingly dismissed the natives and
+talked the matter over with him. He said that as far as he had ever
+gone towards Anadyr Bay there was trailing-pine enough along the banks
+of the river to supply us with firewood, and that the country was no
+worse than much of that over which we had already travelled between
+Gizhiga and Anadyrsk. He said that he was entirely willing to
+undertake the trip, and would go with his own team of dogs wherever we
+would lead the way. The priest also, who had been down the river in
+summer, believed the journey to be practicable, and said he would
+go himself if he could do any good. Upon the strength of this
+encouragement we gave the natives our final decision, showed them
+the letter which we brought from the Russian governor at Gizhiga
+authorising us to demand men and sledges for all kinds of service, and
+told them that if they still refused to go we would send a special
+messenger to Gizhiga and report their disobedience. This threat
+and the example of our Cossack Gregorie, who was known to be an
+experienced guide from the Okhotsk Sea to the Arctic Ocean, finally
+had the desired effect. Eleven men agreed to go, and we began at once
+to collect dog-food and provisions for an early start. We had as yet
+only the vaguest, most indefinite information with regard to the
+situation of the American party, and we determined to wait a few days
+until a Cossack named Kozhevin (ko-zhay'-vin), who had gone to visit a
+band of Wandering Chukchis, should return. The priest was sure that
+he would bring later and more trustworthy intelligence, because the
+wandering natives throughout the whole country knew of the arrival
+of the mysterious white men, and would probably tell Kozhevin
+approximately where they were. In the meantime we made some additions
+to our heavy suits of furs, prepared masks of squirrelskin to be worn
+over the face in extremely low temperatures, and set all the women in
+the village at work upon a large fur tent.
+
+On Saturday, Jan. 20th, N.S., Kozhevin returned from his visit to the
+Chukchis north of Anadyrsk, bringing as we expected later and fuller
+particulars with regard to the party of exiled Americans south
+of Bering Strait. It consisted, according to the best Chukchi
+intelligence, of only five men, and was located on or near the Anadyr
+River, about one day's journey above its mouth. These five men were
+living, as we had previously been told, in a little subterranean
+house rudely constructed of bushes and boards, and entirely buried in
+drifted snow. They were said to be well supplied with provisions,
+and had a great many barrels, which the Chukchis supposed to contain
+vodka, but which we presumed to be barrels of salt-beef. They made a
+fire, the natives said, in the most wonderful manner by burning "black
+stones in an iron box," while all the smoke came out mysteriously
+through a crooked iron tube which turned around when the wind blew!
+In this vivid but comical description we of course recognised a coal
+stove and a pipe with a rotary funnel. They had also, Kozhevin was
+told, an enormous tame black bear, which they allowed to run loose
+around the house, and which chased away the Chukchis in a most
+energetic manner. When I heard this I could no longer restrain a
+hurrah of exultation. The party was made up of our old San Francisco
+comrades, and the tame black bear was Robinson's Newfoundland dog! I
+had petted him a hundred times in America and had his picture among my
+photographs. He was the dog of the expedition. There could no longer
+be any doubt whatever that the party thus living under the snow on the
+great steppes south of Bering Strait was the long talked of Anadyr
+River exploring party, under the command of Lieutenant Macrae; and our
+hearts beat fast with excitement as we thought of the surprise which
+we should give our old friends and comrades by coming upon them
+suddenly in that desolate, Godforsaken region, almost two thousand
+miles away from the point where they supposed we had landed. Such a
+meeting would repay us tenfold for all the hardships of our Siberian
+life.
+
+Everything, by this time, was ready for a start. Our sledges were
+loaded five feet high with provisions and dog-food for thirty days;
+our fur tent was completed and packed away, to be used if necessary
+in intensely cold weather; bags, overstockings, masks, thick
+sleeping-coats, snow-shovels, axes, rifles, and long Siberian
+snow-shoes were distributed around among the different sledges, and
+everything which Gregorie, Dodd, and I could think of was done to
+insure the success of the expedition.
+
+On Monday morning, Jan. 22d, the whole party assembled in front of
+the priest's house. For the sake of economising transportation, and
+sharing the fortunes of our men, whatever they might be, Dodd and I
+abandoned our _pavoskas_, and drove our own loaded sledges. We did not
+mean to have the natives say that we compelled them to go and then
+avoided our share of work and hardships. The entire population of the
+village, men, women, and children, turned out to see us off, and
+the street before the priest's house was blocked up with a crowd
+of dark-faced men in spotted fur coats, scarlet sashes, and
+fierce-looking foxskin hoods, anxious-faced women running to and fro
+and bidding their husbands and brothers good-bye, eleven long, narrow
+sledges piled high with dried fish and covered with yellow buckskin
+and lashings of sealskin thongs, and finally a hundred and twenty-five
+shaggy wolfish dogs, who drowned every other sound with their combined
+howls of fierce impatience.
+
+Our drivers went into the priest's house, and crossed themselves and
+prayed before the picture of the Saviour, as is their custom
+when starting on a long journey; Dodd and I bade good-bye to the
+kind-hearted priest, and received the cordial "s' Bokhem" (go with
+God), which is the Russian farewell; and then springing upon our
+sledges, and releasing our frantic dogs, we went flying out of the
+village in a cloud of snow which glittered like powdered jewel-dust in
+the red sunshine.
+
+Beyond the two or three hundred miles of snowy desert which lay before
+us we could see, in imagination, a shadowy stove-pipe rising out of a
+bank of snow--the "San greal" of which we, as arctic knights-errant,
+were in search.
+
+[Illustration: Ceremonial Masks of Wood]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+A SLEDGE JOURNEY EASTWARD--REACHING TIDE-WATER--A NIGHT SEARCH FOR
+A STOVE-PIPE--FINDING COMRADES--A VOICE FROM A STOVE--STORY OF THE
+ANADYR PARTY
+
+I will not detain the reader long with the first part of our journey
+from Anadyrsk to the Pacific Coast, as it did not differ much from
+our previous Siberian experience. Riding all day over the ice of the
+river, or across barren steppes, and camping out at night on the snow,
+in all kinds of weather, made up our life; and its dreary monotony was
+relieved only by anticipations of a joyful meeting with our exiled
+friends and the exciting consciousness that we were penetrating a
+country never before visited by civilised man. Day by day the fringe
+of alder bushes along the river bank grew lower and more scanty, and
+the great steppes that bordered the river became whiter and more
+barren as the river widened toward the sea. Finally we left behind us
+the last vestige of vegetation, and began the tenth day of our journey
+along a river which had increased to a mile in width, and amidst
+plains perfectly destitute of all life, which stretched away in one
+unbroken white expanse until they blended with the distant sky. It
+was not without uneasiness that I thought of the possibility of being
+overtaken by a ten days' storm in such a region as this. We had made,
+as nearly as we could estimate, since leaving Anadyrsk, about two
+hundred versts; but whether we were anywhere near the seacoast or not
+we had no means of knowing. The weather for nearly a week had been
+generally clear, and not very cold; but on the night of February 1st
+the thermometer sank to -35 deg., and we could find only just enough small
+green bushes to boil our teakettle. We dug everywhere in the snow
+in search of wood, but found nothing except moss, and a few small
+cranberry bushes which would not burn. Tired with the long day's
+travel, and the fruitless diggings for wood, Dodd and I returned to
+camp, and threw ourselves down upon our bearskins to drink tea. Hardly
+had Dodd put his cup to his lips when I noticed that a curious,
+puzzled expression came over his face, as if he found something
+singular and unusual in the taste of the tea. I was just about to
+ask him what was the matter, when he cried in a joyful and surprised
+voice, "Tide-water! The tea is salt!" Thinking that perhaps a little
+salt might have been dropped accidentally into the tea, I sent the men
+down to the river for some fresh ice, which we carefully melted. It
+was unquestionably salt. We had reached the tide-water of the Pacific,
+and the ocean itself could not be far distant. One more day must
+certainly bring us to the house of the American party, or to the mouth
+of the river. From all appearances we should find no more wood; and
+anxious to make the most of the clear weather, we slept only about six
+hours, and started on at midnight by the light of a brilliant moon.
+
+[Illustration: A MAN OF THE YUKAGIRS]
+
+On the eleventh day after our departure from Anadyrsk, toward the
+close of the long twilight which succeeds an arctic day, our little
+train of eleven sledges drew near the place where, from Chukchi
+accounts, we expected to find the long-exiled party of Americans. The
+night was clear, still, and intensely cold, the thermometer at sunset
+marking forty-four degrees below zero, and sinking rapidly to -50 deg.
+as the rosy flush in the west grew fainter and fainter, and darkness
+settled down upon the vast steppe. Many times before, in Siberia and
+Kamchatka, I had seen nature in her sterner moods and winter garb;
+but never before had the elements of cold, barrenness, and desolation
+seemed to combine into a picture so dreary as the one which was
+presented to us that night near Bering Strait. Far as eye could pierce
+the gathering gloom in every direction lay the barren steppe like a
+boundless ocean of snow, blown into long wave-like ridges by previous
+storms. There was not a tree, nor a bush, nor any sign of animal or
+vegetable life, to show that we were not travelling on a frozen ocean.
+All was silence and desolation. The country seemed abandoned by God
+and man to the Arctic Spirit, whose trembling banners of auroral
+light flared out fitfully in the north in token of his conquest and
+dominion. About eight o'clock the full moon rose huge and red in the
+east, casting a lurid glare over the vast field of snow; but, as if it
+too were under the control of the Arctic Spirit, it was nothing more
+than the mockery of a moon, and was constantly assuming the most
+fantastic and varied shapes. Now it extended itself laterally into a
+long ellipse, then gathered itself up into the semblance of a huge red
+urn, lengthened out to a long perpendicular bar with rounded ends,
+and finally became triangular. It can hardly be imagined what added
+wildness and strangeness this blood-red distorted moon gave to a scene
+already wild and strange. We seemed to have entered upon some frozen
+abandoned world, where all the ordinary laws and phenomena of Nature
+were suspended, where animal and vegetable life were extinct, and from
+which even the favour of the Creator had been withdrawn. The intense
+cold, the solitude, the oppressive silence, and the red, gloomy
+moonlight, like the glare of a distant but mighty conflagration, all
+united to excite in the mind feelings of awe, which were perhaps
+intensified by the consciousness that never before had any human
+being, save a few Wandering Chukchis, ventured in winter upon these
+domains of the Frost King. There was none of the singing, joking,
+and hallooing, with which our drivers were wont to enliven a night
+journey. Stolid and unimpressible though they might be, there was
+something in the scene which even _they_ felt and were silent. Hour
+after hour wore slowly away until midnight. We had passed by more than
+twenty miles the point on the river where the party of Americans was
+supposed to be; but no sign had been found of the subterranean house
+or its projecting stove-pipe, and the great steppe still stretched
+away before us, white, ghastly, and illimitable as ever. For nearly
+twenty-four hours we had travelled without a single stop, night or
+day, except one at sunrise to rest our tired dogs; and the intense
+cold, fatigue, anxiety, and lack of warm food, began at last to tell
+upon our silent but suffering men. We realised for the first time the
+hazardous nature of the adventure in which we were engaged, and the
+almost absolute hopelessness of the search which we were making for
+the lost American party. We had not one chance in a hundred of finding
+at midnight on that vast waste of snow a little buried hut, whose
+location we did not know within fifty miles, and of whose very
+existence we were by no means certain. Who could tell whether the
+Americans had not abandoned their subterranean house two months
+before, and removed with some friendly natives to a more comfortable
+and sheltered situation? We had heard nothing from them later than
+December 1st, and it was now February. They might in that time have
+gone a hundred miles down the coast looking for a settlement, or have
+wandered far back into the interior with a band of Reindeer Chukchis.
+It was not probable that they would have spent four months in that
+dreary, desolate region without making an effort to escape. Even if
+they were still in their old camp, however, how were we to find them?
+We might have passed their little underground hut unobserved hours
+before, and might be now going farther and farther away from it, from
+wood, and from shelter. It had seemed a very easy thing before we left
+Anadyrsk, to simply go down the river until we came to a house on the
+bank, or saw a stove-pipe sticking out of a snow-drift; but now, two
+hundred and fifty or three hundred miles from the settlement, in a
+temperature of 50 deg. below zero, when our lives perhaps depended upon
+finding that little buried hut, we realised how wild had been our
+anticipations, and how faint were our prospects of success. The
+nearest wood was more than fifty miles behind us, and in our chilled
+and exhausted condition we dared not camp without a fire. We must go
+either forward or back--find the hut within four hours, or abandon the
+search and return as rapidly as possible to the nearest wood. Our dogs
+were beginning already to show unmistakable signs of exhaustion, and
+their feet, lacerated by ice which had formed between the toes, were
+now spotting the snow with blood at every step. Unwilling to give up
+the search while there remained any hope, we still went on to the
+eastward, along the edges of high bare bluffs skirting the river,
+separating our sledges as widely as possible, and extending our line
+so as to cover a greater extent of ground. A full moon now high in the
+heavens, lighted up the vast lonely plain on the north side of the
+river as brilliantly as day; but its whiteness was unbroken by any
+dark object, save here and there little hillocks of moss or swampy
+grass from which the snow had been swept by furious winds.
+
+We were all suffering severely from cold, and our fur hoods and the
+breasts of our fur coats were masses of white frost which had
+been formed by our breaths. I had put on two heavy reindeerskin
+_kukhlankas_ weighing in the aggregate about thirty pounds, belted
+them tightly about the waist with a sash, drawn their thick hoods up
+over my head and covered my face with a squirrelskin mask; but in
+spite of all I could only keep from freezing by running beside
+my sledge. Dodd said nothing, but was evidently disheartened and
+half-frozen, while the natives sat silently upon their sledges as if
+they expected nothing and hoped for nothing. Only Gregorie and an old
+Chukchi whom we had brought with us as a guide showed any energy or
+seemed to have any confidence in the ultimate discovery of the party.
+They went on in advance, digging everywhere in the snow for wood,
+examining carefully the banks of the river, and making occasional
+detours into the snowy plain to the northward. At last Dodd, without
+saying anything to me, gave his spiked stick to one of the natives,
+drew his head and arms into the body of his fur coat, and lay down
+upon his sledge to sleep, regardless of my remonstrances, and paying
+no attention whatever to my questions. He was evidently becoming
+stupefied by the deadly chill, which struck through the heaviest
+furs, and which was constantly making insidious advances from the
+extremities to the seat of life. He probably would not live through
+the night unless he could be roused, and might not live two hours.
+Discouraged by his apparently hopeless condition, and exhausted by
+the constant struggle to keep warm, I finally lost all hope and
+reluctantly decided to abandon the search and camp. By stopping where
+we were, breaking up one of our sledges for firewood, and boiling a
+little tea, I thought that Dodd might be revived; but to go on to the
+eastward seemed to be needlessly risking the lives of all without any
+apparent prospect of discovering the party or of finding wood. I had
+just given the order to the natives nearest me to camp, when I thought
+I heard a faint halloo in the distance. All the blood in my veins
+suddenly rushed with a great throb to the heart as I threw back my fur
+hood and listened. Again, a faint, long-drawn cry came back through
+the still atmosphere from the sledges in advance. My dogs pricked up
+their ears at the startling sound and dashed eagerly forward, and in a
+moment I came upon several of our leading drivers gathered in a little
+group around what seemed to be an old overturned whale-boat, which lay
+half buried in snow by the river's bank. The footprint in the sand was
+not more suggestive to Robinson Crusoe than was this weather-beaten,
+abandoned whale-boat to us, for it showed that somewhere in the
+vicinity were shelter and life. One of the men a few moments before
+had driven over some dark, hard object in the snow, which he at first
+supposed to be a log of driftwood; but upon stopping to examine it, he
+found it to be an American whale-boat. If ever we thanked God from the
+bottom of our hearts, it was then. Brushing away with my mitten the
+long fringes of frost which hung to my eyelashes, I looked eagerly
+around for a house, but Gregorie had been quicker than I, and a joyful
+shout from a point a little farther down the river announced another
+discovery. I left my dogs to go where they chose, threw away my spiked
+stick, and started at a run in the direction of the sound. In a moment
+I saw Gregorie and the old Chukchi standing beside a low mound of
+snow, about a hundred yards back from the river-bank, examining some
+dark object which projected from its smooth white surface. It was the
+long talked-of, long-looked-for stove-pipe! The Anadyr River party was
+found.
+
+The unexpected discovery, at midnight, of this party of countrymen,
+when we had just given up all hope of shelter, and almost of life,
+was a God-send to our disheartened spirits, and I hardly knew in my
+excitement what I did. I remember now walking hastily back and forth
+in front of the snow-drift, repeating softly to myself at every step,
+"Thank God!" "Thank God!" but at the time I was not conscious of
+anything except the great fact that we had found that party. Dodd, who
+had been roused from his half-frozen lethargy by the strong excitement
+of the discovery, now suggested that we try to find the entrance to
+the house and get in as quickly, as possible, as he was nearly dead
+from cold and exhaustion. There was no sound of life in the lonely
+snow-drift before us, and the inmates, if it had any, were evidently
+asleep. Seeing no sign anywhere of a door, I walked up on the drift,
+and shouted down through the stove-pipe in tremendous tones, "Halloo
+the house!" A startled voice from under my feet demanded "Who's
+there?"
+
+"Come out and see! Where's the door?"
+
+My voice seemed to the astounded Americans inside to come out of
+the stove--a phenomenon which was utterly unparalleled in all their
+previous experience; but they reasoned very correctly that any stove
+which could ask in good English for the door in the middle of the
+night had an indubitable right to be answered; and they replied in
+a hesitating and half-frightened tone that the door was "on the
+south-east corner." This left us about as wise as before. In the first
+place we did not know which way south-east was, and in the second
+a snow-drift could not properly be described as having a corner. I
+started around the stove-pipe, however, in a circle, with the hope of
+finding some sort of an entrance. The inmates had dug a deep ditch or
+trench about thirty feet in length for a doorway, and had covered it
+over with sticks and reindeerskins to keep out the drifting snow.
+Stepping incautiously upon this frail roof I fell through just as one
+of the startled men was coming out in his shirt and drawers, holding a
+candle above his head, and peering through the darkness of the tunnel
+to see who would enter. The sudden descent through the roof of such an
+apparition as I knew myself to be, was not calculated to restore the
+steadiness of startled nerves. I had on two heavy _kukhlankas_ which
+swelled out my figure to gigantic proportions; two thick reindeerskin
+hoods with long frosty fringes of black bearskin were pulled up over
+my head, a squirrelskin mask frozen into a sheet of ice concealed my
+face, and nothing but the eyes peering out through tangled masses of
+frosty hair showed that the furs contained a human being. The man took
+two or three frightened steps backward and nearly dropped his candle.
+I came in such a "questionable shape" that he might well demand
+"whether my intents were wicked or charitable!" As I recognised his
+face, however, and addressed him again in English, he stopped; and
+tearing off my mask and fur hoods I spoke my name. Never was
+there such rejoicing as that which then took place in that little
+underground cellar, as I recognised in the exiled party two of my old
+comrades and friends, to whom eight months before I had bid good-bye,
+as the _Olga_ sailed out of the Golden Gate of San Francisco. I little
+thought when I shook hands with Harder and Robinson then, that I
+should next meet them at midnight, in a little snow-covered cellar, on
+the great lonely steppes of the lower Anadyr. As soon as we had taken
+off our heavy furs and seated ourselves beside a warm fire, we began
+to feel the sudden reaction which necessarily followed twenty-four
+hours of such exposure, suffering, and anxiety. Our overstrained
+nerves gave way all at once, and in ten minutes I could hardly raise a
+cup of coffee to my lips. Ashamed of such womanish weakness, I tried
+to conceal it from the Americans, and I presume they do not know to
+this day that Dodd and I nearly fainted several times within the first
+twenty minutes, from the suddenness of the change from 50 deg. below zero
+to 70 deg. above, and the nervous exhaustion produced by anxiety and lack
+of sleep. We felt an irresistible craving for some powerful stimulant
+and called for brandy, but there was no liquor of any kind to be had.
+This weakness, however, soon passed away, and we proceeded to relate
+to one another our respective histories and adventures, while our
+drivers huddled together in a mass at one end of the little hut and
+refreshed themselves with hot tea.
+
+The party of Americans which we had thus found buried in the snow,
+more than three hundred versts from Anadyrsk, had been landed there by
+one of the Company's vessels, some time in September. Their intention
+had been to ascend the river in a whale-boat until they should reach
+some settlement, and then try to open communication with us; but
+winter set in so suddenly, and the river froze over so unexpectedly,
+that this plan could not be carried out. Having no means of
+transportation but their boat, they could do nothing more than build
+themselves a house, and go into winter quarters, with the faint hope
+that, some time before spring, Major Abaza would send a party of men
+to their relief. They had built a sort of burrow underground, with
+bushes, driftwood, and a few boards which had been left by the vessel,
+and there they had been living by lamp-light for five months, without
+ever seeing the face of a civilised human being. The Wandering
+Chukchis had soon found out their situation and frequently visited
+them on reindeer-sledges, and brought them fresh meat, and blubber
+which they used for lamp-oil; but these natives, on account of a
+superstition which I have previously mentioned, refused to sell
+them any living reindeer, so that all their efforts to procure
+transportation were unavailing. The party originally consisted of
+five men--Macrae, Arnold, Robinson, Harder, and Smith; but Macrae
+and Arnold, about three weeks previous to our arrival, had organised
+themselves into a "forlorn hope," and had gone away with a large band
+of Wandering Chukchis in search, of some Russian settlement. Since
+that time nothing had been heard from them, and Robinson, Harder, and
+Smith had been living alone.
+
+Such was the situation when we found the party. Of course, there was
+nothing to be done but carry these three men and all their stores back
+to Anadyrsk, where we should probably find Macrae and Arnold awaiting
+our arrival. The Chukchis came to Anadyrsk, I knew, every winter, for
+the purpose of trade, and would probably bring the two Americans with
+them.
+
+After three days spent in resting, refitting, and packing up, we
+started back with the rescued party, and on February 6th we returned
+in safety to Anadyrsk.
+
+[Illustration: Stone Hatchet for cutting edible grass]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+CLASSIFICATION OF NATIVES--INDIAN TYPE, MONGOLIAN TYPE, AND TURKISH
+TYPE--EASTERN VIEW OF WESTERN ARTS AND FASHIONS--AN AMERICAN SAINT
+
+All the inhabitants of the settlement were in the streets to meet us
+when we returned; but we were disappointed not to see among them the
+faces of Macrae and Arnold. Many bands of Chukchis from the lower
+Anadyr had arrived at the village, but nothing had been heard of the
+missing men. Forty-five days had now elapsed since they left their
+camp on the river, and, unless they had died or been murdered, they
+ought long since to have arrived. I should have sent a party in search
+of them, but I had not the slightest clue to the direction in which
+they had gone, or the intentions of the party that had carried them
+away; and to look for a band of Wandering Chukchis on those great
+steppes was as hopeless as to look for a missing vessel in the middle
+of the Pacific Ocean, and far more dangerous. We could only wait,
+therefore, and hope for the best. We spent the first week after our
+return in resting, writing up our journals, and preparing a report of
+our explorations, to be forwarded by special courier to the Major.
+During this time great numbers of wild, wandering natives--Chukchis,
+Lamutkis (la-moot'-kees) and a few Koraks--came into the settlement
+to exchange their furs and walrus teeth for tobacco, and gave us an
+excellent opportunity of studying their various characteristics and
+modes of life. The Wandering Chukchis, who visited us in the greatest
+numbers, were evidently the most powerful tribe in north-eastern
+Siberia, and impressed us very favourably with their general
+appearance and behaviour. Except for their dress, they could hardly
+have been distinguished from North American Indians--many of them
+being as tall, athletic, and vigorous specimens of savage manhood as
+I had ever seen. They did not differ in any essential particular from
+the Wandering Koraks, whose customs, religion, and mode of life I have
+already described.
+
+[Illustration: A MAN OF THE WANDERING CHUKCHIS]
+
+The Lamutkis, however, were an entirely different race, and resembled
+the Chukchis only in their nomadic habits. All the natives in
+north-eastern Siberia, except the Kamchadals, Chuances, and Yukagirs,
+who are partially Russianised, may be referred to one or another of
+three great classes. The first of these, which may be called the North
+American Indian class, comprises the wandering and settled Chukchis
+and Koraks, and covers that part of Siberia lying between the 160th
+meridian of east longitude and Bering Strait. It is the only class
+which has ever made a successful stand against Russian invasion, and
+embraces without doubt the bravest, most independent savages in all
+Siberia. I do not think that this class numbers all together more than
+six or eight thousand souls, although the estimates of the Russians
+are much larger.
+
+The second class comprises all the natives in eastern Siberia who
+are evidently and unmistakably of Mongolian origin, including the
+Tunguses, the Lamutkis, the Manchus, and the Gilyaks of the Amur
+River. It covers a greater extent of ground probably than both of the
+other classes together, its representatives being found as far west as
+the Yenesei, and as far east as Anadyrsk, in 169 deg. E. long. The only
+branches of this class that I have ever seen are the Lamutkis and the
+Tunguses. They are almost exactly alike, both being very slenderly
+built men, with straight black hair, dark olive complexions, no
+beards, and more or less oblique eyes. They do not resemble a Chukchi
+or a Korak any more than a Chinaman resembles a Comanche or a Sioux.
+Their dress is very peculiar. It consists of a fur hood, tight fur
+trousers, short deerskin boots, a Masonic apron, made of soft flexible
+buckskin and elaborately ornamented with beads and pieces of metal,
+and a singular-looking frock-coat cut in very civilised style out of
+deerskin, and ornamented with long strings of coloured reindeer
+hair made into chenille. You can never see one without having the
+impression that he is dressed in some kind of a regalia or uniform.
+The men and women resemble each other very much in dress and
+appearance, and by a stranger cannot be distinguished apart. Like the
+Chukchis and Koraks, they are reindeer nomads, but differ somewhat
+from the former in their mode of life. Their tents are smaller and
+differently constructed and instead of dragging their tent-poles from
+place to place as the Chukchis do, they leave them standing; when they
+break camp, and either cut new ones or avail themselves of frames left
+standing by other bands. Tent-poles in this way serve as landmarks,
+and a day's, journey is from one collection of frames to another. Few
+of the Tunguses or Lamutkis own many deer. Two or three hundred are
+considered to be a large herd, and a man who owns more than that is
+regarded as a sort of millionaire. Such herds as are found among the
+Koraks in northern Kamchatka, numbering from five to ten thousand, are
+never to be seen west of Gizhiga. The Tunguses, however, use their few
+deer to better advantage and in a greater variety of ways than do
+the Koraks. The latter seldom ride their deer or train them to carry
+packs, while the Tunguses do both. The Tunguses are of a mild, amiable
+disposition, easily governed and easily influenced, and seem to have
+made their way over so large an extent of country more through the
+sufferance of other tribes than through any aggressive power or
+disposition of their own. Their original religion was Shamanism,
+but they now profess almost universally the Greco-Russian faith and
+receive Christian names. They acknowledge also their subjection to
+the authority of the Tsar, and pay a regular annual tribute in furs.
+Nearly all the Siberian squirrelskins which reach the European market
+are bought by Russian traders from Wandering Tunguses around the
+Okhotsk Sea. When I left the settlement of Okhotsk, in the fall of
+1867, there were more than seventy thousand squirrelskins there in the
+hands of one Russian merchant, and this was only a small part of the
+whole number caught by the Tunguses during that summer. The Lamutkis,
+who are first cousins to the Tunguses, are fewer in number, but live
+in precisely the same way. I never met more than three or four
+bands during two years of almost constant travel in all parts of
+north-eastern Siberia.
+
+The third great class of natives is the Turkish. It comprises only the
+Yakuts (yah-koots') who are settled chiefly along the Lena River from
+its head-waters to the Arctic Ocean. Their origin is unknown, but
+their language is said to resemble the Turkish or modern Osmanli so
+closely that a Constantinopolitan of the lower class could converse
+fairly well with a Yakut from the Lena. I regret that I was not enough
+interested in comparative philology while in Siberia to compile
+a vocabulary and grammar of the Yakut language. I had excellent
+opportunities for doing so, but was not aware at that time of its
+close resemblance to the Turkish, and looked upon it only as
+an unintelligible jargon which proved nothing but the active
+participation of the Yakuts in the construction of the Tower of Babel.
+The bulk of this tribe is settled immediately around the Asiatic pole
+of cold, and they can unquestionably endure a lower temperature with
+less suffering than any other natives in Siberia. They are called by
+the Russian explorer Wrangell, "iron men," and well do they deserve
+the appellation. The thermometer at Yakutsk, where several thousands
+of them are settled, _averages_ during the three winter months
+thirty-seven degrees below zero; but this intense cold does not seem
+to occasion them the slightest inconvenience. I have seen them in a
+temperature of -40 deg., clad only in a shirt and one sheepskin coat,
+standing quietly in the street, talking and laughing as if it were a
+pleasant summer's day and they were enjoying the balmy air! They are
+the most thrifty, industrious natives in all northern Asia. It is a
+proverbial saying in Siberia, that if you take a Yakut, strip him
+naked, and set him down in the middle of a great desolate steppe, and
+then return to that spot at the expiration of a year, you will find
+him living in a large, comfortable house, surrounded by barns and
+haystacks, owning herds of horses and cattle, and enjoying himself
+like a patriarch. They have all been more or less civilised by Russian
+intercourse, and have adopted Russian manners and the religion of the
+Greek Church. Those settled along the Lena cultivate rye and hay, keep
+herds of Siberian horses and cattle, and live principally upon coarse
+black-bread, milk, butter, and horse-flesh. They are notorious
+gluttons. All are very skilful in the use of the "topor" or short
+Russian axe, and with that instrument alone will go into a primeval
+forest, cut down trees, hew out timber and planks, and put up a
+comfortable house, complete even to panelled doors and window-sashes.
+They are the only natives in all north-eastern Siberia who can do and
+are willing to do hard continuous work.
+
+[Illustration: TUNGUSE MAN AND WOMAN IN BEST SUMMER DRESS]
+
+These three great classes, viz., American Indian natives, Mongolian
+natives, and Turko-Yakut natives, comprise all the aboriginal
+inhabitants of north-eastern Siberia except the Kamchadals, the
+Chuances, and the Yukagirs. [Footnote: There are a few Eskimo-like
+natives living in permanent habitations near Bering Strait, but we did
+not see them.] These last have been so modified by Russian influence,
+that it is hard to tell to which class they are most nearly allied,
+and the ethnologist will shortly be relieved from all further
+consideration of the problem by their inevitable extinction. The
+Chuances and Yukagirs have already become mere fragments of tribes,
+and their languages will perish with the present generation.
+
+The natives of whom we saw most at Anadyrsk were, as I have already
+said, the Chukchis. They frequently called upon us in large parties,
+and afforded us a great deal of amusement by their naive and childlike
+comments upon Americans, American instruments, and the curious
+American things generally which we produced for their inspection. I
+shall never forget the utter astonishment with which a band of them
+once looked through my field-glass. I had been trying it one clear
+cold day out-of-doors, and quite a crowd of Chukchis and Yukagirs had
+gathered around me to see what I was doing. Observing their curiosity,
+I gave the glass to one of them and told him to look through it at
+another native who happened to be standing out on the plain, at
+a distance of perhaps a hundred yards. The expression of blank,
+half-incredulous surprise which gradually came over his features as
+he saw that native brought up, apparently within a few feet, was
+irresistibly comical. He did not dream for a moment that it was a
+mere optical illusion; he supposed that the wonderful instrument had
+actually transported the man physically from a distance of a hundred
+yards up to the place where he stood, and as he held the glass to his
+eyes with one hand, he stretched out the other to try to catch hold of
+him. Finding to his great astonishment that he could not, he removed
+the glass, and saw the man standing quietly as before, a hundred yards
+away. The idea then seemed to occur to him that if he could only
+get this mysterious instrument to his eyes quickly enough, he would
+surprise the man in the very act of coming up--catch him perhaps about
+half-way--and find out how it was done. He accordingly raised the
+glass toward his face very slowly (watching the man meanwhile
+intently, to see that he took no unfair advantage and did not start
+too soon) until it was within an inch of his eyes, and then looked
+through it suddenly. But it was of no use. The man was right beside
+him again, but how he came there he didn't know. Perhaps he could
+catch him if he made a sudden dash, and he tried it. This, however,
+was no more successful than his previous experiments, and the other
+natives looked at him in perfect amazement, wondering what he was
+trying to do with all these singular motions. He endeavoured to
+explain to them in great excitement that the man had been brought up
+apparently within arm's length, and yet he could not touch him. His
+comrades of course denied indignantly that the man had moved at all,
+and they engaged in a furious dispute as to whether this innocent and
+unconscious man had been anywhere near them or not. The native who
+maintained the affirmative appealed to me; but, convulsed with
+laughter, I could make no reply, and he started off at a run, to see
+the man and find out whether he had been brought up or not, and how it
+felt to be transported over a hundred yards of space in an instant of
+time! We who are familiar with these discoveries of science can hardly
+realise how they appear to a wholly uneducated savage; but if a
+superior race of beings should come from the planet Mars and show us
+a mysterious instrument which enabled a man to be in two different
+places at the same time, we should understand the sensations of a
+Chukchi in looking through a field-glass.
+
+Soon after this I happened to be encamped one night on a great plain
+near Anadyrsk, with a party of these same natives; and having received
+a note from Dodd by a special messenger, I was engaged in reading it
+by the camp-fire. At several humorous passages I burst into a loud
+laugh; whereupon the natives nudged one another with their elbows and
+pointed significantly at me, as much as to say, "Just look at the
+crazy American! What's the matter with him now?" Finally one of them,
+an old grey-haired man, asked me what I was laughing at. "Why," said
+I, "I am laughing at this," and pointed to the piece of paper. The old
+man thought about it for a moment, compared notes with the others, and
+they all thought about it; but no one seemed to succeed in getting
+any light as to the cause of my incomprehensible laughter. In a few
+moments the old man picked up a half-burned stick which was lying by
+the fire and said: "Now suppose I should look at this stick for a
+minute and then laugh; what would you think?" "Why," said I candidly,
+"I should think you were a fool." "Well," he rejoined with grave
+satisfaction, "that's just exactly what I think of you!" He seemed to
+be very much pleased to find that our several opinions of such insane
+conduct so exactly coincided. Looking at a stick and laughing, and
+looking at a piece of paper and laughing, seemed to him equally
+absurd. The languages of the Chukchis and Koraks have never-been
+reduced to writing; nor, so far as I know, do either of those tribes
+ever attempt to express ideas by signs or pictures. Written thought is
+to many of them an impossible conception. It can be imagined, perhaps,
+with what wonder and baffled curiosity they pore over the illustrated
+newspapers which are occasionally given to them by the sailors of
+whaling vessels which visit the coast. Some of the pictures they
+recognise as representations of things with which they are acquainted;
+but by far the greater number are as incomprehensible as the
+hieroglyphics of the Aztecs. I remember that a Korak once brought to
+me an old tattered fashion-plate from _Frank Leslie's Illustrated
+Newspaper_ containing three or four full-length figures of imaginary
+ladies, in the widest expansion of crinoline which fashion at that
+time prescribed. The poor Korak said he had often wondered what those
+curious objects could be; and now, as I was an American, perhaps I
+could tell him. He evidently had not the most remote suspicion that
+they were intended to represent human beings. I told him that those
+curious objects, as he called them, were American women. He burst out
+into a "tyee-e-e-e!" of amazement, and asked with a wondering look,
+"Are _all_ the women in your country as big as that at the bottom?" It
+was a severe reflection upon our ladies' dress, and I did not venture
+to tell him that the bigness was artificial, but merely replied sadly
+that they were. He looked curiously down at my feet and then at the
+picture, and then again at my feet, as if he were trying to trace some
+resemblance between the American man and the American woman; but he
+failed to do it, and wisely concluded that they must be of widely
+different species.
+
+[Illustration: A TUNGUSE SUMMER TENT]
+
+The pictures from these papers are sometimes put to curious uses. In
+the hut of a Christianised but ignorant native near Anadyrsk, I once
+saw an engraved portrait, cut from _Harper's Weekly_, of Major General
+Dix, framed, hung up in a corner of the room and worshipped as a
+Russian saint! A gilded candle was burning before his smoky features,
+and every night and morning a dozen natives crossed themselves and
+said their prayers to a major-general in the United States Army! It
+is the only instance, I believe, on record, where a major-general has
+been raised to the dignity of a saint without even being dead.
+St. George of England, we are told, was originally a corrupt army
+contractor of Cappadocia, but he was not canonised until long
+after his death, when the memory of his contracts was no more. For
+Major-General Dix was reserved the peculiar privilege of being at the
+same time United States Minister in Paris and a saint in Siberia!
+
+[Illustration: Woman's fur lined Hood]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+AN ARCTIC AURORA--ORDERS FROM THE MAJOR--ADVENTURES OF MACRAE AND
+ARNOLD WITH THE CHUKCHIS--RETURN TO GIZHIGA--REVIEW OF WINTER'S WORK
+
+Among the few pleasures which reward the traveller for the hardships
+and dangers of life in the Far North, there are none which are
+brighter or longer remembered than the magnificent auroral displays
+which occasionally illumine the darkness of the long polar night, and
+light up with a celestial glory the whole blue vault of heaven. No
+other natural phenomenon is so grand, so mysterious, so terrible in
+its unearthly splendour as this. The veil which conceals from mortal
+eyes the glory of the eternal throne seems drawn aside, and the awed
+beholder is lifted out of the atmosphere of his daily life into the
+immediate presence of God.
+
+On the 20th of February, while we were all yet living together at
+Anadyrsk, there occurred one of the grandest displays of the arctic
+aurora which had been observed there for more than fifty years, and
+which exhibited such unusual and extraordinary brilliancy as to
+astonish and frighten even the natives. It was a cold, dark, but clear
+winter's night, and the sky in the earlier part of the evening showed
+no signs of the magnificent illumination which was already being
+prepared. A few streamers wavered now and then in the north, and a
+faint radiance like that of the rising moon shone above the dark
+belt of shrubbery which bordered the river; but these were common
+occurrences, and excited no notice or remark. Late in the evening,
+just as we were preparing to go to bed, Dodd happened to go outside
+for a moment to look after his dogs; but no sooner had he reached the
+outer door of the entry than he came rushing back, his face ablaze
+with excitement, shouting: "Kennan! Robinson! Come out, quick!" With
+a vague impression that the village must be on fire, I sprang up, and
+without stopping to put on my furs, fan hastily out, followed closely
+by Robinson, Harder, and Smith. As we emerged into the open air there
+burst suddenly upon our startled eyes the grandest exhibition of vivid
+dazzling light and colour of which the mind can conceive. The whole
+universe seemed to be on fire. A broad arch of brilliant prismatic
+colours spanned the heavens from east to west like a gigantic rainbow,
+with a long fringe of crimson and yellow streamers stretching up
+from its convex edge to the very zenith. At intervals of one or two
+seconds, wide, luminous bands, parallel with the arch, rose suddenly
+out of the northern horizon and swept with a swift, steady majesty
+across the whole heavens, like long breakers of phosphorescent light
+rolling in from some limitless ocean of space.
+
+Every portion of the vast arch was momentarily wavering, trembling,
+and changing colour, and the brilliant streamers which fringed its
+edge swept back and forth in great curves, like the fiery sword of the
+angel at the gate of Eden. In a moment the great auroral rainbow, with
+all its wavering streamers, began to move slowly up toward the zenith,
+and a second arch of equal brilliancy formed directly under it,
+shooting up a long serried row of slender, coloured lances toward the
+North Star, like a battalion of the celestial host presenting arms to
+its commanding angel. Every instant the display increased in unearthly
+grandeur. The luminous bands revolved swiftly, like the spokes of a
+great wheel of light, across the heavens; the streamers hurried back
+and forth with swift, tremulous motion from the ends of the arches to
+the centre; and now and then a great wave of crimson would surge up
+from the north and fairly deluge the whole sky with colour, tingeing
+the white snowy earth far and wide with its rosy reflection. But as
+the words of the prophecy, "And the heavens shall be turned to blood,"
+formed themselves upon my lips, the crimson suddenly vanished, and
+a lightning flash of vivid orange startled us with its wide,
+all-pervading glare, which extended even to the southern horizon, as
+if the whole volume of the atmosphere had suddenly taken fire. I even
+held my breath a moment, as I listened for the tremendous crash of
+thunder which it seemed to me must follow this sudden burst of vivid
+light; but in heaven or earth there was not a sound to break the
+stillness of midnight save the hastily muttered prayers of the
+frightened native at my side, as he crossed himself and kneeled down
+before the visible majesty of God. I could not imagine any possible
+addition which even Almighty power could make to the grandeur of the
+aurora as it now appeared. The rapid alternations of crimson, blue,
+green, and yellow in the sky were reflected so vividly from the white
+surface of the snow, that the whole world seemed now steeped in blood,
+and then quivering in an atmosphere of pale, ghastly green, through
+which shone the unspeakable glories of the two mighty crimson and
+yellow arches. But the end was not yet. As we watched with upturned
+faces the swift ebb and flow of these great celestial tides of
+coloured light, the last seal of the glorious revelation was suddenly
+broken, and both arches were simultaneously shivered into a thousand
+parallel perpendicular bars, every one of which displayed in regular
+order, from top to bottom, the primary colours of the solar spectrum.
+From horizon to horizon there now stretched two vast curving bridges
+of coloured bars, across which we almost expected to see, passing and
+repassing, the bright inhabitants of another world. Amid cries of
+astonishment and exclamations of "God have mercy!" from the startled
+natives, these innumerable bars began to move back and forth, with a
+swift dancing motion, along the whole extent of both arches, passing
+one another from side to side with such bewildering rapidity that
+the eye was lost in the attempt to follow them. The whole concave of
+heaven seemed transformed into one great revolving kaleidoscope of
+shattered rainbows. Never had I even dreamed of such an aurora as
+_this_, and I am not ashamed to confess that its magnificence for a
+moment overawed and almost frightened me. The whole sky, from zenith
+to horizon, was "one molten mantling sea of colour and fire;--crimson
+and purple, and scarlet and green, and colours for which there are no
+words in language and no ideas in the mind--things which can only be
+conceived while they are visible." The "signs and portents" in the
+heavens were grand enough to herald the destruction of a world;
+flashes of rich quivering colour, covering half the sky for an instant
+and then vanishing like summer lightning; brilliant green streamers
+shooting swiftly but silently up across the zenith; thousands of
+variegated bars sweeping past one another in two magnificent arches,
+and great luminous waves rolling in from the inter-planetary spaces
+and breaking in long lines of radiant glory upon the shallow
+atmosphere of a darkened world.
+
+With the separation of the two arches into bars the aurora reached its
+utmost magnificence, and from that time its supernatural beauty slowly
+but steadily faded. The first arch broke up, and soon after it the
+second; the flashes of colour appeared less and less frequently; the
+luminous bands ceased to revolve across the zenith; and in an hour
+nothing remained in the dark starry heavens to remind us of the
+aurora, except a few faint Magellan clouds of luminous vapour.
+
+The month of February wore slowly away, and March found us still
+living in Anadyrsk, without any news from the Major, or from the
+missing men, Arnold and Macrae. Fifty-seven days had now elapsed since
+they left their camp on the lower Anadyr, and we began to fear that
+they would never again be seen. Whether they had starved, or frozen
+to death on some great desolate plain south of Bering Strait, or been
+murdered by the Chukchis, we could not conjecture, but their long
+absence was a proof that they had met with some misfortune.
+
+I was not at all satisfied with the route over which we had passed
+from Shestakova to Anadyrsk, on account of its barrenness, and the
+impossibility of transporting heavy telegraph poles over its great
+snowy steppes from the few wooded rivers by which it was traversed. I
+accordingly started from Anadyrsk with five dog-sledges on March 4th,
+to try to find a better route between the Anadyr and the head-waters
+of the Penzhina River. Three days after our departure we met, on the
+road to Penzhina, a special messenger from Gizhiga, bringing a letter
+from the Major dated Okhotsk, January 19th. Enclosed were letters from
+Colonel Bulkley, announcing the landing of the Anadyr River party
+under Lieutenant Macrae, and a map showing the location of their camp.
+The Major wrote as follows: "In case--what God forbid--Macrae and
+party have not arrived at Anadyrsk, you will immediately, upon the
+receipt of this letter, do your utmost to deliver them from their
+too long winter quarters at the mouth of the Anadyr, where they were
+landed in September. I was told that Macrae would be landed _only in
+case of perfect certainty_ to reach Anadyrsk in boats, and I confess I
+don't like such surprises as Colonel Bulkley has made me now. For the
+present our duty consists in doing our utmost to extricate them from
+where they are, and you must get every dog-sledge you can, stuff them
+with dog-food and provisions, and go at once in search of Macrae's
+camp." These directions I had already anticipated and carried out, and
+Macrae's party, or at least all I could find of it, was now living
+in Anadyrsk. When the Major wrote this letter, however, he did not
+suppose that Dodd and I would hear of the landing of the party through
+the Wandering Chukchis, or that we would think of going in search of
+them without orders. He knew that he had told us particularly not to
+attempt to explore the Anadyr River until another season, and did not
+expect that we would go beyond the last settlement. I wrote a hasty
+note to Dodd upon the icy runner of my overturned sledge--freezing two
+fingers in the operation--and sent the courier on to Anadyrsk with the
+letters. The mail also included letters to me from Captain Scammon,
+commander of the Company's fleet, and one from my friend W.H. Dall,
+who had returned with the vessels to San Francisco, and had written me
+while stopping a few days at Petropavlovsk. He begged me, by all the
+sacred interests of Science, not to let a single bug or living thing
+of any kind escape my vigilant eye; but, as I read his letter that
+night by the camp-fire, I thought with a smile that snowy Siberian
+steppes and temperatures of 30 deg. and 40 deg. below zero were not very
+favourable to the growth and dispersion of bugs, nor to efforts for
+their capture and preservation.
+
+I will not go into a detailed account of the explorations which
+Lieutenant Robinson and I made in search of a more practicable route
+for our line between the Penzhina River and Anadyrsk. We found that
+the river system of the Anadyrsk was divided from that of the Penzhina
+only by a low mountain ridge, which could be easily passed, and that,
+by following up certain tributaries of the latter, crossing the
+watershed, and descending one of the branches of the Anadyr, we should
+have almost unbroken water communication between the Okhotsk Sea and
+Bering Strait. Along these rivers timber was generally abundant, and
+where there was none, poles could be distributed easily in rafts. The
+route thus indicated was everything which could be desired; and, much
+gratified by the results of our labours, we returned on March 13th to
+Anadyrsk.
+
+We were overjoyed to learn from the first man who met us after we
+entered the settlement that Macrae and Arnold had arrived, and in five
+minutes we were shaking them by the hand, congratulating them, upon
+their safe arrival, and overwhelming them with questions as to their
+travels and adventures, and the reasons of their long absence.
+
+For sixty-four days they had been living with the Wandering Chukchis,
+and making their way slowly and by a circuitous route towards
+Anadyrsk. They had generally been well treated, but the band with
+which they travelled had been in no hurry to reach the settlement, and
+had been carrying them at the rate of ten or twelve miles a day all
+over the great desolate steppes which lie south of the Anadyr River.
+They had experienced great hardships; had lived upon reindeer's
+entrails and tallow for weeks at a time; had been alive almost
+constantly with vermin; had spent the greater part of two long months
+in smoky Chukchi _pologs_, and had despaired, sometimes, of ever
+reaching a Russian settlement or seeing again a civilised human being;
+but hope and courage had sustained them through it all, and they had
+finally arrived at Anadyrsk safe and well. The sum-total of their
+baggage when they drove into the settlement was a quart bottle
+of whisky wrapped up in an American flag! As soon as we were all
+together, we raised the flag on a pole over our little log house,
+made a whisky punch out of the liquor which had traversed half
+north-eastern Siberia, and drank it in honour of the men who had lived
+sixty-four days with the Wandering Chukchis, and carried the stars and
+stripes through the wildest, least known region on the face of the
+globe.
+
+Having now accomplished all that could be done in the way of
+exploration, we began making preparations for a return to Gizhiga. The
+Major had directed me to meet him there with Macrae, Arnold, Robinson,
+and Dodd, as soon as the first of April, and the month of March was
+now rapidly drawing to a close.
+
+[Illustration: A CHUKCHI RUG OF REINDEER SKIN]
+
+On the 20th we packed up our stores, and bidding good-bye to the
+kind-hearted, hospitable people of Anadyrsk, we set out with a long
+train of sledges for the coast of the Okhotsk Sea.
+
+Our journey was monotonous and uneventful, and on the second of April,
+late at night, we left behind us the white desolate steppe of the
+Paren, and drew near the little flat-topped _yurt_ on the Malmofka,
+which was only twenty-five versts from Gizhiga. Here we met fresh men,
+dogs, and sledges, sent out to meet us by the Major, and, abandoning
+our loaded sledges and tired dogs, we took seats upon the light
+_narts_ of the Gizhiga Cossacks, and dashed away by the light of a
+brilliant aurora toward the settlement.
+
+About one o'clock we heard the distant barking of dogs, and in a few
+moments we rushed furiously into the silent village, and stopped
+before the house of the Russian merchant Vorrebeof (vor'-re-be-off')
+where we had lived the previous fall, and where we expected to find
+the Major. I sprang from my sledge, and groping my way through the
+entry into a warm dark room I shouted "Fstavaitia!" to arouse the
+sleeping inmates. Suddenly some one rose up from the floor at my feet,
+and, grasping me by the arm, exclaimed in a strangely familiar voice,
+"Kennan, is that you?" Startled and bewildered with half-incredulous
+recognition, I could only reply, "Bush, is that you?" and, when a
+sleepy boy came in with a light, he was astonished to find a man
+dressed in heavy frosty furs embracing another who was clad only in a
+linen shirt and drawers.
+
+There was a joyful time in that log house when the Major, Bush,
+Macrae, Arnold, Robinson, Dodd, and I gathered around a steaming
+samovar or tea-urn which stood on a pine table in the centre of the
+room, and discussed the adventures, haps, and mishaps of our first
+arctic winter. Some of us had come from the extremity of Kamchatka,
+some from the frontier of China, and some from Bering Strait, and we
+all met that night in Gizhiga, and congratulated ourselves and one
+another upon the successful exploration of the whole route of the
+proposed Russian-American telegraph line from Anadyr Bay to the Amur
+River. The different members of the party there assembled had, in
+seven months, travelled in the aggregate almost ten thousand miles.
+
+The results of our winter's work were briefly as follows: Bush and
+Mahood, after leaving the Major and me at Petropavlovsk, had gone on
+to the Russian settlement of Nikolaievsk, at the mouth of the Amur
+River, and had entered promptly upon the exploration of the west coast
+of the Okhotsk Sea. They had travelled with the Wandering Tunguses
+through the densely timbered region between Nikolaievsk and Aian,
+ridden on the backs of reindeer over the rugged mountains of the
+Stanavoi range south of Okhotsk, and had finally met the Major at the
+latter place on the 22d. of February. The Major, alone, had explored
+the whole north coast of the Okhotsk Sea and had made a visit to the
+Russian city of Yakutsk, six hundred versts west of Okhotsk, in quest
+of labourers and horses. He had ascertained the possibility of hiring
+a thousand Yakut labourers in the settlements along the Lena River, at
+the rate of sixty dollars a year for each man, and of purchasing
+there as many Siberian horses as we should require at very reasonable
+prices. He had located a route for the line from Gizhiga to Okhotsk,
+and had superintended generally the whole work of exploration. Macrae
+and Arnold had explored nearly all the region lying south of the
+Anadyr and along the lower Myan, and had gained much valuable
+information concerning the little-known tribe of Wandering Chukchis.
+Dodd, Robinson, and I had explored two routes from Gizhiga to
+Anadyrsk, and had found a chain of wooded rivers connecting the
+Okhotsk Sea with the Pacific Ocean near Bering Strait. The natives we
+had everywhere found to be peaceable and well disposed, and many of
+them along the route of the line were already engaged in cutting
+poles. The country, although by no means favourable to the
+construction of a telegraph line, presented no obstacles which energy
+and perseverance could not overcome; and, as we reviewed our winter's
+work, we felt satisfied that the enterprise in which we were engaged,
+if not altogether an easy one, held out at least a fair prospect of
+success.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+LAST WORK OF THE WINTER--BIRDS AND FLOWERS OF SPRING CONTINUOUS
+DAYLIGHT--SOCIAL LIFE IN GIZHIGA--A CURIOUS SICKNESS--SUMMER DAYS AND
+NIGHTS--NEWS FROM AMERICA
+
+The months of April and May, owing to the great length of the days
+and the comparative mildness of the weather, are the most favourable
+months in north-eastern Siberia for outdoor work and travel; and as
+the Company's vessels could not be expected to arrive at Gizhiga
+before the early part of June, Major Abaza determined to make the
+most of the intervening time. As soon as he had recovered a little,
+therefore, from the fatigue of his journey, he started with Bush,
+Macrae, and the Russian governor, for Anadyrsk, intending to
+engage there fifty or sixty native labourers and begin at once the
+construction of station-houses and the cutting and distribution of
+poles along the Anadyr River. My own efforts to that end, owing to the
+laziness of the Anadyrsk people, had been unsuccessful; but it
+was hoped that through the influence and cooperation of the civil
+authority something might perhaps be done.
+
+Major Abaza returned by the very last winter road in May. His
+expedition had been entirely successful; Mr. Bush had been put in
+command of the Northern District from Penzhina to Bering Strait, and
+he, together with Macrae, Harder, and Smith, had been left at Anadyrsk
+for the summer. As soon as the Anadyr River should open, this party
+was directed to descend it in canoes to its mouth, and there await
+the arrival of one of the Company's vessels from San Francisco, with
+reinforcements and supplies. In the meantime fifty native labourers
+from Anadyrsk, Osolkin, and Pokorukof, had been hired and placed at
+their disposal, and it was hoped that by the time the ice should be
+out of the river they would have six or eight station-houses prepared,
+and several thousand poles cut, ready for distribution in rafts
+between the settlements of Anadyrsk and the Pacific coast. Having thus
+accomplished all that it was possible to accomplish with the limited
+means and force at his disposal, Major Abaza returned to Gizhiga,
+to await the arrival of the promised vessels from America with men,
+material, and supplies, for the prosecution of the work.
+
+The season for dog-sledge travel was now over; and as the country
+afforded no other means of interior transportation, we could not
+expect to do any more work, or have any further communication with
+our outlying parties at Anadyrsk and Okhotsk until the arrival of
+our vessels. We therefore rented for ourselves a little log house
+overlooking the valley, of the Gizhiga River, furnished it as
+comfortably as possible with a few plain wooden chairs and tables,
+hung up our maps and charts on the rough log-walls, displayed our
+small library of two books--Shakespeare and the New Testament--as
+advantageously as possible in one corner, and prepared for at least a
+month of luxurious idleness.
+
+It was now June. The snow was rapidly disappearing under the influence
+of the warm long-continued sunshine; the ice in the river showed
+unmistakable signs of breaking up; patches of bare ground appeared
+here and there along the sunny hillsides, and everything foretold the
+speedy approach of the short but hot arctic summer. Winter in most
+parts of north-eastern Siberia begins to break up in May, and summer
+advances with rapid strides upon its retreating footsteps, covering
+instantly with grass and flowers the ground that it reclaims from
+the melting snow-drifts of winter. Hardly is the snow off the ground
+before the delicate wax-like petals of the blueberry and star-flower,
+and the great snowy clusters of labrador tea begin to whiten the mossy
+plains; the birches, willows, and alders burst suddenly into leaf, the
+river banks grow green with a soft carpet of grass, and the warm still
+air is filled all day with the trumpet-like cries of wild swans and
+geese, as they come in great triangular flocks from the sea and
+pass high overhead toward the far North. In three weeks after the
+disappearance of the last snow all Nature has put on the garments of
+midsummer and rejoices in almost perpetual sunshine. There is no long
+wet, lingering spring, no gradual unfolding of buds and leaves one by
+one as with us. The vegetation, which has been held in icy fetters
+for eight long months, bursts suddenly its bonds, and with one great
+irresistible sweep takes the world by storm. There is no longer any
+night; one day blends almost imperceptibly into another, with only a
+short interval of twilight, which has all the coolness and repose of
+night without its darkness. You may sit by your open window and read
+until twelve o'clock, inhaling the fragrance of flowers which is
+brought to you on the cool night wind, listening to the murmur and
+plash of the river in the valley below, and tracing the progress of
+the hidden sun by the flood of rosy light which streams up in the
+North from behind the purple mountains. It is broad daylight, and yet
+all Nature is asleep, and a strange mysterious stillness, like that
+of a solar eclipse, pervades heaven and earth. You can even hear the
+faint roar of the surf on the rocky coast ten miles away. Now and then
+a song-sparrow hidden in the alder thicket by the river bank dreams
+that it is morning and breaks out into a quick unconscious trill of
+melody; but as he wakes he stops himself suddenly and utters a few
+"peeps" of perplexity, as if not quite sure whether it be morning, or
+only last evening, and whether he ought to sing or go to sleep again.
+He finally seems to decide upon the latter course, and all becomes
+silent once more save the murmur of the river over its rocky bed and
+the faint roar of the distant sea. Soon after one o'clock a glittering
+segment of the sun appears between the cloud-like peaks of the distant
+mountains, a sudden flash of golden light illumines the green dewy
+landscape, the little sparrow in the alder thicket triumphantly takes
+up again his unfinished song, the ducks, geese, and aquatic birds
+renew their harsh discordant cries from the marshy flats along the
+river, and all animated nature wakes suddenly to a consciousness of
+daylight as if it were a new thing. There has been no night--but it is
+another day.
+
+The traveller who has never before experienced an arctic summer, and
+who has been accustomed to think of Siberia as a land of eternal snow
+and ice, cannot help being astonished at the sudden and wonderful
+development of animal and vegetable life throughout that country in
+the month of June, and the rapidity of the transition from winter to
+summer in the course of a few short weeks. In the early part of June
+it is frequently possible to travel in the vicinity of Gizhiga upon
+dog-sledges, while by the last of the same month the trees are all in
+full leaf, primroses, cowslips, buttercups, valerian, cinquefoil, and
+labrador tea, blossom everywhere upon the higher plains and river
+banks, and the thermometer at noon frequently reaches 70 deg. Fahr. in the
+shade. There is no spring, in the usual acceptation of the word, at
+all. The disappearance of snow and the appearance of vegetation are
+almost simultaneous; and although the _tundras_ or moss steppes,
+continue for some time to hold water like a saturated sponge, they
+are covered with flowers and blossoming blueberry bushes, and show no
+traces of the long, cold winter which has so recently ended. In less
+than a month after the disappearance of snow in 1860, I collected
+from one high plain about five acres in extent, near the mouth of the
+Gizhiga River, more than sixty species of flowers. Animal life of all
+kinds is equally prompt in making its appearance. Long before the ice
+is out of the gulfs and bays along the coast, migratory birds begin to
+come in from the sea in immense numbers. Innumerable species of
+ducks, geese, and swans--many of them unknown to the American
+ornithologist--swarm about every little pool of water in the valleys
+and upon the lower plains; gulls, fish-hawks, and eagles, keep up a
+continual screaming about the mouths of the numerous rivers; and the
+rocky precipitous coast of the sea is literally alive with countless
+millions of red-beaked puffin or sea-parrots, which build their nests
+in the crevices and upon the ledges of the most inaccessible cliffs,
+and at the report of a pistol fly in clouds which fairly darken the
+air. Besides these predatory and aquatic birds, there are many others
+which are not so gregarious in their habits, and which, consequently,
+attract less notice. Among these are the common barn and chimney
+swallows, crows, ravens, magpies, thrushes, plover, ptarmigan, and
+a kind of grouse known to the Russians as "teteref." Only one
+singing-bird, as far as I know, is to be found in the country, and
+that is a species of small ground-sparrow which frequents the drier
+and more grassy plains in the vicinity of the Russian settlements.
+
+The village of Gizhiga, where we had temporarily established our
+headquarters, was a small settlement of perhaps fifty or sixty plain
+log houses, situated upon the left bank of the Gizhiga River, eight or
+ten miles from the gulf. It was at that time one of the most important
+and flourishing settlements upon the coast of the Okhotsk Sea, and
+controlled all the trade of north-eastern Siberia as far north at the
+Anadyr and as far west as the village of Okhotsk. It was the residence
+of a local governor, the headquarters of four or five Russian
+merchants, and was visited annually by a government supply steamer,
+and several trading vessels belonging to wealthy American houses.
+Its population consisted principally of Siberian Cossacks and the
+descendants of compulsory emigrants from Russia proper, who had
+received their freedom as compensation for forcible expatriation.
+Like all other _settled_ inhabitants of Siberia and Kamchatka, they
+depended for their subsistence principally upon fish; but as the
+country abounded in game, and the climate and soil in the valley of
+the Gizhiga River permitted the cultivation of the hardier kinds of
+garden vegetables, their condition was undoubtedly much better than
+it would have been in Russia proper. They were perfectly free, could
+dispose of their time and services as they chose, and by hiring
+themselves and their dog-sledges to Russian traders in the winter,
+they earned money enough to keep themselves supplied with the simpler
+luxuries, such as tea, sugar, and tobacco, throughout the year. Like
+all the inhabitants of Siberia, and indeed like all Russians, they
+were extremely hospitable, good-natured, and obliging, and they
+contributed not a little to our comfort and amusement during the long
+months which we were obliged to spend in their far-away isolated
+settlement.
+
+The presence of Americans in a village so little frequented by
+strangers as Gizhiga had a very enlivening influence upon society,
+and as soon as the inhabitants ascertained by experiment that these
+distinguished sojourners did not consider it beneath their dignity to
+associate with the _prostoi narod_, or common people, they overwhelmed
+us with invitations to tea-parties and evening dances. Anxious to see
+more of the life of the people, and glad to do anything which would
+diversify our monotonous existence, we made it a point to accept every
+such invitation which we received, and many were the dances which
+Arnold and I attended during the absence of the Major and the Russian
+governor at Anadyrsk. We had no occasion to ask our Cossack Yagor when
+there was to be another dance. The question was rather, "Where is the
+dance to be tonight?" because we knew to a certainty that there would
+be one somewhere, and wished only to know whether the house in which
+it was to be held had a ceiling high enough to insure the safety of
+our heads. It would seem like a preposterous idea to invite people to
+dance the Russian jig in a room which was too low to permit a man of
+average stature to stand upright; but it did not seem at all so to
+these enthusiastic pleasure-seekers in Gizhiga, and night after night
+they would go hopping around a seven-by-nine room to the music of a
+crazy fiddle and a two-stringed guitar, stepping on one another's toes
+and bumping their heads against the ceiling with the most cheerful
+equanimity imaginable. At these dancing parties the Americans always
+received a hearty welcome, and were fed with berries, black-bread, and
+tea, until they could eat and dance no more. Occasionally, however,
+Siberian hospitality took a form which, to say the least, was not
+altogether pleasant. For instance, Dodd and I were invited one evening
+to some kind of an entertainment at the house of one of the Cossacks,
+and, as was customary in such cases, our host set before us a plain
+lunch of black-bread, salt, raw frozen fish, and a small pepper-sauce
+bottle about half full of some liquid which he declared to be vodka.
+Knowing that there was no liquor in the settlement except what we
+had, Dodd inquired where he had obtained it. He replied with evident
+embarrassment that it was some which he had bought from a trading
+vessel the previous fall, and which he had reserved for cases
+of emergency! I didn't believe that there was a Cossack in all
+north-eastern Siberia who was capable of _reserving_ a bottle of
+liquor for any such length of time, and in view of his evident
+uneasiness we thought best to decline to partake of the liquid
+refreshments and to ask no further questions. It might be vodka, but
+it was not free from suspicion. Upon our return home I called our boy
+and inquired if he knew anything about the Cossack's liquor--how he
+obtained it, and where it came from at that season of the year, when
+none of the Russian merchants had any for sale. The boy hesitated a
+moment, but upon being questioned closely he explained the mystery. It
+appeared that the liquor was ours. Whenever any of the inhabitants of
+the village came to call upon us, as they frequently did, especially
+upon holidays, it was customary to give each one of them a drink.
+Taking advantage of this custom, our friend the Cossack used to
+provide himself with a small bottle, hang it about his neck with a
+string, conceal it under his fur coat, and present himself at our
+house every now and then for the ostensible purpose of congratulating
+us upon some Russian holiday. Of course we were expected to reward
+this disinterested sociability with a drink. The Cossack would swallow
+all he could of the fiery stuff, and then holding as much as possible
+in his mouth he would make a terrible grimace, cover his face with one
+hand as if the liquor were very strong, and start hurriedly for the
+kitchen to get some water. As soon as he was secure from observation
+he would take out his bottle, deposit in it the last mouthful of
+liquor which he had _not_ swallowed, and return in a few-moments to
+thank us for our hospitality--and our vodka. This manoeuvre he had
+been practising at our expense for an unknown length of time, and had
+finally accumulated nearly a pint. He then had the unblushing audacity
+to set this half-swallowed vodka before us in an old pepper-sauce
+bottle, and pretend that it was some that he had reserved since
+the previous fall for cases of emergency! Could human impudence go
+farther?
+
+I will relate one other incident which took place during the first
+month of our residence at Gizhiga, and which illustrates another phase
+of the popular character, viz. extreme superstition. As I was sitting
+in the house one morning, drinking tea, I was interrupted by the
+sudden entrance of a Russian Cossack named Kolmagorof. He seemed to
+be unusually sober and anxious about something, and as soon as he had
+bowed and bade me good-morning, he turned to our Cossack, Viushin,
+and began in a low voice to relate to him something which had just
+occurred, and which seemed to be of great interest to them both. Owing
+to my imperfect knowledge of the language, and the low tone in which
+the conversation was carried on, I failed to catch its purport; but
+it closed with an earnest request from Kolmagorof that Viushin should
+give him some article of clothing, which I understood to be a scarf or
+tippet. Viushin immediately went to a little closet in one corner of
+the room, where he was in the habit of storing his personal effects,
+dragged out a large sealskin bag, and began searching in it for the
+desired article. After pulling out three or four pair of fur boots,
+a lump of tallow, some dogskin stockings, a hatchet, and a bundle of
+squirrelskins, he finally produced and held up in triumph one-half
+of an old, dirty, moth-eaten woollen tippet, and handing it to
+Kolmagorof, he resumed his search for the missing piece. This also he
+presently found, in a worse state of preservation, if possible, than
+the other. They looked as if they had been discovered in the bag of
+some poor rag-picker who had fished them up out of a gutter in the
+Five Points. Kolmagorof tied the two pieces together, wrapped them up
+carefully in an old newspaper, thanked Viushin for his trouble, and,
+with an air of great relief, bowed again to me and went out. Wondering
+what use he could make of such a worn, dirty, tattered article of
+clothing as that which he had received, I applied to Viushin for a
+solution of the mystery.
+
+"What did he want that tippet for?" I inquired; "it isn't good for
+anything."
+
+"I know," replied Viushin, "it is a miserable old thing; but there is
+no other in the village, and his daughter has got the 'Anadyrski bol'"
+(Anadyrsk sickness).
+
+"Anadyrski bol!" I repeated in astonishment, never having heard of the
+disease in question; "what has the 'Anadyrski bol' got to do with an
+old tippet?"
+
+"Why, you see, his daughter has asked for a tippet, and as she has
+the Anadyrsk sickness, they must get one for her. It don't make any
+difference about its being old."
+
+This struck me as being a very singular explanation of a very curious
+performance, and I proceeded to question Viushin more closely as to
+the nature of this strange disease, and the manner in which an old
+moth-eaten tippet could afford relief. The information which I
+gathered was briefly as follows: The "Anadyrski bol," so called from
+its having originated at Anadyrsk, was a peculiar form of disease,
+resembling very much the modern spiritual "trance," which had long
+prevailed in north-eastern Siberia, and which defied all ordinary
+remedies and all usual methods of treatment. The persons attacked by
+it, who were generally women, became unconscious of all surrounding
+things, acquired suddenly an ability to speak languages which they
+had never heard, particularly the Yakut language, and were gifted
+temporarily with a sort of second sight or clairvoyance which enabled
+them to describe accurately objects that they could not see and never
+had seen. While in this state they would frequently ask for some
+particular thing, whose appearance and exact location they would
+describe, and unless it were brought to them they would apparently go
+into convulsions, sing in the Yakut language, utter strange cries,
+and behave generally as if they were insane. Nothing could quiet
+them until the article for which they had asked was produced. Thus
+Kolmagorof's daughter had imperatively demanded a woollen tippet,
+and as the poor Cossack had nothing of the sort in the house, he
+had started out through the village to find one. This was all the
+information that Viushin could give me. He had never seen one of these
+possessed persons himself, and had only heard of the disease from
+others; but he said that Paderin, the chief of the Gizhiga Cossacks,
+could undoubtedly tell me all about it, as his daughter had been
+similarly afflicted. Surprised to find among the ignorant peasantry of
+north-eastern Siberia a disease whose symptoms resembled so closely
+the phenomena of modern spiritualism, I determined to investigate
+the subject as far as possible, and as soon as the Major came in,
+I persuaded him to send for Paderin. The chief of the Cossacks--a
+simple, honest old fellow, whom it was impossible to suspect of
+intentional deception--confirmed all that Viushin had told me, and
+gave us many additional particulars. He said that he had frequently
+heard his daughter talk the Yakut language while in one of these
+trances, and had even known her to relate events which were occurring
+at a distance of several hundred miles. The Major inquired how he knew
+that it was the Yakut language which his daughter spoke. He said he
+did not know certainly that it was; but it was not Russian, nor Korak,
+nor any other native language with which he was familiar, and it
+sounded very much like Yakut. I inquired what was done in case the
+sick person demanded some article which it was impossible to obtain.
+Paderin replied that he had never heard of such an instance; if the
+article asked for were an uncommon one, the girl always stated where
+it was to be found--frequently describing with the greatest minuteness
+things which, so far as he knew, she had never seen. On one occasion,
+he said his daughter asked for a particular spotted dog which he was
+accustomed to drive in his team. The dog was brought into the room,
+and the girl at once became quiet; but from that time the dog itself
+became so wild and restless as to be almost unmanageable, and he was
+finally obliged to kill him. "And do you believe in all this stuff?"
+broke in the Major impatiently, as Paderin hesitated for a moment.
+
+"I believe in God and in our Saviour Jesus Christ," replied the
+Cossack, as he crossed himself devoutly.
+
+"That's all right, and so you ought," rejoined the Major; "but that
+has nothing whatever to do with the 'Anadyrski bol.' Do you really
+believe that these women talk in the Yakut language, which they have
+never heard, and describe things which they have never seen?"
+
+[Illustration: TUNGUSES ON REINDEER-BACK MOVING THEIR ENCAMPMENT
+Photograph in The American Museum of Natural History]
+
+Paderin shrugged his shoulders expressively and said that he believed
+what he saw. He then proceeded to relate to us further and still more
+incredible particulars as to the symptoms of the disease, and the
+mysterious powers which it developed in the persons attacked,
+illustrating his statements by reference to the case of his own
+daughter. He was evidently a firm believer in the reality of the
+sickness, but would not say to what agency he ascribed the phenomena
+of second sight and the ability to speak strange languages, which were
+its most remarkable symptoms.
+
+During the day we happened to call upon the ispravnik or Russian
+governor, and in course of conversation mentioned the "Anadyrski bol,"
+and related some of the stories which we had heard from Paderin. The
+ispravnik--skeptical upon all subjects, and especially upon this--said
+that he had often heard of the disease, and that his wife was a
+firm believer in it, but that in his opinion it was a humbug, which
+deserved no other treatment than severe corporal punishment. The
+Russian peasantry, he said, were very superstitious and would believe
+almost anything, and the "Anadyrski bol" was partly a delusion and
+partly an imposition practised by the women upon their male relatives
+to further some selfish purpose. A woman who wanted a new bonnet, and
+who could not obtain it by the ordinary method of teasing, found it
+very convenient as a _dernier ressort_ to fall into a trance state and
+demand a bonnet as a physiological necessity. If the husband still
+remained obdurate, a few well-executed convulsions and a song or two
+in the so-called Yakut language were generally sufficient to bring him
+to terms. He then related an instance of a Russian merchant whose wife
+was attacked by the "Anadyrski bol," and who actually made a winter
+journey from Gizhiga to Yamsk--a distance of 300 versts--to procure a
+silk dress for which she had asked and which could not be elsewhere
+obtained! Of course the women do not always ask for articles which
+they might be supposed to want in a state of health. If they did, it
+would soon arouse the suspicions of their deluded husbands, fathers,
+and brothers, and lead to inconvenient inquiries, if not to still more
+unpleasant experiment, upon the character of the mysterious disease.
+To avoid this, and to blind the men to the real nature of the
+deception, the women frequently ask for dogs, sledges, axes, and other
+similar articles of which they can make no possible use, and thus
+persuade their credulous male relatives that their demands are
+governed only by diseased caprice and have in view no definite object.
+Such was the rationalistic explanation which the ispravnik gave of the
+curious delusion known as the "Anadyrski bol"; and although it argued
+more subtlety on the part of the women and more credulity on the part
+of the men than I had supposed either sex to be capable of, I could
+not but admit that the explanation was a plausible one, and accounted
+satisfactorily for most of the phenomena.
+
+In view of this remarkable piece of feminine strategy, our
+strong-minded women in America must admit that their Siberian sisters
+show greater ingenuity in obtaining their rights and throwing dust in
+the eyes of their lords and masters than has yet been exhibited by all
+the Women's Rights Associations in Christendom. To invent an imaginary
+disease with such peculiar symptoms, cause it to prevail as an
+epidemic throughout a whole country, and use it as a lever to open
+the masculine pocketbooks and supply feminine wants, is the greatest
+triumph which woman's craft has ever achieved over man's stupidity.
+
+The effect of the ispravnik's revelation upon Dodd was very singular.
+He declared that he felt the premonitory symptoms of the "Anadyrski
+bol" coming on, and was sure that he was destined to be a victim to
+the insidious disease. He therefore requested the Major not to be
+surprised if he should come home some day and find him in strong
+convulsions, singing "Yankee Doodle" in the Yakut language, and
+demanding his back pay! The Major assured him that, in a case of such
+desperate emergency, he should be compelled to apply the ispravnik's
+remedy, viz., twenty lashes on the bare back, and advised him to
+postpone his convulsions until the exchequer of the Siberian Division
+should be in a condition to meet his demands.
+
+Our life at Gizhiga during the early part of June was a very decided
+improvement upon the experience of the previous six months. The
+weather was generally warm and pleasant, the hills and valleys were
+green with luxuriant vegetation, daylight had become perpetual, and we
+had nothing to do but ramble about the country in pursuit of game, row
+down to the mouth of the river occasionally to look for vessels, and
+plan all sorts of amusements to pass away the time.
+
+The nights were the most glorious parts of the days, but the perpetual
+light seemed even more strange to us at first than the almost
+perpetual darkness of winter. We could never decide to our own
+satisfaction when one day ended and another began, or when it was
+time to go to bed. It seemed ridiculous to make any preparations for
+retiring before the sun had set; and yet, if we did not, it was sure
+to rise again before we could possibly get to sleep, and then it
+seemed just as preposterous to lie in bed as it did in the first
+place. We finally compromised the matter by putting tight wooden
+shutters over all our windows, and then, by lighting candles inside,
+succeeded in persuading our unbelieving senses that it was night,
+although the sun outside was shining with noonday brilliancy. When we
+awoke, however, another difficulty presented itself. Did we go to bed
+today? or was it yesterday? And what time is it now? Today, yesterday,
+and to-morrow were all mixed up, and we found it almost impossible to
+distinguish one from the other. I caught myself repeatedly making two
+entries in my journal in the course of twenty-four hours, with the
+mistaken impression that two days had passed.
+
+As soon as the ice was fairly out of Gizhiginsk Gulf, so that vessels
+might be expected to enter, Major Abaza caused a number of Cossacks to
+be stationed at the mouth of the river, with orders to watch night and
+day for sails and warn us at once if any appeared.
+
+On the 18th of June the trading brig _Hallie Jackson_, belonging to
+W.H. Bordman, of Boston, entered the gulf, and, as soon as the tide
+permitted, ran into the mouth of the river to discharge her cargo.
+This vessel brought us the first news from the great outside world
+which we had received in more than eleven months, and her arrival was
+hailed with the greatest enthusiasm by both Russians and Americans.
+Half the population of the village came hurrying down to the mouth of
+the river as soon as it became known that a ship had arrived and the
+landing-place for several days was a scene of unwonted activity and
+excitement. The _Jackson_ could give us no information with regard
+to the vessels of our Company, except that when she sailed from San
+Francisco in March they were being rapidly loaded and fitted for
+sea. She brought, however, all the stores which we had left at
+Petropavlovsk the previous fall, as well as a large cargo of tea,
+sugar, tobacco, and sundries for the Siberian trade.
+
+We had found by our winter's experience that money could not be used
+to advantage in payment for native labour, except in the settlements
+of Okhotsk, Gizhiga, and Anadyrsk; and that tea, sugar, and tobacco
+were in every way preferable, on account of the universal consumption
+of those articles throughout the country and the high price which they
+commanded during the winter months. A labourer or teamster, who would
+demand _twenty_ roubles _in money_ for a month's work, was entirely
+satisfied if we gave him eight pounds of tea and ten pounds of sugar
+in its stead; and as the latter cost us only _ten_ roubles, we made
+a saving of one-half in all our expenditures. In view of this fact,
+Major Abaza determined to use as little money as possible, and pay for
+labour in merchandise at current rates. He accordingly purchased from
+the _Jackson_ 10,000 lbs. of tea and 15,000 or 20,000 lbs. of white
+loaf-sugar, which he stored away in the government magazines, to be
+used during the coming winter instead of money.
+
+The _Jackson_ discharged all the cargo that she intended to leave at
+Gizhiga, and as soon as the tide was sufficiently high to enable
+her to cross the bar at the mouth of the river, she sailed for
+Petropavlovsk and left us again alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+DULL LIFE--ARCTIC MOSQUITOES--WAITING FOR SUPPLIES--SHIPS
+SIGNALLED--BARK "CLARA BELL"--RUSSIAN CORVETTE "VARAG"
+
+After the departure of the _Jackson_, we began to look forward
+with eager anticipation to the arrival of our own vessels and the
+termination of our long imprisonment at Gizhiga. Eight months of
+nomadic camp life had given us a taste for adventure and excitement
+which nothing but constant travel could gratify, and as soon as the
+first novelty of idleness wore off we began to tire of our compulsory
+inactivity, and became impatient for work. We had exhausted all the
+amusements of Gizhiga, read all the newspapers which had been brought
+by the _Jackson_, discussed their contents to the minutest details,
+explored every foot of ground in the vicinity of the settlement, and
+tried everything which our ingenuity could devise to pass away
+the time, but all to no avail. The days seemed interminable, the
+long-expected ships did not come, and the mosquitoes and gnats made
+our life a burden. About the tenth of July, the mosquito--that curse
+of the northern summer--rises out of the damp moss of the lower
+plains, and winds his shrill horn to apprise all animated nature of
+his triumphant resurrection and his willingness to furnish musical
+entertainment to man and beast upon extremely reasonable terms. In
+three or four days, if the weather be still and warm, the whole
+atmosphere will be literally filled with clouds of mosquitoes and from
+that time until the 10th of August they persecute every living thing
+with a bloodthirsty eagerness which knows no rest and feels no pity.
+Escape is impossible and defence useless; they follow their unhappy
+victims everywhere, and their untiring perseverance overcomes every
+obstacle which human ingenuity can throw in their way. Smoke of
+any ordinary density they treat with contemptuous indifference;
+mosquito-bars they either evade or carry by assault, and only by
+burying himself alive can man hope to finally escape their relentless
+persecution. In vain we wore gauze veils over our heads and concealed
+ourselves under calico _pologs_. The multitude of our tiny assailants
+was so great that some of them sooner or later were sure to find an
+unguarded opening, and just when we thought ourselves most secure we
+were suddenly surprised and driven out of our shelter by a fresh and
+unexpected attack. Mosquitoes, I know, do not enter into the popular
+conception of Siberia; but never in any tropical country have I seen
+them in such immense numbers as in north-eastern Siberia during the
+month of July. They make the great moss tundras in some places utterly
+uninhabitable, and force even the reindeer to seek the shelter and the
+cooler atmosphere of the mountains. In the Russian settlements they
+torment dogs and cattle until the latter run furiously about in a
+perfect frenzy of pain, and fight desperately for a place to stand in
+the smoke of a fire. As far north as the settlement of Kolyma, on the
+coast of the Arctic Ocean, the natives are compelled, in still, warm
+weather, to surround their houses with a circle of smudges, to protect
+themselves and their domestic animals from the ceaseless persecution
+of mosquitoes.
+
+Early in July all the inhabitants of Gizhiga, with the exception of
+the governor and a few Russian merchants, closed their winter-houses,
+and removed to their "letovies" or summer fishing-stations along the
+banks of the river, to await the arrival of the salmon. Finding the
+deserted village rather dull, Dodd, Robinson, Arnold, and I removed
+to the mouth of the river, and took up our quarters once more in the
+empty government storehouse which we had occupied during the stay of
+the _Hallie Jackson_.
+
+I shall not dwell long upon the monotonous discomfort of the life
+which we led for the next month. It may all be comprised in four
+words--inactivity, disappointment, mosquitoes, and misery. Looking for
+vessels was our only duty, fighting mosquitoes our only diversion; and
+as the former never appeared and the latter never disappeared, both
+occupations were equally unprofitable and unsatisfactory. Twenty times
+a day we put on our gauze veils, tied our clothing down at the wrists
+and ankles, and climbed laboriously to the summit of a high bluff to
+look for vessels; but twenty times a day we returned disappointed to
+our bare, cheerless rooms, and vented our indignation indiscriminately
+upon the country, the Company, the ships, and the mosquitoes. We could
+not help feeling as if we had dropped out of the great current of
+human affairs, as if our places in the distant busy world had been
+filled and our very existence forgotten.
+
+The chief engineer of our enterprise had promised faithfully that
+ships with men, material, and supplies for the immediate prosecution
+of the work, should be at Gizhiga and at the mouth of the Anadyr River
+as early in the season as ice would permit them to enter; but it was
+now August, and they had not yet made their appearance. Whether they
+had been lost, or whether the whole enterprise had been abandoned,
+we could only conjecture; but as week after week passed away without
+bringing any news, we gradually lost all hope and began to discuss the
+advisability of sending some one to the Siberian capital to inform the
+Company by telegraph of our situation.
+
+It is but justice to Major Abaza to say that during all these long
+weary months of waiting he never entirely gave up to discouragement,
+or allowed himself to doubt the perseverance of the Company in the
+work which it had undertaken. The ships might have been belated or
+have met with some misfortune, but he did not think it possible that
+the work had been abandoned, and he continued throughout the summer to
+make such preparations as he could for another winter's campaign.
+
+Early in August, Dodd and I, tired of looking for vessels which never
+came, and which we firmly believed never would come, returned on foot
+to the settlement, leaving Arnold and Robinson to maintain the watch
+at the mouth of the river.
+
+Late in the afternoon of the 14th, while I was busily engaged in
+drawing maps to illustrate the explorations of the previous winter,
+our Cossack servant came rushing furiously into the house, breathless
+with haste and excitement, crying out: "Pooshka! soodna!"--"A cannon!
+a ship!" Knowing that three cannon-shots were the signals which Arnold
+and Robinson had been directed to make in case a vessel was seen
+entering the gulf, we ran hurriedly out of doors and listened eagerly
+for a second report. We had not long to wait. Another faint, dull
+explosion was heard in the direction of the lighthouse, followed at an
+interval of a moment by a third, leaving no room for a doubt that the
+long-expected ships had arrived. Amid great excitement a canoe was
+hastily prepared and launched, and taking our seats upon bearskins
+in the bottom, we ordered our Cossack rowers to push off. At every
+_letoie_ or fishing-station which we passed in our rapid descent of
+the river, we were hailed with shouts of: "Soodnat soodna"--"Aship!
+aship!" and at the last one--Volinkina (vo-lin'-kin-ah)--where we
+stopped for a moment to rest our men, we were told that the vessel was
+now in plain sight from the hills, and that she had anchored near an
+island known as the Matuga (mat'-oo-gah), about twelve miles distant
+from the mouth of the river. Assured that it was no false alarm, we
+pushed on with redoubled speed, and in fifteen minutes more landed at
+the head of the gulf. Arnold and Robinson, with the Russian pilot,
+Kerrillof, had already gone off to the vessel in the government
+whale-boat, so that there remained nothing for us to do but climb to
+the summit of lighthouse bluff and watch impatiently for their return.
+
+It was late in the afternoon when the signal of a vessel in sight had
+been given, and by the time we reached the mouth of the river, it was
+nearly sunset. The ship, which was a good-sized bark, lay quietly at
+anchor near the middle of the gulf, about twelve miles distant, with
+a small American flag flying at her peak. We could see the government
+whale-boat towing astern, and knew that Arnold and Robinson must be
+on board; but the ship's boats still hung at the davits, and no
+preparations were apparently being made to come ashore. The Russian
+governor had made us promise, when we left the settlement, that if the
+reported vessel turned out a reality and not a delusion, we would
+fire three more guns. Frequent disappointment had taught him the
+fallibility of human testimony touching the arrival of ships at that
+particular port, and he did not propose to make a journey to the
+lighthouse in a leaky canoe, unless further intelligence should fully
+justify it. As there could no longer be any doubt about the fact, we
+loaded up the old rusty cannon once more, stuffed it full of wet grass
+to strengthen its voice, and gave the desired signals, which echoed in
+successive crashes from every rocky promontory along the coast, and
+died away to a faint mutter far out at sea.
+
+In the course of an hour the governor made his appearance, and as it
+was beginning to grow dark, we all climbed once more to the summit of
+the bluff to take a last look at the ship before she should be hidden
+from sight. There was no appearance of activity on board, and the
+lateness of the hour made it improbable that Arnold and Robinson would
+return before morning. We went back therefore to the empty government
+house, or "kazarm," and spent half the night in fruitless conjectures
+as to the cause of the vessel's late arrival and the nature of the
+news which she would bring.
+
+With the earliest morning twilight, Dodd and I clambered again to the
+crest of the bluff, to assure ourselves by actual observation that
+the ship had not vanished like the _Flying Dutchman_ under cover of
+darkness, and left us to mourn another disappointment. There was
+little ground for fear. Not only was the bark still in the position
+which she had previously occupied, but there had been another arrival
+during the night. A large three-masted steamer, of apparently 2000
+tons, was lying in the offing, and three small boats could be seen a
+few miles distant pulling swiftly toward the mouth of the river.
+Great was the excitement which this discovery produced. Dodd rushed
+furiously down the hill to the _kazarm_, shouting to the Major that
+there was a steamer in the gulf, and that boats were within five miles
+of the lighthouse. In a few moments we were all gathered in a group on
+the highest point of the bluff, speculating upon the character of the
+mysterious steamer which had thus taken us by surprise, and watching
+the approach of the boats. The largest of these was now within three
+miles, and our glasses enabled us to distinguish in the long, regular
+sweep of its oars, the practised stroke of a man-of-war's crew, and in
+its stem-sheets the peculiar shoulder-straps of Russian officers. The
+steamer was evidently a large war-ship, but what had, brought her to
+that remote, unfrequented part of the world we could not conjecture.
+
+In half an hour more, two of the boats were abreast of lighthouse
+bluff, and we descended to the landing-place to meet them in a state
+of excitement not easily imagined. Fourteen months had elapsed since
+we had heard from home, and the prospect of receiving letters and
+of getting once more to work was a sufficient excuse for unusual
+excitement. The smallest boat was the first to reach the shore, and as
+it grated on the sandy beach an officer in blue naval uniform sprang
+out and introduced himself as Captain Sutton, of the Russian-American
+Telegraph Company's bark _Clara Bell_, two months from San Francisco,
+with men and material for the construction of the line. "Where have
+you been all summer?" demanded the Major as he shook hands with the
+captain; "we have been looking for you ever since June, and had about
+come to the conclusion that the work was abandoned." Captain Sutton
+replied that all of the Company's vessels had been late in leaving
+San Francisco, and that he had also been detained some time in
+Petropavlovsk by circumstances explained in his letters. "What steamer
+is that lying at anchor beyond the _Clara Bell_?" inquired the Major.
+"That is the Russian corvette _Varag_, from Japan."--"But what is she
+doing up here?" "Why," said the captain with a quizzical smile, "you
+ought to know, sir; I understand that she reports to you for orders. I
+believe she has been detailed by the Russian Government to assist in
+the construction of the line; at least that was what I was told when
+we met her at Petropavlovsk. She has a Russian Commissioner on board,
+and a correspondent of the _New York Herald_." This was unexpected
+news. We had heard that the Navy Departments of Russia and the United
+States had been instructed to send ships to Bering Sea to assist the
+Company in making soundings and laying down the cable between the
+American and Siberian coasts, but we had never expected to see either
+of these vessels at Gizhiga. The simultaneous arrival of a loaded
+bark, a steam corvette, a Russian Commissioner, and a correspondent
+of the _New York Herald_ certainly looked like business, and we
+congratulated ourselves and each other upon the improving prospects of
+the Siberian Division.
+
+The corvette's boat by this time had reached the shore, and after
+making the acquaintance of Mr. Anossof, Colonel Knox, the _Herald_
+correspondent, and half a dozen Russian officers who spoke English
+with the greatest fluency, we proceeded to open and read our
+long-delayed mail.
+
+The news, as far as it related to the affairs of the Company and the
+prospects of the enterprise, was very satisfactory. Colonel Bulkley,
+the engineer-in-chief, had touched at Petropavlovsk on his way north,
+and had written us from there, by the _Varag_ and the _Clara Bell_,
+full particulars as to his movements and dispositions. Three
+vessels--the _Clara Bell, Palmetto_, and _Onward_--had been sent from
+San Francisco to Gizhiga with a force of about sixty men, and large
+assorted cargoes to the value of sixty thousand dollars. One of these,
+the _Clara Bell_, loaded with brackets and insulators, had already
+arrived; and the other two, with commissary stores, wire, instruments,
+and men, were _en route_. A fourth vessel with thirty officers and
+workmen, a small river-steamer, and a full supply of tools and
+provisions, had also been sent to the mouth of the Anadyr River, where
+it would be received by Lieutenant Bush. The corvette _Varag_ had been
+detailed by the Russian Navy Department to assist in laying the cable
+across Bering Strait; but as the cable, which was ordered in England,
+had not arrived, there was nothing in particular for the _Varag_ to
+do, and Colonel Bulkley had sent her with the Russian Commissioner to
+Gizhiga. Owing to her great draught of water--twenty-two feet--she
+could not safely come within less than fifteen or twenty miles of the
+Okhotsk Sea coast, and could not, of course, give us much assistance;
+but her very presence, with a special Russian Commissioner on board,
+invested our enterprise with a sort of governmental authority and
+sanction, which enabled us to deal more successfully with the local
+authorities and people than would otherwise have been possible.
+
+It had been Major Abaza's intention, as soon as one of the Company's
+vessels should arrive, to go to the Russian city and province of
+Yakutsk, on the Lena River, engage there five or six hundred native
+labourers, purchase three hundred horses, and make arrangements for
+their distribution along the whole route of the line. The peculiar
+state of affairs, however, at the time the _Varag_ and the _Clara
+Bell_ reached Gizhiga, made it almost impossible for him to leave.
+Two vessels--the _Onward_ and the _Palmetto_--were yet to arrive with
+large and valuable cargoes, whose distribution along the coast of the
+Okhotsk Sea he wished to superintend in person. He decided, therefore,
+to postpone his trip to Yakutsk until later in the fall, and to do
+what he could in the meantime with the two vessels already at his
+disposal. The _Clara Bell_, in addition to her cargo of brackets and
+insulators, brought a foreman and three or four men as passengers,
+and these Major Abaza determined to send under command of Lieutenant
+Arnold to Yamsk, with orders to hire as many native labourers as
+possible and begin at once the work of cutting poles and preparing
+station-houses. The _Varag_ he proposed to send with stores and
+despatches to Mahood, who had been living alone at Okhotsk almost five
+months without news, money, or provisions, and who it was presumed
+must be nearly discouraged.
+
+On the day previous to the _Varag's_ departure, we were all invited by
+her social and warm-hearted officers to a last complimentary dinner;
+and although we had not been and should not be able with our scanty
+means to reciprocate such attentions, we felt no hesitation in
+accepting the invitation and tasting once more the pleasures of
+civilised life. Nearly all the officers of the _Varag_, some thirty in
+number, spoke English; the ship itself was luxuriously fitted up; a
+fine military band welcomed us with "Hail, Columbia!" when we came
+on board, and played selections from _Martha, Traviata_, and _Der
+Freischuetz_ while we dined, and all things contributed to make our
+visit to the _Varag_ a bright spot in our Siberian experience.
+
+On the following morning at ten o'clock, we returned to the _Clara
+Bell_ in one of the latter's small-boats, and the corvette steamed
+slowly out to sea, her officers waving their hats from the
+quarter-deck in mute farewell, and her band playing the Pirate's
+Chorus--"Ever be happy and blest as thou art"--as if in mockery of our
+lonely, cheerless exile! It was a gloomy party of men which returned
+that afternoon to a supper of reindeer-meat and cabbage in the bare
+deserted rooms of the government storehouse at Gizhiga! We realised
+then, if never before, the difference between _life_ in "God's
+country" and _existence_ in north-eastern Asia.
+
+As soon as possible after the departure of the _Varag_, the _Clara
+Bell_ was brought into the mouth of the river, her cargo of brackets
+and insulators discharged, Lieutenant Arnold and party sent on board,
+and with the next high tide, August 26th, she sailed for Yamsk and
+San Francisco, leaving no one at Gizhiga but the original Kamchatkan
+party, Dodd, the Major, and myself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+ARRIVAL OF BARK "PALMETTO"--DRIVEN ASHORE BY GALE--DISCHARGING
+CARGO UNDER DIFFICULTIES--NEGRO CREW MUTINIES--LONELY TRIP TO
+ANADYRSK--STUPID KORAKS--EXPLOSIVE PROVISIONS
+
+The brief excitement produced by the arrival of the _Varag_ and the
+_Clara Bell_ was succeeded by another long, dreary month of waiting,
+during which we lived as before in lonely discomfort at the mouth of
+the Gizhiga River. Week after week passed away without bringing any
+tidings from the missing ships, and at last the brief northern summer
+closed, snow appeared upon the mountains, and heavy long-continued
+storms announced the speedy approach of another winter. More than
+three months had elapsed since the supposed departure of the _Onward_
+and _Palmetto_ from San Francisco, and we could account for their
+non-appearance only by the supposition that they had either been
+disabled or lost at sea. On the 18th of September, Major Abaza
+determined to send a messenger to the Siberian capital, to telegraph
+the Company for instructions. Left as we were at the beginning of a
+second winter without men, tools, or materials of any kind, except
+50,000 insulators and brackets, we could do nothing toward the
+construction of the line, and our only resource was to make our
+unpleasant situation known to the Company. On the 19th, however,
+before this resolution could be carried into effect, the long-expected
+bark _Palmetto_ arrived, followed closely by the Russian
+supply-steamer _Saghalin_, from Nikolaievsk. The latter, being
+independent of wind and drawing very little water, had no difficulty
+in crossing the bar and gaining the shelter of the river; but the
+_Palmetto_ was compelled to anchor outside and await a higher tide.
+The weather, which for several days had been cold and threatening,
+grew momentarily worse, and on the 22d the wind was blowing a
+close-reefed-topsail gale from the south-east, and rolling a
+tremendous sea into the unprotected gulf. We felt the most serious
+apprehensions for the safety of the unfortunate bark; but as the water
+would not permit her to cross the bar at the mouth of the river,
+nothing could be done until another high tide. On the 23d, it became
+evident that the _Palmetto_--upon which now rested all our hopes--must
+inevitably go ashore. She had broken her heaviest anchor, and was
+drifting slowly but surely against the rocky, precipitous coast on the
+eastern side of the river, where nothing could prevent her from being
+dashed to pieces. As there was now no other alternative, Captain
+Arthur slipped his cable, got his ship under way, and stood directly
+in for the mouth of the river. He could no longer avoid going ashore
+somewhere, and it was better to strike on a yielding bar of sand than
+to drift helplessly against a black perpendicular wall of rock, where
+destruction would be certain. The bark came gallantly in until she
+was only half a mile distant from the lighthouse, and then grounded
+heavily in about seven feet of water. As soon as she struck she began
+pounding with tremendous violence against the bottom while the seas
+broke in great white clouds of spray entirely over her quarter-deck.
+It did not seem probable, that she would live through the night. As
+the tide rose, however, she drove farther and farther in toward the
+mouth of the river until, at full flood, she was only a quarter of
+a mile distant. Being a very strongly built ship, she suffered less
+damage than we had supposed, and, as the tide ran out, she lay high
+and dry on the bar, with no more serious injury than the loss of her
+false keel and a few sections of her copper sheathing.
+
+As she was lying on her beam-ends, with her deck careened at an angle
+of forty-five degrees, it was impossible to hoist anything out of her
+hold, but we made preparations at once to discharge her cargo in boats
+as soon as another tide should raise her into an upright position.
+We felt little hope of being able to save the ship, but it was
+all-important that her cargo should be discharged before she should go
+to pieces. Captain Tobezin, of the Russian steamer _Saghalin_, offered
+us the use of all his boats and the assistance of his crew, and on the
+following day we began work with six or seven boats, a large lighter,
+and about fifty men. The sea still continued to run very high; the
+bark recommenced her pounding against the bottom; the lighter swamped
+and sank with a full load about a hundred yards from shore, and a
+miscellaneous assortment of boxes, crates, and flour-barrels went
+swimming up the river with the tide. Notwithstanding all these
+misfortunes, we kept perseveringly at work with the boats as long as
+there was water enough around the bark to float them, and by the time
+the tide ran out we could congratulate ourselves upon having saved
+provisions enough to insure us against starvation, even though the
+ship should go to pieces that night. On the 25th, the wind abated
+somewhat in violence, the sea went down, and as the bark did not seem
+to be seriously injured we began to entertain some hope of saving both
+ship and cargo. From the 25th until the 29th of September, all the
+boats of the _Saghalin_ and of the _Palmetto_, with the crews of both
+vessels, were constantly engaged in transporting stores from the bark
+to the shore, and on the 30th at least half of the _Palmetto's_ cargo
+was safely discharged. So far as we could judge, there would be
+nothing to prevent her from going to sea with the first high tide
+in October. A careful examination proved that she had sustained no
+greater injury than the loss of her false keel, and this, in the
+opinion of the _Saghalin's_ officers, would not make her any the
+less seaworthy, or interfere to any extent with her sailing. A new
+difficulty, however, presented itself. The crew of the _Palmetto were_
+all negroes; and as soon as they learned that Major Abaza intended to
+send the bark to San Francisco that fall, they promptly refused to go,
+declaring that the vessel was unseaworthy, and that they preferred
+to spend the winter in Siberia rather than risk a voyage in her to
+America. Major Abaza immediately called a commission of the officers
+of the _Saghalin_, and requested them to make another examination
+of the bark and give him their opinion in writing as to her
+seaworthiness. The examination was made, and the opinion given that
+she was entirely fit for a voyage to Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, and
+probably to San Francisco. This decision was read to the negroes,
+but they still persisted in their refusal. After warning them of the
+consequences of mutiny, the Major ordered their ringleader to be put
+in irons, and he was conveyed on board the _Saghalin_ and imprisoned
+in the "black hole"; but his comrades still held out. It was of vital
+importance that the _Palmetto_ should go to sea with the first high
+tide, because the season was already far advanced, and she must
+inevitably be wrecked by ice if she remained in the river later than
+the middle of October.
+
+Besides this, Major Abaza would be compelled to leave for Yakutsk on
+the steamer _Saghalin_, and the latter was now ready to go to sea. On
+the afternoon of the 1st, just as the _Saghalin_ was getting up steam
+to start, the negroes sent word to the Major that if he would release
+the man whom he had caused to be put in irons, they would do their
+best to finish unloading the _Palmetto_ and to get her back to San
+Francisco. The man was promptly released, and two hours afterwards
+Major Abaza sailed on the _Saghalin_ for Okhotsk, leaving us to do the
+best we could with our half-wrecked stranded ship and her mutinous
+crew.
+
+The cargo of the bark was still only half discharged, and we
+continued for the next five days to unload in boats, but it was hard,
+discouraging work, as there were only six hours in the twenty-four
+during which boats could reach the ship, and those six hours were from
+eleven o'clock P.M. to five in the morning. At all other times the
+ship lay on her beam-ends, and the water around her was too shallow to
+float even a plank. To add, if possible, to our difficulties and to
+our anxiety, the weather became suddenly colder, the thermometer fell
+to zero, masses of floating ice came in with every tide and tore off
+great sheets of the vessel's copper as they drifted past, and the
+river soon became so choked up with icy fragments that we were obliged
+to haul the boats back and forth with ropes. In spite of weather,
+water, and ice, however, the vessel's cargo was slowly but steadily
+discharged, and by the 10th of October nothing remained on board
+except a few hogsheads of flour, some salt-beef and pork which we
+did not want, and seventy-five or a hundred tons of coal. These we
+determined to let her carry back to San Francisco as ballast. The
+tides were now getting successively higher and higher every day, and
+on the 11th the _Palmetto_ floated for the first time in almost three
+weeks. As soon as her keel cleared the bar she was swung around into
+the channel, head to sea, and moored with light kedge-anchors, ready
+for a start on the following day. Since the intensely cold weather of
+the previous week, her crew of negroes had expressed no further
+desire to spend a winter in Siberia, and, unless the wind should veer
+suddenly to the southward, we could see nothing to prevent her from
+getting safely out of the river. The wind for once proved favourable,
+and at 2 P.M. on the 12th of October the _Palmetto_ shook out her
+long-furled courses and topsails, cut the cables of her kedge-anchors,
+and with a light breeze from the north-east, moved slowly out into the
+gulf. Never was music more sweet to my ears than the hearty "Yo heave
+ho!" of her negro crew as they sheeted home the topgallant sails
+outside the bar! The bark was safely at sea. She was not a day too
+soon in making her escape. In less than a week after her departure,
+the river and the upper part of the gulf were so packed with ice that
+it would have been impossible for her to move or to avoid total wreck.
+
+The prospects of the enterprise at the opening of the second winter
+were more favourable than they had been at any time since its
+inception. The Company's vessels, it is true, had been very late in
+their arrival, and one of them, the _Onward_, had not come at all;
+but the _Palmetto_ had brought twelve or fourteen more men and a full
+supply of tools and provisions, Major Abaza had gone to Yakutsk to
+hire six or eight hundred native labourers and purchase three hundred
+horses, and we hoped that the first of February would find the work
+progressing rapidly along the whole extent of the line.
+
+As soon as possible after the departure of the _Palmetto_, I sent
+Lieutenant Sandford and the twelve men whom she had brought into the
+woods on the Gizhiga River above the settlement, supplied them with
+axes, snow-shoes, dog-sledges, and provisions, and set them at work
+cutting poles and building houses, to be distributed across the
+steppes between Gizhiga and Penzhinsk Gulf. I also sent a small party
+of natives under Mr. Wheeler to Yamsk, with five or six sledge-loads
+of axes and provisions for Lieutenant Arnold, and despatches to be
+forwarded to Major Abaza. For the present, nothing more could be done
+on the coast of the Okhotsk Sea, and I prepared to start once more
+for the north. We had heard nothing whatever from Lieutenant Bush
+and party since the first of the previous May, and we were of course
+anxious to know what success he had met with in cutting and rafting
+poles down the Anadyr River, and what were his prospects and plans for
+the winter. The late arrival of the _Palmetto_ at Gizhiga had led us
+to fear that the vessel destined for the Anadyr might also have
+been detained and have placed Lieutenant Bush and party in a very
+unpleasant if not dangerous situation. Major Abaza had directed me,
+therefore, when he sailed for Okhotsk, to go by the first winter road
+to Anadyrsk and ascertain whether the Company's vessels had been at
+the mouth of the river, and whether Bush needed any assistance. As
+there was no longer anything to detain me at Gizhiga, I packed up my
+camp-equipage and extra fur clothes, loaded five sledges with tea,
+sugar, tobacco, and provisions, and on November 2d started with six
+Cossacks for my last journey to the Arctic Circle.
+
+In all my Siberian experience I can recall no expedition which was so
+lonely and dismal as this. For the sake of saving transportation, I
+had decided not to take any of my American comrades with me; but by
+many a silent camp-fire did I regret my self-denying economy, and
+long for the hearty laugh and good-humoured raillery of my "fidus
+Achates"--Dodd. During twenty-five days I did not meet a civilised
+being or speak a word of my native language, and at the end of that
+time I should have been glad to talk to an intelligent American dog.
+"Aloneness," says Beecher, "is to social life what rests are to
+music"; but a journey made up entirely of "aloneness" is no more
+entertaining than a piece of music made up entirely of rests--only a
+vivid imagination can make anything out of either.
+
+[Illustration: A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS IN MIDWINTER]
+
+At Kuil, on the coast of Penzhinsk Gulf, I was compelled to leave
+my good-humoured Cossacks and take for drivers half a dozen stupid,
+sullen, shaven-headed Koraks, and from that time I was more lonesome
+than ever. I had been able to talk a little with the Cossacks, and
+had managed to pass away the long winter evenings by the camp-fire in
+questioning them about their peculiar beliefs and superstitions, and
+listening to their characteristic stories of Siberian life; but now,
+as I could not speak the Korak language, I was absolutely without any
+resource for amusement.
+
+My new drivers were the ugliest, most villainous-looking Koraks that
+it would have been possible to select in all the Penzhinsk Gulf
+settlements, and their obstinacy and sullen stupidity kept me in
+a chronic state of ill-humour from the time we left Kuil until we
+reached Penzhina. Only by threatening them periodically with a
+revolver could I make them go at all. The art of camping out
+comfortably in bad weather they knew nothing whatever about, and in
+vain did I try to teach them. In spite of all my instructions and
+illustrations, they would persist night after night in digging a deep
+narrow hole in the snow for a fire, and squatting around the top of it
+like frogs around the edge of a well, while I made a camp for myself.
+Of the art of cooking they were equally ignorant, and the mystery of
+canned provisions they could never fathom. Why the contents of one can
+should be boiled, while the contents of another precisely similar
+can should be fried--why one turned into soup and another into a
+cake--were questions which they gravely discussed night after
+night, but about which they could never agree. Astounding were the
+experiments which they occasionally tried upon the contents of these
+incomprehensible tin boxes. Tomatoes they brought to me fried into
+cakes with butter, peaches they mixed with canned beef and boiled for
+soup, green corn they sweetened, and desiccated vegetables they broke
+into lumps with stones. Never by any accident did they hit upon
+the right combination, unless I stood over them constantly and
+superintended personally the preparation of my own supper. Ignorant as
+they were, however, of the nature of these strange American eatables,
+they always manifested a great curiosity to taste them, and their
+experiments in this way were sometimes very amusing. One evening, soon
+after we left Shestakova, they happened to see me eating a pickled
+cucumber, and as this was something which had never come within the
+range of their limited gastronomical experience, they asked me for
+a piece to taste. Knowing well what the result would be, I gave the
+whole cucumber to the dirtiest, worst-looking vagabond in the party,
+and motioned to him to take a good bite. As he put it to his lips his
+comrades watched him with breathless curiosity to see how he liked it.
+For a moment his face wore an expression of blended surprise, wonder,
+and disgust, which was irresistibly ludicrous, and he seemed disposed
+to spit the disagreeable morsel out; but with a strong effort he
+controlled himself, forced his features into a ghastly imitation
+of satisfaction, smacked his lips, declared it was "akhmel
+nemelkhin"--very good,--and handed the pickle to his next neighbour.
+The latter was equally astonished and disgusted with its unexpected
+sourness, but, rather than admit his disappointment and be laughed at
+by the others, he also pretended that it was delicious, and passed it
+along. Six men in succession went through with this transparent farce
+with the greatest solemnity; but when they had all tasted it, and all
+been victimised, they burst out into a simultaneous "ty-e-e-e" of
+astonishment, and gave free expression to their long-suppressed
+emotions of disgust. The vehement spitting, coughing, and washing out
+of mouths with snow, which succeeded this outburst, proved that the
+taste for pickles is an acquired one, and that man in his aboriginal
+state does not possess it. What particularly amused me, however, was
+the way in which they imposed on one another. Each individual Korak,
+as soon as he found that he had been victimised, saw at once the
+necessity of getting even by victimising the next man, and not one of
+them would admit that there was anything bad about the pickle until
+they had all tasted it. "Misery loves company," and human nature is
+the same all the world over. Dissatisfied as they were with the result
+of this experiment, they were not at all daunted, but still continued
+to ask me for samples of every tin can I opened. Just before we
+reached Penzhina, however, a catastrophe occurred which relieved
+me from their importunity, and inspired them with a superstitious
+reverence for tin cans which no subsequent familiarity could ever
+overcome. We were accustomed, when we came into camp at night, to set
+our cans into a bed of hot ashes and embers to thaw out, and I had
+cautioned my drivers repeatedly not to do this until after the cans
+had been opened. I could not of course explain to them that the
+accumulation of steam would cause the cans to burst; but I did tell
+them that it would be "atkin"--bad--if they did not make a hole in the
+cover before putting the can on the fire. One evening, however, they
+forgot or neglected to take this precaution, and while they were all
+squatting in a circle around the fire, absorbed in meditation, one of
+the cans suddenly blew up with a tremendous explosion, set free an
+immense cloud of steam, and scattered fragments of boiling hot mutton
+in every direction. Had a volcano opened suddenly under the camp-fire,
+the Koraks could not have been more dismayed. They had not time to get
+up and run away, so they rolled over backward with their heels in the
+air, shouted "Kammuk!"--"The Devil!"--and gave themselves up for lost.
+My hearty laughter finally reassured them, and made them a little
+ashamed of their momentary panic; but from that time forward they
+handled tin cans as if they were loaded percussion shells, and could
+never again be induced to taste a morsel of their contents.
+
+Our progress toward Anadyrsk after we left the coast of the Okhotsk
+Sea was very slow, on account both of the shortness of the days, and
+the depth and softness of the freshly fallen snow. Frequently, for ten
+or fifteen miles at a stretch, we were compelled to break a road on
+snow-shoes for our heavily loaded sledges, and even then our tired
+dogs could hardly struggle through the soft powdery drifts. The
+weather, too, was so intensely cold that my mercurial thermometer,
+which indicated only -23 deg., was almost useless. For several days the
+mercury never rose out of the bulb, and I could only estimate the
+temperature by the rapidity with which my supper froze after being
+taken from the fire. More than once soup turned from a liquid to a
+solid in my hands, and green corn froze to my tin plate before I could
+finish eating it.
+
+On the fourteenth day after leaving Gizhiga we reached the native
+settlement of Penzhina, two hundred versts from Anadyrsk. Ours was
+the first arrival at that place since the previous May, and the whole
+population of the village--men, women, children, and dogs--turned out
+_en masse_ to meet us, with the most joyful demonstrations. Six months
+had elapsed since they last saw a strange face or heard from the
+outside world, and they proceeded to fire a salute from half a dozen
+rusty old muskets, as a faint expression of their delight.
+
+I had confidently expected when I left Gizhiga that I should meet
+somewhere on the road a courier with news and despatches from Bush;
+and I was very much disappointed and a little alarmed when I reached
+Penzhina to find that no one had arrived at that place from Anadyrsk,
+and that nothing had been heard from our party since the previous
+spring. I felt a presentiment that something was wrong, because Bush
+had been expressly directed to send a courier to Gizhiga by the first
+winter road, and it was now late in November.
+
+On the following day my worst anticipations were realised. Late in the
+evening, as I was sitting in the house of one of the Russian peasants
+drinking tea, the cry was raised that "Anadyrski yaydoot"--"Some one
+is coming from Anadyrsk"; and running hastily out of the house I met
+the long-haired Anadyrsk priest just as he stepped from his sledge in
+front of the door. My first question of course was, "Where's Bush?"
+But my heart sank as the priest replied: "Bokh yevo znaiet"--"God
+only knows." "But where did you see him last?--Where did he spend the
+summer?" I inquired. "I saw him last at the mouth of the Anadyr River,
+in July," said the priest, "and since that time nothing has been heard
+from him." A few more questions brought out the whole dismal story.
+Bush, Macrae, Harder, and Smith had gone down the Anadyr River in June
+with a large raft of station-houses, intended for erection along its
+banks. After putting up these houses at necessary points, they had
+gone on in canoes to Anadyr Bay, to await the arrival of the Company's
+vessels from San Francisco. Here the priest had joined them and had
+lived with them several weeks; but late in July their scanty supply
+of provisions had given out, the expected ships had not come, and the
+priest returned to the settlement, leaving the unfortunate Americans
+in a half-starving condition at the mouth of the river. Since that
+time nothing had been heard from them, and, as the priest mournfully
+said, "God only knew" where they were and what had happened to them.
+This was bad news, but it was not the worst. In consequence of the
+entire failure of the salmon fisheries of the Anadyr River that
+season, a terrible famine had broken out at Anadyrsk, part of the
+inhabitants and nearly all the dogs had died of starvation, and the
+village was almost deserted. Everybody who had dogs enough to draw a
+sledge had gone in search of the Wandering Chukchis, with whom they
+could live until another summer; and the few people who were left in
+the settlement were eating their boots and scraps of reindeerskin to
+keep themselves alive. Early in October a party of natives had gone in
+search of Bush and his comrades on dog-sledges, but more than a month
+had now elapsed since their departure and they had not yet returned.
+In all probability they had starved to death on the great desolate
+plains of the lower Anadyr, as they had been compelled to start with
+only ten days' provisions, and it was doubtful whether they would meet
+Wandering Chukchis who could supply them with more.
+
+Such was the first news which I heard from the Northern District--a
+famine at Anadyrsk, Bush and party absent since July, and eight
+natives and dog-sledges missing since the middle of October. I did
+not see how the state of affairs could be any worse, and I spent a
+sleepless night in thinking over the situation and trying to decide
+upon some plan of operations. Much as I dreaded another journey to the
+mouth of the Anadyr in midwinter, I saw no way of avoiding it. The
+fact that nothing had been heard from Bush in four months proved that
+he had met with some misfortune, and it was clearly my duty to go to
+Anadyr Bay in search of him if there was a possibility of doing so. On
+the following morning, therefore, I began buying a supply of dog-food,
+and before night I had collected 2000 dried fish and a quantity of
+seals' blubber, which I felt sure would last five dog teams at least
+forty days. I then sent for the chief of a band of Wandering Koraks
+who happened to be encamped near Penzhina, and prevailed upon him to
+drive his herd of reindeer to Anadyrsk, and kill enough to supply the
+starving inhabitants with food until they could get other help. I also
+sent two natives back to Gizhiga on dog-sledges, with a letter to the
+Russian governor, apprising him of the famine, and another to Dodd,
+directing him to load all the dog-sledges he could get with provisions
+and send them at once to Penzhina, where I would make arrangements for
+their transportation to the famine-stricken settlement.
+
+I started myself for Anadyrsk on November 20th with five of the best
+men and an equal number of the best dog-teams in Penzhina. These men
+and dogs I intended to take with me to the mouth of the Anadyr River
+if I heard nothing from Bush before I reached Anadyrsk.
+
+[Illustration: Box for holding cups and teapot]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+
+A MEETING IN THE NIGHT--HARDSHIPS OF BUSH'S PARTY--SIBERIAN
+FAMINES--FISH SAVINGS BANKS--WORK IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT--STARVING
+POLE CUTTERS--A JOURNEY TO YAMSK
+
+Availing ourselves of the road which had been broken by the sledges
+of the priest, we made more rapid progress toward Anadyrsk than I had
+anticipated, and on November 22d we camped at the foot of a range of
+low mountains known as the "Russki Krebet," only thirty versts south
+of the settlement. With the hope of reaching our destination before
+the next morning, we had intended to travel all night; but a storm
+sprang up most inopportunely just before dark and prevented us from
+getting over the pass. About midnight the wind abated a little, the
+moon came out occasionally through rifts in the clouds, and, fearing
+that we should have no better opportunity, we roused up our tired dogs
+and began the ascent of the mountain. It was a wild, lonely scene.
+The snow was drifting in dense clouds down the pass, half hiding from
+sight the bare white peaks on either side, and blotting out all the
+landscape behind us as we ascended. Now and then the misty moonbeams
+would struggle faintly through the clouds of flying snow and light up
+for a moment the great barren slope of the mountain above our heads;
+then they would be suddenly smothered in dark vapour, the wind would
+come roaring down the ravine again, and everything would vanish in
+clouds and darkness. Blinded and panting for breath, we finally gained
+the summit, and as we stopped for a moment to rest our tired dogs, we
+were suddenly startled by the sight of a long line of dark objects
+passing swiftly across the bare mountain-top only a few yards away and
+plunging down into the ravine out of which we had just come. I caught
+only a glimpse of them, but they seemed to be dog-sledges, and with a
+great shout we started in pursuit. Dog-sledges they were, and as we
+drew nearer I recognised among them the old sealskin covered _pavoska_
+which I had left at Anadyrsk the previous winter, and which I knew
+must be occupied by an American. With heart beating fast from
+excitement I sprang from my sledge, ran up to the _pavoska_, and
+demanded in English, "Who is it?" It was too dark to recognise faces,
+but I knew well the voice that answered "Bush!" and never was that
+voice more welcome. For more than three weeks I had not seen a
+countryman nor spoken a word of English; I was lonely and disheartened
+by constantly accumulating misfortunes, when suddenly at midnight on
+a desolate mountain-top, in a storm, I met an old friend and comrade
+whom I had almost given up as dead. It was a joyful meeting. The
+natives who had gone to Anadyr Bay in search of Bush and his party had
+returned in safety, bringing Bush with them, and he was on his way to
+Gizhiga to carry the news of the famine and get provisions and help.
+He had been stopped by the storm as we had, and when it abated a
+little at midnight we had both started from opposite sides to cross
+the mountain, and had thus met upon the summit.
+
+We went back together to my deserted camp on the south side of the
+mountain, blew up the embers of my still smouldering fire, spread down
+our bearskins, and sat there talking until we were as white as polar
+bears with the drifting snow, and day began to break in the East.
+
+Bush brought more bad news. They had gone down to the mouth of the
+Anadyr, as the priest had already informed me, in the early part of
+June, and had waited there for the Company's vessels almost four
+months. Their provisions had finally given out, and they had been
+compelled to subsist upon the few fish that they were able to catch
+from day to day, and go hungry when they could catch none. For salt
+they scraped the staves of an old pork-barrel which had been left at
+Macrae's camp the previous winter, and for coffee they drank burned
+rice water. At last, however, salt and rice both failed, and they were
+reduced to an unvarying and often scanty diet of boiled fish, without
+coffee, bread, or salt. Living in the midst of a great moss swamp
+fifty miles from the nearest tree, dressing in skins for the want of
+anything else, suffering frequently from hunger, tormented constantly
+by mosquitoes, from which they had no protection, and looking day
+after day and week after week for vessels which never came, their
+situation was certainly miserable. The Company's bark _Golden Gate_
+had finally arrived in October, bringing twenty-five men and a small
+steamer; but winter had already set in, and five days afterwards,
+before they could finish discharging the vessel's cargo, she was
+wrecked by ice. Her crew and nearly all her stores were saved, but by
+this misfortune the number of the party was increased from twenty-five
+to forty-seven, without any corresponding increase in the quantity of
+provisions for their subsistence. Fortunately, however, there were
+bands of Wandering Chukchis within reach, and from them Bush succeeded
+in buying a considerable number of reindeer, which he caused to be
+frozen and stored away for future use. After the freezing over of the
+Anadyr River, Bush was left, as Macrae had been the previous winter,
+without any means of getting up to the settlement, a distance of 250
+miles; but he had foreseen this difficulty, and had left orders at
+Anadyrsk that if he failed to return in canoes before the river
+closed, dog-sledges should be sent to his assistance. Notwithstanding
+the famine the dog-sledges were sent, and Bush, with two men, had
+returned on them to Anadyrsk. Finding that settlement famine-stricken
+and deserted, he had started without a moment's delay for Gizhiga, his
+exhausted and starving dogs dying along the road.
+
+The situation of affairs, then, when I met Bush on the summit of the
+Russki Krebet, was briefly as follows:
+
+Forty-four men were living at the mouth of the Anadyr River, 250 miles
+from the nearest settlement, without provisions enough to last them
+through the winter, and without any means whatever of getting away.
+The village of Anadyrsk was deserted, and with the exception of a few
+teams at Penzhina, there were no available dogs in all the Northern
+District, from the Okhotsk Sea to Bering Strait. Under such
+circumstances, what could be done? Bush and I discussed the question
+all night beside our lonely camp-fire under the Russki Krebet, but
+could come to no decision, and after sleeping three or four hours
+we started for Anadyrsk. Late in the afternoon we drove into the
+settlement--but it could be called a settlement no longer. The two
+upper villages--"Osolkin" and "Pokorukof," which on the previous
+winter had presented so thriving an appearance, were now left without
+a single inhabitant, and Markova itself was occupied only by a few
+starving families whose dogs had all died, and who were therefore
+unable to get away. No chorus of howls announced our arrival; no
+people came out to meet us; the windows of the houses were closed with
+wooden shutters, and half buried in drifts; the snow was unbroken by
+paths, and the whole village was silent and desolate. It looked as if
+one-half of the inhabitants had died and the other half had gone
+to the funeral! We stopped at a small log-house where Bush had
+established his headquarters, and spent the remainder of the day in
+talking over our respective experiences.
+
+The unpleasant situation in which we found ourselves placed was due
+almost entirely to the famine at Anadyrsk. The late arrival and
+consequent wreck of the _Golden Gate_ was of course a great
+misfortune; but it would not have been irretrievable had not the
+famine deprived us of all means of transportation. The inhabitants of
+Anadyrsk, as well as of all the other Russian settlements in Siberia,
+are dependent for their very existence upon the fish which enter the
+rivers every summer to spawn, and are caught by thousands as they make
+their way up-stream toward the shallow water of the tributary brooks
+in the interior of the country. As long as these migrations of
+the fish are regular the natives have no difficulty in providing
+themselves with an abundance of food; but once in every three or four
+years, for some unexplained reason, the fish fail to come, and the
+following winter brings precisely such a famine as the one which I
+have described at Anadyrsk, only frequently much worse. In 1860
+more than a hundred and fifty natives died of starvation in four
+settlements on the coast of Penzhinsk Gulf, and the peninsula of
+Kamchatka has been swept by famines again and again since the Russian
+conquest, until its population has been reduced more than one-half.
+Were it not for the Wandering Koraks, who come to the relief of the
+starving people with their immense herds of reindeer, I firmly believe
+that the _settled_ population of Siberia, including the Russians,
+Chuances, Yukagirs, and Kamchadals, would become extinct in less than
+fifty years. The great distance of the settlements one from another,
+and the absence of any means of intercommunication in summer, make
+each village entirely dependent upon its own resources, and prevent
+any mutual support and assistance, until it is too late to be of any
+avail. The first victims of such famines are always the dogs; and the
+people being thus deprived of their only means of transportation,
+cannot get away from the famine-stricken settlement, and after eating
+their boots, sealskin thongs, and scraps of untanned leather, they
+finally die of pure starvation. For this, however, their own careless
+improvidence is primarily responsible. They might catch and dry fish
+enough in one year to last them three; but instead of doing this, they
+provide barely food enough to last them through one winter, and
+take the chances of starvation on the next. No experience, however
+severe--no suffering, however great, teaches them prudence. A man who
+has barely escaped starvation one winter, will run precisely the same
+risk on the next, rather than take a little extra trouble and catch a
+few more fish. Even when they see that a famine is inevitable, they
+take no measures to mitigate its severity or to obtain relief, until
+they find themselves absolutely without a morsel to put in their
+mouths.
+
+[Illustration: AN ARCTIC FUNERAL]
+
+A native of Anadyrsk once happened to tell me, in the course of
+conversation, that he had only five days' dog-food left. "But," said
+I, "what do you intend to do at the end of those five days?"--"Bokh
+yevo znaiet"--God only knows!--was the characteristic response,
+and the native turned carelessly away as if it were a matter of no
+consequence whatever. If God only knew, he seemed to think that it
+made very little difference whether anybody else knew or not. After he
+had fed his dogs the last dried fish in his storehouse, it would be
+time enough to look about for more; but until then he did not propose
+to borrow any unnecessary trouble. This well known recklessness and
+improvidence of the natives finally led the Russian Government to
+establish at several of the north-eastern Siberian settlements a
+peculiar institution which may be called a Fish Savings Bank, or
+Starvation Insurance Office. It was organised at first by the gradual
+purchase from the natives of about a hundred thousand dried fish, or
+_yukala_, which constituted the capital stock of the bank. Every male
+inhabitant of the settlement was then obliged by law to pay into this
+bank annually one-tenth of all the fish he caught, and no excuse was
+admitted for a failure. The surplus fund thus created was added every
+year to the capital, so that as long as the fish continued to come
+regularly, the resources of the bank were constantly accumulating.
+When, however, the fish for any reason failed and a famine
+was threatened, every depositor--or, more strictly speaking,
+tax-payer--was allowed to borrow from the bank enough fish to supply
+his immediate wants, upon condition of returning the same on the
+following summer, together with the regular annual payment of ten per
+cent. It is evident that an institution once thoroughly established
+upon such a basis, and managed upon such principles, could never fail,
+but would constantly increase its capital of dried fish until the
+settlement would be perfectly secure against even the possibility
+of famine. At Kolyma, a Russian post on the Arctic Ocean, where the
+experiment was first tried, it proved a complete success. The bank
+sustained the inhabitants of the village through severe famines during
+two consecutive winters, and its capital in 1867 amounted to 300,000
+dried fish, and was accumulating at the rate of 20,000 a year.
+Anadyrsk, not being a Russian military post, had no bank of this kind;
+but had our work been continued another year, we intended to petition
+the Government for the organisation of such institutions at all the
+settlements, Russian and native, along the whole route of our line.
+
+In the meantime, however, the famine was irremediable, and on December
+1, 1867, poor Bush found himself in a deserted settlement 600 versts
+from Gizhiga without money, without provisions, and without means of
+transportation--but with a helpless party of forty-four men, at the
+mouth of the Anadyr River, dependent upon him for support. Building a
+telegraph line under such circumstances was out of the question. All
+that he could hope to do would be to keep his parties supplied with
+provisions until the arrival of horses and men from Yakutsk should
+enable him to resume work.
+
+On November 29th, finding that I could be of no further assistance at
+Anadyrsk, and that I was only helping to eat up more rapidly Bush's
+scanty supply of provisions, I started with two Penzhina sledges for
+Gizhiga. As I did not again visit the Northern District, and shall
+have no further occasion to refer to it, I will relate briefly here
+the little which I afterward learned by letter with regard to the
+misfortunes and unhappy experiences of the Company's employes in that
+region. The sledges that I had ordered from Gizhiga reached Penzhina
+late in December, with about 3000 pounds of beans, rice, hard-bread,
+and assorted stores. As soon as possible after their arrival Bush sent
+half a dozen sledges and a small quantity of provisions to the party
+at the mouth of the Anadyr River and in February they returned,
+bringing six men. Determined to accomplish something, however
+little, Bush sent these six men to a point on the Myan River, about
+seventy-five versts from Anadyrsk, and set them at work on snow-shoes
+cutting poles along the route of the line. Later in the winter another
+expedition was sent to Anadyr Bay, and on the 4th of March it also
+returned, bringing Lieutenant Macrae and seven more men. This party
+experienced terrible weather on its way from the mouth of the river
+to Anadyrsk, and one of its members--a man named Robinson--died in
+a storm about 150 versts east of the settlement. His body was left
+unburied in one of the houses which Bush had erected the previous
+summer and his comrades pushed on. As soon as they reached Anadyrsk
+they were sent to the Myan, and by the middle of March the two parties
+together had cut and distributed along the banks of that river about
+3000 poles. In April, however, their provisions began again to run
+short, they were gradually reduced to the verge of starvation,
+and Bush started a second time for Gizhiga with a few miserable
+half-starved and exhausted dog-teams, to get more provisions. During
+his absence the unfortunate parties on the Myan were left to take
+care of themselves, and after consuming their last morsel of food and
+eating up three horses which had previously been sent to them from
+Anadyrsk, they organised themselves into a forlorn hope, and started
+on snow-shoes for the settlement. It was a terrible walk for
+half-starving men; and although they reached their destination in
+safety, they were entirely exhausted, and when they approached the
+village could hardly go a hundred yards at a time without falling.
+At Anadyrsk they succeeded in obtaining a small quantity of
+reindeer-meat, upon which they lived until the return of Lieutenant
+Bush from Gizhiga with provisions, some time in May. Thus ended the
+second winter's work in the Northern District. As far as practical
+results were concerned, it was an almost complete failure; but it
+developed in our officers and men a courage, a perseverance, and a
+patient endurance of hardships which deserved, and which under more
+favourable auspices would have achieved, the most brilliant success.
+In the month of February, while Mr. Norton and his men were at work
+on the Myan River, the thermometer indicated more than forty degrees
+below zero during sixteen days out of twenty-one, sank five times to
+-60 deg. and once to -68 deg., or one hundred degrees below the freezing point
+of water. Cutting poles on snow-shoes, in a temperature ranging
+from 40 deg. to 60 deg. below zero is, in itself, no slight trial of men's
+hardihood; but when to this are added the sufferings of hunger and the
+peril of utter starvation in a perfect wilderness, it passes human
+endurance, and the only wonder is that Norton and Macrae could
+accomplish as much as they did.
+
+Returning from Anadyrsk, I reached Gizhiga on the 15th of December,
+after a hard and lonely journey of sixteen days. A special courier
+had just arrived there from Yakutsk, bringing letters and orders from
+Major Abaza.
+
+He had succeeded, with the sanction and cooperation of the governor of
+that province, in hiring for a period of three years a force of eight
+hundred Yakut labourers, at a fixed rate of sixty rubles, or about
+forty dollars a year for each man. He had also purchased three hundred
+Yakut horses and pack-saddles, and an immense quantity of material
+and provisions of various kinds for the equipment and subsistence of
+horses and workmen. A portion of these men were already on their way
+to Okhotsk, and the whole force would be sent thither in successive
+detachments as rapidly as possible, and distributed from there along
+the whole route of the line. It would be necessary, of course, to
+put this large force of native labourers under skilled American
+superintendence; and as we had not foremen enough in all our parties
+to oversee more than five or six gangs of men, Major Abaza determined
+to send a courier to Petropavlovsk for the officers who had sailed
+from San Francisco in the bark _Onward_, and who he presumed had been
+landed by that vessel in Kamchatka. He directed me, therefore, to make
+arrangements for the transportation of these men from Petropavlovsk to
+Gizhiga; to prepare immediately for the reception of fifty or sixty
+Yakut labourers; to send six hundred army rations to Yamsk for the
+subsistence of our American party there, and three thousand pounds of
+rye flour for a party of Yakuts who would reach there in February.
+To fill all these requisitions I had at my disposal about fifteen
+dog-sledges, and even these had gone with provisions to Penzhina for
+the relief of Lieutenant Bush. With the assistance of the Russian
+governor I succeeded in getting two Cossacks to go to Petropavlovsk
+after the Americans who were presumed to have been left there by the
+_Onward_, and half a dozen Koraks to carry provisions to Yamsk, while
+Lieutenant Arnold himself sent sledges for the six hundred rations. I
+thus retained my own fifteen sledges to supply Lieutenant Sandford
+and party, who were now cutting poles on the Tilghai River, north of
+Penzhinsk Gulf. One day late in December, while Dodd and I were out
+on the river above the settlement training a team of dogs, word was
+brought to us that an American had arrived from Kamchatka, bringing
+news from the long-missing bark _Onward_ and the party of men whom
+she landed at Petropavlovsk. Hurrying back to the village with all
+possible speed, we found Mr. Lewis, the American in question, seated
+comfortably in our house drinking tea. This enterprising young
+man--who, by the way, was a telegraph operator, wholly unaccustomed
+to rough life--without being able to speak a word of Russian, had
+traversed alone, in mid-winter, the whole wilderness of Kamchatka from
+Petropavlovsk to Gizhiga. He had been forty-two days on the road, and
+had travelled on dog-sledges nearly twelve hundred miles, with no
+companions except a few natives and a Cossack from Tigil. He seemed
+disposed to look upon this achievement very modestly, but in some
+respects it was one of the most remarkable journeys ever made by one
+of the Company's employes.
+
+The _Onward_, as we had supposed, being unable to reach Gizhiga, on
+account of the lateness of the season, had discharged her cargo and
+landed most of her passengers at Petropavlovsk; and Mr. Lewis had been
+sent by the chief of the party to report their situation to Major
+Abaza, and find out what they should do.
+
+After the arrival of Mr. Lewis nothing of special importance occurred
+until March. Arnold at Yamsk, Sandford on the Tilghai, and Bush at
+Anadyrsk, were trying, with the few men they had, to accomplish some
+work; but, owing to deep snow-storms, intensely cold weather, and a
+general lack everywhere of provisions and dogs, their efforts were
+mostly fruitless. In January I made an excursion with twelve or
+fifteen sledges to Sandford's camp on the Tilghai, and attempted to
+move his party to another point thirty or forty versts nearer Gizhiga;
+but in a severe storm on the Kuil steppe we were broken up, dispersed,
+and all lost separately, and after wandering around four or five
+days in clouds of drifting snow which hid even our dogs from sight,
+Sandford with a portion of his party returned to the Tilghai, and I
+with the remainder to Gizhiga.
+
+Late in February the Cossack Kolmagorof arrived from Petropavlovsk,
+Kamchatka, bringing three of the men who had been landed there by the
+_Onward_.
+
+In March I received by a special courier from Yakutsk another letter
+and more orders from Major Abaza. The eight hundred labourers whom he
+had engaged were being rapidly sent forward to Okhotsk, and more than
+a hundred and fifty were already at work at that place and at Yamsk.
+The equipment and transportation of the remainder still required his
+personal supervision, and it would be impossible, he wrote, for him to
+return that winter to Gizhiga. He could come however, as far as
+the settlement of Yamsk, three hundred versts west of Gizhiga, and
+requested me to meet him at that place within twelve days after the
+receipt of his letter. I started at once with one American companion
+named Leet, taking twelve days' dog-food and provisions.
+
+The country between Gizhiga and Yamsk was entirely different in
+character from anything which I had previously seen in Siberia. There
+were no such great desolate plains as those between Gizhiga and
+Anadyrsk and in the northern part of Kamchatka. On the contrary, the
+whole coast of the Okhotsk Sea, for nearly six hundred miles west
+of Gizhiga, was one wilderness of rugged, broken, almost impassable
+mountains, intersected by deep valleys and ravines, and heavily
+timbered with dense pine and larch forests. The Stanavoi range of
+mountains, which sweeps up around the Okhotsk Sea from the Chinese
+frontier, keeps everywhere near the coast line, and sends down between
+its lateral spurs hundreds of small rivers and streams which run
+through deep wooded valleys to the sea. The road, or rather the
+travelled route from Gizhiga to Yamsk, crosses all these streams and
+lateral spurs at right angles, keeping about midway between the great
+mountain range and the sea. Most of the dividing ridges between these
+streams are nothing but high, bare watersheds, which can be easily
+crossed; but at one point, about a hundred and fifty versts west of
+Gizhiga, the central range sends out to the seacoast, a great spur of
+mountains 2500 or 3000 feet in height, which completely blocks up the
+road. Along the bases of these mountains runs a deep, gloomy valley
+known as the Viliga, whose upper end pierces the central Stanavoi
+range and affords an outlet to the winds pent up between the steppes
+and the sea. In winter when the open water of the Okhotsk Sea is
+warmer than the frozen plains north of the mountains, the air over the
+former rises, and a colder atmosphere rushes through the valley of the
+Viliga to take its place. In summer, while the water of the sea is
+still chilled with masses of unmelted ice, the great steppes behind
+the mountains are covered with vegetation and warm with almost
+perpetual sunshine, and the direction of the wind is consequently
+reversed. This valley of the Viliga, therefore, may be regarded as
+a great natural breathing-hole, through which the interior steppes
+respire once a year. At no other point does the Stanavoi range afford
+an opening through which the air can pass back and forth between the
+steppes and the sea, and as a natural consequence this ravine is swept
+by one almost uninterrupted storm. While the weather everywhere else
+is calm and still, the wind blows through the Viliga in a perfect
+hurricane, tearing up great clouds of snow from the mountain sides and
+carrying them far out to sea. For this reason it is dreaded by all
+natives who are compelled to pass that way, and is famous throughout
+north-eastern Siberia as "the stormy gorge of the Viliga!"
+
+On the fifth day after leaving Gizhiga, our small party, increased
+by a Russian postilion and three or four sledges carrying the annual
+Kamchatkan mail, drew near the foot of the dreaded Viliga Mountains.
+Owing to deep snow our progress had not been so rapid as we had
+anticipated, and we were only able to reach on the fifth night a small
+_yurt_ built to shelter travellers, near the mouth of a river called
+the Topolofka, thirty versts from the Viliga. Here we camped, drank
+tea, and stretched ourselves out on the rough plank floor to sleep,
+knowing that a hard day's work awaited us on the morrow.
+
+[Illustration: Head covering used in stalking seals]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+
+YURT ON THE TOPOLOFKA--THE VALLEY OF TEMPESTS--RIVER OF THE
+LOST--STORM BOUND--ESCAPE BY THE ICE-FOOT--A SLEEPLESS NIGHT--LEET
+REPORTED DEAD--YAMSK AT LAST
+
+"Kennan! Oh, Kennan! Turn out! It's day light!" A sleepy grunt and a
+still more drowsy "Is it?" from the pile of furs lying on the rough
+plank floor betrayed no very lively interest on the part of the
+prostrate figure in the fact announced, while the heavy, long-drawn
+breathing which soon succeeded this momentary interruption proved that
+more active measures must be taken to recall him from the land of
+dreams. "I say! Kennan! Wake up! Breakfast has been ready this
+half-hour." The magic word "breakfast" appealed to a stronger feeling
+than drowsiness, and, thrusting my head out from beneath its covering
+of furs, I took a sleepy, blinking view of the situation, endeavouring
+in a feeble sort of way to recollect where I was and how I came there.
+A bright crackling fire of resinous pine boughs was burning on the
+square log altar in the centre of the hut, radiating a fierce heat to
+its remotest corner, and causing the perspiration to stand in great
+beads on its mouldy logs and rough board ceiling. The smoke rose
+lazily through the square hole in the roof toward the white,
+solemn-looking stars, which winked soberly at us between the dark
+overhanging branches of the larches. Mr. Leet, who acted as the Soyer
+of our campaign, was standing over me with a slice of bacon impaled
+on a bowie-knife in one hand, and a poker in the other--both of which
+insignia of office he was brandishing furiously, with the intention
+of waking me up more effectually. His frantic gesticulations had the
+desired result. With a vague impression that I had been shipwrecked on
+the Cannibal Islands and was about to be sacrificed to the tutelary
+deities, I sprang up and rubbed my eyes until I gathered together my
+scattered senses. Mr. Leet was in high glee. Our travelling companion,
+the postilion, had manifested for several days an inclination to shirk
+work and allow us to do all the road-breaking, while he followed
+comfortably in our tracks, and by this strategic manoeuvre had
+incurred Mr. Leet's most implacable hatred. The latter, therefore, had
+waked the unfortunate man up before he had been asleep five hours, and
+had deluded him into the belief that the aurora borealis was the first
+flush of daylight. He had accordingly started off at midnight and was
+laboriously breaking a road up the steep mountain side through three
+feet of soft snow, relying upon Mr. Leet's promise that we would be
+along before sunrise. At five o'clock, when I got up, the voices of
+the postilion's men could still be heard shouting to their exhausted
+dogs near the summit of the mountain. We all breakfasted as slowly as
+possible, in order to give them plenty of time to break a road for us,
+and did not finally start until after six o'clock.
+
+It was a beautifully clear, still morning when we crossed the mountain
+above the _yurt_, and wound around through bare open valleys, among
+high hills, toward the seacoast. The sun had risen over the eastern
+hill-tops, and the snow glittered as if strewn with diamonds, while
+the distant peaks of the Viliga, appeared--
+
+  "Bathed in the tenderest purple of distance
+  Tinted and shadowed by pencils of air"--
+
+as calm and bright in their snowy majesty as if the suspicion of
+a storm had never attached to their smooth white slopes and sharp
+pinnacles. The air, although intensely cold, was clear and bracing;
+and as our dogs bounded at a gallop over the hard, broken road, the
+exhilarating motion caused the very blood in our veins
+
+  "--to dance
+  Blithe as the sparkling wine of France."
+
+About noon we came out of the mountains upon the sea beach and
+overtook the postilion, who had stopped to rest his tired dogs. Our
+own being fresh, we again took the lead, and drew rapidly near to the
+valley of the Viliga.
+
+I was just mentally congratulating myself upon our good fortune in
+having clear weather to pass this dreaded point, when my attention was
+attracted by a curious white cloud or mist, extending from the mouth
+of the Viliga ravine far out over the black open water of the Okhotsk
+Sea. Wondering what it could be, I pointed it out to our guide, and
+inquired if it were fog. His face clouded up with anxiety as he
+glanced at it, and replied laconically, "Viliga dooreet," or "The
+mountains are fooling." This oracular response did not enlighten me
+very much, and I demanded an explanation. I was then told, to my
+astonishment and dismay, that the curious white mist which I had taken
+to be fog was a dense driving cloud of snow, hurled out of the mouth
+of the ravine by a storm, which had apparently just begun in the upper
+gorges of the Stanavoi range. It would be impossible, our guide said,
+to cross the valley, and dangerous to attempt it until the wind should
+subside. I could not see either the impossibility or the danger, and
+as there was another _yurt_ or shelter-house on the other side of the
+ravine, I determined to go on and make the attempt at least to cross.
+Where we were the weather was perfectly calm and still; a candle
+would have burned in the open air without flickering; and I could
+not realise the tremendous force of the hurricane which, only a mile
+ahead, was vomiting snow out of the mouth of that ravine and carrying
+it four miles to sea. Seeing that Leet and I were determined to cross
+the valley, our guide shrugged his shoulders expressively, as much as
+to say, "You will soon regret your haste," and we went on.
+
+As we gradually approached the white curtain of mist, we began to feel
+sharp intermittent puffs of wind and little whirlwinds of snow, which
+increased constantly in strength and frequency as we drew nearer and
+nearer to the mouth of the ravine. Our guide once more remonstrated
+with us upon the folly of going deliberately into such a storm as this
+evidently would be; but Leet laughed him to scorn, declaring in broken
+Russian that he had seen storms in the Sierra Nevadas to which this
+was not a circumstance--"Bolshoi storms, you bet!" But in five minutes
+more Mr. Leet himself was ready to admit that this storm on the Viliga
+would not compare unfavourably with anything of the kind that he had
+ever seen in California. As we rounded the end of a protecting bluff
+on the edge of the ravine, the gale burst upon us in all its fury,
+blinding and suffocating us with dense clouds of driving snow, which
+blotted out instantly the sun and the clear blue sky, and fairly
+darkened the whole earth. The wind roared as it sometimes does through
+the cordage of a ship at sea. There was something almost supernatural
+in the suddenness of the change from bright sunshine and calm still
+air to this howling, blinding tempest, and I began to feel doubtful
+myself as to the practicability of crossing the valley. Our guide
+turned with a despairing look to me, as if reproaching me with my
+obstinacy in coming into the storm against his advice, and then urged
+on with shouts and blows his cowering dogs. The sockets of the poor
+brutes' eyes were completely plastered up with snow, and out of many
+of them were oozing drops of blood; but blind as they were they still
+struggled on, uttering at intervals short mournful cries, which
+alarmed me more than the roaring of the storm. In a moment we were at
+the bottom of the ravine; and before we could check the impetus of our
+descent we were out on the smooth glare ice of the "Propashchina," or
+"River of the Lost," and sweeping rapidly down toward the open water
+of the Okhotsk Sea, only a hundred yards below. All our efforts to
+stop our sledges were at first unavailing against the force of the
+wind, and I began to understand the nature of the danger to which our
+guide had alluded. Unless we could stop our sledges before we should
+reach the mouth of the river we must inevitably be blown off the ice
+into three or four fathoms of water. Precisely such a disaster had
+given the river its ominous name, Leet and the Cossack Paderin, who
+were alone upon their respective sledges, and who did not get so far
+from the shore in the first place, finally succeeded with the aid of
+their spiked sticks in getting back; but the old guide and I were
+together upon one sledge, and our voluminous fur clothes caught so
+much wind that our spiked sticks would not stop or hold us, and
+our dogs could not keep their feet. Believing that the sledge must
+inevitably be blown into the sea if we both clung to it, I finally
+relinquished my hold and tried to stop myself by sitting down, and
+then by lying down flat upon my face on the ice; but all was of no
+avail; my slippery furs took no hold of the smooth, treacherous
+surface, and I drifted away even faster than before. I had already
+torn off my mittens, and as I slid at last over a rough place in
+the ice I succeeded in getting my finger-nails into the little
+corrugations of the surface and in stopping my perilous drift; but I
+hardly dared breathe lest I should lose my hold. Seeing my situation,
+Leet slid to me the sharp iron-spiked _oerstel_, which is used to
+check the speed of a sledge in descending hills, and by digging this
+into the ice at short intervals I crept back to shore, only a short
+distance above the open water at the mouth of the river, into which my
+mittens had already gone. Our guide was still sliding slowly and at
+intervals down stream, but Paderin went to his assistance with another
+_oerstel_, and together they brought his sledge once more to land. I
+would have been quite satisfied now to turn back and get out of the
+storm; but our guide's blood was up, and cross the valley he would if
+we lost all our sledges in the sea. He had warned us of the danger and
+we had insisted upon coming on; we must now take the consequences.
+As it was evidently impossible to cross the river at this point, we
+struggled up its left bank in the teeth of the storm almost half a
+mile, until we reached a bend which put land between us and the open
+water. Here we made a second attempt, and were successful. Crossing a
+low ridge on the west side of the "Propashchina," we reached another
+small stream known as the Viliga, at the foot of the Viliga Mountains.
+Along this there extended a narrow strip of dense timber, and in this
+timber, somewhere, stood the _yurt_ of which we were in search. Our
+guide seemed to find the road by a sort of instinct, for the drifting
+clouds of snow hid even our-leading dogs from sight, and all that we
+could see of the country was the ground on which we stood. About an
+hour before dark, tired and chilled to the bone, we drew up before
+a little log hut in the woods, which our guide said was the Viliga
+_yurt_. The last travellers who had occupied it had left the chimney
+hole open, and it was nearly filled with snow, but we cleared it out
+as well as we could, built a fire on the ground in the centre, and,
+regardless of the smoke, crouched around it to drink tea. We had seen
+nothing of the postilion since noon, and hardly thought it possible
+that he could reach the _yurt_; but just as it began to grow dark we
+heard the howling of his dogs in the woods, and in a few moments he
+made his appearance. Our party now numbered nine men--two Americans,
+three Russians, and four Koraks--and a wild-looking crowd it was, as
+it squatted around the fire in that low smoke-blackened hut, drinking
+tea and listening to the howling wind. As there was not room enough
+for all to sleep inside the _yurt_, the Koraks camped out-doors on the
+snow, and before morning were half buried in a drift.
+
+[Illustration: THE YURT IN THE "STORMY GORGE OF THE VILIGA" From a
+painting by George A. Frost]
+
+All night the wind roared a deep, hoarse bass through the forest which
+sheltered the _yurt_, and at daylight on the following morning there
+was no abatement of the storm. We knew that it might blow without
+intermission in that ravine for two weeks, and we had only four days'
+dog-food and provisions left. Something must be done. The Viliga
+Mountains which blocked up the road to Yamsk were cut by three gaps
+or passes, all of which opened into the valley, and in clear weather
+could be easily found and crossed. In such a storm, however, as the
+one which had overtaken us, a hundred passes would be of no avail,
+because the drifting snow hid everything from sight at a distance of
+thirty feet, and we were as likely to go up the side of a peak as up
+the right pass, even if we could make our dogs face the storm at all,
+which was doubtful. After breakfast we held a council of war for the
+purpose of determining what it would be best to do. Our guide thought
+that our best course would be to go down the Viliga River to the
+coast, and make our way westward, if possible, along what he called
+the "pripaika"--a narrow strip of sea ice generally found at the
+water's edge under the cliffs of a precipitous coast line. He could
+not promise us that this route would be practicable, but he had heard
+that there was a beach for at least a part of the distance between the
+Viliga and Yamsk, and he thought that we might make our way along this
+beach and the _pripaika_, or ice-foot, to a ravine, twenty-five or
+thirty miles farther west, which would lead us up on the tundra beyond
+the mountains. We could at least try this shelf of ice under the
+cliffs, and if we should find it impassable we could return, while if
+we went into the mountains in such a blizzard we might never get back.
+The plan suggested by the guide seemed to me a bold and attractive one
+and I decided to adopt it. Making our way down the river, in clouds of
+flying snow, we soon reached the coast, and started westward, along a
+narrow strip of ice-encumbered beach, between the open water of the
+sea and a long line of black perpendicular cliffs, one hundred and
+fifty to three hundred feet in height. We were making very fair
+progress when we found ourselves suddenly confronted by an entirely
+unexpected and apparently insurmountable obstacle. The beach, as far
+as we could see to the westward, was completely filled up from the
+water's edge to a height of seventy-five or a hundred feet by enormous
+drifts of snow, which had been gradually accumulating there throughout
+the winter, and which now masked the whole face of the precipice, and
+left no room for passage between it and the sea. These snow-drifts,
+by frequent alternations of warm and cold weather, had been rendered
+almost as hard and slippery as ice, and as they sloped upward toward
+the tops of the cliffs at an angle of seventy-five or eighty degrees,
+it was impossible to stand upon them without first cutting places for
+the feet with an axe. Along the face of this smooth, snowy escarpment,
+which rose directly out of two or three fathoms of water, lay our only
+route to Yamsk. The prospect of getting over it without meeting with
+some disaster seemed very faint, for the slightest caving away of
+the snow would tumble us all into the open sea; but as there was no
+alternative, we fastened our dogs to cakes of ice, distributed our
+axes and hatchets, threw off our heavy fur coats, and began cutting
+out a road.
+
+We worked hard all day, and by six o'clock in the evening had cut a
+deep trench three feet in width along the face of the escarpment to a
+point about a mile and a quarter west of the mouth of the Viliga. Here
+we were again stopped, however, by a difficulty infinitely worse than
+any that we had surmounted. The beach, which had previously extended
+in one unbroken line along the foot of the cliffs, here suddenly
+disappeared, and the mass of snow over which we had been cutting a
+road came to an abrupt termination. Unsupported from beneath, the
+whole escarpment had caved away into the sea, leaving a gap of open
+water about thirty-five feet in width, out of which rose the black
+perpendicular wall of the coast. There was no possibility of getting
+across without the assistance of a pontoon bridge. Tired and
+disheartened, we were compelled to camp on the slope of the escarpment
+for the night, with no prospect of being able to do anything in the
+morning except return with all possible speed to the Viliga, and
+abandon the idea of reaching Yamsk altogether.
+
+A wilder, more dangerous location for a camp than that which we
+occupied could hardly be found in Siberia, and I watched with the
+greatest uneasiness the signs of the weather as it began to grow dark.
+The huge sloping snow-drift upon which we stood rose directly out of
+the water, and, so far as we knew, it might have no other foundation
+than a narrow strip of ice. If so, the faintest breeze from any
+direction except north would roll in waves high enough to undermine
+and break up the whole escarpment, and either precipitate us with
+an avalanche of snow into the open sea, or leave us clinging like
+barnacles to the bare face of the precipice, seventy-five feet above
+it. Neither alternative was pleasant to contemplate, and I determined,
+if possible, to find a place of greater security. Leet, with his usual
+recklessness, dug himself out what he called a "bedroom" in the snow
+about fifty feet above the water, and promised me "a good night's
+sleep" if I would accept his hospitality and share his cave; but under
+the circumstances I thought best to decline. His "bedroom," bed, and
+bedding might all tumble into the sea before morning, and his "good
+night's sleep" be indefinitely prolonged. Going back a short distance
+in the direction of the Viliga, I finally discovered a place where a
+small stream had once fallen over the summit of the cliff, and had
+worn out a steep narrow channel in its face. In the rocky, uneven bed
+of this little ravine the natives and I stretched ourselves out for
+the night, our bodies inclined at an angle of forty-five degrees--our
+heads, of course, up-hill.
+
+If the reader can imagine himself camping out on the steep sloping
+roof of a great cathedral, with a precipice a hundred feet high over
+his head and three or four fathoms of open water at his feet, he will
+be able, perhaps, to form some idea of the way in which we spent that
+dismal night.
+
+With the first streak of dawn we were up. While we were gloomily
+making preparations to return to the Viliga, one of the Koraks who
+had gone to take a last look at the gap of open water came hurriedly
+climbing back, shouting joyfully, "Mozhno perryekat, mozhno
+perryekat!"--"It is possible to cross." The tide, which had risen
+during the night, had brought in two or three large cakes of broken
+ice, and had jammed them into the gap in such a manner as to make a
+rude bridge. Fearing, however, that it would not support a very heavy
+weight, we unloaded all our sledges, carried the loads, sledges, and
+dogs across separately, loaded up again on the other side, and
+went on. The worst of our difficulties was past. We still had some
+road-cutting to do through occasional snow-drifts; but as we went
+farther and farther to the westward the beach became wider and higher,
+the ice disappeared, and by night we were thirty versts nearer to our
+destination. The sea on one side, and the cliffs on the other, still
+hemmed us in; but on the following day we succeeded in making our
+escape through the valley of the Kananaga River.
+
+The twelfth day of our journey found us on a great steppe called the
+Malkachan, only thirty miles from Yamsk; and although our dog-food and
+provisions were both exhausted, we hoped to reach the settlement
+late in the night. Darkness came on, however, with another blinding
+snow-storm, in which we again lost our way; and, fearing that we might
+drive over the edges of the precipices into the sea by which the
+steppe was bounded on the east, we were finally compelled to stop. We
+could find no wood for a fire; but even had we succeeded in making a
+fire, it would have been instantly smothered by the clouds of snow
+which the furious wind drove across the plain. Spreading down our
+canvas tent upon the ground, and capsizing a heavy dog-sledge upon one
+edge of it to hold it fast, we crawled under it to get away from the
+suffocating snow. Lying there upon our faces, with the canvas flapping
+furiously against our backs, we scraped our bread-bag for the last few
+frozen crumbs which remained, and ate a few scraps of raw meat which
+Mr. Leet found on one of the sledges. In the course of fifteen or
+twenty minutes we noticed that the flappings of the canvas were
+getting shorter and shorter, and that it seemed to be tightening
+across our bodies, and upon making an effort to get out we found that
+we were fastened down. The snow had drifted in such masses upon the
+edges of the tent and had packed there with such solidity that it
+could not be moved, and after trying once or twice to break out we
+concluded to lie still and make the best of our situation. As long as
+the snow did not bury us entirely, we were better off under the tent
+than anywhere else, because we were protected from the wind. In half
+an hour the drift had increased to such an extent that we could no
+longer turn over, and our supply of air was almost entirely cut off.
+We must either get out or be suffocated. I had drawn my sheath-knife
+fifteen minutes before in expectation of such a crisis, and as it was
+already becoming difficult to breathe, I cut a long slit in the canvas
+above my head and we crawled out. In an instant eyes and nostrils were
+completely plastered up with snow, and we gasped for breath as if the
+stream of a fire-engine had been turned suddenly in our faces. Drawing
+our heads and arms into the bodies of our _kukhlankas_, we squatted
+down upon the snow to wait for daylight. In a moment I heard Mr. Leet
+shouting down into the neck-hole of my fur coat, "What would our
+mothers say if they could see us now?" I wanted to ask him how this
+would compare with a gale in his boasted Sierra Nevadas, but he was
+gone before I could get my head out, and I heard nothing more from him
+that night. He went away somewhere in the darkness and squatted down
+alone upon the snow, to suffer cold, hunger and anxiety until
+morning. For more than ten hours we sat in this way on that desolate
+storm-swept plain, without fire, food, or sleep, becoming more and
+more chilled and exhausted, until it seemed as if daylight would never
+come.
+
+Morning dawned at last through gray drifting clouds of snow, and,
+getting up with stiffened limbs, we made feeble attempts to dig out
+our buried sledges. But for the unwearied efforts of Mr. Leet we
+should hardly have succeeded, as my hands and arms were so benumbed
+with cold that I could not hold an axe or a shovel, and our drivers,
+frightened and discouraged, seemed unable to do anything. By Mr.
+Leet's individual exertions the sledges were dug out and we started.
+His brief spasm of energy was the last effort of a strong will to
+uphold a sinking and exhausted body, and in half an hour he requested
+to be tied on his sledge. We lashed him on from head to foot with
+sealskin thongs, covered him up with bearskins, and drove on. In about
+an hour his driver, Padarin, came back to me with a frightened look in
+his face, and said that Mr. Leet was dead; that he had shaken him and
+called him several times, but could get no reply. Alarmed and shocked,
+I sprang from my sledge and ran up to the place where he lay, shouted
+to him, shook him by the shoulder, and tried to uncover his head,
+which he had drawn down into the body of his fur coat. In a moment, to
+my great relief, I heard his voice, saying that he was all right and
+could hold out, if necessary, until night; that he had not answered
+Padarin because it was too much trouble, but that I need not be
+alarmed about his safety; and then I thought he added something about
+"worse storms in the Sierra Nevadas," which convinced me that he
+was far from being used up yet. As long as he could insist upon the
+superiority of Californian storms, there was certainly hope.
+
+Early in the afternoon we reached the Yamsk River and, after wandering
+about for an hour or two in the timber, came upon one of Lieutenant
+Arnold's Yakut working-parties and were conducted to their camp, only
+a few miles from the settlement. Here we obtained some rye bread and
+hot tea, warmed our benumbed limbs, and partially cleared the snow out
+of our clothing. When I saw Mr. Leet undressed I wondered that he had
+not died. While squatting out on the ground during the storm of the
+previous night, snow in great quantities had blown in at his neck,
+had partially melted with the warmth of his body, and had then frozen
+again in a mass of ice along his whole spine, and in that condition he
+had lived to be driven twenty versts. Nothing but a strong will and
+the most intense vitality enabled him to hold out during these last
+six dismal hours. When we had warmed, rested, and dried ourselves at
+the camp-fire of the Yakuts, we resumed our journey, and late in the
+afternoon we drove into the settlement of Yamsk, after thirteen
+days of harder experience than usually falls to the lot of Siberian
+travellers, Mr. Leet so soon recovered his strength and spirits that
+three days afterwards he started for Okhotsk, where the Major wished
+him to take charge of a gang of Yakut labourers. The last words that I
+remember to have ever heard him speak were those which he shouted to
+me in the storm and darkness of that gloomy night on the Malkachan
+steppe: "What would our mothers say if they could see us now?" The
+poor fellow was afterwards driven insane by excitements and hardships
+such as these which I have described, and probably to some extent
+by this very expedition, and finally committed suicide by shooting
+himself at one of the lonely Siberian settlements on the coast of the
+Okhotsk Sea.
+
+I have described somewhat in detail this trip to Yamsk because it
+illustrates the darkest side of Siberian life and travel. It is not
+often that one meets with such an experience, or suffers so many
+hardships in any one journey; but in a country so wild and sparsely
+populated as Siberia, winter travel is necessarily attended with more
+or less suffering and privation.
+
+[Illustration: Iron Skin Scraper]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+
+BRIGHT ANTICIPATIONS--A WHALE-SHIP SIGNALLED--THE BARK SEA
+BREEZE--NEWS FROM THE ATLANTIC CABLE--REPORTED ABANDONMENT OF THE
+OVERLAND LINE
+
+When, in the latter part of March, Major Abaza returned to Yakutsk to
+complete the organisation and equipment of our Yakut labourers, and I
+to Gizhiga to await once more the arrival of vessels from America, the
+future of the Russian-American Telegraph Company looked much brighter.
+We had explored and located the whole route of the line, from the Amur
+River to Bering Sea; we had half a dozen working-parties in the field,
+and expected to reinforce them soon with six or eight hundred hardy
+native labourers from Yakutsk; we had cut and prepared fifteen or
+twenty thousand telegraph poles, and were bringing six hundred
+Siberian ponies from Yakutsk to distribute them; we had all the wire
+and insulators for the Asiatic Division on the ground, as well as an
+abundant supply of tools and provisions; and we felt more than hopeful
+that we should be able to put our part of the overland line to
+St. Petersburg in working order before the beginning of 1870. So
+confident, indeed, were some of our men, that, in the pole-cutting
+camps, they were singing in chorus every night, to the air of a well
+known war-song.
+
+  "In eighteen hundred and sixty-eight
+  Hurrah! Hurrah!
+  In eighteen hundred and sixty-eight
+  Hurrah! Hurrah!
+  In eighteen hundred and sixty-eight,
+  The cable will be in a miserable state,
+  And we'll all feel gay
+  When they use it to fish for whales.
+
+  "In eighteen hundred and sixty-nine
+  Hurrah! Hurrah!
+  In eighteen hundred and sixty-nine
+  Hurrah! Hurrah!
+  In eighteen hundred and sixty-nine
+  We're going to finish this overland line;
+  And we'll all feel gay
+  When it brings us good news from home."
+
+But it was fated that our next news from home should not be brought by
+the overland line, and should not be of such a nature as to make any
+of us "feel gay."
+
+On the evening of May 31, 1867, as I sat trying to draw a
+topographical map in the little one-story log house which served as
+the headquarters of the Asiatic Division, I was interrupted by the
+sudden and hasty entrance of my friend and comrade Mr. Lewis, who
+rushed into the room crying excitedly: "O Mr. Kennan! Did you hear
+the cannon?" I had not heard it, but I understood instantly the
+significance of the inquiry. A cannon-shot meant that there was a ship
+in sight from the beacon-tower at the mouth of the river. We were
+accustomed, every spring, to get our earliest news from the civilised
+world through American whaling vessels, which resort at that season of
+the year to the Okhotsk Sea. About the middle of May, therefore, we
+generally sent a couple of Cossacks to the harbour at the mouth of
+the river, with instructions to keep a sharp lookout from the log
+beacon-tower on the bluff, and fire three cannon-shots the moment they
+should see a whaler or other vessel cruising in the Gulf.
+
+In less than ten minutes, the news that there was a vessel in sight
+from the beacon-tower had reached every house in the village, and a
+little group of Cossacks gathered at the landing-place, where a boat
+was being prepared to take Lewis, Robinson, and me to the sea-coast.
+Half an hour later we were gliding swiftly down the river in one of
+the light skiffs known in that part of Siberia as "lodkas." We had a
+faint hope that the ship which had been signalled would prove to
+be one of our own vessels; but even if she should turn out to be a
+whaler, she would at least bring us late news from the outside world,
+and we felt a burning curiosity to know what had been the result of
+the second attempt to lay the Atlantic cable. Had our competitors
+beaten us, or was there still a fighting chance that we might beat
+them?
+
+We reached the mouth of the river late in the evening, and were met at
+the landing by one of the Cossacks from the beacon-tower.
+
+"What ship is it?" I inquired.
+
+"We don't know," he replied. "We saw dark smoke, like the smoke of a
+steamer, off Matuga Island just before we fired the cannon, but in a
+little while it blew away and we have seen nothing since."
+
+"If it's a whaler trying out oil," said Robinson, "we'll find her
+there in the morning."
+
+Leaving the Cossack to take our baggage out of the _lodka_, we all
+climbed up to the beacon-tower, with the hope that, as it was still
+fairly light, we might be able to see with a glass the vessel that had
+made the smoke; but from the high black cliffs of Matuga Island on one
+side of the Gulf, to the steep slope of Cape Catherine on the other,
+there was nothing to break the horizon line except here and there a
+field of drifting ice. Returning to the Cossack barrack, we spread
+our bearskins and blankets down on the rough plank floor and went
+disconsolate to bed.
+
+Early the next morning, I was awakened by one of the Cossacks with
+the welcome news that there was a large square-rigged vessel in the
+offing, five or six miles beyond Matuga Island. I climbed hastily up
+the bluff, and had no difficulty in making out with a glass the masts
+and sails of a good-sized bark, evidently a whaler, which, although
+hull down, was apparently cruising back and forth with a light
+southerly breeze across the Gulf.
+
+We ate breakfast hastily, put on our fur _kukhlankas_ and caps, and
+started in a whale-boat under oars for the ship, which was distant
+about fifteen miles. Although the wind was light and the sea
+comparatively smooth, it was a hard, tedious pull; and we did not get
+alongside until after ten o'clock. Pacing the quarter-deck, as we
+climbed on board was a good-looking, ruddy-faced, gray-haired man whom
+I took to be the captain. He evidently thought, from our outer fur
+dress, that we were only a party of natives come off to trade; and he
+paid no attention whatever to us until I walked aft and said: "Are you
+the captain of this bark?"
+
+At the first word of English, he stopped as if transfixed, stared at
+me for a moment in silence, and then exclaimed in a tone of profound
+astonishment: "Well! I'll be dod-gasted! Has the universal Yankee got
+up here?"
+
+"Yes, Captain," I replied, "he is not only here, but he has been here
+for two years or more. What bark is this?"
+
+"The _Sea Breeze_, of New Bedford, Massachusetts," he replied, "and I
+am Captain Hamilton. But what are you doing up in this God-forsaken
+country? Have you been shipwrecked?"
+
+"No," I said, "we're up here trying to build a telegraph line."
+
+"A telegraph line!" he shouted. "Well, if that ain't the craziest
+thing I ever heard of! Who's going to telegraph from here?"
+
+I explained to him that we were trying to establish telegraphic
+communication between America and Europe by way of Alaska, Bering
+Strait, and Siberia, and asked him if he had never heard of the
+Russian-American Telegraph Company.
+
+"Never," he replied. "I didn't know there was such a company; but I've
+been out two years on a cruise, and I haven't kept up very well with
+the news."
+
+"How about the Atlantic cable?" I inquired. "Do you know anything
+about that?"
+
+"Oh, yes," he replied cheerfully, as if he were giving me the best
+news in the world, "the cable is laid all right."
+
+"Does it work?" I asked, with a sinking heart.
+
+"Works like a snatch-tackle," he responded heartily. "The 'Frisco
+papers are publishing every morning the London news of the day before.
+I've got a lot of 'em on board that I'll give you. Perhaps you'll find
+something in them about your Company."
+
+I think the captain must have noticed, from the sudden change in the
+expression of our faces, that his news about the Atlantic cable was
+a staggering blow to us, for he immediately dropped the subject and
+suggested the expediency of going below.
+
+We all went down into the cosy, well-furnished cabin, where
+refreshments were set before us by the steward, and where we talked
+for an hour about the news of the world, from whaling in the South
+Pacific to dog-driving in Arctic Asia, and from Weston's walk across
+the North American continent to Karakozef's attempt to assassinate the
+Tsar. But it was, on our side at least, a perfunctory conversation.
+The news of the complete success of the Atlantic cable was as
+unexpected as it was disheartening, and it filled our minds to the
+exclusion of everything else. The world would have no use for an
+overland telegraph-line through Alaska and Siberia if it already
+possessed a working cable between London and New York.
+
+We left the hospitable cabin of the _Sea Breeze_ about noon, and
+prepared to return to Gizhiga. Captain Hamilton, with warm-hearted
+generosity, not only gave us all the newspapers and magazines he had
+on board, but literally filled our boat with potatoes, pumpkins,
+bananas, oranges, and yams, which he had brought up from the Sandwich
+Islands. I think he saw that we were feeling somewhat disheartened,
+and wanted to cheer us up in the only way he could--by giving us some
+of the luxuries of civilised life. We had not seen a potato, nor
+tasted any other fresh vegetable or fruit, in nearly two years.
+
+We left the ship reluctantly, at last, giving three cheers and a
+"tiger" for Captain Hamilton and the _Sea Breeze_, as we went over the
+side.
+
+When we had pulled three or four miles away from the bark, Lewis
+suggested that instead of returning at once to the mouth of the river
+we should go ashore at the nearest point on the coast, and look
+over the newspapers while the Cossacks made a fire and roasted some
+potatoes. This seemed to us all a good plan, and half an hour later we
+were sitting around a fire of driftwood on the beach, each of us with
+a newspaper in one hand and a banana or an orange in the other, and
+all feeding mind and body simultaneously. The papers were of various
+dates from September, 1866, to March, 1867, and were so mixed up that
+it was impossible to follow the course of events chronologically or
+consecutively. We were not long, however, in ascertaining not only
+that the new Atlantic cable had been successfully laid, but that the
+broken and abandoned cable of 1865 had been picked up in mid-ocean,
+repaired, and put in perfect working order. I think this discouraged
+us more than anything else. If cables could be found in the middle of
+the Atlantic, picked up in ten or twelve thousand feet of water, and
+repaired on the deck of a steamer, the ultimate success of submarine
+telegraphy was assured, and we might as well pack up our trunks and go
+home. But there was worse news to come. A few minutes later, Lewis,
+who was reading an old copy of the San Francisco _Bulletin_, struck
+his knee violently with his clenched fist and exclaimed;
+
+"Boys! The jig is up! Listen to this!
+
+  "'Special Dispatch to the _Bulletin_
+
+  "'New York, October 15.
+
+  "'In consequence of the success of the Atlantic
+  cable, all work on the Russian-American telegraph
+  line has been stopped and the enterprise has been
+  abandoned.'"
+
+"Well!" said Robinson, after a moment of thoughtful silence, "that
+seems to settle it. The cable has knocked us out."
+
+Late in the afternoon, we pulled back, with heavy hearts, to the
+beacon-tower at the mouth of the river, and on the following day
+returned to Gizhiga, to await the arrival of a vessel from San
+Francisco with an official notification of the abandonment of the
+enterprise.
+
+[Illustration: Women's Knives used in making clothing]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+
+OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION OF THE BAD NEWS--THE ENTERPRISE ABANDONED--A
+VOYAGE TO OKHOTSK--THE AURORA OF THE SEA
+
+On the 15th of July, the Company's bark _Onward_ (which should have
+been named _Backward_) arrived at Gizhiga with orders to sell all of
+our stores that were salable; use the proceeds in the payment of our
+debts; discharge our native labourers; gather up our men, and return
+to the United States. The Atlantic cable had proved to be a complete
+success, and our Company, after sinking about $3,000,000 in the
+attempt to build an overland line from America to Europe, had finally
+decided to put up with its loss and abandon the undertaking. Letters
+from the directors to Major Abaza, stated that they would be willing
+to go on with the work, in spite of the success of the Atlantic cable,
+if the Russian Government would agree to complete the line on the
+Siberian side of Bering Strait; but they did not think they should be
+required, under the circumstances, to do all the work on the American
+side and half of that on the Russian.
+
+Major Abaza, hoping that he could prevail upon the Russian Minister of
+Ways and Communications to take the Asiatic Division off the hands of
+the American Company, and thus prevent the complete abandonment of
+the enterprise, decided at once to go to St. Petersburg overland. He
+therefore sailed in the _Onward_ with me for Okhotsk, intending to
+disembark there, start for Yakutsk on horseback, and send me back in
+the ship to pick up our working parties along the coast.
+
+The last of July found us becalmed, about fifty miles off the harbour
+and river of Okhotsk. I had been playing chess all the evening in the
+cabin, and it was almost eleven o'clock when the second mate called to
+me down the companionway to come on deck. Wondering if we had taken a
+favourable slant of wind, I went up.
+
+It was one of those warm, still, almost tropical nights, so rarely
+seen on northern waters, when a profound calm reigns in the moonless
+heavens, and the hush of absolute repose rests upon the tired,
+storm-vexed sea. There was not the faintest breath of air to stir even
+the reef-points of the motionless sails, or roughen the dark, polished
+mirror of water around the ship. A soft, almost imperceptible haze
+concealed the line of the far horizon, and blended sky and water into
+one great hollow sphere of twinkling stars. Earth and sea seemed to
+have passed away, and our motionless ship floated, spell-bound, in
+vacancy--the only earthly object in an encircling universe of stars
+and planets. The great luminous band of the Milky Way seemed to sweep
+around beneath us in a complete circle of white, misty light, and far
+down under our keel gleamed the three bright stars in the belt of
+Orion. Only when a fish sprang with a little splash out of one of
+these submarine constellations and shattered it into trembling
+fragments of broken light could we realise that it was nothing but a
+mirrored reflection of the heavens above.
+
+Absorbed in the beauty of the scene, I had forgotten to ask the mate
+why he had called me on deck, and started with surprise as he touched
+me on the shoulder and said: "Curious thing, ain't it?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, supposing that he referred to the reflection of the
+heavens in the water, "it's the most wonderful night I ever saw at
+sea. I can hardly make myself believe that we _are_ at sea--the ship
+seems to be hanging in space with a great universe of stars above and
+below."
+
+"What do you suppose makes it?" he inquired.
+
+"Makes what--the reflection?"
+
+"No, that light. Don't you see it?"
+
+Following the direction of his outstretched arm, I noticed, for the
+first time, a bank of pale, diffused radiance, five or six degrees in
+height, stretching along the northern horizon from about N.N.W. to
+E.N.E. and resembling very closely the radiance of a faint aurora. The
+horizon line could not be distinguished; but the luminous appearance
+seemed to rise in the haze that hid it from sight.
+
+"Have you ever seen anything like it before?" I inquired.
+
+"Never," the mate replied; "but it looks like the northern lights on
+the water."
+
+Wondering what could be the nature of this mysterious light, I climbed
+into the shrouds, in order to get a better view. As I watched it, it
+suddenly began to lengthen out at both ends, like a rapidly spreading
+fire, and drew a long curtain of luminous mist around the whole
+northern horizon. Another similar light then appeared in the
+south-east, and although it was not yet connected with the first, it
+also seemed to be extending itself laterally, and in a moment the two
+luminous curtains united, forming a great semicircular band of pale,
+bluish-white radiance around the heavens, like a celestial equator
+belting a vast universe of stars. I could form, as yet, no conjecture
+as to the cause or nature of this strange phenomenon which looked and
+behaved like an aurora, but which seemed to rise out of the water.
+After watching it five or ten minutes, I went below to call the
+captain.
+
+Hardly had I reached the foot of the companionway when the mate
+shouted again; "O Kennan! Come on deck quick!" and rushing hastily
+up I saw for the first time, in all its glorious splendour, the
+phosphorescence of the sea. With almost incredible swiftness, a mantle
+of bluish-white fire had covered nearly all the dark water north of
+us, and its clearly defined edge wavered and trembled for an instant,
+like the arch of an aurora, within half a mile of the ship. Another
+lightning-like flash brought it all around us, and we floated,
+literally, in a sea of liquid radiance. Not a single square foot of
+dark water could be seen, in any direction, from the maintop, and all
+the rigging of the ship, to the royal yards, was lighted up with a
+faint, unearthly, blue glare. The ocean looked like a vast plain of
+snow, illuminated by blue fire and overhung by heavens of almost inky
+blackness. The Milky Way disappeared completely in the blaze of light
+from the sea, and stars of the first magnitude twinkled dimly, as if
+half hidden by fog.
+
+Only a moment before, the dark, still water had reflected vividly a
+whole hemisphere of spangled constellations, and the outlines of the
+ship's spars were projected as dusky shadows against the Milky Way.
+Now, the sea was ablaze with opaline light, and the yards and sails
+were painted in faint tints of blue on a background of ebony. The
+metamorphosis was sudden and wonderful beyond description! The polar
+aurora seemed to have left its home in the higher regions of the
+atmosphere and descended in a sheet of vivid electrical fire upon the
+ocean. As we stood, silent with amazement, upon the quarter-deck, this
+sheet of bluish flame suddenly vanished, over at least ten square
+miles of water, causing, by its almost instantaneous disappearance, a
+sensation of total blindness, and leaving the sea, for a moment, an
+abyss of blackness. As the pupils of our eyes, however, gradually
+dilated, we saw, as before, the dark shining mirror of water around
+the ship, while far away on the horizon rose the faint luminous
+appearance which had first attracted our attention, and which
+was evidently due to the lighting up of the haze by areas of
+phosphorescent water below the horizon line.
+
+In a moment the mate shouted excitedly: "Here it comes again!" and
+again the great tide of fire came sweeping up around the vessel, and
+we floated in a sea of radiance that extended in every direction
+beyond the limits of vision.
+
+As soon as I had recovered a little from the bewildered amazement into
+which I was thrown by the first phosphorescent flash, I observed, as
+closely and carefully as possible, the nature and conditions of the
+extraordinary phenomenon. In the first place, I satisfied myself
+beyond question, that the radiance was phosphorescent and not
+electrical, although it simulated the light of the aurora in the
+rapidity of its movements of translation from one area to another.
+When it flashed around the ship the second time, I got down close to
+the luminous surface and discovered that what seemed, from the deck,
+to be a mantle of bluish fire was, in reality, a layer of water
+closely packed with fine bright spangles. It looked like water in
+which luminous sand was constantly being stirred or churned up. The
+points of light were so numerous that, at a distance of ten or twelve
+feet, the eye failed to notice that there was any dark water in
+the interspaces, and received merely an impression of diffused and
+unbroken radiance.
+
+In the second place, I became convinced that the myriads of
+microscopic organisms which pervaded the water did not light up
+their tiny lamps in response to a mechanical shock, such as would be
+produced by agitation of the medium in which they floated. There was
+no breeze, at any time, nor was there the faintest indication of
+a ripple on the glassy surface of the sea. Between the flashes of
+phosphorescence, the polished mirror of dark water was not blurred by
+so much as a breath. The sudden lighting up of myriads of infusorial
+lamps over vast areas of unruffled water was not due, therefore, to
+mechanical agitation, and must have had some other and more subtle
+cause. What the nature was of the impulse that stimulated whole square
+miles of floating protoplasm into luminous activity so suddenly as
+to produce the visual impression of an electric flash, I could not
+conjecture. The officers of the U. S. revenue cutter _McCulloch_
+observed and recorded in Bering Sea, in August, 1898, a display of
+phosphorescence which was almost as remarkable as the one I am trying
+to describe [Footnote: _N.Y. Sun_, Nov. 11 1899.]; but in that case
+the sea was rough; there were no sudden flashes of appearance and
+disappearance; and the excitation of the light-bearing organisms may
+have been due--and probably was due--to mechanical shock.
+
+In the third place, I observed that in the intervals between the
+flashes, when the water was dark, all objects immersed in that water
+were luminous. The ship's copper was so bright that I could count
+every tack and seam; the rudder was lighted to its lowest pintle; and
+medusae, or jelly-fish, drifting past, with slow pulsations, at a
+depth of ten or twelve feet, looked like submerged moons. It thus
+appeared that protozoa floating freely in the water lighted their
+lamps only in response to excitation, of some sort, which affected,
+almost instantaneously, areas many square miles in extent; while those
+that were attached to, or in contact with, solid matter kept their
+lamps lighted all the time.
+
+During one of the periods of illumination, which lasted several
+minutes, I hauled up a bucketful of the phosphorescent liquid and took
+it into the cabin. Nothing whatever could be seen in it by artificial
+light, but when the light had been removed, the inside of the bucket
+glowed, although the water itself remained dark.
+
+The sea in the vicinity of the ship became phosphorescent three or
+four times; the sheet of fire in every case, sweeping down upon us
+from the north at a rate of speed that seemed to be about equal to the
+speed of sound-waves in air. The duration of the phosphorescence, at
+each separate appearance, was from a minute and a half to three or
+four minutes, and it vanished every time with a flash-like movement of
+translation to another and remoter area. The whole display, so far as
+we were concerned, was over in about twenty minutes; but long after
+the sheet of phosphorescence disappeared from the neighbourhood of the
+ship, we could see it lighting up the overhanging haze as it moved
+swiftly from place to place beyond the horizon line. At one time,
+there were three or four such areas of bright water north of us, but
+as they were below the curve of the earth's convexity we could not
+see them, and traced them only by the shifting belts or patches of
+irradiated mist.
+
+[Illustration: Reindeer Bridle Snow Shovel]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+
+CLOSING UP THE BUSINESS--A BARGAIN SALE--TELEGRAPH TEACUPS
+REDUCED--CHEAP SHOVELS FOR GRAVE DIGGING--WIRE FISH NETS AT A
+SACRIFICE--OUR NARROWEST ESCAPE--BLOWN OUT TO SEA--SAVED BY THE
+"_Onward_"
+
+We reached Okhotsk about the 1st of August, and after seeing the Major
+off for St. Petersburg, I sailed again in the _Onward_ and spent
+most of the next month in cruising along the coast, picking up our
+scattered working-parties, and getting on board such stores and
+material as happened to be accessible and were worth saving.
+
+Early in September, I returned to Gizhiga and proceeded to close
+up the business and make preparations for final departure. Our
+instructions from the Company were to sell all of our stores that were
+salable and use the proceeds in the payment of our debts. I have no
+doubt that this seemed to our worthy directors a perfectly feasible
+scheme, and one likely to bring in a considerable amount of ready
+money; but, unfortunately, their acquaintance with our environment
+was very limited, and their plan, from our point of view, was open to
+several objections. In the first place, although we had at Gizhiga
+fifteen or twenty thousand dollars' worth of unused material, most of
+it was of such a nature as to be absolutely unsalable in that country.
+In the second place, the villages of Okhotsk, Yamsk, and Gizhiga,
+taken together, did not have more than five hundred inhabitants, and
+it was doubtful whether the whole five hundred could make up a purse
+of as many rubles, even to ensure their eternal salvation. Assuming,
+therefore, that the natives wanted our crowbars, telegraph poles,
+and pickaxes they had little or no money with which to pay for them.
+However orders were orders; and as soon as practicable we opened, in
+front of our principal storehouse, a sort of international bazaar,
+and proceeded to dispose of our superfluous goods upon the best terms
+possible. We put the price of telegraph wire down until that luxury
+was within the reach of the poorest Korak family. We glutted the
+market with pickaxes and long-handled shovels, which we assured the
+natives would be useful in burying their dead, and threw in a lot of
+frozen cucumber pickles and other anti-scorbutics which we warranted
+to fortify the health of the living. We sold glass insulators by the
+hundred as patent American teacups, and brackets by the thousand
+as prepared American kindling-wood. We offered soap and candles as
+premiums to anybody who would buy our salt pork and dried apples, and
+taught the natives how to make cooling drinks and hot biscuits,
+in order to create a demand for our redundant lime-juice and
+baking-powder. We directed all our energies to the creation of
+artificial wants in that previously happy and contented community, and
+flooded the whole adjacent country with articles that were of no more
+use to the poor natives than ice-boats and mouse-traps would be to the
+Tuaregs of the Saharan desert. In short, we dispensed the blessings of
+civilisation with a free hand. But the result was not as satisfactory
+as our directors doubtless expected it to be. The market at last
+refused to absorb any more brackets and pickaxes; telegraph wire did
+not make as good fish-nets and dog-harnesses as some of our salesmen
+confidently predicted that it would; and lime-juice and water, as
+a beverage, even when drunk out of pressed-crystal insulators,
+beautifully tinted with green, did not seem to commend itself to
+the aboriginal mind. So we finally had to shut up our store. We
+had gathered in--if I remember rightly--about three hundred rubles
+($150.), which, with the money that Major Abaza had left us, amounted
+to something like five hundred. I did not use this cash, however, in
+the payment of the Company's debts. I expected to have to return to
+the United States through Siberia, and I did not propose to put myself
+in such a position that I should be compelled to defray my travelling
+expenses by peddling lime-juice, cucumber pickles, telegraph wire,
+dried apples, glass insulators, and baking-powder along the road. I
+therefore persuaded the Company's creditors, who, fortunately, were
+not very numerous, to take tea and sugar in satisfaction of their
+claims, so that I might save all the cash I had for the overland trip
+from Okhotsk to St. Petersburg.
+
+Our business in Gizhiga was finally adjusted and settled; our
+working-parties were all called in; and we were just about to sail in
+the bark _Onward_ for Okhotsk, when we were suddenly confronted by
+the deadliest peril that we had encountered in more than two years of
+arctic experience. Every explorer who goes into a wild, unknown part
+of the world to make scientific researches, to find a new route for
+commerce, or to gratify an innate love of adventure, has, now and
+then, an escape from a violent death which is so extraordinary that he
+classifies it under the head of "narrow." The peril that he incurs may
+be momentary in duration, or it may be prolonged for hours, or even
+days; but in any case, while it lasts it is imminent and deadly. It is
+something more than ordinary danger--it is peril in which the chances
+of death are a hundred and of life only one. Such peril advances, as
+a rule, with terrifying swiftness and suddenness; and if one be
+unaccustomed to danger, he is liable to be beaten down and overwhelmed
+by the quick and unexpected shock of the catastrophe. He has no time
+to rally his nervous forces, or to think how he will deal with the
+emergency. The crisis comes like an instantaneous "Vision of Sudden
+Death," which paralyses all his faculties before he has a chance to
+exercise them. Swift danger of this kind tests to the utmost a man's
+inherited or acquired capacity for instinctive and purely automatic
+action; but as it generally passes before it has been fairly
+comprehended, it is not so trying, I think, to the nerves and to
+the character as the danger that is prolonged to the point of full
+realisation, and that cannot then be averted or lessened by any
+possible action. It is only when a man has time to understand and
+appreciate the impending catastrophe, and can do absolutely nothing to
+avert it, that he fully realises the possibility of death. Action of
+any kind is tonic, and when a man can fight danger with his muscles or
+his brain, he is roused and excited by the struggle; but when he can
+do nothing except wait, watch the suspended sword of Damocles, and
+wonder how soon the stroke will come, he must have strong nerves long
+to endure the strain.
+
+Just before we sailed from Gizhiga in the _Onward_, eight of us had
+an escape from death in which the peril came with great swiftness and
+suddenness, and was prolonged almost to the extreme limit of nervous
+endurance. On account of the lateness of the season and the rocky,
+precipitous, and extremely dangerous character of the coast in the
+vicinity of Gizhiga, the captain of the bark had not deemed it prudent
+to run into the mouth of the Gizhiga River at the point of the long
+A-shaped gulf, but had anchored on a shoal off the eastern coast, at a
+distance from the beacon-tower of nearly twenty miles. From our point
+of view on land, the vessel was entirely out of sight; but I knew
+where she lay, and did not anticipate any difficulty in getting on
+board as soon as I should finish my work ashore.
+
+I intended to go off to the ship with the last of Sandford's party on
+the morning of September 11th, but I was detained unexpectedly by the
+presentation of a number of native claims and other unforeseen matters
+of business, and when I had finally settled and closed up everything
+it was four o'clock in the afternoon. In the high latitude of
+north-eastern Siberia a September night shuts in early, and I felt
+some hesitation about setting out at such an hour, in an open boat,
+for a vessel lying twenty miles at sea; but I knew that the captain
+of the _Onward_ was very nervous and anxious to get away from that
+dangerous locality; the wind, which was blowing a fresh breeze off
+shore, would soon take us down the coast to the vessel's anchorage;
+and after a moment of indecision I gave the order to start. There were
+eight men of us, including Sandford, Bowsher, Heck, and four others
+whose names I cannot now recall.
+
+Our boat was an open sloop-rigged sail-boat, about twenty-five feet in
+length, which we had bought from a Russian merchant named Phillipeus.
+I had not before that time paid much attention to her, but so far as I
+knew she was safe and seaworthy. There was some question, however, as
+to whether she carried ballast enough for her sail-area, and at the
+last moment, to make sure of being on the safe side, I had two of
+Sandford's men roll down and put on board two barrels of sugar from
+the Company's storehouse. I then bade good-bye to Dodd and Frost, the
+comrades who had shared with me so many hardships and perils, took a
+seat in the stern-sheets of the little sloop, and we were off.
+
+It was a dark, gloomy, autumnal evening, and the stiff north-easterly
+breeze which came to us in freshening gusts over the snow-whitened
+crest of the Stanavoi range had a keen edge, suggestive of approaching
+winter. The sea, however, was comparatively smooth, and until we got
+well out into the gulf the idea of possible danger never so much
+as suggested itself to me. But as we left the shelter of the high,
+iron-bound coast the wind seemed to increase in strength, the sea
+began to rise, and the sullen, darkening sky, as the gloom of night
+gathered about us, gave warning of heavy weather. It would have been
+prudent, while it was still light, to heave the sloop to and take
+a reef, if not a double reef, in the mainsail; but Heck, who was
+managing the boat, did not seem to think this necessary, and in
+another hour, when the necessity of reefing had become apparent to
+everybody, the sea was so high and dangerous that we did not dare to
+come about for fear of capsizing, or shipping more green water than we
+could readily dispose of. So we staggered on before the rising gale,
+trusting to luck, and hoping every moment that we should catch sight
+of the _Onward's_ lights.
+
+It has always seemed to me that the most dangerous point of sailing
+in a small open boat in a high combing sea is running dead before
+the wind. When you are sailing close-hauled, you can luff up into a
+squall, if necessary, or meet a steep, dangerous sea bow on; but when
+you are scudding you are almost helpless. You can neither luff, nor
+spill the wind out of the sail by slackening off the sheet, nor put
+your boat in a position to take a heavy sea safely. The end of your
+long boom is liable to trip as you roll and wallow through the waves,
+and every time you rise on the crest of a big comber your rudder comes
+out of water, and your bow swings around until there is imminent
+danger of an accidental jibe.
+
+Heck, who managed our sloop, was a fairly good sailor, but as the wind
+increased, the darkness thickened, and the sea grew higher and higher,
+it became evident to me that nothing but unusually good luck would
+enable us to reach the ship in safety. We were not shipping any water,
+except now and then a bucketful of foam and spray blown from the crest
+of a wave; but the boat was yawing in a very dangerous way as she
+mounted the high, white-capped rollers, and I was afraid that sooner
+or later she would swing around so far that even with the most skilful
+steering a jibe would be inevitable.
+
+It was very dark; I had lost sight of the land; and I don't know
+exactly in what part of the gulf we were when the dreaded catastrophe
+came. The sloop rose on the back of an exceptionally high, combing
+sea, hung poised for an instant on its crest, and then, with a wide
+yaw to starboard which the rudder was powerless to check, swooped down
+sidewise into the hollow, rolling heavily to port and pointing her
+boom high up into the gale. When I saw the dark outline of the leech
+of the mainsail waver for an instant, flap once or twice, and then
+suddenly collapse, I knew what was coming, and shouting at the top of
+my voice, "Look out Heck! She'll jibe!" I instinctively threw myself
+into the bottom of the boat to escape the boom. With a quick, sudden
+rush, ending in a great crash, the long heavy spar swept across the
+boat from starboard to port, knocking Bowsher overboard and carrying
+away the mast. The sloop swung around into the trough of the sea, in a
+tangle of sails, sheets, halyards, and standing rigging; and the next
+great comber came plump into her, filling her almost to the gunwales
+with a white smother of foam. I thought for a moment that she had
+swamped and was sinking; but as I rose to a crouching posture and
+rubbed the saltwater out of my eyes, I saw that she was less than half
+full, and that if we did not ship another sea too soon, prompt and
+energetic bailing might yet keep her afloat.
+
+"Bail her out, boys! For your lives! With your hats!" I shouted: and
+began scooping out the water with my fur hood.
+
+Eight men bailing for life, even with hats and caps, can throw a great
+deal of water out of a boat in a very short time; and within five or
+ten minutes the first imminent danger of sinking was over. Bowsher,
+who was a good swimmer and had not been seriously hurt by the boom,
+climbed back into the boat; we cut away the standing rigging, freed
+the sloop from the tangle of cordage, and got the water-soaked
+mainsail on board; and then, tying a corner of this sail to the stump
+of the mast, we spread it as well as we could, so that it would catch
+a little wind and give the boat steerage-way. Under the influence of
+this scrap of canvas the sloop swung slowly around, across the seas;
+the water ceased to come into her; and wringing out our wet caps and
+clothing, we began to breathe more freely.
+
+When the first excitement of the crisis had passed and I recovered
+my self-possession, I tried to estimate, as coolly as possible, our
+prospects and our chances. The situation seemed to me almost hopeless.
+We were in a dismasted boat, without oars, without a compass, without
+a morsel of food or a mouthful of water, and we were being blown out
+to sea in a heavy north-easterly gale. It was so dark that we could
+not see the land on either side of the constantly widening gulf; there
+was no sign of the _Onward_; and in all probability there was not
+another vessel in any part of the Okhotsk Sea. The nearest land was
+eight or ten miles distant; we were drifting farther and farther away
+from it; and in our disabled and helpless condition there was not the
+remotest chance of our reaching it. In all probability our sloop would
+not live through the night in such a gale; and even should she remain
+afloat until morning, we should then be far out at sea, with nothing
+to eat or drink, and with no prospect of being picked up. If the wind
+should hold in the direction in which it was blowing, it would carry
+us past the _Onward_ at a distance of at least three miles; we had no
+lantern with which to attract the attention of the ship's watch, even
+should we happen to drift past her within sight; the captain did not
+know that we were coming off to the bark that night, and would not
+think of looking out for us; and so far as I could discover, there was
+not a ray of hope for us in any direction.
+
+How long we drifted out in black darkness, and in that tumbling,
+threatening, foam-crested sea, I do not know. It seemed to me many
+hours. I had a letter in my pocket which I had written the day before
+to my mother, and which I had intended to send down to San Francisco
+with the bark. In it I assured her that she need not feel any further
+anxiety about my safety, because the Russian-American telegraph line
+had been abandoned. I was to be landed by the _Onward_ at Okhotsk; I
+was coming home by way of St. Petersburg over a good post-road; and
+I should not be exposed to any more dangers. As I sat there in the
+dismasted sloop, shivering with cold and drifting out to sea before a
+howling arctic gale, I remembered this letter, and wondered what my
+poor mother would think if she could read its contents and at the same
+time see in a mental vision the situation of the writer.
+
+So far as I can remember, there was very little talking among the men
+during these long, dark hours of suspense. None of us, I think, had
+any hope; it was hard to make one's voice heard above the roaring of
+the wind; and we all sat or cowered in the bottom of the boat, waiting
+for an end which could not be very far away. Now and then a heavy sea
+would break over us, and we would all begin bailing again with our
+hats; but aside from this there was nothing to be done. It did not
+seem to me probable that the half-wrecked sloop would live more than
+three or four hours. The gale was constantly rising, and every few
+minutes we were lashed with stinging whips of icy spray, as a fierce
+squall struck the water to windward, scooped off the crests of the
+waves, and swept them horizontally in dense white clouds across the
+boat.
+
+It must have been about nine o'clock when somebody in the bow shouted
+excitedly, "I see a light!"
+
+"Where away?" I cried, half rising from the bottom of the boat in the
+stern-sheets.
+
+"Three or four points off the port bow," the voice replied.
+
+"Are you sure?" I demanded.
+
+"I'm not quite sure, but I saw the twinkle of something away over
+on the Matuga Island side. It's gone now," the voice added, after a
+moment's pause; "but I saw something."
+
+We all looked eagerly and anxiously in the direction indicated; but
+strain our vision as we might, we could not see the faintest gleam or
+twinkle in the impenetrable darkness to leeward. If there was a light
+visible, in that or in any other direction, it could only be the
+anchor-light of the _Onward_, because both coasts of the gulf were
+uninhabited; but it seemed to me probable that the man had been
+deceived by a sparkle of phosphorescence or the gleam of a white
+foam-crest.
+
+For fully five minutes no one spoke, but all stared into the thick
+gloom ahead. Then, suddenly, the same voice cried aloud in a tone
+of still greater excitement, assurance, and certainty, "There it is
+again! I knew I saw it! It's a ship's light!"
+
+In another moment I caught sight of it myself--a faint, distant,
+intermittent twinkle on the horizon nearly dead ahead.
+
+"It's the anchor-light of the _Onward_!" I shouted in fierce
+excitement. "Spread the corner of the mainsail a little more if you
+can, boys, so as to give her better steerage-way. We've got to make
+that ship! Hold her steady on the light, Heck, even if you have to put
+her in the trough of the sea. We might as well founder as drift past!"
+
+The men forward caught up the loose edges of the mainsail and extended
+it as widely as possible to the gale, clinging to the thwarts and the
+stump of the mast to avoid being jerked overboard by the bellying
+canvas. Heck brought the sloop's head around so that the light was
+under our bow, and on we staggered through the dark, storm-lashed
+turmoil of waters, shipping a sea now and then, but half sailing, half
+drifting toward the anchored bark. The wind came in such fierce
+gusts and squalls that one could hardly say from what quarter it was
+blowing; but, as nearly as I could judge in the thick darkness, it had
+shifted three or four points to the westward. If such were the case,
+we had a fair chance of making the ship, which lay nearer the eastern
+than the western coast of the gulf.
+
+"Don't let her head fall off any, Heck," I cried. "Jam her over to the
+eastward as much as you can, even if the sea comes into her. We can
+keep her clear with our hats. If we drift past we're gone!"
+
+As we approached the bark the light grew rapidly brighter: but I did
+not realise how near we were until the lantern, which was hanging in
+the ship's fore-rigging, swung for an instant behind the jib-stay, and
+the vessel's illuminated cordage suddenly came out in delicate tracery
+against the black sky, less than a hundred yards away.
+
+"There she is!" shouted Sandford. "We're close on her!"
+
+The bark was pitching furiously to her anchors, and as we drifted
+rapidly down upon her we could hear the hoarse roar of the gale
+through her rigging, and see a pale gleam of foam as the sea broke in
+sheets of spray against her bluff bows.
+
+"Shall I try to round to abreast of her?" cried Heck to me, "or shall
+I go bang down on her?"
+
+"Don't take any chances," I shouted. "Better strike her, and go to
+pieces alongside, than miss her and drift past. Make ready now to hail
+her--all together--one,--two,--three! Bark aho-o-y! Stand by to throw
+us a line!"
+
+But no sound came from the huge black shadow under the pitching
+lantern save the deep bass roar of the storm through the cordage.
+
+We gave one more fierce, inarticulate cry as the dark outline of the
+bark rose on a sea high above our heads; and then, with a staggering
+shock and a great crash, the boat struck the ship's bow.
+
+What happened in the next minute I hardly know. I have a confused
+recollection of being thrown violently across a thwart in a white
+smother of foam; of struggling to my feet and clutching frantically at
+a wet, black wall, and of hearing some one shout in a wild, despairing
+voice: "Watch ahoy! We're sinking! For God's sake throw us a
+line!"--but that is all.
+
+The water-logged sloop seesawed up and down past the bark's side, one
+moment rising on a huge comber until I could almost grasp the rail,
+and the next sinking into a deep hollow between the surges, far below
+the line of the copper sheathing. We tore the ends of our finger-nails
+off against the ship's side in trying to stop the boat's drift, and
+shouted despairingly again and again for help and a line; but our
+voices were drowned in the roar of the gale, there was no response,
+and the next sea carried us under the bark's counter. I made one last
+clutch at the smooth, wet planks; and then, as we drifted astern past
+the ship, I abandoned hope.
+
+The sloop was sinking rapidly,--I was already standing up to my knees
+in water,--and in thirty seconds more we should be out of sight of the
+bark, in the dark, tumbling sea to leeward, with no more chance of
+rescue than if we were drowning in mid-Atlantic. Suddenly a dark
+figure in the boat beside me,--I learned afterward that it was
+Bowsher,--tore off his coat and waistcoat and made a bold leap into
+the sea to windward. He knew that it was certain death to drift out of
+sight of the bark in that sinking sloop, and he hoped to be able to
+swim alongside until he should be picked up. I myself had not thought
+of this before, but I saw instantly that it offered a forlorn hope of
+escape, and I was just poised in the act of following his example when
+on the quarter-deck of the bark, already twenty feet away, a white
+ghost-like figure appeared with uplifted arm, and a hoarse voice
+shouted, "Stand by to catch a line!"
+
+It was the _Onward's_ second mate. He had heard our cries in his
+state-room as we drifted under the ship's counter, and had instantly
+sprung from his berth and rushed on deck in his night-shirt.
+
+By the dim light of the binnacle I could just see the coil of rope
+unwind as it left his hand; but I could not see where it fell; I knew
+that there would be no time for another throw; and it seemed to me
+that my heart did not beat again until I heard from the bow of the
+sloop a cheery shout of "All right! I've got the line! Slack off till
+I make it fast!"
+
+In thirty seconds more we were safe. The second mate roused the watch,
+who had apparently taken refuge in the forecastle from the storm; the
+sloop was hauled up under the bark's stern; a second line was thrown
+to Bowsher, and one by one we were hoisted, in a sort of improvised
+breeches-buoy, to the _Onward's_ quarterdeck. As I came aboard,
+coatless, hatless, and shivering from cold and excitement, the captain
+stared at me in amazement for a moment, and then exclaimed: "Good God!
+Mr. Kennan, is that you? What possessed you to come off to the ship
+such a night as this?"
+
+"Well, Captain," I replied, trying to force a smile, "it didn't blow
+in this way when we started; and we had an accident--carried our mast
+away."
+
+"But," he remonstrated, "it has been blowing great guns ever since
+dark. We've got two anchors down, and we've been dragging them both. I
+finally had them buoyed, and told the mate that if they dragged again
+we'd slip the cables and run out to sea. You might not have found us
+here at all, and then where would you have been?"
+
+"Probably at the bottom of the gulf," I replied. "I haven't expected
+anything else for the last three hours."
+
+The ill-fated sloop from which we made this narrow escape was so
+crushed in her collision with the bark that the sea battered her to
+pieces in the course of the night, and when I went on deck the next
+morning, a few ribs and shattered planks, floating awash at the end of
+the line astern, were all of her that remained.
+
+[Illustration: War and Hunting Knives.
+Snowbeaters used for beating snow from the clothing.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+
+START FOR ST. PETERSBURG ROUTE TO YAKUTSK--A TUNGUSE ENCAMPMENT--
+CROSSING THE STANAVOI MOUNTAINS--SEVERE COLD--FIRE-LIGHTED SMOKE
+PILLARS--ARRIVAL IN YAKUTSK
+
+When we reached Okhotsk, about the middle of September, I found a
+letter from Major Abaza, brought by special courier from Yakutsk,
+directing me to come to St. Petersburg by the first winter road. The
+_Onward_ sailed for San Francisco at once, carrying back to home and
+civilisation all of our employees except four, viz., Price, Schwartz,
+Malchanski, and myself. Price intended to accompany me to St.
+Petersburg, while Schwartz and Malchanski, who were Russians, decided
+to go with us as far as Irkutsk, the east-Siberian capital.
+
+Snow fell in sufficient quantities to make good sledging about the 8th
+of October; but the rivers did not freeze over so that they could be
+crossed until two weeks later. On the 21st of the month, Schwartz and
+Malchanski started with three or four light dog-sledges to break a
+road through the deep, freshly fallen snow, in the direction of the
+Stanavoi Mountains, and on the 24th Price and I followed with the
+heavier baggage and provisions. The whole population of the village
+turned out to see us off. The long-haired priest, with his cassock
+flapping about his legs in the keen wind of a wintry morning, stood
+bareheaded in the street and gave us his farewell blessing; the
+women, whose hearts we had made glad with American baking-powder and
+telegraph teacups, waved bright-coloured handkerchiefs to us from
+their open doors; cries of "Good-bye!" "God grant you a fortunate
+journey!" came to us from the group of fur-clad men who surrounded our
+sledges; and the air trembled with the incessant howls of a hundred
+wolfish dogs, as they strained impatiently against their broad
+sealskin collars.
+
+"Ai! Maxim!" shouted the ispravnik to our leading driver, "are you all
+ready?"
+
+"All ready," was the reply.
+
+"Well, then, go, with God!" and, amid a chorus of good wishes and
+good-byes from the crowd, the spiked sticks which held our sledges
+were removed; the howls instantly ceased as the dogs sprang eagerly
+into their collars, and the group of fur-clad men, the green, bulbous
+church domes, and the grey, unpainted log houses of the dreariest
+village in all Siberia vanished behind us forever in a cloud of
+powdery snow.
+
+The so-called "post-road" from Kamchatka to St. Petersburg, which
+skirts the Okhotsk Sea for more than a thousand miles, passes through
+the village of Okhotsk, and then, turning away from the coast, ascends
+one of the small rivers that rise in the Stanavoi Mountains; crosses
+that range at a height of four or five thousand feet; and finally
+descends into the great valley of the Lena. It must not be supposed,
+however, that this "post-road" resembles anything that we know by that
+name. The word "road," in north-eastern Siberia, is only a verbal
+symbol standing for an abstraction. The thing symbolised has no more
+real, tangible existence than a meridian of longitude. It is simply
+lineal extension in a certain direction. The country back of Okhotsk,
+for a distance of six hundred miles, is an unbroken wilderness of
+mountains and evergreen forests, sparsely inhabited by Wandering
+Tunguses, with here and there a few hardy Yakut squirrel hunters.
+Through this wilderness there is not even a trail, and the so-called
+"road" is only a certain route which is taken by the government
+postilion who carries the yearly mail to and from Kamchatka. The
+traveller who starts from the Okhotsk Sea with the intention of going
+across Asia by way of Yakutsk and Irkutsk must make up his mind to be
+independent of roads;--at least for the first fifteen hundred miles.
+The mountain passes, the great rivers, and the post-stations, will
+determine his general course; but the wilderness through which he
+must make his way has never been subdued by the axe and spade of
+civilisation. It is now, as it always has been, a wild, primeval land
+of snowy mountains, desolate steppes, and shaggy pine forests, through
+which the great arctic rivers and their tributaries have marked out
+the only lines of intercommunication.
+
+The worst and most difficult part of the post-route between Okhotsk
+and Yakutsk, viz., the mountainous part, is maintained by a half-wild
+tribe of arctic nomads known to the Russians as Tunguses. Living
+originally, as they did, in skin tents, moving constantly from place
+to place, and earning a scanty subsistence by breeding reindeer, they
+were easily persuaded by the Russian Government to encamp permanently
+along the route, and furnish reindeer and sledges for the
+transportation of couriers and the imperial mails, together with
+such travellers as should be provided with government orders, or
+"podorozhnayas." In return for this service they were exempted from
+the annual tax levied by Russia upon her other Siberian subjects; were
+supplied with a certain yearly allowance of tea and tobacco; and were
+authorised to collect from the travellers whom they carried a fare to
+be computed at the rate of about two and a half cents per mile for
+every reindeer furnished. Between Okhotsk and Yakutsk, along the line
+of this post-route, there are seven or eight Tunguse encampments,
+which vary a little in location, from season to season, with the
+shifting areas of available pasturage, but which are kept as nearly
+as possible equidistant from one another in a direct line across the
+Stanavoi range.
+
+We hoped to make the first post-station on the third day after our
+departure; but the soft freshly fallen snow so retarded our progress
+that it was nearly dark on the fourth day before we caught sight of
+the little group of Tunguse tents where we were to exchange our dogs
+for reindeer. If there be, in "all the white world," as the Russians
+say, anything more hopelessly dreary than one of the Tunguse mountain
+settlements in winter, I have never seen it. Away up above the
+forests, on some elevated plateau, or desolate, storm-swept height,
+where nothing but berry bushes and arctic moss will grow, stand the
+four or five small, grey reindeerskin tents which make up the nomad
+encampment. There are no trees or shrubs around them to shut out a
+part of the sky, limit the horizon, or afford the least semblance of
+shelter to the lonely settlement, and there is no wall or palisade to
+fence in and domesticate for finite purposes a little corner of the
+infinite. The grey tents seem to stand alone in the great universe of
+God, with never-ending space and unbounded desolation stretching away
+from their very doors. Take your stand near such an encampment and
+look at it more closely. The surface of the snowy plain around you,
+as far as you can see, has been trampled and torn up by reindeer in
+search of moss. Here and there between the tents stand the large
+sledges upon which the Tunguses load their camp-equipage when they
+move, and in front is a long, low wall, made of symmetrically piled
+reindeer packs and saddles. A few driving deer wander around, with
+their noses to the ground, looking for something that they never
+seem to find; evil-looking ravens--the scavengers of Tunguse
+encampments--flap heavily past with hoarse croaks to a patch of
+blood-stained snow where a reindeer has recently been slaughtered;
+and in the foreground, two or three grey, wolfish dogs with cruel,
+light-coloured eyes, are gnawing at a half-stripped reindeer's head.
+The thermometer stands at forty-five degrees below zero, Fahrenheit,
+and the breasts of deer, ravens, and dogs are white with frost. The
+thin smoke from the conical fur tents rises perpendicularly to a great
+height in the clear, still air; the ghostly mountain peaks in
+the distance look like white silhouettes on a background of dark
+steel-blue; and the desolate snow-covered landscape is faintly tinged
+with a yellow glare by the low-hanging wintry sun. Every detail of the
+scene is strange, wild, arctic,--even to the fur-clad, frost-whitened
+men who come riding up to the tents astride the shoulders of panting
+reindeer and salute you with a drawling "Zdar-o-o-va!" as they put one
+end of their balancing poles to the ground and spring from their flat,
+stirrupless saddles. You can hardly realise that you are in the same
+active, bustling, money-getting world in which you remember once to
+have lived. The cold, still atmosphere, the white, barren mountains,
+and the great lonely wilderness around you are all full of cheerless,
+depressing suggestions, and have a strange unearthliness which you
+cannot reconcile or connect with any part of your pre-Siberian life.
+
+At the first Tunguse encampment we took a rest of twenty-four hours,
+and then, exchanging our dogs for reindeer, we bade good-bye to our
+Okhotsk drivers and, under the guidance of half a dozen bronze-faced
+Tunguses in spotted reindeerskin coats, pushed westward, through
+snow-choked mountain ravines, toward the river Aldan. Our progress,
+for the first two weeks, was slow and fatiguing and attended with
+difficulties and hardships of almost every possible kind. The Tunguse
+encampments were sometimes three or four days' journey apart; the
+cold, as we ascended the Stanavoi range, steadily increased in
+intensity until it became so severe as to endanger life, and day
+after day we plodded wearily on snowshoes ahead of our heavily
+loaded sledges, breaking a road in three feet of soft snow for our
+struggling, frost-whitened deer. We made, on an average, about thirty
+miles a day; but our deer often came in at night completely exhausted,
+and the sharp ivory goads of our Tunguse drivers were red with frozen
+blood. Sometimes we bivouacked at night in a wild mountain gorge
+and lighted up the snow-laden forest with the red glare of a mighty
+camp-fire; sometimes we shovelled the drifted snow out of one of the
+empty _yurts_, or earth-covered cabins, built by the government along
+the route to shelter its postilions, and took refuge therein from
+a howling blizzard. Hardened as we were by two previous winters of
+arctic travel, and accustomed as we were to all the vicissitudes of
+northern life, the crossing of the Stanavoi range tried our powers of
+endurance to the uttermost. For four successive days, near the summit
+of the pass on the western slope, mercury froze at noon. [Footnote:
+We had only a mercurial thermometer, so that we did not know how much
+below -39 deg. the temperature was.] The faintest breath of air seared the
+face like a hot iron; beards became tangled masses of frosty wire;
+eyelids grew heavy with long snowy fringes which half obscured the
+sight; and only the most vigorous exercise would force the blood back
+into the benumbed extremities from which it was constantly being
+driven by the iron grasp of the cold. Schwartz, the oldest member of
+our party, was brought into a Tunguse encampment one night in a state
+of unconsciousness that would soon have ended in death, and even our
+hardy native drivers came in with badly frozen hands and faces. The
+temperature alone would have been sufficient evidence, if evidence
+were needed, that we were entering the coldest region on the
+globe--the Siberian province of Yakutsk. [Footnote: In some parts of
+this province the freezing point of mercury, or about forty degrees
+below zero Fahrenheit, is the average temperature of the three winter
+months, and eighty-five degrees below zero have sometimes been
+observed.]
+
+In a monotonous routine of walking on snowshoes, riding on
+reindeer-sledges, camping in the open, or sleeping in smoky Tunguse
+tents, day after day and week after week passed, until at last we
+approached the valley of the Aldan--one of the eastern tributaries of
+that great arctic river the Lena. Climbing the last outlying ridge of
+the Stanavoi range, one dark, moonless evening in November, we found
+ourselves at the head of a wild ravine leading downward into an
+extensive open plain. Away below and in front, outlined against the
+intense blackness of the hills beyond the valley, rose four or five
+columns of luminous mist, like pillars of fire in the wilderness of
+the Exodus.
+
+"What are those?" I inquired of my Tunguse driver.
+
+"Yakut," was the brief reply.
+
+They were columns of smoke, sixty or seventy feet in height, over the
+chimneys of Yakut farmhouses; and they stood so vertically in the
+cold, motionless air of the arctic night that they were lighted up, to
+their very summits, by the hearth-fires underneath. As I stood looking
+at them, there came faintly to my ears the far-away lowing of cattle.
+"Thank God!" I said to Malchanski, who at that moment rode up, "we are
+getting, at last, where they live in houses and keep cows!" No one can
+fully understand the pleasure that these columns of fire-lighted smoke
+gave us until he has ridden on dog- or reindeer-sledges, or walked on
+snowshoes, for twenty interminable days, through an arctic wilderness.
+It seemed to me a year since our departure from Okhotsk; for weeks we
+had not taken off our heavy armour of furs; mirrors, beds and clean
+linen were traditions of the remote past; and American civilisation,
+as we looked back at it across twenty-seven months of barbarism, faded
+into the unreal imagery of a dream. But the pillars of fire-lighted
+smoke and the lowing of domestic cattle were a promise of better
+things.
+
+In less than two hours, we were sitting before the glowing fireplace
+of a comfortable Yakut house, with a soft carpet under our feet;
+real crockery cups of fragrant Kiakhta tea on a table beside us, and
+pictures on the wall over our heads. The house, it is true, had slabs
+of ice for windows; the carpet was made of deerskins; and the pictures
+were only woodcuts from _Harper's Weekly_ and _Frank Leslie's_; but to
+us, fresh from the smoky tents of the Tunguses, windows, carpets, and
+pictures, of any kind, were things to be wondered at and admired.
+
+Between the Yakut settlements on the Aldan and the town of Yakutsk,
+there was a good post-road--really a road; so, harnessing shaggy white
+Yakut ponies to our Okhotsk dog-sledges, we drove swiftly westward, to
+the unfamiliar music of Russian sleigh-bells, changing horses at every
+post-station and riding from fifteen to eighteen hours out of the
+twenty-four.
+
+On the 16th of November, after twenty-three days of continuous travel,
+we reached Yakutsk; and there, in the house of a wealthy Russian
+merchant who threw his doors open to us with warm-hearted hospitality,
+we washed from our bodies the smoke and grime of Tunguse tents and
+_yurts_; put on clean, fresh clothes; ate a well cooked and daintily
+served supper; drank five tumblers of fragrant overland tea; smoked
+two Manila cheroots; and finally went to bed, excited but happy, in
+beds that were provided with hair mattresses, fleecy Russian blankets,
+and linen sheets. The sensation of lying without furs and between
+sheets in a civilised bed was so novel and extraordinary that I lay
+awake for an hour, trying experiments with that wonderful mattress and
+luxuriously exploring, with bare feet, the smooth cool expanses of
+linen sheeting.
+
+[Illustration: Travelling Bag made of Reindeer skin]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+
+THE GREATEST HORSE-EXPRESS SERVICE IN THE WORLD--EQUIPMENT FOR
+THE ROAD--A SIBERIAN "SEND-OFF"--POST TRAVEL ON THE ICE--BROKEN
+SLEEP--DRIVING INTO AN AIR-HOLE--REPAIRING DAMAGES--FIRST SIGHT OF
+IRKUTSK
+
+We remained in Yakutsk only four days--just long enough to make the
+necessary preparations for a continuous sleigh-ride of five thousand
+one hundred and fourteen miles to the nearest railway in European
+Russia. The Imperial Russian Post, by which we purposed to travel from
+Yakutsk to Nizhni Novgorod, was, at that time, the longest and best
+organised horse-express service in the world. It employed 3000 or 4000
+drivers, with twice as many _telegas, tarantases_ and sleighs, and
+kept in readiness for instant use more than 10,000 horses, distributed
+among 350 post-stations, along a route that covered a distance as
+great as that between New York City and the Sandwich Islands. If one
+had the requisite physical endurance, and could travel night and
+day without stop, it was possible, with a courier's "podorozhnaya"
+(po-do-rozh'-na-yah), or road-ticket, to go from Yakutsk to Nizhni
+Novgorod, a distance of 5114 miles, in twenty-five days, or only
+eleven days more than the time occupied by a railway train in covering
+about the same distance. Before the establishment of telegraphic
+communication between China and Russia, imperial couriers, carrying
+important despatches from Peking, often made the distance between
+Irkutsk and St. Petersburg--3618 miles--in sixteen days, with two
+hundred and twelve changes of horses and drivers. In order to
+accomplish this feat they had to eat, drink, and sleep in their
+sleighs and make an average speed-rate of ten miles an hour for nearly
+four hundred consecutive hours. We did not expect, of course, to
+travel with such rapidity as this; but we intended to ride night and
+day, and hoped to reach St. Petersburg before the end of the year.
+With the aid and advice of Baron Maidel, a Russian scientist who had
+just come over the route that we purposed to follow, Price and I
+bought a large open _pavoska_ or Siberian travelling sleigh, which
+looked like a huge, burlap-covered baby-carriage on runners; had it
+brought into the courtyard of our house, and proceeded to fit it up
+for six weeks' occupancy as a bedchamber and sitting-room. First of
+all, we repacked our luggage in soft, flat, leather pouches, and
+stowed it away in the bottom of the deep and capacious vehicle as a
+foundation for our bed. We then covered these flat pouches with a
+two-foot layer of fragrant hay, to lessen the shock of jolting on a
+rough road; spread over the hay a big wolfskin sleeping-sack, about
+seven feet in length and wide enough to hold our two bodies; covered
+that with two pairs of blankets; and finally lined the whole back part
+of the sleigh with large, soft, swan's-down pillows. At the foot of
+the sleeping-sack, under the driver's seat, we stowed away a bag of
+dried rye-bread, another bag filled with cakes of frozen soup, two or
+three pounds of tea, a conical loaf of white sugar, half a dozen dried
+and smoked salmon, and a padded box containing teapot, tea-cannister,
+sugar-jar, spoons, knives and forks, and two glass tumblers. Schwartz;
+and Malchanski bought another _pavoska_ and fitted it up in similar
+fashion, and on the 19th of November we obtained from the Bureau
+of Posts two _podorozhnayas_, or, as Price called them, "ukases,"
+directing every post-station master between Yakutsk and Irkutsk to
+furnish us, "by order of his Imperial Majesty Alexander Nikolaivitch,
+Autocrat of All the Russias," etc., etc., six horses and two drivers
+to carry us on our way.
+
+In every part of the world except Siberia it is customary to start on
+a long journey in the morning. In Siberia, however, the proper time is
+late in the evening, when all your friends can conveniently assemble
+to "provozhat," or, in colloquial English, give you a send-off.
+Judging from our experience in Yakutsk, the Siberian custom has the
+support of sound reason, inasmuch as the amount of drinking involved
+in the riotous ceremony of "provozhanie" unfits a man for any place
+except bed, and any occupation more strenuous than slumber. A man
+could never see his friend off in the morning and then go back to his
+business. He would see double, if not quadruple, and would hardly be
+able to speak his native language without a foreign accent. When
+the horses came from the post-station for us, at ten o'clock on the
+evening of November 20th, we had had one dinner and two or three
+incidental lunches; had "sampled" every kind of beverage that our host
+had in the house, from vodka and cherry cordial to "John Collins" and
+champagne; had sung all the songs we knew, from "John Brown's Body"
+in English to "Nastoichka travnaya" in Russian; and Schwartz and
+Malchanski were ready, apparently, to make a night of it, send the
+horses back to the station, and have another _provozhanie_ the next
+day. Price and I, however, insisted that the Czar's ukase to the
+station-masters was good only for that evening; that if we didn't
+take the horses immediately we should have to pay demurrage; that the
+curfew bell had rung; that the town gates would close at ten thirty
+sharp; and that if we didn't get under way at once, we should probably
+be arrested for riotous disturbance of the peace!
+
+We put on our _kukhlankas_ and fur hoods at last; shook hands once
+more all around; and finally got out into the street;--Malchanski
+dragging Schwartz off to his sleigh singing the chorus of a Russian
+drinking song that ended in "Ras-to-chee'-tel-no! Vos-khe-tee'-tel-no!
+Oo-dee-vee'-tel-no!" We then drank a farewell stirrup cup, which our
+bareheaded host brought out to us after we had taken our seats, and
+were just about to start, when Baron Maidel shouted to me, with an
+air of serious concern, "Have you got a club--for the drivers and
+station-masters?"
+
+"No," I replied, "I don't need a club; I can talk to them in the most
+persuasive Russian you ever heard."
+
+"Akh! Neilza!" ("Impossible") he exclaimed. "It is impossible to go
+so! You must have a club! Wait a minute!" and he rushed back into
+the house to get me a bludgeon from his private armory. My driver,
+meanwhile, who evidently disapproved, on personal grounds, of this
+suggestion, laid his whip across his horses' backs with a cry of "Noo,
+rebatta!" ("Now then, boys") and we dashed away from the house, just
+as the Baron reappeared on the steps brandishing a formidable cudgel
+and shouting: "Pastoy! Neilza!" ("Stop, it's impossible.") "You can't
+go without a club!" When we turned a neighbouring corner and lost
+sight of the house, our host was waving a bottle in one hand and a
+lighted candle in the other; Baron Maidel was still gesticulating on
+the steps, shouting: "Neilza! Hold on! Club! For your drivers! It's
+impossible to go so!" and the little group of "provozhatters" on the
+sidewalk were laughing, cheering, and shouting "Good-bye! Good luck!
+With God!"
+
+We dashed away at a gallop through the snow-drifted streets, past
+earth-banked _yurts_ whose windows of ice were irradiated with a warm
+glow by the open fires within; past columns of luminous smoke rising
+from the wide chimneys of Yakut houses; past a red stuccoed church
+upon whose green, balloon-shaped domes golden stars glittered in the
+frosty moonlight; past a lonely graveyard on the outskirts of the
+city; and finally down a gentle decline to the snow-covered river,
+which had a width of nearly four miles and which stretched away to the
+westward like a frozen lake surrounded by dark wooded hills. Up this
+great river--the Lena--we were to travel on the ice for a distance of
+nearly a thousand miles, following a sinuous, never-ending line of
+small evergreen trees, which had been cut in the neighbouring forests
+and set up at short intervals in the snow, to guide the drivers in
+storms and to mark out a line of safety around air-holes and between
+areas of thin ice or stretches of open water. I fell asleep, shortly
+after leaving Yakutsk, but was awakened, two or three hours later,
+at the first post-station, by the voice of our driver shouting: "Ai!
+Boys! Out with the horses--lively!" Two of us then had to alight from
+our sleighs, go into the post-station, show our _podorozhnayas_ to the
+station-master, and superintend the harnessing of two fresh teams.
+Getting back into my fur bag, I lay awake for the next three hours,
+listening to the jangle of a big bell on the wooden arch over the
+thill-horse's back, and watching, through frosty eyelashes, the dark
+outlines of the high wooded shores as they seemed to drift swiftly
+past us to the eastward.
+
+The severest hardship of post travel in eastern Siberia in winter is
+not the cold, but the breaking up of all one's habits of sleep. In the
+first stages of our journey, when the nights were clear and the river
+ice was smooth and safe, we made the distances between stations in
+from two to three hours; and at the end of every such period we were
+awakened, and had to get out of our warm fur bags into a temperature
+that was almost always below zero and sometimes forty or fifty degrees
+below. When we got back into our vehicles and resumed our journey,
+we were usually cold, and just as we would get warm enough to go to
+sleep, we would reach another station and again have to turn out.
+Sleeping in short snatches, between shivers, to the accompaniment of
+a jangling dinner-bell and a driver's shouts, and getting out into
+an arctic temperature every two or three hours, night and day, for a
+whole week, reduces one to a very fagged and jaded condition. At the
+end of the first four days, it seemed to me that I should certainly
+have to stop somewhere for an unbroken night's rest; but man is an
+animal that gets accustomed to things, and in the course of a week I
+became so used to the wild cries of the driver and the jangle of the
+thill-horse's bell that they no longer disturbed me, and I gradually
+acquired the habit of sleeping, in brief cat-naps, at all hours of the
+day and night. As we ascended the river, the moon rose later and
+later and the nights were often so dark that our drivers had great
+difficulty in following the line of evergreen trees that marked the
+road. Finally, about five hundred miles from Yakutsk, a particularly
+reckless or self-confident driver got off the road, went ahead at a
+venture instead of stopping to look for the evergreen trees, and just
+after midnight drove us into an air-hole, about a quarter of a mile
+from shore, where the water was thirty feet deep. Price and I were
+fast asleep, and were awakened by the crashing of ice, the snorting of
+the terrified horses, and the rush of water into the sleigh. I cannot
+remember how we got out of our fur bags and gained the solid ice. I
+was so bewildered by sleep and so completely taken by surprise that I
+must have acted upon blind impulse, without any clear consciousness of
+what I was doing. From subsequent examination of the air-hole and the
+sleigh, I concluded that we must have jumped from the widely extended
+outriggers, which were intended to guard against an accidental
+capsize, which had a span of ten or twelve feet, and which rested
+on the broken ice around the margin of the hole in such a way as to
+prevent the sleigh from becoming completely submerged. But be that as
+it may, we all got out on the solid ice in some way, and the first
+thing I remember is standing on the edge of the hole, staring at the
+swimming, snorting horses, the outlines of whose heads and necks
+I could just make out, and wondering whether this were not a
+particularly vivid and terrifying nightmare. For an instant, I could
+not be absolutely sure that I was awake. In a moment, the other
+sleigh, which was only a short distance behind, loomed up through the
+darkness and its driver shouted to our man, "What's the matter?"
+
+"Oootonoole!" ("We got drowned") was the reply. "Get out your ropes,
+quick, while I run to the shore for some driftwood. The horses
+will freeze and sink in a few minutes. Akh! My God! My God! What a
+punishment!" and, tearing off his outer fur coat, he started at a run
+for the shore. I did not know what he expected to do with driftwood,
+but he seemed to have a clear vital idea of some sort, so Price and
+I rushed away after him. "We must get a tree, or a small log," he
+explained breathlessly as we overtook him, "so I can crawl out on it
+and cut the horses loose. But God knows," he added, "whether they'll
+hold out till we get back. The water is killing cold." After a few
+minutes on the snowy beach, we found a long, slender tree-trunk that
+our driver said would do, and began to drag it across the ice. Our
+breath, by this time, was coming in short, panting gasps, and when
+Schwartz, Malchanski, and the other driver, who ran to our assistance,
+took hold of the heavy log, we were on the verge of physical collapse.
+When we got back to the air-hole, the horses were still swimming
+feebly, but they were fast becoming chilled and exhausted, and it
+seemed doubtful whether we should save them. We pushed the log out
+over the broken edge of the ice, and five of us held it while our
+driver, with a knife between his teeth and a rope about his shoulders,
+crawled out on it, cut loose one of the outside horses and fastened
+the line around its neck. He then crept back, and we all hauled on the
+line until we dragged the poor beast out by the head. It was very much
+exhausted and badly scraped by the sharp edge of the ice, but it had
+strength enough to scramble to its feet. We then cut loose and hauled
+out in the same way the outside horse on the other side. This one was
+nearly dead and made no attempt to get up until it had been cruelly
+flogged, but it struggled to its feet at last. Cutting loose the
+thill-horse was more difficult, as its body was completely submerged
+and it was hard to get at the rawhide fastening that held the collar,
+the wooden arch, and the thills together, but our plucky driver
+succeeded at last, and we dragged the half-frozen animal out. Rescue
+came for him, however, too late. He could not rise to his feet and
+died, a few moments afterward, from exhaustion and cold. Fastening
+ropes to the half-submerged sleigh and harnessing to it the horses of
+the other team, we finally pulled that up on the ice. Leaving it there
+for the present, we made traverses back and forth across the river
+until we found the line of evergreen trees, and then started for the
+nearest post-station--Price and I riding with Malchanski and Schwartz
+while our driver followed with the two rescued horses. When we reached
+the post-station, which was about seven miles away, it was between
+three and four o'clock in the morning; and, after rousing the
+station-master and sending a driver with a team of fresh horses after
+the abandoned sleigh, we drank two or three tumblerfuls of hot tea,
+brought in blankets and pillows from the sleigh of Schwartz and
+Malchanski, and went to bed on the floor. As a result of this
+misadventure, our homeward progress was stopped, and we had to stay at
+the village of Krestofskaya two days, while we repaired damages. Our
+sleigh, when it came in that morning, was a mass of ice; our fur bag,
+blankets, pillows, and spare clothing were water-soaked and frozen
+solid; and the contents of our leather pouches were almost ruined.
+By distributing our things among half a dozen houses we succeeded in
+getting them thawed out and dried in time to make another start at the
+end of the second day; but after that time I did not allow myself to
+fall asleep at night. We had escaped once, but we might not be so
+fortunate again, and I decided to watch the line of evergreen bushes
+myself. When we lost the road in the darkness afterward, as we
+frequently did, I made the driver stop and searched the river myself
+on foot until I found it. The danger that I feared was not so much
+getting drowned as getting wet. In temperatures that were almost
+continuously below zero, and often twenty or thirty degrees below, a
+man in water-soaked clothing would freeze to death in a very short
+time, and there were so many air-holes and areas of thin ice that
+watchfulness was a matter of vital necessity.
+
+Day after day and night after night we rode swiftly westward, up a
+river that was always more than a mile in width and often two or
+three; past straggling villages of unpainted log houses clinging
+to the steep sides of the mountainous shores; through splendid
+precipitous gorges, like those above the Iron Gate of the Danube;
+along stretches of flat pasture land where shaggy, white Yakut
+ponies were pawing up the snow to get at the withered grass; through
+good-sized towns like Kirinsk and Vitimsk, where we began to see
+signs of occidental civilisation; and finally, past a stern-wheel,
+Ohio-River steamboat, of primitive type, tied up and frozen in near
+the head of navigation at Verkholensk. "Just look at that steamer!"
+cried Price, with an unwonted glow of enthusiasm in his boyish face.
+"Doesn't that look like home?" At Verkholensk we abandoned the Lena,
+which we had followed up almost to its source, and, leaving the ice
+for the first time in two weeks, we started across country in a line
+nearly parallel with the western coast of Lake Baikal. We had been
+forty-one days on the road from Okhotsk; had covered a distance of
+about 2300 miles, and were within a day's ride of Irkutsk.
+
+One bright sunshiny morning in early December, from the crest of
+a high hill on the Verkholensk road, we got our first view of the
+east-Siberian capital--a long compact mass of wooden houses with
+painted window-shutters; white-walled buildings with roofs of metallic
+green; and picturesque Russo-Byzantine churches whose snowy towers
+were crowned with inverted balloons of gold or covered with domes of
+ultramarine blue spangled with golden stars. Long lines of loaded
+sledges from the Mongolian frontier could be seen entering the city
+from the south; the streets were full of people; flags were flying
+here and there over the roofs of government buildings; and from the
+barracks down the river came faintly the music of a regimental band.
+Our driver stopped his horses, took off his hat, and turning to us,
+with the air of one who owns what he points out, said, proudly,
+"Irkutsk!" If he expected us to be impressed--as he evidently did--he
+was not disappointed; because Irkutsk, at that time and from that
+point of view, was a very striking and beautiful city. We, moreover,
+had just come from the desolate moss tundras and wild, lonely forests
+of arctic Asia and were in a state of mind to be impressed by anything
+that had architectural beauty, or indicated culture, luxury, and
+wealth. We had seen nothing that even remotely suggested a city in two
+years and a half; and we felt almost as if we were Gothic barbarians
+gazing at Rome. It did not even strike us as particularly funny when
+our Buriat driver informed us seriously that Irkutsk was so great a
+place that its houses had to be numbered in order to enable their
+owners to find them! To us, fresh from Gizhiga, Penzhina, and Okhotsk,
+a city with numbered houses was really too remarkable and impressive
+a thing to be treated with levity, and we therefore received the
+information with proper awe and in silence. We could share the native
+feeling, even if numbered houses had once been known to us.
+
+Twenty minutes later, we dashed into the city at a gallop, as if we
+were imperial couriers with war news; rushed at break-neck speed past
+markets, bazaars, telegraph poles, street lamps, big shops with gilded
+sign-boards, polished droshkies drawn by high-stepping Orloff horses,
+officers in uniform, grey-coated policemen with sabres, and pretty
+women hooded in white Caucasian _bashliks_; and finally drew up with a
+flourish in front of a comfortable-looking stuccoed hotel--the first
+one we had seen in more than twenty-nine months.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+
+A PLUNGE INTO CIVILISATION--THE NOBLES' BALL--SHOCKING LANGUAGE--
+SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLISH--THE GREAT SIBERIAN ROAD--PASSING TEA
+CARAVANS--RAPID TRAVEL--FIFTY-SEVEN HUNDRED MILES IN ELEVEN
+WEEKS--ARRIVAL IN ST. PETERSBURG
+
+At Irkutsk, we plunged suddenly from a semi-barbaric environment into
+an environment of high civilisation and culture; and our attempts to
+adjust ourselves to the new and unfamiliar conditions were attended,
+at first, with not a little embarrassment and discomfort. As we were
+among the first Americans who had been seen in that Far Eastern
+capital, and were officers, moreover, of a company with which the
+Russian Government itself had been in partnership, we were not only
+treated with distinguished consideration, but were welcomed everywhere
+with warm-hearted kindness and hospitality; and we found it necessary
+at once to exchange calls with high officials; accept invitations to
+dinner; share the box of the Governor-General's chief of staff at the
+theatre, and go to the weekly ball of the "noble-born" in the hall
+of the "Blagorodnaya Sobrania," (Assembly of Nobles). The first
+difficulty that we encountered, of course, was the lack of suitable
+clothing. After two and a half years of campaigning in an arctic
+wilderness, we had no raiment left that was fit to wear in such a city
+as Irkutsk, and--worse than that--we had little money with which to
+purchase a new supply. The two hundred and fifty dollars with which
+we left Okhotsk had gradually dribbled away in the defrayment of
+necessary expenses along the road, and we had barely enough left to
+pay for a week's stay at the hotel. In this emergency we fell back
+upon our telegraph-company uniforms. They had been soaked in the Lena,
+frozen into masses of ice, and stretched all out of shape in the
+process of wringing and drying at Krestofskaya; but we got an Irkutsk
+tailor to press them and polish up the tarnished gilt buttons, and
+after spending most of the money we had left in the purchase of new
+fur overcoats to replace the dirty, travel-worn _kukhlankas_ in which
+we had arrived, we got ourselves up in presentable form to call on the
+Governor-General.
+
+The severest ordeal through which we had to pass, however, was the
+dance at the hall of the Blagorodnaya Sobrania to which we were
+escorted by General Kukel (koo'-kel), the Governor-General's chief of
+staff. The spacious and brilliantly lighted apartment, draped with
+flags and decorated with evergreens; the polished dancing-floor;
+the crash and blare of the music furnished by a military band; the
+beautiful women in rich evening toilettes; and the throng of handsome
+young officers in showy and diversified uniforms, simply overwhelmed
+us with feelings of mingled excitement and embarrassment. I felt,
+myself, like a uniformed Eskimo at a Charity Ball, and should have
+been glad to skulk in a corner behind the band! All I wanted was an
+opportunity to watch, unobserved, the brilliant picture of colour and
+motion, and to feel the thrill of the music as the band swept, with
+wonderful dash, swing, and precision, through the measures of a
+spirited Polish mazurka. General Kukel, however, had other views
+for us, and not only took us about the hall, introducing us to more
+beautiful women than we had seen, we thought, in the whole course of
+our previous existence, but said to every lady, as he presented us:
+"Mr. Kennan and Mr. Price, you know, speak Russian perfectly." Price,
+with discretion beyond his years, promptly disclaimed the imputed
+accomplishment; but I was rash enough to admit that I did have some
+knowledge of the language in question, and was forthwith drawn into a
+stream of rapid Russian talk by a young woman with sympathetic face
+and sparkling eyes, who encouraged me to describe dog-sledge travel
+in north-eastern Asia and the vicissitudes of tent life with the
+Wandering Koraks. On this conversational ground I felt perfectly at
+home; and I was succeeding, as I thought, admirably, when the girl
+suddenly blushed, looked a trifle shocked, and then bit her lip in
+a manifest effort to restrain a smile of amusement not warranted by
+anything in the life that I was trying to describe. She was soon
+afterward carried away by a young Cossack officer who asked her to
+dance, and I was promptly engaged in conversation by another lady, who
+also wanted "to hear an American talk Russian." My self-confidence had
+been a little shaken by the blush and the amused smile of my previous
+auditor, but I rallied my intellectual forces, took a firm grip of my
+Russian vocabulary, and, as Price would say, "sailed in." But I soon
+struck another snag. This young woman, too, began to show symptoms
+of shock, which, in her case, took the form of amazement. I was
+absolutely sure that there was nothing in the subject-matter of my
+remarks to bring a blush to the cheek of innocence, or give a shock to
+the virgin mind of feminine youth, and yet it was perfectly evident
+that there was something wrong. As soon as I could make my escape,
+I went to General Kukel and said: "Will you please tell me, Your
+Excellency, what's the matter with my Russian?"
+
+"What makes you think there's anything the matter with it?" he replied
+evasively, but with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.
+
+"It doesn't seem to go very well," I said, "in conversation with
+women. They appear to understand it all right, but it gives them a
+shock. Is my pronunciation so horribly bad?"
+
+"You speak Russian," he said, "with quite extraordinary fluency,
+and with a-a-really interesting and engaging accent; but--excuse
+me please--shall I be entirely frank? You see you have learned the
+language, under many disadvantages, among the Koraks, Cossacks, and
+Chukchis of Kamchatka and the Okhotsk Sea coast, and--quite innocently
+and naturally of course--you have picked up a few words and
+expressions that are not--well, not--"
+
+"Not used in polite society," I suggested.
+
+"Hardly so much as that," he replied deprecatingly. "They're a little
+queer, that 's all--quaint--bizarre--but it's nothing! nothing at all!
+All you need is a little study of good models--books, you know--and a
+few months of city life."
+
+"That settles it!" I said. "I talk no more Russian to ladies in
+Irkutsk."
+
+When, upon my arrival in St. Petersburg, I had an opportunity to study
+the language in books, and to hear it spoken by educated people, I
+found that the Russian I had picked up by Kamchatkan camp-fires and
+in Cossack _izbas_ on the coast of the Okhotsk Sea resembled, in many
+respects, the English that a Russian would acquire in a Colorado
+mining camp, or among the cowboys in Montana. It was fluent, but, as
+General Kukel said, "quaint--bizarre," and, at times, exceedingly
+profane.
+
+I was not the only person in Irkutsk, however, whose vocabulary was
+peculiar and whose diction was "quaint" and "bizarre." A day or two
+after the ball of the Blagorodnaya Sobrania we received a call from a
+young Russian telegraph operator who had heard of our arrival and who
+wished to pay his respects to us as brother telegraphers from America.
+I greeted him cordially in Russian; but he began, at once, to speak
+English, and said that he would prefer to speak that language, for
+the sake of practice. His pronunciation, although queer, was fairly
+intelligible, and I had little difficulty in understanding him; but
+his talk had a strange, mediaeval flavour, due, apparently, to the use
+of obsolete idioms and words. In the course of half an hour, I
+became satisfied that he was talking the English of the fifteenth
+century--the English of Shakespeare, Beaumont, and Fletcher--but how
+he had learned such English, in the nineteenth century and in the
+capital of eastern Siberia, I could not imagine. I finally asked him
+how he had managed to get such command of the language in a city
+where, so far as I knew, there was no English teacher. He replied that
+the Russian Government required of its telegraph operators a knowledge
+of Russian and French, and then added two hundred and fifty rubles
+a year to their salaries for every additional language that they
+learned. He wanted the two hundred and fifty rubles, so he began the
+study of English with a small English-French dictionary and an old
+copy of Shakespeare. He got some help in acquiring the pronunciation
+from educated Polish exiles, and from foreigners whom he occasionally
+met, but, in the main, he had learned the language alone, and by
+committing to memory dialogues from Shakespeare's plays. I described
+to him my recent experience with Russian, and told him that his method
+was, unquestionably, better than mine. He had learned English from the
+greatest master of the language that ever lived; while I had picked
+up my Russian from Cossack dog-drivers and illiterate Kamchadals. He
+could talk to young women in the eloquent and impassioned words of
+Romeo, while my language was fit for backwoodsmen only.
+
+At the end of our first week in Irkutsk, we were ready to resume our
+journey; but we had no money with which to pay our hotel bill, still
+less our travelling expenses. I had telegraphed to Major Abaza
+repeatedly for funds, but had received no reply, and I was finally
+compelled to go, in humiliation of spirit, to Governor General
+Shelashnikoff, and borrow five hundred rubles.
+
+On the 13th of December, we were again posting furiously along the
+Great Siberian Road, past caravans, of tea from Hankow; detachments
+of Cossacks convoying gold from the placers of the Lena; parties of
+hard-labour convicts on their way to the mines of the trans-Baikal;
+and hundreds of sleighs loaded with the products or manufactures of
+Russia, Siberia, and the Far East.
+
+For the first thousand miles, our progress was retarded and our rest
+greatly broken--particularly at night--by tea caravans. With the
+establishment of the winter road, in November, hundreds of low,
+one-horse sledges, loaded with hide-bound boxes of tea that had come
+across the desert of Gobi from Peking, left Irkutsk, every day, for
+Nizhni Novgorod. They moved in solid caravans, a quarter of a mile to
+a mile in length, and in every such caravan there were from fifty to
+two hundred sledges. As the tea-horses went at a slow, plodding
+walk, their drivers were required, by law, to turn out for private
+travellers and give the latter the road; but they seldom did anything
+of the kind. There were only twelve or fifteen of them to a caravan
+of a hundred sledges; and as they usually curled up on their loads at
+night and went fast asleep, it was practically impossible to arouse
+them and get the caravan out of the middle of the road. In order to
+pass, therefore, we ourselves had to turn out and drive three quarters
+of a mile, or possibly a mile, through the deep soft snow on one side
+of the beaten track. This so exasperated our driver that he would
+give every horse and every sleeping teamster in the whole caravan
+a slashing cut with his long rawhide whip, shouting, in almost
+untranslatable Russian, "Wake up!" (Whack.) "Get a move on you!"
+(Whack.) "What are you doing in the middle of the road there?"
+(Whack.) "Akh! You ungodly Tartar pagans!" (Whack.) "GO TO SLEEP IN
+THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, WILL YOU?" (Whack, whack.) Meanwhile, the
+strongly braced outrigger of our _pavoska_, on the caravan side, would
+strike every one of the tea-sledges, as we passed, and the long series
+of violent shocks, combined with the rolling and pitching of our
+vehicle, as it wallowed through the deep snow, would be enough to
+awaken a man from anything except the last sleep of death. Usually, we
+were aroused by our driver's preliminary shouts when we first came in
+sight of a caravan; but sometimes we were in such a stupor of sleep
+that we did not awake until the outrigger collided with the first load
+of tea and brought us suddenly to consciousness with a half-dazed
+impression that we had been struck by lightning, or hit by a falling
+tree. If we had had to undergo this experience only once or twice
+in the course of the night, it would not have been so bad; but we
+sometimes passed half a dozen caravans between sunset and dawn; threw
+every one of them into disorder and confusion with outrigger and whip;
+and left behind us a wake of Russian and Tartar profanity almost
+fiery enough to be luminous in the dark. Shortly after leaving Tomsk,
+however, we passed the vanguard of these tea caravans and saw them no
+more.
+
+The road in western Siberia was hard and smooth, and the horses were
+so good that we made very rapid progress with comparatively little
+discomfort. We stopped only twice a day for meals, and every night
+found us 175 or 200 miles nearer our destination than we had been the
+night before. We succeeded in getting across the Urals before the end
+of the year, and on the 7th of January, after twenty-five days of
+almost incessant night-and-day travel, we drew up before a hotel in
+the city of Nizhni Novgorod, which, at that time, was the eastern
+terminus of the Russian railway system. We sold our sleigh, fur bag,
+pillows, tea-equipment, and the provisions we had left, for what
+they would bring--a beggarly sum; took a train the same day for St.
+Petersburg; and reached the Russian capital on the 9th of January,
+eleven weeks from the Okhotsk Sea by way of Yakutsk, Irkutsk, Tomsk,
+Tiumen, Ekaterineburg, and Nizhni Novgorod. In the eleven weeks we
+had changed dogs, reindeer, or horses more than two hundred and sixty
+times and had made a distance of five thousand seven hundred and
+fourteen miles, nearly all of it in a single sleigh.
+
+[Illustration: Wooden Cup]
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  A
+
+  Abaza, Major S., appointed superintendent of Siberian division;
+  forms plan of operations;
+  starts northward from Petropavlovsk;
+  scares up a bear;
+  falls ill at Lesnoi;
+  leaves Gizhiga for Okhotsk;
+  orders from;
+  returns to Gizhiga;
+  makes trip to Anadyrsk;
+  sails for Okhotsk;
+  visits Yakutsk;
+  comes to Yamsk;
+  returns to Yakutsk;
+  starts for St. Petersburg;
+  letter from.
+  Agaricus muscarius, Korak intoxicant.
+  Air-hole, driving into
+  Aklan, river
+  Aldan, river
+  Amur, river
+  Anadyr, river;
+  work on.
+  Anadyr River party;
+  finding of;
+  experience of;
+  orders concerning.
+  Anadyrsk, village;
+  arrival at;
+  priest's house in;
+  history and description of;
+  climate of;
+  ball at;
+  character of inhabitants;
+  famine at.
+  Anadyrsk sickness
+  Animals, of Kamchatka
+  Anossof, Russian commissioner
+  Arnold, member of Anadyr River party
+  Astronomical lectures
+  Atlantic cable, failure of first;
+  final success of.
+  Aurora borealis;
+  remarkable display of.
+  Aurora of the sea
+  Avacha, bay
+  Avacha, river
+  Avacha, village
+  Avacha, volcano
+
+
+  B
+
+  "Baideras," Korak skin boats
+  "Balagans," fish storehouses
+  Ball, at Anadyrsk;
+  at Irkutsk.
+  "Ballalaikas," Siberian guitars
+  "Barabans," Korak drums
+  Baths, "black," Kamchatkan steam baths
+  Bear hunts
+  Bears
+  Bering, monument to, in Petropavlovsk
+  Berries
+  Bickmore, A.S., reference to Korak marriage ceremony
+  Birds
+  Bivouacs, Kamchatkan
+  Blueberries
+  Bollman, merchant in Petropavlovsk
+  Bordman, W.H.
+  Bowsher, member of Sandford's party
+  Bragan, Nicolai, guide
+  Bragans, Kamchatkan traders
+  British Columbia
+  British Government, concessions from
+  Bulkley, Colonel Charles S.
+  Bush, Richard J., becomes member of Siberian party;
+  sails for Amur River;
+  meeting with, at Gizhiga;
+  put in command of Northern District;
+  bad news from;
+  night meeting with;
+  experience in summer of 1866
+  Buttercups
+
+
+  C
+
+  Cable, Atlantic, failure of first;
+  final success of
+  Camp, a winter
+  Camps
+  Canoe travel
+  Canticle, a driver's
+  Christmas, in a storm;
+  in Anadyrsk
+  Christmas carols
+  Chuances
+  Chukchis
+  Church, Greek, architecture and color;
+  services
+  Cinquefoil
+  _Clara Bell_, bark
+  Climate
+  Clover
+  Cold, Asiatic pole of;
+  phenomena of;
+  on Myan River;
+  lowest temperature observed;
+  in Stanavoi mountains
+  Collins, P. McD., suggests overland telegraph to Europe
+  Congress, of U. S., promises assistance
+  Cossack waltz
+  Cossacks
+  Cows
+  Cowslips
+  Crimean war, connection of Petropavlovsk with
+  Crinoline, Korak comment on
+  Crows
+
+
+  D
+
+  Dall, W. H.
+  Dances, Siberian
+  Distance, Korak ideas of
+  Divide, Kamchatkan, crossing of
+  Dix, Major General, worshipped as a saint
+  Dodd, James, engaged as member of party in Petropavlovsk;
+  goes to Tigil;
+  left in Gizhiga
+  Dogs, ancestry:
+  endurance;
+  food;
+  sledges;
+  loads;
+  driving of;
+  first experiment in driving;
+  howling of, in chorus;
+  rest;
+  cutting of feet by ice
+  "Dole," arctic desert
+  Dranka, village
+  Dress;
+  of Kamchadals;
+  of Wandering Koraks;
+  of Zamutkis and Tunguses
+  Drunkenness, from poisonous toadstool
+  Ducks
+
+
+  E
+
+  Eagles
+  English, Shakespearian, in Irkutsk
+  Equipment, in San Francisco;
+  in Petropavlovsk;
+  in Lesnoi;
+  in Gizhiga;
+  in Anadyrsk;
+  in Yakutsk
+  Escape, narrowest
+  Eskimo-like natives
+  Ethnology, of Siberian natives
+  Evil spirits, propitiation of
+  Exploration, plans for
+
+
+  F
+
+  Famines
+  Fashion-plate, Korak comment on
+  Field glass, Chukchi experiments with
+  Fish-hawks
+  Fish savings banks
+  Flowers, in Gizhiga;
+  in Petropavlovsk;
+  in Kamchatka
+  Fluger, German merchant in Petropavlovsk
+  Fly agaric, as intoxicant
+  Food, of Kamchadals
+  Fort St. Michael
+  _Frank Leslie's_, fashion-plate from;
+  pictures from
+  Frazer River
+  Fritillaria;
+  bulbs eaten
+  Fronefield, American in Petropavlovsk
+  Frost, George A.
+  Fruits, of Kamchatka
+  Fur trade, of Kamchatka
+
+
+  G
+
+  Gale, in North Pacific
+  Geese
+  Genal, valley
+  Genal, village
+  Gilyaks
+  Gizhiga, village;
+  arrival at;
+  first days in;
+  departure from;
+  return to, from Anadyrsk;
+  spring in;
+  climate of;
+  dancing parties in
+  _Golden Gate_, bark, wreck of
+  Goldsmith, Oliver, reference to Korak intoxicant
+  Grouse "teteer"
+  Gulls
+
+
+  H
+
+  _Hallie Jackson_, brig
+  Hamilton, captain of whaling bark _Sea Breeze_
+  Harchina, village
+  Harder, member of Anadyr River party
+  _Harper's Weekly_, pictures from
+  Heck, member of Sandford's party
+  _Herald, N.Y._, correspondent of
+  Horseback travel
+  Horse-express, Siberian
+  Houses, Kamchadal
+  Hunter, American in Petropavlovsk
+
+
+  I
+
+  _Illustrated London News_, as wall paper
+  Imperator and operator
+  Indian type, of Siberian native
+  Intoxicant, Korak
+  Irkutsk, city
+  "Ispravnik," local governor of Petropavlovsk;
+  of Gizhiga;
+  of Okhotsk
+
+
+  J
+
+  Jelly-fish;
+  luminous
+  "Jerusalem," village
+
+  K
+
+  Kamchadals, character;
+  food;
+  language;
+  music;
+  numbers;
+  physique;
+  religion;
+  sable trapping;
+  summer settlements;
+  transportation
+  Kamchatka, animals;
+  berries;
+  birds;
+  climate;
+  first impressions;
+  first view of coast;
+  flowers;
+  fruits;
+  government;
+  mail;
+  population;
+  scenery;
+  topography;
+  transportation;
+  volcanoes
+  Kamchatka River;
+  raft, life on;
+  valley of
+  Kamchatkan Divide, crossing of
+  Kamchatkan lily
+  Kamchatkan mountains
+  Kamenoi
+  Kazarefski, village
+  "Kazarm," a Russian barrack
+  "Kedrovnik," see "Pine"
+  Kennicott, leader of Alaskan exploring party
+  Kirinsk, town on Lena River
+  Kluchei, village
+  Kluchefskoi volcano
+  Knox, Colonel T. W., correspondent of _N.Y. Herald_
+  Kolyma, mosquitoes in
+  Korak, village
+  Koraks, Settled, appearance;
+  experiments with American food;
+  in Kamenoi;
+  stupidity and ugliness;
+  yurts
+  Koraks, Wandering, arrival at first encampment;
+  appearance;
+  character;
+  comment on dress of American woman;
+  food;
+  geographical range;
+  intoxicant;
+  language;
+  marriage ceremony;
+  monotonous life;
+  old and sick killed;
+  pologs;
+  reindeer;
+  relation to Chukchis;
+  relieve starving Anadyrsk people;
+  religion;
+  social organisation;
+  superstitions;
+  tents
+  Koratskoi, volcano
+  Krestofskaya, village
+  Kristi, village
+  Kuil, village of Settled Koraks
+  Kukel, General
+  "Kukhlanka" fur overshirt
+
+
+  L
+
+  Labrador tea
+  Lamutkis
+  Land, longing for
+  Language, "American";
+  Russian difficulty of learning;
+  grammar of;
+  specimen;
+  experience with, in Irkutsk
+  La Perouse, monument to, in Petropavlovsk
+  Lecky, W.H., reference to religion of terror
+  Lectures, astronomical
+  Leet, American brought by bark _Onward_;
+  suicide of
+  Lesnoi, village
+  Letovies, summer settlements
+  Lewis, Richard, telegraph operator brought by bark _Onward_
+  Lily, Kamchatkan
+  "Lodkas," Siberian skiffs
+
+
+  M
+
+  Macrae, leader of Anadyr River party
+  Macrae and Arnold, go with Chukchis;
+  no news from;
+  arrive in Anadyrsk;
+  experience with Chukchis;
+  first winter's work
+  Magpies
+  Mahood, Captain James A.
+  Mahood and Bush
+  Maidel, Baron
+  Malchanski
+  Malqua, village
+  Manchus
+  "Manyalla," Korak bread
+  Marriage ceremonies, Russian
+  Korak
+  Matches, Koraks see for first time
+  Matuga, island
+  Maximof, Kamchatkan driver
+  Medusae;
+  luminous
+  Mikina, village
+  Milkova, village
+  Mirages
+  Mongolian type of natives
+  "Moroshkas," berries
+  Mosquitoes
+  Moss steppe
+  Mountains, Kamchatkan
+  "Muk-a-moor," Korak intoxicant
+  Music, American, in Kamchatka;
+  of Kamchadals;
+  of Greek Church;
+  on corvette _Varag_
+  Myan, river
+
+
+  N
+
+  Nalgim, mountain
+  "Nart," Siberian dog-sledge
+  _New York Herald_, correspondent of
+  Nights, in summer
+  Nikolaievsk, town
+  Nizhni Novgorod
+  Northern District, famine in;
+  work in
+  Norton, forearm of pole-cutting party
+  Norton, sound
+
+
+  O
+
+  "Oerstel," a spiked stick
+  Okhotsk Sea;
+  coast of;
+  temperatures of;
+  phosphorescence of
+  Okuta, village
+  _Olga_, brig, passage engaged on;
+  inspection of;
+  sails from San Francisco;
+  life on;
+  sails for Amur River
+  _Onward_, bark
+  Operator and imperator
+
+
+  P
+
+  _Palmetto_, bark
+  Paren, river
+  "Pavoskas," travelling sleighs or sledges
+  Penzhina, river
+  Penzhina, village
+  Penzhinsk Gulf
+  Petropavlovsk
+  Phillippeus, trip down the Anadyr;
+  boat of
+  Phosphorescence, of the sea
+  Pierce, American in Petropavlovsk
+  Pine, trailing or "Kedrovnik"
+  Plans, at Gizhiga
+  Plover
+  "Podorozhnaya," order for post-horses
+  "Pologs," skin bedrooms
+  Pope, leader of Alaskan party
+  Porte Crayon, sketches of, in Kamchatka
+  Post-road to Irkutsk
+  Povorotnoi, cape
+  Price, telegraph operator, brought by _Onward_
+  Primroses
+  "Pripaika," ice-foot
+  Propashchina, River of the Lost
+  "Protoks," arms of stream
+  Ptarmigan
+  Puffin
+  "Purgas," blizzards
+  Pushchin, village
+
+
+  R
+
+  Raft, Kamchatkan
+  Raft travel
+  Raselskoi, volcano
+  Ravens
+  Reception, Kamchatkan
+  Reindeer
+  catching;
+  driving;
+  food;
+  guarding;
+  habits;
+  of Koraks;
+  of Tunguses;
+  stampede;
+  superstition
+  about sale of;
+  uses
+  Reindeer Koraks, see "Koraks,
+  Wandering"
+  Reindeer-sledge travel
+  Religion, of Kamchadals;
+  of Wandering Koraks
+  Reveries, seasick
+  River of the Lost
+  Roads
+  Robinson, member of Anadyr
+  River party
+  Roses, wild
+  Route of line
+  Routes from Kluchei
+  Russell and Co.
+  Russian-American Telegraph Co.
+  organisation of
+  failure of
+  Russian Government
+  Russian language
+
+
+  S
+
+  Sables, trapping;
+  trade in skins
+  _Saghalin_, Russian supply steamer
+  St. Petersburg
+  Sale, a bargain
+  Salmon, catching and curing;
+  failure of;
+  frozen;
+  dependence of Siberians upon
+  Samanka Mountains
+  Samanka River
+  Sandford, Lieut., foreman of
+  pole-cutting party
+  "Sastrugi," permanent drifts
+  of snow
+  Scammon, Captain, commander
+  of Company's fleet
+  Scenery of Kamchatka
+  Scenery, Siberian, in winter
+  Schwartz
+  _Sea Breeze_, whaling bark
+  Sea life
+  "Selanka," Kamchatkan soup
+  Send-off, a Siberian
+  Shamanism
+  "Shchi," cabbage soup
+  Shelashnikoff, Governor-General
+  Sherom, village
+  Shestakova, village
+  Sidanka, village
+  Smith, member of Anadyr River
+  party
+  Sparrow song
+  Spring, in Gizhiga
+  Squirrel skins
+  Stanavoi Mountains
+  Star-flower
+  "Starosta," head man of village
+  Steeplechase, to Sidanka
+  Stock, of Western Union Extension
+  Co.
+  Storm in Northern Pacific;
+  on the Viliga River;
+  on the Malkachan steppe;
+  in Gizhiginsk Gulf
+  Stovepipe, search for;
+  finding of
+  "Struganini," frozen fish
+  Sugar, used instead of money
+  Sulkavoi, captain of port of Petropavlovsk
+  Sutton, captain of bark _Clara Bell_
+  Suveilich, volcano
+  Swallows
+  Swans
+  Sword-bearer
+
+
+  T
+
+  "Taiyon," Korak chief
+  "Tarantas," Siberian travelling carriage
+  Tea, used instead of money
+  "Tea caravans,"
+  Telega, four-wheeled Siberian wagon
+  Tents, of Koraks, life in
+  "Teteer," Russian grouse
+  Thrushes
+  Tide, a race with
+  Tigil, village
+  Time, expedients to pass away
+  Tobacco, used instead of money
+  Tobezin, captain of steamer, _Saghalin_
+  Topolofka, river
+  "Topor," Russian axe
+  "Torbasses," fur boots
+  Trances, in Anadyrsk sickness
+  Trailing-pine. See "Pine"
+  Transportation, means of, in Kamchatka
+  Tundras, mossy plains
+  Tunguses;
+  encampments
+  Turkish type of natives
+
+
+  U
+
+  Ural Mountains
+  Usinova, brook
+
+
+  V
+
+  Valerian
+  _Varag_, Russian corvette
+  Verkholensk, town on Lena River
+  Victoria
+  Viliga, stormy gorge of;
+  mountains
+  Villages, Kamchatkan, descriptions
+  Villuchinski, volcano
+  Vitimsk, town on Lena River
+  Volcanoes of Kamchatka
+  Vorrebeoffs, Kamchatkan traders,
+
+
+  W
+
+  Wages, paid Yakut laborers
+  Wedding, in Petropavlovsk;
+  in Korak tent
+  Western Union Extension Co.
+  Western Union Telegraph Co.
+  Wheeler, sent to Yamsk
+  Whymper, book of
+  Wild-rose petals, as food
+  Women, American, Korak comment on dress of
+  Work accomplished up to March 1886
+  Writing, Korak and Chukchi, ignorance of
+
+
+  Y
+
+  Yakuts
+  Yakutsk;
+  winter temperatures
+  Yamsk, village;
+  trip to, in March
+  "Yassak," a tax on furs
+  Yolofka, pass
+  Yolofka, river, canoe travel on
+  Yolofka, village
+  "Yukola," dried fish
+  "Yurts," Asiatic habitations;
+  of settled Koraks,
+
+
+  Z
+
+  "Zimovie," winter settlement
+  Zinovief, Gregorie, Cossack guide
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tent Life in Siberia, by George Kennan
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TENT LIFE IN SIBERIA ***
+
+***** This file should be named 12328.txt or 12328.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/3/2/12328/
+
+Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team.
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year. For example:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL
+
+
diff --git a/old/12328.zip b/old/12328.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6191f3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12328.zip