TRAVELS IN KAMTSCHATKA, DURING THE YEARS 1787 AND 1788. (continued 3)

The wind having considerably abated, we proceeded on our journey before it was light. We had thirty wersts to Ozernoi, where it had been our intention to have slept the preceding evening. We arrived at ten o'clock in the morning, but our dogs being extremely fatigued, we were obliged to spend the rest of the day, and even the night there, in hopes that the wind, which began to blow still more violently in the afternoon, would subside during the interval.

The ostrog takes its name from a lake that is near it. The river Ozernaïa, which is but small, runs at the bottom of the village. The house of the toyon was the only isba I saw, and I was informed that we should meet with no more of these kind of buildings till we came to the town of Ingiga. There were, however, fifteen balagans and two yourts. I might here describe these subterraneous habitations; but as they are small in comparison with those which I shall soon have an opportunity of examining, I shall defer my description for the present.

We passed also the 21 February at Ozernoi, in fruitless expectation of a serjeant of M. Kasloff's suite, who had been sent to Nijenei-Kamtschatka.

The next day we reached Ouké at a tolerably early hour, which is only twenty six wersts. There we waited again for the serjeant, who had been ordered to join us at this place, But he did not come.

There is but one isba at Ouké, which, together with a dozen balagans and two yourts, form the whole ostrog. One of the yourts had been cleaned for M. Kasloff, and we passed the night in it.

We left this village at break of day, and half way on our journey we saw a certain number of balagans, which are only inhabited, I was informed, in the fishing season. Near this place we met the sea again, and travelled on the shore for some time. I was extremely mortified at not being able to see at what distance it was frozen, nor what was the direction of this part of the eastern coast of Kamtschatka. A north wind incommoded us, and impelled the snow with such violence against us, that our whole attention was engrossed by guarding our eyes from it; there was also a fog that extended from the shore to a considerable distance on the sea, and intercepted almost entirely the view of it. The inhabitants of the country, whom I interrogated upon the subject, informed me we had just passed a bay of no very considerable width, and that the sea was covered with ice as far as thirty wersts from the land.

At Khaluli, an ostrog, situated upon a river of the same name, sixty six wersts from Ouké, and at a short distance from the sea, I found but two yourts and twelve or thirteen balagans; but I had the pleasure of seeing a baidar covered with leather. This boat was about fifteen feet long and four wide; the hull was made of planks tolerably thin, and crossing each other; a longer and thicker piece of wood served as the keel; the timbers were made fast with leathern straps; and the whole was covered over with several skins of sea horses and large sea wolves.

I particularly admired the manner in which these skins were prepared, and the compactness with which they were sewn together, so that the water could not penetrate into the boat. Its shape was somewhat similar to ours, but less round, and therefore less graceful; it converged towards the extremities, so as to terminate in a point, and had a flat bottom. The lightness of the common baidars, which makes them liable to be overturned, doubtless gave rise to this mode of constructing them, by which they acquire more weight. This boat was placed under a shed built on purpose to protect it from the snow. The toyon of Khaluli having given up his yourt to us, we slept in it, being unable to proceed till the next day. The wind had increased since our arrival, and did not abate till the middle of the night.

At ten o'clock in the morning we had lost sight of Khaluli, and passed an old village of the same name, which had been lately deserted on account of its bad situation. Farther on we found some more desolated habitations, formerly the ostrog of Ivaschkin, and which had been removed, for a similar reason, thirty wersts from its former situation. We came again to the sea, and travelled for some time on the eastern coast. It forms another bay at this place, which I was desirous of examining, but was, as before, prevented by the fog. I observed that the fog cleared up in proportion as the wind veered to the north-east, which had hitherto been west and north-west.

Ivaschkin is forty wersts from Khaluli, and very near to the sea. It contains two yourts and six balagans, and is situated upon a small river of the same name, which was entirely frozen, as was also one that we had just passed.

We slept at this village, and spent a considerable part of the next day there, from the apprehension of a hurricane, which, it was said, threatened us. We were at last relieved from our fears, and though it was tolerably late when we resolved to proceed, we reached Drannki, which is thirty wersts. The situation of this ostrog is similar to the preceding one. Here we found M. Haus, a Russian officer: he came from Tiguil, and brought M. Kasloff various objects of natural history.

We left Drannki at break of day. In the afternoon we crossed a bay that was fifteen wersts wide, and from twenty-five to thirty deep; the entrance was scarcely less than five wersts: it is formed by the south coast. This coast is low land, gradually declining as it advances into the sea. The bay runs west-north-west and east-south-east. It appeared to me that west-north-west of its entrance, towards Karagui, vessels may safely anchor, and be sheltered from the south, the west, and the north winds. The south of its entrance does not afford so good a harbour, as it is said to have various sand banks; I was obliged to trust to report, the ice and the snow preventing me from obtaining any better information.

We travelled this day seventy wersts, and came in the evening to Karagui, which is upon an eminence, and affords a view of the sea. It has only three yourts and twelve balagans, at the foot of which the river Karaga passes. This river pours itself into the sea at the distance of a few gun shots from the ostrog, which is the last in the district of Kamtschatka; a hamlet a hundred wersts farther, and containing but few Kamtschadales, not being included within its limits.

As we were obliged to wait here for a stock of dried fish, not yet come up, and intended for the nourishment of our dogs in the deserts, which we are now to traverse, I shall embrace this opportunity of transcribing various notes made in this and the preceding villages. They will not be placed in the same order as they were written; it must be supposed that the rapidity with which we travelled, frequently left me no choice in this respect[75].

I shall first speak of the yourts, which I have not yet described, deserving as they are of particular attention. These strange houses are sunk in the earth, as I before observed, and the top, which appears above ground, is like a truncated cone. To form a just idea of them, we must conceive of a large square hole about twelve or fourteen yards in diameter, and eight feet deep; the four sides are lined with joists or boards, and the interstices of these walls are filled up with earth, straw, or dried grass, and stones. In the bottom of this hole various posts are fixed, that support the cross beams upon which the roof rests. The roof begins upon a level with the ground, and rises four feet above it; it is two feet thick, has a very gradual slope, and is made of the same materials as the walls. Towards the top is a square opening, about four feet long and three wide, which serves as a passage for the smoke[76] and an entrance to the yourt, where the women as well as the men go in and out by means of a ladder, or notched beam, that is raised to a level with this opening. There is another very low entrance in one side of the yourt, but it is considered as a kind of disgrace to make use of it. I shall terminate the description of the exterior part of these habitations by adding, that they are surrounded with tolerably high palisades, doubtless as a protection against the gales of wind, or falls of snow; it is said, however, that these enclosures formerly served as ramparts to defend these people against their enemies.

We have no sooner descended these savage abodes, than we wish ourselves out again; the view and the smell are equally offensive. The interior part consists of one entire room, about ten feet high. A bench, five feet wide, and covered with various skins, half worn out, extends all round it. This bench is only a foot from the ground[77], and commonly serves as a bed for a number of families. I have counted in one yourt more than twenty persons, men, women, and children. They eat, drink, and sleep pell mell together, satisfy all the calls of nature without restraint or modesty, and never complain of the noxious air that prevails in these places. It is true there is a fire almost incessantly. The fire-place is commonly either in the middle of the yourt or against one of the sides. In the evening they rake the coals in a heap, and shut the entrance of the yourt, where the smoke should evaporate; and thus the heat is concentrated, and kept up during the whole night. By means of a dismal lamp, the form and disagreeable smell of which I have before described, we discover in one corner of the apartment[78] a wretched image of some saint, shining with grease and blackened with smoke. It is before these images that the Kamtschadales bow themselves, and offer their prayers. The rest of the furniture consists of seats and some vessels, made either of wood, or the bark of trees. Their cookery utensils are of copper or iron; but they are all disgustingly filthy. The remains of their dried fish are scattered about the room, and the women or the children are continually broiling pieces of salmon skin, which is one of their favourite meats.

The singularity of the children's dress particularly attracted my attention; it is said exactly to referable that of the Koriacs. It consists of only one garment, that is, of a single deer skin, that covers and sits close to every part of the body, so that the children seem to be entirely sewed up. An opening at the bottom, before and behind, affords an opportunity of cleaning them. This opening is covered with another piece of skin, which may be fastened and lifted up at pleasure; it supports a tuft of moss[79], placed like a clout between the legs of the child, and which is renewed as often as it becomes necessary. Besides the common sleeves, there are two others hanging to the garment to place the arms of the child in when it is cold; the extremities are sewed up, and the sleeves lined on the inside with moss. There is also a hood fitted to it, made of the same materials as the rest of the dress; but in yourts the heads of the children are almost always bare, and the hood hangs therefore upon their shoulders. Beside all this, they have a deer skin girt, which serves as a sash. The women carry their children on their back by means of a string, which passes round the forehead of the mother and under the buttocks of the child.

The toyon of Karagui, at whose house we lodged, was an old rebel. It was with some difficulty he had been brought back to his duty, and he gave us some uneasiness by his positive refusal to procure us fish.

The manners of the inhabitants of this ostrog are very similar to those of the neighbouring Koriacs. This analogy is as conspicuous in their idiom as in the dress of their children. I had an opportunity of remarking it the day after our arrival.

Understanding that there were two hordes of rein deer Koriacs at no great distance, we sent immediately a messenger to them to request that they would sell us some of their animals. They readily complied, and brought us the same day two rein deer alive. This supply came very seasonably to the relief of our people, who began to apprehend a want of provisions. Meanwhile our dogs were in still greater danger of famine, as the dried fish was not yet arrived. A rein deer was ordered to be killed directly; but when we were desirous of knowing the price of it, we found very considerable difficulty in being able to treat with the sellers: they spoke neither Russian nor Kamtschadale; and we should never have understood one another, if we had not fortunately met with an inhabitant of Karagui, who could serve as an interpreter.

There are two sorts of Koriacs; those who are properly called by that name have a fixed residence; the others are wanderers, and are known by the appellation of rein deer Koriacs[80]. Their flocks are very numerous, and they maintain them by conducting them to those cantons that abound with moss. When these pastures are exhausted, they seek for others. In this manner they wander about incessantly, encamping under tents of skin, and supporting themselves with the produce of their deer.

These animals are as serviceable for draught to the Koriacs, as the dogs are to the Kamtschadales. The persons who came to us were drawn by two rein deer. The mode of harnessing and guiding them, as as well as the form of the sledge, ought to be described; but I think it better to defer my description till I come to travel with these people, as I shall be able to be more accurate.

Our long expected provisions arrived at last on the evening of 29, and were brought by the sergeant whom we had waited for. We prepared every thing for our departure the next morning, but a most impetuous wind rose in the night from the west and the north-west. This hurricane was accompanied with snow, which fell in such abundance that we were obliged to prolong our stay. Nothing short of this bad weather could have detained us. The arrival of our provision had increased our impatience; the supply beside was not considerable, and our necessities were so urgent that we were obliged to begin upon it immediately. It was therefore our interest to be as expeditious as possible, lest our stock should be consumed before we had passed the deserts.

The wind abated in the course of the morning, but the snow continued, and the sky seemed to threaten us with a second tempest before the end of the day. It began to rise about two o'clock in the afternoon, and lasted till the evening.

To divert our attention, it was proposed to us to try the abilities of a celebrated female dancer, who was a Kamtschadale, and lived in this ostrog. The encomiums bestowed upon her excited our curiosity, and we sent for her; but either from caprice or ill humour she refused to dance, and paid no regard to our invitation. It was in vain they represented that her refusal was disrespectful to the governor general; no consideration could induce her to comply. Fortunately we had some brandy by us, and a bumper or two seemed to effect a change in her inclinations. At the same time Kamtschadale, at our request, began to dance before her, challenging her by his voice and gestures. Gradually her eyes sparkled, her countenance became convulsive, and her whole frame shook upon the bench where she sat. To the enticements and shrill song of the dancer, she answered in similar accents, beating time with her head, which turned in every direction. The movements became at last so rapid, that, no longer able to contain herself, she darted from her seat, and in turn defied her man by cries and distortions still more extravagant. It is not easy to express the absurdity of the dance. All her limbs seemed to be disjointed; she moved them with equal strength and agility; she tore her cloaths, and fixed her hands to her bosom with a kind of rage as if she would tear it also. These singular transports were accompanied with still more singular postures; and in short, it was no longer a woman, but a fury. In her blind frenzy she would have rushed into the fire that was kindled in the middle of the room, if her husband had not taken the precaution of placing a bench before it to prevent her: during the whole dance indeed he took care to keep himself close to her. When he saw that her head was perfectly gone, that she staggered on all sides, and could no longer support herself without laying hold of her fellow dancer, he took her in his arms and placed her upon a bench, where she fell, like an inanimate clod, without consciousness, and out of breath. She continued five minutes in this situation. Meanwhile the Kamtschadale, proud of his triumph, continued to dance and to sing. Recovering from her swoon, the woman heard him, and suddenly, in spite of her weakness, she raised herself up, uttered some inarticulate sounds, and would have begun again this laborious contest. Her husband kept her back and interceded for her; but the conqueror, believing himself to be indefatigable, continued his jeers and bantering, and we were obliged to exert our authority to quiet him. In spite of the praises that were lavished upon the talents of these actors, the scene, I confess, afforded me no amusement, but on the contrary, considerable disgust.

All the inhabitants of this place, women as well as men, smoke and chew tobacco. By a refinement that I cannot account for, they mix ashes with the tobacco to make it stronger. We gave them some snuff, and they applied it not to their nose, but to their mouth. I examined their pipes: they are of the same shape as those of the Chinese, made of bone, and very small. When they make use of them, they do not emit the smoke from their mouth, but swallow it with great gratification.

All the toyons of the different ostrogs we had passed in coming from Ozernoi, out of respect to M. Kasloff, had escorted us as far as Karagui. The second day after our arrival, they had taken their leave of us to return to their respective habitations. Their adieux were affectionate. After making new apologies for not having been able to give him a better reception in the course of his journey, they showed the utmost regret at leaving him, as if he had been surrounded by the most imminent dangers, and offered him whatever they possessed, ignorant of any other way of testifying their attachment. They addressed themselves in like manner to me, and solicited me with earnestness to receive something from them. It was useless to make objections; my refusals only rendered them the more urgent, and to satisfy them I was obliged to accept their presents.

Let me be permitted in this place to perform a duty which I owe to the Kamtschadales in general, for the civility with which they treated me. I have already mentioned their mild and hospitable character, but I have not been sufficiently minute respecting the instances of regard which these good people gave me, and I recall with pleasure the remembrance of their kind reception. There was not, I believe, an individual chief of any ostrog, that did not make me some trifling present. Sometimes it was a sable or fox skin, and sometimes fruit or fish, and such other objects as they conceived would be most agreeable to me. One would have supposed that they had resolved, by their attentions to me, to repair the injustice which they had so long committed against the French name. They often thanked me for having undeceived them upon the subject; and sometimes again were tempted to regret it, when they considered that they should see me no more, and that it seldom happened that any of my countrymen visited their peninsula.

We left Karagui at one o'clock in the morning of 2 March. The weather was tolerably calm, and continued so during the whole day. The only inconvenience we met with, was the not being able to cross, as we had hoped to do, a bay which the tempest of the preceding evening had cleared of its ice: we were obliged to go round it. This bay has considerable depth, is eight or ten wersts wide, and appeared to run in the direction of north-east and south-west. The ice was only broken up as far as the mouth, where it became solid again, and extended into the sea. With the circuit which we were obliged to make, we travelled this day about fifty wersts.

Upon the approach of night, we stopped in the open country and erected our tents. Under the largest, belonging to M. Kasloff, were placed his vezock and mine, the door of the one against the door of the other, so that by letting down the windows, we were able to converse together. The other sledges were ranged two abreast round our tents, and the spaces between, being covered with linen or skins, served our guides and our suite as places where they might shelter themselves, and prepare their beds. Such was the disposition of our halt.

As soon as our kettle boiled we took tea, and then prepared for our supper, which was our only meal every day. A corporal presided as maitre d'hotel and as cook. The meats which were prepared by him were neither numerous nor delicate, but his quickness and our appetites rendered us indulgent. He commonly served us up a kind of soup made of a biscuit of black bread, and mixed with rice or oatmeal. It was prepared in half an hour, and in the following manner. He took a piece of beef, or flesh of rein deer, and put it into boiling water, having first cut it into very thin slices, which were ready in an instant.

The evening previous to our departure from Karagui, we had killed and begun upon our second deer. We regaled ourselves with the marrow: raw or dressed, I thought it excellent. We had the tongue also boiled, and I conceived that I had never eaten any thing more delicious.

We pursued our journey early in the morning, but it was impossible to travel more than thirty-five wersts. The wind had changed to the west and south-west; it blew with extreme violence, and beat the snow in our faces. Our guides suffered extremely, less however than our dogs, some of whom, exhausted with fatigue, died on the road, and others were incapable of drawing us for want of nourishment. We could only give them a fourth part of their common allowance, and had scarcely enough left to last two days.

In this extremity we dispatched a soldier to the ostrog of Kaminoi, to procure us succour, and to send the escort to meet us that was to have waited there till M. Kasloff arrived. It was a guard of forty men, sent from Ingiga upon the first intelligence of the revolt of the Koriacs.

We were only fifteen wersts from the village or hamlet of Gavenki, where we hoped to find a supply of fish for our dogs; and our confidence was so great that we ventured to give them a double portion, that they might be the better able to convey us thither. Having passed the night in the same manner as the preceding, we pursued our journey at three o'clock in the morning. We quitted not the sea coast till we came to Gavenki, which was about ten o'clock. The name of the village is derived from the word gavna, which signifies excrement; and it is so called on account of its deformity and wretched state. There are in reality but two isbas falling to ruin, and six balagans very ill constructed of bad and crooked wood, which the sea leaves sometimes upon the shore; for there is not a tree in the whole neighbourhood, and nothing to be seen but a few paltry shrubs scattered here and there at a considerable distance from one another. I was not astonished to learn, that not along ago, more than twenty of the inhabitants voluntarily abandoned their country to seek out a better abode. At present the population of this hamlet does not exceed five families, including that of the toyon, and two Kamtschadales from the island of Karagui, who are settled there. No reason was assigned for this removal, and I doubt whether they have gained by the change.

We had not been an hour at Gavenki, when a dispute arose between a sergeant of our company, and two peasants of the village, to whom he had applied for wood. They answered bluntly that they would not give him any. From one thing to another the quarrel became violent. The Kamtschadales, little intimidated by the threats of the sergeant, drew their knives[81] and fell upon him; but they were immediately disarmed by two of our soldiers. As soon as M. Kasloff was informed of this violence, he ordered that the guilty should be punished as an example. They were brought before the yourt in which we were, and in order to awe the rest of the inhabitants, M. Kasloff went out himself to hasten the punishment. I was left with the toyon, who began to complain to me of the rigour with which his two countrymen were treated. The family surrounded me and murmured still louder. I was alone; meanwhile I was endeavouring to pacify them, when I perceived that the governor had left his arms behind him. I hastily caught up our sabres, upon a motion which the toyon made to go out, and followed him. He had already joined M. Kasloff, and stirring up all his neighbours, he demanded in a high tone that the delinquents should be released. He was himself, he said, their sole judge, and it belonged to him only to punish them. To these seditious clamours M. Kasloff answered only by a stern look, which disconcerted the effrontery both of the peasants and their chiefs. The toyon still muttered some words, but he was seized and forced to assist in the chastisement that he had been so desirous of preventing. One of the culprits was a young man about eighteen years of age, and the other from twenty eight to thirty. They were stripped and laid prostrate on the ground; two soldiers held their hands and their feet, while four others bestowed upon their shoulders a copious distribution of lashes. They were whipped in this manner one after another with rods of dried fir, till their bodies were covered with blood. At the entreaties of the women, whom the weakness of the sex renders every where compassionate, the intended punishment was lessened, and the young man given up to them. They immediately gave him a fine lecture on the folly of his conduct, which they might as well have spared, as he was scarcely in a situation to attend to it, and still less to think of repeating his crime.

The severity which M. Kasloff observed upon this occasion, was so much the more necessary, as we began to perceive in this village some symptoms of the contagious turbulent disposition of the Koriacs. Contrasted with the Kamtschadales whom we had just quitted, the manners of the inhabitants of Gavenki led us to doubt whether it were really the same people. We had as much reason to complain of the moroseness and deceit of the latter, as we had to boast of the zeal and kindness of the former. In spite of all our importunities we could get no provision for our dogs. They coldly informed us that they had none; but their equivocal answers betrayed them, and our people soon satisfied themselves of its falsehood. By means of our dogs, whose nose and hunger were infallible guides, they quickly discovered the subterraneous reservoirs, where the inhabitants had, upon our approach, buried their provisions, though the utmost care had been taken to conceal all vestiges of them, by artfully covering them with earth and snow. At the sight of these caves, and the fish that were drawn from them, these peasants began to alledge the most paltry reasons to justify their conduct, and which only tended to increase our indignation. We had some sentiments of humanity, or we should have taken their whole stock; we contented ourselves with a small part. From the nature of the provisions it appeared that these coasts afforded them salmon, herring, cod, morse and other amphibious animals.

There is neither spring nor river of any sort in the neighbourhood, but merely a lake that supplies the inhabitants with water. In winter they break the ice that covers it, and carry home large pieces of it, which they place in a trough suspended in the yourt about five or six feet high. The heat is sufficient to dissolve the ice, and to this trough they have recourse when they are thirsty.

Near this village is a mountain or kind of Kamtschadale entrenchment, which formerly served them as a place of refuge when they revolted.

We staid at Gavenki only twelve or thirteen hours. We set off in the night for Poustaretsk, which is at the distance of more than two hundred wersts from it. We were five days in travelling it, and no journey had ever been so painful. We had no reason to complain of the weather during the first day; but the next we were extremely harassed by the snow and gales of wind, which succeeded without interruption, and with such impetuosity that our conductors were blinded. They could distinguish no object four paces from them, and could not even see the sledge that immediately followed them.

To increase our misfortune, our Gavenki guide was old and short sighted, and frequently therefore went out of the road. We were then obliged to stop while he went on before to find the vestiges of the road; but how was it possible to find them in so extensive a plain, covered with snow, and where we could perceive neither tree, nor mountain, nor river? The experience of our guide was continually at fault from the badness of the weather, notwithstanding the incredible knowledge he had of these roads. The smallest rising, the least shrub, was sufficient to set him right; meanwhile we calculated that the deviations he occasioned us amounted each day to twenty wersts.

At the end of the second day's journey, my dogs were reduced to a single fish, which I divided between them. The want of food soon exhausted their strength, so as to make them unable to proceed. Some fell under the blows of our conductors, others refused to draw, and many from inanition died on the spot. Of the thirty-seven dogs that were harnessed to my vezock upon leaving Bolcheretsk, only twenty-three remained, and these were reduced to the utmost poverty. M. Kasloff had in like manner lost a considerable number of his.

The famine became at last so great, that we were apprehensive of being starved to death in this desert. Not having a morsel of fish left for our dogs, we were obliged to feed them with part of our own provisions; but their share was very moderate, prudence requiring us to observe the most rigid œconomy.

In this woeful conjuncture, we left our equipage in the midst of the way, under guard of some of our conductors, and having chosen the most tolerable of the dogs to supply the place of those which we had lost, we went on.

Our pain and anxiety continued. We were in want of water. The only little brook that we found was entirely frozen up, and we were obliged to quench our thirst with the snow. The want of wood was another difficulty. Not a tree had we seen during the whole journey, and we frequently went a werst out of our way, perhaps for a paltry shrub not a foot long. We gathered all that we saw, for fear of finding none as we proceeded farther; but they were so small and so few as not to enable us to cook our victuals. To warm ourselves was out of the question. In the mean time the cold was extremely rigorous, and from the slow pace that we travelled, we were nearly frozen. Almost at every instant we were also under the necessity of stopping to unharness the dogs, that expired one after another.

I cannot describe what my feelings were in this situation. My mind suffered still more than my body. The inconveniences that were common to us, I patiently shared with my companions; their example and my youth gave me courage to support them. But when I thought of my dispatches, my constancy forsook me. They were continually in my hands, and I never touched them without shuddering. My anxiety to execute my trust, the view of the many obstacles I had to surmount, the uncertainty of succeeding, all these ideas united to torment me. I endeavoured to dispel them; a moment after some new obstacle brought them to my mind with additional force.

Upon leaving Gavenki, we had quitted the eastern coast, and the western presented itself to our view two wersts from Pousteretsk. We had crossed therefore the whole width of this part of Kamtschatka, which is not less than two hundred wersts, or fifty leagues. We travelled this extent of country more on foot than in our sledges. Our dogs were so weak, that we were willing to fatigue ourselves in order to relieve them, but they were seldom the more alert on this account. Our conductors could not make them go on without harnessing themselves in like manner to the sledge, and thus assist them to draw us along; we encouraged them also by throwing them a handkerchief folded up in the shape of a fish. They followed this bait, which disappeared the moment they approached near enough to lay hold of it.

It was by these contrivances that we were able to pass the mountain that leads to Poustaretsk. From the civil manner in which the women received us, I considered myself as safe the moment I set foot in this hamlet. Six of them came to meet us, exhibiting the most absurd demonstrations of joy. We understood, from some words they spoke, that their husbands were gone to the ostrog of Potkagornoï in pursuit of whales. They conducted us to their habitations, singing and skipping about us like so many maniacs. One of them took off her parque, made of the skin of a young deer, and put it upon M. Kasloff; the rest by loud bursts of laughter expressed their satisfaction at our arrival, which they said was unexpected. This was scarcely probable, but we pretended to believe them, in hopes of meeting with the better fare.

We entered Poustaretsk 9 March, at three o'clock in the afternoon. Our first precaution was to visit all the reservoirs of fish. How great was our mortification to find them empty! We immediately suspected that the inhabitants had acted in the same manner as those of Gavenki; and we questioned the women, and ransacked every probable place, persuaded that they had concealed their provisions. The more they denied it, the farther we pursued our researches. They were however fruitless, and we could find nothing.

During this interval our dogs had been unharnessed in order to be tied up in troops as usual. They were no sooner fastened to the posts, than they fell upon their strings and their harnesses, and devoured them in a moment. It was in vain that we attempted to retain them; the majority escaped into the country, and wandered about consuming whatever their teeth could penetrate. Some died, and became immediately the prey of the rest. They rushed with eagerness upon the dead carcasses, and tore them to pieces. Every limb that any individual seized upon, was contested by a troop of competitors, who attacked it with equal avidity: if he fell under their numbers, he became in turn the object of a new combat[82]. To the horror of seeing them devour one another, succeeded the melancholy spectacle of those that beset our yourt. The leanness of these poor beasts was truly affecting: they could scarcely stand upon their legs. By their plaintive and incessant cries, they seemed to address themselves to our companion, and to reproach our incapacity to relieve them. Many of them, who suffered as much from cold as from hunger, laid themselves down by the opening made in the roof of the yourt to let out the smoke. The more they felt the benefit of the heat, the nearer they approached; and at last, either from faintness, or inability to preserve an equilibrium, they fell into the fire before our eyes.

Shortly after our arrival the guide returned, who had accompanied the soldier sent out six days before to Kaminoi to procure us succour. He informed us that our messenger was reduced to the last extremity, and considered himself as fortunate in having found, twelve wersts to the north of Pousteretsk, a miserable deserted yourt, where he had sheltered himself from the tempests, which had misled him no less than ten times. The provision we had given him for himself and his dogs was all consumed, and he waited impatiently till he should be relieved from his embarassment, without which it was impossible for him to come out of his asylum, either for the purpose of executing his commission, or of returning back to us.

M. Kasloff, far from being cast down by this new disappointment, animated our courage by communicating to us the last expedients he had resolved to employ. He had already, upon the intelligence of a whale being driven on shore near Potkagornoï, dispatched an express to that village. The utmost expedition was recommended, and he was to bring as much of the flesh and fat of the whale as he could. This resource however being uncertain, M. Kasloff proposed that we should sacrifice the small quantity of provision which each of us had intended to reserve for the support of his own dogs. This contribution was for sergeant Kabechoff, who had offered to go to Kaminoi. In the distress in which we were, the most feeble ray of hope was sufficient to induce us to risk our all. We embraced therefore the proposal with transport, confiding in the zeal and ability of this sergeant.

He departed at 10, minutely instructed upon the subject of his journey, and carrying with him the whole of our provisions. In his way he was to take up our poor soldier, and from thence proceed to fulfil the commission in which he had failed. Having taken all these precautions, we exhorted one another to patience, and endeavoured to divert our anxiety by waiting till it should please providence to deliver us. I shall employ this time in giving an account of the observations I made at Poustaretsk.

This hamlet is situated upon the declivity of a mountain washed by the sea; for we cannot call a river[83], what is nothing more than a very narrow gulf, which reaches as far as the foot of this mountain. The water is salt, and not drinkable; we were obliged therefore to have recourse to melted snow, which was the only fresh water we could procure. Two yourts, inhabited by about fifteen persons, make up the whole hamlet. I mean to include a few balagans that are occupied in summer, and situated farther from the shore.

They spend the whole summer in fishing, and preparing their stock of winter provisions. If we may judge from the food that we saw them dress and eat, this part of the country does not much abound with fish. Their aliment during our residence among them consisted only in the flesh and fat of the whale, the bark of trees in its natural state, and in buds steeped in the oil of the whale, or the sea wolf, or in the fat of any other animal. They informed us that they frequently caught small cod in the open sea; I know not whether they had any concealed store of this article, but we had searched so thoroughly, and we saw them fare so wretchedly, that we believed them to be really as poor as they appeared to be.

Their mode of catching rein deer, which are very plentiful in these cantons, is equally sure and easy. They surround a certain extent of land with palisades, leaving here and there an opening, where they spread their nets or snares. They then disperse, in order to drive the deer into them. These animals, by attempting to save themselves, run through the openings, and are caught either by the neck or their horns. A considerable number always escape by tearing the nets or leaping the palisades; meanwhile twenty or thirty men will frequently take at a time upwards of sixty deer.

Independently of their domestic occupations, the women are employed in preparing, staining, and sewing the skins of various animals, particularly deer skins. They first scrape them with a sharp stone fixed in a stick. Having taken off the fat, they still continue to scrape them to make them thinner and more supple. The only colour they stain them is a deep red, which is extracted from the bark of a tree called in Russia olkhovaïa-dereva, and known to us by the name of alder. They boil the bark, and then rub the skin with it till it has imbibed the die. The knives which they afterwards make use of to cut these skins, are crooked, and the invention probably of the country.

The sinews of the rein deer stripped very slender, and prepared in like manner by the women, serves them instead of thread, They sew perfectly well. Their needles, which have nothing singular, are brought from Okotsk, and their thimbles are like those used by our tailors, and are always worn upon the fore-finger.

I have already given an account of their manner of smoking, but I must resume the subject in order to relate the fatal consequences that attend it. Their pipes[84] will scarcely contain more than a pinch of tobacco, which they renew till they have satiated themselves; and this is effected in the following manner. By swallowing the smoak, instead of blowing it out, they gradually become so intoxicated that they would, if they were near it, fall into the fire. Experience has happily taught them to attend to the progress of this species of trance, and they have the precaution to sit down or to lay hold of the first object within their reach. The fit lasts them at least for a quarter of an hour, during which time their situation is the most painful that can be conceived. Their bodies are covered with a cold perspiration, the saliva distils from their lips, their breathing is short, and attended with a constant inclination to cough. It is only when they have brought themselves into this situation, that they conceive themselves to have enjoyed the true pleasure of smoking.

Neither the men nor the women wear chemises[85]; their common garment has nearly the same form, but it is shorter, and made of deer skin. When they go out, they put on a warmer one over it. In winter the women wear fur breeches instead of petticoats.

The 12, M. Schmaleff joined us. His return gave us the greater pleasure, as we had been very uneasy on his account. He had been absent from us six weeks, and almost a month had elapsed since the time fixed for his meeting us. He had very little provision left, but his dogs were not in so bad a condition as ours, and we embraced the opportunity of fetching our equipage which we had left in the road, and of which we had not since received any news.

The south-west wind, which had so much incommoded us in our journey, continued to blow with equal violence for several days; it afterwards changed to the north-east, but the weather only became the more terrible.

It seemed as if nature in anger conspired also against us to increase our difficulties and prolong our misery. I appeal to every man who has found himself in a similar situation. He only can tell how cruel it is to be thus chained down by obstacles that are incessantly springing up. We may strive to divert our thoughts, to arm ourselves with patience; our strength will at last fail, and reason lose its power over us. Nothing renders a calamity more insupportable, than the not being able to foresee when it will terminate.

We had too painful an experience of this upon the receipt of the letters that were brought us from Kaminoi. We had no succour to expect from that quarter, Kabechoff informed us. The detachment from Ingiga were unable to come to us. They had been two months at Kaminoi, and had consumed not only their own flock of provision, but also the supply that had been destined for us. Their dogs, like ours, devoured one another, and the forty men were reduced to the last extremity. Our sergeant added, that he had sent immediately to Ingiga as our only resource, and that he expected an answer in a few days; but he feared that it would not be very satisfactory, as the town must be badly stocked with dogs and provisions, after the considerable supply which it had furnished.

This melancholy news deprived us of all hope, and we gave ourselves up for lost. Our grief and despondence were so extreme, that M. Kasloff was at first insensible to the news of his promotion, which he had received by the same messenger. A letter from Irkoutsk informed him, that, out of gratitude for his services, the empress had advanced him from the government of Okotsk to that of Yakoutsk. In any other situation this news would have afforded him the utmost pleasure. A more extensive field was open for the display of his zeal, and a better opportunity for exercising his talents in the art of government. But his thoughts were very differently employed than in calculating the advantages of this new post, Every other sentiment yielded to that of our danger, in which he was wholly absorbed.

In a moment thus critical, I can only ascribe to the inspiration of heaven, the idea that suddenly occurred to me of separating myself from M. Kasloff. In reflecting upon it, I perceived every thing there was in it disobliging to him, and mortifying to me. I endeavoured to drive the idea from my mind, but it was in vain. It returned, it fixed itself there in spite of me. I thought of my country, of my family, of my duty. Their power over me was invincible, and I disclosed myself to the governor. Upon the first view it appeared to him to be a wild project, and he failed not to oppose it. The desire of executing it, furnished me with a ready answer to all his objections. I proved to him, that by continuing together, we deprived each other of the means of pursuing his journey. We could not set off together without a strong reinforcement of dogs. We had scarcely more than twenty-seven that were at all tolerable, the rest having died or being unfit for service[86]. By giving up these twenty-seven dogs, one of us would be able to proceed, and his departure would relieve the other from the difficulty of maintaining this small number of famished steeds. But, said M. Kasloff, you must still have provision for them, and what means are there of procuring it?

I was at a loss how to reply, when we were informed that our express from Potkagornoï was arrived. More fortunate than the rest, he had brought us a large quantity of the flesh and fat of the whale. My joy at the sight of it was extreme, every difficulty was now removed, and I conceived myself already to be out of Poustaretsk. I returned instantly to my argument, and M. Kasloff having no longer any thing to oppose, and applauding in reality my zeal, complied with my solicitations. It was fixed that I should depart the 18 at latest. From this moment we were employed in the necessary arrangements for executing my project with the greatest safety.

Every thing flattered me with the hope of success. With the melancholy news we had received from Kaminoi, there were some consoling circumstances. For instance, we were assured that no obstruction was to be apprehended from the Koriacs. A perfect calm was reestablished among them; and, to convince us of it, they had been desirous that some of their countrymen should accompany the soldier charged with the dispatches to M. Kasloff. Even the son of the chief of the rebels, called Eitel, was one of the escort. The Koriacs, he told us, had long waited with impatience the arrival of the governor, and his father meant to show his respect M. Kasloff by coming to meet him.

Charmed with the idea that we had no longer any thing to fear, at least on this side, we were eager to express our satisfaction to these Koriacs for their good will to us. We made them all the presents that our situation would permit, such as tobacco, stuffs, and various articles which I had purchased during my sea voyage, as well as others that had been left me by count de la Perouse. We gave them something also for their relations. But our principal care was to make them as drunk as possible, that they might give a favourable report of their reception. It was necessary to consult their taste; and to intoxicate them completely, they considered as the very essence of politeness.

I proposed to these Koriacs to take charge of two of my portmanteaus. They expressed at first some unwillingness, on account of the distance, which was as far as Ingiga. By means, however, of entreaties and my purse, I at last prevailed upon them to take them into their sledges. Eased in this manner of my baggage, I had nothing to think of but my dispatches. The effects which I had intrusted to the Koriacs gave me little or no concern, as the soldier sent from Ingiga would return with them, and had promised to see that the trust was faithfully executed.

To the last moment of my stay M. Kasloff had been laboriously[87] employed in preparing his letters, which I was to have the care of. With these he delivered to me a podarojenei, or passport, that was to serve me as far as Irkoutsk. This passport was also an order to all Russian officers and other inhabitants, subjects of the empress, whom I should meet in my way to that place, to assist me with the means of proceeding on my journey with safety and expedition. The foresight of the governor omitted nothing that was necessary for me. Had I been the brother of his heart, his attentions could not have been greater.

I must pause; for I cannot suppress the emotion I feel at the thought that I am upon the point of quitting this estimable man, rendered for ever dear to me, still more by the virtues of his heart than the accomplishments of his understanding. The generous sacrifice he made is at this moment a weight upon me, and I cannot avoid reproaching myself for having wished it. What do I not suffer upon leaving him in these frightful deserts, without knowing whether he will ever be able to come out of them! The image of his melancholy situation haunts and agitates my mind. Ah! I repeat it; it must have been the conviction that there was no other way of executing the trust reposed in me, which impelled me, in spite of the prohibition of count de la Perouse, to take this resolution. But for this motive, but for my dispatches, I could never justify to my own heart my eagerness to leave him. May the testimony which my gratitude will ever render for his goodness to me, and his zeal for the service of his mistress, contribute in some measure to his advancement and his happiness; mine will be complete, if I have ever the pleasure of seeing him again, and embracing him in my arms.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

FOOTNOTES: