Part 9

We travelled fifty four wersts gently enough; but in the afternoon we were suddenly overtaken by a terrible tempest from the west and north-west. We were in an open country, and the whirlwinds became so violent, that it was impossible to proceed. The snow, which they raised in the air at every blast, formed a thick fog, and our guides, notwithstanding their knowledge of the roads, could no longer be answerable for not misleading us. We could not prevail on them to conduct us any farther: and yet it was dreadful to lie to at the mercy of so impetuous a hurricane. As to myself, I confess that I began to suffer extremely, when our guides proposed to lead us to a wood that was not far off, and where we should at least find some kind of shelter. We hesitated not a moment to avail ourselves of their civility; but before we quitted the road, it was necessary to wait till our sledges could be assembled, or we should otherwise run the risk of being separated from one another, and entirely lost. Having effected this, we gained the wood, which was happily at the distance that we had been informed. Our halt took place about two o'clock in the afternoon.

The first care of our Kamtschadales was to dig a hole in the snow, which was in this place at least six feet deep; others fetched wood, and a fire being quickly lighted, the kettle was set on. A light repast, and a small dram of brandy, soon recovered all our company. As the night approached, we were employed upon the means of passing it in the least uncomfortable manner. Each prepared his own bed: mine was my vezock, where I could lie down at my ease; but except M. Kasloff, there was no other person who had so convenient a carriage. How, said I to myself, will these poor creatures contrive to sleep? I was soon relieved from my anxiety on their account. The manner in which they prepared their beds, deserves to be mentioned, though they did not observe much ceremony on the occasion. Having dug a hole in the snow, they covered it with the branches of trees, the smallest they could get; then wrapping themselves up in a _kouklanki_, with the hood drawn over their heads, they lay down on their bed as if it were the best in the world. As to our dogs, they were unharnessed, and tied to the trees that were near us, where they passed the night in their usual manner.

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.