Part 2

From the moment of our arrival, M. Schmaleff had foreseen that he should not be able to accompany me from this village. Beset evening and morning by the whole detachment of soldiers, who came to acquaint him with the urgency of their wants, he considered it as his duty not to abandon them, but to employ all the means which his office and his perfect knowledge of the country afforded him for procuring them assistance. He was equally impatient with myself to get to Ingiga, where his brother had long expected him: but he resolved nevertheless to let me depart without him.

He informed me of this circumstance with regret, and gave me at the same time a confidential soldier, named _Yegor-Golikoff_[9]. He made me, he said, in this man a valuable present; and we shall find in the sequel that he was not deceived.

This kindness increased the reluctance I felt at being obliged so soon to leave this good and gallant officer. My gratitude would lead me to repeat in this place, what the English have written of his humanity and politeness; but I leave to count de la Perouse the pleasure of acquitting the debt which every individual in the expedition owes to M. Schmaleff, for his assiduity in rendering it, while at Saint Peter and Saint Paul’s, all the services that were in his power.

I came out of Kaminoi at eight o’clock in the morning of the 26, the weather being tolerably calm[10]. At the distance of fifteen wersts, I again met with the chain of mountains which I had before passed on this side of the village. I traversed them a second time, and then crossed a river called _Chestokova_, from a subaltern officer of that name, who had been killed there at the head of a detachment sent to keep the revolted Koriacs in awe. Under advantage of the night the Koriacs had taken them by surprise upon the border of this river, and had not suffered an individual to escape: all the Russians were massacred. I halted in the same place.

I was roused from my sleep by the gusts of wind that blew with extreme violence. The clouds of snow obscured the air to a degree, that it was not easy to distinguish if it were day. In spite of this dreadful hurricane I resolved to proceed; but I could not prevail on my guides to make even the attempt. They persisted in not quitting the place, from the apprehension of losing their way, and encountering other dangers in such bad weather.

Opposed on all sides, I retired to my tent in no very pleasant humour. At noon I was agreeably consoled by the arrival of seven Tchoukchis. They were in sledges, similar to those of the wandering Koriacs, and drawn in like manner by rein deer. I received them under my tent, and invited them to remain till the storm was dissipated. Nothing could have flattered them more, as I judged from the air of satisfaction which my offer imparted to the countenance of every individual.

Among these Tchoukchis was the chief of the horde, called _Tummé_. He addressed himself to me in order to express the gratitude they felt for the reception I gave them. He assured me that ever since they had heard of me, they had desired nothing so ardently as my acquaintance, and had been greatly alarmed lest they should lose the opportunity. He added, that they would never forget either my person or my kindnesses, and that they would give an exact account of every thing to their countrymen. I answered with a profusion of thanks, informing them that I had been already made acquainted with their obliging curiosity, and that I had not been less desirous of the present interview.

After this preface, we talked upon general subjects, particularly upon their country and mine. My curiosity was equal to theirs, and the time passed in perpetual questions. As I told them that, in returning to France, I must pass through the town that was the residence of their sovereign, they begged me to give her a faithful account of them, and to lay at her feet the tribute of their respect and submission. They added, that they were by so much the more happy in being tributaries of Russia, as they every day found the Russians more easy of access, and more affectionate in their behaviour. They spoke with particular commendation of M. Gaguen, governor of Ingiga.

The kindness they had experienced, made them regret the want of opportunity to maintain a more frequent intercourse with the Russians. The only mode, they said, of surmounting these difficulties, would be for the subjects of the Czarina to form afresh their establishment upon the river Anadir. They promised for the future that, far from giving any interruption to the settlers, they would exert themselves by every office of friendship to make them forget the injustice of their past conduct. That conduct had originated in an error, under which they laboured as well as the Koriacs, in having formerly figured to themselves the Russians as consisting only of that small number of individuals, who came in this adventurous manner to plant themselves in their territory and neighbourhood. By a natural sentiment of jealousy, they had regarded these emigrants as so many adversaries, whose industry and activity were the objects of their suspicion; and they conceived that nothing could be of more importance to them than to rid themselves of the intruders, persuaded that in exterminating the settlers they should destroy the race.

The Tchoukchis professed to have discovered their mistake, and their folly as soon as they had been properly acquainted with the Russians. It was in vain that they were now persuaded to revolt, they being on the contrary disposed to counteract the seditious intrigues of a prince, or chief of the Tchoukchis, whose residence was fixed, by name _Kherourgui_, either by curtailing his authority, or even by delivering him up to the Russians.

Not being able to conceive in what part of the world I was born, they asked me if my country were not on the other side of the great river. Before I answered them, I desired to know the meaning of their question; and I found they imagined that beyond Russia, with which country itself they had little acquaintance, there was a very large river that divided them from another country inhabited by different people.

It was not easy to instruct them upon this subject. I talked a long while without their understanding a single word of my geographical dissertation. They had no accurate idea either of number or extension. It was not less difficult to give them a notion of the strength of a state, or the riches and power of its sovereign. They had never attempted an estimation even of that of Russia. That I might enable them to judge of it, I was obliged to illustrate the abundance of its commodities, its money, and its population, by comparisons drawn from the number of animals they hunted, and the quantity of fish they caught every year, without destroying the breed. This explanation, which I exerted all my ability to make level to their capacities, extremely pleased them. I adopted the same method to give them a notion of the way measure extension. I began with the ground that my tent covered, and the taking a sheet of paper, drew a sort of geographical chart, in which I marked pretty nearly the situation and distances of Russia and France, with respect to their country.

It was not without some labour that I made myself understood. But for this I was indemnified by the eagerness and attention with which they listened to me. In general I was astonished at the solidity of their understanding, and the thirst they felt for the acquisition of knowledge. Superior in these respects to the Koriacs, they appear both to respect more upon what they say themselves, and what they hear and behold. These two people have nearly the same idiom; the only difference is, that I found in the Tchoukchis a habit of prolonging the final syllables of words, and a pronunciation slower and sweeter than that of the Koriacs. With the assistance of my guide, who served me for an interpreter, I kept up the conversation tolerably well.

The attention with which I examined their dress, inspired them with a desire of seeing the French habit[11], and I ordered my uniform to be taken out of my portmanteau. At sight of it they expressed admiration in every part of their attitude. Every one was eager to touch it, every one exclaimed upon its singularity and its beauty. My buttons, marked with the arms of France, were particularly inspected, and it was necessary anew to exert my ingenuity to describe to them intelligibly, what this figure represented, and what was its use. But they did not allow me to finish. They eagerly reached out their hands, and intreated me to divide them among them. I consented, upon the promise they gave me to preserve them with extreme care. Their object in keeping them, was to employ them as a mark of affection, which they might shew to all the strangers that touched upon their coast, in hopes that among the rest there might possibly arrive a Frenchman.

Their countrymen had seen the English some years before. “Why, said they, do not the French also visit us? They might depend upon being received by us with cheerfulness and cordiality.” I thanked them for their obliging disposition, and represented to them that the distance was an insuperable obstacle, and would not permit us to put their kindness often to the proof. Meanwhile I promised to give a faithful representation of it upon my arrival in France.

After regaling them in the best manner I could with tobacco, having nothing that could afford them greater pleasure, we parted upon the best terms of friendship. Upon leaving me, they said, that I should probably soon met their equipages and their wives, whom they had left behind in order to make the greater haste.

The wind became calm shortly after the departure of these Tchoukchis, and I pursued my journey.

The next day, at the very moment when I was about to stop, upon seeing a convenient place by the side of a wood, I perceived farther on before me a numerous troop of rein deer browsing at liberty upon the top of a mountain. Upon examining them more attentively, I distinguished some men who appeared to be guarding them. I hesitated at first whether I should avoid, or join them; but curiosity at length prevailed, and I advanced to reconnoitre them.

By proceeding along the skirts of the wood I was told I should come up with them. I conceived however that at the extremity I should be still separated from them by a river, a small arm of which I had crossed a quarter of an hour before: at this place it was tolerably wide. While I was examining these people from one bank to the other, I was approached by two women who were walking about. The eldest accosted me. How great was my surprise to hear both her and her companion speak the Russian language! They informed me that I was but two hundred yards from the camp of the Tchoukchis, the view of which was intercepted by the wood. As soon indeed as I got down to the side of the river I could see their sledges and their tents, and I entreated these women to conduct me thither.

As we went on, I asked them of what country they were, their language telling me that they were neither born, nor had always lived among these people.

One of them informed me that she was a Russian, and had been induced to accompany the Tchoukchis from a sentiment of maternal affection. Dangers, fatigues, ill treatment, she had braved every thing, from the sole motive of reclaiming her daughter, who was retained by them as an hostage. She had lost her in the following manner.

This young woman was travelling, two years before, with her father and a number of other Russians upon the river Pengina. Their caravan, consisting of nine persons, was proceeding quietly along in the midst of the Koriacs, threatened at that time by a party of Tchoukchis, headed by this very Kherourgui whom we just now mentioned. To get rid of their dangerous neighbours, the Koriacs conceived the design of informing the Tchoukchis of the passage of these strangers[12], as a prize that ought not to escape them. The artifice succeeded. Seduced by the expectation of an immense booty in iron and tobacco, the Tchoukchis followed these travellers. Their courage could not save them, and four of them, with their arms in their hands, became the victims of a fruitless resistance. The husband of this woman was killed in defending his daughter, whom the conquerors carried off with the three remaining companions of her misfortune. The Russians had incessantly demanded the surrender of these prisoners, and the Tchoukchis had promised to send them back; but only two of them had yet been released.

The affecting recital of this unfortunate mother, which was frequently interrupted by her tears, interested me strongly in her favour. Without knowing whether the mediation would have any weight with the Tchoukchis, I felt myself disposed to join my intreaties to hers, and I had the satisfaction to perceive that they were not nugatory.

The other woman told me that she was by birth a Tchoukchi. In her infancy she had been taken by the Russians upon the river Anadir, and carried to Yakoutsk, where they had given her the best education in their power. She afterwards married a soldier, by whom she was in a few years left a widow. At length, by order of government, she was sent back to her own country with her children, to render an account of the obligations that she owed to the Russians. It had been recommended to her to give the minutest details to the Tchoukchis, even such as lived to the greatest distance[13], and insinuate to them the innumerable advantages they might derive from establishing a safe and peaceable commerce with the Russians.

This woman spoke the Russian, the Yakout, and the Tchoukchi languages with equal facility. She told me, that the little knowledge she derived from her education, had gained her a sort of credit with her compatriots; that she had already taken advantage of her ascendancy over their minds, to destroy several of their prejudices; and she flattered herself that by degrees they would be taught to see their interest in its true light. Her hopes were chiefly founded upon the character of this people, which she assured me was perfectly generous, hospitable, mild, and preferable in every respect to that of the Koriacs.

The conversation of these women had so engrossed my attention, that I was in the camp of the Tchoukchis before I perceived it. Their joy at seeing me was extreme, and I was surrounded in an instant. They all addressed themselves to me at once, to prevail on me to spend the night with them. I had no sooner answered that it was my intention, than they saluted me with new transports and huzzas. I ordered my tent to be erected at the extremity of the camp, and while it was performing I invited the chiefs to visit me. Eager to accept my invitation, they could not wait till I had entered my tent, and I found a more numerous assembly than it could contain.

After the first compliments were over, we entered into conversation, mutually desirous of receiving information. We talked in a summary way of our respective countries, manners, and customs; and the questions they asked me were nearly similar to those of Tummé and his companions. They expressed their submission to Russia, their desire of forming an alliance with that country by means of a commercial intercourse, and of seeing the establishment upon the Anadir revived. They then entered into particulars upon the motives of their journey. Their principal inducement was to visit some relations who had intermarried with the Russians, and settled at Ingiga. They had also, it was probable, some commercial project in view, though from their own account, attachment to their countrymen was their only motive; and in reality, this patriotic sentiment was visible I thought in their attention to this Tchoukchi woman, and the caresses they bestowed upon her children.

They frequently entreated me to banish all distrust from my mind, and to rely upon their friendship. They seemed to suppose that I partook of the reserve which the Russians discovered in their intercourse with them; but not having the same reasons to fear them, I was a stranger to suspicion. I wished them to understand this by my answer, which was, that being unwilling to offend any individual I might meet with in my way, I imagined that no one would be desirous of incommoding me, particularly in the midst of a nation whose civility and rectitude were already known to me. This mode of reasoning pleased them, and they appeared to be flattered by my security. I conceived of course that I ought to conceal my arms, and reject the proposal made by my soldiers of placing a centinel before my tent.

I distributed tobacco to the most distinguished of these Tchoukchis, and afterwards treated them with tea and rye biscuit. Their chief, or prince, named _Chegouiaga_, of the same rank and authority as Tummé, two of his relations, and the two women who served as interpreters, supped with me. The repast was perfectly frugal but very gay, and my guests were as well pleased as if they had fared ever so sumptuously. The necessity of taking rest obliged us to separate.

As soon as I was alone, I embraced the opportunity of writing down the notes with which their conversation and my own observations had furnished me.

The camp of these Tchoukchis was pitched upon the border of the river, by the side of their equipages, and at the back of the wood which I mentioned. It contained about a dozen tents ranged in a line along the bank. They were of a square form, and made of rein deer skin, suspended by leathern straps to four poles erected at the four corners. Bundles of spears and arrows, fixed in the snow before every tent, seem to guard the entrance[14], which is very low, and shuts _hermetically_. The tents are extremely hot. The partitions and the covering being made of deer skin, the air cannot penetrate, and there is besides a stove in the middle of each of them. The bed resembles that of the Kamtschadales when they halt, and consists of small branches of trees spread on the snow like litter, and covered with deer skins. Here a whole family will lie down and sleep together without distinction of age or sex. The space is so narrow that it is astonishing how so many people can crowd into it. The air and filthiness occasioned by it are insupportable; let it suffice to say, that they feel no disgust at seeing their food and their drink close to the most offensive objects, for no words can describe the excess of their indolence.

Among these Tchoukchis, whose number amounted to about forty, there were fifteen or sixteen women[15], and nearly as many children, who are employed in preparing the tents and provisions. Every principal person has valets in his service to take care of the deer, and guard them during the night from the wolves with which these coasts abound.

The dress of the women is very remarkable. It consists of a single deer skin that is fastened round the neck, where it has an opening both before and behind, and which descends in the shape of large breeches below the knee. This garment is put on by means of the opening at the neck, and there is no other way of taking it off but by loosening the strings which tie it under the chin, when it instantly falls from the body, and leaves the woman naked. The inconvenience of this habit may easily be imagined, from the frequent necessity there must be of divesting themselves of it. When they travel, they wear a _kouklanki_ over their common dress, and their feet have no other covering than boots made of the legs of rein deer. Their hair is of a deep black. Sometimes it is turned up in tufts behind, but it is oftener separated upon the forehead, and hangs in long braids on each side. Their ears and their neck are loaded with ornaments of glass beads of different colours; and when they are cold, the hood of their parque serves them for a head-dress.

Their countenance is by no means agreeable; the features are coarse, though their nose is not flat, nor their eyes sunk in their head like the Kamtschadales. They resemble them in these respects less than do the Koriac women. They are also taller, but not slender. The thickness and bulk of their dress give them an appearance the very opposite to alert. In the mean time they perform the most laborious offices, such as lighting fire, cutting wood, fetching water, and other things required in their domestic œconomy. These cares devolve principally upon the oldest.

The features of the men seemed to be more regular, and not at all Asiatic. Their complexion, like that of the women, is very tawny; and their dress, their sledges, and in short, all their customs are exactly similar to those of the wandering Koriacs. I shall take an opportunity of describing them together.

These Tchoukchis at present go every year to Ingiga. They leave their country in the beginning of autumn, and do not arrive at this settlement till March. As soon as their business is transacted, which only requires a few days, they set out upon their return, that they may not lose the advantage of travelling in sledges; but they seldom reach their home till the latter end of June.

The merchandise they take with them consists chiefly of sable and fox-skin parques, and moose teeth, which afford a very fine ivory. They receive in exchange kettles, tobacco, lances, musquets, knives, and other iron instruments. As yet they are little accustomed to the musquet, and scarcely make any use of it; but they are very expert in shooting an arrow, and managing a lance, which are therefore their principal arms.

Like all the northern people, they have an astonishing propensity to drunkenness. Their love of brandy is so extreme, that if you once let them taste it, you must repeat your kindness till they are perfectly intoxicated, or they would consider themselves as insulted, and probably have recourse to menaces and violence, to obtain their ends. As incessant smokers as the Koriacs, they have the same pipes and the same method of using them.

Being unwilling to prolong my stay, I went as soon as it was light to take leave of these Tchoukchis in their tents, but the unwholesome air and the heat soon obliged me to withdraw. Our parting was very affectionate; each in his turn overwhelmed me with embraces. It may be supposed I did not fall short in my compliments, nor could I in reality too highly extol the reception of this hospitable people.

I set off early enough to travel this day thirty wersts. About half way I found upon the sea coast two balagans and a yourt, inhabited by a Koriac family, and an hour after I reached the ostrog of Pareiné.

This village is less than Kaminoi, but more populous and well situated. It is upon a river, from which it takes its name, and about three wersts from where it pours its waters into the sea of Pengina, which forms at this place so narrow a gulf, that in clear weather one can see from one shore to the other.

The first person I saw in the village was an old woman of a mixed breed, whose melancholy appearance struck me. Either from compassion or curiosity, I instantly approached her. Upon my questioning her respecting the cause of her distress, she uttered a loud shriek, and answered me only by her tears. My intreaties, and the sympathy I discovered, at last drew from her the recital of her misfortune.