The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1879-11-13
THE TSCHUkTSCHI.
4 RACE OF PEOPLE ENCOUNTERED BI NOR.
DESsEJoLD IN THE ARTIC SEAS.

| ship was q constant rendezvous for them.
| The professor speaks of them as saw
ages, inasmuch SIS their civilization is
not very far advanced, but he is enthusi
astic in his testimony to their excellent
| qualities, social, domestic and national
| They do quite an extensive trade between
| Siberia and America, being locally with,
| in easy reach of many points in Alaskan
| territory, which is accessible to them bott
in winter and summer; in the former
season by q solid bridge of ice, in the
latter by the open sea. They employ
sledges drawn by dogs, of which animals
the explorers do not speak very highly.
This season, perhaps, may have been an
exceptionally severe one for both man
| and beast in the particular portion OF
Northern Siberia where the party winter
ed. Nordenskjold says that dogs were
plentiful, but they were mostly weak
and ailing from hunger, their masters
often being unable to supply them with
sufficient food. In this connection it is
worth while to record that SO high an
authority as the great navigator does not
think the services of dogs In arctic ex-
plorations very valuable. They are apt
to DO sick and feeble and their nourish-
ment is always matter of some difficult
ty. During the warm months the Tschuk-
tsehi make their trips to and from the
American shore in skin boats, which,
from the description given of them, I
Judge must have striking resemblance
to the old Celtic corracle or curragn.-
The more genial period and the water
route are most favored by these Siberian
peddlers for their excursions. When
| they travel over the ice. parties of four,
five or six traders will use one. sledge,
which has twenty or thirty dogs to drag
| it. Their commerce consists of the furs
which they bring from America to the
other continent, where they barter them
with the Russians for simple commodi-
ties. Reindeer skins are also an article
Of their exchange.
[ have alluded to the probability of
the year being an exceptionally bad one.
There certainly appears to have been q
kind of famine, last winter, among these
generous people. Many Of them passed
the ship on their travels, or simply came
to see her out Of curiosity. In every case
they went on board to eat, as of right.
The Swedish eonannrndeV Distributed es
much as 5000 pounds of bread among
these guests, who evinced a heartfelt
gratitude for the bounty. They are de-
scribed as distinctly differing from the
Esquamaux tribes: and, although it is
not decided to what race they belong,
they are thought to be related to the
Kamshatkadales and Koriads.
Some very interesting and valuable
details have been collected by Norden-
skiold and his staff as to their ethnog-
raphy and history. About $50 years ago
they were distinguished and gallant war
riors. The discoveries have gathered
valuable assortment of the arms and ar.
NOR of that period. Many of these i'm
plements arespreserved among the fami-
lies, whose habits are no longer aggres-
sive. Very noticeable are their cuirasses
carefully wrought out of mammoth ivory
and fashioned with q remarkable resem-
blance to the old Roman panoply. Their
spears and bows are made of whalebone.
wood and ivory, spliced and bound with
the slnews of the reindeer, and showing
an advanced perception of artistic orna-
mentation on the parts of the makers.
One hundred and fifty years ago the
famous Russian Colopel Paulovski, COM
manded an expedition sent against them
from Siberian settlements. In his first
engagement with them he was badly
worsted. He subsequently defeated
them, but with heavy loss to his own
troops, and has recorded much such q
tribute to their valor as Pyrrhus bestow-
ed upon the Italion legions which he
overthrow. A mild form of disease is
averred by the natives to have been left
behind by his soldiery and to be still in
existence.
At present the Tschuktschi are held to
pay to Russia a small tribute, which is
collected in the form of trifing dues for
permission to trade in the marts of Ms
ehni-ko-lymsk and Apadyr. In spite of
this, however, they admit no allegience,
and not one of those interrogated ap-
peared to have any knowledge of the ex-
istence of Gar at st. Petersburg
Strangely enough they have no govern
ment, no laws and almost no religion, if
any. A Russian staros is their nominal
ruler, but has neither authority nor in
huence. In fact there seems no neces-
sity for the exercise of either the one or
the other, for his subjects are evidently
an exceptionally excellent and well dis
posed people. The foreigners were on
terms of intimacy with thousands of
them, and never saw or heard of single
case of quarreling among them. Per-
feet harmony prevailed in the villages
and families. Women have great infu-
ence and are treated by the men in all
respects as their equals and with much
poiteness and Difference. The language
spoken by this tribe is peculiar, and, as
far as yet been determined, shows no
affinity to others. On this subject, how
ever, it is yet too early to speak with
certainty. Lieutenant Nordquist, of the
Russian Imerial Guards, one of the spec
ialitie of the expedition, has formed a
very large collection of their vocabulary
and ldioms. and when his work has been
examined by philologists it is certain