The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1879-09-24

behind the ear to dry, and finally
smoked. Salt is not used, but every one
seems fond of sugar. CJfee is not
cared for unless well sugared. Tea
is in grest request. Some of the
natives wore small amulets round the
neck, with which they would not part
one had even cross. We saw no other
evidence of religious observance. The
mems clothing is one or NOR reindeer
"pesk" (iong Coats), similar to those OF
the Laplanders. Outside the "p'sk" in
wet weather q shirt, made of intestines, or
of cotton material, ia worn. The head is
covered with a cap studded with pearls,
but both men and women frequently 60
bare-headed In winter a hood of long
haired fur, sewn under the chin and
extending over the shoulders is drawn
over the head. MOecasins are worn for
the feet, with sOl5s made of walrus skin,
in winter generally of bears skin, with
the hair outward. The women also dress
in ''pesk," which are of great width and
sewn together below, forming wide hose
which reach to the knee. In the winter,
too, they wear an over pesk, similar to
the mems. The lower portion OF the
arms OF these clothes are wide and open.
Inside the tents The women 60 completely
naked, with the exception of a narrow
waist belt, in remembrance probably of
the costume worn by their ancestors
when they inhabited milder climate
Their hair is worn long, and is plated
and parted carefully. The mems hair is
often shaved or cut down to the roots,
with the exception of the outer edge,
which is suffered to grow an inch long
The same practice prevsiled two hundred
years ago among the Indians of the in
terror of North America. Most of the
men wear pearls or other ornaments in
their ears. The women are tattooed on
each side of the face with two dark blue
lines, from the Eyes to the chin, and wear
very cuTiously formed ornaments Many
of the men are painted on the cheek bone
with black, Oblique, rectangular cross
or with a reddish brown color.
Upon the isthmus connecting Irkaipi
with the main land is village composed
of eighteen tents. We have ruins even
here. The traces, namely, of number
of Old dwellings, festiges OF a people
who once inhabited these regions, and
who, as the Tehukehi asserts, were
driven thenFe by tabir ancestors to some
distant islands in the Polar sea. Wrsngel
cites several legends of q most romantic
nature regarding the final struggle of
this people, which are said to have taken
place upon the rugged and preciptous
cliffs of those parts. Wrangel als5 tolls
us that this tribe were called the
OnkiIon.
Lieut.. Nordquist ard DR.. Almvuist
had the ground dug up where once stood
the village Of this OnkilOn people, and
collected many stones and implements.
Several houses had stood together. They
were partly built of whalebOnes and
driftw0od, were covered with earth and
connected with each other and the open
air by long passage. Scattered heaps
near these old ground plots contain the
bones OF whales, walrus, seals reindeer,
bears, dogs, foxes, white fish, and dii-
ferent kinds of birds, also atOtte and bone
indictments. Notwithstanding that
these things must have been buried in
the earth for two hundred and fifty years,
stone implements still in their shafts
were met with among them. Even the
straps with which the stone axes we've
bound to their handles were in a good
state of preservation. The teeth of the
period, as they do the Tchukchi now,
with a substitute for iron: spear-heads.
arrows, ish,hooks, ice-sxes, ETC., being
made of them. WhaleNbones and prob
ably mammoth bones were also largely
used. The former were tOUnO in i'm
mense quantities. Many of the old
Onkilon dwellings were used by the
Tchukchi for storing their blubber some
showed signs of having been dug up,
probably in search of walrus-teeth.
Far above, between the stone-heaps
OF Irkaipis, some old ground-plOts
were found. These were prob.
ably built during the fighting which
preceded the expulsion of the Onkitos.
On several places on the slopes of the hill
great heaps of bears'skull ,0VergroWn with
reindeer moss were found. These were
ranged in a circle with the face turned
inward. A less regular circle was also
met with of skulls OF reindeer, bears and
walrus confusedly mixed together, in
the center of which deers' antlers and
horns were heaped up. Near these large
frontal bones, having parts of the horns #
the elk, or of some large species of stag,
still firmly attached to them. were met
with. Beside the other bones lay in
Vulnerable heaps of the temporal bones OF
seals. Among the other remains were
scarcely any belonging to the seals,
which seems to indicate that these tenn
poral bones do not form the remainder
of decayed skulls, but we're specially
sacrificed portions o. the animal. As
human bones were not found in the
neighborho0d, and as also the natives
assert that these bones are relics from
the time of the OnkilOns, it appears prob>
able that these spots were formerly
places of sacrifice. There soon arose the
most friendly relations between our.
selves and the inhabitants Of the above
mentioned Tchukchi camping ground
on the shores of the bay OF Irkaipi. A
somewhat corpulent, though remarkably
tall, handsome and well-grown man
named Sschepurln appeared TO be the
chief of the place, He was several
times treated by us in the gunroOm, and
then received little presents to draw the
bonds OF friendship closer. Tschepurin
had apparently a great weakness for
trinkets, and could now, by means of his
barter with us, satisfy his love OF show
to an extent never before dreamed of.
When he visited us upon the last day,
on board the Vega, he put on a wooden
shirt over his coat of reindeer skin; at
each ear hung gold watch chain, at
the end of which were hanging large
gold coins. Tschepurin had two wives,
who lived in harmony together in one
and the same tent, provided with sepa-
rate sleeping places.
Historical.
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