The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-04-19
An Asiafic utonla.

rance, Ln6r6lOT6, Lucy CouStfuCec4 al
ideal republic, laid out q Utopia, founded
q New Harmony and established Rug
by, heroicaliy II blindly trying to fashion
an ideal society and to teach men the
way to true happiness; and all the while
the Chukch has been wandering in his
seal wraps over northeastern Asia, the
ideal citizen of the world, except in so
far as soap must play q trivial part in
the life of the ideal citizen. 1t was left
for the greatest navigator of our time to
find people without kings or priests,
without preachers or politicians, without
laws or the necessity of laws. The
Chukches are the men. They are the
real Utopisns, the equitable communists,
the unselfish socialists, the ideal repub-
licans for whom VS. have been looking
80 long. Their society plus soap is the
fulfillment of the andest dream Of the
Europeans. A kn Wedge of this anom-
slous society is one of the most startling
results of Nordensi iold's circumnayiga-
ton of the Old World. After sailing
along a coast of several thousand miles
that Is literal ,sert, and of course
uninhabited, the Vega found, as soon as
northeastern Asia begins to slope down
toward Behring's Straits, that the na-
tives were so much pleased at the sight
of q steamer that they gave everywhere
the most earnest invitations to land.
The Vega spent the ten months of the
polar winter of 1S78-79 on the Chukch
coast, and its commander was thus the
first European 10 get q sufficiently ex-
tensive knowledge of these people to
explain their society. The men of the
Vega learned their infectionless jargon,
visited their tents, kept them from
starving and came to know the Chukches
better than they know themselves. They
are not tribe of Eskimos, as it has
been supposed. They have different
origin, in all probability, from the Eski-
mos; their language is not by any
means the same, nor Is their civil life
greatly like the life of the American
polar races They are not as ugly as
the Eskimos, nor as the tribes of West
ern Polar Asia. They possess an ex-
tensive territory for their wandering,
5000 people. They are of two kinds,
Coast Chukches and Reindeer Chukches
Ia difference, however, that is differ
ence wholly in occupation. One class
are fishermen, the other herdsmen.
They are not divided into tribes.
They have no government and religious
cept the family and the village. and the
last Is determined rather by accident
and circumstances than by design.
Every man is the equal of his neighbor,
every woman of her husband. They
never quarrel, except when drunk, and
are never drunk except when they hap
pen to meet traders who have liquor.
They have no system of punishments, no
civil nor religious law, no military or
ganization, no ecclesiastical code. In
deed, it is life of primitive innocence.
This is anomalous enough; but stranger
than all, m such . society the family is
quite as sacredly regarded as in Chris
tan countries. A Chukch has but one
wife, to whom he Is generally faithful
and who Is faithful to him. Yet there
are no penalties, social or legal, to suf-
fer for unfaithfulness- They are honest,
and yet il would not be disgraceful to
steal. They seem never to have a
thought of government, of unchastity of
theft. Their life lacks ambition and
passion, and is less like other savage
life than like civilized life.
They are not as ugly as the Eskimos,
but equally as filthy. In winter they do
not bathe at all and the snow is left TO
do the only work of cleansing the body
when it falls on their bare heads. The
whole family sleep and eat in q single
tent. They have no knives nor forks,
and their few vessels are put 70 the
greatest diversity of uses. The children
are regarded with affection and pride
and reared healthful and robust in the
ancestral filth. The women are not
slaves, although they do much of the
heavy work, such as harnessing dogs,
building tents, cooking, fishing and
moving, but they are regarded by the
men as their equals in every particular.
The women plat their hair and the men
cut theirs close, except in front, and
there they have s'bangs." The whole
household furniture of q family consists
of lamp or two, made of iron with
moss wicks, in which train oil is burned /;
an axe, reindeer skins, ire-drill, a
q comb, q medley of old tools and cook
ing utensils. What they covet most Is
such things hs large needles, pots, knives,
axes, saws, wooden shirts, tobacco, su-
gar, iquors-which they call udns-and
matches. For these things they will sell
almost anything. One Of their most
striking characteristics Is their love oi
everything red. For a red shirt or for
rdnl Chukch will sell anything but q
OI . IOluuCcE nCda. Il n0
has certain superstitions associated with
strument or utensil a sacred thing. Al
long intervals the women comb their
hair on drum, from which they gather
eat it. Yet these women love their
children. They are the most improvi.
dent of savages, and during severe
winter they almost starve. Yet they
will not steal, although they are the
most persistent beggars outside of Italy,
When they capture seals or walruses
they eat an Incredible amount of blub-
Der and blood, and can fast afterward
almost as long as an eagle.
Whence they came Is difficult ques'
ton, philologically and ethnologically
They have no recollections or traditions
of war, but they have always been indie.
pendent. Their language seems to have
no dialect sand few foreign words have
been admitted into its vocabulary. Al
though 1t is probable that within the last
200 years they have doubled in number,
Nordenskiold is inclined to believe that
they are the remnants of q race and rep.
resent q decadence and not growth
They were probably driven east or north
centuries ago, and changed by climate
and occupation into their present con.
dition. There are traditions of another
race which once held this territory, oi
which the old mariners have given
meager accounts and Of which arch@o.
logical evidences can yet be found.
Two children were found who could
count ten in English, although no one
knew a word of Russian, and two copper
cents and an American five-cent piece
were seen by Nordenskiold's compan.
ions in the possession of women and
children. Yet through the Chukches
American wares sometimes make theil
way to Russia, and probably have done
so for centuries.
Whatever light may be thrown upon
questions of race and language by fur
ther studies of these people, they are in,
teresting from non-scientific point Of
view because they present such an an