The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-04-04
The Kurile Islanders.

The. Kurilc islands, forming an almost
unknown archipelago, drop like chain
of small links from Kamschatla down to
the japanese island of Yesse, so closing
in the Okahotsk sea from the Northern
Pacific. They have recently been coded
by the car to the mikado in exchange
for the large island of Saghalin. The
islanders are a small race, hardy, honest
and peaccablc. BY the Alcuts they are
called the ''hairy men," but whether this
is because they dress entirely in skins or
because they are sparingly provided with
that arctic rarity, a beard, is not known.
Anything more cherries and unlovely
than the lives of the Kurileans can
scarcely be imagined. Living on what
is not much more than a succession of
huge stcppingstones from Kamschatka to
Japan, they are exposed to the full fury
and rigor of the winters of the far North
The spring is comparatively pleasant, but
with the summer comes on such fogs that
an impcnetrabe wall seems to be raised
between the islands and the rest of the
world. The fogs clear off, there is a
brief glimpse of a low sun, and then the
bleak winter comes down blackly again.
Not thing grows on the island except
moss, the whole group being destitute
of tree, or shrub, or blade of grass. For
food the natives depend upon whatever
they may catch in their fishing and hunt
ing expeditions, with the rare addition
of a little bears meat whenever bruin is
adventurous enough to swim off from
the mainland Just as the islands are
destitute of foliage, so they are of ami
mails, the only creature on them, beside
the natives, being a breed of small, swift
foxes.
The habits of the Kurileans are in
keeping with the Surroundings. Hardy
and adventurous, having no such word
as home in their mcagre language and no
appreciation OF such an institution, they
roam in their canoes from island to island,
killing whatever breathes, putting
up rude huts when they are
forced into winter quarters, but
generally despising anything like
shelter and living in their boats. SO lit
tie are they used to the art of cons,ruc-
ton that, unlike their fellow.nativcs,
they do not build skin canoes, but make
up what are called baidara, a class of
craft that is as primitive as the rest OF
their habits Wrecks are not infrcquent,
and the islanders wandering along the
shore pick up whatever driftwood may be
scattered about, the women being gencr-
ally engaged in this harvest of notsam
and ietsam. The pieces are rudely tied
together with thongs in the shape of a
long box and calked with moss. The
roughness of the elements and the rough
ness of the work are not particularly con.
ducive to seaworthincss, and they gener-
ally spring a heavy leak an hour after
they are launched. TO keep them afloat
the Kurileans always put load of moss
and a couple of women on board, the
moss being to stop up whatever cracks
may open, and the women being en-
ployed in this work with bunch of moss
and piece Of stick, daubing any partic-
ular obstinate crcvice with lump of seal
fat. Nomadic as they are, the Kurilcan.
have still some sort of q capital and
make infrcquent and cratic visits to the
village of Shumshu. which, after all. is
little more than a collection of huts, now
rapidly falling into decay and nearly de.
serted