The Penn's Grove record., 1884-01-12
NUMBER %.



Anything more checrless and unlUye-
ly than the lives of the Kurileans can
scarcely be imagined. Living On what
IS not more than a succession of huge
stepping stones from Kamschatka to
Japan, they are exposed to the full fury
and rigrr Of the winters Of the far
North. The late spring is Comparatively
pleasant, but with the summer comes
on such fogs that an ~impenetrable wall
seems TO be raised between the islands
and the Test of the world. The fOgs
clear off, there is a brief glimpse Of a
low sun, aud then a bleak winter comes
down bldCkly again. Not a thing grows
on the island but moss, the whole group
being destitute of tree, or shrub, or
blade of grass. For food the natives
depend upon whatever they may catch
III their fishing and hunting 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 foil
age, SO they are of animals, the only
creature on them, besides the natives,
heInE a breed of small swift foxes. The
habits OF kuTlleaus are in keeping with
their Surroundings.
Handy and adventurous, having nc
such word as home i'll Il cir meager Ian
guage and no appreciation Of such an
institution, tEey roam in their canoes
from island to island, killing whatever
bredthes, putting up rude nuts when
thew are forced into winter quarters,
but generally despising anything like
shelter, and living IN their boats. So
little are they used to the art of con-
~stTucti0n that, unlike their fellow-na-
tIyes, 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
l|nfregueut, and the islanders wandering
along the shore pick up whatever drift
wood may be scattered about, the We
men Icing generally engaged in this
harvest Of tlotsam and jetsam. The
pieces are rudely tied together with
thongs in the shape Of a long box and
calked with moss. The ~rOughnesS of
the clements and the rOughuess of the
work are not particularly conducive to
seaworthiucss, and they generally spring
a heay. leak an hour after they are
launched. To keep them atloat the
kuTlleaus always put load Of moss and
a couple Of W.me9 oh board, the moss
being to Stop whatever cracks may open,
and tie women being employed in this
work with a bunch of moss and a piece
of stick, daubug any particularly Obsti-
nate creylCe with a lump of sedl-fat,
NomadiC as they are, the Kurlleans
have still same sort of capital, and make
iufrequeut and eTratlc visits to the vii
lage Of SLumsAn, which, after all, is
little more than a collection of huts,
now rapidly falling into decay and
nearly dusersted. At some u]nTeCorded
time or other a few Jealous priests of
the Greek Church, fred with proselyti-
| ZIng zeal, made a visit to the islands
and II NeTted the quiet natives. They
still occasionally kneel to the highly
| colored prints of the Holy Mother
Jfs@l aGaT0 II Waifs of the Shumshu
| hntss, Uut L. similarly Jealous mission
| airy has eyer returned to these inhOspi-
table shores TO keep the faith alive.
But it is not alone by the priests that
| the Kurilt Islands have been deserted.
| Time was when they We're visited by
trading ]sch00uers and steamers, when
the poor fur hunters cheaply bartered
the SEA otter pelts for guns, powder,
lead and knives. All that has ceased;
| The offers have Uearly disappeared, and
| all the islands do not contain twenty
five families OF hunters. lnter-mar-
riage, a hard lot and the dangers of the
chase have gradually brought the nun /
| pers down to this handful. A disaster
of a terrible nature, however, occurred
four years ago, which more than deci-
mated the already sparse population.
According to the narrative of NJ.
Malowauski. a great limiting expedition
| was to be made on the island Of ShiOsh-
! Katan and the fourteen best hunters Of
| the Kuriles were taken there by a ira
| ding steamer. with the promise to call
| for them in a month. When at the
expiration of that time the steamer
returned her captain was unable to
recognize the spot. The Toadstead in
which he had anchored had disappeared
and in its place was a level stretch Of
scoria. A boats crew was landed and
| the interior of the island was found as
much altered as the co~ntiguratlOn Of
the shore. The ground, instead of
showing the moss patches, was covered
with ashes and the sailors had to plow
through a soft gray dust that was some
times knee high. Rocks, great and
small, lay all around and what had
been an almost level reef now sloped
up to a bare hill Of fair proportions.
Mounting this, the sailors found it to
be a still rumbling volcano. No trace
of the hunters could be seen, nor were
| they ever atterward heard of, and the
conclusion was inevitable that a crater
had suddenly opened in the island and
that under its terrible shower of lava
and pumice they had been buried with
out a chance of escape or the opportu-
nifty to leave a sign Of their miserable
fate. There they still lie and will re-
main until some far future a~rcheologist
shall disluter them as evidences Of an
Arctic H-erculaneum.