The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-10-31
CAMP LIFE IN SIBERIA.
george Remnants Lecture in the
stockbridge "Pops."
Graphic Pen Picture by the
Siberian Traveller.

Siberian Traveller.
When Mr.. KEENAN, delivered his first lee
ture in Portland, last season, he charmed
everyone by the simplicity Of his style, the
correctness OF his method, and his quiet dra-
matte power. 1t was not strange then that
his lecture in the Stockbridge Pops" last
night should prove as deeply interesting as
his first effort ard should draw a very large
and apprecative audience. After pleasant
prelude by Grimmer's orchestra, Hon. Stan
ley t. Pullen introduced the lecturer.
Mr.. KEENAN, said in abstract that it's an
old saying that one-half the world does not
know how the other half lives. He referred.
| in Introduction, to the explorations of Kane.
Hayes, Stanley, Franklin, Greedy and others,
and in brief outline, detailed the situation.
extent and outline of that dark continent of
North Siberia and its frozen steppes. The
first systematic expedition to explore North.
eastern Siberia was made bv Americans
when In 1864 the Western Union Telegraph
Company preached the idea of a telegraph
line to Europe by the way of British Ameri-
ca, Alaska. Behring Straits and Siberia. 1t
was known to be cold, barren and desolate
country, but little else was known concern
ing 1t. The daily press ridiculed the idea
and said that one might as well talk of build
ing double track railroad to the moon and
that 1t was attempting to make the will of
God subject to the will of man.
Talk did not stop the project, undsturbed
by public ridicule and clamor, it progressed
until in July, 1864, the plans were completed
| and there sailed In the brig Volga out of the
Golden Gate at San Francisco the first party
| OF explorers of which the lecturer was a
| member. There were but four men in the
party, a number seemingly out of proportion
| to the immensity of the proposed object of
| the trip, but it was not expected that the
| party would do more than explore and make
reports and preparations. On August Goth
after AZ days Of passage the party landed at
Petrapavlovsk on the west side of the Kam-
Chatham peninsula bordering on the Okhotsk
SEA. With eager curiosity the party looked
upon this quiet town on the far away PENN
sula of the North. Tie lecturer yividly pic
tured it in its beautiful scenery of that
| northern summer. Never was scene more
beautiful than that which he described, with
the temperature, at that season, like our Oc-
| t6bcr summer and all the earth and sky and
| sea, full of tints that seemed of Heaven and
| not Of earth. The mountains hemmed it in.
| Altar smoked the Kluchefskoi volcano. A
| haze of summer rested on the place and the
| hum of insects in the rank grass and among
| the larkspur and the lilies made it idyllic
| Here they rested. Here he first tried his
tongue at the Russian language. What the
| ancestors of the Russians did at the tower
| of Babel to have been afflicted with such
tonguc-twisting, horrible. difficult, facial dis
| turbing language he could never conceive
| 81 have thought" said the speaker, shat
they must have built their side of the tower
higher than the rest and been rewarded for
their sinful industry by a little worse dose
of language. | determined to learn some of
the simpler expressions. | thought would
some time or other have need to utter this
simple declarative sentence, L want some
thing to eat thought this might be the
| first thing l should care to say. L went to
my interpreter and asked him. He told me-
He said all had to say was something that
sounded like mzwski pegbvn-korfug bal khrst
moghwuvnp. 1t convinced me. / decided
that If it depended on me to get one meal
month, should not get 1t. or if did, my
| facial muscles would be so distorted that [
could not eat the meal. In Russian, mother
Is mat" and brother is brat and by all
analogy father ought to be "fat," but is not.
The leader of our expedition scornfully de-
clined to learn any language where he would
have to call his mother mat or his brother
brat Countless amusing things were said
by Mr., KEENAN, about the language, al
though he said in conclusion on this topic
that after he had learned the Cossack tongue,
which is the hardest of all the Sclavonic
tongues. he found it flexible and sonor0us
| and not as harsh as one would suppose. The
| 1anOua hoe 7Q infiaofinuc IN ho ND
| AZ for the adjectives.
/ Nothing could be more poetic than Mr..
Keanan's description of the ride up the
Kamchatkan valley. 1t was the poetry of
| most superb valley of the world. Vegeta-
1 ton was dying into gold and crimson. The
/ climate was like October in the temperate
zone. and in the. sun kissed valleys the low
mountains. 1t was Switzerland with New
| England. Herds of timid deer watched
them pass From high crags looked down
the sheep. They could bend from saddles
and pick handsful Of Siberian lilies, larkspur
and other fragrant flowers. The high, sweet
grass rose to the horses TANKS. TIE path
was level as the floor and stretching far
ahead. For them, Kamchatka so cold and
bleak in winter, had put on her gala dress.
men who had sought her out in her beauty.
The:Koraks are wandering tribe, liv
| ing where their reindeer. OF which they have
thousands in a herd, can get their food Of
| days with sledges and dogs for the journey.
| The lecturer gave vivid account of their
arrival at a settlement by night,
when the dogs became. frantic and un-
manageable and charged in upon the ma
4 tives, frightening away their reindeer and
| putting the natives in battle array. The in
terror of the tent was described, and the ar
rangement for the sleeping apartments, call
| ed polOgs, which are small uncovered pens
large enough to sit up in. and lighted aad
warmed by a blubber lamp which gives out
smoke as well as heat. and one can take the
| risk of suffocation The natives prepared
place of the cook was disputed by many in
| quisitive dogs; the ladle was frequently used
| to beat away the dogs. then stirring went on
! again. TO eat the KOrak food one must
| make up his mind he is to eat the worst
tasting thing in the world and swallow it
| quickly and ask no questions, Investigation
| into the cookery is not beneficial for the
stomach. The principle article of food which
is used to take the place of vegetable food is
prepared from clotted blood, tallow and the
contents of the reindeer's stomach, which is
masticated moss. The only way to eat is to
shut your eyes and go ahead. Above all ask
no questions. Appetite is sure to be in in
verse proportion to knowledge. 1t is not
pleasant to think of eating moss that a rein
| deer has eaten once before. Major A.. who
led our party, said that when he wanted to
eat moss he would DO 1t without the assist
| ance Of the reindeer The Koraks worship
the Devil or the evil spirit. 1t is propitia-
| tory worship.
The weather grew colder as they went
| north. The bright color of the leaves faded.
| On October LIST, they were 500 miles north of
Petropavlovsk. They had to turn back.
| For days they lived on the scantiest food and
| finally were reduced to pine seeds and water,
reaching Petropavlovsk in a weak, fainting
condition, with their ader Frustrated by
fever brought on by cold and exposure. At
PetropavlOvsk they waited the recovery of
their leader, and when at length it came,
they set out with sixteen dog teams for the
t, rritory of the wandering K0raks
Mr.. KEENAN, told in his inimitable way of
the curious ceremony of marriage among the
Koraks. Nhe Koraks live in tents. 80 feet in
| diameter, with these little bedrooms along
| the sides, partitioned off by furs. The Ko-
rak groom, before he can hope to wed, must
work one, two or three years for the brides
| father, in likeness to biblical methods
When the wedding day comes, the tent is
| cleared and the fia IN the hndrnanae throc