The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-11-25
KENNAN'S LECTURE.
Pleasures and Pains of Camp
Life in Kamchatka.
The Renowned Traveller Displays His Abili.
ties as Word-Painter-A Large and
Enthusiastic Audience.

George KEENAN,. the famous exposition of
the horrors of Siberia. lectured last night in
Metropolitan Temple before fair audience.
On the platform we're a number OF invited
ministers of religion. among whom were
the Revs. Horatio Stebbins, j. O. A. Henry.
s. V. Leech, +. Il. Spalding, X. c. Foute
and w. NJ. Williams. The lecturer was in
troduced by the Rev. Horatio Siebbins.
M KEENAN, was heartily applauded on
rising to speak. He is probably nearer 80
than 40, but his actions and gestures indi-
cate the possession of full physical activity.
He has an agreeable, resonant voice. and
his articulation is particularly clear
He commenced in q humorous vein. after
stating the dry fact that he was one of a
party of four delegated by the Russo-Amer-
lean Telegraph Company to make prelimi-
pary survey of Northeastern Siberia aud
kamchatka in 1865. The expedition sailed
from San Francisco and reached Petropau-
lovsky after voyage Of forty-seven days.
AT this time kamchatka. though it had been
virtually Russian territory for two hundred
years, was as much an unknown country as
when the Russian Empire was first estab-
l!shed by Peter the Great.
The Russian language" said Mr.. Ken
nan. us OF character to lead one to
believe that the Russians did the arges t
part OF the work in building the To wer of
Babel: When essayed to learn to ask for
something to eat / found the words to be
Uhe lecturer repeated about forty Jaw
breakers amid rOars of laughter. / felt
that IL might be easy to Starve to death be-
fore mastering them. | wouldn't be able to
get meal a month or have any jaws left to
eat with.
DIsREPUrABLE LANGUAGE.
"a mother is mat and brother is a
brat / call it disreputabe language
There IS tradition among the people of
kamchatka that Russian was the language
spoken by Adam and Eve II so it is not
surprising. as ono of my companions re-
marked, that Adam ate the apple. Ii
would have taken him half a lifetime to say
he didn't want 1t. The Russian nouns are
declined in twenty-eight different ways.
For my part l declined 10 have anything to
do with them. The words thank you' are
expressed thus" and the lecturer evoked
another burst of laughter by a series of
jaw breakers of sixteen syllables each.
Pol lteness Is dangerous thing at this rate
A man might have for an epitaph, Found
dead with an eighteen-sylla Russian
word stuck in his throat"
Tuning suddenly to Kamchatka itself,
Mr.. kennan described it as beautiful
country IN summer and autumn; q land of
broad grass valleys, high mountains with
peaks white with eternal snow; herds of
reindeer and Wild mountain sheep. with vast
tracts free from any vesiige of human
residence. The mildness of the climate is
remarkable, and in the summer season the
air Is as balmy as that of the tabled Allan
It's itself. The explorers rode through wild
grass that reached to their horses waists.
and plucked lilies and wild roses without
dismounting.
COLD AND DESoLATE.
In the winter the country is indubitably
cold and desolate. Then is the time when
the cause of the Domadc habits OF tbs peo-
pie becomes apparent. The herds of rein
deer, which form their food, soon clear
mile Of territory of the Arctic moss, which
grows beneath the snow, and then the tribe
moves on. There is sort Of communication
between the thirty or forty different clans,
so that they are prevented from moving TO
spots where The moss has been cleared
away.
The Koraks. or nOmads of Eastern
kamehatka, were mnutely described as to
their mode of living. their marriage Gus
toms, their tents, and in particular their
food, Of which latter the lecturer said the
only way was 10 swallow IL and ask no
questions. He described the Korak speciality
as a supper of clothed blood made into a
pudding with the half-digested moss from
the stomach of the reindeer. The religion
Of the koraks is practically a worship of
the devil.