Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1897-02-17
SIBERIAN TCHUkTCHl.
Awarlike Tribe Who Snap Their Fingers
at the Cars Tax Otficials.


AWarlike Tribe Who Snap Their Fingers
at the Cars Tax officials.
I find that the passage of Boring
strait over the ice is impossible.
The strait, 40 miles wide at the
narrowest part, is never complete
Nv frozen over, and any one attempt
ing crossing would inevitably per-
ish in the continually moving pack.
This being the MAIN object Of my
voyage, have abandoned the over
land journey to Europe, but land
ed here five weeks ago and have
since lived alone with people almost
as wild and unknown as the romoter
races of central Africa
This place may fifty be described
as ''the end of the endt' of the world.
One thousand miles north of Kam-
chatka and within a days journey
of the polar sea, Oumwaidjik stands
on a narrow shingle reef fully ex-
posed in summer to the hugesbreaE.
ersofs Boring sea, but protected IN
winter by PERCEPTIONS mountains
from tie furious gales and snow
storms Of arctic Siberia, One won.
ders how human beings can exist i'll
this gloomy region, devoid of fuel
and the barest necessaries of life.
For eight months of the year the
place is ice locked, but even during
the brief summer sail so rarely
breaks the horizon that | saw the
vessel that had brought me disap-
pear with some misgivings as to
when | should see another.
The Siberian shores of Boring
strait are peopled by fierce, warllke
tribe known as the Tchuktchis, who
number about 5, 900, and who, never
having been thoroughly conquered
by the Russians, refuse to pay tax
es of any kind. Other Siberian ma
tives bring in yearly tribute OF
furs and ivory, but the Tchuktchi,
secure in his mountain Businesses, a
months journey north of the north
ernmost Russian settlement, snaps
his fingers at the czar's officials.
Nor do the latter, for obvious rea-
sons, often pay him a visit.
Handed at Oumwaidjik, village
of about 300 souls, early in Septem-
Der, but the snowy landscape and
intense cold we're more suggestive
of midwinter than early autumn. A
crowd of natives on the beach seized
my things, placed them on a dog
sled and led me to a hut set apart
for my use. The Tchuktchi dwelling
is of walrus hide stretched tightly
over a whale rib framework. The
perpetual darkness inside is dimly
lit by saucer of seal oil, which
diffuses disgusting odor and serves
as lamp and cooking stove. I then
discussed d meal of cooked seal
meat, with a few morsels of raw
whale fiesh-not unpalatable-as
hors d'euvre, closely watched the
while by a score of natives, who
crowded the tiny tent to suffoca-
ton. The Tchuktchiss area noted
throughout Siberia as being the
flthiest race in creation, and can
honestly indorse the statement. I
cannot describe even the least re-
pulsive phases of their daily life,
They are, however, of finer ply
sique than the Alaskan Eskimo,
while their women are in some
cases distinctly progressing. All
are clad throughout the year in
reindeer skins, the women being
distinguished by kind of bloomer
costume trimmed with wolverine.
Strings of gaudy beads adorn both
sexes.
My presence at first aroused sus-
picion, but by joining the men in
Walrus hunting expeditions, visit
ing the women in their huts and
learning a smattering of the Ian
guage | have gradually gained in
formation concerning the region
and customs of this strange tribe
Hitherto unknown even to the Rus