WASSILI MENKA. 



410 



careful way. After the inspection was ended, at a sign 

 given by the master the whole herd wheeled round and re- 

 turned in closed ranks, with the old reindeer in front, to 

 their pasture." 



According to Nordenskiold there is not among the Coast 

 Chukches any recognized chiefs nor any trace of social organ- 

 ization. Among the Reindeer Chukches living in the interior 

 there appears to be a sort of chieftainship, and there are men 

 who can show commissions from the Russian authorities. 

 Such a person was Wassili Menka, the starost of the Reindeer 

 Chukches, " a little dark man with a pretty worn appear- 

 ance, clad in a white variegated ' pesk ' of white reindeer 

 skin, under which a blue flannel shirt was visible." He 

 carried to Yakutsk a letter from Nordenskiold, and the 

 King of Sweden rewarded him with a gold medal. 



CHUKCHE TENT FRAME. 



The Chukches do not dwell in snow huts nor in wooden 

 houses, because lumber is not found on the coast, and 

 wooden houses are unsuitable for the reindeer nomad. They 

 live summer and winter in tents of a peculiar construction 

 not used by any other race. In shape they are oval, with 

 conical tops, and resemble inverted basins. To make the 



