CULTURE OF CIRCUMPOL.\R ZONE — BOGORAS 475 



in every ineyh of the trossoil bark or linen thread. Some Chuckchee 

 and Koryak on the Pacific shore do their fishin*; with a short 

 net pushed into the water by means of a lon<r pok* 10 ni. in length. 

 Since such lou^ poles are but seldom met witli, shorter pieces of wood 

 are spliced into one single pole with much ingenuity and even with 

 art. The net wlien lH'in<r thrust into tiio water catches iuunediately 

 about 10 fat fishes 5 to 7 pounds in wei<;ht. The fisherman draws 

 the net back, takes the catch, and thrusts the net into its former 

 position. In this manner he can get in 24 hours, without a boat, 

 and standin<r on the shore, some 200 or 250 fisiies — 500-700 kilograms. 

 This fishing work, of course, is quite exhausting and it is carried 

 on only by the poorest of the natives. The method of such fishing 

 is truly paleolithic, inasmuch as it presents almost a simple gath- 

 ering of the natural supply of food. 



A very imi)ortant detail of the economic and j^olitical life in the 

 north is represented by the fact that the Russian Cossacks, hunters 

 and traders, a counterpart to the Spanish conquistadores. since they 

 also have conquered these immense lands in an almost incredibly 

 short time, soon after tiiat settled in the North just like fisher- 

 men. The first condition of life for them was an immovable house 

 with a regular couch and regular heating. They WTre averse to 

 wandering around the tundra with the herd of reindeer just as 

 they have objected to the constant wandering of cattle-breeding 

 nomads. So the Cossacks intermingled with the fishermen, took 

 wives from among them, and assumed from the beginning their 

 way of supporting life on fishing and hunting. Still, psychologically 

 the hard}' conquerors were wholly different from the passive and 

 indolent northern fishermen. But since the women in the new 

 settlements of these Russian Creoles and halfbreeds and Russified 

 natives were of local origin, the economic and psychical ways of 

 the natives were soon prevalent and the fierce energy of the Russian 

 invaders was soon gone. If we compare the earlier reports of the 

 Cossacks with the Siberian ^'oyevody (governors) for instance from 

 the fifties of the seventeenth century, with the reports of their 

 immediate successors half a century ago, we find a very marked 

 change. Early reports relate : 



We were 17, we descended tlie river looking for some source of fame and 

 advantage to His Majesty the Czar, and then we found the native post. It 

 was large and strongly fortified, full of armed men. We fought against them 

 from morning to evening. And Ood gave us luck; we coiKiuerefl. We have 

 killed all the warriors and hurned down the fort. We took captive women 

 and children ami took a multitude of costly furs and ready-made clothes. 



In the later reports of the beginning of the eighteenth century, 

 we read on the other hnnd : 



Our boats are small and the sails are weak. And we do not know how to 

 build large ships, such as were constructed by our fathers. 



