I 



CULTURE OF CIRCU.M I'DLAIi ZONE — BOUORAS 477 



one not very u«i[<^rt.'.s.'>i\t.' in iiRct-iiig" with iiuiii, aiuilluT lii'icx' ainl 

 bloodthirsty. Sea-uianimal himtinj^ is combined with reindeer breed- 

 inj^ anions the C'hukehee and with li.-^hini; armtni; (he Km yaic and 

 Kanicliadal. 



Overland animals are hunted by a series of overland tribes among 

 whieh are the 'riui^us in lli groups. 



Overland huntin<j repre^-ents two branclie.-^, one iov meat con- 

 sumption, referring to the herbivora, and another for tiie fur market, 

 referring to the carnivora, including the smaller kinds, such as sable, 

 ermine, etc. Before tiie advent oi" the Russians hunting for meat 

 prevailed; people did nt)t know what to do with furs of these and 

 other species, while they had no other food except the meat of the 

 game. 



The first place among the meat-supplying species belongs to the 

 reindeer, wild as well as domesticated. Wild reindeer are on the 

 constant decrease. The domesticated herds, notwithstanding the 

 losses of the last 10 years, still contain more than 2,500,000 animals. 

 The mutual attitude of wild and domesticated herds is more or less 

 exclusive to each other. This was demonstrated in the middle of 

 the nineteenth century, when the Chukchee, on the invitation of the 

 chief oilicer of the Kolyma, receiving at last assurance that no 

 harm should happen to them, moved with their herds westward even 

 Bcross the Kolyma Kiver to the western tundra, and the herds of wild 

 reindeer had to leave the pastures of that country and go elsewhere. 

 Some of them migrated to Anadyr. JMost of thenj were dispersed 

 and destroyed. 



As a result the Yukaghir and the Chuvantzy Tribes, who lived on 

 the eastern affluents of the Kolyma and relied for their sustenance on 

 yearly hunt^ of the numerous herds of wild reindeer in the spring 

 and in the fall, were suddenly deprived of their means of existence 

 and perished by direct starvation. Some remnants of them emigrated 

 to the lower Kolyma Kiver and took to lishing. Those who stayed on 

 the spot in some cases were driven even to cannibalism. 



The other meat-supplying species is the huge elk of Siberia, now 

 mostly exterminated. The last remnants of the former abundance 

 are to be found in the southern course of the Kolyma Kiver and in the 

 valley of the Amur. 



The brown bear in the forest land, the hare on the tundra, the 

 mountain sheep in mountainous regions, even squirrel, marmot, and 

 spermophillus, also serve for food. The Maritime Cliukchee and the 

 Asiatic Eskimo consume the meat of the polar fox, and the Reindeer 

 Chukchee occasionally eat mice, but all these supplementary sources 

 are of small importance. 



By the way, the hunting of sea mammals belongs to the first branch 

 of meat-producing character. Meat, oil, and Ijlubbor — these are the 



