IK.] THE CHUKCHES DEPART. 325 



than with Russian traders. They acknowledged the name 

 chuJich or chautchu. 



Many of them were tall, well-grown men. They were clothed 

 in close fitting skin trousers and "pesks" of reindeer skin. The 

 head was bare, the hair always clipped short, with the exception 

 of a small fringe in front, where the hair had a length of four 

 centimetres and was combed down over the brow. Some had a 

 cap of the sort used by the Russians at Chabarova, stuck into 

 the belt behind, but they appeared to consider the weather still 

 too warm for the use of this head-covering. The hair of most 

 of them was bluish-black and exceedingly thick. The women 

 were tattooed with black or bluish-black lines on the brow and 

 nose, a number of similar lines on the chin, and finally some 

 embellishments on the cheeks. The type of face did not strike 



CIJUKCH BOATS. 



one as so unpleasant as that of the Samoyeds or Eskimo. Some 

 of the young girls were even not absolutely ugly. In comparison 

 with the Samoyeds they were even rather cleanly, and had a 

 beautiful, almost reddish-white complexion. Two of the men 

 were quite fair. Probably they were descendants of Russians, 

 who for some reason or other, as prisoners of war or fugitives, 

 had come to live among the Chukches and had been nationalised 

 by them. 



In a little we continued our voyage, after the Chukches had 

 returned to their boats, evidently well pleased with the gifts 

 they had received and the leaf tobacco I had dealt out in 

 bundles, — along with the clay pipes, of which every one got as 

 many as he could carry between his fingers, — with the finery and 



