X.] WE RETURN TO THE VEGA. 377 



women, who, by an incision in the side of the belly, take out 

 the entrails. The stomach is emptied of its contents, and is 

 then used to hold the blood. Finally the skin is taken off. 



" About 10 o'clock A.M. we commenced our homeward journey. 

 At nightfall we souoht to have a roof over our head in a 

 wretched Chukch tent on the shore of Lake Utschunutsch. It 

 was partly sunk in one of the small mounds which are found 

 here along the shore, and which are probably the remains of 

 old Onkilon dwellings. The present inhabitants, two old men 

 and an old woman, had their habitation arranged in the follow- 

 ing way : — In the bottom of a cylindrical pit, one metre deep 

 and three and a half to four and a half metres in diameter, a 

 vertical pole was erected, against the upper end of which rested 

 a number of obliquely placed bars, rising from the edge of the 

 pit, which were covered with skins. The enclosure or bed- 

 chamber, peculiar to the Chukch tent, was not wanting here. 

 Otherwise the whole dwelling bore the stamp of poverty and 

 du't. The food of the inmates appeared to be fish. Of this, 

 besides the fish we obtained here, the nets hanging in front of 

 the tent afforded evidence. Some clothes, an iron pot, two 

 wooden vessels, and a Shaman drum were the only things I 

 could discover in the tent. 



" Next morning we continued our journey. On the other 

 side of Lake Utschunutsch we saw two dwellings, which 

 only consisted of boats turned upside down with some hides 

 drawn over them. The rest of the way we came past ISTajtskaj 

 and through Irgunnuk, where we were received in an exceed- 

 ingly friendly fashion. By 7 o'clock in the evening of the 11th 

 October we were again on board the Vega." 



From Lieutenant Hovgaard's report, which principally relates 

 to the topography of the region passed through, we make the 

 following extract relating to the endurance which the Chukches 

 and their dogs showed : — 



" During our outward journey, which lasted twenty-ona and a 

 half hours, Menka's attendant, the before-mentioned reindeer 

 owner, whom we at first took to be Menka's slave or servant, 

 ran without interruption before the sledges, and even when we 

 rested he was actively searching for the track, looking after the 

 dogs, &c. When we came to the camp he did not sleep, and, 

 notwithstanding, was as fresh during the following day's journey. 

 During the time he got no spirituous liquor, by express order of 

 Menka, who said that if he did he would not be able to continue 

 to run. Instead he chewed a surprising quantity of tobacco. 

 The dogs, during the whole time, were not an instant unyoked ; 

 in the mornings they lay half snowed up, and slept in front of 

 the sledges. We never saw the Chukches give them any food : 



