Xi.] TRAFFIC IN SPIRITS 405 



of May and the 'beginning of June, and is again covered with 

 ice during the month " Kutscshkau," or October and November, 



"11. Kepljeplja, from the village Irgunnuk, lying five English 

 miles east of the Vegas winter quarters at Pitlekaj, said that 

 the sea off these villages is open all summer, except when 

 northerly winds prevail. On the other hand, he said that 

 farther westward, as at Irkaipij, ice could nearly always be seen 

 from the land. 



" 12. Kapatljin, from Kingetschkun, a village between Irgun- 

 nuk and Behring's Straits, stated on the 11th January that 

 there was then open water at that village. He said further, 

 that Behring's Straits in winter are filled with ice when the 

 wind is southerly, but open when the wind is northerly. The 

 same day a Chukch from Nettej-Kengitschkau, also between 

 Irgunnuk and Behring's Straits, stated that ice then lay off 

 that village. He confirmed Kapatljin's statement regarding 

 Behring's Straits. 



" 13. Kvano, from Uedlje, near Behring's Straits, said that 

 there the sea is always open from May to the end of 

 September." 



On the 13th March we came to know that spirits, too, form 

 an article of commerce here. For, without having obtained any 

 liquor from the Vega, the Chukches at Yinretlen had the means 

 of indulging in a general fuddle, and that even their friendly 

 disposition gives way under the effects of the intoxication we 

 had a manifest proof, when the day after they came on board 

 with blue and yellow eyes, not a little seedy and ashamed. In 

 autumn a tall and stout Chukch giantess, who then paid us 

 a visit, informed us that her husband had been murdered in a 

 drunken quarrel. 



Sledges of considerable size, drawn by reindeer, began after 

 the middle of March to pass the Vega in pretty large numbers. 

 They were laden with reindeer skins and goods bought at the 

 Russian market-places, and intended for barter at Behring's 

 Straits. 



The reindeer Chukches are better clothed, and appear to be 

 in better circumstances and more independent than the coast 

 Chukches, or, as they ought to be called in correspondence with 

 the former name, the dog Chukches. As every one owns a 

 reindeer herd, all must follow the nomad mode of living, but at 

 the same time they carry on traffic between the savages in the 

 northernmost parts of America and the Russian fur-dealers in 

 Siberia, and many pass their whole lives in commercial journeys. 

 The principal market is held annually during the month of 

 March, on an island in the river Little Anjui, 250 versts from 

 Nischni Kolymsk. The barter goes on in accordance with a 



