XII.] HARDINESS OF THE CHUKCHES. 461 



which is specially observable when the face is looked at from the 

 side ; light, slightly brown complexion, which in the young women 

 is often nearly as red and white as in Europeans. The beard is 

 always scanty. Nearly all are stout and well grown ; we saw no 

 cripples among them. The young women often strike one as 

 very pretty if one can rid'oneself of the unpleasant impression of 

 the dirt, which is never washed away but by the drifting snow of 

 winter, and of the nauseous train-oil odour which in winter they 

 carry with them from the close tent-chamber. The children 

 nearly always make a pleasant impression by their healthy 

 appearance, and their friendly and becoming behaviour. 



The Chukches are a hardy race, but exceedingly indolent 

 when want of food does not force them to exertion. The men 

 during their hunting excursions pass whole days in a cold of 

 —-80° to — 40° out upon the ice, without protection and Avithout 

 carrying with them food or fuel. In such cases they slake their 

 thirst with snow, and assuage their hunger, if they have been suc- 

 cessful in hunting, with the blood and flesh of the animals they 

 have killed. Women nearly naked often during severe cold leave 

 for a while the inner tent, or tent-chamber, where the train-oil 

 lamp maintains a heat that is at times oppressive. A foreigner's 

 visit induces the completely naked children to half creep out from 

 under the curtain of reindeer skin which separates the sleeping 

 chamber from the exterior tent, in which, as it is not heated, the 

 temperature is generally little higher than that of the air outside. 

 In this temperature the mothers do not hesitate to show their 

 naked children, one or two years of age, to visitors for some 

 moments. 



Diseases are notwithstanding uncommon, with the exception 

 that in autumn, before the severe cold commences, nearly all 

 suffer from a cough and cold. Very bad skin eruptions and 

 sores also occur so frequently that a stay in the inner tent is 

 thereby commonly rendered disgusting to Europeans. Some of 

 the sores however are merely frostbites, which most Chukches 

 bring on themselves by the carelessness with which during 

 high winds they expose the bare neck, breast, and wrists to 

 the lowest temperature.. When frostbite has happened it is 

 treated, even though of considerable extent, with extreme care- 

 lessness. They endeavour merely to thaw the frozen place as fast 

 as possible partly by chafing, partly by heating. On the other 

 hand we never saw any one who had had a deep frostbite on the 

 hands or feet, a circumstance which must be ascribed to the 

 sei-viceable nature of their slioes and gloves. From the beginning 

 of October 1878 to the middle of July 1879 no death appears 

 to have happened at any of the encampments near us. During 

 the same time the number of the inhabitants was increased by 

 two or three births. During the wife's pregnancy the husband 



