464 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



was very affectionate to her, gave her his constant company in 

 the tent, kissed and fondled her frequently in the presence of 

 strangers, and appeared to take a pride in showing her to 

 visitors. 



We had no opportunity of witnessing any burial or marriage. 

 It appears as if the Chukches sometimes burn their dead, some- 

 times expose them on the tundra as food for beasts of prey, with 

 weapons, sledges, and household articles. They have perhaps 

 begun to abandon the old custom of burning the dead, since the 

 hunting has fallen off so that the supply of blubber for burning 

 has diminished. I have before described the pits filled with 

 burned bones which Dr. Stuxberg found on the 9th September, 

 1878, by the bank of a dried-up rivulet. We took them for 

 graves, but not having seen any more at our winter station, we 

 began to entertain doubts as to the correctness of our observa- 

 tion.^ It is at least certain that the inhabitants of Pitlekaj 

 exclusively bury their dead by laying them out on the tundra. 



^<s2:^<:^^/^ 



PLAN OF A CHt'KCK GRAVE. 



After a drawing by A. Stuxberg.) 



Regarding the man, buried or exposed in this way, whom 

 Johnsen found on the 15th October, Dr. Almquist, who himself 

 visited the place the next day, makes the following statement : — 



" The place was situated five to seven kilometres from the 

 village Yinretlen, near the bottom of the little valley which 

 runs from this village in a southerly direction into the interior. 

 The body was exposed on a little low knoll only two fathoms 

 across. It was covered Avith loose snow, and was not frozen very 

 hard. When it was loosened there was no proper pit to be seen in 

 the underlying snow and ice. The corpse lay from true N.N.W. 

 to S.S.E., with the head to the former quarter. Under the head 

 lay two black rounded stones, such as the Chukches use in 



^ That the Chukches burn their dead with various ceremonies is stated 

 by Sarytschev on the ground of communications by the interpreter Daurkin, 

 who lived among the reindeer-Chukches from 1787 to 1791, in order to 

 learn their language and customs, and to announce the arrival of Billings' 

 expedition (Sarytschev's Reise, ii. p. 108). Tlie statement is thus certainly 

 quite trustworthy. The coast population with whom Hooper came in 

 contact, on the other hand, laid out their dead on special stages, where 

 the corpses were allowed to be eaten up by ravens or to decay (loc. cit. 

 p, 88). 



