502 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. XII. 



able. While their own things were always made with the 

 greatest care, all that they did specially for us was done with 

 extreme carelessness, and they were seldom pleased with the 

 price that was offered, until they became convinced that they 

 could not get more. When they saw that we were anxious to 

 get ptarmigan, they offered us from their winter stock under 

 this name the young of Larus ebtirneus, which is marked in the 

 same way, but of little use as food. When I with delight pur- 

 chased this bird, which in its youthful dress is rare, and there- 

 fore valuable to the ornithologist, a self-satisfied smile passed 

 over the countenance of the seller. He was evidently proud of 



CHUKCH BUCKLES AND HOOKS OF IVORY. 



Half the natural size. 



his successful trick. Some prejudice, as has been already stated, 

 prevented the Chukches from parting with the heads of the seal, 

 though, in order to ascertain the species existing here, we offered 

 a high price for them. " Irgatti " (to-morrow), or " Isgatti," if the 

 promise was given by a woman, was the usual answer. But the 

 promise was never kept. At last a boy came and gave us a 

 skull, which he said belonged to a seal. On a more minute 

 examination, however, it was found not to have belonged to a 

 seal, but to an old dog, whose head it was evidently thought 

 might, without any damage to the hunting, be handed over to 

 the white magicians. This time it went worse with the counter- 



