DEITIES OP THE KAMTSCHATRANS. 13 



form in Kamtschatka, and was the original 

 parent of their race. Even here the tradition 

 of a universal deluge prevails, and a spot is 

 still shown, on the top of a mountain where 

 Kutka landed from a boat, in order to reple- 

 nish the world with men. The proverbial 

 phrase current in Kamtschatka, to express a pe- 

 riod long past, is, " that was in Kutka's days." 



Before the expeditions of the Russians to 

 Kamtschatka, the inhabitants were acquainted 

 only with the neighbouring Koriacks and 

 Tchuktchi. 



They had also acquired some knowledge of 

 Japan, from a Japanese ship wrecked on their 

 coast. They acknowledged no chief, but lived 

 in perfect independence, which they considered 

 as their highest good. 



Besides the supreme God Kutka, they had a 

 host of inferior deities, installed by their ima- 

 ginations in the forests, the mountains, and the 

 floods. They adored them when their wishes 

 were fulfilled, and insulted them when their 

 affairs went amiss ; like the lower class of Ita- 

 lians, who, when any disaster befalls them, take 

 off their cap, enumerate into it as many saints' 



