CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIX IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 31 



take place. When all are assembled the bride runs away and the groom follows her. If he suc- 

 ceeds in catching her, which is usually the case, the marriage ceremony is complete, and they are 

 afterwards considered husband and wife. 



When a Tchuktchi dies he is lashed to a long pole and carried to a distance from the village; 

 Ire is then stripped and his clothes laid on the ground, also his weapons and other articles belonging 

 to him, while the body is exposed to the birds and beasts. 



These people display a great deal of ingenuity in making their nets and implements. The 

 fish and bird spears are tipped with ivory ; the seal-spears have a small piece of iron on the end. 

 Their war-spears and those used in hunting bears are made of steel, with a handle about 6 feet in 

 length. The blade is kept very sharp and highly polished. These weapons are often beautifully 

 inlaid with brass ornamented figures, and are purchased from the Russian traders at Gazhaga. 

 The women make the thread which they use in making clothes, nets, books, &c, from the sinews 

 of the reindeer. The operation is very slow and tedious, but they never seem to be tired, and 

 will sit for hours in one position, twisting the thread by hand. The. men make the nets, but this 

 also is a slow process. They refuse any offers of assistance, and will not adopt other methods of 

 working, seeming to think it presumptuous ou the part of white men to try to teach them to make 

 articles they have always used. 



On the morning of the 29th the Corwin steamed up the coast, and immediately everything 

 was excitement on shore; the whole population of the village gathered on the beach, with much 

 talking and shouting. The question of how to get the party on board was a serious one. The 

 water was clear from the mainland to the island, but outside of that was about 2 miles of pack- 

 ice. The natives took dogs, sleds, and other articles in their oomiacs,aud tried to reach the vessel. 

 The rifles and ammunition were taken, but the dogs, sleds, &c, were left on shore. As it was 

 impossible for the boats to penetrate the pack ice outside the island, only a few things were taken 

 in the skin boat, which was lashed to a sled. It was found very difficult to get over the ice, even 

 with this small equipment, for some of the small floes were so far apart that it was frequently 

 necessary to launch the boat and paddle across. After several narrow escapes the party finally, 

 with the assistance of the boats sent to their aid, reached the vessel in safety. 



The Tapkau native John, who had been put in a very good humor by a present of a musket 

 and some ammunition and other small things, in pursuance of his original plan of constantly fur- 

 nishing news, told many wonderful tales, at times bringing them entire from the depths of his 

 imagination, and at others, apparently by a mighty effort, reproducing them from a rapidly-fading 

 memory. Of this latter class was an account given us of the boarding of the Jeaunette off Cape 

 Serdze settlement, on her way north, in 1879, by a party of walrus hunters who were out on the 

 ice near where she passed. They described her as a steamer with three masts, and having on 

 board two Nekourucks, the name by which they designate the Iunuits, and whom they recognized 

 as such by the labiets in their lips. They also spoke of the large number of dogs and sleds seen on 

 her decks. The two Innuits were those taken on board by Captain De Long at Saint Michael's, 

 Alexau and Amrequin. This information, although not later than what we have already received 

 from the whalers, goes to show that the natives are observing, and take notice of everything that 

 passes near the coast. Had a vessel or party of white men visited the coast since that time the 

 natives would have known it, and accounts would have reached us. 



Running southward during the night, before a gale of wind, a short breaking sea occasionally 

 fell on board and washed all loose articles around the decks in a lively manner. East Cape was 

 passed the following morning, and as the sea was too rough to land at the Diomedes, where we 

 were desirous of stopping to pick up the boat and crew left to make current observations, we 

 hauled iu for the anchorage off the south side of the cape. We also wished to land the Tapkan 

 native, for, after our experience with the Saint Lawrence Bay lunatic, we were not anxious to have 

 any of them on board longer than was necessary. The gale continued all day, coining down off the 

 hills in whirls, which caught the water and carried it higher than the masthead, so that communi- 

 cation between the ship and the shore was impossible. On the following morning (July 1) the wind 

 moderated, and the natives came on board in large numbers. Professor Muir and Mr. Nelson went 

 on shore for a ramble over the hills, the former to make a botanical collection and study the geo- 

 logical features of the remarkable headland, and the latter to make ethnological notes, and, if 



