LUDICROUS ERRORS AND CONVERSATION. 15 



The pages of the latter are full of lament at his not 

 havmg succeeded in his attempts to visit them. 

 Since his journey no new account has been received ; 

 and the fui'ther information which I was able to 

 collect will, therefore, not be unacceptable. Our 

 acquaintance with the Tchutski during our stay on 

 their shores was so interwoven with our own existence 

 and its occupations, that it would be matter of great 

 difficulty to describe minutely, apart from some 

 account of ourselves, such of their manners and habits 

 as came under our notice. 



We had at first considerable doubts as to the sex 

 of our visitants ; all were clad in loose hooded over- 

 shirts of skin, to keep them dry ; and, being destitute 

 of beards, might well be mistaken for the tender sex ; 

 but we concluded that the party was of a mixed 

 nature, this opinion having its foundation, probably, 

 in the fact that some had their heads partially shaved. 

 Many endeavours were made to establish verbal inter- 

 course. Parry's vocabulary, and the few words 

 mentioned by Wrangell, were essayed, but all to no 

 purpose ; they continually repeated " tam," after- 

 wards found to mean "no;" and our expressions of 

 vexation at the ill success of our efforts sounded, in 

 many instances, like their word of dissent. So we 

 had recourse to signs, and succeeded admirably, and 



