182 NATIVE BOATS. 



both Jewish and Roman ; one cannot fail especially 

 to be struck with the resemblance of the lately related 

 ceremonies to the proceedings of the heathen Augurs 

 and the burnt and meat offerings of the Jews. 



Mooldooyah and his wife, Yaneengah, had both 

 been baptised by Russian priests, upon a visit to 

 Kolyma : he received the name of Petroko, or Peter ; 

 she was christened Anna ; but these titles, together 

 with the bare recollection of the ceremony, a small 

 Greek cross, and what I conjectured to be certificates 

 of baptism, were all that remained of the sacred rite. 



I had a good opportunity here of examining the 

 very curious boats of the natives, which serve alike 

 to transport great quantities of goods, or for the 

 purposes of the chase. They are light but very 

 tough, being composed of walrus-skins, which, as I 

 have before noticed, are beautifully prepared, sewn 

 over a light frame of wood. They are flat-bottomed, 

 and nearly wall-sided ; about forty inches in breadth 

 at the widest part of the gunwales, and a foot or 

 fourteen inches less below, decreasing in width to 

 either end, which is just wide enough to admit a 

 man's body. The edges of the gunwale are neatly 

 worked over with thin hide or strips of w^halebone. 

 They are propelled with great speed by paddles, 

 which are also used in bow and stern to direct their 



