TUSKI MEDICAL TREATMENT. 185 



fore part eight inches in width, tapering to a point 

 behind, where, to prevent sinking in the snow, a piece 

 of whalebone four inches broad and eighteen long, is 

 attached; the nettings are of seal or wakus-hide. 

 For smooth ice or snow, shods of carved ivory, having 

 serrated edges, are fastened under the moccasin, and 

 prove of great service. 



I am sm-prised that we never saw any kind of 

 spectacles or protection from the blinding glare of the 

 snow in spring time, for the people suffer dreadfully 

 from snow-blindness and opthalmia. These ailments 

 and headache they relieve greatly by perforating the 

 skin on the temples, forming a sort of seton, and 

 frequent application was made to our obliging surgeon 

 for the performance of this operation. I did not learn 

 anything respecting any other remedies they employ 

 in illness, excepting scarification. In the spring, 

 natm-e reheves the system by copious vicarious 

 bleeding, which they do not check. 



The journey to Kolyma occupies, we were told, a 

 period of six months ; that to the other place they 

 visit, conjectured to be the Fort on the Anadyr, takes 

 four. While we were on the coast no one departed, 

 or we should have noticed their preparations with care, 

 but some men had been several times, although 

 certainly not, as Wrangell supposes, passing their lives 



