226 FROM KAMTSCHATKA 



against my companions, and roared as before. I 

 sent the sailors back, and gave Lieutenant Schisch- 

 mareft* a sign to come to me unarmed. He was 

 received in the same manner as myself, and they 

 then invited us to their hut. We entered a small 

 tent of morse-skins, made in the form of a canoe, 

 where the wife and two children were sitting in a 

 corner. On one side of this habitation were two 

 boats ; one was quite a small one, like those used 

 by the Aleutians, and the other a larger one, for 

 ten persons, which serves to transport their tent, 

 together with all their household, from one place 

 to another. That they are employed in the chase, 

 was proved by the various skins which lay about 

 in heaps. The elder boy, with a lively and ani- 

 mated countenance that expressed much curiosity, 

 was particularly attentive ; when he observed that 

 we noted down the names of different objects, he 

 took a pleasure in telling us various things, and 

 looked eagerly when we put his words on paper. 

 The wife of the American seemed to have a mind 

 for nothing but my bright buttons, wliich she 

 strove secretly to twist off"; but as she did not suc- 

 ceed in this, she sent her two children, who were 

 entirely wrapped in fur, and crawled about me 

 like two young bears, to try to bite them off; 

 To save my buttons, I gave her a looking-glass ; 

 but this occasioned a great dispute, as all the 

 family wanted to look at themselves at once, and 

 for that it was clearly too small. I at length in- 



