^46 riio.M kotzebue's sound 



medal round the neck of each. Their very un- 

 cleanly dress, their dirty, savage countenances, and 

 the long knives, gave this group the appearance of 

 banditti ; and by their conduct, which by degrees 

 became intruding, I concluded that they had fre- 

 quent intercourse with the Russians. These people 

 differ little in their appearance from the Americans ; 

 their boats and arms are the same, their lances are 

 also furnished with a broad piece of iron like those 

 on the American coast ; they likewise wear beads, 

 but only of a smaller kind. The principal distinc- 

 tion between these two people is the morse-bone 

 below the under lip, which the Tschukutskoi do 

 not wear ; they may perhaps also be something taller 

 and stouter. The women had probably fled, for 

 we did not see a single one. In an hour we re- 

 turned again to our ship, accompanied by three 

 baydares, in which were the two chiefs; before these 

 came on board, each of them made me a present 

 of a fox-skin, upon which they came on deck with 

 their attendants without the least fear. They re- 

 lished our biscuits, with which they drank brandy 

 with great eagerness. They did not smoke to- 

 bacco, but took it as snuff, and chewed it. 

 On my invitation, the chiefs, with some others 

 came into the cabin, where every thing seemed in- 

 different to them, except the large looking-glass, 

 before which they stood as if enchanted.- With 

 serious countenance and fixed looks, they contem- 

 plated their images, and as one of them moved, and 



