OUR FELLOW-TRAVELLERS 73 



with our fellow-travellers. These consisted of a Rus- 

 sian dealer, who was returning to his home in the 

 interior of Kamchatka, a village called Milkovo ; 

 a former schoolmaster, now on a gold-prospecting 

 errand ; and a member of the Russian Geographical 

 Society with his wife, going to Anadyr on a joint 

 Russo-American mission with the object of studying 

 the customs and lanQ:uao-e of the Tchukchis and other 

 Esquimaux tribes inhabiting the furthermost north, 

 where he intended to remain a couple of years. The 

 last-named proved to be a most interesting and in- 

 structive companion. Doctor Bogoraz was a specialist 

 on polar ethnography. During our long leisure hours 

 on board and at dinner he used to relate to us, with 

 the striking vividness of an eye-witness, his wonderful 

 experiences of life in the Far North, and the customs 

 and ways of Arctic tribes. The most attractive one, 

 he said, was undoubtedly the Tchukchi tribe, which he 

 considered to belong to the Indian race of the Ameri- 

 can continent. He had formed this opinion from the 

 fact that their language, stature, and other features 

 strongly resembled those of their kinsmen on the 

 opposite side of the Behring Straits. A friend of his 

 was sent at the same time by the Russo-American 

 joint commission to Point Barrow, with the same 

 scientific object. 



