158 THE SEA. 



The Tchuktehis are a strongly-built race, although the inhabitants of this particular 

 village,, from intercourse with whaling vessels, have been much demoralised. One of these 

 natives Avas seen carrying the awkward burden of a carpenter's chest weighing two 

 hundred pounds without apparently considering it a great exertion. They are a good- 

 humoured people, and not greedier than the average of natives; they are veiy generally 

 honest They were of much service to a large party of men who wintered there in 1866-7, 

 at the period when it was proposed to cross Behring Straits with a submarine cable in 

 connection with the land lines then partly under construction by the Western Union 

 Telegraph Company of America. 



"The children are so tightly sewn up in reindeer-skin clothing that they look like 

 walking bags, and tumble about with the greatest impunity. All of these people wear 

 skin coats, pantaloons, and boots, excepting only on high days in summer, when you 

 may see a few old garments of more civilised appearance that have seen better days, 

 and have been traded off by the sailors of vessels calling there. 



" The true Tchuktchi method of smoking is to swallow all the fumes of the tobacco; and 

 I have seen them after six or eight pulls at a pipe fall back, completely intoxicated for 

 the time being. Their pipes are infinitely larger in the stem than in the bowl; the 

 latter, indeed, holds an infinitesimally small amount of tobacco. 



" It is said that the Tchuktehis murder the old and feeble, but only with the victim's 

 consent ! They do not appear to indulge in any unnecessary cruelty, but endeavour to 

 stupify the aged sacrifice before letting a vein. This is said to be done by putting 

 some substance up the nostrils ; but the whole statement must be received with caution, 

 although we derived it from a shrewd native who had been much employed by the 

 captains of vessels in the capacity of interpreter, and who could speak in broken English. 

 " This native, by name ' Nau-Kum,' was of service on various occasions, and was 

 accordingly much petted by us. Some of his remarks are worthy of record. On being taken 

 down into the engine-room of the steamer Wriglit, he examined it carefully, and then shaking 

 his head, said solemnly, ( Too muchee wheel, makee man too muchee think ! ' His curiosity 

 when on board was unappeasable. ' What's that fellow ? ' was his constant query with regard 

 to anything, from the ' donkey-engine ' to the mainmast. On one occasion he heard two 

 men discussing rather warmly, and could not at all understand such unnecessary excitement. 

 'That fellow crazy?' said he. Colonel Bulkley (engineer-in-chief of the telegraph 

 enterprise) gave him a suit of clothes with gorgeous brass buttons, and many other 

 presents. The whalers use such men on occasions as pilots, traders, and interpreters, and 

 to Naukum in particular I know as much as five barrels of villanous whiskey have been 

 entrusted, for which he accounted satisfactorily. The truth-loving Chippewa, when asked, 

 ( Are you a Christian Indian ? ' promptly replied, ( No, I whishkey Injen ! ' and the truthful 

 Tchuktchi would say the same. They all appear to be intensely fond of spirits. The 

 traders sell them liquors of the most horrible kind, not much superior to the c coal oil ' 

 or ' kerosene ' used for lamps/' So much for natives, who, in Captain Cook's time, were 

 doubtless much more innocent and unsophisticated. 



To resume our narrative : Cook again crossed to the northern American coast, and on 

 August 17th reached a point encumbered with ice, which formed an impenetrable field. To 



