262 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



FRAME-WORK OF TCHUKTCHI HOUSE. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE TCHUKTCHI. 



The Land of the" Tchuktchi. Their independent Spirit and commercial Enterprise. Perpetual Migra- 

 tions. The Fair of Ostrownoje. Visit in a Tchuktch Polog. Races. Tchuktch Bayaderes. The 

 Tennygk, or Reindeer Tchuktchi. The Onkilon, or Sedentary Tchuktchi. Their Mode of Life. 



AT the extreme north-eastern point of Asia, bounded by the Polar Ocean 

 on one side and the Sea of Bering on the other, lies the land of the 

 Tchuktchi. The few travellers who have ever visited that bleak promontory 

 describe it as one of the dreariest regions of the earth. The climate is dread- 

 fully cold, as may be expected in a country confined between icy seas. Before 

 July 20th there is no appearance of summer, and winter already sets in about 

 August 20th. The lower grounds shelving to the north are intersected with 

 numerous streams, which, however, enjoy their liberty but a short time of the 

 year ; the valleys are mostly swampy and filled with small lakes or ponds ; 

 while on the bleak hill-slopes the Vaccinium and the dwarf birch or willow 

 sparingly vegetate under a carpet of mosses and lichens. The eastern, north- 

 eastern, and partly also the southern coasts abound with walruses, sea-lions, 

 and seals, while the reindeer, the argali, the wolf, and the Arctic fox occupy 

 the land. During the short summer, geese, swans, ducks, and wading-birds 

 frequent the marshy grounds ; but in winter the snow-owl and the raven alone 

 remain, and constantly follow the path of the nomadic inhabitants. In this 

 desolate nook of the Old World lives the only aboriginal people of North Asia 

 which has known how to maintain its liberty to*the present day, and which, 

 proud of its independence, looks down with sovereign contempt upon its re- 

 lations, the Korjaks, who, without offering any resistance, have yielded to the 

 authority of Russia. 



