420 



K A M T S C H A'T K A. 



Amuse- 



ems. 



cealment. A single hunter will engage in this attack ; 

 but more frequently in company with others. As they 

 seldom fire till the animal be within fifteen yards of the 

 spot where they are stationed, they have rarely time 

 for a second discharge ; and, if they should not have 

 succeeded in disabling him, they must receive his fu- 

 rious onset with their spears ; and, unless fortunate 

 enough to inflict a mortal thrust, not unfrequently fall 

 n sacrifice to his vengeance. The bear is most apt to 

 make these assaults upon the huntsman in the begin- 

 ning of spring, when he comes famished from his win- 

 ter retreat, and in autumn when in quest of the female ; 

 but, at other times, he more commonly takes to flight 

 when wounded, and is traced by the blood to his retreat. 

 By very recent accounts, it appears that, from a failure 

 of .fish on the coast, the bea,rs became so ferocious du- 

 ring the winter of 1816-17, as to Attack and devour 

 many of the natives, and also to* destroy one ano- 

 ther. 



They are employed in fishing at different periods 

 during summer, but particularly in May for herring ; 

 in June for salmon ; and in the remaining months for 

 sea-wolves. In killing the latter, they employ har- 

 poons, and large nets, made of leather thongs, with 

 wide meshes ; but for other fish they have smaller nets 

 of pack-thread, which they purchase from the Rus- 

 sians, or of their own cordage manufactured from net- 

 tles. They shoot and hawl their nets in the sea and 

 large lakes in the usual manner ; but in rivers they 

 commonly stretch one across, and hawl another down 

 the stream. They sometimes erect also a line of stakes 

 and branches of trees, so as to afford only one or two 

 small openings for the passage of the fish ; and in these 

 are placed baskets, constructed in such a way, that 

 the fish having entered cannot again retreat. 



Besides these occupations, the Kamtschadales have 

 their amusements of dancing, singing, and relating of 

 love stories. Their dances are merely pantomimical 

 representations of the motions and gestures of the dif- 

 ferent animals which they pursue in the chase, but es- 

 pecially of the bear. The performance consists in a 

 succession of unwieldy motions, or rather difficult dis- 

 tortions, of the body, imitating the clumsy gestures 

 of the bear in various situations, especially of the young 

 ones sporting around the dam of the male fawning on 

 his mate and of the agitations which any of them ex- 

 hibit when hard pressed by the hunters. The body is 

 generally bowed forwards, the knees bent, and the arms 

 employed in imitating the motions of the animal, whom 

 they delight to copy. Even his cries are introduced in 

 the course of the drama ; and, throughout the whole 

 performance, a kind of forced grunt, or guttural sound, 

 resembling a continued hiccough, is uttered by the 

 dancer, in unison with the time of the air sung by the 

 musicians, or rather by the whole company present. 

 The song is nearly as unvarying in its notes, and un- 

 meaning i.i its words, as the dance ; and both to Eu- 

 ropean spectators are extremely tedious and uninterest- 

 ing, while the natives discover a degree of extacy in 

 the spectacle, which seems incompatible with the indo- 

 lence of their habits. 



The Kamtschadales are considered as naturally a heal- 

 thy, though not a long-lived race ; and few persons 

 are found among them, who have been deformed from 

 their birth. They are rarely afflicted with the scurvy, 

 which proves so. destructive to the Russian settlers; 

 and their exemption from that disorder is ascribed to 

 the liberal use which they make of wild garlic and va- 

 rious acid berries, as a part of their diet. Consurop. 



tions are not unfrequent ; but the most common dis- Kamtschaf- 

 eases are boils, wens, and qjher tumours <jf a similar ka. 

 description, which are cured by incision or extirpation, '""""Y""' 

 by means only of such instruments as aStnife, or even 

 a sharp stone. One of the remedies, which they em- 

 ploy in alm6st every disease, and especially as an ap- 

 plication to all kinds of sores or wounds, is called 

 bear's-root, which they steep in brandy, and to the 

 use of which they are said to have been first led, by 

 observing that the animal, whose name it bears, was 

 fond of eating it, and of rolling himself upon it when 

 lie was wounded. 



The natives of Kamtschatka were formerly held in Physicians 

 great subjection by their doctors, who were called cha- and priests. 

 mans, and who conjoined the arts of magic and medi- 

 cine. These persons were distinguished by having 

 their garments decorated profusely with mystic rings, 

 and other symbolical metal figures, which made a jing- 

 ling noise upon every motion of the body , and, by car- 

 rying a kind of kettle drum, with which they announced 

 their approach, and accompanied their incantations. 

 They acted the parts also of priests ; and, amidst the 

 most extravagant gesticulations, resembling the ra- 

 vings of the Pythian priestess, uttered their prescrip- 

 tions and revelations in the name of then- idol Koutka. 

 Even the slender religious instruction which the Kamt- 

 schadales have received from the Russians, has abo- 

 lished their confidence in these impostors; and the 

 chaman art is now confined to a few old women, who 

 practise their sorceries with great secrecy. But, though 

 the natives have adopted the Christian religion, they 

 are said to know little more of it than the ceremony of 

 baptism ; and the priests sent among them are either 

 utterly incapable of teaching the people, or are in ge- 

 neral more attentive to commercial gains than to cleri- 

 cal duties. There are eight principal churches in the 

 peninsula ; and all the clergy are subordinate to the 

 archbishop of Irkutsk, from whom they must receive 

 ordination, and an appointment to their cures. 



The language of Kamtschatka, is said to be extreme- Language^ 

 ly guttural in its sounds, and difficult to be pronoun- 

 ced. The dialects and accents, also, are very various ; 

 almost every ostrog having its own peculiarities of 

 speech. The following select.ion, from a vocabulary by 

 the French traveller, M, De Lesseps, may furnish some 

 idea, at least of its uncouth, form t 



One Dizitt. 



Two- Kaacha. 



Three Tchook. 



Four Tchaak. 



Five Rom-etak. 



Six Killk-okk. 



Seven Ettgatanock. 



Eight Tchokh-ottenpkh. 



Nine Tchakh-aitanokh. 



Ten Tchom-khotako. 



Twenty Kaachatcho-khotako. 



Thirty Tchook-tchom-khotako. 



Forty, &c. Tchaak-tchom-khotako, &G, 



I Kimmea. 



Thou Kize. 



He TiS. 



She Tschii. 



We Bouze. 



You Souze. 



They Tie nakie. 



Husband Kiskong. 



