THE KAMTSC HAT DALES. 



577 



misses his stroke, the hunter's only resource is to fling himself on the 

 ground and lie motionless, until the bear, while smelling his body and 

 turning him over, incautiously offers himself again to his attack. 



The Yakouts are nearly of average height. They are robust and 

 brave, honest and hospitable, but addicted to idolatry and polygamy. 



KAMTSCHATJ>ALF.S. 



The Kamtschatdales are smaller and shorter than the Yakouts. 

 They have a round flat face, a broad depressed nose, and prominent 

 cheek-bones. They are of a friendly, mild, and peaceable character. 

 They have a strong partiality for the song and the dance, and their 

 amusements frequently degenerate into orgies. Small-pox and excessive 

 brandy-drinking have reduced to a few hundred families a population 

 which numbered, a century ago, fully 15,000 souls. 



37 



