36 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



The coast population live in villages numbering 

 from three to twenty tents, spread along the coast 

 as near the shore as possible, and at a few miles' 

 distance from each other. 



The Tchuktchis are divided into two sections, each 

 with its respective chief. The eastern population 

 have for their chief Menka, who resides at Markowa 

 on the Anadyr Eiver. The western, again, are under 

 the chief Amra Urgin, who resides in the vicinity of 

 Kolyma River. 



The tent of the coast Tchuktchis consists of a 

 peculiar and cleverly constructed frame of wood, the 

 material for which is obtained from drift-logs, with 

 which the shore is plentifully strewed. This is 

 covered with a number of seal and walrus hides 

 carefully sewn together. Inside the tent, and right 

 before the entrance, is a smaller cubiform tent, made 

 of reindeer-skins, and used as the sleeping chamber. 

 During the cold season it is heated by blubber-lamps. 

 Even during severe cold the atmosphere within this 

 tent is so heated that the natives who occupy it, 

 without distinction of sex or age, lie almost nude. 

 The dimensions of the tent depend upon the number 

 of the family. In each tent generally dwells only 

 one family, in which are included the sisters and 

 brothers of the married couple before they settle for 

 themselves. 



The Tchuktchis, the children of nature in the 

 Arctic regions, fostered amongst ice, snow, and cold, 



