540 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 224. 



the stream. Short journeys may be made 

 on the beach, but one soon comes to the 

 outlet of a lake or swamp which cannot be 

 crossed. 



Settlements are confined entirely to the 

 banks of the river, at points where there is 

 good landing for canoes. Most native vil- 

 lages, and some belonging to the Russians, 

 are subject to overflow. There are very 

 few high terraces boi'dered by a good beach. 

 On a rocky shore, canoes would soon be 

 dashed to pieces by waves, which in severe 

 storms attain a height of five or six feet. 



Above the mouth of the Garoon Eiver 

 dwells the native tribe of Gold or Goldi. 

 Below Sophisk, extending along the coast 

 to Okhotsk Sea and Saghalien Island, are 

 the Gilyaks. The intermediate territory is 

 occupied by both tribes. At present they 

 obtain guns and knives from the Russians ; 

 formerly they had only such hunting or 

 fishing material as they could make for 

 themselves or get from the Manchu traders. 



In summer the elks come down from the 

 mountains to feed on the lilies and grasses 

 in the marshes. The Gilyak hunter se- 

 cretes himself and patiently waits for his 

 quarry to come within easy range. In win- 

 ter they go, either singly or in a party, into 

 the mountains to hunt fur-bearing animals. 

 The sable is the chief animal sought, as a 

 good skin is easily exchanged for its weight 

 in silver, and a fine one brings much more. 

 Sometimes they spend the entire winter at 

 the camp, though it may be only a few 

 miles from home. 



At their summer camps they make huts 

 of birch-bark. Sometimes there is con- 

 structed a framework of posts, cross-poles, 

 and rafters, on which the bark is fastened 

 by tough, twisted vines, the roof being held 

 down by poles and stones. Again, they tie 

 a bundle of poles together at the top, and 

 spread the bottoms as far as they wish. 

 This framework is covered with bark (or 

 sometimes with skins, and nowadays pos- 



sibly with tent-cloth), in the fashion of an 

 Indian wigwam. A fire is made in the 

 middle of the floor; blocks of wood, or 

 shoi-t forks driven into the ground, sup- 

 port poles, brush, and grass for seats and 

 beds. 



Winter dwellings are more elaborate. A 

 space is marked out from twenty to fifty 

 feet square, the size depending upon the 

 number of persons to be housed. The earth 

 is excavated within these lines, the depth 

 of the excavation being governed somewhat 

 by the character of the soil. It is usually 

 between two and three feet. Posts are set 

 around the edge of this, on which a wat- 

 tle is constructed ; mud is thickly plastered 

 on both sides. The roof is made of poles 

 and heavily covered with mud. Earth is 

 also piled up around the base of the house 

 to a height of three or four feet. A fireplace 

 or furnace is made of stones in one corner. A 

 large kettle is set into the top of this, and 

 every crevice chinked with mud. From 

 the fireplace, flues extend around the sides 

 of the room, made of flat stones set on edge 

 and covered with others. There may be 

 two, three, or four of these flues, side bj^ 

 side. If flat stones cannot be had, others 

 are used, the interstices being chinked. In 

 large houses two furnaces are made in op- 

 posite corners. All the flues unite finally 

 into one, which is carried through the wall 

 and to a chimney from fifteen to twenty- 

 five feet away, on the outside. This may be 

 a hollow trunk or may be made of boards. 

 It furnishes sufBcient draught in any 

 weather. Over all the flues are piled sand 

 and fine gravel, confined at the front by 

 boards, and carefully levelled on the top. 

 The ' bench ' thus formed is sometimes six 

 feet wide. The inmates literally live on it 

 when in the house. It is always warm and 

 dry when the fires are going. 



A careful and methodical investigation 

 was made along the river for three hundred 

 and fifty miles above its mouth, and of the 



