SECOND MEETING WITH NATIVES 103 



Kamchadals and the Koryaks are in the habit of wearing 

 exactly similar hats, several kinds of which have been purchased 

 for the Art and Natural History Cabinet. — By much gesticula- 

 tion we gave the Americans to understand that we desired one 

 of their hats, and they handed us two. On one of these there was 

 fastened a small carved image, or sitting idol, of bone, with a 

 feather sticking out from behind, intended no doubt to represent 

 the tail. In return we presented them with a rusty iron kettle, 

 five sewing needles, and some thread. After having considered 

 the exchange and consulted with each other, they paddled 

 towards the shore without any further ado, built a big fire, and 

 shouted very loudly for a while. It grew dark soon after, and 

 after that we did not see them again. 



I noticed on this occasion once more that these people regard 

 it as a special ornament to pierce holes any^vhere in their faces, 

 as we do in the lobes of the ear, and to insert in them various 

 stones and bones. One of these fellows had stuck a slate pencil, 

 about 23^ inches long and exactly like those with which we write 

 on ciphering slates, through the nasal septum. Another had a 

 piece of bone three inches^^^ long stuck through crosswise above 

 the chin just under the lower lip. Still another had a bone like 

 it fastened in the forehead, and another, finally, had a similar 

 one in each of the wings of the nose. From this it may be seen 

 how thoughtlessly I had been contradicted in the year 1741, 

 before the departure from Avacha, when among other things I 

 announced that I held the Chukchis to be Americans or at any 

 rate believed that Americans lived among them, inasmuch as I 

 had heard from more than ten different persons that there were 

 among them people who wore pieces of walrus teeth inserted in 

 the nose and cheeks, such as all those who live on the mainland 

 opposite are said to wear as ornaments, according to the reports 

 of the Russians who have had indirect communication with the 

 Chukchis.229 



228 The MS has "i inch." 



229 Instead of the clause "such as all those . . . Chukchis" the MS 

 has: "and when the Russians asked the meaning of it they were told 



