144 STELLER'S JOURNAL 



occurrence of which in Kamchatka I have no information and 

 regarding which it consequently is to be supposed that the sea 

 must ha\'e washed this token over from America, where, in de- 

 fault of iron, this invention may well have been made use of, 

 while in Kamchatka, where iron already is plentiful through 

 trade, it would be superfluous. I mentioned at the same time the 

 unknown sea animal, manati, which I had seen, and the char- 

 acter of the water sky opposite in the south. — To all this I got 

 the reply: "The vessel can probably not be saved, may God at 

 least spare our longboat." 



In the evening after having eaten in company with the Com- 

 mander the ptarmigans which Mr. Plenisner shot during the 

 day, I told Betge, the assistant surgeon, that he might live with 

 us if he liked, for which he gave thanks; and thus our company 

 now consisted of four. We therefore walked over to the place of 

 our new quarters, sat by the camp fire, and discussed, over a cup 

 of tea, how we would put our plan into execution. I built near by 

 a small hut which I covered with my two overcoats and an old 

 blanket; the openings on the sides were stopped up with dead 

 foxes which we had killed during the day and were lying about in 

 heaps, and then we retired to rest, but Mr. Betge returned to 

 the Commander. 



Towards midnight a strong wind arose, which was accom- 

 panied by much snow, tore off our roof, and drove the three of 

 us from our quarters. We ran up and down the beach in the dark 

 gathering driftwood, carried it to a pit dug like a grave for two 



as teeth in a fox trap. Nor is it known to have been utiUzed by the in- 

 habitants of those regions for any sort of implements. It is, or was, ex- 

 tensively used, however, for ornamental purposes, and it seems possible 

 that the object found by Steller may have been not a trap, but a fragment 

 of some wooden article to which the Dcnlalium had been fastened as an 

 ornament, for instance, a wooden hat or mask. However, there is in the 

 anthropological collection of the U. S. National Museum a part of a trap 

 made of bone (No. 260,155), from Kotzebue Sound, which has inserted 

 in it a pointed tooth of walrus ivory suggesting in size and shape a Den- 

 talium. Is it possible that the one picked up by Steller can have been a 

 child's plaything made in imitation of one like this? (S) 



