258 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



death. Their hair seldom turns gray before their sixtieth year, and even the 

 oldest men have a firm and elastic step. The weight of their body is greater 

 than that of the Jakuts, though the latter live on milk and flesh, while fish is 

 the almost exclusive food of the Kamchatkans. The round tubercles of the 

 Fritillaria sarrana, a species of lily with a dark purple flower, likewise play 

 an important part in their diet, and serve them instead of bread and meal. 

 " If the fruits of the bread-fruit tree," says Kittlitz — who has seen both plants 

 in the places of their growth — " are pre-eminent among all others, as affording 

 man a perfect substitute for bread, the roots of the Sarrana, which are very 

 similar in taste, rank perhaps immediately after them. The collecting of these 

 tubers in the meadows is an important summer occupation of the women, and 

 one which is rather troublesome, as the plant never grows gregariously, so that 

 each root has to be sought and dug out separately with a knife. Fortunately 

 the wonderful activity of the Siberian field-vole facilitates the labor of gather- 

 ing the tubers. These remarkable animals burrow extensive winter nests, with 

 five or six store-houses, which they fill with various roots, but chiefly with those 

 of the Sarrana. To find these subterranean treasures, the Kamchatkans use 

 sticks with iron points, which they strike into the earth. The contents of three 

 of these nests are as much as a man can carry on his back. A species of fun- 

 gus, called muchamor, affords a favorite stimulant. It is dried and eaten raw. 

 Besides its exhilarating effects, it is said to produce, like the Peruvian Coca, a 

 remarkable increase of strength, which lasts for a considerable time. 



Fishing and hunting supply all the wants of the Kamchatkans, for they have 

 not yet learned to profit in any degree worth mentioning by the luxuriance of 

 their meadow-lands. They pay their taxes and purchase their foreign luxuries 

 — meal and tea, tobacco and brandy — with furs. The chase of the costly sea- 

 otter (which from excessive persecution had at one time almost become extinct) 

 has latterly improved. Besides the fur animals, they also hunt the reindeer, the 

 argali, the wolf, and the bear, whose skins supply them with clothing. 



Bears abound in Kamchatka, as they -find a never-failing supply of fishes 

 and berries, and Ermann assures us that they would long since have extirpated 

 the inhabitants, if (most probably on account of the plenty in which they live) 

 they were not of a more gentle disposition than any others in the world. In 

 spring they descend from the mountains to the mouths of the rivers, to levy 

 their tribute on the migratory troops of the fishes, frequently eating only the 

 heads. Toward autumn they follow the fishes into the interior of the country 

 as they ascend the streams. 



The most valuable domestic animal in Kamchatka is the dog, who has the 

 usual characters of the Esquimaux race. He lives exclusively on fish, which he 

 catches very dexterously. From spring to autumn he is allowed to roam at lib- 

 erty, no one troubling himself about him ; but in October, every proprietor col- 

 lects his dogs, binds them to a post, and lets them fast for a time, so as to de- 

 prive them of their superfluous fat, and to render them more fit for running. 

 During the winter they are fed with dried fish every morning and evening, but 

 while travelling they get nothing to eat, even though they run for hours. Their 

 strength is wonderful. Generally no more than five of them are harnessed to a 



