Bussian Expedition along the Northern Shores of ‘ Siberia, 151 
spite of numerous obstacles, the extreme rigour of the climate, 
and the dangers to which they were exposed ; for the Tchouk^ 
tchis had already destroyed two detachments sent out for the 
same purpose. M. Anjou has described the coast from the 
Uralian Chain, or from the river Ob to the Kolyma, the other 
two gentlemen from the Kolyma to the promontory of the 
Tchouktchis. Not content with exploring the coast, these 
travellers made an excursion also toward the north, over an extent 
of continuous ice, to the place where the sea is open, which 
forms nearly five hundred versts, of the coast of Behring’s 
Straits. It was in this place, which faces the eastern part of the 
north coast, and is inhabited by the rein-deer Tchouktchis, 
that they perceived mountains at a distance of about a hundred 
versts. M. Wrangel conceived the project of getting to them. 
He was already pretty near, when the piece of ice on which he 
was placed became detached from the mass, and he was tossed 
about by the waves for five days in succession, with seven other 
persons, his dogs and equipage, until at length, after they had 
been several times upcai the point of being swallowed up, the 
piece of ice was again united to the mass. There is a tradition 
among the Tchouktchis, that the strait which separates them 
from the opposite shore, towards the north, was not covered 
with ice, and that the inhabitants formerly traversed it in bay- 
dars^ a sort of boat. They relate that a period, not very re- 
mote, (for all the inhabitants remember it still), some Tchouk- 
tchis, to the number of seven or eight, accompanied with a 
woman, crossed the ice to go toward these mountains to fish for 
morses, and that a long time after, the woman returned to the 
country by the way of the Kurile Isles, and brought the news 
that her companions had been all massacred. This woman was 
sold into another part of the country, and after having passed 
from hand to hand, was carried to Prince of Wales’s Land, from 
whence she found means of returning to her own country. From 
this account, it is to be supposed, that the country which Wran- 
gel had in view to visit, is nothing else than an island. The 
people who inhabit the islands nearest Siberia, make use of rein- 
deer, which renders it probable that they are only a colony of 
Tchouktchis, more especially as their languages are much allied. 
The Tchouktchis are in general large and well made ; they 
have regular features, their nose is not flat, but their cheeks are 
