20 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
to offer a little food and brandy to the Spirit of the Lake, 
itjaken kamah, in order to get good net fishing. On my inquiring 
what appearance he had, Notti replied ''uinga Ulapen'’ “I have 
never seen him.” Besides this spirit there are in his view others 
also in streams, in the earth, and in some mountains. The 
Chukches also sacrifice to the sun and moon. On the other 
hand they do not appear, as some other races, to pay any sort of 
worship to their departed friends. "When I gave him a biscuit 
and bade him offer it, he made with the heel a little depression 
in the snow on Nutschoitjin, crumbled a little bit of the biscuit 
in pieces, and threw the crumbs into the hollow. The rest of 
the biscuit he gave back, declaring that kamak did not require 
more, and that we should now have more fish in the net than 
the first time. Notti said also that the Chukches are wont to 
sacrifice something for every catch. Thus have probably arisen 
all the collections of bear and seal skulls and reindeer horns, 
which we often saw on the Chukch coast, especially on 
eminences. 
“ After we had read off the aneroid, we speedily made our way 
to the snow-house, because during the interval a violent storm of 
drifting snow had arisen, so that we could not see more than 
half a score of paces before us. On the slope below “ the head ” 
we had already on our way thither seen traces of two wild 
reindeer. Notti said that there are a few of them on the hill 
the whole winter. The greater number, however, draw farther 
southward, and approach the coast only duiing summer. Johnsen 
had wounded an owl {Strix nyctea), which however made its 
escape. On the 24th snow fell and drifted during the whole 
day, so that we could not go out to shoot. On the 25th we 
came on board again. 
‘‘Accordino^ to the aneroid observations made during the 
journey, the highest summit we visited had a height of 197 
metres.” 
Lieutenant Boves Account of an Excursion to Najtskaj and 
Tjapka. 
“ On the 19th April, at 4 o’clock A.M. the hunter Johnsen 
and 1 started on a short excursion eastward along the coast, 
with a view to pay a visit to the much frequented fishing 
station Najtskaj, where our old friends from Pitlekaj had settled. 
We had a little sledge which we ourselves drew, and which was 
laden with provisions for three days and some meteorological 
and hydrographical instruments. 
