72 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[CHAr. 
In West-European writings the race, which inhabits the 
north-easternmost portion of Asia, is mentioned for the first 
time, so far as I know, by WiTSEN, who in the second edition of 
his work (1705, p. 671) quotes a statement by Volodomir 
Atlassov, that the inhabitants of the northernmost portions of 
Siberia are called Tsjuktsi, without, however, giving any detailed 
description of the people themselves. In maps from the end of 
the seventeenth century names are still inscribed on this portion 
of land which were borrowed from the history of High Asia, as 
“ Tenduc,” Quinsai,” “ Catacora,” &c., but these are left out in 
van Keulen’s atlas of 1709, and instead there stands here 
Zuczari. From about the same time we fall in with some 
accounts of the Chukches in the narrative of the distinguished 
painter CoRNELis DE Bruin’s travels in Russia. A Russian 
merchant, Michael Ostatiof, who passed fourteen years in 
travelling in Siberia, gave de Bruin some information regarding 
the countries he had travelled through; among others he spoke 
of Koraku and Soegtsie. The latter were sketched as a godless 
pack, who worship the devil and carry with them their fathers’ 
bones to be used in their magical arts. The same Russian who 
made these statements had also come in contact with “ stationary ” 
(settled) Soegtsi, so called “ because they pass the whole winter 
hibernating, lying or sitting in their tents.” ^ I have found the 
first somewhat detailed accounts of the race in the note on p. 
no of the under-quoted work, Histoire gen^alogiqiie des Tartares, 
Leyden, 1726. They are founded on the statements of Swedish 
prisoners of war in Siberia. 
The Russians, however, had made a much earlier acquaintance 
with the Chukches; for during their conquest of Siberia they 
came in contact with this race before the middle of the seven¬ 
teenth century. A company of hunters in 1646 sailed down the 
1 Cornelis de Bruin, Reizen over Moskovie^ door Persie en Indie^ &c., 
Amsterdam, 1711, p. 12. The author’s name is also written De Bruyn 
and Le Brun. 
