XII.] 
RUSSIANS AND CHURCHES. 
73 
Kolyma river to the Polar Sea. East of the Kolyma they fell 
in with the Chukches, with whom they dealt in this way : they 
laid down their goods on the beach and then retired, on which 
the Chukches came thither, took the goods, and laid furs, walrus 
tusks, or carvings in walrus ivory, in their place How such 
journeys were repeated and finally led to the circumnavigation 
of the north-easternmost promontory of Asia belongs to a 
following chapter. 
During these journeys the Russians often came in contact 
with the tribe which inhabited the north-eastern part of Asia, a 
contact which in general was not of a friendly nature. The bold 
hunters who contributed powerfully to the conquest of Siberia, 
and who even at their own hand entered into' conflicts with 
whole armies from the heavenly empire, appear not to have 
behaved well when confronted with the warriors of the Chukch 
race. Even the attempts that were made with professional 
soldiers to conquer the land of the Chukches were without 
result, less however, perhaps, on account of the armed opposition 
which the Chukches made than from the nature of the country 
and the impossibility of even a small body of troops supporting 
themselves. The following may be quoted as examples of these 
campaigns which throw light upon the former disposition and 
mode of life of this tribe. 
In 1701 some Yukagires who were tributary to Russia deter¬ 
mined to make an attack on the Chukches, and requested from 
the commandant at Anadyrsk assistance against these enemies. 
A body of troops numbering twenty-four Russians and 110 
Yukagires, was accordingly sent on a campaign along the coast 
^ Herodotus already states in book iv. chapter 196, that the Cartha- 
genians bartered goods in the same way with a tribe living on the coast of 
Africa beyond the Gates of Hercules. The same mode of barter was still 
in use nearly two thousand years later, when the west coast of Africa 
was visited by the Venetian Cadamosto, in 1454 {Bamusio^ i., 1588, 
leaf 100). 
