134 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
point for forming a judgment both of the Scandinavian rock- 
etchings and the palseolithic drawings, which in recent times 
have played so great a part in enabling us to understand 
the oldest history of the human race. We have therefore 
zealously collected all that we could of Chukch carvings, 
drawings, and patterns. The most remarkable of these in one 
respect or another are to be found delineated in the woodcuts on 
the preceding pages.^ 
Many of the ivory carvings are old and worn, showing that 
they have been long in use, probably as amulets. Various 
of the animal images are the fruit of the imagination, and as 
such may be instructive. In general the carvings are clumsy, 
though showing a distinctive style. If we compare them with 
the Samoyed images we brought home with us, it appears that 
the genius of the Chukches for art has reached an incomparably 
higher development than that of the Polar race which inhabits 
the western portion of the north coast of Asia ; on the other hand, 
they are in this respect evidently inferior to the Eskimo at Port 
Clarence. The Chukch drawings too are roughly and clumsily 
executed, but many of them exhibit a certain power of hitting 
off the object. These figures appear to me to show that the 
objections which have been raised to the genuineness of various 
palaeolithic etchings, just on the ground of the artist’s com¬ 
paratively sure hand, are not justified. Even patterns and ivory 
buckles show a certain taste. Embroidery is done commonly on 
^ The originals of the drawings reproduced in the woodcuts are made on 
paper, part with the lead pencil, part with red ochre. The different groups 
represent on the first page —1, a dog-team ; 2, 3, whales; 4, hunting the 
Polar bear and the walrus ; 5, bullhead and cod ; 6, man fishing ; 7, hare¬ 
hunting; 8, birds; 9, wood-chopper; 10, man leading a reindeer; 11, 
walrus hunt—7 and 9 represent Europeans. On the second page —1, a rein¬ 
deer train ; 2, a reindeer taken with a lasso by two men ; 3, a man throw¬ 
ing a harpoon; 4, seal hunt from boat; 5, bear hunt; 6, the man in the 
moon ; 7, man leading a reindeer ; 8, reindeer; 9, Chukch with staff and 
an archer; 10, reindeer with herd; 11, reindeer; 12, two tents, man riding 
on a dog sledge, &c. 
