232 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
who stated that true Chukches were found also on the American 
side, north of Behring’s Straits. Two of the men spoke a little 
English, one had even been at San Francisco, another at 
Honolulu. Alany of their household articles reminded us of 
contact with American whalers, and justice demands the 
recognition of the fact that in opposition to what we commonly 
see stated, contact with men of civilised race appears to have 
been to the advantage and improvement of the savage in an 
economical and moral point of view. Most of them now lived 
in summer-tents of thin cotton cloth; many wore European 
ESTHMO AT POKT CLARENCE. 
(After photographs by L. Palander.) 
clothes, others were clad in trousers of seal or reindeer-skin and 
a light, soft, often beautifully ornamented pesk of marmot skin, 
over which in rainy weather was worn an overcoat made of 
pieces of gut sewn together. The arrangement of the hair 
resembled that of the Chukches. The women were tattooed with 
some lines on the chin. Many of the men wore small 
moustaches, some even a scanty beard, while others had 
attempted the American goatee. Most of them, but not all, 
had two holes from six to seven millimetres in length, cut in the 
