FOREST AND STREAM. 

[SEPT. 2I, 1907. 





AN OSTIAK 
were out of the sound and heading for Cook’s 
Inlet. 
of the greatest sea-lion rookery in the northern 
Early in the morning we came in sight 
waters, and the captain being a fine fellow and 
having plenty of time in which to make his trip, 
the up 
to the rooks. 
them 
leap into the 
called passengers on deck and ran close 
When some distance off, we could 
hear bellowing and see some wild fellow 
water, but were not prepared for 
the sight which greeted our eyes when we 
a rock and slowed down scarcely two 
About fifty feet above the 
rounded 
hundred yards away. 
water was a large shelf or platform several acres 
and the 
crowded together on it that it locked impossible 
All the other rocks, 
foothold, held all 
The captain and several 
and 
in extent sea lions were so_ closely 
for it to hold another one. 
wherever there was a ledge or 
that 
passengers opened fire on’ them 
could crowd on. 
with rifles 
revolvers to make them jump. Such mad lung- 
never witness 
the 
time, some leaping from their sunning places one 
ing and high diving I expect to 
again. Hundreds were in air at the same 
hundred feet above the water and all madly in- 
tent upon gaining the water. The noise made by 
their bellowing was so deafening we could not 
make ourselves heard by shouting. Their forms, 
as they appeared in the air, could scarcely be 
told from men diving, as their four flukes were 
extended just like the arms and legs of a man 
the first. 
There must have been many thousands of them, 
diving, and all striking water head 
as it was a long time before they all ceased diving, 
but at last all were gone but one old grey bull 
with whiskers at least eighteen inches long, and 
about fifty young ones about the size of two- 
The old bull, which would 
front of the 
ledge and bellowing loudly, seemed to challenge 
A dozen 
months-old puppies. 
weigh at least a ton, came to the 
the whole boat’s crew to mortal combat. 
cows soon clambered back on the rocks and hur- 
ried to their babies, as if ashamed of their flight. 
So far, I am glad to say, few sea lions have 
been killed in northern waters by white men, as 
they have found little use for their skins or flesh. 
The Indians use their skins to make kyaks and 



ENCAMPMENT. 
badakas and the Chinese use their whiskers for 
toothpicks, but they will long outlive the seal, 
sea otter and other sea animals, unless the de- 
structive white man finds some use for them. 
We rounded Cape Elizabeth into Cook’s Inlet 
Saldovia. I 
re place and 
about dusk and stopped at went 
ashore in the ship’s boat to see t 
found it to be only a Russian missionary station 
and native village, with one small company store. 
re mail, and 
My partners 
had been busy while I was away, catching cod 

The boat only stopped to leave t 
we were soon on board again. 
and halibut for the ship’s steward. 
Our next stop was at Homer, a mining camp 
where there is a narrow-gauge railroad ten miles 
long, extending out to a coal mine. A company 
fei 
owns it and supplies coal to all boats and can- 
neries in Cook’s Inlet. There are also some good 
gold quartz mines there and large de- 
We then turned west and again round- 
ing Cape Elizabeth into the Pacific, headed for 
Kadiak Island. 
[TO BE CONCLUDED. ] 
Among the Ostiaks. 
THE illustration represents a group of the 
Ostiak tribe in central Russian Asia, on the river 
Ob. One of the women is “breaking” the hide 
of a skin—destroying its fiber by massive beat- 
ing with a club. Breaking up the fiber of hide 
is no easy work; and, withal, the action of water 
on it in subsequent use largely restores the 
fibrous hardness of the skin. We can note this 
any day in the ordinary wash or chamois leather, 
some of which will often dry “hard as a board” 
after water soaking, despite its having been 
“worked” more than any other leather. 
After breaking the fiber the hide is immersed 
for about a week in a disgusting mixture. The 
nomads have neither the time, intelligence nor 
patience to put up with a three months’ bark 
tannage. The bate is placed in a deer skin bag, 
which latter article has been removed from the 
slaughtered animal without ripping. Only suff- 
cient of the hide has been opened. round the 
withers and chest to enable the skin to be re- 
moved as a seamless round bag. This is done 
as far as the shaft and buttocks, then the hide 
is cut across. One end is then sewn up with 
gut, and this forms the bate bag. 
With the peculiar tanning material the broken 
copper 
posits. 




hide is placed in the bag which is suspende 
between poles, stirred two or three times a da: 
and kept covered in the smoke from the cam] 
fire. This partly smoke-cures the mass. 
When taken out of the unsavory “pickle” th 
hair can be removed at once if desired by wast 
ing and pulling at it simultaneously in a runnin 
stream. If the hair is to be left on the reekin 
hide is hung in the smoke to dry, then washe 
and beaten again, and is ready for years < 
service. It is always hard and greasy. 
These Ostiaks are simple people. They kno 
not their own origin. Their chief diet is fis) 
venison and (occasionally) small game. The|! 
only warm drink is an infusion from compresse} 
brick tea. For a drinking cup they have to rm 
sort to a peculiar article. They preserve tt? 
biggest bladders of their slaughtered animal 
simply air-drying them after washing. Whel! 
required for use as a cup the big bladder, abo1!’ 
a foot long and the same in diameter, has 
chunk of the compressed tea dropped into it ar| 
boiling water poured on. The hot liquid instant 
gets in its work shrinking and softening tl! 
skin and might gelatinize it did not the tann/! 
acid in the tea come to the rescue and at om 
begin to operate tanning the fibers of the men} 
brane. It is a race, I know, but the tannic ac‘ 
gets there first, and in about a week’s use hil 
quite tanned the seamless bag (now reduced \ 
size to about a_ pint-holding capacity) to <!° 
opaque berry brown crinkled leather. It | 
always reversible, and, in fact, the Ostiaks «| 
reverse it habitually at first to allow the taf 
ning to penetrate thoroughly both sides. ni 
When drinking the hot tea therefrom tl!!! 
native will always squeeze the bag in his har?! 
repeatedly for two reasons: To help dissol 
the tea, and to work and render supple the sk/! 
fiber as it tans. Then, when it is not in usi 
it does not dry up too horn-like. If he did n‘! 
take this precaution the membrane would becon} 
as stiff as a hard rubber cup, unreversible, aw! 
ward to carry in the pocket, and so brittle | 
to be liable to crack. |: 
For a long time I was puzzled how the nativ'& 
came by those peculiar seamless tanned cuy/ 
about six inches deep by four in diameter. It 
knew that the most improved leather stampiil! 
machinery could not stamp a flush sided leath/® 
disk cup (as used in the engineering trade) mold 
than one and a half inches deep, and crushi/? 
up the rim edges to an undesirable thickness 
that; yet here were the Ostiaks with their pi/' 
seamless leather cups little thicker than ordina’ 
paste board. fe 
Sometimes the natives bring away from a loc! 
bazar an earthen teapot, but it soon meets w'(! 
disaster and they are glad to fall back on thill 
combined teapot and teacup—the seamless sl)! 
bag. When finally holes begin to appear, afi! 
some six months’ use, they are thrown into tit 
soup pot, and not till half a dozen hours [ft 
simmering elapse have they softened sufficien'l 
to be edible. Still it does not gelantinize, for if 
tannic acid has effectually done its work, and /h 
dull black brown color is not driven out by evil 
furious boiling. 
For boiling their water the Ostiaks use tll 
light weight russia iron seamless pails. Tig 
traveler in Russian Asia gets to like this ul! 
ful metal. It stands a lot of knocking abo* 
and when packing up, and it is desired to cle! 
the pail or pot of its greasy adhesions (after 
stew, for instance) before putting away, it 
so easily cleaned by throwing among the fhe 
embers of the dying wood fire, the flames speectt 
cleansing it. An aluminum vessel would mij 
down under such conditions; a soldered tin pli 
one would be at once disintegrated, while evo 
a clamped or brazed one would get “started” jj 
the seams and become leaky. e 
At times the Ostiaks would say to me: “Kh 
bacha bepa?” (“What is your faith?’) To 
themselves are considered—officially—as of je 
orthodox Greek church. I would reply, astte 
mild hint on their own lack of cleanliness dey 
say, that I believe in “God, Christ and soaf, 
Instead of seeing the point, they would gravin 
argue among each other: “Ah, he must ber 
packol (pronounced rackol, meaning heretic), 
says he believes in God, Christ and soap. Tht 
something somewhere.” er 
L. LoprAtg 






































































must be wrong 

