desolate northern plains in temperatures of 50�� and 60�� below zero. The poles which they erected and the houses which they built now stand alone in an encircling wilderness,--the only results of their three years' labour and suffering, and the only monuments of an abandoned enterprise.
It is not my purpose to write a history of the Russian-American telegraph. The success of its rival, the Atlantic cable, has completely overshadowed its early importance, and its own failure has deprived it of all its interest for American readers. Though its history, however, be unimportant, the surveys and explorations which were planned and executed under its auspices have a value and an interest of their own, aside from the object for which they were undertaken. The territory which they covered is little known to the reading world, and its nomadic inhabitants have been rarely visited by civilised man. Only a few adventurous traders and fur-hunters have ever penetrated its almost unbroken solitudes, and it is not probable that civilised men will ever follow in their steps. The country holds out to the ordinary traveller no inducement commensurate with the risk and hardship which its exploration involves.
Two of the employees of the Russian-American Telegraph Company, Messrs. Whymper and Dall, have already published accounts of their travels in various parts of British Columbia and Alaska; and believing that a history of the Company's explorations on the other side of Bering Strait will possess equal interest, I have written the following narrative of two years' life in north-eastern Siberia. It makes no pretensions whatever to fulness of scientific information, nor to any very extraordinary researches of any kind. It is intended simply to convey as clear and accurate an idea as possible of the inhabitants, scenery, customs, and general external features of a new and comparatively unknown country. It is essentially a personal narrative of life in Siberia and Kamchatka; and its claim to attention lies rather in the freshness of the subject, than in any special devotion to science or skill of treatment.
[Illustration: Head covering used in stalking seals]
CONTENTS
PREFACE
CHAPTER I
THE OVERLAND TELEGRAPH LINE TO RUSSIA--SAILING OF THE FIRST SIBERIAN EXPLORING PARTY FROM SAN FRANCISCO
CHAPTER II
CROSSING THE NORTH PACIFIC--SEVEN WEEKS IN A RUSSIAN BRIG
CHAPTER III
THE PICTURESQUE COAST OF KAMCHATKA--ARRIVAL IN PETROPAVLOVSK
CHAPTER IV
THINGS RUSSIAN IN KAMCHATKA--A VERDANT AND FLOWERY LAND--THE VILLAGE OF TWO SAINTS
CHAPTER V
FIRST ATTEMPT TO LEARN RUSSIAN--PLAN OF EXPLORATION--DIVISION OF PARTY
CHAPTER VI
A COSSACK WEDDING--THE PENINSULA OF KAMCHATKA
CHAPTER VII
STARTING NORTHWARD--KAMCHATKAN SCENERY, VILLAGES, AND PEOPLE
CHAPTER VIII
BRIDLE PATHS OF SOUTHERN KAMCHATKA--HOUSES AND FOOD OF THE PEOPLE--REINDEER TONGUES AND WILD-ROSE PETALS--A KAMCHATKAN DRIVER'S CANTICLE
CHAPTER IX
THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF GENAL--WALLS OF LITERATURE--SCARING UP A BEAR--END OF HORSEBACK RIDE
CHAPTER X
THE KAMCHATKA RIVER--LIFE ON A CANOE RAFT--RECEPTION AT MILKOVA--MISTAKEN FOR THE TSAR
CHAPTER XI
ARRIVAL AT KLUCHEI--THE KLUCHEFSKOI VOLCANO--A QUESTION OF ROUTE--A RUSSIAN "BLACK BATH"
CHAPTER XII
CANOE TRAVEL ON THE YOLOFKA--VOLCANIC CONVERSATION--"O SUSANNA!"--TALKING "AMERICAN"--A DIFFICULT ASCENT
CHAPTER XIII
A DISMAL NIGHT--CROSSING THE KAMCHATKAN DIVIDE--ANOTHER BEAR HUNT--BREAKNECK RIDING--TIGIL--STEPPES OF NORTHERN KAMCHATKA
CHAPTER XIV
OKHOTSK SEACOAST--LESNOI--THE "DEVIL'S PASS"--LOST IN SNOW-STORM--SAVED BY BRASS BOX--WILD SCENE
CHAPTER XV
CUT OFF BY STORM--STARVATION THREATENED--RACE WITH A RISING TIDE--TWO DAYS WITH FOOD--RETURN TO LESNOI
CHAPTER XVI
KAMCHATKAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS--CHARACTER OF PEOPLE-- SALMON-FISHING--SABLE-TRAPPING--KAMCHADAL LANGUAGE--NATIVE MUSIC--DOG-DRIVING--WINTER DRESS
CHAPTER XVII
A FRESH START--CROSSING THE SAMANKA MOUNS ON A KORAK ENCAMPMENT-- NOMADS AND THEIR TENTS--DOOR-HOLES AND DOGS--POLOGS--KORAK BREAD
CHAPTER XVIII
WHY THE KORAKS WANDER--THEIR INDEPENDENCE--CHEERLESS LIFE--USES OF THE REINDEER--KORAK IDEAS OF DISTANCE--"MONARCH OF THE BRASS-HANDLED SWORD."
CHAPTER XIX
THE SNOW-DRIFT COMPASS--MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE--AN INTOXICATING FUNGUS--MONOTONY OF KORAK LIFE
CHAPTER XX
THE KORAK TONGUE--RELIGION OF TERROR--INCANTATIONS OF SHAMANS--KILLING OF OLD AND SICK--REINDEER SUPERSTITION--KORAK CHARACTER
CHAPTER XXI
FIRST FROST-BITE--THE SETTLED KORAKS--HOUR-GLASS YURTS--CLIMBING DOWN CHIMNEYS--YURT INTERIORS--LEGS AS FEATURES--TRAVELLING BY "PAVOSKA"--BAD CHARACTER OF SETTLED KORAKS
CHAPTER XXII
FIRST ATTEMPT AT DOG-DRIVING--UNPREMEDITATED PROFANITY--A RUNAWAY--ARRIVAL AT GIZHIGA--HOSPITALITY OF THE ISPRAVNIK--PLANS FOR THE WINTER
CHAPTER XXIII
DOG-SLEDGE TRAVEL--ARCTIC MIRAGES--CAMP AT NIGHT A HOWLING CHORUS--NORTHERN LIGHTS
CHAPTER XXIV
DISMAL SHELTER--ARRIVAL OF A COSSACK COURIER--AMERICANS ON THE ANADYR--ARCTIC FIREWOOD--A SIBERIAN BLIZZARD--LOST ON THE STEPPE
CHAPTER XXV
PENZHINA--POSTS FOR ELEVATED ROAD--FIFTY-THREE BELOW ZERO--TALKED OUT--ASTRONOMICAL LECTURES--EATING PLANETS--THE HOUSE OF A PRIEST
CHAPTER XXVI
ANADYRSK--AN ARCTIC OUTPOST--SEVERE CLIMATE--CHRISTMAS SERVICES AND CAROLS--A SIBERIAN BALL--MUSIC AND REFRESHMENTS--EXCITED DANCING--HOLIDAY AMUSEMENTS
CHAPTER XXVII
NEWS FROM THE ANADYR PARTY--PLAN FOR ITS RELIEF--THE STORY OF A STOVE-PIPE--START FOR THE SEACOAST
CHAPTER XXVIII
A SLEDGE JOURNEY EASTWARD--REACHING TIDEWATER--A NIGHT SEARCH FOR A STOVE-PIPE--FINDING COMRADES--A VOICE FROM A STOVE--STORY OF THE ANADYR PARTY
CHAPTER XXIX
CLASSIFICATION OF NATIVES--INDIAN TYPE, MONGOLIAN TYPE, AND TURKISH TYPE--EASTERN VIEW OF WESTERN ARTS AND FASHIONS--AN AMERICAN SAINT
CHAPTER XXX
AN ARCTIC AURORA--ORDERS FROM THE MAJOR--ADVENTURES OF MACRAE AND ARNOLD WITH THE CHUKCHIS--RETURN TO GIZHIGA--REVIEW OF WINTER'S WORK
CHAPTER XXXI
LAST WORK OF THE WINTER--BIRDS AND FLOWERS OF SPRING--CONTINUOUS DAYLIGHT--SOCIAL LIFE IN GIZHIGA--A CURIOUS SICKNESS--SUMMER DAYS AND NIGHTS--NEWS FROM AMERICA
CHAPTER XXXII
DULL LIFE--ARCTIC MOSQUITOES--WAITING FOR SUPPLIES--SHIPS SIGNALLED--BARK "CLARA BELL"--RUSSIAN CORVETTE "VARAG"
CHAPTER XXXIII
ARRIVAL OF BARK "PALMETTO"--DRIVEN ASHORE BY GALE--DISCHARGING CARGO UNDER DIFFICULTIES--NEGRO CREW MUTINIES--LONELY TRIP TO ANADYRSK--STUPID KORAKS--EXPLOSIVE PROVISIONS
CHAPTER XXXIV
A MEETING IN THE NIGHT--HARDSHIPS OF BUSH'S PARTY--SIBERIAN FAMINES--FISH SAVINGS BANKS--WORK IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT--STARVING POLE CUTTERS--A JOURNEY TO YAMSK
CHAPTER XXXV
YURT ON THE TOPOLOFKA--THE VALLEY OF TEMPESTS--RIVER OF THE LOST--STORM BOUND--ESCAPE BY
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