THE TOWN OF GHIJIGA
The sacred icon and the sewing-machine both in evidence--The
native "process of getting married"--Mrs. Braggin's
piano--American pack-saddles and Russian
obstinacy--Theodosia Chrisoffsky and his sixty descendants.
When we reached the shore, or as near the shore as the shallowness of
the water would permit, a crowd of natives and half-castes waded out
and offered their backs to convey us to dry ground. There we found two
Russian officers in uniform and twelve Cossacks, besides a hundred or
more of the villagers. The magistrate and his assistant, with the aid
of twenty Cossacks, govern a section of territory as large as Texas
and New Mexico combined. The magistrate led us to his house, a log
structure, one story high, with five large rooms. No carpets adorned
the floor, which was spotlessly clean. On the wall hung the pictures
of the Czar and Czarina, while in the corner, of course, hung the
sacred icon. One noticeable feature was a Singer sewing-machine. The
magistrate's wife lives here with him and looks after their modest
family of thirteen children.
[Illustration: Ghijiga.]
It was now four o'clock in the morning, but the family were astir. The
samovar was brought in, and over hot tea and buns we speedily became
acquainted. The magistrate is an important man in Ghijiga, and I found
him to be a highly educated gentleman, speaking French and German
fluently, but not English. He examined my papers, and, with the aid of
the supercargo, who interpreted for me, I told him the purpose of my
visit. He made me entirely welcome, and told me that he had received
orders from the Governor-general in Vladivostok to aid me in every way
possible. And he assured me he would gladly do so.
My first object was to reach the town of Ghijiga, which lay
twenty-five miles up the river. Here I intended to make my
headquarters while I explored the country inland and about the head of
the Okhotsk Sea. The magistrate immediately gave orders that a boat be
gotten ready to take me up the river, and five Cossacks were detailed
to haul at the tow-line.
After a hearty breakfast of salmon, reindeer meat, and other good
things, we embarked and started up-stream. The boat was probably the
worst-shaped craft ever constructed. It was made by hollowing out an
eighteen-foot log, after which side boards were attached. As it drew
fully twelve inches of water and was very cranky, one could scarcely
recommend it for river travel. I afterward built three boats which
would carry double the weight of cargo, and which drew only four
inches.
We rowed up-stream a few miles in a northwesterly direction until we
reached the limit of tide-water, and the stream suddenly grew shallow.
The banks were covered with a dense growth of bushes, which at some
places attained a height of twenty feet, but there was no large timber
near at hand. With my field-glasses I saw some fairly heavy timber on
the mountainsides inland. The general aspect of the country was
exceedingly rough. The banks of the river showed outcroppings of
slate, striking east and west, with a pitch to the south of forty-five
degrees. To the southwest, about ten miles away, I saw a long, low
range of hills, perhaps a thousand feet high. The highest point in
this range is called Babuska, which is the Russian for "grandmother."
As we approached the shallows the water became so swift that we could
no longer row, whereupon four of the Cossacks jumped out of the boat
into the icy water. Putting over their shoulders a kind of harness
made of walrus hide, to which was attached a rope of the same
material one hundred feet long, they began towing. The fifth Cossack
held the steering-oar. The shore was too heavily wooded to admit of
using it as a tow-path, and so the poor fellows had to wade in the
water. Frequently, the boat would ground on the shallows, and then
they would patiently come back and haul us over the obstruction. At
noon we landed, built a roaring fire, and imbibed unknown quantities
of tea along with our lunch. Taking to the water again, we kept
steadily, if slowly, on until seven o'clock, when, suddenly turning a
sharp bend, we saw on the hillside, on the left bank, the green spires
of a Russian church around which were grouped about fifty houses. I
noticed that not a single house had a window on the north side. The
severe winds from the north drive all the snow away from that side of
the houses and pile it up against the windows on the south side, so
that they are often buried twelve or fifteen feet deep. Some of the
people are too lazy to dig this away and so have to remain in
comparative darkness; but as the days are only a couple of hours long
in mid-winter, it does not make so much difference.
As we neared the landing all the village, except such portion as had
met the steamer at the mouth of the river, came down _en masse_ to
greet us--dogs, children, and all. They gave us a hearty _drosty_, or
"How do you do?" and treated us most hospitably.
We pitched our tent on a grassy slope near the water and made
preparations for supper. As I was bending over, busy with my work, I
was startled by a hearty slap on the shoulder and the true Yankee
intonation, "Well, friend, what are you doing in this neck of the
woods?" I turned quickly and saw before me a stout, good-natured,
smiling American. I learned that he was a Mr. Powers, manager of the
Russian Trading Company, which had a station at this point. He had
arrived a few days before in the company's steamer, the _Kotic_, and
had brought with him a Russian-American as clerk. The latter was in
process of being married to the daughter of a Mrs. Braggin, the
capable agent of the Russian Fur Company at that point. I say he was
in process of being married; for, although the ceremony had begun the
day before, it would be several days yet before it would be completed.
They literally dragged me up to the house, although I pointed in
dismay at my disreputable suit of khaki. I was too late for the church
service, but was just in time for the more substantial part of the
festivities.
After the service in the church the villagers gather at the bride's
house and spend the balance of the day in feasting, amid the most
uproarious mirth. The second day finishes this act of the play, but
on the third and fourth days the bride and groom make the round of the
village, feasting everywhere. It was on the second day that we
arrived, and before the day was over the groom had gorged himself
about to the limit; and before the next two days had gone he confided
to me the fact that if he had known how much he would be forced to
eat, he would have hesitated before crossing the threshold of
matrimony.
[Illustration: Russian Church, Ghijiga.]
Mrs. Braggin's drawing-room boasted an antiquated upright piano, that
had long passed its prime, but was in fairly good tune for such a
corner of the world. In the course of the evening, as the fun was
growing fast and furious, and there seemed to be no one to play the
instrument, I sat down and struck up the "Washington Post" march; but
before I had played many bars, I was dismayed to find that the
merriment had suddenly ceased and the whole company were standing in
perfect silence, as if rooted to the spot. When I finished nothing
would suffice but that I should exhaust my slender repertory, and then
repeat it all again and again. Evidently, many of those rough but
kindly people had never heard anything like it in their lives, and, as
the Russian is musical to his heart's core, I felt pleased to have
added my mite to the evening's entertainment.
After the four days of feasting, we descended to the plane of the
ordinary. By the aid of Mr. Powers I secured a vacant log hut, where I
bestowed my various goods and appointed old Andrew as steward, making
arrangements for him to board at Mrs. Braggin's. Some of the native
women were easily induced to fit me out with a suit of buckskin which
I should require in traveling about the country. In this whole
district there were but twelve horses. They were Irkutsk ponies,
shaggy fellows, about fourteen hands high. They were very hardy
animals, and could shift for themselves both summer and winter. In the
winter they paw down through the snow until they reach the dead grass.
After nearly exhausting my powers of persuasion, and paying a round
sum, I secured six of these horses. I hired a competent Russian guide
and prepared to take my first trip across the tundra, to examine a
locality where the Russians had reported that gold had been discovered
a few years before. With my horses came little Russian pack-saddles or
rather combinations of pack- and riding-saddles. They have the faculty
of turning with their loads about once an hour all day long. This I
had discovered at Petropaulovsk, but when I expressed my determination
to use my American pack-saddles, I found myself confronted by the
opposition of Russians and natives alike. They viewed my saddles
with amusement and contempt. The double cinches and the breast and
back cinches puzzled them completely, and they refused to have
anything to do with them. As fast as my Koreans would get the packs
on, the Russians would take them off when our backs were turned. I
soon discovered that the Russians were determined to use their own
saddles, and no argument would move them. I unbuckled a Russian saddle
and threw it to the ground, substituting one of my own for it. I
turned to a second horse to do likewise, when, looking over my
shoulder, I saw a Russian quietly unfastening the first. Stepping up
to him, I gave him a slap with the open hand on the jaw. Instantly,
the whole matter assumed a new aspect. I was not to be trifled with.
They saw it. Their objections were at once withdrawn, and never after
that did I have occasion to strike a man.
[Illustration: House in Ghijiga occupied by Mr. Vanderlip and his
Party.]
My guide was an old man of sixty-five, but a noted sledge-driver and
hunter. His name was Theodosia Chrisoffsky, a half-caste. He was a
dried-up and wizened old man, but I found him as active as a youth of
twenty. He was always the first up in the morning, and the last to bed
at night. He owned the best dogs in northeastern Siberia, and could
get more work out of a dog-team than any other man. His reputation
reached from the Okhotsk Sea to the Arctic Ocean, and he was
considered among the dog-men to be about the wealthiest of his class.
He owned a hundred dogs, valued at from three to one hundred roubles
each. Perhaps ten of them were worth the maximum price, and the rest
averaged about ten roubles apiece. He also owned five horses. Not the
least part of his wealth were twelve strapping sons and daughters, all
of whom, with their wives and husbands, lived under the paternal
roof--or, rather, under a clump of paternal roofs. There were some
sixty souls in all, and they formed a little village by themselves
about twenty miles up the river from Ghijiga.
I had to load the horses very light on account of the marshy condition
of the tundra. Each pack was a hundred pounds only. On this trip I
took only one of my Koreans.