Side by side with the finished structures of animal instinct exhibited
in the engraving of the ant hills above, we next give a picture of the
rude huts of the uncivilized inhabitants of Kamtschatka, in their cold
northern home, at the north-eastern extremity of Asia, which is one of
the coldest spots on the face of the earth. It is impossible, in so
severe a climate, to raise wheat, corn, or the common productions of
warmer regions. The people, however, have a compensation for the
scantiness of vegetable productions in the profusion of animal life
which seems to fill alike the earth, the air and the water. The coasts
swarm with seals and other marine animals; the rocks are covered with
shell-fish; the bays abound in herrings, and the rivers with salmon and
other most valuable fish. Flocks of grouse, wild geese and ducks, often
darken the air. The country abounds in bears, which are fat, and greatly
esteemed by the inhabitants as food. From all these sources, the people
are supplied with the greatest abundance; and, as a consequence, they
have sunk into a lazy and almost stupid sensuality. They are a short and
copper-colored race, somewhat like the Esquimaux. Like them, they have
dogs, which they use in sledges, as seen in the engraving. Their winter
houses are half sunk in the earth, while those for summer are elevated
on poles above it.
[Illustration: TAKING A WHALE.]