that is, in a kind of alcove reserved for the chief of the family. His
was a very numerous one, nearly eighty persons living with him in this
yourt. They had all deserted it upon the report of my arrival, and were
still about my people, so that I was alone to contend with three or
four companions or relations of Youltitka, who surrounded me, thrusting
their noses almost in my face. Supposing themselves to be adepts in
the Russian language, because they were able to murder a few words,
they asked me, in turn, a variety of questions, each more absurd than
the preceding. My situation dictated politeness, and I answered them
with mildness and precision. I thus passed an hour in the midst of
these savage figures, truly calculated to inspire dread, particularly
that of their chief[17]. My soldier did not make his appearance, and
I began to be uneasy. Upon a motion which I made to come out, these
Koriacs placed themselves before me. One of them caught hold of my arm
to make me sit down, asking me if I wanted to escape. I endeavoured to
look as stoutly as I could, but I confess my heart palpitated. I again
took my seat; and in spite of the alteration which they might perceive
in my face, I replied, that I did not imagine I had any reason to fear
them. Youltitka then endeavoured to excite my confidence. He swore that
he had the highest esteem for me, and that I was in perfect safety.
His past conduct, he added, might have given me reason to suspect his
character, but he considered it as a point of honour to set me right.
Proud of having been received among the judges of the tribunal of
Ingiga[18], he valued his reputation too much to suffer any one to
treat me ill in his presence.
I knew my man too well to place any faith in these asseverations,
and I considered myself as happy that he dared not do what was in his
power, and probably what was in his heart. I hastened therefore to quit
the yourt, upon the pretext of seeking for my people, and giving them
orders for dinner. I could not however rid myself of this treacherous
Koriac. He persisted in accompanying me. Every word I uttered seemed to
alarm him. Not understanding the Russian language, he immediately asked
the meaning of what I said, and watched all my motions with singular
attention.
I found my people occupied in bartering the bad dogs they had left,
for furs, and articles of dress made of rein deer-skin. Their avarice
had made them forgetful of what I had recommended to them, and the
danger in which they had left me; but I concealed my displeasure on
account of my witnesses. I again descended the yourt, accompanied
by Youltitka and my two soldiers, who began immediately to prepare
our dinner. The women assisted them in cleaning the dishes[19]; and
with the help of brandy, good humour gradually succeeded to fears and
distrust. Our repast was very jovial, and I frequently endeavoured
to imitate my guests in their loud peals of laughter, outrageous
expression of sentiment being the only thing that pleases them. The
dinner being finished, I sent one of my soldiers to order the dogs
to be harnessed, a part of which was a fresh supply. My provisions
were also ready, and in ten minutes I was prepared to take leave of
my Koriacs. They appeared to be satisfied with me; I know not whether
they were really so, but I acknowledge as to myself that I was glad to
escape from them, and I set off therefore as quick as possible.
It was only two o’clock in the afternoon; but I conceived that I
ought to make up for the forced delay I had experienced, and did not
therefore halt till I was fifteen wersts from Pareiné.
This day and the next, which was the 30, afforded nothing that was
worth reciting. I crossed a variety of rivers, not one of which was
considerable, but there were a few shrubs on the banks of some of them.
Upon leaving Pareiné I had quitted the sea, and should see no more of
it on this side of Ingiga, of consequence we had no chance of procuring
dry wood, which we sometimes found while we travelled upon the coast.
This was a considerable loss to us, from the necessity to which it
reduced us of gathering every little shrub we could perceive, and the
fear that even this paltry resource might fail us.
For a long time my principal food had been rein deer. Delicious
as this meat is, there is I believe none of which one is so soon
tired. The worst circumstance however was, that our stock began to be
exhausted. We only eat of it once a day; our other meals consisted of
dried fish and the flesh of the sea wolf boiled. I was highly gratified
this day by a brace of partridges, which I had the good fortune to
kill, and which were added to my table. This gave an agreeable relief
to the tedious uniformity of my daily food.
The day was beautiful, and a clear sky seemed to promise us colder
weather, which was what we wished, the snow being so soft that our dogs
sunk to their bellies. To open a way for them, each of us was obliged
to run before with our rackets. The hope that the next day would afford
us better travelling, animated my guides, and we made tolerable speed.
It was late when we stopped at a place that was not at all sheltered;
there was no wood except a sort of dwarf cedar, resinous, crooked, and
grovelling.
Before I retired to my tent, I perceived at the horizon some
ill-boding clouds. I had been sufficiently habituated to the climate
to be able to judge of the weather from the most trivial appearances,
and I communicated my conjectures to my guides. They considered
their knowledge in this respect as infinitely superior to mine, and
replied, that the setting sun had been too beautiful to give us any
reason to apprehend foul weather. According to their own account they
were never deceived, and I might implicitly rely upon their judgment.
Upon reflection I was not sorry to find them in this security, as it
relieved me from the fear of being constrained by them to pass the day
in this place, which would not be tenable against the first gust of
wind.
As soon as it was light I was waked by one of my guides, who, in a
tone of raillery, came to hasten my departure, that we might not lose
the advantage of the fine day we were likely to have. The moon still
shone, and the sky was without a cloud. While I was at breakfast, as
usual, upon tea and rye biscuit, which my people had reserved for me,
willing rather to want it themselves than that I should be without it,
they questioned me one after another respecting the weather. It was a
contest who should banter me most. I persevered however in my opinion,
desiring them to wait till the evening before they judged whether I was
right or wrong in prognosticating a storm.
We had scarcely broke up our camp, when we perceived at some distance
a company consisting of five Koriac sledges, drawn by rein deer. Our
dogs, allured by the scent of these animals, advanced towards them with
astonishing ardour. The nearer we approached, the more these Koriacs
seemed to avoid us. I imagined at first that it was the natural effect
of their distrust, but the cry and eagerness of our dogs, soon told
me what was the source of their terror. They would infallibly have
rushed upon them if they had been more at liberty. I ordered my guides
therefore to halt. The difficulty was to restrain our steeds, which
we did not effect without considerable exertion. We then endeavoured
by signs to make the Koriacs understand that we were desirous of a
moment’s conversation with them. They appeared to hold a consultation,
and after a few minutes one of their company was dispatched to us.
He stopped about three hundred yards from us, and desired us in like
manner by signs to send also one of our body, and particularly to keep
back our dogs. I ordered one of my soldiers to go with his rackets to
meet this Koriac, and to ask him whence they came, whither they were
bound, if they knew any thing relative to M. Kasloff, and what distance
they imagined us to be from Ingiga.
In the course of half an hour my messenger came back with the following
information. These people were wandering Koriacs, returning to their
families from Ingiga, where they had been to see their friends and
sell their deer skins. They had heard they thought of a supply of dogs
and provisions being sent a short time since to the governor-general,
but they could give us no certain intelligence. Their account of our
distance from Ingiga corresponded with the opinion of my guide, whom I
had just before interrogated upon the subject, in consequence of a new
debate between my people and me. It originated thus.
While we waited the return of the soldier, I observed some clouds
pass rapidly over our heads, the form and direction of which confirmed
me in the idea that we were threatened by an approaching tempest. My
confidential soldier, Golikoff, had been equally incredulous with the
rest, and readily defended the contrary opinion; in the mean time he
agreed that at present there was every appearance that my predictions
would be verified; he had even mentioned me, he said, to the Koriacs,
as a prophet in this respect, and he should be sorry to see me mistaken
in the very first instance, and lose my credit.
This simple avowal was the more diverting to me, as my conductors were
witnesses to it. It suggested to me the desire of amusing myself in my
turn with their ignorant simplicity. The opportunity was favourable.
I repeated, that in two hours at latest, they would be convinced of
my knowledge, but that it was first necessary I should be informed
whether we should meet with any place of shelter in our way. One of
them answered me in the negative. “Till we came to the river Ingiga, we
had to traverse an immense and naked plain, where the eye could merely
discern a few inequalities, occasioned by the soil, or the snow drifted
by the hurricanes, and congealed by the frost.” This intelligence
embarassed me, apprehensive that we should be compelled to return for
shelter to a little wood which we had just passed. We were scarcely
half a league from it, but the obstinacy of my guides in support of the
opinion that we had nothing to fear, removed the difficulty. Imboldened
by their supposed experience, they were desirous that we should
proceed. I agreed with them, hoping to arrive at Ingiga in the evening.
To execute my project with greater certainty, I intended to have
recourse to my compass, which would be a sufficient guide in the
midst of the whirlwinds. I asked therefore, the most intelligent of
my conductors in what direction Ingiga lay, and he made it known to
me immediately by pointing out at a great distance a mountain, the
summit of which seemed to be lost in the clouds. “The town,” said he,
“is a little on this side, and in the same line. We are as yet fifty
or fifty-five wersts from it.” I interrupted him to examine in what
point of the compass it was, and to calculate with my watch the pace
we travelled. From the time we sat out we had gone at the rate of six
or seven wersts an hour, but I considered that the hurricane would
considerably impede us, and I counted therefore only upon three wersts.
It was now six o’clock in the morning, and according to my calculation,
I hoped to be at Ingiga before midnight. I learned also from my guide,
that to gain the river which led to the town, it was first necessary
that we should arrive at a very large forest through which it flowed. I
was satisfied. The immense extent of this wood to the right and left,
convinced me that we could not lose ourselves or miss finding it.
Having taken these precautions, I told my people that I desired
nothing better than to proceed, and that I was resolved not to stop,
whatever might happen. I recommended to them to inform me when they
thought that they had lost their way, and I would then set them right.
The seriousness with which I gave this order, confounded them; they
looked at each other with an air of astonishment, not daring to tell
me in plain terms that I was out of my senses. The most intrepid of
them however, addressed himself to me, and represented, that having
never passed this way, it was impossible I could undertake to guide
them, without running the risk of entirely losing them, and that I was
certainly in jest. I made no other reply than ordering every one to his
sledge, threatening to punish whoever should disobey, and I immediately
gave the signal to depart.
At half after eight we had advanced fifteen wersts, and according to
my estimate had only forty remaining; but the horizon had been for
almost an hour covered with dark clouds. We saw the tempest gradually
approach, and the wind began to raise the snow in eddies. My companions
were silent. Terror acted upon them almost as strongly as their
confusion, and they knew no longer where they were. The hurricane soon
attacked us with a violence that deranged several of our sledges.
By dint of vociferation we rallied them. My conductors confessed
themselves conquered, and conjured me to halt, though we were in the
open country. Blinded by the wind, which blew in their faces, they were
afraid of misleading us.
I reminded them of my promise, and persisted in wishing to go on. I
ordered that all the sledges should keep as close as possible together,
that we might be informed of the least accident that should happen, and
be able to assist one another. Then, by means of my compass, which I
had fastened under my fur cloak, that it might be continually before
my eyes, I began the office of directing our caravan. We travelled in
this order during the rest of the day, and I might say in the midst
of darkness, for I could not see the soldier who was in the sledge
immediately behind me, and scarcely his foremost dogs.
About seven o’clock in the evening, weary of the complaints and
remonstrances of my people, who continually requested me to stop, and
judging beside that we could not be more than five or six wersts from
the wood, I assured them that if we did not reach it by nine o’clock,
we would go no farther that night; unless when arrived at the wood
and the river, they preferred going on, as we should be so near to
Ingiga; but that they should be at liberty to do as they pleased. This
condition appeared to pacify them; not because they imagined themselves
to be so far advanced, on the contrary, they probably considered
themselves as out of the road, and only wished to repose themselves,
that with the advantage of day-light they might recover it again.
At a quarter before nine a kind of dark veil began to be perceptible
before us. As we drew nearer, it became blacker and more extensive.
The next moment my conductors cried out that they could see the trees,
and that they were safe. It was in reality the forest of Ingiga. I
sent them a little way on to examine it, and they presently returned
transported with joy to tell me that we were close to the river.
The respectful tone with which they delivered themselves diverted
me extremely. After thanking me for having guided them so well, the
Koriac asserted that none of their chamans had ever performed any
thing so miraculous. To have predicted the bad weather, at a time
when every thing seemed in their eyes to promise the very reverse; to
have been afterwards able to guide and preserve them in the midst of
this _pourga_[20], was a sagacity, in his opinion, supernatural. The
gratitude of the rest of my company was almost equally absurd. They
could not recover themselves from their astonishment. It was in vain
I showed them my compass, and endeavoured to explain to them how I
derived from it all my knowledge; they replied, that such a conjuring
book was unintelligible except to persons like me, skilled in the art
of magic.
At so short a distance from Ingiga, I was fully assured they would
no longer be desirous of stopping; each of them was anxious to see
his wife, and embrace his children. So far were they from accepting
my proposal to pitch our tent and pass the night in the wood, that
they importuned me to gain the river, and they engaged in three hours
to reach the town. I complied, and we coasted along the bank till we
arrived opposite to Ingiga, where it was necessary to cross the river,
which passed close to the walls. The ice was sufficiently firm, but the
violence of the wind had covered it with water, so that our feet were
very wet.
At the gates of the town I answered the interrogatories usual in
fortified places, and was obliged to wait till a report was made to the
governor. Having long received intelligence that I was on my way, major
Gaguen had the civility to come immediately to welcome me, and offer
me his house. I entered Ingiga the 31, exactly at half after eleven
o’clock.
This town is the largest and most populous I have yet seen. It is
situated upon a river of the same name, thirty wersts from its mouth,
and is defended by a square inclosure of palisades, the height and
thickness of which surprised me, and by wooden bastions, erected on
piles, at the four angles. These bastions are provided with cannon, and
contain a variety of warlike stores. They are guarded day and night
by centinels[21], as are also the three gates of the town, of which
one only is open. There is a small square, before the house of the
governor, and a guard, stationed on one side of this square, defends it
from attack. I was equally struck with the houses. They are of wood,
and very low, but have all a regular front, and are evidently built
upon one plan. M. Gaguen intends by degrees to give this uniformity to
the whole town. The isbas that have been constructed since his arrival,
besides a pleasant appearance, have all the conveniences on the inside
that such habitations will admit of. He has it in contemplation also to
rebuild the church, which is a wretched edifice, and almost in ruins.
The population amounts to about five or six hundred inhabitants, who
are either merchants, or in the service of government. The latter are
most numerous, and form the garrison of the place. They are kept under
the severest discipline, which is indispensible, from the frequent
occasion there is to defend themselves. The circumspection and zeal of
the governor in this respect cannot be surpassed. Their tribunals are
the same with those of Nijenei Kamtschatka.
The commerce of Ingiga consists of furs, and particularly the skins of
rein deer. It is in general superior to Kamtschatka both in the variety
and quality of its skins. It is true that we get the otter and sea
wolf-skin from that peninsula, but the sables of Ingiga are much finer,
though they are at the same time scarcer. The Kamtschadales besides
have no common martens[22], rabbits, or American rats, called _rissei_,
which the Koriacs get by means of exchange from the neighbouring
Tchoukchis, and which they bring to Ingiga with their rein deer-skins.
These deer-skins are sold in their raw state, and at a very good price.
They are afterwards tanned and manufactured with such surprising art,
that the laborious activity of the workmen supersede the necessity
of instruments invented by European industry. The skill and beauty
of their work can only be surpassed by its durableness. Gloves and
stockings come from their hands in a state of perfection. Their sewings
and embroideries are wrought with the hair of the rein deer, with silk,
and with gold, and would do credit to our most skillful glovers.
But it is time I should speak of the customs of the Koriacs. I have
only deferred my account so long that I might be more minute. To the
imperfect observations which I have myself made in passing through
their different ostrogs, I shall add others that are more exact, and
derived from unquestionable authority. In my conversations with M.
Gaguen and the principal inhabitants, I endeavoured to derive some
light upon the subject; but my chief source of information was a
Koriac, whom I shall here introduce to the reader.
My first acquaintance with him was at Kaminoi. Struck with the
civilities which M. Schmaleff bestowed upon him, I was curious to know
the rank and situation of this personage. He was, they informed me, a
_zassédatel_, or Ingiga judge, and was come to meet us to offer us his
services. The facility with which he expressed himself in the Russian
language, and the rectitude of his mind charmed me. I should have taken
him for a Russian, if I had not heard him a moment after speak his
native tongue. I understood also that he was a Koriac prince, called
_Oumiavin_, and brother to one of the chiefs of the wandering Koriacs.
Curiosity led me to ask him a thousand questions. He answered with
a shrewdness and sagacity that I had not observed in any of his
countrymen. The being able to talk with him without the assistance
of an interpreter, rendered his conversation more valuable, and
during my short stay at Kaminoi it was a source of instruction and
amusement to me. Of the various topics upon which we discoursed,
that of religion was the most interesting. Though equally informed
respecting the Russian and the Koriac mode of worship, he in reality
professed neither. He seemed disposed however to be baptized, and only
waited till he was better instructed upon certain points which he did
not comprehend. Full of admiration at the sublimity of the Christian
morals, and the majestic pomp of its external worship, he acknowledged
that nothing could give him a greater desire to become a convert to
it; but the imperious severity of some of our religious rites[23],
the uncertainty of celestial happiness, and particularly the idea of
a God threatening eternal torments, filled him with inquietude and
dismay. With all its visions and all its absurdities, the religion of
his country, he said, offered him at least more hope than fear; its
punishments were confined to the present world, and it promised him a
recompence in the next; the evil spirit could only torment him during
his life, and happiness awaited him at his death. Agitated by these
considerations, his mind floated in continual doubt and perplexity.
He dared neither abjure, nor continue stedfast in the faith of his
fathers. He blushed at its errors, yet his heart cherished them.
The simplicity with which he avowed his irresolution, interested me
the more, as I could discover in his conversation and in his heart,
an uncommon fund of virtue, and a singular love of truth. To fix
his wavering mind, it would have been first necessary to clear away
the prejudices that obscured it, and which had originated from the
false principles that he had imbibed. Any other person would perhaps
have undertaken the talk. I was deterred from it by the fear of not
succeeding in my attempt, from the short time I should be able to spend
with him. He arrived at Ingiga the day after me, as he had promised,
and rendered me very considerable services by his endeavour to furnish
all the information respecting his country that I desired, and to
supply me with what I wanted for the continuance of my journey.
There is in many respects a great resemblance between the fixed and
the wandering Koriacs: we cannot therefore but wonder at the little
cordiality, or rather at the misunderstanding that subsists among
them, on account of which they may be considered as two different
people. Their country however is the same, and takes in a vast extent,
terminated to the south by the peninsula of Kamtschatka, and the gulf
of Pengina; to the east by the country of the Oluterians; to the north
by that of the Tchoukchis, and to the west by the Toungouses, the
Lamouts, and the Yakouts.
It is confidently asserted that this country was formerly very
populous, but that the small-pox had made very considerable ravages.
I doubt whether it has carried off more of the inhabitants than their
frequent contests with their neighbours and with the Russians. The
number of fixed Koriacs scarcely exceeds at present nine hundred; and
though it is not easy to calculate that of the wandering Koriacs, it is
imagined that they do not much surpass this amount.
The manners of the former are the reverse of estimable, and are a
mixture of duplicity mistrust, and avarice. They have all the vices of
the northern nations of Asia, without the virtues. Robbers by nature,
they are suspicious, cruel, incapable either of benevolence or pity. To
procure the least service from them, it is first necessary to offer,
and even to give them some recompence. Nothing but presents can excite
their attention, or rouse their activity[24].
From this perfidious and savage disposition, it would not be easy for
them to live in peace, or form any durable ties with their neighbours.
So unsociable a spirit must also give them an abhorrence of all foreign
dominion. Hence their continual insurrection against the Russians,
their atrocious robberies, their daily incursions on the people who
surround them; hence the respective animosities and revenge that
incessantly spring up.