Lieutenant Bove's Account of an Excursion to Najtskaj and Tjapka.
"On the 19th April, at 4 o'clock A.M. the hunter Johnsen and I started on a short excursion eastward along the coast, with a view to pay a visit to the much frequented fishing station Najtskaj, where our old friends from Pitlekaj had settled. We had a little sledge which we ourselves drew, and which was laden with provisions for three days and some meteorological and hydrographical instruments.
"At 6 o'clock A.M. we reached Rirajtinop, where we found Notti, a serviceable, talented, and agreeable youth. The village Rirajtinop, which formerly consisted of a great many tents, now had only one tent, Notti's, and it was poor enough. It gave the inhabitants only a slight protection against wind and cold. Among household articles in the tent I noticed a face-mask of wood, less shapeless than those which according to Whymper's drawings are found among the natives along the river Youcon, in the territory of Alaska, and according to Dr. Simpson among the West-Eskimo. I learned afterwards that this mask came from Päk, Behring's Straits, whither it was probably carried from the opposite American shore.
"The village Irgunnuk lies from three to four hundred metres from Rirajtinop, and consists of five tents, one of which two days before had been removed from Yinretlen. The tents are as usual placed on earthy eminences, and have if possible the entrance a couple of paces from some steep escarpment, manifestly in order that the door opening may not be too much obstructed with snow. I reckon the population of Irgunnuk at forty persons.
"Off this village the ice is broken up even close to the land into torosses, five to six metres high, which form a chain which closely follows the shore for a distance of five to six hundred metres to the eastward. The coast from Irgunnuk to Najtskaj runs in a straight line, is low, and only now and then interrupted by small earthy eminences, which all bear traces of old dwellings. Each of these heights has its special name: first Uelkantinop, then Tiumgatti, and lastly Tiungo, two miles west of Najtskaj. In the neighbourhood of Uelkantinop we were overtaken by a reindeer-Chukch, who accompanied us to Najtskaj in order there to purchase fish and seal-blubber. At noon we reached Najtskaj, where our arrival had been announced by a native, who, with his dog-team, had driven past us on the way. Accordingly on our entrance we were surrounded by the youth of the village, who deafened us with then unceasing cries for bread (kauka), tobacco, ram, &c. After some moments the begging urchins were joined both by women and full-grown men. We entered a tent, which belonged to a friend or perhaps relation of Notti. There we were very well received. In the same tent the reindeer-Chukch also lodged who had given us his company on the way. He went into the sleeping chamber, threw himself down there, took part in the family's evening meal, all almost without uttering a word to the hostess, and the next morning he started without having saluted the host. Hospitality is here of a peculiar kind. It may perhaps be expressed thus To-day I eat and sleep in your tent, to-morrow you eat and sleep in mine; and accordingly, as far as I saw, all, both rich and poor, both those who travelled with large sledges, and those who walked on foot, were received in the same way. All are sure to find a corner in the tent-chamber.
"The tent-chamber, or yaranga, as this part of the tent is called by the natives, takes up fully a third-part of the whole tent, and is at the same time work-room, dining-room, and sleeping chamber. Its form is that of a parallelepiped; and a moderately large sleeping chamber has a height of 1.80 metre, a length of 3.50, and a breadth of 2.20 metres. The walls are formed of reindeer skin with the hair inwards, which are supported by a framework of posts and cross-bars. The floor consists of a layer of grass undermost, on which a walrus skin is spread. The grass and the skin do not form a very soft bed, yet one on which even a tried European wanderer may find rest. The interior of the sleeping-chamber is lighted and warmed by lamps, whose number varies according to the size of the room. A moderately large chamber has three lamps, the largest right opposite the entrance, the two others on the cross walls. The lamps are often made of a sort of stone, which is called by the natives ukulschi. They have the form of a large ladle. The fuel consists of train-oil, and moss is used for the wick. These lamps besides require constant attention, because half-an-hour's neglect is sufficient to make them smoke or go out. The flame is at one corner of the lamp, whose moss wick is trimmed with a piece of wood of the shape shown in the drawing. The lamp rests on a foot, and it in its turn in a basin. In this way every drop of oil that may be possibly spilled is collected. If there is anything that this people ought to save, it is certainly oil, for this signifies to them both light and heat. In the roof of the bedchamber some bars are fixed over the lamps on which clothes and shoes are hung to dry. The lamps are kept alight the whole day, during night they are commonly extinguished, as otherwise they would require continual attention. Some clothes and fishing implements, two or three reindeer skins to rest upon—these are the whole furniture of a Chukch tent.
