Indocile and jealous of its liberty, this people had for a long time impatiently brooked the idea of being tributary to Russia. The severe administration of the governors was accused by this savage tribe as being a tyrannical abuse of power; and doubtless, among the numerous subaltern officers there were many who felt no compunction in harassing these new subjects of the empress.
Simeon Oumiavin was the first whose indignation was roused. More enraged at the obduracy of these extortioners, than at what was taken for them, it was impossible, he said, they could be authorised by a sovereign whose justice and lenity were incessantly vaunted. This judicious reflexion made the strongest impression upon his mind, and awakened all his natural courage. Immediately assembling a few of his countrymen, who, like himself, were victims of the iniquity of these petty tyrants, he communicated to them his suspicions, and his design.
“My brethren,” said he, “do you feel the weight of your chains? Were you born to wear them, to be the prey of these avaricious rulers, whose rapacity, abusing every day the power entrusted to them, leads them to regard us as a property which they may squander at their pleasure? How do we hope to deliver ourselves from this scourge? We cannot have recourse to arms; we are too weak; and new and more formidable enemies would spring up from the ashes of the dead. But we dare pass the immense tract of country which they traversed to come to us; we dare carry our complaints to the palace of our sovereign. It is in her name, but not by her order, that we are harassed, that we are robbed. The mildness of her government gives the lie to such injurious treatment, such perfidies. Her licentious ministers are the most forward to boast of its lenity. Let us go in person to claim it, throw ourselves at her feet, and declare our grievances. She is our common mother, and will not turn a deaf ear to the cries of a part of her subjects, of whom she can have no knowledge but from the false accounts of her wicked agents.”
This speech, which I have reported nearly as it was delivered to me by Oumiavin, inspired every mind with the indignation and enthusiasm of its author. It was a zealous contest among them who should go to Petersburg. Meanwhile the most wealthy and intrepid were selected for the office. Oumiavin, from his ability to speak with tolerable readiness the Russian language, had the honour of being placed at the head of the deputation, and they departed, furnished with a variety of valuable articles which were intended as presents. Arrived at Okotsk, our travellers stood in need of succour. They applied to the governor, intreating him to supply them with the means of gaining Irkoutsk at least. He had got some intelligence of their design, and foreseeing its danger, took measures to prevent it. Under the specious pretext of first obtaining the consent of the governor general, he detained them several months. During this interval, he employed every means to seduce them. Reasonings, intreaties, kindness, every thing was resorted to; but nothing could dissuade them from continuing their journey; they were inflexible. Violence was then made use of; a thousand snares were spread for them; it was easy for monopoly and persecution to create wrongs; and as a punishment, they were constrained to return, with the shame and mortification of having sacrificed to no purpose the greatest part of their wealth, and their deer.
This melancholy experience discouraged not the chief of the Koriac confederacy; it was in his eyes an additional proof of the utility of his design, and the necessity of executing it. From this moment he treasured up the remembrance of it, hoping that more fortunate circumstances would one day offer. At the time of my visit, his heart was still inflamed with the desire of undertaking this expedition. “Yes,” said he, “in spite of my age, I would set off this moment. My motive indeed would be different, and I should no longer have the same obstacles to fear, as our present governors are entitled to our confidence and praises. My ambition would be to see my sovereign. I endeavour sometimes to form an idea of her splendid palace, and the wealth and variety with which it abounds, and it revives my regret at not having been permitted to behold her in all her magnificence and glory. We should have considered her as a divinity, and the faithful account we should have given to our countrymen, would have filled every heart with respect and submission. Influenced still more forcibly by love, than we had before been by fear, we should cheerfully have paid every tribute imposed by moderation. We should have taught our neighbours to venerate her government, by making them the witnesses of our satisfaction and gratitude.”
Almost my whole conversation with this honest Koriac was of this nature. I considered myself as bound to transcribe it in this place, to give the fuller description of his character. I beg leave to add another anecdote.
The expences he had incurred had nearly ruined him. A considerable time was necessary to repair his flock, which, from the neglect and infidelity of the keepers, had during his absence fallen into decay. It was at this very moment that he gave a striking proof of his generosity. One of his relations had some months before lost all his deer, and was reduced to servitude. Simeon Oumiavin came to his assistance, and made up for him a small flock which he lent him without interest. On his return from his fatal embassy, he refused to take it back, because it was not yet sufficiently augmented to leave his friend wherewith to support himself.
Their deer is the only source of riches to this wandering people. The chief of a horde has seldom less than two or three hundred, and many of them have three or four thousand. Oumiavin’s flock amounted, when I was with him, to about eight or nine hundred, the view of which afforded me very great pleasure.
This multitude of deer are seen on the top of a mountain, near the Stoudenaïa-reka, sometimes collected, and sometimes scattered, seeking under the snow for moss. It is seldom that any of them wander from the flock, and they are always caught without difficulty. On the evening of my arrival I had an opportunity of enjoying this spectacle. They had been assembled in order to select what were necessary for my use, which required only a quarter of an hour. Upon a particular cry of their keepers, the tame deer came towards us. The young ones, and those which are unaccustomed to, or exempt from, labour, go off in a different direction. The slow and the restive ones were next separated from the rest, and those that were wanted were easily caught by means of a running noose which they threw over them with singular dexterity. The choice being made, they separated those destined for my use, and which if they had not been detained by force, would speedily have gone to rejoin the rest.