Such is the mode of these people. In winter they wear thick fur clothing; but they are careful, for fear of injuring it, to change their dress the moment they enter their yourts, and to put on their worst garments; and upon the most trivial occasions they strip themselves entirely naked.
We felt this day the force of the sun, which announced an approaching thaw. Of consequence I furnished myself with plates of whale-bone to be fastened under the skates of my sledges, in case of necessity; and by the advice of the people of the country, founded on the experience of travellers in this season of the year, I resolved to travel in the night, and to rest in the day, when the sun had most power. I came out of Yamsk at eleven o’clock in the evening, our caravan consisting of nine large sledges, or nartas[47].
At break of day we found ourselves at the foot of a mountain, fifty wersts from Yamsk. The Koriacs have given it the name of Babouschka, or grandmother. The summit, they say, is the tomb of an old sorceress, equally renowned and formidable. My guides maintained that it was the loftiest mountain in this part of the world; but their superstitious fears seem to have magnified it, as, in my opinion, that of Villegui is much steeper, at least I found more difficulty in ascending it. Arrived at the top of the Babouschka, they placed iron cramps under their feet, in the form of small tripods, and fastened, transversely under the sledges, tolerably large sticks, in order to impede the velocity in descending. No farther care was necessary than that of guiding them with the oschtol, or stick pointed with iron, and we came to the bottom without any accident. The inhabitants of the country however consider this descent as dangerous, particularly when the inequalities are filled up with snow, which in that case become so many concealed and inevitable gulphs, and, I am inclined to believe, frequently prove fatal to travellers.
In all probability, the dread which the Koriacs entertain of this Babouschka originated in the following manner. As a natural effect of their prejudice, they feel disposed to acts of gratitude the moment they find themselves out of danger. The Koriacs who attended me were eager to hang up their offering, which consisted of small quantities of tobacco, scraps of fish, pieces of iron, &c. upon the summit where they suppose the sorceress to sleep. Others had left there before them old cramps of iron, knives, arrows, and broken arms. I perceived a Tchouktchi javelin ornamented with ivory, and I advanced to seize it with a view of keeping it, but the cry of my conductors stopped me. “What would you do?” said one of them. “Are you desirous of ruining us? Such a sacrilege would draw down upon us the most dreadful calamities, and you would be unable to pursue your journey.” At this apostrophe I could have laughed in the face of the timid prophet, if I had not stood in need of the succour of these people. To continue to merit it, it was necessary to respect their error, and I assumed therefore a becoming gravity; but no sooner had they turned their backs, than I laid hold of this terrible arrow, as a monument of their absurd credulity.
The first village I came to was Srednoi There is something picturesque in its situation, which is upon the border of the sea, at the entrance of a deep bay that loses itself in the land, by forming the channel of a small river, the water of which is always free from any brackish taste. The Koriacs, who inhabit it, received me with cordiality. I rested myself for a few hours in one of the two yourts, which, with a number of magazines, constitute the whole ostrog. The yourts are constructed like those of the fixed Koriacs, with this difference, that they are not subterraneous, and that the entrance is by a door upon a level with the ground. Muscles abound on these coasts, and are the principal food of the inhabitants.
I came away in the evening with fresh dogs, and travelled eight wersts upon the river Srednoi. The ice, in various places, broke under our sledges, but the hardiness and skill of my guides extricated us from the difficulty. Obliged to go on shore to free the vehicles, they had the precaution to put on their rackets, that they might have a more extensive footing on the ice. But the greatest inconvenience in travelling on this river was occasioned by the slipperiness of the ice; our dogs were unable to support themselves, and fell down every moment one upon another.
Before noon of the 26, we reached the ostrog of Siglann, the last in the Koriac territories, which is upon a river of the same name. It is seventy seven wersts from the preceding, and is neither larger nor more populous. It contains only one yourt, built like those of the Yakoutes, the description of which I shall defer till my arrival with these people. I stayed at Siglann to arrange the skates of our sledges, that is, to fasten plates of whale-bone under them, which the melting of the snow rendered necessary, and I departed at five o’clock in the evening.
I first crossed a bay, called by the name of the village. It was large, and appeared to be well defended, except at the south and south east. The whole coast is of considerable height, and the bay extends so far, that I was eight hours in gaining the western cape. Farther on I found another curvature not less considerable, called the Bay of Ola. In spite of the velocity of our pace, we were ten hours in passing over the widest part of it.
The 27, about three o’clock in the afternoon I stopt at Ola, a Toungouse ostrog, a hundred and fourteen wersts from Siglann. It is situated upon a sandy flat at the mouth of the river Ola, which, widening at this place, affords a small harbour, to the extremity of which the Toungouses retire in the severe weather. They had quitted it two days before, and had taken possession of the ten yourts that make up the village, and in which they reside as long as the warm weather lasts.