[30] It is also that of the Tchouktchis, and before the introduction of Christianity was the system of the Kamtschadales.
[31] They believe also in inferior deities. Some they consider as household gods, the guardians of their rustic habitations. These idols, coarsely carved and blackened with smoke, are hung up in the most conspicuous part of their yourts. They are dressed in the Koriac mode, and adorned with bells, rings, and various other iron and copper trinkets. The other inferior deities they consider as inhabiting mountains, woods, and rivers, which reminds us of the nymphs in the mythology of the ancient Greeks.
[32] I frequently perceived in the course of my journey the remains of dogs and rein deer suspended on stakes, and testifying the devotion of the sacrificers.
[33] I dismissed my conductors of course. I have not yet mentioned the post charges. While I travelled with M. Kasloff, they were defrayed by him, and I did not pay my share, till I came to quit him. The reader is intitled to a note upon the subject, which I shall here give him.
These charges are called in Russia progonn: a courier pays two kopecks per werst for every horse, and other travellers four kopecks. A kopeck is equal to a French sou, or an English halfpenny. In Kamtschatka and Siberia the expence is less by one half, and as dogs are almost invariably made use of in the peninsula, they are charged at so much per podvod, or team of five dogs. Three podvods, or fifteen dogs, are considered as equal to one horse in Siberia, for which a courier pays a kopeck per werst, and other travellers two kopecks.
[34] These compliments do not, as with us, consist of mere ceremony and cold civilities, accompanied with unmeaning words. The assembly is no sooner seated, than brandy is introduced. A domestic distributes three enormous bumpers to every individual, one of which would be sufficient in any other country to make a man give in. Here it is merely a provokative to double and triple the dose. A Koriac toper considers it in no other light, and when it is presented to him, he gives a complacent smile to the whole company, and particularly to the master of the house, to whom also he makes a slight inclination of the head. He then swallows, one upon another, without the least sign of repugnance, three glasses filled as fast as possible. The children drink it with as little aversion. I have seen a child six or seven years old take off one of these glasses, without making a wry face.
To this copious distribution of brandy M. Gaguen never fails to add some presents of iron, stuffs, or tobacco, and carries his attention so far as to consult the taste and wants of each individual. The Tchouktchis, and the fixed Koriacs, are treated with similar kindness. By this means he has gradually tamed these savage minds, and gained an influence and ascendency over them: a poor recompence for the sacrifices he is obliged to make to provide these liberalities, the expence of which falls solely upon himself, and from the dearness of every article in this country, must be a heavy burthen to him.
[35] Sometimes the lower part of this rein is furnished with little sharp pieces of bone, which, with the smallest shock, serve to goad forward the animals that are untractable, and are continually employed for that purpose. In harnessing the rein deer, they are careful not to put on the right the beast that is trained to draw on the left, the sledge would otherwise, instead of advancing, be instantly overturned. This trick, however, the Koriacs frequently play upon the Russians, who they think have treated them ill.
[36] They had indeed quitted the road, but had only dragged me about fifty paces from it.
[37] This proceeding was the more agreeable to me, as being perfectly unexpected. It was the first present that any Koriac had offered me. I should not have observed this, if, as having just quitted the hospitable Kamtschadales who had loaded me with gifts, I had not been tempted to compare the characters of the two people.