The balagans are raised upon nine posts, fixed into the earth in three rows, at equal distances from one another, and about thirteen feet high from the surface. At the height of between nine and ten feet, rafters are passed from post to post, and firmly secured by strong ropes. On these rafters are laid the joists, and the whole being covered with turf, constitutes the platform or floor of the balagan. On this is raised a roof of a conical figure, by means of tall poles, fastened down to the rafters at one end, and meeting together in a point at the top, and thatched over with strong coarse grass. The balagans have two doors placed opposite each other, and they ascend to them by the same sort of ladders they use in the jourts. The lower part is left entirely open; and within it they dry their fish, roots, vegetables, and other articles of winter consumption. The proportion of jourts and balagans, is as one to six; so that six families generally live together in one jourt.
The loghouses (isbas) are raised with long timbers piled horizontally, the ends being let into one another, and the seams caulked with moss. The roof is sloping like that of our common cottage-houses, and thatched with coarse grass or rushes. The inside consists of three apartments. At one end is what may be called the entry, which runs the whole width and height of the house, and is the receptacle of their sledges, harness, and other more bulky gears and household stuff. This communicates with the middle and best apartment, furnished with broad benches, for the purpose, as hath been above-mentioned, of both eating and sleeping upon. Out of this is a door into the kitchen; one half of which is taken up by the oven or fire-place, so contrived, by being let into the wall that separates the kitchen and the middle apartment, as to warm both at the same time. Over the middle apartment and kitchen are two lofts, to which they ascend by a ladder placed in the entry. There are two small windows in each apartment, made of talc, and in the houses of the poorer sort of fish-skin. The beams and boards of the cieling are dubbed smooth with a hatchet (for they are unacquainted with the plane), and from the effects of the smoke are as black and shining as jet.
A town of Kamtschatka is called an ostrog, and consists of several of the three sorts of houses above described; but of which balagans are much the most numerous; and I must observe, that I never met with a house of any kind detached from an ostrog. Saint Peter and Saint Paul consists of seven loghouses, or isbas, nineteen balagans, and three jourts. Paratounca is of about the same size. Karatchin and Natcheekin contain fewer loghouses, but full as many jourts and balagans as the former; from whence I conclude, that such is the usual size of the ostrogs.[87]
[87] Krusenstern's description of the houses and their contents is exactly in proportion to the other parts of his very unfavourable report. Even of two of them, which he says are the very ornament of Kamtschatka, the furniture is represented as most wretchedly deficient. "That of the anti-room consisted merely of a wooden stool, a table, and two or three broken chairs. There was neither earthen-ware nor porcelain table-service; no glasses, decanters, nor any thing else of a similar nature; two or three tea-cups, one glass, a few broken knives and forks, and some pewter spoons, constituted the wealth of the good people (two artillery officers) who were both married. But what most of all distressed me, was the condition of their windows; they had not double sashes, which, in a cold climate, are as necessary to health as to comfort; but such even as they had, were in a very wretched condition. The panes were of glass, but notwithstanding their extreme smallness, they were all of them broken, and made of pieces fitted together. They afforded no protection against the snow and frost; and I could not, without feelings of commiseration, behold the children, who, in no part of the world, are brought up so wretchedly as here." If such were the condition of the best houses, we shall have little reason, for the sake of any pleasure at least, to make any enquiry as to those of an inferior kind, belonging to the other inhabitants. It is perhaps enough then to say in general terms, that they are all ill built, that they are so low, as to be entirely covered up with snow during the winter, and that in consequence of this circumstance, they are throughout that period completely deprived of the fresh air, to which want, and to the badness of their provisions, it is unquestionably with perfect truth that K. ascribes the pallid hue of all the inhabitants, even, as he adds, of the youngest females. The construction of a house at St Peter and St Paul, we are further told, is very expensive, as there is no suitable timber in the neighbourhood of the town, and the people are consequently necessitated to bring it from the interior. It is in this manner that thirty or forty soldiers are employed, when any public building is to be erected. They are sent out under the command of an officer, and for several weeks, during which time, and at imminent risk, they fell the timber, and float it down the rivers. Thus says K., "the whole garrison of Kamtschatka had been occupied during two years in building some barracks for ten or twelve men, nor were they even then completed; and the church, on which they had been several years employed, was in the same predicament!" It is, no doubt, a very natural consequence of such slow procedure, that, before a building is quite finished, some part of it falls to pieces. Some persons have suggested the use of bricks in place of timber, and it seems pretty obvious, from K.'s account, that this is quite practicable. It may well be doubted, however; if either the prejudices or the indolence of the people will yield to the innovation; and much more, indeed, may it be doubted, if the people in fact will ever require more houses than those which already exist. If they should, notwithstanding such weighty evidence as has been adduced to the contrary, the advice which K. has given on the subject, would deserve the serious consideration of the government.--E.
Having already had occasion to mention the dress of the Kamtschadale women, I shall here confine myself to a description of that of the men.
The outermost garment is of the shape of a carter's frock. Those worn in summer are of nankeen; in winter they are made of skins, most commonly of the deer or dog, tanned on one side, the hair being left on the other, which is worn innermost. Under this is a close jacket of nankeen, or other cotton stuffs; and beneath that a shirt of thin Persian silk, of a blue, red, or yellow colour. The remaining part of their dress consists of a pair of tight trowsers, or long breeches, of leather, reaching down to the calf of the leg; of a pair of dog or deer-skin boots, with the hair innermost; and of a fur-cap, with two flaps, which are generally tied up close to the head, but in bad weather are let to fall round the shoulders.
The fur-dress presented to me by a son of Major Behm (as already mentioned), is one of those worn by the Toions, on ceremonious occasions. The form exactly resembles that of the common exterior garment just described. It is made of small triangular pieces of fur, chequered brown and white, and joined so neatly as to appear to be one skin. A border of six inches breadth, wrought with threads of different coloured leather, and producing a rich effect, surrounds the bottom, to which is suspended a broad edging of the sea-otter skin. The sleeves are turned up with the same materials; and there is likewise an edging of it round the neck, and down the opening at the breast. The lining is of a smooth white skin. A cap, a pair of gloves, and boots, wrought with the utmost degree of neatness, and made of the same materials, constitute the remainder of this suit. The Russians in Kamtschatka wear the European dress; and the uniform of the troops quartered here, is of a dark-green, faced with red.
As the people, situated to the north and south of this country are yet imperfectly known, I shall conclude the account of Kamtschatka with such information concerning the Kurile Islands, and the Koreki and Tschutski, as I have been able to acquire.
The chain of islands, running in a S.W. direction from the southern promontory of Kamtschatka to Japan, extending from latitude 51° to 45°, are called the Kuriles. They obtained this name from the inhabitants of the neighbourhood of Lopatka, who being themselves called Kuriles, gave their own name to these islands, on first becoming acquainted with them. They are, according to Spanberg, twenty-two in number, without reckoning the very small ones. The northernmost, called Shoomska, is not more than three leagues from the Promontory Lopatka, and its inhabitants are a mixture of natives and Kamtschadales. The next to the south, called Paramousir, is much larger than Shoomska, and inhabited by the true natives; their ancestors, according to a tradition among them, having come from an island a little farther to the south, called Onecutan. These two islands were first visited by the Russians in 1713, and at the same time brought under their dominion. The others, in order, are at present made tributary, down to Ooshesheer inclusive, as I am informed by the worthy pastor of Paratounca, who is their missionary, and visits them once in three years, and speaks of the islanders in terms of the highest commendation, representing them as a friendly, hospitable, generous, humane race of people, and excelling their Kamtschadale neighbours, not less in the formation of their bodies, than in docility and quickness of understanding. Though Ooshesheer is the southernmost island that the Russians have yet brought under their dominion, yet I understand that they trade to Ooroop, which is the eighteenth; and according to their accounts, the only one where there is a good harbour for ships of burthen. Beyond this, to the south, lies Nadeegsda, which was represented to us by the Russians as inhabited by a race of men remarkably hairy, and who, like those of Ooroop, live in a state of entire independence.[88]
[88] Spanberg places the island here spoken of in 43° 50' N. latitude, and mentions his having watered upon it; and that this watering-party brought off eight of the natives; of whom he relates the following circumstances: That their bodies were covered all over with hair; that they wore a loose striped silk gown, reaching as low as their ankles; and that some of them had silver rings pendant from the ears; that, on spying a live cock on deck, they fell down on their knees before it; and likewise, before the presents that were bronght out to them, closing and stretching forth their hands, and bowing their heads, at the same time, down to the ground; that, except the peculiarity of their hairiness, they resemble the other Kurile islanders in their features and figure, and spoke the same language. The journal of the ship Castricom also mentions this circumstance, of the inhabitants of the country discovered by them, and called Jeso, being hairy all over the body.