would have any weight with the Tchoukchis, I felt myself disposed to join my intreaties to hers, and I had the satisfaction to perceive that they were not nugatory.

The other woman told me that she was by birth a Tchoukchi. In her infancy she had been taken by the Russians upon the river Anadir, and carried to Yakoutsk, where they had given her the best education in their power. She afterwards married a soldier, by whom she was in a few years left a widow. At length, by order of government, she was sent back to her own country with her children, to render an account of the obligations that she owed to the Russians. It had been recommended to her to give the minutest details to the Tchoukchis, even such as lived to the greatest distance[13], and insinuate to them the innumerable advantages they might derive from establishing a safe and peaceable commerce with the Russians.

This woman spoke the Russian, the Yakout, and the Tchoukchi languages with equal facility. She told me, that the little knowledge she derived from her education, had gained her a sort of credit with her compatriots; that she had already taken advantage of her ascendancy over their minds, to destroy several of their prejudices; and she flattered herself that by degrees they would be taught to see their interest in its true light. Her hopes were chiefly founded upon the character of this people, which she assured me was perfectly generous, hospitable, mild, and preferable in every respect to that of the Koriacs.

The conversation of these women had so engrossed my attention, that I was in the camp of the Tchoukchis before I perceived it. Their joy at seeing me was extreme, and I was surrounded in an instant. They all addressed themselves to me at once, to prevail on me to spend the night with them. I had no sooner answered that it was my intention, than they saluted me with new transports and huzzas. I ordered my tent to be erected at the extremity of the camp, and while it was performing I invited the chiefs to visit me. Eager to accept my invitation, they could not wait till I had entered my tent, and I found a more numerous assembly than it could contain.

After the first compliments were over, we entered into conversation, mutually desirous of receiving information. We talked in a summary way of our respective countries, manners, and customs; and the questions they asked me were nearly similar to those of Tummé and his companions. They expressed their submission to Russia, their desire of forming an alliance with that country by means of a commercial intercourse, and of seeing the establishment upon the Anadir revived. They then entered into particulars upon the motives of their journey. Their principal inducement was to visit some relations who had intermarried with the Russians, and settled at Ingiga. They had also, it was probable, some commercial project in view, though from their own account, attachment to their countrymen was their only motive; and in reality, this patriotic sentiment was visible I thought in their attention to this Tchoukchi woman, and the caresses they bestowed upon her children.

They frequently entreated me to banish all distrust from my mind, and to rely upon their friendship. They seemed to suppose that I partook of the reserve which the Russians discovered in their intercourse with them; but not having the same reasons to fear them, I was a stranger to suspicion. I wished them to understand this by my answer, which was, that being unwilling to offend any individual I might meet with in my way, I imagined that no one would be desirous of incommoding me, particularly in the midst of a nation whose civility and rectitude were already known to me. This mode of reasoning pleased them, and they appeared to be flattered by my security. I conceived of course that I ought to conceal my arms, and reject the proposal made by my soldiers of placing a centinel before my tent.

I distributed tobacco to the most distinguished of these Tchoukchis, and afterwards treated them with tea and rye biscuit. Their chief, or prince, named Chegouiaga, of the same rank and authority as Tummé, two of his relations, and the two women who served as interpreters, supped with me. The repast was perfectly frugal but very gay, and my guests were as well pleased as if they had fared ever so sumptuously. The necessity of taking rest obliged us to separate.

As soon as I was alone, I embraced the opportunity of writing down the notes with which their conversation and my own observations had furnished me.

The camp of these Tchoukchis was pitched upon the border of the river, by the side of their equipages, and at the back of the wood which I mentioned. It contained about a dozen tents ranged in a line along the bank. They were of a square form, and made of rein deer skin, suspended by leathern straps to four poles erected at the four corners. Bundles of spears and arrows, fixed in the snow before every tent, seem to guard the entrance[14], which is very low, and shuts hermetically. The tents are extremely hot. The partitions and the covering being made of deer skin, the air cannot penetrate, and there is besides a stove in the middle of each of them. The bed resembles that of the Kamtschadales when they halt, and consists of small branches of trees spread on the snow like litter, and covered with deer skins. Here a whole family will lie down and sleep together without distinction of age or sex. The space is so narrow that it is astonishing how so many people can crowd into it. The air and filthiness occasioned by it are insupportable; let it suffice to say, that they feel no disgust at seeing their food and their drink close to the most offensive objects, for no words can describe the excess of their indolence.

Among these Tchoukchis, whose number amounted to about forty, there were fifteen or sixteen women[15], and nearly as many children, who are employed in preparing the tents and provisions. Every principal person has valets in his service to take care of the deer, and guard them during the night from the wolves with which these coasts abound.

The dress of the women is very remarkable. It consists of a single deer skin that is fastened round the neck, where it has an opening both before and behind, and which descends in the shape of large breeches below the knee. This garment is put on by means of the opening at the neck, and there is no other way of taking it off but by loosening the strings which tie it under the chin, when it instantly falls from the body, and leaves the woman naked. The inconvenience of this habit may easily be imagined, from the frequent necessity there must be of divesting themselves of it. When they travel, they wear a kouklanki over their common dress, and their feet have no other covering than boots made of the legs of rein deer. Their hair is of a deep black. Sometimes it is turned up in tufts behind, but it is oftener separated upon the forehead, and