A Strange People.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 12, Issue 27, 5 April 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

A Strange People.

(“ Daiily Telegraph.’’) Mr. Harry cle Windt ha.s lately reached London on hie return from the ►Siberian chores of Behring Straits, To a representative of Reuter’s Agency, who called upon him on his arrival, Air. de Windt gave the following information regarding the Tchuktchis people “ The inhabitants of the Alaskan or American shore of Behring Straits,” said the explorer, “ are totally different in appearance, customs, and language from those of the Asiatic coast. The former are honest and kindly, the latter the lowest types of humanity I have ever met. The Tehuktchis or Siberian natives are physically a far liner race than the Alaskan Eskimo. Their women, too, are better looking, but the Tehuktchis are wholly devoid of morality, and will barter a wife for a handful of tobacco. Infidelity is no crime. At night lime the interior of their huts was highly suggestive of scenes from Dante’s Inferno. Every breath of air was excluded, and two or three smoky seal oil lamps (for heat) revealed scenes too terrible to describe. “ The Tchuktchi women never drink, but as the daylight gradually left us the drunken orgies of the men grew more frequent. Although Kaori (the chief) had received stores value 300dol. to put us on our way to Anadyish, en route for St. Petersburg, ail our stores were seized and buried four days after our arrival, and we lived like the natives, although they occasionally fed from our supplies. “ The Tehuktchis number altogether about 5000, and along Behring Straits are seven settlements of, perhaps, 300 each. The others are scattered along the seaboard of the Arctic Ocean, stretching away to the settlement of Nijni Kolymsk. The Tehuktchis arc 'homiually Russian subjects, but they acuowledge no government, and pay no taxes. None of them had ever even heard of the Tsar. - “Oumwaidjik is certainly the most desolate spot in creation. There is not a tree or blade of grass for 400 miles inland—nothing but swamn and rock. The natives there die weekly of starvation and scurvy, and when i saw (as 1 often did) the poorer wretches devouring raw seaweed, I ceased to wonder at their indifference to death. “The most weird and interesting Tehuktchis ceremony is the 1 Kamitok.’ This is simply the putting to, death (with their free consent) of aged or useless members of the community. When a Tchuktchi’s powers have decreased to an appreciable extent, a family council is held, and a day fixed for the victim’s departure for another world. Perhaps the most curious feature of the whole affair is the indifference shown by the doomed one, who takes a lively interest in the proceedings, and often assists in the preparations for his own death. The execution is preceded by a feast, where seal and walrus meat are greedily devoured, and villainous whisky consumed, until ail the men are intoxicated. The executioner is compelled to keep sober (under heavy penalties) until after the final act of rlie drama. At sunset a spontaneous burst, of wailing and a roll of walrushide drums herald the fatal moment. A ring is formed by the relatives and friends, and the condemned one squats, of Ids own accord, in the centre. Hie entire settlement'looking on in the background. The executioner then steps quickly forward, and slowly strangles ids victim to death with a walrus thong. Tins ‘Kamitok’ is never applied to women. Its ancient origin is probably due to the barren nature of the laud, where every mouthful of food is precious. An old man, whose strangulation I witnessed, was as interested as anybody in the preparations for bis own death. I was speaking to him on the shore about it a few days before the ceremony. He did not se£ta dejected, but merely remarked in English, ‘ Me die Monday.’ He even set out the whisky barrels, and prepared the walrus thong for his execution. He was rendered insensible with drink before being despatched, but the operation took full tea minutes before he was quite dead. “ These people have a very hazy idea of a future state. Nothing will induce them to discuss religion, although I elicited their belief that if a man dies a violent death (i.c., is killed) he goes straight to a better land, where whales and walrus abound, but if he dies a natural death he lives no more. Hence the indifference of the aged to being strangled. “ The Tehuktchis have one musical instrument. It is a tambourine made of fish skin, beaten with a seal bone. The women are fond of dancing (turning, slowly round and round on the same' spot), and singing, which consists of a series of howls and wails alternating with loud shrieks. “ An interesting island we visited near Oumwaidjik is the little King’s Island, which consists of a tiny rock about half-a-mile in diameter, in the Hood sweeping through Behring Straits. Here, clinging like swallows’ nests to the rugged sides, are the huts of the King’s Islanders—renowned boatmen and walrus-hunter’s. The island produces nothing, not even a blade of grass or morsel of moss, and here the violence of the wind is so great that the summit of the island cannot be used as a place of residence. These people are entirely dependent on walrus for their winter’s 'keep, for they are forty miles from the nearest land, and ice-bound eight months of tire year. Seven years ago a whaler left the population of under 100 six barrels of fiery whisky, in exchange for walrus tusks. The following summer every human being on the island was found dead of starvation. They had got drunk, disregarded the walrushunting. and starved slowly to death the following winter. Not a soul survived; but the island is now repopulated by Eskimo from the mainland of Alaska.”