of seeing a large number of
burying-places, or more correctly of places where dead
Chukches had been laid out. They were marked by stones
placed in a peculiar way, and were measured and examined in
detail by Dr. Stuxberg, who gives the following description
of them:--

[Illustration: TENT FRAME AT PITLEKAJ. (After a drawing by G. Bove.) ]

"The Chukch graves on the heights south of Pitlekaj and
Yinretlen, which were examined by me on the 4th and 7th
July, 1879, were nearly fifty in number. Every grave
consisted of an oval formed of large lying stones. At one
end there was generally a large stone raised on its edge,
and from the opposite end there went out one or two pieces
of wood lying on the ground. The area within the stone
circle was sometimes over-laid with small stones, sometimes
free and overgrown with grass. At all the graves, at a
distance of four to seven paces from the stone standing on
its edge in the longitudinal axis of the grave or a little
to the side of it, there was another smaller circle of
stones inclosing a heap of reindeer horns, commonly
containing also broken seals' skulls and other fragments of
bones. Only in one grave were found pieces of human bones.
The graves were evidently very old, for the bits of wood at
the ends were generally much decayed and almost wholly
covered with earth, and the stones were completely
overgrown with lichens on the upper side. I estimate the
age of these graves at about two hundred years."

The Chukches do not dwell in snow huts, nor in wooden houses,
because wood for building is not to be found in the country of the
coast Chukches, and because wooden houses are unsuitable for the
reindeer nomad. They live summer and winter in tents of a peculiar
construction, not used by any other race. For in order to afford
protection from the cold the tent is double, the outer envelope
inclosing an inner tent or sleeping chamber. This has the form of a
parallelopiped, about 3.5 metres long, 2.2 metres broad, and 1.8
metre high. It is surrounded by thick, warm, reindeer skins, and is
further covered with a layer of grass. The floor consists of a
walrus skin stretched over a foundation of twigs and straw. At night
the floor is covered with a carpet of reindeer skins, which is
taken away during the day. The rooms at the sides of the inner tent
are also shut off by curtains, and