Chukches themselves as
coarse and brutish. The shipwrecked men were all murdered.
Only the woman was saved, was very well treated, and taken
round the whole country, and shown to the natives as
something rare and remarkable. So she came at last to the
Kargauts, a race living on the American coast at Behring's
Straits, whence she found means to escape to her own
tribe. This woman told her countrymen much about her
travels and adventures; among other things she said that
she had been in a great land which lay north of
Kolyutschin Island, stretched far to the _west_, and was
probably connected with America. This land was inhabited
by several races of men; those living in the west
resembled the Chukches in every respect, but those living
in the east were so wild and brutish, that they scarcely
deserved to be called men. The whole account, both of the
woman herself and of the narrators of the tradition, is
mixed up with so many improbable adventures, that it would
scarcely be deserving of any attention were it not
remarkable for its correspondence with the history of
Kraechoj."[244]

When Wrangel wrote that, he did not believe in the existence of the
land which is to be found set out on his map in 177 deg. E.L. and
71 deg. N.L., and which, afterwards discovered by the Englishman
Kellet, according to the saying, _lucus a non lucendo_, obtained the
name of Wrangel Land. Now we know that the land spoken of by
tradition actually exists, and therefore there is much that even
tells in favour of its extending as far as to the archipelago on the
north coast of America.

With this fresh light thrown upon it, the old Chukch woman's story ought
to furnish a valuable hint for future exploratory voyages in the sea
north of Behring's Straits, and an important contribution towards
forming a judgment of the fate which has befallen the American
_Jeannette_ expedition, of which, while this is being written, accounts
are still wanting.[245] Between us and the inhabitants of the present
Chukch village at Irkaipij there soon arose very friendly relations. A
somewhat stout, well-grown, tall and handsome man named Chepurin, we
took at first to be chief. He was therefore repeatedly entertained in
the gunroom, on which occasions small gifts were given him to secure his
friendship. Chepurin had clearly a weakness for gentility and grandeur,
and could now, by means o