f the barter he carried on with us and the
presents he received, gratify his love of show to a degree of which he
probably had never before dreamed. When during the last days of our stay
he paid a visit to the _Vega_ he was clad in a red woollen shirt drawn
over his "pesk," and from either ear hung a gilt watch-chain, to the
lower end of which a perforated ten-oere piece was fastened. Already on
our arrival he was better clothed than the others, his tent was larger
and provided with two sleeping apartments, one for each of his wives.
But notwithstanding all this we soon found that we had made a mistake,
when, thinking that a society could not exist without government, we
assigned to him so exalted a position. Here, as in all Chukch villages
which we afterwards visited, absolute anarchy prevailed.

At the same time the greatest unanimity reigned in the little
headless community. Children, healthy and thriving, tenderly cared
for by the inhabitants, were found in large numbers. A good word to
them was sufficient to pave the way for a friendly reception in the
tent. The women were treated as the equals of the men, and the wife
was always consulted by the husband when a more important bargain
than usual was to be made; many times it was carried through only
after the giver of advice had been bribed with a neckerchief or a
variegated handkerchief. The articles which the man purchased were
immediately committed to the wife's keeping. One of the children had
round his neck a band of pearls with a Chinese coin having a square
hole in the middle, suspended from it; another bore a perforated
American cent piece. None knew a word of Russian, but here too a
youngster could count ten in English. They also knew the word
"ship." In all the tents, reindeer stomachs were seen with their
contents, or sacks stuffed full of other green herbs. Several times
we were offered in return for the bits of sugar and pieces of
tobacco which we distributed, wrinkled root-bulbs somewhat larger
than a hazel nut, which had an exceedingly pleasant taste,
resembling that of fresh nuts. A seal caught in a net among the ice
during our visit was cut up in the tent by the women. On this
occasion they were surrounded by a large number of children, who
were now and then treated to bloody strips of flesh. The youngsters
carried on the work of cutting up _con amore_, coquetting a little
with their bloody arms and faces.

The rock which prevails in this region c