s very spot by their god Koutkou; that they are
the most favoured of his creatures; the most fortunate and happy of beings;
and that their country is superior to all others, affording means of
gratification far beyond what are any where else to be met with; that they
have a perfect knowledge of all the plants of their country, their virtues
and uses, which could not be acquired in a short time; that their
instruments and household utensils differ greatly from those of any other
nation, and are made with an extraordinary degree of neatness and
dexterity, which implies that they are both of their own invention, and
have been long in arriving at so great perfection; that, antecedently to
the arrival of the Russians and Cossacks among them, they had not the
smallest knowledge of any people, except the Koreki; that it is but of late
they had an intercourse with the Kuriles, and still later (and happened by
means of a vessel being shipwrecked on their coast) that they knew any
thing of the Japanese; and, lastly, that the country was very populous at
the time the Russians first got footing in it.

The reasons he alleges for supposing them to be originally descended from
the Mungalians, are, That many words in their language have terminations
similar to those of the Mungalian Chinese, such as, ong, ing, oing, tching,
tcha, tchoing, ksi, ksung, &c.; and, moreover, that the same principle of
inflexion or derivation obtains in both languages; that they are in general
under-sized, as are the Mungalians; that their complexion, like theirs, is
swarthy; that they have black hair, little beard, the face broad, the nose
short and flat, the eyes small and sunk, the eye-brows thin, the belly
pendant, the legs small; all which are peculiarities that are to be found
among the Mungalians. From the whole of which he draws this conclusion,
that they fled for safety to this peninsula, from the rapid advances of the
Eastern conquerors; as the Laplanders, the Samoides, &c. were compelled to
retreat to the extremities of the north by the Europeans.

The Russians having extended their conquests, and established posts and
colonies along that immense extent of coast of the Frozen Sea, from the
Jenesei to the Anadir, appointed commissaries for the purpose of exploring
and subjecting the countries still farther eastward. They soon became
acquainted with the wandering Koriacs, inhabiting the north and north-east
coast of the sea of Okotzk, and, without d