great is the confidence placed
in them in this respect, that it is quite usual, we are told, for
travellers, on arriving at an ostrog, to give their whole effects,
even their stock of _brandy_, &c. into the hands of the tayon, and
there is no instance of any one having been robbed to the smallest
extent. "Lieutenant Koscheleff," says K., "with his accustomed
simplicity, told me that he had once been sent by his brother, the
governor, with thirteen thousand roubles to distribute among the
different towns; that every evening he made over his box with the
money to the tayon of the ostrog where he slept, and felt much easier,
having so disposed of it, _than he would perhaps have done in any inn
in St Petersburgh_." No doubt, the superior purity of the country air
would occasion some difference in his feelings! The hospitality of the
Kamtschadales forms another topic of eulogium. With such moral
virtues, then, in alliance with great industry, and considerable
intelligence, it is not to be wondered, that Krusenstern should speak
of the probable extinction of this race as a most alarming calamity.
But we have seen that hitherto little care has been manifested to
prevent its occurrence. The very subject we are now on presents us
with another sample of the gross impolicy, not to speak of inhumanity
or injustice, that has been shewn towards these most valuable people.
The following passage from Krusenstern may be allowed to warrant the
most severe opinion we can possibly form of any government, that could
require such services from _its slaves_. "The necessity of the
Kamtschadales in Kamtschatka is sufficiently proved, by their being
every where the guides through the country, and by their conveying the
mail, which they do likewise, free of expence. In the winter, they are
obliged to conduct travellers and estafettes from one ostrog to
another; they supply the dogs of those who travel with jukulla; they
also lodge the travellers; this, however, they are not obliged to do.
This hospitable people has, of its own accord, engaged to lodge every
traveller, and to feed his dogs, without demanding any remuneration.
In every ostrog there is a supply of fish set apart for this purpose.
In general, the governor and all officers keep dogs, so that in this
respect they are not burthen-some to the Kamtschadales