mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i6-016

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offerings, just like those in St. Lawrence Bay. The inhabi-
tants are Deer Chukchi, the same as in St. Lawrence Bay, but
the local ones seem richer, and their weapons are finished
more neatly. The language is the same, and they, too, call
themselves Chauchu. They willingly invited us into their
yurts and bade us sit on their skins. In a word, they treated
us in a friendly manner.

"The chief, Telmuurgin, showed us Chukotski dances in
his yurt. The women make gestures with their hands, twisting
their faces and the whole body at the same time, and the men,
in addition, jump up a little in time to the singing, re-
sembling Aleut songs. Their music consists also of tambourines,
which they strike with a small stick from whalebone or a wooden
stick against the rim of the tambourine.

"Afterward, we saw the games of boys and girls. A few
of the performers spread out and hold in their hands a walrus
skin, in the middle of which they place a boy or girl. The
ones holding the sides sing, and the one standing on the rug
dances. Afterward, stretching the skin, they throw the dancer
up about three sazhens (!). The one thrown up, balancing his
legs in the air, falls again on the skin, and is thrown up
again, continuing to do so until she gets tired and then is
substituted by another one.

"I tried to explain to the chief that the following day
I wanted to bury a dead person in their land, and I would
put a cross on that place, warning that they should not touch
it, because another ship would come and ask about it. The

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