ENPages That Mention St. Lawrence Bay
The Chronological History of all the Voyages to the Arctic
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by means of which the mentioned driftwood is carried out to the seacoast. The above-mentioned sea current, from NE to SW, also serves as new and very strong evidence in confirming this conclusion.
"Above latitude 68° 30' we did not see any inhabitants. From afar, their drying racks look like masts with yards." Cap. Vasilev concludes, "We had no intercourse with the inhabitants because of the inconvenience at shore anchorages, bad weather at times, and not having interpreters."
From Cape Prince of Wales, Cap. Vasilev went to East Cape, and passing the Gvozdev Islands [Diomede Islands], set his course for St. Lawrence Bay [Gulf of Anadry], which was closed by ice. "This ice," he says, "must have been carried by the NE wind from the Arctic Sea. But one has to take into consideration that St. Lawrence Bay is still not free of ice." According to new infomation about the polar regions, and in considering the remarks of various travelers, one must conclude that arctic waters begin to be free of ice in the middle of August. The voyage of Cap. Parry serves as strong evidence to that. Among the journals of Captain Shmakva, at one time the commander of Izhiga, are found the answers of a Chukotski [ Chukchi ] chief to questions asked of him.
"The chief said when the Bering Strait becomes free of ice, then a multitude of whales, walruses, and seals go north and remain there until October and then return south. Therefore, it must be assumed that it is possible to sail in
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On July 4th, the sloop Good Intent was at latitude 62° 32', longitude east of Greenwich 193° 11', and from it they sighted a high shore extending from SETE to SE, at an approximate distance of 70 miles, but according to the map of [Editor: this is correct spelling for K. here] Mr. Khromchenko, it appears that Cap. Lieut. Shishmarev was only a distance of 45 miles from it.
Captain-Lieutenant Shishmarev, comparing it with all known maps, saw that this shore was located at a distance of 245 versts [a little more than 16 miles] from the mainland shore of America, and therefore acknowledged it very rightly as a new discovery. Wishing to survey this new unknown land, he directed his way toward it, but having gone 15 miles, he found the depth of the sea five sazhens, and for that reason did not dare to sail farther. Below we shall have occasion to talk about this new shore again.9
From this place, Captain Lieutenant Shishmarev went to St. Lawrence Island and surveying the northern part of it, collected much curious information about the inhabitants. On July 11, the sloop Good Intent entered St. Lawrence Bay and Cap. Lieut. Shishmarev compiled a very interesting description concerning the manners, customs, and character of the Chukchi people.10 It is noteworthy that he saw there two rifles, which they had received from an American brig [apparently the Pedler], which had come there because the Russians trading with them in Izhiga and Nizhne-Kovymsk [Lower Kolyma ] may not sell them firearms.
Until July 21st, Captain Lieutenant Shishmarev sailed
Capt. Shishmarev's information about the Chukchi
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or tattoo their faces, but the women tattoo lines on the chin and on the forehead and nose, and on their cheeks they depict oval shapes such as we subsequently saw on the Chukchi. Both men and women wear glass beads in their ears. Clothing consists of parkas, trousers, and boots. Parkas are made mostly from bird [skins]; yet some are from deer, but only a few worn-out [ones], which they do not trade for anything. That is why I think they buy them from the Chukchi. The breeches are of sealskin, the women's always wider. They traded kamlei [gutskin parkas] for very little. The baidars are exactly the same as those of other peoples of this sea. Weapons--spears and bows and arrows--are the same as the Chukchi's, only more roughly executed.
"We noticed that the local inhabitants understood the Aleut, who was with us as interpreter and who talked to them in the Kadiak and Ugalakhmut — languages, better than the other interpreter who talked to them in the Koryak language. From this, one must conclude that their language is different from the Chukchi.
"We had no sooner dropped anchor (in St. Lawrence Bay, July 11th, 1821), when the Chukchi approached us, and at the first invitation started to climb aboard one after the other. During their trading of handiwork and weapons, they valued the furs very high, and most of all asked for knives, looking little at tobacco and other trifles. Knowing their propensity for stealing, we placed guards everywhere, and caught one thief who wanted to carry away a cannon cover of lead. Scolding this Chukchi, we chased him off the sloop, and I tried to
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explain to the chiefs through the interpreter the error of such behavior, persuading them to reprove the thief. But evidently the chiefs did not have this right, or perhaps, they themselves regretted that the thief did not succeed in his intention, but they did not do anything. Otherwise, they conducted themselves honestly, and traded willingly.
"To supply the crew with fresh food, which they had not had for a long time, I asked the chiefs to sell us a few deer, promising to pay them liberally, but they answered that at the present time the deer grazed far in the interior of the land, and it would take a long time to go after them.
"Upon our questioning of whether or not they had heard that the Russians sail northward from Kolyma they answered, we do not know. Concerning sailing into the Arctic Ocean, they said that there must be much ice there because St. Lawrence Bay only recently was cleared of it, and at that, not entirely.
"The same day, I and a few officers went ashore and we visited two settlements, the larger of which was called 'Nuniagma.'
"We had not seen any winter yurts, and the summer ones of which there were 12 in place, in two separate groups, were all made the same: conically shaped, the diameter of the base being from two and a half to four sazhens/consisting of rows of slender poles, whale ribs, and whalebone covered with walrus and sealskins, often torn ones, which facilitate the easy outlet of smoke from the ever-smoking fire inside. Inside, one side of the yurt is partitioned off
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coming to this place to cry for two to four years' duration from the time of death.
"They have as many wives as they are able to support, but for the most part, only one. It is not their custom to marry their sisters. We noticed that they love their wives. They get married without any ceremony. Choosing a girl, they negotiate with her father, and having arranged it, lead her away. The daughters of the chiefs choose their own husbands.
"The right to be a shaman does not descend from father to son, but a shaman chooses a gifted one from little children, brings him up, and trains him in his profession, who steps into his place after his death.
"The Deer Chukchi call themselves Chauchu in St. Lawrence Bay as well as in Mechegmenskaia [sic] Bay.
"The Chukchi hunt whales, walrus, seals, and catch fish with net and hooks. For birds they make special arrows with three small bones attached to one end. Mollusks we did not see. They hunt all sorts of foxes, Arctic foxes, and wolves. The latter are used in the/yurts for bed curtains, and as trimming for parkas. Foxes and Arctic foxes are sold in Kolyma or Gizhiga. For traveling they keep many dogs; also deer, which, I think, form the main food of the Chukchi during winter.
"The Chukchi travel along the shores of Asia from St. Lawrence Bay northward and southward. The elder, Paigdau, told me that he traveled north farther than Koliuchin Island to the Amylik River, which is located, according to his infor-