на главную

   

First Encounters of the Koryak with the Russians

783
The Tribute 796
The Present Relations of the Russians and the Koryak  801  
The Cultural Influence of the Russians on the Koryak 804  
The Missionaries 807  
The Americans 808  
The Neighboring Peoples 809  

XIV. —  HISTORY  OF   THE  CONTACT  OF  THE  KORYAK  WITH RUSSIANS, AMERICANS,  AND  NEIGHBORING  PEOPLES.1

         First   Encounters   of   the  Koryak with the Russians.  — In   1632  the Russian conquerors of Siberia settled on the  Lena River, and built a fortified town,   Yakutsk,   which   they   used   as   a   central   base for further expeditions. In   the   course   of  these   expeditions   they   reached  Okhotsk  and  Bering Seas on the east, the Arctic Ocean on the north, and the Amur River on the south. In   their   progress   eastward   the   Russians   met   the  Koryak.     Rumors of the   abundance   of furs in the district  of Okhotsk began to reach  Yakutsk in 1636,  and   in  1639 a  party in  command of the  Cossack  Moskvitin ascended the   river Aldan,  its tributary  the  Maya,  and the Yudoma, an affluent of the latter,   and,   after crossing the Stanovoi  Mountains,  reached the upper course of  the   Ulya   River.      Following   the   course   of  this   river,   they reached the Sea of Okhotsk.     The  next year a number of these Russians advanced along the   coast   to   Tauysk,   which   lies   about   four hundred miles northeast of the mouth of the  Ulya  River.   Here they first met the Koryak; but the conquest of this   region   did   not   immediately   follow.     On   the southern shores of the Sea   of  Okhotsk   the   Russians   had   to   break   the   violent   opposition   of  the Tungus.     A   fortified settlement built by the Russians in  1644  at the mouth of the   Okhota   River — a   settlement   which   has   now   become the district town   Okhotsk — was repeatedly attacked by the Tungus.     At other places the Tungus annihilated parties of Russians.

         The land-route from Okhotsk to the mouth of the Gishiga River led over Tauysk, Yamsk, Tovatama, and other villages of the Koryak territory. On this route, which ran along  a narrow strip of coast between the Stanovoi Mountains and the Sea of Okhotsk, the Russians met violent and prolonged resistance on the part of the Maritime Koryak of the Sea of Okhotsk. At times the Russians succeeded in breaking up a village or settlement, and forced the Koryak to pay tribute; but until the year 1712  the Koryak between Tauysk   and   the   Penshina   River   absolutely   refused   to   recognize   Russian


          1  The historical sketch contained in this chapter is based on data collected by the author in the Archives of Gishiginsk, and, besides the sources enumerated in the list of authorities (pp. 3—11), — like Krasheninnikoff, Slov- tzoff, Maydell, Slunin, and others, — on the following works: T. E. Fischer, Sibirische Geschichte (St. Petersburg, 1768), Parts 1, 2; Semivsky, Newest Interesting and Authentic Narrative of East Siberia (Russian), St. Petersburg, 1817; Pypin, History of Russian Ethnography (Russian), St. Petersburg, 1892, Vol. IV, Siberia; Andrievich, The History of Siberia (St. Petersburg, 1889), Harts I, II (Russian); Andrievich, Historical Sketches of Siberia, based on the Russian Code (St. Petersburg, 1887); Priklousky, Bibliography of Siberia (Russian); Stchegloff, Chronological List of the Most Important Data of the History of Siberia, Irkutsk, 1883 (Russian); Solovyeff, Russian History, St. Peters-burg, Vol s. 1—XXI (Russian).    The characterization and interpretation of the historical facts belong to the author.

99—JESUP   NORTH   PACIFIC   EXPED.,   VOL.   VI.   PART   2.

[783]


784 

JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.

sovereignty. In the course of that year a party led by the Cossack Gutoroff, after an unsuccessful attempt to reach Kamchatka by sea1 from Okhotsk, advanced along  the coast to the mouth of the Iglylan River. 2  Here, according to Cossack accounts, they found the Koryak from several villages gathered; and in a hot fight which ensued,3  seventy adult Koryak and two hundred youths and children were killed. Gutoroff could not advance farther north on   account   of  the   refusal   of  the   Tungus   to   accompany them any farther. It   appears   from   the   Government   records,   that between   1730 and   1750 - that is, after the expedition  of Pavlutsky,  which will be described later on - the entire Okhotsk coast was still in the hands of the Koryak, and Okhotsk could communicate with Anadyr only by way of Kamchatka. Not until 1757, when a fortified settlement was built at the mouth of the Gishiga River, and after the fortress Anadyrsk was abandoned by the Russians in 1764, can it be said that Koryak resistance ceased, and some groups of Koryak began to pay tribute (yasak) of their own accord.

         Most of the fighting with the Koryak was directed by the commanders of the fortress Anadyrsk,  and  not by the Administration  of Okhotsk.

           In their northeastern advance from Yakutsk, the Russians reached the mouth of the Kolyma River, where, in 1644, the Cossack Stadukhin founded the settlement Nishne-Kolymsk. From that spot the Russians proceeded farther east; and in 1649 the fortress Anadyrsk, on the river of the same name, was founded by the Cossack Deshneff, who had travelled in boats from the mouth of the Kolyma through Bering Strait to the mouth of the Anadyr. The fortress- Anadyrsk played a prominent part in the Russian conquest of the extreme northeast of Siberia; for, from Anadyr as a base, military expeditions were undertaken which led to the conquest of the Koryak, and later to that of the Kamchadal.

         On the Anadyr River the Russians had to deal with the Chukchee, whose subjection cost the conquerors a hard struggle. The location of the movable Chukchee camps was seldom known to the Russians. In their search for these camps in the open tundra, the comparatively insignificant  Russian partiesalways ran the risk of being surrounded by a numerous enemy, and the jour- neys of the expeditions through the desert polar tundras presented all but  insurmountable difficulties. Besides, a detached band of Chukchee would prefer to die and kill their wives and children rather than consent to pay tribute or deliver hostages, whom the Russian conquerors always demanded from   Siberian   peoples   as   a   guaranty   of  their  submission.     At last, after a


1 For this purpose the Cossacks made a raft of boats, but high winds prevented them from reaching the
open sea.

2  This must be a  river north of Yamsk.

3  In the Russian chronicles the expression is "fiery and bow fight," which indicates that guns and bows were
used, in distinction from a "bow fight," where bows and arrows are the only weapons.


785

JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.

fruitless and expensive campaign, which lasted over a century, the Russian Government gave up the idea of subjecting the Chukchee by force of arms. In 1764  the fortress Anadyrsk was destroyed, and the garrison was trans- ferred  to  Gishiga and  to  the  Kolyma.

         The cause of these Russian failures lay, not so much in the warlike spirit, the love of freedom, and the fearlessness of the Chukchee, as in the fact that the Russians had come in contact almost exclusively with Reindeer Chukchee;1 that is, not with hunters, but with reindeer-breeders, whose territory was very poor in valuable furs, and who could not satisfy the greed of the conquerors for expensive furs, even had they been willing- to do so. These conditions account for the shifting of the Russians from the Anadyr River southward into regions abounding in  sable.

         In their advance southward, the Russians had their first dealings with the Koryak, whose fate for a long period depended upon the strength of the fortress Anadyrsk.

         Since 1649, when the fortress Anadyrsk was founded, Cossack parties starting out from that fortified place attempted to impose tribute on the greater part of the Gishiga Koryak, — the villages Oklansk, 2  Kamenskoye, Talovka, and Ma'mec, — and also on some Alutor villages. Naturally, the tribute of these Koryak could not be relied upon. It was paid when the Russians were strong enough  to collect it by force.

           The Cossacks learned from the Alutor and Gishiga Koryak that the best peltries, such as sables, sea-otters (Enhydris marina), and sea-bears (Otaria ursina), were obtained by the Koryak themselves through exchange from Kamchatka. This discovery led to an expedition to Kamchatka, and to the conquest of the Kamchadal and the Koryak in the northern part of the Kam-chatka  Peninsula.

         In 1696, Atlassov, the commandant of the fortress Anadyrsk, sent a detachment of sixteen men, under the command of the Cossack Morozko, to the Peninsula of Kamchatka, to verify the reports of its wealth in peltries. The following year Atlassov undertook the journey himself. He sent Morozko with a detachment to Bering Sea, while he himself advanced along the coast of the Bay of Penshina, gathering tribute from the inhabitants of Oklansk, Kamenskoye, and Talovka, and seized the settlement Pallan and some others. In Tighil he met Morozko, who had gathered tribute from the Alutor Koryak and from others living on the coast of Bering Sea. Then they advanced together, reached the Kamchatka River, received tribute from the Kamchadal who were living along that river, and founded the Verkhne-Kamchatsk for-tress.     Thus the conquest  of Kamchatka was begun.


1 Even now the Maritime Chukchee  come  little  into   contact with Russians.

2 The   Koryak  village   Oklansk   was   destroyed  by   Cossacks  in  1679, and a fort was built in its place.    Ok-
lansk  was situated at the mouth of the river Oklan, a tributary of the Penshina, about 20 miles from its mouth.


786

 JOCHELSON, THE KORYAK.

         In the following historical account I shall mention Kamchatka and the Kamchadal only in so far as necessary for the proper understanding of events relating to the Koryak. The uprisings of the Kamchadal and of the Koryak, and their subjection by the Russians, are too closely connected to be completely separated  in  an  historical sketch.

         When the Russians had settled in Kamchatka, the peninsula and the entire Koryak territory became dependent upon the fortress Anadyrsk. The sea-route from Okhotsk to Kamchatka was at that time unknown, and the land-journey through the territory of the turbulent Koryak was considered  impossible. In those days Kamchatka was the most valuable acquisition of the Russian Government in the Far East, and yet communication of the Yakutsk Administration with Kamchatka had to be maintained over a long and dangerous route. The way from Kamchatka to Yakutsk lay through the entire Koryak country, to the Anadyr and Kolyma Rivers, and over the Verkhoyansk range of mountains. A great number of the Cossack parties who started out from Kamchatka with tribute of furs never reached the fortress Anadyrsk. The Koryak killed the Cossacks from ambushes, and kept the furs. Transports that had safely reached Anadyrsk would arrive in Yakutsk  three years after they had left Kamchatka. Cossack detachments carrying provisions, gunpowder, arms, and cannons, from Yakutsk to Kamchatka, were also harassed by Koryak attacks. To put an end to such conditions, a direct sea-route from Okhotsk to Kamchatka had to be discovered; and the Koryak had to be finally subdued in order that the winter route might be rendered safe.

         Until the sea-route from Okhotsk was discovered, the Cossacks of the peninsula tried to utilize the Pacific Ocean route to shorten the dangerous trip from Kamchatka to Anadyrsk. They would build large boats of boards, and, starting from the mouth of the Kamchatka River, would travel north-  ard to the mouth of the Alut River. In 1712, in order to facilitate these expeditions, the  Cossacks built a settlement, protected by a wall, at the mouth of the Alut River, where Cossack parties could find shelter against the attacks of the Alutor Koryak. During the winter, Cossacks traversed the tundra from the fortified settlement Alut to the mouth of the Oklan River, a tributary of the Penshina, and to the fortress Oklansk, which was mentioned above; from Oklansk they travelled northward along the valley of the Penshina, and, having traversed the Nalginsk Mountains, arrived at the Anadyr River. That part of the way from Kamchatka to the Anadyr which lay between Alut and Oklansk was of course not safe from unexpected attacks of the Koryak, who were forever searching for Cossack  detachments.

           The unsuccessful attempt of 1712 to reach Kamchatka by sea from Okhotsk was followed in 1713 by a special ukaz of Peter I, ordering that a sea-route to Kamchatka be found. All attempts, however, failed until 1716, when  a successful journey  was  made from  Okhotsk to Tighil in a large boat.


787

JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.

Thus the dependence of Kamchatka on the Anadyr route was brought to a close, and communication between the peninsula and Yakutsk was henceforth carried on  directly  by  way  of Okhotsk.

         The discovery of a sea-route to Kamchatka gave an impetus to geographical explorations in Bering Sea. In 1726 the first expedition of Beringwas undertaken, followed by a second in 1737-45. In the interval between these expeditions, which were scientific in character and had no direct relation to the Administration of Kamchatka, the  Kamchadal were finally subdued.  

         During   the   same   period,   military   operations   were   carried   on   against the    Koryak    and    Chukchee.      Thus,    in    1720,    Kharitonov,    a    boyar-son,1 started   out   from   Kamchatka with  sixty  Cossacks and  cannons to punish the people of Pallan,  who  had refused  to  pay the tribute.     The  Pallantsi did not offer   resistance,   and received  the  Cossacks  with  pretended humility.     During  the   night,   however,   they   fell  upon the sleeping- Cossacks,  killed  Kharitonov and   nine   Cossacks   with  their spears,  and  wounded  fourteen.     The survivors gained   the   upper   hand   of  their   assailants,   and   avenged the death of their comrades by  annihilating the entire  village.     At about the same time another chief  official   in   Kamchatka,   Triffonov,   was  subjugating the  Koryak villages Poqac,  Oklansk,  and  Kamenskoye; but the most important military expedition was formed  in   1727,  in  accordance  with  an imperial   ukaz,  the Cossack chief Afanassy  Shestakoff being in  command.     He  had  for his  first-lieutenant Cap- tain   Pavlutsky,   who   was   famous   for   his   courage and administrative ability. Having   left   Yakutsk,   they   divided   into   two   parties.      One   of  them,   with Pavlutsky   in   command,   proceeded   northward by way of Nishne-Kolymsk  to the Anadyr;  the other,  under Shestakoff himself, moved eastward to Okhotsk. Shestakoff  had   about   four   hundred   Cossacks   and   a number of sailors, and carried  materials for the construction  of ships.

         In the autumn of 1729, Shestakoff boarded his two ships and started out from Okhotsk northward, without awaiting the arrival of all his men. As the season was advanced, he could travel by sea only to Tauysk. From there he continued his course northward on sledges. He successfully traversed the thinly populated strip of coast between Tauysk and the Gishiga River, inflicting inhuman atrocities on the Koryak, who refused, or rather were not able, to pay their tribute in furs. On penetrating farther northeastward, however, he soon discovered that he would not be able to cope with the large villages along the shore of the Bay of Penshina, and the numerous bands of Reindeer Koryak. His original plan was to subdue the Maritime Koryak of the Bay of Penshina and the Reindeer Koryak of the interior; then   to   operate   against   the   Alutor   Koryak;   and  from there  to proceed to


1  The "boyare" (sing. boyarin) constituted the highest class of the Russian aristocracy forming the council of
the Czars of the period before Peter the Great. ''Boyar-sons" or "boyar-children" formed a lower class of the no-
bility.    They were chiefly descendants of the "boyare," who had not attained the rank of the boyar class.


788 

JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.

the Anadyr,  where he expected to  meet Pavlutsky.     This plan, however, was not   carried   out.      After   crossing   the   Paren  River,  Shestakoff received  word from   the   Koryak  that  a  large  band  of Chukchee  was  marching  against  him. He deliberated for a while, and then  continued his advance, resolved to give battle to the Chukchee.  The encounter took place on the Ega'c River, since called   Shestakovka,   in   memory   of  Shestakoff's   death   on   March  14, 1730. In  the battle which  ensued,  Shestakoff,  as well as the majority of the Russian warriors,   met  their  death.     Shestakoff's   defeat was due to the relative insig- nificance of his force.     His arrogance  and self-reliance equalled  his ignorance of local conditions and his  cruelty.     When leaving Okhotsk, he had with him about thirty Cossacks,  as many Reindeer Tungus. and ten Yakut.     In Tauysk he    was   joined    by    thirty    Koryak.   Having    thus,   outside   of   the   small number of Russian warriors,  only unreliable allies to fall back upon, he dared to   set   fire   to   the   villages   and   to burn  alive those  Koryak who refused to pay tribute or to deliver  hostages.     Thus  he burned  the entire  village Tava- toma,   having   first   ordered   that   the   exits   from   the subterranean houses be barricaded.     Through   such   apalling   cruelty he aroused  against himself even the most peaceable Koryak.     At the first encounter with a superior force, his untrustworthy allies — the Tungus, Yakut, and Koryak — left the battle-field; and, although many enemies fell  from the  Russian  bullets, the Cossacks were soon   overpowered   by the overwhelming numbers of the attacking tribesmen. 

         To   this   day   it   has   not  been positively ascertained  to what people the  attacking party belonged.     The Cossack  reports give them as the Chukchee. Maydell   controverts   this   statement.     In   his opinion,  they  were Koryak who had   posed   as   Chukchee   in   order to escape the vengeance of the  Russians. Maydell   seems   to   have   undertaken   the   ungrateful   task of representing the Chukchee as a straightforward and peaceable people, with whom it was useless to   fight;   the   Koryak,  on the other hand,  he believes to have been  cunning traitors, who did infinite harm to the Russians.     The Koryak, writes Maydell, would constantly appeal to the Russians for help against the pretended attacks of the  Chukchee.     Meanwhile they themselves would attack  Cossack detach- ments  from  ambush  and  murder  sinale Cossacks,  and  throw  the  blame for these acts on  the Chukchee.

         There is of course nothing remarkable in the fact that the Koryak, in their fight against the Russians, had recourse to tricky and perfidious methods, which are made such excellent use of in the contests of other than primitive peoples. Nor did the Chukchee in this respect differ from the Koryak. The Koryak, especially the Maritime Koryak, suffered more from the Russian conquest than did the Chukchee. At first the Russians had dealings only with the nomadic Reindeer Chukchee, who fled to the tundra whenever they wanted to avoid an encounter with the Cossacks, and also made unexpected attacks on  Russian  settlements.     The  Maritime  Koryak,  on  the contrary, who


789

JOCHELSON, THE KORYAK.

lived   alone   the   bays   of  the   Sea   of   Okhotsk   and   of Bering Sea,  although they   could   take   refuge   during the  summer on  the  islands,  from  the attacks of  the   Russians,   were   bound   in   winter   to   their shore  villages,  and  cut  off from   all   ways   of escape.     It is  natural,  therefore,  that  whenever they could not   protect   themselves   by   force,   and   would   not or  could  not  comply with the   demands   of  the   conquerors,   they   should   have  recourse  to  trickery.     It is not impossible that they would occasionally charge their sins to the Chukchee in   trying   to   divert  the  attention  of the  Russians  towards  the latter.     But  in the   battle   which   was   fatal   to   Shestakoff  the  Chukchee certainly took part, for   subsequently   Pavlutsky found   among the  Chukchee living on the  Lower Anadyr   the   banner   of   Shestakoff's   detachment   and   his   arms.      It   is   not improbable that the  Chukchee were not alone in that battle, for the Chukchee and   the   Koryak   might   have   united   against   their   common   enemy;   but  at other   times   the   Chukchee   appeared   in   the   Koryak  settlements as enemies, not   as   allies;  and  the complaints of the  Koryak that the Chukchee attacked and plundered  them  were,  on  the  whole,  not  unfounded.

         The news of Shestakoff's defeat rapidly spread over the Koryak territory and to Kamchatka. The Koryak rose in a body. The garrisons left by Shestakoff in Tauysk and Yamsk were annihilated. Other settlements fortified  by the Russians met a similar fate. The eastern Koryak from the Alut to the Tighil soon joined in the  uprising,  and presently Kamchatka revolted.

 

         Pavlutsky received word of Shestakoff's fate as early as April, 1730, while he was still in Nishne-Kolymsk. He did not reach Anadyrsk (now Markova) until September, 1730. The last months of that year and the year 1731 he spent fighting the Chukchee. At last, in 1732, he determined to open a campaign against the Koryak, in order to punish them for the destruction of the Russian fortifications and the annihilation of garrisons. Maydell 1  sees the reason for Pavlutsky's delay in chastising the revolting Koryak in their cunning. When Pavlutsky arrived in Anadyr, relates Maydell, he was met by Koryak deputies, who represented the battle in which Shestakoff perished as an attack of the Chukchee, and begged for protection against the latter. Thus Pavlutsky was deceived by the Koryak, and, leaving them unmolested, turned against the Chukchee. This account, however, can hardly be credited, for Pavlutsky knew perfectly well that the Koryak had risen all over the country and were killing the Russians.  Pavlutsky postponed his advance against the Koryak for two reasons. In the first place, he wanted to be sure of theChukchee. The second reason lay in the condition of the country. During the summer months, the transportation of a great number of people is impos- sible in these regions. The beginning of the winter is the season of violent winds, followed by severe colds. The time most propitious for military expeditions is the end of the winter, — the polar spring it might be called, —


1  See Maydell, I, p. 546.


790  

    JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.

which lasts from the end of February to the end of May. Then the winds subside and the frost is moderate. Thus it happened that Pavlutsky spent the winter of 1730-31 in persecuting the Chukchee. The more or less successful battles, however, which he had with the nomadic hordes of the Chukchee, did not yield any positive results in the way of subjugating the country.                                                                '

         On Feb. 10, 1732, Pavlutsky began his march against the Koryak. His force consisted of two hundred and twenty-five Cossacks and a certain number of Yukaghir and Koryak volunteers. The latter had to furnish the party with reindeer for transportation and food. On the march he learned that a considerable number of insurgents had gathered in a fortified village at the mouth of the  Paren  River,  and  he turned  to  go  there.

         On March 25 he reached the Koryak fortification and ordered a siege. Attempts to induce a voluntary surrender remained futile. The fortification was built on a high steep rock rising directly from the sea and protected from land by a strong stockade and an earth wall. In order not to expose his men to the action of Koryak arrows, Pavlutsky ordered large shields to be made of driftwood. Thus protected, the Russians advanced close to the stockade. The Koryak made a gallant defence, and retreated from the parapet only when the enemy succeeded in throwing hand-grenades over the stockade. Then the stockade was broken, and the Russians penetrated the fortifi- cations, where a desperate fight ensued. When the Koryak saw themselves defeated, they killed their wives and children with the intention of killing themselves also. Before the Russians succeeded in putting a stop to their self-destruction, over two hundred persons were slain. Pavlutsky took many of the surviving Koryak with him as prisoners, leaving in the village only  ten young men and five women, in order (so say the chronicles) to give the population a chance to  multiply.

         After that victory, Pavlutsky returned to Anadyrsk. While on the way, he sent a detachment to Alutorsk with an order to destroy the fortification erected by the Koryak  in that settlement.

         On the whole, the entire campaign was nothing but a punitive expedition, which was as aimless as its execution was cruel; for after Pavlutsky's depart- ure the Koryak territory relapsed into the old conditions. The fate of the Paren Koryak, of course, greatly impressed the other sections of that people; but no sooner had the immediate danger passed, than they resumed their attacks on the Cossacks, and again refused to pay the tribute, although it was precisely that refusal which had previously led to the fight. We shall see later on, after a detailed treatment of the tribute question, how this policy of military conquest, setting aside its inhuman cruelty, was senseless so far as it was an attempt to win for the State a new colony. If we suppose for a moment that the  Russians were able to send against all Koryak settlements


    791

JOCHELSON, THE   KORYAK.

detachments   equal   to   the one  led  by  Pavlutsky against  Paren,  the result of such   expeditions,   considering   the   national   character   of  the   Koryak,   would have been  a complete  depopulation  of the country.     Fortunately the Russians were   not   in   a   position   to   do   that.      To   equip  and  send  a  party  of a few hundred   men   to   the   extreme   northeast  of Siberia,  as  was  occasionally done by   the   Government  in  expeditions  like  Shestakoff's  and  Pavlutsky's,   was an enterprise   connected   with   great  difficulties;  and  if the  men  had  to  be trans- ported   from   European   Russia,   the   expense   was   very   great.     Besides arms and   ammunition,   the   Cossacks   had   to   carry   with   them large transports of provisions   and  clothing.     The provisions had  to be renewed  every year, and were   transported   on   horses,   dogs,  and  reindeer across absolutely desert and almost   inaccessible   localities.     The   peoples   of  the   Yakut   territory  through which   the   soldiers   and   transports   passed  were ruined  by these expeditions; their   animals   would   die   from   exhaustion,   and   the   men   would succumb to diseases.      When   the soldiers,  after a hard journey of two or three years, at last reached their destination, they had to face a rough climate and innumerable privations and  dangers.     The  provisions for the garrisons of remote fortresses, which had to be supplied from Yakutsk, were often not sent at all, or arrived in   insufficient   quantities   or   imperfect   condition.     The   Cossacks were forced to   hunt   and   fish   for   food,   and  not infrequently suffered  hunger;  when  not under   cover   of   the   fortifications,   they    were   always   in   clanger   of  sudden attacks;   and   the   results   attained   at   the cost of such  exertion  were that an army which  had to  conquer a people resisting  Russia's  power was limited in its   military   operations   to   a   period   of  from   three   to   four   months   a   year. During   that   period   one   or   another   detachment   would   attack   a   village or infuse   terror   into   several   villages,   only   to   retreat for an entire year to its fortress, leaving the state of the country unchanged.     We have seen that such was the case in  Pavlutsky's  expedition  against  Paren.     His position in regard to the attainment of his end — the subjection of the Chukchee and Koryak — was   especially   hopeless;   for,   after   the   death  of Shestakoff,  he  had to  fight both   peoples,   each   of  whom   it   was   hard   enough  to keep  in  check to the degree   prescribed   by   the   Government   in   accordance   with   the   recommen- dations   of  the  Siberian   rulers.     Another   impediment   to   Pavlutsky's  military operations   against   the   Koryak  was the  fact that he  had  his headquarters at the   fortress   Anadyrsk,  which  was about  four hundred  miles distant from the Bay of Penshina, the nearest bay of the Sea of Okhotsk.   In Pavlutsky's  time Kamchatka no longer depended on Anadyrsk, and had its own administrators; for at that time direct communication  by sea with Okhotsk was maintained.

         On his return to Anadyrsk, after the Paren victory, Pavlutsky found orders from Yakutsk to treat the aborigines more leniently, and to suspend all military operations pending new orders. Finding his plans for future campaigns checked,  Pavlutsky resolved  to leave for Yakutsk.

IOO—JESUP  NORTH   PACIFIC   EXPED.,   VOL.   VI,   PART   2.


792

 JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.

         No changes occurred in the Koryak territory as a result of Pavlutsky's campaign, The Koryak continued to dominate over the Okhotsk coast-line. From time to time,' however, one or another of the Koryak bands would pay their tribute and enter into more friendly relations with the garrisons of the Russian fortresses. These relations came to an end when, in 1745, a new general  uprising took  place,  which  lasted  almost to   1756.

         I had occasion before to mention the fortifications erected by the Koryak at the mouth of the Oklan River, where it empties into the Penshina.That fortified village was destroyed by Cossacks in 1679, and in 1690 they built in its place the fortress Oklansk. During the fights with the Koryak, that fortress was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. In 1741 the sergeant Yenis- seysky, who was sent from Anadyrsk, entirely renovated the Oklansk fortifi- cations, and occupied them with a garrison of twenty-four Cossacks. He also succeeded in establishing friendly relations with some Koryak chiefs of the Okhotsk coast; and as a consequence his journeys to Yamsk, Tauysk, and Okhotsk, were no longer interfered with. Later he rebuilt the fortifications of Yamsk and Tauysk, which had been destroyed by the Koryak, and established a small garrison in each place. The number of men at his disposal was small, however; and in October, 1745, he left for Okhotsk to ask for re-enforcements.  Meanwhile a new uprising took place. The Koryak seemed to have decided to exterminate all the Russians, and to destroy their fortifications. Yenisseysky had not yet reached Okhotsk when the missionary Flavian, with a retinue, left that town for Anadyrsk. The Koryak fell upon him on the Shestakovka River, killing him and all his men. At the same time they annihilated a detachment of Cossacks who were on their way from Kamchatka to the Anadyr, and another detachment in the vicinity of Oklansk. Yenisseysky, on his way back to Oklansk, met a similar fate. The Koryak who furnished him with draught- animals managed to divide his men into small groups, which they attacked separately, and all were killed. To judge by the reports of the Cossacks, the Reindeer and the Maritime Koryak acted jointly. The Russian fortifications were besieged. The fortress Oklansk was one of the first to be surrounded, the Koryak intending to starve the garrison out. They did not dare to take  the fortress by storm, knowing that the garrison was in possession of fire-arms and cannons. The besieged succeeded in sending messengers to Anadyrsk, where Pavlutsky, who had risen to the rank of major,  was again  commander.

         A few words must be said as to the activity of Pavlutsky since the time he left Anadyrsk in 1732. I have related before how the Koryak uprising, after Shestakoff's defeat, had spread to Kamchatka. The uprising of the Kamchadal, which had been fomenting for a long time, broke out in 1731. Until then the Kamchadal did not dare to rise. In 1729 Kamchatka was visited   by  the first scientific expedition  of Bering and  his companions;  while


793

JOCHKESON, THE  KORYAK. 

the ship  "Gabriel,"  with  a crew  of one hundred men belonging to the military expedition  of Shestakoff,  remained  in  Nishne-Kamchatka  until July,   1731.1

As   soon  as  the  "Gabriel"  had  weighed  anchor and  gained the  open  sea, the   Kamchadal   attacked   the   fortress   Nishne-Kamchatsk  and  took  possession of  it.   Presently   a   detachment   was   despatched to take  Verkhne-Kamchatsk and   Bolsheretsk,   and   everywhere   the  Russians  were  slain.     It so  happened, however,  that the "Gabriel" unexpectedly returned on account of an impending storm.     The  ship  was  not  prepared  for a  sea-voyage;  besides,  the crew were not   eager   to   go  to the  Anadyr.     The sudden  return  of the "Gabriel" saved the   Russians  on  the peninsula.     With the assistance of the sailors,  Verkhne- Kamchatsk   and   Bolsheretsk    were   successfully   held,   Nishne-Kamchatsk   was recaptured, and the revolt was suppressed.

         When the pews of the revolt and its suppression reached Yakutsk, the Administration resolved to send a commission to Kamchatka for the investi- gation of the causes of the uprising, of the numerous revolts of Cossacks against their chiefs, and of the incessant feuds between the chiefs and their parties, for rumors had been current in Yakutsk of the cruelty, violence, and licentiousness of the Cossack chiefs and soldiers on the peninsula. At the head of the commission were Majors Mekhlin and Pavlutsky. The investi- gation lasted from 1733 to 1739. Sentences of death were passed by the commissioners on several Kamchadal instigators of the uprising, as well as on Cossacks convicted  of criminal  actions.2

         After his mission to Kamchatka, Pavlutsky, in 1740, was made military commander of Yakutsk; but in 1742 the Government again determined to subject the Chukchee and Koryak by force of arms, and Pavlutsky was ordered back to his Anadyrsk post. Pavlutsky travelled from Yakutsk by way of Kolymsk, as before, instead of following the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, for he was anxious for the time being to avoid encounters with the Koryak. Hurried as his journey was, he did not reach Anadyrsk before November, 1743.

         After his arrival, Pavlutsky concentrated all his efforts on the fight with the Chukchee, and left the Koryak undisturbed. When the messengers from Oklansk, in the winter of 1745, brought the news that the fortress was being  besieged, Pavlutsky was making preparations for a campaign against the Chukchee,   although   he   knew   of  the   Koryak insurrection.     The men whom


1  According   to   the   original   plan   of   Shestakoff's   military   expedition,   the   ship   "Gabriel,"   which   had   left
Okhotsk  at the  same  time with  Shestakoff,  was  to visit Kamchatka, and from there proceed to the mouth of the
Alut River, where the commander of the expedition expected to arrive from the shores of the Okhotsk Sea (see p. 787;
in order  to   subdue   the   Alutor   Koryak;   from   there   it was intended that the ship should sail to the mouth of the
Anadyr River, exploring the shores on the way, and continue up the river to the fortification Anadyrsk, which Shestakoff
intended to reach by land.    When the news of Shestakoffs end arrived, the "Gabriel" remained in Kamchatka, expect-
ing further orders.    In June,  1731, she was ordered to proceed to the  Anadyr and to enter the service of Pavlutsky.

2      Among  the   Russians who were executed was the Cossack officer Shtinnikoff.    In  1729 a Japanese ship with
seventeen Japanese  was   carried   by the winds to the southern shores of Kamchatka.    In order to make use of their
merchandise,   Shtinnikoff ordered all the Japanese to be killed.    Only two escaped death, — an old man and a boy,
who were subsequently taken to St. Petersburg and presented to the Empress Elizabeth.


794

  JOCHELSON, THE KORYAK.

he   had   sent   to   the   Reindeer   Koryak  to  demand  reindeer for  his  campaign against   the   Chukchee   were   killed  or  returned  empty-handed.     Nevertheless, Pavlutsky himself did  not attack the Koryak, but sent the officer Proshin with one   hundred   and   twenty   soldiers.     At his approach, the  Koryak raised the siege of Oklansk.     Proshin  continued his  march, the Koryak retreating before him.     Finally he opened negotiations with them, and, satisfied by their promise to lay  down their arms and to pay tribute in the future, returned to Anadyrsk, having left re-enforcements in Oklansk.     Pavlutsky, who returned to Anadyrsk after   his   Chukchee   campaign,  towards the close  of  1745,  put Proshin  under arrest   for   his   undetermined   mode   of  action.      Further events  made it clear how   insincere   the   Koryak  had  been  in  their  promises.     The entire  Okhotsk coast  remained  in  the hands of the insurgents,  and the  Oklansk fortress also fell.   To prevent the cannons and the powder from falling into the hands of the   Koryak,   the   garrison   interred   them.     Only   four   men   of  the   garrison reached   Anadyrsk   in   March,    1747.     In the course of the same month Pav lutsky was killed in a battle with the  Chukchee.

         As indicated above, the Koryak uprising lasted almost until 1757. To illustrate the methods of Koryak warfare and their determination in battle, I will describe two or three more of the leading episodes of that fight.

         Pavlutsky's successor, Kekerev, arrived at Anadyrsk in December, 1748, and on the 30th of January, 1749. started out against the Koryak. His party consisted of 236 Cossacks, 88 Yukaghir, and 146 subjected Koryak, on whom fell the burden of transporting both men and luggage. The Koryak, of course, were unreliable allies in a campaign against their own people. While on the way, Kekerev learned from two captured Koryak that the chief of the Reindeer Koryak, Tekietoga, was camping with a band of his people on the Paren River. Kekerev hurried there. Tekietoga, however, was warned in time, and, abandoning his tents and part of his herds, he fled with his men to the Okhotsk Sea. A snow-storm prevented Kekerev from pursuing him effectively, and he changed his course to the Kamenskoye fortification, where Koryak warriors had gathered in great numbers. On the way he destroyed the fortification Ega'c. The first assault on Kamenskoye failed, and Kekerev himself sustained two arrow-wounds; nevertheless during the night the besieged put their wives and children to death, and under cover of a storm fled to one of the inaccessible rocks which surrounded the fortress. There was only one place where that rock could be reached, which was so steep that it could not be scaled without a rope-ladder and thongs. To take the rock by storm in the face of a stone-shower from the Koryak was hardly possible, and to starve them out would have lasted too long. Hence Kekerev raised the siege and turned back to Anadyrsk, taking the promise from the Koryak through whose territory he passed, that they would pay their tribute in the autumn.     As   usual,   he   had   taken  with  him a number of Koryak  prisoners,


  795

JOCHELSON, THE KORYAK. 

some of whom were executed in Anadyrsk; others were flogged or tortured to make them tell the names of the instigators of the uprising. The Koryak, of course, did not keep their promise to pay tribute; and in March, 1750, we again find Kekerev engaged in a campaign against the Koryak; namely, on the Talovka River and in the region south of it. He did not succeed any better,  however,  than  in  the preceding year.

         Captain Shatiloff, who followed Kekerev as the commandant of the for- tress Anadyrsk, started out against the Koryak towards the end of March, 1751. He intended to chastise their western branch, and his course accord- ingly lay towards the Gishiga River. Near the Taigonos Peninsula he sent ahead a scouting-party of fifty men in command of the Cossack Lieutenant Katkovsky. The scouts soon discovered a Koryak camp, and a fight ensued; as soon, however, as a few Koryak had fallen from bullets, the rest fled,  abandoning the camp. On entering, Katkovsky found heaps of dead bodies of women and children,  obviously put to death by their relatives.

         From a Koryak prisoner Katkovsky learned that large Koryak forces were concentrated on the peninsula. Shatiloff hurried there, and presently overtook the Koryak, who, hearing of the approach of the Russians, had retreated to a small inaccessible rocky island several hundred feet off the shore. Shatiloff placed his men on the ice around the island and opened negotiations with the besieged, urging them to surrender and to pay the tribute; but the Koryak indignantly rejected all proposals. Then Shatiloft resolved to take the island by storm, but deferred the assault for a few days, during which the adjoining country was scouted. No more Koryak were found, but the scouts succeeded in capturing a herd of reindeer. The island rose steeply from the sea on all sides. There was only one possible way of ascent, which the Koryak protected by thrusting clown reindeer-sleds loaded with stones. Besides, they had placed hidden wolf-traps all around the island. The Russians assaulted from five sides simultaneously; and after a desperate struggle the rock was taken, the defence having cost the Koryak one hundred  and thirty dead, among them their chief Tykap. About three hundred corpses of  women and children were found scattered in the camp, and only three men and five women were taken prisoners. It appears from these accounts how desperately the Koryak fought, and that they preferred to kill their women and children with their own hands rather than see them captured by the enemy. The Russian losses in that battle were five soldiers and four Cossacks killed, and fifty-one wounded, including several officers. The char- acter of the battle left a strong impression on Shatiloff, for at the capture of two other fortified rocks he proceeded with less determination. Having received the tribute and hostages on the rivers of Paren, Gishiga, and on the Taigonos Peninsula, Shatiloff returned to Anadyrsk in May, 1751. He had failed to break the Koryak revolt.


796    

 JOCHELSON, THE KORYAK.

          Shatiloff's campaign  was the  last  undertaken  from the fortress Anadyrsk. The  Government had  long before  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  subjection of the Koryak required the  erecting of a  number of fortresses along the Bay of  Gishiga,   which   could   be   reached   from   Okhotsk   by   sea.      The   fortress Gishiginsk   was   founded   by Okhotsk  Cossacks in   1752, but the sea-route to Okhotsk   was   not   opened   until    1757.      Between   the   years   1752  and   1756 hostile   encounters   continued   to   occur   between  Cossacks and the Koryak of the   Okhotsk   coast.      The   year   1756   is   considered   to   be   the   last   of  the Koryak   uprising.      This,   however,   is   only   partly true.     The annihilation of entire   villages and settlements, the torture of prisoners,  the capture of herds from   the   Reindeer   Koryak,   had   broken their power of resistance only to a certain   degree.     The   main   cause   of the cessation  of wars with the Koryak lay in a change of policy on the part of the  Russians.     The commandant of the fortress Gishiginsk received orders  not  to send collectors of tribute to the Koryak   villages   and   camps,   but   to propose to the  Koryak chiefs that they deliver   the   tribute yearly at the fortress.     We shall have occasion to see in how   far   that   measure   was   conducive   to   the improvement of Russo-Koryak relations.     Naturally   there   were   at   first   very  few Koryak groups who sent tribute   voluntarily   to   Gishiginsk; 1   but   experience   had   shown   how futile it was to use force as a means of obtaining tribute.

          The other cause of the wars lay in the national pride of the Russian conquerors, who insisted on breaking the stubborn resistance of alien peoples and on subjecting them to Russian rule. But here again experience had made it clear that the submission of these peoples was not worth the sacrifices which it cost. 1 am here referring only to the Koryak and Chukchee; for the related Kamchadal, being entirely sedentary, were more easily conquered by means of force. In the case of the Koryak, the modified policy of the  conquerors finally led to the compromise just described. In regard to the Chukchee, however, it was decided to cease all further attempts to subjugate this people. The fortress Anadyrsk was entirely abolished in 1764 and the Administration transferred to  Gishiginsk.     Thus the wars of the Russians with the Koryak and  Chukchee came to an  end  when  the  latter were entirely left to themselves.

         The Tribute. — "Yasak" is the term applied to the tribute in furs which the Russians imposed on the conquered Siberian peoples. The historians of Siberia agree that during the early periods of settlement the main factor attracting the Russians to Siberia was its widely heralded wealth in furs. For a time Siberian furs were an important financial item in the budget of the   Russian   Empire.      How   enormous   the   wealth   in  furs of Siberia was at


1  As  late  as   1848   we find from the tribute records of the Gishiga district that the number of Reindeer Kor-
yak  who  were assessed  was   294;   in the records of 1894 this number rises to 836; and, according to the census of
18
97, the number of Reindeer Koryak in the Gishiga district is 2389.


 797

JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK. 

the   beginning   of  the   conquest   is   demonstrated   by   the   fact   that   after  the defeat of the Siberian Khan Kuchum, his dominion — i. e. the territory lying in the  basin  of the  Obi   River alone — was forced to pay to the Moscowite Czar a yearly tribute  of 200,000  sables,   10,000  black  foxes, and 500,000 squirrels of  the   best   quality,   besides   beavers   and   ermines.     Having discovered how profitable  the  fur trade  was  to the Treasury, the State was no longer satisfied with   the   tribute   of  furs,   but   began   to   monopolize   the   fur   trade.     In  the beginning   of  the   seventeenth   century  Czar Boris Godunoff decreed that the hunters   and fur-traders deposit their merchandise in  the  Treasury for a fixed remuneration.     The   accumulated   furs   were   placed   in   the   care of a special department in   Moscow,  which  disposed  of them through its agents in Turkey, Persia,   Bokhara,   and,   later,   China.      China   in  time became the largest and most   profitable   consumer   of  Siberian   furs,   for   in   exchange for its furs the Treasury   would   import   from   China   chiefly   gold and silver,  with  which the Moscowite empire paid  for its  wars.

       After the Nerchinsk Treaty concluded by Peter the Great with the Chinese in 1689, the China trade continued to be Government monopoly until the year 1762. 1  In that year Empress Katerine II abolished the official caravans to Peking, leaving the trade, which was still based chiefly on furs, in the hands of private merchants. The free fur trade had a stimulating effect on the development of commercial relations between Siberia, European Russia, and the neighboring countries. The Treasury, on the other hand, no longer insisted that the tribute of Siberia be paid in furs exclusively. They were now free to pay their tribute in money, the amount being approximately estimated according to the value of the furs. Thus the field for official abuses was reduced, and the attitude of the natives towards the Russians began to improve.

         The time of the attempts to subject the Koryak as well as the Kamchadal and Chukchee, coincides with the period of the Government monopoly in furs, when fur tribute was the cause for the sake of which thousands of men were tortured and killed whenever they refused or were not able to satisfy the rapaciousness of the foreign invaders. The tragedy of the situation for the natives lay in the fact that the sable, for whose fur the Russian demand was greatest, was a rare animal in the Koryak country, and did not occur at all in  the  territory of the Chukchee.

         The question how tribute was levied, which was put afterwards on a definite basis by the so-called First Tribute (Yasak) Commission of 1702-66, is but superficially treated by the historians of Siberia. We do not know whether there existed before that commission definite and universally applied standards   according   to   which   the   tribute  to be paid by the hunters of this 


' The State monopoly of the fur trade was first limited in. 1727, but in 1752 the full Government monopoly
was again introduced.


798

 JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.

or   that  people was estimated.     From  fragmentary bits of information  we are justified   in   assuming   that the  amount  of tribute  to be  levied  was  constantly decreased.     The  lowering  of the standard  obviously kept pace with the grad- ually    decreasing    numbers   of  fur-bearing   animals,   which   was   due   to   their extermination   since   the   advent   of  the   Russians   to   Siberia.     According   to Slovtzoff,   in   the   beginning   the tribute   amounted   to five sables for a single hunter, and ten for a married one:  hence the conclusion seems justifiable, that in   the   beginning   the   wives   of  hunters   had   to   pay   their   share.     In some places   from   ten   to   twenty   sables   were   required   from   the hunter;  but the Government, says  Slovtzoff (II,  p.  62),  was indulgent,  and this rule was not always   observed.      In   the   second   half of the seventeenth century we find a tribute  of seven   sables   "per bow;"   and,   according to the  Siberian census of 1722,    the   tribute   levied   amounted   to   three   sables   for   each   hunter;   and finally,   after  the work  of the  First Tribute  Commission,   the amount paid by each   hunter   was   fixed   at   one   sable,   or,  in  case  no sable was available,  at one fox-skin  or one beaver-skin, etc.     We know that the Chukchee altogether refused to pay fur tribute.    This fact probably accounts for the circumstance, so   puzzling   to   Baron   Maydell,   that the conquering activity  of the Russians was    more   especially    directed   against   the   Chukchee,   and   not   against   the Koryak, although the attacks made by the latter on Russian detachments were far more frequent than those made by the  Chukchee.

         It is certain that one or another group of the Koryak was from time to time forced to pay tribute, although no references can be found as to the standard used in levying it, nor as to the total amount received. It seems, however, that the Koryak tribute was not very large from the start, and consisted rather of foxes than of the more valuable furs. Specific indications of the standard used in levying the tribute from the Kamchadal are also lacking; but, judging from certain available data, the amount collected from the Kam- chadal must have been very considerable, the tribute consisting chiefly of expensive furs. Thus, when Atlassoff returned from his first expedition to  Kamchatka, — after visiting only the people of the Kamchatka River, — he carried with him thirty-two hundred sables, many hundred foxes, about one hundred sea-otters, for the Treasury, and, as his private provision, four hundred sables and numerous other furs. In time the Kamchadal tribute from the whole peninsula increased in amount. According to the denunciation made by the Cossacks against Petrilofsky, one of the commanders in Kam- chatka in the first half of the eighteenth century, the latter had "stolen" in the course of one year 5600 sables, 2000 foxes, 207 sea-otters, and 169 otters. Without any doubt, other commanders of Kamchatka were not far behind Petrilofsky  in filling their purses at  the expense of the Kamchadal.1


  1  Judging  from  a  statement  made by Krasheninnikoff, the official tribute of the Kamchadal was fixed at one
sable  to a hunter, even before the regulations of the First Tribute Commission.    Thus, while
referring to the begin-


799

JOCHELSON, THE KORYAK.  

 

         According to  historical  data referring to  Siberia before the  First Tribute Commission,  the collectors in  the native settlements and camps were Cossacks and   officials,    who   received    lists   of   all   assessable   men;   that   is,   of   adults capable   of  hunting.     The details  of this  method  of collecting tribute can  no longer be ascertained.     All we know is, that the illiterate collectors, who were in  the   majority,   carried   little   sticks  with   notches  to  indicate  the number of men assessed.     Each hunter had to pay his own share.1     In addition, however, the   collectors   expected  presents  for themselves,   for  the military commanders, and   for   other   high   officials.     In   some cases presents were sent to the Czar himself.     These   presents   were   known   as the "gratuitous" or "complimentary" tribute   поминочный или поклонный ясакъ),   as   distinguished   from the crown tribute or tribute proper (податной ясакъ).2

         The collectors were accompanied to unsafe localities by Cossack escorts, who demanded their share of presents. Besides, the collectors carried with them merchandise for barter. Thus it happened that the furs which reached the Treasury were never of the best quality. In Kamchatka these practices were indulged in with exceptional freedom. In a country so far distant from the central Administration, the collectors and their men were in reality bands of robbers whose exploits would rouse the Kamchadal to fury and despair. Thus one of these collectors and his escort of twenty-five Cossacks were burned by the Kamchadal on the Avacha River, the Kamchadal hostages perishing with the rest. When the collector arrived, the Kamchadal greeted him with honors, assigned to him and his Cossacks a separate summer house on piles, and, promising to pay the tribute on the following morning, left hostages selected from among the best men of the village. At night, when the house was set on fire, the Kamchadal called to the hostages to escape;  but they answered that they were in chains, and bade their people outsideburn the house, leaving them to their fate.3

         As far as the Koryak are concerned, it may, I think, be asserted, that not only was there no standard for the tribute, but that it was paid only once in a while, under direct compulsion of military parties; and after the foundation of the fortress Gishiginsk, the Koryak tribute became a voluntary contribution, which the representatives of the various Koryak groups them- selves delivered at the fortress.

        The   task   of   the   First   Tribute   Commission,   which   was   appointed   by ning of the seventeenth century (II, p. 342), he tells of a collector who demanded from the Kamchadal two or three sables instead of one.


1  During the early period of the conquest of Siberia, some heads of tribes with advanced social and  political
organization,   like   the   khans   of  the   Kirghiz  and   of some  Tatar  peoples of western Siberia, were bound  to pay a
certain   yearly  tribute  in sables and other furs for the whole tribe.    For example, the Tatar prince Yedigher had to
pay yearly a thousand sables (see Fischer, Sibirische Geschichte, p.  182).

2  There  existed   still another kind of tribute called "decimal" (десятинный).    It was levied exclusively from
Russian hunters in Siberia, who had to reserve for the Treasury the fur of every tenth animal killed.

3  Krasheninnikoff, II, p. 352.

IOI -JESUP   NORTH   PACIFIC   EXPED.,   VOL.   VI,   PART   2.


800  

                                         JOCHELSON, THE KORYAK.

Empress Katherine, was to regulate the tribute question and to put an end to the abuses of the collectors. The reforms introduced by the commission were based on the following principles:  I. The tribute is to be paid by a representative for the entire clan or group;  the further apportionment of the tribute is left to the natives themselves. 2. The representative of the group is to deliver the tribute in person to the administrative centre; collectors are abolished. 3. Subject to the tribute are native men from sixteen to sixty years of age, who are to be called "workers" or "tax souls." 4. Payment may be made in furs or in money, the amount being calculated in money for each person, and varying, in the case of fur payments, according to locality, the nature of the animals, and  the current valuation  of the latter.

          These principles, with some additions and a general lowering of the amount of tribute to be paid, were accepted by the Second Tribute Commis- sion (1828-35). The age of the "workers" was limited to men from eighteen to fifty. The number of "workers" of every clan was fixed by the census. The last census for this purpose was taken in 1859. The standards then established varied for different localities. Obviously for each locality, and even for each group and clan, it was fixed by mutual agreement of the representatives of the Treasury and of the natives. Even the so-called Koryak clans were until lately differently taxed. Thus, the tax of a "worker" from the Vivnik clan amounted to 2 rubles 86 kopeks, while that of a "worker"  from the Alutor clan amounted only to 1 ruble 49 kopeks.1 At present the Koryak of the Gishiga district are taxed uniformly at the rate of 1 ruble 15 kopeks per "worker." I have not been able to ascertain from the Archives since what date this last method of taxation was adopted. To illustrate the  great reduction of the tribute, I will compare the last tax recorded, with the original one of ten sables per hunter. According to the data kept by the Administration of the Gishiga district for the year 1897, there were in that  district 241 taxable Reindeer Koryak, and 407 Maritime Koryak. As there are more Reindeer Koryak in the Gishiga district than Maritime people (the census figures for 1897 are 2389 Reindeer and 2045 Maritime Koryak),2 the data on the taxed population indicate that many of the Reindeer Koryak do not pay tribute, and the number 407 is also lower than the total number of men of the Maritime Koryak  between  the ages of eighteen and fifty.

         According to the official report for 1897, the Koryak tribute for that year was paid, two thirds in furs, and one third in money. The official ap- praisement of furs is lower than their market price. The appraisement in rubles and kopeks is as follows, the valuation being given in each case for the fur without paws or tail.


1 See Archives of the Administration of the Gishiga District, No. 751, 1867.
2
See p. 445.

 


801

JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.  

Sable (superior quality)  10.00
Sable (inferior quality) 8.00
White fox 1.50  
Wolf 2.50
Red fox. 2.00
Cross-fox   8.00
Ermine   0.081

         The Itkana Koryak, who hunt fur-bearing animals very little, bring to Gishiginsk the skins of ground-seals, and bundles of thongs cut out of skins of ground-seals. Twenty-eight of them are tax-payers, their total tribute amounting to 32 rubles 20 kopeks. To cover that sum, their elder delivers to Gishiginsk ten ground-seal skins and six bundles of thongs. In the open market the skins alone would  amount to  60 rubles,  6  rubles apiece.

         The Present Relations of the Russians and the Koryak. — The military conquest by Russia, of that  part of Siberia where agriculture is im- possible, could not call forth a voluntary agricultural colonization. The first Russian invaders were all hunters and soldiers. In the course of time they were joined by forced immigrants and exiled criminals. The colonial policy was in the beginning nothing but a means of reaching the Siberian peltry resources. The central Government was in the majority of cases benevolently inclined towards the natives. The local administrations were often instructed to be lenient in gathering tribute, and not to insult the natives; but these benevolent intentions could not be harmonized with the actual situation, where tribute had to be extorted from natives who were often unable to pay it. In order to comply with the requirements of the official agents, the native  had to neglect the material needs of his family, and concentrate his entire energy on the hunt for fur-animals. Besides, the agents robbed the natives to their own advantage, committed violence, tortured and enslaved the men, carried away their women and children; and when  the natives revolted, the agents claimed that the natives had arisen  against the Czar's power.

         Then the Government would send military parties to suppress the revolt and to punish the guilty. Of course, Russia did not act any worse than did many other nations regarding their colonial "possessions." Even now, the African negroes, for instance, revolt because the white intruders rob them of their land and of the natural products of their country, meanwhile burdening them with taxes to support the same Administration which suppresses them. In one respect the Russians were superior to other European colonizers, for they exhibited only to a moderate degree the consciousness of racial superior- ity over the natives, which other white peoples possess in a very exaggerated degree. The Siberian natives were not treated with contempt. When the  greed of the Russian was satisfied or did not come to the foreground, theconqueror   and   the   conquered   would   easily   come   to terms.     On the whole,


1  For the local market-price of the skins here mentioned, see p. 775.


802   

 JOCHELSON, THE KORYAK.

however, the system of violent extortion and repression led to the extermina-tion of those people which were not especially numerous or possessed of exceptional vitality. Thus many clans of the Yukaghir entirely disappeared. The Chukchee and the Koryak, on the other hand, although not numerous, but stubborn and full of vital energy, succeeded to a certain extent in pre- serving their ethnic individuality.

         The colonial policy of deriving the maximum possible profits from the natives, for the benefit of the Government and of private individuals, resulted in the extermination of several small peoples, and finally led to the exhaustion of the source of these profits itself. The present yearly export of sables  from Kamchatka, for instance, does not reach two thousand skins, while on the Kolyma this valuable animal  has  entirely disappeared.

         The   fur trade gradually deteriorated as a source of State revenues,  and no   other   source   took   its   place.      Thus,   as   a   result   of   a barbaric  colonial policy,   the   expenditures   of  the   State   for   the   administration   of the remote districts   of Siberia became,  in the course of time, greater than the revenues derived   from   these   districts.     The tribute could  no longer be regarded as a source of income, and had to be looked upon as a symbol of the submission of the   tribute-paying   peoples,   —   a symbol which  flattered  a petty national pride,   but   was   paid   for by the  Government through  a  costly administration of unprofitable colonies.     It is  worth noting that the tribute paid by the small Siberian   peoples   is   not   sent   to   the   Treasury,   but to the household of the Imperial  Court.    The romantic  view of the fur tribute as a concrete proof of the subjection of the  natives to the  Czar was entertained by the Bureaucracy at   the   end  of the past century,  and is still  entertained  by them.    Even the learned   official   traveller,   Baron   Maydell,  in  part held that view.     The chief purpose   of the   so-called   "Chukchee   Expedition"   (1869-70),   at   the  head of which he stood,  was the subjection  to  Russia of the Chukchee, who were not paying tribute.    To induce the Chukchee to pay tribute,  methods were used, and   probably   are   still used, which are as humorous as they are humiliating to   the   Russian   Empire.     The   Court   Treasury   spent   a   certain   sum yearly on  presents for those  Chukchee who paid their tribute voluntarily.     The chief of the Kolyma district,  on  his  way to the  Chukchee  fair on  the  Anui  River, would   carry   on   special   sledges   presents   consisting-   of iron  kettles,  tea-pots, tobacco,   etc.      In    1892   I   witnessed  on  the  Anui  River the  ceremony of the tribute   presentation   by   the   Chukchee.      Ten   or   so   Chukchee  from various localities   came   to   the official  cabin,  and  in  the presence  of the district chief were entertained by the Cossacks with tea, sugar, and biscuits.     After a speech suitable   to  the occasion had been  made by the chief through an interpreter, to the effect that the Czar loved the Chukchee and was sending them presents, each   of the natives made his small  contribution  to the tribute with a red or arctic   fox.     Then the  imperial  presents were inspected and additions begged


 803

JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK. 

for, which were generally granted by the chief, who was anxious to get rid of his tiresome guests. The results of the barter were very favorable to the Chukchee. They had received presents which in value greatly exceeded their tribute; the hides meanwhile were ceremoniously stamped with the official seal and despatched to the Court Treasury in St. Petersburg as a token of Chukchee submissiveness.1  In other cases, like that of the Yukaghir, — to be treated in Vol. IX of this series, — even a very moderate tribute had a fatal effect on the economic life of the people.

         In   order   to   demonstrate   to   what extent the State expenditures for the northeastern   districts   exceed   the   revenues,   I   shall   present the data for the Gishiga   district.      I  have in my possession  the official reports on that region for   the   year 1897.     The  total tribute for that year amounts to   1119 rubles (364   rubles   in   currency,   and   755   in   furs),   of which  sum  the Koryak paid 745   rubles,   and   the   Tungus   374.      The   "voluntary   contributions" made by the Palpal Chukchee and Koryak  at the  Chukchee  fair 2    amounted to another 73  rubles.     The natives regard  the tribute as a present to the Czar.     As we have   seen,   it   does   not   go   to   the   State   Treasury.     The   revenues   of  the Treasury   from   the   district   of  Gishiginsk   consisted   of the so-called Zemstvo taxes 3   to   the   amount   of 163  rubles, and taxes of merchants to the amount of  1606   rubles.     I   have   not   been   able   to   obtain   the exact figures of the expenditures   for   the   administration   of  the   district,   but   I   consider   40,000 rubles   a   conservative   estimate.     The   maintenance   of  the   district  chief, his assistant,   the   secretary,   and   their   offices, amounts   to   no   less   than   12,000 rubles  a   year.     The   salary of the chief alone is 4500 rubles.    Then follow the   salaries   of a  priest in Gishiginsk, of a missionary, a physician, and two assistant   surgeons,   who also reside in Gishiginsk, and scarcely ever visit the Koryak   camps   and   villages.4    The last item is the maintenance of the Cos- sack   detachment,   which   is   the   largest   single expenditure in the budget for  the administration of the district.

         A few words should be said regarding the Gishiginsk Cossacks. Although these Cossacks are the descendants of the warriors who conquered Siberia, they are no longer military men, nor are they controlled by the Ministry of War. Since 1822 they have been under the Ministry of the Interior, and are used by the district chief for police and messenger services. This archaic institution of a staff of civil Cossacks still survives in all the district towns of   the   Province   of   Yakutsk,   and   among   those   of  the   Maritime   Province


1 Dr. S. I. Mitzkevich,  the  former  physician  of the  Kolyma  district,  told me  that  during his  visit to the
Anui fair in 1901, the chief of the district not bring
  any  presents for the Chukchee tribute-payers; and the
Chuk
chee  of the  Chukchee  Peninsula,  on being informed of this, requested the return to them of the tribute skins
which they had given to the chief.    Their request was granted
2
 See p. 776.

3 Since 1893  the Maritime Koryak   and   other  settled   peoples   had   to pay, in  addition to the tribute, taxes
amounting to 4 kopeks per soul.    These taxes were raised to cover local expenses, such as repairs of roads, etc.
4 This was true at least of the medical staff during my stay in the Gishiga district.


804      

 JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.

in   Gishiginsk,   Markova,   Petropavlovsk,   Okhotsk,  and  Udsk.  The  Cossacks form an  hereditary  class,  and  their services  are  obligatory.     The  term  of the Cossack's active service is twenty-five years, beginning at the age of eighteen. Every Cossack draws a yearly salary of seventy rubles, and receives monthly seventy-two   pounds   of  rice  and  flour.     Boys,  from their birth  to the age of sixteen,    receive    half    that   amount   of   provisions.     Hence   boys   are   much desired   in   Cossack   families,   and   a   Cossack   maiden   who has male children born out of wedlock is a welcome bride.     The Cossack detachment in  Gishi- ginsk   numbers   about   thirty,   and   the   wives   and children bring the number up   to   over   one   hundred.     The duties of the Gishiginsk  Cossacks consist in being   on   service   in   the   offices  of the  district chief, in escorting officials on their journeys through the district, and  in accompanying the  mail as carriers; scientific   expeditions   also   made  use of the Cossack as guards or as servants and   interpreters.     Thus,   by  order of the  Maritime  Governor,  a Cossack  was despatched   with   my   party.      Mr.  Bogoras,   on   his   journey to the Chukchee Peninsula,   had   with   him   two   Cossacks.     In   the   summer   the duties of the Cossacks   are   limited   to   the   days   when   steamers  arrive.    They unload the official   freight,   consisting   to   a   large   extent   of rice and  flour for their own use.    The   rest  of their time they spend in  fishing.     Even during the winter months   they   have   spare   time   enough   to   attend   to   their   households or to serve as commissioners in the barter of the  natives with  the merchants.

 

          The Cultural Influence of the Russians on the Koryak. — What has been shown in regard to the remote districts of Northeast Siberia, as exem- plified by the Gishiga district, will in a future work on the Yukaghir be demonstrated in regard to the northern districts of the Yakutsk province; namely, that these districts require heavy expenditures from the metropolis, and that while the present policy lasts there is little hope for better conditions in the future. From these facts one would imagine that Russia maintains its remote northeastern colonies solely for the glory of possessing a territory which, although barren and not populated, is immense; or for the sake of civilizing the natives. These motives do without doubt enter as factors into the so-called "colonial policy" of Russia; but they are not the main causes of the deficits in the Treasury. The excess of expenditures over revenues is primarily due to a deficient administration of the territory, which is ruled by ignorant and mostly unnecessary officials. Frequently the high bureaucrats have no knowledge whatever of the country intrusted to their care. Here is an interesting illustration. The chief of the Gishiga district, Ratkevich, was rash enough to present in his report to the Governor of the Maritime Province for 1885 a short ethnographical sketch1  describing cases where old men  were killed or vendetta murders committed by the tribes in  his district.


1  See the Gishiginsk  Archives, Reports of the Chief of the District, of Sept. 30,1885 (No.197) and of Dec.
31, 1881 (No. 404).


805

JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK. 

In answer to this report, the vice-governor wrote to Ratkevich, asking him, in the name of the Governor, on what grounds he tolerated in his locality acts which  were illegal  according to the  laws  of the   Russian  Empire. 

         In regard to the cultural activity of whites in general in their colonies, we must remember that no white nation has ever approached a primitive people with the sole purpose of civilizing it. All civilized nations have acquired colonies, on account of their natural products, as lands for immi- gration or as markets for their own products. The natives, in some cases, where they were not exterminated or had not died out under the burden of oppression, acquired in the course of time a certain degree of civilization through intercourse with  the  whites.

         The extreme northeast of Siberia is not fit for Russian colonization. The culture of the Russian immigrants in these localities has deteriorated, and their mode of life is but little different from that of the natives. The number of Russian inhabitants in the Koryak territory, to judge by the Gishiga district, where the bulk of the people are Koryak, is slightly in excess of six per cent of the total population.

         If the country cannot be populated by Russians, the question arises, whether under any conditions it would become possible for the latter to raise the civilization of the natives? The answer must be that a civilizing influence could certainly be exerted on the Koryak and their neighbors if the Government assigned for that purpose the sums now expended on the complex administration. Such expenditures for cultural purposes would ulti- mately result in an improvement of local conditions, leading to an increase of revenues which would easily equal and finally exceed the expenditures for the administration of the country. In place of the present staff of officials and the Cossack detachments, one commissary and a few paid guards could efficiently attend to the simple needs of the district. The duties of a commissary could be performed by one of the school-teachers. At the time of my stay in the Gishiga district, there were no schools. The children of the Gishํginsk priests, as well as the children of District Chief Prshevalinsky, Councillor of State, who died before my arrival, could hardly write a note or even sign their names; while the chief's wife, who belonged to the local Russians, was entirely illiterate. The Cossacks and common people were, of course, practically all illiterate. According to data contained in the Archives, an elementary school was held at different times;  but as it was intrusted to the priest and sexton, who themselves were but little versed in the art of reading and writing, the school had to be closed after a short existence on paper. It goes without saying that the institution of schools with trained teachers in Gishiginsk, as well as in some of the more important Koryak settlements, would have familiarized the Koryak with Russian culture to a much greater extent than  did the levying of a petty  tribute.     Besides giving


806

 JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.

an    elementary    education,    these    schools   ought   to   pursue   practical   ends. A  breeding-station  for reindeer associated with the school could vastly increase the   value   of herds.     There the  Koryak could be instructed in the advanced methods   of domestication   and   of improving breeds, as well as in the art of preventing   reindeer-epidemics.     The  school should also teach better methods of catching and preserving fish.     The technical  capacity and artistic talent of the   Koryak,   if properly   directed,   would   lead   to   the  development of home industries, — the production of fur rugs, for instance, — which would yield valu- able articles for the export trade.     If for a period of ten years the sums now expended   on   the   administration   of   the   country were spent on building and maintaining  schools,   the culture and material  well-being of the Koryak could be   raised   to   such   an   extent that their further development could be left in their   own   hands.      Such   ought   to   be   the   results   aimed   at   by   a   rational colonial   policy,    leaving   quite   out   of   account   the   moral   obligations   of  a civilized   nation   towards   its primitive subjects.     It cannot be denied that life under    conditions    and    circumstances    like   those   of   the   Koryak   must   be extremely hard to endure for people of any culture; but when the fate of the Siberian natives shall pass from the hands of the bureaucracy to those of the nation, not a few of the Russian intellectuals will be willing to sacrifice their comfort   and   habits   of  life   for   the   sake   of  enlightening   and   enriching the inhabitants of the Far  North.

         It remains to summarize the positive and negative results derived by the Koryak   from   their   contact   with  civilization.     I  shall,  however, treat only of those   aspects  of the subject which  were  not touched upon  in  my description of the   modern  material culture of the  Koryak as compared  with that of the past.    After the complete subjection  of the Kamchadal, followed by a number of  military   rulers   who   abused   their   vast   powers,   Kamchatka entered upon a period characterized by greater consideration for the natives.     That period, beginning with the end of the eighteenth century, could be termed the "period of  enlightened   despotism."     Instead   of trying to stimulate the local pursuits of the natives, the  Administration  decided to introduce among the Kamchadal occupations belonging to Russian civilization.     By means of flogging and other modes of punishment, the Kamchadal were forced to build Russian houses, sow rye, raise vegetables, and breed cattle.     The constraining measures innocently  sed by the despotic civilizers killed in the Kamchadal all initiative and energy: their   individuality   was   totally crushed.     Of course,  all  attempts to introduce agriculture utterly failed,  while cattle-breeding and horticulture are still carried on  in   a   desultory   way.   This "enlightened  despotism" had its effect also on the   Koryak   settlements   in   northern   Kamchatka.      Here   horticulture proved impossible, while horses and cattle are bred on a small scale.     Thus, according to   the   data   for    1896,   there   were   in   the   village   Dranka   9   horses   and 17  cows;   in   Karagha,  3  horses and  2  cows;  in  Uka.   1   horse;  in  Pallan,   7


807

JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.  

 

horses and 21 cows; and in Lesnovskoye, 27 horses and 2 cows. A some-what greater number of these animals is found in the village Yamsk of the Okhotsk district. In 1895 there were in that village 30 horses and 40 cows; here, however, the population consisted in part of Yakut, who, being born cattle-breeders, take much better care of their cattle than do the Kamchadal and Koryak. The inhabitants of Yamsk also raise potatoes; in 1895, 63 puds1  of these were  planted,   and   602   puds  were  reaped.

         The   Missionaries.   —   With   the exception  of a few noble personalities, like the Aleut missionary  Veniaminoff,  or the  Altai missionary Verbitsky, the history   of the   activity   of  Greek-Orthodox   missionaries   among   the   heathen peoples  of Siberia cannot be considered  honorable.     Up to the present time, the priests and  monks sent to  the  Far  Northeast are  men of little education; they   do not know,  and  are  not able to  study,  the languages of the natives; they   have   rough   manners,   and  are  utterly lacking  in  qualities indispensable in expounders of the  moral  foundations  of Christianity.     Among the  Koryak, the  Russian  missionaries had at  first no  success whatever.     Among the Kam- chadal, baptism in  the beginning served  as a  means of making slaves of the newly   baptized;   and   missionaries,   no   less   than  Cossacks,  strove,  above all, to secure furs.     The secular chiefs often regarded the conversion of the Kam- chadal  to Christianity as one of the  means of subjecting them.     One of these chiefs   would   hang a Kamchadal who refused to be baptized;  others excused the   newly   baptized   for   a   number of years  from  paying tribute.2     From  the Kamchadal    the   missionaries   proceeded   to   the   Uka   and   Pallan   Koryak   of northern   Kamchatka,   and   from   there to  the  Alutor.     In  Dranka there is at the present time a church  with  a resident  priest.     But all  these Christianized Koryak   adopted   to   a   certain   degree   only   the formal  side of the Orthodox creed.     The same holds true of the  Russianized  Koryak of the Okhotsk dis- trict   and   of  the   village   Nayakhan   in   the   Gishiga   district,  while the great bulk of the population  of the Gishiga district has until to-day entirely resisted Christianity.     These    phenomena    must    in   part   be   ascribed   to   the   great tenacity   with  which  the  Koryak  cling to  their old  religious  beliefs.     Besides, however,   the   Koryak are reluctant to  undertake the burdens associated with baptism.      The   priest   must   be   paid   for   performing   the   ceremonies   of the Church, and be driven about the villages and settlements without remuneration to  the drivers.     To this  must be  added  the abuses and  extortions committed by   the   priests,   against  which  the secular administration  itself has repeatedly protested.     In the  Gishํginsk  Archives there are several suits directed against the   abuses   of  the   clergy.      Thus   a suit was filed against three priests who had  entered the services of merchants as drivers of goods,  at the same time


1  One pud is equivalent to 40 Russian or 36 English pounds.

2  For very interesting data on the unfavorable activity of the clergy, and on the oppression of the Kamchadal
by the officials, see Dr. Tushov, Along the Western Shore of Kamchatka (Memoirs of the Imperial Russian.
Geographical Society, Vol. II, No. 2, St. Petersburg, 1906).

IO2—JESUP  NORTH   PACIFIC   EXPED.,  VOL    VI.   PART   2.


808 

 JOCHESLON, THE  KORYAK.

making  free  use of the transportation  facilities  of the Russian settlers and the natives,  in  their  capacity  as  priests.1

         Without going into a discussion of questions of a purely religious charac-ter it must be said that the priests would have been in a position to promote the cultural mission, had better men been selected, and had their subsidies from the Government or private missionary societies been large enough to prevent them from becoming a burden to the local  population.

         The Americans. — Of the representatives of other civilized nations, the Koryak know but the name "Americans," — American whalers. The carving shown in Fig. 173, p. 655, representing the captain of an American, whaling-ship, testifies to the fact that the Koryak are acquainted with Ameri- can seamen. It is hard to fix the date when American traders first appeared in Koryak waters; certain it is, that as far back as the first half of the nine- teenth century American whaling-ships hunted for whales and other sea-animals in many places on the Okhotsk and Bering Seas. They entered into relations with the Koryak, and carried on barter with them. The Gulf of Baron Korff, the island of Karagha, and Penshina Bay, were among the places visited by American schooners. At present such visits are less frequent, owing to the decrease of the number of sea-animals in these regions. From its earliest days and up to the present time the American hunt of sea-animals in these waters has been carried on as contraband; but, owing to the absence of coast defences, the hunt of sea-animals, as well as the barter with the Koryak, continue undisturbed. The Koryak themselves are sympathetically disposed towards American seamen. These men from beyond the sea demand no tribute, want no free services; on the contrary, they themselves perform ser- vices for the Koryak (see p. 550). The American articles which they offer in exchange for reindeer hides and furs are cheaper and of better quality than the articles brought by the Russian merchants. The elder of the Tai- gonos Koryak once asked me this question : "Tiyk-e'yim (Sun Chief; that is, the Czar) is so powerful; why are his workers inferior to those of the Ameri-can e'yim (chief)? The guns, cords, and clothes received from the Americans are of better quality than the Russian ones." The alcoholic liquors which the American traders carry along with other good things are also highly appre- ciated by the Koryak. There were cases however, when the crews of Ameri- can schooners entered Koryak villages with other than amicable intentions. In connection with one visit of American sailors to Koryak villages, there is in the Archives of the Gishigia district Administration an interesting "case" (No. 578) referring to the year 1856. The heading reads, "The case of the robbery of the Kamenskoye and Levati Koryak by men of unknown nation- ality who arrived on  ships"     In  substance it was the following:  —

         Early in   the   winter   of  the year   1856 some Koryak from  Kamenskoye


1  From  records in  the Gishiginsk Archives.


  809

JOCHELSON, THE KORYAK. 

went   to   Gishiginsk   and   complained   to  the  authorities that they  themselves, and   the   inhabitants   of   the   neighboring   village   Levati,  had  been  robbed in the   summer  by  American  whalers.     All  the  inhabitants  of these  two  villages had   departed   in   their   skin   boats  to hunt seals.     Only two Koryak had  re- mained   in   Kamenskoye.      While   the   villages   were  still  deserted,  two  three- masters   entered  the  bay  and  dropped  anchor  in  the  vicinity  of Kamenskoye. Here  three whales were killed.     The men from the ships boarded their whale- boats   and   came   ashore.     The   two   Koryak  mentioned  above,   seeing the ap- proaching   strangers,   left   the   village   and  fled to a near-by rock.     Watching the   strangers   from  afar,  they saw how they carried out of the houses foxes,  reindeer-hides,   and   fur   garments.      Then   the   sailors   entered   Levati,  where  they proceeded  in  the same fashion.     Further,  it appears from the "case" that an   account   of  the   occurrence,   written   by   the   chief of the Gishiga district, was sent by the  Governor to  the  Minister of the Interior, who passed it over to   the   Ministry   of   Foreign   Affairs,   to   be   presented for explanation to the United  States of North  America.     The  Minister of Foreign  Affairs,   however, declared that he could not adopt the course of action suggested, for the tes- timony   of  the   two Koryak   was insufficient to positively establish  the nation- ality   of  the   sailors.      Thus   the   affair   remained   unexplained.     As,  however, whalers   of  no   other nationality  had  until then  visited  Gishiga  Bay, it seems plausible that the whalers in  question were Americans.

         The Neighboring Peoples. — The neighbors of the Koryak at the present time are the Chukchee in the north, the Kamchadal in the south, the Yukaghir in the west, and the Tungus in the southwest. On the middle course of the Penshina River we find, wandering with their herds, the remain- der of the now almost extinct Chuvantzy people, who were related to the  Yukaghir, but have now become assimilated with the Koryak. From the direction of the Kolyma River, single representatives of the Yakut people at times go to the Koryak territory as traders. The Russianized Koryak of the Okhotsk district, like the inhabitants of Yamsk and Tumanskoye, have to a certain degree mixed with the Yakut, who have been forced to migrate from the vicinity of Yakutsk  to the  shores  of the  Okhotsk Sea.

I have repeatedly mentioned the fact that the Kamchadal, Koryak, and Chukchee are really branches of one and the same people, as testified to by the type of their languages, their religion and culture, except for the fact that the Kamchadal have no reindeer-herds. According to tradition, the early relations of the Koryak with the Chukchee were different from their relations with the Kamchadal. With the former the Koryak were constantly engaged in war, while their relations with the latter were of a more friendly character. The reason for this probably lies in the fact that the Reindeer Chukchee and the Reindeer Koryak, whose territories were as loosely defined in   olden   times   as they are  now,  came into  constant collision  regarding pas-


810   

JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.

turages. Besides, in the days when might was right, herds were often taken by force through direct attack of the herd-owner: they had to be always watched, arms in hand. The Reindeer Chukchee, in their invasions of the Koryak Reindeer camps, would ultimately reach the sea and attack the set- tlements of the Maritime Koryak. The northern villages of the Kerek are still subject to oppression by the Reindeer Chukchee, who, as the Koryak, often rob the Kerek of their stores,  and exact service from them.

         We have some traditions recording wars between the Kamchadal and the Koryak. Without doubt, such wars occured often, as well as lesser feuds between the various groups of each of these two peoples; but what may be concluded from the traditions is, that no such antagonism existed between the Kamchadal and the Koryak as between the latter and the Chukchee and Yukaghir. This could possibly be explained by the fact that in northern Kamchatka the settlements of the Maritime Koryak are in direct contact with the settlements of the Kamchadal. It would have been hard to draw an ethnographic line between these settlements Marriages between the peoples were common,  and the border region was populated by a mixed people.

         The Kamchadal obtained from the Reindeer Koryak, through barter, hides for clothing, and these trading-relations were peaceful. In olden times the Reindeer Koryak did not advance in Kamchatka farther south than Tighil. The subsequent movement of the Reindeer Koryak along the western slope of the Kamchatka ridge southward led to complaints from the Kam- chadal, who accused the reindeer-breeders of driving away their game-animals or of killing them out of the hunting-season. To regulate these conditions, the Russian authorities require from the Reindeer Koryak, that whenever they pass to the Kamchadal territory, they shall secure the consent of the neigh- boring Kamchadal villages and abstain from hunting earlier than the Kam- chadal hunters. On the other hand, the Kamchadal derive benefits from the close proximity of the Reindeer Koryak; for, outside of the advantages of barter, the Koryak kill reindeer for the Kamchadal in times of famine. Still the Koryak  are not admitted  to  the  valley of the  Kamchatka  River.

         The relations of the Koryak to the Yukaghir and Tungus will be discussed more fully in the work on the Yukaghir. Besides, the Koryak at present scarcely ever meet the Yukaghir. Only those of the Reindeer Koryak who during the winter traverse the Stanovoi Mountains to the valleys of the Korkodon and the Omolon Rivers, come in contact with the Korkodon Yukaghir. Their relations with the Yukaghir are rather of a beneficial character. The Yukaghir are too poor to carry on regular barter. Generally they induce the reindeer-owners to give them some hides and a little deer- meat for nothing. The Tungus, who before the advent of the Russians, were constantly at war with the Koryak, began, after the subjection of the country   by   Russia,   to   penetrate   the   unoccupied   localities   in   the   Koryak terri-


 811

JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK. 

tory. Being  hunters,   they  occupy  the  wooded valleys of rivers which abound in   game,   and    where    the   Koryak   with   their   herds   are   seldom   met   with. Friction   is  thus  avoided.     It even  happens that the  Koryak and the Tungus peacefully  camp  not  far  from  each  other or  side  by side.     Thus the  Tungus gradually   advanced   to   several   tributaries   of   the   Penshina   River,  on  which the   squirrel   occurs;   and   along   the   shores   of   the   Okhotsk   Sea they  quite recently   penetrated,    even   to   Kamchatka,   where,   besides   finding   plenty   of food   for   their   reindeer,   and   mountain-sheep   for   hunting,   they ran  across a valuable fur-animal, — the sable.

         Thus the original warlike relations of the Koryak with the neighboring natives were in the course of time superseded by entirely peaceful relations, based chiefly on barter. It is true that the Koryak still have contemptuous nicknames for each of the peoples; but, wherever they come into contact with these peoples,   they form  friendships and favor intermarriages.

         An interesting trait in the lives of these primitive peoples is the remar- able tolerance with which they treat each other's customs and beliefs, and their willingness, in case of need, to recognize each other's strength or su- periority. Thus the Koryak do not hesitate to appeal for assistance to the shamans of the Chukchee or Tungus. A foreign shaman is even treated with more than the ordinary respect accorded to his class, for he is the master of spirits who are beyond the control of local shamans. When a Koryak enters into the relation of marriage or of friendship with a person belonging to another people, the accompanying ceremonies follow the custom of either of the two peoples, according to agreement. If a Koryak, for example, marries a Tungus girl, the marriage ceremony is performed in ac- cordance with Tungus customs, and he pays a ransom for the bride. A Tungus girl, on the other hand, on entering a Koryak household, puts on Koryak garments and submits to the customs which regulate the home life of the Koryak. A Tungus has to serve for his Koryak bride. Tungus- Koryak marriages are, however, very rare in the interior of the country. As indicated above, intermarriages of the Koryak with the Tungus are of most frequent occurrence in the territory of the Reindeer Koryak on the Gishiga and Varkhalam Rivers. Although the Tungus are all Christians, they do not invite the Russian priests to perform their marriage ceremonies whenever one of the parties belongs to the heathen Koryak, but wed according to Koryak or ancient Tungus customs. Marriages between the Koryak and the Chukchee are more frequent than those between the former and the Tungus. In the case of these intermarriages, the Chukchee camps within the Koryak territory, like those in the north of Kamchatka or on the Parapol Dol, adopt Koryak customs; on the Chukchee frontier, on the other hand, in the northern part of the Palpal, the Koryak submit to Chukchee customs, including that of exchanging wives.