NUMBERS OF THE TCHUKTCHI. 305 coast; their huts, raised on frameworks of whale rib and covered with skins, resemble a large irregular cone reposing on its side, with the apex directed to the north and the base shelving abruptly to the south. Here is the small opening, closed by a flap of loose skin, which serves as a door, while the smoke escapes and the light enters through a round hole in the roof. At the further or northern end of this structure is a second low square tent covered with double reindeer skins, the polog, which in winter serves both as the diningand bed-room of the family. The Onkilon catch seals in a kind of net made of leather straps, which they spread out under the ice, and in which the animal entangles itself with the head or flippers. When the walrus, which is particularly abundant about Koliutschin Island, creeps on shore, they steal upon it unawares, cut off its retreat and kill it with their spears. Like the Esquimaux, they use dogs to drag their sledges. The number of the Tchuktchi is greater than one might expect to find in so sterile a country. According to the Russian missionaries, there were, some years back, 52 ulusses or villages of the Onkilon, with 1,568 tents, and 10,000 inhabitants; and Wrangell tells us that the Tennygk are at least twice as numerous, so that the entire population of the land of the Tchuktchi may possibly amount to 30,000. Behring Sea-Unalaschka-The Pribilow Islands-St. Matthew-St. Laurence - Behring's Straits-Purchase of Russian America by the United States --Sitka -Excessive Humidity of the Climate-The Aleüts--Their Character-Their Skill and Intrepidity in Hunting the Sea-otter-The Sea-bear-Whale Chasing -Walrus Slaughter-The Sea-lion. EHRING SEA is extremely interesting in a geographi BEHR cal point of view, as the temperature of its coasts and islands exhibit so striking a contrast with that part of the Arctic Ocean which extends between Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Spitzbergen, and affords us the most convincing proof of the benefits we owe to the Gulf Stream and to the mild south-westerly winds which sweep across the Atlantic. While through the sea, between Iceland and Scotland, a part of the warmth generated in the tropical zone penetrates by means of marine and aërial currents as far as Spitzbergen and the western coast of Novaya Zemlya, the Sea of Behring is completely deprived of this advantage. The long chain of mountainous islands which bounds it on the south serves as a barrier against the mild influence of the Pacific, and in CLIMATE OF THE BEHRING SEA. 307 stead of warm streams mixing with its waters many considerable rivers and deep bays yearly discharge into it enormous masses of ice. Thus as soon as the navigator enters Behring Sea he perceives at once a considerable fall in the temperature, and finds himself suddenly transferred from a temperate oceanic region to one of a decidedly Arctic character. In spite, therefore, of their comparatively southerly position (for the Straits of Behring do not even reach the Arctic circle, and the Andrianow Islands are ten degrees farther to the south than the Feroës), those frigid waters are, with regard to climate, far less favourably situated than the seas of Spitzbergen. The same gradual differences of temperature and vegetation which we find in Unalaschka, the Pribilow Islands, St. Laurence, and the Straits of Behring, within 10° of latitude, occur in the Shetland Islands, Iceland, Bear Island, and Spitzbergen at distances of almost 20°; so that in the Sea of Behring the increase of cold on advancing to the north is about twice as rapid as in the waters between North Europe and North America. The long and narrow peninsula of Aljaska, which forms the south-eastern boundary of this inhospitable sea, shows us its influence in a very marked degree, for while the climate of the northern side of that far projecting land-tongue has a decidedly Arctic character, its southern coasts fronting the Pacific enjoy a temperate climate. The mountain-chain which, rising to a height of five or six thousand feet, forms the back-bone of the peninsula, serves as the boundary of two distinct worlds, for while the northern slopes are bleak and treeless like Iceland, the southern shores are covered from the water's edge with magnificent forests. While on the northern side the walrus extends his excursions down to 56° 30′ N. L., on the southern exposure the humming-bird is seen to flit from flower to flower as high as 61°, the most northerly point it is known to attain. The Feroe islands (64° N. lat.) have undoubtedly a no very agreeable climate to boast of, but they may almost be said to enjoy Italian skies when compared with Unalaschka (54° N. lat.) the best known of the Aleütian chain. The Scandinavian archipelago is frequently obscured with fogs, but here they are perpetual from April to the middle of July. From this time till the end of September, the weather improves, as then the southerly winds drive the foggy region more to the north, and enable the sun to shine during a few serene days upon the bleak shores of Unalaschka. But soon the Polar air-streams regain the supremacy, and a dismal veil once more shrouds the melancholy island. Snow generally begins to fall early in October, and snow-storms occur to the very end of May. There are years in which it rains continually during the whole winter. In the Feroës some service trees are to be seen twelve feet high or more, while nothing like a tree ever grew in Unalaschka. The difference between the temperatures of the summer and winter, which in the Feroes is confined to very narrow limits, is much more considerable in Unalaschka, though here also the moderating influence of the sea makes itself felt. Thus in summer the thermometer rarely rises above 66°, but on the other hand in winter it still more rarely falls below -2°. Of course no corn of any kind can possibly ripen in a climate like this, but the damp and cool temperature favours the growth of herbs. In the moist lowlands the stunted willow bushes are stifled by the luxuriant grasses; and even on the hills, the vegetation, which is of a decidedly Alpine character, covers the earth up to the line of perpetual snow; while several social plants, such as the Lupinus nootkeanus and the Rhododendron kamtschadalicum, decorate these dismal regions with their brilliant colour. The lively green of the meadows reminds one of the valley of Urseren, so well known to all Alpine tourists. The mosses and lichens begin already at Unalaschka to assume that predominance in the Flora, which characterises the frigid zone. A few degrees to the north of the Aleütian chain, which extends in a long line from the promontory of Aljaska to Kamtschatka, are situated the Pribilow Islands, St. George and St. Paul, which are celebrated in the history of the fur trade, the former as the chief breeding-place of the sea-bear, the latter as that of the sea-lion. Chamisso was struck with their wintry aspect, for here no sheltered valleys THE PRIBILOW ISLANDS. 309 and lowlands promote, as at Unalaschka, a more vigorous vegetation. The rounded backs of the hills and the scattered rocks are covered with black and grey lichens; and where the melting snows afford a sufficient moisture, sphagnum, mosses, and a few weeds occupy the marshy ground. The frozen earth has no springs, and yet these desolate islands have a more southerly situation than the Orkneys, where barley grows to ripeness. Before these islands were dis-. covered by the Russians they had been for ages the undisturbed home of the sea birds and the large otarian seals, now subject to the cruel persecutions of man. The innumerable herds of sea-lions, which cover the naked shores of St. George as far as the eye can reach, present a strange sight. The guillemots have taken possession of the places unoccupied by their families and fly fearlessly among them, or nestle in the crevices of the wave-worn rock-walls, or between the large boulders which form a bank along the strand. Still farther to the north lies the uninhabited island of St. Matthew (62° N. lat.). A settlement was once attempted; but as the animals which had been reckoned upon for the winter supply of food departed, the unfortunate colonists all died of hunger. Fogs are so frequent about the island of St. Laurence, that navigators have often passed close by it (65° N. lat.) without seeing it. Chamisso was surprised at the beauty and the numbers of its dwarfish flowering herbs, which reminded him of the highlands of Switzerland, while the neighbouring St. Laurence Bay, in the land of the Tchuktchi, was the image of wintry desolation. In July the lowlands were covered with snow-fields, and the few plants bore the Alpine character in the most marked degree. Under this inclement sky the mountains, unprotected by vegetation, rapidly fall into decay. Every winter splits the rocks, and the summer torrents carry the fragments down to their feet. The ground is everywhere covered with blocks of stone, unless where the sphagnum, by the accumulation of its decomposed remains, has formed masses of peat in the swampy lowlands. 'Under a more clement sky,' says Chamisso, 'the poet shows us in the forest-crowned summits of his moun |