. The Arctic world: its plants, animals and natural phenomena [microform] : with a historical sketch of Arctic discovery down to the British Polar Expedition: 1875-76. British Polar Expedition, 1875-76; British Polar Expedition, 1875-76; Zoology; Zoologie. ABOUT THE KAMTSCHATKANS. 213 the teeming myriads of the Kamtschatka waters. In a stream only six inches deep he saw countless hosts of chackos (Slagocephalus), two or three feet in length, partly stranded on the grassy banks, partly attempting to force a passage through the shallows. The coasts of Kamtschatka swarm in like manner with aquati
. The Arctic world: its plants, animals and natural phenomena [microform] : with a historical sketch of Arctic discovery down to the British Polar Expedition: 1875-76. British Polar Expedition, 1875-76; British Polar Expedition, 1875-76; Zoology; Zoologie. ABOUT THE KAMTSCHATKANS. 213 the teeming myriads of the Kamtschatka waters. In a stream only six inches deep he saw countless hosts of chackos (Slagocephalus), two or three feet in length, partly stranded on the grassy banks, partly attempting to force a passage through the shallows. The coasts of Kamtschatka swarm in like manner with aquatic birds, which roosu and breed on every crag and ledge, in every niche and hollow, and at the slightest alarm rise from their resting-places with a whirr of wings and a clamour of voices repeated by a thousand echoes. The Kamtschatkans display in the pursuit of thesr^ birds and their eggs a skill and a daring not inferior to the and dexterity of the inhabitants of the Faroe Isles or the Hebrides. Barefooted, and without even the aid of ropes, they venture to descend the most awful declivi- ties, Avhich the foaming waters render inaccessible from below. On the left arm hangs a bxskot, to be filled with eggs as they advance; in the right hand they carry a short iron hook, \ ith which to drag the birds from their rocky roosts. When a bird is caught, the fowler wrings its neck, slings it to his girdle, and lowers himself still further down the rugged precipice. The Kamtschatkans are of small stature, but strong-limbed and broad-shouldered. Their cheek-bones are high, their jaws massive, broad and prominent, their eyes small and black, their noses small, theii" lips very full. The prevailing colour of the men is a dark brown, sometimes approaching to tawny; the complexion of the women is fairer; and to preserve it from the sun, they embeUish it with beai's guts, adhering to the face by means of fish-Ume. Thr ^Iso paint their cheeks a brilliant red with a sea-weed. K
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1876
