. Round about the North pole . d from it,and that only on clear days ; in calm weather one mayrow over the sea from the island to the continent,which is inhabited by a people who in every particularresemble the Chukches. There are large forests of fir,pine, larch, and cedar trees ; great rivers flow throughthe country and fall into the sea. The inhabitants havedwellings and fortified places of abode environed withramparts of earth; they live upon wild reindeer andfish ; their clothes are made of sable, fox, and reindeerskins, for sables and foxes are there in great number of men
. Round about the North pole . d from it,and that only on clear days ; in calm weather one mayrow over the sea from the island to the continent,which is inhabited by a people who in every particularresemble the Chukches. There are large forests of fir,pine, larch, and cedar trees ; great rivers flow throughthe country and fall into the sea. The inhabitants havedwellings and fortified places of abode environed withramparts of earth; they live upon wild reindeer andfish ; their clothes are made of sable, fox, and reindeerskins, for sables and foxes are there in great number of men in that country may be twice orthree times as many as that of the Chukches who areoften at war with them. That there was land in sightsomewhere seemed clear, but the reports differed inplacing it all the way round from the north to the were the vain attempts to reach it from thenorthward-flowing rivers, and it was left to be iDundfrom the Pacific side. When Atlassof, in 1697, took the first steps in the BERING STRAIT. 100 0 100 200 30O tOO S00 To face page 128 THE CONQUEST OF KAMCHATKA 129 conquest of Kamchatka the Russians were already-known to the inhabitants. Long before him Fedotofand a few comrades had made their way into thecountry and intermarried with native women. Theyhad been held in great honour and almost deified asbeing evidently of a superior race. For some time itwas supposed that no human hand could hurt them,but this belief was rudely shattered when two of thedemigods quarrelled and fought, and one wounding theother, the blood flowed. That flow of blood was fatal,for the natives, judging that they were but ordinaryflesh, took an early opportunity of wiping them out, thename of their leader being still traceable in that of theFedotcha River on the banks of which they had Kamchadales had other tales to tell of visitorsfrom the east and south, and Atlassof himself dis-covered on the River Itcha a Japanese who had beenwrecked on the coast two ye
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