baron de Jean-Baptiste-Barthélemy Lesseps

“ Siberia, the Russians came into possession of the fruitful mines with which it abounds, and which were held in no estimation by the inhabitants. To the extraction of iron, the conquerors added that of silver, gold, and other precious metals, the eternal objects of the avarice of mankind. The discovery of these new sources of wealth, enflamed the courage of the adventurers; the result was, that they were desirous of extending their dominion still farther, and their eager regards reached beyond Irkoutsk, which ought on this side to have bounded their empire. ”

“ Accustomed to the fertile and rich country about Irkoutsk, cultivated by the laborious Starogili, the eye cannot survey, without pain, this barren waste. We are disposed to ascribe this melancholy contrast to the sloth of the perverse inhabitants, though it is acknowledged that the soil yields them no return. One might say, that in conformity with the vindictive hand that pursues them, Nature acts towards them as a step-mother; the earth, to which justice has banished them, seems to feel a reluctance in bearing them; its withered bosom refuses all success to their culture. ”

“ When I entered the yourt, my first care was to pay prince Eviava my post expences. I had twelve sledges, each drawn by two deer; the distance we had travelled was a hundred and eighty-five wersts; and I was indebted therefore seven roubles forty kopecks. In receiving this sum, my good conductor exclaimed upon my generosity. It was in vain I endeavoured to prove that I paid him no more than his just due; he could not comprehend my calculation; and it was the continual burden of his song, that he had never met with so honest a man. ”

“ We should have considered her as a divinity, and the faithful account we should have given to our countrymen, would have filled every heart with respect and submission. Influenced still more forcibly by love, than we had before been by fear, we should cheerfully have paid every tribute imposed by moderation. We should have taught our neighbours to venerate her government, by making them the witnesses of our satisfaction and gratitude. ”

“ This Yakout does not pass his time like the Koriacs and Kamtschadales, in catching and preparing fish, a species of food upon which he sets little value; hunting, and the care of his cattle, occupy his whole attention, and supply all his wants. Besides his herd, he has also ten horses, which he uses for various purposes, and which are kept in an inclosure at a little distance from the yourt. Every thing about this habitation has an air of ease, and creates in the spectator tranquil and cheerful feelings. ”

“ The next day’s journey was less painful to us than to our deer. The snow was more than three feet deep, and so little firm that they sunk to their necks. Many of them refused to draw, and it was necessary to leave them behind us. Such is the inconvenience attending these animals, when one wishes to make a long journey with only short intervals of rest; as soon as they are tired, we must abandon them or stop; it is no longer possible make them move. ”

“ During this interval, he employed every means to seduce them. Reasonings, intreaties, kindness, every thing was resorted to; but nothing could dissuade them from continuing their journey; they were inflexible. Violence was then made use of; a thousand snares were spread for them; it was easy for monopoly and persecution to create wrongs; and as a punishment, they were constrained to return, with the shame and mortification of having sacrificed to no purpose the greatest part of their wealth, and their deer. ”

“ For the space of a hundred wersts we travelled across a moving swamp, in which our horses sunk so deep that we were obliged to alight in order to assist in extricating them; the rest of the way was not so bad. In the midst of a large wood, I saw upon the border of a lake two fishermen employed in making their winter provisions. Their whole habitation was merely a roof made of the bark of trees; when the summer is at an end, they seek among their relations a less exposed and warmer retreat. ”

“ The Yakouts seemed not to be much concerned at the loss of these animals, and have no idea of affording them any assistance. When they refuse to go on, or fall down from weakness or fatigue, they are abandoned to their deplorable fate, and their carcasses are left to be devoured by bears, who never relinquish their prey while any thing remains but the bones. Every ten steps we see skeletons of these horses, and from Okotsk to the cross of Yudoma, I imagine that I passed more than two thousand. ”

“ We met, in different detachments, three convoys sent by sergeant Kabechoff to M. Kasloff. This unexpected succour gave me the more pleasure, as the deplorable state in which I had left the governor, was continually recurring to my mind. What a sudden change in his situation! He was upon the point of receiving a supply of provisions, together with an hundred and fifty dogs well fed and well trained. He will be able, said I to myself, to proceed immediately on his journey; and if I cannot flatter myself that I shall see him again, I know at least that he will be extricated from his embarassment. ”

“ Remains of old tombs of the Yakouts were frequently pointed out to me in the woods. They were coffins clumsily made, and suspended on the branches of trees. I know not from what motive they have renounced this custom of exposing their dead in the open air, and at a distance from their habitations; but at present their mode of interment is similar to that of Christians.
The funerals are attended with a kind of pomp more or less magnificent, in proportion to the rank and wealth of the defunct. If a prince, he is arrayed in his finest habits, and most splendid arms. ”

“ It was necessary to gain a mountain well known to our Koriacs, and which had been marked in our itinerary as our first stage. I should in vain have wished to seek shelter in a wood, as had been my custom when drawn by dogs. The convenience of the traveller is left out of the account in the choice of a resting place; that of the rein deer only is consulted, and the spot that most abounds with moss is invariably preferred. Half way up the mountain our steeds were unharnessed, and no other care taken of them than that of tying them with leathern thongs. ”

“ I came away in the evening with fresh dogs, and travelled eight wersts upon the river Srednoi. The ice, in various places, broke under our sledges, but the hardiness and skill of my guides extricated us from the difficulty. Obliged to go on shore to free the vehicles, they had the precaution to put on their rackets, that they might have a more extensive footing on the ice. But the greatest inconvenience in travelling on this river was occasioned by the slipperiness of the ice; our dogs were unable to support themselves, and fell down every moment one upon another. ”

“ In these sportive amusements the tame deer gradually draws his prey within musquet shot of the hunter. With a well managed deer, one is able to seize his companion alive; a cord is hung upon the horns of the former, which, in their play, he entangles in the horns of his adversary. From that time the greater the efforts made by the wild deer to escape, the closer the running knot is drawn, and the more strongly the tame deer pulls at the cord, in order to give his master time to come up. It frequently happens however that the wild deer suspects the trick, and escapes the danger by flight. ”

“ The courage of the natives incited them every day to fresh combats, but it could not save them from oppression; the conquerors, if I may so speak, sprung up again in proportion as they perished in these bloody contests. ”

“ The first village I came to was Srednoi There is something picturesque in its situation, which is upon the border of the sea, at the entrance of a deep bay that loses itself in the land, by forming the channel of a small river, the water of which is always free from any brackish taste. The Koriacs, who inhabit it, received me with cordiality. I rested myself for a few hours in one of the two yourts, which, with a number of magazines, constitute the whole ostrog. ”

“ Superstition lends its aid to ennoble in their eyes this thirst of blood, by imposing a law that obliges them to conquer or to die. The more important is the cause that calls them to arms, the more greedy are they of death. ”

“ The multiplicity and bulk of the waves tossed us about with more violence than if we had been in the open sea. All at once our boat was pitched upon a rock that was on a level with the water, and which none of us had perceived. ”

“ Having long received intelligence that I was on my way, major Gaguen had the civility to come immediately to welcome me, and offer me his house. I entered Ingiga the 31, exactly at half after eleven o’clock.
This town is the largest and most populous I have yet seen. It is situated upon a river of the same name, thirty wersts from its mouth, and is defended by a square inclosure of palisades, the height and thickness of which surprised me, and by wooden bastions, erected on piles, at the four angles. These bastions are provided with cannon, and contain a variety of warlike stores. ”

“ I had the pleasure to learn that M. Loftsoff intended to accompany me to Moundoukann, and that lieutenant Hall, called to that place by some affairs relative to the armament under his care, was to go with us. I had little expected a third companion, doubly dear to me, but M. Allegretti informed me, that he had prepared every thing to conduct me as far as the cross of Yudoma. How great were my surprise and gratitude, when I understood that personal attachment was the sole motive of his journey! Of my two soldiers, Golikoff only attended me ”

“ To support so long a fast, they surely stand in need of the respite from labour which is commonly allowed them during this season of the year; and even at the commencement of spring, it is not prudent to make use of them till they have recovered their strength by better pasture. The fields are no sooner freed from the snow, than they disperse in eager pursuit of every little blade of grass, and devour the shoots almost before they spring out of the ground; rapid as the vegetation is in this country, it must be supposed that a considerable time is necessary to recover their vigour. ”

“ All the obstacles I had met with from my first landing at the port of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, occurred at once to my mind, and I conceived that the invincible hand of fate opposed itself to the success of my embassy. It was to no purpose that I employed every means of being expeditious; it was to no purpose that I had pushed my zeal to rashness, and on many occasions hazarded both my life and my dispatches. What a distance [Pg 222] was I still from Petersburg! In the mean time six months are frequently known to be sufficient for this journey ”

“ I had taken a man extraordinary to serve me as charioteer, having no longer either strength or courage to undertake the office: this fatiguing exercise had wholly overcome me.
We soon came to the sea, upon which we travelled in order to avoid seven mountains, which rendered the common route extremely difficult. We had scarcely advanced fifteen wersts, partly upon the ice, and partly [Pg 161] upon the coast, when fortunately for us, we were obliged to return, as the snow began to fall, and the wind to blow with an impetuosity that drove our dogs back, and made our sledges totter. ”

“ I am not sure whether their filthiness be not still more disgusting: as there is neither door, nor joupan, or vent-hole, the smoke must be insufferable.
These people, enemies to industry, live like the Kamtschadales upon dried fish, and the flesh and fat of the whale, and sea wolf [26] . The whale is commonly eaten raw, and the sea wolf dried and cooked in the same manner as their fish, except the sinews, the [Pg 90] marrow, the brain, and now and then a slice of the flesh, which they devour raw with extreme avidity. Rein deer is their favourite dish. ”

“ The principle of evil they consider as a malignant spirit, who divides with the sovereignly good being the empire of [Pg 102] nature [31] . Their power is equal. As the one is intent on the happiness of mankind, the other endeavours to render them unhappy. Diseases, tempests, famine, calamities of every kind, are his work, and the instruments of his vengeance. It is to pacify his wrath, that they sacrifice their personal interest, and have recourse to devotion. ”

“ On the evening of my arrival I had an opportunity of enjoying this spectacle. They had been assembled in order to select what were necessary for my use, which required only a quarter of an hour. Upon a particular cry of their keepers, the tame deer came towards us. The young ones, and those which are unaccustomed to, or exempt from, labour, go off in a different direction. ”

“ The Russians unfortunately displayed neither more integrity nor greater humanity than in their preceding conquests; and I wish it was in my power to draw a perpetual veil over the scenes of horror which they repeated on their arrival in these climates. But the many instances of injustice and dishonesty practiced by the chiefs, pilots, merchants, and sailors, have given rise to such a variety of complaints and suits, and so many authors have written upon the subject, that my silence could have no effect. ”

“ Like all the northern people, they have an astonishing propensity to drunkenness. Their love of brandy is so extreme, that if you once let them taste it, you must repeat your kindness till they are perfectly intoxicated, or they would consider themselves as insulted, and probably have recourse to menaces and violence, to obtain their ends. As incessant smokers as the Koriacs, they have the same pipes and the same method of using them. ”

“ I was accompanied also by M. Schmaleff and the subaltern officers of his suite; but instead of travelling together, as had been agreed, as far as Ingiga, we separated a few days after.
Upon leaving Poustaretsk, we descended the gulf. We proceeded at first with tolerable ease; the ice was solid and even, and in a few hours we arrived at the mouth: there our progress was attended with more difficulty. Obliged to travel upon the sea without leaving the coast, we were every moment interrupted with piles of ice, that appeared like so many rocks, against which we were to be dashed to pieces. ”