The principal other articles which they must still pro vide for themselves, are boats and sledges. The former are of the most wretched description, being nothing more than the trunk of a tree hollowed out, and resembling a trough more than a boat. They are easily overset in the currents of the rivers, or by striking against any obstruc tion during the night ; and scarely a season passes, without several instances of persons being drowned by such acci dents on the Kamtschatka and Awatscha rivers. In the northern districts, where timber cannot be procured, the boats are made of still more slender materials, namely, of the skins of sea animals sewed together with whales' whis kers, and caulked with moss or beat nettles. This vessel is seldom able to carry more than two persons, one at each end, who make use of poles instead of oars to guide it down, or push it up the stream. Sometimes a kind of float, or raft, resting upon two of these boats, is employed to con vey the heavier articles. The sledge of the Kamtschadale is formed like an oblong basket, with the two extremities rising in a curve, and is made of very thin wood, with the sides of open work, ornamented with straps of different co lours. This basket, or frame, which is about three feet in length, and scarcely above one foot in breadth, is placed upon two parallel planks, longer than the sledge, and three or four inches broad ; which serve as supports, or skates, and in time of thaw have long pieces of whalebone fasten ed to their bottom with leathern thongs. These planks bend upwards in front, and meet the poles which support the seat of the driver, which is elevated three feet from the ground, and covered with bear skin. The whole machine is remarkably light, sometimes weighing only about ten pounds. To these vehicles the dogs are harnessed by means of a leather strap, which passes under the neck, resting on their breasts, and is joined to the sledge by traces. The animals, being yoked in couples, are also fastened together by straps passing through their collars ; but a single one goes foremost as a leader, and is always the hest trained, And most intelligent in understanding the signals and sounds of the driver. There are always five, or at least four, dogs yoked to each sledge, which are able to draw two persons, or the driver and his over-weight of baggage ; but they may be employed in a much greater number ; and Krusenstern mentions a governor in the country, who used to travel in a sledge like a small house, drawn by 100 dogs. The animals are trained to this service by being fastened, when young, to while their food is placed beyond their reach, so that, by continually pulling, in order to obtain a meal, they acquire strength, and the faculty of drawing. They learn to obey the voice of the driver, in setting off, stopping, turning to right or left ; but those that are well trained, are guided rather by signals than sounds. For this purpose, the driver carries in his hand a curved stick, which he employs also to preserve the. sledge from being overset, and which is sometimes pointed with iron, to take a firmer hold of the ice ; while the other end is provided with iron rings, which serve as bells to encourage the dogs. He turns them to the left, merely by striking this stick upon the ice ; or to the right, by striking the poles of the sledge ; or stops their progress, by placing it between the snow and the front of the vehicle ; or corrects them, when inattentive, by throwing it among them ; and to recover it, as he passes rapidly along, is the strongest test of his skill. The utmost dexterity also is requisite in the driver to keep his seat, and to preserve the sledge front being overturned ; for which purpose, his body is almost perpetually in motion, inclining to either side, or recovering an upright posture, with the greatest alertness and nicety, as the balance may render necessary. They sit sometimes astride, but usually side-ways, with the right hand towards the From ; and some adepts are able to stand upright, or even on one leg. It is of the most essential importance to the traveller to preserve his seat, or to retain hold of the sledge, as the dogs continue their progress, and rather in crease their speed, as the vehicle becomes lighter, never halting in their course till they arrive at some habitation, or find themselves entangled by some obstruction on the road. It is necessary for; the traveller to alight, both in descend ing and ascending any considerable declivity ; and, fre quently after a fresh fall of snow, a road must be formed by a person furnished with snow-shoes These are made of thin boards, about four feet long, and six or eight inches wide, turned up in front like skates, and covered below with the skin of the sea-wolf or reindeer. With these the traveller is always provided ; and is often obliged to pro ceed in this manner, alternately clearing the way, and then leading forward the sledge, till he arrives at some inhabited place. When overtaken by a drift of snow, they are un der the necessity of seeking the shelter of some copse ; and when long detained by the storm, dig a hole in the snow, filling up the entrance with brushwood, and wrap ping themselves in their furs.
Besides the long jon•nies which the Kamtschadales have often occasion to make, both on their own account and in the service of -the government, their principal occupa tions are hunting and fishing. In the former, they are more or less employed at all seasons of the year, as they must pursue the different animals at the time when their furs are most valuable : the at gali, or wild sheep, in autumn—the rein-deer in winter—the sable in the begin ning of winter—the fox at any period except summer—the bear in all seasons of the year. They employ snares, nets, and pit falls; hut more commonly place their chief depend ence on their rifle, if they can procure powder and shot. Armed with his gun, lance, and knife, and provided with a bundle of dry fish, the hunter places himself in ambush, where he will patiently keep his station for days and weeks, till he has succeeded in his object, or is compelled by hun ger to return home. The Kamtschadales are not dexter ous marksmen, though the expense of ammunition pre cludes all unprofitable practising ; but, from the same cause, they are so careful in taking a sure aim, (which they render more steady by using a forked stick as a rest to their piece,) that they very rarely expend a shot in vain. They frequently take the sables, which live among trees, by throwing a noose over their head, while intent upon the dogs which are baying around them ; and employ the nux vomica, and other poisoned baits, for the foxes. But the most hazardous pursuit, in which all their courage and dexterity are required, is the killing of the bear. Sometimes they take this animal without much personal risk, by means of heavy traps, which fall down upon his pulling the bait attached to them ; or by assailing him with dogs and guns, when almost torpid in his den, in the winter season ; but, most frequently, they boldly meet him in the open plain, and fire upon hint as he passes their place of concealment. A single hunter will engage in this attack ; but more fre quently in company v•ith others. As they seldom fire till me animal be within fifteen yards of the spot where they are stationed, they have rarely time for a second discharge; and, if they should not have succeeded in disabling him, they must receive his furious onset with their spears; and, unless fortunate enough to inflict a mortal thrust, not unfre quently fall a sacrifice to his vengeance. The bear is most apt to make these assaults upon the huntsman in the be ginning of spring, when he comes famished from his win ter retreat, and in autumn when in quest of the female ; but, at other times, he more commonly takes to flight when wounded, and is traced by the blood to his retreat. By very recent accounts, it appears that. from a failure of fish on the coast, the bears became so ferocious during the win ter of 1816-17, as to attack and devour many of the natives, and also to destroy one another.
They are employed in fishing at different periods during summer, but particularly in May for herring ; in June for salmon ; and in the remaining months for sca-wolves. In killing the latter, they employ harpoons, and large nets, made of leather thongs, with wide meshes ; but for other fish they have smaller nets of pack-thread, which they pur chase from the Russians, or of their own cordage manufac tured from nettles. They shoot and hawl their nets in the sea and large lakes in the usual manner ; hut in rivers they commonly stretch one across, and hawl another down the stream. They sometimes erect also a line of stakes ana branches of trees, so as to afford only one or two small openings for the passage of the fish: and in these arc placed baskets, constructed in such a way, that the fish having entered cannot again retreat.
Besides these occupations, the Kamtschadales have their amusements of dancing, singing, and relating of love sto ries. Their dances are merely pantomimical representa tions of the motions and gestures of the different animals which they pursue in the chase, but especially of the bear. The performance consists in a succession of unwieldy mo tions, or rather difficult distortions, of the body, imitating the clumsy gestures of the bear in various situations, espe cially of the young ones sporting around the dam—of the male fawning on his mate—and of the agitations which any of them exhibit when hard pressed by the hunters. The body is generally bowed forwards, the knees hens, and the arms employed in imitating the motions of the animal, whom they delight to copy. Even his cries are introduced in the course of the drama ; and, throughout the whole performance, a kind of forced grunt, or guttural sound, re sembling a continued hiccough, is uttered by the dancer, in unison with the time of the air sung by the musicians, or rather by the whole company present. The song is nearly as unvarying in its notes, and unmeaning in its words, as the dance; and both to European spectators VC extremely tedious and uninteresting, while the natives discover a de gree of extacy in the spectacle, which seems incompatible with the indolence of their habits.