The Kamtschadales are considered as naturally a heal thy, though not a long-lived race ; and few persons are found among them, who have been deformed from their birth. They are rarely afflicted with the scurvy, which proves so destructive to the Russian settlers ; and their ex emption from that disorder is ascribed to the liberal use which they make of wild garlic and various acid berries, as a part of their diet. Consumptions are not unfrequent ; but the most common diseases are boils, wens, and other tu mours of a similar description, which are cured by incision or extirpation, by means only of such instruments as a knife, or even a sharp stone. One of the remedies, which they employ in almost every disease, and especially as an application to all kinds of sores or wounds, is called bear's root, which they steep in brandy, and to the use of which they are said to have been first led, by observing that the animal, whose name it bears, was fond of eating it, and of rolling himself upon it when he was wounded.
The natives of Kamtschatka were formerly held in great subjection by their doctors, who were called chamans. and who conjoined the arts of magic and medicine. These persons were distinguished by having their garments deco rated profusely with mystic rings, and other symbolical metal figures, which made a jingling noise upon every motion of the body ; and, by carrying a kind of kettle drum, with which they announced their approach, and ac companied their incantations. They acted the parts also of priests ; and, amidst the most extravagant gesticulations, resembling the ravings of the Pythian priestess, uttered their prescriptions and revelations in the name of their idol Koutka. Even the slender religious instruction which the K.tmtschadalcs have received from the Russians has abo lished their confidence in these impostors ; and the chaman art is now confined to a few old women, who practise their sorceries with great secrecy. But, though the natives have adopted the Christian religion, they are said to know little more of it than the ceremony of baptism ; and the priests sent among them are either utterly' incapable of teaching the people, or are in general more attentive to commercial gains than to clerical duties. There are eight principal churches in the peninsula ; and all the clergy are subordinate to the archbishop of Irkutsk, from whom they must receive ordination, and an appointment to their cures.
The language of Kamtschatka, is said to be extremely guttural in its sounds, and difficult to be pronounced. The dialects and accents, also, ale very various ; almost every ostrog having its own peculiarities of speech. The follow ing selection, from a vocabulary by the French traveller, M. De Lesseps, may furnish some idea, at least of its un couth form : Formerly the Kamtschadales received their principal articles of commerce from the Japanese ; but of late, the Dutch, and particularly the Russians, have supplied the daily diminishing demand of the country. They imported from Europe different kinds of coarse cloth, serges, knives, silk and cotton handkerchiefs, red wine, tobacco, and sugar ; from Siberia, iron and copper utensils, fire-arms, wax, hemp, rope-yarn, nets, tanned rein-deer skins, and the com mon Russian cloths ; from Turkey, different sorts of cotton stuffs ; and from China, silk and cotton cloths, tobacco, coral, and needles. The exports from Kamtschatka con sists entirely of furs and skins, particularly of the beaver, marten, fox, and otter, all of which pay a duty of ten per cent.
The state of the Russian settlements in Kamtschatka, though founded more than a hundred years ago, was, in 1805, when visited by Krusenstern, in every respect wretc1. ed and unpromising. The finest bays were entirely de serted and uninhabited ; and not a single boat was to be seen in the beautiful harbours of St. Peter and St. Paul. The shores were strewed with stinking fish cast up by the sea, among which crowds of hall starved dogs were wal lowing and fighting. Not one well-built house was to be seen, nor even a beaten path, that might lead safely to the town. A few planks, laid across the small brooks which flow through the valley, served the purpose of bridges. No garden, or meadow, or plantation, or even inclosure of any kind, indicating the least cultivation, was to be seen. The town itself consisted of a few huts, mostly in a de cayed state ; and, as the inhabitants are generally absent during the day time, scarcely a single person was to be seen; and no other living creature, except half a dozen cows feed ing near the houses, and innumerable dogs resting in holes, dug by themselves as a shelter against the flies. As tim ber, necessary for the construction of proper dwellings, is extremely scarce, and procured only with great labour from the interior of the country, only two houses were ob served by Krusenstern, which could be considered as supe rior to the rest; yet the best of these, the ornament of Kamtschatka, possessed by a person holding the rank of major in the army, had all its windows extremely small, and patched with broken glass, and contained no other fur niture than a table, wooden stool, two or three broken chairs, two or three tea-cups, one glass, a few broken knives and forks, and some pewter spuons. cc Poverty, or rather misery," says Krusenstern, cc was apparent in all the houses. All the necessaries of life, particularly bread and salt, are extremely scarce, and extravagantly dear ; and, except where a cow is kept, which few are able to do, even the children have no better non. is wient than dried and coarse black bread. Nothing is to be found readily, except spirits, and perhaps tea and sugar. The want of gun powder prevents the colonists from supplying many of their wants ; and the greater profit derived from hunt ing sables than from cultivating the soil, discourages all attention to the pursuits of agriculture, and even of gar dening. The want of women in the settlement, and the difficulty of maintaining a family, are obviously most un favourable circumstances for the increase and the morals of the population. Formerly, also, it was the practice of the Russian government to send those officers mu Kamts chatka, whose conduct had not been strictly carrel t, and whose appointment to such a distant station was regarded 1 as at the same time, a species of punishment. These sons usually became regardless of their own character, as well as tyrannical in their treatment of those whom they i were intended to benefit. Much of this injudicious system has now been amended, and various means adopted for the improvement of the settlement, as well as for the civiliza tion of the natives. All the later accounts concur in prov ing the capabilities of the country to be much greater than had hitherto been understood ; and its prosperity once commenced, though slow in its progress, may be expected to be permanently increasing. Sec Lcssep's Travels in Kamtschatka ; Cook's Last Voyage ; and Krusenstern's Voyage Bound the World (q)