XIV

		First Encounters of the Koryak with the Russians	783
		The Tribute	796
		The Present Relations of the Russians and the Koryak	801
		The Cultural Influence of the Russians on the Koryak	804
		The Missionaries	807
		The Americans	808
		The Neighboring Peoples	809

XIV. — HISTORY OF THE CONTACT OF THE KORYAK WITH RUSSIANS, AMERICANS, AND NEIGHBORING PEOPLES.¹

First Encounters of the Koryak with the Russians. — In 1632 the Russian conquerors of Siberia settled on the Lena River, and built a fortified town, Yakutsk, which they used as a central base for further expeditions. In the course of these expeditions they reached Okhotsk and Bering Seas on the east, the Arctic Ocean on the north, and the Amur River on the south. In their progress eastward the Russians met the Koryak. Rumors of the abundance of furs in the district of Okhotsk began to reach Yakutsk in 1636, and in 1639 a party in command of the Cossack Moskvitin ascended the river Aldan, its tributary the Maya, and the Yudoma, an affluent of the latter, and, after crossing the Stanovoi Mountains, reached the upper course of the Ulya River. Following the course of this river, they reached the Sea of Okhotsk. The next year a number of these Russians advanced along the coast to Tauysk, which lies about four hundred miles northeast of the mouth of the Ulya River. Here they first met the Koryak; but the conquest of this region did not immediately follow. On the southern shores of the Sea of Okhotsk the Russians had to break the violent opposition of the Tungus. A fortified settlement built by the Russians in 1644 at the mouth of the Okhota River — a settlement which has now become the district town Okhotsk — was repeatedly attacked by the Tungus. At other places the Tungus annihilated parties of Russians.

The land-route from Okhotsk to the mouth of the Gishiga River led over Tauysk, Yamsk, Tovatama, and other villages of the Koryak territory. On this route, which ran along a narrow strip of coast between the Stanovoi Mountains and the Sea of Okhotsk, the Russians met violent and prolonged resistance on the part of the Maritime Koryak of the Sea of Okhotsk. At times the Russians succeeded in breaking up a village or settlement, and forced the Koryak to pay tribute; but until the year 1712 the Koryak between Tauysk and the Penshina River absolutely refused to recognize Russian

1 The historical sketch contained in this chapter is based on data collected by the author in the Archives of Gishiginsk, and, besides the sources enumerated in the list of authorities (pp. 3—11), — like Krasheninnikoff, Slov- tzoff, Maydell, Slunin, and others, — on the following works: T. E. Fischer, Sibirische Geschichte (St. Petersburg, 1768), Parts 1, 2; Semivsky, Newest Interesting and Authentic Narrative of East Siberia (Russian), St. Petersburg, 1817; Pypin, History of Russian Ethnography (Russian), St. Petersburg, 1892, Vol. IV, Siberia; Andrievich, The History of Siberia (St. Petersburg, 1889), Harts I, II (Russian); Andrievich, Historical Sketches of Siberia, based on the Russian Code (St. Petersburg, 1887); Priklousky, Bibliography of Siberia (Russian); Stchegloff, Chronological List of the Most Important Data of the History of Siberia, Irkutsk, 1883 (Russian); Solovyeff, Russian History, St. Peters-burg, Vol s. 1—XXI (Russian). The characterization and interpretation of the historical facts belong to the author.

sovereignty. In the course of that year a party led by the Cossack Gutoroff, after an unsuccessful attempt to reach Kamchatka by sea¹ from Okhotsk, advanced along the coast to the mouth of the Iglylan River. ² Here, according to Cossack accounts, they found the Koryak from several villages gathered; and in a hot fight which ensued,³ seventy adult Koryak and two hundred youths and children were killed. Gutoroff could not advance farther north on account of the refusal of the Tungus to accompany them any farther. It appears from the Government records, that between 1730 and 1750 - that is, after the expedition of Pavlutsky, which will be described later on - the entire Okhotsk coast was still in the hands of the Koryak, and Okhotsk could communicate with Anadyr only by way of Kamchatka. Not until 1757, when a fortified settlement was built at the mouth of the Gishiga River, and after the fortress Anadyrsk was abandoned by the Russians in 1764, can it be said that Koryak resistance ceased, and some groups of Koryak began to pay tribute (yasak) of their own accord.

Most of the fighting with the Koryak was directed by the commanders of the fortress Anadyrsk, and not by the Administration of Okhotsk.

In their northeastern advance from Yakutsk, the Russians reached the mouth of the Kolyma River, where, in 1644, the Cossack Stadukhin founded the settlement Nishne-Kolymsk. From that spot the Russians proceeded farther east; and in 1649 the fortress Anadyrsk, on the river of the same name, was founded by the Cossack Deshneff, who had travelled in boats from the mouth of the Kolyma through Bering Strait to the mouth of the Anadyr. The fortress- Anadyrsk played a prominent part in the Russian conquest of the extreme northeast of Siberia; for, from Anadyr as a base, military expeditions were undertaken which led to the conquest of the Koryak, and later to that of the Kamchadal.

On the Anadyr River the Russians had to deal with the Chukchee, whose subjection cost the conquerors a hard struggle. The location of the movable Chukchee camps was seldom known to the Russians. In their search for these camps in the open tundra, the comparatively insignificant Russian partiesalways ran the risk of being surrounded by a numerous enemy, and the jour- neys of the expeditions through the desert polar tundras presented all but insurmountable difficulties. Besides, a detached band of Chukchee would prefer to die and kill their wives and children rather than consent to pay tribute or deliver hostages, whom the Russian conquerors always demanded from Siberian peoples as a guaranty of their submission. At last, after a

1 For this purpose the Cossacks made a raft of boats, but high winds prevented them from reaching the
open sea.

3 In the Russian chronicles the expression is "fiery and bow fight," which indicates that guns and bows were
used, in distinction from a "bow fight," where bows and arrows are the only weapons.

fruitless and expensive campaign, which lasted over a century, the Russian Government gave up the idea of subjecting the Chukchee by force of arms. In 1764 the fortress Anadyrsk was destroyed, and the garrison was trans- ferred to Gishiga and to the Kolyma.

The cause of these Russian failures lay, not so much in the warlike spirit, the love of freedom, and the fearlessness of the Chukchee, as in the fact that the Russians had come in contact almost exclusively with Reindeer Chukchee;¹that is, not with hunters, but with reindeer-breeders, whose territory was very poor in valuable furs, and who could not satisfy the greed of the conquerors for expensive furs, even had they been willing- to do so. These conditions account for the shifting of the Russians from the Anadyr River southward into regions abounding in sable.

In their advance southward, the Russians had their first dealings with the Koryak, whose fate for a long period depended upon the strength of the fortress Anadyrsk.

Since 1649, when the fortress Anadyrsk was founded, Cossack parties starting out from that fortified place attempted to impose tribute on the greater part of the Gishiga Koryak, — the villages Oklansk, ² Kamenskoye, Talovka, and Ma'mec, — and also on some Alutor villages. Naturally, the tribute of these Koryak could not be relied upon. It was paid when the Russians were strong enough to collect it by force.

The Cossacks learned from the Alutor and Gishiga Koryak that the best peltries, such as sables, sea-otters (Enhydris marina), and sea-bears (Otaria ursina), were obtained by the Koryak themselves through exchange from Kamchatka. This discovery led to an expedition to Kamchatka, and to the conquest of the Kamchadal and the Koryak in the northern part of the Kam-chatka Peninsula.

In 1696, Atlassov, the commandant of the fortress Anadyrsk, sent a detachment of sixteen men, under the command of the Cossack Morozko, to the Peninsula of Kamchatka, to verify the reports of its wealth in peltries. The following year Atlassov undertook the journey himself. He sent Morozko with a detachment to Bering Sea, while he himself advanced along the coast of the Bay of Penshina, gathering tribute from the inhabitants of Oklansk, Kamenskoye, and Talovka, and seized the settlement Pallan and some others. In Tighil he met Morozko, who had gathered tribute from the Alutor Koryak and from others living on the coast of Bering Sea. Then they advanced together, reached the Kamchatka River, received tribute from the Kamchadal who were living along that river, and founded the Verkhne-Kamchatsk for-tress. Thus the conquest of Kamchatka was begun.

2 The Koryak village Oklansk was destroyed by Cossacks in 1679, and a fort was built in its place. Ok-
lansk was situated at the mouth of the river Oklan, a tributary of the Penshina, about 20 miles from its mouth.

In the following historical account I shall mention Kamchatka and the Kamchadal only in so far as necessary for the proper understanding of events relating to the Koryak. The uprisings of the Kamchadal and of the Koryak, and their subjection by the Russians, are too closely connected to be completely separated in an historical sketch.

When the Russians had settled in Kamchatka, the peninsula and the entire Koryak territory became dependent upon the fortress Anadyrsk. The sea-route from Okhotsk to Kamchatka was at that time unknown, and the land-journey through the territory of the turbulent Koryak was considered impossible. In those days Kamchatka was the most valuable acquisition of the Russian Government in the Far East, and yet communication of the Yakutsk Administration with Kamchatka had to be maintained over a long and dangerous route. The way from Kamchatka to Yakutsk lay through the entire Koryak country, to the Anadyr and Kolyma Rivers, and over the Verkhoyansk range of mountains. A great number of the Cossack parties who started out from Kamchatka with tribute of furs never reached the fortress Anadyrsk. The Koryak killed the Cossacks from ambushes, and kept the furs. Transports that had safely reached Anadyrsk would arrive in Yakutsk three years after they had left Kamchatka. Cossack detachments carrying provisions, gunpowder, arms, and cannons, from Yakutsk to Kamchatka, were also harassed by Koryak attacks. To put an end to such conditions, a direct sea-route from Okhotsk to Kamchatka had to be discovered; and the Koryak had to be finally subdued in order that the winter route might be rendered safe.

Until the sea-route from Okhotsk was discovered, the Cossacks of the peninsula tried to utilize the Pacific Ocean route to shorten the dangerous trip from Kamchatka to Anadyrsk. They would build large boats of boards, and, starting from the mouth of the Kamchatka River, would travel north- ard to the mouth of the Alut River. In 1712, in order to facilitate these expeditions, the Cossacks built a settlement, protected by a wall, at the mouth of the Alut River, where Cossack parties could find shelter against the attacks of the Alutor Koryak. During the winter, Cossacks traversed the tundra from the fortified settlement Alut to the mouth of the Oklan River, a tributary of the Penshina, and to the fortress Oklansk, which was mentioned above; from Oklansk they travelled northward along the valley of the Penshina, and, having traversed the Nalginsk Mountains, arrived at the Anadyr River. That part of the way from Kamchatka to the Anadyr which lay between Alut and Oklansk was of course not safe from unexpected attacks of the Koryak, who were forever searching for Cossack detachments.

The unsuccessful attempt of 1712 to reach Kamchatka by sea from Okhotsk was followed in 1713 by a special ukaz of Peter I, ordering that a sea-route to Kamchatka be found. All attempts, however, failed until 1716, when a successful journey was made from Okhotsk to Tighil in a large boat.

Thus the dependence of Kamchatka on the Anadyr route was brought to a close, and communication between the peninsula and Yakutsk was henceforth carried on directly by way of Okhotsk.

The discovery of a sea-route to Kamchatka gave an impetus to geographical explorations in Bering Sea. In 1726 the first expedition of Beringwas undertaken, followed by a second in 1737-45. In the interval between these expeditions, which were scientific in character and had no direct relation to the Administration of Kamchatka, the Kamchadal were finally subdued.

During the same period, military operations were carried on against the Koryak and Chukchee. Thus, in 1720, Kharitonov, a boyar-son,¹started out from Kamchatka with sixty Cossacks and cannons to punish the people of Pallan, who had refused to pay the tribute. The Pallantsi did not offer resistance, and received the Cossacks with pretended humility. During the night, however, they fell upon the sleeping- Cossacks, killed Kharitonov and nine Cossacks with their spears, and wounded fourteen. The survivors gained the upper hand of their assailants, and avenged the death of their comrades by annihilating the entire village. At about the same time another chief official in Kamchatka, Triffonov, was subjugating the Koryak villages Poqac, Oklansk, and Kamenskoye; but the most important military expedition was formed in 1727, in accordance with an imperial ukaz, the Cossack chief Afanassy Shestakoff being in command. He had for his first-lieutenant Cap- tain Pavlutsky, who was famous for his courage and administrative ability. Having left Yakutsk, they divided into two parties. One of them, with Pavlutsky in command, proceeded northward by way of Nishne-Kolymsk to the Anadyr; the other, under Shestakoff himself, moved eastward to Okhotsk. Shestakoff had about four hundred Cossacks and a number of sailors, and carried materials for the construction of ships.

In the autumn of 1729, Shestakoff boarded his two ships and started out from Okhotsk northward, without awaiting the arrival of all his men. As the season was advanced, he could travel by sea only to Tauysk. From there he continued his course northward on sledges. He successfully traversed the thinly populated strip of coast between Tauysk and the Gishiga River, inflicting inhuman atrocities on the Koryak, who refused, or rather were not able, to pay their tribute in furs. On penetrating farther northeastward, however, he soon discovered that he would not be able to cope with the large villages along the shore of the Bay of Penshina, and the numerous bands of Reindeer Koryak. His original plan was to subdue the Maritime Koryak of the Bay of Penshina and the Reindeer Koryak of the interior; then to operate against the Alutor Koryak; and from there to proceed to

1 The "boyare" (sing. boyarin) constituted the highest class of the Russian aristocracy forming the council of
the Czars of the period before Peter the Great. ''Boyar-sons" or "boyar-children" formed a lower class of the no-
bility. They were chiefly descendants of the "boyare," who had not attained the rank of the boyar class.

the Anadyr, where he expected to meet Pavlutsky. This plan, however, was not carried out. After crossing the Paren River, Shestakoff received word from the Koryak that a large band of Chukchee was marching against him. He deliberated for a while, and then continued his advance, resolved to give battle to the Chukchee. The encounter took place on the Ega'c River, since called Shestakovka, in memory of Shestakoff's death on March 14, 1730. In the battle which ensued, Shestakoff, as well as the majority of the Russian warriors, met their death. Shestakoff's defeat was due to the relative insig- nificance of his force. His arrogance and self-reliance equalled his ignorance of local conditions and his cruelty. When leaving Okhotsk, he had with him about thirty Cossacks, as many Reindeer Tungus. and ten Yakut. In Tauysk he was joined by thirty Koryak. Having thus, outside of the small number of Russian warriors, only unreliable allies to fall back upon, he dared to set fire to the villages and to burn alive those Koryak who refused to pay tribute or to deliver hostages. Thus he burned the entire village Tava- toma, having first ordered that the exits from the subterranean houses be barricaded. Through such apalling cruelty he aroused against himself even the most peaceable Koryak. At the first encounter with a superior force, his untrustworthy allies — the Tungus, Yakut, and Koryak — left the battle-field; and, although many enemies fell from the Russian bullets, the Cossacks were soon overpowered by the overwhelming numbers of the attacking tribesmen.

To this day it has not been positively ascertained to what people the attacking party belonged. The Cossack reports give them as the Chukchee. Maydell controverts this statement. In his opinion, they were Koryak who had posed as Chukchee in order to escape the vengeance of the Russians. Maydell seems to have undertaken the ungrateful task of representing the Chukchee as a straightforward and peaceable people, with whom it was useless to fight; the Koryak, on the other hand, he believes to have been cunning traitors, who did infinite harm to the Russians. The Koryak, writes Maydell, would constantly appeal to the Russians for help against the pretended attacks of the Chukchee. Meanwhile they themselves would attack Cossack detach- ments from ambush and murder sinale Cossacks, and throw the blame for these acts on the Chukchee.

There is of course nothing remarkable in the fact that the Koryak, in their fight against the Russians, had recourse to tricky and perfidious methods, which are made such excellent use of in the contests of other than primitive peoples. Nor did the Chukchee in this respect differ from the Koryak. The Koryak, especially the Maritime Koryak, suffered more from the Russian conquest than did the Chukchee. At first the Russians had dealings only with the nomadic Reindeer Chukchee, who fled to the tundra whenever they wanted to avoid an encounter with the Cossacks, and also made unexpected attacks on Russian settlements. The Maritime Koryak, on the contrary, who

lived alone the bays of the Sea of Okhotsk and of Bering Sea, although they could take refuge during the summer on the islands, from the attacks of the Russians, were bound in winter to their shore villages, and cut off from all ways of escape. It is natural, therefore, that whenever they could not protect themselves by force, and would not or could not comply with the demands of the conquerors, they should have recourse to trickery. It is not impossible that they would occasionally charge their sins to the Chukchee in trying to divert the attention of the Russians towards the latter. But in the battle which was fatal to Shestakoff the Chukchee certainly took part, for subsequently Pavlutsky found among the Chukchee living on the Lower Anadyr the banner of Shestakoff's detachment and his arms. It is not improbable that the Chukchee were not alone in that battle, for the Chukchee and the Koryak might have united against their common enemy; but at other times the Chukchee appeared in the Koryak settlements as enemies, not as allies; and the complaints of the Koryak that the Chukchee attacked and plundered them were, on the whole, not unfounded.

The news of Shestakoff's defeat rapidly spread over the Koryak territory and to Kamchatka. The Koryak rose in a body. The garrisons left by Shestakoff in Tauysk and Yamsk were annihilated. Other settlements fortified by the Russians met a similar fate. The eastern Koryak from the Alut to the Tighil soon joined in the uprising, and presently Kamchatka revolted.

Pavlutsky received word of Shestakoff's fate as early as April, 1730, while he was still in Nishne-Kolymsk. He did not reach Anadyrsk (now Markova) until September, 1730. The last months of that year and the year 1731 he spent fighting the Chukchee. At last, in 1732, he determined to open a campaign against the Koryak, in order to punish them for the destruction of the Russian fortifications and the annihilation of garrisons. Maydell 1 sees the reason for Pavlutsky's delay in chastising the revolting Koryak in their cunning. When Pavlutsky arrived in Anadyr, relates Maydell, he was met by Koryak deputies, who represented the battle in which Shestakoff perished as an attack of the Chukchee, and begged for protection against the latter. Thus Pavlutsky was deceived by the Koryak, and, leaving them unmolested, turned against the Chukchee. This account, however, can hardly be credited, for Pavlutsky knew perfectly well that the Koryak had risen all over the country and were killing the Russians. Pavlutsky postponed his advance against the Koryak for two reasons. In the first place, he wanted to be sure of theChukchee. The second reason lay in the condition of the country. During the summer months, the transportation of a great number of people is impos- sible in these regions. The beginning of the winter is the season of violent winds, followed by severe colds. The time most propitious for military expeditions is the end of the winter, — the polar spring it might be called, —

which lasts from the end of February to the end of May. Then the winds subside and the frost is moderate. Thus it happened that Pavlutsky spent the winter of 1730-31 in persecuting the Chukchee. The more or less successful battles, however, which he had with the nomadic hordes of the Chukchee, did not yield any positive results in the way of subjugating the country. '

On Feb. 10, 1732, Pavlutsky began his march against the Koryak. His force consisted of two hundred and twenty-five Cossacks and a certain number of Yukaghir and Koryak volunteers. The latter had to furnish the party with reindeer for transportation and food. On the march he learned that a considerable number of insurgents had gathered in a fortified village at the mouth of the Paren River, and he turned to go there.

On March 25 he reached the Koryak fortification and ordered a siege. Attempts to induce a voluntary surrender remained futile. The fortification was built on a high steep rock rising directly from the sea and protected from land by a strong stockade and an earth wall. In order not to expose his men to the action of Koryak arrows, Pavlutsky ordered large shields to be made of driftwood. Thus protected, the Russians advanced close to the stockade. The Koryak made a gallant defence, and retreated from the parapet only when the enemy succeeded in throwing hand-grenades over the stockade. Then the stockade was broken, and the Russians penetrated the fortifi- cations, where a desperate fight ensued. When the Koryak saw themselves defeated, they killed their wives and children with the intention of killing themselves also. Before the Russians succeeded in putting a stop to their self-destruction, over two hundred persons were slain. Pavlutsky took many of the surviving Koryak with him as prisoners, leaving in the village only ten young men and five women, in order (so say the chronicles) to give the population a chance to multiply.

After that victory, Pavlutsky returned to Anadyrsk. While on the way, he sent a detachment to Alutorsk with an order to destroy the fortification erected by the Koryak in that settlement.

On the whole, the entire campaign was nothing but a punitive expedition, which was as aimless as its execution was cruel; for after Pavlutsky's depart- ure the Koryak territory relapsed into the old conditions. The fate of the Paren Koryak, of course, greatly impressed the other sections of that people; but no sooner had the immediate danger passed, than they resumed their attacks on the Cossacks, and again refused to pay the tribute, although it was precisely that refusal which had previously led to the fight. We shall see later on, after a detailed treatment of the tribute question, how this policy of military conquest, setting aside its inhuman cruelty, was senseless so far as it was an attempt to win for the State a new colony. If we suppose for a moment that the Russians were able to send against all Koryak settlements

detachments equal to the one led by Pavlutsky against Paren, the result of such expeditions, considering the national character of the Koryak, would have been a complete depopulation of the country. Fortunately the Russians were not in a position to do that. To equip and send a party of a few hundred men to the extreme northeast of Siberia, as was occasionally done by the Government in expeditions like Shestakoff's and Pavlutsky's, was an enterprise connected with great difficulties; and if the men had to be trans- ported from European Russia, the expense was very great. Besides arms and ammunition, the Cossacks had to carry with them large transports of provisions and clothing. The provisions had to be renewed every year, and were transported on horses, dogs, and reindeer across absolutely desert and almost inaccessible localities. The peoples of the Yakut territory through which the soldiers and transports passed were ruined by these expeditions; their animals would die from exhaustion, and the men would succumb to diseases. When the soldiers, after a hard journey of two or three years, at last reached their destination, they had to face a rough climate and innumerable privations and dangers. The provisions for the garrisons of remote fortresses, which had to be supplied from Yakutsk, were often not sent at all, or arrived in insufficient quantities or imperfect condition. The Cossacks were forced to hunt and fish for food, and not infrequently suffered hunger; when not under cover of the fortifications, they were always in clanger of sudden attacks; and the results attained at the cost of such exertion were that an army which had to conquer a people resisting Russia's power was limited in its military operations to a period of from three to four months a year. During that period one or another detachment would attack a village or infuse terror into several villages, only to retreat for an entire year to its fortress, leaving the state of the country unchanged. We have seen that such was the case in Pavlutsky's expedition against Paren. His position in regard to the attainment of his end — the subjection of the Chukchee and Koryak — was especially hopeless; for, after the death of Shestakoff, he had to fight both peoples, each of whom it was hard enough to keep in check to the degree prescribed by the Government in accordance with the recommen- dations of the Siberian rulers. Another impediment to Pavlutsky's military operations against the Koryak was the fact that he had his headquarters at the fortress Anadyrsk, which was about four hundred miles distant from the Bay of Penshina, the nearest bay of the Sea of Okhotsk. In Pavlutsky's time Kamchatka no longer depended on Anadyrsk, and had its own administrators; for at that time direct communication by sea with Okhotsk was maintained.

On his return to Anadyrsk, after the Paren victory, Pavlutsky found orders from Yakutsk to treat the aborigines more leniently, and to suspend all military operations pending new orders. Finding his plans for future campaigns checked, Pavlutsky resolved to leave for Yakutsk.

No changes occurred in the Koryak territory as a result of Pavlutsky's campaign, The Koryak continued to dominate over the Okhotsk coast-line. From time to time,' however, one or another of the Koryak bands would pay their tribute and enter into more friendly relations with the garrisons of the Russian fortresses. These relations came to an end when, in 1745, a new general uprising took place, which lasted almost to 1756.

I had occasion before to mention the fortifications erected by the Koryak at the mouth of the Oklan River, where it empties into the Penshina.That fortified village was destroyed by Cossacks in 1679, and in 1690 they built in its place the fortress Oklansk. During the fights with the Koryak, that fortress was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. In 1741 the sergeant Yenis- seysky, who was sent from Anadyrsk, entirely renovated the Oklansk fortifi- cations, and occupied them with a garrison of twenty-four Cossacks. He also succeeded in establishing friendly relations with some Koryak chiefs of the Okhotsk coast; and as a consequence his journeys to Yamsk, Tauysk, and Okhotsk, were no longer interfered with. Later he rebuilt the fortifications of Yamsk and Tauysk, which had been destroyed by the Koryak, and established a small garrison in each place. The number of men at his disposal was small, however; and in October, 1745, he left for Okhotsk to ask for re-enforcements. Meanwhile a new uprising took place. The Koryak seemed to have decided to exterminate all the Russians, and to destroy their fortifications. Yenisseysky had not yet reached Okhotsk when the missionary Flavian, with a retinue, left that town for Anadyrsk. The Koryak fell upon him on the Shestakovka River, killing him and all his men. At the same time they annihilated a detachment of Cossacks who were on their way from Kamchatka to the Anadyr, and another detachment in the vicinity of Oklansk. Yenisseysky, on his way back to Oklansk, met a similar fate. The Koryak who furnished him with draught- animals managed to divide his men into small groups, which they attacked separately, and all were killed. To judge by the reports of the Cossacks, the Reindeer and the Maritime Koryak acted jointly. The Russian fortifications were besieged. The fortress Oklansk was one of the first to be surrounded, the Koryak intending to starve the garrison out. They did not dare to take the fortress by storm, knowing that the garrison was in possession of fire-arms and cannons. The besieged succeeded in sending messengers to Anadyrsk, where Pavlutsky, who had risen to the rank of major, was again commander.

A few words must be said as to the activity of Pavlutsky since the time he left Anadyrsk in 1732. I have related before how the Koryak uprising, after Shestakoff's defeat, had spread to Kamchatka. The uprising of the Kamchadal, which had been fomenting for a long time, broke out in 1731. Until then the Kamchadal did not dare to rise. In 1729 Kamchatka was visited by the first scientific expedition of Bering and his companions; while

the ship "Gabriel," with a crew of one hundred men belonging to the military expedition of Shestakoff, remained in Nishne-Kamchatka until July, 1731.¹

As soon as the "Gabriel" had weighed anchor and gained the open sea, the Kamchadal attacked the fortress Nishne-Kamchatsk and took possession of it. Presently a detachment was despatched to take Verkhne-Kamchatsk and Bolsheretsk, and everywhere the Russians were slain. It so happened, however, that the "Gabriel" unexpectedly returned on account of an impending storm. The ship was not prepared for a sea-voyage; besides, the crew were not eager to go to the Anadyr. The sudden return of the "Gabriel" saved the Russians on the peninsula. With the assistance of the sailors, Verkhne- Kamchatsk and Bolsheretsk were successfully held, Nishne-Kamchatsk was recaptured, and the revolt was suppressed.

When the pews of the revolt and its suppression reached Yakutsk, the Administration resolved to send a commission to Kamchatka for the investi- gation of the causes of the uprising, of the numerous revolts of Cossacks against their chiefs, and of the incessant feuds between the chiefs and their parties, for rumors had been current in Yakutsk of the cruelty, violence, and licentiousness of the Cossack chiefs and soldiers on the peninsula. At the head of the commission were Majors Mekhlin and Pavlutsky. The investi- gation lasted from 1733 to 1739. Sentences of death were passed by the commissioners on several Kamchadal instigators of the uprising, as well as on Cossacks convicted of criminal actions.²

After his mission to Kamchatka, Pavlutsky, in 1740, was made military commander of Yakutsk; but in 1742 the Government again determined to subject the Chukchee and Koryak by force of arms, and Pavlutsky was ordered back to his Anadyrsk post. Pavlutsky travelled from Yakutsk by way of Kolymsk, as before, instead of following the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, for he was anxious for the time being to avoid encounters with the Koryak. Hurried as his journey was, he did not reach Anadyrsk before November, 1743.

After his arrival, Pavlutsky concentrated all his efforts on the fight with the Chukchee, and left the Koryak undisturbed. When the messengers from Oklansk, in the winter of 1745, brought the news that the fortress was being besieged, Pavlutsky was making preparations for a campaign against the Chukchee, although he knew of the Koryak insurrection. The men whom

1 According   to   the   original   plan   of   Shestakoff's   military   expedition,   the   ship   "Gabriel,"   which   had   left
Okhotsk at the same time with Shestakoff, was to visit Kamchatka, and from there proceed to the mouth of the
Alut River, where the commander of the expedition expected to arrive from the shores of the Okhotsk Sea (see p. 787;
in order to   subdue   the   Alutor   Koryak;   from   there   it was intended that the ship should sail to the mouth of the
Anadyr River, exploring the shores on the way, and continue up the river to the fortification Anadyrsk, which Shestakoff
intended to reach by land.    When the news of Shestakoffs end arrived, the "Gabriel" remained in Kamchatka, expect-
ing further orders.    In June, 1731, she was ordered to proceed to the Anadyr and to enter the service of Pavlutsky.

2     Among the   Russians who were executed was the Cossack officer Shtinnikoff.    In 1729 a Japanese ship with
seventeen Japanese was   carried   by the winds to the southern shores of Kamchatka.    In order to make use of their
merchandise,   Shtinnikoff ordered all the Japanese to be killed.    Only two escaped death, — an old man and a boy,
who were subsequently taken to St. Petersburg and presented to the Empress Elizabeth.

he had sent to the Reindeer Koryak to demand reindeer for his campaign against the Chukchee were killed or returned empty-handed. Nevertheless, Pavlutsky himself did not attack the Koryak, but sent the officer Proshin with one hundred and twenty soldiers. At his approach, the Koryak raised the siege of Oklansk. Proshin continued his march, the Koryak retreating before him. Finally he opened negotiations with them, and, satisfied by their promise to lay down their arms and to pay tribute in the future, returned to Anadyrsk, having left re-enforcements in Oklansk. Pavlutsky, who returned to Anadyrsk after his Chukchee campaign, towards the close of 1745, put Proshin under arrest for his undetermined mode of action. Further events made it clear how insincere the Koryak had been in their promises. The entire Okhotsk coast remained in the hands of the insurgents, and the Oklansk fortress also fell. To prevent the cannons and the powder from falling into the hands of the Koryak, the garrison interred them. Only four men of the garrison reached Anadyrsk in March, 1747. In the course of the same month Pav lutsky was killed in a battle with the Chukchee.

As indicated above, the Koryak uprising lasted almost until 1757. To illustrate the methods of Koryak warfare and their determination in battle, I will describe two or three more of the leading episodes of that fight.

Pavlutsky's successor, Kekerev, arrived at Anadyrsk in December, 1748, and on the 30th of January, 1749. started out against the Koryak. His party consisted of 236 Cossacks, 88 Yukaghir, and 146 subjected Koryak, on whom fell the burden of transporting both men and luggage. The Koryak, of course, were unreliable allies in a campaign against their own people. While on the way, Kekerev learned from two captured Koryak that the chief of the Reindeer Koryak, Tekietoga, was camping with a band of his people on the Paren River. Kekerev hurried there. Tekietoga, however, was warned in time, and, abandoning his tents and part of his herds, he fled with his men to the Okhotsk Sea. A snow-storm prevented Kekerev from pursuing him effectively, and he changed his course to the Kamenskoye fortification, where Koryak warriors had gathered in great numbers. On the way he destroyed the fortification Ega'c. The first assault on Kamenskoye failed, and Kekerev himself sustained two arrow-wounds; nevertheless during the night the besieged put their wives and children to death, and under cover of a storm fled to one of the inaccessible rocks which surrounded the fortress. There was only one place where that rock could be reached, which was so steep that it could not be scaled without a rope-ladder and thongs. To take the rock by storm in the face of a stone-shower from the Koryak was hardly possible, and to starve them out would have lasted too long. Hence Kekerev raised the siege and turned back to Anadyrsk, taking the promise from the Koryak through whose territory he passed, that they would pay their tribute in the autumn. As usual, he had taken with him a number of Koryak prisoners,

some of whom were executed in Anadyrsk; others were flogged or tortured to make them tell the names of the instigators of the uprising. The Koryak, of course, did not keep their promise to pay tribute; and in March, 1750, we again find Kekerev engaged in a campaign against the Koryak; namely, on the Talovka River and in the region south of it. He did not succeed any better, however, than in the preceding year.

Captain Shatiloff, who followed Kekerev as the commandant of the for- tress Anadyrsk, started out against the Koryak towards the end of March, 1751. He intended to chastise their western branch, and his course accord- ingly lay towards the Gishiga River. Near the Taigonos Peninsula he sent ahead a scouting-party of fifty men in command of the Cossack Lieutenant Katkovsky. The scouts soon discovered a Koryak camp, and a fight ensued; as soon, however, as a few Koryak had fallen from bullets, the rest fled, abandoning the camp. On entering, Katkovsky found heaps of dead bodies of women and children, obviously put to death by their relatives.

From a Koryak prisoner Katkovsky learned that large Koryak forces were concentrated on the peninsula. Shatiloff hurried there, and presently overtook the Koryak, who, hearing of the approach of the Russians, had retreated to a small inaccessible rocky island several hundred feet off the shore. Shatiloff placed his men on the ice around the island and opened negotiations with the besieged, urging them to surrender and to pay the tribute; but the Koryak indignantly rejected all proposals. Then Shatiloft resolved to take the island by storm, but deferred the assault for a few days, during which the adjoining country was scouted. No more Koryak were found, but the scouts succeeded in capturing a herd of reindeer. The island rose steeply from the sea on all sides. There was only one possible way of ascent, which the Koryak protected by thrusting clown reindeer-sleds loaded with stones. Besides, they had placed hidden wolf-traps all around the island. The Russians assaulted from five sides simultaneously; and after a desperate struggle the rock was taken, the defence having cost the Koryak one hundred and thirty dead, among them their chief Tykap. About three hundred corpses of women and children were found scattered in the camp, and only three men and five women were taken prisoners. It appears from these accounts how desperately the Koryak fought, and that they preferred to kill their women and children with their own hands rather than see them captured by the enemy. The Russian losses in that battle were five soldiers and four Cossacks killed, and fifty-one wounded, including several officers. The char- acter of the battle left a strong impression on Shatiloff, for at the capture of two other fortified rocks he proceeded with less determination. Having received the tribute and hostages on the rivers of Paren, Gishiga, and on the Taigonos Peninsula, Shatiloff returned to Anadyrsk in May, 1751. He had failed to break the Koryak revolt.

Shatiloff's campaign was the last undertaken from the fortress Anadyrsk. The Government had long before come to the conclusion that the subjection of the Koryak required the erecting of a number of fortresses along the Bay of Gishiga, which could be reached from Okhotsk by sea. The fortress Gishiginsk was founded by Okhotsk Cossacks in 1752, but the sea-route to Okhotsk was not opened until 1757. Between the years 1752 and 1756 hostile encounters continued to occur between Cossacks and the Koryak of the Okhotsk coast. The year 1756 is considered to be the last of the Koryak uprising. This, however, is only partly true. The annihilation of entire villages and settlements, the torture of prisoners, the capture of herds from the Reindeer Koryak, had broken their power of resistance only to a certain degree. The main cause of the cessation of wars with the Koryak lay in a change of policy on the part of the Russians. The commandant of the fortress Gishiginsk received orders not to send collectors of tribute to the Koryak villages and camps, but to propose to the Koryak chiefs that they deliver the tribute yearly at the fortress. We shall have occasion to see in how far that measure was conducive to the improvement of Russo-Koryak relations. Naturally there were at first very few Koryak groups who sent tribute voluntarily to Gishiginsk; ¹ but experience had shown how futile it was to use force as a means of obtaining tribute.

The other cause of the wars lay in the national pride of the Russian conquerors, who insisted on breaking the stubborn resistance of alien peoples and on subjecting them to Russian rule. But here again experience had made it clear that the submission of these peoples was not worth the sacrifices which it cost. 1 am here referring only to the Koryak and Chukchee; for the related Kamchadal, being entirely sedentary, were more easily conquered by means of force. In the case of the Koryak, the modified policy of the conquerors finally led to the compromise just described. In regard to the Chukchee, however, it was decided to cease all further attempts to subjugate this people. The fortress Anadyrsk was entirely abolished in 1764 and the Administration transferred to Gishiginsk. Thus the wars of the Russians with the Koryak and Chukchee came to an end when the latter were entirely left to themselves.

The Tribute. — "Yasak" is the term applied to the tribute in furs which the Russians imposed on the conquered Siberian peoples. The historians of Siberia agree that during the early periods of settlement the main factor attracting the Russians to Siberia was its widely heralded wealth in furs. For a time Siberian furs were an important financial item in the budget of the Russian Empire. How enormous the wealth in furs of Siberia was at

1 As late as 1848 we find from the tribute records of the Gishiga district that the number of Reindeer Kor-
yak who were assessed was 294; in the records of 1894 this number rises to 836; and, according to the census of
1897, the number of Reindeer Koryak in the Gishiga district is 2389.

the beginning of the conquest is demonstrated by the fact that after the defeat of the Siberian Khan Kuchum, his dominion — i. e. the territory lying in the basin of the Obi River alone — was forced to pay to the Moscowite Czar a yearly tribute of 200,000 sables, 10,000 black foxes, and 500,000 squirrels of the best quality, besides beavers and ermines. Having discovered how profitable the fur trade was to the Treasury, the State was no longer satisfied with the tribute of furs, but began to monopolize the fur trade. In the beginning of the seventeenth century Czar Boris Godunoff decreed that the hunters and fur-traders deposit their merchandise in the Treasury for a fixed remuneration. The accumulated furs were placed in the care of a special department in Moscow, which disposed of them through its agents in Turkey, Persia, Bokhara, and, later, China. China in time became the largest and most profitable consumer of Siberian furs, for in exchange for its furs the Treasury would import from China chiefly gold and silver, with which the Moscowite empire paid for its wars.

After the Nerchinsk Treaty concluded by Peter the Great with the Chinese in 1689, the China trade continued to be Government monopoly until the year 1762. ¹ In that year Empress Katerine II abolished the official caravans to Peking, leaving the trade, which was still based chiefly on furs, in the hands of private merchants. The free fur trade had a stimulating effect on the development of commercial relations between Siberia, European Russia, and the neighboring countries. The Treasury, on the other hand, no longer insisted that the tribute of Siberia be paid in furs exclusively. They were now free to pay their tribute in money, the amount being approximately estimated according to the value of the furs. Thus the field for official abuses was reduced, and the attitude of the natives towards the Russians began to improve.

The time of the attempts to subject the Koryak as well as the Kamchadal and Chukchee, coincides with the period of the Government monopoly in furs, when fur tribute was the cause for the sake of which thousands of men were tortured and killed whenever they refused or were not able to satisfy the rapaciousness of the foreign invaders. The tragedy of the situation for the natives lay in the fact that the sable, for whose fur the Russian demand was greatest, was a rare animal in the Koryak country, and did not occur at all in the territory of the Chukchee.

The question how tribute was levied, which was put afterwards on a definite basis by the so-called First Tribute (Yasak) Commission of 1702-66, is but superficially treated by the historians of Siberia. We do not know whether there existed before that commission definite and universally applied standards according to which the tribute to be paid by the hunters of this

' The State monopoly of the fur trade was first limited in. 1727, but in 1752 the full Government monopoly
was again introduced.

or that people was estimated. From fragmentary bits of information we are justified in assuming that the amount of tribute to be levied was constantly decreased. The lowering of the standard obviously kept pace with the grad- ually decreasing numbers of fur-bearing animals, which was due to their extermination since the advent of the Russians to Siberia. According to Slovtzoff, in the beginning the tribute amounted to five sables for a single hunter, and ten for a married one: hence the conclusion seems justifiable, that in the beginning the wives of hunters had to pay their share. In some places from ten to twenty sables were required from the hunter; but the Government, says Slovtzoff (II, p. 62), was indulgent, and this rule was not always observed. In the second half of the seventeenth century we find a tribute of seven sables "per bow;" and, according to the Siberian census of 1722, the tribute levied amounted to three sables for each hunter; and finally, after the work of the First Tribute Commission, the amount paid by each hunter was fixed at one sable, or, in case no sable was available, at one fox-skin or one beaver-skin, etc. We know that the Chukchee altogether refused to pay fur tribute. This fact probably accounts for the circumstance, so puzzling to Baron Maydell, that the conquering activity of the Russians was more especially directed against the Chukchee, and not against the Koryak, although the attacks made by the latter on Russian detachments were far more frequent than those made by the Chukchee.

It is certain that one or another group of the Koryak was from time to time forced to pay tribute, although no references can be found as to the standard used in levying it, nor as to the total amount received. It seems, however, that the Koryak tribute was not very large from the start, and consisted rather of foxes than of the more valuable furs. Specific indications of the standard used in levying the tribute from the Kamchadal are also lacking; but, judging from certain available data, the amount collected from the Kam- chadal must have been very considerable, the tribute consisting chiefly of expensive furs. Thus, when Atlassoff returned from his first expedition to Kamchatka, — after visiting only the people of the Kamchatka River, — he carried with him thirty-two hundred sables, many hundred foxes, about one hundred sea-otters, for the Treasury, and, as his private provision, four hundred sables and numerous other furs. In time the Kamchadal tribute from the whole peninsula increased in amount. According to the denunciation made by the Cossacks against Petrilofsky, one of the commanders in Kam- chatka in the first half of the eighteenth century, the latter had "stolen" in the course of one year 5600 sables, 2000 foxes, 207 sea-otters, and 169 otters. Without any doubt, other commanders of Kamchatka were not far behind Petrilofsky in filling their purses at the expense of the Kamchadal.¹

1 Judging from a statement made by Krasheninnikoff, the official tribute of the Kamchadal was fixed at one
sable to a hunter, even before the regulations of the First Tribute Commission. Thus, while referring to the begin-

According to historical data referring to Siberia before the First Tribute Commission, the collectors in the native settlements and camps were Cossacks and officials, who received lists of all assessable men; that is, of adults capable of hunting. The details of this method of collecting tribute can no longer be ascertained. All we know is, that the illiterate collectors, who were in the majority, carried little sticks with notches to indicate the number of men assessed. Each hunter had to pay his own share.¹ In addition, however, the collectors expected presents for themselves, for the military commanders, and for other high officials. In some cases presents were sent to the Czar himself. These presents were known as the "gratuitous" or "complimentary" tribute поминочный или поклонный ясакъ), as distinguished from the crown tribute or tribute proper (податной ясакъ).²

The collectors were accompanied to unsafe localities by Cossack escorts, who demanded their share of presents. Besides, the collectors carried with them merchandise for barter. Thus it happened that the furs which reached the Treasury were never of the best quality. In Kamchatka these practices were indulged in with exceptional freedom. In a country so far distant from the central Administration, the collectors and their men were in reality bands of robbers whose exploits would rouse the Kamchadal to fury and despair. Thus one of these collectors and his escort of twenty-five Cossacks were burned by the Kamchadal on the Avacha River, the Kamchadal hostages perishing with the rest. When the collector arrived, the Kamchadal greeted him with honors, assigned to him and his Cossacks a separate summer house on piles, and, promising to pay the tribute on the following morning, left hostages selected from among the best men of the village. At night, when the house was set on fire, the Kamchadal called to the hostages to escape; but they answered that they were in chains, and bade their people outsideburn the house, leaving them to their fate.³

As far as the Koryak are concerned, it may, I think, be asserted, that not only was there no standard for the tribute, but that it was paid only once in a while, under direct compulsion of military parties; and after the foundation of the fortress Gishiginsk, the Koryak tribute became a voluntary contribution, which the representatives of the various Koryak groups them- selves delivered at the fortress.

The task of the First Tribute Commission, which was appointed by ning of the seventeenth century (II, p. 342), he tells of a collector who demanded from the Kamchadal two or three sables instead of one.

1 During the early period of the conquest of Siberia, some heads of tribes with advanced social and political
organization, like the khans of the Kirghiz and of some Tatar peoples of western Siberia, were bound to pay a
certain yearly tribute in sables and other furs for the whole tribe. For example, the Tatar prince Yedigher had to
pay yearly a thousand sables (see Fischer, Sibirische Geschichte, p. 182).

2 There existed still another kind of tribute called "decimal" (десятинный). It was levied exclusively from
Russian hunters in Siberia, who had to reserve for the Treasury the fur of every tenth animal killed.

Empress Katherine, was to regulate the tribute question and to put an end to the abuses of the collectors. The reforms introduced by the commission were based on the following principles: I. The tribute is to be paid by a representative for the entire clan or group; the further apportionment of the tribute is left to the natives themselves. 2. The representative of the group is to deliver the tribute in person to the administrative centre; collectors are abolished. 3. Subject to the tribute are native men from sixteen to sixty years of age, who are to be called "workers" or "tax souls." 4. Payment may be made in furs or in money, the amount being calculated in money for each person, and varying, in the case of fur payments, according to locality, the nature of the animals, and the current valuation of the latter.

These principles, with some additions and a general lowering of the amount of tribute to be paid, were accepted by the Second Tribute Commis- sion (1828-35). The age of the "workers" was limited to men from eighteen to fifty. The number of "workers" of every clan was fixed by the census. The last census for this purpose was taken in 1859. The standards then established varied for different localities. Obviously for each locality, and even for each group and clan, it was fixed by mutual agreement of the representatives of the Treasury and of the natives. Even the so-called Koryak clans were until lately differently taxed. Thus, the tax of a "worker" from the Vivnik clan amounted to 2 rubles 86 kopeks, while that of a "worker" from the Alutor clan amounted only to 1 ruble 49 kopeks.¹ At present the Koryak of the Gishiga district are taxed uniformly at the rate of 1 ruble 15 kopeks per "worker." I have not been able to ascertain from the Archives since what date this last method of taxation was adopted. To illustrate the great reduction of the tribute, I will compare the last tax recorded, with the original one of ten sables per hunter. According to the data kept by the Administration of the Gishiga district for the year 1897, there were in that district 241 taxable Reindeer Koryak, and 407 Maritime Koryak. As there are more Reindeer Koryak in the Gishiga district than Maritime people (the census figures for 1897 are 2389 Reindeer and 2045 Maritime Koryak),²the data on the taxed population indicate that many of the Reindeer Koryak do not pay tribute, and the number 407 is also lower than the total number of men of the Maritime Koryak between the ages of eighteen and fifty.

According to the official report for 1897, the Koryak tribute for that year was paid, two thirds in furs, and one third in money. The official ap- praisement of furs is lower than their market price. The appraisement in rubles and kopeks is as follows, the valuation being given in each case for the fur without paws or tail.

1 See Archives of the Administration of the Gishiga District, No. 751, 1867.
2 See p. 445.

Sable (superior quality)	10.00
Sable (inferior quality)	8.00
White fox	1.50
Wolf	2.50
Red fox.	2.00
Cross-fox	8.00
Ermine	0.08¹

The Itkana Koryak, who hunt fur-bearing animals very little, bring to Gishiginsk the skins of ground-seals, and bundles of thongs cut out of skins of ground-seals. Twenty-eight of them are tax-payers, their total tribute amounting to 32 rubles 20 kopeks. To cover that sum, their elder delivers to Gishiginsk ten ground-seal skins and six bundles of thongs. In the open market the skins alone would amount to 60 rubles, 6 rubles apiece.

The Present Relations of the Russians and the Koryak. — The military conquest by Russia, of that part of Siberia where agriculture is im- possible, could not call forth a voluntary agricultural colonization. The first Russian invaders were all hunters and soldiers. In the course of time they were joined by forced immigrants and exiled criminals. The colonial policy was in the beginning nothing but a means of reaching the Siberian peltry resources. The central Government was in the majority of cases benevolently inclined towards the natives. The local administrations were often instructed to be lenient in gathering tribute, and not to insult the natives; but these benevolent intentions could not be harmonized with the actual situation, where tribute had to be extorted from natives who were often unable to pay it. In order to comply with the requirements of the official agents, the native had to neglect the material needs of his family, and concentrate his entire energy on the hunt for fur-animals. Besides, the agents robbed the natives to their own advantage, committed violence, tortured and enslaved the men, carried away their women and children; and when the natives revolted, the agents claimed that the natives had arisen against the Czar's power.

Then the Government would send military parties to suppress the revolt and to punish the guilty. Of course, Russia did not act any worse than did many other nations regarding their colonial "possessions." Even now, the African negroes, for instance, revolt because the white intruders rob them of their land and of the natural products of their country, meanwhile burdening them with taxes to support the same Administration which suppresses them. In one respect the Russians were superior to other European colonizers, for they exhibited only to a moderate degree the consciousness of racial superior- ity over the natives, which other white peoples possess in a very exaggerated degree. The Siberian natives were not treated with contempt. When the greed of the Russian was satisfied or did not come to the foreground, theconqueror and the conquered would easily come to terms. On the whole,

however, the system of violent extortion and repression led to the extermina-tion of those people which were not especially numerous or possessed of exceptional vitality. Thus many clans of the Yukaghir entirely disappeared. The Chukchee and the Koryak, on the other hand, although not numerous, but stubborn and full of vital energy, succeeded to a certain extent in pre- serving their ethnic individuality.

The colonial policy of deriving the maximum possible profits from the natives, for the benefit of the Government and of private individuals, resulted in the extermination of several small peoples, and finally led to the exhaustion of the source of these profits itself. The present yearly export of sables from Kamchatka, for instance, does not reach two thousand skins, while on the Kolyma this valuable animal has entirely disappeared.

The fur trade gradually deteriorated as a source of State revenues, and no other source took its place. Thus, as a result of a barbaric colonial policy, the expenditures of the State for the administration of the remote districts of Siberia became, in the course of time, greater than the revenues derived from these districts. The tribute could no longer be regarded as a source of income, and had to be looked upon as a symbol of the submission of the tribute-paying peoples, — a symbol which flattered a petty national pride, but was paid for by the Government through a costly administration of unprofitable colonies. It is worth noting that the tribute paid by the small Siberian peoples is not sent to the Treasury, but to the household of the Imperial Court. The romantic view of the fur tribute as a concrete proof of the subjection of the natives to the Czar was entertained by the Bureaucracy at the end of the past century, and is still entertained by them. Even the learned official traveller, Baron Maydell, in part held that view. The chief purpose of the so-called "Chukchee Expedition" (1869-70), at the head of which he stood, was the subjection to Russia of the Chukchee, who were not paying tribute. To induce the Chukchee to pay tribute, methods were used, and probably are still used, which are as humorous as they are humiliating to the Russian Empire. The Court Treasury spent a certain sum yearly on presents for those Chukchee who paid their tribute voluntarily. The chief of the Kolyma district, on his way to the Chukchee fair on the Anui River, would carry on special sledges presents consisting- of iron kettles, tea-pots, tobacco, etc. In 1892 I witnessed on the Anui River the ceremony of the tribute presentation by the Chukchee. Ten or so Chukchee from various localities came to the official cabin, and in the presence of the district chief were entertained by the Cossacks with tea, sugar, and biscuits. After a speech suitable to the occasion had been made by the chief through an interpreter, to the effect that the Czar loved the Chukchee and was sending them presents, each of the natives made his small contribution to the tribute with a red or arctic fox. Then the imperial presents were inspected and additions begged

for, which were generally granted by the chief, who was anxious to get rid of his tiresome guests. The results of the barter were very favorable to the Chukchee. They had received presents which in value greatly exceeded their tribute; the hides meanwhile were ceremoniously stamped with the official seal and despatched to the Court Treasury in St. Petersburg as a token of Chukchee submissiveness.¹ In other cases, like that of the Yukaghir, — to be treated in Vol. IX of this series, — even a very moderate tribute had a fatal effect on the economic life of the people.

In order to demonstrate to what extent the State expenditures for the northeastern districts exceed the revenues, I shall present the data for the Gishiga district. I have in my possession the official reports on that region for the year 1897. The total tribute for that year amounts to 1119 rubles (364 rubles in currency, and 755 in furs), of which sum the Koryak paid 745 rubles, and the Tungus 374. The "voluntary contributions" made by the Palpal Chukchee and Koryak at the Chukchee fair ² amounted to another 73 rubles. The natives regard the tribute as a present to the Czar. As we have seen, it does not go to the State Treasury. The revenues of the Treasury from the district of Gishiginsk consisted of the so-called Zemstvo taxes 3 to the amount of 163 rubles, and taxes of merchants to the amount of 1606 rubles. I have not been able to obtain the exact figures of the expenditures for the administration of the district, but I consider 40,000 rubles a conservative estimate. The maintenance of the district chief, his assistant, the secretary, and their offices, amounts to no less than 12,000 rubles a year. The salary of the chief alone is 4500 rubles. Then follow the salaries of a priest in Gishiginsk, of a missionary, a physician, and two assistant surgeons, who also reside in Gishiginsk, and scarcely ever visit the Koryak camps and villages.⁴ The last item is the maintenance of the Cos- sack detachment, which is the largest single expenditure in the budget for the administration of the district.

A few words should be said regarding the Gishiginsk Cossacks. Although these Cossacks are the descendants of the warriors who conquered Siberia, they are no longer military men, nor are they controlled by the Ministry of War. Since 1822 they have been under the Ministry of the Interior, and are used by the district chief for police and messenger services. This archaic institution of a staff of civil Cossacks still survives in all the district towns of the Province of Yakutsk, and among those of the Maritime Province

1 Dr. S. I. Mitzkevich, the former physician of the Kolyma district, told me that during his visit to the
Anui fair in 1901, the chief of the district not bring any presents for the Chukchee tribute-payers; and the
Chukchee of the Chukchee Peninsula, on being informed of this, requested the return to them of the tribute skins
which they had given to the chief. Their request was granted
2 See p. 776.

3 Since 1893 the Maritime Koryak and other settled peoples had to pay, in addition to the tribute, taxes
amounting to 4 kopeks per soul. These taxes were raised to cover local expenses, such as repairs of roads, etc.
4 This was true at least of the medical staff during my stay in the Gishiga district.

in Gishiginsk, Markova, Petropavlovsk, Okhotsk, and Udsk. The Cossacks form an hereditary class, and their services are obligatory. The term of the Cossack's active service is twenty-five years, beginning at the age of eighteen. Every Cossack draws a yearly salary of seventy rubles, and receives monthly seventy-two pounds of rice and flour. Boys, from their birth to the age of sixteen, receive half that amount of provisions. Hence boys are much desired in Cossack families, and a Cossack maiden who has male children born out of wedlock is a welcome bride. The Cossack detachment in Gishi- ginsk numbers about thirty, and the wives and children bring the number up to over one hundred. The duties of the Gishiginsk Cossacks consist in being on service in the offices of the district chief, in escorting officials on their journeys through the district, and in accompanying the mail as carriers; scientific expeditions also made use of the Cossack as guards or as servants and interpreters. Thus, by order of the Maritime Governor, a Cossack was despatched with my party. Mr. Bogoras, on his journey to the Chukchee Peninsula, had with him two Cossacks. In the summer the duties of the Cossacks are limited to the days when steamers arrive. They unload the official freight, consisting to a large extent of rice and flour for their own use. The rest of their time they spend in fishing. Even during the winter months they have spare time enough to attend to their households or to serve as commissioners in the barter of the natives with the merchants.

The Cultural Influence of the Russians on the Koryak. — What has been shown in regard to the remote districts of Northeast Siberia, as exem- plified by the Gishiga district, will in a future work on the Yukaghir be demonstrated in regard to the northern districts of the Yakutsk province; namely, that these districts require heavy expenditures from the metropolis, and that while the present policy lasts there is little hope for better conditions in the future. From these facts one would imagine that Russia maintains its remote northeastern colonies solely for the glory of possessing a territory which, although barren and not populated, is immense; or for the sake of civilizing the natives. These motives do without doubt enter as factors into the so-called "colonial policy" of Russia; but they are not the main causes of the deficits in the Treasury. The excess of expenditures over revenues is primarily due to a deficient administration of the territory, which is ruled by ignorant and mostly unnecessary officials. Frequently the high bureaucrats have no knowledge whatever of the country intrusted to their care. Here is an interesting illustration. The chief of the Gishiga district, Ratkevich, was rash enough to present in his report to the Governor of the Maritime Province for 1885 a short ethnographical sketch¹ describing cases where old men were killed or vendetta murders committed by the tribes in his district.

1 See the Gishiginsk Archives, Reports of the Chief of the District, of Sept. 30,1885 (No.197) and of Dec.
31, 1881 (No. 404).

In answer to this report, the vice-governor wrote to Ratkevich, asking him, in the name of the Governor, on what grounds he tolerated in his locality acts which were illegal according to the laws of the Russian Empire.

In regard to the cultural activity of whites in general in their colonies, we must remember that no white nation has ever approached a primitive people with the sole purpose of civilizing it. All civilized nations have acquired colonies, on account of their natural products, as lands for immi- gration or as markets for their own products. The natives, in some cases, where they were not exterminated or had not died out under the burden of oppression, acquired in the course of time a certain degree of civilization through intercourse with the whites.

The extreme northeast of Siberia is not fit for Russian colonization. The culture of the Russian immigrants in these localities has deteriorated, and their mode of life is but little different from that of the natives. The number of Russian inhabitants in the Koryak territory, to judge by the Gishiga district, where the bulk of the people are Koryak, is slightly in excess of six per cent of the total population.

If the country cannot be populated by Russians, the question arises, whether under any conditions it would become possible for the latter to raise the civilization of the natives? The answer must be that a civilizing influence could certainly be exerted on the Koryak and their neighbors if the Government assigned for that purpose the sums now expended on the complex administration. Such expenditures for cultural purposes would ulti- mately result in an improvement of local conditions, leading to an increase of revenues which would easily equal and finally exceed the expenditures for the administration of the country. In place of the present staff of officials and the Cossack detachments, one commissary and a few paid guards could efficiently attend to the simple needs of the district. The duties of a commissary could be performed by one of the school-teachers. At the time of my stay in the Gishiga district, there were no schools. The children of the Gishíginsk priests, as well as the children of District Chief Prshevalinsky, Councillor of State, who died before my arrival, could hardly write a note or even sign their names; while the chief's wife, who belonged to the local Russians, was entirely illiterate. The Cossacks and common people were, of course, practically all illiterate. According to data contained in the Archives, an elementary school was held at different times; but as it was intrusted to the priest and sexton, who themselves were but little versed in the art of reading and writing, the school had to be closed after a short existence on paper. It goes without saying that the institution of schools with trained teachers in Gishiginsk, as well as in some of the more important Koryak settlements, would have familiarized the Koryak with Russian culture to a much greater extent than did the levying of a petty tribute. Besides giving

an elementary education, these schools ought to pursue practical ends. A breeding-station for reindeer associated with the school could vastly increase the value of herds. There the Koryak could be instructed in the advanced methods of domestication and of improving breeds, as well as in the art of preventing reindeer-epidemics. The school should also teach better methods of catching and preserving fish. The technical capacity and artistic talent of the Koryak, if properly directed, would lead to the development of home industries, — the production of fur rugs, for instance, — which would yield valu- able articles for the export trade. If for a period of ten years the sums now expended on the administration of the country were spent on building and maintaining schools, the culture and material well-being of the Koryak could be raised to such an extent that their further development could be left in their own hands. Such ought to be the results aimed at by a rational colonial policy, leaving quite out of account the moral obligations of a civilized nation towards its primitive subjects. It cannot be denied that life under conditions and circumstances like those of the Koryak must be extremely hard to endure for people of any culture; but when the fate of the Siberian natives shall pass from the hands of the bureaucracy to those of the nation, not a few of the Russian intellectuals will be willing to sacrifice their comfort and habits of life for the sake of enlightening and enriching the inhabitants of the Far North.

It remains to summarize the positive and negative results derived by the Koryak from their contact with civilization. I shall, however, treat only of those aspects of the subject which were not touched upon in my description of the modern material culture of the Koryak as compared with that of the past. After the complete subjection of the Kamchadal, followed by a number of military rulers who abused their vast powers, Kamchatka entered upon a period characterized by greater consideration for the natives. That period, beginning with the end of the eighteenth century, could be termed the "period of enlightened despotism." Instead of trying to stimulate the local pursuits of the natives, the Administration decided to introduce among the Kamchadal occupations belonging to Russian civilization. By means of flogging and other modes of punishment, the Kamchadal were forced to build Russian houses, sow rye, raise vegetables, and breed cattle. The constraining measures innocently sed by the despotic civilizers killed in the Kamchadal all initiative and energy: their individuality was totally crushed. Of course, all attempts to introduce agriculture utterly failed, while cattle-breeding and horticulture are still carried on in a desultory way. This "enlightened despotism" had its effect also on the Koryak settlements in northern Kamchatka. Here horticulture proved impossible, while horses and cattle are bred on a small scale. Thus, according to the data for 1896, there were in the village Dranka 9 horses and 17 cows; in Karagha, 3 horses and 2 cows; in Uka. 1 horse; in Pallan, 7

horses and 21 cows; and in Lesnovskoye, 27 horses and 2 cows. A some-what greater number of these animals is found in the village Yamsk of the Okhotsk district. In 1895 there were in that village 30 horses and 40 cows; here, however, the population consisted in part of Yakut, who, being born cattle-breeders, take much better care of their cattle than do the Kamchadal and Koryak. The inhabitants of Yamsk also raise potatoes; in 1895, 63 puds¹ of these were planted, and 602 puds were reaped.

The Missionaries. — With the exception of a few noble personalities, like the Aleut missionary Veniaminoff, or the Altai missionary Verbitsky, the history of the activity of Greek-Orthodox missionaries among the heathen peoples of Siberia cannot be considered honorable. Up to the present time, the priests and monks sent to the Far Northeast are men of little education; they do not know, and are not able to study, the languages of the natives; they have rough manners, and are utterly lacking in qualities indispensable in expounders of the moral foundations of Christianity. Among the Koryak, the Russian missionaries had at first no success whatever. Among the Kam- chadal, baptism in the beginning served as a means of making slaves of the newly baptized; and missionaries, no less than Cossacks, strove, above all, to secure furs. The secular chiefs often regarded the conversion of the Kam- chadal to Christianity as one of the means of subjecting them. One of these chiefs would hang a Kamchadal who refused to be baptized; others excused the newly baptized for a number of years from paying tribute.² From the Kamchadal the missionaries proceeded to the Uka and Pallan Koryak of northern Kamchatka, and from there to the Alutor. In Dranka there is at the present time a church with a resident priest. But all these Christianized Koryak adopted to a certain degree only the formal side of the Orthodox creed. The same holds true of the Russianized Koryak of the Okhotsk dis- trict and of the village Nayakhan in the Gishiga district, while the great bulk of the population of the Gishiga district has until to-day entirely resisted Christianity. These phenomena must in part be ascribed to the great tenacity with which the Koryak cling to their old religious beliefs. Besides, however, the Koryak are reluctant to undertake the burdens associated with baptism. The priest must be paid for performing the ceremonies of the Church, and be driven about the villages and settlements without remuneration to the drivers. To this must be added the abuses and extortions committed by the priests, against which the secular administration itself has repeatedly protested. In the Gishíginsk Archives there are several suits directed against the abuses of the clergy. Thus a suit was filed against three priests who had entered the services of merchants as drivers of goods, at the same time

2 For very interesting data on the unfavorable activity of the clergy, and on the oppression of the Kamchadal
by the officials, see Dr. Tushov, Along the Western Shore of Kamchatka (Memoirs of the Imperial Russian.
Geographical Society, Vol. II, No. 2, St. Petersburg, 1906).

making free use of the transportation facilities of the Russian settlers and the natives, in their capacity as priests.¹

Without going into a discussion of questions of a purely religious charac-ter it must be said that the priests would have been in a position to promote the cultural mission, had better men been selected, and had their subsidies from the Government or private missionary societies been large enough to prevent them from becoming a burden to the local population.

The Americans. — Of the representatives of other civilized nations, the Koryak know but the name "Americans," — American whalers. The carving shown in Fig. 173, p. 655, representing the captain of an American, whaling-ship, testifies to the fact that the Koryak are acquainted with Ameri- can seamen. It is hard to fix the date when American traders first appeared in Koryak waters; certain it is, that as far back as the first half of the nine- teenth century American whaling-ships hunted for whales and other sea-animals in many places on the Okhotsk and Bering Seas. They entered into relations with the Koryak, and carried on barter with them. The Gulf of Baron Korff, the island of Karagha, and Penshina Bay, were among the places visited by American schooners. At present such visits are less frequent, owing to the decrease of the number of sea-animals in these regions. From its earliest days and up to the present time the American hunt of sea-animals in these waters has been carried on as contraband; but, owing to the absence of coast defences, the hunt of sea-animals, as well as the barter with the Koryak, continue undisturbed. The Koryak themselves are sympathetically disposed towards American seamen. These men from beyond the sea demand no tribute, want no free services; on the contrary, they themselves perform ser- vices for the Koryak (see p. 550). The American articles which they offer in exchange for reindeer hides and furs are cheaper and of better quality than the articles brought by the Russian merchants. The elder of the Tai- gonos Koryak once asked me this question : "Tiyk-e'yim (Sun Chief; that is, the Czar) is so powerful; why are his workers inferior to those of the Ameri-can e'yim (chief)? The guns, cords, and clothes received from the Americans are of better quality than the Russian ones." The alcoholic liquors which the American traders carry along with other good things are also highly appre- ciated by the Koryak. There were cases however, when the crews of Ameri- can schooners entered Koryak villages with other than amicable intentions. In connection with one visit of American sailors to Koryak villages, there is in the Archives of the Gishigia district Administration an interesting "case" (No. 578) referring to the year 1856. The heading reads, "The case of the robbery of the Kamenskoye and Levati Koryak by men of unknown nation- ality who arrived on ships" In substance it was the following: —

went to Gishiginsk and complained to the authorities that they themselves, and the inhabitants of the neighboring village Levati, had been robbed in the summer by American whalers. All the inhabitants of these two villages had departed in their skin boats to hunt seals. Only two Koryak had re- mained in Kamenskoye. While the villages were still deserted, two three- masters entered the bay and dropped anchor in the vicinity of Kamenskoye. Here three whales were killed. The men from the ships boarded their whale- boats and came ashore. The two Koryak mentioned above, seeing the ap- proaching strangers, left the village and fled to a near-by rock. Watching the strangers from afar, they saw how they carried out of the houses foxes, reindeer-hides, and fur garments. Then the sailors entered Levati, where they proceeded in the same fashion. Further, it appears from the "case" that an account of the occurrence, written by the chief of the Gishiga district, was sent by the Governor to the Minister of the Interior, who passed it over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to be presented for explanation to the United States of North America. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, however, declared that he could not adopt the course of action suggested, for the tes- timony of the two Koryak was insufficient to positively establish the nation- ality of the sailors. Thus the affair remained unexplained. As, however, whalers of no other nationality had until then visited Gishiga Bay, it seems plausible that the whalers in question were Americans.

The Neighboring Peoples. — The neighbors of the Koryak at the present time are the Chukchee in the north, the Kamchadal in the south, the Yukaghir in the west, and the Tungus in the southwest. On the middle course of the Penshina River we find, wandering with their herds, the remain- der of the now almost extinct Chuvantzy people, who were related to the Yukaghir, but have now become assimilated with the Koryak. From the direction of the Kolyma River, single representatives of the Yakut people at times go to the Koryak territory as traders. The Russianized Koryak of the Okhotsk district, like the inhabitants of Yamsk and Tumanskoye, have to a certain degree mixed with the Yakut, who have been forced to migrate from the vicinity of Yakutsk to the shores of the Okhotsk Sea.

I have repeatedly mentioned the fact that the Kamchadal, Koryak, and Chukchee are really branches of one and the same people, as testified to by the type of their languages, their religion and culture, except for the fact that the Kamchadal have no reindeer-herds. According to tradition, the early relations of the Koryak with the Chukchee were different from their relations with the Kamchadal. With the former the Koryak were constantly engaged in war, while their relations with the latter were of a more friendly character. The reason for this probably lies in the fact that the Reindeer Chukchee and the Reindeer Koryak, whose territories were as loosely defined in olden times as they are now, came into constant collision regarding pas-

turages. Besides, in the days when might was right, herds were often taken by force through direct attack of the herd-owner: they had to be always watched, arms in hand. The Reindeer Chukchee, in their invasions of the Koryak Reindeer camps, would ultimately reach the sea and attack the set- tlements of the Maritime Koryak. The northern villages of the Kerek are still subject to oppression by the Reindeer Chukchee, who, as the Koryak, often rob the Kerek of their stores, and exact service from them.

We have some traditions recording wars between the Kamchadal and the Koryak. Without doubt, such wars occured often, as well as lesser feuds between the various groups of each of these two peoples; but what may be concluded from the traditions is, that no such antagonism existed between the Kamchadal and the Koryak as between the latter and the Chukchee and Yukaghir. This could possibly be explained by the fact that in northern Kamchatka the settlements of the Maritime Koryak are in direct contact with the settlements of the Kamchadal. It would have been hard to draw an ethnographic line between these settlements Marriages between the peoples were common, and the border region was populated by a mixed people.

The Kamchadal obtained from the Reindeer Koryak, through barter, hides for clothing, and these trading-relations were peaceful. In olden times the Reindeer Koryak did not advance in Kamchatka farther south than Tighil. The subsequent movement of the Reindeer Koryak along the western slope of the Kamchatka ridge southward led to complaints from the Kam- chadal, who accused the reindeer-breeders of driving away their game-animals or of killing them out of the hunting-season. To regulate these conditions, the Russian authorities require from the Reindeer Koryak, that whenever they pass to the Kamchadal territory, they shall secure the consent of the neigh- boring Kamchadal villages and abstain from hunting earlier than the Kam- chadal hunters. On the other hand, the Kamchadal derive benefits from the close proximity of the Reindeer Koryak; for, outside of the advantages of barter, the Koryak kill reindeer for the Kamchadal in times of famine. Still the Koryak are not admitted to the valley of the Kamchatka River.

The relations of the Koryak to the Yukaghir and Tungus will be discussed more fully in the work on the Yukaghir. Besides, the Koryak at present scarcely ever meet the Yukaghir. Only those of the Reindeer Koryak who during the winter traverse the Stanovoi Mountains to the valleys of the Korkodon and the Omolon Rivers, come in contact with the Korkodon Yukaghir. Their relations with the Yukaghir are rather of a beneficial character. The Yukaghir are too poor to carry on regular barter. Generally they induce the reindeer-owners to give them some hides and a little deer- meat for nothing. The Tungus, who before the advent of the Russians, were constantly at war with the Koryak, began, after the subjection of the country by Russia, to penetrate the unoccupied localities in the Koryak terri-

tory. Being hunters, they occupy the wooded valleys of rivers which abound in game, and where the Koryak with their herds are seldom met with. Friction is thus avoided. It even happens that the Koryak and the Tungus peacefully camp not far from each other or side by side. Thus the Tungus gradually advanced to several tributaries of the Penshina River, on which the squirrel occurs; and along the shores of the Okhotsk Sea they quite recently penetrated, even to Kamchatka, where, besides finding plenty of food for their reindeer, and mountain-sheep for hunting, they ran across a valuable fur-animal, — the sable.

Thus the original warlike relations of the Koryak with the neighboring natives were in the course of time superseded by entirely peaceful relations, based chiefly on barter. It is true that the Koryak still have contemptuous nicknames for each of the peoples; but, wherever they come into contact with these peoples, they form friendships and favor intermarriages.

An interesting trait in the lives of these primitive peoples is the remar- able tolerance with which they treat each other's customs and beliefs, and their willingness, in case of need, to recognize each other's strength or su- periority. Thus the Koryak do not hesitate to appeal for assistance to the shamans of the Chukchee or Tungus. A foreign shaman is even treated with more than the ordinary respect accorded to his class, for he is the master of spirits who are beyond the control of local shamans. When a Koryak enters into the relation of marriage or of friendship with a person belonging to another people, the accompanying ceremonies follow the custom of either of the two peoples, according to agreement. If a Koryak, for example, marries a Tungus girl, the marriage ceremony is performed in ac- cordance with Tungus customs, and he pays a ransom for the bride. A Tungus girl, on the other hand, on entering a Koryak household, puts on Koryak garments and submits to the customs which regulate the home life of the Koryak. A Tungus has to serve for his Koryak bride. Tungus- Koryak marriages are, however, very rare in the interior of the country. As indicated above, intermarriages of the Koryak with the Tungus are of most frequent occurrence in the territory of the Reindeer Koryak on the Gishiga and Varkhalam Rivers. Although the Tungus are all Christians, they do not invite the Russian priests to perform their marriage ceremonies whenever one of the parties belongs to the heathen Koryak, but wed according to Koryak or ancient Tungus customs. Marriages between the Koryak and the Chukchee are more frequent than those between the former and the Tungus. In the case of these intermarriages, the Chukchee camps within the Koryak territory, like those in the north of Kamchatka or on the Parapol Dol, adopt Koryak customs; on the Chukchee frontier, on the other hand, in the northern part of the Palpal, the Koryak submit to Chukchee customs, including that of exchanging wives.