The Arctic World : $b Its plants, animals, and natural phenomena. With a historical sketch of Arctic discovery, down to the British polar expedition: 1875-76.Anonymous
Science
The Arctic World : $b Its plants, animals, and natural phenomena. With a historical sketch of Arctic discovery, down to the British polar expedition: 1875-76.
Anonymous
Arctic regions; Arctic regions -- Discovery and exploration -- British
The Kamtschatkans display in the pursuit of these birds and their eggs
a skill and a daring not inferior to the intrepidity and dexterity of
the inhabitants of the Faroe Isles or the Hebrides. Barefooted, and
without even the aid of ropes, they venture to descend the most awful
declivities, which the foaming waters render inaccessible from below.
On the left arm hangs a basket, to be filled with eggs as they advance;
in the right hand they carry a short iron hook, with which to drag the
birds from their rocky roosts. When a bird is caught, the fowler wrings
its neck, slings it to his girdle, and lowers himself still further
down the rugged precipice.
* * * * *
The Kamtschatkans are of small stature, but strong-limbed and
broad-shouldered. Their cheek-bones are high, their jaws massive,
broad, and prominent, their eyes small and black, their noses small,
their lips very full. The prevailing colour of the men is a dark brown,
sometimes approaching to tawny; the complexion of the women is fairer;
and to preserve it from the sun, they embellish it with bears’ guts,
adhering to the face by means of fish-lime. They also paint their
cheeks a brilliant red with a sea-weed.
[Illustration: KAMTSCHATKANS.]
Kamtschatka boasts of a very valuable domestic animal in its dog.
Mr. Hill is of opinion that he must be considered indigenous to the
country, where he roves wild upon the hills, and obtains his existence
in exactly the same manner as the wolf. In his nature, both physically
and in respect to his temper and disposition, he seems about equally to
resemble that tameless animal and the mastiff; yet not altogether in
the same manner that might be supposed to arise from the cross breed
of the two species, but rather as possessing some of the qualities
of both, neither confounded nor modified, but distinctly marked, and
perhaps in equal perfection to the same qualities possessed severally
by those animals. He is about the size of the ordinary mastiff, and
his colour is usually buff or silver-gray, with the several darker or
lighter shades of these colours as an invariable basis. In the form
of his body, too, he resembles the mastiff, but his head is more like
that of the wolf. Still more do we recognize the wolfish character
in the eye, which is cruel and furtive, as well as in his habits and
disposition. Like his fellow-rover, he sleeps more by day than by
night, and he sees better through the scanty light afforded by the
stars or moon than in the full radiance of the sun: this has given
rise to the same vulgar error concerning his vision which, in Britain,
prevails respecting that of the cat,--that he can see in the dark.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account