We have no sooner descended these savage abodes, than we wish ourselves out again; the view and the smell are equally offensive. The interior part consists of one entire room, about ten feet high. A bench, five feet wide, and covered with various skins, half worn out, extends all round it. This bench is only a foot from the ground[77], and commonly serves as a bed for a number of families. I have counted in one yourt more than twenty persons, men, women, and children. They eat, drink, and sleep pell mell together, satisfy all the calls of nature without restraint or modesty, and never complain of the noxious air that prevails in these places. It is true there is a fire almost incessantly. The fire-place is commonly either in the middle of the yourt or against one of the sides. In the evening they rake the coals in a heap, and shut the entrance of the yourt, where the smoke should evaporate; and thus the heat is concentrated, and kept up during the whole night. By means of a dismal lamp, the form and disagreeable smell of which I have before described, we discover in one corner of the apartment[78] a wretched image of some saint, shining with grease and blackened with smoke. It is before these images that the Kamtschadales bow themselves, and offer their prayers. The rest of the furniture consists of seats and some vessels, made either of wood, or the bark of trees. Their cookery utensils are of copper or iron; but they are all disgustingly filthy. The remains of their dried fish are scattered about the room, and the women or the children are continually broiling pieces of salmon skin, which is one of their favourite meats. The singularity of the children's dress particularly attracted my attention; it is said exactly to referable that of the Koriacs. It consists of only one garment, that is, of a single deer skin, that covers and sits close to every part of the body, so that the children seem to be entirely sewed up. An opening at the bottom, before and behind, affords an opportunity of cleaning them. This opening is covered with another piece of skin, which may be fastened and lifted up at pleasure; it supports a tuft of moss[79], placed like a clout between the legs of the child, and which is renewed as often as it becomes necessary. Besides the common sleeves, there are two others hanging to the garment to place the arms of the child in when it is cold; the extremities are sewed up, and the sleeves lined on the inside with moss. There is also a hood fitted to it, made of the same materials as the rest of the dress; but in yourts the heads of the children are almost always bare, and the hood hangs therefore upon their shoulders. Beside all this, they have a deer skin girt, which serves as a sash. The women carry their children on their back by means of a string, which passes round the forehead of the mother and under the buttocks of the child.