Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/101

Rh covering of their huts and for transportation. Great numbers of these animals are annually slaughtered, Mr. Bogoras having used as many as fifty in one month as food for his dogs. The price of a reindeer is a package of brick tea and a bundle of tobacco, the value of which is together about a dollar. The maritime Chukchee engage principally in fishing and there is a good deal of exchange between them and the reindeer people.

The houses have a wooden frame covered with skins, sometimes protected as shown in the illustration, by sods or stones. The diameter of the hut or tent is from fifteen to twenty-five feet, and there is an inside room usually about 4 ft. 6 in. in height, 7 ft. in breadth and 12 ft. in length. Fifty or more reindeer skins are used to cover one of the huts, and they require a great deal of care. New skins are used in winter and old skins in summer. Fire is used for cooking, but scarcely heats the house beyond the temperature of the outside air. The inner compartment is lighted by a lamp, but is heated chiefly by the bodies of the inhabitants. As the inner room is used not only for sleeping, but also for eating and entertaining, every square foot is occupied.

The maritime Chukchee eat chiefly the meat of sea-mammals, while the others depend on the reindeer. They like raw frozen meat, and do not object to its being putrid. They drink tea and smoke tobacco continually, and use as much alcohol, which may be unrectified and undiluted 95 per cent, spirit, as they can get.

Fly-agaric is the only means of intoxication discovered by the natives of northeastern Asia. It is made from mushrooms and appears to produce effects similar to hasheesh. The sense of smell of the natives is said to be very acute; their color nomenclature is defective, which may be due to defective vision or to lack of interest in colors.

celebrated his hundredth birthday on March 7 in excellent health. He gave the first performance of Italian opera in New York City in 1825, and was long celebrated as a teacher of singing. His important