Chapter I: Front Matter

IN SEARCH OF A
SIBERIAN KLONDIKE

AS NARRATED BY

WASHINGTON B. VANDERLIP

THE CHIEF ACTOR

and

HEREIN SET FORTH BY

HOMER B. HULBERT

ILLUSTRATED WITH
MANY PHOTOGRAPHS

NEW YORK

THE CENTURY CO.
1903
Copyright, 1903, by
THE CENTURY CO.

_Published, October, 1903_

THE DE VINNE PRESS
TO

"THE LITTLE MOTHER"

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. OUTFIT AND SUPPLIES

Rumor of gold in northeastern Asia--Plan to prospect through Kamchatka
and north to Bering Strait--Steamer _Cosmopolite_--Russian law in the
matter of liquor traffic--I make up my party and buy supplies--Korean
habits of dress--Linguistic difficulties 3

II. SAGHALIEN AND THE CONVICT STATION
AT KORSAKOVSK

Departure of the expedition--Arrival at Korsakovsk--Condition of
convict station--Freedom allowed prisoners, most of whom are
murderers--Wreck of the steamer and loss of outfit--Gold lace and
life-preservers--Return to Korsakovsk--Russian table manners--The
Russian's naïve attitude toward bathing--Some results of the
intermarriage of criminals--How Yankee shrewdness saved some
confiscated photographs--Pleasant sensations on being shaved by a
murderer--Predominance of American goods 20

III. PETROPAULOVSK AND SOUTHERN KAMCHATKA

Volcanoes of Kamchatka and the superstitious natives--The first
prospecting trip--Copper found, but no gold--Mosquitos cause an
evacuation of the land--The typical Chinese peddler 43

IV. SALMON-FISHING IN THE FAR NORTH

Tide that rises twenty-five feet--Wholesale suicide of salmon--
Fish-eyes as a delicacy for sea-gulls--How the natives store
fish for the sledge-dogs--The three varieties of salmon--An Arcadian
land for the birds 51

V. THE TOWN OF GHIJIGA

The sacred icon and the sewing-machine both in evidence--The native
"process of getting married"--Mrs. Braggin's piano--American
pack-saddles and Russian obstinacy--Theodosia Chrisoffsky and his
sixty descendants 64

VI. OFF FOR THE TUNDRA--A NATIVE FAMILY

Hard traveling--The native women--A mongrel race--Chrisoffsky's home
and family and their ideas of domestic economy--Boiled fish-eyes a
native delicacy--Prospecting along the Ghijiga 79

VII. TUNGUSE AND KORAK HOSPITALITY

My Korak host--"Bear!"--I shoot my first arctic fox--My Tunguse
guide--Twenty-two persons sleep in a twelve-foot tent--Tunguse family
prayers--The advent of Howka--Chrisoffsky once more 92

VIII. DOG-SLEDGING AND THE FUR TRADE

Description of the sledge and its seven pairs of dogs--The
harness--The useful _polka_--The start-off a gymnastic performance for
the driver--Methods of steering and avoiding obstructions while going
at full speed--Dog-trading _en route_--Dog-fights are
plentiful--Prices of sable and other skins in the native market--The
four grades of sables--How they live and what they live on--A Russian
writer on sable hunting--Days when a native would barter eighteen
sable skins for an ax 116

IX. OFF FOR THE NORTH--A RUNAWAY

My winter wardrobe of deerskin--Shoes that keep the feet warm when it
is sixty degrees below zero--_Plemania_, a curious native food in
tabloid form--Other provisions--Outline of proposed exploration about
the sources of the Ghijiga River--Four hours of sun a day--When dog
meets deer--A race for life and a ludicrous dénouement--More queer
native dishes--Curious habits of the sledge-dog 139

X. THROUGH THE DRIFTS

Sledging over snow four feet deep--Making a camp in the snow--Finding
traces of gold--A grand slide down a snow-covered hill--My polka
breaks with disastrous results--Prospecting over the Stanovoi
range 155

XI. BURIED IN A BLIZZARD

A trip to the northern side of the Stanovoi range of mountains--Nijni
Kolymsk, the most-feared convict station--Sledging by light of the
aurora--Lost in a blizzard on the vast tundra--Five days in a snow
dug-out--I earn a reputation as a wizard--Back at Chrisoffsky's 167

XII. CHRISTMAS--THE "DEER KORAKS"

I celebrate Christmas day with the over-kind assistance of two hundred
natives--Koraks as sharp-shooters--Comic features of a Russian
dance--Off for Kaminaw--Another runaway--Slaughtering deer--A curious
provision of nature--Eight families in one yourta--Korak method of
washing dishes--A herd of ten thousand deer 177

XIII. HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE KORAKS

The hour-glass houses--Their curious construction--The natives prove
to be both hospitable and filthy--Dialects of Dog Koraks and Deer
Koraks--Some unpleasant habits--How they reckon time--Making liquor
out of mushrooms--Curious marriage customs--Clothes of the
natives--Queer notions of a deity--Jealousy of the wandering
Koraks--Thieving a virtue and childbirth a social function 205

XIV. OFF FOR BERING SEA--THE TCHUKTCHES

The Tchuktches are the Apaches of Siberia--Their hospitality to
Americans and their hostility to Russians--Wherein my experiences
differ from those of Mr. Harry DeWindt--Result of licking a piece of
stone with the thermometer at 45° below zero--Konikly--Power of moral
suasion in dealing with a rebellious Korak--The cure of a dying woman
and the disgust of her husband--Poll-tax and the Tchuktches 224

XV. A PERILOUS SUMMER TRIP

The tundra in summer--Crossing the swift Paran River--Literally
billions of mosquitos--Unique measures of protection against these
pests--Mad race down the Uchingay River on a raft--Lighting a fire
with a pistol--Narrow escape from drowning--Fronyo proves to be a man
of mettle--Pak is caught stealing from slim supply of provisions and
receives chastisement--Subsisting on wild onions and half-ripe
berries--Help at last 255

XVI. A TEN-THOUSAND-MILE RACE

Persistent rumors of gold in the Tchuktche peninsula--Count
Unarliarsky--I am called to Vladivostok to fit out an expedition--Our
vessel arrives off Indian Point--Charging through the ice-floes--A
meeting with Eskimos--Our prospecting proves fruitless--We meet the
rival expedition in Plover Bay--Their chagrin--The end 292

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Washington B. Vanderlip _Frontispiece_

Map showing the territory covered by Mr. Vanderlip
in his search for a Siberian Klondike 5

Korean Miners 15

Market-place, Korsakovsk, Saghalien Island 25

Russian Murderers in Angle of Prison-House,
Korsakovsk, Saghalien Island 37

Main Street of Petropaulovsk, Kamchatka 45

A River of Dead Salmon--August 53

The Salmon Catch 57

Ghijiga 65

Russian Church, Ghijiga 71

House in Ghijiga occupied by Mr. Vanderlip and
his Party 75

House of Theodosia Chrisoffsky, Christowic 81

Start from Ghijiga, Summer-time. Theodosia
Chrisoffsky and Family--Fourteen Children 87

Village of Christowic, Okhotsk Sea 93

Mr. Vanderlip on "Bill" 99

The Pride of the Family 105

Mr. Vanderlip crossing Turumcha River 111

Sledge-dogs, showing Harness and Method of
Hitching 119

Mr. Vanderlip's Dog-sled loaded 125

Ghijiga River in Winter 129

Deer crossing River 141

Reindeer 145

Theodosia Chrisoffsky, Guide 151

Mr. Vanderlip and Reindeer Team. 157

Native Winter Camp 163

Mr. Vanderlip on March with Deer Outfit 173

Reindeer 183

Herd of Reindeer 189

Reindeer, Herders in background 195

Reindeer--Summer 201

Upper View of Underground Hut--Home of the
Dog Korak 207

Chinese Pump 213

One of the Tchuktches--an unconquered Race 227

Summit of Kamchatka--First Sight of Bering
Sea 233

Kassegan, half-caste Russian trader, and Korak
wife, living at Boeta, Baron Koff Bay, Kamchatka 239

In Crater of Extinct Volcano, digging for Sulphur.
Baron Koff Bay, Kamchatka 245

Killing Deer for Dog-food 251

Expedition on march--"Konikly" in foreground 257

Across the Tundra 261

Tundra Camp 267

"Kim" in Summer Camp on Tundra 273

Reindeer Feeding 279

Three Little Half-caste Russians and Native
Nurse, Ghijiga, Okhotsk Sea 287

Russian Miners 293

Picked up on the Ice off St. Lawrence Island 299

Natives at Indian Point, Siberia 303

Eskimo Village, East Cape--Northeastern Point
of Asia 307

Plover Bay, Siberia, in July 313