[Illustration:  TUNGUSE MAN AND WOMAN IN BEST SUMMER DRESS]

These three great classes, viz., American Indian natives, Mongolian natives, and Turko-Yakut natives, comprise all the aboriginal inhabitants of north-eastern Siberia except the Kamchadals, the Chuances, and the Yukagirs. [Footnote:  There are a few Eskimo-like natives living in permanent habitations near Bering Strait, but we did not see them.] These last have been so modified by Russian influence, that it is hard to tell to which class they are most nearly allied, and the ethnologist will shortly be relieved from all further consideration of the problem by their inevitable extinction.  The Chuances and Yukagirs have already become mere fragments of tribes, and their languages will perish with the present generation.

The natives of whom we saw most at Anadyrsk were, as I have already said, the Chukchis.  They frequently called upon us in large parties, and afforded us a great deal of amusement by their naive and childlike comments upon Americans, American instruments, and the curious American things generally which we produced for their inspection.  I shall never forget the utter astonishment with which a band of them once looked through my field-glass.  I had been trying it one clear cold day out-of-doors, and quite a crowd of Chukchis and Yukagirs had gathered around me to see what I was doing.  Observing their curiosity, I gave the glass to one of them and told him to look through it at another native who happened to be standing out on the plain, at a distance of perhaps a hundred yards.  The expression of blank, half-incredulous surprise which gradually came over his features as he saw that native brought up, apparently within a few feet, was irresistibly comical.  He did not dream for a moment that it was a mere optical illusion; he supposed that the wonderful instrument had actually transported the man physically from a distance of a hundred yards up to the place where he stood, and as he held the glass to his eyes with one hand, he stretched out the other to try to catch hold of him.  Finding to his great astonishment that he could not, he removed the glass, and saw the man standing quietly as before, a hundred yards away.  The idea then seemed to occur to him that if he could only get this mysterious instrument to his eyes quickly enough, he would surprise the man in the very act of coming up—­catch him perhaps about half-way—­and find out how it was done.  He accordingly raised the glass toward his face very slowly (watching the man meanwhile intently, to see that he took no unfair advantage and did not start too soon) until it was within an inch of his eyes, and then looked through it suddenly.  But it was of no use.  The man was right beside him again, but how he came there he didn’t know.  Perhaps he could catch him if he made a sudden dash, and he tried it.  This, however, was no more successful than his previous experiments, and the other natives