the yourt is suffocatingly hot within, and no fresh air can enter
except through the top. When a large fire is burning and a thick
volume of smoke pours out, the descent is very disagreeable. Russians
and other white men, even after long practice, never attempt it
without a shudder.

The yourt is generally circular or oblong, and its size is
proportioned to the family of the owner. The fire is in the center,
and the sleeping apartments are ranged around the walls. These
apartments, called 'polags,' are about six feet square and four or
five high, partitioned with light poles and skin curtains. Owing to
the high temperature the natives sleep entirely naked. Sometimes in
the coldest nights their clothing is hung out of doors to rid it of
certain parasites not unknown in civilization. Benumbed with, frost,
the insects lose their hold and fall into the snow, to the great
comfort of those who nursed and fed them. The body of a Koriak,
considered as a microcosm, is remarkably well inhabited.

Captain Kennan gave me a graphic description of the Koriak marriage
ceremonial. The lover must labor for the loved one's father, not less
than one nor more than five years. No courtship is allowed during this
period, and the young man must run the risk of his love being
returned. The term of service is fixed by agreement between the stern
parent and the youth.

At an appointed day the family and friends are assembled in a yourt,
the old women being bridesmaids. The bride is placed in one polag and
the bridegroom in the next. At a given signal a race commences, the
bride leading. Each must enter every polag, and the man must catch his
prize in a specified way before she makes the circuit of the yourt.