Walrus hunting is a Chukchi tradition of survival. Chukotka whale hunting Is there a need for hunting sea animals and hunting walruses

High technical means, techniques and skills were achieved in hunting sea animals. The uniqueness of this hunt was that a person was forced to fight with strong animals near the water, on the water, often on the waves of a stormy sea.

Images of seals are known among Paleolithic bone engravings. A design depicting a seal is carved on a drilled tusk of a bear from the Duruti Grotto. Z. Piette mentions the image of a seal in the Gourdan grotto (Garonne). Drawings of seals on bone were found under rock overhangs in Mongodieu (Dordogne), in Mege (Teja) and in Vrassampoui. The inhabitants of the caves apparently met seals on the seashore or even hunted them when the animals came out onto the ice. They could also encounter them in river beds where seals made their way. In northern Europe, rock carvings of a later time were found (on the Byt River, near the city of Belomorsk). Bony remains of seals were found under a rocky overhang in Castane (Veser Valley), in the caves of Altamira, Grimaldi and Raimonden.

Gray seals choose high rocky shores for breeding and lactation burrows, where they spend several days. In the Faroe Islands, off the coast of Norway, Scotland and other places, in recent times they were killed by blows to the head with clubs.

The seal fishery in northern Europe gained importance in the Mesolithic era, starting with the Littorina phase in the Baltic. The remains of this animal were discovered in Denmark at the sites of the Ertebølle culture. In southwestern Norway, bones of seals (gray and coot) were found at the Vista site. Similar finds were made in Est. SSR (Kunda), Latv. SSR, Lit. USSR and GDR. In England, seal bones were discovered on the Oronsay and Riggs Islands. At this time, a harpoon was used here, as evidenced by a specimen found in Sweden, near the city of Norrköping, in 1907, along with seal bones. The harpoon had two spikes and was of the removable type with two holes for tying a line. In 1935, a harpoon was discovered near Nyar-pesa in Finland along with the ribs of a harp seal. This specimen had four spikes, and two notches on the handle served to tie the line.

In the Neolithic in northern Europe we know a large number of sites containing seal bones. In Denmark these are the islands of Hessel and Fym, in Norway - the settlements of Shipehellern and Rushenesset, in Sweden - about. Gotland. Let us also note the Alland Islands, the coast of Finland, and the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. The remains of 20 seals were found in a settlement on Lake Ladoga. This small species of seal (ringed seal - weighing 80 kg) even now often enters the river. Neva. In March, females go to dens to feed their young. They are located in hummocks, snowdrifts and puffs on the ice of the lake, not far from the vent. At such moments, you can beat them and take the cubs, you can disguise yourself and wait for the female to appear at the outlet.

According to another ancient method, the seal was beaten on melted ice. Baikal hunters in spring rookeries used a sail, the outline of which from a distance had the shape of a hummock or a snowdrift. Under cover, his hunter approached and struck the beast. Summer methods (“at ambushes”, “warehouse” and “approach by boat”) are characterized by the use of ambushes, designed for dexterity and knowledge of the habits of the animal. Since recent hunting methods were based on the biology and habits of the seal, they could differ from the ancient ones only in the nature of the weapons used.

On the shores of the southern seas of Asia in the Neolithic, dugong hunting became important. Their bones were discovered in the dune settlement of Bau-Cho on the territory of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The ancient inhabitants of the eastern coast of Indochina combined sea animal hunting with fishing, hunting wild boar, deer, pelicans and turtles.

The native struck the beast with a spear and at the same time jumped from the boat into the water and dived. This was done to avoid capsizing the boat with a sharp jerk of the animal. Obviously, the jump increased the force of the blow and the depth of penetration of the harpoon into the dugong’s body. Another hunter hurried to the dived man in a boat and picked him up. Diving into the water was also practiced during hunting from a platform built in that part of the coastline where dugongs came to eat algae. Hunting dugong using a platform limited fishing opportunities, but saved the hunters' energy, since the rear end of the gear was tied. There was no need to follow a wounded animal everywhere on a boat and put yourself at risk.

The Polynesians of the Marquesas archipelago used harpoons to kill stingrays and sharks. To hunt large stingrays, several boats were united into one squad. The lead vessel had on board the leader of the hunt and two more people. Other boats followed the first one at a certain distance. The stingray, struck by the harpoon, went deep into the water. However, the boat to which the tackle was tied did not allow the wounded animal to escape from the eyes of the hunters. The boat capsized, turning into a float. People were picked up from it by other boats. The pursuit of the stingray continued until it completely lost its strength. Long experience has taught hunters not to allow the boat to capsize due to the jerk of the stingray. They began to hit the harpoon not at the “center” of his body (at the head or below), but at the edge of the side fin. With such a wound, the force of the stingray's jerk and the danger of its attack on the boat were less, but it took more time to exhaust the animal's strength.

Harpoons were made from hard wood or human femur. They had a long and slightly flattened tip with two teeth on each side. A round hole was drilled in the middle for the line. Harpoons made from human tubular bone had a natural groove at the rear end (leg), which made it easier to tie to the front end of the shaft. To prevent the bandage from slipping, a protrusion was cut out on the outside of the rear end of the harpoon.

The technique of hunting cetaceans reached a high level of specialization in the Arctic, where life was completely dependent on the supply of meat, fat, skins, bones and tusks of these animals. In winter, Greenlandic Eskimos hunted seals using ice vents. The hunter sat by the vent on a bench with warm padding at his feet. He waited for the seal to swim up and stick its nose into the vent. The blow was delivered with a harpoon to the mouth, neck or chest. The hunter pulled out the prey, having previously widened the hole with a walrus tusk pick. Sometimes we had to finish off the animal on the ice.

On sunny spring days, seals climbed onto the ice. At this time, the hunters themselves made wide holes in the ice to facilitate their exit. They lay on their stomachs on a low sled and tried to imitate the movements of the seals, turning their heads accordingly and grunting in tune with the animals. The deceived seals allowed people to come within spear range. When they got out onto the ice in whole herds, the hunt took on the character of a real roundup with the participation of many hunters.

The Chukchi had a special tool made of bone (vabik) in the shape of a fork for scraping ice, imitating the scratching of a seal. The animal approached, mistaking the scratching for the sounds of another seal. In the autumn, hunting was carried out on boats with rattles, when seals gathered in herds at the mouths of rivers. The Eskimos, making noise with instruments and shouting, drove them upstream. The seals were hiding under water. When they surfaced to get fresh air, the hunters hit them with spears. If seals washed ashore, they were surrounded by women and children with stones in their hands, and men in boats rushed to the rescue, cutting off the animals’ retreat to the water. Such a hunt on a good day yielded up to 9-10 seals per hunter.

In the summer, hunting was done in a kayak with a bladder and a harpoon. The hunter, having noticed a seal in the sea, tried to approach it, from the leeward side, with the sun behind him. When the sea was rolling, the kayak with the hunter was hidden from time to time behind the wave, which made it possible to quickly approach the prey. At the moment when the wave lifted the kayak near the animal, the hunter took the oar in his left hand, and with his right grabbed a spear with a harpoon and threw it at the seal using a spear thrower. The harpoon pierced the seal's body, the shaft fell into the water, the line unwound and followed the wounded animal as it dived. The hunter threw a bubble into the water, to which the second end of the line was tied. The seal surfaced and dived even deeper, dragging even the bubble under the water. But he could not free himself from the turning harpoon. The hunter in the kayak followed the bubble and finished off the beast with a blow from one or two ordinary spears. The hunter took the prey in tow, tying one of the spare bladders to it. If the hunt was successful, each of those participating in it towed up to 4 seals. The bubbles were made from sealskin. Large ones were capable of displacing up to 50 kg of water.

There were many ways to hunt seals. In Kamchatka they were caught at river mouths with nets. The Chukchi used bait made from seal skin filled with air.

Hunting a walrus is much more dangerous and difficult than hunting a seal. The walrus reaches 3 m in length and more than a ton in weight. Strong skin and a solid layer of fat create good protection. The walrus is armed with a pair of tusks and, after being wounded, attacks the hunter. Therefore, the sizes of the rotary harpoons are different, the tactics are different, designed for the greater strength of the animal and habits. Otherwise, the same swimming equipment, the same harpoon technique with a spear thrower, bubble and line.

The group hunting of the sea otter by the Aleuts had its own peculiarities. From 10 to 25 people in kayaks moved along the waves in a frontal formation. At a signal from the oar of one of them, the hunters hurried to the diving animal and tried to plunge a harpoon into its body. When several otters were spotted, the hunters split into small groups. The hunt for fur seals was similar. Only in some cases was it possible to kill them at the rookery with blows of clubs to the head, having previously driven them away from the shore by a quick landing of a party of hunters from the sea.

Whale hunting was considered an event in the economic life of the Eskimos, complex both in technical and organizational terms. The hunters dressed in their best clothes and took women on a hike, seating them in large boats (umiaks). Women mended men's clothes, helped row, tidied up boats, etc.

The Indians from Cape Fluttery in Washington State were no less prudent about this. They hit the whales with a two-winged harpoon tied to a strong cable twisted from whale tendons. In the past, the whale harpoon was made entirely of horn and bone. Later, its head was made of a flat piece of copper or iron, to which two teeth made of deer antler were attached. The harpoon and leash were coated with resin melted from Canadian spruce. The shaft was made from two pieces of yew wood. The junction was wrapped with thin strips of bark. The length of the shaft was about 2.5 m and was greatest in thickness in the middle part, at the junction. One end of the shaft was inserted into the cavity of the harpoon lying between the teeth, the other remained free. The cable was tied at one end to a harpoon, and at the other to a float - a whole seal skin, turned upside down with the fur inside and filled with air. The harpoon pierced deep into the whale's body; and the shaft jumped into the water and was picked up by the hunter into the boat. The harpoon thrown at the whale's head was connected to one float. The harpoons thrown into the body had several floats. Many whalers took part in the hunt, and it happened that 30-40 floats were attached to a whale. In this position, he could not dive into the water.

The dead whale was towed during high tide to a shallow part of the coastal strip. With low tide, the hasty work of removing blubber, baleen and other valuable parts from the whale began.

Chukchi– internal districts of the Chukotka Peninsula, northern Yakutia and Kamchatka. Koryaks- southern neighbors of the Chukchi. Itelmens– western side of the Chukotka Peninsula.

Anthropological characteristics: arctic small race of northernMongoloids. The uniqueness of the racial characteristics of the peoples included in this group (Chukchi, Eskimos, Koryaks, Itelmens), in comparison with other Siberian Mongoloids, lies in a slight weakening of the Mongoloid complex: a higher nose bridge, a less flat face, darker pigmentation, protruding lips. Based on these characteristics, anthropologists establish a connection between the Arctic race and the Pacific Mongoloids rather than the inland Mongoloids. Language affiliation: languages ​​of the Chukchi-Kamchatka group.

Chukchi. Hunting for sea animals: in winter and spring - for seals and seals, in summer and autumn - for walrus and whale. They hunted seals alone, crawling up to them, camouflaging themselves and imitating the movements of the animal. The Morzhas hunted in groups of several kayak(wooden frame covered with walrus skin). Traditional hunting weapons are a harpoon with a float, a spear, a belt net; since the second half of the 19th century, firearms have spread, and hunting methods have become simpler. Guns - bone shovels, hoes, drills, bone and stone arrows, spearheads, a complex bow of the American type, slings made of knuckles, armor made of leather and iron plates, stone hammers, scrapers, knives, a primitive projectile for making fire by friction, primitive lamps in in the form of a round flat vessel made of soft stone, filled with seal fat, etc. Light sleds, adapted for sitting astride. The sledges are harnessed either by a pair of deer (among the reindeer Chukchi), or by dogs, according to the American model (among the coastal Chukchi). Now there are metal tools, firearms, metal utensils. Food: boiled meat (reindeer, seal, whale); they also ate the leaves and bark of the polar willow (emrat), seaweed, sorrel, shellfish and berries. In addition to traditional meat, it was also eaten animal blood and entrails. Raw-frozen meat was widespread. Unlike the Tungus and Yukagirs, the Chukchi practically did not eat fish. The drink is a decoction of herbs such as tea. A unique dish is the so-called monyalo(ahahahah it stank) - half-digested moss extracted from a large deer stomach; Various canned food and fresh dishes are prepared from monyal. Semi-liquid stew made from monyal, blood, fat and finely chopped meat until very recently was the most common type of hot food. Housing: yaranga- big tentirregularly polygonal in shape, covered with panels of deer skins, with the fur facing out. Resistance against wind pressure is provided by stones tied to the pillars and cover of the hut. The fireplace is in the middle of the hut and surrounded by sleighs with household supplies. The actual living space, where the Chukchi eat, drink and sleep, consists of a small rectangular fur tent-canopy, fixed at the back wall of the tent and sealed tightly from the floor. The temperature in this cramped room, heated by the animal warmth of its inhabitants and partly by a fat lamp, is so high that the Chukchi strip naked in it. Cloth: normal polar type. It is sewn from the fur of fawns (grown up autumn calf) and for men consists of a double fur shirt (the lower one with the fur towards the body and the upper one with the fur outward), the same double pants, short fur stockings with the same boots and a hat in the form of a woman's bonnet. Women's clothing is completely unique, also double, consisting of seamlessly sewn trousers together with a low-cut bodice, cinched at the waist, with a slit on the chest and extremely wide sleeves, thanks to which Chukchi women can easily free their hands while working. Summer outerwear is deer suede hoodies or from colorful purchased fabrics, as well as kamleikas made from fine-haired deer skin with various ritual stripes. The infant's costume consists of a reindeer bag with blind branches for arms and legs. Instead of diapers, a layer of moss with reindeer hair is placed, which absorbs feces, which are removed daily through a special valve attached to the opening of the bag.

Women's hairstyles consist of braids braided on both sides of the head, decorated with beads and buttons. Men cut their hair very smoothly, leaving a wide fringe in front and two tufts of hair in the form of animal ears on the crown. Social organization : The Chukchi clan is united by the commonality of fire, consanguinity in the male line, a common totemic sign, ancestral revenge and religious rites. Marriage is predominantly endogamous, individual, often polygamous (2-3 wives); among a certain circle of relatives and brothers-in-arms, mutual use of wives is allowed, by agreement; also common levirate(the widow was obliged or had the right to remarry only with the closest relatives of her deceased husband, primarily with his brothers.). Kalym does not exist. Chastity does not matter for a girl.Religion: amulets (pendants, headbands, necklaces in the form of straps with beads). Painting the face with the blood of a murdered victim, with the image of a hereditary-tribal sign - a totem, also has ritual significance. Animism, deification of natural phenomena (owners of the forest, water, fire, sun, deer, etc.), animals (bear, crow), stars , sun and moon, believe in evil spirits who cause all earthly disasters, including illness and death, have a number of regular holidays (autumn festival of deer slaughter, spring - horns, winter sacrifice to the star Altair, the ancestor of the Chukchi, etc.) and many irregular (feeding the fire, sacrifices after each hunt, commemoration of the dead, votive services, etc. .). Each family has its own family shrines: hereditary shells for producing sacred fire, bundles of wooden knots “removing misfortunes”, wooden images of ancestors and, finally, a family tambourine, since ritual ritual with a tambourine among the Chukchi is not the property of only specialist shamans. Christianized. Culture: The Chukchi have a rich oral folk art, which is also expressed in the art of stone bone. The main genres of folklore: myths, fairy tales, historical legends, tales and everyday stories. One of the main characters was the raven Kurkyl, a cultural hero. Many legends and fairy tales have been preserved, such as “Keeper of the Fire”, “Love”, “When do the whales leave?”, “God and the Boy”. Dancing with a tambourine.

Koryaks. Traditional home crafts include processing wood, bone, metal, stone, weaving, and tanning hides. In ancient times, the Koryaks knew pottery. The tree was used to make reindeer and dog sleds, boats, spears, utensils, spear shafts and harpoons, and shuttles for weaving nets. From the bones and horns of deer and mountain sheep, the Koryaks made utensils, knives for cutting fish, picks, knot undoers, pegs and harpoon tips, brakes for reindeer sledges, and combs for combing grass. Stone axes and spearheads were used at the beginning of the 20th century, and scrapers for dressing hides are still used today. Currently, traditional industries: reindeer husbandry and fishing determine the economic direction of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug. The main economic unit of all groups of Koryaks in the 19th - early 20th centuries. was large patriarchal family. Polygamy known, although at the end of the 19th century it was not widespread. Marriages took place within one local group. The marriage system of the Koryaks excluded first cousins; in a patrilocal marriage, there was work for the wife. The custom was observed levirate and sororate. There was strict sexual division of labor.

Among the sedentary Koryaks it prevailed semi-dugout with a funnel-shaped structure on the roof and walls made of wooden blocks. In the center of the home there is a fireplace.They entered the dugout in winter through the smoke hole. From the middle of the 18th century, log houses began to appear. Traditional winter clothing consisted of fur tunic shirt, pants, hood and shoes.Winter clothing is double: the lower one - with the fur towards the body, the upper one - with the fur outward. Most of the kuhlyankas had a hood and the trousers reached the ankles in length. Men's winter shoes with long and short tops were made from reindeer camus with the fur facing out. The soles were usually made of bearded seal skin. They put it inside the shoes fur stockings. On the road, over the kuhlyanka they wore a kamleika - a wide shirt made of rovduga or cloth. The set of women's winter clothing also included overalls (kerker), a fur shirt (gagaglia), the hood of which replaced the headdress. Summer clothes of the Koryaks had the same cut as winter clothes, but were made from rovduga, deer skins with trimmed fur, dog skins, and purchased fabrics.

Fish, meat and fat of sea animals constituted the main food of sedentary Koryaks. Most of the fish was consumed in the form of yukola, exclusively salmon. The meat of sea animals was boiled or frozen. Used everywhere foraging products: edible plants, berries, nuts. Fly agaric was used as a stimulant and intoxicant. Since the end of the 19th century, purchased products have become increasingly widespread: flour, cereals, tea, sugar, tobacco.

The folk arts and crafts of the Koryaks are represented by the artistic processing of soft materials (female occupation) and the manufacture of products from stone, bone, wood and metal (male). Fur mosaic stripes in the form of a wide border (opuvan) were sewn onto the hems of the kukhlyankas. The ornament is predominantly geometric, less often floral. Realistic figures of animals and scenes from their lives are often embroidered. Miniature figures of people and animals were cut out of walrus tusks and horns, bone earrings, necklaces, snuff boxes, smoking pipes, decorated with engraved ornaments and drawings were made. The traditional worldview is associated with animism. Koryaks animated the entire surrounding world: mountains, stones, plants, sea, heavenly bodies. Distributed worship of sacred places - appapels (hills, capes, cliffs). Sacrifices of dogs and deer are practiced. There are cult objects - anyapels (special stones for fortune telling, sacred boards in the form of anthropomorphic figures for making fire by friction, amulets symbolizing totemistic ancestors, etc.). Existed professional and family shamanism.Traditional holidays - seasonal: in the spring there is a festival of horns - keelvey, in the fall there is a festival of reindeer slaughter among reindeer herders. Before the start of the spring sea fishery, coastal hunters held a holiday for launching kayaks, and at the end of the autumn season (in November) a holiday for the seal - Hololo (ololo). There were holidays of the “first fish”, “first seal”. Both the coastal and reindeer Koryaks settled special religious ceremonies on the occasion of bear hunting, ram, etc. with ritual dances representing naturalistic imitations of the movements of animals and birds: seals, bears, deer, ravens. During the holidays, games and competitions were organized (wrestling, running competitions, deer or dog races, tossing a bearded seal on the skin). In recent decades, professional culture has been developing, mainly in the field of choreographic (national dance ensemble "Mengo") and fine arts.

Itelmens. Sea and river fishing. IN rivers fished salmon breeds. IN fished the seanavaga(on ice),smelt, capelin.Fishing gear is mainly passive - locks, fixed nets, seines, and floating nets were used.Prepared for future use- dried, fermented, salted. Objects marine hunting - seals. Hunting was practiced in rookeries and in the coastal zone using nets. St. John's wort products were used for food (meat, fat) and as feeding dogs. The skins were used to make clothing and household items. Land hunting was of minor importance. Large animals were taken from the Kamchatka brown bear and mountain sheep, the meat of which was used for food. The objects of the fur trade were sable, fox, arctic fox, etc. Gathering. Religion – animism, totemism, fetishism, shamanism (women). Folklore - tales of the raven Kutkha.

The Chukotka Peninsula is washed by the waters of two oceans - the Pacific and the Arctic. There are probably few places in the world so unsuitable for human life. Most of Chukotka is located beyond the Arctic Circle. Accordingly, the land here is bound by permafrost. Temperatures in winter often reach minus sixty. In addition, Chukotka is one of the windiest regions of Russia. Squally winds with gusts of up to eighty meters per second and a blinding snowstorm are the main “charms” of the eight-month Chukotka winter.
Nevertheless, man settled on the peninsula as much as eight thousand years ago. The Chukchi who came here from the depths of the mainland (they are called “coastal” to distinguish them from the “reindeer” Chukchi - shepherds and nomads) and Eskimos lived exclusively by hunting sea animals: whales, walruses, seals, bearded seals - seal hares... They fed on them, housing was built from their bones (trees do not grow here), clothes were sewn from skins and canoes were made, housing was heated and lit with fat... It is clear that in such literally inhuman conditions it was possible to survive only in complete harmony with the surrounding nature - both living and non-living. Local peoples animate even natural phenomena. Few old people in Chukotka will say: “I was born in 1925” or “born in 1932.” They say: “I was born in the year of the Great Flood” or “in the year when there were many mosquitoes.” There are still more than thirty names for the varieties of the north wind here. What can we say about animals...
For real, seriously and for a long time, Soviet power came to sea hunters only after the Second World War. And then, overnight, the notorious “Iron Curtain” came down and it became impossible to visit relatives or hunt. To make it easier to control irresponsible hunters who have relatives “abroad,” they began to move them to large, extremely ugly villages. The problem of “what to do?” in Chukotka the solution was simple - they built fur farms. The longing for hunting and interest in its results were pacified by high salaries and a wide range of goods. Local shops were simply bursting with delicacies; any of the Warsaw Pact countries would envy the Chukchi abundance. Whales and other sea animals were hit from large ships with harpoon cannons. The prey was fed on the same fur farms. Well, if you want to show your Chukchi identity, you are welcome to join national ensembles and folk art circles. So you want to be a Chukchi? - be it! But... as a hobby, or something...
This whole Chukchi fairy tale collapsed in just as short a time as it took to make it come true. First, the country whose main enemy was American imperialism disappeared, and strategic interest in Chukotka faded into the background. And then it turned out that paying the indigenous inhabitants of the peninsula a lot of money and bringing here not only delicacies, but any food at all is very unprofitable. The biggest delicacy in the Chukotka coastal villages in the ninety-fifth and even in the ninety-ninth year of the 20th century was bread. In some villages, people simply died of hunger - there were more than a dozen such cases.
In the mid-90s. last century, when marine hunting began to revive, few people remembered exactly how to hunt a whale. And the old people who themselves took part in the fishery in childhood could be counted on one hand. They went out to sea on anything they could find and killed animals with whatever they could get their hands on. In one of the villages, an anti-tank rifle from the reserves of a disbanded military unit was used for this purpose. Hunters kept dying at sea. And it’s not just about the dangers of the sea. Lack of experience forced Chukotka sea hunters to remember old rituals and rituals. Fortunately, not all of them, because among the hunting customs of the Chukchi there was one - they did not save drowning people. There were two explanations for this: firstly, if the hunter ended up in the water, it means that he fell into the power of a monkfish named Keli, and it is better not to mess with him. The second motive is more cynical: if you get busy with rescue, you may miss the loot, and then the entire village will be on the verge of starvation. That is, they chose the lesser of two evils. With the exception of this old rule, all others are restored according to the memories of the old people and are strictly followed.

Today in Chukotka, whale hunting opens with a noisy cave, which is a wild mixture of traditional and modern cultural realities. An ancient struggle can end in a prosaic drunken brawl. The performance of folk ensembles smoothly turns into a banal disco...

The next morning after the holiday, the hunters, already prepared and properly equipped, go out to sea for the whale. A typical crew consists of five or six large boats with high-speed American or Japanese-made motors and one low-speed BMK - a large sea boat that is designed to tow prey to the shore. The hunters are divided into groups of two boats and begin to comb the waters of the Bering Strait. Having discovered whales by the fountains of water that they noisily spew out as they float to the surface, the hunters notify their comrades by radio. Then the complex procedure of chasing the whale begins, which is reminiscent of some kind of crazy race - the boats either develop enormous speed, or drift in complete silence. The main thing is to get as close as possible to the place where the whale will emerge next and stick a harpoon into it, to which a bright orange buoy is attached - puff-puff. This buoy will indicate the location of the prey. Puff-puff has been around as long as whale hunting itself. Only earlier they used air-filled seal skins or walrus stomachs, and now they use plastic balls made in Japan.
But the rotating harpoon that is thrown at the whale remains the same as it was. This is an ancient and very ingenious hunting device. Its tip is attached to the shaft and puff-puff by a cunning system of knots. When the harpoon enters the whale's body, a sting opens at its tip, which prevents the harpoon from jumping out. Puff-puff unwinds the rope, the knots are untied, the shaft bounces off the harpoon, floats up, and then it is economically picked up - let us remind you that the tree is treated with care here. After the control harpoon has successfully hit the whale, four or five more are stabbed into it. Dragging five floats behind it, the whale loses speed and cannot go to depth. This is where they finish him off. This spectacle is not for the faint-hearted European. Until the second half of the 19th century, whales were struck with long, razor-sharp spears. The main weapon of modern hunters is Tiger carbines of seven-sixty-two caliber. Good hunters can kill a whale with fifty shots. Those with little experience shoot from two hundred to four hundred rounds of ammunition.

The multi-ton carcass of the finished whale is tied to the BMK and towed to the village at a speed of three to four kilometers per hour. Hunters cut off a piece of fin right at sea and, as proof of a successful hunt, go home with it in their speedboats.

As soon as an old caterpillar tractor appears on the shore, the entire population of the village (except for someone who cannot stand up) rushes to share the spoils. According to the established order from time immemorial, those who did not participate in the hunt stand at a respectful distance and speculate whether the whale is large and whether there is enough for everyone. Here you can find the most incredible containers for meat - from baby baths to milk cans. Everyone is very serious and concentrated, except for children and dogs, who, with equal importunity, get under everyone’s feet and disturb everyone.

The hunters cut off the best pieces first. Slowly, they drag their prey into coastal sheds. The crowd waits in respectful impatience for an invisible signal: you can! And then the real bloody battle begins. The blood, of course, is whale blood, but people fight quite seriously.

The most valuable thing in a whale carcass is the meat and skin. The skin with a thin layer of fat can also be eaten raw. The consistency is similar to a car tire, and the taste... A little like oysters or mussels. Whale skin, in Eskimo - "mantak", and in Chukchi - "ithilgyn" - is the most exquisite local delicacy and the most valuable source of pure protein. Only a very brave European would risk following the example of the aborigines and chewing mantak without leaving the still warm whale carcass. But the representative of the World Wildlife Fund was not specifically asked. According to sea hunters, everything in a whale is edible - intestines, tongue, heart, brain and, of course, meat, which tastes like the most tender veal... with a hint of shrimp.
Aboriginal whaling is permitted by the International Whaling Commission only to American Eskimos and Russian coastal Chukchi and Eskimos. The word “aboriginal” means that in this case any industrial use of harvested carcasses and the use of modern technical means are prohibited, which do not leave the whale the slightest chance to escape from hunters. The Russian quota is one hundred thirty-five gray whales per year. Today in the California-Chukchi gray whale population there are about twenty-seven thousand animals. According to experts, this makes it possible to catch up to six hundred whales annually without harm to the population. The Association of Marine Hunters of Chukotka has repeatedly asked to increase the quota by at least forty to fifty animals. But instead, proposals for a complete ban on whaling are being heard more and more often. He is supposedly inhumane. The economic situation in Russia is gradually improving, International Humanitarian Funds are operating in Chukotka... They brought plenty of vitamins, fruits, meat here... The “Greens” have repeatedly held propaganda lectures for the Chukchi and Eskimos on the topic: don’t eat whale! At one of the lectures they talked about the intelligence of whales, about some of their kinship with humans. The St. John's worts listened to all this sympathetically and asked the local teacher to speak in response. He asked: are there any French among you? The Frenchman has been found. Well, said the teacher, and now I ask you to never eat frogs again.

The whaler's crew did not cut up the caught whales, but delivered the whole carcasses to the coastal villages. Therefore, the expedition could only take the material necessary for scientific research on the shore where these whales were butchered. So we ended up in the Eskimo village of Sireniki. This village is famous throughout Chukotka for the fact that local hunters of “sea animals” (this name in Chukotka refers to walruses, as well as seals of several species), or, as they say there, “marine hunters” still go fishing not on whaleboats with with a wooden body, like the residents of other coastal Chukotka villages, and on traditional kayaks made with their own hands, covered with walrus skin. We managed to go out with fishing teams to hunt walruses several times, and I would like to tell you more about this.

I am not a hunter and am not a fan of so-called “sport” hunting. No matter what the supporters of this activity say, no matter how they justify their passion with the opportunities to “communicate” with nature that hunting gives them, the end result of any hunt was, remains and will always be the killing of an animal, and the so-called “hunting passion” often turns out to be nothing more than a grating designation for the pleasure of killing. Of course, the work of a zoologist at times involves the need to take up a gun. But collecting scientific collections or obtaining material necessary for anatomical research is, so to speak, an “industrial necessity,” and a zoologist should, in my opinion, treat the shooting that is inevitable in some cases in this way. But I am convinced that hunting for pleasure comes into increasing conflict with modern ideas of nature conservation, especially since the constant improvement of weapons leaves animals with less and less chance of salvation and makes hunting less and less “sporting.”

Commercial hunting is a different matter. Most of us eat meat and wear fur, and we understand that neither is grown in garden beds. Hunting still provides some of the products we need, and if it is organized on a strictly scientific basis, it can be carried out without harm to wild animal populations. And the hunt that I want to talk about was also associated with the most ancient and therefore exotic of all the hunts that I have ever seen.

And one more circumstance reconciles me with the “marine hunting” fishery off the coast of Chukotka. The fact is that this fishery is not just the most ancient and traditional occupation of the local population, which has retained its significance in our time. Fishing for sea animals for the Eskimos and Chukchi inhabiting the coast is, in fact, a unique opportunity to preserve their national identity, which allows them, to some extent, to resist the processes of “Europeanization” that is now sweeping not only the national outskirts of our country, but the whole world. Don't get me wrong: I, of course, would in no way welcome any forms of national self-isolation of small nationalities, any of their attempts to protect their way of life from the achievements of modern civilization. But, on the other hand, abandoning one’s ancient traditions inevitably leads, if not to the complete degradation of the national culture, then to its clear impoverishment. However, all this is basic truth, which also goes beyond the scope of this book. But still, I cannot help but express the fear that if the fishing of sea animals off the coast of Chukotka ever stops, this will result in huge losses for the culture and morale of the local population.

Here it is necessary to say a few words about the equipment of hunters, first of all about the canoe itself. Its frame is made of wooden poles tied with walrus skin straps; The hull lining is prepared from the same leather. The skins of two adult females are used to make the skin of one canoe - namely females, since the skin of adult males, covered with numerous bumps ("bumps"), is unsuitable for these purposes. The most difficult thing about preparing the skin is that it must be spread out into two layers, or, as the Eskimos call it, “split” it. Otherwise, one canoe would require the skins of four walruses, which would make it too heavy and bulky. There are now few craftsmen left who are capable of “splitting” skins, and therefore their work and qualifications are especially valued. The length of the kayak is about 10 m; The wooden frame, tied with straps, and the leather covering of the hull provide lightness and some elasticity of its design, which is very important when sailing in strong waves and distinguishes the canoe from more “stiff” and heavier whaleboats with wooden covering.

In earlier times, hunters went to sea under sail and oars, but now on kayaks, as well as on whaleboats, powerful outboard motors are installed. To shoot walruses, hunters use carbines, both modern automatic and semi-automatic, and older designs made on the basis of the famous “Mosin” rifle, although the latter are gradually falling out of use.

In addition to firearms, harpoons remain a necessary element of hunters' equipment - the famous "rotary" harpoons, used in sea hunting since ancient times. Nowadays harpoons with metal tips are used, previously these tips were made from walrus tusks, and in their manufacture the Eskimos have reached the highest level of not only functional, but also artistic perfection.

The purpose of these harpoons is not to kill walruses; carbines are used for that. Animals are harpooned for the following purpose: with the help of tips that turn when they hit the animal’s body and are fixed there, like an anchor in the seabed, floats are attached to their carcasses, and the latter is necessary because a walrus killed “afloat” immediately drowns. Special mention must also be made about the floats. Traditional floats - the so-called "puff-puff" - are made from whole seal skins inflated with air; but now, instead of “puff-puff”, hunters are increasingly using plastic floats from fishing nets. And one more item is always on the kayak - a piece of a whalebone plate (definitely a bowhead whale!), mounted on a special handle. The purpose of this item was completely incomprehensible to me at first, and it became clear only during the hunt itself; but more on that later.

The crew of the kayak includes at least 5 people. On the bow there are 2 shooters, they are also harpooners. The helmsman sits at the stern, and the minder sits at the engine; in addition, the brigade always has 1-2 more people (sailors) performing various work, the need for which periodically arises during the hunt. Before going to sea, all equipment is carefully stowed so that it is always at hand, so that there is no need to look for anything if the need arises. And since the brigade goes to sea for the whole day (and besides, all sorts of unforeseen circumstances may arise), the hunters always take with them a primus stove, a kettle, dishes, a supply of food and fresh water.

During our stay in Sireniki there were 4 equipped kayaks, and if the sea was calm enough, 4 teams of hunters went out every morning to fish. In August, in the Sireniki area, small groups of walruses were constantly encountered in the sea; hunters did not go far from the shore into the open sea. The village is located directly on the seashore, there is no bay or lagoon there, and, moving away from the “pier” (which is not specially equipped in any way), the teams usually walked along the coast at a short distance from each other to the west, and the shooters located on the bow of each canoe began immediately look out for walruses in the sea. At first everything goes calmly. Everyone is in his place and busy with his own business; The draft of the canoe is shallow, and its speed is quite high. But then shouts are heard: “Ivok, ivok! (walruses, walruses!),” and everything starts to move. The motorman gives maximum speed, the shooters grab the carbines and open shooting, at first glance, randomly, and the helmsman (or one of the sailors) grabs the whalebone plate, which I already mentioned, and begins to splash it forcefully on the water. All this, and especially the last action, seemed to me at first completely incomprehensible and meaningless; The shooting at the first moment is clearly not aimed, the hunters are not trying to hit the walruses, and why they need to splash the whalebone in the water is completely impossible to guess.

But everything has a certain, and, I must say, deep meaning. They shoot at the water in order to frighten the walruses, stun them, and make them lose their orientation, which makes it possible to quickly approach them within throwing distance of a harpoon. And splashing through the water is an attempt to control the behavior of walruses, based on precise knowledge of their habits. The fact is that walruses swimming in the sea are afraid of killer whales, and the latter usually attack a swimming prey from below, from the depths. When leaving for such an attack to the depths, killer whales, like all whales, dive at a large angle to the surface of the water, and during such a dive the caudal fin slaps the water, making a sharp sound. So, the slap of the whalebone on the water imitates the slap of the tails of killer whales in the hope that the walruses, hearing this sound, will get scared, stop and begin to peer into the depths of the sea, trying to see the killer whales attacking them in time. And this behavior of walruses, in turn, would allow hunters to quickly approach them. And indeed, in some cases everything happens exactly as I described, but not always.

When the kayak approaches the walruses within the distance of a harpoon throw (less than 10 meters), the most crucial moment of the hunt begins. The shooters put down their carbines and take harpoons, which are connected to the “puff-puff” with a long, pre-wound line. Here it is necessary to mention one more feature of the design of harpoons: there is no strong connection between the tips and the shafts, the tips are simply inserted into the corresponding holes on the shafts and are not secured there, and the line is tied not to the harpoon shaft, but to the tip. And when a thrown harpoon hits a walrus, the shaft bounces off, and the tip, connected by a line with a “puff-puff”, is anchored on the animal’s body. Thus, hunters try to attach 3-4 floats to one walrus. But after the “puff-puff” is attached to the walrus, another “intermediate” action is necessary. Having harpooned the walrus, the shooters were in no hurry to take up the carbines: first of all, they must catch from the water all the shafts that had bounced off after the harpoons hit the target. Indeed, the wood from which the shafts are made is the most scarce material in Chukotka; trees do not grow here, and hunters cannot allow the loss of harpoons under any circumstances.

But now all the shafts have been caught, and the hunt enters its final stage. The shooters take their carbines, and within a few seconds everything is over. Eskimos are excellent marksmen, they shoot, as a rule, without missing, trying to hit the head at the base of the skull, and to kill a walrus, they rarely have to fire more than 2-3 shots. And the last thing to do is to moor the killed animal to the side of the canoe. To do this, cuts are made in the back flipper and lower lip, through which the carcass is tied to the board with strong straps. With one carcass moored, the canoe moves quite quickly. But it is no longer possible to hunt with two carcasses, and we must return to the village.

Everything described happens, as a rule, quickly, the hunters act with well-practiced movements, exchanging cheerful remarks, which, unfortunately, I did not understand, since Eskimos speak to each other in their native language, and they naturally speak about the presence of an outsider at the time of the hunt. , they forget. Despite the apparent turmoil, everyone acts very clearly, everyone knows their job and does not interfere in the actions of others. I have never seen any conflicts (let alone quarrels) between individual hunters; I have never witnessed any reproaches against anyone for unsuccessful actions, for example, for mistakes when shooting or throwing a harpoon.

I would like to tell you about one funny story in my relationship with the Eskimos. As I said, hunters always took a supply of food with them, and, of course, these were mainly their traditional foods: pieces of raw whale fat, half-cooked meat and internal organs of a walrus, seaweed and the like. During dinners, at first I was not offered anything, although in general Eskimos are characterized by hospitality and mutual politeness. However, in this case, it turned out that their behavior was based precisely on politeness towards me - they were sincerely confident that I would disdain them with food that was unusual for a European and did not want to cause me any trouble or offend me in any way. And they were very surprised when I once joined their meal, and subsequently every time they invited me to have a snack with them (for the sake of truth, I must admit that I tried raw whale oil and uncooked meat of some shellfish). Still haven't decided...).

One cannot fail to note the art of hunters in cutting up the carcasses of killed walruses. Walruses are large animals, their skin is unusually strong, there is always a thick layer of fat under the skin, and cutting up such prey is not an easy task. But even here, hunters act extremely clearly and confidently and do not spend very much time. In a word, both in the hunt itself and when cutting up the prey, the highest professionalism is constantly felt in the actions of professional “marine beast hunters”.