IX.] THE NORTHERN MONGOLS. 333 



type and speech are well represented by the Soyotes, who are 

 here indigenous, and "from these their... kinsmen, the Samoyeds 

 have spread as breeders of reindeer to the north of the continent 

 from the White Sea to the Bay of Chatanga 1 ." Others, following 

 a westerly route along the foot of the Altai and down the Irtish to 

 the Urals, appear to have long occupied both slopes of that range, 

 where they acquired some degree of culture, and especially that 

 knowledge of, and skill in working, the precious and other metals, 

 for which the "White-eyed Chudes" were famous, and to which 

 repeated reference is made in the songs of the Kalevala 2 . As 

 there are no mines or minerals in Finland itself, it seems obvious 

 that the legendary heroes of the Finnish national epic must have 

 dwelt in some metalliferous region, which could only be the Altai 

 or the Urals, possibly both. 



In any case the Urals became a second home and point of 

 dispersion for the Finnish tribes (Ugrian Finns), whose migrations- 

 some prehistoric, some historic can be followed thence down the 

 Pechora and Dvina to the Frozen Ocean 3 , and down the Kama 

 to the Volga. From this artery, where permanent settlements 

 were formed ( Volga Finns], some conquering hordes went south 

 and west (Danubian Finns], while more peaceful wanderers 



1 Peschel, Races of Man, p. 386. 



2 In a suggestive paper on this collection of Finnish songs Mr C. U. Clark 

 (Forum, April, 1898, p. 238 sq.) shows from the primitive character of the 

 mythology, the frequent allusions to copper or bronze, and the almost utter ab- 

 sence of Christian ideas and other indications, that these songs must be of great 

 antiquity. "There seems to be no doubt that some parts date back to at 

 least 3000 years ago, before the Finns and the Hungarians had become distinct 

 peoples ; for the names of the divinities, many of the customs, and even par- 

 ticular incantations and bits of superstitions mentioned in the Kalevala are 

 curiously duplicated in ancient Hungarian writings." 



3 When Ohthere made his famous voyage round North Cape to the Cvven 

 Sea (White Sea) all this Arctic seaboard was inhabited, not by Samoyads, as at 

 present, but by true Finns, whom King Alfred calls Beormas, i.e. the Biarmians 

 of the Norsemen, and the Permiaki (Permians) of the Russians (Orosius I. 13). 

 In medieval times the whole region between the White Sea and the Urals 

 was often called Permia; but since the withdrawal southwards of the Ziryanians 

 and other Permian Finns this Arctic region has been thinly occupied by 

 Samoyad tribes spreading slowly westwards from Siberia to the Pechora and 

 Lower Dvina. 



