CULTURE OF CIRCUMPOLAR ZONE — BOGORAS 481 



grants from the South, but also passed over to the neighboring 

 people of more southern latitudes. Such is for instance the small 

 Siberian trap for ermine and other small irame, whicli has spread 

 through the whole temperate zone of eastern Eurasia down to the 

 Bashkir and the Kirgiz. The same is the case with the larger 

 striking trap for foxes, the deadfall for foxes and walrus, etc. 



Moreover, we can see that in the economics of hunting the fur- 

 bearing animals the northern natives of the so-called primitive 

 tribes are the most circumspect in looking out for tlie future. While 

 the Russian invaders from the South ruthlessly destroy the best cedar 

 forests with their axes or careless fires, and exterminate the " green " 

 squirrel when the "' unripe " peltry is not fit for selling, the Tungus 

 or Ostyak, when undisturbed by neighbors, will proceed with much 

 more forethought, trying to leave some of the foxes and squirrels for 

 his last days and even for his children. 



I will only repeat one of the paragraphs of my memoir on the 

 " Conditions of Life of the Lesser Tribes of the North," presented 

 in 1023 to the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets: 



The principal riclics and resources of the North are not represented by the 

 numlierk'ss shoals of fish, nor by the endless droves of wild geese and swans, 

 nor by herds of reindeer, wild and doiiiesticatcd, jind not even l)y the fields of 

 coal or veins of gold to be brought into the mining work ; the real riches of 

 the Far North, the most important of all, are represented by the northern 

 IH-'ople, who are the only means and agents to work out profitably all the 

 natural resources of the North and to bring them in touch with human culture. 

 Without the northern tribes, the riches of the North will be left without use 

 and without workers. 



After these i)reliininary remarks, I will indicate the chief types of 

 the northern culture as the following: 



1. Fishing, 



2. Hunting, with two subdivisions: (a) Meat-providing branch; 

 (b) fur-providing branch. 



The other subdivisions, according to areas of exploitation are: 

 (1) Overland hunting; (2) sea-mammal hunting. 



Economic ])ursuits, as mentioned above, less frequently appear in 

 the exclusive form, but oftener as combinations of two or three types, 

 with one prevailing, or with two or three of equal importance. 



So, for instance, the hunting of fur-bearing animals is combined 

 either with fishing, or with overland meat-providing hunting, or 

 with hunting sea mammals. Some tribes combine everything — fish- 

 ing, overland meat providing, hunting of fur-bearing animals, and 

 hunting of sea mammals. Such are the Maritime Koryak and the 

 Gilyak. The Maritime Chuckchee have very little fishing, since the 

 Chuckchee Peninsula has no rivers for the fish to enter for spawn- 

 ing, and salmon do not go this way; and, of course, the inland 

 Tungus or Yukaghir have no hunting of sea mammals. 



