66 THE SAMOYEDES 



her there and then, or if he be still enamoured of her 

 charms, it is open to him to bargain with her father to 

 take her for a month or a year on trial. At the expiration 

 of the time agreed upon, if the pair suit each other, they 

 consider themselves married for life. On the other hand, 

 should they not agree, they can separate at the end of 

 the time specified ; but in that case the man must provide 

 for any children born within the period. After the 

 marriage festivities are over, the young couple are left 

 alone in the choom of the bride's father. 



It is customary for the bridegroom to present his 

 bride with the skin of a black fox. The girl's father 

 gives his son-in-law a choom, with all its appurtenances, 

 and five, ten, twenty, or thirty reindeer, according to his 

 wealth. If the bridegroom be rich, he gives his father- 

 in-law money to the amount sometimes of two hundred 

 roubles. 



Since the adoption of the Russian faith by the 

 Samoyedes they bury their dead. Previous to their 

 conversion, when one among them died he was fully 

 dressed and, in his best malitza and soveek, was laid flat 

 on his back on the tundra. His favourite bilck reindeer 

 was killed and laid by his side, with his best harness and 

 his driving-pole and bow.* The choom is taken down 

 at once, and the camp is broken up amidst much weeping 

 and lamentation. If possible, the place is never re- 

 visited. The Samoyedes believe that if the dead man's 

 property were not left with him his spirit would follow 

 them. 



The Samoyedes used to have wooden idols, to which 



* Captain Hall, in his " Life with the Esquimaux," mentions a similar custom 

 existing among them. The Innuits seal up their dying in snow-huts, or igloos, 

 where they are allowed to die alone. The blubber-lamp, as well as the fishing 

 and hunting instruments of the dead, are always laid by his side, and the place is 

 abandoned. 



