294 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. viii. 



people should slaughter it. Their abstinence from some 

 kinds of animal food had besides the good result of inducing 

 them to devote themselves to the cultivation of the soil. 

 Round about their cabins accordingly there were patches of land 

 growing potatoes, turnips, and cabbage, which at least that year 

 yielded an abundant crop, though lying under the Arctic circle. 

 Farther south such plots increase in size, and yield rich crops, 

 at least, of a very large potato. There is no proper cultivation of 

 grain till we come to Sykobatka, situated in 60° N.L., but in a 

 future, when forests and mosses are diminished, a profitable 

 acrriculture will be carried on far to the northward. 





OSTYAK TENT. 



After a Photograph.) 



Along with the dwellings of the Russians, the tents of the 

 natives, or, as the Russians call them, " the Asiatics," are often 

 to be met with. They have the same shape as the Lapp " kota." 

 The Samoyed tent is commonly covered with reindeer skins, the 

 Ostyak tent with birch bark. In the neighbourhood of the 

 tent there are always large numbers of dogs, which during 

 winter are employed for general carrying purposes, and in 

 summer for towing boats up the river — a means of water trans- 

 port which greatly astonished the Norwegian sailors with whom 

 I travelled up the river in 1875. To see people travelling in a 

 boat drawn by dogs appeared to them more remarkable than 



