1896-97-] THE DENES OF AMERICA IDENTIFIED WITH THE TUNGUS OF ASIA. 177 



choose and come to an agreement. They frequently bestow presents on 

 each other, in order to ascertain each other's minds, for the acceptance of 

 these gifts is a sure mark of their consent. The husband generally takes 

 his wife among his own relations, where she spends several weeks, and 

 is entertained with kindness and hospitality." "If the husband be a 

 hunter, which is generally the case, for the greater part of them procure 

 their subsistence either by hunting or fishing, every domestic charge is 

 devolved on the wife ; still there are some who attend to agriculture and 

 the rearing of cattle. Nothing can exceed the modesty which both the 

 bride and bridegroom assume on the night they are wedded ; and I have 

 also been told that a separation frequently takes place a week or two 

 after they are married, by reason of her desire to live four weeks in 

 perfect continence. This, however, is not generally true, for I observed 

 that chastity was very often violated among them before they are legally 

 united." 



Barrow, the author of " Travels in China," says : " The Mantchoo 

 Tatars are scarcely distinguishable from the Chinese by external appear- 

 ances ; the Chinese are rather taller, and of a more slender and delicate 

 frame than the Tatars, who are in general, short, thick and robust. The 

 small eye, elliptical at the end next the nose, is a predominating feature 

 in the cast of both the Chinese and Tatar countenances, and they have 

 the same high cheek-bones and pointed chins. The native color, both 

 of Chinese and Tatars seems to be that tint between a fair and a dark 

 complexion, which we distinguish by the word brunet or brunette ; and 

 the shades of their complexion are deeper or lighter, according as they 

 have been more or less exposed to the influence of climate." 



Klaproth, and other writers, mention the fact that the Tungus, and 

 especially the Tshapojirs, were wont to tattoo their faces after the 

 prevailing Siberian fashion, with bars or straight lines on the cheek and 

 forehead. In the matter of valour, the Tungus seems generally to have 

 been the man of the receding area, save in China where the Mantchu is 

 supreme. Adelung refers to the Mantchusof the Ssolan as a worthy and 

 valiant people. All who have had to do with the Mantchu officials of 

 China, civil or military, regard them as the ne plus ultra of falsehood 

 and low cunning. Gutzlaff has characterized the Tungus tribes as 

 deficient in valour ; and Wood, in his " Uncivilized Races," describes 

 them as good-natured but full of deceit. Yet Sauer gives an instance 

 of the Tungusian's fidelity to his word. " An unchristened Tungoose 

 went into one of the churches at Yakutsk, placed himself before the 

 painting of Saint Nicholas, bowed very respectfully, and laid down a 

 number of rich skins, consisting of black and red foxes, sables, .squirrels, 



