232 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



winter dwellings are made of logs and wicker, caulked with cow-dung, and flanked with banks 

 of earth piled as high as the windows. The doors are made of raw hides. The windows are 

 sheets of ice or thin semi-transparent skin. If of ice, they are held in place by frost. Water 

 is poured around the edges, and quickly freezes. The fact that it takes a long time to melt 

 this natural fastening of ice is suggestive of what the temperature must be within the hut as 

 well as without. The fireplace consists of a wicker frame, plastered over with clay; the hearth 

 is made of beaten earth, and on it there is always a blazing fire of wood, which throws up 

 sparks to the roof. In summer the people live in tents. 



If the Yakuts could choose their food from the limited variety the country affords, they 

 would prefer horse-flesh. They have an adage that it is the highest destiny of man to eat 

 much meat and grow fat upon it, and whenever circumstances permit they practically 

 demonstrate their belief in the adage by inordinate feeding. It used to be said that four 



Yakuts could eat a horse! 



Some travellers describe the Yakuts as pagans, but 

 those who have been most recently amoug them call 

 them Christians. The method of their conversion was 

 extraordinary. It appears that the Russian priests of 

 the Greek Church being unable to make much headway 

 against their superstitions, a ukase was issued, setting 

 forth that the good and loyal nation of the Yakuts 

 were thought worthy, and were consequently admitted 

 into the Russian Church, to become a part of the 

 Czar's Christian family, and entitled to all the privileges 

 enjoyed by the rest of his children. This audacious 

 proclamation, it appears, was attended with extraordinary 

 success. The new Christians speedily adopted the faith 

 with which they were thus arbitrarily credited, and the 

 Russian priests have now established their sway over the 

 Yakuts, although the sorceries of Shamanism still in- 

 fluence their ordinary life. 



The Giliaks, but few in number (about 5,000), are 

 representative of a different racial stock from that of 

 the more powerful tribes who inhabit adjoining lands. 

 Their physique and temperament are Mongolian in 

 character. Their eyes are small, and sparkle with a dull 

 light. They have squat noses, thick lips, prominent cheek- 

 bones, and more beard than is generally found in people 

 of Mongolian stock. In stature they are diminutive. 



The colour of the skin is tawny, like that of the Chinese. The hair is black, but not abundant; 

 it is tied up in a long tail, and neither shaven nor cut, as with the Manchus and Golds. 



The country of the Giliaks is restricted to the region embraced in the Valley of the 

 Lower Amur to the Okhotsk Sea, and their villages are not numerous. Being farther from 

 the Manclius than the Tunguses, the Giliaks are wilder than the latter, and have a higher 

 idea of tribal and JndividuaJ- liberty. Acknowledging no master, they are governed wholly 

 by custom. They do not cultivate the land, but subsist entirely on fish. The flesh of 

 such animals as they may take in the chase is reserved for extraordinary occasions, when 

 with a little millet it converts what would otherwise be but an ordinary meal into a 

 sumptuous banquet. 



Their summer clothing is made of the skin of salmon. The skin is stripped off the fish 

 with great dexterity, and by beating with a mallet the scales are removed and the skin is 

 made supple. The Giliak men and women dress very much alike, which indeed is true also 

 of the Golds, who are hardly distinguishable from the Giliaks in appearance, manners, and 



