M3 



SIBERIA. 



SIBERIA. 



settlements in North America. The river runs generally in a north- 

 east direction, passing Olekmiusk and Yakutsk. The remainder of its 

 course is nearly due north. North of 70 N. lat. it enlarges to three 

 or four miles in width, and at its mouth forms a delta, which projects 

 into the sea, like that of the river Maekhaun, in the peninsula beyond 

 the Ganges. This delta is traversed by several arms of the river, 

 three of which form navigable channels : the western is called 

 Krestovskoi, the central one Toomatskoi, and the eastern BukooskoL 

 These channels are wide, but full of shoal*. The Lena freezes over 

 in the beginning of September, and is hardly free from ice before 

 midsummer. Among the tributaries of the Lena are some very large 

 riven the Vitima, the Olekma, the Aldan, and the Vilui. 



Besides these large rivers there are others of less magnitude, but 

 till so large that they would be considered important in any other 

 country. The Anakara, 500 miles long, and the Olenek, more than 

 TOO miles long, fall into the Polar Sea between the mouth of the 

 Yenesei and the Lena. E ist of the Lena are the embouchures of the 

 rivers Yana, Indighirka, and Kolyma. All these rivers are navigable, 

 and of importance for the country, as the two greatest necessaries of 

 life, corn and salt, are brought by them from the southern districts of 

 Siberia to the most northern parts. The Anadyr, or Anadir, and the 

 Amur are separately noticed. [AXADTB ; AMUR.] The small river 

 Ud falls into the Sea of Okhotsk near 56 N. lat. [OKHOTSK.] 



Production*. The domestic niml vary greatly in size and form 

 in different districts. This is especially the case with hones and 

 iheep. Among the latter, the sheep kept by the Kbirghis Cossaks, in 

 the Steppe of Ishim, are distinguished by their thick tails and tine 

 wool. All attempts to transport this species to other parts of Siberia 

 have failed. In 1830 some landed proprietors in the neighbourhood 

 of Irkutsk introduced Spanish sheep, for the purpose of improving the 

 wool of the native sheep. 



Siberia is very rich in metals. There are three extensive mining 

 districts. The moat western comprehends the mines of the Ural 

 Mountains. On the eastern declivity of that range the mines occur 

 between 56' and 60 N. lat., where they occupy a tract of land about 

 40 mile* in width. These mines yield great quantities of gold, silver, 

 and copper; there is also some iron and platinum. The second 

 mining district is that of Barnaul. The mines yield much silver and 

 copper, bat less gold and lead. The mines from which these metals 

 are obtained lie mostly in the Altai Mountain*, and ill those valleys 

 which open to the Irtish River. The third mining district is that of 

 Nertahinsk, which is situated on the east of the Yablonoi Khrebet, in 

 the basin of the river Amur. The mines contain gold, silver, iron, 

 lead, sine, antimony, and arsenic. [ALTAI MOUNTAINS, vol. i., 

 ooL 262; RUSSIA, voL iv., coL 373.] 



The western parts of Siberia get the salt which U required for their 

 consumption from the salt-lakes in the steppes of Ishim and Barabinsk, 

 in some of which the salt crystallises spontaneously. Two lakes of 

 this kind occur also in the vale of the Yenesei, on the western declivity 

 of the Teletzkoi Mountains ; one of them gives an annual produce of 

 180,000 poods. The countries bordering on the river Lena obtain salt 

 partly frurn some salt-springs which occur in the vicinity of the town 

 of Uit Kutak, and partly from the river Vilui, where, according to 

 Erman, there are some lakes in which the salt crystallises, and he adds 

 that from the same country rock-salt is brought to Yakutsk. Da-uria 

 obtains iU salt from one of the lakes of the liobi, called Dabassunei 

 Lake, not tar from that of Khara. Several kinds of precious stones 

 occur in Siberia, and diamonds have been found along the eastern 

 declivity of the Uralian range. The amethysts, topazes, emeralds, and 

 red turmaliues are of great beauty ; zircons of extraordinary size have 

 been found near Miask, south of Ekatarinburg. Several precious 

 stones are brought from the Altai Mountains, the most valuable of 

 which are jasper and porphyry of great beauty. The mountains of 

 Da-uria contain beryls, topazes, emeralds, and some other stones of 

 lew value. In the Baikal Mountains, especially towards the western 

 extremity of the lake, lapis-lazuli of a very fine quality is found. The 

 most important mineral for domestic economy U a kind of mica, which 

 divides into flat pieces like glass, and is extensively used all o\ 

 Siberia, and even in European Russia, for windows. 



The tusks of the fossil elephant constitute an article of commerce, 

 and many persons make the discovery of them the business of their 

 life. They are deposited in immense mnsms, which occur more fre- 

 quently and are of larger extent as we proceed from south to north. 

 The greatest number of these bones are brought from the Laikhovian 

 I.[.ul. but they are also numerous in the north-eastern part of 

 Siberia, east of the river Lena. They are generally found at a certain 

 depth, mostly in hills of clay, rarely in mould, and never in sand. The 

 harder and more consistent the clay is, the better the bone* are 

 preserved. 



JnlalntmU. When the Russians first entered Siberia, they found 

 the country in possession of numerous tribes more or less addicted to 

 a nomadic life ; none of them cultivated the ground, and they had 

 no permanent places of abode, with the exception of some Tartars in 

 the vicinity of Tobolsk. Some of these tribes belonged to widely- 

 spread nations, but others, often consisting of a small number of 

 families, constituted separate nations. The small number of indi- 

 viduals in the several tribes rendered them unable to make effectual 

 to the Russians, who gradually subjugated this immense 



country. In this struggle some of the smaller tribes seem to have 

 entirely disappeared, or perhaps a remnant of them united itself to 

 some neighbouring tribe, and was gradually incorporated. Though it 

 is certain that several tribes or nations have disappeared, there are 

 still about forty tribes, differing more or less in physical character and 

 in language. Some of them belong to the Caucasian race, and others 

 are akin to the Mongols. In noticing these tribes we begin from the 

 Ural Mountains and proceed eastward. 



The most north-western part of Siberia is occupied by the Samo- 

 yedes. South of the Samoyedes are the Ostiaks, who occupy both 

 banks of the river Obi from Obdursk upwards to the confluence of 

 that river with the Irtish, and even south of this place there are some 

 families. They also occupy the northern districts of the steppe of 

 Barabinza, as far south as 60" N. lat. Eastward they are spread over 

 the whole of the wooded region to the banks of the Yenesei. The 

 Vogules live to the west of the Ostiaks, occupying the woods, and the 

 mountains, valleys, and plains included within the Ural range and its 

 declivities ; they are even in possession of a narrow level tract along 

 their base. In the plain they are found aa far southward as the 

 Toora. In the agricultural district which extends south of the 

 country occupied by the Vogules and Ostiaks, the population consists 

 of Russians and Tartars, and in most parts the latter are more 

 numerous. The Tartars who live east of the river Tobol as far ns tho 

 banks of the Irtish, are known by the name of Tartars of Tobolsk. 

 They are distinguished from their western neighbours by having 

 adhered to the Islam, and by their fondness for travelling : hardly a 

 caravan goes to Bokhara of which they are not the leaders. The 

 Barabiuzes, another tribe of Tartars, inhabit the steppe which bears 

 their name. The moat eastern of their tribes inhabit the mountains 

 of Kooznesk, and are called Koosnezi, that is, smiths, on account of 

 their occupation. They unite agriculture with mining, and produce 

 annually a large quantity of iron, though in a very clumsy way. A 

 considerable number of Bokharians have settled among the Russians and 

 Tartan. The Bashkirs are noticed under RUSSIA (vol. iv., coL 375). We 

 shall here only observe that this tribe is not found north of Ekatarin- 

 burg, but that between this place and. Slatoust they constitute the 

 bulk of the population. The Khirghia Cossaks, commonly called 

 Kirghizes, are one of the widest-spread nations in Asia, nearly the 

 whole of the Caspian Desert being in their possession. Though a 

 considerable portion of thin nation is in some degree dependent on 

 Russia, and another portion on China, their dependence is rather 

 nominal than real, and their country is considered a part of TDRKIS- 

 TAW. The interior of the Altai Mountains is inhabited by a tribe of 

 Caluiucks, who are called the Calmuck mountaineers. Those who 

 inhabit the eastern districts, namely, the valleys of the Chooya, 

 Bashkaus, and Choolyahman, pay tribute both to the emperor of 

 China and of Russia. Between the lakes of Teletakoi and the neigh- 

 bourhood of Irkutsk there is a number of small tribes. On the 

 eastern declivities of the mountains of Teletakoi there are four 

 nations of Turkish origin the Biryusaes, the Beltires, the Sagai, and 

 the Katshiuzes. These tribes are in possession of the mountains and 

 adjacent country as far east as the banks of the river Abakan, an 

 affluent of the Yenesei. Between the rivers Abakan and the Yenesei 

 are the Koibales, and many families belonging to this tribe are found 

 east of the last-mentioned river, under the name of Motores and 

 Kandym. In the mountains which divide the valley of the Yenesei 

 from the plain of the Lower Angara there are several tribes allied to 

 the Koibales in origin and language. Tho most northern, on the 

 banks of the river Kam, are called Kamashes, and south-east of them, 

 on the Uda, are the Karakas and Kaugut. In the undulating country 

 which lies between the lower course of tho river Choona, an affluent 

 of the Upper Toonguska, and the Yenesei, are the Yarinzes. Nearly 

 contiguous to this country, but on the western side of the river 

 Yenesei, and north of the town of Yeniseisk, arc the Kasuimskio 

 Ostiaks, also called the Ostiaks of the Yenesei. 



The most populous of all the nations that inhabit Siberia, next to 

 the Russians, are the Buriates, who occupy the country on both sides 

 of the Lake of Baikal, and extend towards the east as far as the 

 western banks of the river Onon. Their priests have a very. rich 

 literature, mostly on the subjects of Buddhism, which a great part of 

 the Buriates have embraced, but the classical sacred books are written 

 in Sanscrit. South of the Buriates, along the very boundary-lino of 

 the Chinese empire, between the rivers Selenga and Onon, a small 

 number of Khalkas Mongols are settled. The most widely dispersed 

 of the native nations of Siberia are the Toonguses. They occur even 

 in Da-uria, particularly between the Oiion and the Argun, and the 

 northern districts of Mandshooria are also peopled with them. In 

 these part* they unite agriculture with the keeping of animals, espe- 

 cially the reindeer. Farther north they are in possession of the 

 country that incloses the Lake of Baikal on the north, and hence they 

 extend to the Polar Sea. They are also found along the banks of the 

 river Yenesei. Tho Toonguses are considered as the best formed of 

 the native tribes of Siberia, They are generally of middling size, of 

 a fine shape, and slender. Their face is less flat than that of the 

 Mongols, their eyes small and lively, and their nose well formed, 

 though rather small. Many of them have no beard, and the rest have 

 very little. Their hair is black and lank, and rarely prows gray in 

 old age. They are most accomplished horsemen. Though widely 



