THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



of ivory which was presented to him there, 

 upon which the days, the weeks, and the 

 mouths of the year were represented by signs. 

 The southern tribes of the race have adopted 

 Buddhist doctrines; the northern tribes are 

 mainly Shamanist, or pagan, though many have 

 hearkened to the teaching of missionaries and 

 become Christians. They are partly nomads 

 and partly settled agriculturists and rearers of 

 cattle. Cheerful under the most depressing 

 circumstances, persevering, candid, and trust- 

 worthy, they are a fearless race of hunters, yet 

 modest and self-reliant. Born amidst the gloom 

 of their dense pine forests, they are not gloomy. 

 Exposed from the cradle to the grave to every 

 danger from wild beasts, rigorous climate, and 

 rapacious man, they are not repelled by any 

 difficulty. Want and hardships of every kind 

 they endure with surprising fortitude, and 

 nothing can induce them to quit their solitary 

 woodlands, where they cheerfully face the Arctic 

 terrors of their long winter rather than take 

 service under the Russians. 



Among the principal animals which the 

 Tunguses hunt whose furs they find marketable, and whose flesh is their food are the sable, 

 the common fox, the white fox, the elk, the reindeer, the wolf, the bear, the ermine, and the 

 squirrel. At the beginning of October they start out on their snow-shoes, with the long, 

 supple bow and a sheaf of arrows, or perhaps one of the common, almost worthless guns with 

 which Russian traders supply them in exchange for the valuable spoils of the chase. Alone or 

 in company the hunter goes into the virgin forest, and is followed by a little sledge drawn by 

 dogs. The hunting of the elk is carried on to such an extent that in some years as many as 

 10,000 skins are offered for sale at Yeniseisk, after the Tuuguses have taken all they require 

 for tent-making, clothing, and other uses. 



The Tunguses have no towns, no permanent villages, but live in tents of skin or of bark, 

 according to the season. They have little idea of the mineral wealth with which their 

 country abounds, though the many tons of gold procured there prove that a great part of the 

 Yenisei Valley is a veritable El Dorado. They spend their lives peacefully, yet industriously, 

 fishing in summer and hunting in winter, and on the whole, as we are justified in concluding, 

 happily. 



Middendorff says that the senses of these people are highly developed, their sight being 

 extremely keen. But he found them incapable of distinguishing kindred colours yellows and 

 greens, greens and blues. They could only recognise the strongest tints, and that after long 

 pondering. In their eyes all dark colours appear to be confused with black. They have but 

 few musical instruments. Rattles made of reindeer teeth, sables' jaws, roes^ feet, hang by the 

 cradle of the Tungus baby to keep it quiet. In summer the people celebrate in song the feats 

 of ancestors and heroes, the return of the sun, and other themes. "Wrangel calls them " the 

 Frenchmen of the tundra," on account of their liveliness, sociability, and courtly manners. 

 Their way of life is 1 'an admirable example of the social virtues. Castren calls them "the 

 nobility of Siberia." 



, From the people of Finnic stock we select for description the Samoyedes and the Ostiaks. 

 The Samoyedes are perhaps the most primitive and untaught of all the Siberians. Their 

 domain lies within the Arctic Circle, extending from the Khatanga River westward to the 



