42 SIBERIA. 



iiliiily tlif la{.'<i|»iJ.s iilhiis I, hihI lu^'opiis iilniniis N'ilss., iln' licaili rock, (t<-ii.ii> iiiu;.miiii- I,, i-u.io 

 U'Ai\\ l,..iiiiil tctnid iMinasiii I,.). 'riii'if arc iiniiK'roii.s lon^:-l»•^'^.'^•^l hinl.s in Sitx-ria. Imt piiiM-ijially 

 of ihc saiiir kinds as llMtsc in IjiiDpi'. Siliciia is liuurvfr |»arti(;iilai'ly ri<-|i in wutr-r lowl.s 

 wiiicii iii'sl ill (•oiiiillcss iiiiiiiIh'Is ciii liic shoirs (if llic Arctic (JccuM ami also on tin- liaiiks 

 of the livi'is anil lakes. On I-akc IJaikal llic fjriills arc so niiiiHToiis llmt ilic cra^/s ami rocks 

 ovciliaiif/in^' il air cdvcivil wiih a liiirk layer nl' f/uano wliiili |u|- a Inn^' linic will sfrve as 

 nianiiic In; tlic rniiiiv j/cncialions of Siberian I'aruiers. The lemarkablc SCX'Jth froo^rapliical 

 liJii'iiDMieniin III Lake I'aikal is tlic exisleiicc nl' a species ol' seal (pli.ica haicalcnsis), in the 

 ualiT i.r ihis iiilaml sea. 



'i'lic idtal piipulalidii urKastcrn Siberia, niniiiin^'; tlio Yakutsk region, is about IKX) thousami 

 (i[ both sexes, of w liuin not 8 per ccni. as in W(!sterii Siberia,bnl 2.3 per rent are natives, the rejnain- 

 in^f 77 per cent lieiii^ arrivals I'lom Russia. Tlie Mon^'-nlian tribe ol'lJiiriats is tlie most nnnieroiis 

 inili^'i'imns race, seiili'il here since ilie iliiiieenili eeiiliiry. when tin' woijil-renowneil Kingdom of 

 Chengis-Klian nriginated in Mongolia. The first liiissian .settlers, when first taking possession of 

 the pafi they were about to colonize, during the seventeenth century, wagetl desperate war with the 

 liiiriais. whiili ended in their being completely subdued at the end of that century. At present 

 flieie are about 1G0,0'I0 Burials of iinih sexes, exclusively inhabiiing the agricultural 

 ziiue of Eastern Siberia. Their principal occupation is cattle breeding; they are of the Budd- 

 hist faith and are only partly engaged in auricnlture. The space covered by the Buriat camps 

 is liniileil, and lliey aie in leality tint half-nuinadic, whilst part of them already lead a settled 

 life. About 20 per cent of Ihern have been converted to Christianity and have become to a great 

 extent russiaiuzcd. The must uortliern Buiiats still adhere to shamanism. It is a remarkable 

 fact that the Burials do not exhibit any temlency to die out, but on the contrary increase 

 at almost the same rale as the Uussian population. 



The Turco-Fiiuiish tribes form another indigenous element, known by the collective 

 nauu' of Tartars. They luimber about 22 tliousaml and dwell exclusiv(dy at the foot of the 

 Sayan mountains in the Yenisseisk goveinnienl. The celebrated Russian savants and authorities 

 nil I'^innish and Tiurks dialects, Kastren and Radlov, studied their language and proved that 

 it- was uiidoubledly allied to the Finnish. The Finnish tribes were at one time spread 

 over all the contiuent froui ilie Sayan chain iliiuiiijli Western Siberia, the Urals and the 

 plains of Russia in Europe as far as the (julfs of Finland and of Bnthnia and the Baltic 

 Sea. In the country at the foot of the Sayan mountains the subjection of this race to the 

 Tiurksk tribe in Erghene-Koua has transformed them into the so-called Tartars. The Tartars 

 of Eastern Siberia have, however, already adopted a settled mode of life; ih(> majoiity of 

 them have been converted to Christianity and become russianized: the gi-adual progress of 

 their assiinilaliou is still fiiiihei- facilitated by their decreasing nuinbers, wiiich were never very 

 huge. The third indigenous element is composed of a mixed collection inhabiting the forest 

 and p(dar zones of Eastern Siberia cimsisting of 3.W0 Tungues, ],000 Jakuts and about 

 4,0110 Ostiak-Samoyedes, forming a ualive popnlaiiou of 8.000 leading a nomadic life in 

 the forest and polar tundra zones. 



The greater [)art of the population of Eastern Siberia, over 770 thousand of both sexes 

 inhabit the cullivated zone at the foot of the niouniains where the density of population 



