THE SAMOIEDES. 



179 



A SAMOIEDE PKIEST. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE SAMOIEDES. 



Their Barbarism. — Niim, or Jilibeambaertje. — Shamanism. — Samo'ede Idols. — Sjadaei. — Ilahe. — The Ta- 

 debtsios, or Spirits. — 'I'he Tadibes. or Sorcerers. — Their Dress. — Their Invocations. — Tiieir conjuring 

 Tricks. — Reverence paid to the Dead. — A Samoiede Oath. — Appearance of tlie Samoiede?. — Their 

 Dress. — A Samoiede Belle. — Character of the Samoledes. — Their decreasing Numbers. — Traditions of 

 ancient Heroes. 



^T^HE Saraoiedcs, the neighbors of the Laplanders, are still fartlier removed 

 ^ from civilized society, and plunged in even deeper barbarism. The wildest 

 tundras and woods of Northern Russia and Western Siberia are the home of 

 the Samoiede. With his reindeer herds he wanders over the naked wastes, 

 from the eastern coast of the White Sea to the banks of the Chatanga, or hunts 

 in the boundless forests between the Obi and the Jenissei. His intercour.se with 

 the Russians is confined to his annual visit at the fairs of such miserable settle- 

 ments as Obdorsk and Pustosersk, where, far from improving by their compa- 

 ny, he but too often becomes the prey of their avarice, and learns to know them 

 merely as cheats and oppressors. Protestant missionaries have long since 

 brought instruction to the Laplander's hut, but the majority of the less fortu- 

 nate Samoiedes still adhere to the gross superstitions of their fathers. They 

 believe in a Supreme Being — Num, or JiHbeambaertje — who resides in the air, 

 and, like the Jupiter of old, sends down thunder and lightning, rain and snow ; 

 and as a proof that something of a poetic fancy is to be found even among the 

 most savage nations, they call the rainbow " the hem of his garment." As this 

 deity, however, is too far removed from them to leave them any hope of gain- 



