THE SA3I0IEDES. 



179 



A SAMOIEDE PRIEST. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE SAMOIEDES. 



Their Barbarism. — Num, or Jilibeambaertje. — Shamanism.— Saraofede Idols. — Sjadaei. — Hahe. — The Ta- 

 debtsios, or Spirits.— The Tadibes, or Sorcerers.— Their Dress.— Their Invocations.— Their conjuring 

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

 Dress. — A Samoiede BeUe. — Character of the Samoiedes. — Their decreasing Numbers.— Traditions of 

 ancient Heroes. 



r~pHE Samoiedes, the neighbors of the Laplanders, are still farther 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 himts 

 in the boundless forests between the Obi and the Jenissei. His intercourse 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 Jilibeambaertje — who resides in the air, 

 and, like the Jupiter of old, sends downi 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- 



