REMARKS ON THE SAMOYEDS OF 



KOLGUEV 



There are at the present moment upon Kolguev fifty-nine Samoyeds. 

 Of males, twenty-four, of the opposite sex, twenty-six. These include 

 children, but children old enough to work. The remaining nine are 

 babies, or children of helpless age. 



Most of these people — all I think but five — were born on the island. 

 But I was unable to determine at what period in their family history 

 their connection with Kolguev began. Some of them had Kolguev 

 traditions which seemed to reach far back. But all referred their 

 relationships to one or other of the mainland divisions of their race. 

 Thus Uano claimed to be a Timanski, Marrk a Kaninski Samoyed. 



On the Timanski tundra one finds that the choom is the unit of 

 Samoyed life. Only abnormally are chooms grouped together, e.g. 

 near a village or town. In this case the Samoyeds are either beggars 

 or are labourers to the Russians. Temporarily on the tundra chooms 

 may be pitched in close relationship, as the owners pass in travelling, 

 or are drawn by some common object — a seal hunt, for example. But 

 each family by itself is the principle of existence, this or two together ; 

 but then one will hold the parents, one the married eldest son. 



And on Kolguev it is just the same. For the purposes of life and 

 reindeer pasture the island is by mutual consent divided into districts, 

 as shown by the names on my sketch-map. Thus Uano has the Lower 

 Pesanka, On Tipa the Upper Pesanka (and, speaking roughly, the 

 north-wester part of Kolguev), Marrk the Gobista — and so on. They 

 scrupulously respect each others' rights. 



A father and his eldest son had on Kolguev their reindeer in common, 

 or rather managed together the family herd, for the deer belonged 

 strictly to the father until his death, when they would pass to the 

 eldest son. 



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