i8 SIBERIA IN EUROPE. CHAP. in. 



their ancient rites. We went through most of the Samoyede 

 vocabulary given in Eae's ' Land of the North Wind,' and 

 found it to be on the whole correct. No doubt in districts 

 so widely separated as the Kanin peninsula, and the valley 

 of the Ussa, considerable differences of dialect must be ex- 

 pected. But perhaps the most interesting information which 

 we obtained respecting this curious race of people, was that 

 which we got from the Samoyedes themselves. We got our 

 first glimpse of them at St. Petersburg, where we found a 

 single choom erected on the ice of the Neva. These were 

 probably poor Samoyedes, owning only a few reindeer, and 

 earning a scanty living during the long winter by selling 

 various articles made from the skins and horns of reindeer, 

 and picking up a few kopecks by giving curious strangers 

 a ride in their national sledges. 



Near the villages round Archangel there were several 

 Samoyede choom s. Two or more families were wintering 

 about fifteen versts from Archangel, and came almost every 

 day in their sledges to the town. On one of our shooting 

 excursions we chartered a couple of these sledges to take us 

 to an island on the Dvina, and thoroughly enjoyed this 

 novel mode of travelling. The reindeer were very tractable, 

 and we skimmed over the surface of the snow at a rapid pace. 

 We had long conversations with several Samoyedes, the 

 Consul of course, acting as interpreter, and we invited them 

 to the Consul's house, where they gave us freely all the 

 information they could respecting themselves and the tradi- 

 tions of their race. They spoke Kussian well and were by 

 no means devoid of intelligence. They were all small men, 



