422 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



beard is scanty, but this is chiefly in consequence of the habit young 

 dandies have of pulling out the hairs; the eyebrows are thick, often 

 bushy. The colour of the skin is not much less white than that of 

 a European who is much in the open air and exposed to wind and 

 weather, and the yellowish look which it usually has is sometimes 

 entirely awanting. 



Though the above holds good of most Ostiaks, I do not mean to 

 imply that one can have any doubt about their racial affinities if 

 one examines them closely. In a few individuals the Mongolian 

 traits are apparent on the most cursory glance; these types are 

 small in stature, the lively brown eyes are elongated and obliquely 

 set, the cheek-bones are very prominent, the stiff hair is deep black, 

 and all the exposed parts of the body have a decided copper-red or 

 leather-brown colour. 



I can offer no opinion as to the language of the Ostiaks; I can 

 only say that it embraces two dialects which can be readily distin- 

 guished even by strangers. That in use on the middle Obi is 

 euphonious, if somewhat drawling and sing-song, while that pre- 

 vailing on the lower Obi, probably because of the general habit of 

 preferring the softer Samoyede tongue, is much more rapid and 

 flowing, though there is still distinct enunciation of the syllables. 



The Christian Ostiaks, as has already been mentioned, imitate 

 the dress of the Russians, and the clothing of their women only 

 differs from that of the Russian fisher-women in being decorated in 

 many places with glass beads, and in the addition of special sash- 

 like ribbons, like the stole of a Catholic priest, embroidered all over 

 with such beads. The heathen Ostiaks, on the other hand, use nothing 

 but the skin of the reindeer for clothing, and only employ the furs 

 of other animals for the occasional decoration of the reindeer, or, as 

 the Russians call them, stag skins. Their dress consists of a close- 

 fitting skin coat reaching to the knee; in the men it is slit down the 

 breast, in the women it is open down the whole front, but held 

 together with leather thongs; a hood of the same material is usually 

 attached to or forms part of the dress; mittens also are sewn on; 

 leather breeches reach below the knee; and leather stockings, 

 which fasten over the knee, complete the attire. The fur garment 



