THE HEATHEN OSTIAKS. 431 



but he is never quite so trustworthy as our sheep-dog, for he allows 

 himself an opinion of his own, and only yields his services without 

 resisting when it appears to him absolutely necessary. 



The Ostiak dog is at once playmate, sentinel of the tshum, 

 guardian of the herds, and draught animal, and he is made use of 

 even after death. He is only harnessed to the sledge in winter, but 

 the harness is so awkward that if he has to exert himself much he 

 becomes in a few years weak in the loins or hip-shot. After death 

 his splendid coat is much prized; indeed, many of the Ostiaks 

 evidently keep a disproportionately large number of dogs solely to 

 have skins at their disposal every winter. 



It is probably for the same or some similar reason that the 

 various mammals and birds, such as foxes, bears, owls, crows, cranes, 

 swans, &c., which one sees chained in or before the tent of the fisher- 

 man or the herdsman, are taken from the nest and reared. As long 

 as they are young they are tended carefully and kindly; whenever 

 they are full-grown and in good fur or feather they are killed, the 

 edible parts are eaten, and the skin or feathers made use of 

 or sold, the former especially often fetching an astonishingly high 

 price. 



Here, as everywhere else, the dog submits to man's will, but man 

 must adapt himself to the requirements of the reindeer. These re- 

 quirements, and not the will or humour of the herdsman, determine 

 the wanderings of the nomad Ostiak, as the coming and going of the 

 fishes influences the doings of his relatives in fixed abodes, to a con- 

 siderable extent at least. The migrations of the reindeer herdsmen 

 and their herds take place for almost the same reasons and in the 

 same direction as those of the Kirghiz, and are distinguished from 

 them chiefly by the fact that they do not cease in winter, but 

 rather become more constant and varied. When the snow begins 

 to melt, the Ostiak herdsman travels slowly towards the mountains; 

 when the mosquito plague begins he ascends their sides, or at least 

 betakes himself to the shoulders of the ranges; when it ceases again 

 and even the open heights are not entirely free from it he 

 gradually descends to the low tundra to pass the winter, if possible 

 on his native river-bank. This is the course of his life one year 



