i04 A SUMMER ON THE YENESEl 



Taz and the Yenesei. Although quite distinct, they 

 are allied to both the Ostiak and Samoyede races, and 

 their language is said to have much in common with 

 the Samoyede tongue. The third race is that of the 

 Dolgaus, who are of combined Ostiak and Tungus 

 origin. Their principal territory lies from the south of 

 the Samoyede country down to the Arctic Circle to the 

 east of the Yenesei, and they are said to have linguistic 

 affinities with the Yakut tribes of the Lena basin. 

 These three races live side by side in harmony, and 

 intermarry, but they are perfectly distinct, both in 

 dress, language, and facial characteristics. They arrive 

 at Golchika as soon as the ice breaks up on the river. 

 Half of the family pitch their choom there for the fish- 

 ing season, and the rest go back to the tundra to find 

 pasturage for the reindeer. In the autumn, they come 

 down to the Yenesei to fetch their friends, and the 

 whole family travels south to the edge of the taiga, 

 where they spend the winter. A few of the natives 

 fished for their own profit, but by far the greater 

 number worked either for Prokopchuk or Antonoff. 

 They hired a boat from one or other of the merchants, 

 and each evening brought their catch to the sorting 

 station and received payment for it. 



At the time of our visit, there were only half the 

 usual number of chooms at Golchika. Instead of 

 twenty or more, there were only ten pitched on the 

 river-bank. We wondered a good deal at this, and 

 happened one day to mention it to Madame Antonoff. 

 Whereupon she gave us the following reason for the 

 scarcity of their numbers ; and the story is such an 



