160 AFTER GREY PLOVERS AT WASILKOVA 



steamers, the yacht or cutter, everything upon the island 

 of Alexievka, and even the island itself. The Company 

 has a large and profitable trade in timber, which is shipped 

 principally to Cronstadt for the Russian Government. 

 Whether the company be Mr. Sideroff or Mr. Iconikoff, 

 or both, or neither, remains one of those commercial 

 secrets so common in Russia, which nobody can ever get 

 to the bottom of. These employes in Alexievka were all 

 Zyriani from Ishma, a race of people said to be of Finnish 

 origin. Some were reported to be very rich, the pro- 

 prietors of large herds of reindeer. Like the people of 

 Ust-Zylma, they are peasants, but were described to us 

 as being more luxurious in their living and in the furniture 

 of their houses. They were also said not to get drunk 

 so often as the Ust-Zylma folk, but when inebriated, not 

 to be good-natured and obtrusively affectionate as these 

 are prone to be, but quarrelsome and given to fighting. 

 They have the reputation of being better workmen, and 

 certainly beat the Ust-Zylmians hollow at birds'-nesting. 

 In feature or size the two do not differ much ; perhaps 

 the eyes of the Zyriani are more sunken and their cheek- 

 bones a little more prominent ; and there may be a greater 

 number of red- and yellow-haired men among them. 

 There were several fishing encampments of these peasants 

 in different places down the river, and we found that it 

 was customary in the wealthier families for one son to go 

 in summer on the tundra, with the reindeer and the 

 Samoyede servants. The language of the Zyriani is 

 totally different from Russian, and belongs to the aggluti- 

 native family of languages. The tribe belongs to the 

 Orthodox Greek Church, and not to that of the Old 

 Believers. 



