450 BY STEAMER TO YENESEISK 



smaller birds of prey with apparently a slightly longer 

 tail and somewhat narrower wings. The wings appeared 

 to be darker in colour than the tail and the rest of the 

 body. I took the larger bird to be the white-tailed 

 eagle, and the smaller the rough-legged buzzard. 



We stopped a couple of hours about noon the next 

 day at Verkhni Anbatskia. This place used to be the 

 great rendezvous of the Ostiaks ; as soon as the river was 

 free from ice a kind of yearly fair was held there, to which 

 they brought the tribute of skins annually paid to the 

 Government, and at the same time purchased meat and 

 other necessaries. At the beginning of this century, 

 about two hundred large boats were sometimes moored 

 on the banks ot the small river which here joins the 

 Yenesei. Thirty years ago the number had dwindled 

 down to eighty, and at the time of my visit they did not 

 exceed a score. This decline of traffic may be partly 

 accounted for by meat-depots having been established 

 in other villages, but there can be little doubt that the 

 Ostiaks have largely decreased in numbers and in wealth. 

 They have been plundered and demoralised by the 

 Russian merchants. One of these wealthy arch-robbers 

 still lived here, carrying on a contraband trade in spirits 

 with the unfortunate Ostiaks. The Government had 

 tried to trap him, but hitherto he had eluded the grasp ot 

 the officials. I bought three sable skins of him for twenty 

 roubles each, fine black sable with white hairs, the only 

 good skins I saw in Siberia. The Ostiaks' boats are 

 unique in form, built without nails, and very picturesque. 

 Their canoes are light and extremely elegant, and are 

 made of one, or sometimes two pieces of wood. 



Around the village undulated pasture land, sprinkled 

 over with spruce fir, and fragrant with white clover in full 

 bloom. Birds abounded. I shot a nutcracker, one of a 



