198 POLAR PROBLEMS 



aries between tribes often consisted of uninhabited spaces. The 

 members of a tribe considered as real men only themselves and gave 

 their tribe this name, "real men." They considered their language 

 the "real language" and their faces and appearance the "real ap- 

 pearance." In case of necessity, for instance a great war, all the 

 members of the tribe united with surprising celerity. 



On this primitive social condition a new organization was super- 

 imposed after the advent of the Russians. Special cantons were 

 established, with councils, aldermen, and mayors; and at the present 

 time it is almost impossible to distinguish in this organization the 

 earlier fundamental element. 



Among interesting social problems, for instance, are the questions 

 as to which line of descent is considered generally more influential 

 and important, maternal or paternal; the question as to marriages 

 between close relatives ; the question whether with the purchase of a 

 wife there is also involved service to the father-in-law in payment 

 for the wife ; the questions of grouped marriages and their character, 

 of blood feud, and of ransom for bloodshed. 



Problems of Trade and Social Relationships 



A series of no less interesting problems in the realm of commerce 

 remains to be solved, (i) Are there traditions about silent trade, 

 and to what extent are they general? We find hints of this form of 

 barter in the Novgorod chronicles relating to the Ugrians, i.e. to the 

 Ostyaks and Voguls, and also in the Chukchi and Eskimo traditions 

 and legends. (2) Is there a commercial exchange between neighbor- 

 ing tribes of the same cultural level, e.g. between fishermen and 

 reindeer breeders? What is the object of exchange, and how are the 

 relative values of wares computed ? (3) Were there in the north ancient 

 commercial routes from Asia to Europe and in Asia from the Ob 

 to the Yenisei and from the Yenisei to the Lena? 



Regarding the social culture of the reindeer-breeding tribes a 

 series of problems of more special character may be stated. For 

 instance, does the influence of the higher economic level of the reindeer 

 breeders show itself in intertribal relations? How is the fundamental 

 economic unit of the reindeer mode of living — the nomad camp — 

 organized? Is there an owner, with dependent people? Do his 

 hangers-on consist of relatives or of persons from outside? What 

 are the mutual relations among the unequal elements of the nomad 

 camp? 



The Russian Population 



Such in brief are some of the elements of the first and main problem 

 of ethnography in the Eurasian polar regions — that of the natives. 



