200 POLAR PROBLEMS 



Other hand they contributed many native quaHties, giving a particu- 

 lar and characteristic stamp to the Russian Hfe of the region. 



These native elements were of course of different origin. In one 

 place these were Ostyaks, in another Tunguses, in a third Yukagirs 

 and Chuvantses. But the above-mentioned uniformity of the polar 

 culture made their influence on the local Russian life generally uni- 

 form. 



General Uniformity of Russian Arctic Population 

 With Increasing Native Influence Eastward 



As a result we have a Russian population of the same type from 

 the Pechora to the Kolyma and Kamchatka, though in the extreme 

 east this native admixture is more marked. For instance, in Kam- 

 chatka the remnants of pure Kamchadals, at present completely 

 Russianized, in spite of an enormous decrease in number still are 

 predominant over the mixed Russian-Kamchadal population. 



On the other hand a cultural difference between the western and 

 eastern villages is noted. The western villages, especially those 

 situated within the limits of European Russia, beginning from the 

 second half of the nineteenth century experienced new influences 

 from places of higher culture and finally underwent a considerable 

 material and spiritual change. 



At the same time the eastern villages of polar Asiatic Russia 

 have preserved entirely untouched their seventeenth- and eighteenth- 

 century characteristics. That is why we have the curious coin- 

 cidence that the Russian inhabitants of the Kolyma and Anadyr 

 regions live in the same sort of huts as the Kola Lapps and Ob Ost- 

 yaks, while the Russians of identical origin on the lower Ob have 

 established more comfortable dwellings. 



Fusion of Russian and Native Elements Based on 

 Similarity of Pursuits 



Generally, however, the whole mode of life of this Russian and 

 Russianized population, at least for Siberia, can be characterized 

 as twofold. It is an intermixture of two elements, Russians and 

 natives, who during two centuries have melted into an indivisible 

 whole. The fact that it was possible for this fusion to be accom- 

 plished in a comparatively short period is due to a certain spiritual 

 afifiinity of the first Russian newcomers with the native tribes con- 

 quered by them. 



The early Russian inhabitants of the Pechora and Dvina forests 

 were animal hunters not inferior to the natives. The Russian coast 

 dwellers were also fishers and hunters of sea beasts from ancient time. 

 Later the descendants of these hunters and fishers conquered Siberia 



