828 KEPORT— 1895. 



2. The Samoyads of the Arctic Tundras. 

 By Abthuk Montefiore, F.G.S., F.R.G.S. 



Distiibution of the Samoyads. — This primitive group of the Ural-Altaic family 

 ■may be found within an area of <rreat extent and very various nature. Samoyads 

 may still be observed on the northern slopes of the Altai range ; they still dwell 

 in the afforested valleys of the Yenisei and the Ob, and they continue to thrive on 

 the frozen treeless plains of Siberia and Arctic Russia. From the ultimate sources 

 ■of the Yenisei in the heart of Asia, they spread northward until their advance is 

 stayed by the waters of the Arctic Ocean. From the Khatanga river in the far 

 east they reach westward into Europe, even to the shores of the White Sea. And 

 -we have the authority of Mr. F. G. Jackson {The Great Frozen Land, cap. vi.) 

 for saying that they are still migrating westward — a small group having recently 

 settled in Russian Lapland, and already contributed to the modification of Lapp 

 iiabits and fashions. 



The Arctic Samoyad. — The Samoyad of the Arctic Tundras is the least changed, 

 .and perhaps the most interesting of the whole family. Until recently less has 

 ibeen known of his ways and means, of liis ideas and morality, of the country in 

 which he lives, and the adaptation of himself to his environment, than of the other 

 •branches of the same group. The very impoverishment of his resources has calcu- 

 lated to make him more characteristic and distinct. 



Ethnology. — Undoubtedly the term Ural-Altaic is conveniently applied to the 

 four great Mongoloid groups — the Tungus, the true Mongols, the Turks, and the 

 Finns ; and the Finnic group may also be properly regarded as made up of 

 the Ugrian races, the Permian, the Bulgarian, the true Finns, and the Samoyads. 

 From another point of view, however, it would be well to include the Samoyads in 

 the Finnic subdivision. For the Samoyads are more nearly allied to tlie Finns than 

 Ugrians, Permians, and Bulgarians ; their speech is Finn, their customs related : 

 «,nd the true Finns, as well as the quasi-Finns, possess in numerous instances 

 survivals and traces of what is to this date in full development among the 

 Samoyads. 



Name of Samoyad. — This can be shown to be not of Russian but of Permian 

 And even Finnic origin, and to mean not ' eaters of themselves,' or ' cannibals,' but 

 ' swamp-dwellers.' The old Russian word for them, then, does not suggest canni- 

 balistic custom, but may be translated ' eaters of raw flesh,' which they are to this 

 -day. 



Language. — Closely allied to the Finnic tongue, the Samoyad speech shows, 

 of all the Ural-Altaic languages, the highest development in agglutination. This 

 is carried so far that it almost reaches inflection. ' Samoyad, indeed, may be 

 ■a-egarded as a nexus between the inflexional Indo-Germanic and the agglutinative 

 Mongolian. 



Religious Ideas. — Although professing Christianity and the Greek Church 

 [owing to the zeal with which every Russian promotes the cause of his Church], the 

 Samoyads have not relinquished faith in their old gods, and still cherish a crypto- 

 paganism. The impersonal Niim, creator of the universe, dwells in the heavens ; 

 ithe rain and snow, heat and cold, thunder and lightning, are expressions of his 

 ■care for the men he created, as well as of his moods. The sun is his highest form 

 of manifestation ; the Avide arch of the sky bears witness to the immensity of his 

 feeing ; the countless stars to his far-seeing and intimate knowledge. More mate- 

 rial, however, is the idea that the coloured bands of the rainbow form the border 

 ■of his robe.^ Veneration of the supernatural is also shown in the cult of the 

 natural: curiously shaped trees, large stones, somewhat resembling the human 

 form, and even roughly shaped stakes of wood, are locally revered. This venera- 

 tion is also extended to rude models of these stakes, which are made sufficiently 

 small to carry about, and are called Chaddi. 



Morality.— As a rule, and, of course, wherever they are professed Christians, 

 ihe Samoyads are husbands of one wife. In Yalmal and other remote places 



' Multi-coloured bands of cloth are inserted in the patiitsa of the Samoyad. 



