THE SAMOYEDS. 351 



Russian plains south and east of their present domain. The chroniclers speak of 

 Lapp tribes settled seven hundred years ago on the shores of Onega, and in the 

 Dvina basin certain Lapp terms, meaning " river," " brook," " island," or " forest," 

 still recall a time when they occupied the region east of the White Sea. The very 

 name Samoyed, containing the root Same, which is the proper appellation of the 

 Lapjjs, might seem to imply that the present occupants of the eastern plains were 

 considered as the successors of the Lapps. The Karelians, now reduced to a mere 

 handfid near the shores of the White Sea named from them, were also amongst the 

 successors of the Lapps, and traces of them are still discovered throughout the 

 region draining northwards. The Russian dialect current in Archangel is full of 

 terms and even expressions borrowed from the Finnish, and the Karelian Finns 

 were probably included with the Ziryanians under the collective designation of 

 Bicninians, mentioned in the mediaeval chronicles, and whom the Norse navigators 

 perhaps somewhat exaggeratedly described as a rich, powerful, and civilised people 

 acquainted with agriculture and the industrial arts. 



The Artel, or fishing and hunting associations formed by most of the Great 

 Russian littoral communes in Archangel, chiefly employ technical terms of Karelian 

 origin, showing that before the arrival of the Russians such associations had 

 already been formed by the Finns of this region. In many places the whole 

 commune organizes the fishing expeditions, distributing the men along the coast 

 and the rivers in a way best calculated to equalise the chances, a share being even 

 assigned to those left behind to attend to the domestic affairs of the villages. But 

 confusion and inequality amongst the members of these unions have been caused 

 by the family and communal debts contracted first with the convents and Bishops 

 of Kholmogori, and later on with the Russian traders. 



East of the White Sea the Samoyeds, like the Lapps, represent the old Finnish 

 race, though in many respects contrasting with their somewhat remote kindred. 

 Their broader and flatter features and lower foreheads betray a more decidedly 

 Mongolian aspect. Zograf includes them amongst the brachycephalic Mongols, 

 while Castrèn regards them as of mixed Finnish and Mongol origin. They call 

 themselves Nenetz (plural Netza) — that is, " Men " — or else Khassov (Khassova) ; 

 that is, "Males." The term Samoyed, synonymovis with "Autophagi," has given 

 rise to numerous legends, and in many documents they are called Sîroyedî, or 

 "Eaters of Raw Flesh," which, again, is nearly synonj^mous with "Eskimo," 

 applied to the northernmost tribes of the American continent, who, under a similar 

 climate, have developed analogous habits. 



When, in 1556, Burrough visited Vaigach, the holy island of the Samoyeds, 

 he saw the northern headland covered with 420 statues of men, women, and children 

 grouped round the great seven-headed idol of Vesako. In 1594 this " Cape Idol " 

 {Afyoden Hoeh) was revisited by the Dutchman Nai, and in 1824 Ivanov 

 rediscovered the monstrous figures described by Burrough. They have since been 

 overthrown and burnt by zealous missionaries, and a cross now surmounts the top- 

 most point of the headland. But the Russian traders on the coast say that 

 fragments of the sacred images have been preserved, and the place of sacrifice in a 



