852 



EUSSIA IN EUROPE. 



neigLbouring grotto has recently been visited by Nordenskjold. The altars and 

 the hundred idols worshipped by the Samoyedes in their camping ground of Kozmin, 

 some 12 miles from Mezen, have also been burnt. But if fear of the Russians 

 prevents them from erecting large idols visible from afar, they can still dress up 

 shapeless dolls which they hide in their tents or under their clothes, and which 

 thus represent the scapular, medals, and other charms elsewhere still worn by the 

 devout. 



Although a mere fragment of a formerly powerful race, the Samoyeds still 

 own a vast domain, stretching from the White Sea beyond the Yenisei, and to the 

 Altaï highlands whence came their forefathers. Pressed upon probably by 

 conquering tribes of Turki stock, they followed the course of the streams flowing 



Fi». 185. — A Samoyed Pilot 



' / ',m\>i\t 



northwards, and settled on the shores of the Frozen Ocean. But the Central Urals, 

 far south of the present territory, still bear Samoyed names. The Yurak branch, 

 of which those of European Bussia are a subdivision, now occupies all the region 

 of the tundras on both sides of the Urals, which supplies the yngel, or moss, 

 required for the support of their reindeer. But although already mentioned 

 towards the end of the eleventh century as possessors of this land, they seem to 

 have conquered it from other Finnish tribes more nearly related to those of 

 Finland. Several local names, explicable only in the Karelian dialect, show that 

 the country was first occupied b}^ this branch, who, according to the legend, 

 withdrew farther inland, where they possess vast hunting grounds and pastures, 

 with multitudes of manmioths, foxes, and beavers. Similar traditions are pre- 

 served by the Lapps, Avho had also probably to contend with these Karelian Finns, 



