THE HEATHEN OSTIAKS. 421 



to get to know the heathen Ostiaks, and to come into close contact 

 with a still primitive people, than to concern ourselves with that 

 portion of the tribe which gives us but a dim picture of what they 

 once were, or others still are. I shall, therefore, limit my remarks 

 to a consideration of those Ostiaks who worship the divinity Ohrt, 

 who live in polygamy when their means permit, who bury their 

 dead exactly as their fathers did. My sketch will lose nothing, and 

 will gain in unity, if it takes account of these alone, and leaves the 

 others out. 



It is difficult to speak of a common type among the Ostiaks, 

 and still more difficult to describe it. I have repeatedly attempted 

 to do this, but have always been forced to recognize the impos- 

 sibility of adequately describing a face in words, or of satisfactorily 

 delineating with the pen those tribal peculiarities which are evident 

 enough to the eye. In shape of face, colour of skin, hair, and eyes, 

 they vary greatly; their racial affinity, that is, their Mongol origin, 

 is by no means always very apparent, in fact, it is often difficult to 

 detect, and when at last one imagines one has formulated certain 

 definite average characteristics, one learns from other- members of 

 the same stock that their applicability is only relative and by no 

 means unconditional. In what follows I shall attempt to give a 

 comprehensive idea of what I saw among the Ostiaks whom we 

 observed. 



The Ostiaks are of middle height, somewhat slender in general 

 build, their hands, feet, and limbs generally well-proportioned, the 

 hands perhaps rather large, the calves of the legs almost always thin; 

 their features seem intermediate between those of the other Mongols 

 and those of the North American Indians: for their brown eyes are 

 small and always set obliquely, though by no means very strikingly 

 so; the cheek-bones are not very prominent, but the lower portion of 

 the face is so compressed towards the narrow pointed chin that the 

 whole has an angular appearance, indeed, as the lips are also sharply 

 cut, it is often really cat-like, especially among women and children, 

 though the nose is, on the whole, slightly, and in many cases not at 

 all flattened. The rich, smooth, but not stiff, hair is usually dark 

 brown or black, rarely light brown, and still more rarely blonde ; the 



