THE HEATHEN OSTIAKS. 437 



goes on until the mountain heights permit of a longer sojourn in 

 one place. The snow, which falls very early, warns them to return 

 even in August, and again, this time more slowly and leisurely, 

 herdsmen and herds journey back to the low grounds. 



With the disappearance of the ice the activity of the fishermen 

 on the river begins. Many of the Ostiak fishermen work in the 

 pay of, or at least in partnership with the Russians, others only sell 

 to them the superfluous portion of their catch, and fish on their 

 own account. Immediately after the ice has broken up, the former 

 class pitch their tshums beside the fisher huts of the Russians, and 

 the others settle by the river banks in their summer dwellings — 

 log-huts of the simplest construction. Where a tributary flows 

 into the river, they raise across it, or across the mouth of an arm of 

 the stream, a barricade which leaves only one channel, and in the 

 deep water they place baskets and set bottom-lines; beyond that 

 they use only drag- and seine-nets. 



Bustling activity prevails about all the fishing-stations when 

 the catch is good. On a shaky stand above the opening in the 

 barricade the young men, more boys than men, are crouching, 

 peering keenly into the dark flood beneath them to see whether 

 the fish are going into the draw -net which they are holding 

 so as to close the channel. From time to time they lift their 

 burdened net, and empty its contents into their little boat. The 

 men fish together on a sand-bank with the drag-net, or in shallower 

 parts of the river with the seine. In the afternoon, or towards 

 evening the fishermen return home, and the fish are distributed 

 among the different households. Next morning the women's work 

 begins. Singly, or in groups, they sit beside a great fish heap, each 

 provided with a board and a sharp knife, and scale, gut, split, and 

 crimp the fish, afterwards stringing them on long thin sticks, 

 which are hung up on the drying-stands to dry. With dexterous 

 and certain strokes the abdominal cavity is opened and the side 

 muscles separated from the backbone, a few touches more separate 

 the liver and other viscera from the head, ribs, and more 

 valuable side portions of the body. Liver after liver slips between 

 the smacking lips; for the women have not yet broken their fast. 



