442 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



decision, not the consent of the couple themselves, that concludes a 

 marriage among the Ostiaks. They may perhaps have some regard 

 for the bridegroom's wishes, may allow him to cast his affections on 

 one or other of the daughters of his people, but they only send 

 an agent to treat with the girl's father if their own circumstances 

 correspond with his. The maiden herself is not consulted, perhaps 

 because, at the time of her betrothal, she is much too young to be 

 able to decide upon her own future with discretion. Even the 

 future husband has not reached his fifteenth year when the agent 

 begins to treat for the twelve-year-old bride. In this case the 

 general exhilaration of fair-time had considerably hastened the 

 course of proceedings. The matrimonial agent had gained an im- 

 mediate consent; the negotiations, often very protracted, had been 

 at once begun, and thanks to brandy, which usually proves an evil 

 demon, but in this case expedited matters, they were brought to a 

 speedy conclusion. It had been agreed that Sandor, the young 

 bridegroom, should pay for his little bride, Malla, sixty reindeer, 

 twenty skins of the white and ten of the red fox, a piece of coloured 

 cloth, and various trifles such as rings, buttons, glass beads, head- 

 dresses, and the like. That was little, much less than the district 

 governor, Mamru, who was scarcely better off, had to give for his 

 wife; for his payment consisted of a hundred and fifty reindeer, 

 sixty skins of the Arctic and twenty of the red fox, a large piece of 

 stuff for clothes, several head-dresses, and the customary trifles. 

 But times were better then, and Mamru might well- pay what was 

 equivalent to more than a thousand silver roubles for his wife, who 

 was stately, rich, and of good family. 



The amount agreed on is paid; the nuptials of the young couple 

 are celebrated. The relatives of the bride's family come to her 

 father's tent to bring presents and to receive others from the bride- 

 groom's gift, which is laid out for everyone to see. The bride is 

 arrayed in festive garments, and she and her friends prepare for the 

 drive to the tshum, of the bridegroom or of his father. Beforehand 

 they have eaten abundantly of the flesh of a reindeer, fresh killed, 

 according to custom. Only a few fish caught under the ice have 

 been cooked to-day; the flesh of the reindeer was eaten raw, and 



