THE HEATHEN OSTIAKS. 443 



when one began to grow cold a second was slaughtered. The bride 

 weeps, as becomes departing brides, and refuses to leave the tshum 

 in which she was brought up, but she is consoled and coaxed by all, 

 and at last she is ready. A prayer before the domestic idol solicits 

 the blessing of the heavenly Ohrt, whose sign, the divine fire 

 Sornidud — in our eyes only the flaming northern light — had shone 

 blood-red in the sky the evening before. The daughter is accom- 

 panied by her mother, who keeps close by her side, and even 

 remains near her during the night. Mother and daughter mount 

 one sledge, the rest of the invited kinsfolk mount theirs, and, in 

 festive pomp, to the sound of the bells which all the reindeer wear 

 on their harness, the wedding procession sets forth. 



In his father's tent the bridegroom awaits the bride, who 

 modestly veils her face with her head-dress in the presence of her 

 future father and brothers-in-law. This she continues to do after 

 the marriage is consummated. A new banquet begins, and the 

 guests, who have been joined by the bridegroom's relatives, do not 

 disperse till late at night. But the next day the mother brings the 

 young wife back to her father's tent. A day later all the bride- 

 groom's relatives appear to demand her back again for him. Once 

 more the low hut is filled with festive sounds; then the bride leaves 

 it for ever, and is again conducted with pomp to the tshum which 

 she is thenceforward to share with her husband, or with him and 

 his father and brothers and sisters, or later on with another wife. 



The sons of poor people pay at most ten reindeer for their brides; 

 those of the fisher-folk only the most necessary furnishings of the 

 tshum, and even these are often shared among several families; but 

 their weddings, too, are made the occasion of a joyful festival, and 

 there is as much banqueting as circumstances will allow. 



The poorer Ostiaks marry only one wife, but the rich look upon it 

 as one of the rights of their position to have two or more. But the 

 first wife always retains her privileges, and the others appear to be 

 rather her servants than her equals. It is otherwise, however, if she 

 should have no children; for childlessness is a disgrace to the man, 

 and a childless wife in the tshum, as elsewhere, is much to be pitied. 



The parents are proud of their children, and treat them^ with 



