444 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



great tenderness. It is with unmistakable happiness in look and 

 gesture that the young mother lays her first-born in her bosom, or 

 on the soft moss in the neat birch-bark cradle with its lining of 

 mouldered willow- wood and shavings; carefully she fastens the 

 cover to both sides of the cradle, and envelops the head-end of the 

 little bed with the mosquito curtain; but her ideal of cleanliness 

 leaves much to be desired. As long as the baby is small and help- 

 less she washes . and cleanses it when she thinks it absolutely 

 necessary. But when it grows bigger she only washes its face and 

 hands once a day, using a handful of fine willow fibres as sponge, and 

 a dry handful as towel, and afterwards looks on quite complacently 

 when the little creature, who finds many opportunities for soiling 

 itself, goes about in a state of dirt, to us almost inconceivable. This 

 state of things comes gradually to an end when the young Ostiak is 

 able to take care of himself; but even then, hardly anyone considers 

 it necessary to wash after every meal, even should it have left stains 

 of blood. The children are as much attached, and as faithful to their 

 parents as these are to them, and their obedience and submission is 

 worthy of mention. To reverence parents is the first and chief 

 commandment among the Ostiaks, to reverence their god is only the 

 second. When we advised Mamru, the district governor already 

 mentioned, to have his children taught the Russian language and 

 writing, he replied that he saw the advantage of such knowledge, 

 but feared that his children might forget the respect due to their 

 father and mother, and thus break the most important command- 

 ment of their religion. This may be the reason why no Ostiak, 

 who clings to the faith of his fathers, learns to do more than make 

 his mark, a sort of scrawl binding on him and others, drawn upon 

 paper, or cut in wood or reindeer-skin. Yet the Ostiak is capable 

 and dexterous, able to learn whatever he is taught so quickly and 

 easily that, at the early age at which he marries, he understands 

 everything connected with the establishment and maintenance of 

 his household. It is only in religious matters that he seems un- 

 willing to trust to his own judgment, and on this account he, in 

 most cases, shows unmerited respect for the shamans,^^ who profess 

 to know more about religion than he does. 



