THE NOMAD HERDSMEN AND HERDS OF THE STEPPES. 451 



up and thus rendered useless for the living, or, according to Ostiak 

 ideas, made the ghosts of what they were. 



Meanwhile, a fire has been kindled in the neighbourhood of the 

 grave, and one or more reindeer slaughtered, and now the flesh is 

 eaten, raw or cooked, by the funeral company. After the meal, the 

 skulls of the slaughtered reindeer are fixed upon a pole, their har- 

 ness is hung on the pole or on a tree, the bells they have worn on 

 this, as on all solemn occasions, are hung on the top of the coffin 

 itself, the sledge is broken to pieces and thrown beside the grave as 

 its last ornament. Then the company travels homewards. Mourning 

 is now silenced, and the daily round of life begins again. 



But in the shades of night the ghost of the dead, equipped with 

 his ghostly tools, begins his mysterious spirit-life. What he did 

 while he walked among the living, he continues to do. Invisible to 

 all he leads his reindeer to pasture, guides his boat through the 

 waves, buckles on his snow-shoes, draws his bow, spreads his net, 

 shoots the ghosts of former game, catches the ghosts of former 

 fishes. During night he visits the tshum of his wife and children, 

 causing them joy or sorrow. His reward is to be able to show 

 beneficence to his own flesh and blood; his punishment, to be obliged 

 continually to do them injury. 



Such in outline is the religion of the Ostiaks, whom the Greek 

 Catholics despise as heathen. But a just estimate of these honest 

 people, with their child-like nature, inclines us rather to wish that 

 they may ever remain heathen, or at least may never be other than 

 they are. 



THE NOMAD HERDSMEN AND HERDS OF THE 



STEPPES. 



Though the steppe of Central Asia is really rich, and may even 

 seem gay to one who visits it in spring, and though it contains 

 much fruitful land, it is nevertheless only its most favoured por- 

 tions which admit of a settled life, of a continued residence on any 

 one particular spot. Constant wandering, coming and going, appear- 



