50 THE ZYLMA AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 



feathers, etc., with the Russian merchants for bread, 

 vodka, and other articles. Those that come down to the 

 more southerly towns have learnt the value of money, 

 and prefer to sell rather than barter. They used to be 

 very clever with the bow and arrow, but now they all use 

 old-fashioned small-bore flint-lock rifles. Some of the 

 Samoyedes are very rich. A reindeer is worth about 

 seven or eight roubles, or an English sovereign. Some 

 of the Samoyedes are said to possess as many as 10,000 

 reindeer. Of late years the reindeer have suffered much 

 from disease. Captain Engel was of opinion that this 

 disease was allied to cholera. The animals turn dizzy, 

 and run round and round like sheep attacked by " sturdy." 

 The reindeer also suffer much from a hideous parasite. 

 One day, as we were passing a herd of them in the streets 

 of Ust-Zylma, Engel took hold of one of the animals, and 

 groping among the long hair on the small of the back, he 

 presently squeezed out of the flesh one of these disgusting 

 creatures. In a short time he produced a dozen of them. 

 They varied in size from half an inch to an inch in length, 

 the diameter being from half to a third of the length. 

 The surface was covered with rudimentary scales. The 

 lower part of the body was tapered, and the head rounded 

 with two indistinct jaws. We did not notice even the 

 rudiments of legs. They are, no doubt, the larvae of some 

 fly or beetle. Engel told us that they sometimes reached 

 a length of four inches or more. Some herds of reindeer 

 are perfectly free from these creatures, and others suffer 

 very much from them.* 



The Samoyedes are an acute and intelligent people, 

 but on the whole they are not so sharp-witted as the 

 Russians. They are good-natured and harmless, except 

 when they are drunk, then they become quarrelsome and 



* Probably the reindeer bot (Hypoderma iarandi), first described by Linnasus. — Ed. 



