THE JAKUTS. 



231 



Wilui to manufacture their own knives and axes, which, either from the excel- 

 lence of the material or of the workmanship, rarely break, even in the severest 

 eold — a perfection which the best Sheffield ware does not attain. Since time 

 immemorial they have been acquainted with the art of striking fire with flint 

 and steel, an invention unknown even to the ancient Greeks and Romans. 

 Their leather is perfectly water-tight, and the women make carpets of wliite 

 and colored skins, which are even exported to Europe. It is almost superflu- 

 ous to mention that a people so capable of bearing hardships, so sharp-witted, 

 and so eager for gain as the Jakuts must needs pursue the fur-bearing ani- 

 mals with which their forests abound with untiring zeal and a wonderful dex- 

 terity. 



The horse renders the Jakut services not less important than those of the 

 reindeer to the Samoiede or the Lapp. Besides using it for carrying or riding, 

 the Jakut makes articles of dress out of its skin, and fishing-nets of its hair ; 

 boiled horse-meat is his favorite food, and sour mare's milk, or kumyss^ his 

 chief beverage. Of the latter he also makes a thick porridge, or salamat, by 

 mixing it with rye-flour, or the inner rind of the larch or fir tree, to which he 

 frequently adds dried fish and berries, and, to render it perfect, a quantity of 

 rancid fat, of which he is immoderately fond. He is in fact a gross feeder, 

 and some professional gluttons are capable of consuming such astonishing mass- 

 es as to shame the appetite even of an Esquimaux. During his stay at Ja- 

 kutsk. Sir George Simpson put the abilities of two distinguished artists to the 

 test, by setting two pouds oE boiled beef and a poud of melted butter before 

 them. Each of them got a poud of meat for his share ; the butter they were 

 allowed to ladle out and drink ad libitum. The one was old and experienced, 

 the other young and full of zeal. At first the latter had the advantage. " His 

 teeth are good," said the elder champion, " but with the assistance of my saint 

 (crossing himself), I will soon come up to him." 



AYhen about half of their task was finished, Sir George left his noble guests 

 to the care and inspection of his secretary, but when he returned a few hours 

 after, he was informed that all was consumed, while the champions, stretched 

 out on the floor, confirmed the secretary's report, and expressed their thanks 

 for the exorbitant meal they had enjoyed by respectfully kissing the ground. 

 After one of these disgusting feats, the gorged gluttons generally remain for 

 three or four days plunged in a torpid state like boa snakes, without eating or 

 drinking, and are frequently rolled about on the ground to promote digestion. 

 It may also be noticed, as a proof of the low state of intellectual culture among 

 the Jakuts, that at every wedding among the richer class two professed virtuosi 

 in the art of gormandizing are regularly invited for the entertainment of the 

 guests. One of them is treated at the bridegroom's expense, the other at that 

 of the bride, and the party whose champion gains the victory considers it as a 

 good omen for the future. 



The Jakuts, besides being a pre-eminently pastoral people, are also the uni- 

 versal carriers to the east of the Lena. For beyond Jakutsk, the only roads are 

 narrow paths leading through swamps, dense forests, or tangled bushes, so 

 that the horse affords the only means of reaching the more even and lower 



