THE SAMOIEDES. 



183 



raven-black shaggy hair, a thin beard, and a yellow-brown complexion, are their 

 characteristic features, and in general they do nothing to improve a form which 

 has but little natural beauty to boast of. The Samoiede is satisfied if his heavy 

 reindeer dress affords him protection against the cold and rain, and cares little 

 if it be dirty or ill-cut ; some dandies, however, wear furs trimmed with cloth 

 of a gaudy color. The women, as long as they are unmarried, take some pains 

 with their persons ; and when a Samoiede girl, with her small and lively black 

 eyes, appears in her reindeer jacket tightly fitting round the waist, and trim- 

 med with dog-skin, in her scarlet moccasins, and her long black tresses orna- 

 mented with pieces of brass or tin, she may well tempt some rich admirer to 

 offer a whole herd of reindeer for her hand. For among the Samoiedes no 

 father ever thinks of bestowing a portion on his daughter : on the contrary, he 

 expects from the bridegroom an equivalent for the services which he is about 

 to lose by her marriage. The consequence of this degrading custom is that the 

 husband treats his consort like a slave, or as an inferior being. A Samoiede, 

 who had murdered his wife, was quite surprised at being summoned before a 

 court of justice for what he considered a trifling offense; "he had honestly 

 paid for her," he said, " and could surely do what he liked with his own." 



The senses and faculties of the Samoiedes correspond to their mode of life 

 as nomads - and hunters. They have a piercing eye, delicate hearing, and a 

 steady hand : they shoot an arrow with great accuracy, and are swift runners. 

 On the other hand, they have a gross taste, generally consuming their fish or 

 their reindeer flesh raw ; and their smell is so weak that they appear quite in- 

 sensible to the putrefying odors arising from the scrapings of skins, stinking 

 fish, and other offal which is allowed to accumulate in and about their huts. 



The Samoiede is good-natured, melancholy, and phlegmatic. He has, in- 

 deed, but indistinct notions of right and wrong, of good and evil ; but he pos- 

 sesses a grateful heart, and is ready to divide his last morsel with his friend. 

 Cruelty, revenge, the darker crimes that pollute so many of the savage tribes 

 of the tropical zone, are foreign to his character. Constantly at war with a 

 dreadful climate, a prey to ignorance and poverty, he regards most of the 

 things of this life with supreme indifference. A good meal is of course a 

 matter of importance in his eyes ; but even the want of a meal he will bear 

 with stoical apathy, when it can only be gained by exertion, for he sets a still 

 higher value on repose and sleep. 



A common trait in the character of all Samoiedes is the gloomy view which 

 they take of life and its concerns ; their internal world is as cheerless as that 

 which surrounds them. True men of ice and snow, they relinquish, without a 

 murmur, a life which they can hardly love, as it imposes upon them many 

 privations, and affords them but few pleasures in return. 



They are suspicious, like all oppressed nations that have much to suffer from 

 their more crafty or energetic neighbors. Obstinately attached to their old 

 customs, they are opposed to all innovations ; and they have been so often de- 

 ceived by the Russians, that they may well be pardoned if they look with a 

 mistrustful eye upon all benefits coming from that source. 



The wealth of the Samoiedes consists in the possession of herds of reindeer, 



