134 
xs'CIIORTI, OR ISCIIORTZI. 
close wristbands, both pinked. The sleeves are large, and whimsically 
made. The body of the shift is large, and puffed with numberless 
plaits ; and the making of it is usually four weeks’ work. Instead of 
a petticoat, the Ingrian women tie on each side a linen apron without 
gathers. These aprons are sometimes of cloth, and sometimes of 
linen, wrought with different colours. Those behind come over one 
another, but before they are at some distance ; the open part of the 
petticoat, then left, is concealed by a smaller apron, adorned with 
glass beads and little shells. Several strings of these beads are worn 
round the neck, and fall upon the breasts. They carry, rather than 
wear, heavy ear-rings — with the addition, generally, of strings of heads. 
The girls wear their hair loose and uncovered ; the married women 
conceal their hair with a piece of linen full four yards long, folded into 
a kind of cap, while its extremities fall on the back, and are supported 
by the girdle, so that the whole makes a kind of spread sail over the 
shoulders. When they dress to go to town, they put on a Russ cap, 
ornamented with a peak in front, lined with fur, and laced round the 
edges ; with this they wear a long gown, made of coarse stuff, and 
fastened down the breast with buttons. Before the Russians conquered 
this country, the Ingrians had Lutheran ministers in every canton, 
but numbers of them have since been converted to the faith of the - 
Greek church. 
They have many absurd notions and pagan superstitions, which 
they mix with the ceremonials of Christianity. They consider the 
figures of saints as idols to be adored. They carry them into the 
woods in procession, and pay them a formal homage. When a man 
is inclined to marry, he buys a girl, and celebrates his nuptials. All 
the way to church they are accompanied by two women in veils, who 
sing a senseless kind of ballad. No sooner is the marriage ceremony 
performed, than the husband begins to treat his wife with severity, 
and thenceforward keeps her under a discipline answerable to this 
unseasonable specimen. 
The dead are buried by the priest of the profession to which they 
belong ; but these superstitious people, it is said, return to the grave 
under cover of the night, and having taken up the sod, deposit 
eatables for their departed friend, which they renew'^ every fortnight 
or three w’eeks. Dogs and other animals scratch up these victuals, 
and devour them ; while these simple people believe they w'ere con- 
sumed by the deceased. They think that they continue to live in the 
subterranean world as they did on the earth, and that the grave is 
little else than a change of habitation, they therefore bring them 
money for their use in the other w'orld. They speak to their deceased 
friends, and go to their graves, for that purpose ; but at the same time 
are much afraid of them. Among* their holy places there is one on 
the road from St. Petersburg to Riga. It is bounded by a large 
lime-tree, whose branches are interwoven with those of the forest 
nearest to it, and form a delightful bower. On the festival of St. 
John, at night, the Ischortzi assemble round this tree, and remain till 
morning, singing and dancing round a great fire ; concluding their 
orgies with burning a white cock, and making the most absurd gesti- 
culations and grimaces. 
