II.] 
RUSSIANS AND SAMOYEDS. 
77 
They were set full of numerous small, and some few thick wax 
lights which were lighted on the occasion of our visit. Right 
above our landing-place there were lying a number of sledges 
laden with goods which the Russian merchants had procured 
by barter, and which were to be conveyed to Pustosersk the 
following autumn. The goods consisted mainly of train oil 
and the skins of the mountain fox, common fox. Polar bear, 
glutton, reindeer, and seal. The bears’ skins had often a very 
•close, white winter coat, but they were spoiled by the head and 
paws having been cut otf. Some of the wolf skins which they 
showed us were very close and fine. The merchants had besides 
collected a considerable stock of goose quills, feathers, down, 
and ptarmigans’ wings. For what purpose these last are used 
I could not learn. I was merely informed that they would be 
sold in Archangel. Perhaps they go thence to the dealers in 
fashions in Western Europe, to be afterwards used as orna¬ 
ments on our ladies’ hats. Ptarmigans’ wings w^ere bought as 
long ago as 1611 at Pustosersk by Englishmen.^ 
At the same time I saw, among the stocks of the merchants, 
walrus tusks and lines of walrus hide. It is noteworthy that 
these wares are already mentioned in Othere’s narrative. 
As I was not myself sufficiently master of the Russian 
language, I requested Mr. Serebrenikoff to make inquiries on the 
spot, regarding the mode of life and domestic economy of the 
Russians in the neighbourhood, and I have received from him 
the following communication on the subject:— 
The village 'consists of several cabins and tents. In the 
cabins nine Russian householders live with their servants, who 
are Samoyeds.^ The Russians bring hither neither their 
1 Letter of Richard Finch to Sir Tliomas Smith, Governor ; and to tlie 
rest of the Worshipful Companie of English Merchants, trading into 
Russia.” PnrcJias, iii. p. 534. 
2 Mr. Serebrenikoft writes Samodin instead of Samoyed, considering the 
latter name incorrect. For Samoye.d means “self-eater,” while Samodin 
