TI.] 
SAMOYED IDOLS. 
87 
forged of iron, I have seen, but have not had the good fortune 
to get possession of. In the case now in question the traffic 
was facilitated by the circumstance that the old witch, Anna 
Petrovna, who sold her gods, was baptised, which was naturally 
taken advantage of by me to represent to her that it was wrong 
for her as a Christian to worship such trash as “ bolvans,” and 
the necessity of immediately getting rid of them. But my argu¬ 
ments, at once sophistic and egoistic, met with disapproval, both 
from the Kussians and Samoyeds standing round, inasmuch as 
they declared that on the whole there was no great difference 
between the “ bolvan ” of the Samoyed and the sacred picture 
of the Christian. It would even appear as if the Russians 
themselves considered the “bolvans” as representatives of some 
sort of Samoyed saints in the other world. 
When the traffic in gods was finished, though not to my full 
satisfaction, because I thought I had got too little, we were 
invited by one of the Russians, as in 1875, to drink tea in his 
cabin. This consisted of a lobby, and a room about four metres 
square, and scarcely two metres and a half high. One corner 
was occupied by a large chimney, at the side of which was the 
very low door, and right opposite the window opening, under 
which were placed some chests, serving as tea-table for the 
occasion. Along the two remaining sides of the room there 
were fastened to the wall sleeping places of boards covered with 
reindeer skin. The window appeared to have been formerly 
filled with panes of glass, but most of these were now broken, 
and replaced by boards. It need scarcely surprise us if glass 
is a scarce article of luxury here. 
We had no sooner entered the cabin than preparations for tea 
commenced. Sugar, biscuits, teacups and saucers, and a brandy 
flask were produced from a common Russian travelling trunk. 
Fire was lighted, water boiled, and tea made in the common 
way, a thick smoke and strong fumes from the burning fuel 
spreading in the upper part of the low room, winch for the 
