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[Illustration: Frontispiece. A Review. Charge of 10,000 Cavalry.
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THE
ENGLISHWOMAN IN RUSSIA;
IMPRESSIONS OF THE SOCIETY AND MANNERS
OF THE
RUSSIANS AT HOME.
BY A LADY,
TEN YEARS RESIDENT IN THAT COUNTRY.
[Illustration: Peter the Great’s Statue,
and the Office of the Senate.]
With Illustrations.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1855.
_The Proprietor of the Copyright of this Work reserves to
himself the right of Translation in Foreign Countries._
TO HER BROTHER, THESE PAGES ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
Without troubling the reader with any account of a sea voyage from
England to Archangel, as all travels on the “vasty deep” present pretty
much the same features which have been so frequently and so well
described by others, I will only observe that circumstances induced me
to reside for more than ten years in Russia, which I have only recently
quitted.
The following pages contain a simple account of the manners, customs,
and _genre de vie chez eux_ of a people whose domestic habits are
comparatively but little known to the English nation.
Of the truth of many of the anecdotes I can assure the reader; others I
have had from good authority, and I have every reason to believe that
they are veracious.
The names of persons that are inserted in the text are not those
of Russian families: the Russians, like the ancient Greeks, have a
termination denoting parentage; the syllables _vitch_ for the masculine,
and _ovna_ for the feminine, are merely equivalent to the classic _ides_.
Thus, Dmitri Ivanovitch, means Demetrius the son of Ivan; Cleopatra
Ivanovna, Cleopatra the daughter of Ivan, &c. I have therefore betrayed
none, because the surname is omitted; I have also taken the further
precaution to change _one_ of the names in every instance, lest my
friends should incur any evil consequences from their government, which
is at the present time so exceedingly suspicious, that, for the most
harmless expression, the offender who made use of it would be liable to
be banished to Siberia.
I trust that I have done full justice to all the amiable and _social_
excellences of the Russians. Of their other qualities I beg the reader
to form his own judgment. “Une nation de barbares polis,” said a French
gentleman, in speaking of them; but one cannot deny that they possess the
_good_ qualities of savages, as well as their _bad_ ones. Perhaps the
Muscovite character is the most difficult of any to understand; and after
living for years in Russia, it is very possible not to know the Russians.
They seem indeed to possess two characters, each distinguished by traits
diametrically opposed to those of the other. One may be considered as
their private, and the other as their public character; and I cannot
pretend to the power of defining them. I have seen a Russian colonel,
known for his excessive severity, who would witness unmoved the terrible
infliction of the knout, perfectly unable to control his tears at the
mimic sorrows of a French actress. He that is mean and despicable in
public life, is often kind, amiable, and liberal at home. He who would be
merciless and oppressive to his inferiors, is frequently affectionate to
his family and sincere to his friend. The lady who would be shocked to
say a petulant word to an acquaintance, would not hesitate to strike her
maid; and though she would be overwhelmed with grief at the distress she
could _see_, she would, by her reckless extravagance, cause the severest
sufferings to her serfs, and reduce them to the extremity of want,
without feeling remorse.
This slight sketch of Muscovite manners having no pretension whatever to
literary excellence, the writer trusts that its manner of delineation
will escape criticism, and that its truthfulness will counterbalance the
many faults it undoubtedly contains.
The interest at present excited by a nation with whom the English are at
war has induced her to listen to several friends who have recommended her
to present these written observations to the public.
_London, October, 1854._
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
Aspect of the Dwina—Crosses erected by the peasants—Sunset
in the North—Russian boats and barks—Boatmen—Their
cargoes—Solombol—Shallowness of the river—Archangel—Samoïdes—Their
mode of living—A visit to their Tchume, or encampment—Reindeer
and sledges—Samoïde bridegroom—A wedding-feast—The Samoïde
costume—Their ideas of the Supreme Being—A keepsake—Catching a
reindeer—Manner of eating—Strange custom 1
CHAPTER II.
Wedding of a Starosta’s daughter—Politeness of the host—The
guests—The bride—Bridal etiquette—Description of the bride’s
dress—The bridegroom—The hospitality shown—The amusements of
the guests—Improvised songs—The bridegroom’s riches—Demeanour
of the company—Dance of the peasant-women—Dance of the
men—National songs 14
CHAPTER III.
Travellers in Russia—False impressions—Civilization in the
Czar’s dominions—Public roads—Morasses and forests—The Vologda
road—Wretched horses—Rough roads—The crown peasants—Aspect
of the villages—Civilization of the _people_—Vanity of the
Russians—Provincial towns—The churches—The postmasters—The
yemstchicks or drivers—Personal appearance of the
peasantry—Their costumes—Crossing the Dwina—Pleasing
scene—Village burying-ground 19
CHAPTER IV.
Vologda: its inhabitants—A Polish lady—Treatment of
the Poles—Russian ladies: their politeness—Peter the
Great’s civilization—Slavery: its effects on the
character—Conversation—Card-playing—A princess—Poverty—Filthy
households—Equal division of property—Cause of poverty—An old
gambler 31
CHAPTER V.
Our journey—Kabitkas—Russian custom—Endless forests and
morasses—Desolation of the country—Musical yemstchick—Scarcity
of inhabitants—Criminals: their aspect—A bad mother—Monastery
of Seea—Visit to the abbot—The church—A saint’s
shrine—Peasants—Change in the scenery—Accidents—The driver—A
contented veteran—Love of country—Soldiers’ songs—Russian
melodies—Yemstchick’s gratitude—Another driver: his prospects
in life—Beautiful effect—Ladinapol—Schlusselberg—A village inn
in Russia 39
CHAPTER VI.
Appearance of the capital—The public buildings—The statue
of Peter—The quays—The lighting of the streets—The shops
and shopmen—A bargain—The dwornicks: their wretched
life—Tea-taverns: the company assembled—The itinerant
merchants—Cossacks—Circassians: their fidelity—The soldiers
of the line—Shameful treatment—The butitchnick—A sad
occurrence—Winter aspect—The Nevsky Perspective—Costumes—A
drowning man—Police regulations—Number of murders—A poor
man’s funeral—Funeral cortège of a prince—Effect of
twilight—Convicts—The metropolitan—The Emperor—Police
regulations on salutations—The Kazane church 51
CHAPTER VII.
Places worth visiting—Peter’s Museum—The Czar’s
works—Curious effigy—The war-horse—The Nevsky monastery—The
saint’s shrine—Magnificent tomb—Superstition—The
cemetery—Catherine—Imperial mausoleum—Description
of the sarcophagi—Prisoners—Political offenders—Spy
system—Bombardment of Odessa—Dumb spy—A spy of rank—Assemblée
de la noblesse—Masked balls—Russian civilization—Love of
money—Inebriety—Society in St. Petersburg 74
CHAPTER VIII.
Winter amusements—The opera and French theatre—Hamlet—A
true Russian play—Corruption of the police—Anecdotes—The
hermitage—The museum—Dinner parties—Russian hospitality—Want of
information—The censor’s office: its restrictions 87
CHAPTER IX.
Russian courtship—State of household
servants—Anecdotes—Trousseaux—The matrimonial
candidate—Matchmakers—Serfs’ weddings—Rich
dowry—Matchmakings—Curious custom—Russian marriages—Blessing
the threshold—Bridal parties—Statute-fair for wives in St.
Petersburg—Habit of painting—Lottery of marriage, &c. 103
CHAPTER X.
The abbess—The inmates of the convent—The wardrobe—A
young Russian priest and his bride—The archbishop—Ancient
manuscripts—Alexis, son of Peter the Great—Description of a
monastery—Prisoners—The church, cemetery, and garden—Monastic
serfs—The archimandrite—Superior and inferior class of
Russian clergy—Peter the Great’s policy—Political use of
religion—A modern miracle—General estimate of monastic
institutions—Proscribed sects—Russian hermits—Hermitage at
Kastroma 118
CHAPTER XI.
Aspect of the country—Sketch of the peasants—Forebodings
of evil—State of the serfs—Anecdotes of proprietors—The
French waiting-maid—Shameful treatment of serfs—State of
crime—Mutilations and murders—Revenge for a beating—Dreadful
vengeance of the serfs—Pleasing anecdote—Wealthy
serfs—Recklessness of the nobles—Selling slaves—The cook and
his sorrows—Anecdotes—Serf apprentices—The old gourmand—A good
bargain and a bad one—The gardener—A boorish audience—The
peasants—Superstitions and ignorance—Anecdotes 134
CHAPTER XII.
Landed proprietors—Sketch of the country—The wolves: dreadful
occurrence—A child lost—Winter amusements—Wolf-hunt—A
cunning animal—Summer sketch—Russian costumes—The national
dance—The peasants—Avarice of the landowners—Serfs and their
treatment—Cruel and unprincipled proprietors—Opinion of the
upper classes 171
CHAPTER XIII.
Government _employés_, their servility—Baseness, and its
fruits—Duty of the senate—Dishonesty, bribery, and poverty—New
way to pay old debts—Mistrust—Conduct of the ladies—Duties of
those in office—The railway serfs—Police-masters in Russia—The
military officers and the soldiers—The wretched fare of the
army—Peculations of the colonel—Army regulation—A colonel in
the Caucasus—Why _the people_ are created 186
CHAPTER XIV.
Description of churches—A devotee—Saints’ portraits—The
lower class of worshippers—Infant communion—Administering
the sacrament—A funeral—Customs of oriental origin—Tartar
burying-ground—A wake—Prayers for the dead—Horror of death—A
baptism—Authenticity of Christ’s portraits—A procession
in Moscow—Miraculous portrait of the Virgin—Religious
processions—Aquatic procession—Pilgrims—A pilgrimage—The
miraculous image at Jaroslaf—Angelic artists—Monks and money—A
holy tradition—Religious ceremonies—Confession in the Greek
Church—Representation of Christ’s interment—High mass in the
Kazane church 197
CHAPTER XV.
The carnival—Amusements at the fair—Curious
procession—Palm fair—Whitsuntide—The Resurrection on
Easter-night—Easter-day—Easter privilege—Anecdote of
the Emperor—Bell-ringing—Kindness of heart among the
Russians—Household gods—Christmas—Midsummer-eve—Heathen
custom—New-year’s-eve—A Russian election—Unfortunate
orator—Russian maypole—Characteristic dance by a soldier, its
beautiful execution—Military picnics—Disagreeable traits of
character—Shopkeepers’ balls—Splendid festivals—The Kremlin
illuminated 214
CHAPTER XVI.
Travelling in Russia—Monotony of scene—Want of animation—Style
of dwellings of the nobles, the gentry, and the peasantry—Poor
gentry—Pride and poverty—Peasants’ isbas, the furniture they
contain—Vermin—The breaking up of the ice—The Dwina—Distressing
occurrences—The peasant and his dog—The aged peasant—The
commandant’s gold cup—Native barks: the peasants on board of
them—Neva boats—Concerts al fresco—Numerous imperial palaces 236
CHAPTER XVII.
Education—The highest studies—Russian history—Infallibility
of the Czar—Moral excellence—Devotedness of a young
lady—Profiting by instruction—Noble culprits—Education
of the serfs—The University—The students’ costume—Naval
school—School for the deaf and dumb—Academy of Fine
Arts—Priouts—Education of boys—Studies—Ladies’ institutes—Plan
of education—Uniforms—Private education—Remarks on education in
Russia 252
CHAPTER XVIII.
Moscow—Poushkin’s verses—The Moscowites—Dislike of
foreigners—Antipathy to the St. Petersburg people—Ancient
devotees—Places of amusement—General remarks—The Kremlin—The
churches—General view of the city—Napoleon—The miraculous
image—Ivan and his recompence for genius—The Gostinoi Dwor—The
shopkeepers’ brides—A wedding coach—The Tartar—The Persian—The
Metropolitan of Moscow—The Jews—The shopkeepers—Smoking—The
Tiramà, or ancient palace—The new palace—The Treasury—The
diadems—The Tartars of the present day—The church of Warsaw—The
last fight for freedom—Various curiosities—Spoils of the
_grande armée_—The officer’s widow—French refugees: their
gratitude—The model of the Kremlin 270
CHAPTER XIX.
English people in Russia—Sudden change of sentiment—Intolerant
feelings of the Russians towards them—Opinions of the
people—Ideas of the Russians on the English ministry—Their
hope of aid from the Americans—The lower classes—Losses of the
Russians—Disagreeable remarks—Their manner of speaking of the
French—Political ideas—The Americans in St. Petersburg—Invented
news—Odd ideas of a war-ship—The English in fault—Mr. Pim’s
designs—Russian disgust at the new warlike inventions—Dread
of the British—The serfs—The troops in the capital—Vanity
of the Russians—Their disappointment about Turkey—False
ideas—Evil effects of the conscription and slavery—The
recruits—Deserters—Dissatisfaction—The Czar’s ambition—Aspect
of St. Petersburg—Wretched recruits—Embarrassments of the
Russians—A bivouac—The dying officer—March of the army—The
future of Russia—A review—Anecdote of the Emperor 291
CHAPTER XX.
Foreigners in Russia—The Poles—The oath of
allegiance—Disgraceful treatment—Want of cordiality—Polish
exiles—Greek and Roman churches—Difference of
creed—Saints—Christmas custom—Warsaw—Polish cottages—Peasants:
their treatment—Germans in Russia: their customs; their
mode of life—New-Year’s eve—Pleasing custom—Character of
the Germans—Variety of foreigners—The French—The Turkish
renegade—Mixed society—Conclusion 327
GENERAL REMARKS 339
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
A REVIEW—CHARGE OF 10,000 CAVALRY _Frontispiece._
PETER THE GREAT’S STATUE, AND THE OFFICE OF THE SENATE _Title-page._
THE ALEXANDER COLUMN AND WAR OFFICE _To face page_ 52
COSSACKS OF THE DON AND BLACK SEA ” 59
THE CARNIVAL AT ST. PETERSBURG—RUSSIAN MOUNTAINS ” 215
AN IMPERIAL BALL ” 231
RECEPTION OF THE IMPERIAL FAMILY AT A REVIEW ” 314
THE ENGLISHWOMAN IN RUSSIA.
CHAPTER I.
Aspect of the Dwina—Crosses erected by the
peasants—Sunset in the North—Russian boats and
barks—Boatmen—Their cargoes—Solombol—Shallowness of the
river—Archangel—Samoïdes—Their mode of living—A visit to their
Tchume, or encampment—Reindeer and sledges—Samoïde bridegroom—A
wedding-feast—The Samoïde costume—Their ideas of the Supreme
Being—A keepsake—Catching a reindeer—Manner of eating—Strange
custom.
“By the quarter seven” sang out the musical voice of the sailor who
was engaged in heaving the lead. I hastened on deck, and found we were
crossing the bar at the mouth of the Dwina. I looked around on the banks
of the broad but shallow river; they were flat and marshy, abounding
in brushwood and stunted firs, small birch-trees, with here and there
an ash, the coral berries of which served to enliven the mass of green
foliage. There were some cleared spaces, which, at a distance, with
the setting sun shining full upon them, appeared like verdant lawns,
but were, in fact, only sheets of morass, of which, indeed, the whole
province of Archangel mainly consists. Here and there, amongst the sombre
and interminable forests, I descried, far distant from every human
habitation, a solitary Greek cross, erected by some pious peasant or
grateful fisherman, on his escape from danger. Contrary as such are to
our more spiritual creed, yet I confess that I never could gaze unmoved
on the holy symbol of our faith, thus made an offering from a simple and
devoted heart. Many and many a time, during my long journeys through
hundreds of versts[1] of the forest-land and sandy plains of Russia, have
I felt cheered by this sign of a belief and church that we (because we
are happily more enlightened) are too apt to condemn; yet our ancestors,
to whom the Russians, in their present state, may be compared, did not
find it an useless symbol to awaken sentiments of religion in their
breasts.
The evening was beautiful, and the sunset magnificent! the sky and river,
the forest, the distant ocean, and the whole landscape, seemed wrapped in
a flood of crimson light; every object was as perfectly distinct as in
broad day, the only difference being that there was no shadow. The native
barks glided calmly past us, strange-looking things, gaudily painted with
red, black, and yellow designs, on the rough wood. Their clumsy vanes
resembled those on Chinese junks; some were in the form of a serpent,
others in that of a fish, a griffin, or some fabulous creature or other,
and decorated with streamers of scarlet, all fluttering in the slight
breeze that swept down the stream. The heavy one-masted vessels, with
their large square sails, reminded me of the old pictures of the Saxon
boats some thousand years ago. The boatmen are fine-looking men, of the
real and pure Russian race, uncontaminated by a mixture with the Tartar
blood, of which there are so many traces in the middle provinces. Their
dress is picturesque, and serves greatly to enliven the landscape; their
gaily-coloured shirts show off to much advantage their sturdy forms;
their costume, their manly beards, fair complexions, and light flaxen
hair, might cause us almost to imagine that we were gazing on the men of
Hengist and Horsa, who lived years and years ago; they were singing a
monotonous and sad yet pleasing air, as they walked to and fro the whole
length of their bark, propelling it with their long poles through the
shallow part of the river. Their cargoes consist of articles of which the
odour is not savoury, such as tallow, sheepskins, and hides in the raw
state: evil awaits the nose of him who stands to leeward.
I landed at Solombol, which is the port of Archangel, as vessels of any
considerable burthen cannot proceed so far up the river as the city, on
account of the shallowness of the water.
Archangel, although the capital of the province, and the chief port in
the north of Russia, by no means answers the expectations of a foreigner
who has seen it only in the large letters printed on the map: it was (for
it has since been burnt down) a long straggling street of dismal-looking
wooden houses, mostly painted dark gray or black, with the window-frames
and doors of a staring white; the only buildings that were tolerable were
(as is commonly the case in Russian provincial towns) the government
offices, the gymnasium, and the churches. A more wretched place dignified
by the name of _city_ it is impossible to conceive; but we comforted
ourselves with the reflection that we should not remain long in it, a
few months at the utmost, when we calculated upon bidding adieu to it
for ever; we therefore determined upon philosophically bearing all the
_désagrémens_ which we might be condemned to meet with. It contained, at
the time of which I am writing, about twenty-five thousand inhabitants,
including the foreigners (mostly Germans) and the government authorities,
but it was a miserably dull place. In the winter, which lasts about
eight months of the year, we lived almost entirely by candle-light,
our monotonous existence only varied by a drive in the sledge, or a
stiff formal ball at the governor’s of the province, in which our sole
amusement was staring at the uniforms, bowing to his excellency, and
eating bonbons. I do not know how we should have got through the dreary
winter, had we not been cheered by the consolation that summer would come
some time or other, though it appeared distant enough in the prospect
as we walked out during the short hour of daylight, or rather twilight,
in the middle of the day; when we made ourselves still more miserable
by continually conversing of the daisied meadows and shady lanes, the
forest glades and pretty flowers of “merry England.” Not only did we
suffer terribly from _mal de pays_, that extreme longing for home that
amounts to a malady, but the heaviness of the sky seemed to affect the
mind, as if the excessive cold had frozen all one’s energies. It appeared
of no use struggling against our misfortunes, so we resigned ourselves
to our fate, and made ourselves as miserable as possible. There was only
one circumstance that afforded us amusement, and that was the visits
that some savages, a tribe of Samoïdes, occasionally paid to the town;
they came from their desolate country to avoid the rigour of their cold
climate, by passing a few months in the _more genial south_; indeed,
comparatively speaking, Archangel was a Naples for them, since here the
mercury freezes _only sometimes_. These poor people, who belong to the
Esquimaux race, as some suppose, are natives of a wild, inhospitable
land, stretching far away to the north: little is known of their manners
and customs _chez eux_; but when they descend from their high latitudes,
and make the neighbourhood of the Russian towns their asylum for the
winter, they seem to live in much the same way as the gipsies do,
pitching their tents wherever they may find it most convenient to do so,
and obtaining their subsistence either by the sale of reindeer, of coats
made of their skins, and of curious dolls dressed in their own fashion,
or by begging.
We determined to pay our uncivilized friends a visit. There were but
18° of Réaumur; the sky was beautifully blue; the sun was so kind as to
cast a few odd rays upon the wide plains of snow, stretching like the
waves of the ocean towards the utmost verge of the horizon; there had
been foggy weather during several preceding days, and the particles had
frozen so thickly on the trees, that the branches, hanging pendant with
the weight, had an indescribably beautiful effect, like gigantic white
ostrich-feathers, or as if the forest had been transformed by sudden
enchantment into glittering crystals; in fact, it was the very beau idéal
of an hyperborean landscape.
Above a dozen sledges, each drawn by four reindeer, with either a male
or female Samoïde acting as coachman, were waiting in the yard. After
making a good provision wherewith to treat our new friends, and taking
every precaution against the severity of the cold, by wrapping ourselves
well up in warm fur cloaks and skins, we each took possession of the
particular equipage allotted to us. These little reindeer sledges are
very slightly constructed to enable them to pass lightly and swiftly over
the deep snow; in form they are something like a small boat, supported by
a frail-looking frame; they are not meant apparently for a social people,
for there is only sufficient space for one person in each, besides the
driver, who sits sideways in front, and who guides his pretty-looking
team by means of a long pole. The men and women are so much alike among
this people, that we were obliged to ask which were masculine and which
feminine. A lady-driver fell to my share, who beat the deer rather more
than the others, and seemed in a particularly bad humour; perhaps, as the
Samoïde wives are really and truly subjected to their husbands in all
things, being treated like slaves and drudges, her good man might have
caused her to feel his power and physical strength before setting out,
for, when he spoke to her, it seemed very much as if he were swearing; so
in turn SHE was unmerciful to the weaker creatures in _her_ power. Our
road lay across the river; the “Tchume,” or encampment, being at about
eighteen versts on the further side; the country was covered with snow,
so that nothing but an immense white plain, varied here and there by a
dark stunted fir, formed the landscape in whichever direction we turned
our eyes; to strangers the novelty of such a scene is agreeable, but one
soon wearies of its monotony. The sun had not long risen, it being nearly
noon; so we had the advantage of daylight, a rather scarce commodity
in the dreary north; and as we were all inclined to be unusually gay,
we made the desolate wilderness quite re-echo with our laughter, to
which the clicking of the reindeer’s hoofs formed a kind of castanet
accompaniment. Nature has provided them with widely-spreading feet, which
prevent them from sinking in the snow, and which open and shut with a
smart snapping noise at every step they take. In about an hour and a
half we reached the Tchume, to which we had been guided by the long
wreaths of gray smoke ascending from the midst of the pine forest. Here
we found a little colony encamped; there were four tents constructed
in a very simple fashion, in form very like a sugar-loaf; the frame
was composed of fir-poles joined by some means at the top, the whole
being thickly covered and lined with reindeer-skins. We peeped into one
of the tents: in a space of about eight feet in diameter were huddled
together men, women, babies, and dogs, somewhat in the mode of herrings
in a cask: at first the smoke was so thick that I could discern nothing
distinctly; but I soon perceived that the inmates were well wrapped up
in furs; their greatest enjoyment seemed to consist in getting as warm
as circumstances permitted. In a small sledge filled with the softest
skins was a diminutive baby; I should think it could not have been more
than a few weeks old; its pretty face (for it _was_ pretty although a
Samoïde) was half covered with its fur wrappings; its bright black eyes
and Lilliputian features made it look like an Indian doll. The rigour
of their climate does not, it seems, congeal the tender sympathies of
the human heart, for its mother fondled it with the greatest affection
and pride; she was much delighted with the notice her infant attracted,
and, although she did not understand a word we uttered, yet she gathered
from smiles and signs, the freemasonry of nature, that we admired her
baby, and she was pleased and grateful. We made her a little present
for its sake, and then went to visit the other tents; we found them all
constructed exactly on the same plan.
There were a great many men and women belonging to the tribe; their dress
was curious; the men’s was composed of a long gown, called a militza,
furnished with a hood lined with fur; the whole consisted of prepared
reindeer-skins sewed together with the tendons and sinews of the animal;
the leg-coverings were a kind of boot, which, being much lengthened,
served for other garments as well; they were striped white and brown,
the former being the under fur of the deer, the latter the upper; they
were neatly stitched together, and formed, I should imagine, a very
effective protection from the climate. The ladies’ dress differed in
many respects from that of their lords and masters, inasmuch as it was
much finer, which may cause the malicious to remark that the same vanity
reigns in the female heart in every race and clime alike: it consisted
in a kind of gown very much ornamented; across the shoulders there
were alternate brown and white stripes; from the waist downwards it was
further decorated with pieces of black and red cloth, so arranged that at
a distance it had in some measure the appearance of a plaid petticoat;
indeed, an odd idea struck me, that perhaps the tartan was derived from
the originally savage dress of the ancient Scotch and other Celtic
nations: the whole garment was finished by a deep fringe formed of the
long hair of the reindeer’s beard; the hood was separate from the dress,
and furnished with lappets to cover the poll of the neck. As for the rest
of their attire, it was precisely similar to that of the men. In regard
to their persons, the descriptions that have been given of the Esquimaux
are equally applicable to the Samoïdes; indeed they are apparently of the
same family. They have a language peculiar to themselves, but many speak
Russian, and some of our party got up quite an agreeable conversation
with them. They informed us, amongst other things, that they had been
to a grand wedding some time previous: the bridegroom, it appears, was,
according to their ideas, the richest man they had ever heard of; he
had countless herds of reindeer, and militzas without number; but, as
the most convincing proof of his boundless wealth, we were assured that
he gave so much strong waters on the occasion, that everybody became so
drunk that they could not move. I do not recollect this happy man’s name,
or whether the bride was young and beautiful; doubtless they will both
be celebrated in the ballads of their native land, and be the theme of
wonder and admiration to their countrymen for future generations.
Most of these nomads have been baptized into the Russian Church; but a
gentleman assured me that they paid very little respect to its forms and
ceremonies; and he mentioned a circumstance that would seem to indicate
that they had a much higher sense of the Supreme Being than the besotted
serfs of Russia possess. It appears that he and another gentleman had
paid one of the tribes a visit, when one of the men asked him if he
were a Russian? On being answered in the negative, he showed him some
pictures of saints, hidden under some skins in the tent, and, pointing to
them with disdain, he exclaimed, “See! these are Russian gods, but ours
(raising his hand towards heaven) is greater; He lives up there.”
These savages can also feel, and deeply too, much gratitude for kindness.
I remember, when I had the pleasure of meeting, in Petersburg, M. M——,
of the Académie des Sciences, who was sent some years ago to explore the
northern regions of Asia, he showed me some little figures carved out of
a mammoth-bone; they represented the chief of a tribe and his wife in
their national dress, and had been given to him by the former as a token
of his gratitude and esteem. He had heard that amongst other people it
was frequently the custom to give your own portrait to a friend, and
therefore he had begged M. M—— to accept his. M. M—— also related to us
the extreme kindness he had experienced from some of these uncivilized
races. He was attacked with a severe fever, owing to the great privations
and fatigue he was obliged to undergo in his long and trackless journey
across almost endless forests and morasses, sometimes floundering
through stagnant water up to his horse’s saddle-girths, at others
pursuing his dreary path with dog-sledges in intensely cold weather,
without provisions or places of shelter. At last he was so very ill that
he did not expect to live, and begged to remain behind. His companions
dug a kind of cave for him out of the snow, and left him to his fate; he
remained unconscious he knew not how long. When he recovered his senses,
the fever had left him, but his hunger drove him almost mad; there
seemed nothing but death before him, and, after having in his extremity
devoured his gloves and other articles of clothing, he gave up all hope,
and resigned himself to the terrible fate of perishing of starvation in
the wilderness; but when all chance seemed lost, he suddenly heard a dog
bark; he crawled out of the cave; a tribe of these Samoïdes was passing
by, they caught sight of him and stopped; some of them advanced and gazed
on him with astonishment; his famished state filled them with compassion;
they placed him in a sledge, and conveyed him to their tents, where they
tended him with the greatest care and kindness until he was enabled to
rejoin the “expedition,” to which they conducted him. He rewarded them
with various trinkets highly prized among these people; but such actions
are above recompence. We had not come unprovided with refreshments suited
to their taste, and we produced sundry bottles of strong brandy, at the
sight of which their eyes sparkled with unwonted fires; each of them was
regaled with a tumblerful, which both ladies and gentlemen tossed off as
if it were water, and which had no other effect than that of rendering
them in infinite good humour with us and each other. Even my sulky
driver and her husband felt its power, and drank a loving-cup together,
whilst they began to chatter much faster, and became very obliging. The
daylight was disappearing, so we began to think of returning home. Being
desirous of tasting what a haunch of reindeer was like (which, by the by,
we afterwards found to be extremely tough), we resolved upon purchasing
a fine young animal, which, “all unconscious of his fate,” was quietly
grazing amid the numerous herd scattered around. At our request the
proprietor seized a lasso, and with unerring aim caught the poor little
creature by the horns, and, gradually hauling in the rope, sailor’s
fashion, soon brought it near enough for another Samoïde to lay it dead
at his feet with a blow on its forehead. This gave us an opportunity
of witnessing a truly savage feast; for, no sooner were they given to
understand that we only required the haunches, than they tore out the
heart and liver, and immediately devoured them warm and raw! I remarked
that they had a very peculiar manner of eating; they held the meat with
their teeth, and, like the Abyssinians, cut off each mouthful with their
knife so close to their nose, that we were in constant fear lest its tip
would be sliced off at the same time. I was assured that amongst these
people, when the father becomes too old to follow his usual pursuits,
it is the duty of the eldest son to kill and bury him! Just before I
quitted Russia I met a chief and chieftainess of the Samoïdes, wearing
an ornamental head-dress of gold, and was told that they were staying at
the winter-palace, but for what purpose I could not learn; perhaps the
government means to make use of them in the present war; if so, it can
only be in America against the Indians of the British territories.
The cold greatly increased; before we reached home the snow fell so
thickly that we could scarcely see; indeed it seemed more like cutting
particles of ice than aught else, so that we were glad to find ourselves
again under a warm roof.