This tribe lives so far to the north, that they see very little of the
Russians, though they belong to the emperor of Russia. They live close by
the Northern Sea. Imagine how very cold it must be. The Samoyedes inhabit
tents made of reindeer skins, such as the Ostyaks used to live in. They
are a much wilder people than the Ostyaks. The women dress in a strange
fantastic manner; not contented with a reindeer dress, as the Ostyaks
are, they join furs and skins of various sorts together; and instead of
veiling their faces, they wear a gay fur hat, with lappets; and at the
back of their necks a glutton's tail hangs down, as well as long tails of
their own hair, with brass rings jingling together at the end.
But if their taste in _dress_ is laughable, their taste in _food_ is
horrible, as you will see. A traveller went with a Samoyede family for a
little while. They were drawn by reindeer, in sledges, and other reindeer
followed of their own accord. When they stopped for the night, they
pitched the tent, covering the long poles with their reindeer skins,
sewed together. The snow covered the ground inside the tent, but no one
thought of sweeping it away. It was easy to get water to fill the kettle,
as a few lumps of snow soon melted. Some of the men slept by the blazing
fire, while others went out, armed with long poles, to defend the deer
from the wolves. There was in the party a child of two years old, with
its mother. The child was allowed to help himself to porridge out of the
great kettle. The traveller offered him white sugar; but at first he
called it snow, and threw it away; soon, however, he learned to like it,
and asked for some whenever he saw the stranger at tea. At night, the
child was laid in a long basket, and was closely covered with furs; in
the same basket also, he travelled in the sledge.
One day the traveller saw a Samoyede feast. A reindeer was brought, and
killed before the tent door; and its bleeding body was taken into the
tent, and devoured, all raw as it was, with the heartiest appetite. It
was dreadful to see the Samoyedes gnawing the flesh off the bones; their
faces all stained with blood, and even the child had his share of the raw
meat. Truly they looked more like wolves than men.
I might go on to tell you of many other tribes; but I must be content
just to mention a few.
There is a tribe who live in the eastern part of Siberia, called the
Yakuts, and instead of deer, and dogs, they keep horses, and oxen, and
strange to say, they _ride_ upon the oxen; and _eat_ the horses. A
horse's head is counted by them a most dainty dish. The cows live in one
room, and the family live in the next, with the calves, which are tied to
posts by the fire, and enjoy the full blaze. You may suppose that the
calves need the warmth of the fire, when I tell you that the windows of
the house are made of ice, but that the cold is so great, that the ice
does not melt.
There is a large tribe called the Buraets. They dwell in tents. They are
Buddhists. At one time the Russians allowed missionaries to go to them.
There was an old man named Andang, who used to attend the services very
regularly. His wife accompanied him. One Sunday the preacher spoke much
of heaven and its glories. The old woman, on returning to her tent, said
to her husband, "Old man, I am going home to-night." Her husband did not
understand her meaning: then she said, "I love Jesus Christ, and I think
I shall be with him to-night." She lay down in her tent that night, but
rose no more. In the morning, the old man found her stiff and cold. He
saddled his horse, and set off to tell the missionary. "O sir," said he,
with tears, "my wife is gone home." When the missionary heard the account
of her death, he felt cheered by the hope that the old woman, though born
a heathen, had died a Christian, and had left her tent to dwell in a
glorious mansion above; for how was it that she felt no fear of death,
and how was it that she felt heaven was her home? Was it not because
Jesus loved her, and because she loved Jesus?