the Christian em ; and ipanyiaf them a re ^ v e r; Persian .çôîbs
of the kind used, by the-i Arabs .before thejy oar »695,.-when the
Arabian or Saracen money was first; cast.. From .these facts
M*« Erahn Mid other learned men have inferred that a,.great
traffic by caravaas wa&ÿarried «on .daring the middle,agg^
through the. .eastern parts of Europe,- between th e northern
coast then inhabited by Scandinavian and Finnish -races, and
the countries near thé Euxine and the Gaspian, .which the arts
and the refinement of southern Asia had l^ ^ r tfy penetrated'*^
The Pagan Biarmi on thg Dwina worshipped thç^SelQlfa
Babba or Golden Woman. They are said^to havet.pa-id
adoration to h re and other* elements^_iAGoording to'qthe^evi--
denen collected bÿ Müller, thé Permian province was qpn-
quered in the twelth- century by the warlike:^ov|^|(^dia^and
it is recorded in the.annals of - Russia that in the. y ear. l^dS
Pemna was converted to the Christian leBgiofi-hyvSfa Stephen
■permeki, who invented the Permiun_alphabgt* and .founded ja
monastery ât the mouth of#fie, river W|®n,*-
I It appears from Nestor’s-accounts, that a",-separate di-vist^n
of this race^ more nearly allied to the Finns, who occupied
countries on the Duna in early times, moved».towards, the west.
The Permians or Biarini. are recognised,.underi tho:
Perffiii. asrearlyf-asjthe eleventh century, and^a^e; identified
with the Sanolocenses or Savolotchië.lj These/peopleare the
Tsehnde^of the Ewalli or Waldai mountains who are known;
to the Russians. They appear to have inhabited the country
about the Ladoga and Onega lakes whenjthe first attack^ was
made upon tbem lby a Russian .prince in the year 1QT9.4
There are three tribes of people still inhabiting : parts of
ancient Permia, and speaking dialects allied to the Finnish
language : thèse are. the proper Permians, the Syrjæni, and
the Wotiaks. The two former constitute in reality one people,
and give themselves in common the designation, of Komi or
. Komi-murt ; mmrt signifying man. The ‘Perjfiians inhabit the
* A1J. thèse points have been investigated with great research by Mi Müller in
his learned work, so often referred to, entitled “ Der Ugrische Volkstamm. See b. i>
p. 343 ; bd- ii.p. 327 et seqq.
f The Sauoloeeoses and the Pgrmii are mentioned by the commentator on Virgil,
Julius Pomponius Sabinus. . Schlözer’s Nèstor’s Annals, ii. g. 43. Muller, ibid.
+ Tatischtschew bey Sögren, Mém-, de 1’Acad. des Sc. St. Pet. Muller, Eb. cit.
.Comparatively elevated-epuntries watered by the Upper Kama,
as its confluence“ with the Ocher, ,apd districts on the
Wjtsqhpfa and rf.s^u|,gpw#M The 'Syrjasni live to the. westw
a r d ^ the Permians on* thq-bEtnks df the Wytschegda and
;®i'<3hama': th ^ h 'a v e the -Samm-edes for their neighbours to-
Ward^lrifrfrdrth, and-w^Einh^ of Ofejaefz towards the west.
Tbe pfeSpte^§fv;Syrjsenia and P$j$a$i$ are described by Eve-
rard Ysbrandt' Ides/-in the, of his. journey through
Siberia in the year He ‘.^ays that ^ ’the inhabitants
ague or.. WlflpM-Uggy..sphak;a”.language «'resembling
'thati _pf the, Liv^gj^ijis,''near, I Ge'rmanyj. fprrfsome of his;re-
'ttihhC who undgrptbqd, that language -could, comprehend a
„'g«r*6'at part tfo'ft .yvhat tMesefcpeople said.” He must allude to
.the Liefi>ipr<Finnish^g6pl'e pn-the gulf of-Livopia, $^olowi-
,tsdheigd'as, he add#, is a- very great city, inhabfted'by merchants
.and’artificers' m^Uver-,, $nd bdBe-,, apd surrounded by
.salt-pits; but the natives of the provincedo-n'ot live in towns,
| | | i t rno^iily in small-villages' built in the’'woods; The- country
termin-ufls in^a-forpst;/- --“ The stature-and- habit of these peo>-
, pie are not'clffereht from thosb’of the -Russiau -peasantry. They
all divehy dgriqultyre, except thog^-cmployed in the manufacture
of furs. They pay tribute to his Gaarish majesty^but are
tinder p b way-wode,:/cjbd°si-ng judges among themselves. They
, are,Gfeijstians of-the Greek church.”* -
The thi|d> Permian tribe, Nvi#j,the Wotiaks, inhabit the
-Country on the W’iatka, and between th a t river and the Upper
Kama. They call themselves Ufid-murdy meanisf^-ff hospitable
.people.” Their name in Slavonic isWpti. Pallas,-says that they
inhabited the same country before the invasion of Russia by
.the Tartars, when they were governed...by princes of their own.
The .Wotiaks have beep, described by many travellers in Siberia,
b u t more particularly-by^Gmelin. He ..says that “ in the
villages .of thp Votiaks, which are,situated beyond the Tartars
of.Hasan, nearly alt the inhabitants, both men and women,
h a y e ^ ijh a ir.” Pallas, confirms tfiis statement. He describee
<the • rVotiaks as different in many, respects from the Tsehere-
misseSt" “ They are mote lively, gay, and less obstinate; but
OB. the other hand much addicted to drunkenness:”.... \ • V V-'■ ■i/ ■ ; ; ■ ■ “ Am’on«O*
* E . Ysbrandt Ides. Travels from Muscovy, to China.