tribes living to the westward of the Lena are of shorter
stature: they resemble, in many respects, the Ostiaks, a
branch, as we have seen, of the Ugrian family. Some of
them are known to have descended originally from parts
of the high central region. Others, though marks of
relationship to the western tribes are not wanting, must,
in the present state of our knowledge, be regarded as the
aboriginal inhabitants of the tracts on both sides of the
Yenisei
Section I I .—Of the Khasovo or Samoiedes.
Paragraph 1.—History of the Samoiedes.
Obscure and . unfortunate as the lot of the Finnish or
Ugrian race has been when compared with the^prighter
destinies of more favoured nations,^their condition has yet
been more happy than that of another people almbst as
extensively spread, who have beenYor many centuries .their
neighbours. The race termed by the Russians Samoiedes
give themselves the appellation of Khasovo, which mean§,
in their language, “ Men”, or “ Human Beings.” Of all the
nations of Europe and Asia they are the lowest in physical
and moral cultivation. The origin of the name by which
they are known to the Russians and other civilised nations
is disputed and uncertain.*
* Samoiedes, says an old writer, who has communicated much information
in a Memoir entitled, “Neue Nachricht von Samoiedien und den oamoxediern^
says, that Samoiedes means “ Sebst-fresser,” which, as he thinks, may be
“ Men-eaters.”~ and a notion has prevailed, that this-was the original senses of
the term. But the people in question were never imagined to be cannibals.
A more probable supposition is, that it is a name for the race, so termed
adopted by the Russians from the Finnish tribes, who must have known the
Samoiedes long before they came into contact with the Russians. If derived
from the Finnish word Suoma it may signify inhabitants of morasses or swamps,
with which the country of the Samoiedes, not less than that of the Lappes,—
likewise from a similar reason termed Samayadna,—abounds. This is Ado-
lung’s opinion, which, though contradicted by Klaproth, is probably correct.—
See Mithridates, Th. 2, p. 55, 2.
The learned M. Lehrberg says, that Samoiedes means, in Russian, “ Salmon-
e a t e r s He thinks that this name was given at first only to the tribe near the
Obi, which abounds in salmon.—See Lehrberg*s Untersuchungen, cited before.
Piano Carpini, perhaps the first traveller who mentioned the Samoiedes,
joined them with the Parossites. He thought they hud dog’s faces.
The present Samoiede^ though still widely dispersed, are
probably but the small remains of one of the most ancient
and extensively »spread races of the old continent. They
are the inhabitants of the cold and barren coast of the
Icy or Northern Sea, from the borders of Lappland eastward,
and may be said to, reach from the White Sea and
almost from Archangel;- on the Dwina to the Lena in eastern
Siberia. They* consist oL two principal tribes, the
Laghe and the Vanuta, and these are divided into numerous
hordes, who differ from each other in dialect. These lesser
tribes are named principally from, the countries where they
dwell. The! Samoiedes of the Mesene are found on the
river so named, which falls into.'the White* Sea?: they live
three or four hundred wersts from the river Dwina* To
this division belong .the "Samoiedes of Obdorsk, and those
of the Petschora and the lake Pastösero, termèd also Yu-
gorian Samoiedes, as inhabiting old Ugoria. To the Si«*
berian Samoiedes- belong the Guarizi along, the Straits of
Waigatz, the Taugian Samoiedes, so- termed from the
gulph of the same name, who are spread through a
vast extent df country as far as the Chatünga and the
Lena and the shores Of the Icy Sea. Between the Yenisei
and thé Obi are the Samoiedes of the Tas and of Manga-
Seia, who term themselves Mokase, and are. erroneously
called by the Russians Gstiaks of the Tas. To »the westward
of the Tas, Lhe tribe termed Laak Ostiaks are also
SamoiedesOn the barren coast of the sea, reaching from
the mouth of the Obi to that of the Yenisei, termed
Juraz, are the tribes called . Ynrazian. Their dialect is
nearest to that of the Samoiedes of Obdorsk and Man-
gaseia. The Samoiedes are the sole inhabitants of the
great northern promontory of the Siberian coast.; which
is sometimes termed the North Cape of Asia. They reach
inland to the country about the lake of Py'asino. Other
numerous tribes of the same family there are in remote
parts of the Russian Empire and beyond its southern boundaries.
But the tribes now enumerated are those which
Allgem., Hist, dor Reisen., Th. 19, p. 448.