the age of ten or twelve years, and cease to bear, children
at thirty. The writer conjectures that very early mar«
riages, joined to polygamy, hare been the cause of the
physical weakness of the race./ If the. statement of their
extreme precosity is * correct, ther habit above alluded to
may perhaps have given risetoitidnthe first place. ‘‘They
have, even when young, pendulous breasts and nipples
as black as a coal;” , This last character they partake with
the Lapponic women, who never marry before their fifteenth
year.
Their tents are made of pieces of bark covered with
rein-dem* skin, and are of a pyramidal form; their occupations
are fishing and the chaee. h .
The Bamoiedes are, as the same writer observ^i^not
destitute of some notions of religion. They believe in the
existence of a Supreme Being, who created and preserves all
things, but offer him no worship»,because, they\suppose
that he takes no notice of them and requires nothing of
them. To another being, inferior to the supreme, but yet
very powerful, eternal and invisible, but inclined .to^evill
they ascribe all misfortunes. They have about them idols
or fetisses in obedience to the commandpf their koedes&icki
or soothsayers: these are supposed to give their aid in any
misfortune and want of success in the chace. - -They .believe
also in a future state, or that the soul wanders forth from the
grave, in which they accordingly inter the clothes and the
bows and arrows of the deceased in order that they, may be
ready for the use of their owner when he stands in need of
them.”
M. Erman, in his lately-published travels in Siberia,
has given some additional particulars respecting the religion
of the Samoiedes. ‘‘Although entirely remote from the
ideas of the Buddhists and Mohammedans, the Samoiedes
partake with their neighbours, the Ostiaks, a belief in an
eternal diety, to whom they give the appellation of Num,
* The game author declares, that a prevalent notion, according to which
the female Samoiedes were not subject to the catamenia, is untrue. He says
that he has made particular inquiries on this subject, and can venture to contradict
the above assertion, but adds, “ it is true that they are very scanty.”
declaring that they do not know how to represent his form.
Their invoTcStions are, “ Num tad'' and l^Wum arka, that is
^G o d ff-rtint’’’ and « God be th em h ed literally, “ is great”
Their ‘ ‘ Tadefezire^' erroneously.*supposed to be demigods, are
enlylntercessörs or agèpts of the will of the Supreme. To
the image&fcpf these Tadebzie, on the shores of Waigatz,
termcdrCto/ey -'they sacrifice rein-i||ers in order té obtain
good fortune in the ehace : hetcethe Samoiede name for the
isle of W a ig a tz , ‘^Chadoyteya” or Image-land. To the polar
bear they pay a sort of veneration, as do the Ostiaks to his
black congener. They swear by the vengeance of this pow-
W u l beast', yet they kill and eat him, but propitiate him immediately
afterwards.' Fumigation with the fat of this bear
is supposed to afford protection against unfortunate accidents,
which the eVil wishes of an adversary or the presence
of a woman may occasion.*
Like almóst all other 'tribes of men in a similar stage of
society, the Samoiedes have!an order of priests, reputed’
mediators between men and the gods. With this institution
and with the religion of spells or fetisses magical
performances are as usual connected. The schamans or
tadebui,-—a name which bears sorho relation to that of the
Idyi bf the Samoiedes,—are also wizard#, and support their
spiritual supremacy, like the! magicians of ancient Egypt,
by juggling and mysterious performances.. I
Pallas has given an account of the western tribes of
Samoiedes, drawn up by M. Soiiïëf, who, in his Journey
to the north, had an opportunity of becoming acquainted
with their habits. They appear from this account to be
the most degraded of all human races. They hunt reindeers
or white foxes, and live bn the produce óf the chace,
by fishing on the lakes and inlets of the sea, or upon the
flesh of the white bears or whales, or other marine animals
cast by the waters upon the shore. Their greatest delicacy
is the raw and yet smoking brain of a rein-deer recently
killed. They have likewise some flocks of these animals
tamed. Their women are treated by them with the greatest
harshness; they perform all works of drudgery and labour
* Email’s Reisé, 1, p. 681.
VOL. IV. ' ^ G