and are looked upon as impure beings, carrying pollution bÿ
their approach. The Samoiedes are extremely timid, and
subject to paroxysms of terror as well as of rage.*
"Paragraph 2® Physical Characters of thé* Samoiedes'.
The Samoiedes have the broad-faced and pyramidal skull
characteristic of the races whom: I have termed Turanian
nations. A Samoiede cranium figured and described by
Blumenbach, bears, as that celebrated writer observes;'a
considerable resemblance to the Mongolian form, but a
still more striking one to two skulls of. native .Greenlanders
represented in the fourth decade of his series* It resembles
these skulls in the broad, flat face, depressed or flattened
nose, and general shape or conformation, :àsrwéll as in
lightness depending on thinness, of the bony-rdfeoieturei
Long, narrow nasal bones are conspicüOüsv
B The resemblance between the Samoiedes and tf&Cnatives
of Greenland was noticed by aneye-witnes#, Adam Oleariusi
two centuries ago, and this observation agrees: with the
accounts given of both nations by old and by récent travellers.
I shall cite the description of .the Samoiedes by
Pallas. He says, that the Samoiedes differ ’from the Ostiaks
in their language and physical characters. “ Les'visages
de ces derniers resemblent à ceux des'Russes, et beaucoup
* The physical weakness of this race is iUustrated by the-fidlwing' observa-
tions':—“ Les Samoièdes sont les homines' le s 'plus'craintifs de la terre;’ tout
événement ou à^et imprévu lés jette dans une fortè terreur. TJfa* choâ'e rë-ï
tnarquable, c’est que les magiciens,' et un grand nombre dé Samoièdes ontiquel?
que chose d’eifrayant dans la figure ; ceci provient de la sensibiUfç_extr.aorcli-r
naire de leurs fibres, du climàt qp’ils habitent, de leur imagination, et dé
leurs préjugés.' Des personnes dignes de foi' m'ont assuré, qu’on trou-voit de
figures pareilles’ chez lea'Tôtingduses et les Kamtschàdales.” - “ Pour peu qu’on
les touche, dans quelque partie du corps sensible, un cri, ôü un coup de sifflet
imprévu, un rêve, &c. mettent ces malheureux hors d’eux mêmes, et les font
presque tomber dans une espèce dé rage,” . “ Lorsqu’ils ne peuvent assouvir
leur fureur, fis frappent dés pieds ’ét des mains, poussent des hurlemens, se-
roulent par terre, &c. Les Samoièdes et les Ostiaks, pour guérir ces maniaques,
allument un morceau de peau de renne, ou un petit tampon de poils-de
rennes-, et fis leur en font respirer,la fumée par les nez.”—-Pallas, tom. y, p. 180.
‘ ‘ft'seems that thèse wretched people have some notion of â future state!—
Pallas, p. 178. ~
plus encore à ceux des Fiuoisf le# Saûioiêdés.ont
beaucoup de ressemblance avec-les Toungouses. Ils ont le
visage plat-rond, et-flargè^ce qui rend le# jeunes femmes
très agtéables. Its ont de larges lèvres retroussées, le nez
large et ouvert-,'peu de barbe, et les-cheveux noirs et rudes.
La plupart sontplutdt f)’etit#que de taille mediocre, mais bien
proportionné#^ plus trapus- et pi ils 1 gras que-les Ostiaks.
Ils so#t en revanche plus sauvdges et plus remuans que
cé’p e u p le .■
We know as yet but a small part of the race of the
Saoebiede’#J$and cannot 'dèt^minè^hat varieties in complexion
and'form may be found among the tribes of this nation.
Such varieties'-exist. - -According to the M.M.jSchmidt,
who travelled in Samoiedeland, the tribes inear Beresow
have long and slender bodies, while thé people near the
Tas, nearly ten degÿëes-further eastward, are of short stature
and very white complexions, and speak a different dialect.*'
Paragraph ’B ^F u rth ér In<|uirie# into the-'History-of the
i SatoOiedaes;—Discovery * OÉftheir Original CöuntryH*-
Although the Khasovo have existed as a nation for many
ages,4iperhaps*dight centuries at least, in the northern tracts
of Europe and Asia, they do not appear W b e aborigines
of that1 country.^f* - Théir- 'earlier history has been traced
bÿ philological investigations.
Strahlenberg says, that he found people in soüthern'Si-*’
beria whose languages 'bore some affinity to that of the
* M.M. Schmidt’s Tagebuch.—Klaproth’s A3, ,
t The whole of the region inhabited' by the Samoiedes to the westward of
theilÿràl is covered with traces left, by a race of people who preceded them.
In many places, on the scores of lakes, in swamps-now .covered* with moss,
and near rivers, caves are disboyered in rocksjmd, hills-with openings resembling
doorways. In thèse caves are fo u n d ove'ns, f é lM of-iron, copper, and
earthen vessels-and instruments,sand fréquënilyvihuÂân ^dneà - In the opi-’
nion of the Samoiedes'; these retreats belonged-, to invisible beings, to whom;
1hey give the name o f Sirte ; they are supposed to go unseen, to the chace, and
to be known only to the Tadebui or the magicians or priests.—Klaproth,
Asia Polyglotta, 165.