The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

THE SAMOYEDS. 851Russian plains south and east of their present domain. The chroniclers speak ofLapp tribes settled seven hundred years ago on the shores of Onega, and in theDvina basin certain Lapp terms, meaning " river," " brook," " island," or " forest,"still recall a time when they occupied the region east of the "White Sea.The veryname Samoyed, containing the root Same, which is the proper appellation of theLapps, might seem to imply that the present occupants of the eastern plains wereconsidered as the successors of the Lapps. The Karelians, now reduced to a merehandful near the shores of the "White Sea named from them, were also amongst thesuccessors of the Lapps, and traces of them are still discovered throughout theregion draining northwards. The Russian dialect current in Archangel is full ofterms and even expressions borrowed from the Finnish, and the Karelian Finnswere probably included with the Ziryanians under the collective designation ofBiarmians, mentioned in the mediaeval chronicles, and whom the Norse navigatorsperhaps somewhat exaggeratedly described as a rich, powerful, and civilised peopleacquainted with agriculture and the industrial arts.The Artel, or fishing and hunting associations formed by most of the GreatRussian littoral communes in Archangel, chiefly employ technical terms of Karelianorigin, showing that before the arrival of the Russians such associations hadalready been formed by the Finns of this region. In many places the wholecommune organizes the fishing expeditions, distributing the men along the coastand the rivers in a way best calculated to equalise the chances, a share being evenassigned to those left behind to attend to the domestic affairs of the villages. Butconfusion and inequality amongst the members of these unions have been causedby the family and communal debts contracted first with the convents and Bishopsof Kholmogori, and later on with the Russian traders.East of the "White Sea the Samoyeds, like the Lapps, represent the old Finnishrace, though in many respects contrasting with their somewhat remote kindred.Their broader and flatter features and lower foreheads betray a more decidedlyMongolian aspect. Zograf includes them amongst the brachycephalic Mongols,while Castren regards them as of mixed Finnish and Mongol origin. They callthemselves Nenetz (plural Netza)—that is, " Men " —or else Khassov (Khassova) ;that is, "Males." The term Samoyed, synonymous with " Autophagi," has givenrise to numerous legends, and in many documents they are called Siroyedi, or"Eaters of Raw Flesh," which, again, is nearly synonymous with "Eskimo,"applied to the northernmost tribes of the American continent, who, under a similarclimate, have developed analogous habits.When, in 1556, Burrough visited Vaigach, the holy island of the Samoyeds,he saw the northern headland covered with 420 statues of men, women, and childrengrouped round the great seven-headed idol of Vesako. In 1594 this " Cape Idol "(Afgoden Hoek) was revisited by the Dutchman Nai, and in 1824 Ivanovrediscovered the monstrous figures described by Burrough.They have since beenoverthrown and burnt by zealous missionaries, and a cross now surmounts the topmostpoint of the headland. But the Russian traders on the coast say thatfragments of the sacred images have been preserved, and the place of sacrifice in a