Part 3

THE HEATHEN OSTIAKS.

Racial affinities--Christians and heathen--The dress of the Ostiaks--The tshum of the wandering Ostiaks--The life of the herdsmen--A fishing village--The Ostiak at the fair--An Ostiak wedding--An interview with a Shaman--Funeral rites--(Notes, pp. 584-585), 416

NOMAD HERDSMEN AND HERDS OF THE STEPPES.

The name Kirghiz--Conditions of life on the steppe--Winter dwellings--Breaking up the camp--In praise of the yurt--The herds of the Kirghiz--The Kirghiz horse--Summer wanderings--“A sheep’s journey”--Returning flocks--Evening in the aul--(Note, p. 585), 451

FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE AMONG THE KIRGHIZ.

The Kirghiz as horsemen--Racing and wrestling--Hunting with eagles and greyhounds--A sheep-drive--The “red tongue”--Kirghiz bards--Education and character--Kirghiz etiquette--The price of a bride--The children--Funeral ceremonies, 482

COLONISTS AND EXILES IN SIBERIA.

Mistaken impressions--Impartial observation--The emancipation of the serfs--The Altai--Compulsory service--Condition of the peasants--The superabundant harvest--Romance in Siberia--Domestic life open to the convicts--The way of sighs--General picture of Siberian life--Runaways--(Notes, pp. 585-586), 510

AN ORNITHOLOGIST ON THE DANUBE.

Twenty eyries--The voyage down the river--The woods on the banks--A heronry--Sea-eagles--A paradise of birds--The marsh of Hullo--The black vultures of Fruškagora--Homeward once more--(Note, p.586), 540

INDEX, 587

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FIG. Page

PORTRAIT OF ALFRED EDMUND BREHM, Frontispiece.

1. Scene on the Sogne Fjord, Norway, 35

2. Colony of Eider-ducks, 44

3. The Bird-bergs of Lapland, 51

4. Razor-bills, 61

5. The High Tundra in Northern Siberia, 65

6. Peregrine Falcons and Lemmings, 70

7. The White or Arctic Fox (Canis lagopus), 73

8. The Reindeer (Tarandus rangifer), 76

9. Skuas, Phalathrope, and Golden Plovers, 80

10. View in the Asiatic Steppes, 89

11. A Salt Marsh in the Steppes, 90

12. A Herd of Horses during a Snowstorm on the Asiatic Steppes, 94

13. Lake Scene and Waterfowl in an Asiatic Steppe, 99

14. The Souslik (Spermophilus citillus), 108