Part 50

The Ostiak population was estimated in 1891 at about 27,000, and is believed to be still decreasing. There is some interesting information regarding them in Erman’s Travels in Siberia.

Note 83: p. 433--Larvæ out of nostrils.

The reindeer is excessively troubled by the attacks of several insects, related to the bot-flies (Œstridæ), which attack sheep, cattle, and horses in this country. One lays its eggs in the skin, another in the nostrils, whence the larvæ emerge. The reindeer have a great horror of these insects, and are said to become weak and emaciated in their efforts to avoid them. The disease due to the parasitic insects is sometimes referred to as “germ”, and may destroy most of a herd.

Note 84: p. 438.--Brick Tea.

See Note 36.

Note 85: p. 444.--Shamans.

Some interesting details as to these in Hofgaard’s Nordenskïold’s Voyage. He speaks of the preparatory asceticism: “solitude, watching, fasting, exciting and narcotic remedies work upon his imagination; he soon sees the spirits and the apparitions he heard about in his youth, and believes firmly in them”.... “He is no cool, calculating deceiver, no common conjuror.” “Sometimes they have been thrashed in order that they might change a particular prophecy, but Wrangel relates a case in 1814, when their orders to kill a beloved chief, in order to stay a plague, were at length obeyed. Though Christianity has been introduced for more than a century, the Shamans have still (1882) much power.”

A scholarly account of the Shamans, which includes much interesting material in regard to the customs which Brehm describes in this chapter, will be found in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxiv., August and September, 1894. “Shamanism in Siberia and European Russia”, being the second part of “Shamantsvo,” by Professor V. M. Mikhailovskii, translated by O. Wardrop.

NOMAD HERDSMEN AND HERDS OF THE STEPPES.

See F. Burnaby’s Ride to Khiva (1876); H. Lansdell’s Through Siberia (1882), and Russian Central Asia (1885); A. de Levchine, Description des Hordes et des Steppes des Kirghiz-Kazaks (Paris, 1840); Zaleskie, La vie des Steppes Kirghizes (Paris, 1865).

COLONISTS AND EXILES IN SIBERIA.

Note 86: p. 514.--Geology of the Altai.

“In the Altai the mountains are built up of granites, syenites, and diorites covered with metamorphic slates belonging to the Laurentian, Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous periods. The Jurassic strata on the outskirts are all fresh-water deposits, and contain coal.”

“The Altai Mines (12,000 men) yielded in 1881, 16,670 lbs. of silver, 13,140 cwts. lead, 6708 cwts. copper, 3200 cwts. iron, 240,000 cwts. coal, and 320,000 cwts. salt.”

Note 87: p. 539.--The Exile System.

The reader should consult Dr. Lansdell’s Through Siberia (London, 1882); H. de Windt’s Siberia As It Is (London, 1892); Seebohm’s Siberia in Asia (1882). While some, e.g. de Windt, give an account of the exile system which agrees with Brehm’s, it should be noted that others think very differently; see Kennan’s Siberia and the Exile System (1891).

AN ORNITHOLOGIST ON THE DANUBE.

Note 88: p. 563.--The Penduline Titmouse.

A very small species of titmouse occurring in Southern Europe and Africa. Its remarkable nest (see figure) is formed of a felt woven of hemp or wool often mixed with goat’s hair. It usually hangs on the extreme end of a branch just over water. Both birds share in the work of building, as also in that of hatching and rearing the young, of which there are usually seven.

INDEX.

Aard-vark or ant-eater, 194.

Abiad, Bahr-el-, White Nile, 368.

Abu tok, a small hornbill, 216.

Adony, heronry on island of, 544.

Altai, crown-estate of the, 513, 585.

Altrices and præcoces, 59, 566.

Antelope, migrations of the, 245.

Anthropoid apes, 308.