LAPLANDER ON SNOW-RUNNERS (VERNEAU).
Besides the flesh and milk of the reindeer the Laplanders eat its blood, which is boiled down into a sort of pudding. The meat which is not eaten fresh is dried and stored away. Fish are dried and smoked. Birds and their eggs are much eaten. Bread, much like the “famine bread” of the Finns, is made from roots and barks. Soup is made of pine bark mixed with fat and flour or meal.
The Laplanders who live in settled houses depend upon hunting during the fall and fishing during the summer. They hunt reindeer, squirrels, and birds. Wild reindeer they take chiefly by pitfalls: they dig a hole, or trench, in the path over which the reindeer is likely to pass, and carefully cover it with branches, earth, and grass. When the animals have fallen in, they are easily killed. Lapps are fond of the eggs of water birds, and to secure them they build nests for the birds in trees near the water, and then rob them after the eggs have been laid.
The Laplanders are great believers in spirits. To summon these they use drums or tambourines, consisting of a ring of wood over which a membrane is tightly stretched. This has jingling objects fastened to it which make a noise when the instrument is beaten or rattled. Upon the membrane are rudely painted, curious figures, usually in red. Thus the sun, animals, and human beings are pictured, and are believed to help the drummer. The Lapps greatly fear their god of storms. He is believed to drive the storms forth from his cave with a club and to bring them back with a shovel. They fear him most at the season when the young reindeer are born, and then pray to him not to let loose the storms, lest the little creatures perish. Through their sorcerers they secure from this god, storm strings with three knots tied in them. Each of these knots represents a storm. If one knot is untied, a little storm is let loose; if two are untied, a greater one; if three, there is a fearful tempest. These strings are used against enemies or those who have tried to do them harm. The neighbors of the little Lapps think these can do them much harm with their wind strings and other magic, and they dread and hate them.
XI.
TURKS.
With the Turks we pass from the peoples of Europe to those of Asia, for the European Osmanli Turks are only the most settled branch of a large group of peoples, most of whom lead wandering lives and live in Central and Northern Asia. All speak almost the same language. Formerly there was a great Turkish Empire, which stretched from the borders of China to the Caspian Sea. The present peoples of the Turkic group live within this area and in European Turkey. Among the most important of these peoples are the Yakuts, Turkomans, Uzbegs, Nogais, Cossacks, and Osmanli,—the latter being the Turks of European Turkey.
We shall speak only of the Yakuts, Turkomans, and Osmanli. The Yakuts occupy an area along both banks of the Lena River and extending west from it. They are wanderers and raise herds of cattle and horses. They live chiefly on the produce of their herds, eating horse flesh especially, and making much cheese. Like many of their neighbors they are fond of koumyss, a drink prepared by fermenting mare’s milk. Those living farthest north, near the delta of the Lena River, also hunt small animals for food. These wandering herders, living in tents, are not quarrelsome; they respect age, and the old men control affairs and determine the time for moving camp. Women are well treated by their husbands, but one man may have several wives. In such cases, the wives live each in a separate tent, and these tents are placed about the tent of the husband. Men pay the father of their wives, for these, with cattle and horses. When a man among the Yakuts dies, they dress him in his best clothing and place in the grave with him his knife, a flint and steel, some tinder, and a little food. The burial is always under a tree, and two graves are dug. In one the man is buried with his head turned toward the west. The man’s favorite horse is brought in his finest harness and loaded with presents: a fat mare is also brought. These are both killed and buried in the second grave that they may accompany their master.
CARAVAN PREPARING TO START: ASIATIC TURKS (VERNEAU).
The Turkomans, who live in Southern Turkestan and adjoining regions, are probably more like the ancient Turks in appearance, than any of the other Turkic tribes of the present. They are somewhat tall, with a broad, rounded head, broad face, prominent cheek bones, little slant eyes, a low nose, rather thick lips, and projecting ears. Their skin is yellowish, their hair is coarse and black, and they have little beard. They delight in bright clothing, and the women wear much jewelry. It is said that they wear so many jingling ornaments, that a party of passing women make a noise almost like the tinkling of bells. The Turkomans live in large, round, wall tents: the light framework of poles is covered with great pieces of felt. This felt is beaten by the women from sheep’s wool and camel’s hair. They are comfortable within. The floor is often covered with fine rugs or skins, and handsome woven stuffs are hung upon the wall or thrown over the sitting places. These fine articles are partly woven by the women and partly stolen from passing caravans—for the Turkomans are dreadful pillagers. Until very lately they were also slave-hunters and stole many Persian women to sell as slaves. The Russian government has almost put an end to this trade. The Turkomans raise horses, sheep, and camels. They eat the flesh of these animals and drink their fresh milk. Unlike the Yakuts, they do not care for koumyss. When an important man among the Turkomans dies, they raise a heap of stones over his grave. If he was a very pious man, they pay great respect to his grave and consider it a holy spot. A man who is ill or in trouble may visit this grave to pray there; if he has an animal that suffers from some disease, he leads it around the grave to cure it. Such ideas about a pious man’s grave prevail in all Mohammedan countries. All the peoples of the Turkic group are Mussulmans, though you would never think it from the way in which Yakut and Turkoman women go about unveiled.