Native name.—Same as the Permian.
Population.—According to Schubert, thirty thousand.
Dialects.—Four. The Siranian, itself, however, is rather a dialect of the Permian than a substantive language.
THE VOTIAKS.
Locality.—The R. Viatka.
- Called by the Russians, Viatka.
- " " Turk tribes, Ari.
- " " themselves, Udy or Udmart
- " " the Tcheremiss, Oda.
Religion.—Imperfect Christianity. Probably some remains of Shamanism.
Of all the Finnic tribes the Votiaks are the most like the Finlanders of Finland; indeed Müller states that there is a tradition among them to the effect that their original country was Finland, and that they are immigrants from thence.
On the other hand, the extent to which they differ from their south-western neighbours, the Tcheremiss, is said to be remarkable.
In respect to the physical conformation of the Votiaks, the evidence of Ermann is favorable, that of Pallas less so. The latter describes them as slight and undersized: the former as strongly built. In no Finnic tribe—perhaps in no other tribe in the world,—is fiery red hair so common as amongst the Votiaks.