These peasants are the Russniaks or Ruthenians.
They are a people who dwell in Southern Austria and Southeastern Poland, where these countries join Russia. They really belong to the family of people who live in that part of Southern Russia which is called Little Russia, and they speak the language of this district, which is known as Little Russian.
These Russniaks are not little Russians in appearance. They are in fact a race of giants. In the party that came over none of the men were less than six feet tall, and two or three of them were more than seven feet in height. The women were also very tall and fine looking.
The party consisted of nine men, ten women, and twenty-five children. One of the number who could speak a little German said that they were farmers and goatherds, and had come out to Canada on the advice of a British agent, who promised them that they would be able to earn lots of money and be free from taxes in Winnipeg.
The dress of these people was very picturesque.
Both men and women wore sheepskin coats, made with the hair inside, and laced down the front with leathern thongs. Both wore rough hide boots, the men having the tops of theirs turned down and covered with handsome embroidery.
The women and children had white homespun linen skirts, embroidered at the edges, and the men had trousers of the same material.
Neither women nor children had any stockings, and
the children had their arms and heads bare, as well as their legs.
Each man wore a wide, beautifully embroidered belt, from which hung a long sheath-knife and two or three pouches made of skin, which held food, water, and tobacco. On their heads the men wore broad straw hats with cock's feathers stuck at the side.