News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-08-03
A SIBERIAN YAKOOT.
HE TELLS ABOUT HIS PEOPLE AND
From the New York Sun


his party found snowy a The
name of this Yakoot is Mr.. Brakhim
He is of middle stature, with hardly
any hair on his chin and lip, though he
is TWENTY-FIVE years old. His promi
nent cheek bones and the square con.
tour of his face show his Asiatic origin,
yet his eyes are rather those of a white
man. His legs are somewhat bowed,
owing to an apparatus which the va
koots use in training their babies. MIR.
Brakhim speaks his own Yakoot Ian.
guage, and also Russian, though with
peculiar accent.
"What induced you, Mr.. Brakhim,
to leave Yakootsk and come to- this
country ?" asked the reporter In Rus.
sian.
SIN 1876" he replied, "there was 6
congress of Orientalists in st. Peters.
burg, and the Russian government
brought to that congress a number Of
Yakoots, Buriats, Ostiaks, Kirghizes
and members of other Siberian tribes
as samples of Russianization. I was
n of the Yakoot samples. Once in
st. Petersburg, l decided TO see more oil
the civilized world. l have been in
France and in England, and now I want
to see America. / would like to study
this country, its people and its institu-
tions."
"Are the Yakoots a numerous race ?"
"There are about go, 900 of them.
The lead a semi-nomadic life along the
Lena and its tributaries. Twice a year
they change their abode. In summer
they settle on the numerous islands OF
the Lena and on the shores Of the other
rivers, where they NOW hay and cult1-
vate a little barley and still less rye. In
winter they move TO their winter quar-
tiers, where they stay for seven long,
cold months"
"What is the chief occupation of
your rae ?"
"We keep COWS and mares. We use
the mares milk to make koumiss. The
rich men among us own from 100 to 500
COW and half that number of mares.
The poor own about a dozen cows. A
man who is worth 1000 roubles (about
5000 is looked upon as very wealthy.
We supply the gold miners with butter
and meat. We keep a few deer, and
with them make excursions to the ice
ocean.
'Our villages consist of anumber of
tents built regardless OF any order, so
that we have no streets. The tents are
square at the base and pyramidal in
shape; they are built generally of
T ugh posts, put side by side. The rich
men, however, use cut wood, or even
make houses. There are small windows
about a foot square, with ice panes dur
ing the winter and with sheets of mica
or small pieces of broken glass set in
birch-bark frames during the summer.
Glass panes four inches square are the
largest I ever saw in the houses of our
rich people. The ice windows last
through the winter, although fire is
kept on the hearths night and day, and
when they begin to melt we know that
the time has come for us to move to our
summer quarters. We do lot move
our tents, which are left standing per-
manently in both summer and winter
quarters. The stables in winter adjoin
the tents, so that our cattle have the
benefit of the fires. Ample yards, with
high fences complete the picture of our
village"
"What about your people ?"
"The Yakoots are of middle stature,
and have straight black hair, broad
noses, prominent cheek bones, and eyes
that resemble somewhat those of the
Chinese. The men cut their hair short
and leave a long loose lock on the back
of the head something like a Chinese
queue. The women have rich black
bair, which they always cover with a
handkerchief. The Yakoots are not
prolific. A family usually has about
three children. They are friendly and
peaceable, and the women are regarded
as equal to the men in every respect.
Monogamy is strictly observed.
"In the morning we drink tea-brick-
tea. We scrape it with a knife, boil it
in a clay pot and drink it with milk.
The rich families use also a little sugar,
which they bite off in small pieces. We
no bread at all, for we cannot bake
it ON our hearths. Bread is a great
luxury, and when n of us brings a
loaf of it from the city of Yakootsk it is
divided into small pieces and distributed
around. We have, however, barley
-four, of which we sometimes prepare a
kind of bun or custard. About noon
we eat butuhas-that is, sour milk
mixed with fresh milk and water and a
powder made of soft pine bark. Sour
milk we keep for months in large pits
dug In the earth. OF course it is frozen
hard, and we cnt it with axes. About
3 o'clock we again eat butuhas. Before
going to sleep the well-to-do people eat
meat, while tie poor eat more butuhas.
Sometimes we have barley Cruel and
preparations of milk. In winter
occasionally have fish.
MY people do not know much of the
world. Yet they know that beyond the
Is the city of San Francisco. in
naoited by Americans, a rich and kind
people. They know of the Americans.
because some years ago an American
company came to Siberia to build a rail-
road from the Pacific to the Ural
The Russian government
did not allow them to do it. That COM
pany donated to the Yakoots a large
OF money for the purpose of build
ing schools. Unfortunately, as yet we
lay hold of that money. Be-
sides, the Yakoots know of the exist
ence of the Rabhtsg, or him who is far
away that is their name for the gar
They believe that the Rabhtae can do
much good or evil, if he chooses"
"Are the Yakoots Christians or
pagans ?"
"They are Christian in name but
pagan in fact. According to the law
passed in 1903, all Yakoots born since