The Mineral argus., 1884-11-06
In DEER.SLED.
A Journey Among the Yakuts Of Northern
Siberia.

4
self into my deer sled, and in few
hours afterward quite as great in get
ting out oft. The deer sled is long,
narrow affair, placed on high, wooden
runners; it is made extremely light, of
framework of slender birch, and is
covered with hood in order to protect
the head and face of the occupant from
the biting blasts. 1t is, in fact, in ap-
psarance lengthened-out cradle, and
] think about as comfortable.
At night one sleeps in it very
comfortable. I remember the first
night we were in the forest, the moon
shone brightly, the road was good, and
Yakut horses are trained to follow one
another faithfully, and only the leading
driver has any serious work to do.
When / was awake, however, / found
the journey strangely weird and inter
esting. You see before you nothing but |
a mass of trees and slender underwood /
no opening in which you can imagine |
that a road exists. But the leader en-
ters the gloom of the forest fearlessly; |
he darts on first to the right and then
to the left, between trunks of trees
scarcely more than foot wider apart
than is needed through which your sled
is to pass. Now and then you lose
| sight of the sled in advance of you, but
your horse knows the road, if you do
not attempt to drive, and he fol-
lows. Strange forms then the sleds
take on in the whitened gloom.
Yakuts do not put sleigh bells on the
harness. and you pass on so silently,
and the fitting things in front OF you,
of which you catch glimpses occasion
ally, seem to form part of some strange,
weired and ghostly procession. Soyou
pass on for hours through the forest.
Then white bleak space opens in front
of you, over which you pass in the
moonlight. 1t is the frozen surface OF
lake, of which there are scores among
the forests. Suddenly, when you have
passed the crest of a hill You look
down toward the valley that seems
a mile away. You imagine that rockets
are being fired into the air by some un-
known friends. They seem to be shot
up one after the other with great regu-
laritv, and you can imagine for the mo-
ment that a company of Cossacks has
been sent in advance to point out your
resting or camping place. But this is
an illusion. The valley is not hun
dred yards away, and the rockets are
nothing more than the sparks from the
blazing hearth of Yakut yourte.
Outside the Yakut yourte looks q
l very insignificant affair. 1t is very low
: covered with layer of mud, and in
} winter of snow, and has slabs of Ice
propped UP from the outside for win
; dows, and doorway only just large
J enough for a COW to squeeze through
and much too low for a man. Enter
the hut and you feel the grateful warmth
2 of the blaZings piled upon the raised
r hearth. and feel at once well disposed
4 towards the inhabitants whoever they
= NAV be. Once inside and you see tha
s the vourte is built Of stems of larg
1 trees, the sides sloping upwards to
e ward the roof, which is also made
$ large stems laid side by side and sup
t ported by pillars rising from the floor
l. In the centre of the yourte Is the hug
: raised hearth, slender stems Q
Ii trees plastered with mud forming
: the smoke conductor, or chimney
h The logs are thrown in an upright pc
>. sition, so that they burn quickly Ant
d throw out a comfortable warmth aroun
If the room, which may be from fifteen t
Is twenty yards square. Close beneat
, the sloping sides are built rude benches
% divided off into compartments, eac
, about six feet long. There are tn
?. sleeping hunks, privacy being only pos
d ible when you have shawl or rug
'e hang before your division. On thes
5, benches you all sleep, Yakuts an
st travellers, the yemschicks taking tn
n floor, and you sleep comfortably enoug
in the blaze and warmth of the tir'
ID There is an inner apartment of tn
yourte, kind of annex or dependence
TO This is net given up to the family, {
i even to the ladies of the house, but
70 the unrestricted domain of the COW
which, however, have to pass throug
s. the living department to get to the
S, own.
IN Then there are the bellies of the famil..
lg These are nothing if not ugly. In OF
Sc vourte there were three Yakut damsel
le their ages ranging from II to 20. The
possessed but a single pipe, which the
passed around from one to the othe
j. If their brothers, the yemschiks, a
o. just going out on journey, they allo
. each to take few energetic whiffs b
ei fore their departure, and then go
D. work themselves again, chatting al
nd looking after the boiling of the sol
y, milk at the same time. The pipe
kept going almost incessantly fro
'A- morning till night, The girls are nc
er as I said before, handsome. Their fac
%, have too much cheek bone, their nos