boards, turned up at the end like a boat, and fastened to the feet. What
a wild creature an Ostyak must look, when he is hunting his prey, wrapped
in his shaggy white coat,--his long dark hair floating in the wind,--his
enormous bow in his hand, and his enormous shoes on his feet!

What is the character of this wild man? Ask what is his religion, and
that will show you how foolish and fierce a creature he must be. The
Ostyak says, that he believes in ONE God who cannot be seen, but he does
not worship him _alone_; he worships other gods. And such gods! Dead men!
When a man dies, his relations make a wooden image of him, and worship it
for three years, and then bury it. But when a _priest_ dies, his wooden
image is worshipped _more_ than three years; sometimes it is _never_
buried; for the priests who are alive, encourage the people to go on
worshipping dead priests' images, that they may get the offerings which
are made to them.

But what do you think of men worshipping DEAD BEASTS? Yet this is what
the Ostyaks do. When they have killed a wolf or a bear, they stuff its
skin with hay, and gather round to mock it, to kick it, to spit upon it,
and then--they stick it up on its hind legs in a corner of the hut, and
WORSHIP it! Alas! how has Satan blinded their mind!

And in what manner do they worship the beasts? With screaming,--with
dancing,--with swinging their swords,--by making offerings of fur, of
silver and gold, and of reindeer. These reindeer they kill very cruelly,
by stabbing them in various parts of their bodies, to please the cruel
gods, or rather cruel devils whom they worship.

Has no one tried to convert the Ostyaks to God? The emperor of Russia
will not allow protestant missionaries to teach in Siberia. He wishes the
Ostyaks to belong to the Greek church, and he has tried to bribe them
with presents of cloth to be baptized; and a good many have been
baptized. But what good can such baptisms do to the soul?

The Russians do much harm to their subjects, by tempting them to buy
brandy. There is nothing which the Ostyaks are so eager to obtain, as
this dangerous drink. On one occasion, a traveller was surrounded by a
troop of Ostyaks, all begging for brandy, and when they could get none,
they brought a large heap of frozen fish, and laid it at the travellers
feet, saying, "Noble sir, we present you with this." They did get some
brandy in return. Then, hoping for more, they brought a great salmon, and
a stur