d
me, might be communicated in a few words. They belonged to a Finnish
tribe called Korelli, and had been transported to their present
settlements in comparatively recent times. In answer to my questions as
to how, when, and by whom they had been transported thither my informant
replied that it had been the work of Ivan the Terrible.

Though I knew at that time little of Russian history, I suspected that
the last assertion was invented on the spur of the moment, in order to
satisfy my troublesome curiosity, and accordingly I determined not
to accept it without verification. The result showed how careful
the traveller should be in accepting the testimony of "intelligent,
well-informed natives." On further investigation I discovered, not only
that the story about Ivan the Terrible was a pure invention--whether of
my friend or of the popular imagination, which always uses heroic names
as pegs on which to hang traditions, I know not--but also that my first
theory was correct. These Finnish peasants turned out to be a remnant
of the aborigines, or at least of the oldest known inhabitants of the
district. Men of the same race, but bearing different tribal names,
such as Finns, Korelli, Tcheremiss, Tchuvash, Mordva, Votyaks, Permyaks,
Zyryanye, Voguls, are to be found in considerable numbers all over the
northern provinces, from the Gulf of Bothnia to Western Siberia, as well
as in the provinces bordering the Middle Volga as far south as Penza,
Simbirsk, and Tamboff.* The Russian peasants, who now compose the great
mass of the population, are the intruders.

* The semi-official "Statesman's Handbook for Russia,"
published in 1896, enumerates fourteen different tribes,
with an aggregate of about 4,650,000 souls, but these
numbers must not be regarded as having any pretensions to
accuracy. The best authorities differ widely in their
estimates.

I had long taken a deep interest in what learned Germans call the
Volkerwanderung--that is to say, the migrations of peoples during the
gradual dissolution of the Roman Empire, and it had often occurred to me
that the most approved authorities, who had expended an infinite
amount of learning on the subject, had not always taken the trouble to
investigate the nature of the process. It is not enough to know that
a race or tribe extended its dominions or changed its geographical
position. We ought at the same time to inquire whether it expelled,
exterminate