Still it must be owned that Siberia is a very cold country; for the snow is not melted till June, and it begins to fall again in September; so there are only two whole months without snow; they are July and August.

INHABITANTS.—­The Russians are the masters of Siberia, and they have built several large towns there.  But these towns are very far apart, and there are many wild tribes wandering about the country.

One of these tribes is the Ostyaks.  Their houses are in the shape of boxes, for they are square with flat roofs.  There is a door, but you must stoop low to get in at it, unless you are a very little child; and there is a window with fish-skin instead of light.  There is a chimney, too, and a blazing fire of logs in a hole in the ground.  There is a trough, too, instead of a dining-table, and out of it the whole family eat, and even the dogs sometimes.  The house is not divided into rooms, but into stalls, like those of a stable; and deer-skins are spread in the stalls, and they are the beds; each person sits and sleeps in his own stall, on his own deer-skin, except when the family gather round the fire, and sitting on low stools, warm themselves, and talk together.

In one of these snug corners, an old woman was seen, quite blind, yet sewing all day, and threading her needle by the help of her tongue.  She wore a veil of thick cloth over her head, as all the Ostyak women do, and as she did not need light, she hid her head completely under it.

But though the Ostyaks are poor, they possess a great treasure in their dogs, for these creatures are as useful as horses, and much more sensible.  They need no whip to make them go, and no bridle to turn them the right way; it is enough to tell them when to set out, and to stop, or to turn, to move faster, or more slowly.  These dogs are white, spotted with black; the hair on their bodies is short, but long on their handsome curling tails.  They draw their masters in sledges, and are yoked in pairs.  There are some large sledges, in which a man can lie down in comfort:  to draw such a sledge twelve dogs are necessary; but there are small sledges in which a poor Ostyak can just manage to crouch, and two dogs can draw it.  When the dogs are to be harnessed, they are not caught, as horses are, but only called.  Yet they do not like work better than horses like it, and when they first set out they howl, but grow quiet after a little while.

The driver is sometimes cruel to these poor dogs, and corrects them for the smallest fault, by throwing a stone at them, or the great club he holds in his hand, or at least a snow-ball:  if a hungry dog but stoop down to pick up a morsel of food on the road, he is punished in this manner.  Yet it must be owned, that the dogs have their faults; they are greedy, and inclined to thieving.  To keep food out of their way, the Ostyaks build store-houses, on the tops of very high poles.  The dogs are always on the watch to slip into their master’s