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OSTIAKS, or OSTYAKS

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 360 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OSTIAKS, or OSTYAKS , a tribe who inhabit the See also:basin of the Ob in western See also:Siberia belonging to the Finno-Ugric See also:group and related to the Voguls. The so-called Ostyaks of the See also:Yenisei speak an entirely different See also:language. The best investigators (See also:Castren, Lerberg, A. Schrenck) consider the trans-Uralian Ostiaks and See also:Samoyedes as identical with the Yugra of the See also:Russian See also:annals. During the Russian See also:conquest their abodes extended much farther See also:south than now, See also:forty-one of their fortified places having been destroyed by the 'See also:Cossacks in 1501, in the region of Obdorsk alone. Remains of these " towns " are still to be seen at the Kunovat See also:river, on the Ob 20 M. below Obdorsk and elsewhere. The See also:total number of the Ostiaks may be estimated at 27,000. Those on the Irtysh are mostly settled, and have adopted the manner of See also:life of Russians and See also:Tatars. Those on the Ob are mostly nomads; along with 8000 Samoyedes in the districts of See also:Berezov and Surgut, they own large herds of See also:reindeer. The Ob Ostiaks are russified to a See also:great extent. They live almost exclusively by fishing, buying from Russian merchants See also:corn for See also:bread, the use of which has become widely diffused. The Ostiaks See also:call themselves As-yakh (See also:people of the Oh), and it is supposed that their See also:present designation is a corruption of this name.

By language they belong (Castren, Reiseberichte, Reisebriefe; Ahlgvist, Ofvers. of Finska See also:

Vet.-See also:Soc. Forh. xxi.) to the Ugrian See also:branch of the eastern Finnish See also:stem. All the Ostiaks speak the same language, mixed to some extent with See also:foreign elements; but three or four leading dialects can be distinguished. The Ostiaks are See also:middle-sized, or of See also:low stature, mostly meagre, and not See also:ill made, however clumsy their See also:appearance in See also:winter in their thick See also:fur-clothes. The extremities are See also:fine, and the feet are usually small. The See also:skull is See also:brachycephalic, mostly of moderate See also:size and height. The See also:hair is dark and soft for the most See also:part, See also:fair and reddish individuals being rare; the eyes are dark, generally narrow; the See also:nose is See also:flat and broad; the mouth is large and with thick lips; the See also:beard is scanty. The Mongolian type is more strongly pronounced in the See also:women than in the men. On the whole, the Ostiaks are not a pure See also:race; the purest type is found among the fishers on the Ob, the reindeer-breeders of the See also:tundra being largely intermixed with Samoyedes. Investigators describe them as See also:kind, See also:gentle and honest; rioting is almost unknown among them, as also See also:theft, this last occurring only in the vicinity of Russian settlements, and the only See also:penalty enforced being the restitution twofold of the See also:property stolen. They are very skilful in the arts they practice, especially in See also:carving See also:wood and See also:bone, tanning (with See also:egg-yolk and brains), preparation of implements from See also:birch-bark, &c. Some of their carved or decorated bark implements (like those figured in Middendorff's Sibirische Reise, iv.

2) show considerable See also:

artistic skill. Their folk- See also:lore, like that of other Finnish stems, is imbued with a feeling of natural See also:poetry, and reflects also the sadness, or even the despair, which has been noticed among them. See also:Christianity has made some progress among them and St See also:Nicholas is a popular See also:saint, but their See also:ancient See also:pagan observances are still retained. For the language see Ahlqyist, Ober See also:die Sprache der See also:Nord-Ostyaken (188o) and for customs, See also:religion, &c., the See also:Journal de la Societe Finno-Ougrienne, particularly papers by Sirelius and Karjalainen, and the papers by Munkacsi, Gennep, See also:Fuchs and others in the Revue orientale pour See also:les etudes Ouralo-Altaiques; Patkanov, Die Irtysch-Ostiaken and ihre Volkspoesie (See also:Petersburg, 190o); Patkanov, Irtirsch-Ostjaken and ihre Volkspoesie (1897–1900) ; Papay, Sammlung ostjakischer Volksdichtungen (1906).

End of Article: OSTIAKS, or OSTYAKS

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