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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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and fish with the Ostiaks . Any active and cunning speculator , with a capital of one hundred to two hundred assignat rubles at the first outset , is enabled in a few years to become a rich merchant , the profits from the barter carried on with the Ostiaks being enormous . « The Ostiaks being totally ignorant of money , and still more of the rate of ex change , readily take in exchange for their own articles , any commodities which they want , or which , the Russian merchants can supply them with- The latter , however , are in the habit of fixing the value of their own articles at their own price , before they exchange them for those brought by the Ostiaks to market . According to the old customary standard , a pud ( forty pounds English ) of rye flour
used to represent the value of one skin of a white piesak , and at that rate they are usually counted when exchanged against each other . But one pud of rye flour at the market at Tobolsk does not cost more than fifty assignat kopeks , and frequently it can be had for half that sum . The cost of transport from Tobolsk down to Berezov is not more than fifteen assignat kopeks per pud , as a number of vessels are yearly dispatched empty from that town to the fisheries on the Oby Sea , and their owners are always anxious to take on board any cargo , even at a most trifling rate . The whole expense for a pud of flour may thus be estimated at from thirty to seventy assignat kopeks ; whereas a skin of a white piesak , which is bought for that same pud of flour from the Ostiak , is sold by the trader to a wholesale merchant of furs at Berezov , at the enormous price of three silver rubles .
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages its (> lf . —Goktuk .
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kBTSTBES ® r & W& © &L& ©! fllD . XI . February , 2 i ) , 1852 . ^^ . ( pIORGIO , mio caro , —Tell the fair and sweet Helen that I have ® mfc $ c ) received her most esteemed letter , the which lms given me new y B ^| T * i courage to sustain my prolonged iihsenee ; and although the sight ^^ ^ of the writing that recalled her fair hand , —which I can so well see resting like u warm and bright piece of sunshine on the cold paper—made me faint with affection . and the desire to see once more the smile sculptured in her lips , : uid fulling upon what she so kindly wrote ; yet , nevertheless , that impulse of life-blood to my heart remvigoruted the life , within me , insomuch that precisely because she is of huc . 1 i enduring kindness , ami her blessed countenance stands towards me unaltered from the distance , I ean the better support this intolerable exile .
For truly it is intolerable . The more 1 understand that society in which I iind myself , the move I am able to see what it means when it says , " 1 ain not as they are in foreign countries ; " the more 1 set ; what it costs to keep up the appearances of " moral England "—costs not only of sacrifice and abnegation , hut of crime and depravity , hideously covered with the universal disguise of * ' respectability "——the . more my mind , as that of an Englishman , is moved with humiliation and hatred ; and the more , as a Vagabond , I long to be quit , of a neighbourhood which outrages all that 1 have learned to prize oi" truth and life . These English whom , after so many years , I have returned to admire ,
UH ( iiorgio has taught mo , have made great " reforms" . since I was among them—they are more humane , more free , more great , more intelligent . At least they say so . Jtut . what is their intelligence ? It lies in knowing whnfc to do , and not doing it . No people , for example , so well understands what ought to be done to prevent the < lea < l from poisoning the living , in the arrangement of their towns ; and yet to adopt any really ellicient plan for curing the disease at once—oh , that is what any Englishman will laugh at . I do not say this from myself ; but they are the English that say it . They are free—but the working man must work all day , and long after twentyfour o ' clock , or be starved ; for his muster will not have ubout him u man
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" In order to secure success in trading with these nomade races , several things become indispensable ; namely , knowledge of their language , acquaintance with the usages and manners of the different tribes , with their periodical changes of residence , and , if possible , a personal acquaintance with the principal heads of their widely dispersed families . The entire commerce is founded solely on good faith . Each family of the nomade , whether Ostiak or Samoiede , is in the habit of dealing with only one merchant , arid from him everything that is wanted , at all times , is taken on credit to the amount of so many skins . The good faith among these wild races is so great , and so deeply rooted , that a debtor will for no sum of money , however great , sell to another what he had once promised to his creditor . There may indeed occur cases in which , on account of an unproductive season in hunting , or the death of the debtor , or of his family , the creditor has not heen paid , or the payment postponed to the ensuing year ; but , as long as any member of the family survives , and can take part in hunting and fishing , the creditor may be certain that at some period or other his debt will be faithfully discharged /'
So that these Ostiaks are " fair game " to a ' cute commercial Christian ; but how could it be otherwise ? Are they not ignorant , candid , more odoriferous than agreeable , and extremely unfastidious in the matter of cuisine P " Hares exist in great numbers , but nobody hunts them . The Russians have a religious aversion to eating them , as unclean ; and their skins are " so cheap that they are considered not worth transporting to Tobolsk , the place where they are tanned > The Ostiaks , on the other hand , reject no sort of food , but eat whatever can be swallowed and digested . In this respect they are not a whit more fastidious than dogs . They eat foxes , crows , bears , and even their entrails ; all meat , fresh or tainted , and stinking fish . They eat their food both raw and boiled , but chiefly in a raw state . " We wind up with , this conclusion of the breath-suspending story of a woman
LOST IN A SIBERIAN POKEST . " The whole of the following day was spent in seeking to emerge from the forest , but with as little success as the preceding-, and the poor creature only penetrated further into its depths . Hunger and exhaustion came on , and wild berries were the only sustenance she could obtain . In vain she called "for aid ; the wilderness , *« if in mockery , echoed her cry on every side , but bore it to no human ear . Her strength was altogether failing , and she considered herself utterly lost , while death , apparently inevitable , presented itself to her imagination in a thousand horrible shapes . Now she fancied herself dying from hunger , as the berries on which she still subsisted would soon disappear , or from cold , or under the claws of some rapacious beast
" noon she lost her voice , and could no longer call for help , but became with despair prostrate alike in body and mind . She sat for whole days cooped up and innnovablo on the same spot , with patience awaiting her end . Want of food , as u more craving of instinct , was alone able to arouse her for a moment from her torpor . Even when thus urged , she unwillingly dragged her heavy limbs along , ami having advanced a few steps from the spot , no sooner appeased her hunger with a few berries , than she relapsed into her previous apathy . In this condition " he remained for no less than eight ( lays . " On the ninth day , while snatching Homo berries from a tree , she heard at a distance a rustling sound , like that made by a person making their way among dry '' ranches . She listened , and as the sound fell on her ear nioround more distinctly , " ho lu ^ an to hope that it drew nearer . How full of moment to her was the u » xious interval , as with each sound a distracting hopo of deliverance rose in her mind .
" AH or Home minutcH of intense expectation , alternating between hopo and < lo-* l » r , tlu ; branches of the thicket parted , and she beheld a bear . Her first emotion W'ls intense terror . Had-she possessed suflieient strength , . she would have taken "' tfh t , but this desire instantly gave way to a different sensation : ' Uod , in 1 Hh tfN'at liicrey , ' sho luurnnired , ' perhaps sends iih ) a speedy end , instead of a pronu ' tert l ' nigering death , ' and possessed by this impression , win ; resigned herself to 1 |( "" fate . "'flu : huge beast of the forest camo within a few pneos of tho spot when 1 sho Wlls - < 'aim and immovable , agitated by no earthly desire , and nothing daunted , I '" sl () "d resigned before him , a perfect . statue of pationro . After contemplating 111 ll moment the animal with air of gravitturned and resinned Ins
, an y away , l a " ° tfr litnjnjr . Hope revived , and with it her courugn ; and as the bear K'oved on with slow steps , nho followed him us clone as her debilitated ntafo would * 'ow . ' | 'iU ) | )( , ,. () Il | in , M >( | j | H rambliiijr walk , ousting at funon his look behind , 2 \ lll () u k h he Haw hor following , bo noitlier increased nor diminished bin piico . 1 ' » Ht hor strength completely failed , and tho unhappy woman felt that she could tu n ° Anther , and would be obliged to reliiiuuiah hor guide . Ailer a few
tottoring steps in advance , she was so overpowered with fatigue as to be compelled to sit down , and at this instant she saw the bear suddenly trot away , and disappear in the thicket . " Grief too keen to describe now overwhelmed her , as she was thus deprived of her last hope . The extreme exhaustion of physical powers was rendered more insupportable by great thirst , and to allay it she was compelled to look round for some berries . As she did so , she perceived through the branches of the trees something shining like water . She drew- nearer , and with joy saw a stream of running water at a short distance . She knew well that by following the course of the stream she would finally arrive at a larger river , and human settlements being always on the banks of rivers , would have a chance of heing saved . The hope gave her strength , and gathering a few berries to refresh her , she p ^ jeeded onwards .
" Night once more overtook her in the forest ; but on the morning of the next day she succeeded in reaching the spot where the stream emptied itself into the river . Not knowing now what direction to take , she sate on the shore , hoping that some boat might pass from which she could obtain help . In this expectation , she watched the whole day , but in vain ; no boat was to be seen . " On the following day , the twelfth since she had left home , she heard to her great joy the barking of dogs and occasional vollies of fire-arms . Fain would she have shouted for assistance , but she had altogether lost her voice , and even at a
few paces distance no one could hear the loudest cry that she could utter . Mustering all her remaining powers , she endeavoured to reach the spot from which the firing seemed to proceed , and which appeared to be near at hand . But she was not so fortunate as to meet any of the hunting-party ; as the huntei * , after he has fired , never remains in the same place , but advances to another , and thus , instead of meeting him where she expected , the faint , helpless woman could scarcely detect the scent of the gunpowder , and was again perplexed as to what direction she should pursue in search of him .
" At last even the report of fire-arms grew more and more faint . Froni fear of losing sight of the river , she did not venture to go any farther , but returned to her former resting-place . Finally , all around elapsed into deep silence , and hope seemed to vanish for ever . In this painful condition , mourning bitterly that fate should so tantalize her , holding out a prospect of rescue , and then destroying it , her eyes , languid and faint , involuntarily turned to the river , as if from that quarter alone she could hope for succour . How great , how unspeakable was her joy , when she descried a boat . She made an effort to shout , to apprise its inmates of her forlorn
condition , but without success , as her voice was powerless . Her despair was now indescribable , as she thought that the last opportunity of deliverance would pass by , and leave her to a most horrible death . In this dilemma she tore branches from the trees , and flung them in the water , hoping to attract attention by the splash ; but thrown by so feeble a hand , this was not to be expected . She would have readily flung herself into the stream , if she had thought that the splash would have been heard , but a moment ' s reflection convinced her that the boat was at too great a distance for this to be possible .
" The boat was now nearly abreast , and in another minute would pass by , when an idea struck her , which she instantly proceeded to realize . She had a red silk kerchief on her head , and this she immediately pulled on " , and tying it on a long stick , waved it in the air . Most fortunately , the signal was perceived . The boat made for the shore , and took her on board . "
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November 20 , 1852 ] THE LEADER . 1119 t ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 20, 1852, page 1119, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1961/page/19/
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