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wide breeches of the same material. The dress of the
women differs from that of the men only by its greater
length and its ornaments. In the winter they dress in fur,
more or less costly according to their circumstances. The
warm skin of the polar hare is very much in use as lining.
The fur-coat, which is made like a shirt and put on over the
head, has usually a hood of the same material attached to it.
All the Yakuts are inveterate smokers, and always wear
the tobacco-pouch with pipe and flint and steel, together
with the indispensable long knife, attached to the belt
about their waist. They are fairly clever handicraftsmen as
carpenters and above all as smiths, a craft which has old
and high traditions, and is inherited. At the time of their
subjugation by the Russians 300 years ago they knew how
to produce iron from the ore, and their traditions show
that the metal has been known to them from time
immemorial. They are also clever carvers of wood and bone.
Generally speaking, they are a gifted people, and some
of their number have gone through the university and
become learned men. But their thirst for knowledge
cannot be satisfied in the few official schools, where the
teaching is given in Russian. After three or four years’ study
in these schools they know only a smattering of the
language, which they soon forget.
The Yakuts marry early and, as a rule, have many
children, few of whom, however, survive the age of early
childhood. Marriage among them is a matter of business,
though behind the cold formalities of the transaction there
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