The polar and tropical worlds : a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe . ttle-ment, but at the same time they are very hospitable, and give the stranger who THE JAKUT8. 229 claims their assistance a friendly welcome. Villages consisting of several huts,or yourts, are rare, and found only between Jakutsk and the Aldan, where thepopulation is somewhat denser. Beyond the Werchojansk ridge the solitaryhuts are frequently several hundred versts apart, so that the nearest neighborssometimes do not see each other for years. In summer the Jakut herdsmen live i
The polar and tropical worlds : a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe . ttle-ment, but at the same time they are very hospitable, and give the stranger who THE JAKUT8. 229 claims their assistance a friendly welcome. Villages consisting of several huts,or yourts, are rare, and found only between Jakutsk and the Aldan, where thepopulation is somewhat denser. Beyond the Werchojansk ridge the solitaryhuts are frequently several hundred versts apart, so that the nearest neighborssometimes do not see each other for years. In summer the Jakut herdsmen live in nrossy, light conical tents fixed onpoles and covered with birch rind, and during the whole season they are per-petually employed in making hay for the long winter. In 62° N. lat., and in a climate of an almost unparalleled severity, the rearingof their cattle causes them far more trouble than is the ease with any other pas-toral people. Their supply of hay is frequently exhausted before the end ofthe winter, and from March to May their oxen must generally be content withwillow and birch twigs or A JAKUT VILLAGK. At the beginning of the cold season the Jackut exchanges his summer his warm winter residence, or yourt, ahut built of beams or logs, in theform of a truncated pyramid, and thickly covered with turf and clay. Platesof ice serve as windows, and are replace<l by fish-bladders or paper steeped inoil, as soon as the thaw begins. The earthen floor, for it is but rarely boarded,is generally sunk two or three feet below the surface of the ground. The seatsand sleeping berths are ranged along the sides, and the centre is occupied bythe tschuwal, or hearth, the smoke of which finds its exit through an aperture inthe roof. Clothes and arms are suspended from the walls, and the whole premi- 230 THE POLAR WORLD. ses exhibit a sad jticture of disorder and filth. Near the yourt are stables forthe cows, but when the cold is very severe, these useful animals
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, books, booksubjectnaturalhistory
