ERMAN'S TRAVELS. IN SIBERIA.

Tars work belongs to a series of publications lately commenced, under the title of "The World Surveyed in the Nineteenth Century ; or recent Narratives of Scientific and Exploratory Expeditions, undertaken chiefly by command of Foreign Governments ; translated, and, where necessary, abridged, by W. D. Cooley." The first volume of the series, "The Ascent of Mount Ararat," by Dr. Parrot, Professor of Natural Philo- sophy in the University of Dorprat, we formerly noticed * : the second and third volumes contain the work of M. Erman. This Prussian savant joined a scientific expedition, undertaken by Professor Hansteen, at the expense of the Norwegian Government, in order to make magnetic ob-' nervations in the interior of Siberia, with the view of throwing light on • Spedator for 1846, page 834. the question respecting the magnetic poles of the earth, and other ha, portant points of physical geography. Though M. Erman cooperated iu the objects of Professor Hansteen, they travelled and prosecuted their observations separately, frequently coming together in the course of the journies. In the volumes before us, M. Erman gives a narrative of his own travels, an account of. his scientific investigations and their results, and a great deal of miscellaneous information respecting the geography, statistics, commerce, and social condition of those immense territories of the Russian empire, both in Europe and Asia, called by the general name of Siberia. He had, what the most adventurous travellers will soon he no longer able to find, an almost untrodden field before him; and his work, consequently, has a freshness and novelty which books of travels nowadays rarely possess.

M. Erman was qualified to avail himself of this advantage. To his character as a scientific traveller our Royal Geographical Society paid a tribute by conferring on him one of their medals ; on which occasion Sir Roderick Murchison, the President, said, that " with the exception of the great Humboldt himsel4 it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a single man in the broad field of explorers, not already honoured with their medal, who was more richly deserving of it The jostness of this panegyric is borne out in many respects by the contents of M. Erman's book. It is an important contribution to geographical science, and con- tains much useful and interesting information respecting countries and their inhabitants hitherto almost unknown : but it is far from presenting that combination of almost .universal learning with practical knowledge, of profound philosophy with poetical imagination, of the loftiest eloquence with lucid statement and graphic description, 'which characterize the writings of Alexander von Humboldt.

A large part of M. Erman's first volume is occupied with his journey from Berlin to Petersburg and Moscow, and With ample descriptions of the two Russian capitals. These, the translator tells us, have been abridged ; and they might have been advantageously abridged still more. From Moscow he travelled Eastward till he arrived atTobolsk, the seat of the general governthent of Siberia, though situated at the Western ex- tremity of that immense region. In this journey be fell in with many parties of exiles going to their destined abodes; and he afterwards saw numbers of them settled in various parts of the country. His descrip- tions tend to mitigate the horror inspired by the idea of Siberian exile, This punishment is not -confined to offences against the state, but is awarded to private crimes by the ordinary tribunals, like transportation in England, and is attended with various degrees of severity. In remote districts, the author found rising and thriving towns peopled chiefly by convicts ; and he found the .comparative corafort,pf their condition in- - Creased by the passive resignation which is a feature of the Russian cha- racter. He thus describes the exiles he found living in the Siberian capital. • "In the houses,of the Siberians and Germans we frequently saw many of the exiles living in Tobolsk, who are here- called by the mild name of 'the Unfortu- nates.' Those convicted of treason or offences against the State are sent to reside further to the East, or to the North, nearer'the Icy Sea; and the only exiles here met with of the better classes are officers who have been guilty of fraud or breach of trust. Many of these have formerly served in Eastern Siberia, and the sentence of exile has had the effect of assigning them a place of residence nearer to Europe. In this condition was a former. Governor of Okhotsk, one of the oldest and most ex- perienced of the inhabitants of Tobolsk; who gave me much valuable advice re- specting my intended journey to Kamchatka. All these Unfortunates, as they are called, live in the town in perfect freedom; and, with the exception of some newly-arrived exiles, who are obliged to do penance in church, they seem quite exempt from any special control or watchfulness on the part of the police. Many of the older ones do the same thing of their own accord, and doubtless from sin- cere conviction. These aged exiles pass over from the luxury of Mcecow to the frugal simplicity of Tobolsk with true manly equanimity. They let their beards and hair grow; and as they say themselves, they find the life of the Ko- sak and the .peasant far more supportable than they once believed. Hence it is easily conceivable, that the children, whom- they 'oring up from marriages with Siberian women, totally lose all trace of so remarkable a change of fortune; and that the Russian nobility employed in Siberia in agriculture, hunting, or any otherpromuis/, are as little to be distinguished from their 'neighbours as the pos- terity of Tartar princes."

From Tobolsk M. Erman travelled Northward down the river Obi to the Gulf of Ob in the Northern Ocean, through a region of extreme cold. Re- turning to Tobolsk, he proceeded in a South-eastern direction till he ar- rived at the frontiers of China; and, lastly, he prosecuted his journey to the sea of Kamschatka, where we leave him. His journey, it appears, extended much farther; but the remainder of his travels has not yet been

published. •

In the course of those extensive wanderings, he saw much more of the aboriginal tribes—the Ostyaks, Samoedes, Yakuts, and Tonguzes—than any former traveller ; and his accounts of them give a pleasing impres- sion of their character and condition. Though rude, none of these people are savage. They are uniformly described as abundantly supplied with the necessaries of life, many of them wealthy after their manner, and re- sembling in their habits the nomadic tribes of the Old Testament. The little domestic sketches scattered through the book are by no means the least interesting parts of it. Here are two or three of them.

AN OSTYAK JuNKETTING.

The huts in Repolovo were remarkably empty; and we were told that most of the Ostyak men had gone this very day on a fishing expedition, and that their wives were keeping a feast in the kabak or public-house of the place. As we stated with respect to St. Petersburg, so in all other parts of European and Asia- tic Russia, brandy is to be had only in houses appointed for the purpose, (kabaki,) and from the contractors, (otkupchiki, buyers-up, from kupity, to buy,) who an accountable to the Government. We found in the dark room, hardly ten paces wide, of the public-house and place of revelry here, an European Russian, probably banished in former years, busy behind his counter; and, -besides him, only the Ostyak women. Ten or twelve of them were assembled, and the brandy had al- ready taken effect upon them all; in a way, however, not at all offensive to an even-tempered spectator. A number of short and corpulent figures, with black sparkling eyes, rather oblique, could be just seen moving and mingling together in the narrow space. They all talked with animation, and with remarkably deli- cate voices, which now gave expression only to soft and joyous emotions. They embraced, one after another; the Yamshchiki who entered with us; and their son voices, now almost whining, seemed attuned, not So much to words of old E ousintance, as to the endearments of young and growing love. They all wore frocks, or shirt-like garments of nettle-cloth; which were ornamented, exactly like the dress of the Mordvi women, with embroidery in red and black round the neck and breast. None of them was without the head-dress, !shaped as a cross, which serves them for a veil; but they had raised up the front part of it, and thrown it back completely over the head. We could perceive that, under the circumstances here described, and in other cases subsequently witnessed, this departure from the prevailing custom was not considered as in any degree irregular or improper. The very trifling means of the women were soon exhausted, while the pleasure of drinking had lint just risen to its highest pitch. My promise, therefore, to

y the scot for the rest of their indulgence was received with the greatest thalk-

But they now took especial pains to show themselves deserving of the European treat, by good Christian observance; for at every glass they took they came up to us, and before they tasted the dram, crossed themselves with a most singular and laughable gravity. Devout Russians are in the habit of neutralizing the Satanic operation of spirituous liquors by a rapid movement of the right hand, intended to describe the cross, or by a softly ejaculated prayer, or merely by blowing the breath on the glass. But the good-humoured Ogyaks, who were novices in both arts, of Christian prayer as well as of drinking, were desirous of providing against the infirmities of the flesh by some more ample re- ligions ceremony; and so they made the sign of the cross to such an extent, so slowly and with such deep bowing of the body, as would be required by the church only on the most solemn occasions.

OSTYAK MUSIC.

In accompanying these songs, and also on the occasion of the religions so- lemnities which shall be more particularly mentioned lower down, the Ostyaks make use of two kinds of stringed instruments, invented by themselves at some remote period. One of these is shaped like a boat, with five strings, and is called dombra; which furnishes another remarkable proof of the relationship of the Ostyaks to the Majars, for the latter have at the present day a precisely similar instrument, to which they give the name of ton:bora. The other Ostyak in- strument, which is larger than the dombra, and has eight strings, bears the name of naruista yukh khotuing,—an expression which the Russians interpret, not improperly, by the word Wed, "a swan," for such, in fact, is the meaning of the last term of the Ostyak denomination. It is obvious that in this instance the Ostyake have had in view the well-known story of the singing of the swan; which is by no means without foundation, for the notes occasionally uttered by the cygnus olor, when in a state of freedom, and particularly during the spring, are in fact most beautifully clear and loud; and that this bird, when wounded, pours forth its last breath in such notes, is now known for certain. The popular songs of the Russians also, which are particularly rich in imagery derived from the observation of aquatic fowl, celebrate perpetually the fine voice of the swan; and it is to be remarked, moreover, that the Chinese goose (anser cygnoides), which the Russians domesticate, bears the title of swoeskoi or "sweet-voiced." Nay, it is even likely that the name of one of the most ancient of the Russian stringed instruments, the gueli or dulcimer, is derived from the word gas, (goose,) in a manner analogous to the Ostyak khotwing. We shall show hereafter, that the national melodies of Kamchatka originated unquestionably in the imitation of the cries of sea-fowl. In the monotonous songs of the Ostyaks, one hears little besides_the fundamental note and minor third, and, more rarely, the fifth also.

NEW YEAR'S EVE IN SIBERIA.

Upon the eve of the new year, (12th Januaty, new style,) I received an invi- tation to the house of the captain of the district; where table songs, (poblyudnie peed, literally, dish-songs;) as they are called, and fortune-telling games, were entered upon with all the earnestness of old times by the ladies of Tara. All the young ladies, anxiima''to,Vitita their future destiny, place their rings, in a covered dish, and then commence the song; which is composed in short strophes, each involving some mystic and prophetic allusion to marriage or to rinhes. Meanwhile, the rings are drawn-out of the dishes separately, by some of the elder ladies, and silthit the prophetic expressions of each strophe are made to apply to

some of the individuals engaged in the game. *

Several others of their divinatory practices still exist among ourselves; as, for example, where omens are drawn from thedripping of melted wax into water, and where the matrimonial prospects of the young women are foreboded by the man- ner in which little shells move with_regard to each other on the surface of a yes- selfilled with water. In like manner, allusions are made in the ancient Russian bridal songs, to the rolling of rings or beads of pearl across a piece of velvet to- wards the expectant lover. Their peculiar superstition, however, is the import- ance attached to the podslushirate or listening; that is, the import of particular words caught up outside a window, from-any conversation carried on within. The loneliness of the situation where this appeal to destiny is usually made, naturally exalts the inquirer's susceptibility of ominous impressions; for which reason, the country girls generally station themselves in the bath-chamber about midnight, where they expect i to enjoy an interview with the apparition of their destined hus- band. The bath s regarded by the ignorant as the favourite retreat of the house- bold sprite. It is at the same time easy to conceive that the fair votaries may at times be favoured with meetings requiring no intervention of supernatural means or beings.

The scientific part of this work—its larger portion—is very valua- ble. The author appears to have pursued his investigation with equal assiduity and skill, and to have arrived at results which will assist in re- solving various important problems in physical geography.