a wandering native race of Asiatic Russia, who occupy the whole south-eastern portion of that vast territory, being first found on the banks of the Yenisei, and extending all the way eastward to the sea of Okhotsk. They resemble the Mongols in their countenance, though it is larger and still more flattened. They have small eyes, and a smiling physiognomy, and long black hair, which they allow freely to hang over their shoulders. They gain their subsistence, like all the other savages, by hunting and fishing, ranging through the woods and along the rivers, without any permanent abodes. They are extremely active and brave in their occupation, attacking with bows and arrows, their principal weapons, the fiercest animals, even bears; and the delicacy and quickness of sight by which they trace the game is almost incredible. The light mark which its steps leave on the moss or on the grass is a sufficient indication. The sable is the most valuable of the animals which they pursue. They clothe themselves rarely with the skins of rein-deer and wild sheep, having the hair or wool turned inward during the winter; in summer they wear the same skins tanned. They ornament this simple costume with beads and glass. They are praised as honest, brave, and frank, holding lying in detestation, and theft and fraud being unknown among them. The females are in general chaste, though a custom prevails among some of the nomadic tribes of lending their wives to strangers. On the women devolve all the domestic duties. To a certain age they are handsome, but after they grow old they are hideous. According to the last enumeration, the Tunguses in the government of Irkoutsk amounted to 13,264 males and 11,000 females; but from their wandering mode of life, this census is supposed to be imperfect. In the government of Tobolsk, the reported number amounted to 19,193.