Note 6 — Chapter XXV · YAKUTSK.
Reading edition
The iron ore of the Vilui was smelted by the Yakutes long before the advent of the Russians, and the other tribes got from them iron axes, awls, and tools for stripping and dressing hides. The Yakutes also make copper ornaments for clothes and harness, and the metal plates which they sew on their girdles. Even now, although they use European guns, they still make for themselves the great knife, or dagger, which is worn at the waist. The Yakutsk steel is more flexible than the Russian, and yet blades made of it will cut copper or pewter as easily as European blades.