Note 4 — Chapter VIII · THE OBI.

In 1824 a commencement was made to translate into Samoyede the Gospel of St. Matthew, but it did not go on after 1826. The same gospel was translated some years ago into the language of the Ostjaks by the protohierea, or chief priest, at Obdorsk, and was forwarded to the Russian Bible Society, but not published; and, up to the present time, neither that nor any other part of the New Testament exists, as far as I know for the Samoyedes, Ostjaks, or Voguls.—Dr. Latham mentions 11 dialects in the Samoyede language, and refers to the work of Professor Castrén, who, about 30 years ago, studied closely the languages of the Finnish and Samoyede nations, and to whose labours we owe dictionaries of some of these tongues,—published after his death by Schiefner.