The First Governor about the Women of the Province

On his arrival at the region the first governor of the Yenisey Province Alexander Stepanov wrote in his book quite amazing for the 20-s of the 19^th century observations about the local women and attitude to them:

«Ladies do not get married for a long time, enjoying freedom; having become wives, they give birth to many children and keep on doing it till the age of 45 and 50, but a few of them stay alive. Mothers almost never beast-feed them, using a horn with cow milk instead. Siberian peasants are very polite in their communications with each other as well as in their actions. Their women take central seats at the celebrations, and if the room is small, all men are standing».