or for the funeral
expenses of the husband, wife or child of a member, or of the widow of a
deceased member. (See FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.)

BURIATS, a Mongolian race, who dwell in the vicinity of the Baikal Lake,
for the most part in the government of Irkutsk and the Trans-Baikal
Territory. They are divided into various tribes or clans, which generally
take their names from the locality they frequent. These tribes are
subdivided according to kinship. The Buriats are a broad-shouldered race
inclined to stoutness, with small slanting eyes, thick lips, high
cheekbones, broad and flat noses and scanty beards. The men shave their
heads and wear a pigtail like the Chinese. In summer they dress in silk and
cotton gowns, in winter in furs and sheepskins. Their principal occupation
is the rearing of cattle and horses. The Buriat horse is famous for its
power of endurance, and the attachment between master and animal is very
great. At death the horse should, according to their religion, be
sacrificed at its owner's grave; but the frugal Buriat heir usually
substitutes an old hack, or if he has to tie up the valuable steed to the
grave to starve he does so only with the thinnest of cords so that the
animal soon breaks his tether and gallops off to join the other horses. In
some districts the Buriats have learned agriculture from the Russians, and
in Irkutsk are really better farmers than the latter. They are
extraordinarily industrious at manuring and irrigation. They are also
clever at trapping and fishing. In religion the Buriats are mainly
Buddhists; and their head lama (Khambo Lama) lives at the Goose Lake
(Guisinoe Ozero). Others are Shamanists, and their most sacred spot is the
Shamanic stone at the mouth of the river Angar. Some thousands of them
around Lake Baikal are Christians. A knowledge of reading and writing is
common, especially among the Trans-Baikal Buriats, who possess books of
their own, chiefly translated from the Tibetan. Their own language is
Mongolian, and of three distinct dialects. It was in the 16th century that
the Russians first came in touch with the Buriats, who were long known by
the name of Bratskiye, "Brotherly," given them by the Siberian colonists.
In the town of Bratskiyostrog, which grew up around the block-house built
in 1631 at the confluence of the Angara and Oka to bring them into
subjection, this title is perpetuated. The Buriats made a vigorous
resistance to Russian aggression, but were final