South of this region is the taiga forest ; two thirds of Komi area is forest covered, and of this one half is pine clad. Firs are common, and in the Urals, Siberian cedar, silver fir and larch. Timber products in 1926-27 were considerably greater than in 1913. The greater part is floated down the Vychegda and Northern Dwina to Archangel and exported, while some is exported via the Perm railway either for local consumption or for the Volga districts. Timber accounts for 75 to 8o% of all the exports of the region; the establishment of 3 electric stations in 1926 is providing power for sawmills and much increasing the output. Tar and pitch preparation and the making of small wooden articles are important kustar (home) industries. Linked with the forest is hunting for squirrel, hare, ermine, mink, marten, fox, arctic fox, otter, etc. The fur exports are still below pre-war level, partly through destructive exploitation and partly through forest fires. Game birds are also a source of income and the wings of the white partridge are exported. Hunting, however, forms a supplementary source of income except in the Izhma-Pechora district, where it is the main occupation. Salmon, Siberian salmon and gang fish are prepared for export in the Pechora region.
Cultivation occupies but a small area in the district. Forest clearings are made by burning; the stumps and roots are cleared away and the charcoal enriches the soil temporarily. Rye, barley, oats, flax, hemp and potatoes are grown; rye and barley occupy 78% of the sown area. Hay and vegetables are raised in a few places. The meadow lands near the rivers favour cattle breeding which is carried on more intensively than cultivation. Horses are useful in the timber industry, and draught cattle and cows are increasingly bred. Dairying is beginning and several butter fac tories have been built in the last few years. Industrial enter prises are at present non-existent, except for small sawmills, ironsmelting works and a salt preparing factory. But kustar or peasant industries and handicrafts have great importance and include the preparation of chamois leather, especially in the Izhma district, the making of harness, carpentry, flour-milling, tar and pitch preparation, blacksmith's work, etc. In the Ustkul omsk and Shchugorsk districts whetstone is worked for mill stones and grindstones both for the Russian and foreign market. The Komi area, Archangel and Vyatka occupy the first place in the U.S.S.R. for the number of peasant artels producing kustar products.
Means of communication, except for the rivers, are poor. The Vychegda through its tributary the Keltma is linked by the Catherine canal with the South Keltma, a tributary of the Kama river, and thus with the Volga. The Pechora and its tributaries, linking with the frozen Arctic, play a small role. Roads are poor and there is no railway, beyond a few kilometres of the Vyatka-Kotlas railway in the south-west. A railway linking Murashi on that line with Ust-Sysolsk on the Sysola river and Ukhtinsk on the Izhma river is planned. The mineral wealth of the Komi area is incompletely surveyed and at present little worked, but an extensive coal-field was discovered in 1924. Iron
ore was known in the 18th century in the Vychegda and Sysola districts; salt was worked on the Vyma, a tributary of the Vychegda as early as the 16th century, and grindstone was worked in the Tochil hills near the left bank of the Pechora from the beginning of the 17th century.
The settlements in the district are small, and Ust-Sysolsk, pop. (1926) 4,980, the administrative centre, is the largest. The literacy rate, 39% in 1926, is higher than among many nationalities in the U.S.S.R., and two thirds of the children of school age are provided for; there are five schools for the Samoy edes. Medical and sanitary provision is far from adequate. The population in 1926 was about 207,00o, almost entirely rural; the density of population is the smallest in European Russia, except for the Murmansk province. The Komi (Zirians) num ber 92.3%, Russians 6.6% and Samoyedes i.o%. The Zirians (alternative spellings Syryenians, Zyrenians, Sirianians, Zirian fans, Zyrians) call themselves Komi or Kami. They are a Finnish race of the Permian branch, with a language closely related to that of the Permyaks and Votyaks. Many Russian words have been adopted, and when the Komi learnt reindeer breeding from the Samoyedes, they borrowed Samoyedic words for the art. Castren published a Komi grammar, but no ancient Komi literature exists. The Finns and Russians were living peacefully together as early as the 9th century in this district, the Finns paying tribute : they have adopted many Russian vil lage customs. They are fair, grey-eyed and of medium-stature and readily adapt themselves to commerce. Their log-houses (kerkas) have two rooms, with a store-shed between and a steam bath house, and in summer they take steam baths several times a week and then plunge immediately into the river. The national costume has been replaced by Russian attire. The nomadic Samoyede migrates north in summer and south in winter, fol lowing his reindeer, but many have become settled in the Komi villages. Their travelling tent or chynt is made of about 20 fir poles, sharpened at each end, driven into the ground and lashed together at the top. Over these are tied large pieces of birch bark, secured by stones or lumps of earth to the ground. In winter the birch-bark is replaced by reindeer skin, well caulked with moss. A large flat stone serves as a fireplace. Their food is mainly reindeer meat, often in a semi-decaying condition. Syph ilis, scurvy, smallpox and alcohol have much reduced their num bers and lessened their resistance to the increasing pressure of the Komi and Russians. They are entirely illiterate, but efforts are being made to teach the children and schools where instruc tion is given in the Samoyede language have been opened.
of Siberia and Arctic Russia, vol. i., I.D., 1207, 1920; M. D. Haviland, Forest, Steppe and Tundra, 5926; Atlas of the U.S.S.R., 1928; In Russian; M. I. Ivanovski, North Eastern Area, 1926.