Beltir

Beltir, a large Turki tribe on the Abakan tributary of the Upper Yenesei, South Siberia, in speech and features akin to the Yakuts of the Lena basin. Like the Tunguses and some other Central Asiatic peoples, they expose their dead on the branches of trees in the most secluded parts of the forests. The body is placed in a large coffin with provisions, household utensils and, if a man, his saddle and other valuable effects. This custom dates from remote times, and is analogous to a practice attributed by Herodotus to the ancient Scythians. The Beltirs are polygamists, but seldom have more than two wives.