Castren considers that three of their stems are of Ostiak origin, the remainder being Samoyedic. The Kamasins, in the Kansk district of Yeniseisk, are either herdsmen or agriculturists.
Castren characterized Obdorsk (mouth of the Ob) as a true Samoyedic town, although peopled with " Russians."
The majority - in European Russia - are remnants of the Mongol invasion of the 13th century (see Mongols), while those who inhabit Siberia are survivals of the once much more numerous Turkish population of the Ural-Altaic region, mixed to some extent with Finnish and Samoyedic stems, as also with Mongols.
