ABSTRACT
Going out for a walk on Easter Sunday 1882, Friedrich Müller, professor at the University of Vienna, noticed a huge poster on the street depicting human figures almost at full height. The poster reported that Samoyeds had arrived in Vienna from the shores of the Arctic Ocean with a real yurt and their deer, and that a Russian accompanied them. Samoyeds were to be seen at the Orpheum Theater in the Wasagasse—a theater that was very popular among the public in the cold half of the year (Müller 1886, 25). Looking at the poster, Müller suspected something was amiss. He recalled that not long ago in Vienna an advertisement was issued about a show of real Zulus, 1 whose arrival attracted great attention, but as soon became clear, these were not true Zulus but “the most harmless blacks” (Müller 1886, 25) from the Temne tribe (in what is now Sierra Leone), who had been taught while in Europe what should have looked like eerily wild Zulu dances. When the substitution of the Zulus was discovered, the police intervened and the organizers had to curtail their performance, taking it to other places. 2 So, looking at the posters with Samoyeds, Müller suspected yet another deception. Could someone really bring Samoyeds to Vienna? Maybe the public would actually be shown just Ostyaks? 3
