The article provides information on ethnographic studies of Siberian peoples published by Poles in the form of descriptions, notes and diaries in the second half of the 19th century. The ethnographic sketches of the exiled participants of the January Uprising in Poland (1863–1864), P. Argant, A. J. Kon, M. Hruszecki, and J. Koton, published in European languages are still little-studied. The author notes the special contribution of L. Nemojewski, who, while in exile, wrote dozens of essays and the book “Siberian Pictures”, which was published in Polish and English. L. Nemojewski was one of the first to present to the European reader the life of the Siberian peoples — and not only the indigenous, but also the Russian Siberians. Not all his descriptions are accurate, sometimes they are somewhat naive. Of particular value is one of the first detailed descriptions of the Khakasses. Nemojewski paid considerable attention to them, analysing not only their traditions, but also their psychology, folklore and religious beliefs. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of the study of published ethnographic observations of the exiled participants of the January Uprising in Poland in 1863–1864. All these essays, articles and books certainly fit into the trend of “ethnographic fiction” or “ludoznawstwa” popular in Poland in the second half of the 19th century.
«A whole new world for me»: K.D. Nosilov’s ethnographic fiction in the Russian literature of the late 19th – early 20th centuries
