_THE BURIATS._
Country of the Buriats.--Their physiognomy
and costume.--Habitations.--Mongol
yourts.--Hospitality.--Fuel.--Possessions in cattle.--Character
of Buriats.--Their religions.--Buddhist Buriats.--The soul
of Buddha.--The lamas.--Their celibacy, classification,
employments, disabilities.--Buddhist doctrines.--A prayer
cylinder.--Christian Buriats.--English missions.--Reports of
English travellers.--Results of Russian missions.--Distribution of
Buriat Scriptures.
Soon after leaving Verchne Udinsk, we entered upon the vast steppe
which occupies a large portion of the Trans-Baikal. Here we found
ourselves in the heart of the Buriats’ country. We first met with
these people a few miles on the western side of Irkutsk, and their
physiognomy at once told us they belonged to a different race from any
we had seen. They have very large skulls, square faces, low and flat
foreheads; the cheek-bones are high and wide apart, the nose flat, eyes
elongated, the skin swarthy and yellowish, and the hair jet black. With
the men the hair is allowed to grow upon the crown of the head, and is
plaited into a queue that hangs down their backs. What remains is cut
close, but not shaved, as with the Tatars. The head-dress of the women
is exceedingly rich, and consists of silver, coral, polished beads of
Ural malachite, and mother-of-pearl. They wear their hair in two thick
braids, which fall from the temples below the shoulders, and the
unmarried girls interweave their braids with strings of coral. Several
women had many silver ornaments hanging on their breasts, and in some
cases a straight rod at the back of the head stuck out horizontally for
several inches on either side, and to this the hair was tied. I was
desirous to purchase one of these head-dresses for a curiosity, but
they were not to be had at shops. The stones and metal are purchased,
and made up by household skill. I was, however, somewhat taken aback
on finding that their value frequently amounted to twenty or thirty
pounds sterling. At a post-station we asked a Buriat what he would
take for his hat. To our surprise, he asked the modest price of fifteen
roubles merely for the silver knob at the top. The Buriats are said to
wear no linen, but a wealthy bride’s dowry sometimes consists of 40
cases of the richest furs.
[Illustration: MISS BOU-TA-TYO, A BURIAT YOUNG LADY.]
As for their habitations, the Buriats are such inveterate dwellers in
tents that though they are supposed now to be civilized where they
come in contact with the Russians, yet they make a tent of the house
by piercing a hole in the middle of the roof, and have the fire in
the centre of the floor. When visiting Madame Tokmakoff, she had a
Buriat man-servant, for whom a Russian house was provided, but in which
he could not be happy until he had thus readjusted his dwelling. We
entered a Buriat house at Cheelantoui, although only the woman was at
home. There was within a rude wooden bench, on which we were invited
to sit, and on it was lying a pair of coral ornaments for the head.
These the woman, on our noticing them, immediately put on, and she then
invited us to drink tea. To have declined would have been considered
highly unpolite. Even among the Russians, a general pleasantly told
me that he took a refusal to eat food in his house like a slap in
the face. Moreover, we were anxious to stand well in the good graces
of our Buriat hostess, for we wished to be admitted to the Buddhist
temple, and she was the only person in the place through whom we could
communicate in Russian with the lamas. But to see the tea served,
and have to drink it, was no small trial. Over the fire hung a large
open iron pot, full of a bubbling liquid covered with scum. In this
was a ladle, which our fair hostess filled and refilled, and emptied
back into the pot. Then, scraping the scum away, she took a ladleful
of the decoction, poured it into cups, and gave us to drink. We were
told it was tea flavoured with salt. I only hope it was nothing worse,
but it will hardly be thought matter for surprise if, after tasting
it, I had an accident, upset the beverage, and declined a second cup.
We had a good look, however, at the furniture of the dwelling, the
most interesting item of which was a family altar, something like a
small sideboard with drawers. On it were round bronze cups of liquor,
and other offerings. There were also about the room some objects of
ornamented metal, betokening clever workmanship.
This represents the Buriat in his civilized condition. One gets a
better idea of his native habits and antecedents by going away from
the haunts of the Russians, or even into the “land of grass,” as
their Mongolian brothers call their desert. There they live in tents,
which, like those of other Siberian aborigines, are constructed with
poles meeting at the top, but covered with felt instead of deerskins.
The hospitality of all Mongol tribes is unvarying. Every stranger is
welcome, and has the best his host can give; and the more he consumes,
the better will all be pleased. The staple dish of the Mongol yourt
is boiled mutton, but it is unaccompanied with capers, or any other
kind of sauce or seasoning. A sheep “goes to pot” immediately on being
killed, and when the meat is cooked, it is lifted out of the hot water
and handed, all dripping and steaming, to the guests. Each man takes
a large lump on his lap, or any convenient support, and then cuts
off little pieces, which he tosses into his mouth. The best piece is
reserved for the guest of honour, and, as a mark of special attention,
is frequently put into his mouth by the greasy fingers of his host.
After the meat is devoured, the broth is drunk, and this concludes the
meal. Knives and cups are the only aids to eating, and as each man
carries his own “outfit,” the dinner-cloth and service does not take
long to arrange. The entire work consists in seating the party around
a pot of cooked meat. The Buriats are famous at drinking brick tea,
infusing with it rye meal, mutton fat, and salt obtained from the lakes
of the steppe. I suspect it was this we had to taste at Cheelantoui.
So important an article of food is this tea to the Buriats, that
they sometimes lay by stores of it as money. In dry situations, this
substance will remain a long time undeteriorated; and consequently on
the steppe an accumulation of it is often thought a better investment
than herds and flocks.
In the northern parts, the Buriats procure wood for fuel; but in the
southern parts, and with the Mongols in the desert, this article is
scarce, and they use instead sun-dried camels’ dung, which they call
_argols_, from a Tatar word which signifies the droppings of animals
when dried and prepared for fuel.[1]
The Buriat implements for striking fire used to be preferred to
European, and commanded a high price among the Russians. They are
made of plates of the best tempered steel, from four to six inches
long, stitched to a bag for holding the tinder, the bag being of red
leather, and tastefully ornamented with silver and steel spangles. The
English and Swedish matches have now driven them out of the Russian
market.
The ordinary occupation of the Buriats is that of tending cattle,
the number of their herds reminding one of the flocks of the Hebrew
patriarchs. Mr. Stallybrass told me that, when he was living at
Selenginsk, he knew rich Buriats to possess as many as 6,000 or 7,000
sheep, 2,000 head of horned cattle, and 200 horses; and Captain
Cochrane mentions the case of the mother of a Buriat chief who
possessed 40,000 sheep, 10,000 horses, and 3,000 horned cattle, besides
a large property in furs. In a sparsely-populated country, therefore, a
man’s children are very useful in looking after his cattle; and since
it is necessary to be constantly removing to fresh pastures, it will
be understood that this state of things presented to the missionaries
a double educational difficulty, namely, unwillingness on the part
of the parents to lose their children’s services, and their constant
change of residence. The same difficulty besets those still who would
carry on missionary and educational work among other wandering tribes
of Siberia. The Buriats, in 1876, numbered 260,000--the largest of the
native populations of Eastern Siberia. As yemstchiks we thought them
livelier than the Russians, and there was a manly independence in
their bearing, which easily accounted for the difficulty the Russians
had at first in subjugating them. Moreover, they would seem not to be
deficient in intellectual power, for the English missionaries taught
some of them Latin, and had prepared an elementary work on geometry and
trigonometry in the Buriat language. Baron Rosen also mentions that
they play chess, having learnt it from the Chinese, and he says that
the best player among his comrades, who were Russian officers, having
on one occasion challenged a Buriat to a game, was beaten. The speech
of the Buriats is a dialect of Mongol, rough and unsophisticated,
with Manchu, Chinese, and Turkish corruptions. It is distinguished by
its abundance of guttural and nasal sounds. Instead of true Mongolian
letters they employ the Manchu alphabet, which is written in vertical
columns from the top to the bottom of the page, the lines running from
left to right. The only versions of the Scriptures in the Mongolian
language are those of the Calmuck and Buriat dialects.
The religion of the Buriats is of three kinds: Shamanism, Buddhism, and
Christianity. Shamanism, more or less like that of the other tribes of
Siberia, would appear to have been their old religion; and it still
lingers most, I presume, in the northern parts of their country, which
are farthest from Buddhist influence. Buddhism, however, holds sway
over by far the greater portion of the people, and was originally
imported from Thibet.[2]
[Illustration: BURIAT LAMAS AND MONGOLIAN INTERPRETER.]
The lamas, or priests, are treated with great reverence, and every
Buddhist Buriat desires that one of his family should follow the
priestly calling. Hence it comes to pass that the lamas compose a
sixth--some say a fifth--of the population. When in full dress they
are clothed in scarlet, and shave their heads all over, and their
large ears standing off from the skull give them a curious appearance.
They are supposed to observe the strictest celibacy; hence Mr. Michie
observes that it is a tender point with a lama to be asked how his wife
and family are; but Mr. Erman points out that their celibacy has the
most prejudicial consequences. The use of spirits is forbidden to them,
lest excess “should disorder the brain of the student of the divine
oracles, and corrupt the heart by the bad passions it might engender.”
The use of tobacco also is denied them, and that for one of the best
of reasons against smoking, because “it is conducive to indolence, and
tends to waste leisure hours which ought to be devoted to pursuits
affording instruction as well as amusement.”[3]
Besides their religious employments the lamas engage in various
branches of ordinary industry, especially in the manufacture of
their own wearing apparel and their ecclesiastical furniture. A lama
labours under one inconvenience, in that he is not allowed to kill
anything, through fear that what he slaughters may contain the soul
of a relative, or possibly that of the divine Buddha. Even when he
is annoyed, says Mr. Knox, by fleas or similar creeping things, with
which their bodies are often thickly populated, he must bear his
infliction until patience is thoroughly exhausted. He may then call
in an unsanctified friend, and place himself and his garments under
thorough examination. So again, in connection with this difficulty
about killing, Captain Shepherd relates an instance in which the lamas
did their best to keep the law and yet evade it at the same time. The
captain, in crossing the desert, had bought a sheep, and was somewhat
in difficulty as to how the animal should be slaughtered. There were
four in the party. The late owner was a lama, and could not take life;
so was the guide; the captain was unwilling to turn butcher, and his
Chinese servant did not know how. The captain would have shot the
animal, but the owner protested. One of the lamas, therefore, took the
sheep aside, threw it down, tied its legs, explained to the Chinaman
the trick, and lent his own knife for the deed to be done, after which
he turned and walked quickly to a distance. When the sheep was once
killed, the lamas soon cut it up, had it cooked, and, of course, helped
to eat it.
The Buddhist books teach the people that they will attain the highest
wisdom if they honour the lama; that the sun itself rises _only_ that
honour may be rendered to the lamas; and that persons obtain pardon for
the most enormous sins by showing them respect. Any offence against
a lama annihilates the merit acquired by a thousand generations.
Whosoever shows any contempt for these personages is said to be
punished by accident, sickness, and all kinds of misfortunes, and
so forth. One of their Siberian monasteries, or lamaseries, with a
temple, is at Turgutu, midway between Verchne Udinsk and Chita; and I
think I heard of schools there. I have said that we visited a lamasery
at Cheelantoui. It was a small one, consisting of about half-a-dozen
houses, one of which was the temple, where, if I mistake not, they
worship daily at sunset, but into which, unfortunately, we could not
enter, as the chief was absent. There were younger lamas present, some
of them mere boys; but they either could not or would not understand
us, and seemed afraid to grant favours. We saw, however, the praying
machine. It consisted of an upright cylinder, from two to three feet
high, and perhaps two feet in diameter. It was fixed on a pivot, and
could be turned by a rope, to be pulled by the devotee, who secured
by each revolution some thousands of invocations to Buddha. Sometimes
these machines are turned by mechanical power, like a wind or water
mill. This, of course, is easier, and as the quantity of prayer is more
important than the quality, the latter method saves much trouble, and
is popular.[4]
The Buriats, who are Buddhists, have temples, ritual, an order of
priests, and a considerable literature. With a religion so developed,
it will not be difficult to account for its overcoming the older
Shamanistic creed, nor will it be hard to understand what was told us
by the Ispravnik of Selenginsk,--that of the two religions among the
Buriats, with whom the Russian missionaries come in contact, they find
the conversion of the Shaman Buriats tolerably easy, but the Buddhists
are greatly opposed to Christianity.
We now come to that part of the Buriat people who are Christian.
Perhaps it was an inquiry into the false religion of Buddha, under
which so many millions of the human race are deluded, or perchance
only a timid belief in the power of their own creed, that led our
early travellers in Siberia, with one exception, to look coldly and
unbelievingly on the efforts of the English mission to the Buriats; in
connection with which the thought arises for how little the heathen
world would have to thank the Christianity of England, if there
were not some who take a more believing view than the travellers
who go abroad, looking in a superficial way at what is being done,
or sometimes not looking at all, and then coming home to pronounce
missions a failure or an imposture. Captain Cochrane, for instance,
speaking of the missionaries at Selenginsk, goes so far as to say, “For
my own part, so small are my hopes of their success, that I do not
expect any one Buriat will be really and truly converted.”[5]
I have shown, however, that the English missionaries laid a solid
foundation, taught several scholars, and translated the Scriptures,
which translation the Russian missionaries have in their hands to-day;
and whatever may have been the success or failures of the English, it
certainly cannot be said of the Russian missionaries that they have no
converts, for, such as they are, they count them by thousands.
The Ispravnik at Selenginsk told me there were about 40 men engaged in
nine districts in the Russian mission to the Buriats, though I am not
aware whether some of them are not also parish priests. We called upon
a priest at Verchne Udinsk to ask about the matter, and sold him some
New Testaments and Gospels. He informed us that there were 15 mission
stations among them, and that on the eastern side of Lake Baikal there
were baptized annually about 300 Buriats, and on the western side more
than 1,000. This was confirmed by the missionary upon whom we called
further on, and it agrees tolerably with the general almanack of 1878,
in which it is stated that in the Irkutsk diocese there were baptized,
in the previous year, 1,505 of both sexes, including four Buriat lamas;
though the number of converts given for the Trans-Baikal diocese for
that year amounted to only 52, there being one lama to every 20 persons.
We had brought with us a number of copies of the Buriat Scriptures.
Some of these we left at Irkutsk, some with the Ispravniks of
Selenginsk and Troitzkosavsk, and some for the lamasery of Cheelantoui.
Others we left at Chita with a view to spreading them over the
district, as well as placing them in the prisons. I asked the Ispravnik
at Selenginsk what he thought the lamas would do with the books. He
said he thought they would first read them and then destroy them; but
Mr. Stallybrass, on my return, was of opinion that they were likely
to be deterred from destroying them by a feeling that they were
holy books. In any case we gave the copies we had brought, and thus
endeavoured to do what little we could for this interesting people,
who, I doubt not, will gradually be absorbed into the Russian Church.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The collecting, pounding, moulding, and drying of dung is, further
south, an important branch of commerce. Argols are of four classes.
In the first rank are the argols of goats and sheep, which make so
fierce a fire that a bar of iron placed therein is soon brought to a
white heat. The argols of camels constitute the second class; they burn
easily, and throw out a fine flame, but the heat they give is less
intense than that given by the preceding. The third class comprises
the argols of the bovine species; these, when thoroughly dry, burn
readily, and produce no smoke. Lastly come the argols of horses and
other animals, which, not having undergone the process of rumination,
present nothing but a mass of straw more or less triturated. They are
soon consumed, but are useful for lighting a fire. This fuel is called
_kiseek_ in Russia, and in the southern governments was the only kind
available for the poorer inhabitants, wood being very scarce and dear.
The discovery of coal, and the establishment of manufactories, has
wrought a complete change in the means of heating in Ekaterinoslaf.
Kiseek was made from the dung of cattle and sheep, laboriously trodden
under foot by women, and then sun-dried.
[2] At Lhassa, the capital of Thibet, dwells the _Dalai Lama_, who is
the head of the Buddhist religion; and though his followers acknowledge
him to be mortal, they believe his soul to be an immediate emanation
from the essence of their supreme deity, Buddha. In places where this
worship prevails are found religious communities gathered round the
temples dedicated to the rites of their faith, and monasteries, or,
as they are called, _lamaseries_, containing the various orders of
priests. It was one of these we visited at Cheelantoui. When the great
lama dies, it is held that his spirit immediately enters the body of
another human being, who thus becomes successor to all the rights and
privileges held by his predecessor, and some little difficulty often
occurs in discovering who may be the favoured individual; but as the
priests are the chief actors in the scene, their search is generally
successful. Commonly the spirit is recognized as having animated some
new-born infant, who is at once taken to the religious establishment
and educated by the lamas in the mysteries of their faith.
[3] The lamas are divided into four classes. Those of the first are
occupied with the study of doctrine, and with the tenets and mysteries
of their faith; those of the second with the regulation of certain
religious rites and ceremonies; those of the third busy themselves in
the study and direction of their worship; the fourth class study and
practise medicine, in which it would appear that some of them attain
eminence, for when we arrived at Kiakhta we found Mr. Tokmakoff, on
account of his health, was gone to Urga, the Mongolian capital, to be
near a native doctor.
[4] Inside the cylinder is placed the oft-used prayer of the Buddhist,
“_Om mani padme houm_,” of which a Russian near the monastery said the
meaning was _Gospodi pomilui_,--_i.e._, “Lord, have mercy upon us!”
Its real meaning, however, does not appear to be very clear. Klaproth
understood it to mean, “_O the gem in the lotus. Amen!_” and Huc
paraphrases it into, “_O that I may obtain perfection, and be absorbed
in Buddha. Amen._” The lamas assert that the doctrine contained in
the marvellous words is immense, and that the whole life of man is
insufficient to measure its depth and extent. At Lhassa the formula
is heard from every mouth--is everywhere visible in the streets, in
the interior of the houses, and on every flag and streamer floating
over the buildings, printed in Tatar and Thibetan characters. Certain
rich and zealous Buddhists even entertain, at their own expense,
companies of lamas for the propagation of the _mani_; and these strange
missionaries, chisel and hammer in hand, traverse field, mountain,
and desert to engrave the sacred formula on the stones and rocks they
encounter in their path. There was a stone with inscriptions, in the
temple yard at Cheelantoui; and I found other stones, bearing the
_mani_, on the supposed site of a temple at Tyr, on the Lower Amur.
[5] He does, indeed, afterwards allow that what is impossible with man
is possible with God; but goes on to insinuate that the missionaries
knew of the uselessness of their work, but that they had “too
comfortable a berth to be given up,” and then he thinks, forsooth,
that justice is not done to the people of England in so squandering
money, etc., etc. Mr. Atkinson contented himself with a passing
compliment to the character of the missionaries, and said that they
were unable to make converts among the Buriats; whilst Mr. Hill, who
visited Selenginsk, records that, “notwithstanding all their labours,
not a single Buriat had been converted by them”; and then he quotes
the testimony of a lady living on the spot, who said, “The missions
only failed because the undertaking was beyond the power of man to
accomplish unaided by more than his own genius. The missionaries
had all the zeal and perseverance of the Apostles, but they wanted
their power of working miracles, or the aid of some such startling
circumstances as the history of religious revolutions has often
presented to us, and without which all efforts at all times to convert
the Buriats will be equally fruitless.”