_THE GILYAKS._
The Gilyaks perfect heathens.--Their habitat, number, and
form.--Diseases, generation, and character.--Habitations.--Living
on fish.--Winter and summer clothing.--Methods of fishing.--Dirty
habits.--Domestic animals.--Boats.--Marriage customs.--Price
of a wife.--Foreign relations.--Fair at Pul.--Manchu
merchants.--Conversation with Gilyaks.--Gilyak and Goldi
languages.--Education.--Superstitions.--Idols and charms.--Method
of bear catching and killing.--Alleged worship of the
bear.--Shaman rites.--Gilyak treatment of the dead.--Romanist
mission to the Gilyaks.--Martyrdom of the missionary.
The Gilyaks were the most thorough heathens I saw in Siberia.[1] I
visited two of their villages--Mukhul and Tyr--saw some of them at
Nikolaefsk almost daily, and met a former starosta of the “white”
village. I conversed also with an American and an Englishman who had
known them for many years; with a French trader among them; with a
telegraph engineer whose business took him through the Gilyak country
and into their houses; and, further, with three Russian priests, who
as missionaries labour among them and the Goldi. From all of these I
gathered more or less information, which has since been supplemented
by reading; yet it must be owned that, as to all save what meets the
eye, we are still very little informed in regard to this people; whilst
of their religion (if they have any) next to nothing is known. Few
Russians learn the Gilyak language, and few Gilyaks learn Russ.
The Gilyak country extends from Tambofsk (or Girin), about 350 miles
south of Nikolaefsk, to the sea-shore near the mouth of the Amur,
as well as over the northern half of the island of Sakhalin. The
subdivisions of the people on the island are, on the west coast the
Smerenkur, and on the east the Tro. To state accurately their numbers
is not easy. When I asked a former starosta of the white village what
was its population, he replied, “We have 60 men and more women, but the
children are not counted.” Mr. Collins passed on the Amur 39 Gilyak
villages, the population of which he estimated at 1,680.
In stature these aborigines are diminutive, usually below rather than
above five feet; their eyes are elongated; the color of the skin tawny,
like that of the Chinese; the hair black, and not luxuriant.[2] The
Gilyaks tie up the hair in a thick tail, but do not, like the Manchu
and Goldi, shave or cut it; hence they were called by the Chinese “long
hairs.”
They do not cause malformations of body by pressure, mutilation, or
incision. Their diseases, in common with the Goldi, are rheumatism,
ophthalmia (produced by hunting in the snow), and syphilis, the last
having been originally introduced by Manchu merchants. In hereditary
cases it is no doubt aggravated by their filthy manner of living. The
Gilyaks resort for cure to the hot springs at Mukhul; but the Goldi,
having no such springs, frequently die of the disease. Insanity is
rare among them. Their women have few children; six is thought a very
large family. They strap their babies in wooden cradles very much like
a butcher’s tray, and suspend them from the roof, as I saw at Mukhul,
where the poor little creature was unable to move hand or foot. I
gathered from a Russian missionary that the Goldi are thought to be
slightly on the increase; but the Gilyaks, from the time the Russians
first knew them, have been dying out.[3]
The winter habitations of the Gilyaks and Goldi are erected in clusters
of from two or three to perhaps a dozen. In the 39 villages mentioned
by Collins he counted 140 houses. The first Gilyak dwelling I entered
was at Mukhul. It was about 40 feet square, built of small posts or
stakes, and plastered with mud. The roof was supported by heavier
posts at the corners, with cross-pieces on which the rafters rested,
and upright timbers supported the covering of larch bark, kept in its
place and from warping in the sun by stones and heavy poles. Among the
cross-beams and joists were nets, skins, dog-sledges, light canoes,
hunting implements, fish-baskets of birch or willow twigs, dried fish,
herbs, and, in fact, the wealth and working tools of the half-dozen
families to whom the house was evidently a comfortable home during a
long and severe winter. Around three sides of the interior was a raised
divan for a seat and dining and sleeping place, with a flue running
underneath, and a fireplace at either end. At the vacant side of the
interior were cooking utensils, pots, kettles, knives, and wooden pans;
and there were hung to dry various skins and fish, entrails, etc. The
house had only this one room, and in the centre was a raised platform,
under which in winter are tied the dogs, and sometimes the family bear.
The windows were of fish-skin, or thin paper, over a lattice. Besides
this kind of dwelling-house for winter, I entered at Tyr a thatched log
building, supported and raised on posts several feet above the ground,
and out of the reach of floods, dogs, and vermin. The verandah was
approached by climbing a notched log. The floor consisted of poles,
between which daylight was visible; and in the centre was a box full of
earth for the fireplace. The building was used probably in winter for
a storehouse; but I found it inhabited as a summer residence. The most
prominent objects, both indoors and out, were large racks and poles,
on which fish were hung to dry; and the combined odour of fish and
fish-oil made it little short of an act of heroism to stay long in a
Gilyak’s house.
These people do not cultivate the land, but subsist almost entirely on
fish. Occasionally they eat the animals taken in the chase, and their
dogs, when they die; while pork and other flesh, with a little millet,
are reserved for festivals.[4]
The favourite winter dress of both Gilyaks and Goldi is made of
dogs’ skins, or of fox or wolf, as being the next warmest. In summer
they wear fish-skin, hence the Chinese called them “Yupitatze,” or
“fish-skin strangers,” though the well-to-do among the Goldi get from
the merchants cotton goods, and sometimes even silk. The fish-skin
is prepared from two kinds of salmon. They strip it off with great
dexterity, and, by beating with a mallet, remove the scales, and so
render it supple. Clothes thus made are waterproof. I saw a travelling
bag, and even the sail of a boat, made of this material. I had hoped,
when leaving Kara, to have found at Ignashina the dress of a Tunguse
shaman, but I was disappointed. I succeeded, however, in purchasing at
Tyr a fish-skin coat. It is handsomely embroidered, and colored on the
back.[5] The Gilyak hats are made of fur for the winter with lappets;
and the Goldi, by sewing together squirrels’ tails, make a round fur
like a “boa,” about five inches in diameter, which, being joined at
the ends, serves either for the neck or to encircle the head like a
coronet. Their summer hat, of depressed conical shape, is made of
birch-tree bark, ornamented on the top by strips of colored wood sewn
in patterns. It has inside a wooden ridge, and is kept in place by a
string under the chin.
[Illustration: SALMON-SKIN COAT AND BIRCH-BARK HAT.]
The occupations of the Gilyaks and Goldi are fishing and hunting. They
use _gill_-nets and seines in some localities, and _scoop_-nets in
others. I more than once saw a fence of poles built at right angles
to the shore, extending 20 or 30 yards into the Amur. This fence is
fish-proof, except in a few places where holes are purposely left
for the salmon, which the natives lie in wait to catch with spears
or hand-nets. When the fish are running well, a canoe can soon be
filled.[6] Ropes and nets they make from hemp and from the common
stinging-nettle, the stalks of which are treated like flax. This
latter material is preferred, and makes cordage equal to that of
civilized manufacture, though sometimes not quite so smooth. I obtained
a specimen of very fine sewing-thread of native manufacture, and
exceedingly strong; but colored threads for embroidery are purchased
from the Russians or the Manchu.
The habits of the Gilyaks are dirty beyond description. They are said
never to wash. A telegraphic engineer told me that he one day gave a
Gilyak a piece of soap, which he put in his mouth, and, after chewing
it to a lather, pronounced “very good.” Both Gilyaks and Goldi have
a liking, reverence, or fear for animals. They formerly domesticated
ermines for catching rats, the high price of cats confining their
possession to the wealthy. On the Lower Amur they find, besides
those mentioned elsewhere, the elk, roebuck, reindeer, and fox; the
racoon-dog, wild boar, and lynx; the polecat, hedgehog, ermine, sable,
and striped squirrel.[7] They are fond also of seeing swallows build
in their houses, and to induce them to do so they fasten small boards
under the roof, by which these birds have access to the house. The
Goldi keep the horned owl (for catching rats), the jay, the hawk, and
the kite--the last for no particular use, unless it be for the sake
of their feathers for arrows.[8] The eagle is sometimes seen fastened
near their houses, and so are the dogs, which, in winter, are their
principal means of locomotion. I saw a large number of them at Mukhul.
A team may consist of any odd number from 7 to 17, a good leader being
worth 50_s._ and an ordinary dog from 8_s._ to 10_s._ The sledge is
made of thin boards five or six feet long, and 18 inches wide, convex
below, but straight on the upper edge. A team of nine dogs draws a man
and 200 pounds of luggage an entire day, each dog receiving a piece
of fish a foot long, and about two inches square, the same in size as
suffices for his master. The mode of summer communication is by boats
made of pitch-fir or cedar. Besides these the Goldi make canoes of
birch-bark. The native sits in the centre, and propels himself with a
double-bladed paddle. The canoes are flat-bottomed, and very easily
upset. When a native sitting in one of them spears a fish, he moves
only his arm, and keeps his body motionless. The larger boats are
usually rowed by women, the lords of creation sitting in the stern to
steer and smoke their long-stemmed, amber-tipped, Chinese pipes. There
is one marked difference, however, between the rowing of the Gilyaks
and Goldi, for whereas the latter, taking two oars, pull them together,
the former pull them alternately--a seemingly clumsy way, but in
practice efficient.
Women occupy a low position among the Gilyaks and Goldi, who are
polygamists. Mr. Ravenstein quotes a statement of Rinso, a Japanese
traveller, that among the Smerenkur Gilyaks polyandry prevails.
Betrothal dates from childhood. The father chooses the bride for his
infant son, a rich Gold paying from £5 to £20 for a girl five years
old. At Mukhul the price of a wife was given me as from £10 to £50,
often paid in silk stuffs and other materials, whilst a telegraph
engineer named as the selling price for a Gilyak bride, from eight to
ten dogs, a sledge, and two cases of brandy, though, if she have “a
good nose,” she fetches rather more. The bride elect is brought into
the house of her future father-in-law, and when the girl is 12 or 13,
and the boy 18, they are married.[9] Should a Gold who has many wives
desire to be baptized the Russian missionaries compel him to elect one,
and be canonically married to the object of his choice; the rest being
sold, or, by a happy arrangement, returned to their respective fathers
at half price. Notwithstanding such matrimonial drawbacks, I heard that
among these interesting people there are no unmarried ladies.
The amusements of the Gilyaks are of the nature of gymnastics, such as
throwing heavy irons and fencing. They begin early to shoot with bow
and arrow, and are good archers. Their foreign relationships are of a
very limited character.[10]
There was formerly at Pul an annual fair, which lasted for 10 days, and
was like that of Nijni Novgorod in miniature.[11] The navigation of the
Amur by the Russians has caused this fair to be discontinued, but the
Manchu merchants still descend the river, though not in such numbers
as formerly, when one voyage sufficed to realize enough for the wants
of a year. I was informed that they fleece the natives sadly, giving
the Gilyaks, for instance, a pint of millet or half a pint of brandy
for a sable-skin; and when the natives are made drunk, then, of course,
skins are bartered for very much less. The Russian barges, fitted like
floating stores, and towed on the river, must have interfered greatly
with the Manchu traders, whose sway, it is to be hoped, is nearly
at an end. The Gilyaks now come to the Russian towns, especially to
Nikolaefsk, and not only sell their fish, but begin to purchase Russian
articles; whereas, for a long time, they gave the preference to goods
of Chinese make.
I met a family of Gilyaks in a shop at Nikolaefsk, with whom I
endeavoured to exchange ideas, through one who spoke a little Russian,
and I thought they seemed a people the lowest in intellect of any I had
met. The company consisted of a father, mother, two daughters, and a
deaf and dumb boy. The man did not know his daughters’ age, nor even
his own, saying that they kept no account. When asked whether he would
sell me his daughter to wife, he replied at first that they did not
sell their girls to Russians, not approving the alliance. When pressed
further, however, he said that she was already sold (she was about 10
years old, and was smoking a pipe), and he added, “I sold her dearly!”
It was difficult, however, in Russ to convey to their minds any but
the simplest ideas. Neither Gilyaks nor Goldi have any written signs.
The missionary living at Khabarofka has translated into Goldi parts of
the Scriptures and the Greek liturgy, using, if I mistake not, Russian
characters. The Goldi language, he told me, was much like the Manchu,
and that, speaking the former, he could make himself understood in
the latter. Both, Mr. Howorth says, are Tunguse languages. M. de la
Brunière writes that Goldi stands to Manchu much as Provençal does to
French or Italian.[12]
The Russians have made some attempts to educate the Gilyaks. When Mr.
Knox visited Mikhailofsky, he found a merchant farmer who was acting
as superintendent of a school opened at the cost of the Government for
the education of Gilyak boys. The copy-books exhibited fair specimens
of penmanship, and on the desks were Æsop’s fables translated into
Russ. Close at hand was a forge, where the boys learned to work, and
a carpenter’s shop, with tools and turning lathe. The school at that
time was in operation ten months a year, and the teacher belonged to
one of the inferior ranks of the Russian clergy. I called on the priest
at Mikhailofsky and inquired about the Gilyaks, but heard nothing of
the existence of the school, and I am under the impression that it is
discontinued. The Russians have two mission schools, however, on the
Lower Amur, attended by 30 children--one at Troitzka for the Goldi,
and another for the Gilyaks at Bolan, near Malmuish. I heard of one
Gilyak boy who had made sufficient progress to qualify him to become a
psalmist, or _dïechok_, in the Russian Church.
Like other heathen tribes, the Gilyaks have many superstitions. They do
not allow fire to be carried in or out of a house, not even in a pipe,
fearing such an act may bring ill luck in hunting or fishing. The same
superstition is found in many parts of Russia. They appear, too, to be
fatalists; for an Englishman at Nikolaefsk told me that if one falls
into the water, the others will not help him out, on the plea that they
would thus be opposing a higher power, who wills that he should perish.
A Russian officer and his family were drowned some time since near the
town, within easy reach of the boats of the Gilyaks, who could have
saved them, but they did not attempt to do so.[13]
The Gilyaks believe in wooden idols or charms as antidotes to disease.
I had practical illustration of this at Tyr, where I wished to buy some
of the little amulets belonging to the head of a household; but he was
at first unwilling to sell them, saying that he had found the wearing
of them very efficacious in sickness. The offer of a silver piece,
however, changed his mind;[14] and he afterwards sold me not only
his own, but those of his baby, one of them like a doll in a sitting
posture; and after I had left the house, he sent after me a fish rudely
cut in wood, and meant for a sturgeon, with a little god seated on his
back. This had been used, apparently, not long before, on a fishing
expedition, for there was gelatine and fresh blood in the mouth of the
fish and the god. Sometimes poles shaped like idols are placed before
the houses. Another kind is carried as companion to the native on his
journeys, whilst some are placed upon the summits of the mountains.
[Illustration: GILYAK IDOLS OR CHARMS]
Other idols are in the form of the tiger, bear, etc., which animals
are closely connected with their superstition, if not their religion.
The tiger is said to be feared much more among the Gilyaks than the
Goldi, and its appearance portends evil. If the remains are found of a
man killed by a tiger, they are buried on the spot without ceremony.
On the other hand, if a cow is found killed by a bear, it is eaten
with great glee and rejoicing. It is said that neither Gilyaks nor
Goldi attempt to kill the tiger. Neither do they hunt the wolf, to
which they attribute an evil influence. With the bear, however, things
are very different. There is in each Gilyak village a bear cage. I
saw them at both Mukhul and Tyr. They speak of the captive as _Mafa_,
that is, “Chief Elder,” and to distinguish him from the tiger, who is
_Mafa sakhle_, that is, “Black Chief.” In hunting the bear they exhibit
great intrepidity. In order not to excite his posthumous revenge, they
do not surprise him, but have a fair stand-up fight. When it is not
desired to secure the animal alive, the natives use a spear, such as I
saw at Krasnoiarsk, the head of which is covered with spikes. It lies
upon the ground, having cord attached to the centre, and held by a
man, the spear-point being towards the bear. As Bruin advances to the
man, the spear-head is raised from the ground, and the beast throws
himself upon it, but finds the chevaux-de-frize a disagreeable object
to embrace. He is then set upon by the huntsmen and killed. It is much
more interesting sport to catch a bear alive. A party of ten men or
more enter the forest provided with straps, muzzle, and a collar with
chain attached. Having discovered the whereabouts of the bear, he is
surrounded, and one of them, jumping upon his back in the twinkling
of an eye, seizes hold of his ears. Another quickly fastens a running
knot round the neck of the beast, and almost suffocates him. He is then
muzzled, the collar passed round his neck, and he is led in triumph to
the village to be put in the cage, and fattened on fish.[15] Bruin is
not imprisoned, however, to be treated like the sacred bulls of Egypt.
On festivals he is brought out, his paws tied, an iron chain put in his
mouth, and he is bound between two fixed poles, an involuntary witness
of the natives frolicking around him. On very grand occasions he takes
a more direct share in the festival by being killed with superstitious
ceremonies.[16] The people then go home, their chiefs staying to cut up
the bear, the flesh of which is distributed to every house, and eaten
with great zest, as food calculated to inspire and bring courage and
luck. The head and paws, however, are treated with great reverence.[17]
These ursine ceremonies have, no doubt, given rise to the statement
that the Gilyaks worship the bear. Mr. Collins goes so far as to
say that they consider the bear an incarnated evil spirit; and the
missionary at Mikhailofsky, in answer to my question, was not sure,
but he thought it quite likely that they worshipped the animal. It is
only proper to say, however, that when I met at Nikolaefsk the former
elder of the White village, and asked him whether it was true that they
worshipped the bear, he denied it, and said that they killed it as we
should do any other animal for a feast; and that each village was bound
in turn to provide a bear, on which occasion other villages assembled
and joined in the banquet. I then inquired what was the religion of
the Gilyaks. He said they had none, but upon being asked to whom they
prayed, he looked up to the skies. He acknowledged that they practised
Shamanism, but added that that was a mystery.
[Illustration: GILYAK FISH-GOD OR IDOL.]
Thus far I have frequently used the word Shamanism, but have deferred
explaining it till I treated of the Gilyaks, some of whose Shamanistic
practices were described to me by an eye-witness--the telegraph
engineer, to whom I have before alluded. The Gilyaks and the Siberian
natives generally believe in the existence of good and bad spirits; but
as the former perform only good, it is not thought necessary to pay
them any attention.[18]
The shamans, or priests, who may be male or female, are regarded as
powerful mediators between the people and the evil spirits. The shaman,
in fact, combines the double functions of doctor and priest. When
a man falls sick, he is supposed to be attacked by an evil spirit,
and the shaman is called to practise exorcism. There is a distinct
spirit for every disease, who must be propitiated in a particular
manner. The performance was thus described to me. The shaman puts
on a huge bearskin cloak, which jingles with bells, pieces of iron,
brass, or anything which will help, when shaken, to make a noise; the
whole sometimes weighing as much as 100 lbs. He begins by singing
in a monotonous murmur, and drinks brandy. Both patient and doctor
are usually decorated with strips of wood or shavings, hanging round
the waist and head. By the side of the patient are placed idols and
brandy. The shaman sits on one side and the audience on the other. He
approaches, drinks more brandy, begins to sing and jingle his bells,
and gives brandy to the spectators. On the table are placed idols,
fish, a squirrel’s skin, millet and brandy, and a dog is tied under
the table. The eatables are offered to the idols, and then distributed
to be consumed by all present. Meanwhile the shaman contorts his
body, and dances like one possessed, and howls to such an extent that
Chinese merchants, who have come out of curiosity, have been known to
flee in very terror. He also beats a tambourine, and sometimes falls
prostrate, as if holding communion with the spirits; and this kind of
thing sometimes goes on for three days and nights, as long, probably,
as provisions and spirits hold out, after which the patient is left to
believe that he will get well; and the shaman receives his fee, which
may be a reindeer, a dog, fish, brandy, or whatever the patient can
afford. The shamans possess great power over their deluded subjects,
though they are said to be somewhat held in check by the belief that,
should they abuse their authority over evil spirits, to the detriment
of a fellow human being, they will hereafter be long and severely
punished. Their punishment is supposed to await them in a nether hell,
dark and damp, filled with gnawing reptiles. A good shaman, however,
who has performed wonderful cures receives, after death, a magnificent
tomb to his memory.
The treatment of the dead among the Gilyaks would seem to vary. Réclus
and Collins say that some tribes burn the dead on funereal pyres, and
build a low frame over the ashes, and that others hang the coffins
on trees, or place them on a scaffolding near the houses. The French
trader at Nikolaefsk told me that in winter they wrap up the dead and
put them in the forked branches of trees, out of the reach of animals,
till the ground is thawed, and then, he supposed, the corpse was
buried. The soul of the Gilyak is supposed to pass at death into his
favourite dog, which is accordingly fed with choice food; and when the
spirit has been prayed by the shamans out of the dog, the animal is
sacrificed upon his master’s grave. The soul is then represented as
passing underground, lighted and guided there by its own sun and moon,
and continuing to lead there, in its spiritual abode, the same manner
of life and pursuits as in the flesh.
The Russians have missionaries among the Gilyaks, but the Greek Church
cannot claim the honour of bringing Christianity first among them.
This belongs to a Roman missionary, M. de la Brunière, who perished
in his endeavour.[19] On April 5th, 1846, he addressed a letter to
the directors of the Seminary for Foreign Missions, telling them of
his plans, and how strongly a Chinese friend tried to dissuade him,
“representing to me the troops of tigers and bears which filled these
deserts; and, whilst relating these things, he sometimes uttered such
vehement cries that my two guides grew pale with horror. Being already
a little accustomed to the figures of Chinese eloquence, I thanked him
for his solicitude, assuring him that the flesh of Europeans had such
a particular flavour that the tigers of Manchuria would not attempt to
fasten their teeth in it.”[20]
Then follows a touching portion, in which he writes:-- “About the 13th
or 15th of May, I will buy, if it please God, a small bark, in which I
may descend the Amur to the sea to visit the ‘long hairs.’ I shall go
alone, because no one dare conduct me. I am well aware how difficult
it will be to avoid the barges of the mandarins who descend the river
from San-sin; but if it is the will of God that I arrive where I design
going, His arm can smooth every obstacle, and guide me there in safety;
and if it please Him that I return, He knows well how to bring me back.”
He went, and at the White village was murdered.[21] I passed the spot a
few hours before reaching Nikolaefsk, and the bay was pointed out where
the missionary was put to death. My fellow-passengers said that De la
Brunière reached the place with a baptized Mongol, whom he sent back on
the day of his arrival, after which he proceeded to show the Gilyaks
his watch, crucifix, spoons, etc.; and that two days after his arrival,
they killed him on a small island where he had taken up his abode.
One of my fellow-passengers was the Russian Lieutenant Yakimoff, who
in 1857, with the Governor of the province, visited the village, and
found the Gilyaks who had committed the murder. They had still in their
possession the watch, crucifix, and spoons, which the Russians bought.
During my stay at Nikolaefsk I met, as I have said, a former starosta
of the White village, who told me that he had heard from his father the
story of the missionary. Thus perished the first man who attempted to
carry Christianity to the Gilyaks. What the Russians are doing among
them I shall refer to when speaking hereafter of their missions to the
neighbouring Goldi.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Their name is variously spelt Gee-laks, Giliaks, Ghiliaks, and
Gilyaks. Living near and resembling in many points the Goldi, the two
tribes, for ethnographical purposes, are sometimes classed together as
branches of the Tunguse family. But M. Réclus is right when, speaking
of the “Giliaks” or “Kilé,” he calls them “frères de ceux qui vivent
dans l’île de Sakhalin et parents de ces mystérieux Aïnos qui sont
l’objet de tant de discussion entre les ethnologistes”; and Mr. Howorth
says that the Ghiliaks, called “Fish-skin Tata” by the Chinese, are no
doubt sophisticated Aïnos, while the Goldi are Tunguses.
[2] As Réclus observes, they have not the open and clear physiognomy of
the majority of the Tunguses, and their little eyes sparkle with a dull
brilliance; they have squat noses, thick lips, prominent cheekbones,
and, he adds, “thick beards”; which last I can hardly confirm, but
would rather say, with Mr. Ravenstein, that the beard is stronger with
them than with the Tunguses, which is not saying much.
[3] Dwelling further from the Manchu than the Amur Tunguses, they are
wilder; and Réclus observes that they have a greater idea of liberty,
acknowledge no master, and are governed only by custom, which regulates
their festivals, and determines their hunting and fishing affairs,
their marriages and burials. They are certainly courageous in the way
they catch and kill the bear, though oddly enough they never willingly
get into water, and do not swim.
[4] They are beginning now to use tea, salt, sugar, and bread; but all
of these seem to have been unknown to them before the advent of the
Russians. I heard it mentioned, as a good trait in their character,
that if a Gilyak receives a piece of bread, after eating a portion he
takes home the remainder as a treat for his family. During my stay at
Mikhailofsky the natives came to barter wild fruit for bread. They
are said to have no stated hours for meals, and knives and forks are
of course unknown to them. Noticing one day some Manchu and Goldi
at a meal, I observed they had boiled millet in basins, which they
raised to the lips, and then whipped the millet into their mouths with
chop-sticks.
[5] The men and women dress very much alike. A number of small metal
pendants about the size of a sixpence round the bottom of the blouse
distinguishes the gentler sex. I purchased, too, at Mukhul some pieces
of embroidery on fish-skin, the workmanship of which is thought good
in England; whilst at Tyr was given me a kind of fish-skin open work
or lace. The blouse of the men is fastened in front, and confined
round the waist by a belt, to which is suspended a number of articles
of daily use. They consist of a large knife, a Chinese pipe, an
iron instrument for cleaning it, steel for striking a light, a bone
for smoothing fish-skins and loosening knots, a bag of fish-skin
for tinder, and a tobacco pouch, a specimen of which last, somewhat
tastefully made of sturgeon’s skin, was given me at Nikolaefsk by the
chief civil authority.
[6] In places I saw square pens of wicker-work fixed, to enclose the
fish after they pass the holes in the fence. For catching sturgeon
they use a circular net, of 5-feet diameter, and shaped like a shallow
bag. One part of the mouth is fitted with corks, and the opposite
with weights of lead or iron. Two canoes in mid-stream hold this net
vertically between them across the current. The sturgeon descending the
river enter the trap, and the fishermen divide the “net proceeds.”
[7] “Cats,” says Mr. Knox, “have a half-religious character, and are
treated with great respect. Since the advent of the Russians, the
supply is very good. Before they came, the Manchu merchants used to
bring only male cats, and those mutilated. The price was sometimes a
hundred roubles for a single mouser, and by curtailing the supply, the
Manchu kept up the market.”
[8] The birds known to them belong generally to the species found in
the same latitudes of Europe and America, but there are some birds
of passage that are natives of Southern Asia, Japan, the Philippine
Islands, and even South Africa and Australia. Seven-tenths of the birds
of the Amur are found in Europe, two-tenths in Siberia, and one-tenth
in regions further south. Some birds belong more properly to America,
such as the Canadian woodcock and the water-ouzel, and there are
several birds common to the east and west coasts of the Pacific. The
number of stationary birds is not great. Maack enumerates 39 species
that dwell here the entire year. The birds of passage generally arrive
in April or May, and leave in September or October. It is a curious
fact that they come later to Nikolaefsk than to the town of Yakutsk,
nine degrees further north. This is due to difference of climate.
[9] Weddings, however, are expensive, for all the relatives expect
to be invited, and they sometimes drink several gallons of Chinese
_khanshin_. The drinking of this, I am told, causes not only
intoxication, but among these people violence akin to madness. It
is sold by weight, and costs tenpence per Russian pound, but its
importation is strictly forbidden by Russian law.
[10] Before the Russian occupation the Manchu came down the river to
collect tribute and dispose of their merchandise. These Mandarins are
charged with abuse of power, and with having made extortionate demands
upon the natives, who hailed the Russians as their liberators. On
the other hand, the Mandarin was supposed to make a small present of
tobacco or silk to every one paying him tribute; and among the Gilyaks
this present appeared to be reckoned of greater value than the tribute
demanded. The Gilyaks, however, living so far off from the Manchu, do
not seem to have been much oppressed by them, nor indeed to have been
very frequently visited. Sakhalin was visited still less often, but I
heard among the Goldi that they decidedly preferred the Russian to the
Manchu rule.
[11] Manchu and Chinese merchants met Japanese from Sakhalin, Tunguses
from the Okhotsk coast, and from the head waters of the Zeya and Amgun.
Besides these were the Orochi, or Orochons, from the mountains east
of the Lower Amur, and Manguns; to say nothing of smaller tribes,
speaking nearly a dozen languages, and conducting business in a
_patois_ of all the dialects. The goods imported were coarsely printed
calicoes, Chinese silk materials, rice and millet, also bracelets,
earrings, tobacco and brandy, cloth, powder, lead, and knives. These
were exchanged for furs, isinglass, and the dried backbones of the
sturgeon--the last being highly prized in Chinese cookery.
[12] I found that the priest was compiling a Goldi lexicon and grammar,
and that, for his linguistic labours, he has received a medal from the
Imperial Geographical Society. I am indebted to him for some of the
words in the following short vocabulary, which will give an idea of
the Manyarg, Manchu, Orochon, and Goldi tongues (which are Tunguse)
compared with the Gilyak and Aïno dialects, which seem to belong to
another family.
_English._ _Manyarg._ _Manchu._ _Orochon._ _Goldi._ _Gilyak._ _Aïno._
One omun emu omu omu niun chine
Two zur juo dhjou dhjour morsh tu
Three ilan ilan ulla ellan chiorch che
Four digin duin dii duyin murch yne
Five sunja tungha tongha torch ashne
Dog inda inda kan sheta
Sable nossa seppha
Fox solaki solli
[13] These aborigines do not bear a favourable character. Schrenk
says that the Gilyaks of the mainland are avaricious and covetous in
their commercial transactions, but that among those of Sakhalin this
propensity seeks satisfaction in theft and robbery. I shall presently
relate a case in which they murdered a missionary apparently for the
sake of getting the little merchandise he possessed.
[14] Sometimes they wear amulets fashioned like the part afflicted. A
lame or injured person carries a small leg of wood, an arm, a hand,
reminding one of the wax and silver arms, legs, hands, and hearts seen
in churches on Roman images, and on the pictures of Russian saints. The
missionary at Tyr gave me, in exchange for tracts, a charm to which is
attached a stone, and also two rough wooden fish gods--one with a tail,
the other without. The Gilyaks use these images or idols also in their
Shaman worship.
[15] When secured as a cub, he is frequently kept for three or four
years. The natives are often seriously wounded in these encounters,
but to this they do not object, since such wounds are thought to be
marks of prowess, and to be killed by a bear is deemed a very happy
death. Most of the writers on the Gilyaks mention this extraordinary
procedure; and I heard it confirmed at Mikhailofsky by the missionary.
[16] The day falls in January of each year, and an Englishman at
Nikolaefsk, who had been an eye-witness of the spectacle, described it
to me thus: “The bear is led from his cage, dragged along and beaten
with sticks, and presented at every house in the village; thus he gets
exasperated to a high degree. He is then led to the river to a hole in
the ice, where they try to make him drink water, and from a platter to
eat food, though only a spoonful, both of which in his excited state he
refuses, and which is precisely what they desire. He is then dragged
back with shouts to the place of sacrifice, where, having been fastened
to a post and allowed to repose awhile, he is shot through the heart
with an arrow.”
[17] Among the Gilyaks the head is kept by the patriarch of the
village, and prayers are said to be offered to it for the space of a
week. I was told at Nikolaefsk that the Gilyaks often bring bears’
skins to sell; but by no chance do they bring, or can they be induced
to bring, a hide with the head or paws attached. The ears, jaw-bones,
skull, and paws are sometimes hung upon trees to ward off evil spirits.
Occasionally the skull is split, and suspended in their houses; and Mr.
Knox observed in a Goldi house that part of one wall was covered with
bear skulls and bones, horse-hair, wooden idols, and pieces of colored
cloth.
[18] Mr. Collins does indeed say that the true God is adored without
the shamans in autumn, and then by the whole community in mass, but I
am unable to confirm this from anything I have read or heard. It would
seem rather that all their efforts are directed to induce the evil
spirits not to act; for these evil spirits are supposed to have power
over hunting, fishing, household affairs, and the health and well-being
of animals and men. Accordingly I inferred that Shamanism, so far as it
can be called a religion, is one of fear, and not of love; that it is
something for times of sorrow, such as death, sickness, and calamity,
and not for occasions of joy or thanksgiving, as a birth or a wedding.
[19] Mr. Ravenstein states that the efforts of the Roman Catholic
missionaries in Manchuria may be said to date from 1838; and in May
1845 M. de la Brunière left Kai Cheu with the intention of seeking
the conversion of the “long-haired” people--that is, the Gilyaks of
the Amur. This was before the Russian occupation of the river, and
at a time when thus to wander, without permission, was contrary to
Chinese law and full of danger, to say nothing of the difficulties of
locomotion.
[20] M. de la Brunière then describes his fatigues, his only food being
millet boiled in water. “You must cut and drag trees, light fires
(necessary against the cold and tigers), prepare your victuals in
wind and rain, and all this in the midst of a swarm of mosquitoes and
gad-flies, who do not suspend their attacks till about 10 or 12 in the
evening. Water and wood were abundant at first, ... but 30 leagues from
the Ussuri, the springs became so scarce that we were compelled to do
like the birds of heaven, and eat the millet raw.”
[21] Four years after, M. Venault was sent to the Lower Amur partly, if
possible, to clear up the fate of De la Brunière. On arriving at what
is now called the White village, he found no difficulty in ascertaining
how matters had gone. M. de la Brunière, it seemed, was preparing his
meal in a small bay, when ten men, attracted by the prospect of booty
from the strange priest, went towards him, armed with bows and pikes.
Having hit him with several arrows, seven of them struck him with their
pikes, and the last stroke fractured his skull and proved mortal. This
act consummated, the assassins divided the spoil.