Through Siberia

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.

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 50s. and an ordinary dog from 8s. to 10s. 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.

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.

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.