Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-12-08
to understand that no harm was in

that they tried to kneel in it and
picked up burning branches to smell
of them; yet five years passed before
the use of fire was generally adopted
for heating and cooking purposes In
Gilyakland. Here we have the most
unbelievable, yet thoroughly anthem
ticated fact, that. in the last quarter
of the nineteenth century, the white
Car ruled over a nation that knew no
| cooked food and spent the winter in
dugouts. alternating under mountains
Of furs. because it had not yet learned
| the use of fire.
/ stated that the Gilyaks did not
| know the date Of their first acquaint-
ance with fire, but that is hardly to be
wondered at in view Of the fact that
they do not count at all. They know
nothing of periods or years, of months
| or weeks or centuries. All they know
| is that the long winter is followed by
| the short summer, and vice versa, but
| they have not the slightest notion that
! the one is nine and the other three
| months long. No one in Gilyakland
| knows his age, or can tell when his
child was born, or his father died.
| When a hunter wants to indicate that
| he has shot more animals than he has
| fingers on his hand, he waves his arms
| around his head; the fisherman who
had so much luck does the same, and
there all further attempts at reckoning
| end.
Gilyakland has no folklore. no
| legends. If it ever brought forth
| heroes it does not remember them. 1t
knows nothing of the generations past
| and buried, nothing Of the probabili-
/ ties of it's origin. Whether the Gilyaks
! ever waged war or travelled by land or
sea, whether their native island ever
belonged to anybody in particular be-
fore the Japanese and Russians took
| it, is unknown to them. Even the old
est man in the tribe did not know that
the Japs ever held sway in Saghalin.
all of which seems to indicate that the
| memory of these aborigines is hardly
more advanced than that of an infant.
They have, by the way, no word for
the term memory" or ''remem-
brance."
| OF colors they distinguish only white
and blue. Their term for white and
! east is the same, their term for blue
| the same as for west" which is quite
| natural, seeing that these colors at
| tach to those two hemispheres.
| The Gilyaks do not know that they
are living on an island or that there
is any place-heaven or earth-beyond
| the territory they overlook. The circle
| bounding the view where land and sky
| seem to meet is to them the universe
| The Russians. the Japs. l and Others
came from points just beyond the hazy
wall they think. while they themselves
stand exactly in the centre. This lat
ter is quite common among aborigines
To my own knowledge it prevails
among the savages of Java and SUI
| matra, of Australia and New Mexico
The natives OF North Siberia also ad-
here to it. The Jakutes, for instance,
call their steppe the naval of the
| earth" just as the ancient Jews called
their poor Palestine by the presumptu-
Gus title.
The Gilyaks recognize no invisible
| God. they have neither good nor evil
spirits in their calendar. To such ami
mails. however. that impress or fnehten
them by their strength or bJ hoing
| damage to their food they are inclined
| to extend some sort of grudging wor-
! ship, which sometimes takes an inter
| esting form.
When the Gilyaks are hard up far
game. for instance. they assemble in
the thick of the forest. where the great
| deer eater, the bear. resides. The bear
is their chief god because of all wild
| beasts in Saghalin he is the strongest
and most ravenous. The act Of wor-
oh Ia, ,xf
| howls. and squeals, of Kisses, whistles,
| screams, roars, bellows. yelps,
4 Screeches. growls. and of caterwauls
of all sorts that human or animal
| voices can produce. These voices are
| assisted and reinforced by beating of
drums and kettles. firing of rifles and
causing dogs. pigs and other domestic
cattle to sound their joys and griev-
anceS. Babies are starved in advance
| of these performances to make them
| cry Justify. children are spanked and
sham fights INDUCED in in an effort to
increase the volume of noise.
had heard so much of these pray
er meetings before l went to live
| among the Gilyaks that I was anxious
to attend one. AS the observations
above recorded indicate my desire
was gratified in every particular.
And do you really think this will
please the bear?" l asked several ma
tives after quiet had been restored.
Please" they replied. We don't
want to please. we want to brighten
him-keep him away from our hunting
grounds"
For similar reasons the Gilyaks
make sacrifices to the bear and to fish
eating animals BY providing them
with what they absolutely need they
| endeavor to keep the beasts from for
| aging in their territory or stores.
But the sincerest form of worship
the Gilyak knows is to eat his God =
Ever since the Russians taught him to
| kill big game he has taken to hunting
| his Cod and as result the number
of bears in the island has greatly de-
creased. Before the advent of firearms
few Gilyaks ever tasted bruins meat
but now all indulge in that luxury at
least once a year. A she bear is killed
when her young are few weeks old
The cubs are brought up by dogs and
publicly slaughtered after year or
| two. when all families receive certain
| Norton of the carcass while tho Skin