The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-10

delivered his sermon in English, which
rendered into Chukchee, from which
language one of my Eskimo fellow coun-
trymen translated it into his native
tongue for the benefit of the Eskimos Of
st. Laurence Island
AS to the sermon itself, it was a sim
gularly clever piece of work. DR.. Lerrigo
spoke of Jesus as "a young Shaman COR
conJurer) of white people, This Shaman
was SO beloved by the father Of the white
people, he said that he sent him with
food and clothes to them Now God loved
the white people, but they began to drink
brandy and to quarrel and fell into all
sorts of bad habits. Then it was that He
sent them great Shaman. His own son,
VINO babe them desis and try to be good,
out the white men had chief who, was
bad man, something like Capt Cowper of
whose ferocity the Eskinos had heard so
much. This chief tried to kill the Son of
God, but the Son of God feigned to be
dead and then He and several good white
men who made up his crew went in their
canoe from village to village. telling the
people to give up drinking brandy and
quarreling. That they did not obey
them, you know as well as 1 d. con-
GUIDED DR.. Lerrigo."
Somebody asked M. 'Bogoras to tell of
the narrow escapes he had had in the
course OF his Journeys. He replied with
a smile that he was very sorry to saw he
had not had any, and that as rule the
tribes who formed the object of his in
designations were quite a pleasant sort of
people to get along with. The nearest APP
proach to narrow escape was in the
case of crusty old Chukchee with whom
M Bogoras was stopping about a year
ago. He was quite a wealthy man. the
owner of 10000 deer, and he was known
cicrIa1 |, EEkI
which has chung to some representatives
OF the native tribes and which the Rus
sian government does not begrudge them.
This king had an alteration with his
white guest, and, as a result took it into
his head that it might not be a bad idea
IF he robbed him of some of the good
things he had with him. Whether he in
tended to rob rim of his life also is not
known, for M. Bogoras did not wait long
enough to find that out
A walk of $50 versts brought him TO tI,e
next settlement. The people here had a
very poor opinion of the king, and upon
hearing M. BOgoras's story the entire
tribe, with the scientist at their head, be-
took themselves to his kingdom and re-
covered the white mans property.
M. Bogoras has brought with him 1, 200
specimens representing the dress, cary
ing, charms, utensils and weapons of the
also a skin canoe thfrty-five feet long,
which he made on the Russian side of
the Boring sea and in which he made ex-
tensive journeys among Russian and
American Eskimos.
In order to carry on his investigations
he had had to master six of the native
languages, and the literary part Of his
collection contains over 500 folklore speci-
mems 1t is upon these works of the pop-
Vu11 oYioi
many centuries back, that M. Bogoras
lays particular stress in summing up the
results of his Investigations.
Generally speaking, after a comparative
study of folklore Of northeastern Siberia
and that Of the North American tribes NJ
Bogoras has arrived at the conclusion
that ethnographically the Boring sea lies
at a point further to the north than it
does on the geographical maps" The
three Siberian tribes-the Chukchees. the
Koryaks and the Observation-Disclosures
closely related to each other, and as close
ly to the North Pacific Indians in their
mode of life, folklore and religious ideas,
and M. Bogoras's studies strongly favor
the theory that there was a time when
they all lived together, forming so many
subdivisions Of the same family One of
the most striking things which has at
tracted his attention is the fact that the
raven myth, so conspicuous in American
folklore, and which gradually dwindleS as
one proceeds southwark on the American
continent, goes on increasing it's hold
upon the aboriginal mind from the Boring
sea.
The 500 tales which NJ. Bogoras gath
cred among the Asiatic tribes are for the
most part singularly characteristic speci-
mems of the prehistoric human imaglna-
ton, and in the great majority of in
stances they are strikingly suggestive Of
the stories which go to make up the body
of North American folklore.
One of these stories is about a woman
who was carried away by the skull of a
dead whale The whale came to life again
and the woman became his wife. Her
brother went in search of her, found her
living with the whale and succeeded In
taking her home in canoe. The whale
pursued them, but was delayed by the
woman throwing parts Of her dress into
the water. This story bears close re-
semblance to one which Prof Boas found
among the Eskimos of North America.
The same Is true of the following story,
which M. Bogoras has found among the,
Chukchees, and switch is also contained
in the folklore Of North American tribes:
A woman rnarries a dog and gives birth
to litter of pups. A boy or a man is
taken by a giant cannibal. pretends to be
dead, but on the way home holds on to