TRIBES IN SIBERIA

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 10 September 1927, Page 11

TRIBES IN SIBERIA

TX Considering Russia, of which so A much is heard and read these days, it has to be remembered that a great proportion of its population of between two and three hundred millions consists of savage and semi-savage races. There are, for instance, the Siberians, a hardy race, as they must, needs be to exist in such a severe climate. In their market places everything is frozen in the winter months. -Milk is sold in chunks, and fish and meat have to be chopped up with an axe. Of the native Siberian peoples, the Samoyedcs are the most primitive. They live within the Arctic Circle in tents of reindeer skin, of which they also make their clothes. They live by hunting and fishing, and at the beginning of winter they move south with their herds of reindeer to the forest districts, returning to the north in the spring (savs an article in “Lands and People.”) They have many strange beliefs and customs. For instance, they ■worship enormous stones weighing many thousands of tons, which were probably deposited by glaciers in the early lee Age. The Sanrovedes regard these stones with areat. reverence, for they believe that the Creator himself brought them there. A wife is purchased with so many reindeer, tne number varying between one and a hundred according to her beauty and the social position of her family.? Her dowry consists of furs and a reindeer for driving, and if the husband finds that, she is lazy he can send her back to her parents though he cannot recover the price he paid for her.- This often suits the parents, as they lean sell her again and so get more money. The S'amoyedes are a hospitable race and are kind and generous to travellers, doing .everything in their power to make them comfortable. In Northern Siberia we find another racP —the Chukcliis, who are remarkable as being of the few tribes cm the earth’s surface who have remained unernquerod. They have successfully resisted all efforts to annex their country. Some years ago the Russians did send a small force which was more an exploring expedition than an army of invasion but not a man returned. Their fate still remains a complete mystery. The Chukehis gain a living by spear- ],,«■ seals and walrus from their skin canoes and by tracking the Polar bear, which is a dangerous task in the spring when the ice breaks up into bergs and floes. Many of the floes are several square miles in area, and on them the hunters are sometimes carried away, never to return. The Chukehis dwelling is a semi-circular tent of walrus and seal hide, seal oil being used to light. Both the men and the women dress alike in suits made from seal, walrus and reindeer skins.

PRIMITIVE SAMOYEDES

The Chukehis have no real religion, and have a cruel custom of killing the

aged, the sick and the infirm. The sentence of death is accepted without question; indeed, those condemned will econ give a feast before their execution. and at the end of it readily submit to being strangled with a walrus thrng. The chief occupation of the people is preparing seal and walrus hides. This is done by the women, who chew the trugh skins for hours at a stretch, with the result that within a year or two the teeth are worn down to the gums, like those of the Eskimo women. Further east, in the province of Transbaikalia, which is said to be the most attractive in Siberia, we meet the Buriats. The province has many mountains and valleys, and in it is Lake Baikal, the deepest and the third largest in the world. The natives 'there look upon it as a holy lake, and there are n any places on its shores which are regarded with superstitious awe and are even objects of worship. The Buriats are a race of Mongolian origin, with square faces, flat foreheads and rather high cheekbones. The most numerous of all the native Siberian races, they are found on both sides of the immense lake. They gain a living chiefly by cattle-breeding. A rich Buriat will own ten thousand head or even more, and most of their trading is done bv means of cattle. They are Buddhists by religion and have some queer superstitions. They believe that the sky has a door, through which the gods look from time to time to see how the affairs of the world are progressing.

The province of Yakutsk is said to be the coldest region on the earth’s surface. In winter the thermometer goes to 00 degrees below zero. The Yakuts have many quaint customs, especially in connection with marriage. Two riders, one each from the bride and bridegroom’s household, are chosen at a wedding- to ride a race, and the loser has to -wait upon the guests ifit the marriage feast. All diseases among the . Yakuts are treated by the Shamans, or medicine mi n, who “drive away” .sickness somewhat in the manner of the devil-dan-cers of Ceylon —by frightening them, spitting and blowing or making hideous noises with drums and other instruments.

In Southern Siberia there is yet an--other interesting tribe —the Kalmuks, who live in the Altai region, where the finest forests of Siberia are. They wear their hair in short pigtails; their habitations are semi-circular felt tents; and their general mode of living is smiilnr to that of the Buriats.