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PART I. — RELIGION AND MYTHS.  

I.  — HISTORICAL REMARKS.

         The Koryak have remained until now the least known of all the tribes of Siberia. So far no one has made a special study of them. Steller, Krashe-ninnikoff, Dittmar, Baron von Maydell, and Slunin refer to them more or less fully.

         The two travellers first mentioned 1  devoted themselves more than others to the ethnographical description of the Kamchatka-Okhotsk region, mainly of the Kamchadal. Up to the present time their descriptions furnish the only trustworthy ethnographical material on Kamchatka-, but the science of eth­nography in the eighteenth century — i. e., at the time when those scientists were making a study of the tribes of northeastern Asia — was in a rudi­mentary state, and the methods applied by them can no longer be regarded as satisfactory. Steller, for instance, in his book on the Kamchadal, says that there are no special shamans, and that they have no special shamanistic garb and no drums; ² and at the same time his book contains three illustrations representing front, back, and side views of a shaman dressed in ceremonial garb, beating the drum and performing shamanistic rites. The illustrations are clearly those of a Tungus shaman dressed in a coat with tassels, and other paraphernalia characteristic of Tungus shamanism; but the legends to the illustrations state that they represent a shaman of the Kamchadal.³ Krashe-ninnikoff describes some exceedingly interesting ceremonies during the annual fall festival of the Kamchadal, but fails to explain them in any way. Both Krashe-ninnikoff and Steller, in describing Kamchatka, mention the Koryak; but the authors' information of the religious conceptions of the Koryak is meagre and faulty, although there is no doubt that in the first half of the eighteenth century a good deal of what has now disappeared was in existence. Of the Reindeer Koryak, Krasheninnikoff tells us * that they have no festivals, have no conception of God, but only of devils; ⁵ and, further, that the Maritime Koryak worship as a deity  "Ku'tkhu"  of the Kamchadal.

         Dittmar visited the Koryak region in   1852.     He was a mining^engmeer,

¹                  They  were members  of the  so-called  "Kamchatka Expedition,"  which lasted from   1733  to   i743

²                  Steller, p.  277.                                   3 Ibid., Plates  a-c,  opp.  p.  284.
⁴ Krasheninnikoff,  II, p.  217.                                 ⁵ Ibid.,  p.   214.

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JOCHELSON, THE   KORYAK.

and was sent by the government to carry on geographical and geological explorations. While on his way, he gathered some ethnographical material, and wrote a separate article on the Koryak,¹ which was of great interest beсause of the lack of all other information. In regard to the Koryak religion, he informs us that they worship the good god by the name Apa'pel;2  whereas apa'pel means "grandfather," and the Koryak apply it to their sacred rocks, hills, capes,  to all of which sacrifices are offered.

         Baron von Maydell (1868-70), an official attached to the Yakut governor, was sent to investigate the question whether the Chukchee could be induced to submit to Russian rule. While on his way, he accumulated a great deal of new geographical data, which constitute the principal subject-matter of his work. A considerable part of his report is devoted to a superficial and incidental description of the tribes with which he came in contact, and of their economic life. In his historical account concerning the conflicts of the Russians with the Chukchee he devotes some space to the Koryak. He relates the impressions produced upon him while passing through Koryak villages and camps; but his account contains no material relating to the religion of the people. His method of ethnographical investigation may well be undertood from the following fact, which he, by the way, sets forth in his own praise.³ On his arrival at the Koryak village Shestakova (Leñle'ñcan), on the river Shestakovka (Ega'c River), he found that the Koryak consider it a sin to enter the underground house in winter through the closed summer entrance. He considered it, however, inconsistent with the dignity of an official to crawl down into the house through the upper smoke-hole,⁴  and commanded his cossacks to break through the lower entrance of the house with axes. Then the host asked him not to injure the house, and he himself opened the lower entrance.

         Dr. N. V. Slunin, a surgeon in the navy, was a member of the expedition (1896-98) sent out by the government in charge of Prof. K. I. Bogdanovich, a mining-engineer, for the purpose of investigating the natural resources of the Okhotsk-Kamchatka region. His work on that region is mainly a compilation, but it affords an excellent body of information on the history, statistics, economic life, and natural history of the country. He has borrowed a great part of his ethnographical information, without critical examination, from Krasheninnikoff and Steller, and it is therefore antiquated.     Slunin, for instance, has reprinted 5

1 I)ittmar,  Die Koräken (see List of authorities  quoted, p. 4).
2 Ibid., p. 30.                                  3 Maydell, I, p. 237.

4  This refers to the underground buildings of the Maritime Koryak.    Their houses consist of two parts, —
a large living-room and a narrow porch.    In the summer they enter the house through the entrance-door.     During
the winter this door is boarded up; and the opening in the roof which lets the smoke out serves as an entrance.
The roof of the porch, from which a door leads into the living-room, also has a round opening, which is closed
with   a   cork-shaped  plug.    When   there  is a fire on  the hearth of the living-room, the plug is taken  out from
the opening in  the roof of the porch for a draught.

5  Slunin, I, pp. 399, 401.

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JOCHELSON, THE KORYAK.

from Steller's book some pictures of Japanese gods, which Steller ¹ represents as the Kamchatka good and evil deities, and of whom no mention at all is made in the text of Steller's book. Slunin's personal observations do not add much new material to the ethnographical information which he obtained at second-hand.

         Mr. Bogoras has had the kindness to place at my disposal the Koryak myths from Kamchatka and from the Pacific coast recorded by him.  2    These have been embodied in the present work on the Koryak. Besides this, he has revised and corrected the transcriptions of all Koryak names, words, in­cantations, and other Koryak phrases, contained in this book. Mr. Bogoras made a special study of both the Chukchee and the Koryak languages, which are closely related  to  each  other.

         Nicholas Vilkhin, a Russianized Koryak of the settlement of Gishio-insk assisted me on the spot in recording and translating the myths. For scientific purposes he is the only tolerably good interpreter in the Gishiga district. He has equal command of the local Russian dialect and the Koryak language, and is more intelligent than two or three other Russianized Koryak who also live there, and who are at the same time familiar with both languages. Still I had to labor hard before I had him trained for the work. The cossacks' and other Russian settlers' knowledge of the Koryak language scarcely goes further than simple phrases used in trade, and their language frequently represents a peculiar Koryak-Russian jargon. It goes without saying that the Russian interpreters proved unfit for my purposes. Vilkhin was in the employ of the expedition throughout my entire stay in the Gishiga district.

         The   Maritime   Koryak   of northern  Kamchatka,  although still preserving their   language,   have   long   since   embraced   Christianity,  and, setting aside a number of superstitions,  have  forgotten their former religion.     The same may be   said,   to a great extent,   of the  Alutora  Maritime  Koryak, who also have been   converted   to   Christianity;   but,   according   to   Mr.   Bogoras,   the   latter have   preserved   a   great  number of myths.     The  Reindeer  Koryak,  however, as well as the  Maritime  Koryak  north  of Alutorsky  Cape, along the shore of the   Pacific   Ocean,   and   the   Maritime   Koryak   inhabiting the shores of Pen-shina   Bay,   have   to   a   considerable   extent preserved their primitive religion. The   efforts   of  the   Russians   to   convert   them   to   the   Orthodox   faith   have so far proved futile.     Especially the  Maritime  Koryak who live nearest to the settlement   of Gishiginsk,  the  Russian centre of the  Gishiga  district, prove to be   more   conservative  in  matters pertaining  to  religion  than those who come in contact with the  Koryak of Kamchatka,  like the inhabitants of the villages of  Kamenskoye (Va'ikenan), Talovka (Xe's.xen), Ma'mec, and Reki'nnok.3   But,

¹                 Steller,  3  plates opp. p. 252.

²                 The following  tales were  recorded by  Mr.  Bogoras:  Nos.  97-109 and   115-139

³                 See    map.     In   the   text   Russian   names   of villages,  rivers, etc., have been used.     If there are Koryak
names, these have  been added  in  parentheses.     Koryak  names  only are  used when  there are  no   Russian  names.

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JOCHELSON, THE  KORYAK.

in spite of the fact that Christianity has been adopted only to a limited extent among the Koryak, their own religion is at present in a state of decay, which is caused by their coming in frequent contact with Russian traders and Cossacks
who, especially the latter, ridicule the idols, sacrifices, and ceremonies of the Koryak. Many  of the ceremonies and myths are mere survivals of the past and their meaning has been lost. As early as the middle of the eighteenth century, the religion of Kamchadal, according to Krasheninnikoff and Steller, was influenced by the Russians in  the same manner.