THE OSTIAKS.
What is the Obi? “One of the most melancholy rivers on earth,” say the few European travellers who have ever seen it roll its turbid waters through the wilderness; “its monotonous banks a dreary succession of swamps and dismal pine forests, and hardly a living creature to be seen, but cranes, wild ducks, and geese.” If you address the same question to one of the few Russians who have settled on its banks, he answers, with a devout mien, “Obi is our mother”; but if you ask the Ostiak, he bursts forth in a laconic but energetic phrase, “Obi is the god whom we honor above all other gods.”
To him the Obi is a source of life. With its salmon and sturgeon he pays his taxes and debts, and buys his few luxuries; while the fishes of inferior quality which get entangled in his net he keeps for his own consumption and that of his faithful dog, eating them mostly raw, so that the perch not seldom feels his teeth as soon as it is pulled out of the water. In spring, when the Obi and its tributaries burst their bonds of ice, and the floods sweep over the plains, the Ostiak is frequently driven into the woods, where he finds but little to appease his hunger. At length, however, the waters subside, the flat banks of the river appear above their surface, and the savage erects his summer hut close to its stream. This hovel has generally a quadrangular form, low walls, and a high-pointed roof, made of willow branches covered with large pieces of bark. These, having first been softened by boiling, are sewed together, so as to form large mats or carpets, easily rolled up and transported. The hearth, a mere hole inclosed by a few stones, is in the centre, and the smoke escapes through an aperture at the top. Close to the hut there is also, generally, a small store-house erected on high poles, as in Lapland; for the provisions must be secured against the attacks of the glutton, the wolf, or the owner’s dogs.
At the beginning of winter the Ostiaks retire into the woods, where they find, at least, some protection against the Arctic blasts, and are busy hunting the sable or squirrel; but as fishing affords them at all times their chief food, they take care to establish their winter huts on some eminence above the reach of the spring inundations, near some small river, which, through holes made in the ice, affords their nets and anglers a precarious supply. Their winter yourt is somewhat more solidly constructed than their summer residence, as it is not removed every year. It is low and small, and its walls are plastered with clay. Light is admitted through a piece of ice inserted in the wall or on the roof.
Besides those who live solely upon fishes and birds of passage, there are other Ostiaks who possess reindeer herds, and wander in summer to the border of the Polar Sea, where they also catch seals and fish. When winter approaches, they slowly return to the woods. Finally, in the more southerly districts, there are some Ostiaks who, having entirely adopted the Russian mode of life, cultivate the soil, keep cattle, or earn their livelihood as carriers.
In general, however, the Ostiak, like the Samoïede, obstinately withstands all innovations, and remains true to the customs of his forefathers. He has been so often deceived by the Russians that he is loth to receive the gifts of civilization from their hands. He fears that if his children learn to read and write, they will no longer be satisfied to live like their parents, and that the school will deprive him of the support of his age. He is no less obstinately attached to the religion of his fathers, which in all essential points is identical with that of the Samoïedes. In some of the southern districts, along the Irtysch, at Surgut, he has indeed been baptized, and hangs up the image of a saint in his hut, as his Russian pope or priest has instructed him to do; but his Christianity extends no further. Along the tributaries of the Obi, and below Obdorsk, he is still plunged in Schamanism.
Like the Samoïedes, the Ostiaks, whose entire number amounts to about 25,000, are subdivided into tribes, reminding one of the Highland clans. Each tribe consists of a number of families, of a common descent, and sometimes comprising many hundred individuals, who, however distantly related, consider it a duty to assist each other in distress.
The Ostiaks are excellent archers, and, like all the other hunting tribes of Siberia, use variously constructed arrows for the different objects of their chase.
They are generally of a small stature, and most of them are dark-complexioned, with raven-black hair like the Samoïedes; some of them, however, have a fairer skin and light-colored hair. They are a good-natured, indolent, honest race; and though they are extremely dirty, yet their smoky huts are not more filthy than those of the Norwegian or Icelandic fishermen.
As among the Samoïedes, the women are in a very degraded condition, the father always giving his daughter in marriage to the highest bidder. The price is very different, and rises or falls according to the circumstances of the parent; for while the rich man asks fifty reindeer for his child, the poor fisherman is glad to part with his daughter for a few squirrel-skins and dried sturgeon.
CHAPTER CXLVIII.
INDIA.
THE SOWRAHS AND KHONDS.
LOCALITY OF THE SOWRAH TRIBE — GENERAL APPEARANCE — THE TARTAR CHARACTER OF THE FEATURES — DRESS OF THE MEN, THEIR SCANTY COSTUME AND PLENTIFUL ORNAMENTS — CURIOUS EAR-RINGS — DRESS OF THE WOMEN — MODE OF OBTAINING CLOTHES FOR WINTER USE — WEAPONS OF THE SOWRAHS — THEIR COURAGE, AND THE APPREHENSION WHICH THEY EXCITE — A SOWRAH WEDDING — RELIGIOUS SYSTEM OF THE SOWRAHS — THEIR TRUTHFULNESS — THE KHONDS — DRESS AND APPEARANCE — THE KHOND POCKET — FEATURES OF THE WOMEN — THE MERIAH SACRIFICE AND ITS OBJECT — PROCURING OF THE VICTIM — VARIOUS MODES OF PERFORMING THE SACRIFICE — SUBSTITUTE FOR THE MERIAH — STRANGE USE OF BRACELETS — THE MERIAHS’ INDIFFERENCE TO THEIR FATE — INFANTICIDE — WEAPONS OF THE KHONDS — DEATH OF A BEAR — PRIDE OF THE KHONDS — SUPERSTITION — BELIEF IN THE POWER OF TRANSFORMATION — A KHOND MARRIAGE.
The reader may remember that the Andaman Islands trench closely upon the shores of India, thus bringing closely together the two phases of utter savagery that never has advanced in the scale of humanity, and of a civilization which has advanced to the utmost limits of which it is capable. In the following pages I propose to give a brief account of various phases of Indian life, throwing most emphasis upon those which trench least upon civilization, as being most akin to the objects of this work.
From the figures which illustrate this country, and which are all taken from photographs, the reader will notice the very distinct type of man which is exhibited throughout India; and though in some of the tribes there is a facial resemblance to the Australian type, and in others to the Mongolian, it is impossible to mistake an entire figure in either instance. We will begin with those parts of India which are the least civilized, and in which the inhabitants retain most of their aboriginal manners and customs.
There is a remarkable hill tribe of India which deserves a short description, as the people seem to have preserved the original characteristics of their race better than any other inhabitants of the country. They are called Sowrahs, and live in a tract of country about lat. 18° 30´ N., and long. 72° 30´ E.
The Sowrahs are a tolerably good-looking tribe, some of the girls being even handsome, were not their faces disfigured by the nose rings, of which one woman will often wear three. The men, as is the case with all the Indian tribes, are slenderly built, and appear to be devoid of muscles, especially in the legs. This apparent slightness, however, conceals great muscular power, as has often been shown in the skirmishes which their predatory habits constantly entail upon them. In one of these skirmishes, a Sowrah who had been taken prisoner suddenly snatched a bayonet out of the hands of his captor, and bent the blade double.
There is about the features of the Sowrahs a decidedly Tartar look, which increases with age, and is marked most strongly in the men. Some photographs of them now before me exhibit this characteristic very distinctly marked, and in one case so strongly that, but for color and the mode of dressing the hair, the face might easily be mistaken for those of a genuine Tartar. Indeed, Mr. Hooper, from whose paper this account is condensed, thinks that they may have a Tartar origin.
One remarkable point about the Sowrahs is, that they have no distinction of caste, though they are divided into two distinct classes, the Hill Sowrahs and the Sowrahs of the Plain. The latter are comparatively civilized, and live in villages, and it is only of the former that this work will treat.
The dress of the Sowrahs is primitive enough. The men wear nothing but the “languti,” i. e. a narrow strip of cloth passing round the waist, through the legs, and tucked into the waistband. They are, however, very fond of ornaments, though they care so little about dress, and have their necks loaded with beads, and their ears and nostrils filled with rings. A photograph of one of these men shows that he is wearing no less than twenty-seven bead necklaces, as well as a broad brass collar. Besides the ordinary ear-rings, he wears an ornament which seems rather popular among the Sowrahs. A hole is bored in the upper part of the ear, and through it is passed one end of a string almost four inches in length, to the other end of which is attached a glittering bead about as large as a walnut. Some of the Sowrahs also thread small beads upon the string.
The hair of the men is allowed to grow to a considerable length, and on festival days it is gathered into a knot at the back of the head, and adorned with feathers, mostly those of the peacock. This mode of dressing the hair gives a very effeminate look to the countenance, and on seeing a photograph of the face alone, especially if it be that of a young man, it is not very easy at a hasty glance to discover whether it is the portrait of a man or woman.
The dress of the women consists of a cloth wrapped round the waist. Those women who have been photographed wear long calico cloths wrapped round them from shoulder to knee after the ordinary Indian fashion; but it is evident that they have borrowed these cloths for the occasion, and so, after the custom of all uncivilized people, have contrived, through anxiety to look their best, to baffle the real object of the photographer, i. e. to represent them as they really appear. Like the men, they wear an abundance of necklaces, and also are fond of simple bracelets, consisting of broad metal bands wound spirally round the wrists. The hair is parted down the middle, but no particular care is expended upon it.
When the colder weather comes on, and the Sowrahs want more clothing, they do not make it, but have recourse to the simple plan of waylaying travellers, killing them, and taking their garments. In these robberies, as well as in the skirmishes to which they often tend, the Sowrahs chiefly use the bow and arrow. The bow is a comparatively weak one, only being a yard or so in length, and having a string made of the outer coating of the bamboo. The arrows are of reed, armed with a flat, many-barbed iron head. The Sowrahs always lie in wait for their victims, and direct their aim at the stomach and legs, so that the wounds are always dangerous, and generally mortal.
They also carry a kind of battle-axe. They are a brave as well as a warlike people, and are the terror of the inhabitants of the plains. Even the Khonds, who will be presently described, ready as they are to fight among each other, and skilled as they are in the use of the bow and the battle-axe, stand in awe of the Sowrahs, and do not like to be drawn into a quarrel with them. They are especially afraid of these enemies, because the favorite mode of attack with the Sowrahs is to make a raid under cover of night, and, after securing all the plunder they can seize, and doing all the harm in their power, to return to their hill fastnesses as rapidly as they issued from them.
General Campbell thinks that their mode of life may have something to do with this superiority, and that their more abstemious and less dissipated life renders them stronger and more enduring than their self-indulgent neighbors. In some places, Sowrahs and Khonds dwell together in tolerable amity, but both of the tribes, although they may derive their origin from the same source, and both assert themselves to be the aboriginal inhabitants of the land, and to have a right to its possession, preserve their own characteristic differences so rigidly that there is no difficulty in distinguishing a Sowrah from a Khond.
The ceremony of marriage among the Sowrahs, [illustrated] on the following page, is thus described by Mr. Hooper: “A young man, or his friends for him, having selected a bride, messengers are sent to her parents, and finally the young man goes, bearing a pot of toddy, or other present. If the consent of the parents is obtained, the ceremony is commenced by fixing three posts in the ground, between which the bride and bridegroom, with their respective friends, assemble, and a feast is commenced at which nearly every person gets drunk upon toddy.
“The bride and bridegroom sit together, while turmeric water is poured on their heads. Presents of cloth, beads, rings, etc., are exchanged, fowls, and if possible sheep, are sacrificed to propitiate the demons, and the flesh is then cooked, made up into balls with some sort of grain, and distributed among the party. On these occasions they all join in a dance, which seems to consist principally in hopping from one leg to the other, at each movement snapping their fingers and uttering an ejaculation, while at intervals the whole of the dancers come bumping together, and then separate.
“If the parents of the bride refuse to consent to the marriage, it frequently happens that the friends of the bridegroom watch their opportunity, and if the girl is found alone, they seize and carry her off. The relatives of the girl then pursue and attack the opposite party, but, even though successful in retaking her, they are prohibited by their customs from giving her in marriage to any one else. Should such a thing be attempted, the parties would have to fight it out in a more serious manner with bows and arrows.”
(1.) A SOWRAH MARRIAGE.
(See [page 1386].)
(2.) MERIAH SACRIFICE.
(See [page 1391].)
The reader will doubtless recognize the similarity of these marriage rites to those which are practised by savage tribes in many parts of the world.
In the account of the wedding, the propitiation of the demons is mentioned. This is the key to their religious system, such as it is, and explains the reason for the absence of caste. The Sowrahs of the Plains seem to have a rather better religious system, but that of the Hill Sowrahs is simply demonolatry. They seem to have but little notion of worship, the only ceremonies which have been observed taking place at harvest time. When the crops reach maturity, the owners set small stones upright in the earth as emblems of the presiding demons, and lay before them little heaps of each crop. After the offerings have remained there for some little time, they are consumed at a feast to which the proprietor of the crops invites his relatives and friends.
When a Sowrah dies, his body is burned, the ashes buried, and a small building erected over the spot. Five days after the burial a pot of toddy is laid on the grave, round which are placed a number of leaves representing the ancestors of the deceased. A little toddy is poured upon each leaf, and the remainder is drunk by the people who have assisted at the ceremony. A somewhat similar rite, but accompanied with feasting, is celebrated at the end of the first and fourth years after burial.
According to General Campbell, they do not destroy their female infants, as is done by too many of the Indian tribes, neither do they practise human sacrifice. Yet they will sometimes participate in the remarkable Meriah sacrifice, which will presently be described, and will travel some distance to do so. They do not, however, seem to attach very great importance to the rite, and when General Campbell remonstrated with them on the subject, they at once promised to abandon it, and not even to be present as spectators.
Perhaps the most characteristic trait of the Sowrahs is their absolute truthfulness, which, according to Mr. Hooper, is the result from their want of capacity to invent a lie.