Most recent observers have come to look upon the Chukchi and Koryaks as essentially one and the same people, the chief difference being that the latter are if possible even more degraded than their northern neighbours[642]. Like them they are classed as sedentary fisherfolk or nomad reindeer-owners, the latter, who call themselves Tumugulu, "Wanderers," roaming chiefly between Ghiyiginsk Bay and the Anadyr river. Through them the Chukchi merge gradually in the Itelmes, who are better known as Kamchadales, from the Kamchatka river, where they are now chiefly concentrated. Most of the Itelmes are already Russified in speech and—outwardly at least—in religion; but they still secretly immolate a dog now and then, to propitiate the malevolent beings who throw obstacles in the way of their hunting and fishing expeditions. Yet their very existence depends on their canine associates, who are of a stout, almost wolfish breed, inured to hunger and hardships, and excellent for sledge work.
The Gilyaks.
Somewhat distinct both from all these Hyperboreans and from their neighbours, the Orochons, Golds, Manegrs and other Tungus peoples, are the Gilyaks, formerly widespread, but now confined to the Amur delta and the northern parts of Sakhalin[643]. Some observers have connected them with the Ainu and the Korean aborigines, while A. Anuchin detects two types—a Mongoloid with sparse beard, high cheek-bones, and flat face, and a Caucasic with bushy beard and more regular features[644]. The latter traits have been attributed to Russian mixture, but, as conjectured by H. von Siebold, are more probably due to a fundamental connection with their Ainu neighbours[645].
Mentally the Gilyaks take a low position—H. Lansdell thought the lowest of any people he had met in Siberia[646]. Despite the zeal of the Russian missionaries, and the inducements to join the fold, they remain obdurate Shamanists, and even fatalists, so that "if one falls into the water the others will not help him out, on the plea that they would thus be opposing a higher power, who wills that he should perish.... The soul of the Gilyak is supposed to pass at death into his favourite dog, which is accordingly fed with choice food; and when the spirit has been prayed by the shamans out of the dog, the animal is sacrificed on his master's grave. The soul is then represented as passing underground, lighted and guided by its own sun and moon, and continuing to lead there, in its spiritual abode, the same manner of life and pursuits as in the flesh[647]."
A speciality of the Gilyaks, as well as of their Gold neighbours, is the fish-skin costume, made from the skins of two kinds of salmon, and from this all these aborigines are known to the Chinese as Yupitatse, "Fish-skin-clad-People." "They strip it off with great dexterity, and by beating with a mallet remove the scales, and so render it supple. Clothes thus made are waterproof. I saw a travelling-bag, and even the sail of a boat, made of this material[648]."
Like the Ainu, the Gilyaks may be called bear-worshippers. At least this animal is supposed to be one of their chief gods, although they ensnare him in winter, keep him in confinement, and when well fattened tear him to pieces, devouring his mangled remains with much feasting and jubilation.
The Koreans.
Ethical Elements.
Since the opening up of Korea, some fresh light has been thrown upon the origins and ethnical relations of its present inhabitants. In his monograph on the Yellow Races[649] Hamy had included them in the Mongol division, but not without reserve, adding that "while some might be taken for Tibetans, others look like an Oceanic cross; hence the contradictory reports and theories of modern travellers." Since then the study of some skulls forwarded to Paris has enabled him to clear up some of the confusion, which is obviously due to interminglings of different elements dating from remote (neolithic) times. On the data supplied by these skulls Hamy classes the Koreans in three groups:—1. The natives of the northern provinces (Ping-ngan-tao and Hienking-tao), strikingly like their Mongol [Tungus] neighbours; 2. Those of the southern provinces (Klingchang-tao and Thsiusan-lo-tao), descendants of the ancient Chinhans and Pien-hans, showing Japanese affinities; 3. Those of the inner provinces (Hoanghae-tao and Ching-tsing-tao), who present a transitional form between the northerns and southerns, both in their physical type and geographical position[650].
Caucasic features—light eyes, large nose, hair often brown, full beard, fair and even white skin, tall stature—are conspicuous, especially amongst the upper classes and many of the southern Koreans[651]. They are thus shown to be a mixed race, the Mongol element dominating in the north, as might be expected, and the Caucasic in the south.