Daria, Daria, da, Daria, ha, nou
dalatché, damatché, kannha, koukka.
Da Capo.
The words mean,
Daria[42], Daria sings and dances still.
This air is repeated without ceasing.
In their dances they are fond of imitating the different animals they pursue, such as the partridge and others, but principally the bear. They represent its sluggish and stupid gait, its different feelings and situations; as the young ones about their dam; the amourous sports of the male with the female; and lastly, its agitation when pursued. They must have a perfect knowledge of this animal, and have made it their particular study, for they represent all its motions as exactly, I believe, as it is possible. I asked the Russians, who were greater connoisseurs than myself, having been oftener present at the taking of these animals, whether their pantomime ballets were well executed; and they assured me that the dancers were the best in the country, and that the cries, gait, and various attitudes of the bear, were as accurate as life. Meanwhile, without offence to the amateurs, these dances are, in my opinion, not less fatiguing to the spectators than to the performers. It is a real pain to see them distort their hips, dislocate every limb, and wear out their lungs, to express the excess of pleasure which they take in these strange balls, which, I repeat it, resemble the absurd diversions of savages: the Kamtschadales may indeed, in many respects, be considered as of that rank.
Having given an account of the address with which these people counterfeit the postures and motions of the bear, who may be called their dancing master, it may not be unpleasing to relate in what manner they hunt this animal. There are various modes of attacking it; sometimes they lay snares for it: under a heavy trap, supported in the air by a scaffolding sufficiently high, they place some kind of bait to attract the bear, and which he no sooner smells and perceives, than he eagerly advances to devour; at the same time he shakes the feeble support of the trap, which falls upon his neck, and punishes his voraciousness by crushing his head, and frequently his whole body. In passing the woods I have seen them caught in this way; the trap is kept baited till it succeeds, which sometimes does not happen for almost a year. This method of taking them requires no great boldness, or fatigue; but there is another mode, very much adopted in this country, to which equal strength and courage are necessary. A Kamtschadale goes out, either alone or in company, to find a bear. He has no other arms than his gun, a kind of carabine whose but-end is very small; a lance or spear; and his knife. His stock of provision is made up in a bundle containing about twenty fish. Thus lightly equipped, he penetrates into the thickest part of the woods, and every place that is likely to be the haunt of this animal. It is commonly in the briars, or among the rushes on the borders of lakes and rivers, that the Kamtschadale posts himself, and waits the approach of his adversary with patience and intrepidity; if it be necessary, he will remain thus in ambuscade for a whole week together, till the bear makes his appearance. The moment it comes within his reach, he fixes in the ground a forked stick[43] belonging to his gun, by means of which he takes a truer aim, and shoots with more certainty. It is seldom that, with the smallest ball, he does not strike the bear either in the head, or near the shoulder, which is the tenderest part. But he is obliged to charge again instantly, because the bear, if the first shot has not disabled him, runs[44] at the hunter, who has not always time for a second shot. He has then recourse to his lance, with which he quickly arms himself to contend with the beast, who attacks him in his turn. His life is in danger[45] if he does not give the bear a mortal thrust; and in such combats, it may be supposed the man is not always the conqueror; but this does not prevent the inhabitants of this country from daily exposing their lives; the frequent examples of the death of their countrymen has no effect upon them: indeed they never go out, without considering before hand that it is either to conquer or to die; and this severe alternative neither stops nor terrifies them[46].
They hunt other animals nearly in the same manner, such as rein deer, argali, or wild sheep, called in Russia diki-barani, foxes, otters, beavers, sables, hares[47], &c. but they have not the same dangers to encounter; sometimes they make use of snares, constructed of wood or iron, less than those which are set for bears, and resembling in their simplicity our pitfalls; no other attention is necessary than that of visiting them from time to time. The Kamtschadales sometimes lie in ambush, armed in the manner I have described; and the only hardship they experience results from their provision being exhausted in consequence of the long duration of their chace. They frequently submit to suffer hunger for many days together, rather than quit their stations till they have obtained the end of their pursuit; but they amply repay themselves for this fasting, by immediately devouring the flesh of the animals[48], and by the pleasure with which they count over the skins they obtain from them.
They chuse for their chace the seasons when the fur of the animal is in its greatest perfection. Sables are hunted in the beginning of winter. These animals live commonly in trees, and are called after their name; a part of the fur nearest the skin being of the same colour as those which they most frequent, as the birch, the fir, &c.