Othello.
But as history records no precedent that would deprive the Russian grandees of the honour of having been the originators of the “courtly” mode, Cleopatra obviously could not have imitated it in all its integrity. The Muscovite nabobs, however, like Sir Thomas Gresham, might imitate Cleopatra. The rich citizen of London, to rival the Spanish ambassador in a magnificent dinner, is said to have pulverized a pearl of the value of fifteen thousand pounds, and then drunk it in a toast to his sovereign. And these nabobs, since they are decidedly of opinion that prodigality is the most intelligible mode of displaying riches, might win more applause by likewise drinking their pearls in bumpers to their czar, or, perhaps, in throwing away their pearls and drinking their wine, by changing the Siberian custom of flinging champagne on the road before horses to actually casting their pearls before swine.
CHAPTER XIV.
IRKUTSK TO LAKE BAIKAL.
The natives—The Olkhonese—Shamanism—The Buriats—The Tungus—The Samoyeds—The Carnival at Irkutsk—Pablo—Adieu to Constantine—Another perilous night on the ice of Lake Baikal.
Among other races, natives of the island of Olkhon are occasionally met with in the streets of Irkutsk. The shores of Lake Baikal, before the Russian conquest, had served, from the most remote times, as a place of banishment for the Chinese. They called this country, in their figurative language, the land of long nights. Some of the descendants of these exiles still exist in these parts, and inhabit a little island on the western shore of Lake Baikal, called Olkhon. Many of these islanders still adhere to the ancient Shamanic religion, from which sprang later, they say, the widely spread worship of Buddha. Not much is known of this religion of Shamanism beyond the fact that they worship a supreme being, who resides in the sun.
Müller, in his important work on Siberia, refers to the superstitions of these people, and gives some account of their ceremonies.
“The Shamanists,” he says, “fear especially ghosts, and the resentments of the dead, to whom, when alive, they had done some injury. To charm away the evil that these may visit on them, they leap on certain days over burning faggots.
“They believe in sorcerers who predict the future for them.