no worship. TheyHd$fesa their idols in silken clothes'and pkfetj'
them in their hats. Q-n one side of the god hung^a wuodtffi
vessel with milk oitpap, with which they^aily feed theiridOls ;
but as dhe idols cannot swallow the ffidk-diet, it runsoutetf
their-mouths; down their whole bodiejs, wHerCat remainsJiik'ta
manner very dis|pisting. Wh en<they pay adoration to> thrift
godsy they stahd before them in an-^eckpostwre, iM’sihg-their
heads backwards and forwardsrwithout bending thfeir>bodffisl
dn the least; besides .which they whistle and-cheer-up with their'
lips, as w.e*do when we call a dog.,,#
Strahlehherg says,;“ that when he-was among the Ostiaks
they had images of various shapes rudely carved, before.'Which
they walked about perpetually making a noise? with their
mouths.like mice or rats. It-n&said, he addsythat -they“we®g'
formerly wont to drown a virgin once a year in the rivefeOby;
as a_sanrihce t© the g®dTof* that river, ds#he" E^yptidps^us^d
Ho do to that of the Nile^d
The author of" the £ Allgfemeine Ilistortefid^r ReisM/ in hi#
‘BesondOte Nlmbrichf van den Ostiakenj^h&rv^fetbat they
have gods of two sorts, one public and the 'O'fcher'private^O^
worshipped only by individuals or families1;? This is precisely
the fetish worship of the Negro nations. When Philotetis
Archbishop of Tobolsk undertook their conversion, h e^u d d
that they had idols of metal: their iddis. weref'nn the shapes^of
animals;: such as dogs, bears, and reindeers. -'The father of a
family was the sole priest, magician, and godmaker -*be makes
offerings,.consult^ the gods as oracles, and announces the ad4-
vice which/be obtains, Some Ostiaks have, like the Lap-
land|r%~magical drums, of which they make use in order t©
learn whether they shall recover of diseases,' whether their
fishery will be prosperous, and, when anything is lost, whether
* “ Sotne of the Ostiaks came one day on board the ship iii which Ysbrandt
Ides was, to sell fish, when one of bis servants having a. Nuremberg bear in clockwork,'
which" when wound up drummed and turned his head backwards and forwards,
and continually moved bryeyes till- the work was down, he set the machine
at play. As soon as-the Ostiaks espied it they mistook it for a god, and all of
them performed before it with great zeal their customary religious worship, and
danced excessively in honour of the bear, nodding their heads and ‘whistling'at a
great rate.” (Ysbrandt Ides.)
. f Strahlenberg, p. 434.
it/will be recovered“; in short, for all those purposes for which
udreduloils people in ;e%ilised nations» consult wizards, or persons
Opposed to be possessed’ of somé^mysterlous craft,#
M. Erman has-«communicated' additional information respecting1
the worship.o^tlféiO^tiaks. > According to him, they
have an hereditary' -order of priests.?and magicians termed
'iBcham^hs; fo whom belongs the office of mediating between
men and the of announcing oracles, and offering sacrifices.
These schamans pretend tobeinviditerable, and pierce
their, bodies /with? knives, w'hich, according to the testimony
■*oi» teye-witnesses at Qbdorsk, they thrust; .into their bellies:
The Russians believe! them- to be« inspired by the .devil. Erman
thinkp;.it- likely that öhe^C^heréditary priests hand down
/, some/esi^teriCtjdogriias explaining the performance of their external
rites. .‘0 f®jthesfi- last he has given an account, which;
as he says,, he*; has delivered thermore/fully, as he received it
in-writing'fromLRussian .eye-witnesses, becatfee^Me afterwards
bhgekved. with /extreme astcmiskhEfeub precisely "the same ritei
put in practice in America among the Koluschians off the
-.Siteha.^^fThe magical rites of the schamans near Obdorsk
begin with movements and contortions before a fire: the magician
cries horribly^ beats. a sort of drum j agitates himself,
and shakes the metallic appendages of his robe; and the byC
-standers strike with their arms upon iron kettles. At length
the schaman throws himself on the ground, and the.bystanders
put a halter round his neck and cover, him with a- skin, intimating
him to be in the society okspirits: two men draw with
all theinstrength the ends of the halter, and the priest thrusts
his hand round his neck to prevent himself from being strangled,
which, however, has actually occurred. When he can no longer
hold out, he makes a signal that the spirit has left him, and
then, imparts to his companions the intimations which he has
received.
* Allgem. Hist, des Reisen. Besondere Nachricht von den Ostiaken, s. 541.
u f I refrain, says M. Erman, from any further remarks on the customs of the
Ostiaks till I come to describè them as I afterwards witnessed them among the
American, ahorigines.-a.i' In the mean time it will he worth while to consider the
armed dances still practised in Hungary. We may be led in this way, and by the
medium of the Ostiaks;- to a dearly-mafked point of contact between the nations of
Europe and the American aborigines.’*