MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



who, speaking of the same Samoyad magicians, remarks that if 

 they were merely cheats, we should have to suppose that they did 

 not share the religious beliefs of their fellow-tribesmen, but were 

 a sort of rationalists far in advance of the times. Hence it would 

 seem much more probable that they deceived both themselves 

 and others 1 , while no doubt many bolster up a waning reputation 

 by playing the mountebank where there is no danger of detection. 



"Shamanism amongst the Siberian peoples," concludes our 

 Russian authority, " is at the present time in a moribund condi- 

 tion ; it must die out with those beliefs among which alone such 

 phenomena can arise and flourish. Buddhism on the one hand, 

 and Muhammadanism on the other, not to mention Christianity, 

 are rapidly destroying the old ideas of the tribes among whom 

 the shamans performed. Especially has the more ancient Black 

 Faith suffered from the Yellow Faith preached by the lamas. But 

 the shamans, with their dark mysterious rites, have made a good 

 struggle for life, and are still frequently found among the native 

 Christians and Muhammadans. The mullahs and lamas have 

 even been obliged to become shamans to a great extent, and 

 many Siberian tribes, who are nominally Christians, believe in the 

 shamans, and have recourse to them." 



Of all members of the Tungusic family the Manchus alone 

 can be called a historical people. If they were 



T*H P 



Manchus. really descended from the Khitans of the Sungari 

 valley, then their authentic records will date from 

 the loth century A.D., when these renowned warriors, after over- 

 throwing the Pu-hai (925), founded the Liao dynasty and reduced 

 a great part of north China and surrounding lands. The Khitans, 

 from whom China was known to Marco Polo as Khitai (Cathay), 

 as it still is to the Russians, were conquered in 1125 by the Niu- 

 chi (Yu-chi, Nu-chiri] of the Shan-alin uplands, reputed cradle of 

 Ori ins and t ^ e M ancnu race. These Niu-chi, direct ancestors 

 Early of the Manchu, founded (ins) the State known as 



Records. J 



that of the " Golden Tartars," from Kin, " gold," 

 the title adopted by their chief Aguta, " because iron (in reference 

 to the Liao, ' Iron ' dynasty) may rust, but gold remains ever 



1 Quoted by Mikhailovskii, p. 144. 



