1 9 14] Northwestern D^nes and Northeastern Asiatics 171 



formerly both men, women, and children have been offered up on its 

 summit, or hurled into the flood ".^ 



The same traveller found in another place rocks and a supposed 

 tomb on which, he says, the Kirghis looked "with veneration". Speak- 

 ing of his companions, he adds that "each left a strip of his garment on 

 the grave as an offering".' 



Sometimes the object of that coarse worship is a mere heap of stones, 

 which is being constantly added to, like those which Hue noticed in 

 Tartary, where, he says, they are quite numerous.^ 



It is the same belief in the ubiquity of spirits and their intimate 

 relation to man that prompts the reverence paid to the animals of which 

 the native stands in need, and the care with which their remains are 

 treated by him. We read of the Yakuts: "They bowed reverentially 

 towards bruin's favourite haunts, with appropriate accompaniments 

 in prose and verse, lauding his bravery and generosity to the skies, 

 recognizing him as their beloved uncle, and endeavouring by every 

 means to coax him into forbearance".* 



This is from the pen of Sir Geo. Simpson. Another writer has the 

 following concerning the Kamtchadales : "Les habitans ont en usage 

 des ceremonies pueriles a I'egard des tetes de ces animaux [seals], aux- 

 quelles ils temoignent autant de respect qu'aux meilleurs amis. L'auteur 

 a vu une de ces ceremonies en 1740". 



After having described the ceremonious treatment meted out to 

 the spoils of those animals, the author goes on to remark that all this 

 was done "afin que les autres chiens marins puissent voir avec quel 

 respect ils traitent leurs amis et se rendent ainsi d 'autant plus volon- 

 tiers k eux".^ 



This is an excellent explanation of a particularity concerning bears' 

 heads or skulls, which all travellers in Asia and America have noticed, 

 without, in some cases, being able to grasp its real significance. Thus 

 Bush says that, among the Gilacks of Siberia, "upon all sides, scattered 

 through the woods, were skulls of bears poised upon the stumps of 

 small trees, from four to six^eet above the ground. These", he adds, 

 "were intended as some kind of offering to the native gods".^ 



I make bold to assert that in this our author is mistaken.'' The 

 intention of the natives must certainly have been the same as it is among 



1 "Travels in the Region of the Upper and Lower Amoor", p. 382. 

 ^Ibid., p. 118. 



* Hue, Souvenirs d'un Voyage en Tartaric, Vol. I, p. 40. 



* Simpson, op. cil., Vol. II, p. 119. 



5 Grieve and Jefferys, op. cit., pp. 43-44. 

 ^ Op. cit., p. 124. 



^ In the first place, the fact that Bush refers to "gods" bespeaks on his part very 

 little familiarity with the religious system of the Asiatics. 



