642 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 
have been killed by a crocodile or snake, and also suicides, try to allure their 
friends into a death similar to their own by first carrying away their souls. 
The appearance of the soul of a living man constitutes an omen, and there- 
fore the old men watch in the night before a fight, carefully noting anything 
they hear and see. If they recognise some warrior’s soul, which may sometimes 
in the dark emit rays of light like blood, that man must not take part in the 
forthcoming fight or he will be killed. The soul of a man does not necessarily 
leave the body at the moment when he is being killed, but some time previously 
in a sort of presentiment. A man may sometimes see his own soul, which fore- 
bodes his death; and it happens that the roaming soul of a man, who is about to 
lose his life on a hunting or fishing expedition, causes mischief to the man 
himself. 
Pigs and dogs have souls, and at all events in some cases when killed go to 
Adiri, the land of the dead; but there are extremely vague indications only as to 
any further extension of the belief in souls. 
2. The Influence of Environment upon the Religious Ideas and Practices 
of the Aborigines of Northern Asia. By Miss M. A. Czapuicka. 
The term ‘environment’ must be understood to cover not only strictly 
physical conditions, but also the botanical and zoological features of a given 
locality. Environment in this sense is bound to play a large part in determining 
the nature of the mentality of the inhabitants and in moulding the form of their 
religious institutions. 
This principle may be exemplified by a study of the shamanism of Northern 
Asia. In Northern Asia or Siberia there are two main types of geographical 
environment, with corresponding variations in the forms of shamanism observed 
there. 
1. Along the whole northern section a boundless lowland zone, consisting of 
tundra—a stretch of dreary wastes, exposed to the full fury of Arctic gales, 
icebound and dark for nine months in the year—presents a typical ‘ Arctic’ 
landscape. Fishing and hunting can be carried on in summer only, and reindeer- 
breeding is scarcely possible, owing to the deficient vegetation. The people live 
for nine months of the year in underground or half-underground houses. 
2. Farther south the land rises to the Siberian highlands, whence flow the 
Ob, Yenisei, and Lena. Here the inhabitants of the steppes lead an open-air, 
nomadic, pastoral, or hunting life. The climate is ‘ Continental.’ 
Two main racial groups inhabit these areas: (a) The unclassified Chukchees, 
Koryaks, Yukaghirs, Kamchadals, Giliaks, &c. (who may be termed Palzo- 
Siberians) ; (6) the Finnish, Turk, and Mongol tribes (who may be termed Neo- 
Siberians). 
All over Siberian territory there exists the same shamanistic cult, which, as 
a whole, differs psychologically and sociologically from other animistic and pre- 
animistic cults.‘ This shamanism is, however, differentiated by the influence of 
environment into two subordinate types, which may be termed northern and 
southern. 
I. In the north we see the influence of darkness, cold, and scarcity of food on 
the religious ideas of the people. There is a religious dualism, but the worship 
of ‘black’ spirits prevails. Thus even at sacrifices offered to the ‘ white’ (good) 
spirits the black receive their share. The mental powers are directed towards 
introspective thinking; hence the prevalence of Arctic hysteria, of revelation, 
divination, and of sexual perversions. Family shamanism is more important 
than professional shamanism, which is but slightly developed, since the environ- 
ment does not encourage social aggregation. Want of light and of suitable 
materials results in a poor shamanistic apparatus and a poor form of myth-ritual, 
mostly sexual in content. Arctic hysteria is venerated in so far as it is met with 
among shamans. The animals on which the people’s livelihood depends (whale 
and other sea animals among maritime tribes; reindeer among reindeer-breeding 
tribes; bear, wolf, and fox common to both) are the objects of cult, inanimate 
objects of worship being generally symbols of them. There is no clear idea of 
* Banzaroff, Klemenz, Khangaloff, Jochelson. 
