SHORTER ARTICLES AND CORRESPONDENCE 



SOME XOTES ON THE TRADITIONS OF THE NATIVES 

 OF NORTHEASTERN SIBERIA ABOUT THE 

 MAMMOTH 



The traditions of the Yukaghir very often mention the mam- 

 moth. They have a special name for him, xolhut. The spirit 

 of the mammoth (xolhut-aibi — which means the mammoth's 

 shadow), like the spirits of many other animals now living, ap- 

 pears in the role of a guardian spirit of certain shamans. A 

 shaman assisted by the spirit or soul of a mammoth (dibi means 

 shadow, spirit, and also soul) is regarded as the most powerful. 

 According to this notion one might say that there was a time 

 when the mammoth was a contemporary with man. 



One Yukaghir tale relates to an episode in which the souls of 

 two shamans (father and son) were riding on the back of a 

 mammoth's shadow. 



Another tradition tells of the disappearance of the mammoth. 

 The creation of the mammoth was a blunder of the Superior 

 Being. In creating such an enormous animal the Creator did 

 not take into consideration the size of the earth and its resources. 

 Our earth could not stand the weight of the mammoth and its 

 vegetation was not sufficient to feed the mammoth race. The 

 mammoth fed on tree trunks which he ground with his teeth, 

 and in a short time the whole North of Siberia was deprived of 

 trees. Hence is the origin of the northern tundra. In the be- 

 ginning the earth had the form of an even plain, but by his 

 weight the monster animal in moving about caused the formation 

 of valleys and ravines in which rivers originated. In swampy 

 or sandy places the mammoth sank into the ground and disap- 

 peared under the earth, where he froze during the winter. Often 

 in the hole over him the water gathered into a lake. In this 

 way the mammoth gradually disappeared from the earth '3 sur- 

 face. This is why now whole cadavers of the animal are to be 

 found in the frozen soil. 



Among the Russianized Yukaghir of Nishnekolymsk I noted 

 a tradition on the disappearance of the mammoth of a biblical 

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