Unknown Mongolia : a record of travel and exploration in north-west Mongolia and Dzungaria . d crowd his thoughts with dread. The howlingwind is obviously a god in anger; the swift-runningriver-gods hinder his crossing and jeopardize his life,the lonely summits of granite boulders—storm-riven andstreaked with snow—are surely the thrones of gods, andnot fit places for men. The record of such names as Bogdo —holy, Khan —Chief, as applied to moun-tains, show how greatly the Uriankhai and the Mongolsvenerate the superb, isolated snow-summits, which standup like thrones of Kings on the wide plateau
Unknown Mongolia : a record of travel and exploration in north-west Mongolia and Dzungaria . d crowd his thoughts with dread. The howlingwind is obviously a god in anger; the swift-runningriver-gods hinder his crossing and jeopardize his life,the lonely summits of granite boulders—storm-riven andstreaked with snow—are surely the thrones of gods, andnot fit places for men. The record of such names as Bogdo —holy, Khan —Chief, as applied to moun-tains, show how greatly the Uriankhai and the Mongolsvenerate the superb, isolated snow-summits, which standup like thrones of Kings on the wide plateaux. The rugged crags which rise above the forests in theUpper Yenisei basin are held by the Uriankhai in suchawe, that he never on any occasion visits them ; hecalls them taiga, the wild—the unknown,—andlooks upon them as the abode of spirits. The frequencyof sudden storms, of thunder and lightning add to hisnervousness. The terror of Pan is everywhere. TheUriankhai sees him in every tree, rock, and stone; he hearshim in the silence of the night and feels the closeness of. AN URIANKHAI SHAMMAN DOCTOR. 244] THE URIANKHAI AND THEIR REINDEER 245 his presence by day. Who is it who gives him suffering,if not an evil spirit ? Who is it who spoils his luck whenhunting ? What is Chance but the interference of thegenii ? A people who are absolutely dependent uponnature for all their wants naturally worship the hand thatgives so freely, and thus we see that pure Nature-worshipstill keeps a strong hold on the minds of the people. A superstitious dread of the genii, both good andbad, makes the Uriankhais great object in life to pro-pitiate the spirits, lest evil befall him. On every possibleoccasion the forest-dweller endeavours to keep on goodterms with the evil spirits. Any danger encounteredin the path, such as a river to ford, or a mountain tocross, in fact, any natural difficulty, is propitiated byvotive offerings, with which the nature-worshipper hopesto pacify Erlik
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecthunting, bookyear1914
