"They have some interesting customs and superstitions. They are pagans in religious matters, and worship idols and animals, and they have a reverence for the tiger, eagle, bear, and cat. They keep eagles in cages, and when they can catch a bear or tiger they use him for a religious ceremony, which ends with the animal being slaughtered. His flesh is eaten under the impression that it gives strength and courage to the eaters. They will not allow fire to be carried out of their houses, through fear of evil consequences, and they formerly had the custom of killing those who came to visit them. The more amiable he was, the greater was the chance of his being murdered."
"Very easily, when you know the reason," was the reply. "They believe that the spirits of the dead remain where they left the body, and guard and protect the spot. When a man whom they liked was about to leave, they did not hesitate to kill him for the sake of retaining his spirit among them. A Russian priest was killed in this way, and the Government made the Gilyaks understand that they must put an end to the practice.
[Illustration: NATIVE BOAT--AMOOR RIVER.]
"The Gilyaks have small fields and gardens, and do a little agriculture, but their great reliance is upon the river, which supplies them with fish for food and clothing."
"How can fish supply clothing?" Frank asked, with a look of surprise.
"Easily enough," was the reply. "The Gilyaks and other people of the Amoor take the skins of fishes, beat them till the scales fall off, dress them with oil till they are pliable, and then fashion them into garments. I have seen some very good coats and jackets made of fish-skins. The prettiest Gilyak girl I saw (and she had no great beauty to boast of) wore a coat of fish-skin that was gathered closely in at the neck and held around the waist by a girdle. A few yards away you couldn't distinguish it from cloth.
"The Gilyaks row their boats by pulling alternately on the oars, while the Goldees, who are higher up the river, pull the oars simultaneously. The houses of the Goldees are superior in every way to those of the Gilyaks. They are warmed by means of wooden pipes passing beneath benches on three sides of the room, and serving as seats by day and beds at night. Like the Gilyaks, the Goldees live chiefly by fishing, but they give more attention to agriculture, and many of them have cows and horses. One day we passed a village where a large fleet of boats was engaged in fishing for salmon and sturgeon. Two men tried a race with the steamboat, and fairly beat us for a short distance, though we were making nine or ten miles against the current.