Note 12 — XIV

The sickness in Siberia.In R. Maak’s “Journey to the Amour,” it is recorded:—“It is not unusual for the Maniagri to suffer also from a nervous malady of the most peculiar kind, with which we had already been made acquainted by the descriptions of several travellers.12 This malady is met with, for the most part, amongst the wild people of Siberia, as well as amongst the Russians settled there. In the district of the Jakutes, where this affliction very frequently occurs, those affected by it, both Russians and Jakutes, are known by the name of ‘Emiura;’ but here (that is, in that part of Siberia where the Maniagri live) the same malady is called by the Maniagri ‘Olon,’ and by the Argurian Cossacks ‘Olgandshi.’ The attacks of the malady which I am now mentioning consist in this, that a man suffering from it will, if under the influence of terror or consternation, unconsciously, and often without the smallest sense of shame, imitate everything that passes before him. Should he be offended, he falls into a rage, which manifests itself by wild shrieks and raving; and he precipitates himself at the same time, with a knife or any other object which may fall to his hand, upon those who have placed him in this predicament. Amongst the Maniagri, women, especially the very aged, are the chief sufferers from this malady; and instances, moreover, of men who were affected by it are likewise known to me. It is worthy of remark that those women who returned home on account of this sickness were notwithstanding strong, and in all other respects enjoyed good health.”