Note 18 — Chapter XLVI · THE GILYAKS.

Mr. Collins does indeed say that the true God is adored without the shamans in autumn, and then by the whole community in mass, but I am unable to confirm this from anything I have read or heard. It would seem rather that all their efforts are directed to induce the evil spirits not to act; for these evil spirits are supposed to have power over hunting, fishing, household affairs, and the health and well-being of animals and men. Accordingly I inferred that Shamanism, so far as it can be called a religion, is one of fear, and not of love; that it is something for times of sorrow, such as death, sickness, and calamity, and not for occasions of joy or thanksgiving, as a birth or a wedding.