The Gilyaks believe in both good and evil spirits, but as the former do only good it is not thought necessary to pay them any attention.  All the efforts are to induce the evil spirits not to act.  They are supposed to have power over hunting, fishing, household affairs, and the health and well-being of animals and men.  The shamans possess great power over their superstitious subjects, and their commands are rarely refused.  I heard of an instance wherein a native caught a fine sable and preserved the skin as a trophy.  Very soon a man in the village fell ill.  The shaman after practicing his art announced that the spirit commanded the sable skin to be worn by the doctor himself.  The valuable fur was given up without hesitation.  A Russian traveler stopping one night in a Gilyak house discovered in the morning that his sledge was missing, and was gravely told that the spirit had taken it.

In 1814 the small pox raged in one of the tribes living on the Kolyma river, and the deaths from it were numerous.  The shamans practiced all their mysteries, and invoked the spirits, but they could not stop the disease.  Finally, after new invocations, they declared the evil spirits could not be appeased without the death of Kotschen, a chief of the tribe.  This chief was so generally loved and respected that the people refused to obey the shamans.  But as the malady made new progress, Kotschen magnanimously came forward and was stabbed by his own son.

In general the shamans are held in check by the belief that should they abuse their power they will be long and severely punished after death.  This punishment is supposed to occur in a locality specially devoted to bad shamans.  A good shaman who has performed wonderful cures receives after death a magnificent tomb to his memory.

The Russians think that with educated Gilyaks they can succeed in winning the natives to Christianity, especially when the missionaries are skilled in the useful arts of civilized life.  Hence the school in Mihalofski, and it has so far succeeded well in the instruction of the boys.  Russian and Gilyak children were working in the gardens in perfect harmony, and there was every indication of good feeling between natives and settlers.

CHAPTER XIII.

On leaving Mihalofski we took the merchant and two priests and dropped them fifteen miles above, at a village where a church was being dedicated.  The people were in their holiday costume and evidently awaited the priests.  The church was pointed out, nestling in the forest just back of the river bank.  It seemed more than large enough for the wants of the people, and was the second structure of the kind in a settlement ten years old.  I have been told, but I presume not with literal truth, that a church is the first building erected in a Russian colony.