The Goldi are not numerous. In 1915 there were about four thousand males and females in the Maritime Gov. and according to various authors between eight and twenty thousand within the basin of the Sungari River [12]. They live principally on hunting and fishing, and very rarely on cultivation of soil, small trades, and handicrafts. They use dogs as draught animals. The dog being of the same origin as that among Giliaks is more common among the Goldi of the Amur and Ussuri rivers than among those of the Sungari River. At present they also use the horse which is naturally more common among the Sungari River Goldi than among other groups. The use of dogs as draught animals distinguishes the Goldi from the Manchus, typical equestrians [13] and the Northern Tungus who use reindeer' and horse, but it also connects them with the Giliaks and some other palseasiatic groups. The methods of fishing are very interesting, showing an affinity with the Northern Tungus and Manchus. So, the Goldi are very skilful hunters of fish with harpoon, which is very typical of the Northern Tungus and some Paleasiatics but unknown among the Manchus. On the other hand, the Goldi and Manchus use the same kind of fishing rod with hooks (umuke) one end of which is charged with a heavy stone for throwing into the river, the other end being attached to the bank. As J. A. Lopatin points out, this method is not used by «serious fishers» and women practise it, while among the Manchus it is reserved to women only. He does not mention another method of fishing among the Manchus being an exclusively women's work, that with a round birch-bark box with a small opening for fish [14]. By the way, I should like to draw attention to a fact of importance, viz., the Goldi know the manufacturing of a special water-gauge made of stamped and burnt earth, just like those which are found in some neolithic and recent stations on the banks of the Amur River and in Ussuriland, which shows that the Goldi know well the high qualities of burnt earth, and probably did know the art of pottery at the time when they could not get pottery from the market, and soon forgot it when the Chinese appeared, as it probably happened to the Manchus [15]. The earthen utensils are now replaced by iron kettles as it is among all Tungus, Manchus, Mongols, and so on, partly by birch-bark utensils. The birch-bark utensils among the Goldi, as well as among Northern Tungus, are multiform, showing a striking similarity of forms and methods of manufacturing. In a lesser degree this may be stated with reference to the ornamentation that shows very essential difference compared with the Tungus of Manchuria. The birch-bark utensils are not known among the Manchus.
The Goldi hunting methods in all details resemble those among the Northern Tungus living in the upper course of the Amur River. Naturally the ginseng trade being a purely local phenomenon is unknown among other groups. The Goldi are very skilful in manufacturing various baskets and mats which is also well known to the Manchus but unknown to the Northern Tungus of this region. The Goldi of the Sungari and Ussuri rivers know agriculture and use the same methods as do the Manchus and Chinese. [16] Agriculture also begins to spread among the Northern Tungus living in the vicinity of the Manchus and Chinese, also Russians, but generally speaking it is not characteristic of the Northern Tungus complex. So, from this standpoint, the Goldi show a more advanced stage of an alien influence. It may also be that they had forgotten it and have nowadays re-established their former knowledge. I do not, of course, presume that agriculture was known to the early Northern Tungus and Pro-Tungus. The collecting of wild plants among the Goldi plays a very important part. J. A. Lopatin has recorded twenty species and asserts that they use more. Among the Manchus I have found more than thirty species from fifty or more species, as the Manchus say. Meanwhile, among the Northern Tungus the collecting of edible roots and grass is not common, being, however, well known to some palseasiatic groups [17]. The method of cooking and selection of food, especially of pork at the Goldi feasts, being a sacrificial animal, complete the picture of cultural similarity between the Goldi and Manchus. An essential difference of the Goldi food regime from that of the Manchus and Northern Tungus is raw fish, which is the commonest mode of preparation when it can be got fresh. Generally speaking, fish is the basis of the Goldi diet, so they together with Giliaks can be classified as a typical ichtyophagous group, other kinds of food being of secondary importance [18], while the basis of the Manchu diet is millet and that of the Northern Tungus — meat.
In a close relation with the environmental conditions and principal food are clothing and its shape. The Goldi have developed the art of fish skin work to a high degree, as their neighbours, Giliaks, and some other Paleasiatic groups did. However, the Northern Tungus also know the art of fish skin work and use this material for various purposes, reindeer and other animals' skin being the commonest material for clothing. The Goldi also use in large quantities, especially for winter clothing, skin and fur of various animals found in their territory. The Manchus have no fish skin and use animals' skin in a limited quantity, which they purchase from the Northern Tungus living in their vicinity. Among the Manchus the usual material is cloth of Chinese origin though the weaving art is known among them [19]. The Goldi who do not know (at least nowadays) the weaving art as well as the Northern Tungus, also use cloth if they can get it from the Chinese and Russians. Thus, the choice of material used by all these groups depends upon the environment and the degree of development of intercourse with neighbours [20]. However, it is not so with reference to the form, shape of dress, which among all those groups (except the Reindeer Tungus) is evidently the same, except those borrowed directly from the Chinese and Russians. Among the Goldi the shape of dress is exactly the same as that among the Manchus and the Northern Tungus of Manchuria and Mongolia, who probably borrowed it from the Manchus and their precursors [21]. For their reindeer brethren have an entirely different shape of coat, let us say, entirely different idea of coat, which is like the European morning coat of our days, . The same may be referred to the shape of trousers, knee protectors, shoes, and winter hat, also ear protectors, gloves, etc., which are similar among the Goldi and Manchus, also Northern Tungus who have fallen under the Manchu influence [22]. The summer hat of a conical form, known among the Goldi, has a very wide geographical distribution, i.e., Giliaks, Japanese, Chinese and down south to the Malay Archipelago, is, of course, of a very ancient origin, characteristic of the coastal population of Eastern Asia, probably of a Paleasiatic origin. It is unknown among the Northern Tungus. Yet there is a clothing of great ethnographical interest, i.e., a kind of short skirt or petticoat which is met with among the Goldi as an essential part of the shaman's costume, as it is among Manchus, but it is unknown among the Northern Tungus. This clothing, moreover, is a usual part of the Giliak costume; it is also met with among the Chinese (in Eastern China, I think, and especially in Kiang-su Province, among some groups, worn by both females and males). It is beyond any doubt that this kind of clothing is not of a Northern Tungus origin and it has a very peculiar geographical distribution which seems to indicate its local (perhaps Paleasiatic?) origin [23].
A very essential element of the clothing is the ornamentation. Dr. B. Laufer (op. cit.) has shown it to have originated in China. Among the Goldi it has reached the highest stage of development and fashion, and further complexity too. It is, however, almost unknown among the Reindeer Tungus who prefer a lineal, dotted, pointed, etc., ornament, but it has already replaced the old ornament among the Northern Tungus of Manchuria and Mongolia. This ornament is at present evidently in the process of decline among the Manchus who have decidedly fallen under the influence of the Chinese modern ornament (realistic flowers, birds, animals, etc.). This influence has already penetrated among the Goldi and some Northern Tungus groups. So, we have to find whether the Goldi ornament is an early stage of the Manchu ornament, or a further step of development of an early ornament which migrated from China and was at some period common among the Manchus, Northern Tungus of Manchuria and some other groups (Udehe, Orochi, etc.).
A peculiarity characteristic of the Goldi is the nasal ring that one meets with among Udehe and does not among Manchus and Northern Tungus of this region [24]. The tatooing reduced among the Goldi to a few points put between eyes and on the lower part of the forehead is also known among the Northern Tungus of the upper course of the Amur River. The so called Manegircy [25] and Birary of Maack (op. cit) also use the tatooing up to present time. In a form of a survival it is met with among the Manchus and Chinese who put some points with red, black and blue colours [26] on the forehead and between the eyes of their children. There is no abuse of earrings, as observed among the Goldi, among the Manchus and Northern Tungus. The hair dress among the Goldi is nearly the same as that among the Manchus, while the Northern Tungus non-incorporated into the Manchu military organization have preserved their old fashions. The Manchu hair dress for men is of special importance, owing to its political symbolism showing subjection to the Manchu rule [27].
[12] Vide Supplementary Note II. (Back)
[13] However, perhaps in the past the Manchus, or rather, their ancestors, used dogs. For instance, among some ancestors of Manchus dogs played some part in the transferring of the soul to the world of the dead. This practice is known among some Paleasiatic groups (Chukchi, Yukagirs, etc.). Among the Manchus a dog made of straw is still preserved for some ritual and shamanistic practices. Some Manchu clans still use the badger as a sacrificial animal. (Back)
[14] Cf. my Soc. Organ. of the Manchus, p. 124. (Back)
[15] Among the Manchus, pottery manufacturing is a low profession reserved to the non-incorporated Chinese. It is, however, prohable that when they were not trading with the Chinese they manuiactured pottery themselves. Their ancestorsintheXIIth and XIIIth centuries used to know pottery. The neolithic stations in the Amurland located in the territories now occupied by the Manchus, Northern Tungus, Goldi, Giliaks and Dahurs abound in fine pottery. The testimony of Mammia Rinso (Cf. Ph. Fr. Siebold, op. cit.) as to the porcelain factories, etc., in the lower Amurland cannot be discredited by a simple assertion, as J. A. Lopatin does, that he cannot believe that such a savage people like Goldi and Giliaks may have any idea about pottery. In this case, as well as in many others, this investigator is haunted by the idea of the superiority of the culture which he belongs to, and he cannot understand that the object of his investigation, the Goldi, are not so romantically savage as they appear to him. The Goldi like some other Tungus might previously have used pottery, but leaving off a sedentary mode of life, they have lost the habit of using this kind of utensil. Thus, the ceramic art is not a cultural degree never reached by them, but it is an art forgotten (the Goldi have preserved the manufacturing of a water gauge!) owing to its inutility in a nomadic life and in the conditions of a developed trade (with the Chinese). This seems to show that the population of this region in the past (probably before the last dynasty in China) was living in a more organized manner than it now doss. However, the early Chinese testimonies quote the case of Yih-leu (the IIIth century A. D.) who did not use any pottery while their neighbours did (Cf. d'Ervey de Saint Denys, Ethnographic des peuples etrangers a la Chine, ouvrage compose au XIIIe siecle de notre ere par Matouan-lin, etc. Geneve, 1876, p. 335). Later on the group that inherited Yih-leu used the pottery (Mu-ki, etc.). (Back)
[16] For instance by the end of the XVIIth century the agriculture was known among the Ussuri River Goldi (du Halde mentions, op. cit. Vol. IV, p. 11, that this group used to cultivate tobacco). Chinese chronicles also certify that the population of the present Goldi region was familiar with agriculture at a previous period. Whether the population was the same or not cannot now be stated. (Back)
[17] It may be noted that this practice as a food supply has a secondary importance, indeed. Again, J. A. Lopatin supposing it to be characteristic of «primitive collectors of edible plants» whence he concludes a very primitive cultural state of the Goldi is not right. Among them, as well as among the Manchus, it is a mere survival, true of some practical importance. Did also Russian peasants know anything about edible grass, roots and bark during the last famine? (Back)
[18] However, the Goldi also like pork, which was known since the earliest time, and, as shown, plays a ritual role. D u H a l d e (op. cit. p. 11) mentions the pig among the Ussuri Goldi (the XVIIth century). (Back)
[19] Chinese chronicles mention cloth made of hemp among the early population of Manchuria. (Back)
[20] Among the Northern Tungus belonging to the same regional groups, for instance the Tungus of the upper course of the Amur River, known among Russians under the name of one of their clans man'agir (Man'egry of Russians, cf. further foot-note 25) all kinds of materials are met with. Skin is common among those who are living in the mountainous part of Manchuria and Amur Gov., while among those who are living near the banks of the Amur River cloth considerably prevails. For certain purposes they also use fish skin. (Back)
[21] Except some elements of clothing complex common among the Giliaks, among the Goldi, also among the Northern Tungus of Manchuria, two different complexes of clothing can now be distinguished. One complex is evidently of a modern Manchu origin (combined borrowing : Mongol and Chinese influences), while another one is of an early date. The latter, supposed by the Manchus to be a typical orončun etku, i.e., the Northern Tungus clothing. However, it was probably typical for an early population of Manchuria, perhaps the Southern Tungus, but is also of a non-Tungus origin. Above all the present Goldi clothing as well as that of the Northern Tungus of Manchuria is strongly influenced by the modern Chinese fashions. However, according to du Halde (op. cit. p. 11) the Ussuri River Goldi used, (in the XVIIth century!) the Manchu clothing. (Back)
[22] J.A. Lopatin has probably missed mentioning among the Goldi a very typical apron known among all Chinese groups, the Manchus and Tungus of Manchuria and Mongolia who use it as children's clothing. Among the Northern Eeindeer Tungus, especially those who use an open coat, this apron plays a most important role and is used for adult persons, both female and male. These facts point to a very ancient origin of this clothing adapted for a mild climate. (Back)
[23] In Chinese chronicles an indication on this kind of clothing is found. So, among the early population of Manchuria — Yih-leu whose belonging to ethnical groups is not established—a piece of cloth was used for covering the lower part of the body. (Back)
[24] Dr. B. Laufer (Anneaux nasaux en Chine, in T'oung-Pao, II series. Vol. VI, 1, 1905, pp. 321-323) has added the Chinese of Northern Kiangsu to the list of ethnical groups of this part of Asia using the nasal ring, which is quite right. I have lately observed myself this practice among Kiangsu men. Moreover he has shown that the Chinese of Kwangtung also knew this practice. The geographical distribution of this custom is very curious. It is thus known among the inhabitants of Kurilian Archipelago (Cf. G. Schlegel, in T'oung Pao, Vol. III, 1892, pp. 208-211), Goldi, Orochi, Udehe, the Chinese of Kiangsu and Kwangtung(?). This area seems to correspond to former areas of Palsaasiatic groups who lived in the coastal region of Asia. However, this practice was perhaps also known to the pro-Tungus. (Back)
[25] I want to use this opportunity for clearing up the misuse of this term, which will also help us in the understanding of the relationship between various Northern Tungus groups. To Man'agir clan living in North Western Manchuria and partly in the Amur Gov. fortune did not smile, and this clan having given its name to a Northern Tungus group, provoked several misunderstandings among writers. As stated, this name was first introduced by travellers who did not know the complex relations of various Tungus groups. De Lacouperie (The Djurtchen of Manchuria, J.R.A.S., Vol. XXI, N.S. 1889, p. 448) quoting H. H. Howorth's The Ethnology of Manchuria (The Phoenix, Vol. II, 1871) makes a curious excursion into the history of Managir asserting that Solons are also «called Manyargs (cf. the Turkish menyak 'prince') on the Upper Waters of the Amur, claim to descend from the ancient subjects of the Kin dynasty», while the clan Man'agir claims no more than to descend with reindeer from the north. I think that the mutilation Manyarg was introduced by Th. Witlam Atkinson (Travels in the Regions of the Upper and Lower Amur, etc., London, 1860). This traveller did not distinguish from them another group, i.e., Birary of Russians. He has also maintained the name Mangoon (cf. above footnote 1) and introduced a new ethnical designation—Touzemtz, borrowed by him from Russian tuzemec (tuzemcy—plural) which means merely «aborigines, native», etc. I do not know if Touzemtz has appropriated any classificatory value among other writers, as it happened with Manegry, Manyarg, also Goldi. This instance is very typical for showing the origin of some names and this exclusively confused classification of Tungus groups. (Back)
[26] In the XVIIth century the tatooing was a general custom among the Northern Tungus of the Enissy River (cf. E. Ysebrants Ides Three Years' Travels from Moscow over-land to China, etc., London, 1706, p. 31). This practice persisted till the middle of the XlXth century preserving a certain complexity of design (cf. T. A. von Middendorff, and other travellers). (Back)
[27] It is interesting to note that the plait was already mentioned among the early population of Manchuria by Chinese chronicles among Yih-leu (Cf. Saint Denys, op.cit. p.330). De Lacouperie (op. cit. p. 450) who paid special attention to this practice as an essential characteristic of Manchus and their preeursers, also quotes «Mu-huy tribe in the north of Liao-tung» who (about 285 A.D.) «used to shave their heads and leave only a tuft of hair on the top » which is not, I suggest, a plait. The plait was characteristic of Nui-chen (ibid., also cf. E. Parker, A Simplified Account of the Progenitors of the Manchus, in the Chinese Recorder, Vol. XXIV, No. 11, Nov. 1893, p. 501 sq.). Without going into other details I may also quote the case of some Reindeer Northern Tungus of the Bargusin District in Transbaikalia, who sometimes wear a plait and assert that this is their old fashion. Whether it is some survival of their early relations with Nui-chen or a custom common to the pro-Tungus cannot now be stated, but it is essential that this Tungus group never was in direct contact with the Manchus. The travellers of the XVIIIth century found the Tungus in Siberia wearing plaits. (Back)