ABSTRACT
“In fragile, birch-bark canoes, the Evenks moved with great mastery along the swift mountain rivers of the taiga … the slightest negligence and the boat might be lost in the waves … when he comes to a dangerous spot the Evenk, without fail, would throw something overboard as a sacrifice to the spirit, even if only a pinch of tobacco, because for him the concept of happiness and success consisted of a multitude of spirits, who were empowered to let him pass through ‘their place’ or to let him perish in the raging elements”
