John Abercromby

“ Meantime Sir Ralph Abercromby [q. v.] had been sent out to the Mediterranean with a large armament. He joined Keith at Leghorn on 1 July; but the plans of the government had been unsettled, and though the troops were there, nothing had been decided as to their destination. In August Keith went to Minorca, shifted his flag to the Foudroyant, and was ordered to prepare, in concert with Abercromby, for a descent on Cadiz. By 5 Oct. they were off Cadiz with a fleet numbering upwards of 130 vessels. A virulent pestilence was carrying off the inhabitants of the city by thousands ”

“ The next year, though only a lieutenant-colonel, he was selected by Sir Ralph Abercromby to be quartermaster-general of his army in the Mediterranean, at the same time that another young Scotchman, John Hope, who was also to gain fame in Moore's retreat, was nominated adjutant-general. ”

“ No sooner, however, did a man reach the top, than he was thrown down by the troops behind the entrenchments. Captain John Campbell, [286] with a few men, at length forced their way over the breast-work, but they were immediately despatched with the bayonet. After a desperate struggle, which lasted about four hours under such discouraging circumstances, General Abercromby seeing no possible chance of success, gave orders for a retreat. ”

“ According to their conception, there is a vast number of these beings or spirits, who, like mankind, increase by procreation. In every place there is some invisible divinity, who rules that portion of nature assigned to him. Though all sections of the Mordvins believe this, the notions of the Ersa and Moksha regarding the minor gods and their participation in the government of the world is dissimilar.
The Ersa and Teryukhans know that, when Cham Pas had resolved to create the world, he first created a spirit, almost like himself, to aid him in forming and ruling it. This was Shaitan. ”

“ In the same proportion as sparks flew off evil spirits were born. Since that time Ange Patyai and Shaitan have continued striking fire and adding to the number of good and bad spirits in proportion as mankind, animals, and plants increase. ”

“ Then looking at the river or spring, they pray:
"Water, dear mother, give health to all baptized people. Whoever drinks thee, whoever eats, give him health; and to whoever bathes to him grant refreshment and joy. Give health also to the cattle that drink thee."
Approaching the food laid on the ground, they say:
"For thee, Lord! Take the pap, omelet, pancakes, and sour cream, but grant what we ask for. ”

“ The earth bends as she walks along, and should she tread on a stone the print of her foot remains behind. Occasionally she is seen on earth, sometimes in the shape of a great white bird with a golden tail, dropping seed from its golden beak upon the fields and pastures; sometimes in the form of a snow-white dove that showers down flowers for bees to gather honey from and grains of corn for her beloved hens. For the most part men only see the shadow of this benevolent divinity, when she is going to look at the meadows. ”

“ Without these feasts they believe the crops would not grow.
§ 2. The Votyak gods are now reduced to three: Inmar, the god of the sky, the equivalent of the Finnish Ilmarinen, is also the personification of all goodness; Keremet, his younger brother, the enemy of mankind; Shaitan, the personification of evil, also known as Vu-mort, the water-man, the evil spirit that resides in water. Inmar hates Keremet because the latter had instilled curiosity into the wife of Urom, the first man formed by Inmar out of clay. ”

“ The omelets and pies are distributed to all present. When the women have eaten their share they carry away the remainder to their little children at home. All then sit down on the ground and partake of the flesh, broth, bread, and pies of millet groats, and drink the purè. ”

“ The beauty of the legs consists in their thickness and their firm gait. The women therefore bind several ells of fine well-bleached linen as smoothly as possible round their legs. They are noted for the briskness of their gait, always hold their heads well up, look straight before them, and never turn their eyes to the ground.
When the girls have collected enough eggs, butter, and meal, they start off, as evening approaches, for some river, watercourse, or spring near the village, carrying their bedizened birch trees, and singing as they step along. ”

“ Look! for thee there are groats and butter." The midwife then puts both kinds of groats into separate dishes and butters them, while continuing her prayer to the goddess. Then taking a ladleful of puré she goes to the window, stretches the ladle towards the sky and prays:
"O Cham Pas, Lord Savagoth himself, have mercy upon us. O Ange Patyai Pas, Bulaman Patyai Pas, dear mother, most holy mother of God, give health to thy grandchildren and to babes; give health to their fathers and mothers, that the children may thrive, that their mothers may have plenty of milk in their breasts." ”

“ According to the Mordvins, Ange Patyai lives both in the sky and on the earth. Her house is high up behind the clouds, and is filled with unborn human souls and with the growing corn on which wild and domestic animals are nourished. Thence she pours down on the earth the forces that sustain life, sometimes in the form of morning dew, sometimes as rain and snow, at other times as lightning. ”

“ In proportion to the bread and salt on the table, in that proportion give us wealth. Give us as much wealth as there are grains in the pies. Protect us from evil men, and from the unclean Power; protect also the sheep and pigs from wolves. Give, O Ange Patyai, to our crops that are sown in the ground white lightning and warm dew. O, Svyet Nishki Pas, shine hot upon our crops. O, Ange Patyai, make the straw grow thick with great ears, with grain yellow as the eggs of a hen. Give us cattle of the colour Yurta ozais likes. Give us plenty of hardy horses, sound and strong as bears. ”

“ Those who are praying on their knees rise up and fix their eyes on the vosatya, who, with uncovered head, raises his hands towards the sky, turns to the west, and repeats to himself the prayer recently said by the people. ”

“ On the other side is "the world's barrel," an offering for the welfare of all mankind. It often happens there is a third for the welfare of the government.
Having mounted on the seat, the vosatya throws his hands about in every direction, and again cries:
"Sakmede." ”

“ Good souls he sends on to Nishki Pas, but drives off the bad ones to the realms of Shaitan.
Her fourth son, Voltsi Pas, is the supreme god of living creatures other than man. He protects hunters and fishers.
Her eldest daughter is Nishkende Tevtyar, who has a beehive on the earth where real bees live. ”

“ The rainbow is the hem of Nishki Pas' shirt, which his mother sewed for him. [25] If a woman is in the family-way and Ange Patyai is specially well-disposed towards her, she orders her daughter to weave a shirt for the infant, and sends it to the earth to the Ange ozais. Such children are born with a so-called "lucky cap." They are considered fortunate, and live all their lives in the goodwill of the goddess. ”

“ The Teryukhans and Ersa, in the governments of Nizhni-Novgorod and Simbirsk, have a rather different account of the creation of man. Shaitan, not Cham Pas, began to create man. For this purpose he gathered together clay, sand, and earth from 77 parts of the world, and with them he fashioned a human body. ”

“ He lived on the earth in the form of a man, and assisted the people in everything. If anyone became ill, Nishki Pas immediately cured him. If prayer was made to Cham Pas for rain or for dry weather the request was granted forthwith. Among men there was neither war nor strife, for Nishki Pas drove it all away by passing from village to village, and teaching men goodness. But Shaitan in his wickedness appeared to a certain old man, gave him a till-then-unknown plant, and said:
"Plant this shrub in the ground, and fence it round with long stakes, but don't say a word about it to Nishki Pas." ”

“ A man called Mandy Shire was angry at God because men lived on the earth and Erlik's men in heaven. He made war against Erlik, but was repulsed and had to take to flight. God met him and comforted him by saying, that though Erlik was the stronger now, his time would come, and God would give him notice of it. ”

“ He is the same sort of man as everyone else, and not even a good one. He will not seek enjoyment, will not drink wine or spirits, nor keep several favourites. He only wishes to govern all mankind."
Shaitan incited men to seize Nishki Pas. Then they tortured him, and finally beat him to death. When they had taken his life, they saw that he was in truth the son of Cham Pas, for he whom they had killed rose up and ascended into the sky, saying to his murderers : "You did not wish to live in happiness with me, henceforth it will be the worse for you without me." ”

“ The evil spirits created by Shaitan bring disease on men and cattle, bring colonies of worms and locusts upon the fields, kill bees, destroy beehives, cause the bad weather that injures the crops, lead one into the jaws of a bear, and induce men to commit evil actions. They also wage eternal warfare against the good divinities. ”

“ The bellows became a woman, the hammer and tongs became a man. God spat on the woman and she became a heron (kordoi) , the feathers of which are not used for pluming arrows, the flesh of which a dog will not eat, which makes the swamp to stink. ”

“ On the last day a paper was read on the "History of the Svastika", by Mr. M. Smigrodzki; "Studies of the Lihguotnes: Songs of St. John's Eve", by Mr. A. Jurjan of Kharkov, with illustrations on the piano.
On the evening of the 14th an excellent concert of folk-music and folk-song was given, in which performers from about twenty different countries took part, including natives of Japan, Hindustan, Ceylon, Turkey, Ecuador, and other less remote places.
It is not easy to judge of the respective merits of a series of papers which one has only heard and not read. ”

“ He revenges himself on man by scourging them and their cattle with misery and diseases. Generally he lives in the forest, or in the small groves of oak or lime trees, which are termed keremets. He also frequents lakes, springs, watercourses, &c. If a village migrates, the keremet migrates also; if a portion only of the villagers takes their departure a new keremet is obtained from the mother-village keremet, for keremets marry and have offspring like the gods. Money is also offered to Keremet, who in this regard is termed silver or copper Keremet. ”

“ In the Ersa language a pig is called taun, in Moksha, tuon; [26] from this the name of the festival is derived. Mordvin influence on Russian customs is attested by the fact that the Russians, or rather the Russianised people of the governments of Ryazan, Vladimir, Tambof, the northern parts of Saratof, and in some parts of the governments of Penza and Samara, still preserve the Mordvin ceremonies of Taunsyai, under the name of tausen or avsen. ”

“ Men and young women of the same village now come on the scene, and something is given them to eat. The women then collect what remains and go home. In the districts of Alatirya, Kurmusha, and Ardatova, in the government of Simbirsk, the aged women, on their return home, bury one portion of the remains of the groats in the west corner of the sheep-pen, another portion they put under the Kardo syarko stone, and what is left they eat next day with the people of the house. A birch tree is placed in the sheep-pen, and perches for the hens are put in the branches. ”

“ The next creation of Cham Pas, after that of Shaitan, was Ange Patyai [4] (mother goddess) . She is the source of life, of begetting children, and of the fruitfulness of the earth. These two minor deities are equally powerful and are incessantly at war. Ange Patyai gave birth to four gods and four goddesses.
Her eldest son, Nishki Pas, [5] is god of the sky, the sun, of fire and light. He is the chief protector of bees. At his place in the sky there are many habitations, where the souls of good men live. ”

“ As soon as they have gone the women make a fire in the stove, kindling it with the lighted candle, and burn the ends of the straps. They heap the ashes and coals in the left-hand corner while the senior woman repeats a prayer to Yurtava ozais.
When the collectors had gathered enough corn, honey, etc., they returned to the pryavt, who gave the parindyaits the sacred vats, and ordered them to brew the puré (beer) . When he had fixed upon the three posanbunaveds, he gave them the money that had been collected to purchase a bull, sheep, goose, etc., for sacrifice, as the case might be. ”

“ The winter festivals to Ange Patyai are called kyolyadenak, and are held at Christmas. Properly speaking, the word means the festival of Kyolada ozais. It is chiefly married women and children of both sexes that take an active part in them, and midwives are held in special honour.
The young women concoct purè for Christmas without hops, an operation at which no old men or women are allowed to be present. The day before Christmas Eve a three weeks' old pig was slaughtered with special ceremonies over the centre of the kardo syarko. ”

“ Like the Marya and Chuvash peoples, the Mordvins imagine there are seventy-seven religions and as many languages in the world.
Story of the Thunder God.
The Mordvins believe that the gods can descend to a close union with man, with the exception of Cham Pas, who is too lofty for immediate intercourse with mankind. The lower divinities make marriages sometimes with beautiful girls, and carry them off to the sky. The following story is current among the Teryukhans. ”