Page:Ossendowski - The Shadow of the Gloomy East.djvu/158

142 mits to the operation which deprives him of his manhood.

Thus it would appear to be some primeval remnant of ancient worship, perhaps of Brahminism or Dervishism, perhaps of even older cults of Egypt and Babylon. In the worships of Astarte and Izis can be discovered traces of similar rituals, which have permeated Christianity and are so glaringly expressed in the "skoptsy."

This sect suffered many severe persecutions at the hands of the Government, but always succeeded in saving itself from most trying circumstances, and owed its salvation to the large funds accumulated in families belonging to the creed.

They are slow, quiet, wise men, with great cunning and commercial cleverness. But they are also vindictive, malignant, and despise those who do not belong to them.

The first "skoptsy" existed as early as the first century of our era, and the "seal of the white dove" has never disappeared from Christendom, but it is only in the Eastern Church that it has lasted until the twentieth century. During the reign of Paul I these Sectarians were energetically suppressed, and many families were exiled to Siberia, as far as the Yakut country, the coldest part of Siberia, where the soil thaws only six inches deep during the short summer.

I have been to those scowling places of exile and torment, for it was here that Russian Governments