By VADIM SHAPOSHNIKOV

Evenkia is located in the north
of East Siberia over boundless
expanses of taiga and tundra. It
stretches for more than 900
miles south to north and for 500
miles east to west. One fourth of
its territory is beyond the Polar
Circle.

The winter in Evenkia is very
long and harsh, while the sum-
mer is so short that Arctic lakes
have-no time to get sufficiently
warm and have iceflows even in
August. The polar night sets in
in mid-December and lasts until
March.

Since olden times this land
has belonged to the industrious
Evenks. They . are - skilful rein-
deer-breeders and unequalled
trappers. Sables, white polar
foxes, ermines and _ squirrels
trapped in the forests and tun-
dra of Evenkia are famed
throughout the world.

Speaking about Evenkia’s exo-
tic features, one cannot fail to
mention reindeer races, bead-
embroidered fur clothes, the
wonder weapon of the palma—a
sharp and large knife set on a
long pole wrapped with a sliver
of birch bark, and the art of
making fast boats. But these are
things of the past. Today great
changes have taken place in the
eevry-day life of Evenkia’s trap-
pers and reindeer-breeders.

In 1930, cashing. off the shac-
kles of nearly primitive commu-
nal relations, the Evenks joined
the Russian Federation as a new
state entity—the Evenk National
Area. Tuition in schools and
clerical work are done in the
Evenk language. Economic and
administrative bodies and courts
are run by representatives of
local population elected by the
people. Evenkia is represented
by its delegate in the Soviet
Parliament.

VASILY UVACHAN AND
OTHERS

Vasily Uvachan is Evenkia’s
deputy to the Soviet Parliament.
From his people he has inherit-
ed sharp observing powers and
interest in people and things
around. The range of his inter-

awe ay |

Ivan Udygir, one of the best
Evenki deer-herders and hunters.

PEOPLE
OF THE
OVIET
NORTH

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY-13, 1970—Page 6

ests is wide. He knows not only
everything that is being done
on the land of the Evenks from
the Pacific to West Siberia, but
also what interests today the
peoples of North Canada and
Scandinavia. He has been there.
He knows a lot about the North,
beginning with ancient legends
and ending with works by con-
temporary scientists and politic-
al leaders. Now Vasily Uvachan
is working on a monograph on
the Evenk people. Along with
him I visited the trading ‘station
of Titinchany.

Vera Khireger, an Evenk, was
conducting classes at the sta-
tion’s school. She had been born
in the tent of her parents who
were then nomads.

But in clothing, the manner to
behave and to talk freely and
easily she does not differ in any
way from her colleagues in the
capital.

From ‘the trading station of
Titonchany I flew to reindeer
shepherds with Konstantin Cha-
pogir, chairman of a rural So-
viet. We had fought together

Nikolai Kaplin, one of those
who set up Soviet power in the
Evenki area. He is also a remark-
able teller of Evenki folk legends.

during the Second World War,
and he told me of his fellow-vil-
lagers who died and who came
back. He had his leg amputated
during the war, but in a hunting
season he goes out on reindeer
into taigo to trap sabels. In his
social status Konstantin Chapo-
gir is the ultimate authority in
the settlement and seems to be
eternally concerned for the con-
dition of local school teachers
and local hospital staff, as well
as for premises for kindergartens
and boarding schools.
GEOLOGISTS ON THE MARCH
Tura, Evenkia’s central popu-
lated locality, is alive with geo-
logists in the spring. Hundreds
of tons of supplies are flown by
helicopter to bases of future geo-
logical parties, or carried by con-
voys of pack reindeer. Every
year brings out more and more
clearly the future pattern of
Evenkia’s industrial develop-
ment. The Noginsk pit operat-

The old and the new. Modes of travel

Tutonchany trading station on the Nizhnaya Tunguska River.

sees

u : wena
Constantin Capogir, Chairman
of the village Soviet.

ing at full capacity supplies first-
quality -graphite. There is a
dressing mill which does prima-
ry processing of Iceland spar
valued higher than gold.

There are Evenk tractor, lorry
and go-anywhere vehicle drivers
and Diesel engine operators,
Evenk intellectuals — teachers,
medical staff, and personnel in
public services.

Great changes have taken
place in hunting — an old occu-
pation of the Evenks. As im-
poved tent has made life easier
— it can be pitched quicker than
the previous home-made one. A
light-weight cartrige-loaded car-
bine of high accuracy has come
to replace the former heavy rifle.
A transistor radio has become
part of every-day life and keeps
the hunters posted on current
events. Helicopters help to reach
areas that were beyond the pow-
er of trappers on skis or riding
reindeer. There is no use to roam
about tundra with the children,
now fully cared after by the
state. But the main thing is that
a man does not feel lost in taiga,

isolated from life and events in
the bigger world. The trapper
knows that he is remembered
and will be helped if necessary.

PROBLEMS GALORE

But it is not always that the
Evenks hail new developments.
Experts, for instance, think that
residential trapping is a better
method of hunting than just go-
ing after the game and shooting
them. Early experiments suggest
that this is more convenient,
with a lodge built in the summer
instead of a tent. Traps give
better results than rifle hunting
nearly for the whole of winter
when the snow lies deep. There
is no denying it all, but the
Evenks are very reluctant to
adopt a new way of hunting.
Done so, it becomes a routine

in the Soviet north as the scheduled plane arrives at y

New-type tents, helicopters, transistor radios all go towards”
proving the hunt in the Soviet north.

business, almost a product) ¢,
process, while the Evenks ! the
to see the whole breadth of ™ th,
land, not a limited area. tig

Reindeer-breeders have
problems, too. Recent figures” wy
put the herd of wild reinde@l’
120,000, while this year’s %
ings showed them to be num™
ing 250,000. These figures *
many local scientific and PY
ning bodies thinking. The P
lems they tackle are, ‘for
stance, what is to be the siz,
domestic reindeer herd, com
ering that the annual sho0
of wild reindeer without re. ti
ing their stocks can largely ™
the national and local requ)
ments? Problems are many. ’
the small northern people,
Evenks are hard at work sol”

them.

,