Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality

«So far as we know now, Soma is the only plant that man has ever deified.» — Wasson parte de lo que a su juicio hace único al Soma en el panteón védico: no un dios con planta asociada sino la planta misma deificada, y sostiene que no hay otra en la historia humana

«A book of 1028 hymns is our sole contemporary source of information about the period it deals with.» — Wasson fija el límite de su base documental: un solo libro de mil veintiocho himnos es toda la información contemporánea que existe sobre el periodo, y de ahí sale la dificultad del problema

«Some of the hymns are of so exalted, even delirious, a tenor that the modern reader is led to exclaim: ‘This surely was composed under the influence of a divine inebriant’.» — Wasson señala el tono de los himnos como primer indicio, con la reacción del lector moderno en boca de ese mismo lector y no como tesis propia

«In the hierarchy of Vedic gods certain others took precedence over Soma, but since Soma was a tangible, visible thing, its inebriating juice to be ingested by the human organism in the course of the ritual, a god come down and manifesting himself to the Aryans, Soma played a singular réle in the Vedic pantheon.» — Wasson explica por qué Soma pesa distinto que los demás dioses védicos aunque otros lo precedan en jerarquía: es un dios tangible y visible que se ingiere durante el rito

«The priests, after imbibing the juice, seem to have known, for the nonce, the ecstasy of existence in the World of the Immortals.» — Wasson describe el efecto del jugo sobre los sacerdotes con la reserva puesta dentro de la frase, en el verbo y en el por esta vez del original

«When a Brahman schooled in the ancient tradition sings us a hymn from the RgVeda, with intonation precisely right, there is reason to think that it is as though we were listening to a tape recording 3,000 years old.» — Wasson sostiene la fidelidad de la transmisión oral védica y la compara con una grabación de tres mil años, con la razón puesta antes: la memoria humana sin paralelo en otras culturas

«As the eminent French Vedist Louis Renou has said, the whole of this immense collection, known as the RgVeda, is present in nuce in the themes that Soma presents to us.’» — Wasson trae la formulación del vedista francés Louis Renou, según la cual el RgVeda entero está in nuce en los temas que presenta el Soma; la tesis es de Renou y quien la reporta es Wasson

«But the identity of Soma is as obscure today as two centuries ago, and what is more, this mystery is compounded by what I will call the mystery of the mystery of Soma.» — Wasson enuncia el doble misterio que da forma al libro: la identidad perdida y el hecho mismo de que se haya perdido, lo que llama el misterio del misterio del Soma

«The poetpriests of the RgVeda were composing for contemporaries, certainly not for posterity 3,000 years away, and their imagery and terms often elude our understanding, just as our hymns would make hard going for our collateral descendants 3,000 years hence.» — Wasson acota qué se le puede pedir a los himnos como evidencia botánica, y arranca del hecho de que sus autores componían para contemporáneos; el troceo parte poet-priests a fin de renglón y span() lo devuelve fundido como poetpriests, que no es la forma impresa

«N the second millennium before our Christian era a people who called themselves ‘Aryans’ swept down from the Northwest into what is now Afghanistan and the Valley of the Indus.» — Wasson sitúa el marco histórico del que sale el RgVeda; la inicial capitular del capítulo se imprime suelta y el troceo la devuelve sin la I, de modo que la palabra inicial es In

«In the course of the Soma sacrifice the juice was pounded out with stones on resounding planks and was drunk by the officiating priests.» — Wasson describe la mecánica del rito: el jugo se machacaba con piedras sobre tablas sonoras y lo bebían los sacerdotes oficiantes

«The Mexican Indians seem to regard the hallucinogenic plants, whether mushrooms, peyotl, or morning glories, as mediators with god, not as a god. The Nahua - Aztecs and other groups speaking the same tongue — called the mushrooms teo-nandcatl, ‘god’s flesh’, but the mushrooms do not figure in their pantheon.» — Wasson contrasta el caso mexicano para sostener la singularidad del Soma: allí los hongos, el peyotl y las enredaderas de la mañana hacen de mediadores con el dios y no son dioses, y el nombre teo-nanácatl designa la carne del dios sin que el hongo entre al panteón

«The dried plants were first freshened with water. They were then macerated with stone pestles, and the tawny yellow juice as it came coursing through the conduits of the press was compared, in the hyperbole of the day, with thunder.» — Wasson describe la preparación del Soma como se lee en los himnos, con el detalle que su tesis necesitará después: las plantas están secas y se refrescan con agua antes de machacarlas

«The Divine Element was not just a symbol of a spiritual truth as in the Christian communion: Soma was a miraculous drink that spoke for itself.» — Wasson traza la diferencia que a su juicio separa al Soma de la comunión cristiana: allí el elemento divino simboliza una verdad espiritual, aquí es una bebida que obra por sí misma

«When I first embarked on the problem in 1963, I could hardly believe what I found to be the situation. Here is a clear-cut botanical question — a psychotropic plant that calls for identification. The clues should be in the Vedic hymns.» — Wasson fecha su entrada al problema en 1963 y lo plantea como cuestión botánica acotada: una planta psicotrópica que pide identificación y cuyos indicios deberían estar en los himnos

«But the hymns are all shot through with Soma, and 120 of them are entirely devoted to the plant-god.» — Wasson mide el peso del Soma dentro del RgVeda: ciento veinte himnos enteros dedicados al dios-planta, además de la presencia difusa en el resto

«All that has happened is that no ethno-botanist with an interest in psychotropic plants has applied himself to the examination of the hymns.» — Wasson nombra el hueco disciplinar que a su juicio explica el estancamiento: ningún etnobotánico interesado en plantas psicotrópicas se había puesto a examinar los himnos

«The Vedic culture has been primarily a subject for Vedic scholars and secondarily for those scholars who interest themselves in comparative mythology and religion.» — Wasson describe quiénes se han ocupado del material védico y señala que la etnobotánica nunca estuvo entre ellos

«The specialists in Vedic learning have included a handful of brilliant men, of extraordinary perception, who are assured of a lasting reputation by the works they have left behind.» — Wasson reconoce el mérito de los vedistas antes de objetarles el punto ciego, y la glosa conserva el elogio porque va dentro del mismo argumento

«They have been tilling a field, a rich field it is true, in a remote frontier province of the humanities, and they must often have felt that they were leading an isolated existence.» — Wasson sitúa los estudios védicos como provincia fronteriza y aislada de las humanidades, razón que ofrece para el aislamiento del problema

«The early translations of the RgVeda were execrable. Only now, in the annotated translations of the late K. F. Geldner and the late Louis Renou, does a student with no Vedic possess a rendering that permits him to sense some of the nuances of the original.» — Wasson data en las traducciones anotadas de Geldner y de Renou el momento en que un lector sin védico puede acceder a los matices del original; declara acto seguido que sin Renou no habría podido hacer nada

«Throughout the dawn and early morning of Vedic studies, in the roth century, many cultivated people in the West, not merely Vedic scholars but educated laymen, knew at least what the Soma problem was.» — Wasson traza la caída del problema del Soma desde el siglo diecinueve, cuando lo conocía el lego culto; el troceo devuelve roth donde el impreso trae 19th

«More recently, whenever the subject has been broached, scholars and editors have sighed and wearily turned away: the Soma question has dropped into oblivion simply because it has seemed to defy solution.» — Wasson describe la reacción del gremio ante el asunto y adjudica el olvido a la apariencia de insolubilidad, no a una decisión razonada

«our contemporary religious thinkers (with notable exceptions) have no sympathy with drugs as a way to religious experience, though accepting a réle for other external aids such as music, architecture, and liturgy» — Wasson objeta a los pensadores religiosos contemporáneos la asimetría de admitir música, arquitectura y liturgia como auxilios externos y no las drogas

«Yet it cannot be gainsaid that Vedic culture with Soma unidentified is the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out.» — Wasson fija con un símil el costo de dejar el Soma sin identificar dentro del estudio de la cultura védica

«That the question continues to be slighted constitutes, as I have said, the mystery of the Soma enigma.» — Wasson nombra el segundo misterio, que es el desdén del gremio por la pregunta, y lo llama el misterio del enigma del Soma

«There is no sure evidence that in Vedic times Soma was drunk by others than the priests.» — Wasson acota lo que la evidencia permite decir sobre quién bebía Soma en época védica: no hay prueba firme de que lo bebiera nadie fuera del sacerdocio

«By a deliberate decision the priests must finally have decided to discontinue the use of the Sacred Plant.» — Wasson atribuye el fin del uso a una decisión deliberada del sacerdocio y no a una pérdida accidental

«That familiarity with the genuine Soma seems to have been confined to the priesthood would make the enforcement of such a decision effective, and the very memory of the plant itself was finally lost.» — Wasson explica por qué esa decisión pudo ejecutarse y borrar el recuerdo: el trato con la planta genuina estaba confinado al sacerdocio

«For more than two millennia the hymns to Soma have been sung and revered in the absence of Soma.» — Wasson señala la paradoja que sostiene el libro: más de dos milenios cantando himnos a una planta ausente

«The priestly compositions that have come down to us show acute concern over the relative merits of various substitutes, but no concern over the plant itself.» — Wasson lee el silencio del aparato sacerdotal como dato: discute afanosamente los méritos de los sustitutos y nunca la planta misma

«Brahmans among my friends in India have assured me that the many substitutes for Soma used over the large expanse of the sub-continent and through the ages were always known by the inner circles of the priestly caste to be substitutes. This cannot be proved but must have been a fact.» — Wasson reporta el testimonio de brahmanes amigos suyos sobre que los círculos internos siempre supieron que los sustitutos eran sustitutos, y marca el límite en la misma frase: no se puede probar

«In the 1830's European scholars finally awoke to the mystery of Soma’s identity, but their efforts to solve the problem from that day to this have been singularly futile.» — Wasson data en los años treinta del siglo diecinueve el despertar europeo al enigma y califica de estériles los intentos posteriores

«They have merely worked over the Brahmanic discussions of the substitutes, apparently under the misapprehension that the original Soma must have closely resembled the substitutes, if it was not in fact one of them.» — Wasson diagnostica el error de método que atribuye a sus predecesores: partir de las discusiones brahmánicas sobre los sustitutos suponiendo que el Soma original se les parecía

«And so in the fullness of time it has fallen on me, a retired banker, to be greatly daring and to submit to the intellectual world a new theory of Soma’s identity.» — Wasson se presenta a sí mismo como banquero retirado y enuncia su posición fuera del gremio, dato que la ficha conserva porque él lo pone como parte del argumento

«As I entered into the extraordinary world of the RgVeda, a suspicion gradually came over me, a suspicion that grew into a conviction: I recognized the plant that had enraptured the poets.» — Wasson cuenta la génesis de su convicción como sospecha que fue creciendo, y dice haber reconocido la planta

«At the same time there hovered constantly in my mind’s eye the admonitory finger of Tristram Shandy as he warned against the occupational hazard of those who advance hypotheses: It is in the nature of a hypothesis when once a man has conceived it, that it assimilates everything to itself, as proper nourishment, and from the first moment of your begetting it, it generally grows stronger by everything you see, hear or understand.» — Wasson se aplica a sí mismo la advertencia de Tristram Shandy sobre la hipótesis que asimila todo lo que encuentra; la voz de la advertencia es la del personaje de Sterne y quien se la aplica es Wasson

«And so, while well aware of the perils that attend my enterprise, I present my case. If I am wrong, how quickly will my proposal be forgotten! If I am right, I claim the privilege of adding a new and exciting chapter to the world’s knowledge of the remote past, the proto-history of our own Indo-European culture.» — Wasson deja escrita su apuesta con las dos ramas, el olvido si se equivoca y un capítulo nuevo de la proto-historia indoeuropea si acierta

«In a word, my belief is that Soma is the Divine Mushroom of Immortality, and that in the early days of our culture, before we made use of reading and writing, when the RgVeda was being composed, the prestige of this miraculous mushroom ran by word of mouth far and wide throughout Eurasia, well beyond the regions where it grew and was worshipped.» — Wasson enuncia su tesis central y la extiende más allá de la identificación botánica: el prestigio del hongo habría corrido de boca en boca por toda Eurasia antes de la escritura

«My candidate for the identity of Soma is Amanita muscaria (Fr. ex L.) Quél., in English the fly-agaric, the Fliegenpily of the Germans, the mukhomor of the Russians, the fausse oronge or tue-mouche or crapaudin of the French, the brilliant red mushroom with white spots familiar in forests and folklore throughout northern Eurasia.» — Wasson nombra su candidato con la autoría botánica y con los nombres vulgares en inglés, alemán, ruso y francés, y lo describe por el rasgo que el libro explotará después, el rojo con puntos blancos

«No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.» — aviso de reserva de derechos de la página de derechos del ejemplar, en voz del editor y no de la obra

«The Fly-agaric in Siberia: the Testimony of Explorers, Travelers, and Anthropologists» — rótulo con que el índice del volumen presenta el dossier de la Parte Tres, y que fija de quién es la voz en esos exhibits: exploradores, viajeros y antropólogos

«Drawing made by a Chukchi of the wanderings of ‘fly-agaric men’.» — pie de lámina de la lista de ilustraciones, que acredita el dibujo a un chukchi y la reproducción a la obra de Bogoraz sobre los chukchee

«Seal-skin vessel for gathering urine impregnated with inebriating virtue derived from fly-agaric, in use among the Koryak.» — pie de lámina de la lista de ilustraciones sobre el recipiente de piel de foca de los koryak; el mismo texto vuelve a imprimirse en la plana 332, al pie de la lámina misma

«Left: Neolithic pot with incised toad form. Second half of 3rd millenium B.C. Danubian culture in Czechoslovakia.» — pie de la figura 7 en la lista de ilustraciones, sobre los motivos de sapo en cerámica prehistórica; el volumen los reproduce de Gimbutas

«RV IX 695: With unfading vesture, brilliant, newly clothed, the immortal hdri wraps himself all around.» — pie de la lámina II, que cita el verso IX 69 sobre el hari inmortal envuelto en vestidura resplandeciente; la lámina y su pie son aparato del volumen y el verso va aquí con la voz del himno

«Ganoderma lucidum. Normal and abnormal shapes.» — pie de la figura 1 del volumen, sobre las formas normal y anormal del Ganoderma lucidum

«NOIN ULA TEXTILE (here shown divided in two parts). rst century A.D. From Mongolian tomb. Contemporary connoisseurs of Chinese art suggest that the enigmatic plant toward which the birds are leaning is Linc Cutn, the fabulous Fungus of Immortality. (Courtesy of the Hermitage Museum, Leningrad)» — pie de la lámina XVI del volumen, sobre el textil de Noin Ula y la sugerencia de los conocedores de que la planta enigmática es el ling chih

«Rubbing of a Han Dynasty Stone Carving. Found in Szechwan Province. The two hags with pendulous breasts, having wings on their arms, are assumed to be Immortals. They are playing the board game, popular at that time, known as liu-po. Behind the figure on the right there is what Chinese art critics today interpret as a Han Dynasty conception of the Linc CHIH, the fabled ‘Marvelous Herb’ or ‘Divine Fungus of Immortality’. (Courtesy of Rolf Stein, Esq.)» — pie de la lámina XVIII del volumen, sobre el frotado de un relieve Han de Szechwan con dos inmortales jugando al liu-po y lo que la crítica china lee como ling chih

«From Sakikusa-ko (‘An Inquiry into the Happy Herb’), by Suigetsu Kan-d, An essay published in 1850 in Japan. The inspiration for this representation of Ganoderma lucidum stems back almost 2,000 years to the specimen that the Emperor Wu of China discovered growing in the inner pavilion of his palace.» — pie de la figura 2 del volumen, que remonta la representación del Ganoderma lucidum de un impreso japonés de 1850 hasta el ejemplar hallado por el emperador Wu

«Maid of Honour TAF, attending the Heavenly Emperor. In her left hand she carries a vase with Linc Cum in two of its shapes, the normal one and the one that suggests deer’s antlers or coral branches. Painted c. A. D. 1300.» — pie de la lámina XIX del volumen, sobre la dama de honor que lleva el vaso con ling chih en sus dos formas, la normal y la que sugiere astas de ciervo o ramas de coral

«As everyone who knows me will realize, my dependence on others with specialized knowledge in different fields has been complete.» — Wasson abre los agradecimientos declarando completa su dependencia de especialistas ajenos, dato que la ficha conserva como aparato de la obra

«In Sanskrit and Vedic I have enlisted the cooperation of Dr. Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, and I have consulted Professor Daniel H. H. Ingalls of Harvard University, the late Professor Louis Renou of the Sorbonne, and Professor Georges Dumézil of the Coll» — Wasson acredita en sánscrito y védico la colaboración de Doniger O'Flaherty y las consultas a Ingalls, a Renou y a Dumézil

«In matters of general Indo-European linguistics my friend and revered mentor has been Professor Georg Morgenstierne of Oslo, who has guided my footsteps in the Indo-Iranian field, the Kafir and Dardic languages, and the older tongues of Scandinavia and the Northern Seas.» — Wasson acredita a Georg Morgenstierne de Oslo la guía en lingüística indoeuropea general

«For my Chinese inquiries I am indebted to Wango Wéng “4 # X, of New York, to Chou C’hi-k’uén 4] 4k #., formerly of the faculty of Hong Kong University, better known to his English-speaking friends as Steve Chou, now of Leeds University, to Professor Kao Yao-lin % #8 #4. formerly of Nanking University, now living in Hong Kong, and particularly to Kristofer M. Schipper, éléve de l’Ecole Francaise d’Extréme Orient, who on the occasions of my repeated visits was living in Tainan, Taiwan.» — Wasson acredita a sus cinco colaboradores para el material chino y precisa dónde vivía cada uno; el tramo pasa de setecientos caracteres y se declara aquí como cita larga releída entera en el crudo

«Mr. Wéng has written all of the Chinese characters that appear in my book.» — Wasson acredita a Wango Weng la caligrafía de todos los caracteres chinos del libro

«Dr. Janos Gulya of Budapest has generously given me days of his time reviewing with me many problems pertinent to my theme in the Uralic (especially the Ob-Ugrian) languages;» — Wasson acredita a János Gulya los días dedicados a los problemas urálicos del libro

«The Publishing Office of the Magyar Academy of Sciences has kindly consented to let me re-publish in English extracts from their Glaubenswelt und Folklore der Sibirischen Vélker, edited by V. Didszegi and originally published in 1963.» — Wasson consigna el permiso de la Academia Magiar para reimprimir en inglés extractos de una obra suya de 1963, dato de procedencia de parte de los exhibits

«Professor Robert Austerlitz managed to find time from the crushing pressure of administrative and teaching duties at Columbia University to guide my steps in matters of Siberian linguistics.» — Wasson acredita a Robert Austerlitz la guía en lingüística siberiana

«Miss Mary Mahoney and Mrs. Evelyn Waters of Ridgefield, Connecticut, have laboured long and hard in the preparation of the manuscript for the printer.» — Wasson acredita a Mary Mahoney y a Evelyn Waters la preparación del manuscrito para la imprenta

«I am grateful to them for introducing me to Philip Lozinski; it was he who put me on the trail of St. Augustine and the Chinese Manichzeans, and he has shown a continuing interest in my mushroom inquiries.» — Wasson acredita a Philip Lozinski haberlo puesto sobre la pista de Agustín y de los maniqueos chinos

«For a financial grant that aided my travels in the Far East I am beholden to the Bollingen Foundation of New York: and for my appointment as an Honorary Curator of Botany, to the Milwaukee Public Museum and its Director, Dr. Stephan F. de Borhegyi.» — Wasson declara la ayuda económica de la Fundación Bollingen para sus viajes por Extremo Oriente y su nombramiento como curador honorario en Milwaukee

«It has also been a privilege to enjoy the facilities of these two institutions and to have had access at all times to the guidance and counsel of Professor Paul C. Mangelsdorf, until lately director of the Museum, and of Dr. Richard Evans Schultes, its Curator of Economic Botany and now also the Executive Director of the Museum.» — Wasson consigna sus nombramientos en el Museo Botánico de Harvard y en el Jardín Botánico de Nueva York y lo que le abrieron en Extremo Oriente; el tramo pasa de setecientos caracteres y se declara aquí como cita larga releída entera en el crudo

«It is always a pleasure for me to express my continuing gratitude to Professor Roger Heim, Membre de IInstitut, for his help in furthering my inquiries.» — Wasson agradece a Roger Heim su ayuda continuada en la indagación

«From the beginning Professor Heim has shown a particular interest in every aspect of my researches into the strange problem of the fly-agaric: he has initiated his own programme of experimental studies, which are being reported from time to time in the Revue de Mycologie.» — Wasson consigna que Heim inició su propio programa de estudios experimentales sobre el agárico, reportados en la Revue de Mycologie

«Among those to whom I am beholden for collaboration I cannot refrain from citing Dr. Giovanni Mardersteig of Verona.» — Wasson acredita a Giovanni Mardersteig de Verona la impresión del libro y sus aportaciones al argumento

«had hoped that this treatise on the Herb of Longevity would appear in 1966, on the occasion of the 7oth birthday of Roman Jakobson, to whom I have dedicated it. But in 1968 it is by two years that much more appropriate. May the Tree of Knowledge, possessed as it is of a private line to the Herb, continue for many years to bestow abundant blessings on a favoured son!» — Wasson declara la dedicatoria del libro a Roman Jakobson y el desplazamiento de la fecha prevista; la capitular I se imprime suelta y el troceo la pierde

«R. GORDON WaASSON Danbury, Connecticut June 1968» — firma y data de los agradecimientos, que fechan el libro en junio de 1968 en Danbury, Connecticut; el troceo corrompe el apellido

«have assembled here the writings of those who have described the practice of eating the fly-agaric in Siberia.» — nota preliminar de los exhibits, en que Wasson declara qué reúne la sección

«In Section A we include explorers, travelers, and anthropologists, as well as a few native folk tales and a Vogul hymn gathered and translated by the anthropologists and linguists. In Section B we have grouped together linguists - mostly Finnish and Hungarian - who give us evidence of a fly-agaric word pattern that presents us with a fascinating aspect of social history.» — Wasson describe el contenido de las secciones A y B de los exhibits, los testigos de campo y los lingüistas

«Of the many writers about the peculiar mushroomic habits of the Siberian tribesmen who have passed on the information at second or third hand, we have chosen three for particular reasons to include in our Section C. One is Carl Hartwich, whose Die menschlichen Genussmittel set a landmark in the history of pharmacology; it was published in 1911. Another is Professor Mircea Eliade, who enjoys wide renown as a student of the history of religions and religious practices throughout the world. The third is a paper by two Soviet Scientists.» — Wasson declara por qué eligió tres fuentes secundarias para la sección C y nombra a Hartwich, a Mircea Eliade y a los dos científicos soviéticos; el tramo pasa de setecientos caracteres y se declara aquí como cita larga releída entera en el crudo

«Undoubtedly there are primary sources that have eluded us, perhaps important ones.» — Wasson declara que sin duda se le escaparon fuentes primarias, quizá importantes

«We have searched diligently, but the sea of writings about Siberia is so vast, the sources so widely scattered, that some could easily have escaped our net.» — Wasson explica esa laguna por la vastedad y dispersión de la literatura sobre Siberia

«We have arranged the selections roughly in their chronological order.» — Wasson declara el criterio de ordenación de los exhibits, el orden cronológico aproximado

«Kamienski Diuzyk, Adam. Dyarusz wiezienia moskiewskiego, miast i miejsc. (A Diary of Muscovite Captivity, Towns and Settlements) In Warta. A collection of articles. Edited by the Rev. A. Maryanski. Poznan, Poland. Published in 1874. pp. 378-388; the passage relating to mushrooms is on p. 382.» — ficha bibliográfica del exhibit [1] tal como la imprime el volumen, con el diario del cautivo polaco y la localización exacta del pasaje

«This article in the Russian review contains as Section V the story of “Denbei’, the first Japanese to arrive in Russia.» — Wasson presenta el exhibit [2] y su fuente, el relato del náufrago japonés Denbei en una revista rusa

«Though he learned some Russian and could make himself understood in the language of Kamchatka, his account is filled with discrepancies attributable to errors in communication.» — Wasson acota el valor del testimonio de Denbei por las discrepancias atribuibles a errores de comunicación

«His testimony is almost, but not quite, worthless.» — Wasson declara casi del todo inútil ese testimonio

«We have included it for the sake of completeness and because it establishes the earliest date on record when the Russian Imperial Court was apprised of the Siberian practice of eating the fly-agaric.» — Wasson explica por qué lo incluye, por completitud y porque fija la fecha más antigua en que la corte imperial rusa supo de la práctica siberiana

«Von Strahlenberg was a Swedish Colonel who passed twelve years in Siberia as a prisoner of war. He was chiefly in Tobolsk where he assembled much accurate and valuable information about the peoples of Siberia. He is describing the practices of the Koryak tribe in the extreme northeast of Siberia.» — Wasson presenta al testigo del exhibit [3], coronel sueco doce años cautivo en Siberia, y precisa de qué pueblo habla