

Authors of the eighteenth century, like Pallas and Krasheninnikoff, pay great attention to the shaman’s accessories. Though they have probably only been attracted by their picturesque side, yet their  descriptions are very valuable in view of the modern attempt to reach the primitive mind through its symbolical forms of expression. Shashkoff [1] enumerates the following items as indispensable to the shaman’s dress all over Siberia-the coat, the mask, the cap, and the copper or iron plate on the breast. The Samoyed tadibey substitute for the mask a handkerchief tied over the eyes, so that they can  penetrate into the spirit-world by their inner sight. This use of a handkerchief is also mentioned by Wierbicki, who says that the shamans of northern Altai wear one round the forehead to keep the hair out of the eyes. These four accessories-the coat, the mask, the cap, and the iron plate-are used by the Neo-Siberians only, since among Palaeo-Siberians the dress is much less complicated.Each tribe has, moreover, some particular object which plays the chief part in the shamanistic ceremony.