the encampment

PLATE 38 (continued): The next day, on Balog’s advice, we procure a kulag and several large hogs to offer to Peter’s father-in-law as gifts. This accomplished, we march some distance through the sand country to a large tent, set up on an island in the middle of a brackwater pool. Even from a distance, we recognize the child that must be Peter’s by his unruly blond hair and Teutonic features. In his hands he clutches a doll in the costume of an aviator, presumably made for him by his father. It is hard believe! Holding the child is Peter’s mother-in-law, a cackling old lady in a billowing brown shroud. The father-in-law, a weathered old kulag farmer, emerges from the tent. Once the usual formalities are exchanged, he invites us to take tea and quoomis with him. To our amazement, his tent contains a modest collection of antiquated romantic novels from the Victorian era; how amazed these long-forgotten hacks would be to see their books here! The old Buryat relishes our confusion for a while before explaining that his mother was a missionary from Glasgow; no wonder Peter had gravitated towards this family. He goes on to describe how Peter would read from these books each evening, his Buryat family listening with rapt attention to descriptions of steam engines, bath-houses, chemist’s shops, and countless other wonders. Jötung, Peter’s wife emerges, her hair heavily buttered and plaited into tight spirals, bound to the sides of her head in the traditional manner of a Buryat married woman. She is silent and serious, but with a slight hint of willfulness in her mongol eyes, and meets our amazed gawks with an open, challenging stare.

The old Buryat gives us Peter’s beaten-up military rucksack to examine; inside we find some papers - diagrams of glider designs, canal systems, irrigation projects; a filthy certificate of free travel, probably stolen, covered with official stamps and attestations, each more meaningless than the next; a list of local hallucinogens and intoxicants with notes describing their preparation - it boggles the mind! But where is Peter himself? Westcott puts this question to the old man. He tells us Peter has remained in the marsh country to follow the call of the spirits; they will rebuild him into a shaman. We stand in utter disbelief, but he assures us it is true. Imagine - Peter, a shaman!