P )   F E B U A R Y , 1 9 4 4   -   D Ö R Ö Ö   N U U R ,   C H E K A N O V S K O G O

During his entire stay in Buryatia, Peter heard of only one other white man living with the tribe, a Russian visionary and recluse known to the Buryat as Döröö Nuur or “the Spider.” It had been so long since the hermit had emerged from his yurt, few of the Buryat could even recall what he looked like. The Spider’s needs were tended to by his disciple, a young Buryat named Chömba. Peter was intensely curious about the only other Westerner in Buryatia:

“I approach Chömba and ask him if I may visit the Spider. ‘Döröö Nuur sees no one, ever.’ Will he not at least tell me the Spider’s story? After some thought he assents: ‘Many years ago the red devils put Döröö Nuur in prison and made him work underground like a mole. Your God found him there and talked to him ceaselessly, told him many things, showed him an underground river by which he might escape. For a long time he floated lost, until one day he emerged from a mountain. For a time he lived with our fathers as we live, but he missed the voice of your God so much that he vowed to live in darkness until the voice spoke to him again. That was before I was born. Now, like my father before me, I push food into a small openning in the side of Döröö Nuur’s yurt. Once, many years ago, I saw the hand of Döröö Nuur reach out and grab the food - but that is all I have seen of him. Many say that rats ate Döröö Nuur long ago and it is they who eat the food I put in his yurt each week, but they are wrong. I know he waits still for the voice of your God, and when it speaks the world will be destroyed and a new one built in its place. I know this because Döröö Nuur has put his voice into my head.’”