Goodbye or goodbye…. Social sciences and humanities Horoscope of Miklouho-Maclay N.N.
Twenty-year-old student Miklouho-Maclay was clearly lucky: the famous naturalist Ernst Haeckel invited him to take part in a scientific expedition to the Canary Islands. The student, of course, happily agreed. The expedition made an indelible impression on the young scientist - he was seized by a thirst for wandering, a thirst for discovery. From that time on, a continuous journey that lasted for many years begins. Twenty years of wandering around the most remote corners of the globe, twenty years of overcoming difficulties, hardships and obstacles, among which the tropical fever was not the worst. In his search for the truth, Miklouho-Maclay displayed amazing stubbornness and all-conquering will.
The goal was also noble: to prove, in a nutshell, that "man is everywhere a man", that all people on earth, all races - white, yellow, black - have the same ability for cultural and economic development.
... The military corvette "Vityaz", on board which was the twenty-five-year-old scientist Miklouho-Maclay, reached New Guinea on the three hundred and sixteenth day of sailing. It happened on September 19, 1871. On this day, the first lines of one of the most remarkable books in the history of mankind were written - the famous diary of Miklouho-Maclay.
From the deck of the Vityaz, the young scientist saw high mountains, shrouded in clouds, beneath them, on the slopes, a dense tropical forest approached the ocean. Huge trees, entwined with vines, lowered their foliage to the surface of the water.
Miklouho-Maclay landed on an unknown land to study "the life of the natives in a primitive state." Never before had any of the Europeans been to this coast, the island remained mysterious, completely unexplored. Even the merchants did not dare to land on it. There are high mountains, almost impenetrable forests, and most importantly, the local inhabitants - the Papuans - were rumored as terrible cannibals, insidious and treacherous.
The officers and sailors of the "Vityaz" were sure that they were leaving the researcher - a man of weak health with a pale face and a quiet voice - to certain death ... The scientist was really in danger. Already the first native he met with gestures made it clear that both Maclay and his two servants would soon be killed and the hut would be destroyed.
Maclay's extraordinary courage, endurance and resourcefulness helped him endure all the hardships of life on the island. In the end, he managed to overcome the hostility of the natives, win their trust and even love.
Miklukho Maclay
… The diary goes page by page. The scientist speaks in detail and in detail about the manners and customs of the inhabitants of the island, about what funeral and wedding rituals they have, how they teach children and cultivate the land, make fabric from the bark. He observes, studies and records everything: the height of the mountains, and the depth of the bay, and the temperature of the water, and the flora and fauna. We see a primitive tribe, people of the Stone Age without distortion and embellishment. The ethnographic and anthropological information collected by Miklouho-Maclay was a most valuable contribution to science.
The faces of the Papuans seem to the humanist scientist to be kind, gentle, intelligent; he admires the harmony and dexterity of the natives, rejoices in their honesty and intelligence. In his diary, he admires the hard work of people who perfectly work the land with primitive tools, are able to make an artistic ornament with a simple bone.
Nikolai Nikolaevich's delicacy is striking. Seeing for the first time a white man near their huts, the natives grabbed their spears and assumed a warlike air. Miklouho-Maclay finds their behavior quite natural, because this is their village, their land. And he writes amazing lines. "I myself somehow felt embarrassed, why do I come to embarrass these people."
The scientist worked tirelessly, not sparing himself. He regretted spending time on arranging and repairing housing (the roof often leaked!), Looking for food (“often had to starve if the hunt was unsuccessful”) and cooking, and finally rest. He was often overcome by "pale, cold, trembling, and then burning fever." Sometimes her attacks were such that he could not bring a spoonful of medicine to his mouth. Then only one line appeared in the diary: "Fever." And yet, three times a day, he goes out to the veranda to record meteorological information.
Here is one of the working days. He gets up at five in the morning, chops wood, boils water, cooks beans, looks after a sick servant, a voracious, cowardly and lazy man, cuts earrings for natives from a tin can, measures the temperature of the water and air, goes to a coral reef for sea animals or to the forest , makes excursions to neighboring villages. He writes: "In the morning I am a natural zoologist, then ... a cook, a doctor, a pharmacist, a painter, even a laundress." On top of that, he measures Papuan heads, collects utensils, weapons and jewelry of local residents - people of the Stone Age, all of which are extremely important for science. Miklouho-Maclay learns the language of the Papuans and heals them.
Gradually Miklouho-Maclay comes to the important conclusion that the Papuans do not differ significantly from the Europeans.
Studying the natives, he became convinced that they are not such "savages" as Western scholars tried to present them. The villages of the Papuans are well-equipped, the agricultural economy provides them with everything they need. “One could marvel at the enterprise and industriousness of the natives, the thorough cultivation of the land”; "I was often surprised at how quickly and efficiently everything was prepared without any pushing or shouting." "Looking at their buildings, pies, utensils and weapons and making sure that all this was done with a stone ax and fragments of flint and shells, one cannot help but be amazed at the patience and dexterity of these savages."
After fifteen months of hard work Miklouho-Maclay managed to get to the island of Java for rest. Here he writes, or rather tries to write scientific articles about the Papuans of the Maclay Coast. (So he called, by right of the discoverer, a piece of land in New Guinea). The feather fell from my hands, the pain in the joints of my swollen fingers was unbearable. Then he began to dictate his articles, however, in German - no one who knew Russian was found here. The dictation went on every day, six hours a day. And the only regret is that "the day is short for work." In a month and a half, the scientist prepared seven articles on the life and life of the Papuans, their dwellings, tools, food, language, superstitions.
Having barely recovered from his illnesses, he sets off on a new expedition, he longs for discoveries, new facts confirming his innocence. Only brief scientific reports appear in the press. To the reproach of the Russian Geographical Society, Miklouho-Maclay replies: “You cannot demand that I travel to countries that are little-known and hard-to-reach and write whole volumes at the same time! This will be done later. "
In the meantime, he considers it necessary to get acquainted with the Papuans of other parts of New Guinea in order to compare them with the inhabitants of the Maclay Coast, who have already been studied. Further, it is necessary to compare the Papuans of New Guinea with the inhabitants of the other islands of Melanesia, with the Negritos of the Philippine islands. And that's not it. Miklouho-Maclay intends to find out if the curly-haired race is present in the Malacca Peninsula. In short, he is trying to cover the problem as a whole, to study the entire Melanesian race, to investigate all the ramifications of this race in the most diverse areas of its distribution. To his friend Miklouho-Maclay wrote that for this purpose he was ready for anything - "this is not a youthful passion for an idea, but a deep consciousness of the strength that is growing in me, despite the fevers ..."
It took the scientist another ten years to complete such an extensive program. And again unheard of difficulties, courage and endurance of the traveler. Many times he found himself on the brink of death. Financial difficulties were added to all the hardships. The Russian Geographical Society did not send money, the scientist was forced to borrow.
... In 1882 Miklouho-Maclay finally managed to visit his homeland. Soon after his arrival, he first spoke to the Russian public with a report on his journey. The Geographical Society hosted a gala reception for the brave traveler. After P.P.Semenov-Tyan-Shansky's greeting, the floor was given to Miklouho-Maclay. When the applause died down (“deafening and lasting for a long time,” as the “Petersburg leaflet” wrote), the scientist said: “Gracious sovereigns and gracious sovereigns! Eight days later, on October 8, it will be twelve years since, in this same room, I informed the gentlemen of the Geographical Society of the program of prospective studies in the Pacific Islands. Now, having returned, I can say that I have fulfilled the promise I made to the Geographical Society on October 8, 1870: to do everything in my power so that the enterprise will not be left without benefit for the nation. "
This was followed by a succinct account of what had been done over the years in the most remote corners of the globe. Where European scientists have never gone before. In conclusion, Nikolai Nikolaevich expressed a desire for his works to be published in Russian, with the assistance of the Russian Geographical Society.
Through the mediation of the Russian Geographical Society, the famous researcher managed to settle his financial affairs. He could finally pay off his debts ...
Tui, the very first acquaintance and friend of Maclay
The Russian scientist gave lectures in Berlin, Paris, London. The Royal Geographical Society of England offered to publish his works and agreed to bear all the expenses of the expedition. Miklouho-Maclay replied: "I serve not only science, but also my fatherland."
The scientist devoted the subsequent years of his life to the processing of the extracted material. He no longer travels, he got married, lives in Sydney, tidies up collections, diaries, notes, drawings ... Ponders how best to arrange the material in the book. He admitted that he was not at all going to publish a description of his travels, but would only give scientific results. But then he changed his mind. A decisive role in this was played by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, to whom the traveler sent several of his articles.
The great writer replied immediately: “You are the first undoubtedly by experience to prove that a person is a person everywhere, that is, a kind, sociable creature, into communication with which one can and should enter only with goodness and truth, and not with cannons and vodka. And you proved this by a feat of true courage, which is so rare in our society that the people of our society do not even understand it ... For heaven's sake, state in great detail all your human-to-human relationships that you entered with people there. I don’t know what contribution your collections and discoveries will make to the science that you serve, but your experience with the wild will constitute an era in the science that I serve - the science of how people live with each other. Write this story and you will do a great and good service to humanity. If I were you, I would describe in detail all my adventures, removing everything except relations with people. "
The traveler followed the advice of the writer. In response to Leo Tolstoy, he wrote: "I decided to include in my book a lot that I had previously thought to throw away before receiving your letter."
After much deliberation, Nikolai Nikolayevich worked out a plan for a report on his long-term travel: in the first part - a detailed story about the course of his wanderings and their scientific results; in the second - purely scientific materials intended for specialists. The first part, according to the author, should be available to a wide range of readers.
In St. Petersburg, he began to process his diaries. He was suffocated by pulmonary edema, rheumatism and neuralgia caused acute pain, but he, trying to overcome the disease, dictated the text. Monetary difficulties hit him again. To get out of them, he writes articles for newspapers and magazines. With regret he informs his brother: "I am annoyed that I have to waste time this way."
Soon the doctors forbade him to do any activities, the scientist was forced to go to the hospital. But even here he works: he reads the proof-reading of the essay, promises to send the continuation to the editorial board of the magazine.
Death, which followed at the age of 42 (1888), prevented the scientist from realizing his plan.
During the life of Miklouho-Maclay, the significance of his scientific feat was not understood and appreciated. “He died almost forgotten by everyone, abandoned by everyone in bitter need, struggling with a severe illness that appeared in him as a result of a disorder of the body, exhausted by the unfavorable conditions of a long wandering life,” wrote one of the magazines of that time (“World Illustration”, 1888. ).
In subsequent years, little was spoken and written about him; the publication of his works dragged on for decades. True, immediately after the death of the scientist, the Council of the Russian Geographical Society instructed one of its members, Baron Kaulbars, to sort out the literary heritage of the great traveler. Apparently, the Baron did not want to bother much with the analysis. This is evidenced by his "Report on the manuscripts, drawings, photographs and maps of N. N. Miklukho-Maclay".
Among the manuscripts were 16 pocket notebooks, 6 large books with notes in Russian, German and English and with numerous drawings. Kaulbars asserted that these books represent "completely raw, incoherent material, not amenable to development without the personal participation of the author." In several notebooks there were already processed diaries of the first stay in New Guinea, the following trips there and travels in the Malacca Peninsula. These notebooks were intended for printing, but there were gaps and spaces in them. In addition, there were albums of drawings and photographs, fragmentary notes, and reprints of printed articles. The baron came to the conclusion that the traveler's diaries could be published if a person was found who put them in order, filled in the passes, etc. "
At the same time, a note from the younger brother of Miklouho-Maclay - Mikhail - was presented to the Council of the Geographical Society with a wish to publish all the traveler's works as soon as possible. The Council issued a resolution: “To take care of looking for a person who would be entrusted with processing the posthumous publication of the works of N. N. Miklukho-Maclay,” but nothing was done.
Ten years later, Dmitry Nikolaevich Anuchin, one of the largest Russian scientists in the field of anthropology, geography and ethnography, became interested in this issue. (At one time, Dmitry Nikolaevich was personally acquainted with the traveler, followed his publications. So, when in the 70s an imprint of Miklouho-Maclay's article "Anthropological Notes on the Papuans of the Maclay Coast" appeared in Moscow, Anuchin translated it into Russian and published in the journal "Nature").
After reviewing the sent archive, Anuchin was convinced that it contained material for two extensive volumes. Having drawn up a plan and coordinating it with the Council, the scientist continued preparing the manuscripts for printing. But here it turned out that there was no money for the publication! Anuchin wrote with bitterness: “Abroad very much appreciate such travelers who lay roads in distant countries, among unknown tribes: there they even publish travels of previous centuries (XVI-XVIII), finding in them a lot of interesting things, and for once a traveler was found in our country, who gave the best part of his life to research in countries that usually do not attract our compatriots, and all the materials he collected were left without any attention. "
The indefatigable Anuchin does not give up, makes another attempt: he printed in a few copies two sheets of the first volume, choosing good paper, suitable font and large format. The title reproduced the title written in the pen of the traveler himself. But this attempt was unsuccessful, it could not break through the icy indifference of the Presidium of the Geographical Society.
Having lost all hope of success, D.N. Anuchin in 1913 - on the 25th anniversary of the death of the scientist - reported in the press that the delay in publication was the fault of the Geographical Society, that the publication of Miklouho-Maclay's works would hardly ever take place, so how “it is very doubtful that funds were found for this, and most importantly - a person competent enough who would take the trouble to sort out this heap of notebooks, notebooks, notes and drawings, would take into account everything published by Miklouho-Maclay in Russian and foreign languages, would prepare all this for printing, compile a biography of the traveler, make the necessary corrections and additions. All this requires time, painstaking work, knowledge, hunting, inspiring the idea of such a publication, it is unlikely that there would be someone ready to apply all this for such a task. "
Only after the October Revolution did it become possible to publish the first volume. Dmitry Nikolaevich rereads all the manuscripts again, makes corrections, writes a biography of Miklouho-Maclay. For a biography, he collects information scattered in magazines and newspapers, appeals to people who knew the traveler, regrets that E. Haeckel did not send his memoirs. Reads the proofs of the first volume. In 1923 the first volume of Miklouho-Maclay's Travels was published. True, the volume came out after Anuchin's death ... The publication was interrupted.
Title page of the 1st edition
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of Miklouho-Maclay, the All-Union Geographical Society published in a special issue of its Izvestia part of the materials stored in the society's archives and hitherto unknown (vol. 71 for 1939).
In 1940-1941. The Institute of Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR published two volumes of Travel. The first corresponded in structure to the 1923 edition, and the second included sketches of the scientist's travels to the Pacific islands and the scientist's diaries from Malacca.
Collected works 1950-1954 the material is arranged the way the author himself wanted: in the first and second volumes, the diaries of his travels and travel reports are placed in chronological order, in the third - scientific research results, in the fifth - drawings (the fourth volume contains letters by N.N. Miklukho-Maclay) ...
The Soviet geographer Academician L. S. Berg said that there are two types of travelers - romantics and classics. Referring to NN Miklouho-Maclay as a romantic, Academician Berg wrote: “Undoubtedly, NN Miklouho-Maclay is one of the most remarkable and original researchers of the life of primitive peoples. The peculiarity of Miklouho-Maclay lies in his ardent love not only for science, but also for humanity ... "
... On the shelves of libraries there are volumes of a strict academic edition, Miklouho-Maclay's Travels have been repeatedly published for the general reader, several biographies of the scientist have been written, one of them is published in the Life of Remarkable People series. Miklouho-Maclay's confidence that over time people will understand that his works were not in vain, his discoveries are necessary for mankind, was fully confirmed.
Such was Maclay: he could not sit in one place for a long time. Not having stayed even three months in St. Petersburg, without waiting for the final decision of the Geographical Society, which was considering his program, Miklouho-Maclay unexpectedly left for Jena "to liquidate cases and to supervise the publication of his scientific works." In Jena, I had to look for an apartment for a long time, where "there would be no din and songs at night of drunken students." Finally he settled in the house of Hildebrandt, a professor at Jena University who read. courses in political economy and statistics. In the same house lived the Russian aka-demik-indiologist and Sanskrit specialist Bötling.
This time Miklouho-Maclay spent about a year abroad. This time could be called the most stressful in his life. He was literally suffocating from the abundance of affairs.
In February 1870, a meeting with Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev took place in Weimar. The famous Russian writer was delighted with his fellow countryman. They spent the whole day together. Turgenev, as often happened to him, was depressed. But when Maclay began to talk about his wanderings along the shores of the Red Sea, about his daring plans to go to the cannibals of New Guinea, the writer's spleen disappeared.
“I met I.S. Turgenev; he lives in Weimar, - writes Maclay to his sister Ola. - Spent a whole day with him the other day. He was also with me in Jena. We got along pretty quickly and well. It’s a pity that I’m sitting up to my ears at work - more often I would go to Weimar ... "
Yes, the matter does not tolerate! While the academicians in St. Petersburg are discussing his program, he is preparing a new program, even more "insidious". The original travel plan is fundamentally changing. Fuck diplomacy! Having enlisted Litke's support, one can say directly: “I want to go immediately to New Guinea! My journey is designed for seven to eight years. I think to spend the first years on the shores of tropical seas, and only then I will gradually move north, to the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk and the northern parts of the Pacific Ocean. " What will happen next will be seen.
Well, what if old Litke barks again? Although unlikely, this possibility should be considered. "We will enlist the support of renowned European scientists: Darwin, Haeckel, Huxley, Gerland, Bastian, Carpenter, Dove, Petermann, Murchison." One should also turn to the British Foreign Minister, Lord Clarendon, to receive from him an open letter to all British consuls in the Pacific Islands with an order to render all possible assistance to Miklouho-Maclay.
When all this is done and authoritative scientists, the most prominent specialists in Western Europe and Russia, take part in drawing up the program of the trip to the southern seas, the Geographical Society of Volens-Nolens will have to approve Maclay's plan.
No, Miklouho-Maclay is not as simple and good-natured as it seems to some people. He is ready to make a knight's move. They saw in him a talented, zealous young man, completely occupied with sponges and marine fauna, but overlooked a thin, very flexible diplomat.
Maclay intensively studies literature about the peoples of Oceania, the Malay Archipelago, Australia, makes lengthy extracts from the works of Baer, Litke, Wallace, Cook, Darwin, Weitz, Mariner, Pritchard. In a letter to Osten-Sacken, he hints opaquely that he intends to change the original travel program and that he is counting on financial assistance from the Geographical Society. The society decided to give Maclay 1,200 rubles if the goals of his expedition correspond to the objectives of the society in accordance with the charter. Anger takes over Maclay. “Although the receipt of the amount of 1200 rubles. I would be pleased, but I will gladly give it up if it goes against the solution of my scientific problems ... ”- he writes to Osten-Saken. He decided to stand firm.
It's time, it's time to put the bulky scientific machine into action, make it work for you! On April 9 he is already in Berlin, and on April 20 in Holland. It is imperative to find Eduard Dawes Dekker or Multatuli, whose book "Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trade Society" shook the whole world ten years ago.
Maclay repeats phrases learned by heart. He pronounces them in Dutch:
“And I will revolt the war songs shining with swords in the souls of the martyrs whom I promised to help, I, Multatuli!
Salvation and help in the way of the law, if it is Maybe; on legal ways of violence if otherwise it is impossible ... "
But the damned fever here overtook Miklouho-Maclay. He spent nearly two weeks in bed in Leiden. There was so little money that it was not possible to stay in Holland even for another day. We had to hurry to London.
Not yet recovered from his illness, he goes to England. Of course, there is no money for the return trip. They are barely enough for the road to London. If the mother does not send the promissory note to England, then ... What will happen then, Maclay does not know. He hadn't eaten for three days.
Beginning to gain weight, a forty-five-year-old man with a powerful, almost square head, with fantastically long graying tubs, flowing hair, a clean-shaven small chin and cheerful eyes gleaming from under thick eyebrows, naturalist Thomas Huxley, Darwin's friend, shakes Maclay's hand for a long time ...
I know you very well, Mr. Miklouho-Maclay. Do not be surprised ... I have read your original works, which are widely known here. I am glad to meet you ...
Maclay reveals all his plans to the English naturalist. Huxley is infatuated.
Fabulous! he exclaims. “I must introduce you to Sir Murchison. He has great connections. Sir Murchison is intimately acquainted with Lord Claren-don. I hope the British Foreign Secretary will willingly meet halfway and you will receive an open letter to all British consuls in the Pacific Islands.
… In a very short time Miklouho-Maclay got acquainted with all the major representatives of those branches of science that interested him. In the Admiralty he was shown all the apparatus and instruments for studying the bottom at great depths. For days the Russian traveler disappeared in museums and libraries. With the money he finally received from his mother, he bought some devices and instruments for his future journey.
As if guessing the cherished dream of his friend, Huxley said:
It is my responsibility to introduce you to Charles Darwin. Without such an acquaintance, your impressions of our country will remain incomplete. Let's go to Down!
However, the trip to Down fell through: the next day a severe attack of fever put Maclay back to bed. Bad bad weather ... Outside the window there was a gray wall fog. The Russian scientist tossed about in delirium. He dreamed of the savannahs of Abyssinia, the spreading crowns of baobabs and acacias. He strode over the thorns of African mimosas, and the thorns dug into the soles. And a mirage was trembling ahead ...
The scientist was so exhausted that he could not even draw up the memorandum promised to Sir Murchison.
I had to flee from London to Jena.
“My dear Olya! Fever drove me out of London. Plus, my finances made me flee from there. However, I did everything I could in the short period of my stay there. Now I am returning back to Jena and now I have so much money that I could not return to Petersburg with it, ”he wrote to his sister.
This time, too, the money was sent by Ekaterina Semyonovna. The letter to the mother was restrained, without reproach. Doctors found her first signs of tuberculosis. It was necessary to immediately leave the damp, dank Petersburg. But the small amount, the pitiful pennies that he managed to save up for the trip, had to be transferred to Nikolai. The eldest son Sergei rebelled:
Until when will he extort money from you ?! he shouted. “We don’t have to indulge his foolish undertakings. It's time to let him know ... Papuans, Alfurs ... And the mother is forced to pull the veins out of herself, give up her last, earn consumption ...
But soon even Sergei was imbued with deep respect for his unlucky brother.
It so happened that the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, having heard all kinds of miracles about Miklouho-Maclay from the Grand Duke Constantine and from the old Count Litke, wished to meet the young scientist.
F.P. Litke.
P.P. Semyonov.
D.N. Anuchin.
As soon as Miklouho-Maclay appeared in St. Petersburg in the summer of 1870, he was immediately introduced to the Grand Duchess. With the coquetry characteristic of a beautiful spoiled woman, she tried to charm a strange, eccentric youth with an absent gaze and tousled fiery curls. Elena Pavlovna considered herself an enlightened woman and patronized scientists.
You must settle in my Oranienbaum Palace! she declared in a categorical tone.
And Maclay settled in the palace. The entire Miklukh family also received access to the palace.
Soon, however, Elena Pavlovna became disillusioned with her guest and, according to Osten-Saken, "she, already until her death in 1873, ceased to be interested in him."
Miklouho-Maclay turned out to be unlike all those people with whom fate confronted the Grand Duchess. He did not curry favor, did not care about patronage, did not notice the charming smiles of Elena Pavlovna, spoke ill of the nobles, forgot to kiss the pen and, in the opinion of the Grand Duchess, thought extremely much of himself.
He has a bad taste ... - declared the Grand Duchess. “As I understand it, this subject is going to the cannibals. That is where he is dear. I can forgive. Let them arrange for my deck chair to be delivered to the ship ...
Oh yes, Maclay left the restraint. He's too tired to be diplomatic. The goal is so close, and there is still so much to do! .. In a few days he sails away.
Again, an unpleasant conversation about "stupid pennies". Finally some advice. The Geographical Society gave him 1,200 rubles from his bounty! A scanty sum will not even be enough to purchase tools.
A notification has been received from the Naval Ministry: there is the highest permission to accept the naturalist Miklouho-Maclay on the Vityaz corvette to travel to the shores of the Pacific Ocean ... but without allowance from the Naval Department ...
Satisfy yourself, Mr. Scientist!
Even Pyotr Petrovich Semyonov lost his usual cheerful tone and said in an embarrassed tone:
If society had the means ... We are doing a great job for science and for Russia, and we live on donations from patrons.
Miklouho-Maclay knew well that Semyonov and Litke did everything in their power for him.
A few days before sailing to New Guinea, Miklouho-Maclay presented his new plan to the general meeting of the Geographical Society. The program was drawn up on the basis of questions and instructions from various scientists: Baer, Semenov, Haeckel, Huxley, Hildebrandt, Dove, Wild, Bastian and others. Maclay also added to the program the questions of Charles Darwin "regarding the expression of sensations," which he set out in the instructions for the Austrian expedition to East Africa and South America. The entire program consisted of fifty-five points in total.
Although all members of the Geographical Society already knew that Maclay was going to New Guinea, his program provoked objections from some professors. The venture to go beyond the equator seemed to some "unnecessary for Russia."
Pyotr Petrovich Semyonov calmly dispelled all doubts.
A talented young man embarks on a journey at his own expense and fear, bravely and persistently strives to where science and the glory of Russia lead him, he said. “And didn't we all start out like this? I do not think that Mr. Miklouho-Maclay is attracted to the tropical seas by idle interest. He has already proven himself, and has proven himself in a worthy way. We only have to wish our young colleague Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay a happy voyage, as we recently wished “no fluff, no feather” to the same young explorer Nikolai Przhevalsky, who was going to the “holy of holies” - to Central Asia ...
The program was approved. Pyotr Petrovich hugged Maclay lightly by the shoulders and uttered very quietly:
Take heart, Nikolai Nikolaevich. Take courage ...
... The tear-stained eyes of the mother and Olga, the enthusiastic Mishuk, the seriously calm cadet of the Marine Corps, the future sailor Volodya and until the last minute does not believe in the "crazy" idea of his brother Sergei ...
And, finally, the Kronstadt raid, board of the Vityaz military corvette. Last note to family: “Goodbye or goodbye. Keep your promises as I do mine. "
Miklouho-Maclay was sitting in an armchair given to him by the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna when the chairman of the Geographical Society, Admiral-General Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, entered the cabin.
Well, brother Miklukh, have you settled down? he asked patronizingly. “I ordered you to be taken directly to the cannibals in New Guinea. What else can I be of help? Ask ...
Maclay was already seized by his habitual detachment from everything, and he answered dryly:
Everything I wanted has already been done ... Pass my gratitude for the chaise longue to the Grand Duchess ...
Think, Miklukha.
I would be very grateful if in a year or in a few years a Russian military vessel would enter the place on the northeastern coast of New Guinea where I will stay. If I am not alive, then have my manuscripts in copper cylinders dug out of the ground and send them to the Geographical Society.
It will be your way ... Do not remember dashingly but do not forget to collect a collection of butterflies for the Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich. Princes should also enjoy the fruits of the sciences.
Twenty-four-year-old Miklouho-Maclay could finally congratulate himself: he is going to New Guinea! ..
Around the same time, Przhevalsky, having taken a postal ride through Siberia with his companion Pyltsov, arrived in Kyakhta, from where his first Central Asian journey was to begin.
A few months later, a large caravan of porters, loaded with copper wire, beads, fabrics and other goods for the exchange trade, of the expedition of a certain Henry Morton Stanley set out in the interior of Africa in search of David Livingston, lost there.
If the beginning of the travels of Przewalski and Miklouho-Maclay remained almost unnoticed by the world press, then Stanley's expedition attracted everyone's attention. Newspapers from two continents trumpeted about her.
Three expeditions. Different goals, different results ...
Przhevalsky strove to open up Central Asia for science. And will open it.
Miklouho-Maclay strove to "bring to the people" the science of man. And he will devote his whole life to this task.
Henry Stanley formally set himself a more modest goal: to find the English traveler David Livingston, lost in the wilds of Africa.
So why was there a lot of buzz around the name of the previously unknown journalist for the American New York Herald, Stanley?
Livingston's fate was of little interest to the newspaper publisher who financed Stanley's venture. It was necessary to attract readers, increase the circulation of the newspaper. And the adventurer Stanley rushed into the depths of Africa. He didn’t give a damn about the New York Herald, he was hatching his plans. It will penetrate into such areas of the black continent, where the foot of a European has not yet set foot. It will pave the way for the colonial powers to the still undivided territories of Africa; it will issue an appeal to the European powers to intensify the colonialization of East Africa; having secured the financial support of the Belgian king Leopold II, he will create a colony on a vast territory covering almost the entire Congo basin, hypocritically called the "Free State of the Congo", and he will suppress the national liberation movement of African peoples with fire and sword. The name of the colonizer and racist Stanley, who claims that not ordinary human blood flows in the veins of the peoples of tropical Africa, but special, black, will become the most hated for Miklouho-Maclay. Burning native villages, shooting defenseless people, Stanley cynically utters: "Fire has a calming effect on the nerves of these animals."
It will be so. But none of the three knows the future yet.
On November 2, 1870, the Vityaz dropped anchor in Copenhagen. During the storm Miklouho-Maclay caught a cold. Legs ached, fever attacks returned. But, overcoming the illness, he left the corvette and rushed to Hamburg, from Hamburg to Berlin, from Berlin to Jena. He made purchases everywhere, met with scientists, arousing their attention with the audacity and originality of his plans.
Then he goes to Holland. There are a lot of things to do. First of all, you need to get an audience with the Minister of the Colonies of Holland. The powerful of this world must be wisely used for their own purposes. Let the minister of the colonies serve the cause of exposing the colonialists!
It was not easy to get through to the minister, and yet Maclay achieved an audience. The minister of colonies listened to the Russian traveler very attentively and became interested in his plans. “This young man, undoubtedly very erudite, is heading to places completely unexplored, but formally belonging to Holland. It can be of great benefit ... - the minister reflected. - He should be supported ... "
Okay, ”he said. - You will receive Dutch maps of the Pacific Ocean and a letter to the Governor-General of Dutch India, Laudon. He will patronize you ... Make friends with his family. His Excellency has adorable daughters ...
The "diplomatic mission" ended in complete success - the way to the islands of Oceania was open! Eager to meet Charles Darwin before leaving for distant lands, Maclay went to England. But here he was disappointed: Darwin was seriously ill and did not receive anyone. Miklouho-Maclay hurried to Plymouth, where the Vityaz was already waiting for him.
But now damp, cold England is behind ...
Atlantic Ocean, Madeira, Cape Verde, and then - a course to Rio de Janeiro. Miklouho-Maclay suffered severely from seasickness, but did not stop working: he made measurements of water temperature at depths, wrote letters and an article about sponges. Relations with the corvette commander Nazimov did not improve. Contrary to expectations, Nazimov received Maclay very unfriendly. No, this was not how Pavel Nikolaevich imagined a naturalist, for whom the Grand Duke himself was busy. "Land rat", boy, beech ... Besides, the naturalist has "barely a soul in his body." Such will die before New Guinea, and then write a report and explanatory notes ...
I am beginning to quietly hate science, for which I have always been filled with the deepest respect, - said Pavel Nikolaevich to the officers around him Rakovich, Pereleshin, Bogomolov, Novosilsky, Chirikov and others. - I have been ordered for the sake of this abnormal subject to change the route of the ship, to drag along, God knows where and contrary to common sense, to land a young man, sick, emaciated and, moreover, almost unarmed, deprived of his livelihood, on the shore inhabited by cannibals ... No, gentlemen, reason is not wants to put up with it! I would not want to participate in such a criminal enterprise ...
And you will persuade him to abandon this ridiculous undertaking, - advised Rakovich.
On February 6, 1871, the Vityaz arrived in Rio de Janeiro. Miklouho-Maclay, out of habit, went straight to the markets and hospitals, which represent a vast field of observation for a scientist interested in anthropology. In his notebook, he noted: “This is what I have learned about the situation of slavery in recent years in Brazil ... Of all, Negroes and mulattos trained in a trade, as well as female objects with the advantage of beauty, are valued most. The price of the first is approximately up to 1000 rubles in silver for our money. For young, beautiful girls, especially mulatto women, they pay even more ... "And he adds sarcastically:" A slave in Brazil can receive only a certain number of blows from the owner, for receiving more than the prescribed amount he has the right to complain. " He also notes the variability of the racial characteristics of the population under the influence of living conditions and social conditions.
In Punta Arenas, he writes with sadness and anger about the activities of the British colonialists, who drunk the Indians with alcohol and took guanac and fox skins for next to nothing.
In Valparaiso "Knight" stayed for a long time. Here it turned out that the sailing program was changing: if before that it was supposed that the corvette should go to Australia, where Maclay had transferred all his money, now Nazimov was ordered to go directly to New Guinea, without calling Sydney. Find himself penniless, without assistants who are already waiting for him in Sydney ... There is only one thing left - to leave the "Vityaz" and go to Australia for their own money!
But no, Maclay will not change his intentions: he will not leave the ship.
“Life on a military ship and with such subjects as Nazimov is not particularly pleasant, but it is possible,” he writes to Meshchersky from Valparaiso.
But, oddly enough, the first one who takes Maclay's misfortune to heart is still the same Nazimov. He approaches the scientist and says a little grumpily:
I need the money myself, but there's nothing you can do about it: take a thousand rubles, we'll pay off in the next world with coals. However, for cannibals you are an unenviable bait ... Maybe we'll meet again.
I don’t need charity, ”Maclay replies dryly. - Take the promissory note: get it either from Prince Meshchersky, or from my mother.
Character ... - Pavel Nikolaevich says thoughtfully. - I'm going to Sant Iago. If you don't mind, we'll go together ...
And they went to Sant Iago, and then to the famous Mount Aconcagua.
In the Ethnological Museum in Sant Jago, Miklouho-Maclay saw wooden tables dotted with mysterious symbols. It was a "talking tree" or "kohau rongo rongo" from the island of Rapa Nui. Maclay had seen copies of wooden tables before in Berlin at Bastian's, and then in London. By showing the tables, Huxley assured Maclay that they served the natives as a stamp in the manufacture of patterned fabrics. Now, having studied the originals, Maclay came to the conclusion: the rows of icons on the tree are nothing more than the letters of an unknown people.
The mystery of the writing of the Rapa Nui island, or Easter, will remain unsolved in science for a long time (if not forever). It will excite many researchers, and a whole literature will grow on this issue. Maclay will bring "talking" tables to Russia. Many years later, the Leningrad schoolboy Boris Kudryavtsev will be interested in tables. The young scientist will take the most important step towards solving this problem, and only early death will prevent him from completing the work.
Rapa Nui attracted Miklouho-Maclay to him, but since it was unsafe to park here in June, full of storms and typhoons, Nazimov decided not to land on the island, but to move on. Giant stone sculptures rose from the ocean, placed on the slopes of the Rano Raraku volcano, and melted in a blue fog.
The long-suffering Easter Island ... It was once prosperous and populous. But the frequent raids of American slave traders, the imported diseases - smallpox, tuberculosis - did their job: now there are no more than two hundred and thirty inhabitants left here.
While the officers of "Vityaz" were having fun in the circle of puffy Tahitian women and chanting "Mother Volga", the scientist wandered around Papeete in search of assistants. But none of the Tahitians expressed a desire, even for a large fee, to go to the Papuans, about whom the wildest legends circulated.
James Cook once stayed in Tahiti. English and French missionaries came for Cook. The French captured Tahiti. The colonialists brought disease with them. An unheard-of disaster struck the paradise island. Now the people were on the verge of extinction. The sad words of the Tahitian song echoed with pain in Miklouho-Maclay's heart:
The palm tree will grow
The coral will branch out
But there will be no more man ...
They managed to hire assistants on the island of Upola in the Samoan archipelago. Servants were recommended by the German consul Weber. One of them, the Swede Ohlsson, was a typical "Omu" - a sea tramp, wandering from island to island. Once he served as a sailor on a whaling ship, then he found himself on Upola, and now he dreamed of saving some money in order to return to his homeland. Another - a young Polynesian from the island of Niue - bore a strange name - Boy. Not wanting to bother memorizing a hard-to-pronounce Polynesian name, the Europeans called the young man simply a fight, that is, a boy for services. The Polynesian got used to the new "name" and responded to it. The frivolous Ohlson and Boy, who had managed to become attached to the Russian scientist, willingly entered into a contract, according to which they pledged to follow Miklouho-Maclay everywhere and be ready for any trials and even death.
The fever that Maclay received in Chile and tormented him all the way from Valparaiso himself, exhausted the scientist to such an extent that he sometimes could not even go ashore.
I advise you to postpone the trip and sail with us to Japan, - Nazimov persuaded. - This is madness! To start a reclusive life on the wild coast in such a state is tantamount to suicide ... Come to your senses, Mr. Maclay, and I will immediately set a course for Nagasaki.
My condition shouldn't bother you. Follow the orders of your superiors. Only to New Guinea! ..
A boy, stubborn ... - grumbled the corvette commander, moving a respectful distance from the scientist. Nazimov raged in his cabin for a long time. And yet he could not overcome the feeling of involuntary respect for this young man, tormented by fever, who for the sake of science went to certain death. He also noted that the entire crew, officers and sailors were imbued with love and respect for the naturalist. Senior officer Novosilsky, and Lieutenant Rakovich, and midshipman Verenius spent a long time in the naturalist's cabin. And Lieutenant Pereleshin, romantic like all lieutenants, looked at Maclay with admiring eyes.
Having visited the islands of Rotuma and New Ireland, the "Knight" headed to the northeastern coast of New Guinea.
On the 316th day after the departure of the corvette from Kronstadt, September 19, 1871, at ten o'clock in the morning, the high coast of New Guinea, covered with clouds, appeared.
New Guinea. What did Miklouho-Maclay know about her? ...
Despite the fact that New Guinea was discovered more than three hundred years ago, only a few of its shores have been visited by mariners. The true size of the island was unknown to anyone, and the country as a whole remained completely unexplored. A tropical, humid, feverish climate, numerous reefs, legends about the ferocity of the natives (they said, for example, that they kill and eat everyone who landed on their shore) best of all guarded the island from the invasion of white colonialists. Nominally, New Guinea belonged to Holland and England. In fact, not a single European has ever been inside the country. Astrolabe Bay, where the Vityaz was heading, was discovered in 1827 by Dumont-Duerville. But the French navigator did not enter the bay, did not land here.
The English navigator Jukes assured that the stories about New Guinea "are like magic pages from Arabian fairy tales, concealing the wonders that are hidden in them." The naturalist Wallace pointed out that no country in the world has such unique new and beautiful works of nature as New Guinea, and also that it is the largest terra incognita that naturalists have to explore ...
Miklouho-Maclay stood on the deck with his arms crossed over his chest. He gazed intently at the still dim outlines of the land, where he was to begin his unparalleled scientific feat. Outwardly, the scientist was calm, but his heart was beating echoingly.
So here it is, "terra incognita", an unknown land, where the foot of a European has not yet set foot! The cherished, unexplored and unexplored continent of the youthful dream ...
With each passing hour, the coveted coast acquired more and more visible features. The sea shone with an even metallic sheen. Flocks of flying fish, dolphins, banites, killer whales jumped out of the water. Under a white layer of clouds, on terraces cut by gorges, the forest was harshly dark. And only here and there, between the light green crowns of coconut trees, were the gabled roofs of huts visible. Smoke rose from the rooftops.
And Miklouho-Maclay saw them. They stood on the coastal sand, silent, motionless, like statues - dark to blackness, naked people with stone axes and spears.
So where do you wish to land, Nikolai Nikolaevich? - asked the commander of the corvette Nazimov.
Maclay shuddered.
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Social knowledge encompasses not only social sciences and everyday concepts, but also the vast field of humanitarian knowledge. The social sciences include all types of scientific knowledge of society that follow the rules of the scientific method. This, as you know, is sociology, economics, political science, jurisprudence, ethnography, etc. Social sciences produce knowledge about relatively stable and systematically reproducible connections and relationships between peoples, classes, and professional groups. Social sciences study their subject with the help of ideal types, which allow fixing the stable and repetitive in human actions, in society and culture.
Humanitarian knowledge is addressed to the spiritual world of man. The keepers of humanitarian knowledge are diaries, reviews, biographies of famous people, public speeches, policy statements, art criticism, epistolary heritage. They are studied by psychology, linguistics, art history, literary criticism. The line between social sciences and humanities is not rigid. Social sciences, while maintaining a connection with the human life world, also include elements of humanitarian knowledge. When the historian examines historical patterns and ideal-typical characteristics, he acts like a social scientist. By referring to the motives of the characters and studying the diaries, letters and texts of speeches, he acts as a scholar in the humanities. But humanitarian knowledge also borrows elements of the social. Scholars talk about the rules of biography and case reporting that are increasingly used in modern social sciences. Evaluation of works of art, in turn, is also not an expression of the critic's subjective opinion, but is based on an analysis of the composition of the work, artistic images, means of artistic expression, etc.
Addressing the spiritual world of a person, his feelings, fears and hopes, humanitarian knowledge requires understanding. To understand a text is to give it meaning. But it may not be exactly what its creator had in mind. We cannot have reliable knowledge about his thoughts and feelings, and we judge them only with varying degrees of probability. But we always interpret text, that is, we attribute to it the meaning that we think the author had in mind. And in order to get closer to the origins of the author's intention, it is useful to know who wrote the work and under what circumstances, what is the circle of communication of its author, what tasks he set for himself. The person endows the text with meaning in accordance with the personal stock of social knowledge. Therefore, great works of art resonate differently in the hearts of millions of people and retain their significance for many generations.
Lacking the rigor and universality of natural science knowledge, humanitarian knowledge performs important functions in culture. Addressing the spiritual world of a person, humanitarian knowledge awakens in him a striving for the sublime and beautiful, ennobles his aspirations, encourages moral and ideological searches. In the most developed form, such searches are embodied in philosophy, but every person is also a bit of a philosopher to the extent that he asks questions of being and cognition, moral improvement and the rational structure of society. Entering the world of humanitarian knowledge, a person expands the horizons of knowledge, learns to comprehend someone else's - and his own - inner world with such a degree of depth that is unattainable in the closest personal communication. In humanitarian culture, a person acquires the gift of social imagination, comprehends the art of empathy, the ability to understand another, giving the very possibility of living together in society.
Basic concepts: scientific social knowledge, everyday knowledge, methods of social cognition, social fact, meaning, values, interpretation, understanding.
Terms: cultural context, specific historical approach, ideal type.
| Check yourself |
1) What is the peculiarity of social knowledge in comparison with natural science? What is the difference between the objectivity of natural science, social and humanitarian knowledge? 2) Is it possible to identify the fact of social science with an event, with what happened in life? 3) What is the problem of interpreting a text, an act, a historical document? What does correct understanding mean? Is it possible to achieve the only correct understanding? 4) What is the difference between the ideal type and the artistic image? Can an ideal type be considered a scientific description of a specific person? 5) Do you agree with the statement that ordinary knowledge is wrong and scientific knowledge is true? Why study public opinion?
1. The modern philosopher P. Berger, referring to the dependence of the press on the alignment of social forces, wrote: "Whoever has a longer stick has more chances to impose his ideas on society." Do you agree with this view?
2. There is an opinion that history has no subjunctive mood. Is it worth discussing what could have happened if this had not happened? Are missed opportunities and missed opportunities social facts? Explain your answer.
3. Social knowledge is usually subdivided into social sciences and humanitarian knowledge. Which of these parts can be attributed to Protagoras' thesis "Man is the measure of all things"?
4. There is a well-known parable about two workers. When asked what they were doing, one answered: "I am carrying stones," and the other: "I am building a temple." Can you say that one of the statements is true and the other is false? Give reasons for your answer.
5. German philosopher W. Dilthey believed that to understand - "means to experience personally." Do you agree with this? Can a person understand what he himself has not experienced? And is it always clear what you have personally experienced?
6. The chronicler Pimen from the tragedy of Alexander Pushkin "Boris Godunov" teaches Grigory Otrepiev: "Describe, without further ado, everything that you will witness in life." Is it possible, in principle, to describe historical events free of interpretation? Specify your conclusion using knowledge from the history course.
7. Imagine that you, like Miklouho-Maclay, went to study the life of the native tribes. What you will notice first of all:
- on what is most striking;
- what distinguishes the life of the natives from ours;
- to sustainable and repetitive forms of practice?
I read, or rather listened, Miklouho-Maclay's notes about his trip to New Guinea. I am deeply impressed and now I quote something from this book on any occasion. At the same time, Maclay (he calls himself that way) was neither a saint nor a madman, as the impression of a school geography course might have formed. Since childhood, I believed that he landed on the island alone, without weapons, that he built a house for himself. This, of course, was not at all like that. The sailors built a house for him, cutting down coconut palms, invaluable to the natives. He took with him two servants (a Scotsman and a Polynesian boy), and not only had weapons (several guns and revolvers), but even at first laid mines on his house, following the advice of the ship's gunner. Another thing is that he had the wisdom and courage to use this weapon only for hunting, and to solve all the showdowns with the natives due to a keen understanding of their psychology. As he himself writes: "What, it will be easier for me to die if before I die I manage to kill six natives?"(I quote approximately).
It was interesting to observe how during the one and a half years of Maclay's first stay on this land, his authority... At first, the inhabitants of all neighboring villages wanted to kill him immediately after the departure of the Russian ship. Then they tolerated the stranger, but when approaching the village they hid all their women in the forests (in their attitude towards women, the Papuans were diametrically different from the Polynesians). A few months later, they began to hide them conditionally - in their own houses. After six months of his stay, he was introduced to women who immediately began to whine tobacco and jewelry at him. A little later, the men already asked Maclay to take their wives under his protection in the event of an attack by the mountaineers. And when more than a year passed, they even began to offer 1-2 wives in each of the villages - just to stay.
It was funny to read how Maclay masters the local language... The easiest way was to give the names of objects - he pointed with his finger and found out. But such words as "good" and "bad" were mastered only six months later, despite numerous attempts and rather sophisticated techniques. One of them tore a sheet of paper and showed the natives 2 sheets: whole and torn. I did something similar with tobacco. As a result, for a whole month I mistook the local word "tobacco" for the word "good" and this is how I used it in conversations. In the course of such misunderstandings, the Papuan language was also enriched with unexpected words. So, Maclay said "taboo", indicating everything that the natives should not touch in his house. The word was Polynesian, unknown in these places. And so it happened that the Papuans began to call any firearm the word "taboo".
His descriptions of local life and its customs... Well, for example, women feeding pigs with their breasts. Or teaching young children to work. A one and a half year old child runs into the forest, collects branches for a fire. And after completing the work, he returns to his mother and continues to breastfeed. Strange prohibition of boys until the age of majority to hear music. Do not list everything.
I already mentioned the rare combination wisdom and courage with this person. He was absolutely calm when the hands of the servant (a former whaler!) Were shaking with fear. And it's not just a matter of courage. The point is the ability to quickly and soberly assess a difficult situation, to make the right decision in a situation when it is impossible to say "yes" or "no", and immediately, without delay, to fulfill it, despite the mortal danger. More than once I was reminded of a phrase from the samurai code: "of the two paths, choose the one that quickly leads to death"... Maclay often chose this path, it would seem, but only because he understood: the splinter should not be allowed to fester, it must be pulled out immediately and decisively, even if it is dangerous. As a result, it has always turned out that the path chosen by Maclay is the shortest path to life. Let me give you a couple of situations as an example. I’ll make a reservation right away that I am passing it on without text, from memory, not literally.
- Maclay wants to go to a certain remote village and tries to find a guide-translator among the inhabitants of the nearest and friendly village. But the natives shyly turn away and only say that bad people live in that village and that there is no need to go there. Maclay manages to find out the reason. It turns out that some 2 residents of that remote village offer to come to the tamo-Rus, who was generous with gifts, as they called him, to kill him, and to plunder the house. Why constantly receive handouts in the form of knives, axes and jewelry when you can take it all in one fell swoop? It would even be strange if such thoughts did not occur to the natives at all. Maclay reasoned soberly that if they were not afraid, this plan would have been carried out long ago, as we would now say, "without noise and dust." And the Papuans were afraid not only of the gunshot "taboo". They were afraid of the "man from the moon" who could burn the ocean, stop the rain, cause an earthquake, in a word, they saw in him a great sorcerer. Anyone who chirps about their plans for the 10 nearest villages is not very dangerous. The more dangerous thing is that, in modern terms, he "gives a license" to others, and hopes to get "copyright" for himself. In general, Maclay understands that this idea can be borrowed by friendly natives living nearby. Why share with strangers when we can take it all ourselves? That is, this is the very splinter that needs to be pulled out immediately. And so he walks alone, without guides (he cannot trust his friends!) And weapons (to the point of him!) And even without knowing the language to that very remote village. The inhabitants are stunned and frozen. First of all, Maclay (a subtle psychologist!) Demands to give yourself something to eat with gestures and asks where you can get a lodging for the night. I immediately remembered how in Soviet times my father-in-law, wanting to line up the store director, entering his office, immediately asked: "Perhaps you will ask me to sit down first?" This immediately gave the conversation the right tone. Back to the topic. When an interpreter appeared in the village, Maclay demanded to call the village council and summon the two mentioned villains. They came hiding their eyes. "Tell me, have I done something bad to you? Can someone here say that I am a bad person? So now. I'm going to bed now. If you want to kill me, hurry up, because early in the morning I leave your village."... All night long the natives loudly discussed the situation, and in the morning this couple came to Maclay with an offering (a huge pig) and herself offered to take this pig to his house. Can you imagine the effect? After all, this happened in front of all the nearby villages, where everyone knew everything! This is how the myth of the traveler's invisibility and immortality arose.
- Somehow later, a different situation arose, when for the natives the simplest way out of the impasse could be the murder of Maclay. An old man approached him and, in the presence of the council, asked: "Maclay, tell me honestly, can you die like me, like him, like the inhabitants of the neighboring village?"... Saying "yes" in such a situation was dangerous, saying "no" is also impossible. After all, Maclay has developed a reputation as a person who never lies. Expression "Maclay's word is one!" has become a proverb. And you never know, tomorrow a tree could fall and nail it, catching it in a lie (huge trees were undermined by tropical insects and often fell). As Maclay writes, all these thoughts rushed through his head in a split second. And in that very second the decision came. He took a huge spear hanging in the room and held out his chest to the old man. Say, check it out! More such questions did not arise.
Such a great sorcerer!
Class: 7
The purpose of the lesson: to acquaint students with the life and work of the traveler N.N. Miklouho-Maclay; show the outstanding contribution of Russian researchers to world science.
Preparation for the lesson: a book exhibition dedicated to the life and work of the scientist, a portrait of Miklouho-Maclay, a map showing the arrows of the traveler's path to the shores of New Guinea.
1st student reads a poem:
He went. They stood like trunks
With drawings on the naked body.
They were silent, wary and angry,
But only the eyes shone under the cheekbones.
Gestures or speech were in vain,
Thoughts lived, sweeping a fearful swarm,
He did not dare to sit down
And do not lie down
Before this dense, half-naked formation.
The cries of birds subsided, cicadas bowed,
Saying goodbye, the sun looked out of the water,
The constellations of fireflies have glowed,
And the sky was extinguished. Savage pupils
They pierced like poisoned arrows.
The flapping of wings flashed against the background of the stars,
A semicircle hung at the top of the moon ...
But he still conquered the warriors,
Going to bed - alone and without a weapon.
V. Lanin
Teacher: Now you guys have listened to a poem dedicated to the remarkable scientist and traveler and our compatriot Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay
Librarian
In the summer of 1869, the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, edited by N. Nekrasov, published an unsigned article “Civilization and Wild Tribes” informing Russian readers about scholarly disputes in the anthropological societies of Paris and London. The magazine reported on the violence that the governments of countries calling themselves advanced are inflicting on peaceful peoples. Travelers who visited the islands of the Pacific Ocean in the sixties noted that "the indigenous population of Polynesia is constantly dying out in those places where Europeans have settled, even in small numbers." The author of the article cites the facts of the monstrous massacre of the Americans against the Indians, the British against the Australians and ends the article with the exclamation: “This is a disgrace for the glorified civilization”. What explains the inevitable death of indigenous tribes when they collide with “civilized peoples”? And the fact that many of the Western European scientists believed that these tribes are incapable of civilization. That the “white race” is dominant, and “the colored ones must obey. Academician Baer was among the scientists of that time. He considered it necessary to comprehensively study people of various races - from civilized Europeans to low-cultured inhabitants of tropical countries .. In the same 1869, the young scientist Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay turned to the Geographical Society with a request to discuss the program of his planned long-term trip to the Pacific Ocean to the unexplored coast of Novaya Guinea and secure permission for him to go there aboard one of the warships. He was 23 years old. He chose New Guinea as the site of his many years of research because this island was inhabited by a primitive tribe, the study of which could provide an answer to the central question. Maclay understood that he had to hurry, if the European colonialists came to New Guinea, the Papuans wouldn’t get it. The scientist did not believe in the ridiculous fairy tale about cruel savages.
Teacher
Miklukho Maclay- Russian traveler, biologist, ethnographer, brave explorer of Oceania and New Guinea
The traveler is a humanist scientist. These three words define all his activities and life credo, accurately and fully express the main content of his life. He visited all continents, except Antarctica, made long thousand-mile voyages, landed on many islands, and often penetrated places where no European had ever gone before. Miklouho-Maclay was not just a traveler, but a traveler - a scientist for whom any expedition, long or short, distant or close, was subject to some scientific program and could be considered complete and successful only if the traveler managed to get answers to questions that seemed to him scientifically important. Among the many heroes of great travels who always lacked funds, Miklouho-Maclay must be the most unsecured: he had nothing but debts, and he could not count on the travels to bring him anything material. He undertook all his expeditions alone: he had neither employees nor assistants, the only ones he had to involve were the commanders of ships for sailing, porters and guides for walking excursions, servants - during long landings. He possessed a rare quality - to win over people on whom his fate often depended .. He knew how to somehow simply make them believe that he served the only one science with which he constantly associated service for the good of mankind. He did not like loud words, but when it came to science, he was not afraid to speak and write solemnly and even with pathos.
"The only goal of my life is the benefit and success of science and the welfare of mankind."
Nikolai Nikolaevich was born on July 17, 1846. In the Rozhdestvenskoye estate, Novgorod province, in the family of a railway engineer. His father Nikolai Ilyich took part in the construction of the first railway in Russia, and then was appointed the first head of the Moscow railway station in St. Petersburg. He was soon fired for sending him money, wishing to alleviate the fate of Taras Shevchenko. He died at the age of 40, because was ill, having received an illness during the construction of the railway.
Origin of the surname:
Descendant of the ataman of the Zaporizhzhya Army Okhrim Makukha, the prototype of Taras Bulba, a relative of Goethe and Mitskevich.
Nikolai Nikolaevich wrote about his origin: “My face is a living example of how three hostile forces have united from time immemorial - the hot blood of the Zaporozhian people peacefully merged with the blood of their proud enemies, the Poles, and diluted with the blood of cold Germans.
Great-grandfather, Zaporozhye Cossack Stepan Miklukho received the title of nobility for heroism during the storming of Ochakov. Mother is the daughter of a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812. Colonel Semyon Becker.
After the family moved to St. Petersburg, Nikolai studied at the second St. Petersburg gymnasium, and in 1863 entered the physics and mathematics faculty of St. Petersburg University, from where he was expelled for participating in student unrest without the right to enter Russian educational institutions.
2nd student
With the funds raised by the student community, he leaves for Germany. Therefore, he studied in 1864-1868 - in - Germany universities: Heidelberg, Leipzig, Jena., Received a brilliant education at that time in the field of philosophy, medicine, biology.
He graduated from Jena University, Faculty of Medicine, but did not become a doctor. On the first expeditions, he was engaged in zoological research of marine fauna and even gained some fame in the field of sponge anatomy.
Stubborn study of natural sciences, languages, live social activity. The typical student commoner. The sketch “Several rules of life of N.N.
MM." For example: “Your rights end where another's rights begin; do not do to another what you do not want to be done to you; do not promise - once you have promised, try to fulfill; do not get down to business, not being sure that you will complete it; once you start work, try to finish it as best you can - do not redo it several times. ... "
At Jena University, Nikolai became close to the famous zoologist E. Haeckel, under whose leadership he began to study the comparative anatomy of animals. In 1866-67, as Haeckel's assistant, a 19-year-old student travels to the Canary Islands and Morocco, Gibraltar, Spain. and in 1869 he visited the coast of the Red Sea. Shaving his head and dressed as an Arab, he made his way to the coral reefs of the Red Sea. He walked the lands of Morocco, visited the islands of the Atlantic, lived in Turkey.
Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay argued that people of all races have the same origin, that everything depends on living conditions and upbringing. To prove his case, he decides to go to one of the unexplored islands. About his intention to go to the tropical rainforests of New Guinea, the scientist wrote that "it is on this little-studied island that primitive people are least affected by the influence of civilization, and this opens up exceptional opportunities for anthropological and ethnographic research."
3rd student
It was a great feat in the name of science. Preparation for swimming took a whole year.
In 1870 he sailed on the military corvette Vityaz to New Guinea. In 1871-1872 he lived on the northeastern coast of the island (now Miklouho-Maclay Coast), studying the country, establishing friendly relations with the Papuans. In 1873 he visited Indonesia and the Philippines, after which he again arrived in New Guinea. In 1874-75 he made 2 trips to the interior of the Mallack Peninsula; in 1876 he went to Western Micronesia and Northern Melanesia, each time returning to New Guinea.
The material collected by Miklouho-Maclay anticipated the later conclusions of theoretical scientists, the production and consumption of the Papuans were of a collective nature, they had no trade, the only division of labor they knew was the division by sex and age, their society was primitive communist. Striking in the diary is the respect that pervades all his judgments about the natives. In dealing with the natives, he demands of himself the same justice and delicacy as in dealing with any other people. The Papuans of the Astrolabe Bay were people of the Stone Age, Miklouho-Maclay was one of the foremost scientists of modern civilization. But the scientist was not inclined to despise the Papuan on the grounds that he was chopping wood with a clumsy stone ax, eating not with a spoon, but with some kind of shell, did not know the plow and plow, and crushed the earth, almost with his bare hands. On the contrary: he admires their hard work, and so on. Chocolate-skinned, curly-haired Papuans lived in villages built among the impassable thickets of a lush tropical forest. They hunted, cultivated unusually fertile land, fished from large boats - pie - fish in rivers and the ocean. They did not imagine that besides them, and even the inhabitants of neighboring islets, there are other people in the world! They have their own plots in the forest, their trees, their animals. All Papuans respected each other's rights and observed them.
He studied everything that surrounded him. Compiling a dictionary of the language, I tried to understand their customs, walked along the paths laid by the Papuans, sometimes wandering many kilometers into the depths of the wild forest. Studied birds, animals, fish, insects, compiled collections. It was not an easy job, and his walking was an easy walk. Clouds of mosquitoes, leeches crawling under clothes, snakes with terrible venom, treacherous ravines with steep slopes - there are innumerable dangers. But he constantly "carried" the greatest danger in himself: almost from the first day of his stay on the island, he suffered from tropical fever. Not for a minute did the scientist's illness leave. On the hottest day, suddenly a severe cold penetrated, feverish the body, it seemed that even if you climb in, you would not get warm even then. The cold replaced the intolerable heat, it dried the body, and it seemed that the head, arms, legs grow to incredible sizes, filling everything around. Here is such a terrible disease, but the scientist did not succumb to it .. Having settled in New Guinea, he slept little, ate poorly. ; it always seemed to him that he would not have time to properly fulfill his obligations. “I wish I had a hundred eyes,” he wrote in his diary. At first, the inhabitants of the island did not trust this strange man, they approached his house with weapons, hid women and children from him. Aware of their fears, Miklouho-Maclay always whistled to warn of his arrival. He gave them gifts and patiently waited for the Papuans to get used to him, while inquisitively exploring everything that surrounded him: he studied and compiled collections of birds, animals, insects that he found in the tropical wilds, conducted meteorological observations of the ocean. He studied the features of the constitution of the Papuans, their way of life and customs. He had a medical education, and he always provided assistance to the natives to the best of his ability. He even got the opportunity to collect a collection of Papuan skulls, which relatives of the deceased scattered near the huts, hair samples in exchange for strands of their own.
Librarian
They called him first "tamo - rus" - a Russian man, and then "karaamtamo" - a man from the moon. Having learned a little the Papuan language, the scientist told the natives how the world works, about Russia. Where is she, this country Russia. Far, far away, over there. Miklouho - Maclay was pointing somewhere far to the north, and it immediately became clear to the Papuans that their friend had arrived from the moon.
He was very worried and worried about their fate. The scientist himself, with his books and appeals to the heads of state, called for respect for the rights of the peoples of Oceania, demanded to suppress the slave trade.
Along with the delicacy and kindness that makes Miklouho-Maclay, who is constantly sick, suffering from both fever and wounds on his legs, hurry through the rugged forest to the village to help some of the native patients; next to the traits of gentleness, kindness, delicacy, he reveals - fearlessness in the literal sense of the word, i.e. complete absence of fear.
In his diaries, notes, the book "Journey to the Maclay Coast" information about the climate of New Guinea, about its flora and fauna, and, most importantly: the physical type of the Papuans of New Guinea is described. Miklouho-Maclay refuted the opinion widespread in science of that time that the Papuans had some special properties of “lower races”. It was customary to think that Papuans' hair grows somehow especially in "bunches". No, they grow in exactly the same way as among the Europeans. " It was said that their skin was particularly tough. His diary is a refutation of slander against black tribes.
If science had not possessed all his thoughts, would he have been capable of day after day, week after week, not giving himself rest even during illness and thus shortening his century by twenty years, from day to day to walk through swamps and mountains, to measure , inspect, accumulate materials, write down, compare. After completing anthropological and geological research, the scientist intended to return to Russia, but this was prevented by illness. In 1878-1882 he lived in Australia, where he founded a biological station near Sydney. In 1882 he came home. He began publishing his works, traveled to Berlin, Paris, London to give lectures. In 1883. MM. came to New Guinea again, from 1884. was in Sydney, married, and in 1886. finally returned to Russia. After the eastern part of New Guinea was divided by Germany and England, he proposed to Alexander III to establish a Russian settlement on the island, but was refused
2nd student
237 days of life on new lands and 160 days of sailing on not always calm seas undermined the health of Miklouho-Maclay. On April 14, 1888, he died at the Willie clinic in St. Petersburg. Buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery. Scientist V.Modestov: “We are burying the person who glorified Russia in the far corners of the vast world. This man was one of the rarest people ever to appear on our old earth. "
Librarian
Miklouho-Maclay made an enormous contribution to anthropology and ethnography. He collected a lot of information about the peoples of Southeast Asia, was the first to describe the Papuans as representatives of the anthropological type, the author of 160 scientific papers. He was the defender of the colonial peoples. Opposed racism and colonialism.
From a letter to L.N. Tolstoy to Miklouho-Maclay: “Suddenly one person, under the pretext of scientific research, is one of the most terrible wild ones, armed with one mind instead of bullets and bayonets, and proves that all that hideous violence that our world lives with is only old obsolete nonsense , from which it is high time to get rid of people who want to live reasonably .... I do not know what contribution to the science that you serve will make up your collections of discoveries, but your experience of communicating with the wild will make up an era in the science that I serve, - in the science of how people live with each other. "
Miklouho-Maclay was forced to study abroad: he was expelled from St. Petersburg University with a ban on entering other universities in Russia. At home, he spent only his childhood and adolescence. For 2 decades, he only visited Russia on short visits. He finally moved to St. Petersburg only shortly before his death. For many years he kept in touch with his native country only by letters, and even then very rare: regular mail did not go where Miklouho-Maclay traveled on ships and on foot, on elephants and in pies. But no matter how far from Russia he was, he always brought with him the air of his native country, the air of the time when he left it.
His life, full of wonderful deeds, great trials, dramatic events, retains for us even now, a century later, a burning interest. About people like Miklouho-Maclay,
A.P. Chekhov: “Their ideological spirit, noble ambition based on the honor of the motherland and science, their perseverance, no hardships, dangers and temptations of personal happiness, invincible striving for a once set goal, the wealth of their knowledge and diligence, the habit of heat, to hunger, homesickness, fantastic belief in ... civilization and science make them in the eyes of the people ascetics, personifying the highest moral strength ... "
3rd student
The natives never forgot the constants. Miklouho-Maclay's constant cares about them; no trees he planted, no axes donated, no medicine, no coconut oil, which he taught them to extract from nuts. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, ethnographers wrote down the legend. Folded by the Papuans about Maclay:
“Maclay came and said to our ancestors: stone axes are not sharp. They are stupid. Throw them into the woods, they won't do, stupid.
Maclay gave them iron knives and iron axes ... ”. ,
Maclay's nobility turned out to be comprehensible to the natives. They fully appreciated the qualities of this extraordinary person. When the traveler's legs ached, the natives made a stretcher and, alternately, wore it so that it would not hurt him to step; about the veracity of Maclay, they created a proverb: "Maclay's word is one"; when he left, they took care of his things for years. And this was not admiration for the material power of the white man, before his lamp. With a gun and matches. Ohlson - a servant - Maclay also knew how to shoot a gun, light matches, but Ohlson was a nonentity and a coward, and the Papuans did not put him into anything. Love for Maclay was evoked not by admiration for the power of unknown objects, but by admiration for the strength and beauty of the human person
Only in 1975 was the independent state of Papua New Guinea created
In memory of the scientist, two institutes: ethnography and anthropology, are named after Miklouho-Maclay.
Miklouho-Maclay's birthday is a professional holiday for ethnographers.
Filmed two films: 1947 "Miklouho-Maclay" and 1985 "The Shore of His Life"
1996 - UNESCO named him a citizen of the world.
Streets of Miklukho-Maclay: Moscow, Papua-New Guinea,
Bust - monuments: In Sydney at the University, in Sevastopol, the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta. In Ukraine. Museums, busts, a park with his name.
Now guys, let's summarize what we heard and what we remember.
Let's do it in the form of a quiz
Quiz questions .
1. Where did N.N. Miklukho Maclay?
2. On what ship and in what year did N.N. Miklukho Maclay?
3. What principle did N.N. Miklouho-Maclay in the study of indigenous people?
4. What are the names of the indigenous people of New Guinea?
5. What N.N. Miklukho Maclay?
6. The main goal of the scientific expedition of N.N. Miklouho-Maclay?
7. What do you think, for what rights of people in modern times, would N.N. Miklukho Maclay?
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