At the beginning of the war, when the War Office was sardined with applicants for commissions, a major was examining the different candidates as to their capabilities. “Have you had any experience in controlling men and inculcating discipline?” asked the major of a tall, weedy applicant. “N-not exactly, sir,” came the reply. Then the applicant’s face brightened. “But I’ve trained several dogs and a cat or two, sir.”
The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 4 January 1918.
Evenk shamaness heating her drum over fire. Photo by A. Slapins, 1975
Heating the drum before use was necessary because the heat tightened the drum skin and changed its pitch. Basically, the shaman used the fire for tuning his/her drum.
The Pazyryk Carpet is the oldest known carpet on earth woven 2500 years ago (5th Century B.C.). It was discovered in the tomb of a Scythian prince in the Pazyryk Valley of Siberia by Russian archaeologist Sergei Rudenko in the late 1940s.
