"Great Ancestor" of the Papuans. Eight facts from the life of Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay. Miklouho-Maclay and his Papuans Either Rotei or Buka

24.01.2021

Original taken from p_i_f in Miklouho-Maclay and his Papuans

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Miklouho-Maclay lived only 41 years and since childhood he constantly fought for the right to life. At first he suffered from pneumonia, later malaria and fever, these diseases provoked constant fainting and bouts of delirium. Maclay's death was generally caused by a disease that doctors were unable to diagnose: the scientist had a sore jaw, one arm did not function, and there was severe swelling in his legs and abdomen. Many years later, during the reburial of Maclay's remains, studies were carried out, as a result of which it was established: Maclay had cancer of the jaw, and metastases had spread throughout the body.

Despite such a bouquet of diseases, Miklouho-Maclay constantly traveled, he traveled to the most remote corners of our planet and was not afraid to go where no civilized person had ever gone before. The scientist became the discoverer of Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania; before him, no one was interested in the life of the indigenous population of these territories. In honor of the ethnographer’s expeditions, the area was named “Maclay Coast”.

The ethnographer's first expedition to New Guinea dates back to 1871. The traveler reached a distant land on the ship “Vityaz” and stayed to live with the natives. True, the first meeting was not without incidents: the locals greeted the ship friendly, agreed to board, but when they left, they heard a salvo and, of course, got scared. As it turned out, the salvo was fired as a greeting to new “friends,” but the natives did not appreciate the captain’s idea. As a result, Maclay persuaded the only daredevil remaining on the shore to become his guide.

The guy's name was Tui, he helped Maclay get in touch with the inhabitants of the coastal villages. They, in turn, built a hut for the researcher. Later, Tui received a serious injury - a tree fell on him, Maclay was able to cure the man, for which he received fame as a healer who arrived... from the Moon. The Guineans seriously believed that the progenitor of the Rotei family had come to them in the guise of Maclay.

Maclay lived with the Papuans for a year, during which time an official obituary was already published in Russia, since no one believed that it was possible to survive in those conditions. True, the expedition on the ship “Emerald” nevertheless arrived to pick him up on time. The ethnographer sent a proposal to Russia to organize a Russian protectorate on the Maclay Coast, but the initiative was rejected. But in Germany the idea received approval, and soon Guinea became a German colony. True, this had a negative impact on the local residents: wars broke out among the tribes, many Papuans died, and the villages were deserted. Organizing an independent state under the leadership of Miklouho-Maclay turned out to be an unrealistic task.

The traveler’s personal life was also interesting: despite constant illness and travel, he managed to start relationships with girls. Perhaps the most extravagant story was that of a patient whom Maclay treated during his medical practice. The girl died, bequeathing him a skull as a sign of eternal love. The ethnographer made a table lamp from it, which he then always took with him on his travels. Information has also been preserved about Maclay’s romances with girls from Papuan tribes.

Miklouho-Maclay also had an official wife, an Australian. The couple had two sons, Maclay moved the family to St. Petersburg, where they lived for 6 years. After the death of Miklouho-Maclay, his wife and children returned to Australia.

The name of Miklouho-Maclay is well known to everyone: an outstanding ethnographer did a lot to study the life of the indigenous population of New Guinea. It seemed to ordinary people that his life was akin to a breathtaking adventure, but in fact great traveler faced enormous difficulties in his work, he was constantly overcome by illness.

IN late XIX For centuries, scientists did not have an exact idea where man came from on planet Earth. However, they do not have it today. But it was only then, with the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1859, that the long-awaited answer seemed about to be found. Although this theory split society. Many people did not agree that man is not a creation of God, but descended from a monkey.

It was at this time that young Russian student Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay, expelled from St. Petersburg University for his adherence to Chernyshevsky’s ideas, ended up in Europe. In Germany, his teacher was the ardent Darwinist Ernst Haeckel. At the same time, the Jena professor put forward a theory according to which in the historical past there was an intermediate link between monkey and man, the source material from which all races subsequently descended. The young scientist becomes an ardent supporter of this idea and decides to find this original form, which, in his opinion, is still preserved on Earth: in the Philippines, the islands of Melanesia and Malacca. A twenty-three-year-old researcher decides to go where ethnographers have not yet been. He believes that in New Guinea he will certainly be able to discover what he is looking for and enrich humanity with an unprecedented scientific discovery.

This whole idea would hardly have been able to come true if the chairman of the Russian Geographical Society Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich did not decide to use the young scientist for his own purposes. He hoped that Miklouho-Maclay would be able to establish good relations with the Papuans and find suitable bays for Russian ships to anchor. The corvette Vityaz was just preparing for a long voyage across the Pacific Ocean. Its captain received orders to take on board a scientist who would study sponges or something like that. The ethnographer receives a separate cabin and everything necessary for a long life among the savages. After a tedious voyage of many days, the ship finally dropped anchor off the coast of New Guinea in Astrolabe Bay. The place was chosen by Miklouho-Maclay himself.

Many years later, at the site of Maclay's hut, scientists from Soviet Union a modest monument was erected. Or, rather, a memorial stone that reminds us of the first real scientist who visited these lost places. We can say that this is one of the most forgotten and least visited monuments on earth.

Now local residents can show you where the stone erected in honor of “Tamo Russ” is located. Our adventurous compatriot received this honorable nickname 130 years ago. Local residents, as is known, not only did not kill Miklouho-Maclay, but even recognized him as something like a leader - “tamo boro boro.” And when a year later he was about to leave, the savages tearfully asked him to stay, promising him wives, food and many other simple native joys. When it came to the colonization of these places by Germany and representatives of the German administration tried to enter the locked abandoned house of the scientist, the Papuans resolutely opposed this. They still believed that Miklouho-Maclay would definitely return.

What did the Russian scientist do to deserve such love from savages? He was one of the few who treated them simply as human beings, that is, as equals, although he called them somewhat condescendingly “my Papuans.” This is probably how it really was, since for a long time as soon as a person traveling through these places uttered the name of Maclay, all doors opened before him, and the most ferocious natives became safer than lambs.

However, this ultimately served them badly. In October 1884, the German ethnographer Finsch appeared in these places. He pretended to be Maclay's brother and thereby gained the favor of the Papuans. And then what Miklouho-Maclay feared most happened. The northeastern part of New Guinea became a German colony. There could no longer be any talk of any independent Papuan union, which the Russian scientist so dreamed of. Attempts to establish a Russian colony on these shores also failed. The Russian government at that time had completely different concerns than organizing a settlement on a God-forsaken piece of land unknown where.

Naturally, the source material that would confirm Haeckel’s theory was also not found by scientists. And neither in New Guinea, where Miklouho-Maclay returned twice more, in 1876 and 1883, nor in Malacca, nor in Indonesia. Not even traces of that embryonic form were found, from which the process of dividing humanity into black and white was supposed to begin. Nevertheless, scientists collected a wealth of scientific material. It formed the basis of the diary, which, unfortunately, was fully published only in 1923, 35 years after the death of the great researcher. This book, which he was finishing while delirious, became the work of his whole life, since he had nothing else left.

There were two sons and a wife - Margaret Robertson, daughter of the former Prime Minister of New South Wales, at home in Sydney and St. Petersburg, but in a letter to his brother shortly before his death, he admits: “In the matter regarding the Maclay Bank, I suffered an almost complete fiasco.” If we add to this his death at the age of 42 from numerous diseases suffered during his travels, it turns out that he lived and died only for the sake of the Papuans. Well, today his dream has come true - Papua New Guinea is an independent state, and on the banks of the Maclay, where practically nothing has changed since then, Russian words are still remembered.

Toman I.B.
Modern problems of service and tourism. - 2008. - No. 4. - P.4-9.

N.N. Miklouho-Maclay: “white Papuan”

On the day when the Russian warship Vityaz, looking like a huge sea monster, approached the shores of New Guinea, local residents thought that the end of the world had come. Some began hastily digging their own graves, others tried to hide in the mountains. There were, however, a few desperate daredevils who decided that the legendary ancestor Rotei had come to them. They got into the boats and hurried to meet him. They were greeted friendly on the ship and gratefully accepted the gifts, but on the way back the Papuans were so frightened by a sudden cannon shot that rang out in honor of the ship’s safe arrival that they doubted their assumption. Is this Rotei? Has the evil spirit of Buk himself visited them?

It is difficult to say whether this was exactly the first meeting of Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay with the Papuans of New Guinea, because this story was written down more than twenty years after the scientist left these places. One thing is certain: local residents did not greet the unexpected guest with open arms. However, Nikolai Nikolaevich did not count on a different reception. He had heard enough about the bloodthirstiness of the natives, however, although he did not believe most of such stories, he still believed that the locals had nothing to love a stranger who disturbed their peace. And yet, heading for the first time to a Papuan village, knowing neither the language, nor the customs, nor the intentions of its inhabitants, he did not take any weapons with him and did not stop even when several arrows flew over his head. Stopping not far from a crowd of armed men, he calmly spread a mat on the ground, lay down on it and fell asleep. Waking up two hours later, he saw the same people around him, who this time were friendly and respectful. Such a sharp change in mood is explained by Miklouho-Maclay’s absolute composure in the face of danger. The Papuans decided that a person completely devoid of fear of death has supernatural powers and may even be immortal.

What brought the Russian scientist to the shores of New Guinea?

Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklukha (that was his original surname) was born on July 5, 1846 in the family of a railway engineer in the village of Rozhdestvenskoye near the town of Borovichi, Novgorod province. Soon the family moved to St. Petersburg. In 1859-1863

N.N. Miklouho-Maclay studied at the 2nd St. Petersburg Gymnasium. In 1863, he became a volunteer student in the department of natural sciences of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University; At the same time, he attended lectures at the Medical-Surgical Academy. In 1864, for participating in student unrest, he was expelled from the university, and he was forced to continue his education in Germany, where he studied philosophy, chemistry and medicine at the Universities of Heidelberg, Leipzig and Jena. Here, by the way, he lengthened his surname, turning from Mikloukha to Miklouho-Maclay. The surname he took for himself was borne by his ancestor, although it sounded a little different: Miklukha-Makhlai.

In 1866, Jena University professor Ernst Haeckel invited Miklouho-Maclay and Swiss student Heinrich Foll on an expedition to the Canary Islands to study sponges, primitive multicellular animals living in the southern seas. Three months later, having carried out the necessary research, the professor left, and Miklouho-Maclay and his companion changed into Arab costume and went on a trip to Morocco. This first reincarnation largely predetermined the future fate of Miklouho-Maclay. He realized that his true calling was not botanical and zoological studies, but the study of human life by penetrating into its very thick, in order to comprehend another culture not only with his mind, but also with his heart.

Miklouho-Maclay graduated from the University of Jena in 1868 and again went to the East, where, as before, he reincarnated as an Arab. This time he visited Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Sudan. However, while enthusiastically exploring the culture of these countries, the young scientist understood that he was not a pioneer here. He also wanted to get acquainted with unknown peoples who had never come into contact with Europeans. And then one day he came across Otto Finsch’s book “New Guinea” published in Bremen. And then he realized where he had to go.

Returning to Russia, the young scientist managed to convince his colleagues of the need to implement his plan and, with the help of the Russian Geographical Society, received permission to go to the shores of New Guinea on the military ship Vityaz.

On November 8, 1870, the Vityaz left the Kronstadt port and almost a year later, on September 19, 1871, dropped anchor in Astrolabe Bay, on the northeastern coast of New Guinea. This bay was discovered in 1827 by the French navigator Dumont D'Urville, who named it after the ship on which he sailed. However, D'Urville, fearing the fever and the natives, did not land on shore. Thus, Miklouho-Maclay was the first European to set foot on the soil of New Guinea.

On the same day, Miklouho-Maclay began keeping a diary in which he meticulously recorded all his observations. It was published only in 1950. This diary is invaluable not only as a source about the culture of the Papuans of New Guinea. It is a stunningly interesting, exciting story about the meeting of two cultures, about the most unexpected facets of human relationships and, most importantly, about the all-conquering power of good.

As evidenced by the diaries of Miklouho-Maclay and memories of him collected among the Papuans many years later, the inhabitants of New Guinea were imbued with respect and love for an alien unlike them, who, unlike ordinary people, was not at all afraid of death. Miklouho-Maclay quickly learned their language and won their trust, for the Papuans were by no means only objects of observation for him. They became friends for him and even more. As we have seen, the inhabitants of New Guinea considered Miklouho-Maclay an extraordinary person, and he accepted the only possible role for himself that he had to play. This was the only way he could enter the Papuan community, see it from the inside and survive.

(based on the drawing by Miklouho-Maclay)

The Papuans had very different ideas about the personality of Miklouho-Maclay, and now it is quite difficult to find out which of them developed during his stay among them, and which after, when the image of the strange stranger began to acquire legends. He was sometimes mistaken for the legendary hero Rotey, sometimes for an alien from the moon (apparently because of the pale color of his skin), but the more widespread idea was that Miklouho-Maclay was possessed by the spirit of their distant ancestor. That is why the inhabitants of New Guinea called Miklouho-Maclay the “white Papuan,” which was very flattering for the scientist: it means that he was accepted as one of their own, despite his unusual appearance. And this is not surprising: Miklouho-Maclay became so accustomed to the way of life and habits of the Papuans, so integrated with the role given to him, that he did not need to pretend and pretend to be one of them. He really was; otherwise the Papuans would have felt some kind of falsehood, pretense or fear, and then the European would not have been kind...

Knowing his high authority among the Papuans, Miklouho-Maclay felt responsible to them. He treated them, taught them useful skills in the field Agriculture; sometimes he managed to prevent internecine wars. However, Miklouho-Maclay’s stay in New Guinea cannot be called an idyll. All this time he was balancing over the abyss, and one wrong word, gesture or look could cost him his life. As we remember, the very first day of the expedition could have been the last for the scientist. A similar incident occurred subsequently. One day he was informed that two young men wanted to rob and kill him. And then Miklouho-Maclay alone went to the village where they lived, called its inhabitants, among whom were his potential killers, informed them that he knew their intentions, and then, citing fatigue, calmly went to bed. He woke up safe and sound. The young people, who had just dreamed of dealing with him, gave him a pig and escorted him home, protecting him from possible attack their own kind.

This and other similar cases made the Papuans believe in the immortality of their white brother. And yet one day they decided to directly ask him about it. How should one answer such a question? The truth could cost lives. Lie? But Miklouho-Maclay did not rule out the possibility that he might die from illness or perish, and then the people who believed in him so much would be deeply disappointed. And he decided to take a desperate step. Having given one of those who asked a large and sharp spear, he ordered him to check it for himself. The Papuans were shocked by Miklouho-Maclay's proposal. No one dared to check the immortality of the “white Papuan”, and no more questions were asked to him on this topic.

In December 1872, a Russian warship again found itself off the coast of New Guinea. His appearance forced Miklouho-Maclay to choose: stay or leave. It was not easy for him to part with his friends, with whom he had become close in spirit, but the desire to convey the results of his observations to the scientific community and the thirst for new discoveries prevailed. He said goodbye to the Papuans, promising them he would definitely return. And he kept his word. After wandering around the Philippine and Moluccas islands, in June 1876 he returned to his familiar shore, where he lived until November 1877.

He subsequently settled in Sydney, where he was engaged in research work and from where he made another trip to the islands Pacific Ocean. In 1882, after a 12-year absence, he visited Russia. He was greeted as a hero. He made numerous presentations on his research, newspapers wrote about him, and even the king expressed a desire to talk with the famous scientist.

However, Miklouho-Maclay could not stay in one place for long. The wind of distant wanderings was calling him again, and, moreover, he wanted to see his Papuan friends again. In 1883, Miklouho-Maclay left Russia and returned to Australia. In Batavia, he meets the Russian corvette “Skobelev” (the new name of the corvette “Vityaz”) and cannot deny himself the desire to again visit the Maclay coast, where the ship’s commander, Admiral Kopytov, intended to visit. Miklouho-Maclay spends several days, from March 17 to March 23, in familiar places. Despite the fact that the scientist agreed with the inhabitants of Segu Island to build his house on Megaspen Island, he was no longer destined to return to the Maclay Coast. A serious illness allowed Miklouho-Maclay to remain among his friends for only a few days, and he again said goodbye to them. This time it's forever.

Returning to Sydney, Miklouho-Maclay finally found family happiness. In February 1884 he married Margaret Robertson, the daughter of a major New South Wales landowner and politician, who bore him two sons. In 1886, the scientist returned to Russia again and again proposed to the emperor the “Maclay Coast Project” as a counteraction to the colonization of the island by Germany. However, this attempt did not bring the desired result. Obviously, the intensification of rivalry with Germany in a remote region could bring Russia not so much political and other dividends as unnecessary foreign policy complications, especially since it was in 1884 that the “alliance of three emperors” was renewed - Russian, German and Austrian.

In 1887, the scientist once again traveled to Australia. The end of 1887 and the beginning of 1888 were devoted to feverish work on numerous manuscripts that had to be prepared for printing. Miklouho-Maclay's health had long been undermined and he, feeling the approach of death, worked tirelessly. On April 2, 1888, he died at the age of 41 at the Vilie Clinic in St. Petersburg. Miklouho-Maclay’s wife and his children, who returned to Australia after the scientist’s death, received a Russian pension until 1917 as a sign of the scientist’s high merits, which was paid from the personal money of Alexander III and then Nicholas II.

The name of the dedicated scientist, brave traveler and generous Man is known both in his homeland and in distant New Guinea. In 1947, the name of Miklouho-Maclay was given to the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now the N.N. Miklouho-Maclay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences). At the same time, director A.E. Razumny directed the feature film Miklouho-Maclay. In 1996, the year of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Miklouho-Maclay, UNESCO named him a Citizen of the World. In the same year, near the building of the Museum. W. Macleay (Macleay Museum) on the territory of the University of Sydney there is a bust of the scientist (sculptor G. Raspopov). In Moscow there is Miklouho-Maclay Street. The Miklouho-Maclay Coast, which stretches for 300 kilometers between Astrolabe Bay and the Huen Peninsula, on the territory of the state of Papua New Guinea, also reminds us of it. Sometimes Russian travelers also visit it. Let's hope that our readers and the author of these lines will one day also be among them.

Literature

1. Miklouho-Maclay N.N. Collected works. In 5 vols. - M.-L., 1950-1954. T.1. Travel diaries. 1870-1872. - M.-L., 1950; T.2. Travel diaries. 1873-1887. T.2. - M.-L., 1950.
2. Miklouho-Maclay N.N. Collected works. In 6 vols. Comp. B.N. Putilov, editor-in-chief D.D. Tumarkin. - M.: Institute of Ethnography named after. N.N. Miklouho-Maclay, 1990-1996. T.1. Travels 1870-1874: diaries, travel notes, reports. - M., 1990. T.2. Travels 1874-1887: diaries, travel notes, reports. - M., 1993.
3. Butinov N.A. N.N. Miklouho-Maclay is a great Russian humanist scientist. - L., 1971.
4. Butinov N.A., Butinova M.S. Image of N.N. Miklouho-Maclay in the mythology of the Papuans of New Guinea // Meanings of myth: mythology in history and culture. Collection in honor of the 90th anniversary of Professor M.I. Shakhnovich. "Thinkers" series. - St. Petersburg, 2001. - Issue No. 8.
5. Egoryeva A.V. Russian geographer and traveler Miklouho-Maclay. - L., 1971.
6. Kolesnikov M.S. N.N. Miklukho Maclay. - M., 1961.
7. Putilov B.N. Miklouho-Maclay: traveler, scientist, humanist. - M., 1985.
8. Chukovskaya L.N.N. Miklukho Maclay. - M., 1952.

Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay (1846-1888) - Russian ethnographer, anthropologist, biologist and traveler who studied indigenous people Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania, including the Papuans of the northeastern coast of New Guinea.
Born in the Novgorod province in the family of railway engineer N.I. Miklukha, builder of the Nikolaevskaya railway and the first head of the Moscow railway station.
The second part of the famous traveler’s surname was added later, after his expeditions to Australia.
After completing his gymnasium course, Miklouho-Maclay continued his studies at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University as a volunteer student. The study was not long. In 1864, for participating in student gatherings, Miklouho-Maclay was expelled from the university and he, using funds raised by the student community, left for Germany. In Germany he continues
studying at the University of Heidelberg, where he studies philosophy. A year later Miklouho-Maclay was transferred to Faculty of Medicine Leipzig University and then the University of Jena.
While still a student, as an assistant to the famous zoologist Haeckel, Miklouho-Maclay traveled to the Canary Islands and Morocco.
In March 1869, Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay appeared on the streets of Suez. Like a true Muslim, having shaved his head, painted his face and dressed in the attire of an Arab, Maclay reached the coral reefs of the Red Sea. Then Miklouho-Maclay more than once recalled the dangers he was exposed to. He was sick, hungry, and met bandits more than once. For the first time in my life Miklukho Maclay saw slave markets.
Miklouho-Maclay walked the lands of Morocco, visited the Atlantic islands, wandered around Constantinople, crossed Spain, lived in Italy, studied Germany.
Upon returning to St. Petersburg, he managed to convince the vice-chairman of the Russian Geographical Society Admiral Fyodor Litke to obtain permission for him to go to Oceania on the corvette Vityaz.
While sailing on a corvette, Miklouho-Maclay crossed the Atlantic Ocean, visited Brazil, Chile, and some archipelagos of Polynesia and Melanesia.
On September 20, 1871, Miklouho-Maclay landed on the northeastern coast of New Guinea. Tribes and villages were divided here and were constantly at war with each other; every stranger, whether white or black, was considered an unwelcome guest.
Miklouho-Maclay came to the village along a path through the wild forest. It was empty. But near the village, in the dense bushes, Miklouho-Maclay noticed the first Papuan Tuya, frozen in horror. Miklouho-Maclay took him by the hand and led him to the village. Soon eight Papuan warriors with tortoiseshell earrings in their ears, with stone axes in their dark hands, hung with wicker bracelets, crowded around the foreigner. The Russian guest generously presented the Papuans with various trinkets. By evening he returned to the ship, and the Vityaz officers breathed a sigh of relief: so far the “savages” had not eaten Nikolai Nikolaevich.
On the bank of a stream, by the sea, sailors and ship carpenters cut down the first Russian house in New Guinea - Maclay's house.
"Vityaz" continued sailing, and Miklouho-Maclay and his two assistants remained on the coast of New Guinea.
The Papuans did not greet the white man very warmly. They shot arrows over the foreigner's ear and waved spears in front of his face. Miklouho-Maclay sat down on the ground, calmly untied his shoelaces and... went to bed. He forced himself to sleep. When Miklouho-Maclay woke up and raised his head, he triumphantly saw that the Papuans were sitting peacefully around him. Bows and spears were
hidden. The Papuans watched in amazement as the white man slowly tightened his shoelaces. He went home, pretending that nothing had happened, and nothing could happen. The Papuans decided that since the white man is not afraid of death, then he is immortal.
Miklouho-Maclay entered the huts of the Papuans, treated them, talked with them (he mastered the local language very quickly), gave them all sorts of advice, very useful and necessary. And a few months later, residents of near and far villages fell in love with Miklouho-Maclay.
Friendship with the Papuans grew stronger. More and more often Miklouho-Maclay heard the words “Tamo-Rus”; That's what the Papuans called it among themselves. "Tamo-rus" meant "Russian man."
A Russian traveler lived in a hut on the ocean for more than a year. Sick and often hungry, he managed to do a lot.
It is interesting to read in Miklouho-Maclay’s diaries about his relationships with local women, including Papuans. Biographers of the scientist, as a rule, avoid this issue.
According to Miklouho-Maclay’s descriptions, Papuan women were quite beautiful. “Papuan men find it beautiful if their wives move their rear parts when walking so that with each step one of the buttocks would certainly turn to the side. I have often seen in villages little girls, seven or eight years old, whom their relatives taught this wagging ass: for hours
the girls memorized these movements. The dance of women consists mainly of such movements."
One day Miklouho-Maclay was lying with a fever. It was then that a young Papuan woman, Bungaraya (big flower), showed up to the sick scientist.
I suppose,” Miklouho-Maclay wrote in his diary after the first night spent with her, “that Papuan caresses of men are of a different kind than European ones, at least Bungaraya watched my every move with surprise and although she often smiled, I don’t think that it was only a consequence of pleasure. Miklouho-Maclay was modest, since she still got pleasure -
Otherwise, she would not have come to him almost every night, and even without receiving gifts, as Maclay’s diary testifies.
“Here girls become women early,” the traveler wrote in his diary. “I’m almost convinced that if I tell her: Come with me and pay my relatives for her, the novel is ready.”
In one of the huts of the Orang Utan tribe, he saw a girl whose face immediately caught his eye with her cuteness and pleasant expression. The girl's name was Mkal, she was 13 years old. Miklouho-Maclay said that he wanted to draw it. She hurried to put on a shirt, but he warned that this was not necessary.
Later, in Chile, he became involved with a girl named Emma. The young Chilean was then only 14 and a half years old.
Some maids, on their own initiative, became his “temporary wives,” as Miklouho-Maclay called them. In a letter to his friend Prince Meshchersky, he wrote: “I am not sending the portrait of my temporary wife, which I promised in the last letter, because I did not take one, and the Micronesian girl Mira, if there is one, will not be earlier than a year.” Indeed, when Mira
She entered Miklouho-Maclay, she was too young - only eleven.
In December 1872, the Russian clipper Izumrud entered Astrolabe Bay. The Papuans celebrated "Tamo-Rus" with the roar of barums - long Papuan drums.
In the second half of May 1873, Miklouho-Maclay was already in Java. "Emerald" left, but the scientist remained.
Miklouho-Maclay met the first “Oran-Utans” in the forests. Shy, short, black people spent their nights in the trees. All their property consisted of rags on their hips and a knife. In 1875, Nikolai Nikolaevich completed notes on his wanderings among the “people of the forest.” By that time, Russian cartographers had already put Mount Miklouho-Maclay, near Astrolabe Bay, on the map of New Guinea. It was
as if a lifetime monument is a rare honor for scientists. But no one knew that so famous person has been wandering for many years without shelter or family, running up debts so that with the help of borrowed money he can make his dangerous and distant trips.
In 1876-1877 he traveled to western Micronesia and northern Melanesia.
In the last days of June 1876, the traveler reached the Maclay Coast. The sailors unloaded supplies, boxes, barrels, and gifts for the Papuans. All the old acquaintances were alive. The Papuans welcomed Tamo-Ruso very cordially. The ship's carpenters, with the help of the Papuans, built a house from strong timber. The traveler celebrated his housewarming with the Papuans, two servants and a cook.
In July 1878 he appeared in Sydney.
In 1882, after twelve years of wandering, Miklouho-Maclay returned to St. Petersburg. He became the hero of the day. Newspapers and magazines reported about his arrival, outlined his biography, dwelled on episodes of his travels, and expressed admiration for his exploits. In November 1882, Miklouho-Maclay had a meeting in Gatchina with Alexander III.
And again new travels.
In February 1884, a Russian traveler and scientist Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay married the young widow Margarita Robertson, daughter of the former Prime Minister of New South Wales. Margarita's parents and relatives opposed this marriage, considering the Russian traveler an unsuitable match for her. At this time, Nikolai Nikolaevich was 38. His chosen one was much
younger. In November, a son is born, a year later - a second. And how many children were born from him in the places of his travels, of course, is not known. They say that Russian travelers later met a white-skinned Papuan named Mak Lai.
The last months of 1886 were filled with work on diaries of New Guinea travels. By the beginning of 1888, the travel diaries of all six trips to New Guinea were, in general, ready. He began work on the second volume, but finally fell ill. The patient was not allowed to work; they even took away his pencil and notebooks. Then Nikolai Nikolaevich began to dictate his autobiography. His joy was immeasurable when he received his newly printed book, “Excerpts from the Diary of 1879.”
Miklouho-Maclay died on a hospital bed in a clinic at the Military Medical Academy. He was buried at the Volkov cemetery. A wooden cross with a short inscription was placed on an inconspicuous grave.
Miklouho-Maclay's contribution to anthropology and ethnography was enormous. In his travels he collected a lot of data about peoples
Indonesia and Malaya, Philippines, Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia and western Polynesia. As an anthropologist, Miklouho-Maclay showed himself to be a fighter against all “theories” postulating racial inequality, against the concepts of “lower” and “superior” races. He was the first to describe the Papuans as a specific anthropological type. The scientist showed that Papuans are just as full-fledged and full-fledged
representatives of the human race, like the English or the Germans.

In the minds of his contemporaries, Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay remained an eccentric rebel and a dreamer who, in fact, did not leave behind any fundamental works. Scientists recognized his proof of the species unity of humanity - and nothing more. However, Nikolai Nikolaevich devoted his entire short life to science and the achievement of his main dream: to create a free state of Papuans on the islands in the Pacific Ocean. Moreover, in order to turn the idea into reality, he tried to pit three powerful powers - Britain, Germany and Russia - against each other.

Controversial personality

Nikolai Nikolaevich remained a controversial figure. He was born in the village of Yazykovo-Rozhdestvenskoye, Borovichi district, Novgorod province, received his education in Germany, and a significant part of his life was spent on expeditions. Nikolai Nikolaevich wrote more than one and a half hundred scientific works. He denied that representatives of the black race are a transitional biological species from apes to homo sapiens. At the same time, in his mind, the northeastern coast of New Guinea was an ideal “ethnographic reserve”, the head of which he dreamed of becoming.

As for nationality, the question still remains open. The scientist's Scottish roots have not been confirmed. And brother Mikhail said: “there was no leavened patriotism in our family, we were raised to respect all nationalities.” Nikolai Nikolaevich himself wrote about himself in the third person in his autobiography: “Nick. Nick. is a mixture of elements: Russian, German and Polish."

Nikolai Nikolaevich evoked very ambiguous feelings among his contemporaries. Admiral Ivan Alekseevich Shestakov, manager of the Naval Ministry, disparagingly called him a “projector” and wrote: “He wants to become a ‘king’ in New Guinea.”
Here are the words of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev: “The devil knows why it seems to me that this whole gentleman is poof and will not leave any such work behind him.”

And this is the confession of Leo Tolstoy: “You were the first to undoubtedly prove by experience that man is everywhere a man, that is, a kind, sociable being, with whom one can and should enter into communication only with goodness and truth, and not with guns and vodka.”

The researcher suffered from bouts of malaria, untreated dengue fever, muscle rheumatism, and jaw pain. Due to the constant struggle with chronic diseases and the awareness of the inevitable imminent death, the cynical and cold-blooded Nikolai was quite sentimental at some points. Moreover, this sentimentality, like the scientist himself, was, to put it mildly, unique. A striking example is the lamp that Nikolai always took with him on his travels. He made it from the skull and ulna bones of his beloved, who bequeathed a part of herself to him before her death. Nikolai placed the skull on the bones, placed a wick on the arch, and built a green lampshade above it. Thus, he honored her memory and did not forget about the transience of human life.

Either Rotei or Buka

In mid-October 1870, at a meeting of the Russian Geographical Society, Nikolai Nikolaevich presented a project for an expedition to the Pacific Islands. The plan was ambitious and sweeping, but was very vague. Many scientists have a completely logical question: why does Russia need remote tropical patches of land? But Miklouho-Maclay did not need the approval of scientists.

Soon he received a foreign passport from “the nobleman Miklouho-Maclay, sent on a business trip for an academic purpose.” From that moment on, the researcher’s double surname became official. Before this, it was not enshrined in documents. The scientist called himself Miklouho-Maclay to add weight. Indeed, in those days, a person’s origins played a very important role, and Nicholas’s mother (she was half-Polish with some blue blood) managed with great difficulty to ensure that he was still included in the hereditary nobility.

The Society Council assigned Nikolai Nikolaevich 1,200 rubles as an allowance. And soon the Minister of the Navy, Admiral Nikolai Karlovich Krabbe, informed the scientist that he would be taken on board the corvette Vityaz, although “without making allowances from the naval department.”

And on November 8, 1870, the “Vityaz” set sail from Kronstadt. The journey to the cherished goal - New Guinea - lasted almost a year. On September 19, 1871, the corvette entered Astrolabe Bay, in the northeastern part of the island.

The Papuans swam to the ship, having previously taken gifts with them. The team received them well, but then a misunderstanding occurred. As the islanders headed back, the crew decided to salute their arrival and fired a cannon. The frightened natives hastened to hide in the jungle. Miklouho-Maclay, together with the Swedish sailor Ohlson and a black teenage servant, whose name was simply Boy, went ashore. The captain of the Vityaz suggested that the scientist take sailors with him as guards, but he refused. He decided on his own, demonstrating kindness, to establish contact with the inhabitants of the islands.

The researcher and his companions were lucky. Among the Papuans there was one daredevil - Tui. He overcame his fear and approached Nikolai Nikolaevich. Since the scientist had some knowledge of the local language, he was able to learn a curious thing. It turns out that the locals perceived the appearance of a white man as an approaching apocalypse. But nothing bad happened. Therefore, they decided that Nikolai was their great ancestor Rotei, who “left but promised to return.” But after the roar of the cannons, the opinion of the Papuans, of course, changed: Nikolai Nikolaevich from the revived ancestor Rotei turned into an evil spirit named Buka.

"Vityaz" left Astrolabe Bay a week later. During this time, Miklouho-Maclay and his assistants built a hut on Cape Garagasi. And according to the instructions of the ship's captain, a small area near the dwelling was mined in case of an attack by the aborigines. It is not known exactly whether this “shield” was useful to the researcher or not.

At first, relations with local residents did not work out. Whenever he tried to make contact, the Papuans simply ran away from their village called Bongu and hid in the jungle. Only Tui sometimes came to visit the scientist. He helped Miklouho-Maclay practice the language, and also talked about life on the islands.

An accident helped move the matter forward. One day a tree fell on Tuya, injuring his head. And the treatment did not help - the wound began to fester. Then Nikolai Nikolaevich got down to business. He managed to help the unfortunate aborigine, after which the locals stopped perceiving Buka as an evil one. Moreover, they invited him to their village. But the women and children were hidden anyway, just in case. The memory of the cannon shots was deeply embedded in their heads.

Miklouho-Maclay spent a whole year in a hut on Cape Garagasi. During this time he explored huge territory islands, made up detailed description flora and fauna, renamed Astrolabe Bay to Maclay Coast, managed to become for the aborigines not just a friend, but a white-skinned god. They called him “kaaram tamo,” which can be translated as “moon man.”

In mid-December 1872, the clipper Emerald approached the island. It’s curious: in Russia and Europe they were sure that the researcher had died long ago. The newspaper St. Petersburg Vedomosti even published an obituary about this. Therefore, the maximum that the Emerald team hoped for was to find the grave of Miklouho-Maclay. To their surprise, he was alive, although very ill. The Swede was in the same condition. But Boy was unable to survive until the ship arrived; he was killed by a “tumor of the lymph glands in the groin.”
For two days, the islanders saw off the scientist, whom by that time they called not only “kaaram tamo”, but also “Tamo-boro-boro”. In the Aboriginal language this meant the highest boss.

Papuans are people too

In May 1875, Nikolai Nikolaevich heard rumors that England was preparing to annex the eastern part of New Guinea. Including Astrolabe Bay. This stunned the scientist. Therefore, he sent a letter to Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, the head of the Russian Geographical Society, in which he said that the Papuans needed protection. There were the following lines: “Not as a Russian, but as Tamo-boro-boro of the Papuans of the Maclay Coast, I want to appeal to His Imperial Majesty with a request for the protection of my country and my people and to support my protest against England...”. Simply put, Nikolai Nikolayevich offered Russia a protectorate over New Guinea, but with the preservation of its sovereignty. Pyotr Petrovich forwarded the letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Internal Relations, which was headed by Baron Fedor Romanovich Osten-Sacken. It was he who told Emperor Alexander II about Miklouho-Maclay’s plan, and at the same time recommended that the sovereign cancel the project. Alexander did just that.

Realizing that there was no one else to rely on, Nikolai began to prepare for the second expedition on his own. He managed to negotiate with a Dutch businessman named Schomburgk so that the trading schooner Sea Bird would take the explorer to the shores of New Guinea. In addition, Schomburgk undertook to send a ship for the scientist six months later.

On June 27, 1876, the schooner Sea Bird entered Astrolabe Bay. Miklouho-Maclay spent almost a year and a half among the Papuans, since the Dutchman did not keep his word. Unfortunately, little is known about the expedition, since many entries from Nikolai Nikolaevich’s field diaries were lost.

The scientist, like the first time, settled near the village of Bongu. Only now he built a hut on Cape Bugarlom, since his old home was destroyed by termites. Nikolai Nikolaevich planted a vegetable garden and began to grow crops unfamiliar to the aborigines - pumpkin, corn, cucumbers and watermelons. Soon the vegetables were “registered” among local residents.

The Papuans, of course, remembered the scientist and greeted him very warmly. Moreover, they invited him to the wedding, where they allowed him to see the main sacrament - the abduction of the bride. He also attended the funeral, which is reflected in his memoirs.

During his stay among the islanders, Nikolai Nikolaevich focused on anthropological research. He left a note in his diary: “In the future, the same birds of paradise and butterflies will delight the zoologist, the same insects will number in the thousands in his collections, while it can almost certainly happen that the future anthropologist will have to look for a purebred Papuan in his primitive state in the mountains of New Guinea, as I searched for sakay and semang in the forests of the Malay Peninsula."

Around this time, the researcher had the idea of creating a Papuan Union, uniting the scattered villages of New Guinea. And he already planned to place this Union under the protection of some powerful European state. Miklouho-Maclay considered not only Russia, but also Britain and Germany as a “guard.” The scientist visited several dozen villages, communicated with the locals and thought about how to unite them? The situation was complicated not only by the remoteness of the settlements from each other, but also by the language barrier. After all, the locals spoke different dialects. He found that in 27 villages people speak 14 languages.
During the second expedition, Miklouho-Maclay was finally convinced that the Papuans were not at all a “connecting link” between the monkey and the white people. He wrote about this: “Parts of the world with their different living conditions cannot be inhabited by one species of Species Homo. Therefore, the existence of many races is completely in accordance with the laws of nature...”

After 6 months the ship did not appear. His food supplies were running low. The garden was of little use. Besides, there was nothing to take notes on. Therefore, the researcher had to use book sheets and write between the lines. But the main thing is that precious time was melting away. After all, Miklouho-Maclay thought that the annexation of New Guinea would begin literally any day. The current situation hit the scientist hard, his health deteriorated sharply, but he did not stop his scientific activities.

Another year passed in such a nervous atmosphere. And suddenly the schooner Flower of Yarrow appeared in the bay. The Dutch businessman finally remembered his promise. Before boarding, Miklouho-Maclay talked for a long time with the village leaders. This conversation boiled down to one thing - if whites appear on the island, the locals should hide from them. He also showed the Papuans secret signs by which they could recognize a person from Tamo-boro-boro.

In November 1877, the schooner left the bay.

Trying to realize a dream

Four years later, Miklouho-Maclay presented the “Maclay Coast Development Project” to the British. So commander navy In the southwest Pacific, Wilson learned that the scientist wanted to return to the Papuans to protect them from the Europeans. After all, Miklouho-Maclay was still waiting for the bloody annexation of New Guinea by some state. As a scientist and researcher, Nikolai was well aware of the cruelty of the colonialists and hoped that his Papuans would not repeat the sad fate of the numerous native tribes that inhabited the islands of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The main goal of the "Project" was to create a Great Council of village elders. Schools, roads, and bridges were supposed to appear in the united villages. The gradual development of the local economy was assumed. The scientist himself assigned himself the position of consultant and minister of foreign affairs. And if everything had gone as planned, over time the Papuan Union would have recognized the British protectorate. But Nikolai Nikolaevich could not interest the Englishman.

With the same “Maclay Coast Development Project” Nikolai Nikolaevich turned to the head of the Russian Maritime Ministry, Shestakov. He also rejected the idea, saying that Nicholas “wants to become a ‘king’ in New Guinea.” But another initiative of Miklouho-Maclay - the creation of a refueling base in New Guinea for the Russian fleet - interested the emperor himself. And Shestakov was tasked with working on the initiative.

But the idea of the “Project” did not leave the scientist. In 1883, he again tried to “place” it in Britain, and again unsuccessfully. But the idea of creating a base for the Russian fleet got off the ground. Shestakov put before the commander of the detachment of ships Russian Empire in the Pacific Ocean, Rear Admiral Nikolai Vasilyevich Kopytov tasked: to explore the coastline of Niva Guinea and decide whether the harbors proposed by Miklouho-Maclay were suitable as coal warehouses for ships.

Therefore, a reconnaissance expedition to the shores of New Guinea was planned. And in mid-March 1883, the corvette Skobelev (renamed Vityaz) with Miklouho-Maclay on board reached Astrolabe Bay.

Nikolai Nikolaevich's third stay among the aborigines turned out to be the shortest - only 8 days. It turned out that almost all the locals he knew had already died, including Tui. And the village of Bongu was greatly depopulated. The Papuans explained this by diseases, wars and “sorcerers from the mountains.”

Miklouho-Maclay was depressed and defeated. He realized that the dream of a Union in its intended form could not be realized. And I decided that the “Project” needed to be modified. Namely: he should be the head of the Union. At the same time, it does not matter under whose protectorate the state will be. Having promised the Papuans that he would return soon, Nikolai Nikolaevich left the island.

At the same time, Kopytov explored the harbors, but none of them approached. the main problem was their remoteness from ocean communications. In order to reach the tracks, the cruisers would have to waste too much coal. Nevertheless, Kopytov highly appreciated the scientist’s merits and even paid him several hundred dollars for the services of a guide and translator.

Ambitious plan

The difficult situation around New Guinea prompted Nikolai Nikolaevich to write a letter to Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, in which he again returned to the Papuan Union and the Russian protectorate over it. And at the same time I sent a message Alexander III.
And again Shestakov had to deal with Miklouho-Maclay’s “Project” and Kopytov’s report. After another careful study of the materials, the manager of the Maritime Ministry issued a verdict: “spotlight.” And the emperor was unpleasantly surprised by the scientist’s mistake with the location of the base for the fleet. In general, Miklouho-Maclay could not count on support from Russia.

Meanwhile, the southeastern part of New Guinea became British - the government of the Australian state of Queensland tried to do this. It, without asking permission from other states, simply declared the island its property and sent Required documents in London. This was done for one reason - the Australians were afraid that Germany might get ahead of them. And thus, there will be a serious threat to the British colonies in that region.

Nikolai Nikolaevich tried to influence the fate of, as he believed, his Maclay Coast. The scientist believed that it was the Russian “Skobelev” that pushed the Queensland government to annexation. He did not guess about the fear of Germany. Having hastened to conclusions and not understanding the problem, Miklukha sent further letters to Russia, England and Germany. Only this time, Nikolai Nikolayevich pinned his special hopes on Germany and Bismarck: “... to protect the land itself from being seized by the British, but also to protect the rights of the dark-skinned natives of the Pacific Islands as people, from unscrupulous unfair and cruel exploitation not only by the British , but also all whites in general.”

Awaiting the verdict of the powers that be, in the summer of 1883 Nikolai Nikolaevich moved to Sydney. Here he settled in a biological station, continuing research work. Then he decided to marry his old friend, Margaret Robertson, despite the hostile attitude of the bride’s relatives towards him. They were not satisfied with literally everything about the groom: his poor financial situation, poor health, nationality... And most importantly, according to the will of Margaret’s first husband (he died several years before the woman met Nikolai), she received 2 thousand pounds of annual rent. And the Robertson family did not want to lose this money because of the Russian scientist, because in the event of her remarriage, payments would stop.

But still, Margaret’s relatives gave in. The couple got married on February 27, 1884 and settled in a house near the biological station. Miklouho-Maclay had two sons - Alexander and Vladimir, although in Australia they were called Nils and Allen. It’s curious: they have never been to Russia.

British-German “infighting”

The Germans also did not respond to Miklouho-Maclay’s letter. Instead, they decided to act fast and hard. In the fall of 1884, the confidant of the German New Guinea Company, Otto Fisch, whom Miklouho-Maclay met in Sydney, arrived on the Maclay Coast. Posing as a relative of Tamo Boro-boro, he bought land for a coal base and plantations. Then a German cruiser entered Astrolabe Bay and... The northeastern part of New Guinea found itself under German protectorate. Nikolai learned about Otto’s betrayal (the scientist believed so) in December of the same year. In a panic, he sent another telegram to Bismarck: “The natives of the Maclay Coast reject German annexation.” The answer was the usual silence again. And the Germans and the British amicably agreed on the division of New Guinea at the beginning of 1885 without the participation of Miklouho-Maclay and Russia. For Nicholas, this meant one thing - the Maclay coast was lost.

As you know, trouble does not come alone. The government of New South Wales (a state in the southeast, which includes Sydney) announced to Miklouho-Maclay that the land on which the biological station and his house were located was being transferred to the military. Accordingly, he needed to vacate his “abode.” Being in a broken and depressed state (plus old health problems were added), Nikolai Nikolaevich decided to return to Russia. And at the end of June 1886 he found himself in St. Petersburg.

The thought that Russian colonialists would help the Papuans did not leave the scientist. And soon Novosti and Exchange Newspaper published a note. It contained an invitation to everyone who wanted to go to the Maclay Coast to build a free state there. Miklukha did not want to think about how the Germans would react to this. To his surprise, there were a lot of people willing. The plan for the resettlement of compatriots was one step away from implementation. Nikolai Nikolaevich even wrote a letter to Alexander III, in which he asked permission to create a Russian colony on the Maclay Coast. The emperor, of course, did not support the idea.

This completely broke the scientist. All his numerous illnesses worsened and on April 2, 1888, the scientist passed away. His wife ordered the capital letters of the phrase Nothing But Death Can Separate Us to be engraved on the tombstone. And after the funeral she returned to Sydney.

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N.N. Miklouho-Maclay: “white Papuan”

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