Amur’s Kalgamashka

Black Almas

What is the world’s eight longest river? The Amur, of course, that runs between the far eastern land of Russia and Manchuria, also known as the Black River, with sacred connotations under the Manchu and during the Qing Dynasty. Word comes today of new unknown hominoid encounters along the lower Amur River.

The Russian newspaper Vsja Rossija segodnja on November 27, 2006, reported that the hunter Nikolaj Dechuli from the Daergi settlement has found unusual footprints a few times. He has often seen an unknown being, which he thinks is a bear in the first instant: A giant covered in thick fur stood a few meters from him. His face was the most surprising – it was disproportionally small in comparison with the large body, and had wrinkles like an old person.

The local natives, Nanai, call these beings Kalgamashka, Kalgama, Pujmur or Kal’djami. According to the newspaper, fishermen from the Najkhana settlement claim to have recently seen such a giant on the bank of the river.*

It is not told when exactly this encounters happened. The settlements Daergi and Najkhana lie about 85 miles northeast of the city Khabarovsk on the Amur river. Khabarovsk is the capital of the province with the same name in the far east of Russia.

* Savchenko, A. 2006. Kalgamashka on the lower Amur. Vsja Rossija segodnja, 6816 (in Russian).

Black Almas

(Thanks to Jean luc Drevillon for the hint on the appearance of this item at the German stgr-primates.de site.)