Who dug the old graves and mines of Siberia?
Editorial contextRussians called the old graves and ancient mine shafts found across Siberia 'Chudic', and some scholars built on the word a theory of a highly civilised Chud people who once worked the Altai mines. Klaproth answers that the adjective simply means 'foreign' or 'unknown', as vague as 'Scythian' or 'barbarian', and links the theory to Bailly's dreams of a civilised plateau of Tatary, which he says does not exist.
There have even been scholars who believed that part of Siberia had once been inhabited by Chuds, that this people was highly civilised, and that it worked the mines of the Altai and other mountains. All these hypotheses rest only on the adjective 'Chudic', which is used in Russia and Siberia to designate the ancient tombs and mine galleries
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Il y a même eu des savans qui croyaient qu'une partie de la Sibérie avait été autrefois habitée par des Tchoudes, que ce peuple était très-civilisé, qu'il exploitait les mines des montagnes d'Altai et autres. Toutes ces hypothèses ne sont fondées que sur l'adjectif tchoudique, dont on se sert en Russie et en Sibérie pour désigner les anciens tombeaux et les galeries de mines
About the 'Chud', a vague name for unknown ancient peoples
Continue in this sourceKlaproth's memoirs on Asia1824 to 1828 · 10 passagesThe dead hung in trees for birds and wolves
Editorial contextBunge asked his Kalmyk neighbours how they buried their dead, since the stone mounds nearby (the 'Chud graves') were far older. He was told that burial depended on the dying person's wish and the shaman (kam): a few were burned or buried, but most were wrapped in felt or a horse hide and hung in a tree in the forest, with a horse as the usual offering.
The dead are either burned, though rarely, or scraped into the earth, or finally, which is said to be the commonest case, they are wrapped in a felt or a horse hide, hung on a tree in a remote part of a forest, and left to the birds and wolves. Usually this is accompanied by some ceremonies, and a horse is the usual funeral offering.
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Die Todten werden entweder, jedoch selten, verbrannt, oder sie werden in die Erde verscharrt, oder endlich, was der häufigste Fall seyn soll, sie werden in einen Filz, oder ein Pferdefell eingewickelt, an einer abgelegenen Stelle eines Waldes an einen Baum aufgehängt, und den Vögeln und Wölfen preis gegeben. Gewöhnlich ist dies mit einigen Ceremonien verbunden, und ein Pferd ist das gewöhnliche Todtenopfer.
About Altai 'Kalmyks' (Turkic-speaking Altaians)
Keep in mind
Bunge says on the next page that he did not witness these rites and reports them from what he was told.
A wooden idol with glass eyes facing the door
Editorial contextIn the same yurt Ledebour saw the household idol hanging opposite the entrance, a roughly carved piece of wood with a head and eyes of glass or coral, surrounded by offerings of squirrel and ground-squirrel skins and eagle claws. The woman of the house served milk from the kumiss bag to his Kalmyk guides but boiled milk to his Russians.
Opposite the entrance hangs an idol, carved as crudely as possible from a piece of wood, at whose upper end a head has usually been attempted, with inset eyes of glass or coral. Beside it hang various offerings, such as a squirrel or a ground-squirrel skin, and especially often an eagle's claw.
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Dem Eingange gegenüber hängt ein Idol, möglichst roh aus einem Stücke Holz geschnitzt, an dessen oberem Ende man gewöhnlich einen Kopf darzustellen versucht hat, mit eingesetzten Glasaugen oder Korallen. Daneben hängen gewöhnlich mancherlei Opfer aufgehängt, als ein, Eichhörnchen oder ein Zieselfell, und besonders häufig eine Adlerklaue.
About Altai 'Kalmyks' (Turkic-speaking Altaians)
Continue in this sourceLedebour's botanical journey through the Altai and the Kazakh steppe, 18261826 · 14 passagesBurial on a scaffold, and a horse left to starve
Editorial contextShangin admits he could learn little reliable about their burials; Cossacks told him they sometimes burned their dead, which he doubted. What he was sure of is that they never bury them in the ground: he found many corpses in full dress with their riding gear in caves and on high open rocks, and they also lay the dead on a scaffold of brushwood on tall poles, wrapped in skins with saddle and harness under the head. Often a horse is tied beside it until it drops from hunger.
This much is certain, that they never bury them in the earth … They also make a scaffold of brushwood on high poles and lay the corpse on it, dressed in skins, with saddle and harness under the head and covered with hair felts. Often a horse is added as well … which finally drops from hunger.
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So viel ist gewiß, daß sie selbige nie in die Erde vergraben … Sie machen auch wohl auf hohen Stangen, von Strauchwerk, ein Gerüst, und legen die Leiche, mit Fellen bekleidet darauf, Sattel und Zeug unter den Kopf und bedeckt mit Haarfilzen. Dazu wird oft noch ein Pferd … welches endlich vor Hunger umfällt.
About 'Mountain Tatars' of the Altai
Keep in mind
Cropped margin; a few letters at line starts restored and one gap marked.
A misused name, kept for three related peoples
Editorial contextSchott opens by placing the homeland of his language family on the Altai and naming four peoples who spread out from it: Tunguses, Mongols, Turks and Chudes or Finns. In this footnote he admits that the name 'Tatars' has been misused in Asia and even more in Europe, but says it can be tolerated as long as it means only the Tungusic, Mongolian and Turkic peoples, whose common descent he thinks their languages prove. He refers readers to his separate essay on the oldest Chinese reports of Mongols and Tatars, which he dates to Berlin 1847.
The misuse that has been made of the name Tatars in Asia, and still more in Europe, is well known; but it deserves at least toleration so long as we mean by it only the three peoples mentioned, whose common descent a deeper study of their languages leaves in no doubt.
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Bekannt ist der Missbrauch, den man in Asien, und noch mehr in Europa, mit dem Namen Tataren getrieben hat; er verdient aber wenigstens Duldung, so lange wir dabei nur an die erwähnten drei Völker denken, über deren gemeinsame Abstammung tiefere Erforschung ihrer Sprachen keinen Zweifel lässt.
About Tungusic (including Manchu), Mongolian and Turkic peoples
Keep in mind
The 'common descent' of these peoples is Schott's linguistic theory, not an established fact.
Felt yurts in winter: children kept in warm ash
Editorial contextMeyer declines to describe Kazakh dwellings in detail because they are the same as the Kalmyk yurts Pallas had already described. Pleasant in summer, they were bitterly cold in winter: he could hardly bear a May night in one, and says parents sometimes buried small children in pits of warm ash to stop them freezing. Smoke from dung fires was a constant nuisance.
I consider it superfluous to describe the dwellings of the Kirghiz, since they differ in nothing from the Kalmyk yurts that Pallas has described so well. … The children have it worst, and to protect them from freezing the parents are often forced to bury them in pits filled with warm ash.
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Die Wohnungen der Kirgisen zu beschreiben, halte ich für überflüssig, da sie sich in Nichts von kalmückischen Jurten unterscheiden, die Pallas so gut beschrieben hat. … Am schlimmsten haben es die Kinder, und um diese gegen das Erfrieren zu schützen, sind die Aeltern oft genöthigt, sie in Gruben, die mit warmer Asche angefüllt sind, zu vergraben.
About Kirghiz (Kazakhs of the Middle Horde)
Keep in mind
The cold nights he felt himself; the ash-pit practice is reported, not described as seen.
Goblins of the Altai
Editorial contextAs the party headed for the Altai, one of Chen-hai's servants said these mountains were notorious for goblins and that one had pulled him by the hair, and Chen-hai added that a Naiman khan passing through had been bewitched and forced to offer the goblin a sacrifice. Changchun said nothing. Crossing the desert beyond, the escort rubbed blood on their horses' heads against goblins, and the sage smiled that goblins flee from a good man (p.64); earlier the diarist had seen traces of sacrifices to mountain spirits on a peak, and many grave mounds below (p.58).
One of the servants of Chen-hai reported that these mountains had a bad fame for their goblins, and that once a goblin pulled him by the hair. Chen-hai narrated further, that once it occurred also to the Khan of the Naiman … to be charmed by a goblin, and that he was obliged to offer a sacrifice to him. The master did not make any remark on these tales.
About Chen-hai's men; the Naiman khan
Keep in mind
Hearsay told to the diarist, reported without comment, as his master received it.
Pyramids of poles covered with hides
Editorial contextThe mine official Shangin, travelling in the high Altai, describes the local 'mountain Tatars' as herders who do no farming. Their huts, apart from the elders', are wretched: a few poles set up in a pyramid and covered with hair felts or, more often, animal hides, because they make no felt themselves. Since they move often with their herds, empty pole pyramids stand in many places.
they set up a few poles … together and cover them with hair felts, but still more commonly with animal hides, since … make none themselves
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sie stellen einige Stangen … zusammen, und bedecken sie mit Haarfilzen, noch gewöhnlicher aber mit Thierfellen, weil … selbst keine … verfertigen
About 'Mountain Tatars' of the Altai
Keep in mind
The scan's left margin is cropped, so several words are lost; the gaps are marked.
Chinese annals: felt tents, grazing, and stones for enemies killed
Editorial contextThomsen quotes Chinese annals (through Stanislas Julien's translations) on the customs of the Turks, the 'Tou-kioue': they wear their hair loose, fold their robes to the left, and live in felt tents, moving wherever they find water and grass. At burials they set up stones beside the grave, one for each enemy the dead man had killed, sometimes a hundred or a thousand. Thomsen says these notices describe a time somewhat earlier than the inscriptions.
'The Tujue let their hair hang loose, fold the flap of their garment to the left, and live in felt tents. They move from one place to another according to where they find water and grass. Their main occupation is raising herds and hunting.'
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«Les Tou-kioue laissent flotter leurs cheveux, jettent à gauche le pan de leur vêtement, et habitent sous des tentes de feutre. Ils se transportent d'un lieu à un autre, suivant qu'ils y trouvent de l'eau et des herbes. Leur principale occupation est l'élève des troupeaux et la chasse.
About Tujue (Kok Turks)
Keep in mind
An outside Chinese view, translated twice before reaching this page.
Checked against the page image.
Opening the 'Chud graves'
Editorial contextRussians in Siberia credited old stone-covered burials to a vanished people they called the Chud. Ledebour describes them as low oval cairns, some edged with upright slate slabs, and had one dug open. It held two skeletons at different depths, and his own workmen insisted these were Kalmyk and not Chud bodies: a nice example of how uncertain the attribution of such monuments was on the spot.
…they can be recognised from outside by heaps of stones of elliptical shape, whose greatest diameter is 2 fathoms, whose smaller diameter is one and a half fathoms and whose height is 2 to 2.5 feet. … The workmen assured me, however, that these must be Kalmyk and not Chud corpses,
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…geben sich von außen durch Steinhaufen von elliptischer Form zu erkennen, deren größter Durchmesser 2 Faden, deren kleinerer Durchmesser anderthalb Faden und deren Höhe 2 bis drittehalb Fuß beträgt. … Die Arbeiter versicherten indeß, dies müßten Kalmückische und nicht Tschuden-Leichname seyen,
About the legendary Chud (unknown ancient people); Altai 'Kalmyks'
Keep in mind
'Chud' is a Russian folk label for any pre-Russian people, not a known nation.
Felt, straw mats and a birch-bark Tatar yurt
Editorial contextIn Barnaul the mining chief Frolov had two model yurts set up for Ledebour. The rich Kazakh one had a collapsible lattice wall lined with clean straw mats in fine weather and wrapped in felt in bad weather, with a hanging felt flap as the door. The second was made of birch bark, of the kind used by the Tatars around Krasnoyarsk, a reminder that 'Tatar' dwellings in Siberia were not all felt.
In good weather the inner side of the lattice is hung with a row of clean straw mats; in bad weather, on the other hand, felt blankets are fastened on the outside, and a hanging piece of such a blanket closes the entrance as a door. The second yurt was made of birch bark, as the Tatars in the region of the town of Krasnoyarsk usually have them.
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Bei gutem Wetter behängt man die innere Seite des Gitterwerkes mit einer Reihe sauberer Strohmatten; bei schlechtem Wetter hingegen befestigt man auf der äußeren Seite Filzdecken, und ein herabhängendes Stück einer solchen Decke verschließt den Eingang als Thüre. Die zweite Jurte war aus Birkenrinde gemacht, wie sie die Tataren in der Gegend der Stadt Krasnojarsk zu haben pflegen.
About Kazakhs (Kirghiz); Tatars of the Krasnoyarsk region
Keep in mind
These were display yurts in a private collection, not homes seen in use.
Inside a felt yurt in the Altai
Editorial contextLedebour's guides took him into a 'Kalmyk' yurt: leaning poles covered with felt, a felt flap for a door and a small fire burning straight on the ground in the middle. On the same page he describes the huge unwashed leather bag in which all spare milk was fermented into kumiss, and the still used to turn it into milk brandy (araku).
The simple construction of these yurts is well known: several poles leaning against one another and covered with felt blankets make a dwelling that has to give shelter and protection even against winter frost and autumn storms in these harsh mountain regions. When I entered the yurt through the door-like opening, which is hung only with a felt blanket, a small fire was glowing in the middle of the yurt, simply kindled on the ground.
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Die einfache Construction dieser Jurten ist bekannt, wo mehrere gegeneinander geneigte Stangen von Filzdecken überzogen, eine Wohnung bilden, welche selbst gegen Winterfrost und Herbststürme in diesen rauhen Gebirgsgegenden Obdach und Schutz geben müssen. Als ich in die Jurte durch die Thürähnliche Oeffnung trat, die nur mit einer Filzdecke verhängt wird, glimmte ein kleines Feuer in der Mitte der Jurte, ohne Weiteres auf dem Boden angeschürt.
About Altai 'Kalmyks' (Turkic-speaking Altaians)
Keep in mind
These 'Kalmyks' are the Altai mountain people, not the Kalmyks of the Volga.
Tartar gunpowder from Altai saltpetre
Editorial contextIn his notes on the earthquake, Weymarn says the Altai near the Katun river is full of saltpetre that forms like cement in the rock clefts, and that the local Tartars and Kalmyks make strong gunpowder from it by a quick, simple method. It is a small but concrete detail about frontier peoples' technology.
is all full of a kind of Saltpetre, which is found in form of a cement, in great plenty, in the clefts and between the beds of rock ; with this the Tartars and Kalmucks make very strong and good Gunpowder, by an industrious, simple and expeditious method.
About Tartars and Kalmucks of the Altai frontier
Keep in mind
Weymarn does not say he watched the powder being made.
