The Baraba steppe, 'this earthly Tartarus'
Editorial contextHolman crossed the marshy Baraba steppe in the rain, having been told of poisonous lakes, fevers, swarms of stinging flies and a disfiguring local disease. He calls it 'this earthly Tartarus', playing on the old pun between Tartary and Tartarus, the Greek underworld. On the next page he describes it as fit only for wild animals, reptiles 'and a few sickly Tartars', and compares it to the land of the legendary poison tree, the Upas.
The above, however, is one of the minor evils of this earthly Tartarus; the insalubrious quality of its atmosphere, loaded with malaria, or miasmatic impregnation, is not only abundantly productive of typhus and intermittent fevers, but gives rise to a disease peculiar to this horrid Steppe.
About 'A few sickly Tartars' of the Baraba steppe
Keep in mind
Much of this is what Holman was told in advance; he admits his imagination was 'excited by the accounts it had previously imbibed'.
Pit houses of the Baraba Tatars
Editorial contextCrossing the Baraba steppe between Tara and Tomsk, Lorenz Lange's party met the Baraba Tatars, whom he calls heathens living wretchedly. Their winter dwellings were dug into the ground, raised about an ell above it with stakes and roofed with straw; inside each stood a small wooden idol in human shape, dressed in rags, called Shaitan, to whom they promised a cap or collar in return for good hunting.
In winter this wilderness is inhabited by a horde of Tartars whom the Russians call Baraba Tartars … In their dwellings, which are dug into the earth and raised about an ell above it with stakes and covered with straw, they keep a small idol carved from wood in the shape of a man.
Working translation
Original wording
Im Winter bewohnet diese Wüsteney eine Horde von Tartaren, welche von denen Russen Barabinsky Tartaren genennet werden … In ihren Wohnungen, welche in der Erde gegraben, und oberhalb ungefehr eine Elle mit Staqueten erhöhet, und mit Stroh bedecket sind, halten sie einen kleinen aus Holz geschnittenen Abgott, in der Gestalt eines Menschen.
About Baraba Tatars (Siberian Tatars between Tara and Tomsk)
Keep in mind
Cited from the 1744 reissue, which reprints the 1721 text page for page with clearer OCR.
Summer huts, winter log cabins, and fields of barley
Editorial contextThe Ides section describes the Baraba people between Tara and the Ob. They live in villages, in light huts in summer and good wooden cabins in winter, 'like the Tartars of Siberia', and they plough and sow oats, barley and buckwheat. The same page says they drink a spirit distilled from mare's milk called kumis and carry a wooden idol, their 'Saitan', on the hunt.
They are a cunning and warlike people, who live in wooden cabins like the Tartars of Siberia … They live in kinds of villages, in light huts in summer and in good wooden cabins in winter. Ploughing is practised among them, and they sow oats, barley, buckwheat and so on.
Working translation
Original wording
C'est un peuple malin & belliqueux, qui habite dans des cabanes de bois, comme les Tartares de Syberie … Ils habitent dans des especes de villages, sous des huttes legeres en été, & en de bonnes cabanes de bois en hyver. Le labourage est en usage parmi eux, & ils sement de l'avoine, de l'orge, du sarazin &c.
About Barabinsky (Baraba Tatars), called a kind of Kalmyk
Keep in mind
From the Ides material; the book calls them 'a kind of Kalmyk', though they are now counted as Siberian Tatars.
Baraba Tatars: houses dug into the earth
Editorial contextBetween Tara and Tomsk lay the Baraba district, home to Tatars who had once paid fur tribute both to the tsar and to the Kalmyk prince Ablai, and now paid only the tsar. They spoke both Kalmyk and Tatar, lived in dwellings dug into the ground like cellars, had their own princelings and small 'dug' towns (earthworks), and lived by hunting of every kind.
and in that Baraba district live Tatars who formerly paid tribute (yasak) to the Great Sovereign and to Ablai taisha, but now pay only to the Great Sovereign. And these Tatars speak Kalmyk and Tatar, and their dwelling is this: they dig cellars in the ground; and they have princelings, and dug-out little towns, and they carry on all kinds of hunting.
Working translation
Original wording
и въ той Барабинской волости живутъ Татары, которые прежъ сего платили есакъ Великому Государю и Аблаю тайшѣ, а нынѣ только Великому Государю платятъ. И тѣ Татары говорятъ по калмыцки и по татарски, а жилище ихъ есть, копаютъ въ землѣ погребы, и князцы у нихъ есть, и городки копаные, и звѣриные промыслы всякіе промышляютъ
About Baraba Tatars
Keep in mind
Baraba was off his route; this is Tobolsk knowledge, not his own observation.
