The storm cave of Oufbe
Editorial contextAn old Tatar mullah of Semipalatinsk, who had travelled to Kulja, told the Kazan orientalist Kazim-Beg of a huge cave on the caravan road past Lake Alakol, called Oufbe in Tatar. It blew out storms lasting two days, strong enough to fling things into the lake; nobody dared go in, and only God knew how deep it was. Caravans waited a week for the winds to pass.
there is a great underground cave; it bears the Tatar name Oufbe. Sometimes, and chiefly in winter, it produces violent storms that last for two days. The entrance of this cave looks like a vast vault, and no one dares to enter it or even look at it closely. Its depth is unknown to everyone except God (Allah).
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Original wording
est une grande caverne souterraine; elle porte le nom tatar d'Oufbé. Quelquefois, et principalement en hiver, elle produit des tempêtes violentes qui durent pendant deux jours. L'entrée de cette caverne ressemble à celle d'un vaste caveau, et personne n'ose y entrer, ni même y regarder de bien près. Sa profondeur est inconnue à tout le monde, à l'exception de Dieu (Allah).
About Tatar and Kazakh caravan travellers
Keep in mind
Third-hand: Humboldt prints Kazem-Beg's English letter in French, and Kazem-Beg himself only guessed that fire had once come out of the cave. The pass is known for violent winds.
'Destroyed by the Manchu Tartars, not the Chinese'
Editorial contextAmiot corrects the French traveller Chappe d'Auteroche, who had written that the Kalmyk nation was destroyed 'by the Chinese' after a ten-year war. It would be more exact, Amiot says, to say it was destroyed by the Manchu Tartars, since no Chinese took part, and the war lasted only about three and a half years. The distinction matters for anyone reading 'Tartar' in these sources.
It would have been more exact to say: it was destroyed by the Manchu Tartars, for no Chinese had any part in it; and the war that exterminated the Eleuths lasted only about three and a half years, not ten.
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Original wording
Il eût été plus exact de dire: elle a été détruite par les Tartares Mantchoux; car aucun Chinois n'y a eu part: & la guerre qui a exterminé les Eleuths n'a duré qu'environ trois ans & demi, & non pas dix ans.
About Eleuths (Dzungars, Kalmyks); Manchus
Continue in this sourceMemoirs of the Peking missionaries, with Amiot on the Dzungars and the Torghut exodus1755 to 1771 · 10 passagesThe peoples of the Dzungar realm, none of them called Tatars
Editorial contextUnkovsky lists the peoples under the Kontaisha: the Dzungars proper ('of the left hand'), Kyrgyz, Uriankhai, Telengits and others, the town-dwelling Bukharans of Yarkand, the Buruts (Kyrgyz) of lake Issyk-Kul and the Barabinians, who paid tribute to both Russia and the Dzungars. No one here is called a Tatar; the same land appears on Western maps of the time as part of 'Great Tartary'.
Under the Kontaisha's rule are various peoples, namely: his own people, called the Dzungars (or 'of the left hand'), the Kyrgyz, Uriankhai, Telengits, Mingats, Khoits, Khoshuts, the Bukharans of Erken (Yarkand), who live in towns, though the better sort roam with him, the Buruts, who roam around lake Tuskel (Issyk-Kul), and the Barabinians, who pay tribute to His Imperial Majesty and to the Kontaisha.
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Original wording
Подъ его контайшинымъ владѣніемъ обрѣтаются разные народы, а именно: его настоящей народъ, имянуемой Зюнгоры (или лѣвой руки), Киргизы, Урянхайцы, Теленгуты, Мингаты, Каюты, Кошеуты, Эркенскіе Бухарцы (въ городахъ живущіе, а лучше при немъ кочуютъ), Буруты, которые около озера Тускелъ кочуютъ, Барабинцы, которые ясакъ платятъ въ сторону Императорского Величества и Контайшѣ.
About Dzungars and their subject peoples
Keep in mind
The identifications of Kayuty as Khoits and Tuskel as Issyk-Kul are editorial glosses by this reader, not Unkovsky's.
Kalmyks who pity people tied to one place
Editorial contextAnother footnote quotes Bell on the Dzungar Kalmyks of Tsewang Rabdan (the 'Kontaysha'), who could field 100,000 horsemen. Bell, relying on Russians who had visited, says they lived in tents all year and found it amusing to pity settled people who had to work for a living, which they considered 'the greatest slavery'.
These Tartars live in tents, all the year, removing from place to place, as called by necessity or inclination. This is the most ancient and pleasant manner of life. It is entertaining to hear them commiserate those who are confined to one place of abode, and obliged to support themselves by labour, which they reckon the greatest slavery.
About Dzungar (Oirat) Kalmyks
Keep in mind
Bell's information came from Russian officials who had been sent to the Kontaysha.
Few old ruins, many new towns
Editorial contextIntroducing his list of old remains, the author says that in Zungharia more recently destroyed and newly built towns are known than ancient ruins, though on the Ili stand the ruins of a town with four stone towers. The Kazakh steppes, he adds, seem hardly fit for settled farming, yet he lists the 'remains of former inhabitants' known to him: ruins, stone mosques, tombs and burial mounds.
In Zungharia more recently destroyed and newly built towns are known than ruins of old ones. On the Ili river … are the ruins of a town with 4 stone towers. … The Kirghiz steppes, like the Kuma and Kalmyk steppes, seem hardly capable of European cultivation with permanent dwellings, farming … yet the following remains of former inhabitants have become known to me.
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In der Soongorey sind mehr neuzerstörte und neuerbauete Städte als Ruinen von alten bekannt. Am Ilibache … sind Ruinen einer Stadt mit 4 steinernen Thürmen. … Die Kirgisischen Steppen, scheinen wie die Kumanische (S. 97.) und Kalmückische kaum eines europäischen Anbaues mit beständigen Wohnungen, Ackerbau … fähig, doch sind mir folgende Nachbleibsel voriger Bewohner bekannt geworden.
About Zunghars, Kirghiz-Kaisaks (Kazakhs) and earlier inhabitants
A note on this quote
OCR normalized (checked against the page image; the OCR text is badly garbled).
Omyl, a city the Mongols rebuilt
Editorial contextIn the country of the Black Kitayans (Kara-Khitai), Carpini found a city the Mongols had built anew, with a house put up by the Emperor, where the friars were invited to drink. Rockhill's note explains that Imil was first built by the Kara-Khitai around 1125 and was Guyuk's own appanage.
After that we entered the country of the Black Kitayans, in which they (i.e., the Mongols) have built anew, as it were, a city called Omyl, in which the Emperor has erected a house where we were invited to drink
About Mongols in the land of the Kara-Khitai
Continue in this sourceFriar William's journey to the Mongol court, with Carpini and Benedict the Pole1245 to 1255 · 21 passagesA Kalmyk ruler who searched for the legendary valley of Ergene Kon
Editorial contextDiscussing Abulghazi's legend that the ancestors of the Mongols lived shut in the valley of Ergene Kon until a whole mountain was melted to let them out, Müller adds a curious report he had been assured of: the Zunghar ruler Galdan Tseren, having heard the story from Bukharans, searched for such a valley as a refuge for his treasure and family, and was said to have found one somewhere in his lands.
It is remarkable that, as I am assured, the Kalmyk ruler Galdan Tseren after long searching is said to have found such a plain among the mountains, as Ergene Kon is described by Abulghazi … within the borders of his territory, only no one knows where
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Es ist merkwürdig, daß, wie man mich versichert, der Calmückische Beherrscher Galdanzerin nach langem Suchen eine dergleichen Ebene zwischen dem Gebürge, wie Irgene-Kon von Abulgasi beschrieben ist … innerhalb den Gränzen seines Gebiets, man weiß nur nicht wo, soll gefunden haben
About Kalmyks (Zunghar Oirats); Mongol origin legend
Continue in this sourceMüller's Collection of Russian History, with his history of Siberia1733 to 1743 · 11 passagesTorghuts, Eleuths and the four branches of the Dzungar nation
Editorial contextThe emperor's monument explains who the Torghuts were: one of the branches of the Eleuths. Four branches once made up the whole Dzungar ('Tchong-kar') nation; they split, the Eleuths dominated the rest, and in Kangxi's time the Torghut chief Ayuki fled with his people into Russian territory and settled on the 'Etchil', which Amiot's note identifies as the Volga.
The Torghuts are one of the branches of the Eleuths. Four different branches once formed the whole nation of Dzungar. It would be hard to explain their common origin, about which nothing very certain is known. These four branches separated and each became a nation of its own.
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Les Tourgouths sont une des branches des Eleuths. Quatre branches differentes formoient autrefois toute la nation de Tchong-kar. Il seroit difficile d'expliquer leur commune origine, sur laquelle d'ailleurs on ne sait rien de bien certain. Ces quatre branches se séparerent, & firent chacune une nation à part.
About Torghuts (Volga Kalmyks), Eleuths (Dzungars)
Continue in this sourceMemoirs of the Peking missionaries, with Amiot on the Dzungars and the Torghut exodus1755 to 1771 · 10 passagesKalmyks and Mongols as heirs of Chinggis Khan's Tartars
Editorial contextAfter recounting how China destroyed the Zunghar Kalmyk state in 1757, Chappe says the other Kalmyk branches kept the courage they had under Chinggis Khan, whose conquests were made with these peoples, and that the Mongols between China and Siberia descend from the same Tartars. Here 'Tartar' means the Mongol-speaking peoples as a whole.
Several other branches of the Kalmyks still live in that part of Asia. They have kept the courage and bravery they had in the time of Chinggis Khan and his successors. It was with these peoples that those princes made so many conquests and laid down the law to Asia. The Mongols situated between China and Siberia descend from the same Tartars and are no less courageous.
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Original wording
Plusieurs autres branches des Calmouks habitent encore dans cette partie de l'Asie. Ils ont conservé le courage & la bravoure qu'ils avoient du temps de Gengis-kan & de ses Successeurs. C'est avec ces Peuples que ces Princes firent tant de conquêtes & donnerent la loi à l'Asie. Les Mongales situés entre la Chine & la Sibérie descendent des mêmes Tartares, & ils ne sont pas moins courageux.
About Kalmyks (Oirats) and Mongols
Keep in mind
Chappe learned of the Zunghar collapse from Kalmyk refugees and Russians in Siberia; his view of the Kalmyks as Chinggis Khan's own army is a loose generalisation.
