The salt-lake fair where Kalmyks, Bukharans and Tatars sold horses and captives
Editorial contextAt the Yamysh salt lakes, where the 'Siberian kingdom' ended, 30 or 40 river boats came every year from Tobolsk, Tomsk and other towns to load natural salt. While the Russians gathered it, a fair sprang up: many thousands of Kalmyks, Bukharans and Tatars came to sell horses, captives and Chinese goods. After two or three weeks everyone left and the place stood empty again, and Spafarii suggests a fort should be built there.
And at the time when the Russian people gather salt from the lake, a fair takes place. And many thousands of people come, Kalmyks and Bukharans and Tatars, and trade with the Russian people. And they sell horses, and captives, and other Chinese goods. And they hold that fair for 2 or 3 weeks
Working translation
Original wording
А въ то время, какъ Рускіе люди собираютъ соль изъ озера, учинится ярмарокъ. И приходятъ многіе тысящи людей Калмыки и Бухарцы и Татары и торгуютъ съ Рускими людьми. И они продаютъ лошади, и ясырь, и иные китайскіе товары. И держатъ тотъ ярмарокъ недѣли по 2 и по 3
About Kalmyks, Bukharans and Tatars trading with Russians
Keep in mind
'Yasyr' means captives taken in raids and sold as slaves.
The Tatar tale of Chinese who fled when the forest grew
Editorial contextMüller reports a story still told orally by the Tobolsk Tatars: Siberia was once a bare steppe where the Chinese lived, but when forest began to grow everywhere the people took fright, 'as the land became as if horned', and moved away to their present home. He says it was also written down in 1670 on the orders of the Tobolsk governor Pyotr Godunov. Müller calls it a false tale that no reasonable person can believe, and notes that forest could easily grow over abandoned sites in 450 years without any miracle.
They say that at first all Siberia was a bare steppe without forest, and when at that time the Chinese lived there, forest little by little began to grow in various places, at which the people took fright, because the land became as if horned, and moved to their present dwelling. This tale can still be heard by word of mouth from the Tobolsk Tatars.
Working translation
Original wording
Сказываютъ, якобы сперва вся Сибирь была голая степь безъ лѣсу, а какъ въ оное время Китайцы тамъ жительство свое имѣли, то помалу по разнымъ мѣстамъ началъ лѣсъ расти, чего народъ испужавшись, понеже земля подобно какъ рогатая стала, на нынѣшнее жилище переселился. Сію повѣсть еще и нынѣ у Тобольскихъ Татаръ изустно слышать можно.
About Siberian Tatars of Tobolsk (tellers); 'Chinese' (in the tale)
Keep in mind
Müller records the tale in order to reject it; the next page adds the claim that ruined towns between the Irtysh and Tobol are overgrown with forest.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
The 'pyramids' of Tartar kings on old maps
Editorial contextStrahlenberg describes the burial mounds of southern Siberia: some are earth heaps as high as houses, lying so thick that they look like a ridge of hills; others are ringed with rough or squared stones, and some are built entirely of stone. He explains that the 'pyramids' drawn on old European maps of Great Tartary, labelled 'Pyramidal Sepulchres of the Tartarian Kings', must mean these tombs, which are not really pyramids.
Some are only raised up of Earth, as high as Houses, … that, at a Distance, they appear like a Ridge of Hills. … In some Places these Tombs are entirely built of Stone. Hence we find in the ancient Maps of Tartary the Greater, a Number of Pyramids, with these Words, in Latin; viz. The Pyramidal Sepulchres of the Tartarian Kings,
About ancient peoples of the Siberian steppe (Strahlenberg's 'Scythians')
Continue in this sourceStrahlenberg's description of Russia, Siberia and 'Great Tartary'1709 to 1729 · 18 passagesA Tatar lament for five slain Cossacks
Editorial contextAfter a hand-to-hand fight at the mouth of the Ishim in which five of Yermak's Cossacks died, the chronicle says the Tatars still sang about it at their gatherings, weeping, with a Tatar refrain that it translates. The song was known as 'the Tsaritsa's lament'. It is a rare glimpse of Tatar oral memory of the war.
and about those five men the Tatars sing with weeping at their gatherings, with the refrain: 'yanym, yanym, bit kazak, bit kazak', that is: 'warriors, warriors, five, five men we defeated and destroyed.' And this song is called the Tsaritsa's Lament.
Working translation
Original wording
и о тѣхъ пяти человѣкахъ Татара поютъ съ плачемъ при бесѣдахъ въ пѣсняхъ припѣваючи: янымъ, янымъ, битъ казакъ, битъ казакъ, сирѣчь: воины, воины, пять пять человѣкъ побѣдиша и разориша. И сія пѣсня и словетъ царицынъ плачь.
About Siberian Tatars
Keep in mind
The refrain is Tatar in Russian letters; the other scan of this edition (T0442 n95) reads 'бишь', closer to Tatar 'bish' (five), which fits the chronicler's own gloss. The translation of the Tatar words is the chronicler's.
Ablai-kit: a Kalmyk monastery with a printing press
Editorial contextNear the upper Irtysh stand the ruins of Ablai-kit, a Buddhist monastery that the Kalmyk prince Ablai founded in the mid-17th century, with a Mongol-Tibetan library and a woodblock press. Manuscripts from it were sent to Paris under Peter the Great. Humboldt notes that half-torn leaves of Tibetan books could still be found scattered in the steppe grass around the ruins.
which a Kalmyk prince, Ablai, had founded in the middle of the 17th century and endowed with a Mongol-Tibetan library and a woodblock printing press. … Even today one finds half-torn leaves of Tibetan books scattered in the steppe grass around the ruins of Ablai-kit.
Working translation
Original wording
qu'un prince kalmuk Ablai avait fondé au milieu du dix-septième siècle et enrichi d'une bibliothèque mongolo-tubétaine comme d'une imprimerie xylographique. … Encore aujourd'hui on trouve éparses dans l'herbe de la steppe, autour des ruines d'Ablaikit, des feuilles à demi-déchirées de livres tubétains.
About Kalmyks (Dzungar Oirats)
Keep in mind
Humboldt passed nearby in 1829 but does not say he visited Ablai-kit itself; the detail about the leaves comes from reports.
A Russian envoy guesses that ancient Russians lay under the mounds
Editorial contextContinuing the argument about the robbed mounds, Unkovsky told Darzha that in pagan times, over seven hundred years earlier, Russians had buried their dead with war-gear under great earth mounds, so perhaps some of 'our peoples' had once lived here. He blamed the digging on Kalmyks, Ostyaks or Kazakhs, and said Russian law punished grave-robbers with death. Darzha, doubtful, replied that his people had only had writing for a hundred years and could not know. A striking early example of a claim about who once lived on the steppe, made on the spot and without evidence.
Among us people are buried with their wealth, and especially in ancient times, before the Christian law, more than seven hundred years ago, they were buried with all their war-gear and great mounds of earth were heaped over them; and it may be that in ancient times some of our peoples lived in these places … [Darzha] said that among them writing began only a hundred years ago.
Working translation
Original wording
У насъ погребаются люди съ богатствомъ, а паче что въ древнія времена еще до христіанского закона, лѣтъ слишкомъ за семь сотъ погребалися со всѣмъ военнымъ уборствомъ, и насыпали на нихъ великіе бугры земли, и можетъ быть, что въ древнія времена нѣкоторые изъ нашихъ народовъ въ сихъ мѣстахъ жили … сказалъ, что у насъ де только сто лѣтъ какъ грамота началась
About Dzungars (Oirats); Russians; Kazakhs; Ostyaks
Keep in mind
Unkovsky offers this as a guess in a diplomatic sparring match, not as knowledge; he himself calls it 'perhaps'.
Miracles at the enemy's grave
Editorial contextAfter Yermak drowned in the Irtysh, his body was first abused on Kuchum's orders, but then, Coxe says, the Tatars came to revere him: they buried him with pagan rites, and stories spread that touching his body cured all illness and that a flame hovered over his tomb. A footnote adds that a Kalmyk prince, Allai, was said to have been cured by drinking earth from the grave.
Many miraculous stories were soon spread abroad, and met with implicit belief. The touch of his body was supposed to have been an instantaneous cure for all disorders; and even his clothes and arms were said to be endowed with the same efficacy. A flame of fire was represented as sometimes hovering about his tomb
About Siberian Tatars; later a Kalmyk prince
Keep in mind
Legend preserved in Russian Siberian chronicles; Coxe calls these 'idle fables'.
A golden 'Russian god' in a cup
Editorial contextYermak's men besieged Prince Demyan's big hill-town on the lower Irtysh, held by 2000 Tatars, Voguls and Ostyaks. A Chuvash who had been Kuchum's captive told them the defenders prayed to 'a Russian god, cast in gold, sitting in a cup'; they poured water in the cup and drank it, called it Christ, and said it had come from Vladimir's baptism of Rus. Sent to steal it, he reported that it stood on a table surrounded by burning fat and sulphur fumes. The Cossacks never found it.
One of them, a Chuvash who had been with Kuchum, a Russian captive, said: they pray, he said, to a Russian god, and that Russian god is cast of gold, sits in a cup, and they pour water into that cup and drink it, and call him Christ, and they say he was brought from Vladimir's baptism
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Original wording
Одинъ же въ нихъ Чювашенинъ былъ у Кучюма, руского полону, сказалъ: молятся де они рускому богу и тотъ де руской богъ литой золотой, въ чашѣ сѣдитъ, и въ ту де чашу наливши воды пьютъ, и зовутъ его Христомъ, а сказываютъ де привезенъ отъ Владимерова крещенія
About Tatars, Voguls and Ostyaks of Prince Demyan's town; a Chuvash informant
Keep in mind
Third-hand: a captive's report retold a century later. Such metal idols (often looted Christian or Iranian vessels) are known from Ob-Ugrian shrines.
A Zunghar brick temple quarried for Kazakh tombs
Editorial contextMeyer reached the ruins of the 'Ablakit palaces' about 70 versts from Ust-Kamenogorsk. He credits the building to the Zunghar prince Ablai in 1654 (following Pallas) and reports that the local Kazakhs had carried off its large fired bricks to build tombs for their sultans, leaving only foundations and the outer wall. On the same page he notes that the builders carried the enclosing wall up to the highest crags with piled granite blocks.
A description of this soongorian [Zunghar] temple, now completely destroyed, which was built in 1654 by the soongorian prince Ablai, can be found in Pallas's Travels … The Kirghiz have broken away the fine, large, solid bricks to build tombs for their dead sultans and other rich people, so that now only the foundations and the wall enclosing the whole site still stand.
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Original wording
Eine Beschreibung dieses, jetzt ganz zerstörten soongorischen Tempels, der im Jahre 1654 vom soongorischen Fürsten Ablai erbaut worden ist, findet man in Pallas Reisen … Die Kirgisen haben die schönen großen festen Backsteine weggebrochen, um ihren verstorbenen Sultanen und andere Reichen Grabmäler zu bauen, so daß jetzt nur noch die Fundamente und die den ganzen Platz einschließende Mauer steht.
About Zunghars (Oirat Mongols) as builders; Kazakhs (Kirghiz) as later users of the site
Keep in mind
The date and builder come from Pallas, not from anything Meyer read on site.
Printed scrolls from Kalmyk temples
Editorial contextStrahlenberg corrects another author: the idols and manuscripts sent to Europe did not come from Samarkand or the Caspian but from pagan temples and tombs in the Kalmyk lands along the upper Irtysh. The writings are in Tangut (Tibetan), Mongol and Kalmyk script, printed rather than written, in gold or silver letters on varnished cotton or silk paper. In a footnote he says he saw a wooden printing block for Kalmyk letters in the governor's house at Tobolsk in 1723.
…were brought from the Desarts of the Kalmucks, on each Side of the River Irtisch, upwards, out of the Pagan Temples and Tombs; And as to the Manuscripts, … they consist of Tanguthian, Mungalian and Kalmuckian Characters, not upon Parchment, but upon a thick Paper, made of Cotton or Silk, done over with black and blew Varnish; Upon which the Characters or Letters are not wrote, but printed,
About Kalmyks (Oirats)
Continue in this sourceStrahlenberg's description of Russia, Siberia and 'Great Tartary'1709 to 1729 · 18 passagesTribute sworn on a bloody sabre
Editorial contextYermak sent the fifty-leader Bogdan Briazga down the Irtysh to bring the Tatar and Ostyak districts under the tsar and collect yasak (fur tribute). At the first district he stormed a strong little town, hanged the best 'mergens' (warriors) by the leg and shot them, collected tribute 'by the sabre', laid the bloody sabre on the table and made the people kiss it as an oath to pay every year. The terror, says the chronicle, silenced the whole district.
And coming to the first, the Aremzian district, he took the strong little town by battle, and hanged many of the best mergens by the leg and shot them, and collected the yasak by the sabre, and laid it, bloody, on the table, and ordered them to kiss it in faith to the sovereign tsar, that they would serve and pay yasak every year
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Original wording
И пріѣхавъ въ первую Аремзянскую волость, и городокъ крѣпкій взялъ боемъ, и многихъ лутчихъ мергеней повѣсилъ за ногу и розстрѣлялъ, и ясакъ собралъ за саблею, и положилъ на столъ кровавую, и велѣлъ вѣрно цѣловати за государя царя, чтобъ имъ служить и ясакъ платить по вся годы
About Cossack Bogdan Briazga and the Tatars and Ostyaks of the lower Irtysh
Keep in mind
The sabre oath (shert) reflects local oath customs that the Russians adopted; the details come from Cossack tradition.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Log huts with windows made of ice
Editorial contextTravelling up the Irtysh in midwinter, Bell's party passes many Tatar villages and sleeps in their huts. He describes one- or two-room log houses chinked with moss, a broad bench for sitting and sleeping, and, in place of glass, a pane of ice cut to fit the window. The next page adds that these Tatars are very clean and use open hearths rather than Russian stoves.
These houses consist generally of one or two rooms, according to the ability of the landlord. … The walls are built of wood and moss, consisting of large beams, laid one above another, with a layer of moss between every two beams. All the roofs are raised. A square-hole is cut out for a window, and to supply the want of glass, a piece of ice
About Siberian Tatars
Continue in this sourceJohn Bell's travels from St Petersburg across Asia1715 to 1738 · 18 passagesSummer 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.
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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.
Yermak's body that bled for six weeks
Editorial contextFollowing the Remezov chronicle, whose author wanted Yermak made a saint, Müller tells how Tatars found the drowned Cossack leader by his armour. When a murza tried to strip it, blood ran from the corpse's mouth and nose as from a living man, so the Tatars laid the body naked on a scaffold and everyone who passed shot an arrow into it, and each time fresh blood flowed. Birds would not touch it, and after six weeks troubling dreams led the Tatars to bury him.
At once much blood ran from the dead man's mouth and nose, just as from a living person … For this purpose they laid the body quite naked on a scaffold, and everyone who came up or passed by shot an arrow at it, and each time fresh blood ran from the wound.
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Original wording
Alsobald lief dem Todten aus Mund und Nase häufiges Blut, nicht anders, als von einem lebendigen Menschen … Sie legten zu solchem Ende den Leichnam ganz entkleidet auf ein Gerüste, da denn ein jeder, der herzukam, oder vorüber gieng, einen Pfeil nach demselben abschoß, wovon jedes mahl frisches Blut aus der Wunde lief.
About Siberian Tatars of Kuchum Khan
Keep in mind
A hagiographic chronicle story; Müller notes its author wished Yermak to be canonised.
A silver bowl from a riverbank grave, and who could have made it
Editorial contextWhen the Irtysh undercut its bank near Samarovsky Yam in 1688, a wooden coffin with old bones, silver arm-rings, a silver necklace and a silver bowl fell out. The governor of Siberia, Fyodor Golovin, later gave the bowl to Witsen. Witsen asks who made such silverwork, found in several graves there, since the present inhabitants do not know how to work silver.
a grave, or wooden coffin, with the bones of a man long dead, together with some silverwork of arm-rings and a silver necklace … It deserves notice where, and by whom, this silver vessel, whose like is found more often in that region in some burial places, may have been made, because in these parts the art of working silver is not known among the natives today.
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Original wording
een Graft, of houte Dood-kist, met gebeenderen eener voor lang verstorven Mensch, beneffens eenig Zilver-werk van Arm-ringen, en een Zilvere Halsband … Het verdient zijn aenmerkinge, waer, en by wien dit Zilver geschir, wiens gelijken meer worden gevonden te dier Oord in zommige Begraef-plaetzen, mag gemaekt zijn, om dat in deze gewesten tegenwoordig by de Inboorlingen, de konst van in Zilver te werken niet is bekent.
About unknown ancient 'heathens' of Siberia
Keep in mind
Witsen owned the bowl but had the story of its discovery from Golovin.
Brick temples and clay houses on the Irtysh
Editorial contextOn the way up the Irtysh Baikov noted a Kalmyk 'mosque' (a Buddhist temple) of burnt brick, then a Kalmyk lama with two large 'Burkhan' halls, also of burnt brick, and clay houses to live in. The fields around grew wheat and millet, but the ploughing was done by Bukharans, the settled Central Asian farmers who worked for the Oirats.
and at Kaban-Gusan a Kalmyk mosque has been built: of burnt brick … And a Kalmyk lama lives here beside the Irtysh on the left bank. Two great Burkhan (Buddha) halls have been built for that lama, of burnt brick; and the houses they live in are of clay; and much wheat and millet grows for that lama, and Bukharans do the ploughing.
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Original wording
а въ Кабанъ-Гусанѣ поставлена мечеть Калмыцкая: кирпичь жженой … А живетъ тутъ Калмыцкой Лама подлѣ Иртыша на лѣвой сторонѣ. А поставлены у того Ламы двѣ палаты Бурханные велики: кирпичь жженой; а избы у нихъ, въ которыхъ живутъ, глиняные; а хлѣба родится у того Ламы пшеницы и проса много, а пашутъ Бухарцы.
About Kalmyks (Oirats), a Buddhist lama, Bukharan farmers
Keep in mind
'Mosque' is Baikov's word for a non-Christian temple; Burkhan is the Mongol word for Buddha.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Opened burial mounds all over the steppe: whose were they?
Editorial contextOn the way home Unkovsky saw many burial mounds dug open 'like cellars' across the steppe. The Dzungar envoy Darzha had heard that Russians dug them for golden stirrups and cups, and said the dead were of his own people. Unkovsky objected that by their religion Kalmyks burn their dead or give them to dogs and birds, and never bury them with gold, and suggested that perhaps some of 'our peoples' had lived there in ancient times; Darzha still held that they were his. An early recorded argument about who built the kurgans.
Travelling across the steppe we saw a great many dug-open mounds … like opened cellars, visible all over the steppe. … He was asked: what people were buried here? He said: supposedly of their own people. To this he was told that by their faith they burn their dead and throw them in the water, give them to dogs and birds for food, and do not bury them with gold or with any wealth at all.
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Original wording
Ѣдучи въ пути степью, видѣли множество разрытыхъ бугровъ … яко погребы раскрытые, по всей степи видны. … Спрошено у него: Какіе люди тутъ погребены были? Оной сказалъ, будто ихъ народу. На сіе сказано ему, что по ихъ вѣрѣ умершихъ людей жгутъ и въ воду бросаютъ, собакамъ и птицамъ на кормъ отдаютъ, а съ золотомъ и ни съ какимъ богатствомъ не погребаютъ.
About Dzungars (Oirats); unknown ancient builders
Keep in mind
Unkovsky saw the robbed mounds; his account of Kalmyk funeral custom is a generalisation made to win an argument.
Tatars keep the law of Muhammad; the Kalmyks, 'I do not know'
Editorial contextEsipov opens with the peoples living along the Tobol, Irtysh and Ob: Tatars, Kalmyks, Mongols, the 'Piebald Horde' (Selkups), Ostyaks and Samoyeds. The Tatars, he says, keep Muhammad's law; as for the Kalmyks, he honestly does not know their faith, since he found nothing written and could not find out. The Ostyaks and Samoyeds, he adds, have no law and worship idols.
Along these rivers live many peoples: Tatars, Kalmyks, Mongols, the Piebald Horde, Ostyaks, Samoyeds and other peoples. The Tatars keep the law of Muhammad; which law or tradition of their fathers the Kalmyks keep, I do not know, since I found nothing written about it and could not find out.
Working translation
Original wording
По сихъ же рѣкахъ жителствуютъ мнози языцы: Тотаровя, Колмыки, Мугалы, Пѣгая орда, Остяки, Самоядь и прочая языцы. Тотаровя законъ Моаметовъ держатъ; Колмыки же который законъ или отецъ своихъ преданіе держатъ, невѣмъ, понеже писменно о семъ не обретохъ ни испытати возмогохъ.
About Tatars, Kalmyks, Mongols, the 'Piebald Horde', Ostyaks, Samoyeds
Keep in mind
The editors restore some words from other copies (printed in brackets in the edition).
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
An Oirat prince builds a town with craftsmen from China
Editorial contextTravelling with the camp of the Oirat prince Ablai taisha, Baikov found him building a town on the Beshka stream between stone hills. Baikov could not tell whether it would be of stone or wood, but saw lots of timber cut, and was told the master builders had been sent from China. It is a precise, first-hand note of a steppe ruler commissioning a fixed town from foreign craftsmen.
And on that stream, the Beshka, Ablai taisha is building a town; whether of stone or of wood is not known for certain, but much timber has been felled, thin pine … and he is putting that town up between stony hills; and the master builders for it were sent from the Chinese Tsardom.
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Original wording
А на той рѣчкѣ Бешкѣ Аблай-Тайша дѣлаетъ городъ; а про то подлинно не вѣдомо, каменной ли, или деревянной; а лѣсу нарожено много: лѣсъ сосновой тонокъ … а ставитъ тотъ городъ промежь горъ каменныхъ; а мастеры къ нему присланы изъ Китайскаго Царства
About Kalmyks (Oirats) of Ablai taisha
Keep in mind
Baikov saw the works under way; the origin of the craftsmen is what he was told. Historians identify this with the Buddhist monastery-town later known as Ablai-kit, whose ruins survive.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Clay ruins in the steppe, credited to Bukharan farmers
Editorial contextSouth of Semipalatinsk the party saw the foundations of a house of six rooms, which Gmelin calls the former dwelling of a Kalmyk 'idol-worshipper'. Others had stood there, but weather had destroyed them because all were built only of clay. Irrigation channels in the fields he credits to Bukharans, since, he explains, the Kalmyks do no farming at all and even their ruler has no fixed seat but is always on the move.
but the weather had destroyed them entirely, because all the buildings had been made only of clay. In the field nearby one could see some channels in the ground, into which the inhabitants of this area, who are said to have been Bukharans, had led water
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Original wording
allein das Wetter hatte sie ganz zernichtet, weil alle Gebäude bloß von Leim aufgeführet gewesen waren. Auf dem Felde dabey sahe man einige Rinnen in dem Erdreiche, in welche die Einwohner dieser Gegend, welche Bucharen gewesen seyn sollen, Wasser geleitet haben
About Kalmyks (Dzungars) and Bukharans
Keep in mind
Who built the houses is Gmelin's inference from hearsay and from what he knew of Kalmyk life.
Ablai-kit: a brick temple full of books in the steppe
Editorial contextGmelin did not go himself: he sent a corporal, soldiers and a scribe, with orders to measure the place and 'carry off everything'. They reported a rectangle walled with broken rock, buildings on a raised base, a hall with two bellied furnaces, a great clay idol with sixteen smaller ones, and heaps of Tibetan ('Tangut') and Kalmyk manuscripts and woodblocks; nearly twenty cartloads still lay there. Gmelin names it the idol temple of the Kalmyk prince Ablai of the Khoshut, driven out about 1671.
In this same building was a large cupboard with many compartments, in which many writings lay when the place was first discovered, and which are now scattered through the whole building... All these buildings are built of baked bricks
Working translation
Original wording
In eben diesem Gebäude war ein großer Schrank mit vielen Fächern, worin bey der ersten Entdeckung viele Schriften gelegen haben, die nun in dem ganzen Gebäude zerstreuet sind. … Alle diese Gebäude sind von gebackenen Ziegelsteinen aufgeführet
About Kalmyks (Oirats); Ablai, a Khoshut prince
Keep in mind
Second-hand: the description is the soldiers' and scribe's report. It also records the expedition removing manuscripts from the site.
The sky-stone that makes cold, rain and snow
Editorial contextRowing up the Irtysh, Yermak's men came to the little town of Tashatkan, where, they were told, a stone had fallen from the sky, dark red in colour, and from it at times came cold, rain and snow. Yermak and his men marvelled at 'God's work'. Weather stones (the 'yada tash' of Turkic and Mongol lore) were believed to bring rain and snow.
And they rowed to the little town of Tashatkan; and in that town a stone fell from the sky … dark red in appearance, and from it, they say, at times there arises cold, rain and snow. And at this Yermak and his comrades marvelled at God's doing.
Working translation
Original wording
И погребоша къ Ташатканскому городку; и въ томъ городкѣ спалъ камень съ небеси … видомъ багровъ, и отъ него де временемъ восходитъ стужа, дождь и снѣгъ. И о семъ Ермакъ съ товарыщи дивился Божію дѣянію.
About Siberian Tatars of Tashatkan town
Keep in mind
Hearsay reported with 'de' ('they say'); the size of the stone is missing in the manuscript.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Brick kilns and a two-month treasure dig at Ablaikit
Editorial contextContinuing at the ruins, Meyer says some of the surrounding graves look like the so-called Chud graves but many were made by the Zunghars. He records that Russian soldiers had dug there for two months around 1800, and that traces of kilns where the temple's bricks were probably fired could still be seen nearby: a plain clue that the building material was made on the spot.
About 25 years ago searches were carried out here with 100 soldiers for almost 2 months, and many graves were opened. … About 5 versts to the south-west traces of kilns are said to be still visible, where the bricks used for the buildings were probably fired.
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Original wording
Vor etwa 25 Jahren wurde hier mit 100 Soldaten fast 2 Monate lang Nachsuchungen angestellt, und viele Gräber geöffnet. … Etwa 5 Werst nach Südwesten sollen noch die Spuren von Oefen bemerkbar seyn, wo wahrscheinlich die zu den Gebäuden gebrauchten Backsteine gebrannt worden sind.
About Zunghars (Oirat Mongols); Russian soldiers as diggers
Keep in mind
The kilns are reported ('sollen'), not seen by Meyer; the dig is local hearsay.
A wooden Buddhist chapel at a Qing border post
Editorial contextHumboldt's party visited the Qing border post of Baty on the Irtysh. Rose says (p. 601) it was really two posts, Mongols on one bank and Chinese on the other, all living in tents or Kazakh yurts under Chinese officers. The Mongol-side officer showed them the temple: a small square wooden building with an altar and a painted Buddhist image, and a slate altar outside. The frontier 'town' was a camp.
After staying a while he led us into the temple, which stood on this side of the Irtysh not far from the river. It was a small, square, wooden building whose door faced the river; inside we found it almost empty, since apart from an altar opposite the door and the image of an idol of the Buddhist cult on the wall above the altar …
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Original wording
Nach einigem Verweilen führte er uns in den Tempel, der auf dieser Seite des Irtysch nicht weit vom Flusse stand: Es war ein kleines, viereckiges, hölzernes Gebäude, dessen Thür dem Flusse zugekehrt war; im Innern fanden wir es fast leer, da es ausser einem Altar der Thür gegenüber, und der Abbildung eines Idols des Buddhistischen Cultus an der Wand über dem Altar …
About Mongol and Chinese soldiers of the Qing garrison
Continue in this sourceGustav Rose's narrative of Humboldt's Russian journey, 18291829 · 13 passagesA man with four heads and twenty-four arms
Editorial contextOn the walls behind the idols at Ablai-kit were paintings that baffled Gmelin. He says he has not the patience to describe them and refers the curious to alchemical pictures, as equally absurd. His examples: figures with several heads and many arms, one trampling a man's head, and a many-headed man embracing a woman.
One sees, for example, a man with 4 heads and 24 arms, another with 2 heads and 8 arms. The first treads with one of his right feet on a man's head and has two more men lying at his feet.
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Original wording
Man siehet z. E. einen Mann mit 4 Köpfen und 24 Armen, einen andern mit 2 Köpfen und 8 Armen. Der erstere tritt mit einem seiner rechten Füße einem Menschen auf den Kopf und hat noch zween andere Menschen zu seinen Füßen liegen.
About Kalmyks (Oirats)
Keep in mind
Gmelin does not identify the figures; they match the many-armed deities of Tibetan Buddhist art. He knew them only from his men's report and the pieces they brought back.
Tatar forts on the Irtysh stormed by Yermak's men
Editorial contextThe 1882 editor matches Spafarii's list of Tatar villages on the Irtysh with the Tobolsk chronicle of Semyon Remezov. In 1582, that chronicle says, Yermak's officer Bogdan Bryazga stormed a fortified Tatar town at the mouth of the Aremzyanka, and further down met resistance at the old Tatar fortress of Turtas, whose traces the historian Müller later searched for in vain. Beyond Turtas, Spafarii's list shows Tatar villages giving way to Ostyak ones.
Going down the Irtysh, at the mouth of the Arimdzyanka (where Spafarii names the Arimdzyansk district), Bryazga took by storm a fortified Tatar town … Here the chronicle mentions an ancient Tatar fortress, the Turtas gorodishche, whose traces the historiographer Müller sought in vain during his journey through Siberia.
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Original wording
Слѣдуя внизъ по Иртышу, при устьѣ р. Аримдзянки (гдѣ Спаѳарій называетъ Аримдзянскую волость), Брязга взялъ приступомъ татарскій укрѣпленный городокъ … Здѣсь въ лѣтописи упоминается старинная татарская крѣпость, Туртасское городище, слѣды котораго тщетно разыскивалъ исторіографъ Миллеръ во время своего путешествія по Сибири.
About Siberian Tatars of Kuchum's khanate
Keep in mind
Editorial note resting on the late Remezov chronicle (c. 1700), not on Spafarii. The printed dash is shown as a comma.
Kuchum's hidden ford of stone and sand
Editorial contextBefore Yermak's last night, the chronicle explains the trap: across a swampy stream near the Vagai, Kuchum had built a broad ford, wide enough for three or four carts abreast, in one spot only, packing it firmly with stones and sand; anyone who missed the spot drowned. A Tatar condemned to death was sent across it to spy on the sleeping Cossacks. It is one of the few Tatar-built works the chronicles describe.
because Kuchum had made a broad ford, so that three or four carts could pass abreast, in one place, filled in firmly with stones and sand; and whoever did not hit upon it would drown.
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Original wording
понеже Кучюмъ учинилъ бродъ широкой, какъ въ три или въ четыре телѣги проѣхать въ одномъ мѣстѣ, каменьемъ и пескомъ засыпалъ плотно; а кто не угадаетъ, утопаетъ.
About Kuchum, khan of Sibir
Continue in this sourceThe Siberian Chronicles: Yermak and the fall of Kuchum's khanate1581 to 1659 · 11 passagesA Tatar funeral feast of thirty oxen for Yermak
Editorial contextIn the same chronicle story, the Tatars repented of mistreating Yermak's body, wished they had made him their king, and buried him under a spreading pine at the Begishev burial ground, holding a memorial feast 'after the Tatar custom' at which thirty oxen and ten rams were eaten. They shared out his weapons and clothes, and one coat of mail was offered to a famous Ostyak idol.
They buried him at the Begishev burial ground under a pine with crooked branches, and in his memory held a funeral feast after the Tatar custom, at which 30 oxen and 10 rams were consumed.
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Original wording
Man habe ihn an dem Begischewischen Begräbniß-Orte unter einer krauß-astigen Fichte zur Erden bestattet, und zu seinem Gedächtnisse nach Tatarischem Gebrauche ein Todtenmahl angestellet, auf welchem 30 Ochsen und 10 Hammel verzehret worden.
About Siberian Tatars; Ostyaks
Continue in this sourceMüller's Collection of Russian History, with his history of Siberia1733 to 1743 · 11 passagesWhy Siberia's rivers have Tatar names
Editorial contextSpafarii notices that the Irtysh, Tobol, Tura and other Siberian rivers have no Russian names: Russians still use the names the Tatars or Ostyaks gave them before the conquest. The Irtysh, he says, took its name from the Tatars because Kuchum, 'the Tatar tsar', ruled widely along it over Tatars, Ostyaks and other peoples. Even under Russian rule, he adds, a great multitude of Tatars and their faith lived along the river.
The river Irtysh has no Russian name, because Irtysh is named in Tatar and not in Russian … So too the river Irtysh took its name from the Tatars, because Kuchum, the Tatar tsar, ruled widely along the Irtysh, and not only over the Tatars but over the Ostyaks and other foreign peoples too
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Original wording
Рѣка Иртышъ имя руское не имѣетъ, для того что Иртышъ именуется по татарски, а не по руски … Такъ же рѣка Иртышъ приняла имя свое отъ Татаръ, потому что Кучюмъ, царь Татарской, владѣлъ по Иртышу пространно и не токмо надъ Татары, но и надъ Остяками и надъ иными иноземцы
About Siberian Tatars of Kuchum's former khanate
Continue in this sourceSpafarii's 1675 journey across Siberia to the Chinese border1675 · 16 passagesAblaikit, a walled Kalmyk temple in the steppe
Editorial contextPallas sent his student Sokolov to measure the ruins of Ablaikit, seventy versts from Ust-Kamenogorsk, and printed an abstract of his report with plans. It was a Buddhist temple and residence built by the Kalmyk prince Ablai, surrounded by a wall of stacked slate slabs that climbed over the crags, with a temple on a burnt-brick platform. Kazakhs and Russian hunting parties had since wrecked much of it.
Ablaikit lies outside the border of the Russian Empire, in the desert formerly inhabited by the Zunghar Kalmyks but now fallen to the Kirgis of the Middle Horde… The historical circumstances of its building by a Kalmyk prince, Ablai, and of the later destruction of this residence
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Original wording
Ablaikit liegt ausser der Gränze des rußischen Reichs, in der sonst von den Ssungorischen Kalmücken bewohnten, nunmehr aber den Kirgisen der mitlern Horde zu Theil gewordnen Wüste… Die historischen Umstände von dessen Erbauung durch einen Kalmückischen Fürsten Ablai, und von der erfolgten Zerstörung dieses Wohnsitzes
About Zunghar Kalmyks (Oirats)
Keep in mind
Second-hand: Pallas prints his student's report; the history of Ablai comes from G. F. Müller's earlier study.
Kazakh nomads who irrigate millet fields
Editorial contextOn the way to the Chinese post, Rose passed several auls (travelling camps) of Kazakhs of the Great Horde and saw fields beside them. He notes that the millet grew well because the Kazakhs were skilled at irrigation, cutting little ditches to bring mountain water to the fields, and heard that they also grew wheat. A useful corrective to the idea of purely herding nomads.
We passed several of their auls, as their communities that travel about together are called, and near them also found the ground cultivated in places. Mostly we saw millet (Holcus sorghum) grown, which stood very well everywhere because the Kirghiz know how to irrigate the field very skilfully, cutting it through everywhere with small ditches by which water from the mountains is led to the field.
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Original wording
Wir kamen bei mehreren ihrer Aule vorbei, wie man ihre zusammen herumziehenden Gemeinden nennt, und fanden in der Nähe derselben auch den Boden stellenweise bebaut. Meistentheils sahen wir Hirse (Holcus Sorgum) gezogen, die überall recht gut stand, weil die Kirgisen den Acker sehr geschickt zu bewässern verstehen, und ihn überall mit kleinen Gräben durchschneiden, durch welche das Wasser von den Bergen dem Acker zugeführt wird.
About Kirghiz (Kazakhs of the Great Horde)
Continue in this sourceGustav Rose's narrative of Humboldt's Russian journey, 18291829 · 13 passagesTwo villages for every village: summer and winter
Editorial contextSailing up the Irtysh, Gmelin passed Uttus aul, which was really three villages: two for summer and one for winter. This, he says, was the general custom of the local Tatars, who moved into the winter village when the cold set in. He adds that 'aul' is the Tatar word for village, and that Russians call every Tatar village 'yurty', a Tatar word that simply means 'house'.
It is a general custom among the Tatars here that they have one village for the summer and another for the winter. As soon as the cold sets in they move into their winter village, and as soon as the warm weather comes, into the summer village.
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Original wording
Dieses ist unter den hiesigen Tataren eine allgemeine Gewohnheit, daß sie ein anderes Dorf für den Sommer, ein anderes für den Winter haben. Sobald die Kälte einfällt, ziehen sie in ihr Winterdorf, und sobald die Wärme kommt, in das Sommerdorf.
About Siberian Tatars of the Irtysh
Continue in this sourceGmelin's journey through Siberia, volume 11733 to 1743 · 15 passagesAn empty brick hall on the steppe: 'an old work'
Editorial contextThe route list down the Irtysh names the Kalmyk lama's two halls of fired brick coated with lime, and then a place the Kalmyks call Kabal-Gasun, which Spafarii renders in Russian as 'stone hall': a building of fired brick, standing empty, 'an old work'. He says nothing of who built it or when.
the Kalmyk lama lives by the Irtysh river on the left side; and two brick halls have been set up for him, of fired brick coated with lime … Kabal-Gasun in the Kalmyk tongue, and in Russian 'a stone hall': fired brick, empty. An old work.
Working translation
Original wording
лама Калмыцкой, живетъ подлѣ рѣки Иртыша на лѣвой сторонѣ; и поставлены у него двѣ палаты кирпичныя, кирпичь зженой смазыванъ известью … Кабалъ-Гасунъ - калмыцкимъ языкомъ, а по руски - палата каменная: кирпичъ зженой, пустая. Дѣло старинное.
About Kalmyks (Oirats); the builders of the ruin are not named
Keep in mind
Taken from earlier envoys' route reports, not seen by Spafarii. Dashes in the printed text are shown as hyphens.
