Mice that wander 'like the Tatars'
Editorial contextDescribing Kamchatka's root voles, Steller says the strangest thing about them is that they roam like Tatars, leaving the whole peninsula in great herds at certain times and staying away for years. He adds that they store food in cleaned larders, and that in spring dead mice are found with aconite root in their mouths, as if they had ended their lives in famine. The comparison shows 'Tatar' had become a byword for any wandering horde.
The strangest thing about the Kamchatka mice is that they wander about in the manner of the Tatars, and all at once, in whole herds, withdraw at certain times from all of Kamchatka and stay away for some years
Working translation
Original wording
Das Seltsamste bey denen kamtschatzkischen Mäusen ist, daß sie nach Art derer Tataren herum wandern, und sich alle auf einmal heerweise zu gewissen Zeiten aus ganz Kamtschatka retiriren, einige Jahre wegbleiben
About none (Tatars used as a comparison)
Keep in mind
The vole migrations are real; the idea that mice kill themselves with aconite is Steller's (or local) interpretation.
