Grey felt for the poor, red cloth for sultans, reeds for the poorest
Editorial contextAfter describing the Kazakh yurt (a round tent of wooden lattice covered with felt, with a smoke hole at the top, 'exactly like the Kalmyk ones', 4 to 8 arshins high), Levshin shows how its covering marked rank. Ordinary Kazakhs used grey felt, the rich and noble white felt, some great sultans red broadcloth lined with silk, and the very poorest covered their homes with matting, turf and reeds.
The kibitkas of ordinary Kirghiz are usually made of grey felts; the noble and rich use white felts for this; and some powerful sultans of the Middle and Great Horde have yurts covered with red broadcloth and lined with silk fabrics. By contrast, the very poorest cover their dwellings, instead of felt, with matting, turf and reeds.
Working translation
Original wording
Кибитки простыхъ Киргизовъ обыкновенно дѣлаются изъ войлоковъ сѣрыхъ; знатные и богатые употребляютъ для сего бѣлые войлоки; а у нѣкоторыхъ сильныхъ Султановъ Средней и Большой Орды, юрты бываютъ обтянуты краснымъ сукномъ и подбиты шелковыми тканями. Въ противоположность послѣднимъ самые бѣдные, вмѣсто войлоковъ, покрываютъ жилища свои рогожами, дерномъ и камышемъ.
About Kazakhs
Continue in this sourceLevshin's Description of the Kazakh Hordes and Steppes1820 to 1822 · 12 passagesSkeletons sitting on horseback in the old graves
Editorial contextNear an old burial ground of hollow-topped stone mounds, Kazakhs told Eversmann that a hundred or more years earlier they had opened some graves to learn whether Muslims or unbelievers lay there. They said they found human skeletons sitting on horseback with silver sabres and stirrups, and women with necklaces of pearls and precious stones laid in their mouths. The Kazakhs believed the dead were Kalmyks; Eversmann classes the mounds with the so-called Chud graves.
they relate that a hundred or more years ago they had not known whether Muslims or unbelievers were buried there, so it was decided to open some graves, where human skeletons were then found sitting on horseback, as well as many implements of silver, such as sabres, stirrups and so on; women too were found, whose necklaces of pearls and precious stones had been laid in their mouths.
Working translation
Original wording
sie erzählen, dass sie vor hundert oder mehreren Jahren nicht gewusst hatten, ob dort Muhamedaner oder Ungläubige begraben lägen, deshalb habe man beschlossen einige Gräber zu öffnen, wo man alsdann Menschengerippe zu Pferde sitzend gefunden habe, so wie auch viele Geräthe von Silber, als Säbel, Steigbügel etc. auch habe man Weiber vorgefunden, denen ihr Halsgeschmeide, bestehend aus Perlen und kostbaren Steinen, in den Mund gelegt gewesen wäre.
About Kazakhs (Kirghiz) as tellers; the dead said to be Kalmyks
Keep in mind
Pure hearsay about a dig long before Eversmann's visit; he saw only the stone mounds.
Inside a Kazakh sultan's tent
Editorial contextAt the Ilek River the embassy met its first Kazakh camp: about 50 tents of white or brown felt. Meyendorff then visited the sultan's large round tent, which mixed luxury and plain nomad gear: carpets, tiger skins, a woman's tall gold headdress set with turquoise and rubies, raw meat on hooks and leather bags of mare's milk.
the floor was covered with a carpet, wearing apparel hung on a cord, and skins of tigers were stretched against the sides; a rich diadem of gold, very high, and ornamented with turquoise and rubies, the head dress of Kirghiz women ; by their side might also be seen raw meat hanging on hooks, large leather bags of mare's milk, and some wooden vessels of different kinds
About Kazakhs under Sultan Haroun-ghazi
Continue in this sourceThe Russian embassy's march from Orenburg to Bukhara1820 to 1821 · 14 passagesClay tombs that looked like cities
Editorial contextThe nomadic Kazakhs built lasting tombs of clay mixed with chopped straw, sometimes of unburnt brick, with a small prayer chamber inside. Rich families brought craftsmen from Bukhara to make them. Near the Syr Darya they were so many that from a distance they looked like cities.
All the tombs are of clay, mixed with chopped straw, except that of Khodja, which is of unburnt bricks. In the interior of these sepulchres there is another, smaller, where the Kirghiz pray. These monuments become more numerous as you approach the Sir, and appear like cities. The rich Kirghiz frequently bring artificers from Bokhara to make their clay tombs
About Kazakhs (Kirghiz)
Continue in this sourceThe Russian embassy's march from Orenburg to Bukhara1820 to 1821 · 14 passages'Kirghiz-Kaisak' is a foreign name: they call themselves Kazak
Editorial contextLevshin opens his history by saying that Europe gives the Kazakhs a name neither they nor their neighbours use. They call themselves Kazak, and Persians, Bukharans and Khivans know them by that name; the Chinese say Hasak. Russia too called them the Kazakh horde until the 18th century, when the prefix 'Kirghiz' was added, partly to tell them apart from Russia's own Cossacks.
and that to this day they call themselves nothing but Kazakhs (Kazak). Under this same name they are known to the Persians, Bukharans, Khivans and other peoples of Asia. The Chinese, softening the initial K, say Hasak. Until the 18th century Russia too did not know 'Kirghiz-Kaisaks', but called them Kazakhs, the Kazakh horde.
Working translation
Original wording
и что онѣ себя до нынѣ иначе не называютъ, какъ Казаками (Казакъ). Подъ симъ же именемъ извѣстны они Персіянамъ, Бухарцамъ, Хивинцамъ и прочимъ народамъ Азіи. Китайцы, смягчая начальную букву К, говорятъ Хасаки. До XVIII столѣтія и въ Россіи не знали Киргизъ-Кайсаковъ, но именовали ихъ Казаками, Казачьею ордою.
About Kazakhs
Continue in this sourceLevshin's Description of the Kazakh Hordes and Steppes1820 to 1822 · 12 passagesAre the Kirghiz Tatars or Mongols?
Editorial contextMeyer thinks a Tatar origin for the 'Kirghiz' (the Kazakhs) far likelier than a Mongol one, judging by faces and language. He then gives the three hordes and adds that the Great Horde is often called the 'golden horde', a striking reuse of the old name. A few lines on he notes that the Russians call some of its tribes the wild, stone or black Kirghiz.
Yet the assumption of a Tatar origin is much more probable, and it is better supported by their facial features and language than the opinion that they descend from the Mongols. The Kirghiz are divided into three main hordes, the great, middle and little horde. The great horde is also often called the golden horde
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Original wording
Doch ist die Annahme eines tatarischen Ursprungs wohl viel wahrscheinlicher, und sie wird durch die Gesichtszüge und Sprache besser unterstützt, als die Meinung, daß sie von den Mongolen herstammen. Man theilt die Kirgisen in drei Haupthorden, die große, mittlere und kleine Horde. Die große Horde wird auch oft die goldne Horde genannt
About Kirghiz (Kazakhs of the Great, Middle and Little Hordes)
Keep in mind
'Kirghiz' here means the Kazakhs; the 'black Kirghiz' are the true Kyrgyz. Meyer says he adds nothing new on origins and relies on informants and a Russian journal article.
A brick 'Tatar prayer-house' whose builders were forgotten
Editorial contextPallas rode out into the steppe beyond the Orenburg line to see a building the Russians called the Tatar Koshena. It was a square brick shrine with a pointed Gothic portal and a twelve-sided funnel dome, standing in a Kazakh cemetery. He thought it was not very old, yet neither the Kazakhs nor the Bashkirs remembered who had built it. On a following page he notes it is all of red brick, much like ordinary European brick.
It is still in perfectly good condition and, at least to judge by the woodwork inside, seems to be of no extraordinary antiquity. Nevertheless the memory of its building has been lost among the Kirgis as well as the Bashkirs.
Working translation
Original wording
Es ist noch in vollkommen gutem Zustand und scheint, wenigstens dem darinn befindlichen Holzwerk nach, von keinem ausserordentlichen Alterthum zu seyn. Gleichwohl ist unter den Kirgisen sowohl, als Baschkiren das Angedenken ihrer Auferbauung verloschen.
About Kazakhs (Kirgis) and Bashkirs; builders unknown
Continue in this sourcePallas's journey through the provinces of the Russian Empire1768 to 1774 · 20 passages'We are Kazakhs, not Kirghiz'
Editorial contextMeyendorff noticed that the steppe people the Russians called Kirghiz never used that name themselves. They called themselves Kazakh, which some said meant 'horseman' and others 'warrior', and they believed the Bashkirs had given them the name Kirghiz.
they never make use of this name among themselves ; they invariably style themselves Kasak ; which, according to some, signifies horseman, and to others warrior. They say the Bachkirs call them Kirghiz, but are ignorant from whence the name is derived
About Kazakhs (called Kirghiz by Russians)
Continue in this sourceThe Russian embassy's march from Orenburg to Bukhara1820 to 1821 · 14 passagesSteppe cemeteries of stone and clay: pyramids, towers, a khan's domed tomb
Editorial contextLevshin calls a Kazakh cemetery one of the most curious sights for a traveller: after the empty steppe the eye rests on pyramids, towers and high enclosures built of stone and clay, spears hung with horsehair and ribbons, yurt lattices, stone or wooden turbans, a saddle, bow and arrows on a famous rider's grave. Over the grave of Abulkhair Khan stood a square vaulted building. The Kazakhs, a nomadic people, built lasting monuments for their dead.
the eyes come to rest either in the shade of a tree, or on pyramids, towers and high enclosures built of stones and clay. In one place he sees spears with horse manes, ribbons and kerchiefs fluttering from them; in another, the lattices that served as the walls of a kibitka … Over the grave of Abulkhair Khan on the Olkeyek stream … a square vaulted building was built
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Original wording
глаза останавливаются или подъ тѣнью дерева, или на складенныхъ изъ камней и глины пирамидахъ, башняхъ и высокихъ оградахъ. Въ одномъ мѣстѣ видитъ онъ копья съ развѣвающимися на нихъ конскими гривами, лентами и платками; въ другомъ рѣшетки, служившія стѣнами кибиткѣ … Надъ гробомъ Хана Абуль-хайра на рѣчкѣ Улкіакѣ … было построено квадратное зданіе со сводомъ
About Kazakhs
Continue in this sourceLevshin's Description of the Kazakh Hordes and Steppes1820 to 1822 · 12 passagesWho built the ruins of the steppe? 'Not our ancestors'
Editorial contextLevshin's chapter on ruins begins by admitting that it is hard to say who built them, because they are of different kinds: some are Buddhist temples plainly built by Mongols or Dzungars, some look like mosques, some are ordinary Asian dwellings, some are too ruined to judge. Materials differ too: big stones, brick, clay. The Kazakhs, he says, only agree that the buildings were not their ancestors', and they call old graves and a few ruins 'Nogai'.
It is hard, and hardly even possible, to determine what people built these buildings, for they are of various kinds. Some, keeping signs of temples devoted to Lamaist worship, clearly belong to the Mongols or Dzungars; others resemble Muslim mosques; a third kind are remains of ordinary Asian dwellings … The present Kirghiz-Kazakhs in general say nothing plausible about them, except that they do not belong to their ancestors
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Original wording
Трудно и даже едва ли возможно опредѣлить, какой народъ строилъ сіи зданія: ибо они разныхъ родовъ. Одни, сохранивъ признаки капищъ, Ламайскому служенію посвященныхъ, очевидно принадлежатъ Мунгаламъ, или Зюнгарамъ; другія похожи на Магометанскія мечети; третьи суть остатки обыкновенныхъ Азіатскихъ жилищъ … Нынѣшніе Киргизъ-Казаки вообще не говорятъ объ нихъ ничего правдоподобнаго, кромѣ того, что они не принадлежатъ ихъ предкамъ
About Kazakhs; Mongols and Dzungars; unknown earlier peoples
Continue in this sourceLevshin's Description of the Kazakh Hordes and Steppes1820 to 1822 · 12 passages'Houses mean slavery'
Editorial contextMeyendorff explains why well-off Kazakhs refused to farm: they feared becoming serfs tied to the soil and liked to say they were as free as the birds. An old saying warned that they would lose their freedom once they began living in houses and farming, and the fate of the Bashkirs under Russia seemed to prove it.
It is therefore easy to imagine why Kirghiz in easy circumstances never cultivate the ground … they have an ancient tradition which says "The Kirghiz shall lose their liberty whenever they begin to live in houses
About Kazakhs (Kirghiz)
Keep in mind
The OCR garbles the end of the saying on this page; the quote stops at 'houses' (the saying continues 'and to follow agricultural pursuits').
A horse thief's punishment
Editorial contextA Kazakh horse thief was sentenced to death, but the elders asked for mercy as a good omen for the journey with the Russians. Instead he was blackened with soot, tied to a horse's tail and whipped by a laughing crowd, while his own horse was slaughtered and shared out among the onlookers.
The robber, half naked, having about his neck some stripes of black felt, was forced by two men on horseback who carried large whips, to run to the nearest tent, where his face was blackened with soot and marched through a group of Kirghiz; they then tied him to the tail of a horse, and forced him to hold a cord between his teeth.
About Kazakhs under Sultan Haroun-ghazi
Continue in this sourceThe Russian embassy's march from Orenburg to Bukhara1820 to 1821 · 14 passagesA cube-shaped tomb that nobles wanted to be buried beside
Editorial contextThe list describes a masonry tomb of 'father' Baitak shaped like a cube, 3 to 4 fathoms across, where every Muslim prays and every noble ('white bone') wishes to be buried. It adds a stone tomb on the Irgiz said to hold Abulkhair, the Kazakh khan of the Little Horde (killed 1748), and notes the ruins of a town the Kazakhs call Dzhanket on the Syr Darya and of the 'formerly important town' Saraichik on the lower Ural.
On the Kowda (see before) is a masonry tomb of the father (ata) Baitak. It has the form of a cube 3 to 4 fathoms across. Every Muslim performs devotions here, and everyone of white bone, that is of the nobility, wants to be buried here. … On the Irgiz, at [the place of] the elder Barbi, p. 387, is a stone tomb in which Abulkhair is said to rest.
Working translation
Original wording
Am Kowda (S. vorh.) ist ein gemauert Begräbniß des Vaters (ata) Baitak. Es hat die Form eines Würfels von 3 bis 4 Faden im Durchschnitt. Jeder Muhamedaner hält hier Anbetungen, und jeder mit weißen Knochen oder von Adel, will hier begraben seyn. … Am Irgis des Acksakal Barbi S. 387. ist ein steinern Grabmahl, in welchem Abulchair ruhen soll.
About Kirghiz-Kaisaks (Kazakhs)
A note on this quote
OCR normalized (checked against the page image; the OCR text is badly garbled).
Russia's Tatars are 'Nogais' to the Kazakhs; 'Tatar' is a cursed name
Editorial contextIn a footnote to his chapter on ruins Levshin notes that Kazakhs call the Tatars living in Russia only 'Nogais'. The word 'Tatar' itself they did not use; in their view it belonged to some base people cursed by a Muslim prophet. Bukharans and Khivans thought the same. The same story was reported by Rychkov seventy years earlier (W175).
The Kirghiz-Kazakhs call the Tatars living in Russia nothing but Nogais. The (word) Tatar itself is not used by them at all, and in their opinion belongs to some base people cursed by a certain Muslim prophet. The Bukharans and Khivans think the same, and also call the Russian Tatars Nogais.
Working translation
Original wording
Киргизъ-Казаки иначе не называютъ Татаръ въ Россіи живущихъ, какъ Ногаями. Само Татары совсѣмъ у нихъ не употребительно, и принадлежитъ по ихъ мнѣнію какому то подлому народу, проклятому однимъ Магометанскимъ пророкомъ. Бухарцы и Хивинцы тоже думаютъ, и также называютъ Татаръ Россійскихъ Ногаями.
About Tatars of Russia (as seen by Kazakhs, Bukharans and Khivans)
Keep in mind
'Само' is as printed in the OCR; the word 'слово' (word) seems to be implied or garbled.
Buried beside ruins they hold sacred
Editorial contextMeyer reports that the Kazakhs like to bury their dead near other graves or near ruins of old buildings they regard as holy, and that rich sultans were carried all the way to holy places near Tashkent. In winter the body was sewn into cloth and leather and kept in a separate yurt until it could be moved. This helps explain why the Ablaikit bricks ended up in Kazakh tombs.
They like to bury their dead near other graves or ruins of old buildings which they hold to be holy. Above all (at least for the Kirghiz around Karkaraly) several places near Tashkent are holy to them, and the corpses of rich sultans are often carried there.
Working translation
Original wording
Ihre Todten beerdigen sie gerne in der Nähe anderer Gräber oder Ruinen alter von ihnen für heilig gehaltenen Gebäude. Vor allen sind ihnen (wenigstens den Kirgisen der Umgebungen von Kar-Karaly) mehrere Orte in der Nähe von Taschkent heilig, und die Leichen reicher Sultane werden oft dorthin abgeführt.
About Kirghiz (Kazakhs of the Middle Horde)
Keep in mind
Partly hearsay: Meyer says he never attended a Kazakh funeral. The same page notes the Kazakh language barely differs from Tatar and uses Tatar script.
Horsehair and bullets left at a holy place
Editorial contextAt the same brick shrine birch poles were hung with tufts of horsehair and rags, and the ledges held pebbles, lead bullets, an arrow and gunpowder. Pallas explains that the Kazakhs believe leaving hair from a horse's tail at a holy place helps the horse, and that leaving some small thing is a general Tatar custom. The Tatars of his own escort added offerings after praying.
For the Kirgis believe that it is good for their horse if some hair from its tail is left at so holy a place; and in general it is a Tatar custom, at such prayer-houses or other holy places they visit out of devotion, to leave behind something they carry with them.
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Original wording
Die Kirgisen nehmlich glauben, daß es ihrem Pferde zuträglich ist, wenn etwas Haar von deßen Schweif an einem so heiligen Ort zurück gelassen wird, und überhaupt ist es eine tatarische Gewohnheit bey solchen Bethäusern, oder andern heiligen Plätzen, die sie der Andacht wegen besuchen, irgend etwas, so sie bey sich führen, zurück zu lassen.
About Kazakhs (Kirgis) and Tatars of Pallas's escort
Continue in this sourcePallas's journey through the provinces of the Russian Empire1768 to 1774 · 20 passagesForty outlaw horsemen: a Kazakh origin legend
Editorial contextAmong several Kazakh origin stories Levshin gives one from the journal of Captain Rychkov (1771): seven sons of a Crimean khan, cheated of their inheritance, went into the steppe, joined other exiles to make a band of forty, lived by raiding, stole wives and multiplied. Forty is kyrk in Turkic, so they were called Kyrk-Kazak, 'forty Cossacks' or riders. Levshin himself calls most such traditions absurd but prints them as he found them.
This band, forty men strong, for a long time lived by plundering the lands around them; at last it stole wives for itself and multiplied. Forty is expressed in Turkic by the word kyrk, and so this crowd was called Kyrk-Kazak, that is, forty Kazakhs, or riders. Their descendants kept the name of their ancestors.
Working translation
Original wording
Шайка сія, въ числѣ 40 человѣкъ, долго занимаясь грабежами сосѣдственныхъ съ ними земель; наконецъ, похитила себѣ женъ и размножилась. Сорокъ означается по-Турецки словомъ Кыркъ, а потому и толпа сія названа Кыркъ-Казакъ, то есть, сорокъ Казаковъ, или наѣздниковъ. Потомки ихъ сохранили названіе предковъ.
About Kazakhs (in legend, descendants of Crimean exiles)
Keep in mind
A folk etymology linking 'Kirghiz' to kyrk (forty); Levshin presents it as one tradition among several.
'Kir Kasak': the Kazakhs of the steppe
Editorial contextThe chapter on the 'Kirghiz' (the Kazakhs) says they are divided into three hordes, and that two of them call themselves Kir Kasak, which the author derives from kir, 'steppe or wilderness', and kasak, 'daredevil'. He describes 'my Kirghiz' as wholly Tatar in looks and temperament, with little courage but a strong taste for raiding, though they spare their captives. It shows how the Russian name 'Kirghiz' was then used for the people now called Kazakhs.
… the two others call themselves Kir Kasak, from kir, wilderness, and kasak, daredevil. … My Kirghiz are entirely Tatar in appearance and temperament, well grown … They have little courage but a great inclination to robbery, yet they are not murderous, but spare their prisoners.
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Original wording
… die beiden andern nennen sich selbst Kir Kasak, von Kir Wüste und Kasak Wagehals. … Meine Kirgisen sind ganz von tatarischen Ansehen und Gemüthscharacter, wohl gewachsen … Sie haben wenig Muth, aber große Neigung zum Rauben, doch sind sie dabey nicht mörderisch, sondern schonen die Gefangenen.
About Kirghiz-Kaisaks (Kazakhs) of the Middle and Little Hordes
Keep in mind
The etymology is the author's; the character sketch is a frontier stereotype.
OCR normalized (checked against the page image; the OCR text is badly garbled).
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.
Working translation
Original wording
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).
A khan who rules by consent
Editorial contextA Kazakh khan held power of life and death, Meyendorff says, but his only real check was public opinion: unhappy followers simply rode off and chose another leader. A khan kept power through courage, gifts and a friendly mullah to interpret the law.
The khan has in fact the power of life and death among the Kirghiz, who have no security against his tyranny, except public opinion, and no where is it so powerful as among the pastoral tribes. The discontented party quickly desert an unjust judge, and choose another for themselves.
About Kazakhs (Kirghiz)
Continue in this sourceThe Russian embassy's march from Orenburg to Bukhara1820 to 1821 · 14 passagesA ruined stone town with a mosque, credited to the Nogais
Editorial contextIn a section on 'ruins of ancient towns and buildings' Rychkov lists sites in the Kazakh Middle Horde. At a great ruined town on the Nura river there were chambers still standing, a mosque and much fallen stone building. The Kazakhs told Russian informants that Nogais had lived there in the old days. Nearby entries credit other ruins to Nogai princes or to holy women.
Here too is a mosque, and a great deal of ruined stone building. The Kirghiz (Kazakhs) say that Nogais lived here in the old days.
Working translation
Original wording
Тутъ же одна мечеть, и весьма много развалившагося каменнагожъ строенія. Киргисцы сказываютъ, что тутъ въ старину живали Нагайцы.
About Nogai Tatars (as builders, per Kazakh tradition); Kazakhs of the Middle Horde
Keep in mind
Rychkov did not visit these ruins; he relies on Kazakh report and the interpreter Aralov. The OCR of the town's name on this page is unreadable.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Stone statues of legendary lovers that received offerings
Editorial contextOn the Ayagoz river, Levshin writes, stood a pointed building carefully built of smooth stone slabs, containing three stone statues. The Kazakhs said two of them showed the lovers famous in their tales (Bayan and Kozy-Korpesh, heroes of a Kazakh epic) and the third their servant, and believers brought them offerings. A building credited not to vanished giants but to a local love story.
In it are three stone statues, of which two, according to the Kirghiz-Kazakhs, depict the lovers celebrated in their tales … and the third their servant. Those who believe in the authenticity of these images bring them offerings.
Working translation
Original wording
Въ немъ три каменныя статуи, изъ коихъ двѣ, по словамъ Киргизъ Казаковъ, изображаютъ прославляемыхъ въ сказкахъ любовниковъ … а третья ихъ служанку. Вѣрующіе въ подлинность сихъ изображеній приносятъ имъ жертвы.
About Kazakhs
Keep in mind
The description of the building itself (pointed, of smooth stone slabs) is at the foot of the previous page, n212. The lovers' names are omitted here because the OCR garbles them.
Timur's carved inscription in the steppe
Editorial contextAmong the illustrations promised for his book, Strahlenberg lists a monument that Timur (Tamerlane) had carved on a mountain when his army marched into Tartary, recording the day and year he stood there, still to be seen some 80 or 90 miles south of Tobolsk. He also promises copies of runic-looking epitaphs and metal plates and medals dug out of grave mounds in the steppes.
how Timur Beg (or the so-called Tamerlane) marched into Tartary with his army and stayed a while by a certain mountain, so that he had the day and year of his presence carved and cut there, which monument is still to be seen there to this hour, about 80 or 90 miles' journey south of the city of Tobolsk
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Original wording
wie Timur-Beck (oder der sogenannte Tamerlan) in die Tatarey mit seiner Armee marchiret, und bey einem gewissen Gebürge eine Zeitlang gestanden, daß derselbe den Tag und das Jahr seiner Anwesenheit daselbst eingraben und hauen lassen, welches Monument noch diese Stunde, etwa 80 oder 90 Meil Weges von der Stadt Tobolski in Süden, daselbst zu sehen ist
About Timur's army; peoples of 'Tartary'
Keep in mind
The OCR of this copy is badly garbled Fraktur; the quote has been restored letter by letter from the damaged text, so check the scan. The inscription story comes from Pétis de la Croix's translation; the distance is Strahlenberg's.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Muslims without mosques or mullahs
Editorial contextLevshin describes Kazakh Islam as loose: they count themselves Sunnis alongside Turks, Tatars, Bukharans and Khivans and practise polygamy, but do not keep the fasts or ablutions, find praying five times a day too hard, and have no mosques and no mullahs chosen from among themselves. Sometimes elders read prayers with others kneeling around them.
Fasts and ablution, a very sensible institution of Muhammad, the Kirghiz do not observe; they find praying five times a day hard for themselves; they have no mosques and no mullahs chosen from among themselves. Sometimes prayers are read by old men in the presence of many people kneeling around them
Working translation
Original wording
Постовъ и омовенія, весьма благоразумнаго постановленія Магометова, Киргизы не соблюдаютъ; молиться по пяти разъ на день, находятъ они для себя труднымъ; мечетей и избранныхъ изъ среди себя муллъ не имѣютъ. Иногда молитвы читаются стариками въ присутствіи многихъ стоящихъ около нихъ на колѣнямъ
About Kazakhs
Keep in mind
An outsider's judgment of religious practice; Kazakh Islam had its own shrines and holy men that Levshin mentions elsewhere.
Seven wolves chasing two horses: the end of the world in the stars
Editorial contextIn a chapter on Kazakh knowledge of the sky, Levshin says herdsmen navigated the trackless steppe by the stars and told time by them 'as a European looks at his pocket watch'. They saw the Great Bear as seven wolves chasing two horses, a white and a grey gelding; when the wolves catch and eat the horses, the world will end.
Not separating the stars that make up the Great Bear … the Kirghiz say that they consist of 7 wolves chasing two horses fleeing from them, Ak-buzat (the white gelding) and Kuk-buzat (the grey gelding), and that when the former catch the latter and eat them, the end of the world will come.
Working translation
Original wording
Не раздѣляя звѣздъ, составляющихъ Большую медвѣдицу … Киргизы говорятъ, что онѣ состоятъ изъ 7 волковъ, которые гонятся за бѣгущими отъ нихъ двумя лошадьми, Акъ-бузатъ (бѣлый меринъ) и Кукъ-бузатъ (сѣрый меринъ), и что, когда первые, догнавъ сихъ послѣднихъ, съѣдятъ ихъ, то сдѣлается преставленіе свѣта.
About Kazakhs
Continue in this sourceLevshin's Description of the Kazakh Hordes and Steppes1820 to 1822 · 12 passagesWomen strike the yurts and saddle the horses
Editorial contextMeyer lists the division of labour in a Kazakh camp. Women took down and put up the yurts, gathered fuel, milked, cooked, wove and sewed, and even saddled their husbands' horses. Men watched the herds, carved wooden goods (including the lattice frames of the yurts, as the same page says), worked as smiths and went raiding. Grain was grown only by slaves.
Most of the work is done by the women. They must take down and put up the yurts again, gather wood and fuel, milk the cattle, prepare food and drink, weave cloth, sew clothes and boots; indeed they must also saddle the horses and lead them to their husbands. The men, by contrast, busy themselves almost only with guarding the herds, carving wooden goods, smithing and so on, and with robbery.
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Original wording
Die meisten Arbeiten werden von den Weibern verrichtet. Sie müssen die Jurten abbrechen und wieder aufbauen, Holz und Feuermaterial zusammensuchen, das Vieh melken, die Speisen und Getränke zubereiten, Zeuge weben, Kleider und Stiefeln nähen; ja sie müssen auch die Pferde satteln und dem Manne vorführen. Die Männer dagegen beschäftigen sich fast nur mit Bewachung der Heerden, mit Schnitzen der Holzwaaren, mit Schmieden u. s. w. und mit Räubereien.
About Kirghiz (Kazakhs of the Middle Horde)
Keep in mind
A general sketch from a short stay plus informants; 'robbery' reflects the frontier Russian view of Kazakh raiding.
Kazakhs bury their dead beside old 'Tatar' tombs
Editorial contextEversmann accepts that the Kazakhs really had opened the old graves, not for treasure but to learn whether Muslims of old times lay there. Such places were holy to them, and they now buried their own dead only there, so that wherever a 'Tatar tomb' stands, Kazakh graves cluster around it. It shows how a later people claimed older monuments as part of its own sacred landscape.
That the Kirghiz really dug up the graves is easy to believe, not in order to look for treasure, but to learn whether Muslims of old times lay buried there, for such places are holy to them and only there do they now bury their dead: wherever one finds a Tatar tomb, one also sees Kirghiz graves all around it.
Working translation
Original wording
Dass die Kirgisen die Gräber wirklich aufgegraben haben, ist wohl zu glauben, nicht etwa um Schätze zu suchen, sondern um zu wissen ob dort Muhamedaner aus alten Zeiten begraben lägen, denn solche Stellen sind ihnen heilig und nur dort begraben sie jetzt ihre Todten: überall wo man ein tatarisches Grabmahl findet, sieht man auch rund umher Kirgisische Gräber.
About Kazakhs (Kirghiz); earlier 'Tatar' dead
Continue in this sourceEversmann's journey from Orenburg to Bukhara, 1820 to 18211820 to 1821 · 10 passages
