Uvek: a Tatar town known only from coins and trinkets
Editorial contextNine versts from Saratov, Lepekhin visited Uvek, the site of an old Tatar settlement (he heads the page 'a Tatar gorodishche', or town site). He says it belonged to the Tatars because silver and copper Tatar coins, rings, earrings and copper vessels are found there, but that no records say who destroyed it or when. He also thought the wild hemp growing round about had been sown long ago by the Tatars who once lived there.
That this place belonged to the Tatars is proved by the silver as well as copper Tatar coins and other small things found there, for example rings, earrings, copper vessels and the like. By whom and when the place was destroyed cannot be said, for complete lack of records.
Working translation
Original wording
Daß dieser Ort den Tatarn gehört habe, beweisen … die sowohl silbernen, als kupfernen, tatarischen Münzen und andere Kleinigkeiten, welche man daselbst antrift, z. E. Ringe, Ohrengehänge, kupferne Geschirre und dergleichen. Von wem und wenn der Platz zerstöret worden, läßt sich wegen gänzlichen Mangels an Nachrichten nicht sagen.
About Tatars (the former inhabitants of a Golden Horde town site)
Keep in mind
The next page, where he lists the dates on the coins he kept, is too damaged in the scan to quote.
Not a single house between Saratov and Astrakhan
Editorial contextBelow Saratov Bruce entered Kalmyk country on the left bank of the Volga. He says the whole huge tract had not one house: the Kalmyks lived in tents, moved with horses, camels, cattle and sheep, grew no crops and ate meat (especially horse), fish and game, with plenty of milk and a strong clear spirit made from mare's milk.
in all which immense tract there is not so much as one single house to be seen, as they all live in tents, and remove from one place to another in quest of pasturage for their large herds of cattle, consisting of horses, camels, cows, and sheep ; they neither sow, nor reap, nor make hay for their cattle, so that they live without bread
About Kalmyks (Oirat Mongols)
Continue in this sourcePeter Henry Bruce's memoirs of service under Peter the Great1700 to 1733 · 12 passagesKalmyks and Nogais: no fixed homes, and horsemeat softened under the saddle
Editorial contextAt Saratov Struys first met the Kalmyks, whom he calls the ugliest of men. Kalmyks and Nogais, he says, have no fixed dwellings and move camp as the grazing allows; they prefer horsemeat and eat it after softening it under the saddle. The saddle-meat story is an old European stereotype about steppe riders. On the same page he wrongly calls the Kalmyks Muslims; they were Buddhists.
They have no fixed dwellings … but of all meats, horse is most to their taste. All the preparation they give it is to put it under the saddle, where, being a little softened by the horse's warmth, they take it out and make their best meals of it.
Working translation
Original wording
Ils n'ont point de demeures fixes … mais de toutes les viandes, celle de cheval est plus à leur goût. Tout l'aprêt qu'ils y font, est de la mettre sous la selle, où étant un peu amollie par la chaleur du cheval, ils l'en retirent, & en font leurs meilleurs repas.
About Kalmyks and Nogais
Keep in mind
The saddle-meat tale is repeated from much older writers, and the page is openly hostile.
The Kalmyk khan dines with Peter the Great
Editorial contextOn the way to Derbent, Peter the Great met Ayuka, khan of the Volga Kalmyks, on a galley on the river. Bell watched the khan arrive on horseback with his sons and fifty horsemen, and the queen arrive in a covered wagon with her daughter. He describes Ayuka as a wise old man, the princess as a Kalmyk beauty in Persian brocade, and notes that the khan promised Peter five thousand horsemen on the spot.
Soon after the Ayuka-Chan was got on board the galley, the Queen arrived on the shore, in a covered wheel-machine, attended by one of the princesses her daughter, and two ladies, who were also escorted by a troop of horsemen. … The Ayuka-Chan is an old man, about seventy years of age, yet is hearty and chearful.
About Kalmyks under Ayuka Khan
Continue in this sourceJohn Bell's travels from St Petersburg across Asia1715 to 1738 · 18 passagesA town swallowed by the earth for its wickedness
Editorial contextNext to the ruined castle of Uvek, the Russians told the English, there had stood a town they called Sodom, which God had swallowed into the earth with part of the castle because of its people's wickedness. It is a local legend attached to real ruins, and the narrator clearly labels it as Russian report.
adioyning to the same was a towne called by Russes Sodom. This towne & part of the castle (by report of the Russes) was swallowed into the earth by the iustice of God, for the wickednesse of the people that inhabited the same.
About Russians' legend about a ruined Volga town
Keep in mind
Legend reported by Russian boatmen, not observed.