Editorial contextWriting about Russian fortune-telling customs, Erman says the tribes of Chinggis Khan who overran Russia were really a branch of the Mongols from the Irkutsk region, who later joined with the 'Tatar hordes'. Over time, he says, Russian historians wrongly gave the Tatars the whole glory of the conquest.
In point of fact, we know that the tribes under Chingis Khan, who overran that country, were really a branch of the Mongol nation from the government of Irkutsk, who subsequently formed a union with the Tatar hordes; and to the latter the Russian historians, in process of time, incorrectly attributed the whole glory of the conquest.
White plastered chimneys and a raised sleeping floor
Editorial contextNear Tara Cochrane passed neat Tatar villages whose white plastered chimneys and ovens reminded him of home. Inside, half the room was raised about fourteen inches and used for sitting, sleeping and storage; there were no chairs, only clean bedding and many pillows, which were always offered to a guest. A few pages earlier he stayed in a Tatar district of seventy miles without a single Russian, praising the clean houses and well-kept land.
At Kamenski I quitted the great Siberian road not far from Tara, passing several neat Tartar villages, whose white plastered chimneys and ovens reminded me a little of those in my own country. The furniture consists of a few earthenware utensils, and a set of tea things: one half of the room is elevated above the other about fourteen inches
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
Editorial contextBefore the tsars took an interest, Strahlenberg says, the governors of Tara, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk and other towns let townsmen go out in caravans to rob the steppe graves in return for a tenth of the gold and silver. The looters smashed the finds and shared the pieces out by weight. He owned only a broken fragment of a bell-metal mirror to show for it.
…the Governours of the Cities of Tara, Tomskoi, Crasnoyahr, … used to give Leave to the Inhabitants, to go in voluntary Caravans, to these Tombs, in Order to ransack them, on Condition that … the Governour should have an Allowance, generally the Tenths. These Caravans, … used, … to knock to Pieces these choice Antiquities, and give to each Person his Share, by Weight.
Philipp Johann von Strahlenberg (English translation, 1738)
Editorial contextOn the road to Tobolsk in 1786, Sauer noted Tatar farmers who also made and sold neat worsted carpets. Coming back in 1794, he saw Tatar women near Tara spinning thread from nettle fibres, making linen as good as flax. The Siberian settlers also told him that trade with the Mongols was not as open as before.
The Tartar women about Tara were preparing nettles, and spinning thread from the fibres; the linen made of which was fine and good, apparently equal to that made of flax. I have already mentioned the neat carpets then made by these industrious people.
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.
Working translation
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.
Johann Georg Gmelin (German original, Göttingen, 1751)
Editorial contextThe ambassador made a point of testing the shamans he met. In the Baraba the party visited a famous female shaman who ignored them until she had smoked, drunk brandy and received presents. She then brought out her spirit image and a ringed drum and sang with her neighbours. Bell judged her answers as ambiguous as any oracle's, and noted she was young and very handsome.
First, she brought the shaytan; which is nothing but a piece of wood, wherein is cut something resembling a human head, adorned with many silk and woolen rags, of various colours; then, a small drum, about a foot diameter, to which were fixed many brass and iron rings, and hung round also with rags.
Editorial contextHolman's Tatar servant often offered to cook for him, especially fish, but Holman refused because he had heard that Tatars stirred their cooking with a candle 'to give it gout' (flavour). He had also blamed the man's illness on the 'disgusting trash' Tatars liked to eat. The passage shows the kind of gossip about Tatars that travellers passed on without checking.
The Tartar often wanted to prepare dinner for me, particularly when fish was to be met with, but having heard that his countrymen were in the habit of stirring up their cookery with a candle in order to give it gout, I could not reconcile myself to take advantage of his culinary talents.