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 passagesStone statues and ruined cities he never saw
Editorial contextIn a footnote Strahlenberg records that Russian regiments going up the Irtysh in 1720 found antiquities and 'Temples of Idols', and that Tobolsk Tatars and Russians told him of many stone figures of men and beasts and the ruins of several cities in the little-visited steppe between the Tobol and Ishim. He links them to obelisks said to have been set up by Tamerlane and to the seat of Oghuz Khan, and regrets he could never go to see them.
…and I have also been told, by the Tobolskian Tartars and Russians, that, from this River, farther towards the West, South, and South-west from the City of Tobolsky, between the Sources of the Rivers Toboll and Ischim, whither very few People frequented, there were to be found great Numbers of Images, cut in Stone, of Men and Beasts; and that the Ruins of several Cities were discernible in those Desarts.
About Tobolsk Tatars and Russians (informants)
Keep in mind
Pure hearsay: he says himself he never had the chance to visit. The Tamerlane and Oghuz Khan links come from his reading.
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.
Tatar boat-haulers flogged by Russian soldiers
Editorial contextGoing up the Tobol river from Tobolsk to Tyumen, the embassy's boats were towed the whole way by Tatars. In Tulishen's own Chinese words, there was no towpath, the men waded through mud until their legs bled, and the Russian soldiers kept whipping them until the envoy, unable to watch, told them to stop. It is one of the few moments where the author shows personal feeling.
All along the way the Ta-ta-la (Tatar) people hauled the towropes. The banks were thick with trees and there was no towpath, so they all walked in mud and water; the skin of their legs and feet was torn and blood ran down, yet the Russian soldiers still flogged them on. I could not bear to watch, and only when I rebuked them did they stop.
Working translation
Original wording
途中皆搭搭拉之人挽縴岸傍林木叢宻無縴路俱行泥水之中兩足肌膚破損血水淋漓俄羅斯兵丁猶加笞楚催促余不忍視呵責方止
About Siberian Tatars under Russian rule
Keep in mind
Staunton's English version of the same scene is on T0019 n156 (p.112).
