The 'piebald horde' of Siberia
Editorial contextA 'piebald horde' was famous in 16th-century Siberia, and some doubted it existed because people thought its members were themselves spotted. Klaproth says the name only described their horses, and quotes the explorer Messerschmidt's diary: in 1721 the governor of Tomsk still claimed the Kistym Tatars had been piebald people who slowly 'degenerated' into white ones.
the piebald horde, … whose existence has often been doubted because people believed that the men who made it up were themselves piebald, whereas it concerned only their horses. … the voevoda of Tomsk asserted 'that the Kistym Tartars were called the piebald horde (pegaya or pestraya orda), that they had been piebald, but had gradually degenerated by becoming white.'
Working translation
Original wording
la horde bigarrée, … dont on a souvent révoqué en doute l'existence, parce qu'on croyait que les hommes qui la composaient étaient eux-mêmes bigarrés, tandis qu'il ne s'agissait que de leurs chevaux. … le woiewode de Tomsk assura: « Qu'on appelait les Tartares de Kistym la horde bigarrée (piegaga ou piestra orda), qu'ils étaient bigarrés, mais qu'ils avaient successivement dégénéré, en devenant blancs.
About Kistym Tatars (Siberian Tatars near Tomsk)
Keep in mind
Klaproth himself rejects the spotted-people story as an 'extravagant idea'; the voevoda was repeating local lore.
Tomsk: a new Russian castle on a site named by the Tartars
Editorial contextBoris Godunov ordered a town built on the upper Ob, and 'a fine castle was built with some other houses'. The Russians later heard that many Tartars had lived there, that the Tartars had named the place for its pleasantness, and that they had a king called Altijn. So the source credits the Russians with the building and the Tartars only with the earlier settlement and the name.
a fine castle was built with some other houses, so that it is now a fine city, called Toom, for they heard afterwards, that many Tartars had lived there, and it was reported those Tartars had given the city that name on account of its pleasantness. These Tartars had a king over them called Altijn
About Tartars of the upper Ob (subjects of 'King Altijn')
Keep in mind
'Altijn' likely echoes the Altan Khan of western Mongolia; the name story is hearsay.
Treasure-hunters in the grave mounds
Editorial contextSouth of Tomsk lie many burial mounds of earth and stones. Bell was told that Russians went out every summer to dig them for gold, silver and weapons, and he saw some of the finds himself, including a brass horseman and gold deer figures. From the horse bones and weapons he concludes that great men were buried with their horse and servant, a custom he says the Kalmyks still keep; the Kalmyks, who hate disturbing the dead, sometimes robbed the grave-robbers. His Baraba Tartar informants credited the battles to Tamerlane.
Many persons go from Tomsky, and other parts, every summer, to these graves; which they dig up, and find, among the ashes of the dead, considerable quantities of gold, silver, brass… Whence it appears, that when any general or person of distinction, was interred, all his arms, his favourite horse and servant, were buried with him in the same grave;
About ancient steppe peoples; Kalmyks and other Tartars
Keep in mind
The digging is reported by informants; Bell saw only objects brought back. The link to Tamerlane is a local tradition.
Governors licensed the looting of tombs
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.
About ancient steppe peoples
Continue in this sourceStrahlenberg's description of Russia, Siberia and 'Great Tartary'1709 to 1729 · 18 passages
