'Turali': the Tatars who lived in towns
Editorial contextDiscussing the word 'tura' (town or fortress in Tatar and Bukharan), Müller reports that the Bashkirs call the Tyumen Tatars, and after them the Tobolsk Tatars, only 'Turali'. On the next page he gives the Bashkirs' explanation: these Tatars had lived since ancient times in towns and fortresses, or at least in fixed places, while the Bashkirs often moved their dwellings about the steppe.
One may easily think here, since Tura in the Tatar and Bukharan language means a town or fortress, that perhaps the river Tura received its name from this old Tatar fortress of Chimgi. The Bashkirs have no other name for the Tyumen Tatars, and after them for the Tobolsk Tatars too, than to call them Turali
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Man kann hier leicht auf die Gedanken kommen, da Tura in der Tatarischen und Bucharischen Sprache eine Stadt, oder Festung, bedeutet, daß vielleicht der Fluß Tura von dieser alten Tatarischen Festung Tschimgi den Nahmen empfangen. Die Baschkiren haben für die Tümenischen Tataren, und nach selbigen auch für die Tobolskischen, keinen andern Nahmen, als daß sie solche Turali nennen
About Tyumen and Tobolsk Tatars, as named by the Bashkirs
Continue in this sourceMüller's Collection of Russian History, with his history of Siberia1733 to 1743 · 11 passagesTatar 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.
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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).
'No purse being necessary among these Tartars'
Editorial contextWalking toward Tyumen with sore feet, Cochrane stopped at a small Tartar village where he was fed for nothing. He shook hands with his host, received the Muslim blessing 'Peace be with you', and squatted on his heels with the family to eat. Hospitality to strangers comes up again and again in his account of the Siberian Tatars.
At the last station, a small Tartar village, I was regaled with pork, bread and eggs, at free cost, no purse being necessary among these Tartars. I partook of the wholesome fare a la Tartare, shaking hands first with the host, and receiving his blessing of "Peace be with you," then squatting on my hams, like the rest of the company.
About Siberian Tatars
Keep in mind
A Muslim household serving pork is surprising; Cochrane may have misidentified the meat or the village.
Tyumen, a walled town of Tatar traders
Editorial contextReaching Tyumen on 25 June 1692, Brand found a large town with a rampart and walls, mostly fallen into decay. Most of its people were born Tatars who had settled there, many baptised into the Russian faith and the rest Muslims, who traded far into the Kalmyk lands and Bukhara and paid tribute to the tsar. He calls them a courteous people.
we reached the town of Tyumen, a fairly large place surrounded with rampart and walls, but mostly decayed; the inhabitants of this town are mostly born Tartars who have settled here, many of whom have taken the Russian faith, the others the Muslim faith; these people carry on great trade in foreign places, such as the Kalmyk and Bukharan lands
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gelangten wir in die Stadt Tumeen an, so ein ziemlich groß begriffener Ort, und mit Wall und Mauren umgeben, aber mehrentheils verfallen, die Einwohner dieser Stadt aber sind meistentheils gebohrne Tartarn, so sich allhier gesetzet, wovon ihrer viel den Rußischen Glauben angenommen, die andern aber den Mahometischen Glauben haben, diese Leute treiben in frembde Oerter, als in Kalmucker und Bugarien Lande, grosse Handelung
About Siberian Tatars of Tyumen
Continue in this sourceAdam Brand's journey with the Russian embassy to China1692 to 1695 · 12 passagesTatars by the rivers, reindeer people to the north, camel herders on the steppe
Editorial contextWhat Yermak is said to have heard about Siberia before setting out: a map in words that sorts the peoples. The Tatars live along the Tura, Tobol and Irtysh and travel by boat and horse; the Ostyaks and Samoyeds of the Ob ride reindeer and dogs and live on fish; Kalmyks, Mongols and the Kazakh horde ride camels on the steppe. 'Tatar' here is one people among many, not a label for all Siberians.
and along the Tura and the Tobol live Tatars, who travel in boats and on horses. The Tobol falls into the Irtysh; and on the Irtysh near its mouth is a tsardom and many Tatars; the Irtysh falls into the Ob, and the Ob falls into the sea by two mouths, and along it live Ostyaks and Samoyeds, who ride reindeer and dogs and feed on fish; and on the steppe the Kalmyks and Mongols and the Kazakh horde, who ride camels
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по Турѣ же и по Тоболу живутъ Татара, ѣздятъ въ лодкахъ и на коняхъ. А Тоболъ палъ въ Иртышъ; и на Иртышѣ царство близь устья и многіе Татара, и Иртышъ палъ въ Обь, а Обь рѣка пала въ море двѣма устьи, а по ней живутъ Остяки и Самоѣдь, ѣздятъ на оленяхъ и псахъ и кормятся рыбами; а по степи Калмыки и Мунгалы и казачья орда, ѣздятъ на вельбудахъ
About Siberian Tatars, Voguls, Ostyaks, Samoyeds, Kalmyks, Mongols, Kazakhs
Keep in mind
Framed as hearsay Yermak gathered from people on the Chusovaya; written down long afterwards.
Tartars and Samoyeds who keep cattle and boats
Editorial contextOn the route down the Tura below Verkhoturye, Massa notes that the country is now inhabited by Tartars and Samoyeds who live by keeping cattle and also have boats. On the page before he mentions 'wild Tartars and Samoyeds' in the Ural forests who hunt costly furs for the Muscovites.
This place is now inhabited by Tartars and Samoyeds, who keep cattle as a means of subsistence, and have boats besides.
About Siberian Tatars and Samoyeds
Continue in this sourceMassa's report on the Russian road into Siberia, 'in Tartary'c. 1605 to 1609 · 8 passages