Log houses with windows of ice
Editorial contextThe Vogul 'Tartars' lived in square log rooms like Russian peasant huts, with an open hearth instead of an oven. Once the fire burned down to coals, they sealed the smoke-hole with a sheet of ice, which kept the heat in and let daylight through. Wide benches around the walls served as seats by day and beds by night.
Their Dwellings are quadrangular wooden Rooms, like those of the Russian Peasants; only instead of Ovens they use Hearths, on which they burn Wood, and dress their Victuals. The Smoak-hole which is in the Roof, is covered with Ice, as soon as the Wood is burnt to a Coal, which keeps the warmth in the Room, and the light strikes through the bright and clear Ice.
About Voguls (Mansi), called Siberian Tartars
Hundreds of fallen stone castles in Dauria
Editorial contextTravelling from Nerchinsk toward the Argun, Ides saw hundreds of old, half-fallen castles of rough stone scattered through the valleys. His Tungus guides said warriors built them long ago, when Mongols and 'Western Tartars' raided the old kingdom of Nieucheu (the Jurchen or Manchu country). Iron-bound wagon wheels and millstones had also been dug up, which Ides took as a sign that a settled people once farmed and worked there.
In several scattered places in the Valleys, I observed hundreds of old, and partly fallen Castles, built with Rock-stones, which, as the Tunguzians told me, were built by several Warriours long since, when the Mongalian and Western Tartars made joint incursions into this Kingdom of Nieucheu. … And it is not long since that Waggon Wheels bound with Iron, and large Milstones were found in this Country
About Tungus informants; Mongol and 'Western Tartar' raiders
Keep in mind
Ides saw the ruins himself, but the story of who built them comes from his Tungus guides, and the idea that the Nieucheu people once lived there is his own guess.
A carved brick tower in a dead city
Editorial contextAfter days of travel without seeing a single house, the embassy passed two deserted walled cities. At the second, Taimingzingh, stood two towers, the larger an octagon faced in brick, with carved stone panels telling 'several Histories' set on all eight sides. The description fits the octagonal brick pagodas that still stand at ruined towns of the Khitan Liao dynasty (907-1125) in this part of Inner Mongolia, though Ides himself gives no date or builder.
we reached another old desolate City, called Taimingzingh, fortified with a square Wall, and necessary Bulwarks: There are in it two Towers or Turrets, one very high and the other less: The largest was an Octagon, whose Front was built with Brick, and about ten Fathom from the Ground there was on each of the eight sides Stones placed, in which were carved several Histories.
About Unknown builders (a 'Tartarian King' in Chinese tradition)
Keep in mind
Linking the ruin to the Liao is a modern comparison, not something Ides says, and which ruined town he saw is uncertain.
Haloed figures: 'built by Christians'?
Editorial contextLooking at the carvings on the ruined tower, Ides saw kings seated cross-legged, crowned queens with folded hands, and attendants with rays around their heads 'as Saints are commonly painted'. From the haloes he concluded that Christians must have built the tower. Other panels showed warriors with pikes 'after the Chinese manner' and figures with 'hideous Diabolical Visages'. Seated, haloed, crowned figures with guardians are typical of Buddhist pagoda reliefs, so this is Ides's own guess, not a local tradition.
Others shew us several Figures seeming to represent Queens folding their Hands together, with their Servants on each side: The Queens having Crowns on their Heads, and the other being adorned with Rays or Lustres, as Saints are commonly painted, and also folding their Hands: all which hints that this Tower must needs be built by Christians.
About Unknown builders
Keep in mind
The carvings are eyewitness; the Christian builders are Ides's inference from haloes.
Inside a Tatar mosque at Tobolsk
Editorial contextWith the governor's help, Ides was allowed into a Tatar mosque, which he says outsiders were normally not shown. It was plain: large open windows and carpets on the floor, nothing more. Worshippers left their shoes at the door and sat in rows; the imam wore white calico and a white turban. He adds that the chief mullah was an Arab, and that anyone who could read Arabic was highly respected.
Metschets, called by other Authors Mosques, or Churches, had large Windows round them, all which were set open: The Floor was covered with Tapistry, besides which there was no other Ornament. All Persons at their entrance leave their Shoes or Slippers at the Door … The chief Priest sat there, in a white Calico Habit, and a white Turkish Turbant on his Head.
About Muslim Siberian Tatars
Jurten: tents that pack up and move
Editorial contextAround Nerchinsk the mounted Tungus lived in portable huts they called jurten (yurts): a frame of jointed wooden poles that could be packed and carried whenever they moved, covered with hair and other material, with a smoke-hole at the top and the fire in the middle. Ides says religion was much alike 'throughout all great Tartary' up to the Mongols.
They all live in Hutts, called in their Language Jurten, the inside of which is composed of wooden Poles jointed together, that whenever they are willing to remove their Dwellings, as they frequently do, they may conveniently pack and carry them altogether. This wooden work when set up is thatched all over with Hair and Rubbish, except only the Smoak-hole left open at the top.
About Horse Tungus (Evenks) of 'great Tartary'
Summer huts, winter log houses on the Baraba steppe
Editorial contextThe Baraba people between the Irtysh and the Ob lived in villages of low wooden houses 'like those of the Siberian Tartars', heated by an open fire with a smoke-hole that was stopped once the wood burned down. In summer they moved into tall huts. They farmed oats, barley, millet and buckwheat and paid tribute in furs to both the tsar and the Kalmyk khan. Ides calls them insolent and villainous, a judgment coloured by frontier politics.
they live in low built wooden Houses, like those of the Siberian Tartars; they are not at all acquainted with the use of Stoves or Ovens … Their Houses are ranged into Villages; they set up high Hutts in the Summer, but in Winter retire into their warm wooden dwellings. They are very much addicted to Agriculture, and sow Oats, Barley, Millet, and Buck-wheat.
About Barabinsky (Baraba), whom Ides calls a sort of Kalmyks
Keep in mind
Ides's own route followed the Irtysh and Ob rivers north of the Baraba steppe, so this part of his closing survey is probably based on reports.
The emperor serves kumis in a gold cup
Editorial contextAt his audience in Peking, after questions translated by the Jesuit Gerbillon, Ides was handed a gold cup of 'Tartarian Liquor called Kumis' by the Kangxi Emperor himself, through the viceroy. The attendants told him it was a spirit made from mare's milk. His whole retinue was then served the same drink. The steppe drink had a place of honour at the Manchu court.
Upon which he gave the Viceroy a Gold Cup of Tartarian Liquor called Kumis, in order to hand it to me; which with due respect I accepted, and having tasted, returned it. This Kumis according to the report of the Attendants is a sort of Brandy distilled from Mares Milk.
About The Manchu court of the Kangxi Emperor
Praying once a year is enough
Editorial contextIdes lodged a night with the Voguls and asked about their religion. Once a year they go into the woods, kill one animal of each kind, hang the carcass on a tree and bow to it, then feast; and they saw no reason to pray more often. On the same page he notes that a good hunting dog was laid to rest in its own little wooden hut raised on four props of earth.
Their whole Religious Worship consists in making an Offering according to their Custom once each Year: When they go in crouds into the Woods, and kill one of each Species of Beasts … they flea off the Skins, hang up the Carcass on a Tree, and fall prostrate to the Earth, and in their way, Pray to it … What need of Praying any oftner than once a Year, say they?
About Voguls (Mansi), called Siberian Tartars
Keep in mind
Based on one night's conversation through interpreters.
Distilling brandy from mare's milk
Editorial contextThe same people drank water, or black brick tea boiled with mare's milk and butter, and they distilled a clear spirit from mare's milk called arak. Ides records the method: boil fresh milk, sour it with old milk, stir it hourly, then distil it twice in sealed pots joined by a reed. He notes that Siberian cows gave no milk once the calf was weaned, which is why mare's milk was so important.
They also draw off a sort of Brandy from Mares-Milk, which they call Kunnen, or Arak, and is distilled in the following manner. The New-Milk is first boiled, then put into a Fat, to which is added some Stale-Milk, and this mixture is stirred every Hour … then it is fit to drink, being as clear, and strong, as Malt Spirits, and very soon intoxicates.
About Horse Tungus (Evenks) of 'great Tartary'
A wooden idol dressed like a Russian woman
Editorial contextBaraba hunters took a small carved wooden idol called a Saltan into the forest on its own sled, dressed in bright cloth in imitation of Russian women's clothes. The first catch was offered to it. After a good season they hung the idol all over with sables and other furs, which were left to rot, because selling them was thought an unforgivable crime. Ides regrets the waste of fine skins.
When they go into the Woods in order to hunt furred Animals, they carry their Saltans along with them; which is a rough Image, as well carved in Wood as they can do it with a Knife: This they cloath in a Stuff dress of all sorts of colours, in imitation of the Habit of the Russian Women
About Barabinsky (Baraba)
Keep in mind
Ides's own route followed the Irtysh and Ob rivers north of the Baraba steppe, so this part of his closing survey is probably based on reports.
The 'first Siberian Tartars' are Voguls
Editorial contextAs soon as he crosses from Europe into Asia, Ides meets his first 'Siberian Tartars' on the Chusovaya river and names them Wogulski. These are the Voguls, today's Mansi, who speak an Ugric language and are not Turkic Tatars at all. The passage shows how 'Tartar' worked for travellers: it meant almost any native, non-Russian people east of the Urals.
we came too, and touched at a pleasant Shoar on the 25th of May, amongst the first Siberian Tartars, called Wogulski. … But the Wogulskian Tartars to which this River led us, are stupid Heathens
About Voguls (Mansi), called Siberian Tartars
Keep in mind
Ides's scorn ('stupid Heathens') is his own; he spent one night among them.
The emperor of China is an 'East Tartar'
Editorial contextIdes calls the Kangxi Emperor 'King of China and Tartary' and 'an East Tartar, or Mongalian', and says he favours his own people over the Chinese. On the next page he adds that a Chinese man seeking high office had to 'naturalize himself a Mansur or Tartar', and that most people inside Peking's walls were Tartars. Here 'Tartar' means the Manchus.
The present … or King of China and Tartary, is an East Tartar, or Mongalian, born in Nieucheu, near the River Sagahen Oula, or Amoer: He governs his Subjects very well, tho' he doth not heartily love the Chinese, but on all occasions prefers his own Nation before them
About Manchus (called East Tartars and Mongalians)
Keep in mind
Two errors: the Manchus were not Mongols, and Kangxi was born in Beijing in 1654, not in Manchuria near the Amur.
Mongolia: land of the race of Gog and Magog
Editorial contextSketching the borders of the Mongol lands from Lake Khövsgöl to the Argun, Ides says that this is what 'hath been formerly said' to be the realm of the race of Gog and Magog, the wild nations of the Bible and the Alexander legends. He then gives an accurate current picture: three ruling brothers, the chief being the Khutughtu, the Buddhist high priest, who had placed themselves under the Chinese emperor after suffering from the Kalmyk (Dzungar) ruler in 1688 and 1689.
is the circumference and boundary of the whole Mongalian Territories, or as hath been formerly said of the Jurisdiction of the Race of Gog and Magog, which is governed by three Regents, the chief of which is the Kuttugt, who is also the High Priest of the Nation.
About Khalkha Mongols
Keep in mind
Ides repeats the old Gog and Magog label as something said by earlier writers, not as his own claim.