Beijing's Tartar women ride astride and walk the streets
Editorial contextIn Beijing Barrow saw women in the crowds, in the lanes and on horseback riding like men, and all of them were Tartars (Manchus). Unlike Chinese women, they did not bind their feet: on the next page he describes their thick-soled shoes and painted faces, while Chinese women stayed indoors.
Women in Pekin were commonly seen among the crowd, or walking in the narrow streets, or riding on horseback, which they crossed in the same manner as the men, but they were all Tartars. They wore long silken robes, reaching down to their feet
About Manchu women
Under the bamboo: the Chinese cry, the Tartar is silent
Editorial contextTravelling south, Barrow saw beatings with the bamboo almost daily. He contrasts the two peoples: a Chinese cries out and thanks the official on his knees, while a Tartar bears it silently and then grumbles, disputing a Chinese official's right to flog him.
In travelling through the country, a day seldom escaped without our witnessing the application of the Pan-tsé, or bamboo… A Chinese suffering under this punishment cries out in the most piteous manner; a Tartar bears it in silence.
About Manchus and Chinese
Keep in mind
A generalisation from what he happened to see.
The Manchu script, 'more like the Greek'
Editorial contextBarrow describes the Manchu 'Tartar' language as alphabetic (or syllabic), inflected like European tongues, rich in B and R sounds, written in vertical columns from the left, and 'full, sonorous'. He predicted it would replace Chinese at court within a century.
the Man-tchoo Tartar character, which, if the present family continue on the throne for a century longer, will, in all probability, supplant the Chinese, or will at least become the court language. In the enunciation it is full, sonorous, and far from being disagreeable, more like the Greek than any of the oriental languages
About Manchus
Keep in mind
His prediction proved wrong: Manchu declined and Chinese prevailed at the Qing court.
Chinese funeral figures as a relic of Scythian burials
Editorial contextBarrow says the Chinese once buried slaves and concubines with rulers, now replaced by tinfoil figures and statues on graves. He guesses this descends from a Scythian or Tartar custom that Herodotus described, in which horses, slaves and concubines were killed and set around a king's tomb.
Formerly it was the custom to bury slaves with emperors and princes and sometimes also their concubines alive… this seems to be the remains of a Scythian or Tartar custom, which, according to Herodotus, was commonly observed at the funerals of their sovereigns, when their horses, their slaves, and their concubines were impaled alive and placed in order round the tyrant's tomb.
About Chinese; ancient Scythians and Tartars
Keep in mind
The Tartar link is Barrow's guess from Herodotus.
Kublai Khan imports astronomers from Balkh and Samarkand
Editorial contextBarrow credits the Mongol emperor Kublai with welcoming learned men, especially Muslims, surveying the empire, reforming the calendar, bringing astronomical instruments from Balkh and Samarkand, and repairing the canal. He adds that after the Mongols were expelled the Chinese could not keep a correct almanac.
He caused a regular survey to be taken of the whole empire. He adjusted their chronology, and corrected the errors of their astronomical observations; he imported various mathematical and astronomical instruments from Balk and Samarcand; such as were then in use among the Chinese being of a rude construction
About Mongols (Kublai Khan)
Keep in mind
Compiled from Chinese annals and missionary writings.
Tartars who look and dress like the Chinese
Editorial contextBarrow says the Manchu conquerors took over Chinese dress, manners and laws and, being in his view of the same stock, are hardly distinguishable from the Chinese except that they are shorter and stockier. On the following pages he contrasts their blunt, rough character with Chinese ceremoniousness.
The Tartars, by assuming the dress, the manners, and the habits of the Chinese, by being originally descended from the same stock, and by a great resemblance of features, are scarcely distinguishable from them in their external appearance. And if any physical difference exist, it seems to be in stature only
About Manchus
Keep in mind
The 'same stock' idea is Barrow's racial theory, not an observation.
Fair Manchus with blue eyes and bushy beards
Editorial contextBarrow noticed some Manchu men and women who were very fair, with blue eyes, straight or aquiline noses, brown hair and big beards, 'more the appearance of Greeks than of Tartars'. He guesses at Greek ancestry from Sogdiana, notes that the Qianlong Emperor boasted of descent from Genghis Khan, and stresses these were exceptions.
The Man-tchoo Tartars would appear to be composed of a mixed race: among these we observed several, both men and women, that were extremely fair and of florid complexions: some had light blue eyes, straight or aquiline noses, brown hair, immense bushy beards, and had much more the appearance of Greeks than of Tartars.
About Manchus
Keep in mind
Barrow himself calls these exceptions; the Greek-descent explanation is pure guesswork.
Noah's Ark grounded in Tartary
Editorial contextIn a chapter on Chinese origins Barrow argues that the 'heights of Tartary' are the highest land in the Old World, so the Ark probably first touched ground there rather than in Armenia, and that Tartars and Chinese share one origin. He suggests Noah's survivors may have followed the rivers down into China.
we may suppose that the ark, instead of resting in Armenia, first struck ground in that part of Tartary which is now inhabited by the Eleuths, as being the most elevated tract of country in the old world. From these heights large rivers flow towards every quarter of the horizon.
About Tartars (in general); Eleuths (Oirats)
Keep in mind
Pure speculation built on the biblical Flood and faulty geography.