Ferdinand Verbiest, the Flemish Jesuit astronomer at the Qing court, was again ordered to follow the Kangxi emperor in 1683, this time with Father Philippe Grimaldi, on a summer progress north of the Great Wall with the emperor's grandmother, some 60,000 men and 100,000 horses. He explains the reasons for the trip (military training, keeping the Mongols in awe, the emperor's health, escaping Beijing's heat), describes the land and its tent-dwelling herders, and praises the Great Wall. This corpus copy is the English version printed in a learned journal in 1686 (JSTOR Early Journal Content), followed by an editor's note on geography.
How they knew
Eyewitness
Who “Tartar” means here
'Western Tartars' are the Mongols north and west of the Great Wall; 'Eastern' or 'Oriental Tartars' are the Manchus who ruled China. The emperor himself is 'the Tartarian Monarch that Conquered China'.
Why read it
A court insider's eyewitness picture of Mongol pastoral life in 1683 and of how the Manchu emperor managed the Mongols, with a flat statement that their country had no towns or houses.
Watch out
Verbiest is openly scornful of the Mongols and their lamas, and writes as a missionary eager for converts. Same author as W069, so not an independent witness; English translation of a communicated letter.
Editorial contextVerbiest states plainly that in the whole of 'Western Tartary' he found only mountains, rocks and valleys, with no towns and no houses at all. The people lived in tents and moved them from valley to valley as the grazing required, keeping cattle, horses and camels but no pigs or poultry.
there is nothing to be found but Mountains, Rocks, and Vallies, there are neither Cities, Towns, nor Villages, nor so much as any Houses. The Inhabitants Lodge under Tents, pitched on all sides in the open Feilds. They are for the most part Grasiers, and transport their Tents from one Vally to another, according as the Pastures are better.
The Great Wall, built by a Chinese emperor against the Tartars
Editorial contextVerbiest crossed the Great Wall several times and says all seven wonders of the world together could not match it. He credits it to an ancient Chinese emperor who built it as a bulwark against the Western Tartars, and was amazed that water, brick and mortar had been hauled up dry mountains. He measured one stretch with an instrument at 1,037 geometrical feet above the horizon.
'twas to make a Bulwork against their Incursions, that a Chinese Emperor in Antient times caused this great Wall to be Built, which seperates China from their Countrey. I have passed it several times, and have considered it very attentively, And I can say without Hyperbolizing, that all the seven Wonders of the World put together, are not comparable to this worke.
Editorial contextThe Mongols, Verbiest says, grew no crops and lived on milk, cheese and meat, with a distilled drink he compares to European aqua vitae (almost certainly milk spirit), which they drank at feasts. He then turns contemptuous, likening them to the herds they tended.
They pass their Life either in Hunting, or doing nothing. And as they neither Sow nor cultivate the Earth, so they make no Harvest. They Live upon Milk, Cheese, and Flesh, and have a sort of Wine, not much unlike our Aqua-vitae ; with which they make their Feasts, and are often Drunk.
Editorial contextVerbiest explains that the 'Tartarian Monarch that Conquered China' won over the Mongols partly by courting their Buddhist lamas, who persuaded their people to submit. The emperor still gave the lamas presents and used them to keep the Mongols obedient, though Verbiest believed he privately despised them. He adds that the land had been divided into 48 tributary units.
one of his first Cares was to engage to his Interest by his Royal Bounties, and by Demonstration of a Singular Affection, the Lamas (or Preists) these Men having a great Repute above all those of their Nation, easily perswaded them to Submit to the Government of so great a Prince