A stone minaret and a khan's tomb at Kasimov
Editorial contextIn the Tatar quarter Pallas measured a tall round tower (a minaret, which he calls Misgir) of dressed limestone, all that stood of a ruined mosque (Metsched) built of large bricks. On the next page he describes the plain stone mausoleum of the khans with a small prayer room, and reports that the owner of the land had pulled down the carved gate and the khan's house and burned much of the stone for lime.
there still stands in the highest part of the town a tall, strong, round-built tower or Misgir, from a ruined house of prayer… The old house of prayer, or Metsched, was of bricks more than 13 inches long; but the tower is built entirely of smoothly dressed and fairly large blocks of stone.
Working translation
Original wording
stehet noch izt in dem höchsten Theil der Stadt, ein hoher und starker, rund aufgeführter Thurn oder Misgir, von einem zerstöhrten Bethause… Das alte Bethaus, oder Metsched, hat aus Ziegeln bestanden, welche über 13 Zoll groß sind; der Thurn aber ist aus lauter glattgehauenen und ziemlich grossen Baustücken… erbaut.
About Tatars of Kasimov
Glazed tiles and bricks carted off to Astrakhan
Editorial contextPallas says he had never seen such splendour in any Tatar ruin: brick walls laid with great regularity, the joints inlaid with green, yellow, white and blue glazed ornaments, and a facade with mosaic tiles. He blames time and plunder for the damage, adding that whole boatloads of bricks had been shipped to Astrakhan, and that to get a thousand whole bricks the workers smashed two thousand because the mortar was so hard.
The outer face of the walls is not only inlaid, panel by panel in all the joints, with glazed clay ornaments of green, yellow, white and blue colour in triangular and other figures… But time, and still more the greed of the rabble, long ago turned these memorable remains of antiquity into heaps of stones.
Working translation
Original wording
Die äussere Seite der Mauern ist von aussen nicht nur Felderweise in allen Steinfugen mit glasurten Thonzierrathen von grüner, gelber, weisser und blauer Farbe in dreyeckigten und andern Figuren eingelegt… Aber die Zeit und noch mehr der Geitz des Pöbels hat diese denkwürdigen Ueberbleibsel des Alterthums vorlängst in Steinhaufen verwandelt.
About Tatars (Golden Horde builders)
Tatar tents that ride on two-wheeled carts
Editorial contextAlong the Akhtuba Pallas saw the camps of the Kundurov Tatars, Nogais from the Kuban who had stayed behind when many Kalmyks fled east in 1771. Unlike Kalmyk tents, their round felt-and-reed huts could not be taken apart and were small enough to set whole onto a tall two-wheeled cart (arba), which they covered like a parasol. He compares them to the wagon-dwelling 'Hamaxobii' of the ancient geographers and quotes Horace on the Scythians whose carts drag their wandering homes.
Their yurts are very different in shape and construction from those used by the Kalmyks and other Asian nomads. They cannot be taken apart piece by piece, but are all the more lightly built and only so large that they can be set over a big cart.
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Original wording
Ihre Jurten sind in der Gestalt und Bauart, von denen bey Kalmücken und andern asiatischen Nomaden gebräuchlichen sehr verschieden. Sie können nicht stückweise aus einander genommen werden, sind aber desto leichter gebaut und nur so groß, daß sie über einen grossen Karren gesetzt werden können
About Kundurov Tatars (Nogais from the Kuban)
How a Kalmyk felt tent is put together
Editorial contextPallas gives a step-by-step account of the Kalmyk tent, keyed to an engraved plate: folding lattice walls of willow rods tied into a circle, a wooden crown ring lifted on long roof rods, the frame painted red, and a large cut felt thrown over the roof like a raincoat. In summer the sides stay open; in cold weather they are wrapped in felt or reed mats.
Then the frame, whose parts are usually painted red, is finished. Over its roof a large felt, cut to fit, is laid round like a raincoat and fastened with ropes slung over it. The sides stay open in summer, but when it is cold pieces of felt or reed mats, or both, are laid around them.
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Original wording
Alsdenn ist das Gerüste, dessen Theile roth angefärbt zu seyn pflegen fertig. Ueber das Dach desselben wird ein grosser, darnach zugeschnittener Filz, wie ein Regen-Mantel herum gelegt, und mit darüber geschlungenen Seilen befestigt. Die Seiten bleiben im Sommer offen, wenn es aber kalt ist, so werden Stücken Filz, oder Schilfmatten, oder auch beyde darum gelegt
About Kalmyks (Torghut Kalmyks of the Volga)
A brick 'Tatar prayer-house' whose builders were forgotten
Editorial contextPallas rode out into the steppe beyond the Orenburg line to see a building the Russians called the Tatar Koshena. It was a square brick shrine with a pointed Gothic portal and a twelve-sided funnel dome, standing in a Kazakh cemetery. He thought it was not very old, yet neither the Kazakhs nor the Bashkirs remembered who had built it. On a following page he notes it is all of red brick, much like ordinary European brick.
It is still in perfectly good condition and, at least to judge by the woodwork inside, seems to be of no extraordinary antiquity. Nevertheless the memory of its building has been lost among the Kirgis as well as the Bashkirs.
Working translation
Original wording
Es ist noch in vollkommen gutem Zustand und scheint, wenigstens dem darinn befindlichen Holzwerk nach, von keinem ausserordentlichen Alterthum zu seyn. Gleichwohl ist unter den Kirgisen sowohl, als Baschkiren das Angedenken ihrer Auferbauung verloschen.
About Kazakhs (Kirgis) and Bashkirs; builders unknown
The 'Seven Palaces' were mud-brick and Bukharan
Editorial contextThe fortress of Semipalatinsk ('seven palaces') on the Irtysh was named after ruins twelve versts upstream, famous in earlier travel books. Pallas went to see them: the remains of a few buildings of slate slabs set in clay and of unburnt brick, one a windowless hut, laid out without order. He judged the work poor and plainly Bukharan, and counted the seven 'palaces' only by including rubble heaps.
At present only decayed masonry of three buildings remains; the position of the rest can only be inferred from the rubble; the building style is poor and easily recognised as Bukharan, and the buildings were laid out without any order.
Working translation
Original wording
Gegenwärtig ist nur noch von dreyen Gebäuden verfallenes Mauerwerk vorhanden; die Lage der übrigen läst sich nur noch aus dem Schutt schliessen; die Bauart ist schlecht und leicht vor Bucharisch zu erkennen, auch sind die Gebäude ohne einige Ordnung angelegt gewesen.
About Bukharans (Central Asian settlers), per Pallas
Keep in mind
The identification as Bukharan is Pallas's judgement from the building style; modern scholars link the site to a Zunghar (Oirat) Buddhist monastery.
Ablaikit, a walled Kalmyk temple in the steppe
Editorial contextPallas sent his student Sokolov to measure the ruins of Ablaikit, seventy versts from Ust-Kamenogorsk, and printed an abstract of his report with plans. It was a Buddhist temple and residence built by the Kalmyk prince Ablai, surrounded by a wall of stacked slate slabs that climbed over the crags, with a temple on a burnt-brick platform. Kazakhs and Russian hunting parties had since wrecked much of it.
Ablaikit lies outside the border of the Russian Empire, in the desert formerly inhabited by the Zunghar Kalmyks but now fallen to the Kirgis of the Middle Horde… The historical circumstances of its building by a Kalmyk prince, Ablai, and of the later destruction of this residence
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Original wording
Ablaikit liegt ausser der Gränze des rußischen Reichs, in der sonst von den Ssungorischen Kalmücken bewohnten, nunmehr aber den Kirgisen der mitlern Horde zu Theil gewordnen Wüste… Die historischen Umstände von dessen Erbauung durch einen Kalmückischen Fürsten Ablai, und von der erfolgten Zerstörung dieses Wohnsitzes
About Zunghar Kalmyks (Oirats)
Keep in mind
Second-hand: Pallas prints his student's report; the history of Ablai comes from G. F. Müller's earlier study.
Birch-bark summer yurts and earth-covered winter huts
Editorial contextEast of Tomsk, Pallas describes the dwellings of baptised Tatars: summer yurts of poles or bent birch rods shaped like a Kalmyk tent but covered with boiled and stitched white birch bark, and winter huts of thin birch logs shaped like a box, heaped with earth for warmth, with a clay-and-brushwood fireplace and a square smoke hole.
The baptised Tatars here live in summer in wretched yurts made partly of poles leaned together to a point, partly of birch rods fixed and bent from the ground up around some large hoops, which take the shape of a Kalmyk tent and are covered with strongly boiled, sewn-together white birch bark.
Working translation
Original wording
Die hiesigen getauften Tataren wohnen im Sommer in elenden Jurten, die theils aus spitz zusammen gestüzten Stangen, theils aus Birkenstäben die von der Erde herauf um einige grosse Reife befestigt und gebrochen, die Gestalt eines Calmückischen Zeltes vorstellen, und mit stark gekochten und zusammen genehten weissen Birkenrinden gedeckt werden, bestehen.
About Baptised Siberian Tatars of the Krasnoyarsk district
A Kachin shaman in ribbons and printed cotton
Editorial contextPallas saw a young Kachin shaman perform at the Karysh mine. The man was said to have been mad, or to have played mad, for years before taking up the craft, and still sometimes 'witched' all night until he collapsed. As a beginner he had no drum, only a paddle-shaped rattle stick; a shaman earned the right to a drum by sacrificing a horse and stretching its hide over it.
I saw the costume of a young Kachin sorcerer, who for many years before taking up the trade had been mad or had pretended to be mad, at Karysh… He performed his tricks without a cap and wore only brightly embroidered leather stockings and on his body a tight, very dirty smock of brightly printed cotton cloth (kitaika).
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Original wording
Ich habe den Aufzug eines jungen Katschinzischen Zauberers, der viele Jahre, ehe er das Handwerk angefangen, närrisch gewesen oder sich närrisch angestellt hatte, in Karysch gesehn… Er gauckelte ohne Mütze und hatte nur bunt ausgenähte lederne Strümpfe und am Leibe einen engen, ganz beschmutzten Kittel, von bunt gedrucktem baumwollenen Zeuge (Kitaika) an
About Kachin Tatars (Khakas)
Kalmyk women pitch the tent and saddle the horse
Editorial contextPallas describes the inside of the tent, with its iron tripod over the fire and cast-iron pans bought from Russian ironworks, then the division of labour. Men only make and mend the tents; women milk, dress hides, sew, strike and raise the tent, and even saddle the husband's horse.
Housework falls on the female sex alone. The men busy themselves with nothing but mending and making the huts… The women must take down the hut, pack up everything and put the hut up again. The wife must even saddle her husband's horse and lead it to the hut when he wants to ride out.
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Original wording
Die häusliche Arbeit liegt bloß dem weiblichen Geschlecht ob. Die Männer bemühen sich in nichts, als in Ausbesserung und Verfertigung der Hütten… Das Weibsvolk muß die Hütte abnehmen, alle Sachen aufpacken, und auch die Hütte wieder aufstellen. Sogar muß das Weib dem Manne das Pferd satteln und vor die Hütte führen, wenn er verreisen will.
About Kalmyks
Horsehair and bullets left at a holy place
Editorial contextAt the same brick shrine birch poles were hung with tufts of horsehair and rags, and the ledges held pebbles, lead bullets, an arrow and gunpowder. Pallas explains that the Kazakhs believe leaving hair from a horse's tail at a holy place helps the horse, and that leaving some small thing is a general Tatar custom. The Tatars of his own escort added offerings after praying.
For the Kirgis believe that it is good for their horse if some hair from its tail is left at so holy a place; and in general it is a Tatar custom, at such prayer-houses or other holy places they visit out of devotion, to leave behind something they carry with them.
Working translation
Original wording
Die Kirgisen nehmlich glauben, daß es ihrem Pferde zuträglich ist, wenn etwas Haar von deßen Schweif an einem so heiligen Ort zurück gelassen wird, und überhaupt ist es eine tatarische Gewohnheit bey solchen Bethäusern, oder andern heiligen Plätzen, die sie der Andacht wegen besuchen, irgend etwas, so sie bey sich führen, zurück zu lassen.
About Kazakhs (Kirgis) and Tatars of Pallas's escort
Kachin weddings and the bride who must lie flat
Editorial contextPallas reports that the Kachin Tatars, rich herders who had not taken up farming or Christianity, keep one wife, court for years, and hold two weddings. The groom's father must set up a new yurt for the couple, while the bride's father supplies the household goods. After the betrothal the father-in-law never sees his son's wife again, and if they meet she must throw herself flat on the ground until he has passed.
The first wedding is held at the bride's father's, the second at the groom's, where the groom's father must set up a new yurt for the young couple… Except at the first wooing the father-in-law never sees his son's wife again, never goes into the son's yurt, and if he does meet his daughter-in-law, custom requires that she throw herself flat on the ground.
Working translation
Original wording
Die erste Hochzeit wird beym Brautvater, die andre beym Bräutigam gefeyert, wo des Bräutigams-Vater dem jungen Paar eine neue Jurte aufstellen muß… Ausser bey der ersten Freywerberey sieht der Schwiegervater seines Sohns Frau niemals wieder, geht nie in die Jurte des Sohns und geschieht es ja, daß er seiner Schwiegertochter begegnet, so will die Gewohnheit, daß sich diese platt auf die Erde niederwirft
About Kachin Tatars (Khakas)
A model farm run by a Tatar general
Editorial contextPassing through villages owned by Major General Tevkelev, a Muslim of Tatar descent whose serfs were all Tatars, Pallas praises the order and cleanliness of the grain stores, sheaves, fields and even the peasants' households as an example of good husbandry, unusual in the region. The general was away celebrating the Tatar ploughing festival, Saban.
The last three villages belong to Major General Tevkelev, who is of Tatar descent and an adherent of the Muslim religion, and has nothing but Tatars among his numerous subjects.
Working translation
Original wording
Die drey letztern Dörfer gehören dem Generalmajor Tewkelef, welcher tatarischer Herkunft und der mahometanischen Religion zugethan ist, auch lauter Tataren zu seinen zahlreichen Unterthanen hat.
About Kazan Tatars (Muslim estate owner and peasants)
The Tomsk Tatars call themselves Chat
Editorial contextStopping in the Muslim Tatar village of Kaltai near Tomsk, Pallas notes that the six or seven hundred Tatar families of the Tomsk area call themselves Tschaty and differ little from the Kazan Tatars in dress, customs and religion. Their women wear a closed cap over the veil, and girls wear up to thirty braids at their wedding.
The Tatars living here, of whom about six to seven hundred families in all live in and around Tomsk, call themselves Tschaty and differ little from those of Kazan in their dress and customs, as in their religion.
Working translation
Original wording
Die hier wohnenden Tataren, deren in und um Tomsk in allem etwan sechs bis sieben hundert Familien wohnen, nennen sich Tschaty und sind in ihrer Tracht und Sitten, so wie in der Religion, von den Casanischen wenig unterschieden.
About Tomsk Tatars (Chat Tatars)
Feeding butter to a stone woman's mouth
Editorial contextOn the Abakan steppe, crowded with ancient graves fenced with stone slabs, Pallas found carved standing stones which, like other stone images on the Yenisei steppes, were said to have been set up long before the time of the Kirgis. One, a tall bellied stone with a large open-mouthed woman's face, was called Kurtejak-tash, the 'woman stone'. Hunters heading out for sable prayed to it for luck and smeared fat or butter into its mouth.
This stone is known among the heathen Tatars of this region by the name Kurtejak-tash (woman stone) or Ulu-Kurtejak (the great woman), and especially in autumn it is earnestly asked for luck by the heathens travelling past to the sable hunt, and fed with a little fat or butter, which the worshippers devoutly smear into the open mouth of the face.
Working translation
Original wording
Diese Wake ist unter den Nahmen Kurtejaktasch (Weiberstein) oder Ulu-Kurtejak (das grosse Weib) bey den heydnischen Tataren dieser Gegend bekannt, und wird sonderlich im Herbst, von den auf die Zobeljagd vorbey reisenden Heyden, fleißig um Glück angesprochen und mit etwas Fett oder Butter, welches die Anbeter in den ofnen Mund des Gesichts andächtig schmieren, gefuttert.
About Heathen Tatars of the Abakan (Beltirs and other Khakas)
A saint's mound that heals the sick
Editorial contextHalf a verst from the ruins stood a large, dug-out burial mound where the local Tatars went on pilgrimage, saying a Muslim saint lay buried there. They told Pallas the saint still worked miracles, healed the sick and appeared to them in dreams. Pallas reports this as their belief and dismisses it as the fruit of imagination.
The said Tatars maintain that the saint still works miracles, heals the sick and sometimes appears to them in their sleep; which will be the same case as with so many other holy apparitions and miracles that imagination bore so fruitfully among men in unenlightened times.
Working translation
Original wording
Obgedachte Tataren behaupten, daß der heilige noch itzt Wunder thue, Kranke heile, und ihnen zuweilen im Schlaf erscheine; womit es eben so, wie mit so vielen andern heiligen Erscheinungen und Wundern, welche die Einbildungskraft unter den Menschen in wenig aufgeklärten Zeiten so fruchtbar gebahr, beschaffen seyn wird.
About Kundurov and other Muslim Tatars