Summer huts, winter log cabins, and fields of barley
Editorial contextThe Ides section describes the Baraba people between Tara and the Ob. They live in villages, in light huts in summer and good wooden cabins in winter, 'like the Tartars of Siberia', and they plough and sow oats, barley and buckwheat. The same page says they drink a spirit distilled from mare's milk called kumis and carry a wooden idol, their 'Saitan', on the hunt.
They are a cunning and warlike people, who live in wooden cabins like the Tartars of Siberia … They live in kinds of villages, in light huts in summer and in good wooden cabins in winter. Ploughing is practised among them, and they sow oats, barley, buckwheat and so on.
Working translation
Original wording
C'est un peuple malin & belliqueux, qui habite dans des cabanes de bois, comme les Tartares de Syberie … Ils habitent dans des especes de villages, sous des huttes legeres en été, & en de bonnes cabanes de bois en hyver. Le labourage est en usage parmi eux, & ils sement de l'avoine, de l'orge, du sarazin &c.
About Barabinsky (Baraba Tatars), called a kind of Kalmyk
Keep in mind
From the Ides material; the book calls them 'a kind of Kalmyk', though they are now counted as Siberian Tatars.
'This is how Abraham lived'
Editorial contextWhile he sketched, the Tatars crowded round him, as surprised by his clothes as he was by theirs. The women spun and carded wool for the tent felts and burned dried cow dung for fuel. He found their way of life close to that of the Arabs, and thought this must be how Abraham and the patriarchs lived, content in tents as Europeans are in palaces.
Their way of life is quite close to that of the Arabs, and they seem as content with their dwellings as we are with palaces and the finest houses. This brings to my mind the ancient way of the Orientals, and I imagine that this is how Abraham and the other patriarchs lived
Working translation
Original wording
Leur manière de vivre approche assez de celle des Arabes, & ils paroissent aussi contens de leurs demeures, qu'on l'est parmi nous des Palais, & des plus belles maisons. Cela me remet dans l'esprit l'ancienne manière des Orientaux, & je m'imagine que c'est ainsi que vivoient Abraham & les autres Patriarches
About Yurt Tatars (Nogai) of Astrakhan
Portrait of a Tatar noblewoman in a headdress of gold ducats
Editorial contextDe Bruyn painted a young Tatar woman of high rank in the governor's house. Under her veils she wore a pointed, mitre-shaped headdress covered in gold ducats and embroidered with pearls, silver chains with little boxes for prayer books, and hair bound with black ribbon. She came with three women attendants and a Tatar escort known to the governor.
This headdress was entirely covered with gold ducats, as has already been said, and pointed like a mitre, embroidered with a great number of pearls … This young lady was one of the most considerable among the Tartars, and was accompanied by three women of her suite and escorted by a Tartar known to the governor.
Working translation
Original wording
Cette coifure étoit toute couverte de ducats d'or, comme il a déjà été dit, & pointue en forme de mitre, brodée d'un grand nombre de perles … Cette demoiselle étoit une des plus considerables d'entre les Tartares; & étoit accompagnée de trois femmes de sa suite, & conduite par un Tartare, connu du Gouverneur.
About Yurt Tatars (Nogai) of Astrakhan
Keep in mind
The portrait was engraved for the book.
Inside a Tatar mosque at Tobolsk
Editorial contextIdes, curious to see Tatar worship, visited a mosque at Tobolsk with the governor, without whom he would not have been let in. The mosques had large open windows and carpeted floors with no other ornament; worshippers left their shoes at the door. The mufti was an Arab, and the Tatars honoured anyone who could read Arabic. Many Kalmyk slaves lived in the area.
The Tartars who live at Tobolsk and for several leagues around are all Muslims. Mr Isbrants, curious to see their ceremonies, went to one of their mosques accompanied by the voevoda, without whom he could not have been admitted. They are surrounded by large windows, which are left open, and the floor is covered with carpets, with no other ornament.
Working translation
Original wording
Les Tartares, qui demeurent à Tobol, & à plusieurs lieues aux environs, sont tous Mahometans. Mr. Isbrants, étant curieux de voir leurs cérémonies, se rendit dans une de leurs mosquées, accompagné du Waiwode, sans quoi il n'auroit pû y être admis. Elles sont entourées de grandes fenêtres, qu'on laisse ouvertes, & le pavé en est couvert de tapis, sans autre ornement.
About Siberian Tatars
Keep in mind
Ides's eyewitness visit, reported second-hand in this book.
Kalmyks swim for bread thrown from the boat
Editorial contextSailing back up the Volga, de Bruyn saw Kalmyks fishing with lines along the bank, with two-humped camels around them, and threw them bread, which they swam out to fetch. Ashore, Kalmyk men and women could not stop staring at his clothes and handling them. His boat kept to the east bank to avoid the Tartars on the other side, whom he calls great thieves.
We saw several Kalmyks along the bank fishing with lines, and we threw bread into the water for them, which they swam out to fetch. There were two-humped camels around them … we found several Kalmyks, both men and women, who could not tire of looking at my clothes
Working translation
Original wording
Nous vîmes plusieurs Calmuques le long du rivage pêchant à la ligne, & nous leur jettâmes dans l'eau, du pain qu'ils allèrent prendre à la nage. Il y avoit des chameaux à 2. bosses autour d'eux … nous trouvâmes plusieurs Calmuques tant hommes que femmes, qui ne pouvoient se lasser de regarder mon habillement
About Kalmyks
'Yurt' Tatars: named for being born there
Editorial contextDe Bruyn records the Russian name for the Tatars around Astrakhan, 'Jurtsge' (the Yurt Tatars), explaining it as 'because they were born there'. They paid no tribute to the Tsar but had to send a few hundred men to his wars, though they could field 20,000. On the same page he notes that Nogais tented near Terki and that Crimean Tatars came only to sell horses and cattle.
The Russians call the Tartars who live in those parts Jurtsge, because they were born there. Nor do they pay any tribute to the Tsar; they are only obliged to send some hundreds of their people to war when that prince wishes it.
Working translation
Original wording
Les Russiens nomment les Tartares, qui habitent en ces quartiers-là, Jurtsge, parce qu'ils y sont nez. Aussi ne payent-ils aucun tribut au Czar; ils sont seulement obligés d'envoyer quelques centaines de leurs gens à la guerre, lors que ce Prince le souhaite.
About Yurt Tatars of Astrakhan
The Su-Mongols, 'also called Tartars after the river Tartar'
Editorial contextBack in Astrakhan in 1707, de Bruyn adds a note from older books: in 1246 the Tartars chose 'Kuine' (Güyük) as their ruler, calling themselves Moals or Mongals. Their land, Mongol, held four nations, among them the water Mongols, also called Tartars after a river Tartar that runs through their country. This is the explanation given by the friar John of Plano Carpini in the 1240s, repeated second-hand.
In the year 1246 they chose as head of Tartary a certain Kuine, whom they surnamed Gog Cham, that is, King or Emperor, calling themselves Moals or Mongals … the Saniongals, or sea Mongols, who are also called Tartars, after the river Tartar, which crosses their country
Working translation
Original wording
En l'an 1246, ils choisirent pour chef de la Tartarie un certain Kuine, qu'ils surnommérent Gog Cham, c'est-à-dire, Roi ou Empereur, se nommant eux-mêmes Moales ou Mongales … les Saniongals, ou Mongales marins, qu'on nomme aussi Tartares, d'après la riviere de Tartar, qui traverse leur pais
About Mongols (medieval)
Keep in mind
Copied from older books; 'Gog Cham' is presumably a garbled form of Güyük's name, not a link to Gog and Magog.
A hill heaped over a Tartar emperor by soldiers' helmets
Editorial contextBelow Samara the Russians pointed out a round hill called Sanol Kiergan and told de Bruyn it was the tomb of a Tartar emperor named Mammon, who came up the Volga with seventy other Tartar kings to conquer Russia and died there. His soldiers filled their helmets and shields with earth to raise the mound. The name may echo Mamai, the Golden Horde warlord of the 1370s; Struys (W249) heard a version in 1669.
The Russians told us it was the tomb of a king or emperor of Tartary named Mammon, who had come up the Volga with seventy other Tartar kings to seize all Russia. That this prince having died in that place, the soldiers … filled their helmets and shields with earth to raise him a tomb, from which this mountain had been formed.
Working translation
Original wording
Les Russiens nous dirent que c'étoit le tombeau d'un Roi, ou d'un Empereur de Tartarie, nommé Mammon, qui avoit monté le Wolga avec 70. autres Rois Tartares, pour s'emparer de toute la Russie. Que ce Prince étant mort en ce lieu-là, les soldats … remplirent leurs casques & leurs boucliers de terre, pour lui dresser un tombeau, dont cette montagne avoit été formée.
About a legendary 'Emperor of Tartary' called Mammon
Keep in mind
A folk legend told by Russian boatmen; the hill may be natural.
Mammoths that burrow underground and die in the light
Editorial contextThe Ides section reports mammoth tusks and bones thawing out of riverbanks, and a member of the embassy who found a head with half-rotten flesh. The Yakuts, Tungus and Ostyaks say the mammoth lives underground, making the earth rise and sink as it moves, and dies as soon as it sees daylight. The Russians of Siberia think it was an elephant-like beast buried by Noah's Flood.
The Yakuts, Tungus and Ostyaks claim that they never come out of the bosom of the earth, under which they go this way and that. They even say that one often sees the earth rise and sink when they are moving … They assure us that they die as soon as they see the light
Working translation
Original wording
Les Jakutes, Tungufes, & Ostiaques, prétendent qu'ils ne sortent jamais du sein de la terre, sous laquelle ils vont de côté & d'autre. Ils disent même qu'on voit souvent la terre s'élever & s'affaisser lors qu'ils sont en mouvement … Ils assurent, qu'ils meurent aussi tôt qu'ils découvrent la lumière
About Yakuts, Tungus and Ostyaks (and Siberian Russians)
Keep in mind
Native belief and Russian flood theory reported by Ides; the bones and tusks themselves were real finds.