A palisade of wooden stakes around Liaodong
Editorial contextOn the imperial map survey of Tartary, Pierre Jartoux found the ginseng country walled off from the province of Liaodong by a barrier of wooden stakes (the Willow Palisade), patrolled by guards to keep Chinese from slipping out to dig the precious root. He adds that two or three thousand still sneaked through, risking their freedom.
The places where ginseng grows are entirely separated from the province of 'Canton', called Liaodong on our old maps, by a barrier of wooden stakes that encloses the whole province, around which guards patrol constantly to prevent the Chinese from leaving it and going to look for this root.
Working translation
Original wording
Les endroits où croît le gin-seng, sont tout-à-fait séparés de la province de Canton, appelée Leaotong dans nos anciennes cartes, par une barrière de pieux de bois qui renferme toute cette Province, et aux environs de laquelle des Gardes rôdent continuellement pour empêcher les Chinois d'en sortir, et d'aller chercher cette racine.
About Manchus (Qing state); Chinese ginseng poachers
Keep in mind
'Canton' is an error in this reprint (the province meant is Guandong, i.e. Liaodong, not Canton in the south). The volume is a later Toulouse reprint.
Why a Manchu prince could not write 'prendre'
Editorial contextParrenin reports a friendly debate with a Manchu prince who praised the Manchu alphabet over European letters. Parrenin challenged him to write the French words prendre, platine, griffon and friand; he could not, because Manchu cannot put two consonants together, so he had to write perendre, pelatine, feriand. Parrenin adds that the script lacks initial B and D, writing P and T instead.
'Try, for example, whether you can write these words: prendre, platine, griffon, friand.' He could not, because in the Tartar language two consonants cannot be joined in a row; a vowel must be placed between them, and one writes perendre, pelatine, feriand, gerifon, etc.
Working translation
Original wording
Essayez, par exemple, si vous pourrez écrire ces mots: prendre, platine, griffon, friand. Il ne le put, parce que dans la langue Tartare on ne peut joindre deux consonnes de suite; il faut placer entre deux une voyelle, & écrire perendre, pelatine, feriand, gerifon, &c.
About Manchus (a Manchu prince)
Ten thousand Tartars sent to hunt ginseng
Editorial contextJartoux writes that the emperor, wanting Tartars rather than Chinese to profit from ginseng, ordered ten thousand Tartars in 1709 to gather it, each owing him two ounces of the best, with the rest bought at its weight in fine silver. His survey party met these herb-hunters in the wilderness; on the same page he describes their troops of a hundred men advancing in a line through the forest. The letter opens with a Tartar villager near the Korean border bringing him four whole plants in a basket.
The Emperor, wishing the Tartars rather than the Chinese to profit from this trade, had ordered ten thousand Tartars that same year, 1709, to go and gather for themselves all the ginseng they could, on condition that each of them would give His Majesty two ounces of the best, and that the rest would be paid for at the weight of fine silver.
Working translation
Original wording
L'Empereur souhaitant que les Tartares profitassent de ce gain, préférablement aux Chinois, avait donné ordre, cette même année 1709, à dix mille Tartares, d'aller ramasser eux-mêmes tout ce qu'ils pourraient de gin-seng, à condition que chacun d'eux en donnerait à Sa Majesté deux onces du meilleur, et que le reste serait payé au poids d'argent fin.
About Manchu bannermen ('Tartares')
The emperor: 'We Manchus have our own rites'
Editorial contextParrenin translates the Yongzheng emperor's words to his ministers about a Manchu prince who had become Christian: every nation honours Heaven in its own way; the Manchu rite is the Tiaochin, when all burn incense and paper on New Year's day; Mongols, Chinese, Muscovites and Europeans each have their own. The prince, as a Manchu, should follow the Manchu rite. A footnote says the Tiaochin had no fixed form and each family did it its own way.
The rite of the Manchu Tartars is the Tiaochin: there is no one who does not burn incense and paper on the first day of the year, and that is to honour Heaven. We Manchus have our own particular rites; the Mongols, the Chinese, the Muscovites, the Europeans and so on also each have the Tien [Heaven] proper to them.
Working translation
Original wording
Le rite des Tartares Mantcheoux est le Tiaochin, il n'y a personne qui le premier jour de l'an ne brûle des odeurs & du papier, & cela pour honorer le Ciel. Nous autres Mantcheoux, nous avons nos rites particuliers; les Mongous, les Chinois, les Moscovites, les Européens, &c. ont aussi chacun le Tien qui lui est propre.
About Manchus; the Yongzheng emperor and a Christian Manchu prince
Keep in mind
Parrenin's translation of an edict hostile to Christianity; 'Tiaochin' is his transcription of a Manchu household rite.
Manchus are 'Eastern Tartars', Mongols 'Western Tartars'
Editorial contextParrenin, sending the Académie des Sciences his Manchu translation of a French anatomy commissioned by the Kangxi emperor, stops to explain what 'Tartar language' means: the language of the Manchus, who have reigned in China for eighty years and are called Eastern Tartars, not that of the Mongols, called Western Tartars and almost all tributaries of the emperor. The two languages, he says, are very different.
I mean the language of the Manchus, who have reigned in China for eighty years and are called Eastern Tartars. I do not at all mean the language of the Mongols, who are called Western Tartars and are almost all tributaries of the Emperor. These two languages are very different from each other.
Working translation
Original wording
je parle de la langue des Mantcheoux qui régnent à la Chine depuis quatre-vingts ans, & qui s'appellent Tartares Orientaux. Je ne parle nullement de la langue des Mongols, qu'on nomme Tartares Occidentaux, & qui sont presque tous tributaires de l'Empereur. Ces deux langues sont très-différentes entr'elles.
About Manchus (Eastern Tartars); Mongols (Western Tartars)
Mukden, capital of Eastern Tartary, where Chinese count as Tartars
Editorial contextNoël reports a plan to open a mission at Chin-yam (Shenyang, the Manchu Mukden), capital of Liaodong and all Eastern Tartary, where the emperor had set four supreme tribunals for the Tartars' affairs. He adds that Liaodong now counts as part of Tartary and its people are regarded 'not as Chinese, but as true Tartars'. The label followed political allegiance, not ancestry.
Chin-yam, capital of Liaodong and of all Eastern Tartary. This city is considerable, and the Emperor has set up four supreme tribunals there to judge in the last resort all the affairs of the Tartars; for Liaodong now passes for part of Tartary, and its inhabitants are no longer regarded as Chinese, but as true Tartars.
Working translation
Original wording
Chin-yam capitale de Leaoton, & de toute la Tartarie orientale. Cette ville est considérable, & l'Empereur y a établi quatre Tribunaux souverains pour y juger en dernier ressort toutes les affaires des Tartares; car le Leaoton passe aujourd'hui pour être de la Tartarie, & on n'en regarde plus les habitans comme Chinois, mais comme de véritables Tartares.
About Manchus and the people of Liaodong
Eight banners each of Manchu, Mongol and 'Tartarized Chinese'
Editorial contextA footnote to Parrenin's letters on the persecuted Christian princes of the Sunu family explains the Qing banner system: eight banners of Manchu Tartars, eight of Mongol Tartars and eight of 'Tartarized Chinese', each with its own coloured flag, its own quarter in the Tartar city of Peking and its own courts, apart from those of the ordinary people. 'Tartar' here is a legal status as much as an ancestry.
There are eight banners of Manchu Tartars, eight more of Mongol Tartars, and eight of Tartarized Chinese. … Each banner has its own quarter in the Tartar city, and its own justice, independent of that of the common people.
Working translation
Original wording
Il y a huit bannières de Tartares Mantcheoux, huit autres de Tartares Mongous, & huit de Chinois tartarisés. … Chaque bannière a son quartier dans la ville Tartare, & sa justice particulière indépendante de celle du peuple.
About Manchu, Mongol and Chinese bannermen