Stone statues left by Cumans and other Turks
Editorial contextPresenting drawings of inscribed stone columns near Abakan on the upper Yenisei, Klaproth notes that they closely resemble the stone statues scattered over the steppe north of the Caucasus. Those, he says, are the only monuments the Cumans and other Turkic peoples left behind there.
Moreover, these same statues closely resemble those seen fairly often on the vast plains north of the Caucasus, between the Black Sea and the Caspian, which are the only monuments that the Cumans and other Turkic peoples have left us of their stay in those regions.
Working translation
Original wording
D'ailleurs, ces mêmes statues ressemblent beaucoup à celles qu'on voit assez fréquemment dans les vastes plaines situées au nord du Caucase, entre la mer Noire et la mer Caspienne, et qui sont les seuls monumens que les Comans et autres peuples turcs nous ont laissés de leur séjour dans ces contrées.
About ancient Turkic peoples of South Siberia; Cumans of the steppe
Keep in mind
Klaproth worked from drawings made by others (Müller's artist Lursenius, Strahlenberg, Pallas), not from the stones themselves.
Nomads of Bishbalik in felt tents
Editorial contextKlaproth translates the Ming dynasty's geography on the land of Bishbalik, north of the Tian Shan. It says the people had no houses, lived in felt tents, kept cattle, sheep, camels and horses, farmed little, lived on meat and milk, and spoke a Turkic dialect called Uighur. The same book notes that under the Mongols there had been a town of Bishbalik with a viceroy and military farming colonies.
The inhabitants are nomads, have no houses, and live under felt tents. They occupy themselves almost entirely with keeping oxen, sheep, camels and horses. They have little agriculture and live on the meat and milk of their herds, which also supply the clothing they need. Their language is a dialect of Turkish
Working translation
Original wording
Les habitans sont nomades, n'ont pas de maisons, et vivent sous des tentes de feutre. Ils s'occupent presqu'exclusivement de l'entretien des bœufs, des moutons, des chameaux et des chevaux. Ils n'ont que peu d'agriculture, et se nourrissent de la chair et du laitage de leurs troupeaux, qui leur fournissent l'habillement nécessaire. Leur langue est un dialecte du turc
About nomads of Bishbalik (Moghulistan), Turkic speakers
Keep in mind
This scan is volume 2 (1826) despite its IA label; the OCR is rough.
'The Mongols are the true Tatars'
Editorial contextKlaproth opens his essay on the Tatars by calling it a common error to mix up Tatars and Turks. In the age of Mongol power, he says, only the Mongols bore the name; only in the last few centuries has it spread to all the eastern Turks and even to unrelated peoples. He asks scholars to drop the habit.
It is a generally accepted error to confuse the Tatars with the Turks … for in the time of the power of the Mongols, who are the true Tatars, that name was given to them alone. … I wish to try to clear up this confusion, and I invite all scholars to abolish an abuse that will always cause mistakes in ethnographic research.
Working translation
Original wording
C'est une erreur généralement adoptée que de confondre les Tatars et les Turcs … car dans le tems de la puissance des Mongols, qui sont les véritables Tatars, ce nom ne fut donné qu'à eux. … Je veux tâcher d'éclaircir cette confusion, et j'invite tous les savans à abolir un abus qui occasionera toujours des méprises dans les recherches ethnographiques.
About Mongols; Turkic peoples wrongly called Tatars
Keep in mind
Modern historians treat the medieval Tatars as a separate steppe confederation that Chinggis Khan destroyed, so Klaproth's simple equation of Mongols and Tatars goes too far.
White, wild and black Tatars
Editorial contextKlaproth summarises a Song Chinese general's account of the northern tribes before Chinggis Khan's rise. The 'White Tatars' cut their cheeks and were probably Turks, the 'Wild Tatars' were slaves to them, and the 'Black Tatars' were the tribe into which Temujin, the future Chinggis Khan, was born.
White Tatars: these had nothing repulsive in their appearance; yet they made cuts in their cheeks (tattooed themselves, as the Tungus still do today). … The second tribe mentioned by Meng Hong is that of the Wild Tatars. These were stupid and served as slaves to the first. The third was that of the Black Tatars, among whom Chinggis Khan was born
Working translation
Original wording
Tatars blancs, ceux-ci n'avaient rien de rebutant dans leur extérieur; cependant ils se faisaient des incisions dans les joues (se tatouaient, comme cela se pratique encore aujourd'hui parmi les Toungouses). … La seconde tribu mentionnée par Meng koung est celle des Tatars sauvages. Ceux-ci étaient stupides et servaient d'esclaves aux premiers. La troisième était celle des Tatars noirs, parmi laquelle Tchinghiz khan naquit
About Tatar tribes of the early 13th century (Mongols and Onggut)
Keep in mind
The Chinese report (the Mengda beilu of 1221) is now usually credited to the envoy Zhao Gong rather than Meng Hong; its labels reflect a Chinese outsider's view.
The 'piebald horde' of Siberia
Editorial contextA 'piebald horde' was famous in 16th-century Siberia, and some doubted it existed because people thought its members were themselves spotted. Klaproth says the name only described their horses, and quotes the explorer Messerschmidt's diary: in 1721 the governor of Tomsk still claimed the Kistym Tatars had been piebald people who slowly 'degenerated' into white ones.
the piebald horde, … whose existence has often been doubted because people believed that the men who made it up were themselves piebald, whereas it concerned only their horses. … the voevoda of Tomsk asserted 'that the Kistym Tartars were called the piebald horde (pegaya or pestraya orda), that they had been piebald, but had gradually degenerated by becoming white.'
Working translation
Original wording
la horde bigarrée, … dont on a souvent révoqué en doute l'existence, parce qu'on croyait que les hommes qui la composaient étaient eux-mêmes bigarrés, tandis qu'il ne s'agissait que de leurs chevaux. … le woiewode de Tomsk assura: « Qu'on appelait les Tartares de Kistym la horde bigarrée (piegaga ou piestra orda), qu'ils étaient bigarrés, mais qu'ils avaient successivement dégénéré, en devenant blancs.
About Kistym Tatars (Siberian Tatars near Tomsk)
Keep in mind
Klaproth himself rejects the spotted-people story as an 'extravagant idea'; the voevoda was repeating local lore.
Siberian inscriptions that look European
Editorial contextKlaproth admits that the letters on the inscribed stones of South Siberia look more European than Asian, with shapes like Greek and Slavonic letters. He warns that this does not mean they were carved after the Russian conquest, since many stand on ancient gravestones. The script was still undeciphered in his day.
On examining the characters of these inscriptions, one cannot hide from oneself that they look more European than Asian. One easily recognises several Greek and Slavonic letters. Yet one cannot reasonably conclude from this that these inscriptions are later than the Russian conquest of Siberia
Working translation
Original wording
En examinant les caractères de ces inscriptions, on ne peut pas se dissimuler qu'ils ont plutôt un air européen qu'asiatique. On y reconnaît facilement plusieurs lettres grecques et esclavonnes. Cependant on ne peut raisonnablement conclure pour cela que ces inscriptions soient postérieures à la conquête de la Sibérie par les Russes
About ancient inhabitants of South Siberia
Keep in mind
These are the Yenisei runic inscriptions, later shown (1893) to be in an Old Turkic script; the likeness to Greek letters is only in shape.