A palace hall covered with felt 'in the Tartar manner'
Editorial contextDescribing the palace hall where the embassy was feasted, Brand notes a building of fired brick about 30 fathoms long with yellow glazed roof tiles bearing lions and dragons, paper windows, twelve gilded pillars and an open painted roof. One surface (the OCR word is garbled, probably the floor) was covered with felt in the Tartar manner and decorated with foliage and figures, a steppe touch in a Chinese palace.
it was a four-sided building, about 30 fathoms long and 10 fathoms wide, built of bricks, and the roof was covered with yellow glazed tiles … was covered with felt in the Tartar manner, and with foliage and figures
Working translation
Original wording
so war selbiger ein viereckigtes Gebäu, ohngefehr 30 Klafter lang, und 10. Klafter breit von Mauersteinen aufgeführet, und das Dach war mit gelben verglasurten Ziegeln bedecket … war nach der tartarischen Art mit Filtz bedecket, und mit Laubwerck und Figuren ge-
About Manchu court
Keep in mind
The noun before 'war nach der tartarischen Art' is garbled in the OCR; check the scan.
'We see so many poor Russians who believe in Christ'
Editorial contextWhen the travellers urged the Voguls to give up their 'errors' and accept Christ, they gave a sharp reply: they saw every day many poor Russians who believed in Christ and could barely earn a crust of bread, and as for salvation, they would live and die as their ancestors had. Brand adds that they neither farm nor trade and live by hunting sable and elk.
as for well-being in this life, we see daily before our eyes so many poor Russians who, though they believe in Christ, can scarcely spare a piece of bread; as for eternal welfare, they must go on living and dying as their forefathers did, whether they had believed well or badly.
Working translation
Original wording
was das zeitliche Wohlseyn anlangt, sehen wir täglich vor unsern Augen so viel arme Russen, welche, ob sie wohl an Christum glauben, dennoch kaum ein Stuck Brodt erübrigen können, was aber die ewige Wohlfahrt anlangt, müsten sie fernerhin also leben und sterben, wie ihre Vor-Eltern, sie möchten gut oder übel geglaubt haben.
About Voguls (Mansi)
Kumis in golden bowls at the emperor's feast
Editorial contextAt the Kangxi emperor's banquet for the Russian envoy, after a meal of nearly three hours, two great golden bowls of kumis, which Brand says is a Tartar drink made from mare's milk, were brought to the emperor. The envoy was called up to the throne and ordered to drain one bowl completely; the embassy staff were then served kumis too, followed by tea boiled in milk.
two great golden bowls with a drink (which in Tartar is called kumis, and is said to be made from mare's milk) were handed to the Bogdikhan, who immediately afterwards had the envoy summoned before him on his throne
Working translation
Original wording
wurden dem Bogdegan zwey grosse güldene Schalen mit einem Tranck, (welcher auf tartarisch Kumis genannt wird, und der von Pferde-Milch abgezogen seyn solle,) überreichet, welcher gleich darauf den Herrn Envoye vor sich auf seinen Thron entbiethen ließ
About Manchu court (the 'Tartar' dynasty of China)
Prayers in a Tatar mosque at Tobolsk
Editorial contextAt Tobolsk the governor's learned son took the envoy's party to a Tatar mosque. Brand describes a plain room with large open windows and carpets, the worshippers leaving their shoes at the door and sitting cross-legged in rows, a white-robed chief priest in a turban, a loud call, kneeling, and the priest looking over his right and then his left shoulder.
that he took us into a Tartar mosque, Meschet or church, which had large windows all round, all standing open; the floor was laid with carpets, with no other ornaments to be seen; the people who went in left their shoes or boots before the door and sat down in orderly rows with their feet crossed under them
Working translation
Original wording
daß er uns in eine tartarische Mosquee, Meschets oder Kirche führte, die ringsherum grosse Fenster hatte, welche alle offen stunden, der Boden war mit Tapeten belegt, ohne daß andere Zierrathen darin zu sehen waren, die Leute so hinein giengen, liessen vor der Thüre ihre Schuhe oder Bismacken stehen, und setzen sich ordentlich in gewissen Reyhen mit unter sich geschlagenen Füssen nieder
About Muslim Tatars of Tobolsk
The emperor of China as a 'Mongol or East Tartar'
Editorial contextBrand gives a close portrait of the Kangxi emperor seen at the audience, and labels him a 'Mongal or East Tartar'. Kangxi was in fact a Manchu. The confusion shows how Europeans of the 1690s used 'Tartar' as one label for the Manchu rulers of China and the Mongols.
who is a Mongol or East Tartar, brown of complexion, about 45 to 50 years old, well built, with large black eyes, an aquiline nose, a black moustache hanging over his lips but little beard on his chin, and the skin of his face much pitted by smallpox
Working translation
Original wording
welcher ein Mongal oder Ost-Tartar ist, braun von Gestalt, und seines Alters 45. biß 50. Jahr, schön von Taille und hatte grosse schwartze Augen, eine gebogne Nase, einen über die Lippen herabhangenden schwartzen Knebel-Bahrt, hingegen wenig Bahrt an dem Kinn, dabey war die Haut seines Gesichts sehr pockengrübicht
About Manchus (called 'Mongal or East Tartar' by Brand)
Keep in mind
Kangxi was born in 1654, so he was about 39, not 45 to 50; Brand's 'Mongal' is a mislabel for Manchu.
Where the name 'Tartary' came from: a river, a province or a Syriac word
Editorial contextBefore describing China, the enlarged 1734 edition inserts a compiled chapter on Tartary 'from the most approved historians'. It offers three origins for the name: a river called Tartar, a province of that name mentioned by Hayton, or a Syriac word 'Tartaroye' meaning a numerous nation. It then divides Tartary into old and new, little and great, stretching from Jesso (Hokkaido) to the Sea of Azov, Poland and Russia.
Tartary, which got its name perhaps from the river Tartar …, or according to Hayton's account from a province so called, or from the Syriac word Tartaroye, which means a numerous nation, is divided by some into old and new Tartary, likewise into little and great, or into that lying on this side and beyond Mount Imaus
Working translation
Original wording
Die Tartarey, welche etwan von dem Fluß Tartar …, oder nach Haithony Bericht von einer also genannten Provintz, oder von dem syrischen Wort Tartaroye, welches eine zahlreiche Nation bedeutet, seinen Nahmen bekommen, wird von einigen in die alte und neue Tartarey, item in die kleine und grosse, oder in dieß- und jenseits des Bergs Imaus gelegene, eingetheilet
About 'Tartars' in general
Keep in mind
Book learning added to the 1734 edition, not something Brand learned on the road.
A hunting dog buried like a man, with its own little house
Editorial contextBrand watched the Voguls mourn a large hunting dog that had died suddenly. They lamented its virtues, buried it like a person with a pillow of wood under its head, and built a small wooden house six or seven feet high on four posts over its grave. He adds that this is said to be an age-old custom among them.
finally they laid him in the earth like a human being, put a piece of wood made for the purpose under his head so that he might lie softly, and afterwards built a separate little wooden house over his grave, six to seven feet high, standing on four posts
Working translation
Original wording
endlich bestätigten sie ihn gleich einen Menschen zur Erde, legten ihm ein darzu verfertigtes Holtz unter das Haupt, damit er sanft liegen möchte, und baueten nachmahls ein apartes Häuslein von Holtz, auff sein Grab, 6. biß 7. Fuß hoch, stehend auf vier Pfälen
About Voguls (Mansi)
A Mongol nun's prophecy of a war in heaven
Editorial contextNear the Great Wall Brand met Mongols or Tartars of the Dalai Lama's faith, who kept images in their houses with little pots of food and drink before them and set a white cock on the coffin at burials. Asked whom she worshipped, a Mongol nun telling her beads answered that it was the god whom 'our' God had thrust out of heaven, who would return and throw the Christians' God down.
A Mongol nun, who with a rosary in her hand kept moving her lips continually, was asked whom she worshipped; she answered: the god who was thrust out of heaven by our God, and her god would come back into heaven and throw our God down from heaven again
Working translation
Original wording
Eine Mongalische Nonne, welche, mit einem Pater Noster in der Hand, continuirlich das Maul rührete, fragte man, wen sie anbetete, sie gab zur Antwort, den Gott, welcher von unsern Gott aus dem Himmel gestossen worden, und würde ihr Gott wieder im Himmel kommen, und wieder unsern Gott vom Himmel herunter werffen
About Mongols or 'Tartars' near the Great Wall
Keep in mind
A single conversation, probably through interpreters; the words may be garbled in translation.