Lorenz Lange's caravan journals from Kiakhta to Peking
A Russian trade agent's journals of two caravan journeys across Mongolia to Peking, 1727 to 1728 and 1736, edited by Pallas in 1781.
Full title Journal of Two Journeys made in 1727, 1728 and 1736 from Kiakhta and Tsurukhaitu through Mongolia to Peking, with a geographical-historical description of the city of Peking
Lorenz Lange, a Swedish-born official in Russian service, led Russian state caravans to Peking after the Treaty of Kiakhta. These two journals, kept in 1727 to 1728 and 1736, record the route from Kiakhta and Tsurukhaitu across Khalkha and Inner Mongolia to Peking, the Mongol and Solon posts and camps along the way, the caravan's troubles with Qing officials, and a long geographical and historical description of Peking. Pallas obtained a Russian manuscript at Selenginsk, translated and abridged it, and added footnotes marked 'P.'. This corpus copy is the 1781 Leipzig edition.
How they knew
Eyewitness
Who “Tartar” means here
The book speaks of 'tatarische Völker' for the Mongols and other peoples north of China, and calls the northern part of Peking the 'Tatar city'; in the journal itself the people met are Khalkha and Inner Mongol tribes and Solons.
Why read it
A practical traveller's view of Mongol life on the caravan road, plus Pallas's note on how the moving camp of Urga turned into the walled monastery town that became Ulaanbaatar.
Watch out
Pallas says he shortened the journals when translating them from Russian; footnotes marked 'P.' are his, not Lange's. The bundle held only the Peking description, so the Mongol passages come from the 1781 BSB copy.
Editorial contextIn a footnote Pallas explains that on the Tola River stands the now fixed court of the Khutukhtu (the Mongol high lama) and the Mongol princes: a place enclosed by wooden walls with several temples and dwellings. It used to be a moving camp called Urga, he says, but is now called Küree, a word meaning a walled place, and Chinese governors live there to watch over the Mongol princes. This is the origin of today's Ulaanbaatar.
On it now stands the permanent court of the Khutukhtu and the Mongol chiefs, laid out as a fixed place surrounded by wooden walls, with various temples and dwellings. This court, which formerly, when it was still a moving camp, was called Urga or Gergö, is therefore now called Kurö
Working translation
Original wording
An demselben ist gegenwärtig das unveränderliche Hoflager des Kutuchta und der mongolischen Häupter, als ein fester, mit hölzernen Wänden umgebner Platz, mit verschiedenen Tempeln und Wohnungen angelegt. Man nennt daher dieses Hoflager, welches sonst, da es noch ein wandelbares Lager vorstellte, Urga oder Gergö hieß, nunmehr Kurö
Editorial contextCrossing northern Mongolia with the Russian caravan, Lange describes how the Mongols live from their herds: hides for boots and harness, dung for fuel on the treeless steppe, sheepskins for coats, and sheep's wool for the felts that cover their yurts and beds. He finds the felt huts better than European tents: warm in winter, cool in summer with the side walls removed, proof against wind and rain.
From the sheep's wool they make the felts or voiloks with which their yurts or huts are covered and their beds made. These felt huts protect them against the cold, and in summer, when the side walls are taken off, are much shadier and cooler than our tents. The wind can never blow them over, and no rain comes through.
Working translation
Original wording
Aus der Schafswolle machen sie die Filze oder Woilokken, womit ihre Jurten oder Hütten überzogen, und ihr Lager gemacht ist. Diese Filzhütten dienen ihnen wider die Kälte, und sind im Sommer, wenn man die Seitenwände abnimmt, viel schattiger und kühler als unsere Gezelte. Der Wind kann sie nie umwerfen, und kein Regen schlägt durch.
Lorenz Lange (journal of 1727 to 1728, translated and abridged by P. S. Pallas, 1781)
Editorial contextLange (as abridged by Pallas) notes that the Mongols live mainly on brick tea boiled with milk and butter, bought from the Chinese, and in the milking season distil milk brandy and drink it warm, so that apart from girls and children one rarely meets a sober person in their camps. They also make small cheeses and air-dry strips of meat for the hungry winter.
From spring until autumn, as long as the cattle give plenty of milk, they distil a great deal of milk brandy and drink it straight away while warm, so that at that time, apart from girls and children, one seldom meets a sober person in the Mongol camps.
Working translation
Original wording
Vom Frühling bis in den Herbst, so lange das Vieh häufige Milch giebt, ziehen sie häufigen Milchbranntewein ab, und trinken ihn gleich warm auf, daher man in selbiger Zeit, ausser Mädchen und Kindern, selten einen nüchternen Menschen in den mongolischen Lägern antrifft.
Lorenz Lange (journal of 1727 to 1728, translated and abridged by P. S. Pallas, 1781)
A generalisation by a Russian caravan official, abridged by Pallas; not a measured observation.
The fine print
How we know
firsthand The author saw the places or people described.
firsthand observation: Lange led Russian caravans to Beijing; edited posthumously by Pallas from manuscripts
Research notes
Lange's earlier 1715-1717 and 1721-1722 journals were printed in Weber's Das veränderte Russland and in Bell; this 1781 volume prints the later journals. Pallas as editor may have abridged.
IA bub_gb_rWABAAAAQAAJ is mislabelled English in catalogue; the text is German.
Why it matters
Eyewitness Gobi crossings between the Kiakhta treaty frontier and Beijing, complementing Lange's earlier journal known in English only through Bell (W001) and Weber; describes Mongol posts, Qing frontier control and the caravan trade.