A German naturalist's eyewitness account of Kamchatka and its Itelmen people, 1740 to 1744, published after his death.
Full title Description of the Land of Kamchatka, its inhabitants, their customs, names, way of life and various habits, with many copperplates (posthumous, ed. J. B. Scherer)
Georg Wilhelm Steller, a German naturalist on Bering's Second Kamchatka Expedition, lived in Kamchatka from 1740 to 1744 and wrote a full description of its land, animals and the Itelmen (Kamchadal) people, including sharp criticism of Cossack rule. He died in 1746; the manuscript was published in 1774 at Frankfurt and Leipzig by J. B. Scherer. Tartars appear only at the edges: as a comparison for nomadic wandering, as the linguistic family of the Yakuts, and in Steller's theory that the Itelmens came from the Mongol steppe. The copy quoted is a Bavarian State Library scan of the 1774 edition.
How they knew
Eyewitness
Who “Tartar” means here
Turkic-speaking peoples in general (Steller counts the Yakuts as 'of Tartar nation' by language) and, in 'East Tartar kingdoms', the states of Mongolia and Manchuria; 'like the Tatars' is his byword for nomads.
Why read it
It shows how far east the Tartar idea reached in the 1740s: Steller used Tatars and Mongols as the yardstick for explaining where the Kamchatka peoples came from.
Watch out
Steller's origin theory is reasoned guesswork, which he admits he wrote from memory without books. Scherer's editing is not always separable from Steller's own text.
Iron for the Mongols, copper knives for the Tatars
Editorial contextSteller reasons that the Itelmens must have left the mainland very long ago because they knew no metals at all, whereas the Mongols had used iron for weapons and household goods, and the Tatars copper for knives and daggers, for more than 2000 years. The statement shows how he pictured the steppe peoples as ancient metal-workers.
the use and substance of iron is unknown [to the Itelmens], as are other metals, although the use of iron for weapons and household goods has been known to the Mongols, and the use of copper for knives and daggers to the Tatars, for more than 2000 years
Working translation
Original wording
der Gebrauch und die Materie des Eisens unbekannt ist, wie auch der übrigen Metalle, ohnerachtet denen Mungalen der Gebrauch des Eisens zu Gewähr und Haußgeräthen, so wie denen Tataren der Gebrauch des Kupfers zu Messern und Dolchen, schon mehr als vor 2000 Jahren bekannt ist
The Yakuts are 'of Tartar nation' by their language
Editorial contextOpening his chapter on the origin of the Itelmens, Steller says the Yakuts belong to the Tartar nation, as their language shows, being a dialect of Crimean Tatar and modern Turkish. It is a clear example of 'Tartar' used as a language family, not a single people, and he notes that the Yakuts knew nothing of Kamchatka or its people.
The Yakuts, who are of Tartar nation as their language shows, which is a dialect of the Crimean and modern Turkish language, know nothing at all of the Itelmens, just as they had not the slightest news of the land of Kamchatka itself
Working translation
Original wording
Die Jakuten, so von tartarischer Nation, nach Ausweisung ihrer Sprache, so ein Dialect von der krimmischen und heutigen türkischen Sprache ist, wissen nicht das geringste von denen Itälmenen, so wenig als sie von dem Lande Kamtschatka selbsten die geringste Nachricht hatten
Kamchatka's people pushed out by the 'East Tartar kingdoms'
Editorial contextSteller argues that the Itelmens once lived outside China in the Mongol steppe along the Amur and gradually withdrew north and east along the Sea of Okhotsk as the 'East Tartar kingdoms' rose. In a footnote on the same page he links the ending -men in their own name, Itelmen, to the Turkic and Tatar word men ('I'). It is a scholar's hypothesis based on language, looks and customs, not a tradition of the people themselves.
As for the positive arguments that these peoples formerly lived outside China in the Mongol steppe below the Amur, and, when the East Tartar kingdoms were set up, withdrew little by little ever further along the Penzhina Sea [Sea of Okhotsk]
Working translation
Original wording
Was die argumenta affirmativa anbelanget, daß diese Völker ehedem ausserhalb China in der mungalischen Steppe unter dem Amur gewohnet, und sich bey Aufrichtung derer ostlich-tartarischen Reiche nach und nach immer weiter an der penschinischen See retiriret
Editorial contextDescribing Kamchatka's root voles, Steller says the strangest thing about them is that they roam like Tatars, leaving the whole peninsula in great herds at certain times and staying away for years. He adds that they store food in cleaned larders, and that in spring dead mice are found with aconite root in their mouths, as if they had ended their lives in famine. The comparison shows 'Tatar' had become a byword for any wandering horde.
The strangest thing about the Kamchatka mice is that they wander about in the manner of the Tatars, and all at once, in whole herds, withdraw at certain times from all of Kamchatka and stay away for some years
Working translation
Original wording
Das Seltsamste bey denen kamtschatzkischen Mäusen ist, daß sie nach Art derer Tataren herum wandern, und sich alle auf einmal heerweise zu gewissen Zeiten aus ganz Kamtschatka retiriren, einige Jahre wegbleiben
The vole migrations are real; the idea that mice kill themselves with aconite is Steller's (or local) interpretation.
The fine print
How we know
firsthand The author saw the places or people described.
firsthand observation in Kamchatka 1740-1744 during the Second Kamchatka Expedition; editorial framing by Scherer 1774
Research notes
Posthumous edition; Scherer's editing and additions are not always distinguishable from Steller's manuscript. Krasheninnikov used Steller's papers, so the two texts are interdependent.
Why it matters
Independent German eyewitness counterpart to Krasheninnikov (W007) for Kamchatka, the northeastern edge of what maps still called Tartary; Steller's ethnography of the Itelmens is firsthand and often more critical of Russian rule.