Tatar tents that travel whole on high-wheeled carts
Editorial contextIn the Tatar villages around Astrakhan, the winter houses were wretched wooden huts without roofs, with yards and stalls fenced with reeds. In summer the Tatars moved into kibitkas (felt tents) smaller than Kalmyk ones, so low one could barely stand up, with a round hole at the top for light and smoke. Their wooden lattice was made so tight that it could never be taken apart: to move, the felt was lifted off and the whole frame loaded onto an arba, a two-wheeled cart with very tall, noisy wheels, which a single person could pull.
The Tatars live in them [the wooden houses] only in winter, and over the summer they move into their kibitkas. These are of quite a different kind from the Kalmyk ones, first of all much smaller … and the woodwork forming their lattice is made so tight that it would be impossible to take such a tent apart and put it up again. Once it is fitted together, so it must stay
Working translation
Original wording
Die Tataren wohnen auch nur im Winter darinnen, und den Sommer über begeben sie sich in ihre Kibitken. Diese sind von einer ganz andern Art als die Kalmückische, und fürs erste weit kleiner … Dann auch das ihr Gegitter ausmachende Holzwerk so dichte verfertiget, daß es eine Unmöglichkeit wäre ein solches Zelt aus einander zu trennen und wieder aufzusetzen. Wie es einmal zusammen gefüget ist, so muß es bleiben
About Astrakhan Tatars
Stone figures 'in Tatar shape' on the Don mounds
Editorial contextNear the Cossack settlement of Babskaya on the Don, Gmelin saw two stone statues standing on burial mounds, one of a man and one of a woman 'in Tatar shape', so weathered that little more could be made out than that they were carved from gypsum stone. He was told many more stood between there and Bakhmut, and that in such mounds the dead lay facing east, men with swords and gold and silver rings, though Cossack treasure-hunters had already emptied most of them.
Not far from the Babskaya stanitsa I saw on two kurgans two statues, one of which shows a man and the other a woman in Tatar shape. … In the kurgans on which such memorial columns stand, the bones of the people buried inside are always found laid towards the east
Working translation
Original wording
Ohnweit der Staniza Babskaja sahe ich auf zwei Kurganen zwei Statuen davon die eine einer Manns- und di … eine Weibs-Person in Tatarischer Gestalt vorstellt. … In den Kurganen, auf welchen solche Ehren-Säulen stehen, findet man die Knochen der darinnen begrabenen Menschen allezeit nach Morgen zu gelegt
About Tatars (as Gmelin reads the statues and graves)
Keep in mind
The right edge of the page is cut off in the scan. 'Tatar shape' is Gmelin's impression; such steppe statues were made by several earlier peoples.
Nose rings of gold and pearls
Editorial contextGmelin describes how Astrakhan Tatar women braided their hair down the back, ending for girls in a long black silk tassel threaded with silver and for married women in a ribbon. Their finery included earrings and gold or silver rings, sometimes set with pearls or gems, worn in the nostrils. With a touch of irony he argues that if Europeans find it natural to pierce ears, Tatar women may fairly do the same to their noses. On the same page he describes the Sunni Tatars praying together in the open field at the end of Ramadan, kneeling and rising in step 'like a company of soldiers at drill'.
Finally, Tatar women's finery includes earrings and silver and gold rings, sometimes adorned with pearls or precious stones, which are worn in the nostrils. If in Europe it does not seem unnatural to mutilate the ears for earrings, one may fairly grant Tatar ladies the pleasure of performing a similar operation on their noses.
Working translation
Original wording
Endlich gehören zu dem tatarischen Weiber-Putz die Ohrgehänge und die silberne und goldene manchmalen mit Perlen oder Edelgesteinen ausgezierte Ringe, welche in den Nasen-Löchern getragen werden. Wann es in Europa nicht unnatürlich läßt, durch die Ohr-Gehänge die Ohren zu verstümmeln, so kann man dem tatarischen Frauenzimmer das Vergnügen mit Recht gönnen eine ähnliche Operation mit den Nasen vorzunehmen.
About Astrakhan Tatar women
Two kinds of Tatar marriage
Editorial contextGmelin explains that at a Tatar betrothal the bride's side names a fine, from fifty to a hundred roubles, that the groom must pay if he mistreats his wife, withholds food and clothing, or is caught in adultery. In a footnote he adds that there are two ways of marrying. In one, the wife is kept for life in the women's quarters, may not even look out of the window and does no housework, sitting 'like a statue with folded hands'. In the other she may go where she likes and appear in public, but must run the household.
The Tatars marry their wives in two ways. In the one, the wives are confined and so given over to the power of their husbands that they must stay for life in the women's quarters assigned to them and are not allowed to look out of the window … In the other, Tatar wives have the freedom to go wherever they like and to appear in public without fear.
Working translation
Original wording
Die Tataren verheurathen sich mit ihren Weibern auf eine zweyfache Art. Bey der einen werden die letztern eingeschränkt, und so der Gewalt der Männer übergeben, daß sie Lebenslang in dem ihnen angewiesenen Weiber-Behältniß verbleiben müßen, nicht Erlaubniß haben aus dem Fenster zu sehen … Bey der andern Art haben die tatarische Weiber die Freyheit überall hinzugehen, wo sie wollen, und ohngescheut in dem Publiko zu erscheinen.
About Astrakhan Tatars
Were the builders of Madzhari Tatars? Gmelin guesses 'Scythians'
Editorial contextGmelin admits he knows too little medieval history to say who lived at Madzhari. He reports that in 1735, when Tatars still held the district, the Astrakhan governor Tatishchev sent an armed party to search the ruins and received a writing on blue, very strong paper and some coins, which Tatishchev took for 'Scythian'. Gmelin guesses a 'Scythian tribe called Madshar' lived there and mentions a claim that the Ingush of the Caucasus descend from them. On the previous page he says the Tatar grave mounds around the site probably did not belong to Madzhari, since the Madzharians 'were probably not Tatars'.
The former Astrakhan governor Tatishchev sent some people in 1735, when the Tatars still held this district, … to investigate the Madzhari ruins … They brought him a writing on blue, very strong paper and various coins, which this historian took for Scythian. … Presumably a Scythian tribe called Madshar lived here
Working translation
Original wording
Der ehemalige Astrachanische Gouverneur von Tatistschew schickte im Jahr 1735, als die Tataren diese Gegend noch inne hatten, einige Leute … zur Untersuchung der Madsharischen Ruinen … Man brachte ihn eine Schrift auf blauen, sehr festen Papier, und verschiedene Münzen, welches dieser Geschichtsforscher für Scytische hielt. … Vermuthlich wohnte hier ein Scythischer Stamm der Madshar hieß
About A supposed 'Scythian tribe called Madshar'
Keep in mind
An open guess by Gmelin. Modern archaeology treats Madzhari as a Golden Horde trading town, so 'Scythian' here reflects 18th-century uncertainty.
Yurt Tatars, village Tatars and wandering Tatars
Editorial contextGmelin explains the Russian names for the Astrakhan Tatars. They were first called 'Yasak Tatars' because after the conquest of the Astrakhan kingdom the tsar took into service all who had deserted the khan and the murzas, and laid a tribute (yasak) on them. They were divided into settled 'Yurt' Tatars and wandering ones, with 'Aul' Tatars for those living in villages, since aul means village in Tatar. He adds that most of the wandering Tatars had joined the Kalmyks or gone off to the Crimea, the Kuban, the Kazakhs and the Bashkirs.
They were at first called Yasak Tatars, … because after taking the kingdom of Astrakhan the tsar took into service at Astrakhan all who had deserted the khan, the murzas and the black [common] Tatars, and laid on them a yasak, or tribute. They are conveniently divided into Yurt and Kochevye [nomadic] Tatars. The former are settled Tatars, the latter move about in hordes … Aul means a village in the Tatar language.
Working translation
Original wording
Jassaschnije Tataren wurden sie anfänglich, … weil der Zaar … nach der Einnahme des Astrachanischen Königreichs alle von dem Chan den Mursas und schwarzen Tataren … abgefallene zu Astrachan in Diensten genommen und mit einem Jassak oder mit einem Tribut belegt hat. Man theilt sie füglich in die Jurtowische und in die Kotschewnyesche ein. Jene sind seßhafte Tataren, diese ziehen Hordenweise … Aul bedeutet in der Tatarischen Sprache ein Dorf.
About Astrakhan Tatars
Keep in mind
Marginal headings break into the OCR lines here and are left out with ellipses.
Turkmens: 'true Tatars' by language and face
Editorial contextOn his second Persian voyage, Gmelin landed among the Turkmens of the Mangyshlak coast. He calls them 'true Tatars' by their language and their faces, and notes that as nomads they had no mosques and prayed in their felt tents, which were like Kalmyk ones but rounder on top. A few pages earlier he records their own origin story, that their Abdal tribe descends from a son born to a woman visited by 'a man from the sun'.
But with their wandering way of life they cannot have proper mosques or temples; instead they hold their services in their felt tents, so that some mullahs or priests are always travelling about among them … By their language they are true Tatars, and by their features too.
Working translation
Original wording
Nur können sie bey ihrer wandernden Lebensart keine eigentliche Medscheten oder Tempel haben, sondern sie verrichten den Gottesdienst in ihren Filz-Zelten, daher beständig einige Mulla oder Priester unter ihnen herum ziehen … Nach der Sprache sind sie wahre Tataren, nach der Gesichts-Bildung auch.
About Turkmens of Mangyshlak, east Caspian coast
Keep in mind
'Tatar' here is a language label for a Turkic people, not a claim of shared history.
'Kurgan': the grave of a Tatar prince
Editorial contextVisiting saltpetre works in the black-earth country near Voronezh, Gmelin found the heaps of leached earth called 'saltpetre kurgans' by the Ukrainians. He explains that the word kurgan means the burial of a Tatar prince, over whom earth five or six fathoms high was heaped as a sign of his presence, and promises to open some real princely kurgans when he can. It shows how, in 1760s Russia, the great steppe mounds were all assumed to be Tatar graves.
and indeed the Little Russians [Ukrainians] have given them the name saltpetre kurgans, a word that means the burial of a Tatar prince, over which the earth [is heaped] five or six fathoms high as a sign of his presence …
Working translation
Original wording
in der That haben ihnen auch die Maloroßianer die Benennung, Salpeter-Kurganen gegeben, ein Wort, welches so viel als das Begräbniß eines Tatarischen Fürsten bedeutet, auf dem die Erde fünf oder sechs Faden hoch zum Zeichen seiner Gegenwart …
About Ukrainian saltpetre workers, about old Tatar burial mounds
Keep in mind
The idea that every kurgan is a Tatar prince's grave is the folk explanation of the time; many steppe mounds are far older.
The Sugar Lake and the khan's clever wife
Editorial contextBeside the ruined 'queen's house' at Tsarev lies a lake the Tatars call the Sugar Lake, and Gmelin retells their story. A khan (his name is cut off in the scan) was persuaded to put aside his beautiful low-born wife; she outwitted him by carrying him, drunk after a feast, into her own chamber, so he sent her to live in a house by this lake. Knowing he loved falconry, she threw sugar into the lake every day to draw swans and geese, so the khan came daily to hunt and rest with her until death. Gmelin notes drily that the lake really is sweeter than other waters, which may be how the tale began.
so every day she threw a great quantity of sugar into the lake by the house, and so drew a great number of swans and geese, … so that he appeared daily at the lake and rested with the queen after the hunt … It is indeed true that this lake has sweeter water than other rivers
Working translation
Original wording
so warf dieselbe alle Tage eine große Menge Zucker in den angeführten bey dem Haus befindlichen See, und lockte dadurch eine große Anzahl von Schwanen und Gänsen herbey, … daß er bey dem See täglich erschien, nach geendigter Jagd bey der Königin ausruhte … Es ist würklich an dem, daß ermeldeter See ein süßeres Waßer bey sich führet, als andere Flüße
About Tatars (a tale about a khan of 'Great Tartary')
Keep in mind
A local Tatar legend, told as such.
Khan Janibek's giant cooking pot
Editorial contextThe buildings of the Russian saltpetre works at Selitrennoe, Gmelin notes, were mostly built from the rubble of the Tatar ruins. Among the old boiling kettles of the works lay one so huge that the local Tatars told a tale about it: that it was a relic of their past, in which Khan Janibek had twelve oxen cooked at once for his feasts. Gmelin says flatly that it is a Crown saltpetre kettle.
[the dwellings of] some people living here are mostly built from Tatar rubble … In the boiling works there are still furnaces and kettles. Among the latter lies one … The Tatars tell a fable that it is a Tatar relic and that Khan Janibek had 12 oxen cooked in it at once at his feasts. But it is certainly a saltpetre kettle belonging to the Crown.
Working translation
Original wording
einige hier wohnenden Leute, sind meistens von tatarischen Trümmern erbauet … In der Siederey sind noch Oefen und Keßel. Unter letztern liegt einer … Die Tataren fabeln, daß er ein tatarisch Ueberbleibsel sey und daß Chan Dschanibek in demselben, bey seinen Schmausen, 12 Ochsen zugleich kochen laßen. Es ist aber gewiß ein der Krone gehöriger Salpeter-Keßel.
About Tatars of the lower Volga
Keep in mind
A local legend that Gmelin rejects on the spot.