A wooden Buddhist chapel at a Qing border post
Editorial contextHumboldt's party visited the Qing border post of Baty on the Irtysh. Rose says (p. 601) it was really two posts, Mongols on one bank and Chinese on the other, all living in tents or Kazakh yurts under Chinese officers. The Mongol-side officer showed them the temple: a small square wooden building with an altar and a painted Buddhist image, and a slate altar outside. The frontier 'town' was a camp.
After staying a while he led us into the temple, which stood on this side of the Irtysh not far from the river. It was a small, square, wooden building whose door faced the river; inside we found it almost empty, since apart from an altar opposite the door and the image of an idol of the Buddhist cult on the wall above the altar …
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Nach einigem Verweilen führte er uns in den Tempel, der auf dieser Seite des Irtysch nicht weit vom Flusse stand: Es war ein kleines, viereckiges, hölzernes Gebäude, dessen Thür dem Flusse zugekehrt war; im Innern fanden wir es fast leer, da es ausser einem Altar der Thür gegenüber, und der Abbildung eines Idols des Buddhistischen Cultus an der Wand über dem Altar …
About Mongol and Chinese soldiers of the Qing garrison
A Kalmyk prince's temple: Tibetan plan, Petersburg colonnades
Editorial contextHumboldt's party visited the Kalmyk prince Serebdzhab Tyumen at his Volga residence. His temple was an oblong building with a 'Japanese' (pagoda-style) roof, and the curved colonnades on either side recalled the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg. Rose was told the prince had added these to his own design, while the temple itself was built strictly on Tibetan models: a building that mixes steppe Buddhism and Russian neoclassicism.
…as at the Kazan Church in Petersburg. The prince had these added to his church according to his own idea; otherwise, as we were told, it was built strictly on Tibetan models.
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…bei der Kasanischen Kirche in Petersburg. Diese hatte der Fürst nach eigener Idee seiner Kirche hinzufügen lassen, die sonst streng nach tibetanischen Modellen, wie man uns sagte, erbaut war.
About Kalmyks (Buddhist Oirat Mongols of the lower Volga)
Keep in mind
The OCR of this page is badly garbled; the wording was restored and should be checked against the scan.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Belt wrestling at the Tatar Sabantuy
Editorial contextRose and Humboldt were taken to the Saban, the Tatar festival held every year after sowing, when for a week people gathered on a meadow outside Kazan for games. He describes wrestlers who threw off their coats, looped their belts round each other's backs and tried to lift and throw the opponent. Winners were cheered and given small gifts by rich Tatars, who also served the guests kumiss in tents.
Through our longer stay we also had the opportunity to get to know the Saban, a rural festival of the Tatars which they celebrate every year after the sowing is finished. … The fighters had thrown off their usual outer garment, slung their belts round the opponent's back, and now tried by means of the belts to lift him up and throw him down.
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Wir hatten durch unsern längern Aufenthalt noch Gelegenheit den Saban, ein ländliches Fest der Tataren kennen zu lernen, das sie alljährlich nach beendeter Aussaat feiern. … Die Kämpfer hatten ihr gewöhnliches Oberkleid abgeworfen, ihre Gürtel um des Gegners Rücken geschlungen, und suchten nun denselben mittelst der Gürtel in die Höhe zu heben und umzuwerfen.
About Kazan Tatars
Gravestones in Turkish, Arabic and Armenian
Editorial contextRose reports what was known of Bulghar's gravestones from copies made for Peter the Great in 1722, since most stones had been built into the church. There were 27 in Turkish, 20 in Arabic and 3 in Armenian, each with a Quran verse, the name and lineage of the dead and a date. The oldest group, of 1226, gives the year by a chronogram meaning 'the coming of oppression', which Klaproth linked to an early Mongol raid.
Among the inscriptions are 27 in Turkish, 20 in Arabic and 3 in Armenian. They all contain a saying from the Quran … Most and at the same time the oldest inscriptions are from the year 623 of the Hijra, or 1226 of our era, but in these the year of death is given only by a chronogram meaning 'the coming of oppression'
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Unter den Inschriften befinden sich 27 in türkischer, 20 in arabischer und 3 in armenischer Sprache. Sie enthalten alle einen Spruch des Koran … Die meisten und zugleich ältesten Inschriften sind aus dem Jahre 623 der Hedschra, oder dem Jahre 1226 unserer Zeitrechnung, aber das Todesjahr ist bei diesen nur durch ein Chronogramm, welches die Ankunft der Unterdrückung bedeutet, angegeben
About Muslim inhabitants of Bulghar under the Golden Horde
Keep in mind
Second-hand: based on copies of copies, and Rose notes the Armenian texts could not be deciphered.
Kazakh nomads who irrigate millet fields
Editorial contextOn the way to the Chinese post, Rose passed several auls (travelling camps) of Kazakhs of the Great Horde and saw fields beside them. He notes that the millet grew well because the Kazakhs were skilled at irrigation, cutting little ditches to bring mountain water to the fields, and heard that they also grew wheat. A useful corrective to the idea of purely herding nomads.
We passed several of their auls, as their communities that travel about together are called, and near them also found the ground cultivated in places. Mostly we saw millet (Holcus sorghum) grown, which stood very well everywhere because the Kirghiz know how to irrigate the field very skilfully, cutting it through everywhere with small ditches by which water from the mountains is led to the field.
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Wir kamen bei mehreren ihrer Aule vorbei, wie man ihre zusammen herumziehenden Gemeinden nennt, und fanden in der Nähe derselben auch den Boden stellenweise bebaut. Meistentheils sahen wir Hirse (Holcus Sorgum) gezogen, die überall recht gut stand, weil die Kirgisen den Acker sehr geschickt zu bewässern verstehen, und ihn überall mit kleinen Gräben durchschneiden, durch welche das Wasser von den Bergen dem Acker zugeführt wird.
About Kirghiz (Kazakhs of the Great Horde)
Astrakhan's Tatars: the town's craftsmen
Editorial contextRose calls the Astrakhan Tatars the descendants of the city's and the region's former inhabitants, still numerous, and like the Kazan Tatars. As in Kazan they were the real manufacturers of the town, especially dyers, tanners and soap-boilers, though the famous madder-dye works he visited was run by an Armenian.
Finally, as for the Tatars, they are the descendants of the former inhabitants of the city and the land and are still numerous. They are like the Tatars of Kazan, and in Astrakhan as there they are the real manufacturers, especially dyers, tanners and soap-boilers.
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Was endlich die Tataren betrifft, so sind sie die Abkömmlinge der ehemaligen Bewohner der Stadt und des Landes und auch jetzt noch zahlreich. Sie sind den Tataren von Kasan ähnlich, und auch in Astrachan wie dort, die eigentlichen Fabrikanten, besonders Färber, Gerber und Seifensieder.
About Astrakhan Tatars
Keep in mind
Damaged OCR on this page; several words were restored.
Humboldt: Tatars are Turks, but the name first meant Mongols
Editorial contextIn a long footnote written for Rose, Humboldt explains that in the Russian Empire 'Tatars' always means a Turkic people (Crimean, Kazan and Tobolsk Tatars), not a Mongol-looking one. Among Asian writers, however, the name first belonged to the Mongols, and Ming-dynasty word lists in Peking translate 'Mongol' as Tata or Tataeul. He goes on to say the name passed to the Turks because Mongol conquerors ruled over them.
In the Russian Empire the name Tatars always stands for a Turkic race … the Tatars of the Crimea, of the government of Kazan and those of Tobolsk belong to the so-called Caucasian race. Tatars are Turks, but among Asian writers the name Tatars originally belonged to the Mongols. According to vocabularies made in Peking in the fifteenth century under the Ming dynasty, the word Mongol (Mogul) is translated as Tata or Tataeul …
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Im Russischen Reiche gilt die Benennung Tataren stets für einen türkischen Menschenstamm … die Tataren der Krimm, des Gouvernements Kasan und die von Tobolsk gehören zu dem sogenannten Caucasischen Menschenstamm, Tataren sind Türken, aber die Benennung Tataren gehörte ursprünglich bei asiatischen Schriftstellern den Mongolen an, Das Wort Mongol (Mogul) wird nach Vocabularien, die im funfzehnten Jahrhundert unter der Dynastie Ming in Peking angefertigt sind, durch Tata oder Tataeul … übersetzt
About Tatars of Crimea, Kazan and Tobolsk; Mongols
Keep in mind
Uses the race categories of its day ('Caucasian race'); the point about names is the useful part.
How 'Tatar' became 'Tartar': the pun of St Louis
Editorial contextHumboldt's note continues: the r in 'Tartar' was added in Western Europe by 'false erudition', linking the Mongols to Tartarus, the classical underworld. He quotes King Louis IX of France telling his mother in 1241 that the 'Tartars' would either be driven back to their Tartarean home or send the French to heaven. On the same page he compares it to the Spanish turning 'Carib' into 'cannibal' and warns against using 'Tartar' as a catch-all name.
Tatar was moreover changed into Tartar in Western Europe by false erudition. A pun of St Louis vividly expresses this erudition … St Louis said to his mother: 'Let heavenly comfort lift us up, mother, for if they come, either we shall push them, whom we call Tartars, back to their Tartarean seats whence they came out, or they will carry us all to heaven.'
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Tatar wurde dazu durch falsche Erudition in West-Europa zu Tartaren umgewandelt, Ein Wortspiel des heiligen Ludwig drückt diese Erudition lebhaft aus, … sagte Ludwig der Heilige zu seiner Mutter: „Erigat nos, mater, coeleste solatium, quia si perveniant ipsi, vel nos ipsos, quos vocamus Tartaros, ad suas tartareas sedes, unde exierunt retrudemus, vel ipsi nos omnes ad coelum advehent.”
About Mongols (Tatars) of the 1241 invasion; Western Europeans
Keep in mind
Humboldt gives no source for the saying; it comes from the English chronicler Matthew Paris.
Kalmyk musicians play Rossini at a steppe banquet
Editorial contextAt dinner with the Kalmyk prince, attended also by Khan Jangir of the Inner (Bukey) Kazakh Horde, the food was cooked by a Russian chef and champagne was served. A band of Kalmyks led by a Russian bandmaster played overtures, including Rossini, marches and dance music, and Rose found it a remarkable sight to see Kalmyk musicians handle European instruments so skilfully.
…a band of Kalmyks, led by a Russian bandmaster, performed overtures by … and Rossini, as well as marches and dance music, with great skill.
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Original wording
…ein Chor von Kalmücken, unter Anführung eines russischen Kapellmeisters, Ouverturen … und Rossini wie auch Märsche und Tanzmusik mit vieler Fertigkeit auf.
About Kalmyks (Buddhist Oirat Mongols of the lower Volga)
Keep in mind
The OCR of this page is badly garbled; the wording was restored from damaged text (one composer's name is unreadable) and should be checked against the scan.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.