Domed steppe tombs built by hired Bukharans
Editorial contextEversmann describes the typical larger Kazakh tomb of the southern steppe: a round building with a domed cupola topped by a small pillar, a projecting entrance with a pointed arch and four attached corner pillars. They were mostly of unfired brick, sometimes rubble, all quite new, and built by Bukharans whom the Kazakhs paid in sheep or grain. He mentions them only because Europeans imagined such things very differently; poorer graves where there is no stone were gabled vaults of clay. A footnote says Pallas drew the 'Tatar tombs' of southern Russia in just the same way.
They are mostly built of unfired bricks, sometimes also of rubble stone. All these tombs are very new and were built by Bukharans, whose labour the Kirghiz pay either in sheep or in grain … The whole thing is, moreover, a most wretched piece of work, and I mention it only because in Europe people imagine such things quite differently from what they really are.
Working translation
Original wording
Sie sind grösstentheils von ungebrannten Ziegeln aufgebaut, mitunter auch von Bruchsteinen. Alle diese Grabmähler sind sehr neu und von Bucharen aufgebaut, denen ihre Mühe von den Kirgisen entweder mit Schaafen oder mit Getraide bezahlt wird … Das Ganze ist übrigens ein höchst erbärmliches Machwerk, und ich führe es nur bloss deshalb an, weil man sich in Europa dergleichen Dinge ganz anders vorstellt, als sie wirklich sind.
About Kazakhs (Kirghiz) as patrons; Bukharans as builders
Keep in mind
The dismissive judgement of the workmanship is Eversmann's taste; the facts about materials and builders are his observation and inquiry.
A burial mound heaped up from coat-tails full of earth
Editorial contextOn a high rise Eversmann found a man-made sand mound about 150 paces round, hollowed in the middle, with smaller stone heaps around it. His Kazakh caravan leader said a Tatar prince lay beneath it and that each of his people had carried a coat-tail full of earth to build it, with the prince's sons buried around him. Eversmann adds his own observation that Tatars, like the Kazakhs of his day, buried their dead on the highest ground.
When I asked our caravan leader, he said that a Tatar prince lay buried under the great mound; every one of his people had carried a coat-tail full of earth there, and from this the mound had arisen; round about, he went on, lay his sons. … It was in general a common custom among the Tatars, as it still is now among the Kirghiz, to bury their dead on the highest places.
Working translation
Original wording
Als ich unseren Karavanführer befragte, sagte er, dass unter dem grossen Hügel ein tatarischer Fürst begraben läge, ein jeder seines Volks habe einen Rockzipfel voll Erde dorthin getragen, und daraus sei dieser Hügel entstanden; rund umher sagte er weiter, lägen seine Söhne. … es war überhaupt bei den Tataren, so wie auch noch itzt bei den Kirgisen ein allgemeiner Gebrauch ihre Todten auf den höchsten Gegenden zu begraben
About A 'Tatar prince' of local legend; Kazakhs (Kirghiz)
Keep in mind
The coat-tail story is a guide's legend; only the mound's size and shape are Eversmann's observation.
Kazakhs bury their dead beside old 'Tatar' tombs
Editorial contextEversmann accepts that the Kazakhs really had opened the old graves, not for treasure but to learn whether Muslims of old times lay there. Such places were holy to them, and they now buried their own dead only there, so that wherever a 'Tatar tomb' stands, Kazakh graves cluster around it. It shows how a later people claimed older monuments as part of its own sacred landscape.
That the Kirghiz really dug up the graves is easy to believe, not in order to look for treasure, but to learn whether Muslims of old times lay buried there, for such places are holy to them and only there do they now bury their dead: wherever one finds a Tatar tomb, one also sees Kirghiz graves all around it.
Working translation
Original wording
Dass die Kirgisen die Gräber wirklich aufgegraben haben, ist wohl zu glauben, nicht etwa um Schätze zu suchen, sondern um zu wissen ob dort Muhamedaner aus alten Zeiten begraben lägen, denn solche Stellen sind ihnen heilig und nur dort begraben sie jetzt ihre Todten: überall wo man ein tatarisches Grabmahl findet, sieht man auch rund umher Kirgisische Gräber.
About Kazakhs (Kirghiz); earlier 'Tatar' dead
A horse thief spared, his horse executed and eaten
Editorial contextAt the camps of Sultan Arungasi, Eversmann watched the punishment of a horse thief whose life the sultan spared, hoping the mercy would buy luck for his journey. The thief, blackened with charcoal and half naked, was chased twice round the tents, once with a rope in his mouth tied to a horse's tail; then his horse's throat was cut in his place and the crowd carved it up alive for supper. Eversmann then lists the sultan's four laws: death for stealing livestock, a blood price of 500 to 2000 sheep for murder, both ears cut off for stealing a hobble, and whipping for small offences.
When this had been done, his horse's throat was cut instead of his, and each of the crowd of watching Kirghiz cut himself a piece of meat from it while it was still twitching, to make himself a tasty meal in the evening, and not a scrap of the horse was left.
Working translation
Original wording
Nachdem dieses geschehen war, wurde seinem Pferde statt seiner der Hals abgeschnitten, und jeder aus der Menge der zusehenden Kirgisen schnitt sich, da es noch zappelte, ein Stück Fleisch davon ab, um sich Abends ein leckeres Mahl daraus zu bereiten, und kein Restchen blieb vom Pferde zurück.
About Kazakhs (Kirghiz) of Sultan Arungasi's auls
Keep in mind
Eversmann calls the ceremony silly; the laws he lists are 'as far as I know' his informants' summary.
Uzbek speech: a Persian-laced variety of 'Tatar'
Editorial contextCounting the peoples of Bukhara, Eversmann reckons Uzbeks at a quarter and Tajiks at three quarters of the townspeople. He calls the Uzbeks' language a variety of Tatar, known as Türki, which the Tatars can understand, though heavily mixed with Persian; Persian is the main language of the city. It shows how a Tatar-speaker from Siberia heard the Turkic languages of Central Asia as one family.
The language of the Uzbeks is a variety of the Tatar language which is called Türki, so that the Tatars can understand it: but it is much mixed with Persian words. The Tajiks speak Persian, and this is the main language here, for when an Uzbek speaks with a Tajik, Persian is spoken.
Working translation
Original wording
Die Sprache der Usbeken ist eine Abart der tatarischen Sprache, welche Türki genannt wird, so dass die Tataren sie verstehen können: sie ist aber sehr mit persischen Wörtern gemischt. Die Tadschiken sprechen persisch, und dieses ist hier die Hauptsprache, denn wenn ein Usbek mit einem Tadschik spricht, so wird persisch gesprochen.
About Uzbeks, Tajiks and Jews of Bukhara; Tatars of Russia
Keep in mind
The same page carries a harsh tirade against the Bukharans' character: prejudice, not observation.
Skeletons sitting on horseback in the old graves
Editorial contextNear an old burial ground of hollow-topped stone mounds, Kazakhs told Eversmann that a hundred or more years earlier they had opened some graves to learn whether Muslims or unbelievers lay there. They said they found human skeletons sitting on horseback with silver sabres and stirrups, and women with necklaces of pearls and precious stones laid in their mouths. The Kazakhs believed the dead were Kalmyks; Eversmann classes the mounds with the so-called Chud graves.
they relate that a hundred or more years ago they had not known whether Muslims or unbelievers were buried there, so it was decided to open some graves, where human skeletons were then found sitting on horseback, as well as many implements of silver, such as sabres, stirrups and so on; women too were found, whose necklaces of pearls and precious stones had been laid in their mouths.
Working translation
Original wording
sie erzählen, dass sie vor hundert oder mehreren Jahren nicht gewusst hatten, ob dort Muhamedaner oder Ungläubige begraben lägen, deshalb habe man beschlossen einige Gräber zu öffnen, wo man alsdann Menschengerippe zu Pferde sitzend gefunden habe, so wie auch viele Geräthe von Silber, als Säbel, Steigbügel etc. auch habe man Weiber vorgefunden, denen ihr Halsgeschmeide, bestehend aus Perlen und kostbaren Steinen, in den Mund gelegt gewesen wäre.
About Kazakhs (Kirghiz) as tellers; the dead said to be Kalmyks
Keep in mind
Pure hearsay about a dig long before Eversmann's visit; he saw only the stone mounds.