Tartary

“ The desert is at times horrible, hideous; but it has also its charms—charms all the more intensely appreciated, because they are rare in themselves, and because they would in vain be sought in populated countries. Tartary has an aspect altogether peculiar to itself: there is nothing in the world that at all resembles a Tartar landscape. In civilised countries you find, at every step, populous towns, a rich and varied cultivation, the thousand and one productions of arts and industry, the incessant movements of commerce. ”

“ Testimonies that the Americans are Tartars. Hereto may be added, that Asia hath no Territory any where, which may more easily with numerous Colonies supply America than this part of Tartary, as well for the vastness of the Countrey, to which no other can compare, as for the increasing of the Inhabitants: Who doth not admire, that according to Michalon Lithouwer, there is scarce a City in Tartary that boasted less than a thousand Temples? and to see Canguista first King of Tartary, about the Year 1200. ”

“ There were spent more then Seventy Days before they were on their March, in bringing together all the Ammunitions of the Army upon the Waggons, upon the Camels, upon the Horses, and upon the Mules, by reason of the Incommodious Ways. For in all the Western Tartary (I call it Western) not with Relation to China, which lieth in Respect of it Westward it self, but with respect of the Eastern Tartary there is nothing to be found but Mountains, Rocks, and Vallies; there are neither Cities, Towns nor Villages, nor so much as any Houses. ”

“ This country of Usbeck Tartary is situate in a very happy climate and fruitful soil, and carries on a very brisk trade to the East and West parts of Asia: it was the country of the victorious Tamerlane, who subdued most of the kingdoms of Asia.
The Tartars, as to stature, are generally thick and short, having flat square faces, little eyes, little round short noses, and an olive complexion. They are reckoned the best archers in the world, and eat all manner of flesh but hog's-flesh. They are very hospitable, and take a pleasure in entertaining strangers. ”

“ The Tartars who do not belong to the royal family, are all slaves, living in absolute subjection to their masters. Besides the rents they pay, they are bound to keep their master’s flocks and herds, but they are not forbidden to breed also cattle on their own account. It would be a fallacy to imagine that slavery in Tartary is oppressive and cruel, as amongst some nations; the noble families scarcely differ from the slave families. ”

“ The Description of the Crim-Tartars; their Houses and Carts, their Idolatry
in their Lodgings
{MN-1} Now you are to understand, Tartary and Scythia are all one, but so large and spacious, few, or none, could ever perfectly describe it, nor all the several kinds of those most barbarous People that inhabit it. Those we call the Crim-Tartars, border upon Moldavia, Podolia, Lithuania, and Russia, are much more regular than the interior parts of Scythia. This Great Tartarian Prince, that hath so troubled all his Neighbours, they always call Chan, which signifieth Emperour; but we, the Crim-Tartar. ”

“ Tartary or Tattary, so call’d from the River Tatter, which runs thorow the Countrey Mongul into the Northern Ocean, covers a great part of the Terrestrial Globe; the lesser Tartary makes out a considerable part of Europe; the greater is Asia. ”

“ Later authors, more accurate in the application of terms, have declared this to be an improper use of the name of Tartar, and by them the appellation has been given exclusively to the tribes of the Great Turkish race, and chiefly to the northern division of it, viz. to the hordes spread through the Russian empire and independent Tartary. ... Whatever may be the true origin of the name of Tartar, custom has appropriated it to the race of men extensively spread through northern Asia, of whom the Ottoman Turks are a branch. ”

“ These horses which are so robust in their own country become enfeebled and useless, when transported to China or the Indies; but they succeed better in Persia and Turkey. The little Tartars have a breed of small horses which they value so much, that they are not allowed to be sold to foreigners. These horses have all the good and bad qualities of those of Great Tartary, which shews how much the same manners and education give the same disposition to these animals. ”

“ About the Great Wall they frequently visit the Tartaro-Chinese villages, enter the farms, and disdaining the domestic animals they find in the yard, proceed to the inside of the house, and there select their human victims, whom they almost invariably seize by the throat and strangle. There is scarcely a village in Tartary, where, every year, misfortunes of this kind do not occur. It would seem as though the wolves of this country were resolved to avenge on men, the sanguinary war which the Tartars make upon their brethren. ”

“ Upon entering the Mongol tent, we were struck and astonished at finding a cleanliness one is little accustomed to see in Tartary. There was not the ordinary coarse fire-place in the centre, and the eye was not offended with the rude dirty kitchen utensils which generally encumber Tartar habitations. It was obvious, besides, that every thing had been prepared for a festival. We seated ourselves upon a large red carpet; and there was almost immediately brought to us, from the adjacent tent, which served as a kitchen, some tea with milk, some small loaves fried in butter ”

“ The Tartars bring incessant herds of camels, oxen, and horses, and carry back in exchange tobacco, linen, and tea. This constant arrival and departure of strangers communicates to the city an animated and varied aspect. All sorts of hawkers are at every corner offering their petty wares; the regular traders, from behind their counters, invite, with honeyed words and tempting offers, the passers-by to come in and buy. The Lamas, in their red and yellow robes, gallop up and down, seeking admiration for their equestrianism, and the skilful management of their fiery steeds. ”

“ In winter the population rises to 30,000.
Tartars (originally Tatars) , a name of no precise ethnological signification, used in the 13th century to describe the Mongolic, Turkish, and other Asiatic hordes, who, under Genghis Khan (q. v.) , were the terror of Eastern Europe, and now bestowed upon various tribes dwelling in Tartary, Siberia, and the Asiatic steppes.
Tartarus, a dark sunless waste in the nether deeps, as far below earth as heaven is above it, into which Zeus hurled the Titans that rebelled against him ”

“ They who have been travelling long on the steppes of Tartary say,—"On reëntering cultivated lands, the agitation, perplexity, and turmoil of civilization oppressed and suffocated us; the air seemed to fail us, and we felt every moment as if about to die of asphyxia." When I would recreate myself, I seek the darkest wood, the thickest and most interminable, and, to the citizen, most dismal swamp. I enter a swamp as a sacred place, a sanctum sanctorum. There is the strength, the marrow of Nature. The wild-wood covers the virgin mould,—and the same soil is good for men and for trees. ”

“ Then the Tartars, very devoutly going on a pilgrimage to their high priest, who dwells in an obscure recess, enlightened only by lamps, the rays of which direct these votaries to the object of their adoration. Afterwards the beautiful Circassians who make no ceremony of granting all their favours to the first that solicits them, except what they believe the essential prerogative of their husbands. Then the inhabitants of Little Tartary, who go to steal women for the Turks and Persians. ”

“ The stag, the wild goat, the mule, the wild camel, the yak, the brown and black bear, the lynx, the ounce and the tiger, frequent the deserts of Mongolia. The Tartars never proceed on a journey, unless armed with bows, fusils and lances.
When we consider the horrible climate of Tartary, that climate ever so gloomy and frozen, we should be led to think that the inhabitants of these wild countries must be of an extremely fierce and rugged temperament; their physiognomy, their deportment, the costume they wear, all would seem to confirm this opinion. ”

“ There the corpse is placed, p. 78after the Chinese fashion, in a coffin, and the coffin in a grave. In the desert, among the true nomadic tribes, the entire ceremony consists in conveying the dead to the tops of hills or the bottoms of ravines, there to be devoured by the birds and beasts of prey. It is really horrible to travellers through the deserts of Tartary to see, as they constantly do, human remains, for which the eagles and the wolves are contending.
The richer Tartars sometimes burn their dead with great solemnity. A large furnace of earth is constructed in a pyramidical form. ”

“ Your beasts cannot always be on their feet; they need a little rest. You yourselves have had much to endure from the weather of yesterday. Come with me; all will then be well. In four days we shall have a festival. My eldest son is going to establish a family. Come to the nuptials of my son; your presence will bring him good fortune.” The Tartar, seeing us inflexible, mounted his horse, and after having ascended the pathway which led to the defile, disappeared across the heath and sand of the desert. ”

“ All things go by comparison in this world. The interior of our tent, which would have made a European laugh, filled with admiration the Tartars who from time to time paid us a visit. The cleanliness of our wooden cups, our kettle always well polished, our clothes not altogether as yet incrusted with grease; all this contrasted favourably with the dirt and disorder of Tartar habitations.
Having arranged our apartment, we said prayers together, and then dispersed each apart in the desert to engage in meditation upon some pious thought. ”

“ At length he paused for a moment to drink a cup of tea; he threw the beverage down his throat, and was just clearing his throat to commence anew, when we started up, offered to the head of the family a pinch of snuff, and, having saluted the rest of the company, withdrew.
p. 67You often meet in Tartary these Toolholos, or wandering singers, who go about from tent to tent, celebrating in their melodies national events and personages. They are generally very poor; a violin and a flute, suspended from the girdle, are their only property ”

“ If the herbage is destroyed or perishes, the animal also dies away. It has rest from all beasts and birds of prey, except the wolf, which seeks to destroy it.’ The author concludes by expressing his belief, that this account of the animal having the shape of a lamb is more likely to be true than that it is of human form.”
We have an interesting record of another journey into Tartary, undertaken almost simultaneously with that of Sir John Mandeville, by Odoricus of Friuli, a Minorite friar belonging to the monastery of Utina, near Padua. ”

“ It was obvious that the ingot was base bullion, and on the face of the affair there was clear proof that the Tartar had sold it. The Tartar, however, stoutly repudiated the imputation. “The humblest of the humble,” said he, “craves that he may be allowed to put forth a word in his defence.” “Speak,” said the Mandarin, “but beware how you say aught other than the exact truth.” “It is true,” proceeded the Tartar, “that I sold a youen-pao at this person’s shop, but it was all pure silver. ”

“ Sometimes these intrepid shepherds stop short amid the tempest, and stand erect for a time, as if defying the cold and the fury of the elements.
The training of the Tartar women is not more refined than that of the men. ”

“ They take children of both sexes, remarkable for their beauty, and make them swallow mercury till they are suffocated; in this way they preserve, they say, the freshness and ruddiness of their countenance, so as to make them appear still alive. These unfortunate victims are placed upright, round the corpse of their master, continuing, in this fashion, to serve him as during life. They hold in their hands the pipe, fan, the small phial of snuff, and the numerous other nick-nacks of the Tartar kings. ”

“ The barrier of San-Yen-Tsin, which stands a few paces beyond the wall, is noted for its great strictness towards the Tartars who seek to enter within the intramural empire. The village possesses only one inn, which is kept by the chief of the frontier guards. Upon entering the court-yard we found several groups of a camels assembled there belonging to a great Tartar caravan that had arrived on the preceding evening. There was, however, plenty of room for us, the establishment being on a large scale. ”

“ With the point of their large knife they go straight and at once to the juncture of the bones and separate them with astonishing skill and celerity. These frequent dissections, and especially the habit of being every day amongst their flocks, make the Tartars well acquainted with the diseases of animals, and skilful in their cure. The remedies, which they employ internally, are always simples gathered in the prairie, and the decoction of which they make the sick animals drink. ”

“ The Tartars might easily take any number of these migratory birds, especially of the wild geese and ducks, the crowds of which are perfectly prodigious; and take them, moreover, without the expenditure of a single ounce of powder, by merely laying traps for them on the banks of the pools, or by surprising them in the night, amongst the aquatic plants; but as we have before observed, the flesh of wild creatures is not at all to the taste of the Tartars; there is nothing to their palates at all comparable with a joint of mutton, very fat and half boiled. ”