Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus Part 25

Charity, which is regarded in the Koran as one of the greatest virtues, extends only to the poor who beg from door to door, and who are usually given a little bread and millet. Orphans and old people are left to the care of their friends or relations, for the Nogais have no public establishment for the indigent. The fidelity of the Nogais is proverbial; even the most thievish of them would never betray a trust reposed in them. As for the ancient hospitality, it is now only exercised from habit, and very rarely from virtue. Still they invariably afford the most cordial welcome to every aged Mussulman or hadji, and in these cases their hospitality is quite patriarchal. Reverence for the aged is considered by them as a sacred duty.

One of the most striking characteristics of these Tatars is their excessive vanity with regard to every thing that concerns the n.o.bility of their ancestors. It shows itself not only towards strangers, but also in their dealings with each other. They profess likewise the most profound contempt for the Persians, the Turks, and even for the mountain Tatars of the Crimea, and deem it a dishonour to intermarry with those nations, which yet are of the same creed, if not of the same origin with themselves.

The Nogai alternates between total supineness and extraordinary exertion, so that to make any profit of him he must be employed by task work and not by the day. This sloth, however, is not so much a vice inherent in the character of the nation as a result of its old vagrant and precarious existence, and of its limited wants. On the other hand, the nomade habits of other days have developed the capacity of this people in a remarkable degree, and whether as artisans or journeymen, agriculturists or manufacturers, the Nogais invariably give proof of great ability and skill.

The Nogai is of moderate stature, but well proportioned; his movements are free and unembarra.s.sed, and his att.i.tude is never awkward under any circ.u.mstances. The women are, like all those of the East, comely when young; but when old they are horribly ugly. Neither s.e.x exhibits any decided national physiognomy; countenances both of the Circa.s.sian and the Mongol type are very common among them.

The Nogai constructs his own cottage with bricks dried in the sun, and whitewashes it regularly once a year within and without. Its dimensions are scarcely more than two or three-and-thirty feet by thirteen. The roof consists of a few rafters on which are laid reeds and branches of trees loaded with earth and ashes. A dwelling of this kind hardly costs more than 100 rubles; others of a larger size, with a floor and ceiling of wood, cost from 400 to 500 rubles. Each dwelling consists of two rooms, the kitchen, which is next the entrance, and the family room. The kitchen contains a fireplace, an iron pot, wooden vessels for milk and b.u.t.ter, harness and agricultural implements; the second room, which serves as a dormitory, is furnished with felt carpets, quilts, a pile of cus.h.i.+ons, boxes containing clothes, and a dozen of napkins embroidered with coloured silk or cotton, according to the fortune of the family, and hung round the room. When the Nogai has two or more wives he constructs his house in such a manner that each of them may have her separate room.

The costume of the Nogais is commodious. It consists of wide trousers, a cotton or woollen s.h.i.+rt, and a short caftan, fastened round the waist with a leathern girdle. Their head-dress is a cylindrical cap of lamb's-skin. In the winter they wear a sheep's-skin over the caftan, and in snowy weather they m.u.f.fle themselves in a bashlik, or hood, which conceals their head and shoulders.

The women wear a s.h.i.+ft, a cloth caftan, belted above the hips with a broad girdle adorned with large metal buckles, Turkish trousers and slippers. Their head-dress is a white veil fastened to the crown of the head, with the two ends hanging gracefully on the shoulders. They wear little silver finger and nose rings, and heavy earrings often connected by a chain pa.s.sing under the chin. Young girls part their hair into a mult.i.tude of tresses, and instead of the veil wear a little red skull-cap bedizened with bits of metal and all sorts of gewgaws.

The Nogais eat mutton, beef, mares' flesh, &c., fish, and dairy produce. They prepare koumiss from mares' milk, and esteem it above all other liquors. They also kill sick horses for food, and very often do not disdain the flesh of one that has died a natural death. Mares'

flesh, minced, forms the chief part of a national dish called _tarama_, which the men eat with their friends in token of sincerity and brotherhood. The women are not allowed to partake of these repasts.

Their favourite dish is millet boiled in water, with a little sour milk called _tchourtzch_. Kalmuck tea is also much esteemed, and since the improvement of agriculture, the use of bread, which was formerly unknown, is gradually spreading among them.

Their most common diseases are fever, small-pox, ulcers, itch, and syphilis. No one takes any means either to avoid or cure them. Charms are the only medicine known to the Nogais, and they are even quite indifferent to certain maladies which they attribute to fatality. They attribute great medicinal virtues to pepper, alum, sugar, and honey. The mortality of infants is frightful among them, and accounts for the stationary condition in which the population has long remained.

No system of education as yet exists among the Nogais; their children grow up like the young of animals. Every village, indeed, possesses a cabin decorated with the name of school, in which the clergy give some imperfect lessons in the Tatar language and writing; but the rest of their teaching, which is exclusively religious, consists in the reading of Arabic books, which the teachers understand no better than the pupils.

The rearing of cattle, particularly horses, forms the chief occupation of the Nogais. Their horses are of the Kalmuck Khirghis race, nimble and robust, though of moderate size, and usually fetch from 100 to 120 rubles: they pa.s.s the whole year in the steppe, and have to find their food under the snow in winter. The horned cattle is small. The cows sell for twenty or thirty rubles; they give little milk, and are generally unprofitable. Camels are little used and seldom seen.

In Count Maison's time the Nogais were required to sow, at least, two tchetverts of corn per head, which made a total of about 40,000 tchetverts for the whole population. A year after the count's retirement, the seed sown in the whole territory did not exceed 19,000 tchetverts, and the quant.i.ty went on diminis.h.i.+ng from year to year. But since the disastrous winters, for cattle, of 1836 and 1837, the Nogais have been induced, by M. Cornies, to apply themselves again to agriculture, and the women have taken a part with the men in field labours.

Their mode of cultivating the ground is extremely defective; they have bad ploughs drawn by four or five pair of oxen, whilst their neighbours, the Germans, do infinitely more work with but two. The harvest generally takes place in July, and is a season of great jollity. Gipsy musicians stroll over the country at that period, and collect an ample store of wheat and millet. The corn is trodden out by horses in the open air: the best, which is called _arnaout_, sells at from seven to twelve rubles the tchetvert. The territory of the Nogais is still common property, and the want of finite boundaries occasions many quarrels, especially at harvest time.

As usual, among eastern nations, the Nogai women do all the household drudgery, for the men think it beneath them to take part in it. The poor mother of the family is therefore obliged to prepare the victuals with her own hands, to wash the linen, milk the cows and mares, keep the house in repair, churn b.u.t.ter, &c., and take care of the children. She must also gather the firewood, prepare all the drinkables, make candles and soap, and dress the sheep-skins to make pelisses for all the family.

This is hard drudgery, and a few years of such married life suffice to make her old. Under such circ.u.mstances it is not surprising that the Nogai cannot content himself with one wife, and that the purchase of young girls is so important and costly an affair among them.

A man usually chooses his wife from a remote village; for every young man makes it a point of honour not to have seen his wife before marriage. The only particulars he is anxious to learn indirectly is whether the lady is plump and has long hair. When his choice is fixed, he bargains with the father or the relations of the girl for the price he is to pay for her. A handsome girl of good family costs four or five hundred rubles, besides a couple of score of cows and a few other beasts. Young widows are cheaper, and old women are to be had for nothing. The bride's price is paid on the spot by the wooer, and a horse and two oxen are reckoned equivalent to a couple of cows. The girl's inclinations are never consulted, and she submits to her lot with stoical indifference; she is given dresses, mattresses, and cus.h.i.+ons by way of dower. Matches are often made when the bride is still in her cradle, the bridegroom's father paying down a part of the stipulated sum, and when the girl has attained the age of thirteen or fourteen, the marriage takes place without any opposition on the young man's part. But this traffic in girls often occasions long lawsuits between families.

Various accidents occur to prevent the espousals, such as mutilation, loss of health or beauty, and, above all, bad faith, and hence arise animosities that are often transmitted from one generation to another.

The women of the mountain race of Tatars of the Crimea, and the Kalmuck women, cost less than young Nogai girls, and are purchased by the poorer cla.s.ses.

On the day appointed for the wedding, the young people, who have not yet seen each other, choose each of them a deputy, who exchange hands on their behalf, and thus the marriage rite is accomplished. The day is spent in merriment, and in the evening the bride is veiled, and escorted by a troop of women to the conjugal abode, where she sees her husband for the first time.

The young wife must remain shut up at home for a whole year, and see no men, conversing only with her husband and his relations. After this her emanc.i.p.ation is celebrated by a grand banquet. The Nogai women are very timid, for the jealousy of their husbands is extreme. When a married man dies, his brothers inherit his widows, and may keep or sell them as they please. A husband may repudiate his wife whenever he chooses, but she is ent.i.tled to marry again after the legalisation of the divorce. When a Nogai has many wives, the first retains peculiar privileges so long as she is young and handsome, but when her beauty fades, a younger rival always gains the good graces of the husband. Hence arise interminable quarrels, and domestic peace is only maintained by the kantshouk or whip of the lord of the mansion. On the whole, the women endure a hard slavery; but their ignorance of a better state of things makes their chains set light on them, and they are insensible of the degraded condition in which they are kept by their absolute lords.

It would be difficult to predict with accuracy the fate reserved for all this Mahometan population. The Nogais have doubtless made great progress within the last twenty years; but their religious notions and their moral and political const.i.tution will long impede their complete reformation, and it will need many a generation to eradicate from among them all those prejudices and all those old habits of a wandering life, which so fatally obstruct their prosperity and their intellectual growth. Besides, it is now impossible to mistake the tendency of the policy adopted by the Russian government towards the foreign races: there is every reason to think that they will at last be entirely absorbed by the Slavic population.

FOOTNOTES:

[50] Histoire de la Russie, par Lesveque. Bibliotheque Orientale, par d'Herbelot. Hist. des Cosaques, par Lesur.

[51] Voyage au Caucase, par Klaproth, en 1807 et 1808.

[52] See Klaproth, Asia Polyglotta, p. 202.

[53] The Kitans occupied the country north of the Chinese provinces of Tschy Li and Ching-Ching, watered by the Charamuin, or Liao Ho and its confluents. Ibid.

[54] The chain of mountains called In Chan, begins north of the country of the Ordos, or of the most northern curve of the Hoang Ho, or Yellow River, and extends eastward to the sources of the rivers that fall into the western part of the Gulf of Pekin.

[55] We have entirely rejected from our discussion the word _Tartar_, which owes its origin only to a _jeu de mots_, of which St. Louis was the author.

[56] _Mongal_ is the most frequent reading in the MSS.; and where the more exact reading, _Mongal_, occurs, it is probably a correction by the copyists. _Mongal_ is the form prevalent among the Russians; and we have already had occasion to remark, that in transcribing proper names, Du Plan de Carpin generally adopts the Slavonic p.r.o.nunciation, as he had it from his companion and interpreter, Benedict of Poland. (Extract from the interesting treatise of M. D'Avezac, on the travels of Du P. de C.)

[57] Terra quadam est in partibus Orientis de qua dictum est supra, quae Mongal nominatur. Haec terra quondam populos quatuor habuit: unus Yeka Mongal, id est magni Mongali vocabantur; secundus Su Mongal, id est aquatici Mongali vocabantur; sibi autem se ipsos Tartaros appellabant, a quodam fluvio qui currit per terram illorum qui Tatar nominatur. Alius appellabatur Merkit; quartus Mecrit. Hi populi omnes unam formani personarum et unam linguam habebant, quamvis inter se per provincias et principes essent divisi.

In terra Jeka Mongal fuit quidam qui vocabatur Chingis; este incepit esse robustus venator coram domino: dedicit enim homines furari, rapere praedam. Ibat autem ad alias terras et quosc.u.mque poterat capere et sibi a.s.sociare non demittebat; homines autem suae gentes ad se inclinavit, qui tanquam ducem ipsum sequebantur ad omnia malefacta. Hic autem incepit pugnare c.u.m Su Mongal sive Tartaris, postquam plures homines aggregaverat sibi, et interfecit ducem eorum, et multo bello sibi omnes Tataros subjugavit et in suam servitutem recepit ac redegit. Post haec c.u.m omnibus istis pugnavit c.u.m Merkitis, qui erant positi juxta terram Tartarorum, quas etiam sibi bello subjecit. Inde procedens pugnavit contra Mecritas et etiam illos devicit.

[58] The name _Noga_ appears to me to have occasioned the same mistakes as Tatar; misled by the conspicuous part played for some time by the Noga hordes, most writers have comprehended under that name all the Mussulman tribes of the provinces of Astrakhan and Kasan.

[59] A large four-wheeled vehicle covered with felt. The wheels are never greased, and the noise they make can often be heard at a distance of several versts.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

BANKS OF THE KOUMA; VLADIMIROFKA--M. REBROF'S REPULSE OF A CIRCa.s.sIAN FORAY--BOURGON MADJAR--JOURNEY ALONG THE KOUMA-- VIEW OF THE CAUCASIAN MOUNTAINS--CRITICAL SITUATION--GEORGIEF --ADVENTURE WITH A RUSSIAN COLONEL--STORY OF A CIRCa.s.sIAN CHIEF.

Notwithstanding the dangers and hards.h.i.+ps that had attended our desert wanderings, it was not without some degree of regret we bade a final adieu to the Kalmucks, whose patriarchal simplicity of life we had shared for more than a month. But as we approached Vladimirofka, and beheld the clear waters of the Kouma, its wooded banks, and the lovely scenery around, the change was indescribably delightful to eyes long accustomed to the blank and arid wilderness.

In front of us stood a handsome dwelling on a gentle slope, flanked with two turrets, and surmounted by a belvedere rising above the trees.

Behind us lay the Kalmuck camps and their herds of camels, resembling in the distance those effects of the mirage that are so common in the desert. A little to the left, the village, picturesquely situated at the foot of the mansion, descended in terraces to the margin of the Kouma, displaying its pretty workshops, and its houses parted from each other by plantations of mulberries, hazels, and Lombardy poplars, tinted with the varied hues of autumn. All the enchantments that opulence could call forth from a fruitful soil, were there a.s.sembled, as a bountiful compensation for our past fatigues. The camel-drivers and the Cossacks of our escort fully shared our delight, and remained like ourselves wonder-stricken before that brilliant apparition.

Soon afterwards we entered the yard of the mansion, which was soon crowded with _employes_ and servants, all greatly puzzled to conceive whence could have come so strange a caravan. Our appearance might well excite their astonishment. The britchka, drawn by three camels, preceded a little troop composed of four or five Cossacks, armed to the teeth, and several Kalmucks leading other camels loaded with all our nomadic gear. Our Cossack officer, with his falcon on his fist, and his long rifle slung behind him, rode close to the door of the carriage, ready, with Russian precision, to transmit our orders to the escort, and to gallop off at the slightest signal; whilst our dragoman, lolling on the box-seat with Italian _nonchalance_, looked down with profound disdain on the bustling throng around us, and did not condescend to answer one word to their thousand questions.

M. Rebrof, the proprietor of Vladimirofka, having been waited on by our officer, came out and welcomed us in the most polite and cordial manner, and showed us into delightful apartments on the ground floor, looking out on a large, handsome garden, and containing a billiard-table and several numbers of the _Revue Etrangere_. Then, after empowering us to make free use of his servants, his garden, his horses, and all his property, our host left us to ourselves, with a delicate tact not always displayed even by well-bred persons.

Well, after all, it is a very good thing when one has long been deprived of all the comforts and conveniences of life, to come upon them again in full measure, and slide back into one's old habits; to pa.s.s from the Kalmuck kibitka to a lordly mansion,--from the horrible flat cake of unleavened dough to fresh bread every day--from the wearisome march of the camels to the repose of the divan--from the monotony of the steppes to all the comforts of civilised life. It is really a very good thing, especially if one has the rare good fortune to enjoy, in addition to all these pleasures, the hospitality of a most friendly and engaging family.

In fact, what gives the most racy zest to travelling is precisely these contrasts that await you at every step, and which enable you to appreciate matters justly by comparison; for after all what is a good dinner to one who dines well every day? What are a divan, books, music, pictures, to the privileged being who has them always before him? More than half his time is spent in yawning at the chimney corner; music wearies him; reading makes his eyes ache; his cook is a dull blockhead, and has no invention! Oh, the weary dreary lot of the wealthy man! But let some good genius suddenly whisk him off into the heart of the desert; let him be forced to wash down his biscuit with brackish water from the standing pool, to count on his falcon's quarry for his dinner, to lie on the hard ground, to bear rain, wind, and dust, to hear only the cries of camels, and see only Kalmuck faces; and afterwards, when he returns to all the good things he despised before, he will be heard exclaiming in the joy of his heart, "Oh! what a pleasant thing it is to eat, sleep, and dream; what a very comfortable life this is!"

Vladimirofka is one of the finest properties I have seen in Russia. The whole economy of this magnificent establishment bespeaks the enlarged and enlightened views of its master. It is about fifty years since M.

Rebrof laid the first foundations of his colony, undismayed by the obstacles and dangers he encountered in all shapes. He wished to make profitable use of the fine waters of the Kouma, which had never before been bridled in their course by man; and now several mills, set up by him, enliven the whole neighbourhood by their continual din. The mildness of the climate has allowed him to make numerous plantations of mulberries, which have perfectly succeeded, and to establish factories, the productions of which may vie with the finest silks of Provence.

Another manufacture which he is carrying on with great spirit is that of Champagne wine. He sends every year at least 10,000 bottles to Moscow, and sells them at the rate of four rubles a bottle. By dint of energy and perseverance he has called up life and abundance in a wild uncultivated spot, which before had served only for the temporary halts of the Kalmucks and Turcomans. Many peasants whom he brought with him from Great Russia, and who had been habituated to an almost savage state of existence, have been transformed by him into good workmen, industrious husbandmen, and, on occasion, into soldiers devoted to their master.

In 1835, some three-score Circa.s.sians, tempted by the hope of a rich booty, made a descent from their mountains to sack and pillage Vladimirofka, expecting to surprise the little village population by night, and to find them wholly unprepared. But though M. Rebrof had enjoyed complete security for many years, he had never deceived himself as to the dangers of his position, but always expected to be attacked sooner or later; and, therefore, he had from the first taken all possible precautions against the designs of his formidable neighbours.

Two branches of the Kouma served as fosses for the village and the chateau; there was a small redoubt with two pieces of cannon commanding the most exposed side, and in a room on the ground-floor of the mansion there was a well-stocked armoury, with all things requisite for sustaining a siege. With these means, M. Rebrof felt confident he could resist any attack.

Every night two sentinels kept watch until dawn, and it was this seemingly superfluous measure that saved Vladimirofka from total destruction. The Circa.s.sians, never reckoning on such extreme caution, arrived one night in face of the village, and felt sure that their approach was unsuspected. But the alarm had been already given, and the whole population, suddenly aroused out of their sleep, were ready for the fight. Arms were distributed to the workpeople and servants, the drawbridges were raised, the two cannons were loaded with grape, and the chateau was transformed into a fortress. All this was done with such rapidity, that when the Circa.s.sians came to the banks of the river, they found the village in a perfect state of defence. They attempted, however, to swim their horses over the Kouma, but were repulsed by a brisk fire. Three or four other attempts were equally unsuccessful; all points were so well guarded, and the men did their duty so well, that the Circa.s.sians were obliged to retreat at break of day. But enraged at their disappointment, they set fire to the village and the surrounding woods, and escaped unmolested, under cover of the conflagration, without its being discovered what direction they took.

As an economist and administrator, M. Rebrof may be compared with the most eminent men of Europe, and his manufacturing enterprises are the more meritorious, as he is dest.i.tute of the aid of books. Knowing only his own language, which is very poor in such practical works as would suit his purposes, he has nothing but a few bad translations of French and German works, which would be of little avail but for his own superior sagacity.

His gardens are filled with all the fruits of Europe, and with several kinds of grapes, from which he derives a large profit. Among these I particularly noticed the Schiras grape, which has no stones. Nor must I forget his excellent _oeil de perdrix_ wine, which he set before us every day after dinner, with the pride of a manufacturer. Nothing could exceed his satisfaction on hearing us compare it with the best vintages of France, as we did in all sincerity on our first arrival. Afterwards our enthusiasm cooled down a little; but it did not matter; our host was still persuaded that his wine could compete with the best made in Champagne.