Previously she had cherished a deep love for nature, for the music of
verse, for nobility of thought, but had made no attempt to define and
record her impressions. The isles and shores of the Mediterranean, with
their myriad charms and grand historic associations:--
"That great mid-sea that moans with memories,"[4]
loosened her genius, so to speak, and stimulated her to clothe her
feelings and sentiments in a metrical form. It is not difficult to
understand the effect which, on a warm imagination and sensitive
temperament, that richly-coloured panorama of "the isles of Greece," and
that exquisite prospect of Constantinople and the Golden Horn, would
necessarily produce. For some time, as she herself tells us, she lived
in a kind of moral and intellectual intoxication; she was absorbed in an
ideal world, which bewildered while it delighted her.
The plague was then dealing heavily with the unfortunate Mussulman
populations, but it did not terrify our enthusiastic travellers; as if
they bore a charmed life, they went to and fro, seeing whatever was fine
or memorable, and yet all unable to satisfy that thirst for beauty which
the beautiful around them had excited. Madame de Hell was under the
influence of a subtle spell; her quick fancy was profoundly impressed by
the picturesque aspects of Oriental life, by its glow of colour and
grace of form, so different from the commonplace and monotonous
realities of the West. She seemed to be living in the old days of the
Khalifs--those days which the authors of the "Thousand and One Stories"
have immortalized--to be living, for example, in the "golden prime of
good Haroun Al-Raschid"--as she saw before her the motley procession of
veiled women, Persians with their pointed bonnets, Hindu jugglers with
lithe lissom figures, negro slaves, grey-bearded beggars looking like
princes in disguise, and Armenians wrapped in their long furred cloaks.
She delighted, accompanied by her husband, to explore the silent
recesses of the hilly and almost solitary streets in the less frequented
quarters of Stamboul, where a latticed window or a half-open door would
suggest a romance of love and mystery, or a vision of some gorgeous
palace interior, of
"Carven cedarn doors,
Flung inward over spangled floors,
Broad based flights of marble stairs,
Run up with golden balustrade."
When Madame de Hell visited the East, it was considered dangerous for
Franks to venture into the streets of Constantinople, and they occupied
only the suburbs of Pera and Galata, which were exclusively made over to
the Christian population, and separated from the Mussulman city by the
arm of the sea known as the Golden Horn. And as in those days, which
were long before the introduction of Mr. Cook's "personally conducted
tours," tourists were few, the presence of a "giaour" in the Mohammedan
quarter was an extraordinary event. Those who should have fallen in with
our two young adventurers, their eager gaze roving everywhere in quest
of new discoveries, strolling hither and thither like two children out
for a holiday, would never for one moment have supposed that a terrible
pestilence was raging through the city, and nowhere more fatally than in
the very districts they had chosen for their explorations. But perhaps
the danger from disease was not so imminent as the peril they incurred
in penetrating into the chosen territory of Islam. Fortune favoured
them, however, or their frank bearing disarmed fanaticism, and they
escaped without molestation or even insult.
As Monsieur and Madame de Hell resided for a year in Constantinople, it
is needless to say they remained long enough for the glamour to
disappear, in which at first their lively imaginations had invested
everything around them. The gorgeous visions vanished, and their eyes
were opened to the hard realities of Mohammedan ignorance, bigotry and
misgovernment. They learned, perhaps, that the order and freedom of
Western civilization are infinitely more valuable than the
picturesqueness of Oriental society. In 1838 they set out for Odessa,
where Monsieur de Hell hoped to obtain a position worthy of his talents.
The future of the young couple rested wholly on a letter of
recommendation to General Potier, by whom they were warmly welcomed. The
general, who owned a large estate in the neighbourhood, where he
cultivated a famous breed of Merino sheep, had formed a project for
erecting mills upon the Dnieper. To carry it out he needed an engineer,
and in M. Hommaire de Hell he found one. Straightway they proceeded to
his estate at Kherson, and M. de Hell set to work on the necessary
plans. While thus engaged, he conceived the idea of a scientific
expedition to the Caspian Sea--a basin of which little was then known to
our geographers--and this idea held him so firmly that, a few months
later, he gave up his employment in order to realize it. In one of his
excursions to the cataracts of the Dnieper, where the mills were to be
erected, his geological knowledge led him to the discovery of the rich
veins of an iron mine, which has since been profitably worked.
"This period of my life," wrote Madame de Hell, afterwards, "spent in
the midst of the steppes, remote from any town, appears to me now in so
calm, tender, and serene a light, that the slightest memorial of it
moves me profoundly. Only to see the shore where we passed whole days in
seeking for shells, only to hear the sound of the great waves rolling on
the sandbanks and among the seaweed, only to recall a single one of the
impressions of that happy epoch, I would willingly repeat the voyage."
* * * * *
For his great scientific expedition, M. de Hell made vigorous
preparations during the winter of 1838, and having obtained from Count
Vorontzov, the governor of New Russia, strong letters of recommendation
to the governors and officials of the provinces he would have to
traverse, he and his wife started in the middle of May, 1839,
accompanied by a Cossack, and an excellent dragoman, who spoke all the
dialects current in Southern Russia.
Their journey through the country of the Don Cossacks we shall pass
over, as offering nothing of special novelty or interest, and take up
Madame de Hell's narrative at the point of her arrival on the banks of
the Volga.
"A dull white line," she says, "scarcely perceptible through the gloom,
announced the presence of the great river. We followed its course all
night, catching a glimpse of it from time to time by the faint glimmer
of the stars, and by the lights of the fishermen's lanterns flashing
here and there along its banks. There was an originality in the scene
that strongly affected the imagination. Those numerous lights, flitting
from point to point, were like the will-o'-the-wisps that beguile the
belated traveller; and then the Kalmuk encampments with their black
masses that seemed to glide over the surface of the steppe, the darkness
of the night, the speed with which our troika (set of three) carried us
over the boundless plain, the shrill tinkle of the horse-bells, and,
above all, the knowledge that we were in the land of the Kalmuks,
wrought us up to a state of nervous excitement that made us see
everything in the hues of fancy.
"At daybreak our eyes were turned eagerly towards the Volga, that
flashed in the glories of the morning sky. From the elevation we had
reached we could survey the whole country; and it may easily be
conceived with what admiration we gazed upon the calm majestic river,
and on its multitude of islands, fringed with aspen and alder. On the
other side, the steppes, where the Kirghiz and Kalmuks encamp, extended
as far as the eye could reach, till limited by a horizon as smooth and
uniform as that of the ocean. It would be difficult to imagine a grander
picture, or one more entirely in harmony with the ideas evoked by the
Volga, to which its course of upwards of six hundred leagues assigns the
foremost place among European rivers."
* * * * *
At the outset of her journey, Madame de Hell had exclaimed: "What
happiness it is to escape from the prosaic details of every-day life,
from social obligations, from the dull routine of habit, to take one's
flight towards the almost unknown shores of the Caspian! It is strange,
but it proves that my vocation is that of tourist, that what would daunt
the majority of women is really what charms me most in the forecast of
this journey."
Assuredly, the details of every-day life were left behind when the
courageous lady embarked upon the Volga, and set out for the famous city
of Astrakhan. All around her was new and strange, and each day, each
hour, brought before her eager mind some fresh subject of speculation.
She paid a visit to a Kalmuk prince, Prince Tumene, and found herself in
the midst of a new world. The prince's palace was built, she says, in
the Chinese style, and pleasantly situated on the green side of a
gentle slope, about one hundred feet from the Volga. Its numerous
galleries afforded views over every part of the island on which the
palace was situated, and commanded a long reach of the shining river.
From one angle the eye looked down on a mass of foliage embosoming the
glittering cupola and the golden ball above. Beautiful meadows, studded
with clumps of trees, and highly cultivated fields, spread out their
verdure to the left of the palace, and formed a succession of
landscapes, like pictures in a panorama. The whole was enlivened by the
figures of Kalmuk horsemen galloping to and fro, of camels wandering
here and there through the rich pastures, and officers conveying the
orders of their chief from tent to tent. The spectacle was imposing;
various in its details, but harmonious as a whole.
Madame de Hell was invited to visit the prince's sister-in-law, who,
during the summer season, resided in her kibitka in preference to the
palace. The curtain at the threshold of the pavilion having been raised,
she was ushered into a spacious room, lighted from above, and draped
with red damask, the reflection from which shed a glowing tint on every
object; the floor was covered with a rich Turkey carpet, and the air was
heavy with perfumes. In this rosy light and balmy atmosphere was seated
the princess, on a low platform at the further end of the tent, dressed
in shining robes and motionless as an idol. Around her, crouching on
their heels, were arranged some twenty women in full dress. Having
allowed Madame de Hell a few minutes to admire her, the princess slowly
descended the steps of the platform, approached with a dignified
bearing, took her by the hand, embraced her affectionately, and led her
to the seat she had just vacated. Through the medium of an Armenian
interpreter a brief conversation followed, after which she made signs
that dancing should begin. One of the ladies of honour then rose and
performed a few steps, turning slowly upon herself; while another, who
remained seated, drew forth from a balalaika (an Oriental guitar)
certain doleful sounds, ill-adapted to the movements of a dancer. Nor
were the attitudes and movements of her companion so much those of the
dance as of the pantomime. There was evidently a meaning in them, though
Madame de Hell could not unravel it. The young _figurante_ frequently
extended her arms and threw herself on her knees, as if in invocation of
some unseen power.
The performance lasted for some considerable time, and Madame de Hell
had ample opportunity of scrutinizing the princess, and of coming to the
conclusion that her high reputation for beauty was not undeserved. Her
figure was imposing and well-proportioned. The lips, beautifully arched
and closing over pearly teeth; the countenance, expressive of great
sweetness; the skin, of a brownish tint, but exquisitely delicate, would
entitle her to be considered a very handsome woman, even in France, if
the outline of her face and the arrangement of her features--the
oblique eyes, the prominent cheek-bones--had been less pronouncedly
Kalmuk.
A word as to her costume. Over a costly robe of Persian stuff, laced all
over with silver, she wore a light silk tunic, open in front, and
descending only to the knee. The high corsage was quite flat, and
glittered with silver embroidery and fine pearls that covered every
seam. Round her neck she wore a white cambric habit-shirt, in shape not
unlike a man's collar (forty years ago), and fastened in front by a
diamond button. Her luxuriant deep black hair fell over her bosom in two
magnificent and remarkably long tresses. A yellow cap, edged with rich
fur, and fashioned like the square cap of a French judge, was set
jauntily on the crown of her head. But in her costume the two articles
that most surprised Madame de Hell were an embroidered cambric
handkerchief and a pair of black mittens, significant proofs that the
products of the French loom found their way even to the toilet of a
Kalmuk lady. Among the princess's ornaments must not be forgotten a
large gold chain, which, after being twisted round her glossy tresses,
was passed through her gold earrings and then allowed to fall upon her
bosom.
* * * * *
Madame de Hell was afterwards entertained with a specimen of Kalmuk
horsemanship. The moment she came out into the open, five or six mounted
men, armed with long lassoes, rushed into the middle of the _taboon_, or
herd of horses, collected for the purpose, keeping their eyes
constantly on the princess's son, Madame de Hell's companion, who was to
point out the animal they should seize.
At the signal, they immediately galloped forward and noosed a young
horse with long dishevelled mane, whose dilated eyes and smoking
nostrils revealed his inexpressible terror. A lightly clad Kalmuk, who
followed them a-foot, sprang instantly upon the stallion, cut the thongs
that were throttling him, and engaged with him in a contest of
incredible agility and daring. It would scarcely be possible for any
spectacle more vividly to affect the mind than that now presented to
Madame de Hell's astonished gaze. Sometimes rider and horse rolled
together on the grass, sometimes they shot through the air with arrowy
speed, and then suddenly halted as if a wall had sprung up before them.
All at once the impetuous animal would crawl on its belly, or rear in a
manner that made the spectators shriek with terror, then, plunging
forward in a mad gallop, he would dash through the startled herd,
seeking by every possible means to rid himself of his unaccustomed
burden.
But this exercise, violent and perilous as it looked to Europeans,
seemed but sport to the Kalmuk, whose body followed every movement of
the animal with so much suppleness, that one might have supposed both
steed and rider to be animated by the same thought. The sweat poured in
profuse streams from the stallion's flanks, and he trembled in every
limb. As for the rider, his coolness would have put to shame the most
accomplished horseman in Europe. In the most critical moments he
contrived so far to retain his self-command as to wave his arms in token
of triumph; and, in spite of the passion and temper of his untrained
steed, held sufficient control over it to keep it always within the
circle of the spectators' vision. At a signal from the prince, two
horsemen, who had remained as close as possible to the daring centaur,
seized him with astonishing swiftness, and galloped away with him before
those who looked on could understand the new manoeuvre. The horse, for
a moment stupefied, soon darted away at full speed and was lost in the
midst of the herd. This exploit was several times repeated, and always
without the rider suffering himself to be thrown.
* * * * *
Madame de Hell's account of the Kalmuks is, on the whole, very
favourable, while it shows how closely she studied their manners and
customs, and the habits of their daily life. As to physical details, she
says that the Kalmuks have eyes set obliquely, with eyelids little
opened, scanty black eyebrows, noses deeply depressed near the forehead,
prominent cheek bones, spare beards, thin moustaches, and a
brownish-yellow skin. The lips of the men are thick and fleshy, but the
women, particularly those of the higher classes--the "white bones," as
they are called--have heart-shaped mouths of more than ordinary beauty.
All have great ears, projecting strongly from the head, and their hair
is invariably black.
The Kalmuks are generally small, but with well-rounded figures and an
easy carriage. Very few deformed persons are seen among them; for, with
the wisdom of nature, they leave the development of their children's
frames unchecked, nor, indeed, do they put any garments upon them until
they reach the age of nine or ten. No sooner can they walk than they
mount on horseback, and address themselves vigorously to wrestling and
riding, the chief amusements of the tribes.
Like all who dwell upon vast plains, they enjoy an exceedingly keen
sight. An hour after sunset they can distinguish a camel at a distance
of upwards of three miles. Madame de Hell tells us that often when she
could see nothing but a point on the horizon, they would clearly make
out a horseman armed with lance and gun. They have also an extraordinary
faculty for tracing their way through the pathless wildernesses. Without
any apparent landmarks they would traverse hundreds of miles with their
flocks, and never deviate from the right course.
The costume of the common Kalmuks exhibits no decided peculiarity, apart
from the cap, which is invariably of yellow cloth trimmed with black
lambskin, and is worn by both sexes. Madame de Hell seems inclined to
think that some superstitious notions are connected with it, from the
difficulty she experienced in procuring a specimen. The trousers are
wide and open below. The well-to-do Kalmuks wear two long tunics, one of
which is fastened round the waist, but the usual dress consists only of
trousers and a jacket of skin with tight sleeves. The men shave a part
of their heads, and the rest of the hair is collected into a single
cluster, which hangs down on the shoulders. The women wear two tresses,
which is really the sole visible distinction of their sex. The princes
have adopted the Circassian costume, or the uniform of the Astrakhan
Cossacks, to which body some of them belong. The ordinary _chaussure_ is
red boots with very high heels and generally much too short. The Kalmuks
have almost as great a partiality for small feet as the Chinese, and, as
they are constantly on horseback, their short boots cause them no great
inconvenience. But for these reasons they are very bad pedestrians,
their "cribbed, cabined, and confined" foot-gear obliges them to walk on
their toes; and their distress is great when they have no horse to
mount.
Like all pastoral people, the Kalmuks live frugally, because their wants
are few, and their nomadic life is unfavourable to the growth of a
liking for luxuries. They live chiefly upon milk and butter, with tea
for their favourite beverage. Their bill of fare also includes meat, and
particularly horse-flesh, which they prefer to any other, but they do
not eat it raw, as some writers have pretended. As for cereals, which
Europeans value so highly, their use is scarcely known; it is at rare
intervals only that some of them buy bread or oatcake from the
neighbouring Russians. Their mode of preparing tea would not commend
itself to the denizens of Mayfair. It comes to them from China in the
shape of very hard bricks, composed of the leaves and coarsest portions
of the plant. After boiling it for a considerable time in water, they
add milk, butter, and salt. The infusion then acquires consistency, and
a dull red colour. "We tasted the beverage," says Madame de Hell, "at
Prince Tumene's, but must confess it was perfectly detestable.... They
say, however, that one easily gets accustomed to it, and eventually
learns to think it delicious. It has, however, one good quality. By
strongly stimulating perspiration it serves as an excellent preservative
against the effect of sudden chills. The Kalmuks drink it out of round
shallow little wooden vessels, to which they often attach a very high
value. I have seen several," adds our traveller, "which were priced at
two or three horses. They are generally made of roots brought from Asia.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the Kalmuks know nothing of
tea-kettles, and make their beverage in large iron pots. Next to tea,
they love spirituous liquors. From mare's milk or ass's milk they
manufacture a kind of brandy; but as it is a very feeble stimulant, they
eagerly seek after Russian liquors; and therefore, to prevent the fatal
consequences of their mania, the government has forbidden the
establishment of any dram-shops among their hordes. The women crave the
deadly liquor no less ardently than the men, but are so closely watched
by their lords and masters that they have few opportunities of indulging
the taste."
Among the Kalmuks, as among most Oriental peoples, the stronger sex
looks with contempt upon all household matters, abandoning them entirely
to the women; who work and take charge of the children, keep the tents
in order, make up the garments and furs of the family, and attend to the
cattle. The men hardly condescend to groom their horses; they hunt,
drink tea or brandy, doze about upon felts, and smoke or sleep. Add to
their daily occupations, if such they can be called, their joining in
occasional games, such as chess and knuckle-bones, and you have a
complete picture of the existence--we will not say life--of a Kalmuk
_paterfamilias_. At their laborious days, however, the women never
repine; they are accustomed to the burden, and bear it cheerfully; but
they age very early, and after a few years of wedlock, not only lose
their good looks, but acquire a coarseness of feature and a robustness
of figure which make it exceedingly difficult to distinguish them from
men. Nor is the difficulty lessened by the fact that the costume of both
sexes is closely alike.
At Astrakhan the most dangerous as well as the most arduous part of the
expedition of our two travellers began. They were compelled to carry
provisions with them, if they did not wish to perish of hunger on the
steppes. An escort was therefore necessary, and the Russian governor
selected for the post one of his best officers; a young man famed for
his skill as a hunter, and as the happy owner of a falcon from which he
would never separate. Satisfied with providing so competent a purveyor,
the governor, in presenting him to the travellers, said; "Now my
conscience is at rest! I give you a brave soldier to protect you, and a
travelling companion who will take care that you are not starved to
death in the desert."
From Astrakhan they pushed forward to Vladimirofka, a town on the Kuma,
which they entered with a good deal of pomp and circumstance. A
britchka, drawn by three camels, and carrying Monsieur and Madame de
Hell, led the van; then came a troop of four or five Cossacks, armed to
the teeth, and several Kalmuks guiding a train of camels loaded with
baggage. The Cossack officer, with falcon on wrist, and his long rifle
slung behind him, rode by the side of the carriage, ready, with
Muscovite precision, to transmit orders to the escort, and gallop off at
the slightest signal; whilst the dragoman lolled on the box-seat with a
fine air of contemptuous indifference to everything around him. After a
few days' rest and refreshment, they resumed their journey, advancing
rapidly towards the Caucasus, of which the highest summit, Mount Elburz,
from time to time afforded them a glimpse of its lofty head, which was
almost always shrouded in mist, as if to conceal it from the profane
gaze. Tradition avows that Noah's dove alighted on its peak, and plucked
thence the mystic branch which has ever since been hallowed as symbolic
of peace and hope.