A VISIT TO THE SARÖ AND SHERA YÖGURS
by
C. G. E. MANNERHEIM
Helsingfors,
The Finnish Literary Society,
1911.
Introductory note.
During an expedition made in Central Asia and Northern China in the
years 1906-1908 I had the opportunity of spending some days among the
Sarö and Shera Yögurs, two small tribes which under the common name
of "Huang-fan" (the yellow barbarians) inhabit the northern reaches
of the Nanshan mountains in the district of Kanchow-Hsuchow, and
part of the plain at its foot. In the hope of assisting in spreading
some light upon these imperfectly known races, I offer some extracts
from my journal, a vocabulary of words noted down parallely, as used
by both tribes, some anthropological measurements and a number of
photographs, some of which were taken during my expedition, others
representing an ethnographical collection which I made.
In making the vocabulary, the words have been taken down phonetically.
Dr Ramstedt of the Alexander University at Helsingfors, has kindly
supplied the Mongolian equivalent. In my anthropological and
ethnographical observations I have followed the directions I found in
"Notes and Queries" on Anthropology given by John George Garson, M.D.
and Charles Hercules Read, F.S.A., and in "Ethnography", by the latter
author.
Unfortunately some of the photographs have been less successful than
others owing to the fact that a stress of work obliged me to postpone
for some months the developing of some dozen films.
As the principal aim of my expedition lay altogether outside the
spheres of anthropology and ethnography, and as I have had no
opportunity to revise my more or less casually made observations,
it is without the least claim to authority that I present this very
unpretentious material to the kind consideration of the reader.
Helsingfors, August 10th 1909.
C.G.E. Mannerheim.
I
Among the Sarö Yögurs.
At dawn on December 13th 1907, we started upon our expedition, and we
soon left behind us the pleasant little Chinese town Chin-t'a, with its
halfrounded, irregular clay walls, so unlike the strictly symmetrical
Chinese type, its narrow, winding alleys, its temple courts shaded by
ancient gnarled trees, and its towers with their innumerable bells
all tinkling in the wind. Our road led in a SE direction, past a
temple with a high conical tower which except for the missing gilding
still gave reason for the town's name, (_chin_ 'gold', _t'a_ 'tower';
_Chint'a_ 'the golden tower') and we over the ruins of a wall, which
formerly enclosed this oasis -- one of the most northerly outposts of
Chinese civilisation, in the sand and gravel ocean of the Gobi Desert.
Beyond the wall extended a sandy, sterile stretch of ground, which, at
first thickly bestrewn with Chinese tombstones, rose gradually towards
a low chain of hills lying in a ESE-WNW direction. In character, these
resembled a number of narrow gravel ridges, some of which formed a
crest, others rising in terraces. A slight pass which we rode through
at about twelve kilometres from the town was the highest point reached
that day, and the descent southwards was even less perceptible than our
ascent. The only vegetation to be seen was some insignificant creeping
brush, growing in tufts at lengthy intervals. About nine kilometres
from the pass the belt of gravel merged into a sandy formation, dotted
thickly with knolls on which grew more of the same creeping brush,
though of somewhat larger growth. Some few kilometres further, reeds
appeared, and these soon gave place to a typical porous soil with
a strong salty deposit. As far as the eye could see, the same
inhospitable kind of country extended, sparsely covered by grass
towards the south, where it merged into the _Nan-shan_ mountains,
the outlines ol which could be discerned in the misty distance.
The great high road -- joining _K'ou-li_ (the territory inside the
Great Wall) and _K'ou-wai_ (the territory outside) has in _North Kansu
an_ E-W direction and at _Shuang-t'ingtzu_, twenty-seven kilometres
from Chint'a, we crossed one of the innumerable etape stations which
faithfully follow its course all the way from the Pacific Ocean to the
distant plains of Russia and India. Some seven or eight kilometres
south of the road, we rode past the first of the scattered dwellings
of the Yögur village of _Ma-chuang-tzu_. I dismounted to get a nearer
view of three women who were busy in the yard of the house. They wore
a strange costume such as I had never seen before. The eldest, a woman
of fifty, with a Roman nose and a generally dignified appearance, was
very talkative. She offered us tea, and told us they were Sarö Yögurs
-- a name which she repeated proudly several times. The other two women
had prominent cheek bones, small eyes, thick ugly noses, and were of a
common appearance. My camera, which I brought out carelessly, changed
however the mental atmosphere at a stroke. There was a sudden end to
confidences and there remained nothing for us but to continue our way
to the village temple, distant 12-13 km to the south.
Built near the remains of a small ruin, the plain temple buildings soon
rose before us, surrounded by a small group of wooden huts occupied
by the lamas. None of the lamas were at home but the Chinese officer
in command of the Shuangt'ingtzu mounted guard gave unhesitatingly
orders that my things should be carried into the cleanest of the
houses. All was arranged in a moment and the house looked as if we
had always lived there. Hashim was busily washing rice, cleaning
carrots and preparing the mutton for the ever-appetising _palao_,
with which he had delighted us for the last seventeen months, Chou,
my seventeen-year-old interpreter arranging the meteorological
instruments, Lukanin, the Cossack of the expedition, and Hsu, a retired
Chinese Colonel, now in my service, saw to the horses and equipments,
while at the scanty kitchen fire, I tried to thaw my fingers, stiff
from the cold December breeze, to start work on notebooks and maps.
The lamas, on their arrival, appeared somewhat surprised at our
intrusion but though the first meeting was rather cool, the ice soon
was broken, and my host, in particular, grew both hospitable and
talkative.
Machuangtzu is a village of about forty houses spread over a wide
area, occupied by people who call themselves _Sarö Yögur_ ('yellow
Yögurs') and called by the Chinese _Huang Fantzu_ (huang 'yellow',
fan 'barbarian'; 'the yellow barbarians') to distinguish them from
the Tangutans, who are called _Hei Fantzu_ (hei 'black'). A legend,
imparted from father to son, says that more than a thousand years ago,
their forefathers came from the west, where they had inhabited a city,
bearing the name _Shiche-Hache_, called by the Chinese _Chenfu tun_.
It lay, they said, a forty-five days' march to the west or southwest,
on the shores of a river and was surrounded by high mountains. In
Shiche-Hache, a temple had been built with many excavated caves in
the mountain. -- According to another Yögur version, they had moved
to their present dwelling places during the reign of the Emperor
_K'ang-hsi_, to escape a contagious disease, the name of which my
interpreter gave as cholera. Some of the tribe had settled in the
mountains S and SE of _Hsuchow_, the remainder on the plain. Those who
had settled nearest Hsuchow had become amalgamated with the Chinese,
the others still retained their language. The ruin near the present
temple had belonged to a race of people, having tails, whom the Chinese
call _Kuzurkei_.
About forty kilometres eastward from Machuangtzu lies a village, called
_Tung-heitzu_, also consisting of forty or fifty homesteads, with a
temple, -- and about thirty kilometres south of the town _Kaot'aj_
there is still another called _Yumashan Huang Fantzu_, where the same
language is spoken. Further south, at _Bayakhtag_ and in the mountains
south of _Kanchow_, there are also Huang Fantzu living, but they
speak another language which resembles Mongolian, while the language
spoken by those mentioned first, has a great resemblance to Khirgis and
to the Turkish spoken by the Sarts. No Yögur written language has ever
been heard of, neither could they tell me anything about their early
history, of wars they had taken part in, or the names of their Princes
or chiefs. I was also unable to gather any old songs or legends. They
told me there were none, but it is possible that their suspicious
nature, or the incompetence of my interpreter or other reasons, may
have been the cause of their unwillingness to reveal them to me.
The temple at Machuangtzu is small and poor, and it was evident
that it was seldom used. Three large rude paintings, brought from
_Sining_, representing _Shykshatva_ enthroned between _Tshulma_ and
_Shtsha-ryzyk_, decorate the principal wall, and old dirty, smoky
Buddha pictures, in the form of banners, cover part of the side walls.
Some of them were said to have been brought from the north and were
probably of Mongolian origin.
There were seven or eight lamas, each living in his own clean little
wooden house of two or three rooms, built and furnished in Chinese
style. They told me they earned their living by keeping cattle, and
by cutting wood. The contributions of the villagers, contrary to what
is the custom in other Buddhist communities which I visited, are very
insignificant. A number of boys, distributed about the lamas' houses,
were being educated by them for the priestly office. The lamas alone
can read and write, but the written language is Tangutan. A document
written in a beatiful text-hand from the renowned lama monastery of
_Gumbum_, these men could not decipher. They declared there are two
Tibetan written languages of which they knew only one.
The local administration lies in the hands of a _pykh_ and his
assistant _yarkatshe_. The villages of Machuangtzu, Tungheitzu and
Yumashan pay a yearly tax of thirteen horses to the Chinese government
which is collected by the brigadier-general in Hsuchow, through an
officer stationed at Khunkeitzu (about fifty km south of Machuangtzu).
All the houses I visited were fairly clean, and were built in Chinese
style, only a few could be considered poor, taking into consideration
the general circumstances.
The chief room in the house was provided with the traditional Chinese
sleeping stove, _k'ang_, covered with a straw matting, and heated from
outside. Opposite the door, stood a small Buddhist altar, sometimes
decorated with a small banner, blackened by smoke and dirt. Another
room contained a brick fireplace in which two or three shallow Chinese
kettles were immured, for the preparation of tea, in the Mongolian way,
with salt and butter. A pot was moved into the centre of the room,
where it was placed on three unburnt bricks, while all the company
present sat around upon the floor, using their own legs and heels as
seats. All the household utensils I saw were of Chinese origin, with
the exception of some turned Mongolian wooden cups, with wide flat
bottoms. In the yards you often saw white flags, covered with Buddhist
prayers -- a certain remedy against sickness and other misfortunes.
More expensive articles, such as bronze statues of Buddha, I only saw
in the house of a lama, and in another the traditional prayer-cylinder.
The clothes were cut in Chinese fashion but usually made of home-spun
material. The men wear a Chinese cap with a button, or a Mongolian
felt cap, a long coat, or fur coat, bound round the waist with a long
narrow home-woven scarf in grey, reddish-lilac, or blue, also a pair of
half-loose trousers of coarse home-spun cotton, or skin, bound round
the legs at the bottom by a broad, home spun bandage-like fastening.
They wear coarse woollen stockings knitted in the Chinese way and
Chinese shoes often garnished with a loose legging of blue cotton
material. Neither shirts nor drawers are worn. The women's dresses
resemble those of the men, but their summer costume is fashioned like
that of the Chinese women, though somewhat shorter. The fur coat worn
by both men and women is usually bordered with fur as the Khirgis and
Mongolians wear it, and was of better quality than is usually to be
bought in Chinese bazars.
The women's head dresses were very peculiar. To each of the plaits
hanging over the breast, a long, narrow strip of cloth is fastened.
This is decorated with small pieces of coral and glass beads in various
tints of violet. Below this hang a whole series of copper rings,
used by the Chinese as thimbles, and the whole is finished off by a
large metal ornament, from which a tassel hangs. This long head-dress
reaches to the ground. Below this is fastened a bunch of small pockets,
embroidered by the women in Chinese patterns. A long narrow piece of
cloth hangs down the back on which a row of big white bone buttons is
sewn. The head is usually covered by a Mongolian fur or felt cap. This
curious head dress is only used by the married woman, but having once
adopted it, she wears it till her death. Even in the grave it is not
all removed, only the strips of embroidered cloth silver ornaments and
bone buttons, she being allowed to retain her copper rings.
The Sarö Yögur has not much in the way of clothes. There is no holiday
attire, not even a change of every-day clothes. Nothing new is bought
till the old is falling to tatters. It is particularly difficult during
the cold season to make purchases for an ethnographic collection,
for if a Yögur sells a piece of clothing, he has nothing with which to
replace it.
On visiting any of the Yögur homesteads, you are almost sure to find
the men at home, the women being busy out of doors, looking after the
cattle, carrying water etc. There is nothing in the way of handicrafts
or home-industries, except weaving, basket-making and the knitting of
stockings. The two latter, hardly to be called masculine occupations,
are performed by the men. The coarse stems of a species of grass are
used as knitting needles. The basket-work is very rude and primitive
and greatly inferior to Chinese work. Cloth is woven by the women in
long narrow strips which in quality as well as in the style of weaving
closely resembles the work of Khirgis women. Their primitive looms
stand in the yard, where the warp is fastened to two sticks driven into
the ground while the finished material is wound round a third. The
materials were coarse, but like that of the Khirgis, of good quality.
It is almost the only saleable article possessed by them, and is sold
in Hsuchow and Kanchow for 70 _tshokh_ (900 _tshokh_ = 1 _lan_ = 1 r.
60 kop.) per Chin, _ch'ih_ (0,33 m). There is no forging of iron. Not
even blankets, those very necessary articles in an Asiatic household
are made by the Sarö Yögurs, who get what they require from the
Chinaman. There is no agriculture, the grazing of cattle is their only
means of livelihood -- and the Sarö Yögurs are purely a pastoral people
though they have fixed abodes. Much of the live stock, which one sees
in their care, belongs however to Chinamen in neighbouring villages and
the Sarö Yögurs receive wool and some flour as payment for herding
them.
Their chief articles of food are flour and various kinds of cereals.
Tea is made with salt and butter, and milk and cream when it can be
obtained. Roasted wheaten flour is often mixed with tea. They also
make a paste out of flour and water, which is rolled out and cut up
into long strips and eaten in boiling water as soup. Rice is made into
porridge. Meat is a rarity. A sheep is only killed on specially festive
occasions, and these are not reputed to be very gay. They have no
musical instruments, no dancing and very seldom any chorus singing.
Now and again, you hear a monotonous song sung in the fields, but when
I offered to have a sheep killed, and arrange a feast (_tomashá_) the
lamas could not get the necessary people to sing. One of the lamas, who
was supposed to have a good voice, sang at my request a monotonous
melody, in which _oor_ ("he or she has come") occured innumerable
times. He assured me they had no songs, a tune being sung to any words
which the occasion offered.
In general, the people gave an impression of being in straightened
circumstances and readily complained of money difficulties. The grass
on their pasture land was coarse, almost reedy, they had not much
live stock, and their economic condition was undeniably low, but in
comparison with the really terrible poverty so often seen in Central
Asia, their condition cannot be considered very bad. The richest man
among them had only six or seven horses, ten cows, and a hundred sheep,
but as an appended table shows, out of the nineteen homesteads that
I visited there was only one where no livestock at all was owned,
and though another was in much the same condition, even they could
make a living by herding the cattle belonging to the Chinese of the
neighbouring village.
It seemed to me that there was a great lack of energy and one was
surprised at the want of manliness, especially among the young men.
There is no kind of sport, no races, no wrestling, even none of the
games on horseback which are so usual in Central Asia. In many houses
you see guns of the antediluvian type characteristic of the whole of
Central Asia but you never hear of any shooting. Involuntarily one
asks oneself if the laziness and lack of energy of the people has been
caused by the difficult conditions, or if the contrary is not nearer
the truth.
The majority of the Sarö Yögurs whom I met, did not appear shy, and
my host particularly was very frank in his opinions and informations.
Or perhaps they appeared relatively less shy and reserved, because
I was on this occasion without my craniometer -- which always had the
effect of depriving even the boldest among them of all courage. The
greater part of my equipment, among other things my instruments for
anthropological measurements, had followed the main high road, by
some mistake, passed me and was probably awaiting me in Kanchow. This
circumstance forces me to content myself with describing the appearance
of these tribes without being able to give the far more reliable
measurements.
The cheek bones are, in most cases, decidedly, if not excessively
prominent, though I saw several with an oval shape of face, without
any strikingly prominent cheek bones, but in general the type of face
was short and somewhat broad. A true Finnish turned up nose, with an
insignificant bridge was to be seen in many faces, and some of the
women had thick potatow-noses, but in general they were straight.
The mouth was normal, with neither very thin nor thick lips, the eyes
small and the distance between also normal. The corners of the eyes
were open, and not overgrown by the eyelid. Their hair and their thin
beards were black. They were of average height and we saw no corpulent
people. Their movements were slow and sluggish except when there was an
opportunity of buying or selling. If a few _tshokh_ can be earned, the
Sarö Yögur becomes lively and the interest is general, nearly as great
in the on-lookers as in the purchaser.
The short time at my disposal did not give me much opportunity for a
thorough study of their customs. The little I was able to note, follows
here:
In cases of death, a lama is called upon to read prayers. The body is
burnt naked, in summer within three days, in winter within seven to ten
days, on a bier made of faggots. No oil is used, but a kind of spirit
as a means of ignition. The corpse is placed in a lying position, with
its head towards the south. Nothing in the way of food, ornaments, etc.
is burnt with it. The ashes are gathered together and covered with a
small heap of earth. A young man or maiden dying after a short illnes
is simply buried and the place marked by a mound of earth. Visitors and
those present at the burial are entertained in the home of the deceased
according to his means, and the lama is paid for his services by gifts,
without having any right, as in certain other tribes, to a share in the
household goods.
The property is inherited by the wife, who in case she marries again
must yield it to the male heirs. Daughters inherit no rights. Cousins
are forbidden to marry, neither is marriage allowed between a niece and
uncle, or nephew and aunt; sisters and brothers-in-law may not marry,
nor stepchildren with stepfather or mother.
The wife is bought, the decision being taken by the parents without
consulting the young people. The final arrangements are usually made by
some elderly woman who has been sent for this purpose to the parents
of the girl. No festivities take place during these proceedings. The
price which has been agreed upon for the girl is either paid at once
or by instalments. These agreements are often entered upon while the
bride and bridegroom are still children. Men marry between the ages of
fifteen and thirty, and women at about sixteen years of age. A younger
brother steps into his elder brother's place, in case of the death of
the latter, despite the difference of age, but if the marriage has
already taken place he cannot afterwards marry his sister-in-law. The
bride and bridegroom are not allowed to see each other before marriage.
The bride is given a dowry, according to the wealth of her parents and
the sum which has been paid for her. On the wedding day the lama is
called upon to read prayers, in the homes of both bride and bridegroom.
Relatives and friends gather in the home of the bride and, after the
wedding feast, accompany her, as she rides away -- with her dowry in
her hand, and her hair plaited and decorated for the first time, -- to
her new home. The parents of the bridegroom take no part in the
festivities at the bride's house, nor do the bride's parents accompany
their daughter, when she leaves her home. On arrival, the bride is
received by a number of women, who lead her to a tent raised for the
occasion and all the company present are lavishly entertained by the
parents of the bridegroom. When the lama finds a propitious moment, he
leads the bridal pair to the house, where they first kneel before the
altar and then to all the older people present. For the wedding feast,
which does not last more than one day, a sheep is killed and Chinese gin
is drunk. The men gladly take this opportunity of getting drunk, the
women, on the contrarys, very seldom, chiefly, it was told me, because
the modest supply of liquor seldom sufficed for all.
Next day a visit to the bride's parents is paid by the young married
couple, taking with them some insignificant present, such as a piece of
cloth, a bottle of _Chiu_ (Chinese gin) or something of the kind. --
Only monogamy exists -- even if the marriage is childless. Divorce is
sometimes permitted. They do not marry Chinese or Tangutans.
Weddings are almost the only festive occasions observed by the Sarö
Yögurs. On New Year's Day there may be somewhat more food prepared, the
richest peasants kill a sheep, but there is no visiting. They do not
have any gatherings to celebrate Buddha ceremonies or sacrifices, and
the lamas only read prayers on the 1st and the 15th of every month, as
they say themselves that no one ever attends the services.
The lamas have no knowledge of medicine. In case of serious illness
they are only called upon to pray. Sometimes the lama walks round the
bed burning paper as a kind of invocation.
In childbirth, the women kneel, and are assisted by women only, the
husband not being present. The navel string is severed with a pair of
scissors by an old woman, often the grandmother of the child. The child
is washed in warm water and rubbed with butter, and this is repeated a
week later. The hair is cut or shaved later. Before the birth of the
child, the lama reads prayers over the mother, but he takes no notice
of the newly born. There are no festivities, no christening, whether
the child be boy or girl, -- but the parents are visited by their
nearest friends, who bring small presents of food. After a month's
separation the joint bed is again resumed.
The words which I have noted and phonetically transcribed as heard
among the Sarö Yögurs and Shera Yögurs, are to be found in a table at
the end of this brochure. It is worthy of note, that a number of words,
such as boot, bear, window, baskets, and others, are not to be found in
the Sarö Yögur language, where they substitute the Chinese word -- but
they are to be found among the Shera Yögurs.
The number of births and deaths during the last ten years, in the
nineteen homesteads we visited, and the number of live stock possessed
by each family is shown in the following table:
births, deaths, cattle, horses, sheep, donkeys.
N:o 1 2 -- 4 2 60 1
2 2 -- 4 -- 30 3
3 3 -- -- -- 15 1
4 4 1 5 2 60 1
5 2 -- -- -- 20 1
6 2 -- 4 1 60 1
7 4 -- 27 7 80 --
8 4 -- 17 3 45 --
9 1 1 2 -- 35 1
10 1 1 11 -- 60 2
11 1 1 -- -- -- 1
12 2 -- 5 -- 20 2
13 -- -- 1 -- 10 2
14 1 -- 3 2 42 2
15 2 -- 6 4 100 1
16 1 1 -- -- 6 1
17 -- 1 -- -- -- --
18 1 -- -- -- 15 1
19 4 1 2 -- 50 1
It must be pointed out that these very primitive statistics stand in
manifest opposition to the general information which they gave me,
according to which the tribe on its arrival in those parts had been
far more numerous, their constant struggle against unfavourable
pecuniary and hygienic conditions having decimated them till there
only remained the handful of Sarö Yögur families who inhabit the above
mentioned villages. The number of deaths still outnumber the births.
It is however possible that the statistical account which, especially
in regard to their livestock, is always collected with difficulty,
may have been intentionally falsified, but, on the other hand, vague
statements are often liable to be unintentionally wrong.
On the morning of the 16th I said farewell to my hospitable host and
with my men and two packhorses started in a ENE direction to the
village Yench'i from where I intended to follow the great high road to
Kanchow. From Kanchow I wished to make an excursion and visit the Shera
Yögur Prince, whose home in the Nanshan mountains had been described
to me by my friends, the lamas. My host, the lama _Kuá_ was polite
enough to wish to accompany me all the way to Yench'i. He rode a small
pony which more resembled a rat than a horse. It was no bigger than
the donkey on whose back my friend, the Chinese officer commanding
Shuangt'ingtzu's mounted guard station, balanced himself. However it
walked so quickly that my big horse, which during seventeen months
of travel had every opportunity of developing its stride, could with
difficulty keep pace with it.
A few cows were seen, in the early morning, standing about the
farmsteads. They were thin and small. Our road led us over the same
porous, salty ground and the lama complained of the poor soil and the
coarse grass. It must be confessed that it resembled reeds more than
grass and seemed better fit to be used as knitting needles than as food
for cattle.
It was a beautiful clear morning, not a breath stirring and we
thoroughly enjoyed the splendid day. I asked _Kuá_ to sing us a song,
as we rode along, but he was only capable of rendering the same _oor_
in an indescribably dull and dreary tone. Time after time, he asked for
my matches, dismounted and making up a bundle of dry grass, lighted it
and croached over it for a moment, warming himself, then remounting
and hurriedly catching up with our party. I am sure any of the Yögur
women would have shown more power of endurance than this young man of
twenty-eight -- and at the moment of parting with him, it appeared
clearer than ever to me that this little, lost, Turkish tribe, living
at the foot of the Nanshan mountains, with its stocking-knitting
men, void of all energy and manliness, was on its way to certain
annihilation.
II.
Among the Shera Yögurs.
In Kanchow I was obliged to remain a conple of days for the preparations
necessary for my intended visit to the so-called "Yellow Tanguts"
living to the south of the town. To secure myself a good reception,
I applied to the highest military mandarin of the place for
a letter of introduction to the Tangutan Prince. _Ma-t'idu_,
the mandarin in question was one of that numerous class of Chinese
Mussulmans who had betrayed their co-religionists and during the
bloody Dungan revolt had made common cause with the Chinamen. He was
kind enough not only to give me the letter I required but offered
me a military escort. Not wishing to take so many people with me
into the mountains I begged that the escort might not exceed one
mounted soldier, and laughingly the mandarin agreed, promising
to give the necessary orders that the man should meet me in the
village _Kanchenp'u_ near the town _Li-yen_, about 23-24 km WSW
from _Kanchow_. Having very heartily thanked the mandarin, whose
imposing soldierly figure and jovial face adorned by a fierce pair of
moustaches, looked considerably more Turkish than Chinese, I left his
spacious _yamen_ (office) and early on the following morning, Dec. 24th
1907, made a start, with two packhorses and three followers, the
interpreter, Cossack and cook. Our road led out of the western gate and
westward through a prosperous densely populated low country, crossed by
innumerable irrigation canals. After a rise of 8-9 km the stony bed of
the river Heiho was reached and its seven-branched estuary forded. The
largest of these forks was forty-four strides wide and 0,5 m in depth,
and had a fairly strong current. The river bed here is about 2 km wide
but it broadens to the south, where it spreads out into a perfect sea
of stone and gravel, several miles in width, which at the rainy periods
is completely covered by the water rushing from the mountains
in the south, bringing with it ever more and more boulderstones. In
Kanchenp'u we sought in vain for the promised escort with the letter of
introduction, of the importance of which I had many opportunities of
assuring myself during earlier visits paid to Kalmucks and Tangutans,
Khirgis and other nomadic tribes. There was however nothing to be
done but to await patiently his arrival from the thirty mile distant
Li-yen. As he did not arrive by the following evening. I was forced
to wait another whole day for the purpose of sending a messenger to
the garrison there. My messenger returned with word that a soldier had
been sent, not to Kanchenp'u, but to a small military post in a ravine
halfway between the village and the Tangutan monastery _K'ang-lung-ssu_.
On the morning of the 26th I was at last able to start, after having
with great difficulty, almost by force, secured a guide for the first
part of the day's march. It was a sunny though windy winter morning,
and we soon passed the boundary of cultivated ground, and made our way
towards a grassy slope stretching upwards to the mountains in the
south. Following the dry bed of a river we reached a ravine opening to
the east, along the bottom of which the river _Hrar-gol_ or _Ta-ho_,
now ice-bound, had worn itself a deep channel -- about 200 fathoms wide
-- and along its high precipitous right bank we made our way. Above the
steep strand plateau lie low hills of conglomerate which at a distance
rise to some considerable height. The road leads very soon across the
frozen strip of water to the opposite shore and then back again and
this movement was repeated time after time during the day's march. The
shore became more stony the farther one penetrated into the ravine,
and the ice if possible more slippery. The few trees growing in the
river-bed were being hewn down by Chinamen, who, binding them in pairs,
lay them, with the loose ends dragging, over the backs of donkeys,
and thus draw them out upon the plain. The further one rides, the more
of these little donkey caravans one meets, and now it is one of our
horses which slips and lies full length on the glassy ice, now it is
one of the small donkeys which lies helpless. Fortunately the earth was
bare: if it had been icy, it would have been impossible to get over
such ground, stony and broken as the road was. Now the horses climbed
a clift several fathoms high, now they crept like snakes between huge
blocks of all dimensions. The hills around us were not very high and
there were no grassy slopes, the naked walls of rock showing in many
places a bright-red colour. The ravine soon narrowed and its sides rose
steeply, often precipitously. About four km from the beginning of
the pass, we rode past one of the small guardhouses which the Chinese
government officers are so fond of building in any inaccessible place.
They are spread over the whole width of the Empire and do good police
service. In a little square tower built of granite, a guard consisting
of three men from the Li-yen garrison was posted. A little further on,
where the ravine broadened again, we saw a poverty-stricken little
Chinese homestead, and a small temple. The ravine opened out now and
again, soon to narrow once more, and the road grew worse and worse.
About eleven km from the guardhouse, the hills around us rose to a
considerable height and we crossed a sharply defined crest. Firtrees
showed themselves on the slopes towards the north and west, which were
less steep. About 17-18 km from the guard house we passed a fork of
the ravine, which now broadened somewhat, and, turning sharply to the
south, we rode towards the river _Kiito-gol_ which we approached on
the left. Now the mountains were lower, the shores and slopes covered
with grass, and in the distance was seen one of those decorated white
conical towers so characteristic of Buddhist countries. Another turn of
the road and we were suddenly arrived at our destination, K'anglungssu,
the chief monastery of the _Shera Yögurs_, or _Rtangu rgonba_ as it
is called in their language.
Built on the lower slopes of some small hills, the monastery appeared
to be a mass of buildings out of which rose a large, massive temple
in red and brown and grey and white, with the usual gilded Buddha
roof-decorations. Around the temple walls some dozens of houses,
were grouped the majority of them low and of the most unpretentious
description. Together with another smaller temple, your eye was caught
at once by a temple-like building, which is used by the monastery, and
a couple of rather more capacious houses, one of them belonging to the
_t'umu_ (a sort of hereditary governor) the other being kindly placed
at my disposal.
Timber is chiefly used in building, only the crevices being filled with
clay. Four-cornered beams are used as columns indoors as well as in
the outer walls of the building. The rooms are almost completely dark,
very small, and black with soot. A _k'ang_ heated with coal and dry
manure, which is lifted into the room by removing a board or two in the
ceiling takes up nearly all the space. No Buddha altar or decorations
were visible in the houses of the lamas I visited. Some blankets, a
fur-coat, cups, basins, a jar for coal and a couple of chests, or
cupboard-like boxes, is all that is to be seen in the way of household
goods. By the door outside stands a wide deep bench, like a bed,
without sides, the wall forming the back of it. It is used as a seat in
winter, and in summer as a bed.
The temple, the chief religious shrine of the Shera Yögurs was large,
and wealthy. In its size and architectural style it greatly resembled
the monastery of _Kuré_ belonging to the Zurgan sumun Kalmucks in the
valley of the Tekés river, which I had visited some months previously,
but the details showed signs of Tibetan influence. The front of the
building faced east and opened upon a roomy courtyard. It was decorated
with large, very rudely painted pictures of warriors, like those to be
seen outside the houses and temples of the mandarins. A colonnade of
narrow wooden columns led from the principal entrance to the altar,
where the high and throne-like chair of state belonging to the _gegen_
stood on the left. The four walls of the temple were formed by four
narrow buildings with carved Chinese roofs, of which those at the
entrance and at the altar wall rose somewhat above the two side
buildings. The central square connecting these four buildings, which
lack their inner walls, was raised two stories and crowned by a
four-cornered roof with carved roof-trees, embellished at the highest
point with a gilded cone.
Round three sides of the second story ran small rooms under the same
roof, which are used for storing various things. The fourth side, that
towards the entrance door, was open allowing free passage for light
but also for cold. The interior walls of this gallery were covered
with Buddhist pictures, painted in bright colours and set into the
walls like panels, and diverse banners with Buddhist ornamentation. In
the lower, larger temple-court, the side walls were divided into open
square cupboards and compartments, holding a great number of Buddhist
books. The Tangut lettering was carefully inscribed on long narrow
loose pages, often enclosed in an artistic frame, secured between two
wooden boards bound together by a cord. Along the entrance side of the
courts, on low benches, the lamas scarlet mantles, highcombed head
dresses, staffs and other insignia were lying. The centre of the altar
wall was occupied by Buddha figures with low tables placed before
them, bearing small dishes of water, grain -- a burning lamp and other
ritualistic objects. On both sides of this, the wall was covered from
floor to ceiling by hundreds of small compartments, in which, behind a
hanging, the same image of Buddha was repeated.
The place of honour, that is, the centre of the wall behind the altar,
was occupied by a bronze statue of _Tsunkoa_ (the same in both Yögur
and Tangut), half a metre high, wrapped in a piece of red cloth. Before
him stood _Stonba_, also in bronze, but in miniature. On each side
stand _Shagdur (Shagiur?)_ in two different aspects and further away
two highly-coloured banners representing _Shtshanrygzyc_ on the left
and _Stongsko_ on the right. Lastly, on the far left was still another
fine bronze Buddha, also some Buddhas of painted clay, and on the
right, three bronze Buddhas forming three small separate groups round
the wall. Along the cornice between the lower ceiling and the wall of
the gallery numbers of banners were hanging, their century-old dim
colouring and gilding being most effective.
A narrow corridor-like room behind the altar was filled with the most
extraordinary collection of Buddha idols seated in a row round the four
walls. Opposite the entrance a richly gilded _Stongsko_, of immense
size, was enthroned.
The lamas living in this monastery do not number more than fifteen,
all ages included. The younger men especially were extremely friendly
and obliging, owing probably to _Ma-t'idu's_ sending me an escort.
The _gegen_ of the monastery, their _Shke_ lama (Great Lama) Buddha's
reincarnation, was still a child, growing up in the mountains, a
three day's ride further south, under the care of elderly Yögur lamas.
He had succeeded the last _Shke_ lama, who died eight or nine years
ago, but was only brought to K'anglungssu for the solemnizing of great
ceremonies, occuring every sixth and twelfth Chinese moon. On the
hill-side nearest the monastery some tombs were marked by high poles
and heaps of stones, in memory of some respected lamas. When a Yögur
rides by, he dismounts and mumbles some prayers half aloud, but you
never hear, as among the Zurgan sumun Khalmucks and Tanguts, the lama's
solemn singing, with its deep, long drawn-out notes which spread a veil
of mysticism and religious feeling over the hidden valleys and chasms
of their high impenetrable mountains. Still, if you walk along the
winding paths between the wooden huts of the monastery, the tinkling
of small bells, and a monotonous voice tells you that here too, in the
depths of their dark huts, prayers are being chanted with the same
zeal as among the Tibetan hills. The lamas are supported by voluntary
contributions in payment for their services as prayer-readers. The
generosity evinced is great, and is proved by the fact that in the case
of a death, from one-third to one-half of the property left is given
to the lamas. Only a small percentage of the lamas are able to read
the Tangutan language, they have nothing to do with medicine, and in
cases of serious illness a fortune-teller is called upon -- usually a
lama -- to foretell the future, and also another lama, to pray for the
sick. The fortune-teller uses three dice and a Tangutan book in which
all answers to the various combinations are to be found.
Not even the presence of their _t'umu, Rentshen Nurbo_, who had been
kind enough to come to meet me at K'anglungssu, conquered the terror
which the lamas felt for my anthropological instruments. Many of those
who had been most sociable disappeared, and not even the tempting
knives, looking-glasses, snuff-boxes, etc, which I offered to the
bravest, who dared face the danger of being measured, could persuade
them to cross the threshold of their homes. Seeing that all efforts
were vain and having no further hope of success, I determined to leave
K'anglungssu on the 29th of December for the purpose of paying a return
visit to the t'umu. He offered his services as guide and in the bright
glory of the early morning, as we said farewell to the monastery,
with its red-mantled, closely cropped lamas, the country round about
appeared to me far pleasanter than on my arrival there. Kiito-gol winds
southwards past the monastery between two mountain slopes. That to the
left, is covered with grass, while a thick forest of fir-trees climbs
to the crest of the other. Opposite the monastery from the east a
narrow valley winds its way between grassy hills. Its northerly slope
facing SE carries you by several terrace-like plateaux to the higher
mountain range which we had crossed a few days ago, -- its granite
crest could be seen, forming three long peaks bordered with a fringe of
fir-trees growing along its northern slope. The sunburnt grass had in
the sunshine a warm sandstone colour against which the grey mountain
ridge with its dark border of fir-trees stood out effectively. The
white and greyish-blue ribbon of the icebound Kiito-gol disappeared
among the hills to the north. I said goodbye to a group of lamas,
who, no longer terrified at my craniometer, had assembled to see me
off. The red mantles and togas in which the lamas sometimes drape
themselves wearing their right arm and shoulder bare -- their closely
cropped heads, their wonderfully expressive faces, with bronze and
earth-coloured skin hanging in deep wrinkles and folds, their kindly
insinuating smiles, white teeth and outstretched hands, all made an
ineffaceable impression.
We rode south up the hilly ridge, rising between Kiito-gol and
_Hrar-gol_, at the foot of which lies the monastery, and found a
"_place of prayer_" on its crest, marked by a great clump of poles and
young trees. Down a precipitous slope wre reached the bottom of the
narrow valley of Hrar-gol. To the south forest-covered heights could
be seen dominated by a great snow-topped giant, which the t'umu names
_Hanshozu_. [A horse-path which is only open for part of the year leads
south along the Hrar-gol valley. Hsining is reached after a 12-17 days'
ride.] A narrow side ravine brought us to a slight pass; from which we
turned westward. The upward climb was very steep and the road divided
here, one path leading westward to Khungeitza-Hsuchow which was reached
in four days. Still followed on the right by the same fir-bordered
mountain crest, which we saw in K'anglungssu to the NW, we rode over a
high, undulating plain, covered with snow. In the far distance to the
left was seen a wide snowcovered mountain range, which the natives call
_Longshur_. It is supposed to be a continuation of the above mentioned
Hanshozu. Glittering in its white covering, _Galdjan_ rose in the WNW
high above the rest of the range, and here _Neimen-gol_, one of the
great tributaries of the Hei-ho, has its source. After gathering all
the waters from the rivers pouring down these mountains it flows past
Li-yen. The ride down from the heights was if possible even steeper
than our ride up, but we were soon at the bottom of a fork-like ravine,
in the left branch of which lay the "residence" of the _t'umu_, on the
shore of an insignificant little river called _Kluadjek-gol_.
A somewhat larger wooden house and a couple of huts built of slender
timbers with the roofs prolonged to form a small, half-open outhouse,
is the simple dwelling during the winter months of the hereditary
_t'umu_ of the Shera Yögurs, and one which, I am sure, his very
unpretentious people consider to be the height of modern comfort. The
larger building consisted of two spacious, barn-like rooms, absolutely
unfurnished, with simply a hole in the ceiling, above the kettle placed
on eight bricks in the centre of the floor. In a small partition in
one of the gables of the house, a _k'ang_ was covered with carpets and
rugs, to give the t'umu an opportunity of indulging in his dearest
passion, the opium pipe. On each side of the larger building were two
enclosures fenced in, the one for cattle, the other for sheep. Near by,
stood a couple of typical Shera Yögur dwellings, low grey tents raised
on a low foundation of slender timbers, caulked with manure and provided
each with an enclosure for cattle. With the exception of the monastery
of K'anglungssu and this house of the t'umu's, there are said to be no
other wooden buildings owned by the Yögurs.
The Shera Yögurs inhabit the mountains round the following rivers, all
of which are tributaries of _Hei-ho_ or of its tributaries: _Neiman_
or _Longsor_ (flows past Li-yen), _Tshulung, Zdem, Sheirik,
Hrar, Kiito, Tashtyng, Khsan, and Pazyng gol_ (Hei-ho's upper
course) or _Khara Murin_, as it is called lower down. The t'umu, whose
knowledge of his country seemed rather limited, said that his people
inhabited an area of two or three days' ride westward, as much to the
East, and three to four days' ride southward, from K'anglungssu, and
he considered that there were not more thau about _three hundred tents_
spread over a distance of from five to six versts. They are governed by
some ten t'umus (5 _t'umu's_ and 5 _fu-fumu's_) all subordinate to my
host, who is called _ta t'umu_ (the great t'umu).
The dignity of t'umu which in Yögur is called _nujun_ is hereditary
and carries with it the right of wearing a Chinese mandarin button.
A _t'umu_ acts as judge, adjusts taxes, and manages the tents which
belong to his district. Important questions are referred to the eldest
_t'umu_. None of them have any pay, but they receive small gifts when
a complaint is brought before them. There are no written laws, neither
are any of the people able to read. Tradition and common-sense are the
guiding principles. Crimes do not occur, and when there is any question
of an execution the case is referred to the Chinese authorities.
Since the Dungan revolt, only twenty-three horses are levied yearly --
formerly eighty-two were paid -- and they are sent by the commander of
the garrison in Li-yen to _t'idu_ in Kanchow. Privately, the officer
in question also receives fifty tiao copper coins, about fifty lan, 1
deer and from two to thirty hares in the year. The price of the horses
is paid in money, at twenty-eight lan per horse, and the sum levied on
the different tents depends upon their means. The _t'umu_ complained
of the arbitrariness and extortion of the Chinese officials. He was
very anxious at the moment about some coal-shafts in the _Liwenku_
ravine, for the use of which the Chinese had hitherto paid the Yögurs
a small yearly rental. Now the nearest local mandarin had admonished
the Chinese to pay the rental to him and not to the Yögurs, which after
all, only came to some three or four taels per shaft.