of the tribe. They had once lived in _K'ouwai_ (outside the Great
Wall), probably in the North, but possibly in the W or NW, which land
in Chinese was called _Tangutá_, in their language Seche-Hache -- some
of them calling it _Shilagu_. [_Potanin_ in his book of travels says
that some of the Yögurs pronounced Shilagu as Sheragol.] They had left
it very long ago and removed to their present surroundings. Where
that land lay, whether it was mountainous or level they did not know;
neither did they know if it had been governed by their own Princes, nor
had they preserved the names of their more renowned ancestors, except
that of a certain Khor Geser Rdjalu (Djavu, according to _Potanin_).
[The foot prints of Gesers horse are said to be found on the walls of
a cliff near the Tangut monastery Matissu, 120 li. S of Kanchow. There
is also a hole with a stone in it where his dog was fed.] Documentary
evidence in regard to their origin had existed, and had been left
in the care of Li-yen's military mandarin, but it had probably been
destroyed by fire when his government office was burnt during the
Dungan revolt. According to one document they had removed hither during
the reign of the Emperor _K'ang-hsi_ and become Chinese subjects, but
in another it was said they had come over and lived by robbery. The
general impression was that they had come here during the Emperor
_K'ang-hsi's_ reign, though some of the lamas maintained that it had
been during Shunchih's. The circumstances which speak for the former
view are the following: The monastery of K'anglungssu, according to
their statements, had been founded at the time of their settling here.
Over the entrance to the temple its name is written in Chinese
characters, which same characters occur in the name of the Emperor
K'ang-hsi. The only document I was fortunate enough to secure is
reproduced below. It was engrossed on white silk by the _t'idu_ in
Ganchow, during the thirty-fifth year of the reign of the Emperor
_K'ang-hsi_. It gives official permission to graze on the pasture lands
which the tribes use at present. There is reason to believe that the
permission was given soon after their migration at the request of the
Chinese officials. It is a strange fact that this little mountain tribe
who not only consider themselves, but, without doubt, are, Mongolian,
say that in spite of the difference of language they belong to the same
tribe as the Sarö Yögurs, whom they, at the same time, consider to be
_Tshantu_, that is to say _Sarts_, and whose name they say ought to be
_Kara (black) Yögur_ not _Sarö Yogur_. [Potanin also calls them Kara
Yögur in the statements he makes in his book regarding these people but
I consider it altogether impossible that I should mistake K. for S. It
is however possible that the Sarö Yögur themselves have replaced
Kara with Sara -- that is, the Chinese huang 'yellow' translated
in to their own language.] They believe that in years gone by they
had both lived in Tangutá, which they left simultaneously. [Where
lay this mysterious Tangutá or Seche-Hache, and how have these so
dissimilar tribes become one Yögur race?] -- According to a statement
made by the Chinese mandarin in Li-yen, the country now inhabited by
the Yögurs had been earlier peopled by a tribe called _Hung maotzu_
(the red-haired) or _Huang fan_ (the red barbarians) who were in bad
repute as robbers. [Ruins, which the Yögurs consider as belonging to
the Khumouza people, are to be found west of Longsor's left mountain
range, about ten versts SW from Li-yen, at a place called _Sar Oron_
and about fifteen km to the south of ta t'umu's home. There are only
traces of dwellings left, in both places; in the latter case these
have been numerous.] By the command of the emperors they had been
quite exterminated. To this desolate country, where wild beasts began
to thrive in startling numbers, were sent at the request of the
_t'idu_ in Kanchow, by _Chiangch'un_ (a kind ol Governor General) in
Ili six _tshi Huang-fan_ from the district of _Urumtchi_. The Chinese
Government provided them with cattle. This movement is supposed to have
taken place during Yungch'eng's reign. The Sarö and Shera Yögurs are
the remnant of these six _tshi_ and the Chinese military authorities
consider them even yet a kind of irregular troop, which can be called
upon in case of need.
They had been a numerous tribe and counted up to three thousand
tents. They had driven out another race, whom the Chinese called _Khu
maotzu-si fan_ and the Tanguts _Sjamar_.
Death, and also the amalgamation with the Chinese element, has greatly
diminished the tribe, and it goes on diminishing rapidly. Women are
considerably more numerous than men. Many of them are sterile, and
there are seldom more than three children in a family, never more than
five or six. Marriage with the Chinese does not occur any longer,
neither with the Tanguts, though it did occur earlier. The percentage
of lamas is as great as among the Mongolians. It is said that there are
at least a hundred of them. In a family where there is more than one
son, it is the custom that one of them should be a lama and the weaker
boys are educated to the office.
The Shera Yögurs consist of the following so-called "bones".
_Tokshu_ 5; _Orgé_ 20; _Sultus_ 8-9; _Turgush_ 2; _Kargos_ 10-15;
_Arlat_ 2; _Kong_ 2-3; _Lantshak_ 30-35; _Sockä_ 1; _Khongrott_ 3;
_Temyrt_ or _Temurtshin_ 2; _Jaglakyr_ 4; _Tshungsa_ 6; _Tshangban_
20-25; _Rkomdjuk_ 4; _Glan_ 2; _Kyrgys_ 7-8 families, and _Andjan_,
out of which all the _t'umus_ are chosen. _Tuman_ and _Uirot_ are
bones which are common to both _Sarö_ (Kara) and Shera Yögurs. There
are however only two families of Shera Yögurs in Tuman. The Sarö
Yögurs have, besides, the _Minack_ and _Patan_ "bones", as well as the
_Pegeshi_, from which they take their t'umus. This classification has
no importance except as a system of relationship between the respective
"bones". The people belonging to the same "bone" are not allowed to
intermarry.
The administrative division of the Shera Yögurs is as follows: (The
Chinese names indicate the number of horses which are paid in yearly
tax.)
Chinese Yögur Chinese Yögur
o cha, Päjat tavyn otóck with the temple of Tingyaossu, Smaktsho
v cha, Neiman otóck " " " of Hungwangssu, Neimankit
o cha, Kurke otöck " " " of Khaya kusu, Kurkin kit
o ma cha, Dörven kolma otóck
(Durben golma.)
wuko ma cha, Shkatok otöck
(Harban tabyn golma) " " " of Kanglungssu, Rtangú rgonba
iko ma cha, Janga otóck
(Harban niga golma)
i ma cha, Neiman golma otók
lai cha, Nanso otóck " " " of Pa baor t'a ssu
Edejeninkit or Kufussu
The division of the Sarö (Kara) Yögurs is as follows:
Jaglaky otók with the temple of Changkussu Yög. Pájran.
Khurungut " " " " Longtsha.
This however does not include the temples in Machuangtzu and Tungheitzu.
_Ta t'umu_ is considered the head of the Sarö Yögurs as well as of the
Shera Yögurs, but his authority must be very nominal, when even the
settlement of taxes is not in his hands. --
As to the uses and customs of the Shera Yögurs, this is what I have
gathered:
From three to seven days after a death occurs, the body is carried out
into the mountains some little distance from the tent and left there
to be eaten by birds of prey. The eyes are closed but the limbs in no
way straightened. No importance is attached to the position in which
the body lies. After three days some of the relatives of the dead go to
see if the body has been eaten up by vultures -- which is a sign that
the dead has been a good man. If such is not the case, a lama is called
upon to read more prayers. The bodies of richer people are burnt on a
bier of faggots. No food is placed upon it and the body is naked, with
its head turned to the west. The ashes are kneaded into a _burkhan_
(an image of Buddha), which placed inside a wooden box, is buried. The
lama only reads prayers in the tent directly after the death, and the
earlier custom of entertaining guests on the occasion has gradually
disappeared under the influence of the lamas. -- Only male descendants
inherit. -- The widow remains with her son or sons, who very often do
not divide the property. Daughters only inherit in cases where there
are no sons.
The marriages are arranged by the parents of both parties. A girl
cannot get engaged before she is fifteen years old. Men marry between
the ages of fifteen and thirty -- women between seventeen and
thirty -- and the wives are often eight or ten years older than their
husbands. A widow seldom remarries, unless her husband has left her
destitute, while a widower usually marries again. The only daughter
of a family does not marry. Marriages are not entered into among the
members of the same "bone", as said above, neither can cousins marry,
nor uncles or aunts with their nieces or nephews -- neither is it
allowed between step-parents and their children. The bride is bought,
also in the Shera Yögur tribe, and the agreement is made by two men
sent to her father, who, while praising the high qualities of the
bridegroom, discusses with them the price of the girl and her dowry.
When an agreement is come to, tea, meat and spirits are offered.
Before the engagement the young people had no difficulty in meeting as
often as they wished, but after it they do not see each other till the
wedding day. After some time the two spokesmen appear again bringing
the promised amount of cows, sheep and horses, -- the price being
always paid in live stock -- and with them comes the bridegroom. All
three are entertained in the best possible way and a belt is presented
to the bridegroom by his future father-in-law. A month or so later the
bride's dowry is ready and the wedding takes place. Lamas are invited
to hold services both homes, and accompanied by her mother and all the
guests who have assembled at her home, the bride mounts her horse and
starts upon the journey to her new home. Her hair has been combed and
plaited and decorated with rings, clasps and buttons -- the insignia
of a married woman -- and she is dressed in her finest array
and takes all her dowry with her, which consists of clothes, hair
decorations and cattle, according to the wealth of her parents, and,
in some cases, a suit of clothes for the bridegroom. The wedding
procession is met by all the guests, who have assembled at the
bridegroom's home, both men and women. The bride is taken to a special
tent, where she spends the night in company with one of the women,
all the remaining guests being invited into the usual dwelling where
(by special invitation) the father of the bride also later, makes his
appearance. Here all sorts of food are offered; tea, with salt, milk,
cream and butter, roasted flour, boiled meat, (beef or mutton), paste
cut in narrow strips (eaten in soup) and gin, and the festivities are
kept up all night. There is some singing, but no dancing, and on the
following morning the bridegroom receives the dowry, in the bride's
tent. The young people now proceed to the common tent where they kneel
before the altar, after which the bridegroom alone kneels before his
parents and the elder guests who give him small presents. On the third
day the newly married couple visit the bride's parents when small gifts
are again exchanged.
No proof of virility is required of the bridegroom before entering
upon marriage, the men have usually known women before and it is by no
means rare that the bride also is well initiated in these mysteries and
that she brings one or more children together with her dowry to the
new home. Sometimes the children remain with her parents. Infidelity
sometimes occurs after marriage, but not openly, and the consequence
is generally that the wife gets a good beating with which the pangs of
jealousy are appeased. There is no divorce, but bigamy is usual where
the first marriage proves childless, in which case both wives live in
the same tent. The women are often childless, but do not attempt to
cure sterility by eating herbs, only by having prayers read.
As with the Sarö Yögurs the women kneel in giving birth, and are
assisted by women, one of whom acts as midwife. The navel-string is cut
with a pair of scissors or a bit of pottery. In case of a laborious or
delayed delivery a lama is called to lead prayers, and there seem to be
no methods of hastening delivery.
For seven days the newborn child is daily washed and rubbed with
butter, and for seven days the mother keeps her bed -- and sleeps
separately for twenty days or so. She nurses the child for two years,
and often part of the third year. A quilt is used as wrapper, though
no board is used as among the Kalmucks. Twins are rare and there is no
superstition connected with the birth of two children -- and it is said
that no deformed children are born. There are no festivities on the
occasion of a birth. The child's hair is cut when it is two or three
years old or at the birth of another child, and it is sometimes cut
at once for the Chinese plait, sometimes the whole head is cropped
close. The first teeth show themselves when the child is about eight
months old, and milk-teeth are replaced at eleven years of age. At
twelve years of age, the child is given a name which the lamas have
chosen out of their books.
The Shera Yögurs are of medium height and not badly built. Those I had
the opportunity of examining had, on the contrary, well-formed hands
and feet and narrow wrists and ankles. There is nothing about them of
the coarse and vulgar appearance which distinguishes the Kalmucks.
Stout people are never seen -- many of them are even remarkably thin.
Their faces are neither exceptionally long and narrow nor short and
broad, and though some have well developed cheekbones, wide cheekbones
are rare, and in many individuals they are not at all protruding. The
mouth is normal, with neither thin nor thick lips, the nose straight
and of a good shape. Some however had wide turned-up noses, with very
little bridge to them. The distance between the eyes was, among the
majority, rather wide, though in some individuals normal. The corner of
the eye is slightly overgrown by the eyelid in the case of children,
but this peculiarity almost disappears as they grow older. The eyes are
black or dark, with slight changes in them, but I saw no blue eyes.
Their hair is black or quite dark, sometimes curly, the children often
having brown hair. The men are never bald, but you often see them very
grey, and judging by the women, the growth of hair is not particularly
good. They have very scanty beards, and there is seldom any growth of
hair on the body.
The Sarö Yögurs gave me the impression of being much sharper than the
generality of Mongolians, Kalmucks and Tanguts. It is easier to make
them understand you -- they are livelier, imagine they understand you
before you say more than a few words and interrupt you with an answer
before you have explained what you want. They not only examine any new
object with the greatest interest but very quickly understand its uses.
The _Ta fumu_ had an exceptionally good ear for foreign languages, and
when I asked the names of numbers of things, through my interpreter,
he amused himself repeating the Russian words he had heard me use.
The strange thing was that he had often rightly caught the sound and
preserved it in his memory, in spite of the usual long Chinese phrases,
which the interpreter used in speaking to him. He was greatly delighted
with this and at my astonishment when he pronounced correctly
some rather complicated words. Besides this, he attached the title,
which the Chinese give Europeans, _ta jen_ (your excellency or your
greatness) before the Yögur verbs I wanted to hear, and obtained in
this way very ridiculous phrases, such as "ta jen nurses your child",
etc, which amused him and the other Yögurs immensely. In general they
are very fond of jokes.
The Yögurs can multiply figures mentally, sometimes in more complicated
cases finding help in the beads of their rosary. The practical way
of multiplying with the help of their fingers as practised by the
Mongolians is unknown. Weights, measures and money are Chinese.
The costume worn consists of a sheepskin coat, short in itself, and
made shorter by being bound round by a scarf in such a way as to form
a big bag hanging over the waist, which is used as a pocket. It is
furnished with a low collar usually covered with a bit of red or blue
cloth, which often continues as a border edging the coat. Wealthier
men cover the whole coat with blue cloth. To the home-woven scarf,
which is wound two or three times round the waist, with its ends tucked
in so that they hang down the back, is fastened, by a copper clasp,
a metal case with a knife, chop-sticks, often a tinderbox and some
other small articles. No shirt is worn but sometimes a summer costume,
of which the collar, cut and decorated in the same way as the coat,
shows through the open fur-collar. A pair of half-wide trousers made
of Chinese cotton or skin, over which a pair of so-called Chinese
trousers (two three-cornered shaped trouser legs, fastened by a cord
round the waist) made of the same material as the inner pair and high
Chinese boots, the leggings of which are made of cotton material and
bound round with a band, completes the costume which is common to
both sexes. The head-dresses and style of head-covering distinguishes
the women. The former which is made of a kind of stiff canvas covered
on the outside with white and under the brim with red cotton, is in
the form of a somewhat curved cylinder, with quite a low, narrow
crown and wide straight brim. It is tied loosely under the chin and
is worn coquettishly very much on the side. The hair is plaited into
three plaits, without any _kutas_ (oxen hair) being added. One plait
hangs down the back, and bears a white bone button in the nape of
the neck; the other two are worn hanging over the breast, and are
threaded through numbers of silver and enamel rings and various stone
ornaments of Chinese production. Below these are fastened upon two
wide straps, flat copper rings, and clasps, gaudily ornamented, the
whole being finished off with enamel button-like decorations sewn
upon wide pieces of leather, which nearly reach the ground. The men
wear a Mongolian felt or fur cap of Chinese or Mongolian type. All
domestic appliances and implements are Chinese with the exception of
the loom, which was the same as that used by the Sarö Yögurs, Kalmucks
and Khirgis. There is no home-industry except weaving and the making
of coarse blankets of an inferior quality. I also saw in the monastery
some good, if simple, joiner's work for which Chinese axes, planes
and other implements had been used. The knitting of stockings and
basketwork are unknown here. Weapons, knives and other metal articles
are bought from Sinin.
The people were dirty, but it is questionable if one would not also
become so if one was forced as they are to spend the cold and stormy
winter in their uncomfortable tents. The household goods were however
washed far more carefully than the Kalmucks wash theirs and you even
saw some of the people washing themselves, which I have never seen
among the latter, not even in summer. I never saw a Yögur spit, smoking
is rare, but snuff was often used. Only some dozen of them were
addicted to the opium passion.
The food they ate was much the same as that eaten by other nomadic
people. Tea with salt, butter, milk and cream, when it can be had, and
roasted flour are the chief articles of nourishment. On great occasions
a cow or sheep is killed and soup made. The meat is then taken out and
cut up in thin slices together with strips of paste and put back into
the soup. Meat was served on small four-cornered wooden platters,
the soup in wooden cups. Chinese chop-sticks were used; if they were
not handy, a couple of chips were broken from a faggot. In general the
people did eat tidily though the dishes were very carefully licked
after a meal. The Mongolian milk brandy is not made, but _chün_, the
Chinese preparation, is highly prized by both men and women. The chief
meal of the day was eaten in the evening, after the day's work of
caring for the cattle was over. After tea had been drunk, and the cups
all well licked, all the family remained seated round the fire, in the
centre of the tent, mumbling prayers in low voices for some half-hour.
It was an indescribably strange sight, to see them sitting in the
half-dark tents, the women in their coquettish, rakish hats, the men in
fur caps and enormous fur coats, the lama's cropped heads and shaven
faces, all very solemn, yet madly gabbling, as it seemed, the same word
over and over again.
One day the _t'umu_ had a sheep killed and arranged a feast in my
honour, with Chinese brandy and singing. These songs were sung
alternately by two women and two young men. The women sang best, and
while singing they clung closely to each other, staring into each
other's eyes, as if trying to guess what the next note would be. They
sang beautiful melodies, usually finishing upon a long drawn-out sad
note. Ever now and again the singers offered to one of the guests
a small cup of hot brandy with a polite and pretty bow and with the
gesture so characteristic of Mongolian and other nomadic tribes, -- the
hands being outstretched with palms turned upward. There seem to be no
real Yögur songs, but Mongolian songs, learned in their youth, are sung
on these occasions. I was on the whole surprised to see how gracefully
they moved about in their awkward furs and boots. The soup was served
by three young men, relatives of the _t'umu_, and it was a pleasure
to see how politely and gracefully they handed cups and dishes, and
received them from the assembled guests.
The winter sun is late in penetrating the mountain valleys, which is
perhaps the reason the Yögurs also are late in the mornings. As soon
as they rise, tea is made in a big kettle, and is taken with roasted
flour, and then the day's work begins. The cows are milked, snow is
melted in a big kettle, cups and kettles are scrubbed with ashes,
flour is ground, wood is chopped and the women busy themselves among
the sheep. You see them, humming a scrap of song, making their way
carefully through the tightly packed flock of sheep, carrying one or
two lambs under their arms, kissing and caressing the bleating animals.
The cattle are driven to the mountain slopes by the men, but all the
small household duties go on unceasingly till the evening, when the
sheep come home again and require attention. It is only when all
the day's work is done, that dinner is first thought of. The Yögurs
are quick at their work, talkative and amusing. You never hear
quarrelling nor do you see dissatisfied faces. Their movements are
not quick but this must be ascribed to their clumsy boots and heavy
fur-coats, for you often see a man or woman running quickly and lightly
down a steep mountain side. After dinner or rather supper, prayers
are said, as I described, for quite half an hour, when the cups are
scrubbed with ashes again, and talk and laughter goes on round the fire
till late at night. They sleep, quite naked, each on his own blanket
spread on the floor of the tent. Their furs are used as coverlets,
though sometimes coverlets are made of wool covered with some of
their homewoven cloth.
The tents they inhabit are considerably less comfortable than the
Mongolian and Khirgis "yurts". They measure three to four strides in
width but are so low that you cannot stand upright in them. Made of a
coarse home-woven canvas-like material, of a greyish white colour with
dark brown stripes, it is raised with the help of six poles, of which
the two in the middle are joined by a crossbar. It is furnished on the
outside with ropes, which fasten it to a low fence. During winter the
tents are furnished with a low foundation of slender timbers, lying
lengthwise and caulked with manure. This is not moved in their summer
migrations. Along the top of the tent there is a long rectangular
opening to allow the smoke to escape. In the centre of the tent stands
the kettle on its bits of clay, opposite the door a couple of Buddhas,
and some brass vessels on a low table and along the walls, the small
collection of household utensils, blankets, saddles etc.