Calmuc Tartary, or, a Journey from Sarepta to several Calmuc Hordes of the Astracan Government; from May 26 to August 21, 1823

Introduction

.

Chapter I

Page Of the Moguls, and their first Acquaintance with Christianity ... . . . . 1

Chapter II

Of the Efforts of the United Brethren, at Sarepta, for the Conversion of the Calmucs ... . 14 JOURNEY FROM SAREPTA.

CHAPTER I.

Object and plan of the Journey .... 25

CHAPTER II.

Journey from Sarepta to Tschornoija ... 29

Chapter I. Of The Moguls, And Their First Acquaint- Ance With Christianity

The inhabitants of the vast plains, or steppes, which extend northward from the Black Sea and Mount Caucasus, on both sides of the Volga, are known, under the name of Calmucs, as western neighbours of the Kirguses, and eastern of the Don Cossacks. They belong to the great stock of the Moguls, who inhabit the highlands of mid dle Asia, between the 40th and 50th degrees of latitude, and between the Chinese and Russian dominions. The whole population of this great territory may be referred to four principal tribes : the Tunguses, the Tartars, the Thibetians, and B the Moguls. Of these last, the Calmucs form the portion which approaches the most nearly to Europe; and hordes of hese, and similar tribes, appeared with the Russian armies, in the revo lutionary campaigns of 1813 and 1814. The Moguls have more than once entered Europe as warriors.

First the Huns, who in the 4th century swarmed from the borders of China, driving before them the Goths and other Teutonic nations, to the milder regions of Western Europe, and causing that great migration which, in the 5th century, changed the whole face of Europe. Hardly had the Goths founded new states in the Western Roman Empire, when the Huns, under Attila, followed in destructive bands, till they reached, at Chalons in France, their destined position. In the year 453 Attila died, and the vast kingdom of the Huns, which had stretched from China to France, was quickly dissolved. . In the ensuing ages the Tartarian race had the ascendancy. The Turks of Caucasus, who esta blished themselves firmly in Western Asia, be longed to this tribe. Their conquest of Palestine, occasioned, in the year 1096, a crusade for the recovery of the Holy Land ; and the discovery of a Tartarian kingdom in Middle Asia, in which Christianity was not unknown, was tbe consequence of this event.

The Nestorians, or Chaldeans, a sect of Eastern Christians, who in the year 435 established themselves under a Patriarch at Se leucia, (in the Persian empire) had extended, by means of missionaries, ever since the year 500, to the Black Sea, and even to China; more espe cially in a Tartarian kingdom of Inner Asia, whose capital, at the time of the first crusade, is said to have been Karakorum on the Chinese boundary. This Tartarian sovereignty in inner Asia fell about the year 1200. The Moguls now rose again, under the Prince of the Golden Horde, Temudschin or Gengis-Khan. He made, till the year 1227, extensive conquests in Asia, which his sons pur sued into Russia and Poland. An end was put to their incursions into Europe, on the 9th of April, 1241, by the battle of Liegnitz. A monas tery was afterwards built on the spot; but in Asia, their dominion remained undisturbed, un der the grandsons of Gengis-Khan Kajuk, who reigned from 1245 to 1248, and Manku 1251-59- At the death of the latter, the kingdom of the B Great Mogul was divided between his two brothers.

Hulaku governed Persia, and Koblai ruled from 1259 to 1294, as Lord of the Kaptschek, or Mo gul Empire, extending from Tonkin and Cochin- China, on the eastern coast, over China and Mon golia to Siberia, and from thence to Persia. Dif ferent Mogul tribes, with their respective princes, were attached as vassals to the Great Mogul; Sarta, on the Volga, (for instance) and others. The capital was Pekin, in China. This empire flourished through the whole of the thirteenth, and part of the fourteenth century. This was the golden age of the Moguls, in every respect ; for, under Koblai-Khan, the nation imbibed, from its dependants and neighbours, its first tinge of civi lization by literature and religion. This was de rived especially from Thibet. In that lofty tract of Asia, situated between Mongolia and the East Indies, there was an or ganized Mogul kingdom, 300 years before Christ.

After nearly 700 years, it imbibed from India the religion of Buddh, which was there oppressed by the Bramins, but from this time began to spread over a great part of Asia, and became the religion of all the Mogul race. It was brought (together with the Thibet alphabet) to the Moguls of Gen gis-Khan's tribe, soon after his time, by Pandida Lama. These uncivilized heathens became acquainted, about the same period, with two other religions — the Mahometan in Persia, and the Christian ; the latter from two quarters, and of two different kinds — Nestorian, from the conquered Tartars and other Asiatics, and Roman Catholic, from European missionaries. These attempts at the diffusion of Christianity amongst the Moguls, in the fifteenth century, deserve a more detailed account. The first intelligence of the Tartarian Princes' at Karakorum, was brought to Alexander the Third, by one " Master Philip," a Roman physi cian, who professed to have travelled in Tartary, and added many marvels of the might and do minion of Priest John, the head of the church at that place.

At a time when the attention of Europe was directed to distant lands, and the spread of the Gospel, no more was required to stimulate the zeal of Alexander, ever inclined, by whatever means, to extend the dominion of St. Peter _ chair. He dispatched, in the year 1177, an epistle to Priest John in the East, in which he set forth the supremacy of the Catholic Church' and Apostolic chair. What effect the letter pro duced is unknown, but the Oriental nations con tinued for some time an object of attention. In 1245, when the Oklai Moguls threatened Europe with another deluge of Huns, Pope Inno cent made an attempt to organize volunteers from these wild hordes, as the Teutonic and Norman tribes throughout Christendom had been formerly enrolled. For this purpose, he issued two briefs resembling that of his predecessor, the one to the great Khan Kajuk himself, and the other to his generals in Persia.

Messengers were selected from the newly established orders of Mendicant Monks ; four Dominicans went into Persia, and three Franciscans to Mongolia. The latter arriv ed at the camp, in 1246, immediately after the accession of Kajuk ; they delivered the brief, and obtained a reply, in which the submission of the Pope, and the other Christian Princes, was requir ed, and in case of refusal, they were threatened with new swarms of invaders. The account of this journey, by John di Piano Carpini, is still to be met with. The chivalrous and pious Louis the Eleventh, or St. Louis, of France, in 1254, sent another embassy to Manku-Kkan, and to his vassals Sartak and Katu-Khan, reigning in Russia over the Don and the Volga. The ambassadors were, again, three Franciscans, under the direction of William Rubruguis, whose account of his journey is also extant, and may be found (like the preceding) in the " Recueil des Voyages en Asie depuis le douzieme jusqu'au quinzieme siecle.'" At the head-quarters of the Khan, Rubruguis saw Nestorian Priests, Mahometan Imams, Budhian Lamas, all giving their blessing by turns, and all in the undisturbed enjoyment of their respective religions.

The Princes were not disposed to become Christians themselves, but Manku permitted his Nestorian subjects to remain so, and similar toleration was shown by Koblai, throughout his long reign. Towards the beginning of it, two Venetian brothers, laymen, of the name of Polo, settled in his territory for the benefit of trade, and remained nineteen years. At their de parture, they received from Koblai a commission to the Pope, to send out one hundred wise men, and learned in the doctrines of Christianity, who might convince his Lamas of the superiority of the Christian religion. Pope Gregory the Tenth (in the year 1272) sent back these two men with two Dominicans. Marco Polo, a youth of eighteen, accompanied them, and from his ac count it may be seen, that he was well received by Koblai, remained with him seventeen years, and was employed in state affairs, but without effecting Koblai's conversion.

His tolerant dis position, however, and that of his son Timur, (who reigned from 1294 to 1307,) were experien ced by other missionaries of the Franciscan order, in new missions and attempts at conversion. One of these was John di Monte Corvino, who, after ten years' labour amongst the Moguls, returned to Europe, and was sent out again by Nicholas the Fourth, together with a German brother of his order, named Arnold. In two letters to Cle ment the Fifth, dated from Pekin, in the years 1 305 and 1306, he writes of 6000 inhabitants of the city, and 150 lads redeemed by himself from slavery, whom he has instructed and baptized, and who meet for worship in two churches. He had also translated the New Testament, and the Psalms, and had them fairly transcribed. He could have done yet more, if it had not been for the secret machinations of Nestorian Chris tians, &c. As a reward for his zeal, the Pope appointed him, in his reply, archbishop of that province.

He died in the year 1330. Docu ments of this nature cease from that time, and, in all probability, the prosecution of missionary labours from Europe ceased very soon after. Since the termination of the Crusade, the nations and princes of Europe had nearly lost sight of these distant lands, and the Papal Court at Avignon (from 1309 to 1378,) was too much en grossed with gain and luxury, and the rest of the cares of this world, to attend to the spread of the Gospel. When there was no longer any effort on the part of Europe, the Budhian religion, from Thibet, gained the ascendancy amongst the Mo guls in their native seat, and the Mahometan amongst the Persian Moguls, and Nestorian Christianity gradually disappeared from Upper Asia. The popular superstition still shows many signs of a Christianity which had been merged in the religion of Buddh ; but the still received tra dition of the incarnation of Buddh, (or the divine essence,) in the person of the Lama of Thibet, and the worship of him in lieu of the Deity, prove how much Indian superstition preponderates over Christianity amongst the Moguls.

Pure religious truth was less their object than plunder ; and the attention bestowed upon Christian preaching, was, perhaps, only the dictate of superstition, attempting to conciliate tbe Gods of conquered nations, or of those to be conquered hereafter. At the close of the fourteenth century, the Moguls appeared once more as invaders. The kingdom of Kaptsahak, (or the Golden Horde,) had been weakened by partition in the year 1340, and the conquered nations revolted, the Chinese especially, who, after driving out the Moguls, in the year 1368, enjoyed their own rulers. Two years after this time, the Mogul Timur-Khan, or Tamerlane, began his conquests, which reached from the high plains of Inner Asia, quite into India. In 1404, he died, and his kingdom lasted only in India. During his life, the Christians in Upper Asia enjoyed less freedom ; he was him self a Mahometan, zealous for his religion, and intolerant towards the Nestorians.

China, after she recovered her freedom, discarded the religion of Buddh, (or Fo, as it is there called,) and re turned to her former Polytheism, and to the lessons of Confucius, (who flourished 400 years before Christ.) The hostilitity to Christianity, in the meanwhile, did not abate, and here also it disappeared, as amongst the Moguls. In later times, (after the beginning of the sixteenth century, that is to say,) these tribes were gradually subjected to the two great neigh bouring empires, the Chinese and the Russian. The latter, which had been a powerful kingdom since the year 843, and embraced the Greek form of Christianity under the Czar Basilius, in 1016, had been compelled to submit to the Mogul con querors, and was first delivered from them by Iwan Basilowitz, in 1462. Basilowitz the Se cond, who reigned from 1549 to 1584, possessed himself of Kasan, Astracan, and vast tracts of land in Siberia, and thus became lord of many Mogul tribes, including the Calmucs who range over the Astracan steppes.

The situation of Russia, under Peter the Great, which concerned the Greek Church, inasmuch as the Czar, in 1721, transferred the ecclesiastical authority from the Patriarch at Moscow, to the Synod at Petersburgh, had a bearing also upon the condition of these and other heathenish tribes ; for the holy Synod decreed, in the year 1724, " that provision should be made for the conversion of the same, and for their reception into the Greek orthodox national church." It failed however, at that time, of being carried into effect. In all Europe, there were then only a few in dividuals, or small societies, whose attention was directed to the preaching of the Gospel to the heathen. The spirit of the age was disinclined, or even hostile to Christianity; it was partly a worldly spirit, absorbed in the cares of commerce and political intrigue, and partly a spirit of scep ticism and false philosophy.

It was not till the general confusion of the kingdoms of Europe after the year 1789, (a confusion in great mea sure to be ascribed to that destructive spirit,) that the progress of the better spirit of Christi anity became more and more manifest ; and so cieties for the diffusion of Christianity, and the dissemination of the Scriptures, arose here and there, at the commencement of the new century ; particularly after the general peace of Europe, in 1814. Even in Russia, the newly awakened zeal for the Christian cause displayed its power — witness the Russian Bible Society, which held its first meeting on the 20th of September 1814, and in the ensuing years showed its activity, by translations of the Holy Scriptures into many of the languages of that vast Empire. All Europe received, in 1817, the declaration of the Emperor Alexander : " I consider the progress of Bible Societies in Russia and the whole world, and their success amongst Christians, Heathens and Maho metans, as a signal instance of the grace of God."

And, " that the saving light of Revelation might extend to all the nations of the empire,'' the Emperor then became a member of the Society, and issued an ukase, in which the diffusion of the Scriptures amongst the people, was enforced upon the clergy as an imperative duty. To the general activity of this spirit, throughout the Russian dominions, may be ascribed the efforts of the United Brethren at Sarepta,* (in their humble sphere) and of these we must now give some account. * Moravians.

Chapter II. Of The Efforts Of The United Brethren, At Sarepta, For

THE CONVERSION OF THE CALMUCS. After the peace of Hubertsburg, in 1763, when Catherine the Second was desirous of peopling the uninhabited tracts of the Volga with German colonists, an invitation was sent to the Directors of the United Brethren ; and two delegates, Loretz and Lairitz, having negociated preliminaries at Petersburgh, in the year 1764, an establishment was the following year begun, by five German Brethren, at the confluence of the Sarpa and Volga, and (with a reference to the First Book of Kings, chapter seventeenth,) they named it Sarepta.* The situation of this place, on the confines of * Alluding to the Widow's cruse and handful of meal in the city of Zarephath. Translator. Asia, on the great commercial road from Moscow through Astracan to the interior of that quarter of the globe, was a memento for the revival of former missionary schemes (regarding the Cal mucs and other still more Easterly nations,) which soon after the first re-appearance of the missionary spirit, in the year 1731, had been formed at Herrnhut, without ever having been carried into effect.

Half a century, however, rolled over Sa repta, before the execution of this project. In the year 1771 a large division of Cossacks, the Great Horde, as they were called, migrated from these parts to the borders of China, and only five smaller tribes continued to range between the Don and the Volga. Sarepta itself was at that time in great danger from other neighbours. First from marauding Kirguses, and afterwards from the re bellion of the Cossacks under Pugatschef, in 1774. By the latter the settlement was plunder ed, on the 9th of September, and would have been wholly destroyed, but for the appearance of Russian troops, who chased these wild bands and quelled the revolt. With the assistance of the Russian Government, and of the other United Brethren, the inhabitants, at that time 200 in number, repaired the damage they had sustained — trade and commerce flourished again, grazing and husbandry prospered.

Many Calmucs visited Sarepta, and many of the brethren became acquainted with their language, and sought op portunity to bring them to the knowledge of the Scriptures ; their endeavours, however, and individual attempts, (by the instruction of their children, for example,) had no effect. The present century, under the reign of the Emperor Alex ander, brought many misfortunes upon Sarepta ; commercial losses, fires, a bad state of trade, and consequent diminution of external comforts ; especially during the French war, and its results. It was at this very time, that fresh missionary zeal was alive at Sarepta. Others had preceded in the good work. In 1802, the Scotch Mission ary Society (instituted in the year 1797,) had already founded an establishment amongst the Tartarian tribes at Karass, and, in 1806, they obtained an Imperial decree, enabling them to receive into the Christian Church by baptism, such heathens as were members of their colony.

A friendly correspondence had existed for some time between Karass and Sarepta, when application was made by respected members of the Bri tish Missionary Society to Sarepta, and to the di rectors of the United Brethren, for a mission to the Calmucs. A few of the Brethren at Sarepta, who were disengaged and willing to labour in this field, were to have opportunity of learning the Calmuc tongue first at Sarepta, then from one of the hordes, and by this means to search out whether any thing could be done for the main object — and how — whether verbally, or by means of the Holy Scriptures. Here, again, a helping hand from without was offered to them by the Russian Bible Society, who were then translating some parts of the New Testament, by their secretary, Isaac Jacob Schmidt at Peters burgh — a man well skilled in the languages and history of the Moguls.

These translations were put to the press in 1815 ; and, in the same year, the plan above-mentioned proceeded so far, that in May, two of the brethren, Schill and Hiibner, accompanied by their instructor in the language of the Calmucs, (brother Loos,) set off to the Coschudan horde, which is situated on both shores ofthe Volga, 140 miles from Sarepta, and thirty five from Astracan. Prince Thummen received c them as guests, in consequence of a recommendation from Petersburgh, and he procured for them, after the return of Loos, a teacher of the language of the name of Schalz, who had been formerly a chief of his tribe. At the end of the year, however, signs of distrust began already to show themselves amongst the chiefs and priests, when two copies of the Gospel of Matthew were sent to the former, through Prince Galitzin, the minister.

A hundred copies from the Russian Bi ble Society followed soon after, to be distributed by the hands of the Brethren. At first, a great many of these were received, as Thummen at all events did not hinder the business ; but after his death, which happened on the llthjof July, 1816, and the arrival of his son and successor, Schwedschab, from Petersburgh, (September 5th,) great diffi culties presented themselves ; particularly on the following occasion. Towards the end of the year 1817, Nomtu and Badma, two nobles of the Buriat Mogul race, had been called from Lake Baikal to Petersburgh, to assist in translating the Bible into their own dialect and character, which differ somewhat from those of the Calmucs. In the course of their labours, these men became convinced of the truth of the Christian religion, and declared their opinion to their countrymen by writing.

A copy of this letter came from Pe tersburgh to the Coschudan horde. Prince, and Lama, priests, and people, were astounded, but they gainsayed — one man only, belonging to the Torgusian tribe, who with his wife and family was residing amongst the Coschudans— (Sodnom by name) — one who had been before an attentive hearer of the word, was so powerfully affected by the letter to the Buriats, as to experience a lively conviction of the difference between Christianity and his own hereditary religion. The Brethren led him forward in the knowledge of the Scriptures, and began to hope, that from this first grain of corn, a rich harvest would spring. He himself expressed his blessed conviction, in letters to the Buriats at Petersburgh and to the Brethren at Sarepta, and also verbally to his countrymen; but he found their hearts shut.

The Prince him self, as little as he honoured the Priests, (for he had reduced their number from 800 to 250,) would not willingly either hear or speak of Christianity. In the year 1818, Hiibner was relieved by c Loos: Loos and Schill visited Sarepta in the Easter of 1819, and returned with a third fellow worker, and in December of the same year, they were visited by the narrator of this tour. He became acquainted with the chief and others, particularly with Sodnom, and carried home with him to Sarepta a heartfelt love for the good work, and for its first fruits. The progress in 1820 was encouraging; Sodnom. increase in grace, and the knowledge of Christ, was strengthened by a continued correspondence with the Buriats, (especially with Bedma) which was kept up till his death.* On a visit which he made to his native (the Torgusian) horde, accompanied by Schill, not only his brother Schimba was brought to be like minded with himself, but also the family of Lurum, and of his brother Oesk.

All these settled amongst the Coschudes; _nd a community of the Lord appeared to be growing amongst the wild inha bitants of the plains on the Volga, to the joy of * He died on the 29th of October, 1822, having been baptized in the name of John, a few days before at Peters burgh, by one of the clergy of the national church. He died in the 24th year of his age. the Missionaries, and of all far and near who par ticipated in the work. Not long did it last. In the year 1821, it became more and more manifest that the opposers of the cause of Christ had succeeded in rendering the chiefs of the horde hostile to it; and in the autumn the con verted Calmucs, and the three Brethren, received an order to quit the horde. They departed with out molestation, Sodnom and Schimba, Lurum and his brother, with their families and herds, under the guidance of Schill, and arrived, twenty-two in number, on the shore of the Volga opposite Sa repta.

The two other brethren followed soon after. This was in October, and the winter was coming on. The island in the Volga, which be longed to Sarepta, was at first assigned to them, where they pitched their tents, and in the midst of which a log house was built for their teachers. In the Easter of the following spring, 1822, their habitation was appointed to them, on the west shore of the Volga, near a mineral spring, a little more than three miles from Sarepta. Here they dwelt this year, and a part of the next, uncertain as to their future fate and external condition, but growing in the inner life, and full of longing to be received into the union of the church of Christ, by baptism. The first effect produced in 1820, had already excited in the minds of the Society at Sarepta, and of their Directors, a desire to obtain from the Government some specific agreement ; and the first steps had been already taken towards this object at Petersburgh.

A new occasion was now presented for renewing the negociation, by the expulsion of tbe believers from their horde, and their subsequent establishment upon land be longing to the colony at Sarepta. It clearly ap peared however at this time, (1822) that the Established Church reserved to itself, exclusively, the right of converting Heathens, and allowing them to make an open profession of Christianity, by being baptized, and that the only Christian labour which could be carried on by those of different persuasions, consistently with the law of the land, was confined to the project of dis tributing the Scriptures, with the co-operation of the Russian Bible Society. No more was to be thought of a mission from the Brethren to the Calmucs, and of forming a Society from these Heathens. The question — what was to become of the exiles who had settled on the territory belonging to Sarepta, (rendered doubly perplexing by these circumstances) was decided in 1823, by the event.

On the 12th of October in that year, fifteen Calmucs from the Derbodian tribe, headed by a priest, made a plundering incursion upon their believing countrymen. Lurum escaped with difficulty from their hands. Nothing remained for the oppressed, but to put themselves under Russian protection, at Zaritzyn. Sodnom and his brother were baptized there, into the orthodox Greek Church, (in November) upon application to the Patriarch. So ended the attempts of the Brethren of Sarepta for the conversion of the Calmucs ! And this too at a time, when the colony itself had lost two-thirds of its dwellings, by a fire on the 9th of August preceding. Before this misfortune, and during the resi dence of the believing Calmucs in their neighbourhood, assistance had kindly been offered to them, for the furtherance of the work amongst the five hordes of wandering Moguls.

The Petersburgh Bible Society, at that time zealously active, had sent to the Brethren at Sarepta, in the year 1822, a considerable number of copies of the Calmuc Gospel of Matthew, and other small Christian tracts, with a commission to get them distributed by Brethren sent out for the purpose. This was the origin of the journey, on behalf of the Peters burgh Bible Society, of which the account is now presented to the reader. Detached portions, con tained in the letters of brother Zwick, have al ready been published in the memoirs of the Uni ted Brethren (for 1823, Chapter 6, and for 1824, Chapter 1.) It is here given as a whole, and its connexion with the preceding labours of the Bre thren amongst the Calmucs, appears from this sketch. JOURNEY FROM SAREPTA, &c.

CHAPTER I. OBJECT AND PLAN OF THE JOURNEY.

AN application had been made to the Russian Government, in the year 1820, for renewed letters of protection, in behalf of the Brethren who were then with the Coschudan horde ; in consequence of which, six sealed letters of protection and recommendation, addressed to so many different heads of hordes, were sent, through his Highness Prince Galitzin, from the minister of Asiatic and foreign affairs, Count Nesselrode, to the society at Sarepta, in 1822. Permission was at the same time granted to the Brethren, to diffuse amongst these tribes such portions of Scripture as had been translated into the Calmuc language, but with an annexed injunction from Prince Galitzin, that they should confine themselves to the distribution of the Scriptures, and refrain from all comment ! A commission was given in consequence, by the conference of elders at Sarepta (sanctioned by the united conference of elders,) in May 1823, to brother Schill and myself, to undertake a journey with the books of Scripture which had been translated into the Calmuc language, to those hordes to whom we had letters.

We were to acquire, as far as was practicable, a complete knowledge of the Calmucs in general, (for we had hitherto been acquainted only with the Coschudan horde, which is one of the smallest,) to observe how far there might be any present disposition to inquire into Christianity ; and, whether there was any spot where the Calmuc families who had been residing so long on our land at Sarepta, could be settled, and where a missionary station might afterwards be established, if the Govern ment should permit. We received the commission with joy, in the hope, that the Lord might be pleased, through our humble efforts, to work out salvation for poor souls now sitting in the dark and deceitful error of Buddhaism, without the knowledge of the true God, and of Christ whom He has sent for the salvation of men.

It was desirable that the journey should take place as soon as possible, both on account of the scarcity of water on these desert plains, late in the season, and of the removal of the hordes farther to the south, where they take up their winter quarters. All preparations were therefore made immediately, and in ten days we were ready to start. We procured a small Russian vehicle, called a kibitka, which served as a travelling carriage for brother Schill, and conveyed our baggage and utensils, together with a part of our store of provisions, which consisted chiefly of bis cuit and rice. To transport our copies of Scrip ture, which were packed in chests, we bought a couple of two-wheeled Tartarian carts, (called arba,) with the requisite horses and tackle, and hired two Tartars as drivers. They both under stood Russian, and Andra, the elder of the two, was acquainted with the Calmuc tongue also.