20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

William Rockhill's observations of Inner Mongolian tribal rituals... 487As in his first journey, he stayed at Kumbum lamasery, where he saw manyMongol pilgrims, including some Mongols from Manchuria waiting to goon their yearly caravan to Lhasa. In fact, he encountered the same groupof Mongols led by Mori Wang in the Koko-nor whom he had describedon the first trip. He did not like these Mongols, calling them vacillating,unreliable, and cowards.ROCKHILL always made an effort to correctly distinguish amongvarious Mongol tribes and explain their customs. For example, he reportedmeeting with some Eastern Mongol men each with several wives. Heexplained that such a custom was possible for Mongols living aroundKoko-nor, because of the strong Muslim influence there; however, henoted that such practices were not normal for Mongolians. He encounteredthe Taichinar Mongols, who were reputed to be witches, and the TsaidamMongols, or Eleuts, who lived in the Koko-nor mountains. He claimedthe Eleuts had such Europeanized features that they were even barredfrom Tibet because they were considered Russians. 28 ROCKHILL alsodifferentiated between Khalkha Mongols (whom he described as small,light-complexioned, with fine, regular features), and the Taichinar Mongols(who were tall, coarse, dark skinned, deep voiced, with heavy features,bearded, and with hair on body and limbs). 29When he passed through the Korluk Mongol lands, he met the Tibetanchief of the region, the kanpo, who called the Mongols very ignorant andsuperstitious. 30 Such negative opinions about the Mongols are not evidencedin any of ROCkhILL’s writings, including when he witnessed EasternMongolian “burials” wherein the corpse was put on a frame and draggedaway by a horse. ROCkhILL dispassionately noted that, if the body fell offthe frame, it would be devoured by wolves and vultures. If it did not fall off,the Mongols burnt it to ashes and molded the ashes into a little human figurethat was stored by the family in their home in a small white cotton bag. 31ROCKHILL’s personal erudition and efforts to educate himself about theMongols and their history are reflected by the fact that, interspersed with his owntravel commentary, he included accounts of much earlier European travelersin the region, including Father John Plano Carpini, William of RUBRUCk,and PRJEVALSky. He knew of the activities of his own generationof western missionaries to the Mongols, including James Gilmour.He also made personal engravings of Mongol subjects. He was an excellentand precise artist who used this skill to explicate his text. For example, he28ROCKHILL, Diary, 155.29Ibidem, 18030Ibidem, 138.31Ibidem, 152.