238 Chinese Clay Figures 



in those regions are agreed as to its foreign origin. 1 Old Pallas 2 

 describes it as existing among the Kalmuk on the Volga, and "consisting 

 in Oriental fashion of a net-work of iron or steel rings." According to 

 his investigations, "it arrived there through commerce with the Truch- 

 men and Usbek, likewise through wars with China; the finest is of Persian 

 workmanship, wholly from polished steel, and is valued at fifty horses 

 and even more. Such precious armor as well as fine swords and horses 

 receive individual names among the Kalmuk and Tatar tribes. Armor 

 of brass scales is the most common among the Mongols and in China." 

 In various regions of the Altai, chain mail has been discovered which, 

 according to W. Radloff, 3 does not come down from the so-called 

 Siberian iron period, but was imported at much later times from other 

 countries, perfectly agreeing in its form, as it does, with chain mail 

 wrought in the southern part of Asia. A. v. Middendorff 4 states that 

 shirts of chain mail are still found in the possession of some Tungusians, 

 reminding them of the valiant deeds of their ancestors. But J. Gmelin 5 

 in the eighteenth century had already observed that they had fallen into 

 disuse among them, and were shown as mere curiosities. They are now 

 alive only in their heroic tales; nor did I encounter any, despite repeated 

 inquiry, among the Tungusian tribes with which I came in contact in 

 eastern Siberia. The same is the case with the Irtysh-Ostyak, a 

 tribe of the Ugrian stock of peoples, whose princes, judging from the 

 references in their epic songs, were formerly in possession of chain 

 mail. S. Patkanov, 6 to whom this observation is due, comments that 

 chain mail was previously known to almost all nations of western, and 

 partially of middle and eastern Siberia, and that it presupposes a culture 

 and manual dexterity superior to any that could be expected from most of 

 these. Although the former inhabitants of those regions were rather 

 well versed in the art of forging iron and weapons, he inclines toward the 

 opinion that the shirts of mail formerly found among them originated 

 from countries whose peoples were further advanced in culture, and 

 that they were imported from the Orient through the medium of the 



1 It is widely spread also over northern Africa (Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, Vol. XI, 

 1879, Verhandlungen, p. 34). 



2 Sammlungen historischer Nachrichten uber die mongolischen Volkerschaften, 

 Vol. I, p. 145 (St. Petersburg, 1776). 



3 Aus Sibirien, Vol. II, p. 130 (Leipzig, 1884). 



4 Reise in den aussersten Norden und Osten Sibiriens, Vol. IV, p. 1516 (St. Peters- 

 burg, 1875). 



5 Reise durch Sibirien, Vol. II, p. 644; and C. Hiekisch, Die Tungusen, p. 73 

 (Dorpat, 1882). 



6 Die Irtysch-Ostjaken und ihre Volkspoesie, Vol. II, p. 014 (St. Petersburg, 

 1900). In the Turkish epic poetry these iron armors are likewise mentioned (A. 

 Schiefner, Heldensagen der Minussinschen Tataren, p. xvi, St. Petersburg, 1859). 



