ann
(Ann)
#1
subject“tribute sable tribes,”an administrative abbreviation for a diverse
group of indigenous peoples, including the Solon-Ewenki, Hejen, Fiyaka,
Kiler-Ewenki, Orochen, and Dagur, under nominal dynastic authority.^68
One common and distinctive characteristic among them was, of course,
the possession of a particular range of hunter-gatherer skills. Hong Taiji
exulted over this range near the conclusion of his dynasty’s initial subju-
gation of basin peoples in 1642 :“along the seacoast from northeast to
northwest, to the Reindeer Herder (Shilu) and Dog Keeper (Shiquan)
tribes,...the lands that produce black fox and black sable, which do
not plow and sow but customarily hunt andfish for their livelihoods...
everywhere has been subjected.”^69 This preliminary subjection was main-
tained through sable tribute.
qing pelt tribute
As noted inChapter 1 , taxation was tangible evidence of the efficacy of
shengjiaoin the hierarchical construction of Hanspace. This arablist view
was substantially altered within the northeastern venery context, for
which tribute, not taxation, was the primary political tie. It was more a
matter ofalbanthangong.Alban, especiallyseke alban(“sable tribute”),
unlikegong, did not construct peripheral vassals but core soldiers.
The early Manchu state’s incorporation of the basin was thus padded
with sable. Pelts were presented in at least forty-nine of sixty ( 82 percent)
tribute missions between 1626 and 1643 , sometimes in quantities as large
as that of a 1634 Solon-Ewenki presentation of 1 , 818 sable pelts.^70 This
practice continued as the Qing extended its authority northward. Official
entries for thirty-eight indigenous tribute missions from the SAH basin
from 1644 to 1673 indicate that all presented sable pelts, which were the
sole tribute items in twenty-eight ( 74 percent) of these cases.^71
Qing pelt tribute usually required that anaimanmission travel to an
administrative center, Ningguta, and later Ilan Hala, in Jilin or Qiqihar in
Heilongjiang. Tribute could be assessed from one tofifteen pelts per adult
male annually, depending on an adult male’s status as nominal hunter,
banner soldier, elite forager, reservist, etc. In Kangxi-era Jilin a mix of
banner company and hunter households turned over 2 , 649 sable pelts, as
recorded in a 1678 tribute list that also acted as a crude census. A similar
list from Heilongjiang records 3 , 187 Solon-Ewenki and Dagur adult
males presented one pelt per man in 1791. Tribute sable was generally
sorted into three grades with differing quotas. Officers receiving these
pelts on behalf of the emperor reciprocated mainly with textiles from
The Nature of Imperial Foraging in the SAH Basin 81
