ann
(Ann)
#1
basin, pelts, mainly sable, represented about 7 to 10 percent of Romanov
total revenues.^79
The Russian pelt tribute system, however, was weakened, like the
Ming’s, by extortion predicated on an exchange of pelts for indigenous
hostages.Amanatwas another Golden Horde inheritance, although indi-
genous steppe peoples saw this Cossack hostage taking as integral to
nonaggression agreements between equals rather than as assurance
of political submission as the Russians would have it. Poiarkov duly
kidnapped Dagur and Hejen he came across while collecting“the Sover-
eign’syasak,”and searching“for new non-yasak-paying people.”His
expedition was hampered by the contradiction between his method of
collection and his men’s dependence on locals to supply food. Crippled by
food shortages that antagonized locals did nothing to remedy, Poiarkov
foray into the basin ended by 1646.^80
Khabarov continued to try constructing a Romanov Amur based on a
relatively crude exchange of hostages for pelts, running as high asfifty per
head. This tribute system was presumed adequate for a sustainable regime
based on maximum sable extraction. To this end, Khabarov’s expedition
was charged to compel indigenous peoples to hand over as muchyasak
tribute “as circumstances allow.” Taking “their leaders as hostage”
would compel theaimanto“pay the Sovereign’syasak...for all time
to come.”Although the order defined a range of acceptableyasakpelts,
including sable, fox, ermine, beaver, and otter, the vast majority of the
Russians’yasakwas collected in sable, and this preference was reinforced
in subsequent orders.^81
The brutal inefficiency of Romanov pelt tribute is casually revealed in
Khabarov’s August 1652 report of attempts to imposeyasakon a Dagur
group living on the Jingqili (Ru: Zeya) River. After pursuing and killing
some of the people they encountered, the Cossacks seized around 170
villagers. Khabarov then informed aiman leaders that if the Dagur
“would give theyasakto our Sovereign and be obedient and submissive
in all ways,”they would not be killed but protected. Dagur leaders,
including one“Prince Tolga,”reluctantly agreed, and swore an oath
accepting“eternalyasakservitude,”but almost all the new subjects soon
ran off. After futile attempts to torture the remaining Dagur leaders into
recalling their people, the Russians, having antagonized their main provi-
sioners, were forced to withdraw from the vicinity.^82
Khabarov had overestimated the capacity of hostages and oaths to
transform Qing subjects into Romanov subjects and underestimated the
difficulties of basin foraging in general. The Dagur quickly adapted to the
The Nature of Imperial Foraging in the SAH Basin 85
