HOW THE SONS OF KURMANDZHAN DATKA HELPED GABRIEL BONVALOT
Here is a story about another scholar. Unlike his Russian colleague, he became one of the few Western residents whose paths directly crossed with the fate of the Alay queen.
A well-known figure from another continent became her esteemed guest.
We are talking about an incorrigible romantic, an Asia-loving traveler, a subject of France, Pierre Gabriel Bonvalot. His name, which is sometimes written in Russian as Габриель Бонвалот, is considered a kind of synonym for the Western researcher's attraction to the East. This adventurer is regarded as one of the first Europeans to trek through the mountain paths of Pamir and Tibet to India, even in winter. This took place in 1886-1887.
On behalf of the French government, our hero, along with a group of like-minded individuals, crossed Central Asia, traveling from the Georgian city of Batumi (now Batumi) through Persia and Turkestan to the shores of the Indus. On that dangerous and eventful journey, the pilgrims encountered the sons of Kurmandzhan Datka. Upon returning to Paris, the traveler recorded his impressions from the road in one of his books - "Journey Through the Heart of Asia - Pamir - to India."
More than a hundred years later, in 2011, the aforementioned travel notes were published in Bishkek in Russian, thanks to our compatriot Roza Kuldaeva-Winslow. She translated the notes from English, and in the preface, she shared with the reader her interesting discovery: "I have always been interested in the history of Central Asia.
While researching in one of the oldest libraries of the University of Oxford (Mississippi), I unexpectedly stumbled upon a book published in 1889 in Paris and later translated into English." According to the translator, this work interested her primarily because it "...described the Alay Kyrgyz. Mr. Bonvalot detailed and impartially depicted the living conditions and lifestyle of our compatriots, their characters and relationships, showing us how they survived in this harsh Pamir climate." The translator found "...this perspective from the outside, from a person from a completely different world, so unlike the world of the heroes of this book," to be very interesting. As R. Kuldaeva-Winslow adds, in the book, the traveler recounts his second expedition to Central Asia, undertaken with two of his compatriots - Pepin and Kapus. "His audacious, almost fantastical plan - to cross the Roof of the World - seemed impossible," the translator admires the author. "Nevertheless, thanks to perseverance, strength of character, and the help of Pamir Kyrgyz, who served as guides, they succeeded."
Kyrgyzstan's enthusiasts of this genre learned about the remarkable personality of G. Bonvalot almost 30 years earlier than the aforementioned publication. This was facilitated by a piece published in 1983 in the Kyrgyz language in the magazine "Ala-Too" by domestic publicist L. Stroilov titled "Through the Snows and Ridges of Alay and Pamir." The author of the publication compares the contribution of the brave Frenchman with similar research work later conducted by Russian scholars A. P. Fedchenko, I. V. Mushketov, V. F. Oshanin, N. A. Severtsev, and others.
Moreover, the author of the article points out the close and fruitful contacts the French traveler had with many luminaries of Russian science of that time, as well as with representatives of the administration and researchers of the Turkestan region: N. I. Korolkov, L. F. Kostenko, A. A. Kushakevich, and others.
Biologist and traveler Alexey Pavlovich Fedchenko in Turkestan