HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS

CHAPTER I.

THIS chapter is devoted to an account of the various races which formed the heritage of the eldest son of Genghis Khan and his descendants. This heritage was called Togmak by the Mongols, apparently from a frontier town on the river Chu with which they came early into contact. It was called Desht Kipchak, or the Steppe of Kipchak, from the tribe of Kipchak, which was once its most prominent occupier, and was known in the West as the Golden Horde.

Such of my readers as are not interested in minute ethnology and the dry discussions of details which chiefly constitute it, will do well to pass on at once to the next chapter, in which the narrative properly begins. I have used the name Tartar as the generic name of the race described in this volume. A justification of this I shall give later on. Here it will suffice to say that the tribes to which attention will be confined are of Turkish race, the aristocracy and leaders alone being of Mongol descent. The aim and scope of our work are to integrate a large part of the broken history of the Asiatic nomads around that of the famous imperial race which claimed descent from Genghis Khan.

The Mongol word yurt meant originally the domestic fireplace, and according to Von Hammer, the word is identical with the German herde and the English hearth, and thence came in a secondary sense to mean house or home, the chief’s house being known as Ulugh Yurt or the Great House.

An assemblage of several yurts formed an ordu or orda, equivalent to the German hort and the English horde, which really means a camp. The chief camp where the ruler of the nation lived was called the Sir Orda, i.e., the Golden Horde.

The name is applied by Carpini and Benedict of Poland to the great tent tenanted by Kuyuk Khan. The name was apparently similarly applied to Batu’s chief tent, whence it came about that eventually the whole nation was known as the Golden Horde.

As I shall show further on, the Golden Horde was from the beginning divided into two main sections; that subject to the older branch of Juchi’s family dominated in the east, had a titular suzerainty over the other, and was known as the Ak Orda or White Horde, while that living in the western part of the Khanate, which held the real, although not the nominal, authority, was styled the Kok Orda or Blue Horde. These were, however, political divisions, and not ethnographic ones.

The ethnography of the Golden Horde is not very difficult to make out. In the first place, the tribes who composed it may be divided into two well marked and distinct sections, one of which, the Manguts or Flat-Noses, formed the patrimony of Nogai Khan and his family, and the other and much more numerous one comprised the remaining Tartars, who were distinguished by a variety of names.

We will first consider the Nogais, who are also called Manguts. All observers have agreed in separating them sharply from the other Tartars. Thus, Dr. Clarke says of them: “They are a very different people from the Tartars of the Crimea, and may be instantly distinguished by their diminutive form and the dark copper colour of their complexion, sometimes almost black. They have a remarkable resemblance to the Laplanders, although their dress and manner has a more savage character.”

Pallas enlarges also upon their specially Mongolian features. Klaproth says: “Of all the Tartar tribes that I have seen the Nogais bear by far the strongest resemblance in features and figure to the Mongols, a circumstance which authorises the inference of an intermixture with that nation, which perhaps took place during their residence to the north and north-west of the Caspian.”

These extracts will suffice to show that the Nogais differ essentially from the other Tartars in physique. They differ also in language. Thus, Pallas says: “ The language and writing of the real Tartars differ little from those of the Turks, and the dialect of the mountaineers who are subject to the Turkish dominion, bears a still greater analogy to that of their masters. On the contrary, the tongue of the Nogais deviates more remarkably, as they have retained numerous Mongolian phrases, and make use of an ancient mode of writing, likewise mixed with the latter, and called Shagaltai.” This mixture of Mongol with their language is denied by Klaproth, and with justice. “On the other hand,” he says, “you still find among them some remains of the old Tartar dialect, which they make use of in writing and which is called Jagatai, or as it is there commonly pronounced, Shagaltai.” This is very interesting. As is well known, the Turkish race is divided by ethnographers into two great sections, the western Turks, of whom the greater part of the Tartars of the Golden Horde are good examples, and the eastern Turks, of whom the Uighurs and the so-called Jagataians, of whom we shall have much to say in our next volume, are the type.

It follows, from what has been stated, that the Nogais speak a dialect closely allied to that of the eastern Turks, with whom they also agree in physique. This view is supported by another curious circumstance. In the mythical traditions of the Turks, the race is descended from two stem-fathers, Nokus and Kiat, who are said to have been brothers. The Turks proper are apparently comprised under the head of Kiats, and thus we read of Kiat Kungrads and Kiat Kanglis. Nokus, on the other hand, seems to be the representative of the eastern Turks and Uighurs. In this view, it is curious to find one division of the Uzbegs called Nokus Mangut.

From all these circumstances it would seem probable that the Manguts were in fact a section of the eastern Turks who had found their way into the west, where they are an intrusive element. Have we any direct proof of such a migration? I believe such a proof exists. The empire of the eastern Turks or Uighurs, according to the Chinese, was overturned by the Hakas in the year 840. Thereupon, we are told that Pingtele, or Pangtele, one of the ministers of the late Khan, fled at the head of fifteen tribes of Uighurs, to the Kololu or Karluks. This migration, I believe, first brought the Manguts into the west. Now, on turning to western writers, we find a new and aggressive race of Turks appearing shortly after this very date on the Volga, namely, the Pechenegs. I propose tentatively to identify the Pechenegs with the followers of Pangtele, and with the later Manguts.

The first appearance of the Pechenegs in Europe is dated by Constantine Porphyrogenitus about the year 894-899, when, as he tells us, they were attacked by the Khazars, and Uzi in alliance, and driven from their ancient seats. Previously, according to the same author, they had lived on the Atil, i.e., the Volga, and the Geech, i.e., the Jaik, and were the neighbours of the Uzi and the Mazari. In another place he tells the story in another way. He says that “the Patzinakitai, who were formerly called Kangar, which name,” he adds, “ among them meant nobility and strength, having taken up arms against the Khazars, were beaten, and deserted their country, and were obliged to enter the land inhabited by the Turks.” By Turks Constantine always means the Magyars.

After a while, Constantine goes on to say, the Pechenegs quarrelled with the Turks, and having defeated them, drove one section towards Persia, i.e., as I believe, to the north of the Caucasus, and the other towards the Carpathians. The Pechenegs now definitely occupied the old Turkland on each side of the Dnieper, and divided their country into eight provinces—four east of that river called Tzur, Culpee, Talmat, and Tzopon; and four west of it, namely, Chopon, Gyla, Kharobce, and Ertem, and thus occupied the very country held by the Nogais in later times. Elsewhere Constantine tells us the name Kangar was not applied to all the Pechenegs, but only to three of their tribes who were stronger and nobler than the rest. This shows that Pecheneg and Kangar, which is apparently only another form of Kankali, were not quite convertible terms. Nestor, the early Russian annalist, confirms the account of Constantine, except as to the date; in dates, however, he is often astray. He says the Pechenegs appeared for the first time in Russia (in the principality of Kief), in the year 915. They made peace with Igor the Russian chief, and advanced as far as the Danube, and had intercourse with the Greek empire. Zeuss thus gives the synonymy of the Pechenegs. They were called Pizenaci by Liutprand, Pecenatici by Cosmas of Prague and Pincenates, Pecinei, Petinei, Postinagi, by other western writers; Patzinakitai, by Constantine Posphyrogenitus; Peczenjei, by the Slavs; and Bisseni, or Bessi, by the Hungarians. This last form of the name probably gave its appellation to Bessarabia; Snorro calls the race Pezina vollr. That the Pechenegs were Turks there cannot be any doubt. Ibn el Vardi describes them as a Turkish race who had separated from the other Turks, and settled between the Khazars and Krim. He calls them Beknakije, and tells us, that although they had lived there so long they had not any houses. Anna Comnena tells us they spoke the same language as the Comans. The meaning of the word Pecheneg is explained very plausibly by M. Vambery as being a corruption of bash mak, i.e., chief prince. Von Hammer, and Dr. Schott, in his memoir on the Kangar, say the name Bejnak means the related, or allied. It is undoubtedly a personal name; thus we read that when the Cossack Yermak attacked the Siberians on the Tawda, a prince called Pecheneg was among the slain, so that it is exceedingly probable that the race was named after some chief named Pecheneg, as it was at a later day after Nogai. It will be noted also that the chief who ruled on the Volga at the time of Batu’s invasion, was called Bachiman, which seems another form of the same name.

The Pechenegs occur for the last time, eo nomine, in the Russian annals in the year 1152, but in 1162, and in that section of Nestor, written by the fourth continuation, we find a new name applied to the rivals and enemies of the Comans, in the steppes of southern Russia, who can be no other than the Pechenegs, namely, Chernoklobuks or Black Caps.

They are also mentioned in the years 1174, 1187, 1190, 1192, and 1200. We again meet with the name in the accounts of Batu’s invasion, when we are told that in the autumn of 1239 he with the other princes marched against the Russians and the Karakalpaks or Black Caps. This name of Black Caps, or Karakalpaks, is actually a well-known tribal name among the Turks, and applied to an important section of the Nogais. One of the principal features of the Karakalpaks, distinguishing them from the other Turkish tribes, is the possession of a considerable quantity of hair on their faces; and Bakui says of the Pechenegs, they had long beards and large mustaches. He adds, that their food consisted chiefly of millet. Vambery says the favourite food of the Karakalpaks is kazan djappay, i.e., meal baked in a pan with fat.

One of the tribes of Kipchak, as given by Novairi in 1325, was named Kara Burkli, i.e., Black Caps; and lastly, Strahlenberg tells us that east of the Jaik there survived when he wrote places called Talmasata and Curcutata, which are clearly identical with the Talmat and Tzur of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, which he names as two sections of the Pechenegs. For these reasons, I am disposed to identify the Manguts and Karakalpaks as the descendants of the Pechenegs.

Having separated the Manguts and shown how they were an intrusive element in the population of “the Kipchak,” we may now turn to its remaining Tartar inhabitants. These have a more or less homogeneous history. Of course, in certain areas, as in the Krim and at Kazan, they have been largely sophisticated in blood by a mixture with other races, but in the main they are under their various names very pure and typical specimens of the Turkish stock. We will now consider some of their divisions, and begin with—

The Kazaks. The name Kazak has no ethnic value. It is applied to Turkish tribes, to the Slavic Cossacks of the Ukraine, the Don, the Volga, etc., and to the Circassians, a part of whose country was called Kasachia by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, while they themselves are called Kessek or Kazak by their neighbours the Ossetes, who affirm that the Circassians called themselves Kasak before the coming of the Kabardian princes from the Krim. Klaproth argues that the word has been adopted by the Tartars to denote a man who leads a martial and roving life like that of the Circassians, and he adds further, that in the old Tartar and its kindred Turkish dialects it is not to be found, and many Tartars even know nothing of its meaning. Erskine says distinctly that the name is formed of two Arabic words, and adds that the Russian travellers call them Tartar words, as they do many Arabic and Persian terms which have been introduced into the Tartar or Turkish language. This Arabic etymology is a very probable one, and accounts for the word being found both on the banks of the Sir and north of the Caucasus in early times, Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the tenth century and Firdusi somewhat later both using it. It no doubt passed from the Circassians to the Russian Cossacks. The name means merely freebooter or nomad soldier. Haidar, in describing the young days of Weis Khan, when after his father’s death he took to robbery, uses the word kazaki. The term was also applied specially to the hired soldiery employed by the various appanaged princes in Russia. Thus we read of Cossacks of Riazan, Cossacks of Ustiuge, etc. Similarly, we read of Kazaks of Gorodetz or Kasimof, and Abulghazi speaks of the vagabond soldiery in the service of the princes of Urgenj as Kazaks.

We thus see that the term “ kazak ” has in its origin no ethnic value. We have now to consider how it came to be applied as a race name to those who are often called Kirghiz Kazaks (they are called Kirghiz by the Bashkirs, while I believe the Great Horde is also so called by the other Kazaks), but who are now properly known as Kazaks. This has been explained for us by Haidar, the author of the Tarikhi Rashidi. He tells us how on the death of Abulkhair the Ulus of the Uzbegs fell into confusion, and how many repaired to Girai Khan and Janibeg Khan, the representatives of the White Horde, to the number of 20,000 persons, and how they thus got the name of Kazak Uzbegs; and he afterwards refers to the same tribes merely as the Kazaks. Their history from this time can be followed out in detail. Before this date no reference is made to any such race so far as I can make out, and it is in every way certain that they so called themselves at this time, as being fugitives and vagabonds, par excellence, and that the name as a race-name is no older than the second half of the fifteenth century. Before this the greater part of the so-called Kazaks constituted the “White Horde,” subject to Orda Ichen and his descendants, from whom, as we shall show, the chieftains of the modern Kazaks claim to descend.

As I have said, they call themselves Kazaks, and by this name they are known to the Persians, Bukharians, and Khivans, while the Chinese soften the k, and call them Khassaki, and also Hakas. I will now give a list of their divisions. They are, in the first place, divided into three sections, respectively known as ulugh iuz, urta iuz, and kichik iuz, the Great, Middle, and Little Hordes, iuz meaning literally a hundred or a century, and being applied to a horde, as the Mongols apply the terms minggan, tuman, etc.

Originally, we are told, the Great Horde comprised the three sections of Uisun or Usiun, Tulatai, and Sargam. Eventually, the horde of Kunkurad or Kungrad detached itself from the Middle Horde, and joined it.

The Middle Horde consists of the four sections named, Arghin, Naiman, Kipchak, and Uvak-Girai.

The Little Horde originally comprised the powerful tribe of Alchin, with seven petty clans, who were united into one tribe by Tiavka, in order to protect them from the aggressions of their neighbours. They were given the name of Semirodsk, i.e., the seven tribes, while the Alchin tribe was itself divided into two branches known respectively as the Alimuli and the Baiuly.

I will now enumerate the names and habitats of the smaller divisions of the Kazaks as given by Levchine, etc.

I.—The Little Horde.

The tribe of Alimuli consists of six divisions, called Kara Sakai, Kara Kissiek, Kitié, Dort-Kara, Chumekei, and Chikly. When Levchine wrote, it encamped in winter on the Sir, the Kuvan, the dried up bed of the Jany Daria, on the sands of Karakum and Burzuk, and at the mouth of the Yemba. A small section lived on the Ilek, the Or, and the Ural, from the fort of Krasnogorsk as far as Verkhni Ozernaia. Their summer camps were on the rivers Temir, Yemba, Saghiz, Uil, Ilek, Khobda, Or, and Irghiz, in the hills of Mugojar, and the Karakum sands. The tribe of Baiuli is divided into twelve sections, and comprises the clans of Adai, Cherkes, Tana, Baibakti, Shikhlar, Maskar, Kizil-kurt, Issen-Témir, a part of that of Jappas, and the greater part of those of Alacha, Tazlar, and Bersch. All nomadised over-against the fortified line of the Lower Ural passed the summer between the Ural and the Yemba, near the lakes of Karakul, and the rivers Kuldaghaiti, Buldurti, Ulenti, Jusali, Chungurlaou, Ankati, and Uilu, as far as Khobda; the winter on the Caspian, at the mouths of the Ural and the Yemba, and near Gurief. A part of the tribe Adai lived at Mangushlak; the sections Tazlar, Alacha, and Bersch on the Sir, the Kuvan, and the Karakum sands. The greater part of the Yappas encamped in summer on the Tobol, and the Turgai opposite Troitsk, and in winter on the Sir and the Kuvan. As we shall see later on, a part of the Baiulis detached themselves about 1801 and 1802, under their leader Bukei, and settled in the government of Astrakhan, and in the district of Rin Peski. Wahl says the emigrants originally numbered 1,500 kibitkas, which number rapidly increased, amounted in 1820 to upwards of 7,500, and in 1862 to 25,000 kibitkas, or upwards of 100,000 souls. Their number would be still larger had it not been for the disastrous winter of 1822, when the whole steppe was turned to ice, and frightful snow-storms and icy blasts destroyed all animal life. The losses of the horde during that dreadful season amounted to 280,000 horses, 73,000 head of cattle, and 1,000,000 sheep. Overwhelmed with terror they fled into the Government of Saratof, but have been quietly settled again in their old territory since 1863.

The Semirodsk, or Seven Tribes, comprise the Tabin, Tama, Kerderi, Jagal-Baiuli, Kerait, Tiliaou, and Ramadan. They for the most part wintered near the Irghiz, the Or, the Kumak, the Sugunduk, and the hills of Karacha. They passed the summer near the Russian frontier between the forts of Verkhni Ozernaia and Verkhni Uralsk, and thence southwards to the Irghiz. The winter camps of the clans Kerder and Tama were on the Ural between Orenburg and Uralsk; and their summer ones, on the Donghuz, Khobda, Kanlis, and Ilek.

The greater part of the clan Tabin camped near the two preceding tribes, another portion on the Tobol, Sir, Kuvan, and Yemba, while the rest lived with the Middle Horde on the Issel, Chu, and the sands of Aremetei. The clan Kerait wintered on the Sir, and passed its summer on the Irghiz and the mountains of Karacha and Troitsk.

The clans of Tilief or Tilieou, and Ramadan, wintered on the Sir and Kuvan, near the Keraits, and summered on the Turgai, and in the neighbourhood of lake Urkach-Kandikli.

II. —The Middle Horde.

The tribe or division Arghin, comprises the sections Kara Kissiek, Karavul-Kissiek, Charjitim, Janjar, Chakchak, Dort-Avul, Atigai, Altai, Tebich, Tabakli, Borchi, Karpak, Bassantien, Aghich-Kalkaman, Kanjigali, Koziugan, and Kukshal. These clans, according to Levchine, lived near the mountains Ulugh, Boyan-ula, Ireimen, Kizil, Kuyucha, Mukcha, and the districts of Uch-Burlik, Kilchakti, Uch-Kundan, Bikchentei, and the banks of the Turgai, Nura, Tobol, Irtish, Sarisu, Ishim, Issel, Ubagan, Ulkoiak, and Ayati, the sands of Kara Tussun, and the borders of the lakes Kizil, Kurjan, Tiba, and Bishkun.

The Naimans comprised the clans of Akbura (i e., White Wolf), Bulachi, Kara-Girai, Tirs-Tamgali, Dort-Avul, Kuk-Jarli, Irghiniekli, Semis-Baganali (i.e., possessors of fat lambs), and Sadir. The greater part of the Naimans lived in the mountains of Tarbagatai, the Upper Irtish, and other places on the Chinese frontier; the remainder on the upper Ishim, the Turgai, Kara Uziek, Sir, Kuvan, Lap-su, Kuk-su, the borders of the lake Ak, and the mountains of Ulugh, Kichi, etc.

The Kipchaks comprised the clans of Tori-Aighyr, Tuiuchka, Kitabak, Bultun, Karabalik, Kundelien, Tana-Buga, Uzun, and Kuk-Boron. They lived on the Issel, the Turgai, Chakiek, Ubagan, Tobol, Ayat, Munyunli, and Uya, near the forts of Troitsk, Stepnoi, and Ust Uiskoi; and on the sands of Karakum, as well as in the districts of Aman-Karagai, Ebelei, Yedis, and Tiriekli.

The Uvak-Girais consist of the clans Uvak, Girai or Kirai, and Tarakli. They nomadised on the rivers Ubagan, Ishim, Uya, Taguzac, Irtish, Issel, Sari Su, and Chu; on the sands of Ich-Kungur, in the neighbourhood of lake Kechubai-Charkar, and near the fortified line between the forts of Stepnoi and Verkho Uralsk; and also near the forts of Zuerinogolofskoi and Presnogorkofskoi.

III. —The Great Horde.

The lesser divisions of the Great Horde comprise the clans of Botboi, Chimir, Janis or Yanish, Sik-Am, Abdai Suvanc, Sara-Suli, Chanish-Kili, Kanli or Kankli, Jelair, etc. The tribe of Kungrad, which, as I said, joined the Great Horde in recent times, includes the clans of Bailar-Janjar, Uras Gheldi, Kuljegach, Bochman, Tok-Bulad, Iman-Bai, Kura-Kusia, Etimlier, and Kuyush-Kansiz, These various clans of the Great Horde wandered on the rivers Chu, Tala-Su, He, Kuk-Su, Karatal, Chirchik, Sir, Sari-Su, near lakes Kara, Ala, Al-Su, Anamas, and in the towns of Kulja Kashkar, Khokand, Tashkend, Turkestan, near the mountains Kara-Tau, Tarbagatai, Chinghiz-Tsazan, and in the district known as the Seven Rivers, as well as in other places on the borders of China, and in the old country of the Sungars. One portion of the Kungrads lived in these localities, and another encamped with the Naimans.

In enumerating these sections of the Kazaks, we must not forget that they comprise smaller divisions, and these again still smaller ones, which are constantly altering in name, etc., so that the hierarchy of the various sectional divisions would require almost a volume to illustrate it. We will now turn to—

The Uzbegs. First, as to their name. Here I have to break a lance with Professor Gregorief, for whom I entertain the profoundest respect, and to whose wide researches and learning I am greatly indebted. In a fierce criticism of Mr. Vambery’s History of Bukhara, much of which is, if severe, at all events unanswerable, he pours words of scorn upon those who derive the name of the Uzbeg confederacy from Uzbeg, the great chief of the Golden Horde. Nevertheless, the view so denounced I think is supported by irrefragable evidence. M. Gregorief denies that it is the custom of the Turks to name their tribes after noted heroes. I can hardly understand this phrase. If we go back to legendary times, we shall find that Oghuz, Kipchak, etc., are stated by the Turkish genealogists to have given their names to the tribes they governed; but we need not go back so far. Assuredly the Seljuki and the Osmanli among the greater Turk races and the various lesser clans of Turkomans are instances of this practice; while, if we turn to the Golden Horde, we shall find it even more the case. The Bereke Tartars are so called not only by Marco Polo, but by Abulfeda, and were so named from Bereke Khan. The Nogais are another instance in point, while the various tribes of Nogais are notoriously named from their founders as separate and substantive tribes; so is it with a considerable number of the lesser clans among the Kazaks and Uzbegs.

Again, Professor Gregorief says the name Uzbeg does not occur till the second half of the fifteenth century, a hundred years after the death of Uzbeg. Sherif ud din, the historian of Timur, completed his famous Zefer Nameh in 1424, and was a contemporary of Timur; he distinctly speaks of Idiku as Idiku the Uzbeg, and of the Kipchaks as Uzbegs.

This shows us that the name was in use much earlier than M. Gregorief says. His third argument is that Uzbeg did not rule over the tribes called Uzbegs. So far as we know, he was acknowledged as their over chief by all the tribes of the Ulus of Juchi Khan, and his coins are found minted at all the towns in the Horde which up to his date had struck money.

I cannot, therefore, see any good reason for rejecting the very natural and current account that the Uzbegs were so named from the Great Uzbeg Khan, while the etymology of Uzbeg generally suggested in lieu of this derivation, namely, from Uz, self, and bek, bek, is exceedingly improbable and far-fetched.

Abulghazi tells us that Uzbeg converted his subjects to the Mussulman faith, and it was due to him that all the inhabitants of the land became converts to Islam, and that the Il of Juchi adopted his name, which it would retain till the day of judgment. The name Uzbeg, therefore, like that of Kazak, is a comparatively recent name, and does not date back further than the reign of Uzbeg Khan, who died in 1340. Klaproth tells us the Uzbegs are divided into four main divisions, namely, the Uighur-Naiman, Kangli-Kipchak, Kiat-Kungrad, and Nokus-Mangut.

In regard to the localities occupied by the principal of these tribes, Khanikof says the Manguts live partly near Karshi and partly near Bukhara, while others of them, especially the elder branches, have established themselves in both these towns. The Khan of Bukhara’s family, as we shall see, belongs to this stock. The Khitais are settled between Bukhara and Kermineh; the Naimans live near Ziyan ud din; the Kipchaks between Katta Kurghan and Samarkand; the Sarai near the road leading from Samarkand to Karshi; the Kungrads partly in Karshi, and partly between that town and the mountains of Shehri sebz ; the Turkmen on the Amu Daria; the Arabet between Karshi and Bukhara; the Buzachi near Buzachi, between the same places; the Durmans in and near Khijuvan; the Yabu partly nomadise near Bukhara and partly with the Khitai Naimans in Miankal; the Jid and Juyut are partly settled on the Amu Daria, and partly wander about with the Turkmen; the Betash are all settled near Bukhara; the Bakhrin in Miankal. To this enumeration of Khanikof’s I ought to add that made by Vambery, who tells us the Uzbegs are divided into thirty-two principal taife or tribes, viz., the Kungrad, Kipchak, Khitai, Manghit or Mangut, Noks, Naiman, Kulan, Kiet, Az, Taz, Sayat, Jagatai, Uighur, Akbet, Durmen, Ushun, Kanjigali, Nogai, Balgali, Miten, Jelair, Keneguz, Kanli, Ishkili, Bagurlu, Alehin, Achmaili, Karakursak, Birkulak, Tirkish, Kettekeser, and Ming.

As I have said, Haidar calls the Kazaks, Uzbeg Kazaks, suggesting that both confederacies were closely related. This appears more vividly when we examine the tribal names comprising each. Thus—

Uzbeg tribes.    Kazak tribes.

Kungrad.           Kungrad, a tribe of the Great Horde

 Kipchak.          Kipchak, a division of the Middle Horde

Khitai.               Kitie, a clan of the Little Horde

Naiman.          Naiman, a division of the Middle Horde.

Oshün.          Uzun and Usiun tribes of the Middle and Great Horde respectively.

Taz.                  Tazlar, a tribe of the Little Horde.

Uighur.           Tori Uighur, a clan of the Middle Horde. 

Kanjigali.       Kanjigali, a clan of the Middle Horde. 

Jelair.              Jelair, a tribe of the Great Horde.

Kanli.             Kanli or Kankli, a tribe of the Great Horde.

Ich kili.           Chan ich kili, a tribe of the Great Horde. 

Alehin.          Alehin, the main tribe of the Little Horde.

These lists will show that the confederacies were composed largely of common elements, but we must not exaggerate this fact too much and mistake a result due to the disintegrating and re-welding process which went on during the Mongol domination for an initial identity. When we examine the tribal names of the two confederacies closely, we shall find not only that they consist of very heterogeneous elements, but that these elements are separable into two main branches, those which inhabited the Kipchak before the Mongol invasion, and those who migrated thither in consequence of it. The great ethnological fact underlying the history we are dealing with is the thrusting of the Turkish community westwards. Before the Mongol period the Turks occupied all Sungaria, and (as we showed in the notes to the former volume) all the so-called Mongolian desert as far as the borders of Manchuria, the Mongols being confined to the country round Lake Baikal and to Dauria. The great effect of the Mongol conquests was to push the Turks out of the eastern part of their former country, and to drive them very largely into the west. A large portion of these more eastern Turks probably formed the Ulus of Ogotai and his family. When this ulus was broken up and destroyed, they seem to have migrated, or were perhaps driven by the advancing Kalmuks into the steppes of Kipchak. It was apparently in the main these new subjects who were converted by Uzbeg Khan, and who adopted his name. Let us examine this position somewhat more closely.

If we turn to the Uzbegs we shall find that two out of the four main divisions into which they fall belong to this category of immigrants, namely, the so-called Naiman-Uighurs and the Kiat Kungrads, while the Naimans, the Uvak Girais in the Middle Horde, and the Kungrads in the Great Horde among the Kazaks fall within the same class. If we examine the minor divisions of the race, as given by Klaproth, Khanikof, etc., we shall find a large number of names, such as Jelair, Khitai, etc., which also belong to this immigrant section. Now, it is curious that Levchine, in describing the origin of the Kazaks, tells us distinctly that the Kipchaks, the Naimans, the Kungrads or Kunkurats, the Jelairs, and the Kanklis, the Durmans and Karluks, formed no part of their race originally. This confirms the view arrived at above from different data. We will now consider briefly these immigrant tribes.

To what I said of the Naimans, the Jelairs, the Durmans, and the Uighurs in the former volume I have nothing to add. The Naimans (as I there showed), at the accession of Genghis Khan, dominated over Northern Sungaria, from the Irtish as far as Karakorum. The Jelairs and Durmans were Turkish tribes living among the Mongols, while the Uighurs lived at the well-known Bishbaligh and its neighbourhood.

The conclusion I came to in that volume in regard to the Keraits has been strengthened by further consideration. I have no doubt that they were Turks and not Mongols. I ought here to mention that they occur in the pages of Haidar. In describing one of Timur’s campaigns, he tells us that he sent Behram the Jelair, Khitai Behadur, and Sheikh Ali Behadur to the territory of Almatu. They engaged the Kerayets, i.e., the Keraits, on the river Aishek Khatun. Thet in Kerait is merely the Mongol plural, and the tribe still survives in Eastern Sungaria, under the name of Girai or Kirai. I have little doubt it also survives in the Uvak Girais of the Middle Horde.

The Kunkurats form such a notable factor in Mongol history, and one hitherto so neglected, that we may be pardoned for adding a few lines to our former account of them. Rashid ud din says expressly they sprang from the two people who came out of Irgene Kun, i.e. (in his legendary history of the origin of the Mongols), from Kian and Nokus. The story went that before they left there they trampled on the hearths of the other tribes, whence the Kunkurads suffered greatly from pains in their feet caused by their having been burnt. As they migrated sooner than the Mongols, the latter in former times had been greatly at issue with them, and hated them. They themselves reported that they were sprung from “Bestui Zerrin,” i.e., the Golden Vase, which story Erdmann compares with that of the Golden bowl of Targitaos, etc. He argues that the tale is compounded of the notion of the noble Kumis bowl and the mountain-girdled valley of Irgene Kun. Bestui Zerrin is said to have had three sons—Jurluk Mergen, the ancestor of the Kunkurads proper; Kabai Shireh, who had two sons, named Angiras and Olkhonud, the ancestors of the Angirasses and the Olkhonuds; and Tusbudau, who had two sons, named Karanut and Kungeliut. The latter, we are told, married his father’s widow, by whom he had a son named Miser Ulug, who also married his father’s widow, and by her had a son, Kurulas, whence sprang the tribe of the Kurulas. Miser Ulug afterwards married a Khitaian, by whom he had a son, Iljigin, the stem father of the tribe of the same name.i The interesting thing for us, of course, about the Kunkurads is that the Mongols trace the descent of their Imperial house from them.

Burtechino, the wolf-ancestor of the Mongol imperial stock, we are told, was a descendant of Kian, and belonged to the tribe Kurulas. The Kurulas, as we said, were a branch of the Kunkurads. Rashid ud din several times tells us that Alung Goa, who was the real ancestress of the Mongol Khans, belonged to the same tribe of the Kurulas, whence it follows that the Mongol Khans were descended from the Turkish tribe of the Kunkurads. When we come down to later times, we find that the Mongol sovereigns constantly chose their principal wives from among the Kunkurads. Thus, Kabul Khan married Goa Gulka, who was a Kunkurat. Yissugei married Ulun Egeh, or Oghelen Eka, who was an Olkhonud. Temujin’s chief wife, Burte Fujin, was also an Olkhonud. The “Yuen chao pi shi” says she was of the tribe Unghir, a corruption of Kungur, or Kunkur, and that her father enlarged to Yessugei, on the fact that it had been customary for the Mongol princes to marry the beautiful daughters of his house. This is also said by Ssanang Setsen. The beautiful wife of Khubilai Khan, Jabun Khatun, was a Kunkurat. Another of his wives, Nembui Khatun, was also a Kunkurat, as was Katakash, the wife of the Kutchu, son of Ogotai and Bulughan Khatun, the wife of the Ilkhan Gazan, etc. On the other hand, three of Genghis Khan’s five daughters, named Kujin Bigi, Tumalun, and Altalun, married respectively the Kurulat, Huladai Gurgan, the Kunkurat, Shenggu Gurgan, and the Olkhonud, Javer Sagan. Again, the soubriquet of Kiat, borne by the Imperial house among the Mongols, is also closely connected with the Kunkurats, who, as we have seen in the legend, are not only deduced from Kian or Kiat, but we actually find to this day that one of the four main divisions of the Uzbegs is called Kiat Kungrad. The Kungrads again are deemed at Khiva the senior and most noble tribe. All these facts concur in making it pretty certain that the Mongol rulers were in fact descended from the royal house among the Kunkurads.

A question which remains is as to the district occupied by this race. I have discussed this question in the former volume, with an unsatisfactory result, having no other authority, practically, but Rashid ud din. Since writing it, however, I have been able to consult the “Yuen chao pi shi.”

In note 69 to this work Palladius tells us that it is stated in the life of Dai Setzen, the father-in-law of Genghis Khan, as told in the Yuen Shi, that the Kunkurads lived in the place called Kulehrundurgin and Dalai Nur, and on the river Yehligun. Dalai Nur is the well known lake into which the Kerulon falls, and Yehligun is assuredly the Chinese transcription of the Argun, the river that flows out of the Dalai lake. In regard to the other name, Undur in Mongol means hill or elevation, || and Kulehr may perhaps be a form of Kerulon, the l and r being transposed. This, then, would make the home land of the Kunkurads on Lake Dalai, the Lower Kerulon, and the Argun. In confirmation of this, I may mention that the Chinese author translated by Gaubil makes Potu or Botu, the chief of the Inkirasses, live on the river Ergone, i.e. the Argun. When Temujin set out to bring his wife home from her father’s yurt, we are told in the Yuen chao pi shi that he went down the Kerulon. All this is conclusive as to the position of the Kunkurads, and we have only to reconcile it with the statement of Rashid ud din. As D’Ohsson says, Rashid uses the term ongu very loosely; sometimes he applies it to the Inshan mountains and to the great wall which separates China from Mongolia, at other times to the Khingan range, which separates Manchuria from Mongolia. He doubtless treats Manchuria as a part of China, which it in fact was, during the domination of the Kin dynasty, who ruled it during the reign of Genghis Khan. He also gives the name of Jai Alchia to the same Khingan range; and in another place mentions “Alchia Kungur, which was formerly the winter quarters of the Kunkurads.” D’Ohsson points out that a river Kungur, which springs in the Khingan range, is marked by D’Anville as falling into Lake Taal, about N.L. 43. I may add that the river Olkui, which is marked as springing from the same range somewhat further north, not improbably gave its name to the Olkhonuds, one of the divisions of the Kunkurads. I have little doubt, therefore, that the Kunkurads occupied the eastern and north-eastern part of Mongolia, west of the Khingan chain, and including the environs of the Dalai or Kulun Lake and the river Argun, being thus planted between the Mongols and the Tartars properly so called. Let us now return once more westwards.

Having discarded the various tribes which invaded and settled in the Kipchak during the Mongol domination, let us try and realise the condition of things there before that event. The Kazaks, as we have seen, were in the main the White Horde, under another name. The White Horde occupied the country of the lower Sir, the Chu, and the Talas. If we are to credit the express statement of Carpini, who travelled through the country, Orda, the founder of the White Horde, had a yurt east of I mil. It would seem, in fact, that his portion was largely conterminous with the empire of Kara Kitai, which was probably his father’s ulus, and that the modern Kazaks are largely the descendants of the Kara Khitaians, whence we still find the name Khitai surviving as a clan-name in the steppes of Kipchak.

The Kara Khitaians, however, had only a short-lived empire; they had succeeded to the former power of the Turkish sovereigns of Turkestan, called the Ilkhanids, and who have been shown by Professor Gregorief to have been Karluks. The name Karluk survived as that of a tribe even down to the time of Genghis Khan, but in its wider and earlier sense it included the various tribes which obeyed the old Turkish sovereigns at Balasaghun and Almaligh, who were, as I believe, the ancestors of the Kazaks. These Karluks were called the Lion Hoei hu, or Lion Uighurs of Kashgar, by the Chinese. Their supremacy only dates from the ninth century; before that date the older Turks dominated in the valleys of the Talas and the Chu. The Turks, who were ruled over by princes, descended from the half-mythical Afrasiab. These Turks were, I believe, driven out by the Karluks when the latter founded their power. They then moved southwards into Transoxiana, and further south still towards the borders of India, where they are well known as Khilj, Kalladjis, etc. Let us now revert again to the Uzbegs. When we have discarded from our consideration the various tribes who, as we have seen, joined the Uzbegs under the influence of the Mongols, we shall have remaining two principal divisions, namely, the Nokuz Manguts and the Kangli Kipchaks. The former of these we have already considered. Let us now turn to the latter.

The Kipchaks, who gave their name to the Khanate, and who were a very important element in its population, have a history which is very obscure and difficult to unravel. One section of them who lived west of the Volga, and who were known as Comans to the Western writers, have already occupied us in the former volume, and we need say no more about them, but east of the Volga there was another section which has been much neglected. These were the ancestors of the Kipchaks, who now form such an important element in the population of Khokand and Mavera un Nehr. As we have seen, the Kazaks treat them as strangers to their confederacy, and they formed doubtless the original nucleus of the Horde of Sheiban, brother of Batu. Where did they live? We have no absolute statements on the subject, and can only reach an answer by a process of exhaustion. The Kankalis, as we shall see, occupied the steppes north of the Aral, from the Volga as far east as the Sarisu. The country east of the Volga on the Middle and Upper Jaik and further east was, as we have seen, in all probability occupied by the Pechenegs and Manguts, and we are driven to find a habitat for the Kipchaks in the country north and north-west of the Balkhash Lake, where the Middle Horde of the Kazaks has its camping ground, and where the Horde of Sheiban apparently had its focus. These Eastern Kipchaks lived beyond the region easily accessible to Arab traders, and we consequently find hardly any mention of them in the writings of Arab geographers. They are probably referred to, however, in an obscure passage of the Nubian geographer Edrisi, in the 9th section of his description of the 6th climate, under the name of Khafshakh.* These Kipchaks no doubt formed a substantive power of their own before they were attacked by the Mongols. There is a very interesting passage in the Yuen shi which I believe refers to them, and which is so valuable as dealing with an exceedingly obscure district that I shall take the liberty of extracting it from Mr. Bretschneider’s very valuable work. The passage is contained in the 128th chapter of the Yuen shi, in the biography of Tu tu ha (? Toktoghu), who was a prince of the Kincha (the Chinese form of Kipchak). It reads thus : “ The ancestors of the people of Kincha originally dwelt north of Wuping, on the river Jelien, near the mountain Andahan. Kuchu emigrated to the north-west, to the mountain called Yuliboli, and this name was then adopted for the reigning family. Kuchu had a son Somona, who also had a son Inosze ; they were all hereditary princes of Kincha. When Jingis was at war with the Mieliki (Merkits), the prince Huodu fled to Kincha. Jingis demanded his delivery, which was refused, when the emperor gave orders to attack Kincha. When Inosze became old, his realm was troubled by insurrection; and his son Hulusuman then determined to send envoys to Jingis, and offered his submission. Mengko (Mangu, subsequently emperor) received orders to occupy Kincha. Hulusuman’s son Banducha surrendered with his people. Black mare’s milk, which is very pleasant to the taste, used to be sent from Kincha to the Court of China; whence the Kincha were called also Halachi. Tutuha, whose biography is found in the Yuen shi, was a son of Banducha. He died in 1279. His son Chuangwur, who died in 1322, was also a renowned general; and his son Yientiemur8 was a Minister of China, 1328-1333; Yientiemuf’s brother Santun was also minister, as was Santun’s son likewise.”

A few words will suffice for the consideration of the Kankalis, to whom we devoted a paragraph in the former volume. I have there identified them with the Nogais, and this is partially correct. We still have among the Nogais clans with the names of Chushan-Kangli, and Kabil-kagle-Agakli; in the same way, as we have seen, some of the Pecheneg tribes were also Kankalis, and the most probable solution of the question is, either that the Kankalis actually invaded the west, together with the Manguts, or that they derived their name, which means cart or araba, from some mixture with them. A few words on their name of Kanklis may not be inopportune.

In describing the war of Oghuz Khan against the Tartars, Abulghazi says that he had not sufficient sumpter-beasts on which to carry off his booty, whereupon a brave boy who was with his army invented a cart. His example was followed by the whole army. To these carts they gave the name of kank. They were previously unknown, as was their name. They produced when in motion a sound resembling kank-kank, whence this name. The inventor of the cart was thereupon called Kankli, and from him were descended the Kanklis or Kankalis.  It will be noted as a remarkable fact, and one referred to by Erdmann, that the Kankalis are treated as the allies rather than as the subjects of Oghuz Khan. Dr. Schott says that among several tribes of Siberia a cart is still known as kanga.

Let us now consider another curious fact in the biography of Buhuman, a Kankali chief, which is given in the Yuen shi. In this it is expressly said that the Kankalis derived their origin from the Kaokiu, a people mentioned in the Han history. This people is also and more frequently called Kaoché, the particle ch6 also being read as kiu. Kaoché means in Chinese high cart, and Dr. Bretschneider tells us further that in the history of the Wei (in the 5th century of our era) the name of this people is explained by the high wheels they used to put on their carts. Remusat also tells us that kaoché in Chinese means the same thing as kankali in Turkish. This is, therefore, a complete proof that the Kankalis were in fact of the same race as the Kaoché.  would mention parenthetically that Von Hammer tells us the Chinese kaoché is the same as the Turkish kochi and the English coach. I have sufficient sins of my own to answer for without being responsible for all Von Hammer’s etymologies, but this one certainly seems reasonable and interesting.

The Kaoché are well known in Chinese history. The name is a synonym, in fact, for the Uighurs, which is another proof of the connection, direct or indirect, of the Kankalis with the Eastern Turks. Among the shreds of the Kankalis who escaped the Mongol arms was a small tribe called Kayi or Kiat Kangli, which dwelt at Mahan, near Merv. On the Mongol approach, they retired westward into the district of Akhlatt, in Armenia. Eight years later, when the Mongols appeared there, they again retired into Asia Minor. Their chief was named Ertogrul. He and his people, consisting of about 440 families, obtained the grant of a district near Angora, from the Seljuk Sultan of Rum, and he was given the title of Uj Bey, or Margrave. He was the father of the famous Othman or Osman, the founder of the Ottoman Empire.  So that the Ottomans proper, the original nucleus of the race, were Kankalis.

Constantine Porphyrogenitus calls the Kankalis, Kangar. Of this name, Kangkiu is the natural Chinese transcription, a change which may be compared with that of the Latin conclusum into the Italian conchiuso; and Kangkiu is, in fact, a name applied to the Kankalis by the Chinese, as De Guignes long ago showed. Now, in Schmidt’s criticism of Von Hammer’s “Golden Horde,” we are told that among all the peoples of Central Asia, Mongols as well as Turks, the Osmanli to this day are known as Khangar. This is a curious confirmation of the fact that the nucleus of their race was the small tribe of Kayi Kangli, who left Khorassan on the invasion of the Mongols. In a small Chinese book published in 1777, and entitled “Si in wen kian lo,” is a curious account of the Russians, who, we are told, were then governed by a female khan. They are described as having been at war in the twentieth year of Kien lung, i.e., in 1755, with the Kanggar, which Schott agrees with Schmidt is the name by which the Osmanli are now known in Central Asia. The account is very quaint in its details, and makes the war terminate by the Russians becoming tributary to the Kanggar, and having to submit to pay an annual tribute of 500 boys and 500 girls to the victors. All this is the manufacture of Chinese patriotism, nor does the date seem to be correct; but the account, as Schott says, doubtless refers to the war which the Empress Catharine fought against the Turks, in the years 1769 to 1774, and which ended in the peace so disastrous for the latter, secured by the treaty of Kuchuk Kainarja.

Let us now condense the result of our inquiry. It would seem then that at the time of the Mongol invasion the valleys of the Chu and the Talas were occupied by certain tribes once subject to the famous dynasty of the Karluk Khans, and later to the Khans of Kara Khitai. These tribes are now mainly represented by the Kazaks. West of them, in the steppes north of the Aral, and wandering as far as the Volga, were the Kankalis. West of them again, in the steppes of southern Russia, were the Comans, a section of the Kipchaks proper. The other section of the Kipchaks lived to the north and north-west of the Balkhash lake, in the present country of the Middle Horde of the Kazaks. West of them, and on the Middle Yaik and the Yemba, were the Pechenegs, Manguts, or Karakalpaks. To the north of the latter were the Bashkirs, who did not form any substantive community during the Mongol domination, and who were, as I have shown elsewhere, closely related to the Magyars and to the Meshkeriaks of eastern Russia, and to the Uzes of the Byzantine authors.

A few words, in conclusion, on the present condition of the various Tartar Hordes. The Uzbegs, as we have seen, have practically left the Kipchak steppes altogether, and are now living in the country of Mavera un Nehr, in Turkestan, and in Khuarezm. Those who remain in Turan are represented partially by the Siberian Tartars, who live chiefly in the governments of Tobolsk and Tomsk. The Tobolsk Tartars take their name from the river Tobol, on which and its tributaries they are chiefly found. The Tartar inhabitants of the city of Tobolsk itself are chiefly of Bukharian descent. When Georgi wrote they numbered about 4,000 men, and lived in villages of from ten to fifty houses. They were Muhammedans, and practised agriculture, as well as being herdsmen.

Latham says they are found about Tiumen, on the Tura, and also about Tara, on the Irtish, and are divided into six tribes, the Osta, Ali, Kundei, Sarga, Tav, and Otus.

The Tomsk Tartars live in villages on the river Tom, from its sources in the mountains of Kusnezk to its outfall into the Ob. The Tartars of the city of Tomsk are also Bukharians. The Tomsk Tartars, like those of Tobolsk, are agriculturists and cattle breeders. Their chief tribes are the Tshagi, Ayus, and Tayan.

The Kazaks we have already described. They are now, with the exception of a portion of the Great Horde, entirely subject to Russia. Of the Nogais and their present distribution we shall reserve a notice for the concluding chapter of this volume. Here we will content ourselves with giving a list of the chief Karakalpak tribes, as reported by Vambery, the Karakalpaks being, as we shall show in chapter xii., a section of the Nogais. Vambery thus enumerates them : The Baimakli, Khandekli, Terstamgali, Achamaili, Kaichili Khitai, Ingakli-Keneguz, Tomboyun, Shaku, Ontonturuk. We will now turn to the Tartars properly so called, those who formed the backbone of the Golden Horde.

They may be best divided into the Tartars of the Crimea, of Kazan, and of Astrakhan. Of the first of these the number in 1858, according to Wahl, was 240,000, but most of them afterwards migrated to Turkey, according to some prophecy which predicted the union of all Muhammedans on Turkish ground. “They have, however, had cause to repent of their rash piety, for the holy soil did not offer them anything like what they had left behind, and it is said they are returning to the meat pots of Crimean Egypt.” The Crimean Tartars are very mixed in blood. Many of them are of Nogai descent. These are described as slight in build, but wiry, with a dark yellowish complexion (often passing into copper colour), black eyes, small and flat nose, black hair, and little beard. The formation of their eyes and temples is strikingly peculiar, inasmuch as the latter are very projecting, and make the former appear very deeply set in their cavities. The eyes are narrow, long, and turn up slightly at the corners towards the arch of the eyebrow.

“The Tartars of the northern mountains of the Crimea, and of the steppes and valleys of that part of the country, are distinguished from the others by their tall stature, powerful frames, and their resemblance to the Circassians. Their complexion is lighter, they have big and dark eyes, black beard and hair. They are a very handsome people. In the south of the Crimea they seem to have much Greek blood in their veins. They are also tall, strong, and dark (but not yellow, like those of the central plains), and have long and agreeable faces, straight noses, of sometimes Greek and Roman form, and black eyes and hair. The form of the Tartar ear is very peculiar, and is probably caused by their habit of wearing the big sheepskin caps. Thus it happens often that the ear is actually broader than it is long. The fairness of the skin of their women, who take care never to expose it to the air, is really extraordinary.

There is a colony of Tartars in Lithuania numbering about 8,000. Of these 3,000 live in the governments of Minsk; 2,800 in that of Vilna; 400 in Kovno; and 200 in northern Poland. They are composed partly of Krim Tartars, who were made prisoners of war, and colonised in 1395 by Vitut, the ruler of Lithuania, who, we are told, “ also established a bodyguard of Tartar warriors, still forming a part of the lesser Polish nobility. Although they intermarry with Polish women of rank, they remain Muhammedans, and contract no marriage below their caste, so that the Tartar type and martial spirit has been preserved by them in all their ancient force. But forty years since there still existed a Tartar regiment, the first rank of which was armed with pikes, the second consisting of the servants of the first, which was entirely composed of nobles. They are generally poor, but lead an irreproachable life, as if to prove the respect with which they regard the memory and escutcheon of their fathers. They are almost exclusively engaged in the tanning trade, and altogether a most worthy, excellent people; faithful, an d brave soldiers; modest, sober, and discreet in word and deed. Only the educated can read Tartar, but without understanding it, and write Russian or Polish with Arabic letters. They read the Koran in the Russian or Polish Translation.” The Tartars of Astrakhan, who were once a notable power, have dwindled down, as I shall show further on, into a very small community, and consist mainly of Nogais.

The purest representatives of the old Tartar Khanate of the Golden Horde are no doubt the Tartars of Kazan. Besides those who live in the government of Kazan itself, whose number is put down by Latham at over 300,000, we are told that there are of them in the government of Samara 105,000, in that of Simbirsk 85,000, Viatka 80,000, Saratof 50,000, Pensa 45,000, Nijni Novgorod 37,000, Perm 35,000, Tambof 13,000, Riazan 5,500, St. Petersburg 3,500, Kostroma 300, Moscow 300, and among the Don Cossacks 600. Wahl says of these Tartars : “They are industrious, particularly at their national trade, the preparation of skins, manufacture also morocco leather, and even work in the mines. Their nankins and soups are celebrated. The Tartar idiom spoken by their tribe is the purest of all the Turkish dialects spoken in Russia, and has produced a literature by no means despicable. They are an affable, gentle, honest, sober, and very cleanly people, so that they are much in request everywhere. Their family life is exemplary, and their children are arefully educated.”!

Tornirelli says of the Kazan Tartars : “ The number of their race inhabiting the town of Kazan is about seven thousand. They are in general well formed and handsome; their eyes are black or grey; they have a keen, piercing look, a rather lengthened form of face, a long nose, lips somewhat thicker than those of Europeans, a black beard, carefully trimmed, and hair entirely shaven from the head, which is covered with a small cap called a tebeteika; their ears are large, and standing out from the head; a long neck, very wide shoulders, and a broad chest. Such is the description Dr. Fuchs gives of their form and physiognomy. They are moreover generally tall and erect; their gait is manly and imposing. The doctor was always warm in his praise of this race. He says that whenever he entered a Tartar mosque he was always struck with the fine and noble features of their elders, and he asserts his belief that the ancient Italian artists might have chosen from among this race most admirable subjects for their sacred pictures.”

Of the women, Tornirelli says: “They are middle-sized, and rather stout; like the men, they stand erect, but walk badly and awkwardly, a circumstance principally owing to the heavy dress they wear. They soon grow old, so that a woman of twenty-seven has the look of one of forty; this is owing to the custom they have of painting their faces. Their complexion is rather yellow, and their faces are often covered with pimples and a rash, which proceeds partly from the habit of constantly lying on feather beds and partly from their heavy and over-warm clothing.”

Dr. Fuchs thus sums up the character of the race : “ They are,” he says, “proud, ambitious, hospitable, fond of money, cleanly, tolerably civilised, intelligent in commerce, inclined to boasting, friendly to each other, sober in every way, and very industrious. What is particularly striking is the tenacity with which they have retained their national characteristics, customs, and manners, although nearly three centuries have elapsed since the race was subdued by the Russians.”11 Our author goes on to describe in graphic fashion the manners and customs of the Tartars in very great detail. I will content myself with extracting a paragraph or two. One describing their dress is as follows: “ The dress of the Tartars of Kazan is so different from that of every other nation that it certainly deserves description. They wear a shirt (kulmiak) made of calico, sometimes white and sometimes red; their drawers (schtann) are worn very wide, and are made likewise of calico, or occasionally of silk; their stockings, called yuk, are of cotton or linen ; a species of leather stockings, generally of morocco leather, called ichigi, red or yellow, are worn over the stockings, or sometimes are substituted for them. Their slippers, called kalut, are made of black or green leather. Over the shirt they wear two garments, somewhat in the shape of a European frock-coat without a collar; the under one, having no sleeves, is made of silk; the upper, with sleeves, likewise of silk, is called kasaki. Over these they wear a long wide robe, generally of blue cloth, called chekmen, which is attached to the body by a scarf (poda). In a pocket of this garment they keep their pocket-handkerchief (chaoulok). Their heads, which are shaven to the skin, are covered with a species of skull-cap, called takia; this is covered when they go out with a hat (burik), made of velvet or cloth and ornamented with fur; the rich Tartars use for this purpose beaver-skins of great value.”

The following phrases from the love letter of a Kazan Tartar exhibit the graceful fancy of the race:

“In the garden there are many flowers, many various flowers; but that flower which recalls you to my mind, my beloved friend, is the most short-lived of any.

“All that we need can be satisfied; hunger can be satisfied with a piece of bread, thirst with a draught of water, but what can satisfy my love for you ?

“Alas! you are passing your time in the midst of pleasures, I am passing mine in the midst of sighs and sadness; you are blooming in the midst of the world like a flower of Paradise, I am fading and perishing here in the midst of solitude and silence.

“ The Volga flows rapidly, time flies still more rapidly, but how slowly move the minutes of absence !”

A more pathetic passage is the following epitaph from a tombstone near Ufa, on the banks of the river Diurna, which is much revered by the Tartars. It is as follows:—

“Goss Gussian Bey, a judge, full of equity, and well informed in all the laws, here lies buried.

“ We beseech Thee, O Lord, to have pity upon him, and pardon his sins.

“ He died in the year 774 (of the hejira), in the seventh night of the sacred month.

“ He planned and projected—he wished to execute; but Death opposes the vain projects of man.

“No one on earth can escape Death. Stranger or friend! when thou shalt pass this tomb, think of thy last end.”

The influence of the Tartars was naturally very great upon the various Ugrian races of the Volga, and it is not at all improbable that one of them, which is very important from its numbers, namely, the Chuvashes (and who, the most recent Russian investigations make it probable, are descended from the ancient Bulgars), received from contact with the Kazan Tartars the Turkish dialect which they speak, and which is clearly not their original language, but one which has been adopted. This question, however, is only remotely connected with our present subject.

  CHAPTER 2. JUCHI KHAN AND BATU KHAN