Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/107

KIRGHIZ 95

with 16,500 tents, or 80,000 to 90,000 souls. The Sayak numbers 10,000 tents, or about 50,000 souls, making a total of 200,000 in Russian territory. The Sol section, with the independent On tribes, are roughly estimated at about 200,000, making 400,000 Kara-Kirghiz altogether.

All are essentially nomads, occupied mainly with stock breed- in, chiefly horses of a small but hardy breed, sheep of the fat- tailed species, oxen used both for riding and as pack animals, some goats, and camels of both species. Agriculture is limited chiefly to the cultivation of wheat, barley, and millet, from the last of which a coarse vodka or brandy is distilled. Trade is carried on chiefly by barter, cattle being taken by the dealers from China, Turkestan, and Russia in exchange for manufactured goods.

The Kara-Kirghiz are governed by the "manaps," or tribal rulers, who enjoy almost unlimited authority, and may even sell or kill their subjects. In religious matters they differ little from the Kazaks, whose practices are described below. Although generally recognizing Russian sovereignty since 1864, they pay no taxes, and merely furnish certain raw products to the Russian troops on their passage through the country.

The Kazaks. – Though not unknown to them, the term Kirghiz is never used by the steppe nomads, who always call themselves simply Kazaks, that is, "riders," as the word is commonly interpreted. The first authentic reference to this name is by Firdousi (1020), who speaks of the Kazak tribes as much dreaded steppe marauders, all mounted and armed with lances. From this circumstance the term Kazak came to be gradually applied to all free booters similarly equipped, and it thus spread from the Arab-Caspian basin to South Russia, where it still survives under the form of "Kossak." Hence though Kazak and Cossack are originally the same word, the former now designates a Mongolo-Tatar nomad race, the latter various members of the Great and Little Russian Slav family. No satisfactory explanation of its origin has been given. Since the 18th century the Russians have used the compound expression Kirghiz-Kazak, chiefly in order to distinguish them from their own Cossacks, at that time overrunning Siberia. Herbertstein (1520) is the first European who mentions them by name, and it is noteworthy that he speaks of them as "Tartars," that is, a people rather of Turki than Mongolian stock. In their present homes, the so- called "Kirghiz steppes," they are far more numerous and wide-spread than their Kara-Kirghiz kinsmen, stretching almost uninterruptedly from Lake Balkash round the Aral and Caspian Seas westwards to the lower Volga, and from the river Irtish southwards to the lower Oxus and Ust-Urt plateau. Their domain, which is nearly 2,000,000 square miles in extent, thus lies mainly between 45 and 55 N. lat. and from 45 to 80 E. long. Here they came under the sway of Jeughiz Khan, after whose death they fell to the share of his son Juchi, head of the Golden Horde, but continued to retain their own khans. When the Usbegs acquired the ascendency, many of the former subjects of the Juchi and Jagatai hordes fell off and joined the Kazaks. Thus were formed about 1500 two powerful states in the Kipchak and Cheteh steppes, the Moghul- Uluss and the Kazak, the latter of whom, under their khan Arslane, are said by Sultan Baber to have had as many as 400,000 fighting men. Their numbers continued to be swollen by voluntary or enforced accessions from the fragments of the Golden Horde, such as the Kipchaks, Naimans, Konrats, Jalairs, Kankly, whose names are still preserved in the tribal divisions of the Kazaks. And as some of these peoples were undoubtedly of true Mongolian stock, their names have given a colour to the statement that all the Kazaks were rather of Mongol than of Turki origin. But the universal prevalence of a nearly pure variety of the Turki speech throughout the Kazak steppes is almost alone sufficient to show that the Tatar element must at all times have been in the ascendant.

The Kirghiz-Kazaks have long been grouped in three large "hordes" or encampments, further subdivided into a number of so-called "races," which are again grouped in tribes, and these in sections, branches, and auls, or communities of from five to fifteen tents. The division into hordes has been traditionally referred to a powerful khan, who divided his states amongst his three sons, the eldest of whom became the founder of the Ulu-Yuz, or Great Horde, the second of the Urta-Yuz, or Middle Horde, and the third of the Kachi-Yuz, or Little Horde. The last two under their common khan Abulkhair voluntarily submitted in 1730 to the czarina Anne. Most of the Great Horde were subdued by Yunus, khan of Ferghana, in 1798, and all the still independent tribes finally accepted Russian sovereignty in 1819. The races, range, and numerical strength of these hordes are shown in the following table: –

Races. Range. Tents. Souls. GREAT HORDE. – Uïsiûn, Tulatai, Sargan, Konrat. {Chiefly south of Lake Balkash and near the Tian-Shan; between Semipalatinsk and Semiryechensk.} 85,000 450,000

MIDDLE HORDE. – Arghyne, Naiman, Kipchak, Uvak-Ghirel.

Chiefly on the low hilly watershed between the Ob and Aralo-Caspian basins, from Aral Sea to Lake Balkash; governments of Semipalatinsk and Akmolinsk, West Siberia. 175,000 1,100,000

LITTLE HORDE. – Alimuly, Baiuly, Jetirurug. From Kara-Kum desert to lower Volga, north of Aral Sea, and in governments of Orenburg, Uralsk, Turgay, and Astrakhan. 170,000 1,000,000

Since 1801 a fourth division, known as the Inner or Bukeyevskaya Horde, from the name of their first khan, Bukei, has been settled in the Orenburg steppe. It is estimated at 40,000 tents or 200,000 souls, giving for all the Kazaks 470,000 tents and 2,750,000 souls.

But these divisions affect the common people alone, all the higher orders and ruling families being broadly classed as White and Black Kost or Bones. The White Bones comprise only the khans and their descendants, besides the issue of the khojas or Moslem "saints." The Black Bones include all the rest, except the Telengut or servants of the khans, and the Kûl or slaves.

The Kazaks are an honest and trustworthy people, but heavy, sluggish, sullen, and unfriendly. Even the hospitality enjoined by the Koran is displayed only towards the "faithful," that is, exclusively to the members of the orthodox Sunnite sect. So essentially nomadic are all the tribes that they cannot adopt a settled life without losing the very sentiment of their nationality, and becoming rapidly absorbed in the Slav population. They dwell exclusively in the kibitka or yurt, a semi-circular tent consisting of a light wooden framework, and red cloth or felt covering, with an opening above for light and ventilation. It is usually furnished with a large family clothes chest, felt carpet, wooden bedstead, leather bottles for kumis (fermented mare's milk), a tea service, and a few domestic utensils. Yet it may easily be pitched or struck in half an hour, and is rapidly transported on camels across the steppe. The camp life of the Kazaks seems almost unendurable to Europeans in winter, when they are confined altogether to the tent, and exposed to endless discomforts. In summer the day is spent mostly in sleep or drinking kumis, followed at night by feasting and the recital of tales, varied with songs accompanied by the music of the flute and balalaika. But horsemanship is the great amusement of all true Kazaks, who may almost be said to be born in the saddle. Hence, though excellent riders, they are bad walkers, and, though hardy and long-lived, uncleanly in their -habits and often decimated by small-pox and Siberian plague. They have no fixed meals, and live mainly on mutton and goat and horse flesh, and instead of bread use the so-called balamyk, a mess of flour fried in dripping and diluted in water. The universal drink is kumis, which is wholesome, nourishing, and a specific against all chest diseases.

The dress consists of the chapân, a flowing robe of which one or