1824. ] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
THE KIRGHEES. 
HE immense steppes which extend 
beyond the south-eastern borders 
of Russia, are inhabited by a race of 
people, savage like their country, rude 
like their climate, numerous, brave, and 
at one time wealthy. These people call 
themselves Kirghees-Kaissacks, lead a 
nomade life under felt tents, generally 
called Kibitkes, and are divided into 
three hordes : the great, the middle, and 
the little. 
that we wish to treat 
seription. : 
This horde nomadises (if we may use 
such a term) among the extensive dis- 
tricts between-the river Ural, the Cas- 
pian Sea and the lake of Aral, the Sir- 
Daria, the lake Akssakal-Barbee, and 
the rivers Irgis and Or. Their camps 
are similar to those of their brethren of 
the middle horde, the Kara-Kalpaks, 
Kourds, Arabs and Turcomans; but 
how far, or in what particulars they are 
distinguished from them, is difficult to 
determine, owing to our want of exact 
data respecting those different nations 
or tribes. 
This horde is divided into three prin- 
cipal races, which again are subdivided 
into thirty-two families. Their number 
is estimated at 160,000 Kibitkes, of ten 
persons each, including males and fe- 
males. The middle horde is less nu- 
merous. About 10,000 Kibitkes of the 
little horde have settled in the steppe 
Run-Pesski, on the inner side of the 
Ural. They are called the Bukejewshi- 
horde, after the name of them Sultan 
Bukei, who led them to this settlement 
in 1800, and who was subsequently 
made a Khan. In the year 1733, the 
little horde, and soon after the middle 
horde, submitted themselves to the Rus- 
sian authority. Since that time the 
government of that country affects to 
exercise a certain supremacy ovey them, 
confirming their Khans, appointing com- 
missioners and chancellors for the 
regulation of their affairs, &c.; all of 
which the hardy savages ‘heed no more 
than the whistling of the wind, unless 
backed by two or three hundred in- 
fantry and Cossacks with a couple of 
pieces of artillery. Indeed, their va- 
gabond mode of life, the great distance 
of their villages from one another, 
makes the power of the Khans them- 
selves all but nominal ; and the real au- 
thority resides with the Beys, Tarchans, 
-or Baturs, heads of the villages and 
elders, who are elected by the people. 
Monruty Mac. No. 401, 
in this de- 
Lhe Kirghees. 
It is especially of the latter - 
201 
But even their dominion is much cir- 
cumscribed, and_they are liable to be 
deposed, forsaken, or even murdered 
by their unruly and fickle subjects ; 
even if they should be able to boast the 
acknowledgment of the Russian Czar. 
The Russians feel exceedingly sore at 
this turbulence of their Kirghees sub- 
jects, who, instead of being quiet and 
peaceful like the Cossacks, Calmues, 
and other Asiatic tribes under their do- 
minion, form one of the most serious 
impediments against the extension of 
their trade towards the east, and at times 
even become formidable to their own 
legitimate frontiers, about Orenburg 
and Omsk, which they annoy by their 
marauding incursions. Nevertheless the 
writers of that nation acknowledge that 
although they are unwilling to obey an 
incapable or unjust ruler, a chief who dis- 
tinguishes himself by actions of benevo« 
lence and justice will command their 
respect and affection, and need be under 
no apprehension of being disturbed. in 
the authority they have conferred upon 
him. The Khans generally undertake 
to escort the Russian caravans through 
the desert; but even then they are 
liable to be attacked by superior num- 
bers, often of the Khan’s own rebellious 
subjects, when the merchandize is plun- 
dered and the people led into captivity, 
to be ransomed at high prices. Neither 
menaces nor kindness, neither oath nor 
treaty can bind these robbers, who are 
as dangerous to one another as they are 
to strangers. 
In former times their wealth in cattle 
was so great that in Orenburg alone 
near 10,000 horses, 2,000 heads of cat- 
tle, and 385,000 sheep were annually 
obtained from them in exchange for 
Russian produce and manufacture ; be-= 
sides great quantities of skins, espe- 
cially of wolves and various species of 
foxes, camel and goat’s hair, anda stuff 
made of camel’s hair, and felt, But 
now this trade has considerably. de- 
creased, owing to their domestic dissen- 
sions, called baranta, and of late years, 
especially since 1816, to the frequent 
irruptions of the Khan of Chiwa, who 
_ wherever he went, broke up their camps, 
carried off their cattle, and killed or led 
into captivity the people of either sex. 
The middle horde is likewise very much 
impoverished, but as the country which 
they inhabit is much more productive 
than that of the little horde, and they 
are of a much more peaceable’ dispo- 
sition, owing by the superior skill of 
their neighbours the Bashkirs in the use 
2D of 
