



RUSSIA. 



376 



I* k DM TurkUh, or Tutor. Tli-y oamo into Russia between 

 Mh and 1Mb notary <th tb* Mongol* Mid other conqueror*. 

 TW TwUsh tribes t ptit existing inkui. are four, the Tartan, 

 .TOM.. lh. Uhki. thlirtAUk-. and the Nogai TtoUi.. The 

 TrUf*rf CM** ar* th. mort oi*<UMd nation in Rtuua. Their 

 it a par* and cultivated TurkUh idiom. About seveu-ii;ht tn 

 still Mohammedans, They bar* schools both for the lower 

 cU***s of tit* people. In the elementary shooU instruction 

 is |bw in reading and writing, and the Koran and some other religious 

 ylf. a,, explained. The objecU of instruction in the higher schools 

 ar list Turkish, Persian, and Arabian languages, and arithmetic. The 

 nrisete are edoeaUd In an institution established for that purpose in 

 ariUsf* called Oargali, which is about nine miles from the town of 

 Orenburg. Tho who an established in the towns are either mer- 

 chant* or manufacturers. Th* inhabitant* of the villages are careful 

 tsJUrrtnri of the soil, and also occupy themselves with rearing cattle 

 aad bees. Their village* are wall provided with the most common 

 isnhslns, as Uooen, shoemakers, tailors, dyers, blacksmiths, and 

 carpenter*. They hav* embr.ee.) Christianity. 



Tb* Bashkirs inhabit both declivities of the Ural Mountains from 

 M* N. lat. to near 64' X. 1st. They resemble in language and manners 

 UK Tartan of Casan. though in the form of their body they approach 

 th* type of the Mongols. The Bashkirs still adhere to a wandering 

 111*. In winter they inhabit Tillages, but in summer they ramble about 

 in th* country. They cultivate some patches of land near the houses 

 b*fbr* they begin their wanderings, but the produce of these fields ia 

 not a4tnnsit to their consumption. Their riches consist in horses, of 

 which th* poorest peasant ha* from 30 to 50, and many have 500, and 

 th* richest from 1000 to 2000. Their horses are of a good breed. 

 Tb*y k**p only a small number of black cattle, sheep, and goats. 

 Tb*y hav* also a great number of bee-hivs, and they collect an 

 imm*i'** quantity of wax and honey from the wild bees, which aro 

 nowhere more common than in the countries adjacent to the base of 

 the- Ural Mountains. They train the falcon for the chase of hares, 

 fox**, and wolves. The small tribes of the Metsheriakes live 

 dispersed among the Bashkir*, and subsist on the produce of their 

 herd* of cattle and of their bee-hives. They also cultivate the ground, 

 bat not to a great extent They are considered to be more civilised 

 than their neighbours. Both tribes are Mohammedans. 



Th* Nogai Tartars inhabit the Crimea and the steppe which extends 

 north of that peninsula ; they are also dispersed over the country east 

 of the Sea of Axof, aud along the northern base of the Caucasus. In 

 th* Crimea they are agriculturists, and have extensive orchards. They 

 also manufacture leather, and make cutlery, saddles, and shoes. This 

 portion of the Nogai has attained a considerable degree of civilisation. 

 The remainder of the Nogais lead a half-wandering, half-settled life in 

 the steppes north of the Sea of Azof. Their herds consist of cattle 

 and small hardy horses, but of a rather small breed. They have also 

 II n us flocks of the large-tailed sheep. 



Tb* number of individuals belonging to the Teutonic family is pro- 

 bably larger than that of the Turks. They are Germans and Swedes 

 with whom a few Danes are mixed. Numerous families of Germans 

 ar* dispersed through the provinces along the Baltic, south of the Gulf 

 of FInUnd, among the Lettes and Esthonians, aud in those parts they 

 constitute the nobility of the country. Most of these families settled 

 there when the Order of the Knights Swordbearers was the acknow- 

 ledged sovereign of these countries (from 1300 to 1530). Great 

 munbers of German families are settled in the two capitals and in the 

 cbirf towns of the empire, in the southern provinces, and in the 

 Crimea. The Swedes are numerous along the northern coast of the 

 Unlf of Finland, and the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. 



There are few Jews in the central and northern provinces ; but they 

 ar* nnmrroui In those part* which formerly belonged to Poland. They 

 ar* smiths, tailors, shoemakers, brewers, distillers, &c. 



Tk* Greeks are dispersed all over the southern provinces of the 

 rmpir* M merchant*. In the Crimea a few villages are entirely 

 inhabited by them. They oocnpy themnelves with agriculture and 



The Kalmucks show their Mongol origin by the form of their body, 

 a* well as by their language. The tribes of this nation which still 

 exist in th* south-eastern steppes of Russia are the remnant of those 

 which Ml Russia In 17TO and 1772, at the invitation of the Chinese 

 ovcnment, and settled in the plains of Songaria. They are divided 

 into five tribes. In a country which has hardly a few patches of 

 cultivable land, the Kalmucks by able management have succeeded in 

 Joining horses, cattle, camels, sheep, and goats to the number of 

 thru millions. They export to other part* of Russia wool, hair, tallow. 

 Iamb- aad sheep-skin*, hides, and fur to a large amount The Kalmucks 

 are BuddhisU and hav* their own Great Lama. They have also their 

 I political administration, of which the khan of the Derbet tribe is 



the bead. He is assisted by eight counsellors and judges, and a person 

 arnt from St. IVtemburg. 



Aftsr th* emigration of the larger number of Kalmucks in 1 771 and 

 1778, by which the whole steppe between the rivers Volga and Ural 

 oath of tb* OtwUhri Sirt was at once deprived of iU inhabitants a 

 Mtnerons tribe of Kirgbii Cossaks, belonging to the Little Horde of 

 that nation, was settled in the tract which the Kalmucks had abandoned. 

 They are known under the name of th* Uukei hordi-, from the name 



of their chief, called Bukei, who introduced them into Russia. In 

 personal appearance, they greatly resemble the Kalmucks and other 

 Mongol tribes, but their language U Turkish. Like the Kalmuck*, 

 they are nomadic herdsmen, but they have only a small number of 

 camels. They also keep some cattle and goat?. Their wealth mainly 

 consists in horses and sheep. Some rich proprietors are said t h:u.- 

 4000 or 5000 horses and 20,000 sheep. The sheep supply the principal 

 articles of traffic, and numerous flocks arc annually sold to the 

 Russians at Orenburg, Troizk, and Astrakhan. Their agriculture is 

 limited to the raising of some barley, and a small quantity of wheat 

 and millet They hunt the fur-bearing animals, with which their 

 country abounds, and in summer the saiga-antelope. The Kirghiz 

 Cossaks are not very strict Mohammedans. 



Agriculture. Notwithstanding the variety and great abundance of 

 the natural productions of the Russian empire, agriculture may be 

 said to be even now (with the exceptions to be noticed presently) in 

 its first stage, sinca there is certainly no province which yields even 

 hnlf of what it is capable of producing. Hence in the greater part of 

 the empire it is not so much the ground itself that has any value, as 

 the labouring population, and accordingly it is not the number of acres 

 in an estate that is considered, but that of the male serfs attache 1 to 

 it. The old three-field system of husbandry, by which one-third of 

 the land is always in fallow, is generally adopted in Russia. This sys- 

 tem is unfavourable to cattle breeding and to the making of mauuiv for 

 supplying the exhaustion of the soil : it hoa also led to the extirpation of 

 the forests in many parts ; but it is too deeply rooted in the habits of 

 the people to be easily changed. In the Baltic provinces however 

 agriculture is in an advanced condition, and many improved methods 

 have been introduced by the wealthy proprietors. The governments 

 nearest to Moscow also, and the Polish governments, have a compara- 

 tively large proportion of cultivated land and a tolerably good 

 system of cultivation ; yet even in theae provinces there are extensive 

 tracts in which not one-fifteenth part of the surface is cultivated. The 

 thinness of the population, the want of roads and markets in the 

 interior of the empire, and obstinate adherence to old routine, con- 

 tribute to prolong this state of things. On account of the compara- 

 tively small value of laud, and the want of manure, the fields in 

 Great and Little Russia are often suffered to be fallow for two or three 

 years. The usual kinds of corn grown are rye, wheat, barley, and 

 oats ; maize is grown chiefly in the countries about the Black Sea. 

 Other products are pulse, especially peas ; millet, hemp, and flax in 

 the west and north-western governments ; and hops in Little Russia. 

 The cultivation of grasses is neglected. According to Tengoborski, 

 who in his 'Productive Forces of Russia,' estimates the population of 

 the empire at 68 millions, the total cereal produce annually amounts 

 to 260 million tchetwerts, or 186,875,000 imperial quarters. Of this 

 about 9 million quarters, chiefly wheat, are-exported, leaving 177,875,000 

 quarters to supply seed corn, and the grain used in breweries and 

 distilleries, for feeding cattle, and for the support of the population ; 

 which last, according to a careful estimate by Schubert some years 

 ago, amounts to about 15 bushels per head. The average annual 

 exportation of hemp and flax between 1847 and 1850 was not quite 

 seven and a half million poods (36 Ibs. each). Timber, hides, tallow, 

 and wool arc the other chief exports. The export of wool, formerly 

 very considerable, has fallen off as the supply from Australia has 

 increased ; the carelessness of the flockmasters (who labour rather to 

 increase the number of their flocks than to improve their breeds), in 

 matters relating to the cleansing and sorting of the wool, has t 

 considerably to check export of this article. In some years the 

 harvests fail, and instead of exporting corn it is necessary to allow 

 the importation of corn free of duty. The government makes great 

 efforts to favour agriculture. It endeavours to extend useful knowledge 

 on the subject to all parts of the empire ; many agricultural socii'tii'* 

 have been formed, and schools established, in which everything !> n- 

 ing on the subject is taught in the most simple manner. In European 

 Russia less than 2-10ths of the surface is under corn-culture; in 

 France the ratio is nearly 5-lOths. 



Manufactures. The manufactures of Russia have been chiefly in- 

 debted for their encouragement and progress to the efforts of the 

 government The czars Ivan I. and II. invited artisans and workmen 

 from Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy, and established at Moscow, 

 Yaroslav, Smolensk, and Kiew manufactures of woollen cloth, linen, 

 arms, &c. But the civil wars before the accession of the house of 

 Romanoff, and the interference of Sweden and Poland, which led to 

 the desolation of the country, checked the infant manufactures, so that 

 in fact nothing was done till the reign of Peter the Great, who in thin, 

 as in many other respects, was the founder of the prosperity of Russia. 

 He gave great encouragement to foreign manufacturers, and founded 

 in the first instance great manufactories of arms at Tula, Petrosawodsk, 

 and at Sestrabeck, near St. Petersburg ; aud the great imperial manu- 

 factories of woollen and linen at Moscow. At St. Petersburg he 

 established manufactories of articles of luxury, such as mirrors, 

 expensive glass-wares, rich carpets, silks, cotton, &o. In all the larger 

 cities he established at least one manufactory of woollen, linen, and 

 metal, so that at his death there were twenty-one great imperial 

 manufactories, and many smaller ones, partly supported at the public 

 expense. The chief seat of manufactures is Moscow and its govern- 

 I niuiit; aud next the governments of Wladimir, Nischnei-Novgorod, 



