222 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



intermarriage takes place to a certain extent. In appearance, as well as in character, they 

 are readily distinguished. The Usbegs are taller and thinner, have but scanty beards (owing 

 to the Mongol strain in their blood), and much more strongly marked faces. They look 

 upon Tajiks as effeminate and time-serving, although the latter have intellectual qualities 

 which make them indispensable. The government is in their hands; their soldiers are brave 

 and dashing. In religion all are fanatical Mohammedans. The Usbegs cultivate with great 



assiduity the music and poetry iden- 

 tified with their race. They arrange 

 mock battles to celebrate great occa- 

 sions, and are particularly fond of 

 horse-racing. 



The Tajiks claim to be of Arab 

 descent; but physical traits, and the 

 fact that their language is a dialect 

 of Persian, prove them to be a branch 

 of the latter race. They came from 

 the west, and settled on the banks 

 of the Zarafshan River at a time when 

 the country was uninhabited, and only 

 a jungle of reeds was to be seen 

 where the town of Bokhara now 

 stands. In that city Tajiks consti- 

 tute the majority of the population, 

 and have won a reputation as enter- 

 prising and skilful traders. Their 

 peaceable disposition is attributed by 

 the Usbegs to cowardice. They are 

 known to be avaricious, faithless, and 

 deceitful. The Iranian type is appa- 

 rent in their faces; yet they differ 

 in some respects from Persians who 

 have settled in Bokhara within recent 

 times. They may be described as tall, 

 with handsome and regular features, 

 rather fair in complexion, with black 

 hair and eyes. The men cultivate 

 ample beards, and try to improve their 



personal appearance as much as possible; yet their faces show an expression of shrewdness 

 and of cunning which excites suspicion in others. Most of them speak Turki, the language 

 of the Usbegs. Their intellectual superiority has secured for them a leading place in Bokharan 

 society. (See illustrations on page x519.) 



By permission of the Royal Gtoi/iajt/iical Society. - 



A DUNGAN WOMAN, PROVINCE OF KULJA. 



SIBERIA. 



THE native inhabitants of Siberia are said to number scarcely 750,000, excluding the Bashkirs, 

 who dwell west of the Ural Eiver, and both the Kara Kirghiz and the Kirghiz-Kazaks, who 

 live mostly south of the Aralo-Caspian region. All the numerous native races, of which we 

 shall only describe a few typical ones, are being rapidly absorbed by the Russians, or Slavs. 

 None of them appear able to hold their own, except the Yakuts of the Lena Basin, and 

 the Kirghiz of the West Siberian Steppes. Ostiaks, Samoyedes, Giliaks, and others are fast 

 dying out. All these and many more aboriginal tribes belong to the Mongolo-Tartar division, 

 except the " Hyperboreans," who are as yet unclassified. 



