22O 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



and bridles are often covered with silver, gold, and precious stones. The women dress nearly 

 like the men; but instead of wearing felt hats, their heads and necks are wrapped up in loose 

 folds of white cotton cloth, so as to make a bib and a great turban combined. The women 

 do most of the work, the men being lazy. Girls watch the sheep at night. 



Owing to the simple conditions of their lives, the Kirghiz-Kazaks are far more truly 

 children of Nature than most Asiatics. The men are great riders, being able to travel 

 hundreds of miles without apparent fatigue. Spending their time mostly on horseback, they 

 acquire an intimate familiarity with all the aspects of the plains and hills. Their powers 

 of vision are most remarkable; and being very observant, they are invaluable guides for 

 travellers. They can find their way at night without the aid of the stars, and are able to 

 distinguish the colour of a horse on the horizon long before the stranger can discern its 

 presence there. 



Marriage is purely a matter of barter; betrothal takes place at an early age. Sometimes 

 the bride costs her husband as much as 100 mares, but never less than twenty-seven. In 

 1868 the Russian Government gave to brides the right of withdrawing from wedlock with 

 bridegrooms to whom they had been engaged in extreme youth. The men for a long time 



kept the women ignorant of this 

 law; but when it was published, a 

 number of brides came forward to 

 claim their freedom. In old days a 

 woman who wished to be free from 

 her husband was obliged to run away 

 from him three times. Then, if upon 

 inquiry it could be proved that she 

 had been harshly treated, the marriage 

 was dissolved. 



At the birth of a child an 

 assembly of old women employ magic 

 rites to keep off evil spirits, and in 

 order to propitiate them part of the 

 flesh of a freshly killed lamb or sheep 

 is thrown into the fire. A boy baby 

 is greeted with joy; but the arrival 

 A KIRGHIZ BED. o f & g j r i j s f e i t as a burden and a 



misfortune. 



When a death takes place, the body is well washed, dressed in clean white clothes, 

 wrapped in linen and felts, and carried with but little delay to the grave. The ground is 

 dug out to a depth of three feet, the spot is marked with a stone, and mourners visit the 

 grave for forty days after the interment. 



Religion is scarcely more than a name. The people profess themselves Mohammedans, but 

 very few have any fixed religious principles. There is no settled and recognised priestly order. 

 They rarely pray; and such notions as are entertained concerning things supernatural are 

 nearly all derived from older paganism and contemporary Shamanism, which is a species of 

 Nature-worship, with Sharnans or wizards to officiate and to interpret signs and omens. 



Prom the earliest accounts Turkomans appear as a plundering nomad race, who were never 

 politically organised. "We are all equal," they say; "with us every man is a king." The 

 title of khan among them is little more than honorary. As their name implies, they are of 

 Turki stock. The number of these people is estimated at over 600,000. They are divided 

 into nine sub-tribes, each of which is independent of the others, though all recognise a 

 common origin. A feeling of brotherhood prevents anarchy. The Turkoman was till recently 

 a slave-dealer, selling Persians, whose caravans he waylaid in Khiva and Bokhara. In 1881 

 the Russians destroyed the military power of the Turkomans by capturing their principal 



Photo by M. Labbe] 



U'an 



