222 



KNOWLEDGE 



[October 1, 1900. 



to the exclusion of other vegetation, characterises the 

 steppes; here numerous rivers and forests bear witness 

 to the humidity of the climate. 2. The population must 

 be constrained to become sedentaiy. 



The neighbourhood of pastoral hordes is a permanent 

 soui'ce of danger to sedentary peoples. The Russians, 

 like the Romans of old and the French in Algeria with 

 regard to the Arabs, remedy this by forcing the frontier 

 nomads to become sedentary and agricultm'alists. This 

 is effected by the system of cantonment. No one is 

 allowed to go beyond his canton on pain of death. 



The process of cantoning consists in limiting the 

 range of a horde and even in reducing it to till the soil. 

 This modifies the pastoral life. The families begin to 

 be less independent and self-sufficient. Soon they 

 exchange the excess products of their flocks for domestic 

 utensils and cereals in the great markets of Oi-enburg, 

 Troitzk, etc. The introduction of cereals into every-day 

 food is a forerunner of more important transformations. 



Occupation. — The Bashkirs, as fai- as possible, retain 

 the pastoral life, as during the five summer months, 

 May to September, they live in tents. The main 

 nourishment of the nomadic herders is furnished by 

 mares' milk, and it is the number of these animals that 

 constitutes a sign of wealth, but their number is gi'eatly 

 i-educed. 



All pastoral peoples exhibit a repugnance to other 

 occupations. Two examples will suffice to illustrate 

 this disjxjsition. The pastoral mountaineers of the 

 small canton of Uri, in Switzerland, could not be 

 induced, even by high wages, to work at the St. Gothard 

 tunnel, and Italians had to be imported. The Arabs 

 in Algeria exhibit the same dislike to manual labour 

 on the soil. The desire for wealth and the satisfaction 

 of refined wants ai-e not constraining forces in simple 

 societies ; they are rather ai'tificial products, created 

 slowly and with difficulty by a more complicated social 

 state. What is natui-al to man is the love of ease and 

 quietude. 



The poorer Bashkirs who are obliged to subsist by 

 agriculture or manufactures, go at least once a week 

 to the tents to pai-take of the pleasures of kumis and 

 exemption from agricultural toil, as well as for prayer 

 and meditation in the beautiful country where the tents 

 are pitched. How hard it is when winter ai'rives to 

 descend to the village of Mochmet to be confined to a 

 house and to live a sedentary life. 



Work ceases to be attractive and the social conditions 

 more complex. Two classes of family result: (1) the 

 provident and (2) the improvident — i.e., the greater 

 number who have to be directed and maintained by 

 the former. Thus we have an upper class and a lower 

 class, and here we can trace the commencement of 

 inequality among them. Hence the social problem 

 arises of 2)rotecting the improvidents against their im- 

 providence. These two classes are clearly marked among 

 the Bashkirs. The one succeeds in maintaining and 

 developing its first attempts at cultivation; the other, 

 after vain attempts, falls back purely and simply to 

 the wandering life of the pastors. 



At fii-st a pastoral people does not entirely devote 

 itself to agriculture. The more improvident, as we 

 have seen, live in their old state of life, while even the 

 provident continue to rely as far as possible on the 

 old habit of simple harvesting. The education of the 

 agriculturist is a slow process. 



Great variety of treatment is required in the cultiva- 

 tion of diverse plants, and the social consequences of 



varied tillage are very different from the uniformity 

 impressed on the pastoral art. The Bashkirs employ 

 those plants that necessitate the least amount of trouble 

 and foresight. These ai-e (1) hay for winter con 

 sumption, (2) vegetables, and (3) flax and hemp. They 

 demand little time and labour, and all but the last 

 two provide products immediately usable for the direct 

 wants of the family. (1) Hay is the spontaneous pro- 

 duction of the grass. (2) The vegetables require only 

 easv work. The soil is abundant, rich, and well watered. 

 The labour is performed by the women. A family 

 possesses only two spades and a hoe, there is no plough. 

 Seven days of work in a year suffices for the cultiva^ 

 tion of a garden. They grow potatoes, tui-nips, carrots, 

 onions and hops. (3) The cultivation of flax and 

 hemp demands only five days' labour of the women, 

 four days of the childi-en and one day of a horse. 



Many Bashkirs refuse to cultivate com, because it 

 gives too much trouble, but they have need of it 

 owing to the diminution in milk. The work of the men 

 occupies only twelve days, which are employed in the 

 transport of the grain and other commodities. 



Even this rudimentary cultivation demands more fore- 

 thought and more resources than the pastoral art; for 

 example, the stabling of the animals in winter and 

 feeding them; the building of stables and barns; the 

 hay must be got in rapidly and be properly preserved 

 and of sufficient quantity to last through the winter. 

 Then there is the cultivation of edible and textile 

 plants. 



A fixed house, as opposed to a tent, becomes necessary, 

 fodder cannot be readily transported. Here the diffi- 

 culties in the way of a fixed house are considerably 

 reduced owing to the abundance of available land, 

 the sufficiency of spontaneous productions, such as wood, 

 etc., and the custom of heumniin, or communal laboui'. 

 This is an assemblage called together for a special pur- 

 pose, such as carting, harvesting, building, and the like, 

 the only reward being a copious feast at the end of 

 the day and a distribution of brandy. This custom is a 

 very widely spread one, and these communal operations 

 fonn occasions for recreation and feasting. The 

 hciiminin is an important social symptom, as it testifies 

 that owing to cultivation, families, at least for certain 

 works, can no longer as in pastoral societies suffice for 

 themselves. They have to call in strangers, especially 

 in the case of harvest, when on one occasion the pro- 

 visions for the whole year are garnered. This is the 

 first step along the road that leads to the introduction 

 of hired labourers. 



Property. — In the steppes the soil belongs to the 

 community at large, the herder pitches his tents, and 

 his. flocks browse the pasture. Proprietorship lasts as 

 short a time as the work. In agi'icidtiu'al communities 

 the duration of work is prolonged. It takes several 

 months, or even a year, before the recompense for the 

 labour is attained. The prolongation of the diu'ation of 

 work necessitates the prolongation of ownership. This 

 is the case with the Bashkirs, who have the least possible 

 love for ownership of the soil. They take the minimum 

 ownership ; but, for all that, they remain several years 

 on one spot. They do not annex property, it is the 

 property that seizes and constrains them and which 

 will not let them go. The duiation of appropriation 

 grows according to the exigencies of the labour. Among 

 the Bashkii's the commune — still the sole propi-ietor of 

 the soil — concedes to each family a portion of land 

 for a period of fifteen years. Tacitus has recorded a 



