



THE NOMAD HERDSMEN AND HERDS OF THE STEPPES. 473 



even in the open steppe rights of possession and definite boundaries 

 are recognized by ancient agreement; every horde, every branch of 

 a horde, every community, the members of every aul, claim a right 

 to the land traversed by their forefathers, and suffer no strange 

 herd or herdsman to encroach on it, but take to arms and wage 

 bloody warfare with every intruder, even with other members of 

 the same tribe. This explains the fact that the nomad herdsman 

 not only travels along definite routes, but restricts himself to a 

 strictly limited range. His path may occasionally cross that of 

 another herdsman, but it is never the same, for each respects the 

 rights of the other, and is prevented by the rest of his tribe from 

 encroaching upon them. 



" Settled ", in our sense of the word, the Kirghiz never is, unless 

 in the grave, but he is not without a home. In the wide sense, 

 his home is the district through which he travels, in most cases the 

 basin and valley of a small stream or brook, or, in a more restricted 

 sense, his winter camping-ground from which he sets forth on his 

 journeys, and to which he always returns. In the neighbourhood 

 of this camping-ground rest nearly all, if not all his dead; here 

 he may even have a fixed dwelling; hither the government sends its 

 messengers to collect his taxes or appraise his possessions and count 

 the members of his family and of his herds; here he spends, if not 

 the happiest, at least the largest part of his life; here, gay and 

 careless as he usually is, he passes through his severest and most 

 serious trials. The exact locality of the winter dwelling may vary, 

 but the camping-ground does not. Indispensable conditions are, 

 that it be as much as possible protected from the cold, deadly, north 

 and east winds, that the yurt can be erected on a sunny spot, that 

 fixed houses may be built without much difficulty, that the necessary 

 supply of water be certain, and that sufficient pasturage be avail- 

 able within easy distance. These conditions are best fulfilled by 

 the valley of a river whose tributaries have cut deeply into the 

 surrounding country, where the grass does not dry up in summer, so 

 that hay can be cut at the proper season and yet enough food be left 

 for the herds in winter, and where, in addition to the dung used for 

 fire-lighting, fuel may be procured from the willow-bushes and black 



