182 report — 1859. 



that their history, the periods of their emigration from Palestine, of their subsequent 

 wanderings and settlements, of their immigration from Asia into Europe, and the 

 exact differences which they profess in their religious doctrine from the ordinary 

 followers of the Jewish faith, might be more accurately investigated. 



The distinguished Pallas was, he thought, the first to describe this remarkable 

 people at the close of the last century ; he found a great many of them living and 

 carrying on trade at Tchifut Kaleh, i. e., 'the Jews' Fort', in the Crimea. That 

 traveller stated that they reject the Talmud, and receive no other Jews into their 

 community. They have a beautiful cemetery overshaded with fine trees, which they 

 name the ' Valley of Jehoshaphat,' and from the numerous sepulchres there seen — 

 nearly 4000, according to Demidoff — the population must have been large. The 

 most ancient inscription on a tomb there is said to bear date 4727 of the jear of the 

 world, or 723 a.d., which, if correct, will show that they have resided in Tchitfut 

 Kaleh for more than eleven and a quarter centuries. They are stated to have been 

 governed by their own magistrates. 



Some have derived the word Karaim, from Kara, a ' writing ' (scriptura) ; and in 

 addition to the chief difference in religion between the Karaites and the Ordinary 

 Jews — which is the rejection of the Talmud by the former, — some variations in the 

 Liturgy, in the mode of circumcision, in the rules respecting diet, and in the degrees 

 of relationship which permit or forbid marriage, — constitute a very material distinc- 

 tion between these two great sections of the Jewish people. The Karaites have a 

 synagogue at Tchufut Kaleh which has existed for many centuries, and in it are 

 preserved some ancient llwras, or MS. copies of the Pentateuch on vellum, and rolled 

 in velvet cases. 



A special commission is mentioned to have been appointed by the Russian Govern- 

 ment some time ago to inquire into the condition, origin and settlement of the 

 Karaites ; and the following is part of the account confirmed by it, as taken from 

 Baron von Haxthausen's work : " They assert their descent, pure and unmixed, from 

 the tribe of Judah, which was led to Babylon:" that in the reign of Cyrus (about 

 536 b.c) some of them returned to Judea ; but that many, remaining after the destruc- 

 tion of Babylon, penetrated farther to the north, settled first in Armenia, and then 

 spread by degrees to the Caucasus ; passing over into the Crimea, they then resided 

 there ; and a few colonies at length, emigrating from thence, arrived in Poland. 



They live in harmony with Christians, and regard Christ as a Prophet who pro- 

 ceeded from their own race, and whose disciples founded a neiv sect. Not having 

 been in Judea in the time of Christ, they do not share the animosity usually enter- 

 tained by Jews against Christians. 



These Karaites differ from the ordinary Jews, of whom the inferior order is found 

 in such numbers throughout Europe, not only in appearance, but also in character. 

 The expression of their countenance is in general open and prepossessing. Both 

 sexes are handsome, and have the general features of the Jews, — dark eyes, dark hair, 

 &c. Great cleanliness of their persons distinguishes them mostly from their brethren, 

 the Jews. They are polite, honest, and kind. They wear the Tartar dress, and are 

 only known by their shaven faces, with narrow whiskers which reach to their chins. 

 They have many Tartar customs and speak the Tartar language. As merchants they 

 are enterprising, and are in great repute for their good faith and skill. 



The author has failed to ascertain from his military friends, who were in the Crimea 

 during the late war, the supposed number of Karaites still residing there, but he 

 understood that it was much reduced by emigration and other causes. 



Besides this population, some Karaites have been long settled in Poland, the Cau- 

 casus, Armenia, Jerusalem, and at Cairo ; also at Constantinople. These last are stated 

 by Dr. Frankl, in his recently published work, as amounting to about fifty families, with 

 from 200 to 250 souls; and the same Jewish author mentions the same sect at Jeru- 

 salem, who " regard the text of the Bible with a sacred feeling as alone containing 

 the law, and are therefore called Karaers, i. e. sticklers for the text, as contradistin- 

 guished from the Mekebalim, i. e. the sticklers for a traditional faith," — the Ordinary 

 Jews. Their number in the Holy City now only amounts to thirty-two souls, and four 

 heads of families. These Karaites sometimes visit the Talmudist Jews; but they do 

 not intermarry or bury their dead with theirs. "They have no books; the One Book, 

 they say, containing the wisdom of the whole world, is sufficient for them." They 



