SIMBIRSK— SAM AE A. 417 



enthusiasm incompatible with their allegiance to the Czar, who, by confirming the 

 appointment of the Great Lama, becomes himself the real vicar of Buddha on earth. 

 On the other hand, their manner of life separates the nomad Buddhists from 

 the settled Christians by a broad barrier, which it will take long to remove. 



Far more numerous are the Kirghiz, although the bulk of the nation is 

 still in Asia. Those living in Europe between the Volga and Ural Rivers form, 

 so to say, merely the extreme van of their tribes, constituting a simple division 

 of the Kichik-dyus, or " Little Horde," and sometimes known as the Bukeyev- 

 skaya tribe, from Sultan Bukey, who received permission in 1801 to occupy the 

 sandy plains of Bin after their abandonment by the Kalmuks. In 1875 their 

 numbers were variously estimated at from 163,000 to 186,000. 



The Kirghiz are of Tatar stock, and although still Mohammedans, the 

 process of " Bussification " has already begun to make itself felt at several points. 

 Too numerous for their relatively limited territory, thousands of them have 

 become agriculturists, at least for a part of the j'ear, while others seek employment 

 amongst the Bussians as shepherds, harvest-men, or gold washers. Thus removed 

 from their tents, they soon learn Bussian, even adopt the dress of their masters, 

 and allow their children to be brought up with them. On the other hand, the 

 Ural Cossacks (Bashkirs) readily adopt the ways of the Kirghiz, and it often 

 becomes difficult to say to which race the nomads belong. Cossacks are frequently 

 met dressed like Kirghiz, and speaking Turki better than Bussian. 



Towns of the Lower Volga. 



Large towns, nearh^ all of recent date, and destined, some of them, sooner or 

 later to become important European centres, have sprung up along the banks 

 of the Lower Volga. S/'mbirsk, the northernmost, and probably the Sirabir of 

 the Tatar annals, is now the capital of a government. It occupies a remarkable 

 position at a point overlooking the Volga and the Sviyaga, which here flow for 

 about 250 miles parallel, but in opposite directions. At Simbirsk the level of 

 the Sviyaga is about 140 feet higher than that of the Volga, and nothing would 

 be easier than to precipitate it in a series of rapids across the intervening 

 pliocene deposits to the lower stream. The fortress of Simbirsk arrested, in 

 1670, the victorious advance of Stephen Bazin at the head of the revolted peasantry 

 and Don Cossacks. Simbirsk is the birthplace of Karamzin. 



Samara, also a provincial capital, is conveniently situated at the extremity 

 of the great " loop " of the Volga, at the junction of the important river Samara, 

 and at the natural converging point of the great highways. While most of the 

 other towns lie on the left, Samara has been attracted to the right bank of the 

 main stream by the advantages offered by this confluence. It is a half-finished 

 place, consisting mainl}' of wooden houses, with vast waste spaces on either side 

 of its dusty thoroughfares. Mention occurs of Samara for the first time at the 

 end of the sixteenth century, but during the following century it possessed great 

 strategic importance as a Bussian bulwark against the steppe nomads. At 

 174 



