THE URAL COSSACKS. 421 



ylacc having- broug-bt ou a war with tbe natives, the Government thought well to 

 remove the site of the citadel first 120, and then 45 miles farther west, while 

 retaining the name of Orenburg, although this term had now become meaningless. 

 The fortress, built on the right bank of the Ural, has lost its strategic importance 

 since the Russian frontier has been advanced to the Central Asiatic ranges beyond 

 Turkestan. But Orenburg has become all the more important commercially. 

 Since 1826 over 10,000 camels have been employed in its caravan trade with 

 Tashkent and other Turkestan towns, and here is the present terminus of the 

 European railway system, which the " Great Central Asiatic " is destined soon to 

 continue eastwards. Meantime one of its chief sources of wealth is salt, the 

 Iletzkaya Zashtchita mines, 40 miles farther south, yielding on an average 20,000 

 tons yearly. Here the deposits are estimated at over 1,200 millions of tons 

 altogether, sufficient to supply all Russia for an indefinite number of years. 



Urahk, at the sharp angle of the Ural where it turns due south, is the chief 

 town of the Ural Cossacks, whose territory stretches far east of the river into 

 Asia. Although on the right bank of the Ural, this town is considered as 

 belonging administratively to Asia, and is also distinguished from the other 

 towns of European Russia by the customs of its inhabitants and its traditions of 

 military régime. The chief occupations of tht> surrounding Cossacks are fishing 

 and horse-breeding. 



The Ural Cossacks came from Great Russia by following the course of the 

 Volga. After the fall of the Kazan and Astrakhan Tatar kingdoms, tlie Lower 

 Volga became the rallying-place for men of diverse races, but mostly Russians, 

 who called themselves " freemen," but whom the Muscovite Government desig- 

 nated by the name of " Cossack brigands." They were gradually driven from 

 the banks of the Volga, and while some ascended the stream northwards, escaping 

 by the Kama valley to Asia, others embarked on the Caspian and landed at the 

 delta of the Yayik. In 1580 they destroyed the Nogai town of Saraichik, and 

 higher up the Yayik founded their town of Yayitzk, the ruins of which Pallas 

 visited in 1709. Although recognising no masters, they nevertheless made war 

 in the name of the Czar, and often overthrew his enemies. Forerunners of the 

 present Russians, they even held the town of Khiva for a few days. For the 

 purpose of curbing these restless Cossacks the Muscovite Government founded, 

 near the chief mouth of the Yayik, the town of Ust-Yayitzk, which soon after 

 took the name of Guryev, and helped materially to reduce the Cossacks to sub- 

 mission. The " freemen " made the acquaintance of the rod and the knout ; they 

 were forbidden to wear beards, and taught to cross themselves in the orthodox 

 fashion. Hence they were amongst the first to rally round Pugachov, the " false 

 Czar " Peter III., who allowed them "cross and beard, rivers and pastures, money 

 and food, powder and shot, and freedom for ever." But when they were vanquished 

 their very name perished, and on the site of Yayitzk stands the Uralsk of our 

 daj'S. Their hnuj, or commune, was abolished, and they received from the Czar 

 a vice-ataman, since 1833 no longer chosen by the people. In 1874 compulsory 

 military service was introduced, and all malcontents banished to Siberia. 



