Ch. vii. among modern Pastoral Nations. 125 



•a 



The Usbecks of Great Bucharia are reckoned 

 the most civilized of all the Mahometan Tartars, 

 yet are not much inferior to the rest in their spirit 

 of rapine.* They are always at war with the 

 Persians, and laying waste the fine plains of the 

 province of Chorasan. Though the country which 

 they possess is of the greatest natural fertility, 

 and some of the remains of the ancient inhabi- 

 tants practise the peaceful arts of trade and agri- 

 culture; yet neither the aptitude of the soil, nor 

 the example which they have before them, can 

 induce them to change their ancient habits ; and 

 they would rather pillage, rob, and kill their 

 neighbours, than apply themselves to improve the 

 benefits which nature so liberally offers them.f 



The Tartars of the Casatshia Orda in Turkestan 

 live in a state of continual warfare with their 

 neighbours to the north and east. In the winter 

 they make their incursions towards the Kalmucks, 

 who, about that time, go to scour the frontiers of 

 Great Bucharia and the parts to the south of 

 their country. On the other side they perpetu- 

 ally incommode the Cosacks of the Yaik and the 

 Nogai Tartars. In the summer they cross the 

 mountains of Eagles, and make inroads into Si- 

 beria. And though they are often very ill treated 

 in these incursions, and the whole of their plun- 

 der is not equivalent to what they might obtain 

 with very little labour from their lands, yet they 

 choose rather to expose themselves to the thou- 



* Geneal. Hist. Tart, vol. ii. p. 459. 

 t Id. p. 455. 



