86 SIBERIA 



arrangement also serves another purpose, viz., to 

 avoid the winds from the south and south-west, which 

 are so prevalent in the steppes. The Kirghiz live 

 in wooden huts in the winter, which huts form the 

 basis of their land tenure, although all land belongs 

 de jure to the State. The possessions of the nomads 

 are fixed either on the basis of previous occupation 

 or in accordance with ancient custom or hereditary 

 descent. 



The Cossacks forming the Siberian troops were the 

 first colonists of the Kirghiz Steppes and at present 

 represent about lo per cent, of the population of the 

 Semipalatinsk territory. The Siberian Cossack con- 

 tingent is located in the Akmolinsk and Semipalatinsk 

 territories and the Bysk district of the Government 

 of Tomsk. The settlements of the Siberian Cossacks 

 are disposed in a. more or less unbroken line, which 

 commences at the boundary of the region occupied 

 by the Orenburg Cossacks, continues along the fringe 

 of the Kirghiz Steppes throug'h the town of Petro- 

 pavlovsk eastward to Omsk, and thence in a westerly 

 direction along the banks of the Irtish. This portion 

 is known as the Irtish line and another, the Bysk 

 line, runs through the Government of Tomsk. Three 

 Atamans, under the control of a chief Ataman, con- 

 stitute a board of Military Affairs and command 

 the whole of the Siberian Cossack troops. The chief 

 elements of the military section of the population 

 are immigrants from European Russia, and only a 

 small fraction of them are recruited from native 

 Siberians. Their principal sources of wealth are 

 agriculture, fishing, and the breeding of cattle. 

 Fisheries will, at no very remote date, be of the" 

 first importance in Siberia. 



Under the organisation which exists at present, 

 the contingent of the Siberian Cossack troops is 

 divided into the following classes : a preparatory 



