TARTAKY. 



nffcr facrifices : but fiiico tliey havi- entered China, fome of 

 thera worftiip the ^'od " Fo," and other idols reverenced in 

 the empire. When they became mafters of China, they 

 pretended to a celeftial extraftion, and placed a god at the 

 head of their race. Since the Tartars have had pofTefrion of 

 the tlirone of China (fee Cms a), their language has become 

 familiar at the court of Pe-king. This language they are 

 very careful in prcfcrving, and it is faid that it may be much 

 more eafily acquired than that of China. Although the 

 Tartars have only one kind of charafters, they write them in 

 four dift'erent ways, which they write with a pencil, or a kind 

 of pen, formed of the bamboo reed, and which they can read 

 with equal eafe when reverfed. 



Tartaiiv, Weftern Chincfi, is called alfo the country of 

 the Mongoles, or Moguls ; for an accoimt of which, fee the 

 article Mongoles. See alfo Kalkas, Kalmucks, and Ko- 

 KO.voR. We fball here add that the country of the Ortous, 

 who inhabit N. of the great wall, and W. of the Moguls pro- 

 perly lo called, is i lo leagues in extent from E. to W., and 

 70 from N. to S. Thefe people are divided into fix ftand- 

 ards, which comprehend 166 companies, each compofed of 

 150 heads of families. The Ortous are of a free difpofition, 

 very lively, and never fubjeft to melancholy, and may be 

 juftly called the " French of Tartary." 



Wild animals of various kinds are innumerable in the 

 plains and forefts of Tartary. The country abounds with 

 game, and all the animals that are hunted in Europe, with 

 large flocks of yellow goats, wild mules, wild camels, and 

 horfes ; an animal refembling the elk, a fpecies of lynx, 

 whofe fkin is highly valued, tygers of prodigious fize and 

 agility, whofe (l<ins are ufed for ornament ; a fpecies of 

 leopard, and (lags. Some of their rivers waOi down gold 

 mixed with their fands ; and they are acquainted with the 

 method of applying it to nfe, and of forming it into vafes 

 and imall ftatues, of which they often make offerings to their 

 idols. It appears that the ufe of gold is very ancient among 

 them. 



The vulgar name of Tartary, or Tatary, fays Mr. Pinker- 

 ton, was originally extended over the vaft regions lying be- 

 tween Thibet, China, and the Arftic ocean ; and from the 

 Black fea in the weft to the utmoft bounds of north-eaftern 

 difcovery in Afia. But as geographical knowledge has im- 

 proved, the northern part has acquired the name of Siberia, 

 while the fouthern is diftinguifhed by the appellation of 

 Weftern and Eaftern Tartary. But in this part, which 

 might more properly be named Central Afia, the Tartars, 

 properly fo denominated, are few, the moft numerous tribes 

 being Monguls in the wifft and Mandftiurs in the eaft. See 

 Mongoles and Mandshuks. 



The wide and interefting portion of Afia, formerly known 

 by the appellation of Eaftern and Weftern Tartary, but now 

 properly ftyled Centr.-.l Afia, and comprehending the Middle 

 Mongolia and the Eaftern Mandftiuria, which has repeatedly 

 fent forth its fwarms to deluge the arts and civihzation of 

 Europe, fays the geographer above cited, extends from E. 

 long. -J 2° to 145-', a fpace of not lefs than 73° of longitude, 

 which, at the medial latitude of 45'"', will yield about 3100 

 geographical miles. The breadth from the northern frontier 

 ef Thibet to the Ruffian confines, is about 18°, or 1080 

 geographical miles. The limit between RufTia and Chinefe 

 Tartary is partly an ideal line, and partly the river Argoon, 

 which joined with the Onon, conftitute the great river Amur. 

 From the treaty publiftied by Du Halde it appears, that the 

 river Kerbatchi, the neareft to the river Chorna or Ou- 

 rouon, and which difcharges itfclf into the great river 

 Saghalien-oula, was the Chinefe definition of the boundary 

 between the two empires, to which was added the long 



chain of mountains above the fource of the river Kerbatchi 

 and the river Argoon. The eaftern boundary is the fea, 

 while the fouthern extends along the great Chinefe wall, 

 and the northern limits of Thibet. The weftern boundary 

 is fupplied by the celebrated mountains of Belur-Tag, or 

 the Cloudy Mountains, which divide the Chinefe empire 

 from Balk, and the greater Bucharia ; while the range on the 

 W. of the lake Paltati feparates the Kalmucks, fubjeft to 

 China, from the Kirgufes of Independent Tartary. 



The original population of Central Afia appears to have been 

 indigenous. The weft was partly held by the ancient Scy- 

 the, fecmingly a Gothic race, who were fubdued or expelled 

 by the Tatars, or Huns, from the eaft, prefled on the other 

 fide by the Monguls, beyond whom were the Mantchews, 

 who, in the 17th certury, conquered China. Pinkerton's 

 Geography, vol. ii. See Mongoles and Mandshurs. 



Tartary, Indepetidenl, an extenfive, celebrated, and inte- 

 refting region, confidered as diftinft from Mongolia and 

 Mandiliuria, or as thefe countries have been lefs properly 

 called, Chinefe Tartary, and independent of the great neigh- 

 bouring powers, China, Ruftla, and Pcrfia : this country 

 was probably the feat of the moft ancient Perfian kingdom, 

 the pofleflion of the Greek monarchs of Batlriana, and after 

 many revolutions, diftinguiftied by the wide empire of Jen- 

 ghis or Zingis, and Timur. Its extent may be meafured from 

 the Cafpian fea to the mountains of Belur, a fpace of about 

 870 Britifti miles. From the mountains of Gaur in the S., 

 to the Ruflian boundaries in the N. of the defert of Iffim, it 

 may be near 1 500 Britifti miles, of which a great part is defert. 

 The chief di vifions are the wide fteppes, or barren plains in the 

 N., held by three hordes of Kirgufes or Kirghifes, the Great, 

 Middle, and Lefter, befides fome fniall Tataric tribes near 

 the fea of Aral. This portion was anciently called Turkef- 

 tan, and its capital was Taraz. (See both thefe articles.) 

 Southwards of the mountains of Argun, the land begins to 

 become fertile along the river Sirr or Jaxartes, called alfo 

 the river of Shufti from the chief territory, and alfo on the 

 banks of its tributary ftreams. Ilak and Shufh, the moft 

 northern provinces on the Sihon, are followed by Fergana, 

 and a diftrift called Ozrufiina, round a town of the fame 

 name. Divided from thefe provinces by deferts and moun- 

 tains is the kingdom of Kharifm, or Kharaim, which fee. 

 South of the range of the Ak Tarn is the fertile region of 

 Sogd, or Sogdiana, with its capital Samarcand. On the S., 

 the provinces of Balk, Kilan, Tokareftan, and Gaur, ter- 

 minate the bounds of Independent Tartary, here fepa- 

 rated by defarts on the W. from the Perfian province of 

 Chorafan or Khoraflan. See thefe articles refpeftively. 

 See alfo Beluu-tag, Bl'charia, Imaus, Kirghises, 

 Massaget.'i:, ScYTHiA, and Uzbecks. 

 Tartary, Crim. See Crimea. 

 Tartary, Ruffian. See Russia and Tartars. 

 Tartary, Little, a name that has been given by fome 

 writers to the country containing the peninfula of the 

 Crimea, the Kuban, a part of Circaffia, and all the lands 

 which feparate the empire of Ruffia from the Black fea. 

 This circuit, continued from Moldavia almoft to Taganrog, 

 between the 44th and 46th degrees of latitude, is from 30 

 to 40 leagues wide, and nearly 200 long. From E. to W. 

 it includes Yedtchehoolai, Dgamboylaik, Yedefan, and 

 BefTarabia. The latter province, at prefent called Boodjak, 

 is inhabited by Tartars, who, as well as thofe of the penin. 

 fula, have fixed habitations in their villages ; but the inha- 

 bitants of the three other provinces have only felt-tents, 

 which they carry wherever they pleafe. Thofe people, 

 called Noguais, and fuppofed to be Nomades, are fettled, 

 however, in the vallies that traverfe their plains from N. to S., 

 9 and 



