T U R 



the folution of harmonical problems, vvhicii require fuch 

 intenfe application as to leave him not a finglc idea to beftow 

 on any thing elfe. 



TURINSK, in Geography, a town of Ruffia, in the 

 government of Tobolilc, containing a wooden fort, feven 

 cliurches, and about 350 houfes ; 144 miles W. of Tobolflc. 

 N. lat. 58°. E. long. 63° 44'. 



TURINSKOI, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 

 Tobollk, on the Niznei Tunguflfa ; 132 miles E. of 

 Turuchanflv. 



TURIONES, in Botany, tlie firft young tender flioots 

 which plants annually put forth. 



TURIRANA, in Geography, a river of Brafil, which 

 runs into the Atlantic, S. lat. 1° 30'. W. long. 46° 46'. 



TURISSA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Spain, at 

 the foot of the Pyrenees, in the country of the Vafconi, 

 N.E. of Pampela. 



TURK, in Geography, an appellation of very ancient 

 origin and of very comprchenlive extent. It is faid to be 

 derived from the name of one of the fons of Japhet, the 

 eldefl fon of Noah, who is generally allowed to be the 

 progenitor of the Moguls and Tartars. This opinion has 

 been adopted by thofe who have been moil converfant with 

 Oriental literature, and the Tartars themfelves have exprelTed 

 their perfuafion of its truth. Accordingly it is faid, that 

 the progeny of Magog, Mefhech, and Tubal, fubverted 

 both the Scythias, and confequcntly the country of the 

 ancient Moguls and Tartars. If it be admitted that the 

 Turks and Tartars were originally the fame people, 

 whatever is advanced concerning the firft progenitors and 

 early antiquities of the one, mull, with the ftrifteft propriety, 

 be apphcable to thofe of the other. It has been alleged as 

 highly probable, that both the prefent Turks and Tartars 

 are defcended from the Scythians of Arifteas Proconnefius, 

 and the Scythian Nomades of Herodotus (lib. iv. ) Upon 

 this fuppofition, the ancient Turks or Tartars cannot be 

 confidercd as one of the earlieft nations of antiquity, nor as 

 occupying a traft for many ages of very confiderable ex- 

 tent. For they fcarcely made any figure at all before the 

 reign of Cyaxares, king of the Medes, or the time of Ogus 

 Khan, about 637 years B.C., when they drove the Cim- 

 merians from their territories bordering upon the Palus 

 Maeotis into the Upper Afia. Nor could their primitive 

 feat, upon the eailern bank of the Volga or Araxes, have 

 been at that time very extenfive ; fince it is well known 

 that they were then a people of little note, and in the 

 vicinity of fome nations who were contending for unhmited 

 empire. In the time of Herodotus, Scythia lay only be- 

 tween the 45th and jyth degrees of longitude, and the 47th 

 and 55th degrees of N. latitude, fo that the Scythians at 

 that period cannot be regarded as a very formidable power. 

 The firft Scythian king, according to this hiftorian, did not 

 live above 1000 years before Darius Hyftafpes invaded 

 Scythia, in the year B.C. 514 ; or by reducing the calcu- 

 lation of the Greeks and other ancient nations, as fir Ifaac 

 Newton has done, it may reafonably be fuppofed that the 

 firft Scythian prince could not have preceded Darius 

 Hyftafpes above 800 years. At this early period, there- 

 fore, or 1300 years before the commencement of the 

 Chriftian era, the countries bordering upon the Palus 

 Mxotis, as well as the Euxine and Cafpian feas, muft have 

 been very thinly peopled. The Tartars, however, though 

 they derive their name from Tatar Khan, pretend that this 

 was not their primitive appellation, but that they are the 

 defcendants of Turk, as we have already faid, the eldeft fon 

 of Japhet, whom they call .Taphis; and accordingly they 

 maintain that they were originally denominated Turks ; 



T U 11 



which name they feem to have retained till the time of 

 Oenghis Khan. But when that prince reduced all the 

 tribes bearmg the name of Turks under his obedience, they, 

 with regard to their neighbours, gradually loft it, and were 

 by them afterwards called Tatars. Neverthelefs, though 

 this was the cafe with refpea to their neighbours, moft of 

 them have always denominated themfelves Turks ; nor do 

 they allow, that any other nation has the leaft title to that 

 denommation. The name of Tatars was at firft probably 

 applied to one particular tribe or horde of the Turkilh 

 nation, confifting of perfons more confiderable, warhke, 

 and better known to the Afiatics, on account of their 

 military exploits than the reft, tiU the time of Genghis Khan. 

 This was fucceeded by that of Moguls, which prevailed as 

 long as the dominion of the people fo called lafted over the 

 fouthern provinces of Afia ; when that expired, the former 

 appellation was refumed. It is obfervable, that Sherif al 

 Edrifi, commonly called the Nubian geographer, makes no 

 mention either of Moguls or Tartars ; but intimates that 

 the whole country bearing now the denomination of Eaftern 

 and Weftern Tartary, was peopled by different cantons of 

 Turks. This is the more remarkable, as that author 

 wrote but a little before the reign of Genghis Khan, about 

 the year of Chrift 1 170. 



Turk, it is faid, was appointed by his father Japhet to 

 bear the chief rule in his family after his death ; and being 

 a man of fuperior genius, he invented many of the con- 

 veniencies of life, made tents, and governed his family and 

 fubjefts with great juftice, prudence, and moderation. He 

 alfo formed a body of falutary laws for his defcendants. 

 Turk is faid by the Tartars to have had four fons ; and 

 from him the country in which he fettled was called 

 Turkeftan, and his fubjefts were denominated Turks. 

 From Tatar Khan, the Tatars or Tartars derived their 

 name, as the Moguls did their's from Mogul or Mung'l 

 Khan. Thefe two branches of Turks, being rendered in- 

 dependent of one another, formed two confiderable empires, 

 which flourifhed for feveral generations. See Mongoles 

 and Tartars. 



The name Turk, fays Volney, originally, was not pecu- 

 liar to the nation to which it is now applied ; it denoted, in 

 general, all the hordes difperfed to the eaft and even to the 

 north of the Cafpian fea, as far as beyond lake Aral, o«er 

 thofe vaft countries which have thken from ihem the 

 denomination of Turkeftan. Thefe are the fame people, 

 who were known to the ancient Greeks by the names of 

 Parthians, Maflagetx, and even of Scythians, for which we 

 have fubftituted that of Tartars. Thefe formed a nation of 

 (hepherds, continually wandering like the Bedouin Arabs ; 

 and in every age exhibiting themfelves as brave and formid- 

 able warriors. Neither Cyrus nor Alexander was able to 

 fubdue them. The Arabs, however, about 80 years after 

 Mahomet, by order of the caliph Waled I. invaded the 

 country of the Turks, fubdued them, and impofed upon 

 them their religion ; and obliged them to pay tribute. 

 But the power of the cahplis was refifted and vanquiftied. 

 Like the Bedouins, the Turks were divided into tribes or 

 camps, called " ordou," of which has been formed the 

 term horde ; and thefe tribes, allied or at variance, accord- 

 ing to their feveral interefts, were perpetually engaged in 

 wars. Hence we fee, in their hiftory, feveral nations, all 

 equally called Turks, alternately attacking, deftroying, and 

 expelling each other. Volney, in order to avoid this con- 

 fufion, has confined the name of Turks to thofe cf Con- 

 ftantinople, and given that of Turcomans to their prfo^- 

 ceffors. ( See Turkomans. ) For a further account of the 

 Turks, fee Tursestan and Turkey. 



