896 



TURKTSTAN, OE INDEPENDENT TARTARY. 



13. Character ^ Manners^ &c. Among a people so various as the inhabitants of Asiatic 

 Russia, there must be great diversity, and opposition of manners and customs. In some of 

 the towns of Sioeria there is considerable intelligence. There is in all great hospitahty and 

 much social intercourse, and the provinces are better residences than Central Russia. It is 

 remarked, that no government banishes fools ; and it may be added, that many of the exiles 

 in Siberia, are banished only for their virtues. The effect of these is seen in the state of so- 

 ciety. The gayet)^ of the Siberians is somewhat rude ; but their hospitahty is deserving all 

 commendation. The Tungooses occupy nearly a third of Siberia. They are hospitable, im- 

 provident, honest, and faithful to their word. They bear privation with wonderful endurance, 

 ••nd when they are forced to kill a reindeer for want of food, they refrain till they have fasted 



week or more. They are filthy in the extreme. They smoke and drink spirits whenever 

 hey can obtain them. The Yakouts are quick and observing. Many of the Tartars and Cal- 

 nucks are nomades. The appearance of the latter is athletic but revolting. They are cheer- 

 ful and much given to equestrian exercises, and the women ride better than the men. The 

 Samoieds live without rulers, and have no words to express virtue or vice. It is not probable, 

 however, that they are without either quality. The Kamschadales are in a great degree inde- 

 pendent, honest, and veracious. The Georgians and Circassians are a rude people, addicted 

 to violence. The latter live in a feudal state, in which the princes are paramount, the nobles 

 next in authority, and the main body of the people serfs. The princes give their children to 

 the nobles to be educated, and seldom see them till they are of age. The Circassians carry 

 the principle of revenge to an unlimited extent. Blood for blood is so far the practice, that the 

 innocent are involved with the guilty, and the duty of redressing an injury is hereditary. The 

 amusements of all these difi'erent nations are various. Almost all of them, however, have the 

 game of chess, and all practise dancing. Of the religions, perhaps Mohammedan is the most 

 general, and after that Christianity, Lamaism, and Buddhism. Paganism is, however, as ex- 

 tensive as any of these. The Yakouts have a corrupted Shamanism ; and they worship prin- 

 cipally the sun and fire. The form of Christianity is that of the Greek, or of the Armenian 

 church. 



14. History. Siberia can hardly be said to have a history of its own, but the few notices 

 which relate to it, record the conquests or discoveries of its foreign masters. Toward the 

 close of the 16th century, a band of Cossacks fled into these then unknown regions from the 

 arms of Russia, and reduced some of the native people, but, being obliged to submit to the su- 

 premacy of Russia, his conquests only served to enlarge the domains of that power. In about 

 50 years the Russians pushed across the continent to the Pacific Ocean, which they reached in 

 1639, and having afterward explored those seas, sailed up between Asia and America into the 

 Arctic Ocean. Their conquests on the Caucasus are of later date. Georgia, formerly a pow- 

 erful kingdom, had been reduced by Persia to a state of dependence, bilt, having revolted and 

 sought the protection of Russia, the latter took advantage of this circumstance to remove the 

 hereditary princes from the throne, and to reduce the country to a Russian province. In 1828, 

 Persia was obliged to cede Erivan and Nakshivan to Russia, which has also recently wrested 

 several districts from the Ottomans. 



CHAPTER CXL. TURKISTAN, OR INDEPENDENT TARTARY. 



1. Boundaries. This extensive region, which is about 900 miles from north to south, and 

 700 from east to west, is bounded north by the Russian empire ; east by the Chinese empire ; 

 south by Cabul and Persia, and west by the Caspian Sea. It lies between latitude 36''-' and 

 51° N., and between longitude 50° and 72° E. 



2. Deserts. The northern part of the country is an immense desert extending into Russia , 

 the western part, lying between the Oxus and the Caspian, is also a desert called the desert of 

 Karasm. The district in the southeast, extending from the Belur Tag Mountains to the sea of 

 Aral, and watered by the Oxus, the Sihon, and their numerous tributaries, was well known to 

 the ancients for its delightful climate, its fertile soil, and dense population. The Arabian geog- 

 raphers describe it as the paradise of Asia, and are never weary of expatiating in its praise. It 

 is represented as filled with splendid cities, and the populousness is said to be such, that an 

 army of 300,000 horse and the same number of foot could be drawn from it without the coun- 

 try suffering by their absence. This tract is now called Great Bukharia. 



