Journal of the Society of Arts : Volume XLVIII, No. 2480 [‎679r] (7/24)

June i, 1900.]
JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY 01 ARTS.
555
make these gardens beautiful, and it is much
to be regretted that, owing to the scarcity of
coal, these orchards are being largely cut
down for fuel.
With regard to mineral produce, the lack of
good coal in Central Asia is likely to prove a
serious drawback to its development, although
the improvement in communications will largely
remedy the defect. Since the acquisition of
Turkestan, the Government have made great
efforts to discover really productive coal-beds ;
but although coal exists scattered pretty widely
over Central Asia, all that has been obtained
hitherto is of inferior quality, and broken up
into small fields. As for other minerals, it is
curious, considering the trifling amount of
gold found in this part of Russia’s new
possessions, to remember that her first
step towards Asia was initiated by Peter
the Great because he had heard so much
of the gold to be found on the banks of
the Oxus. Lead-ore is the most abundant
mineral, but this cannot be mined with any
great profit on account of the dearness of fuel
and difficulty of transport.
There are several different races inhabiting
Central Asia, but, broadly speaking, they are
all of Persian or Turkish descent. A part of
the country was undoubtedly inhabited in early
times by the Sacm, or Scythians, an Aryan
race who were, to a large extent, dispossessed
and driven out by the Turkish tribes who over
ran the country. The descendants of this
ancient race are still found in considerable
numbers, often clustered together in mountain
villages, to which they have been gradually
driven by the succeeding waves of Russian
invasion. A curious testimony to the antiquity
of the race is the fact that their language
retains many words of Aryan derivation which
are not known in modern Persian. The
Tadjiks, as they are called, are distinguished,
not only in appearance, but in character, from
the tribes of Turkish descent. The typical
Tadjik is large, thickly bearded, vain with the
childish vanity common in primitive races,
lazy, untruthful, and morally corrupt. He
despises his less subtle Uzbek neighbour, who
returns the sentiment, but is nevertheless com
pelled to make use of the sharper wit of the
Tadjik. The Uzbeks, who form a large pro
portion of the population in Central Asia, are
a tribe, or congeries of tribes, of much the
same origin as the Kirghiz, being founded by
Turkish immigrants who flocked into the
country both before and after the time of
Genghiz Khan. Unlike the Kirghiz, however,
the Uzbeks have little of the Mongol element.
They speak a Turkic dialect, and retain, at all
events traditionally, their old division into
clans or families, the names of which in some
cases perpetuate long-forgotten tribes. One
clan is that of the Kiptchaks, whose martial
habits and traditions made them a chief factor
in the army of Khokand. The most numerous
race, in the western part of Central Asia at all
events, is the Kirghiz, also perhaps the most
interesting.
This tribe really consists of two distinct
races. The true one, the Kara or “ Black
Kirghiz,” is found principally in the valleys of
the Thian-Shan and Altai Mountains, and is
unmistakably of Turkish origin. Descriptions
found in Chinese writings of a very early date
show that at that time the prevailing type was
characterised by light hair and fair skin, which
would not apply to the average Kirghiz of the
present day, although such may still be met
with here and there,
The other race, which inhabits the greater
part of the province of Turkestan and the
steppes bordering it, called by the Russians
“ Kassak-Kirghiz,” is more impregnated with
the Mongol element than the Kara-Kirghiz.
They have largely intermarried with the
Kalmuks, and their aristocracy, or “white
bones,” claim descent from Genghiz Khan,
while their various traditions describe them as
being descended from a “ red-haired dog,” or
(a more poetical story) as veritable “ Children
of the Mist.” Both legends suggest the great
antiquity of the race, as is usual with
aboriginal tribes of undoubted pre-historic
origin, both in America and Australia. The
claim of descent from an animal is found with
other Asiatic tribes, and is always supposed to
denote considerable age.
Although he has now lost his independence,
the Kirghiz still retains many curious and
characteristic traits, one of these being an in
curable contempt for a settled or town life.
“ Sart,” the term applied to merchants and
townsfolk, is used contemptuously, and would
be much resented by a true Kirghiz, who has a
scoffing proverb to the effect that “ when a
Sart becomes rich he builds a house, a Kirghiz
buys more wives.” When on the move they
live in kibitkas, or field tents, stretched on
light wooden frames, and resembling the Mon
golian yourtas. These kibiikas are exceed-
ingly portable, and can be packed for a journey
in less than an hour. The Kirghiz, as a rule,
are of swarthy complexion, and are short and
sturdy in build, the men shaving the head, but