Sketches of Central Asia (1868) / Additional chapters on my travels, adventures, and on the ethnology of Central Asia

by Ármin Vámbéry

Karakalpak.
Yüze yalpak.
Üzi yalpak.

Karakalpak, (has a flat face, and is himself totally flat). This sobriquet has not been uttered without reason. The complexion approaches that of the Œzbegs, particularly that of the women, who long retain their white complexion, and with their large eyes, full face, and black hair, do not make an unpleasant impression. In Central Asia they are highly renowned for their beauty. The men have pretty thick, but never long beards. The Karakalpaks, who are sometimes falsely ranked with the Kirghis, are at present only to be met with in the Khanat of Khiva, to which they moved at the beginning of this century. A man of this tribe relates to me that they lived earlier on the banks of the Yaxartes, and certainly near its mouth, whilst another portion abides in the neighbourhood of the Kalmucks, probably in the government of the Semipalatinsk.

The first part of this report does not seem to me to be a mere invention, for Lewschine (in the above-cited work, p. 114), reports, speaking of the ruins of Djemkend, that even in the last century Karakalpaks had lived there. According to all probability they have separated for a long time from the Kirghis, to whom they approach nearest, and now they form, with respect to their physiognomy, the transit point from the latter to the Œzbegs. In their dress they draw nearer to the Œzbegs than the Kirghis. The men wear large telpek (fur caps) which fit low in the neck and cover ears and brow; the women have a cape like a cloak round the throat, and are delighted with red and green boots. The tent of the Karakalpaks is much larger, and of stronger construction than that of the rest of the nomadic tribes, and is guarded by a species of large dog, only to be met with among this tribe. In their dwellings in general they are distinct from the other nomadic tribes in dirt and uncleanliness; they evince also in their food and clothing a carelessness, which makes them abundantly ridiculed and disliked by their neighbours. To their national dishes belongs the torama, which consists of finely chopped meat, and is cooked with a large quantity of onions (which vegetable is much liked there) and mixed meal. Kazan djappay, meal baked in a pan in fat, which is considered a dainty. Lastly, baursak, a meal which consists of a four-cornered piece of pasty filled with meat.

A favourite game is kumalak, resembling the game in Europe. It is played with dried excrements of sheep. Many of them devote themselves to games of chance.

4. The Turkomans.

These, which I designate as the fourth gradation of the Mongolian Turkish race in their westerly extension, possess many of the peculiarities of the Kirghis as well as of the Karakalpaks. The pure Turkoman type, which is to be found among the Tekke and Tchaudor, living in the heart of the desert, is denoted by a middling stature, proportionately small head, oblong skull (which is ascribed to the circumstance, that they are not placed at an early period in a cradle, but in a swing, made of a linen cloth), cheek-bones not high, somewhat snub noses, longish chin, feet bent inwardly, probably the consequence of their continual riding on horseback, and particularly by the bright, sparkling, fiery eyes, which are remarkable in all sons of the desert, but especially in the Turkomans. As regards colour, the blond prevails, and there are even whole tribes, as, for example, the Kelte race among the Görgen Yomuts, which are generally half blond. On the borders of the desert, but particularly at the Persian frontiers we find this principal trait already quite altered by the frequent and considerable intermixture with the Iranian race, in which one sees many men with thick black beards, and often without the least trace of the Mongolian Turkish race. Indeed, the Göklens are those who, with the exception of the formation of the eyes, most resemble the majority of the Persians.

Slave-dealing, which from immemorial times has been practised in the northern provinces of Persia, has there, where the intermediate trade with Persian slaves takes place, left many traces behind. Still, only upon the borders, for those living in the interior of the desert and occupying themselves more with the peaceable occupation of keeping cattle than with alamans (foray) have, on the average, preserved the marks of the pure Turkoman type. As the nomads are generally more agile and quick than the settled tribes, which is naturally to be attributed to the endless wanderings of their adventurous existence; so the Turkomans are to be distinguished in this peculiarity from all the dwellers in tents in Central Asia. And their slender frames, hardened by a very poor food, can outdo even the Arab in privations and endurance. Taken as a whole, the Turkomans cultivate (spite of the type of a family unity) a strange mixture of customs and habits, which are found either here and there among the neighbouring nomads and Œzbegs, or only among themselves. While their language approaches to the Azerbaïdjan dialect, their customs have the pure Turko-Tartarian stamp; and in their social relations, as well as in their warlike existence and their abundant religious usages, they have more in common with the Kiptchaks than with the Kirghis, Karakalpaks, and Œzbegs, with whom they have lived in close connexion for so many centuries. That they separated themselves early, very early, from the greater part of the Turko-Tartarian nations, admits of no question. There is no doubt, according to their own assertions, that they moved first from the east to the north-west, namely, towards the southern frontier of the former main horde, and thence towards the south. This assertion is very probable, and as alleged proofs of it, we may cite the small number who have remained behind on the road as remnants, and are still now to be found. As such, are cited the Turkomans to the north of Kermineh and Samarkand, who, in the midst of kindred elements have remained true to their nationality. Their emigration from Mangishlak, unquestionably the oldest abode of the Turkomans, is indicated by the Central Asiatics themselves in the following chronological order. As the oldest in their present native country, we name the Salor and Sariks; after them come the Yomuts, who, before the period of the Sefevides, stretched from the north towards the south along the shores of the Caspian. It is said that the Tekke, at the time of Taimur, were transplanted to Akhal in small numbers, in order to paralyse the great strength of the Salor. The Ersaris, towards the end of the last century, from Mangishlak have settled upon the shores of the Oxus; whilst, finally, the Tchaudors, of the more recent period of Mohammed Emin Khan (Khiva), from the shores of the Aral and Caspian Seas, are shifted to the opposite bank of the Oxus, although many of that tribe are to be found in the old places. As the Turkoman's chief employment aims at pillage, it is natural to expect that many of their customs should harmonize with this. Their attire, although in its origin of the Khiva fashion, is made shorter and closer, that they may be able more easily to take hard exercise: the heavy fur cap is replaced by a smaller one. Their drawers, which supply the place of trousers, are very wide, and remind one of the national garb of the Hungarian peasants. The curls of hair which hang down behind the ears far over the shoulders of the young, are peculiar to this tribe. These are allowed to grow by the young; during the first year of married life, they are worn concealed in the cap, and only after its lapse cut off. This ornament gives to the young cavalier a stately appearance whilst riding, and he is not a little proud of it. The dress of the women, also, has some peculiarities, to which belong the upper garment, hanging down, long-armed, like the Hungarian jacket; the head-gear, and the masses of silver ornaments,—as bracelets, necklaces, amulets, etuis, &c. It is not unusual to meet among the women perfect beauties, not inferior to the Georgians in growth and regularity of features. Though the young girls in all nomadic tribes are tolerably practised riders, the young Turkoman women stand pre-eminent in this art. With regard to their religious zeal for Islam, their proneness to superstition is the same as that of the Kirghis; and as the readers of my "Travels" are more acquainted with them, we will pass from them to the Œzbegs.