The Ethnology of Europe

by R. G. Latham

Kherson and Ekaterinoslav are eminently heterogeneous. Ugrian, perhaps, at first: they then became Lithuanic, then Skolotic, Hun, Avar, Alan, Khazar, Mongol, and Russian, not to mention recent colonies of Germans and Armenians. The extent to which the heterogeneous population of these parts differs from that of the more Slavonic governments of Russia, and approaches that of the true Turk areas is shown by the name Little Tartary, and New Russia, by which they are often designated.

Taurida is a study of itself. It may have been Ugrian at first. The points of resemblance between the ancient Tauri and Thracians of Thrace I refer to a common Sarmatian origin. But what does this mean? Sarmatian blood from the Lower Danube, or Sarmatian blood from Lithuania? or both? Then there were displacements effected by the tribes of Caucasus—Abasgi, in the classical times, Circassians under the Byzantine Empire. Then Greek colonies. Then Skolotic conquests. Then the other varieties of Turk occupancy. Besides this, comes that of the Goths of Lower Danube, and lastly, the Greeks of Byzantium, the Genoese of Kaffa, and the Mongols.

In Bessarabia, Turks and Moldavians are the predominant population. Divided between Getæ and Skoloti, at the beginning of the historical period, it has since had its full share of foreign invasion. The particular Turk population, however, is that of the Budziaks; such being the name of the so-called Tartars of Bessarabia. The date of their introduction is probably that of the Crimean Turks. Another variety consists in a more recent colony of Nogays, from the government of Astrakhan.

The Russians Proper, like those of New Russia, are the latest elements of all. Hence, the view of the Bessarabian population is that it is Turk on the eastern, and Moldavian on the western frontier, with Slavonic and German superadditions.

Kosak is a word which is now generally admitted to be of Turk origin. In its present signification it has a military or political rather than an ethnological sense. It means a horse-soldier owing military service to the Russian Empire.

His locality, his semi-feudal duties, and his blood, all vary. The Kosaks of the Don are chiefly Malorussian, with considerable Turk, some Circassian, and also some Mongol, intermixture.

But besides the true Kosak of the Don there is a Kalmuk colony in the country as well; an offset from the greater settlement on the Volga. These are true Mongols in manners, in physiognomy, and, to a great extent, in creed. They are also the most south-western members of the family to which they belong. Their introduction is recent; for it must be remembered that the so-called Mongol conquest of Russia, although effected by the successors of Zingis-Khan, was Turk rather than true Mongolian, the previously conquered Turks of Tartary and Siberia being the chief agents.

Voronej is the country of the ancient Budini and Geloni, the country of the forest rather than the steppe, both in the days of Herodotus and at the present time. The Geloni, I think, like the proper Skoloti, were Turks, intrusive upon a previously Ugrian population—a Ugrian population continued southwards from the governments of Penza, Simbirsk, and Saratov.

North and east of Tambov the original Ugrian population is no longer a matter of inference. In Penza the geographical names betray the recent occupancy of Ugrians of the Morduin branch. In Nizhni Novogorod, Simbirsk, and Kasan, the Morduins still exist; falling into three divisions, and speaking a peculiar language. On the Oka they call themselves Ersad, on the Sura Mokshad. In the neighbourhood of Kasan they are called by the Turks Karatai. Imperfectly Christianized they still retain much of their original Shamanism; are well-grown, in respect to size and stature, thin-bearded, and with brown rather than either black or flaxen hair. In A.D. 1837, their numbers were about 92,000.

The next Ugrian family in the same governments is that of the Tsheremiss, on the left bank of the Volga. Smaller in stature than the Morduins, they have but little beard, smooth skins, light hair, and flat faces. Imperfectly Christianized, and imperfectly agricultural: they still retain much of their original Paganism as well as of their nomadic habits. Their language belongs to the second class of Ugrian tongues spoken in these south-western portions of the Ugrian area. On the right bank of the Volga, and opposite the Tsheremiss are the Tshuvatsh also in the governments of Simbirsk, Kasan, and Saratov. Of the three families they are the most numerous, exceeding 300,000. Their hair is often black, and somewhat curly; and if the Morduin recede from the proper Ugrian type and approach the Slavonians, the Tshuvatsh do the same in respect to the Turks. Their language, too, contains an inordinate proportion of Turk words: indeed, by several good authorities, it has been considered an intermediate or transitional form of speech.