The roaming propensities of the Tartar occur in every page of his history, and the example of the Kalmuks, who returned, in our own age, from the Black Sea to their original seats on the frontiers of China, exhibits the wonderful facility with which erratic nations alter their places of abode. The event took place in the latter end of the last century, and is still remembered by many of the inhabitants of Toorkistan, who described it to me. The colony advanced with their herds and flocks; and occupied, it is said, in the breadth of its advancing column, a journey of no less than three days. It forced its way through all opposition to the “dusht i Kipchak,” north of the Jaxartes, and reached the primeval seat of their ancestors at Yarkund and Eela. The Kalmuks are not Mahommedans, and the “faithful” made war on them as they passed, and about 1500 Kalmuk slaves were added to the population of Bokhara; but small was the impression that could be made on the hundred thousand families, the reputed number of the migrators. The Kalmuk and Uzbek are said to have sprung from one tribe[32], and this change of habitation has now mingled it with the Kuzzak[33], a great tribe that once lay to the eastward of it; and Kalmuks, Kuzzaks, and Kirgizzes are mingled together. The Kirgiz and Kuzzak appear to be much the same people, differing only in location. The Kirgizzes whom I met, had a flat countenance, and closely resembled the Toorkmun. They inhabit Pameer. The Kuzzaks pass the summer in the southern parts of Russia, and repair in winter to the neighbourhood of Bokhara, where they sell their sheep.
Citizens of Toorkistan.
We find as great a variety among the citizens of Toorkistan as in the subdivisions of the Tartars. The aborigines of the country are the Tajiks or Tats; sometimes, but erroneously, denominated Sart, which is a nickname given to them by the nomade tribes. The hostile Toorks from the north subverted the power of this people, in a remote age; as different dynasties of the same hordes have overwhelmed each other. The Tajiks are addicted to commerce. Their language is Persian, which has long been that of the country; for Toorkistan fell under the dominion of Persia before the age of the Caliphs. In a Persian manuscript which I procured at Bokhara, I even find that this language was used by order of the Arabs themselves, in converting the people to Islam. The number of Persians in Toorkistan is great; since we hold the inhabitants of Merve in that light, as well as the slaves and their descendants. There are also Jews, Hindoos, and Armenians. Of the Toorkmuns I have already spoken; but there is yet another description of Tartars, the Nogais, who have migrated from Russia, and settled to the number of about a thousand families in the city of Bokhara.
Traces of Tartar religion. Speculations.
The people of Northern Asia worshipped the sun, fire, and the elements previous to the age of Mahommed; and we are informed, that in the earlier times of Islam, some of the priests or Magi of Persia fled from that country beyond the Oxus. I searched much for a trace of the original or imported worship; the Uzbeks assured me that there were fire worshippers in the ancient Tartar city of Cazan in Russia; but the censer of the Greek Padre was probably mistaken for the altar of the Magi. But the similarity between the creed of the Tartar and the Persian was curious; and since we find such innumerable hordes issuing from beyond the Oxus in the ages of authentic history, may we not derive the creed of Zoroaster or Zeratusht from Scythia or Tartary?
How full of interest is every thing connected with races of man that have so often changed the destinies of the world. Could we but follow up that at which we have now glanced, we might gather from the traditions of the people much that would illustrate early history, and the secret of these irruptions upon nations both barbarous and civilised. How much, too, might be traced from the shades of resemblance between the original tree and the branches which it has shot forth to stimulate an enquiry that is eminently attractive. I dismiss it, deploring my own incompetency.
CHAP. X.
ON THE HORSES OF TOORKISTAN.
Toorkmun horse. Its origin.
The horse attains a noble perfection in Toorkistan and the countries north of Hindoo Koosh. The climate is favourable to its constitution, and the inhabitants exhibit the most patient solicitude in its breeding and food; so that its best qualities are fully developed. The Toorkman horse is a large and bony animal, more remarkable for strength and bottom than symmetry and beauty. Its crest is nobly erect, but the length of body detracts from its appearance in the eye of an European; nor is its head so small or its coat so sleek as the brood of Arabia. This want of ornament is amply compensated by its more substantial virtues, and its utility is its beauty. We are informed by the historians of Alexander, that the countries on the Oxus were celebrated for their horses; and their subsequent and close connexion with Arabia suggests to us the extreme probability of an intermixture with the blood of that country. Tradition confirms the belief. At Shibbergaum, near Balkh, the people will yet tell you that their horses are descended from the famous Ruksh of Roostum, the steed of the Persian Hercules; from which we readily gather that they are of Persian descent. Timourlane introduced, from his conquests in China and India, Persia and Turkey, the finest horses of those distant countries to his capital of Samarcand and his native and adjacent city of Shuhr Subz. In this very neighbourhood, we now find, in the hands of the Uzbek tribe of Karabeer, the most matchless horses of the East. The great Nadir appears to have imitated Timour; and from India to the confines of Persia the introduction of many celebrated breeds of horses are referred to that conqueror. The most famous of these is found in Merve, though the animal be small. Another, met on the Oxus, known by the name of Aghubolak, is invariably marked by a dimple on some part of the body.