The present khan of the Khirghis is Giangour Boukevitch, who is reputed to be an able man, and desirous of introducing European civilisation among his people. The Emperor Nicholas had a handsome wooden house erected for him at the foot of the sand-hills called Ryn Peski, but he seldom resides in it. A few paltry buildings have been subsequently erected, through the strenuous intervention of the Russian employés, but it would be extravagant to behold in a score of cabins the elements of a future capital, as a certain St. Petersburg journal is pleased to do. The Khirghis will not so readily forsake their nomade ways. Their territory is hardly better than that of the Kalmucks; and their khan himself, obliged to camp out during the greater part of the year, in order to find fodder for his cattle, only returns to his pretended capital when the inclemency of winter drives him from his felt kibitka. It is necessary to exercise extreme caution and rigid criticism respecting all things pertaining to Russia, if we would arrive at the truth; for otherwise we shall be every moment in danger of mistaking for an indication of improvement and increased prosperity what is but the result of arbitrary power. We have repeatedly noticed instances of such mistakes on the part of travellers who have recently visited the southern portions of the empire. Never was any power more prodigal of outward decorations than the Muscovite; Russia is of all countries that which most lavishly expends its money to please the eye. To Potemkin belongs the honour of having been the first to play off these mystifications, when he got up extemporaneous villages and herds of cattle all along the road travelled by Catherine II. in her journey to the Crimea. He has had no lack of successors ever since. Alleys of acacias spring up by enchantment in the new towns; churches and houses with columns and porticoes; magnificent double eagles bearing the crown and the sceptre; numerous bureaucratic sign-boards with gilded inscriptions, &c., are seen on all hands. This mania of wishing to appear what one is not, which has always characterised the Russians, seems to us one of their greatest obstacles to all real improvement, and to be one of the most dangerous maladies of the empire. Certainly it is a defect not easy to be avoided by a backward people who aspire to put themselves on a level with their more advanced neighbours; but in Russia, unhappily, artificial ostentation has been systematised; not only does it exist among individuals, but it forms the basis of all the acts of the government; from one end of the empire to the other, in the towns and in the steppes of the Caspian, its costly stage scenery is everywhere to be found; it has become the aim and the fixed idea of every man, from the ministers of state down to the lowest employé; and whilst millions are uselessly expended to adorn the drapery of the theatre, the framework of the social edifice is allowed to go to ruin. The future welfare and the real progress of the country are deemed of little moment, provided the vanity of the day be satisfied, and the comedy be well played before his majesty and the strangers whom curiosity induces to visit Russia.
After the Khirghis, we have also on the left bank of the Volga, near its mouths, a small Tatar horde, called Koundrof, an offshoot of the great tribe of the Kouban. These Tatars, who number about 1100 tents, were formerly bestowed by Russia as vassals upon the khans of the Kalmucks, but they were adroit enough to escape from taking part in Oubacha's famous emigration. Unavailing attempts have been subsequently made to colonise them. The governor of Astrakhan made them build two villages thirty years ago; but they soon abandoned those fixed dwellings, and resumed their old roving habits.
Lastly, there are the black Nogais, who occupy the banks of the Terek, to the number of 8432 tents. We shall speak of them in detail in the next chapter.
Table of the Nomade Population of the Governments of Astrakhan and the Caucasus.
| Families. | |
| Kalmucks | 15,500 |
| Khirghis | 8,000 |
| Koundrof Tatars | 11,000 |
| Sertof Tatars | 112 |
| Black Nogaïs | 8,432 |
| Turcomans | 3,838 |
| Total | 36,982 |
FOOTNOTES:
[48] After the curious researches of M. Ferdinand Denis, respecting the cosmography and the fantastic histories of the middle ages, we can no longer wonder at the singular conceptions of the Kalmucks. The world of Cosmas has likewise its four great sacred rivers, and he, too, like the followers of the Dalai Lama, makes the sun and the stars revolve round a mystic column. We might point out many other analogies between the Mongol myths and those of the medieval writers; but we will rather refer the reader to the enchanted world of M. Denis, to those elegant and poetic pages in which the learned librarian of Sainte Géneviève has so ably demonstrated the historical importance of all those fabulous legends, which at first appear to be only the idle ravings of an extravagant imagination.
[49] The priests, however, have endeavoured to persuade the people that there are five sins which inevitably draw down everlasting punishment: these are irreverence towards the gods, thefts committed in the temples, disrespect to parents, murder, and, of course, offences against the clergy. These ideas are for all that in contradiction to the sacred books; but it is not surprising that the ministers of the Grand Lama have sought to give them vogue amongst the multitude.