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DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOLOGY.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER,
ANGEL COURT, SKINNER STREET.
DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOLOGY.
Robert
BY
R. G. LATHAM, M.A., M.D., F.R.S.,
LATE FELLOW OF KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, ETC.
VOL. I.
EASTERN AND NORTHERN ASIA-EUROPE.
LONDON:
JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCLIX.
π fans w
O 25
Θ
25 my 23
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Preliminary Remarks.-The Bhot Group.-The Mahometan Bhot of Bul-
tistan, or Little Tibet.-Rongdo.-Skardo.-Parkuta and Khartak-
shi.-Shigar.-Chorbad, &c.-The Buddhist Bhot of Ladak.-
Hungrung.—Kunawer
PAGE
1
CHAPTER II.
The Bhot of the Chinese Empire.-The Tibetans of Rudok, Garo, Guge,
&c.—Of Lhasa and Tishú Lúmbú.-The Sifan.-The Lhopa of Bú-
tan.-The Tak.-The Bhot of Gurhwhal, Kumaon, and Nepaul.-
The Chepang.-Doubtful Bhot.-The Rhondur.-The Chak and
Drok. The Hor.-The Kolo
CHAPTER III.
The Nepaul Tribes.-The Sunwar.-The Magar.-Gurung.—Jareya. —
Newar.-Murmi.-Kirata or Kichak.-Limbu.-Lepcha.-The Den-
war, Durré, and Bramho
•
32
. 78
CHAPTER IV.
The Kocch.-Dhimal and Bodo.-Western Bodo of Sikkim and the
Bútan frontier.-Eastern Bodo, or Borro, of Asam and Cachar.-
The Garo.-The Kasia. - The Mikir
CHAPTER V.
The Hill-tribes of Asam.-Northern Boundary.-Aka, Dofla, Abor, and
Miri Tribes.-The Bor Abor.-Eastern extremity and South-eastern
margin. The Mishmi.-The Muttuk, Singpho, and Jili
CHAPTER VI.
The Hill-tribes of Asam.-The Nagas
422377
125
•
. 137
92
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
The Burmese Group.- The Khumia and Kuki of Sylhet, Tipperah, and
Chittagong.—The Old and New Kuki of Cachar.-The Mugs of
Arakan.-Tribes of the Koladyn River.-Mru, Kami, and Kumi. —
Sak.-Shendu, or Heuma.-The Khen of the Yoma Range.-The
Karien
•
PAGK
142
CHAPTER VIII.
The Thay, or Siamese Group.-The Khamti.—The Shans.—The Laos. ———
The Siamese proper
The Môn of Pegu
CHAPTER IX.
183
207
CHAPTER X.
The Kho, or Kamer, of Kambojia
. 209
CHAPTER XI.
Cochinchina and Tonkin
CHAPTER XII.
The Chinese.—The Name.-Civilization.—Its Date.-Neither very early
nor self-developed.-Moral and Physical Character of the Chinese.
---Conditions of Soil and Climate.-Foreign Influences.-India.
Syria
CHAPTER XIII.
The Rude Tribes of China.-The Miaoutse.-The Gyami Dialect
CHAPTER XIV.
Population of Unexplored Districts.-Bibor.- Kulta.-Lawa.-Lolo.-
Moy.-Kwantong.—Tshampa
CHAPTER XV.
Islands.
The Mergui Archipelago, Formosa and the Nicobars.-The Min-
copi of the Andamans
CHAPTER XVI.
211
219
. 245
250
. 255
The Tungús Stock.-The Mantshu or Tungús of China.- The Tungús of
Siberia.-Horse; Reindeer; Dog.-Lamuts.-Daurians.—Applica-
tion of the European Alphabet to Siberian Languages. -Shamanism.
-Tshapodzhirs, Tungús, &c.
•
•
262
•
CONTENTS.
vii
CHAPTER XVII.
The Mongolians.-The Mongolians proper.-The Kalka.-The Buriat.
The Ölöt, Torgot, Durbet, Khoshot, Dzungarians.-Kalmuks of the
Volga, &c.-The Aimâks of Cabul
CHAPTER XVIII.
•
The Turk Stock.-The Kirghiz.-The Karakalpak.-The Barama, Baraba,
or Barabinski Tribes.-The Tshulim, Kuznets, Abintsi, Katshalar,
Yastalar, Boktalar, Kaidin, Beltyr, Birgus.-Teleuts.-Tubalar.-
The Sokhalar, or Yakut.-Turks of the Khanates, of Siberia, Kazan,
Astrakan, the Crimea.-Basian.-Karatshai.-Kumuk.-Chunsag.
--Nogays.—Bashkirs. - Meshtsheriak.-Teptyar.-Tumuli, &c.—
Uzbeks.-Turkman
•
PAGE
289
341
CHAPTER XIX.
The Ugrian, or Fin Stock.-The Fins, or Finlanders, of Finland.—The
Hämalaiset and Kiriolaiset.—The Kwains of Norway and Sweden.
-The Fins of Ingria.-The Auramoiset, Savakot, and Izhor.-The
Tshud, Vod, and Wesp
CHAPTER XX.
The Ugrians of Estonia or Rahwas.—The Liefs
CHAPTER XXI.
The Laplanders-of Russia, Sweden, Norway
•
CHAPTER XXII.
The Ugrians of Vologda, Permia, &c.—The Komimurt, or Permians, and
Zirianians.-The Udmurt, or Votiak.-The Biserman
•
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Ugrians of Viatka, Kazan, &c.-The Mari, or Tsherimis.—The
Mordvin
•
397
. 414
. 421
442
•
449
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Ugrians of the Ural.-The Mansi, or Ostiaks and Voguls
453
CHAPTER XXV.
The Samoyeds.-Northern Branch.-Yurak.-Tawgi.—Ostiak.—South-
ern Branch.-Soiot or Uriankhai.—Mati.-Koibal.-Karakas.
Soiot proper.-Kamash.-The Andon Domni, or Yukahiri
•
467
viii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Doubtful Ugrians.-The Yeniseians.-The Tshuvash
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Koreans.-The Koriak and Kamtskadales.-The Kurilians or Aino.
-The Japanese and Lúchú Islanders
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Relative importance of the preceding Groups in the History of the
World.-Burmese.-Siamese. Chinese. Tibetans -Mantshú.-
Mongols.-Ugrians.-Turks.-Paramount importance of the latter.
-Turks proper.-White Huns.-Alans.-Avars, &c.-Khazars.
Ghuznevids.-Seljukians, &c. - Mameluks.
negs.-Uz.-Kumanians.-Huns.-Scythians
Ottomans.-Petshi-
PAGE
486
492
502
•
DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOLOGY.
CHAPTER I.
Preliminary Remarks.-The Bhot Group.-The Mahometan Bhot of
Bultistan, or Little Tibet.-Rongdo.-Skardo.-Parkuta and Khar-
takshi. Shigar. - Chorbad, &c.-The Buddhist Bhot of Ladak.-
Hungrung-Kunawer.
I FOLLOW the Horatian rule, and plunge, at once, in
medias res. I am on the Indus; but not on the Indian
portion of it. I am on the Himalayas, but not on their
southern side. I am on the north-western ranges; with
Tartary on the north, Bokhara on the west, and Hin-
dostan on the south. I am in a neighbourhood where
three great religions meet; Mahometanism, Buddhism,
Brahminism. I must begin somewhere; and here is my
beginning.
That these parts are my starting point means little ;
perhaps nothing. At any rate it does not mean that I
hold them to be the centre of our civilization. Still less
does it imply that they are the cradle of the human
No hypothesis attaches to them. I must simply
begin somewhere.
race.
But why begin here? If I had begun elsewhere the same
question might have been asked; and the same answer
would be given. My object is to describe. If a certain
amount of classification accompany the description, well
and good. If speculations arise, they may or may not
VOL. I.
B
2
DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOLOGY.
be pursued. At any rate they will form no notable por-
tion of the work. As I have already stated, it is simply
descriptive.
The group with which I begin contains the Tibetans,
the Nepaul tribes, several populations of the Subhima-
layan range, the Burmese, the Siamese, the natives of
Pegu, the Cambojians, the Cochin-Chinese, and the
Chinese; populations which cover, perhaps, one-fifth of
Asia. They touch the ocean; they bound the Bay of
Bengal on the east; they form the coasts of the China
Sea. Upon the whole, however, their area lies inland;
sometimes rising into the loftiest mountains of the world,
sometimes broken by the watersheds of mighty rivers,
sometimes spread out as alluvial plains, sometimes as hot
and humid deltas. The Indus rises within the limits of
this area. The Brahmaputra waters a long line of it.
The great rivers of China fertilize its widest plains. The
lengthy streams of Ava and Cambojia, the Irawadi and
the Mekhong, from their unexplored sources, traverse it
from north to south. They cut it vertically; as the
Chinese rivers cut it horizontally.
As far as the physical appearance of its occupants is
concerned, the phenomena presented by this large area are
strongly and decidedly marked. Whatever may be meant
by the term Mongolian, as applied to the complexion, the
features, or the skeleton, has its application here. Though
not actually occupants of the cheerless steppes of Mon-
golia Proper, the Chinese, the Tibetans, and the popula-
tions akin to them, have decidedly Mongol features; so
Mongol, and so decidedly so, that few authors, however
great has been their habit of drawing distinctions, have
separated them from the typical members of the class.
Indeed, some of them may be more Mongol than the
Mongolians themselves.
DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOLOGY.
co
In respect to their creed, though the majority are Budd-
hists, and (as such) representatives of anything but a primi-
tive condition of society, several of the tribes of this part of
the world are as pagan as the negroes of Africa; whilst,
in language, they are, without any exception, the speakers
of one of the least developed forms of human speech. I
do not say that the Chinese and the other members of the
great philological division to which it belongs, are either
absolutely and wholly monosyllabic, or absolutely and
wholly destitute of grammatical inflexions. I only say
that they have been called monosyllabic; that they have
been called uninflected; and that the terms are sufficiently
free from any notable amount of error to pass current.
They are not, of course, unexceptionable. Few are.
They give us, however, a rough view of the real facts,
and suggest an approximately correct notion, viz. that,
notwithstanding a certain amount of civilization on the
part of the speakers, the speech itself of the nations of
south-eastern Asia in general is in a very primitive and
rudimentary state. It must not, however, be inferred
from this that the nations themselves are, what the
Scythians of old were considered, the youngest of men.
Nor yet that they are the oldest. The real fact is that
of their languages having changed but slowly. Perhaps
there has been an arrest of their development. Perhaps
others have advanced with inordinate rapidity.
Be this as it may, a Mongol physiognomy, combined
with a rudimentary form of speech, characterizes the popu-
lations under notice.
Their creeds vary. There come within the limits of
the class thus described religions like that of the Koran
on the one side, and the wildest forms of Paganism
on the other. Both, however, are, to a great degree,
exceptional. The belief of the majority is Buddhist.
B 2
4
DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOLOGY.
The Mahometanism is a growth of yesterday. We shall
find it where Tibet touches Persia.
For the Pagan tribes, the expositors of the primeval
superstitions that preceded the spread of Buddhism we
know, à priori, where to look. In the parts where the
influences of India and China are at the minimum they
will be found; chiefly, but not exclusively, in the forests
and mountains of the Burmese, Siamese, and Chinese fron-
tiers. In like manner the large towns of the alluvial valleys
of the great rivers will give us the centres of the civili-
zation.
Three great Empires represent the political power and im-
portance of this stock-three great empires; the Chinese,
the Siamese, and the Burmese. They profess to be conter-
minous. They profess to say that all that is not Siamese,
is either Chinese or Burmese, and, vice versa, that all
which is not either Chinese or Burmesè, is Siamese.
They profess to divide the area amongst them. They
scarcely do so in reality. Of the English and Hindu
possessions we say nothing. They are of recent growth;
and confirm, rather than invalidate, the rule. The excep-
tions lie in the land of a long list of semi-dependent
and independent aborigines; Siamese, Burmese, Tibetan,
or Chinese in respect to their ethnological relations, but not
Chinese, Tibetan, Siamese, or Burmese in respect to their
political position. Their political position is of no pro-
minence whatever. Their ethnology is of the highest im-
portance; and we easily see why it is so.
In the great
empires the original differences in the way of religion,
art, and polity have, to a great extent, been obliterated
by the diffusion of a common civilization; and the Budd-
hist populations of Asia, like the Christian populations of
Europe, resemble each other in the more characteristic
parts of their creeds. Yet, at one time, they differed;
DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOLOGY.
5
and that on these very points. They differed as the
Pagan of Gaul may have differed from the Pagan of Ger-
many-i. e. with a difference, but with a certain amount
of likeness as well. The interest then, with which we
should contemplate (if there were such a thing) a remnant
of the Druidism or Odinism of early Europe, attaches
itself to such creeds as the Bodo, the Karien and the like,
creeds of which the sequel will take notice; more notice
than it will of the religions of China and Siam; inas-
much as it is supposed that the general character of these
last is understood.
Our first group bears the name of Bhot. I spell it in
this way because, according to theory, the h should be pro-
nounced; even as the h in such words as ab-hor is pro-
nounced. The generality, however, omit it in speech;
and if learned men from the East would do the same in
their spelling, the unlearned world might follow the ex-
ample. The word, though unfamiliar in its naked form,
is common enough under a slight disguise. It is the Bult-,
in Bultistan, the Bút-, in Bútan, the -bet, in Tibet. Some-
times, too, we hear of the Bhooteeas; sometimes of the
Bhotiyas. It is all the same word, a word that, in ethno-
logy, has a wide meaning. In ethnology, it comprises the
Little Tibetans, the natives of Ladak, the Tibetans of
Tibet Proper, and the closely-allied tribes of Bútan.
The Tibet of the ordinary maps is too much of a table-
land, plateau, or steppe. This is because it is imperfectly
known; being a land under the dominion of the Chinese,
and jealously protected against European exploration.
Where enterprising travellers have actually penetrated, it
has (to compare great things with small) been found to
resemble the dales of Yorkshire, and the Lake district,
rather than the sandy levels of Hampshire and Norfolk.
It has presented long and narrow valleys, or even gorges,
6
THE MAHOMETAN BHOT
on the branches of great rivers. It has presented the level
alluvia of drained lakes, pre-eminently numerous in Ladak
and elsewhere. It has determined the industry of the in-
habitants to a true and characteristic form of agriculture;
for where water is scarce, and irrigation necessary, canal
after canal, watercourse after watercourse, has to be
constructed; and these, as we shall soon see, are to be
found up to the very limits of the inhabited part of the
Himalayas. Even when we follow the course of the
Brahmaputra, (where we can follow it), the difference is
only one of degree. There is still the river between its
rocky and elevated banks. There is still the tract of
alluvial and cultivated soil. The only difference is that
the belts of cultivation are wider as the stream of the
river grows stronger. If these be omitted in the maps.
it is because they have not been described; not because
they are non-existent. Nevertheless, some portion of the
Bhot area is what the ordinary representations make it-
actual steppe or table-land, with the manners and customs.
of Tartary or Mongolia to match.
Of this vast tract of country we strike the western
extremity, where we follow up the Indus towards its
source. Move from India or Cashmír northwards, from
Chinese Tartary southwards, from Bokhara eastwards,
and you strike it. So that its frontiers are with Hin-
dostan and Cashmír; with Little Bokhara, and with
those strange and unknown countries to the north of the
Cohistan of Cabul, the infidel districts of Kafer-istan.
It is not, however, Kaferistan or the country of the
Kafirs, Guebres, or Giaours, with which we begin, but
with Bultistan, or the country of the Bulti; for stan is
the Persian for country, and Bulti is the Persian form of
Bhot; and it is from the Persian frontier that the name
has been propagated.
OF BULTISTAN.
7
Far inland as Bultistan lies, it is not so far distant from
Mecca as to lie wholly beyond the pale of the Koran;
though it lies on the very verge and edge thereof.
It was Cashmír whence the Mahometanism of Bultistan
was propagated; the districts in which it now predomi-
nates being petty chieftaincies, or captaincies, situated
either on the main stream of the Indus, or its eastern
feeders-the Shigar and the Shayok. They are, more or
less, subordinate to Bultistan Proper, or Little Tibet in
the limited sense of the term.
Rongdo. Of these subordinate districts the most west-
ern is that of Rongdo, on the bend of the Indus, and
on the frontier of the Gilgit and Hasora countries.
It is in Rongdo that the Indus makes its great bend
from east to south, along with which a change in climate
sets-in. The vegetation of Tibet graduates into that of
the Eastern Punjab. The manners, however, of the
Rongdo people are truly Tibetan. At the beginning of
March, Dr. Thompson found them preparing for their
crops, even before the snow was melted. They sprinkled
thin layers of earth over it to promote its liquefaction.
Below the level of 8000 feet it had, in favourable
aspects, disappeared altogether. The artificial water-
courses were filling, or full. Of the manure that had ac-
cumulated during the winter every particle was now
forthcoming. It was carried to the fields in baskets,
deposited in small heaps, carefully spread, carefully
ploughed in. A pair of bullocks drew the plough, which
was entirely of wood-share and all. The harrow was
also of wood; a framework with no teeth, but weighted
with stones, or a heavy board; sometimes made into a
bush-harrow by means of thorns. The soil was freely
hoed; its pulverization being an object of special care.
The plough first, then the harrow, then the action of the
8
BHOT OF RONGDO.
air. This made a fine tilth, easily laid out in small square
Between these ran the last divisions of the water-
courses; the irrigation being complete.
beds.
Skardo.-Little Tibet, in the limited sense of the word,
comes next. It is better, however, to name it Skardo, or
as those who, like the people of Cashmír, cannot pro-
nounce the combination sk, call it Iskardo. Skardo, with
its dependencies, was conquered for Gulab Singh, by his
general Zorawar Singh, in 1840. The contest was neither
severe nor long. The invading army, which consisted of
15,000 men, was diminished by 200, no more. The de-
fence cost about 500. The reigning chief, Ahmed Shah,
was deposed, and his son Mahomed Shah, placed on the
throne in his stead. The capital was surrendered after
a slight resistance; and a garrison of Dogra troops left in
a fort in its neighbourhood to ensure its fidelity; to ensure
also the regular payment of a tribute of 7000 rupees.
Such is the recent political history and present condition
of Skardo, and not only of Skardo but of Bulti, Bulti-
yul, Balor, Palolo, or Nang-koa; for by all these
terms is the little district under notice designated.
Nang-koa is the Tibetan, Balor the Dard, Skardo the
native, name.
They
Like the men of Rongdo, the Skardo people are
growers of corn, and cutters of watercourses.
plough, sow, irrigate, and reap. They are strong and
hardy, simple in their habits; fond of out-of-door
exercise, and manly games. One of these is noticed by
Mr. Vigne. He calls it hockey on horseback. To
those who have played the ordinary English game the
name is a description.
Another of their sports is the hunting of the chakor.
Throughout the valley of the Indus, and Tibet, the
chakors, or painted partridges, are very common, and when
the winter is sharp and the snow lies thick they come
BHOT OF SKARDO.
9
close up to houses. When they are hunted, the ground
where they lie is surrounded by a ring of men who
approach each other from all directions, so as gradually
to make the circle narrower and narrower. When its
diameter is no more than about 100 yards across, a horse-
man gallops about within the inclosure and disturbs the
birds. Frightened and confused, they run from side to
side till they sink exhausted, and allow themselves to be
taken up by the hand.
The table-land of Deotsu, a thinly-inhabited steppe
between Skardo and Cashmír belongs to Bultistan.
To the west of Deotsu lies a district marked as the
Hasora country. It has already been mentioned as lying
to the south of Rongdo. Whether this be Bulti, or
other than Bulti, I am not prepared to say. Moor-
croft specially states that the Tibetan language is spoken
within its boundaries; if not over its whole surface. He
also calls the district Dsungari. It will be noticed here-
after. At present I merely express the opinion that
Hasora is partially Bhot.
Indeed, the exact limits of the frontier, along with
the details of the mutual indentations into each other's
areas effected by the Bhot districts of Dras, Suru, and
Zanskar on the one side, and the Hindu regions of Cash-
mír and Kistewar on the other, are obscure; becoming
clearer when we reach the British province of Lahúl. Yet,
what do we know of the hill-ranges that form the north-
ern margins of Cashmír?
Cashmiran, others Bhot.
Where begins Cashmír?
Some of the valleys may be
Where do Dras and Suru end?
Again, what is the population
of the valley marked Maru, and Wardwan in Strachey's
map, the valley of the river which joins the Chenab at
Kistewar? Some portion of this is, doubtless, Bhot,
and some portion half Bhot and half Hindu.
Turning from these points to the Skardo frontier, we
10
BHOT OF SKARDO, ETC.
find the three small districts of Shigar, on the river
so called, of Parkuta, and of Khartakshi, on the main
stream of the Indus. Then, on the Shayok, lie Keris,
Khapalor, and Chorbad. They are all in the same relation
to Skardo as Rongdo. They are all on high levels, Par-
kuta and Khartakshi at from 7000 to 8000, Chorbad at
from 8000 to 9000 feet.
So many valleys, and so many Lords of the Valley-this is
what we have seen in the list of the petty principalities that
have been enumerated. I call the petty potentates chief-
tains or princes as the case may be. I also give their native
titles; which are of some use as instruments in ethnologi-
cal criticism. The native titles are Gyalpo, and Makpon;
the latter word meaning General, and suggesting the notion
of a military conquest. In the Shigar list of Gyalpos,
the title of Tham is given to the men of the second,
third, fourth, fifth, and sixth dynasties; a title which will
appear elsewhere. The genealogy of them all is essentially
the same.
There is a Bikam in the list of the Kapolor
Gyalpos, the tenth in descent from an ancestor named
Biwân-cho; who is, in his turn, the 45th from Sultan
Sikander (i. e. Alexander), who is succeeded by Abra-
ham, who is succeeded by Isaac, who has amongst his pos-
terity a Sultan Mahomed, a Malik Shah, a Balum Malik
and other heterogeneous impossibilities. Of course, true
history begins somewhere in these pedigrees; though I
cannot say where. Bikam, whom Cunningham fixes
A.D. 1650, has a name suspiciously like that of more
than one other Bulti worthy. There is, for instance,
Bokha, an adventurer who established himself about 1500,
in these parts. Then there is a Fakir from whom the pre-
sent Gyalpo of Skardo derives his origin. This was an
ascetic of extreme sanctity, who lived during the days of
a Gyalpo who had no son at all, and only one daughter.
BHOT OF SKARDO, ETC.
11
Twelve chiefs sought her hand; but the sanctity of the
fakir prevailed. The heiress was given to him; in
proof of which there is the holy stone called Burdonas, on
which the pious man was wont to sit, and on which the
heir-apparent, on attaining manhood, undergoes certain
ceremonies of inauguration.
Again—we shall find a Bikam in the so-called history
of Nepaul.
Perhaps, Ali Sher, a cotemporary of Jehanguirs, is a
truly historical character. He built the citadel of Skardo.
He conquered Ladak; which his son Ahmed Shah lost.
Shah Murad, the next in succession, conquered Gilgít,
Hunz, Nagor, and Chitral; conquering and reigning
from about 1720 to 1750.
Chorbad is divided from the Ladak district of Nubra
by a ravine called Bogdan, narrow, tortuous, and steep.
The descent upon it from the north-east is as much as 3000
feet, in less than a mile; Bogdan itself being some 13,000
feet above the level of the sea. It is the name, however,
of a village as well as a pass; though only of a summer
village. When winter sets-in the inhabitants move fur-
ther down the stream. The Shayuk here is rapid, and the
mountains that inclose it steep and barren. Their oppo-
site faces are rarely more than a quarter of a mile apart;
whilst spurs, projected at short intervals, intercept the
outline of the narrow and impracticable valley, and throw
its stream into zigzag channels. The road, in many places,
quitting the bed of the river runs abruptly, and almost
perpendicularly up the face of the rocky hills, and re-
quires ladders and scaffoldings to make it accessible.
The Shayok, too, is rapid and deep, being in no place
fordable. Meanwhile, the villages lie on its two sides
alternately; so that whenever the traveller passes from
one to another he must either miss every second one, or
12
BHOT OF SKARDO, ETC.
be continually crossing the river. The bridges, however,
are numerous; chiefly made of the trunks of poplar-trees
laid across, with a light rail to ensure safety. Sometimes
a kind of pier is carried forward into the bed of the stream,
and the ends of the bridge laid upon it.
The Shayok, here, as may be inferred from the notice,
gives a minimum of alluvial soil; and this is not always to
be depended on. In 1842 the village of Chulungka, in
Chorbad, stood on the low level of the river side. But a
flood washed it away. It now stands on a platform about
50 feet higher. It is a village. It consists, however, of
but three or four houses. Lower down the fertility of the
soil must be inexhaustible. Near Pranu there are isolated
accumulations of alluvium to the depth of 600 feet. All
the villages are surrounded by orchards of apricots and
walnuts, mulberries and vines. The timber is from either
the willow or the poplar-the timber and also the fuel;
both being scarce.
It is not, however, either the districts of Chorbad, or
the districts of Nubra, that we are noticing, so much as
the impracticable block of land between them. This it
is that makes a political division by separating Bultistan
from Ladak. More than this, it separates the Maho-
metan, from the Buddhist, Bhot. The Mahometan reli-
gion, universal throughout the little principalities that
have been enumerated, ceases at the ravine of Bogdan.
If this ravine of Bogdan have, as it seems to have,
anything to do with the diffusion or arrest of Mahometan-
ism, it may also have affected the spread of the earlier
Buddhist creed. It may have acted as a barrier in one
direction, even as it has acted as a barrier in another;
due allowance being made for the difference between
going up-hill and down-hill, between following a river
and stemming its stream. Valeat quantum. The history
BHOT OF LADAK.
13
of Buddhism is one thing, that of Mahometanism an-
other; and the question which now suggests itself is this
-what were the Bultistan States before they were
Mahometan? What were they a few generations back?
for Mahometanism, in some portions of them, is of recent
introduction. To say that analogy is in favour of their
being in the same category with Buddhist Ladak and
Buddhist Tibet is inaccurate, and one-sided. It is like
saying that men must be Welshmen in Shropshire because
they are Welshmen in the neighbouring county of Mont-
gomery. This is a blunder, and we know it is.
We
know, too, why it is one. We know that the analogy is
all one way; that the western side of Shropshire has
alone been taken into account. Mutatis mutandis, this
applies to Bultistan. We have yet to take into consi-
deration the countries that bound it on the west; countries
which are not Buddhist, and which never appear to have
been so. What are they? Some of them, as we may
suppose, are Mahometan, the Mahometanism being new
and imperfect. But some hold a creed per se. What it
is I cannot say. It is not any of the great religions of
the world in a clear and definite form. It is neither
Christianity nor Judaism, neither Brahminism nor the
doctrines of Zoroaster. As little is it a pure and peculiar
form of primitive Paganism. It would be a creed of in-
ordinate interest if it were so. But it is not this, though
something of the sort. Its details, so far as they are
known, will be given elsewhere. It is more Brahminic
and Zoroastrian than either Buddhist or Jewish. It is as
little Jewish as Christian. It is a creed
per se.
Now the religion of the Bultis before their conversion
may as easily have been this as Buddhism. It may more
easily have been so. It may more easily have been so,
because new religions, be they Mahometan or be they
14
DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOLOGY.
Christian, are far more readily superinduced upon simple
Paganism than upon any of the nobler, or less ignoble, su-
perstitions; Buddhism, Brahminism, Parseeism. In a soil
saturated with Fetichism or Shamanism, Christianity may
take root; at any rate it should always be planted.
Upon any of the above-named systems, and, still more,
upon Mahometanism, it is scarcely worth engrafting.
missionary institutions reduced this to an absolute and in-
variable rule of action, they would save an enormous
waste of power. The organization that will make one
proselyte from the Koran, will make dozens and scores
from the unlettered laxity of Paganism.
If
Whence came the present Bulti religion? From
Cashmír as aforesaid. Whence came it into Cashmír ?
From Persia. Hence it is the Shiite, as opposed to the Sun-
nite, form of Mahometanism; the Turk tribes of the fron-
tier being Sunnites, and, as such, hating their neighbours
as heretics and, when convenient, robbing them as infidels.
The Koran forbids its professors to sell one another into
slavery. With infidels they are free to steal and sell.
When infidels, however, are not to be procured, a heretic
does instead. All along the northern frontier of Khorasan
the Sunnite Turcomans of the southern part of Tartary
kidnap the Shiite Persians. Some they keep for their
own use, others they sell to the Uzbeks of Khiva. In
either case they treat them as infidels.
Ladak.-Nubra, into which we pass from Chorbad, is
Buddhist. The valley of Le, or Ladak Proper, is Budd-
hist. Zanskar, on the south, is Buddhist. In Dras, Suru,
and Purik, in the direction of Cashmír, there is no Ma-
hometanism. In general, however, Ladak is Buddhist.
In Ladak Proper, the valley of the main stream of
the Indus, we have large villages, and even towns like
Leh, the capital. In Nubra, on the Shayok, and in
SHIITE MAHOMETANS.
15
Zanskar, on the river of that name, the levels are higher,
the country more broken, and the population thinner.
The villages are of the character of those in Chorbad,
i. e. they consist of only three or four houses. Some
of them are, probably, summer residences only. On the
2nd of July there were crops of barley and buckwheat
growing at Nira, 12,000 feet above the level of the sea.
At Yulchung (13,000 feet), vegetation was somewhat back-
warder. Still there was vegetation, and occupation-in
the month of July at least. Even Phutaksha, at 14,300,
bears the name of village. Its cultivation ran along the
side of the river to an elevation of 15,000 feet; but the
crops were scanty. This is in Zanskar, on the Indian
side of the Indus. The same vegetation, however, and
the same occupation repeats itself in Nubra, on the
north; between the Indus and the famous pass of Kara-
korum. The valley of the Nubra is fertile. Before,
however, you reach the head-waters of the river itself,
vegetation becomes scanty, and occupancy ceases. But,
though no occupancy, there is trade. The road from
Yarkend to Leh runs over the pass under notice; which one
Englishman (Dr. Thompson) has visited. It lies at a
height of 18,200 feet below the line of perpetual snow;
above the line of any notable vegetation. At the same
time, by the sides of stones, in protected crevices, and in
spots where water collects, a few stunted plants are to
be found-artemisia and tanacetums three or four inches
in height, tufts of moss-like alsineæ, saussureæ, sibbaldiæ,
prostrate astragali, prostrate myricareæ, a pyrethrum, a
eurotia, biebersteinea odora, oxytropis chyliophylla, a spe-
cies of primula, a white pedicularis, two or three cruciferæ,
triglochins, carices, and grasses. Shingle along the main
road, glaciers on the side, this is what the merchants find
in the way between Leh and Yarkend. Their goods are
16
PASS OF KARAKORUM.
carried by ponies; but the ponies must carry with them,
besides the goods of their masters, their own provender.
They faint by the way. In a small level plain, about 200
feet long and 50 broad (an evident halting-place), with a
small pool of water, Dr. Thompson met a party on their
way. The road was covered with skeletons of horses; and
the miserable animals that he met alive were weak, ema-
ciated, and, to all appearance, unfit for even the short re-
mainder of their journey. At the top of the pass itself
vegetation was entirely wanting; but the shingly ground
was unfavourable to it. Otherwise, lichens, at least,
might have been found. The only living animals observed
were a bird about the size of a sparrow, a bright
metallic carrion-fly, a small dusky butterfly, and several
ravens. The ravens flew freshly and fastly, wending their
way in arches overhead, not at all affected by the rarity of
the atmosphere, and as much at their ease as they would
have been at the level of the sea.
Not so, however, the traveller. His head ached and
felt light during the whole time he was either on the pass
or in its immediate neighbourhood.
Lieutenant Wood's account, of a similar feeling, I sub-
join in his own words. He was at the head-waters of the
Oxus, on the high plateau of Pamir, on the 20th of Feb-
ruary, and at a level of 15,600 feet, or 62 feet lower than
the summit of Mont Blanc, 2400 feet lower than the
Karakorum pass. He is standing on the edge of the lake.
"The water emitted a slightly fetid smell and was of a
reddish tinge. The bottom was oozy and tangled with
grassy weeds. I tried to measure the breadth of the lake
by sound, but was baffled by the rarity of the air. A
musket, loaded with blank cartridge, sounded as if the
charge had been poured into the barrel, and neither wads
nor ramrod used. When ball was introduced the report
EFFECTS OF ELEVATION.
17
was louder, but possessed none of the sharpness that marks
a similar charge in denser atmospheres. The ball, how-
ever, could be distinctly heard whizzing through the air.
The human voice was sensibly affected, and conversation,
especially if in a loud tone, could not be kept up with-
out exhaustion: the slightest muscular exertion was at-
tended with a similar result. Half a dozen strokes with an
axe brought the workman to the ground; and though a few
minutes' respite sufficed to restore the breath, anything like
continued exertion was impossible. A run of fifty yards
at full speed made the runner gasp for breath. Indeed,
this exercise produced a pain in the lungs and a general
prostration of strength which was not got rid of for many
hours. Some of the party complained of dizziness and
headaches; but, except the effects above described, I
neither felt myself, nor perceived in others, any of those
painful results of great elevation which travellers have
suffered in ascending Mont Blanc. This might have been
anticipated, for where the transition from a dense to a
highly-rarified atmosphere is so sudden, as in the case of
ascending that mountain, the circulation cannot be ex-
pected to accommodate itself at once to the difference of
pressure, and violence must accrue to some of the more
sensitive organs of the body. The ascent of Pamir was, on
the contrary, so gradual that some extrinsic circumstances
were necessary to remind us of the altitude we had at-
tained. The effect of great elevation upon the general
system had indeed been proved to me some time before in
a manner for which I was not prepared. One evening in
Badakhshan, while sitting in a brown study over the fire,
I chanced to touch my pulse, and the galloping rate at
which it was throbbing roused my attention. I at once
took it for granted that I was in a raging fever, and after
perusing some hints on the preservation of health which
VOL. I.
C
18
EFFECT OF ELEVATION
Dr. Lord, at parting, had kindly drawn out for me, I
forthwith prescribed for myself most liberally. Next
morning my pulse was as brisk as ever, but still my feel-
ings denoted health. I now thought of examining the
wrists of all our party, and to my surprise found that the
pulses of my companions beat yet faster than my own.
The cause of this increased circulation immediately oc-
curred to me; and when we afterwards commenced
marching towards Wakhan I felt the pulses of the party
whenever I registered the boiling point of water. The
motion of the blood is in fact a sort of living barometer
by which a man acquainted with his own habit of body can,
in great altitudes, roughly calculate his height above the
sea. Upon Pamir the pulsations in one minute were as
follow :-
Habit of body.
Throbs.
Country.
My own
110
Scotland
spare
Gholam Hussein, Munshi
124
Jasulmer
fat
Omerallah, mule-driver
112
Afghan
spare
Gaffer, groom
114
Peshawur
spare
Dowd, do.
124
Kabul
stout."
From the Sikkim Himalayas Major Sherwill writes
thus:-The "rarefaction of the air is beginning to tell
upon us; bleeding at the nose, a tightness across the back
of the head, is what I most suffer from. The exertion of
writing, making a false step amongst the rocks, of ad-
dressing any one, stooping to tie the shoe, or performing
any act requiring but moderate exertion, is productive of
the most distressing symptoms of suffocation, sharp, sudden
pains in the chest, extreme beating of the heart, and
violent action of the lungs, which, being fed with a
thin and rarefied air, have to work hard to keep the blood
purified. I have been so prostrated this day as to be fit
for nothing; which is the more strange as our elevation
is not a very great one; but, from all I can gather from
UPON THE BREATHING.
19
travellers in the Himalayah, I suspect that their sufferings,
commencing as they do from this elevation, are more acute,
and more noticed, as being something new and, at first,
very alarming. One of our Nepal coolies is in great agony,
moaning in a most piteous manner.
When we come to the ethnology of the Cordilleras, and
the populations of Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru, the effect
of the rarefaction of the air upon the lungs will again be
brought under notice. It evidently varies with the con-
stitution of the individual. It also stands in a decided
ratio to his exertions. Rest awhile, and the distress ceases.
At elevations of 17,000 feet and upwards (the highest
passes range between this and 19,000), the traveller
ascends with pain; and has to rest himself at short inter-
vals. He suffers however, whether in motion or at his
ease, from a dull headache. This, however, can be borne
for two or three days-even more. Permanent occupancy is
possible at altitudes of 13,800 feet at least; and, perhaps,
somewhat beyond. Kibar, for instance, is at that high
level. Cultivation reaches somewhat higher. It tran-
scends 14,000.
It is fortunate for the ethnographer that our know-
ledge of the imperfectly-explored countries of the Hima-
laya is dependent upon the value rather than the number
of observers who have visited and described them. Few
Englishmen have written about them; but those who have
done so have written fully. The earliest notices are Chi-
nese, of high, but (in my mind) of not undoubted anti-
quity. Some one, however, either visited them early, or
procured information concerning them; for it is surprising
how closely the names of the classical geographers re-
appear in our most recent descriptions. The Byltæ, the
Cesi, the Akhassa regio, the Dabasæ of Pliny and others,
all come out with wonderful closeness in the still-existing
c 2
20
LADAK.
names of Bulti, Kie-chha, and d-Bus. Neither does the
marvellous story of Herodotus respecting the gold of the
Iessdones, which was dug out of the ground by ants as
large as foxes, fail in finding a plausible explanation in
the two languages of Tibet and India combined with cer-
tain facts in their zoology. That in more than one district
on the drainage of the Indus, an animal of the marmot
family does the work of the gold-seeker, though he does
it unconsciously, is attested by several independent autho-
rities. He burrows in the auriferous clefts and sands, and
gold is found in the earth at the entrance of his holes.
This is collected by the natives of the district and traded
in. Now the Bhot name for this marmot is phyipa;
whilst the Indian name for the ant is pipilaki. Mega-
sthenes relates that he never saw the animals themselves-
that he never did this, but that he had seen some skins of
them. But who talks of the skins of ants? The skin of
the marmot is one of the commonest articles in the petty
trade of India and Tibet. But the skin of an ant? The
names seem to have been confused; not, however, by the
Greeks, but by the Indians. "The people who dwell
under the pleasant shade of the Kichakavenus, and along the
Sailodá River, between the Moru and Mandara Mountains,
the Khasas, Prádaras, Páradas, Ekásanas, Arkas, Kulindas,
Tanganas, and Paratanganas brought to Yudhisthira lumps
of gold a drona in weight, of the sort called paippilika, or
ant-gold, which was so called because it was exfodiated,
by the pipilaka, or common large ant." So runs an ex-
tract from the Mahabharata, by means of which Professor
Wilson has illustrated this obscure but not uninteresting
question. Subtract from paippilika the last two syl-
lables, and the Bhot name remains, with scarcely the alte-
ration of a single letter.
There was gold, then, in Ladak, and the trade that
LADAK.
21
grew out of gold. And this trade originated centuries
ago. We know that it was directed towards India. We
believe that it may also have been directed northwards.
Before Herodotus wrote, Karakorum may have been a
pass, laboriously traversed by weak ponies and panting
drivers. And the names of certain Himalayan districts
were known to the geographers of Greece and Rome.
And those names still exist, some of them with a meaning
in the present Tibetan. The present Tibetan, too, ex-
plains certain old Indian glosses.
The industry of Ladak is more or less commercial,
and the energy of the natives has industriously contended
against the obstacles of nature in making the country
practicable. It is the country of a transit trade. No
little labour has been expended on making roads in the
direction of the neighbouring countries, e. g. the western
road to the Punjab and Kabul through Kashmir, the
south-western road through Jummú, the southern through
Kullú and Lahúl to Lahore and Umritser, the south-
eastern to Lhasa, the eastern to Chinese Tartary, the
northern to Khoten and Yarkend, and the north-western
to Little Tibet, Bulti, or Skardo. All these follow the
lines of the rivers as far as they can, and are then carried
over lofty and formidable passes, some more than 18,000
feet in height. The rivers are crossed by ferries or
bridges; inflated skins for the former, suspensions for the
latter. In Ladak the use of the skin is very general;
that of the boat being rare and exceptional. The poorer
travellers mount themselves on the hide of a single buffalo,
carefully sewn up so as to be air-tight, which floats with
the legs uppermost. The ferryman, who sits with his legs
in the water, pushes it on by striking them out as in
swimming, helping the propulsion by means of a small
wooden paddle which he holds in his right hand. With
22
LADAK.
his left he steadies the passenger, who holds on as he best
can by one of the legs. Wealthy men indulge in the
luxury of a raft (if so it may be called) made of a bed
stretched across a pair of skins. The bridges are chiefly
of wood, peculiar in construction,-especially the suspen-
sion bridges. The ropes are made of the twisted twigs of
the birch-tree. They are suspended, side by side, about
five feet apart from each other. The side ropes are also of
birchen twigs; thinner, however, than the main sus-
penders. On these lies the roadway, which is again made
of long ropes, joined by wickerwork or wattles.
In these bridges we have a fair measure of the
Ladaki's power of construction. He shares it with the
other populations of the group to which he belongs.
The Bhot is a builder of suspension-bridges all Bhotland
Other tribes akin to him are the same.
over.
The industry of the Ladaki is agricultural; but not
exclusively. He is a breeder of cattle; for the Ladak
Fauna is eminently a Fauna of the domestic animals.
Amongst horses, the Kyang, as the Bhot call it, and as it
is named, even zoologically, by Moorcroft, has much
that allies it to the quagga and zebra, much too, that
allies it with the ass; standing about 14 hands in height,
reddish-brown on the back, and white on the stomach,
with the tail of a zebra, and the neigh of a horse.
The yak, like the native ox of Britain, is rare in its
wild state. As a domesticated beast, both of burden and
food, it is universal.
Of sheep no less than three species are Ladaki, and of
goats more than three. To these add the Tibetan stag, the
musk deer, and other animals, ruminant, though not do-
mesticated.
With the exception of the yak, the exact relations of
the actual domestic animals of Ladak to their wild con-
LADAK.
23
geners is (as elsewhere) a problem rather than an ascer-
tained fact. The yak is used for carrying loads, being
too unmanageable for the plough. The cow is kept for
her milk and hair; for once a year, both the yak and the
mixed offspring of the yak and cow are clipped. This
hybrid is called the Dso, useful as a beast of burden,
useful as a beast of draught (in the plough), useful in
supplying milk of the richest quality. There are other
half-breeds of less value.
Industrial habits in the way of commerce and agricul-
ture on one side, a niggard soil and extreme climate
on the other-such are the conditions of civilization in
Ladak. They are much the same over the whole Bhot
area; but we know the Ladaki portion of it best.
Air rare; water either scarce or local; alluvial soil scarce
and more local still. The cold of winter, but not all its
characteristics. Little rain; as little snow. Everything
to dry the atmosphere. Moorcroft was at Leh two years.
Ten times, during that period, did it rain-ten times and
no oftener. In the district of Dras the snow lies deep
and hence its Tibetan name of Hem-babs or the Snow
Country. Elsewhere, however, there is rarely more than
a few inches of depth even in the middle of winter. The
cold, however, is intense. And so is the heat. Burning
hot by day, parching cold by night-this is the Ladak
climate, of which the extremes of temperature are deter-
mined by the hours of day rather than the months of the
year. The mean temperature of the winter months is by
no means excessive. It is the nights of the summer that
bring the cold.
Such a country must be but thinly peopled. Hence,
the calculations of Cunningham, which nearly coincide
with those of that excellent observer Moorcroft, make the
numbers, as distributed over the British, as well as the Sikh,
24
LADAK.
district, to amount to no more than 433 persons to the
square mile. But this scantiness of human life is due to
other causes than severity of climate, impracticability of
soil, or the domestic institution of polyandria. An epi-
demic, an emigration of the Lamas who were persecuted or
insulted during the conquest by the troops of Gulab Singh,
and losses during the war, give the following table :-
Carried off by small-pox in 1834
Lamas emigrated
Perished during the war
•
14,000
9,000
·
15,000
Emigrants (chiefly Mahometans)
•
1,000
Total decrease
39,000
Moorcroft's census
•
Present census
165,000
126,000
The Sikh conquest seems, in Ladak, to have wholly
broken up the system of petty chieftaincies; which, in
Bultistan, it merely modified. Of the native Gyalpos, or
Makpons of Zanskar, Rukshu, and Ladak Proper, we hear
little. Nevertheless, we hear enough to indicate their ex-
istence; enough to show that the general rule of moun-
tainous districts prevails in the mountains here. Dr.
Thompson tells us how it fared with the native prince of
Giah. He had a title, a very limited income, and no
political power whatever. This was in 1847. When
Moorcroft was there, he was kept by the same Gyalpos
in a state of suspense as to how he was to be received, and
whether he was to be allowed to go. Meanwhile, Giah itself
is the valley of one of the smallest of the Ladak streams;
13,000 feet above the level of the sea.
In Ladak and in the Buddhist districts, in general,
the females outnumber the males, whilst, in the Mahọ-
metan, the males outnumber the females. Moorcroft
thought that the female population was as much as two to
ITS POPULATION.
25
one against the male. The nuns and monks bear a large
proportion to the rest of the population; a smaller one,
however, than we are likely to find in Tibet.
So
The true Ladak physiognomy is found in its most
typical form in the central parts of the Bhot area. On
the confines of the Turk, Cashmirian, Dard, and Hindu
frontier it changes; partaking of the character of the
populations upon which the Bhot abut. In Shigar it is
believed that the basis of the stock is Kirghís. In Ka-
nawer there is a notable amount of Hindu influences.
there is in Spiti and Lahúl; to say nothing of part of those
districts being more or less Hindu. Then there is a great
number of families known under the name of Arghon.
These are half-bloods, Ladaki on one side, Cashmirian
on the other. In the true Ladak districts, however, the
type is definite, and the blood pure.
The Bhot of Ladak is strong, hardy, short, and
square, with a decidedly Mongol physiognomy; by which
is meant a flat face, broad cheek, depressed nose, oblique
and narrow eye, curtained at the corners, hair black,
stature low. In the following table a superiority of size
in the Hindu and Mahometan districts is apparent; the
district of Shigar alone being excepted. A third series
of measurement, not given here, but to be found in Cun-
ningham, gives more than four inches difference in favour
of the class of landed proprietors, who are better fed,
more warmly clothed, and more conveniently housed than
the lower orders. They fare better, and labour less, ride
when they travel, and indulge more liberally in the lux-
ries of tea and animal food. Their average height for the
Buddhist districts and Kunawer (the Mahometan land-
lords were not submitted to measurement) is 5 ft. 6.1 in.
The ears of the Ladakis are inordinately large; one-half
larger than those of Europeans.
26
LADAK-TABLES.
STATURE.
MEN.
Tallest.
Shortest. Average.
Tallest.
WOMEN.
Shortest. Average.
BUDDHISTS:
ft. in.
ft. in.
ft. in.
ft. in.
ft. in. ft. in.
Rukshu
5 1.5
5 0·0
5 0.9
5 0.0
4 1.0
4 8.2
Spiti
Nubra.
5 6.5
5 0·0
5 2.4
5 2.5
4 1.0
4 8.9
•
5 7·0
5 4.0
5 2.7
4 7.0
4 0·0
5 9.8
Ladak.
7 5.0
4 10.0
5 1.4
5 4.0
4 1.0
4 10.1
Average
5 1.8
4 9.2
MAHOMETANS:
Chorbad
Khapolor.
Keris
Parguta
•
•
5 8.0
4 8.0
5 0.9
5 0·0
4 4.0
4 9.3
5 7.0
4 6.0
5 0.7
5 2.0
4 2.0
4 9.1
•
5 5.0
5 0.0
5 2.9
4 11.0
4 8·0
4 10.6
•
5 9.0 4 10.0
5 3.5
5 4.0
4 4.0
4 8.5
Skardo
5 11.0
4 9.0
5 2.3
5 0·0
4 6'0 4 9.7
Shigar
5 5.0
4 4.0
5 0'4
4 11.0
4 8.0
4 9.4
Rongdo
5 7.0
4 9.0
5 2.1
5 0·0
4 7·0
4 9.7
Average
5 0.8
4 9.5
KANETS:
Upper Kanawer
5 6.0
4 11.0
5 1.9
5 1.5
4 4.5
4 9.0
Middle do.
5 6.0
4 9.0
5 20
5 5.0
4 9.0
4 11.1
Lower do.
5 9.2 4 11.0
5 4.1
5 5.0
4 10.0
5 1.2
•
Average
5 2.0
4 9.7
The skulls, as far as I can judge by drawings, and the
few I have seen or found described, are less referable to
the extreme Mongolian type than is expected. Eighty is
a fair facial angle for a European. A capacity of seventy-
two cubic inches is that of many of the skulls found in
English tumuli, and described as ancient British and
Anglo-Saxon. The weight is important, because many of
the Hindu skulls are very light and delicate, thin-boned,
and of a fine texture. The truncation of the occiput is
by no means remarkable.
Skulls.
Facial Cranial
Angle. Capacity
Weight.
Degrees. Cubic in.
lb. Oz.
No. 1 from Hanlé
80
74.5
1 4·44
No. 2 from Lé.
68
72.7
1
6.44
•
No. 3 from Lé.
73
70.0
1 7.46
No. 4 from Bultistan
75
72.0
1 2.40
74
72.3
1 5.18
TABLES.
27
Ladak, like Bultistan, belongs to Gulab Singh, with
the exception of two districts-Spiti and Lahúl, which
constitute a part of British India. Spiti is wholly, Lahúl
but partially, Bhot. It is Bhot along the banks of the
Chandra, and Bhot along those of the Bhaga; but below
the junction, and along the Chandra-Bhaga, or the result
of the two combined streams, it is Hindu.
In Spiti the population is scantily spread along the
banks of the river so called. In 316 houses, distributed
in sixty villages, we find
Adult males
Boys under 12
Adult females
•
392
191
•
593
Girls under 12
Priests
238
•
193
1607
Their chief enemy is the small-pox; weakness of the
eyes being common goitre rare. The men marry
between twenty and twenty-one, the women from fifteen
to twenty. Polyandry prevails; and, side by side with
it, polygamy. A man in good circumstances may have
two or three wives; but, then, the priest has none. Of
food they have but little variety, being without poultry,
without vegetables.
The whole area of Ladak is as follows:
UNDER GULAB SINGH.
Districts.
Nubra
Sq. Miles.
.9216
Mean Heights.
•
•
12,763
Ladak
3960
•
•
11,500
Zanskar
3080
13,154
Rukshu
5580
•
•
15,634
Purik
Suru
4200 .
•
11,196
Dras
BRITISH.
Spiti.
Lahúl
2312
•
•
12,986
1872
11,063
28
KUNAWER.
Hungrung.-I know of no true ethnological difference
between the Bhot of Hungrung and those of Ladak and
Tibet. The district, however, belongs to the Rajah of
Bisahur. The villages lie at different levels; ranging from
9,500 to 12,000 feet, the alluvia being numerous, and the
climate, considering the altitude, favourable to cultivation.
On the very crest of the Hungrung pass, at a height of
14,800 feet, the dama grows in patches; the dama being
the Tibetan name for the Caragana versicolor, a small
shrub, that thrives at elevations where no other tree is to
be found. This makes it valuable for fuel; the scarcest
of the Bhot necessaries. The barleys are of two kinds,
the common, and the Hordeum Ægiceros. Both are culti-
vated; and that after the ordinary Bhot fashion; i. e. by
means of irrigation. On the lower levels are grown
wheat, buckwheat, millet, a kind of rape, and apricots.
On the higher, there are no fruit trees at all.
It is at Nako, in Hungrung, that Dr. Thompson finds
occasion to remark upon the gradual character of the
transition from India to Tibet, both morally and physi-
cally. It is by gradual transitions that Brahminism passes
into Buddhism. It is by gradual transitions that the
Hindu physiognomy becomes Bhot. The "gradual tran-
sition, in descending the Sutlej, from Hinduism to Budd-
hism is very remarkable, and not less so because it is ac-
companied by an equally gradual change in the physical
aspect of the inhabitants; the Hindus of the Lower Sut-
lej appearing to pass by insensible gradations as we advance
from village to village, till at last we arrive at a pure
Tartar population. The people of Upper Piti have quite
the Tartar physiognomy, the small stature and stout build
of the inhabitants of Ladak, to whom they closely ap-
proximate in dress."
Kunawer.—In Lower Kunawer the language is Hindu
KUNAWER.
29
Nor is this all.
rather than Bhot; in Upper Kunawer it is Bhot rather
than Hindu. Nor is this all. There are dialects and
sub-dialects. The Milchan is the language of Lower
Kunawer; Milchan being the Rampúr term for the lan-
guage in general. In Súngnúm the forms are truly pro-
vincial, and, as the word Theburskud, or Tibberskud,
is used as a name for all deviations from the ordinary
speech, the Súngnúm dialect has been given as The-
burskud. The Lubrung (or Kanam) and the Lidung
(or Lippa) forms are varieties of the Milchan.
Súmchú is, perhaps, a fresh dialect.
The
English
Milchan.
Theburskud.
Súmchú.
Man
mi
mi
mé
Women
chismi
eshrí
esplung
Head
bul
pisha
pisha
Tongue
le
le
le
Eye
mík
mé
mí
Ear
kanung
rupung
repung
Foot
bung
bunk
bunkun
Sun
yúne
né
nímok
Moon
gulsung
gulsung
gulsung
Star
skara
karma
karma
One
ít
té
ít
Two
nísh
níshí.
nísh
Three
súm
súm
húm
Four
pu
pí
pu
Five
gna
gnai
gna
Ten
saí
chúi
sa
The differences here are slight. The infinitives, how-
ever, have peculiar endings:
Milchan
Lippa
Kanam
•
Súngnúm.
lonhmih' or lonhmig
lodenh❜ or lodent
•
logma
•
lopang
Súmchú (?)
lomma or loma.
Neither the Bhot nor the Hindu populations of
Kunawer are truly pure. On the contrary, there are
Bhot characters amongst the Hindus, Hindu characters
30
KUNAWER-MARYUL.
amongst the Bhot. Buddhism, indeed, decreases in the
central districts, and disappears in the southern. It is
not, however, replaced by any pure form of Brahminism.
Local gods and irregular priests appear here. Every hill
has its deota or genius. Polyandry is general. To one
family one wife; the elder brother being the more special
husband. Minute and trenchant divisions of caste are
wanting. There is, however, an approach to it. The
Chumangs are regarded as outcasts, and no true Kanet.
will eat with them, intermarry with them, or allow them
to cross their threshold. Their skins are dark, and some
are said to be woolly-haired. The same is said concerning
the Rawi and Dom of Kumaon. They are not found in
the Bhot districts. The people of the lower hills call
them Koli; those of Rampúr, Chumars. Chumang is
what they call themselves. They till the soil and weave.
Polyandry is one of their habits, as well as one of their
superiors'. They are liable to be pressed as porters.
So are the Domang, whose name is, word for word, that
of the Dom of Kumaon.
So is the class of carpenters.
Hence, even in Kunawer, with its Buddhist frontier
and its Bhot characters, there are no less than three
castes; each of which keeps its members to itself in the
way of intermarriage. A Dom will not intermarry with a
Chumang.
To those who care about a general name for the two
divisions of the Bhot family, which have been the subject
of the present chapter, the valuable paper of Strachey on
the Physical Geography of Western Tibet suggests one.
All the members of the group under notice agree with
each other in respect to their political relations. They
are each and all other than Chinese. That this distinc-
tion is negative is clear; but it is not, for that reason,
MARYUL.
31
unimportant. The peculiar exclusiveness of the Chinese
system makes the difference between what it applies to
and what it does not, the difference between the known
and the unknown. Now the non-Chinese portions of
Bhotland are called by the Tibetans themselves Maryul,
or Lowland; for yul means land, and mar means low.
Maryul, or the Lowlands, in respect to its politics, falls
into two divisions; (1) British Maryul consisting of Spiti
and North Lahúl, and (2) Sikh Maryul consisting of all
the rest.
This division is by no means natural. More
natural is that which gives (1) Bultistan, which is Ma-
hometan, and (2) Ladak, which is Buddhist.
Strachey's Maryul is as follows :—
I. Bulti-Hasora; Rongdo, or Rongyul; Shigar; Bulti
Proper, or Skardo; Parkuta; Tolti; Khartaksho; Kiris;
Khaypalu; Chorbat.
II. Ladak-Spiti; Zangskar; Purik; Suru; Hem-
babs (Dras); Ladak Proper, or Le; Nubra; Tanktse;
Rong; Rupshu; Hanle.
In this list, Lahúl, Hungrung, and Kunawer are omitted
as Indian; whilst Hasora is treated as Bhot.
CHAPTER II.
The Bhot of the Chinese Empire.-The Tibetans of Rudok, Garo, Guge,
&c.—Of Lhasa and Tishú Lúmbú.-The Sifan.-The Lhopa of Bú-
tan.—The Tak.—The Bhot of Gurhwhal, Kumaon, and Nepaul.-The
Chepang. Doubtful Bhot.-The Rhondur.-The Chak and Drok.—
The Hor.-The Kolo.
THE difference between Ladak and Tibet Proper
is chiefly political. It is the express statement of
Strachey that the present diplomatic boundary coincides
with the transverse range of mountains, which forms the
watershed between the Sutlej and Indus, for a small dis-
tance only. As a general rule the line of demarcation is
artificial. Neither can I make much in the way of a
national division out of the word Maryul, notwithstand-
ing its meaning. That portion of Chinese Tibet which
gives us the actual sources of the Sutlej and Indus, not to
mention the watershed between those great rivers and the
Brahmaputra, must needs lie high. Yet so do Ladak
and Bultistan. In any other part of the world they
would form a highland, an alpine region, a Kohistan.
However, they lie on the Lower Indus, just as Lower
Germany lies on the Lower Elbe. Though we may use
the word Maryul, if necessary, we may conveniently for-
get its meaning.
Tibet is Chinese, and, as such, inaccessible. Not
that it is likely to be so until the end of time. The Eng-
lish frontier touches it. The Sikh frontier touches it.
To the south lies Nepaul, the king whereof has lately
manifested a spirit of either aggression or something like
it. To the south-east Bútan is open to influences from
TIBET.
33
India, and likely to be still more so. At present, how-
ever, our knowledge is limited. Thus, whilst we know
that, in the great essentials of language, religion, and phy-
sical conformation a Tibetan is a Ladaki, and a Ladaki a
Tibetan (so little is the difference between them), we lack
the knowledge of the differences between the Tibetans
themselves. Some occupy the banks of the Brahmaputra
in its upper and middle course. But others lie beyond
its drainage; on steppes and plateaus, on the frontier of
the Turks of Chinese Tartary, and the Mongols of Mon-
golia. Others lie eastward, on and within the frontier of
China.
In the parts just to the east of the Ladak frontier,
and the districts to the north of Gurwhal and Kumaon,
lie the sources of both the Indus and the Sutlej, the parts
about the Lake Manasarowar; visited by Lloyd and
Gerard, and further explored by the Stracheys. East
of these lie the heights that separate them from the
drainage of the Tsanpú; the Tsanpú that flows eastwards
to the north of the northern frontier of Nepaul and
Bhútan until it turns to the south and west, and becomes
the Brahmaputra of the great valley of Asam; partly
Bhot, partly Indian. Where this great river rises we have
the physical conditions of Tibet in their most extreme
form. Before it becomes the Brahmaputra rice grows on
its banks. Between the land of snow and ice on its head-
waters and the hot alluvia of its lower course what inter-
venes? What, too, do we find on the Sutlej and Indus
before we reach the drainage of the Tsanpú?
On the head-waters of the Sutlej and Indus, we find, in
the provinces of Rudok, Garo, and Guge, much what we
found in Ladak, except that the elevations are higher,
and the alluvial soil of Guge is remarkable for its depth
and extent.
VOL. I.
D
34
TIBET.
Of the Upper Tsanpú we know less. The district
that lies along the main channel is named Mangyul, or
the land of mang whatever mang may mean. It lies
parallel with Nepaul- there or thereabouts. It may
be a little less inhospitable in soil and climate than
the worst parts of Rudok and Nubra.
It must,
however, perforce, be cold and dry, containing a few
villages, of which the names only, along with their
relative positions, are known; so that the Land of Mang
is pre-eminently the Terra Incognita of Tibet.
When we come, however, to the longitude of Sikkim,
and reach the parts that lie to the north of Bhutan rather
than Nepaul, the names, at least, of some of the localities,
become familiar. There is Lhasa, the capital of the
province U (spelt DbUs), and Tassisudon of Tsang.
And then there are the parts between Lhasa and Asam,
like the parts along the Nepaul frontier, unexplored. They
are, however, in patches at least, warm and alluvial.
What is the breadth of Tibet? There are three zones.
The middlemost is traversed by the main axis of the
drainage, whether it be that of the Indus or the Tsanpú.
It has its mountain boundary to the south. It has also its
mountain boundary to the north. The former gives us a
district in geographical contact with India and Nepaul;
a district of mountains and glaciers, of streams and val-
leys. The latter bounds Yarkend, Khoten, and parts of
Mongolia. Where these begin is a doubtful point. But
this is not all. Some part of these doubtful frontiers is
steppe and desert, just like the great bare table-lands of
Central Asia; so that the difference between the water sys-
tem of the Indus and Tsanpú and the parts to the north
of it is double-physical as well as ethnological,
ethnological as well as physical. And the question that
arises out of it is double. Where lie the most northern
TIBET.
35
Bhot? Are they tribes of the mountain valley, or tribes
of the sandy steppe? Or where lie the most southern of
the Turks and Mongols? Do any of them indent the
area of the Bhot? Are any of them dalesmen?
Again-does the Bhot character change as the face of
the country changes, becoming wilder as the area becomes
more impracticable?
The average breadth of Maryul, from the Indian to
the Turkish watershed, is laid by Mr. Strachey at about
150 miles; the Turkish watershed being formed by the
prolongation of the Karakorum range, whatever that may
be. Khoten, he thinks, extends further to the south than
Yarkend, and, so doing, limits the breadth of Tibet as
far as its eastern boundary in (about) 83 E.L.
broad is Mangyul, the district that overlies Nepaul? How
broad are the provinces of which Lahsa and Tassisudon
are the capitals? No one can say. Thus much, how-
ever, can be said viz.-that the industrial and monastie
character of Tibet is confined within narrow limits.
How
The occupants of the middle zone are inconveniently
near the Kyampo districts. Now Kyampo is the name
of a lawless set of tribes which call themselves Rundur.
They are independent robbers, barbarous in dialect, but
still specially said to be Tibetan in language and features.
They live on a steppe, and in tents. Make these Tibetan,
and the Bhot area east of Khoten is widened, extending
itself northwards. But what if they are Turks or Mon-
gols?
specimen.
Of their language, eo nomine, I have seen no
The population, however, of the southern and middle
zones appears to be homogeneous, the differences of dialect
being slight, and the differences of creed next to none.
And this is what we expect. The great bulk of the
population is collected on the banks of the rivers; the
D 2
36
AGRICULTURAL HABITS OF
tilth of the country being limited to these districts.
As
long as this is the case the habits of the occupants are agri-
cultural, with much that reminds us of the careful in-
dustry of the Chinese. In a country almost destitute of
wood, the dung of the sheep, yaks, and ponies goes for
fuel just as it does in some parts of England, where it is
beaten into caissons, dried, and burned. On the other
hand, the highest value is put upon the refuse of towns,
night soil, and human ordure. The business of the night-
man is sufficient to employ a great proportion of the
population. Every house has its privy, the contents of
which are let or sold, with the same regard to their rich-
ness that a farmer has when he buys the manure of a
crew-yard, and asks whether the beasts have been fed on
straw or hay, or hay or oil-cake. Then there is the labour
:
of irrigation for where this is neglected there is no hope
of a crop. It is carefully attended to. The fields are
laid out in terraces, and the water that has enriched one
of the higher, is then turned-off to fertilize the lower,
levels. The barley-for this is the chief grain-is sown
in April or May, and reaped in September or October.
There is some rain in Tibet, far more than in Ladak;
indeed, there is an approach to a rainy season. In the
first, or early spring, which coincides with February,
March, and April, there are showers and southerly
winds. In the next three months there is also rain, with
occasional thunder. In September there is heavy rain,
and after that sharp frost; sharp frost, but not much
snow, except on the mountains.
It is not, however, on the mountains that agriculture
flourishes. The sheep and the yak belong to the broken
surfaces of the higher levels. Of the domesticated yak
there is the cross between the cow and the yak, and the
cross between the yak and the bull; the latter being
THE TIBETANS.
37
excellent milkers. Of the sheep-of which the numbers
are numberless-there are four principal varieties, all
well-savoured in flesh, all productive of useful wool,
though of different qualities. There is also the goat,
with its undercoat of shawl wool. This, however, in
Tibet Proper is neglected. The pig, too, which the
Tibetans and Chinese equally eat, and ducks and geese,
which the latter delight in, but which the former abstain
from, are abundant.
There is a little indulgence in the chase, or, at least, in
shooting. No animal in Tibet is fiercer than the wild
yak; the contrast, in many respects, of the domesticated
animal. It is sometimes hunted on horseback, when the
skill of the sportsman is shown in detaching it from the
herd. At other times its favourite grazing-ground is dis-
covered, and a loose enclosure of stones is thrown up.
Then, near this, another; and then another not far off.
In the first of these the shooter conceals himself, and
fires. The yak, whether wounded or not, rushes furiously
at the spot where he sees the sınoke and vents his rage on
the stones of the enclosure by knocking the wall to
pieces. Meanwhile the shooter escapes to the next, and
fires afresh from it; and so on, and so on, till the animal
is brought down.
With woollen clothing, with barley bread, and with
animal food in abundance the Tibetan is well protected
against the extremities of his climate. In summer he
eats, however, but little animal food. When winter sets
in he has a great slaughtering-day. The animal is killed,
skinned, gutted, and set upright in a free current of air.
This dries and preserves him; the flesh becoming so dry as
to rub to powder betwen the hands. The trade of butcher
is often hereditary. Again, it is a public trade. Each
village has its professional slaughterer.
38
TIBET.
Where the soil becomes unfit for agriculture, it often
effloresces in salts, carbonate of soda, muriate of soda,
borax. Saltpetre is made artificially at the large sheep-
folds, where the compost of dung and earth determine its
production.
The chief diseases are ophthalmic and cutaneous. Small-
pox is guarded against by inoculation; though imperfectly.
Sometimes its ravages are inordinately terrible. The
laughing disease is one of which many die. It is said
to consist of violent fits of laughter, with excruciating
pain in the fauces: it is unaccompanied by fever. Dr.
Campbell's notice of this is secondhand.
The Chinese dominion seems anything but oppressive.
The whole number of the troops, all of whom are Mant-
shú, is only 4000; 2000 at Lahsa, 1000 at Digarchi, 500 at
Giangtchi, and 500 at Tingri. The militia is native.
The civil service is somewhat more celestial. The chief
officers here are Chinese, but not all of them. The grand
Lama is a Bhot.
There is, then, a fair amount of activity, and a fair
amount of independence. Neither is the Buddhist creed,
though it has studded the country with innumerable
monasteries and nunneries, a notable cause of either idle-
ness or mendicancy. The monks employ themselves on
secular, as well as ecclesiastic, employments; employ them-
selves and find employments for others. The monastery
is always an important part of the town. Tíshú
Lúmbú, described by Mr. Turner, the second town in
Tibet, is essentially either a monastery, or a collection of
monasteries; as the old universities are collections of col-
leges. The ordinary monk, or priest, is the Gylong
above whom are the Lamas, or presidents, and below whom
are the Tohba and Tuppa. The Tuppa is a probationer,
who is admitted into the establishment to which he would
MONASTERIES.
39
attach himself at the age of 8 or 10, and receives instruc-
tion accordingly. At 15, he becomes a Tohba; and at
24 a Gylong; provided his acquirements be satisfactory.
The Gylongs may become Lamas by being appointed su-
perintendents, wardens, provosts, principals, masters, or
presidents of an endowed monastery; of which, it is need-
less to say that the name is Legion. The nunneries,
too, are numerous; no man being allowed to pass a night
in a monastery, no monk being allowed to pass a night in
a nunnery. When the monastery of Tíshú Lúmbú was
established the number of its Gylongs was no less than
3700.
The class falls into two divisions; one containing those
whose caps are yellow, the other those whose caps are
red. This is the distinction-the red and the yellow,
the yellow and the red. The wearers of the yellow are
called Gyllúpka. The wearers of the red are called
Shammar. There are, of course, differences of doctrine,
or rather discipline, as well; the Shammar allowing their
Gylongs to marry. Originally, they were more power-
ful than at present. Originally, the site of Tíshú
Lúmbú was the occupancy of the Shammar. But the
normal state of quarrel between rival sectaries began,
continued, and ended with the expulsion of the Red-
caps, and the foundation of a monastery in the valley they
had once cultivated.
On one side of Tíshú Lúmbú Turner saw the Gol-
gotha of the monastery, the place whither the dead were
conveyed for exposure; not for cremation, nor yet for in-
terment (which is quite foreign to Tibet) but for ex-
posure. It was a spacious area, inclosed on one side by
natural rock, on the other by walls, open at top, with a
narrow opening below. On the rock above was a plat-
form, from which the corpses were shot down into the
40
TIBET:
inclosure below. The hole in the wall was for the purpose
of letting in dogs or other carnivora; the birds being
free to descend from above. With these facilities, be-
tween beast and bird, the destruction of the fleshy parts
of the dead bodies went on rapidly. Such is the ordi-
nary mode of the disposal of the dead in Tibet; burial
by deglutition, burial by invisceration, burial by means of
the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, burial by
exposure and absorption. Sometimes, however, the fu-
neral ceremonies were, if such a term can be allowed,
more private, and the deceased were carried to the top of
some hill to be exposed. Sometimes, they were com-
mitted to the nearest stream of water.
The chief excep-
tions to these exposures took place with the bodies of the
Lamas. Those of the highest rank had shrines built over
their remains, which were deposited entire; the shrines
themselves being objects of religious awe and distant
pilgrimages. Of the inferior saints the bodies were
burnt, and the ashes preserved in little metallic idols
which served as cases, and which were carefully kept in
special cabinets sacred to the purpose of keeping them.
The resemblance between Buddhism and Roman Ca-
tholic Christianity has struck more than one investigator;
most especially the Lazarist missionaries, whose opinions,
as expounded in the works of Mr. Huc, are well known.
They are extreme. The remarkable extent of it, accord-
ing to the above-named writer, is neither explained by the
convenient doctrine of accidental resemblance, nor yet by
the more scientific hypothesis of the uniformity of the
human mind, and the similarity of its modes of operation
under similar circumstances. Direct influence from Eu-
rope is supposed to explain it. The reasoning runs thus.
In the fourteenth century the relations between the popu-
lations of Central Asia and the Europeans were close.
ITS MONASTERIES.
41
The Mongols sent embassies to Rome, to France, and to
England. England, France, and Rome sent missions in
return. The visitors of the West were struck by the pomp
and ceremony of the western rites, and carried back to
their residences the profound impressions which such
rites, magnificently solemnized, had made on their memo-
ries. The desire to reproduce them at home grew up. A
reformer arose in a district to the south of Koko Nor.
A shepherd born in these parts was visited by a stranger
with a large nose and brilliant eyes. Messrs. Huc and
Gabet were likened to the traditional likeness of this
stranger. He implanted the desire of recasting the in-
stitution of Buddhism in the breast of Tsong Kaba;
for so the reformer was named. He founded the mo-
nastery of Kounboum, or the 10,000 images; but not
until a miracle had occurred. It was his mother's
miracle rather than his. According to the custom, she
cut off his hair when she devoted him to a religious.
life, and when she threw it away, a tree sprung up
from the spot on which it was thrown. This tree is now
alive. It is not more than 8 feet high, but so thick that
three men cannot grasp it. It may be seen at Kounboum ;
Huc indeed saw it. He smelt it. It was of the scent
of cinnamon. In summer it puts forth a beautiful red
flower. But what is strangest of all each of its leaves.
bears the figure of a letter of the Tibetan alphabet; we
are not told which. No fraud on the part of the Lamas
was suspected by the missionaries; but they scarcely seein
to have thought of the mark being natural, just like the
Greek Gamma, and the English C on the wings of certain
moths and butterflies. Doubtless "people will smile at
our credulity." It is too honest and straightforward to
be smiled at; besides which it is consistent, being shown in
other things as well. Thus, a bokti, or holy man, ripped up
42
TIBET:
his stomach with a knife, disembowelled himself, and
walked away as if nothing had happened. It was his busi-
ness to act a miracle. Yet the worthy missionaries be-
lieved in it. It was Satan's doing. We should know thus
much of their way at looking at matters before we pin
our faith on all they tell us. However, Tsong Kaba's
monastery still exists. The Lamas are distributed into
four classes, that of the mystics, that of the directors of
the religious ceremonies, that of the physicians, that of
the prayers. Call these the faculties of Philosophy, Arts,
Medicine and Divinity and you have a university. The
victor in one of the periodical disputations is mounted on
the shoulders of the Lama he has vanquished. Call this keep-
ing an act and opponency. The subjects are not very dif-
ferent from those that were discussed in medieval Europe.
Why are birds without the functions of other animals ?"
This was the subject of the one part of Huc's master in
the Thibetan language. The moderators keep order with
a crow-bar. It is not impossible, then, that European dis-
cipline may have been imitated in the monastery of Koun-
boum.
A short distance from Kounboum is Tshogortan;
famous for its contemplative Lamas; men who again
remind us if not of Europe, of Egypt and Syria.
They occupy cells on the steepest sides of the most inac-
cessible mountains, like swallows' nests. They cut them-
selves off from all intercourse with their fellow-creatures,
and (in some cases) a sack and a long cord serves to supply
them with food. So much for the eremites. Tshogortan
is on the Sifan frontier, and the more secular districts in
its neighbourhood get robbed accordingly.
In a little islet on the Koko Nor is another monastery.
No one visits it from the shore. No boats were seen on
the lake. Solitude, except so far as it is broken by the
ITS MONASTERIES.
43
intercourse of the recluses with each other, is the lot of
the isolated beings who live here.
The mendicants have also their analogies. The vaga-
bond Lamas, a definite class, travel from place to place,
taking no care of the morrow. They stop at the tent;
they seat themselves on the hearth; they tell their story;
they receive hospitality. They visit all accessible, or
possible, countries; China, Mantshuria, Mongolia, Tur-
kestan.
The rivers and lakes, with their strongly-marked physi-
cal characteristics, stimulate the Bhot fancy into the usual
rude etymologies and ætiologies of simple-minded specu-
lators. The five great rivers flow from the mouths of five
animals; the Ganges from a cow's, the Indus from a
lion's, the Sutlej from an elephant's, the Gogra from a
peacock's, and the Brahmaputra from the holy horse of
Sakya, named Ta-chok.
The Tshomoriri Lake took its name from the cry of a
woman who rode into it. She was mounted on a yak,
and the yak run away with her, till he reached the water.
He plunged into it. At first the woman (tshomo) was
pleased with the excitement and novelty. At last she got
frightened, and, when the animal began to sink, cried
ri-ri; whence the name of the lake.
As travellers are often in trouble for want of horses,
the Lamas have the following way of helping them.
They cut out a number of horses in paper, ascend a high
mountain, pray, and fling up the lot into the air. The
wind carries them in all directions: Buddha changes them
into flesh and blood. Weary travellers get the use of
them.
If Tíshú Lúmbú be a town of monks, Lahsa is both
monastic and mercantile. The palace of the Dalai
Lama, the Chinese garrisons, and traders from the east,
44.
TIBET.
west, north, and south, help to secularize it. As far as
the inhabitants themselves are concerned, it is (unlike the
towns of China) free to all who wish to either buy or sell.
It is not the Tibetans who keep the English out of
Tibet. It is the Chinese who garrison the land. They
are not numerous. They are enough, however, to close
the country.
Few writers touch upon Tibet without noticing what
they call its Polyandria. It is a word that speaks for it-
self; in ethnology as well as in botany. It is the reverse
of polygamy, or polygynia, and, as such, it is usually
considered. In the East, in general, one man has many
wives. In Tibet, and certain other countries where Tibetan
habits are practised, one woman has many husbands. The
contrast is sufficiently strong to command attention. So
is the apparently exceptional character of the instances.
The bearings, too, of the fact upon questions of social
statics are as evident as they are important. What is the
effect of Polyandria upon morals? What its effect upon
population? In addition to this, the ethnologists ask
whether it is found elsewhere? whether the Tibetan prac-
tices are nearly so exceptional as they seem? Have they
anything to do with the physical condition of the country,
especially with its enormous altitude? Have they any-
thing to do with the religious habitudes of the people,
especially with the system of monasteries? The monastic
system can have little or nothing to do with it. On the
contrary, it should make men scarce instead of over-
abundant; for, though there are nunneries as well as
monasteries in Tibet, the latter are the more numerous and
the better filled.
I am slow to believe that polyandria can be an institu-
tion of any kind in its normal state. I was once slow to
believe that the evidence in favour of a number of bro-
POLYANDRIA.
45
thers having but one wife amongst them at the same time
was unexceptionable. I must take it, however, as I find
it. Turner especially states that women in Tibet, with
their three or four husbands, were just as jealous
as a Turk polygamist could have been of the virtue of
his harem. One woman he saw who had five brothers
all alive, and all her husbands. At the same time
he shows that the chief, perhaps the real, husband
was the elder brother. He it was who chose. He it was
who went through the marriage ceremonies. He it was
who represented the union.
Along with this I take the Jewish practice of one bro-
ther, on the death of another, taking to himself the relict
of the deceased. The question upon this point, by which
the Sadducees tempted our Lord, need only be alluded to.
Seven brothers married one and the same woman,
but they
married her in succession; one dying before the other suc-
ceeded. Now this is a practice which is not only less im-
probable à priori, but one which is known to be of no very
uncommon occurrence. Can the Tibetan polyandry be
an abnormal case of this? The wife in esse of one brother
is the wife in posse of another. She is family property;
much after the manner of an entailed estate. Given cer-
tain events, she knows who will, and she knows who will
not, be her husband. This keeps her to the brotherhood.
Let one, or more, of the reversionist brothers anticipate
his nuptial rights, and polyandry is the result-not a nor-
mal, but not an unlikely, one. Just as, in entails, the
protector of the settlement may find it convenient to come
to an agreement with the remainder-man, and allow him
to realize, by anticipation, his contingent rights, so may
the elder brother allow his possible successors in the wife-
dom to act as husbands before their turn. I only suggest
this. Polyandria, pure and simple, with the licence which the
46
THE SIFAN, THOCHU, ETC.
rest of Asia allows to the men transferred to women I do
not believe in. Neither do I believe that the latitude
which Europe allows to men is a womanly privilege in
Tibet. It argues too great a reversal of the ordinary sen-
timents of human nature. Still, however, if a certain
amount of evidence establish the fact, we must take it
as it comes before us. The descensus per umbilicum of the
Malabar coast is akin to polyandry. Again, amongst the
Mongols, in the time of Kublai Khan, and according to
the express evidence of Marco Polo, brothers not only
took to themselves deceased brothers' wives, but children
succeeded to the wives of their fathers. When a man
died his son took all the wives he left behind him, with
the single exception of his own mother.
The Sifan-Amdoans—Gyarung-Manyak-Thochu.-
I give the notices of the Sifan as I find them, being
satisfied that they are, not only incomplete, but partially
inaccurate, and committing myself to nothing in the way
of etymology, however currently received. The class
itself, then, is provisional. It may or may not turn out
natural. The word itself is said to be Chinese; si mean-
ing western, and fan meaning barbarians; so that the
compound the barbarians or strangers of the West. In
China this expression would point toward Tibet. On the
other hand, the Sifan, in the eyes of a Tibetan, would be
in the direction of China, and, if they were deemed bar-
barians at all, would be the barbarians of the East. At
any rate they would not be Sifan eo nomine. They need
not, indeed, have a Tibetan name at all.
It seems,
however, that one of their constituent tribes is called
Gyárung; word for word, the same (I think) as Gurung,
the name of a population in Nepaul. The Gyárung are
a powerful nation, consisting of as many as eighteen
banners; and, although they are at the present time
THE SIFAN, THOCHU, ETC.
47
satisfied with the recognized supremacy of the Celestial
Empire, they have once, and more than once, been inde-
pendent. Yet Gyárung is no native name. Each tribe
has its special denomination, the whole collection none.
It is the Tibetans who use the word. They apply it to
the eighteen banners of the Gyárung Proper, and they
also apply it to the tribes of the Chinese frontier in
general. If so, the Gyárung, or Gyárungbo, are the
Sifan under a Tibetan, the Sifan being Gyárung, or
Gyárung-bo, under a Chinese appellation. Whether,
however, the two names (supposing both to be accurate)
apply to precisely the same tribes depends upon the
breadth and length of the area. If the belt of barbarism
between China and Tibet be narrow, the Gyárung may be
Sifan-tribe for tribe. But what if the belt be broad?
In that case it may extend far into China, and the most
eastern of the Sifan may be neither more nor less than
ruder members of the Chinese stock, separated from the
rest on account of their wildness, just as certain hill tribes
of India, from the fact of their being pagan rather than
Brahminic, are separated from the other Hindus. And
what if the belt be long? In that case it may embrace
Mongols, and even Turks, at its northern, Siamese and
Burmese at its southern, extremity.
One fact alone is certain, viz.-that the only known
samples of the Sifan forms of speech are Tibetan.
The chiefs of the different Gyárung tribes are called
Gyapo, word for word the Gyalpo of the Bultistanis.
The question now arises as to the habits on which the
name Sifan-supposing it to mean barbarian-is founded.
I can scarcely think that it rests on any difference of
creed. I have looked in vain for any traces of Paganism
in the few notices we possess. At the same time it should
be added that these apply to the northern part of the
48
THE SIFAN, THOCU, ETC.
area only. The most irreligious act in the eyes of a
Buddhist, of which I can find any of the tribes guilty,
is that of having made an inroad upon some holy
ground, broken some images, and turned-off the waters
that worked the prayer mills. But Buddhists of lax
principles might do this, just as lax Christians-may rob
churches. I imagine that it is founded chiefly on their
nomad habits, and on the associated habits of plunder
and robbery.
With a thoughtful Sifan, whom he met in the Amdoa
country, Mr. Huc had the following conversation :-
"Aha! brother," said we, "it is the first time that we
have come to seat ourselves in
your tent."
"I am old," he replied; "my legs cannot support me,
otherwise I should have been to Tchogortan, to offer
you my khata. From what I have heard the shepherds
of the black tents say, you are from the sky of the west."
; our country is far from here."
"Yes
"Are you from the kingdom of Samba, or that of
Poba?"
"Neither one nor the other; we are from the kingdom
of the French."
"Ah! you are of the Framba; I have never heard of
that. It is so large that West; the kingdoms there are
so numerous. But at bottom it makes no difference; we
are all of the same family, are we not?"
"Yes, certainly; all men are brothers, whatever their
kingdom is.'
""
"What you say is founded on reason; but nevertheless
there are on the earth three great families, and we are all
of the great Thibetan family."
66 Aha!-do you know whence come these three fami-
lies?"
"This is what I have heard the Lamas say, who have
THE SIFAN.
49
studied the things of antiquity. At the beginning, there
was on the earth only a single man; he had neither house
nor tent, for at that time the winter was not cold, and the
summer not hot; the wind did not blow so violently, and
there fell neither snow nor rain; the tea grew of itself on the
mountains, and the flocks had nothing to fear from beasts.
of prey. This man had three children, who lived a long
time with him, nourishing themselves on milk and fruits.
After having attained to a great age this man died. The
three children deliberated what they should do with the
body of their father, and they could not agree about it;
one wished to put him in a coffin, the other wanted to
burn him, the third thought it would be best to expose
the body on the summit of a mountain. They resolved
then to divide it into three parts; the eldest had the body
and arms—he was the ancestor of the great Chinese
family, and that is why his descendants have become
celebrated in arts and industry, and are remarkable for
their tricks and stratagems. The second son had the
breast he was the father of the Tibetan family, and
they are full of heart and courage, and do not fear death.
From the third, who had the inferior parts of the body,
are descended the Tartars, who are simple and timid,
without head or heart, and who know nothing but how to
keep themselves firm in their saddles."
The Amdoan tents are not, like those of the Mongols,
made of felt, though black is the common colour with
both. They are of linen, hexagonal, and without any
framework of wood. The side angles are nailed to the
ground, the top being supported by cords fastened to poles
on the outside, and placed horizontally. These are fixed
They look like
to the ground by cords and rings.
"monstrous black spiders."
VOL. I.
E
50
THE SIFAN.
The evidence that the difference between the nomad
and the tiller of the ground is due to a difference of soil
rather than to anything called race, is manifest in the case
of the Tibetan populations. Where there is a dry plateau,
there there are flocks and herds. Where there is a
water-course, there there is irrigation and agriculture. We
may, if we choose, disparage this kind of industry, and
call those who practise it gardeners rather than farmers. It
is, however, as true and good agriculture as that of the
greater part of the French farmers and vine-growers.
The following samples of the Sifan languages are from
Hodgson :-
English.
Gyarung.
Manyak.
Thochu.
Man
tirmi
chhoh
nah
Head
tako
wulli
Hair
tarni
mui
Eye
taimek
mne
kapat
hompa
kan
Ear
tirne
napi
nukh
Tooth
tiswe
phwih
sweh
Blood
tashi
shah
sah
Bone
syarhu
rukhu
ripat
Hand
tayak
lapcheh
jipah
Foot
tami
lipchheh
jako
Sky
tumon
mah
mahto
Sun
kini
nyima
mun
Moon
tsile
leh
chhap
Star
tsine
krah
ghada
Fire
timi
sameh
meh
Water
tichi
dyah
chah
Stone
rugu
wobi
gholopi
One
kate
tabi
ari
Two
kanes
nabi
gnari
Three
kasam
sibi
ksiri
Four
kadi
rebi
gzari
Five
kunggno
gnabi
wari
Six
kutok
trubi
khatari
Seven
kushnes
skwibi
stari
Eight
oryet
zibi
khrari
Nine
kunggu
gubi
rguni
Ten
sih
chechibi
paduri
THE SIFAN.
51
Measurements.
Amdóan.
Amdóan Hór.
Gyá-
rúng. Manyak.
ft. in. ft. in.
ft. in.
ft. in.
Height without shoes
Length of head, from crown to chin, with
calipers
Girth of head
Length of head, fore and aft, or forehead
5 8
5 7
5
3
5 4
0 8
0
8
0 9
09/
1 10
1
9
1 10
1 102
Crown of head to hip
•
•
Width between the shoulders
Girth of chest
Length of arm and hand
Length of arm
Ditto of fore-arm
to occiput
•
Width of head between parietes
Hip to heel
0 7
0
7
AKO
0
8 0 8
0 6
6
0
06067
2 4
2
4
2 3 2 3
3 3 3
3
2 11 3 1
1 4
1 1
1 1 1 4
3 1
2 9
263
26
2 112 113
2 43 2 4
1 0
1 0
•
0 11 0 114
0 11
0 10
0 9
0 93
Ditto of hand
0 8
0 7
0
7 0 7
Length of thigh
Length of leg to ankle.
Ditto of foot.
Width of hand
Ditto of foot.
Girth of thigh
Ditto of calf .
Ditto of fore-arm
1
8
1 7
1
61
1 41
1 5
1
3 1 5
0 11
0 10
0
90
91
0 4
0 4
0
4 0 4
0 4
0 4
0
41 0
4 0
4
1 9
1
42 1
6 1
1 3
1
13
1
2
1
11
•
•
•
•
0 11 0
9
0 10
0 9
Bútan.—Bútan is best known from Captain Turner's
account of his embassy, published in the first year of the
present century. The attempt was made to reach Lhassa,
but the legation got no further than Tíshú Lúmbú.
This, however, was in Tibet; so that the whole breadth of
Bútan was traversed, and its capital, Tassisudon, visited, a
palace and monastery constituting a town, a town in a
valley, much after the manner of the small towns or
large villages of Ladak and Bultistan. For, like Ladak
and Bultistan, the whole of Bútan is broken up in valleys
and glens, with mountains, covered with June and July
snow, looking down upon them, feeding their streams,
and fertilizing their small patches of alluvial soil; fertiliz-
ing them, but not without the supplementary aid of human
labour.
The system of artificial irrigation is adopted by the
industrious and agricultural Lhopa of Bútan, even as it
E 2
52
THE LHOPA OF BUTAN.
is by the agricultural and industrial Ladaki. In the
valley of Tassisudon, a narrow slip of fertile soil, about
four miles long and one mile broad, through which the
Tshentshein winds its way to the Ganges, the melted
snows of the surrounding mountains are carefully con-
ducted from farm to farm and from bed to bed. Pro-
ductive crops of rice are the chief result.
The castle, or palace, a solid building of stone, has its
windows small, and inconspicuous, and placed in the
upper part of the building, the walls being about thirty
feet high, and slightly sloping from the foundation to the
top. Like the Bhot buildings in general, it is built as
much against the violence of the wind as any other agent—
solidly and strongly. Its galleries, verandahs, terraces, are
all, more or less, Indian. It stands by itself, or nearly so.
The town consists of scattered clusters of houses belonging
to the farmers of the well-cultivated soil of the valley.
More characteristic than the Raja and his Court are
the 15,000 gylongs, or monks, of the monastery. Bound
to celibacy, they assemble in their chapels three times a
day, for the performance of a morning, noontide, and
evening service. Their duty, or rather the regularity
with which it is done, agrees with them. They are
cleaner than the rest of their countrymen; larger-limbed;
fairer-skinned. The goitre is general; but, with this ex-
ception, they are free from ailments. As to the Lhopa
in general, their physical description runs thus: they have
"invariably black hair, which it is their fashion to cut
close to the head. The eye is a very remarkable feature
of the face; small, black, with long pointed corners, as
though stretched and extended by artificial means. Their
eyelashes are so thin as to be scarcely perceptible; and
the eyebrow is but slightly shaded. Below the eyes is the
broadest part of the face, which is rather flat, and narrow
PHYSICAL CONFORMATION.
53
from the cheek-bones to the chin; a character of counte-
nance appearing first to take its rise among the Tartar
tribes, but is by far more strongly marked in the Chinese.
Their skins are remarkably smooth, and most of them
arrive at a very advanced age before they can boast even
the earliest rudiments of a beard; they cultivate whiskers,
but the best they produce are of a scanty straggling
growth. In this heroic acquisition I quickly surpassed
them; and one of my Mogul attendants, for the luxu-
riancy of his, was the admiration of them all. Many of
these mountaineers are more than six feet high; and,
taken altogether, they have a complexion not so dark by
several shades as that of the European Portuguese."
One of the industrial arts of the Lhopa of the parts
about Tassisudon, is paper-making. The bark of a tree
called Deah is shredded, steeped in a ley of wood-ashes,
drained, beaten to a pulp, cleansed, and formed into sheets.
This is done by spreading it over a frame of reeds. These
the manufacturer dips into the water which contains the
pulp, until he has covered their surfaces. Then he raises
them perpendicularly, and has nothing further to do beyond
the drying and pressing.
Another of the arts is that of making alcoholic drinks
by means of distillation. Fermentation is a common
Distillation is rarer.
The
practice, half the world over.
populations of the class under notice seem to have a gene-
ral knowledge of the process, the Lhopa being by no
means the only artists in this department.
They first make the chong by fermentation. Chong is
an ordinary preparation from wheat, barley, or rice. To
a "given quantity of grain is added more water than will
completely cover it, and the mixture is placed over a slow
fire till it begins to boil; it is then taken up, and the
water drained from the grain, which is spread abroad upon
54
THE LHOPA OF BUTAN.
mats, or coarse cloths, to cool. When it is cold, a ball of
the composition, here termed Bakka (which is the blossom
of the Cucalia Saracenica collected and rolled toge-
ther in small balls) is crumbled, and strewed over the
grains, and both are well mixed together. The usual
proportion is a ball, the size of a nutmeg, to two pounds
of grain. The grain thus prepared is put into baskets
lined with leaves, and pressed down with the hand slightly,
to draw off the superfluous moisture. It is then covered
with leaves and cloths, to defend it from the external
air; and put in a place of moderate warmth, where it is
suffered to stand three days. It is afterwards deposited in
dry earthen jars; a little cold water is sprinkled upon the
top, in the proportion of about a tea-cup full to a gallon
of grain; the vessel is then covered close, and the cap
fortified with some strong compost, or stiff clay. It re-
mains thus, at least, ten days before it is fit for use; and,
if it be suffered to continue longer, it always improves
from age. To make the chong, when required, they put
a quantity of the fermented mass into some capacious
vessel, pouring boiling water upon it, sufficient to com-
pletely cover it, and stirring the whole well together. A
short time is sufficient for it to digest; a small wicker-
basket is then thrust down in the centre, and the infusion
called chong immediately drains through and occupies the
vacant space. This liquor is with equal expedition distri-
buted to the expecting guests, the segment of a gourd,
fastened upon a staff, serving the purpose of a ladle.
Each person holds a shallow wooden cup upon the points
of his fingers, for its reception, and is seldom satisfied with
one supply.
"A short experience proved to me that this was
a most grateful beverage, being slightly acid, and
possessing no powerful spirit. It was the custom, in
DISTILLATION OF ARRA.
55
these regions, to drink this liquor warm; a practice at the
same time safe and agreeable, and which might be recom-
mended to universal imitation, wherever fatigue and heat
induced intemperate thirst.
They first make chong, which is fermented; then arra
(word for word the same as arrack), which is distilled;
the details of the apparatus being as follows :—
There are three vessels of earthenware; one small, one
without a bottom, one in which the chong is put. This
last stands over the fire-place. In it stands a tripod;
over it the jar without the bottom. On the tripod, above
the vessel that holds the chong, and within the one which
has no bottom, stands the smallest of the three. Over
the top of this, and resting on the rim of the other, is an
iron saucer; with its convex side downwards.
It just
stands over the opening of the little jar in the middle.
Now light the fire. The vapour of the chong compart-
ment ascends. It passes into the second vessel, because
that vessel, though it has sides, has no bottom. Up these
sides it passes. It settles on the lower and convex surface
of the iron saucer. This is kept cool by water, poured in
and renewed as it loses its coldness. This acts as a con-
denser. The drops from the lowest part of its under sur-
face fall into the smaller vessel, which stands within the one
without a bottom, which rests upon the tripod, which stands
upon the vessel which contains the chong, which stands
above the fire. The fire may be of any sort.
The en-
graving, however, in Turner suggests the notion of some
done on the scale of a manufacture. It is almost a fur-
nace. It is made of clay, has an opening for fuel and air,
and five chong-stands on its upper surface.
The Lhopa of Bútan differ from the true Tibetans in
dialect, in being somewhat more exposed to Hindu in-
fluences, and in their greater independence of the central
56
THE CHANGLO.
government in China. The Deb Raja of Bútan is nearly
an independent prince. His country falls into small
districts, each with its chief, captain, makpon, gyalpo,
or raja, who stands in the same relation to the Deb Raja
as the little potentates of Bultistan do to the chief of
Skardo. Notwithstanding this, the real ethnological dif-
ferences between the Lhopa and the true Tibetans are
small. From the frontier of Kafaristan to that of Asam
the language is the same. The religion is the same from
Asam to Bultistan. As we move westward the dialect
changes. For the parts between 90 and 91 E. L., we have
a vocabulary termed Changlo.
English. Written Tibetan. Spoken Tibetan.
Lhopa.
Changlo.
Man
mi
mi
mi
songo
Head
m go
go
gutch
sharang
Hair
8 kra
kra
kya
Eye
mig
mik
migo
cham
ming
Ear
sa
amch
navo
na
Tooth
80
80
soh
shia
Blood
khrag
thak
thyak
yi
Bone
ruspa
ruko
rutok
khang
Hand
lagpa
lango
lappa
gadang
Foot
r kangpa
kango
kanglep
bi
Sun
nyima
nyima
nyim
ngam
Moon
z lava
dawa
dau
lani
Star
8 karma
karma
kam
murgeng
Fire
me
me
mi
mi
Water
chhu
chhu
chhu
ri
Stone
r do
do
doh
lung
Tree
ljonshing
shingdong
shing
shing
One
g chig
chik
chi
thur
Two
g nyis
nyi
nyi
nyik-ching
Three
g sum
sum
sum
sam
Four
b zhi
zhyi
zhi
hhi
Five
hna
gna
gna
nga
Six
druk
thu
dhu
khung
Seven
b dun
dun
dun
zum
Eight
brgyud
gye
gye
yen
Nine
d gu
guk
gu
gu
Ten
b chu
chu
se
thamba
chatham
shong
THE CHANGLO.
57
The word Changlo, in the language so called, means
black. That the Changlo are smaller, less muscular, and
darker-skinned than the ordinary Lhopa is especially
stated—" their skin possesses a deeper isabelline tint."
Their alphabet is that of Bútan; their levels are com-
paratively low; their habits agricultural. They probably
belong to the turai.
The Tak.-A line drawn in a south-eastern direction
from Lhassa to Jorhat in Asam cuts through a district.
marked Tacpony. It overlies the north-eastern half of
Bútan, and is inclosed within the great bend of the
Brahmaputra. I know of no one who has described it
from personal knowledge. It is a compound word; as
we see a Kenpony, and a Conepony on its frontier. It is
the name of the country of the Tak. It is the country
(even though not exactly defined) of the Tak of the forth-
coming vocabulary. Dakpo, certainly, Gagpo and Gangpo,
probably, are the same word.
It is also the country marked Towang, or Raj Towang
in the ordinary maps. In like manner Kenpony is the
province of Kongbo, to the east of Takpo; its occupants
being, as Strachey surmises, the barbarians who, in
conjunction with a noxious climate, oppose the ascent
of the English explorers from Asam. They may be
Aka, or Dofla, or Abor, or Mishmi, or a mixture of
tribes rather than true Bhots.
English.
Takpa.
Man
men
Head
gokti
Hair
pu
Eye
melong
Lhopa.
me
gutoh
kya
mido
Ear
neblap
navo
Tooth
wah
soh
Blood
khra
thyak
Bone
rospa
rutok
Hand
la
lappa
58
THE TAK OR ТАКРА.
English.
Foot
Takpa.
leme
Lhopa.
kanglep
Sky
namdung
nam
Sun
plang
nyim
Moon
leh
dau
Star
karma
kam
Fire
meh
mi
Water
chhi
chhu
Stone
gorr
doh
Tree
shendong
shing
One
the
che
Two
nai
nye
Three
sum
sum
Four
pli
zhi
Five
liagni
gna
Six
kro
dhu
Seven
nis
dun
Eight
gyet
gye
Nine
dugu
gu
Ten
paki
chatham
I think that the Tak, or Takpa, may be Shammar
Tibetans, of nomad habits, and a well-marked dialect.
I consider them to be this because Turner, in his notice
of the quarrels between the Yellow Bonnets and the Red
Bonnets, states that the Shammar being worsted retired to
a barren and inhospitable part of the country, where some
of them still continue to live in tents.
I also think that the Tak and Thochu may be the
same people. They both seem to occupy a frontier.
Now in Mongol a Thakar means a Borderer. If so, the
populations so called may be what the Marchmen and
Marcomanni are in the German, and the men of the
Ukraine in the Slavonic, countries. Tshakar itself is a
vast camp, wherein the cultivation of the soil is not only
neglected but discouraged, perhaps forbidden. The men
must be ready to march at any time. In order to be this
they must live on their pay, and on the produce of their
flocks and herds. This, however, is in Mongolia, so that
THE TAK OR TAKPA.
59
the doctrine that the Tak, Thochu, and Tshakar may all
be Borderers is only suggested.
As a general rule the Himalayas divide Hindostan from
Bhotland. There are Bhot, however, in several parts
south of the crest of those mighty mountains. That there
were Bhot in Kistewar we surmised. We noted those
of Lahúl. We now come to those of
Gurwhal and Kumaon.-The productive and habitable
portion of the Bhot area in Kumaon and Gurwhal is
confined to the passes and their neighbourhood, all the
rest being either snow or rock. Their minimum height is
about 6000 feet. The paths to them coincide with the
head-waters of the following rivers.
The Mana Pass is on the Saraswati
The Nítí Pass
The Juwar Pass
Duli
""
The Darma Pass
The Byanse Pass
Gaúri
Dhouli
Kali
}Feeders of the Ganges.
Feeders of the Sarda or
Gogra.
The evidence to the gradual extension of the zone of
snow is strong. The passmen state that ridges, which,
within the memory of man, were covered with forests, are
now covered with snow; that pastures to which their
fathers drove their flocks in summer are now non-existent ;
that avalanches from the higher regions are on melting
found to contain trees in their centre. With such a
neighbourhood it is easy to imagine that the passes them-
selves are of no ordinary difficulty. The watercourses
that run up to them require bridges; the roads by the side
of them require continual repairs. The snow blocks
them up; masses of rock obstruct them; beasts of burden
are often unable to proceed alone, and must be raised or
lowered by means of slings passed round their bodies.
The Niti pass is the best, the Juwar the worst. Re-
specting the latter the story runs thus-that when a Bhot
60
THE BHOT
army, under Raja Bag Bahader Khan, invaded Kumaon,
the commander inspected the making of the road himself,
and paid a rupee for every cupful of earth. This is not
given as a fact. It is given as a measure of the belief of
the natives in the engineering difficulties that presented
themselves during its construction. The number of well-
built stone houses (for well-built houses of stone are
required to stand their ground) in the Bhot districts is as
follows:-
In Mana
Villages.
3.
Houses.
125
In Niti
. 10.
219
In Juwar
. 455
In Darma
In Byanse
€ 342
•
•
. 13.
24
9.
59
. 184
1326
A portion of the population consists of slaves, who,
with their families, live under the same roof with their
masters. They help in the cultivation of the soil; for
here, as elsewhere, the Bhot is an agriculturist. Marse a
species of amaranth, wheat, two kinds of barley, two
kinds of buckwheat, are the chief products; to which add,
as cultivated vegetables, turnips and leeks, and as wild
ones, garlic, celery, rhubarb, a kind of frankincense. Few
or no fruits receive any culture. The walnuts and hazel-
nuts are small, the apricots and peaches ill-flavoured.
Gooseberries, currants, strawberries, and pears, grow wild.
The domestic animals are those of Ladak and Tibet.
In the Mana, Nítí, Juwar, and Byanse passes the popu-
lation is generally believed to have emigrated from Tibet
within the historical period, inasmuch as many of the
chief families trace their family to some Tibetan locality.
They encroached upon an earlier body of Hindus, and
drove them downwards. With the inhabitants of the
OF KUMAON AND GURWHAL.
61
Darma pass the case is different. They are considered to
be descendants of a body of Mongols left in Kumaon by
Timúr. If so, the difference of origin is considerable; if
so, the occupants of the Darma pass are no true Bhots, but
Mongols, who have learned the Bhot language. They
differ from the rest in dress (especially that of the females)
and in certain customs. All the passmen burn their dead;
but the Darma make a general ceremony of the crema-
tion and reserve it for the month Kartik. Those who
die at any other time of the year are interred, but only
for a time. When the month Kartik approaches they
are taken out of the ground, and transferred to the funeral
pile. But what if a Darma die away from his native
village? In such a case his relations take a clue of
worsted and draw it from the dead body to the house of
the deceased, keeping it unbroken if they can. The
object of this is to enable the spirit to join those of its
ancestors.
The details, then, of the Bhot area in Kumaon require
further investigation. Again,-in the districts of Dewara
and Bágeswar vestiges of some population other than
Hindu, and, perhaps, other than Bhot, are to be found.
They consist, chiefly, of tombs constructed of large flat
tiles, different in their external character from those
of the other inhabitants, who call them the Mogul sepul-
chres.
At the same time the people repel the doctrine that
makes them Mongol; the term Mogul being too closely as-
sociated with the Mahometan religion. Of their language
we have no specimens. In their creed there are probably
peculiarities; at any rate the practice of divination is
spoken of as if it were more Darma than aught else. The
omens are taken from the warm and reeking livers of
692
THE BHOT
sheep, sacrificed for the purpose, whenever an undertaking
of importance is in hand.
Another distinction-the Mána, Nítí, and Juwár Bhots
pretend to consider the men of Darma as their inferiors ;-
but, as they have the same low opinion of those of
Byanse, this either proves too little or too much. Are the
Byanse Mongol also? The fact of their being classed with
the Darma in the matter of caste is not their only Darma
characteristic. The women of the two passes dress alike.
A piece of cloth, folded round the body, descends from the
waist to the ankles, like a petticoat, being fastened round
the waist with a girdle. Above this is a shift without
sleeves, reaching to the knee. Over the head is a hood,
with a tail behind, which reaches nearly to the heels. The
ornaments are remarkable for their mass; the pewter ear-
rings being compared to large house-keys.
Again,—whilst the Mána, Nítí, and Juwár Bhots ab-
stain from beef of all kinds, the Darma and Byanse in-
dulge in the flesh of the yak, and would not abstain from
that of the common cow if the law permitted them to eat
it.
But there is, in the province, a general prohibition
against the slaughter of this holy animal.
The difference of rank, along with the other details
akin to it, is worth our notice, if it be only for its sug-
gesting the probability of the Darma and Byanse popula-
tions being other than Bhot. But there is another reason
for giving prominence to it. The feeling of caste is, by
Buddhists ought to
no means, Buddhist; and Bhots as
have nothing whatever to do with it. They have it never-
theless. This is because their creed is no longer pure
but Buddhist plus certain Brahminic influences. The
Hindu doctrines on one side contend with the Tibetan on
the other; and the contest has not been wholly unfavour-
OF KUMAON AND GURWHAL.
63
able to them.
A Bhot, in want of a priest, will accept
the services of either a Brahmin or a Lama.
The Juwar
Bhots go further in the direction of Hinduism. They
affect many of the Hindu prejudices in regard to food.
They occasionally practise Suttí. The use of the Hindu
language is most widely diffused amongst them. Their
trade is the most considerable.
Trade is important to the whole Bhot population of
the passes; but it is most considerable within the Juwár
country. A periodical fair for Tibetan goods takes place
every September, at Gartokh, the residence of the Lahsa
viceroy. The Bhots of Hindostan are freer to visit this
fair than the Hindus; and the Juwars freer than the other
Bhots of Hindostan.
The Bhots of the passes are subjects of the East India
Company; without being, wholly and absolutely, discon-
nected from Tibet. Many of their suits are decided in
Tibetan courts; and if a Bhot commit a crime on
Tibetan soil, he is judged as a Tibetan. He seems
to be responsible for the peaceable condition of the
passes to the Chinese Government as well as to the Com-
pany's.
It is just through the Bhot of Kumaon that British
India comes in contact with China; the passes in question
being the roads from that portion of Hindostan which
abuts upon the Chinese empire to the Tlbetan province
called Nari or Gnari. Westward of these passes lies
Ladak, wherein the British provinces of Lahúl and
Spiti are separated from the Chinese frontier by the Sikh
possessions, whilst eastward are the independent rajahships
of Nepaul and Sikkim. Beyond these, the northern
frontier of Bengal touches the southern frontier of Bútan;
but Bútan, though a Chinese dependency, is a depen-
dency of a much looser kind than Tibet Proper.
64
THE BHOT
For this reason I shall enlarge upon the government of
the important province of Gnari-the province of China
which the Bhot of Kumaon, about the five passes of Nítí,
Mána, Juwar, Byanse, and Darma separate from British
Hindostan. What is the machinery by which the Chinese
keeps up its exclusiveness in these parts, an exclusiveness
to which, as is reasonably believed, the Tibetans them-
selves are no parties?
The general government of the province is entrusted to
the two Garphan; one of which is called the Urgú Ma, the
other the Urgú Ya. They are Tibetans; and natives of
Lahsa. They hold their office for three years, and are,
then, replaced. They reside at Gartokh.
Under the Garphan or governors of the province are
the district officers; also two in number; and named
Deb and Vazir. Like the Garphan, the Deb holds his
office for the limited period of three years; the Vazir
quamdiu bene se gesserit. They are Tibetans.
The troops seem to be either Turk or Mongol; or, per-
haps, Mantshu. This is an inference from the notion
which the Bhots entertain concerning their habits of eat-
ing. They are believed to feed upon horseflesh; which no
Tibetan and no Chinese would do. The force consists of
about 200 men. All beyond is native. Each town and
village has its number of militiamen, who may be called out
whenever their services are required. A horse post keeps
up a rapid communication between Gartokh and Lhasa.
The stages are from 15 to 20 miles apart, and four horses,
with their riders, are kept at each.
As each district has its Deb and Vazir, and each Deb
and each Vazir has his residence, there are so many little
capitals. Four of these are named as follows:- (1)
Chaprang, (2) Dapa, (3) Kiunlang, (4) Taklakol; with
these, four out of the five passes coincide; each having
OF KUMAON AND GURWHAL.-THE RAWAT.
65
its special and peculiar market to which it is limited.
Thus :-
Mana is free of the market at Chaprang.
Niti
Dharma
""
"
""
Byanse
""
"
Dapa.
Kumlang.
Taklakot.
""
The Juwári can trade with any and all of these.
The Rawat.-What are the Rawat? The Rawat, or
Raji, are certain occupants of the forest districts of
Kumaon. They pertinaciously adhere to certain customs
other than Hindu; though the exact details as to what
these are and what they are not are unknown. They are
reduced to (say) twenty or thirty families-so, at least,
runs the statement in Mr. Traill's report. They repre-
sent themselves as the descendants of one of the ancient
princes of Kumaon who fled to the jungle when his coun-
try was invaded; and, on the strength of this royal pedi-
gree, they refuse the ordinary salutation to all men alike,
high or low. Whatever be your rank a Ráwat will
show you no respect. Their language, by its "total dissi-
militude" from the Hindu of the Kumaon, marks them
out as a different race.
What is this language? We
have no specimens of it. What is it likely to be? It is
likely to belong to the same class with the Bhot dialects,
without being actually Bhot in the limited sense of the
word. Against its being this is the probable antiquity of
the Rawat population. It is considered to represent the
aborigines of the district. If so, it must differ from the
Bhot, as well as resemble it.
The Doms.-What are the Doms? The lowest class of
the Kumaon population are thus called. Many of them have
dark, and almost black, complexions, with crisp curly hair.
They are supposed to be the descendants of the abori-
gines. That these may be represented by the Rawat has
VOL. I.
F
66
THE DOMS.
just been stated. It has also been stated that the Rawat
may belong to the same class with the Bhot. Hence, the
Dom and Rawat may be in the same category.
The Bhot of Nepaul and Sikkim.-These fall into two
divisions, the civilized and the rude. Indentations of
the proper Bhot area may easily occur, along the
whole of the frontier. In this case the population will be
neither more nor less than the Bhot population of Lahúl,
Kunawer, and the Kumaon passes. But there may also
be the analogues of the Ráwats.
A Serpa vocabulary of Mr. Hodgson's represents one,
at least, of the Bhot populations of Nepaul. It is all but
actual Tibetan.
English.
Serpa.
Tibetan.
Man
mi
mi
Head
go
go
Hair
ta
ta
Eye
mik
mik
Ear
amchuk
amcho
Tooth
SO
SO
Blood
thak
thak
Bone
ruba
ruko
Hand
lango
lango
Foot
kango
kango
Sky
nam
nam
Sun
nimo
nimo
Moon
oula
dawa
Star
karma
karma
Water
chhú
chhú
Stone
doh
do
Tree
dongo
shindong.
Far more interesting are three rude tribes named
Chepang, Haiyu and Kusunda, of which, as far as there
are degrees in rudeness, the Kusunda are the rudest. I
give the only account of them in Mr. Hodgson's
words :-
"Amid the dense forests of the central region of Né-
THE CHEPANG, ETC.
67
pál, to the westward of the great valley, dwell, in scanty
numbers and nearly in a state of nature, two broken
tribes having no apparent affinity with the civilized races
of that country, and seeming like the fragments of an
earlier population.
""
They toil not, neither do they spin; they pay no
taxes, acknowledge no allegiance, but living entirely upon
wild fruits and the produce of the chase, are wont to say
that the Rajah is Lord of the cultivated country as they
are of the unredeemed waste. They have bows and
arrows, of which the iron arrow-heads are procured from
their neighbours, but almost no other implement of civil-
ization, and it is in the very skilful snaring of the beasts
of the field and the fowls of the air that all their little
intelligence is manifested.
66
Boughs torn from trees and laid dexterously to-
gether constitute their only houses, the sites of which
they are perpetually shifting according to the exigencies or
fancies of the hour. In short, they are altogether as near
to what is usually called the state of nature as anything
in human shape can well be, especially the Kusundas, for
the Chépángs are a few degrees above their confrères, and
are beginning to hold some slight intercourse with civilized
beings and to adopt the most simple of their arts and
habits. It is due, however, to these rude foresters to say
that, though they stand wholly aloof from society, they
are not actively offensive against it, and that neither the
Government nor individuals tax them with any aggressions
against the wealth they despise or the comforts and conve-
niences they have no conception of the value of.
""
They are, in fact, not noxious but helpless, not
vicious but aimless, both morally and intellectually, so
that no one could without distress behold their careless
unconscious inaptitude."
F 2
68
THE CHEPANG,
He continues-
"During a long residence in Népál, I never could gain
the least access to the Kusundas, though aided by all the
authority of the Durbar: but, so aided, I once in the
course of an ostensible shooting excursion persuaded some
Chépángs to let me see and converse with them for three
or four days through the medium of some Gúrúngs of
their acquaintance. On that occasion I obtained the ac-
companying ample specimen of their language; and,
whilst they were doling forth the words to my interpreters
I was enabled to study and to sketch the characteristic
traits of their forms and faces. Compared with the
mountaineers among whom they are found the Chépángs
are a slight but not actually-deformed race, though their
large bellies and thin legs indicate strongly the precarious
amount and innutritious quality of their food. In height
they are scarcely below the standard of the tribes around
them-who, however, are notoriously short of stature-but
in colour they are very decidedly darker or of a nigrescent
brown. They have elongated (fore and aft) heads, protu-
berant large mouths, low narrow foreheads, large cheek-
bones, flat faces, and small eyes. But the protuberance
of the mouth does not amount to prognathous deformity,
nor has the small suspicious eye much, if anything, of
the Mongolian obliqueness of direction or set in the head.
Having frequently questioned the Durbar whilst resident at
Káthmándú as to the relations and origin of the Chépángs
and Kusundas, I was invariably answered that no one could
give the least account of them, but that they were gene-
rally supposed to be autochthones, or primitive inhabitants
of the country. For a long time such also was my own
opinion, based chiefly upon their physical characteristics
as above noted and upon the absence of all traceable lingual
or other affinity with the tribes around them. So that I
HAIYU, AND KUSUNDA.
69
took them to be fragments of an original hill population
prior to the present Tibetan inhabitants of these moun-
tains; and to be of Tamulian extraction, from their great
resemblance of form and colour to the Aborigines of the
plains, particularly the Kóls. It did not for several years
occur to me to look for lingual affinities beyond the
proximate tribes, nor was I, save by dint of observation,
made fully aware that the Mongolian type of mankind
belongs not only to the races of known northern pedigree,
such as the mass of the sub-Himálayan population, but
equally so to all the Aborigines of the plains, at least to
all those of Central India. Having of late, however,
become domiciled much to the eastward of Káthmándú,
and having had more leisure for systematic and extended
researches, those attributes of the general subject which
had previously perplexed me were no longer hindrances to
me in the investigation of any particular race or people.
I now saw in the Mongolian features of the Chépángs a
mark equally reconcilable with Tamulian or Tibetan
affinities; in their dark colour and slender frame, charac-
teristics at first sight indeed rather Tamulian than Tibetan,
but such as might, even in a Tibetan race, be accounted
for by the extreme privations to which the Chépángs had
for ages been subject; and in their physical attributes
taken altogether I perceived that I had to deal with a
test of affinity too nice and dubious to afford a solution
of the question of origin. I therefore turned to the
other or lingual test; and, pursuing this branch of the
inquiry, I found that with the southern Aborigines there
was not a vestige of connection, whilst, to my surprise I
confess, I discovered in the lusty Lhópás of Bhútán the
unquestionable origin and stock of the far removed, and
physically very differently characterized Chépǎngs!"
That their language is akin to the Lhopa is clear from
70
THE CHEPANG,
English.
Sun
Chepang.
nyam
Sky
nam
Mountain
rías
Star
kar
Free
sing-tak
the specimen; clearer from the table which Mr. Hodgson
has given of the affinities. Whether they are more
especially Lhopa than Tibetan is doubtful. I give the
table as it is given by its author :—
Tibetan.
nyimá
namkháh
karma
jon-shing
Lhopa.
nyim
nam
rong
rí
kam
shing
Salt
chhé
chhá
tsá
Road
liam
lam
lam
House
kyim
khim
khyim
Fire
mí
mí
mé
Arrow
láh
dáh
dáh
Dog
kúï
khi
Buffalo
misha
méshi
khyi
mahi
Fish
gná
gná
nyá
Hog
piak
phag
phag
Horn
róng
róng
rá
Two
nhízho
nyi
nyis
Three
súm-zho
súm
súm
Give
Take
búï
11
bin
búh
ling
lan
Are the Chepang, Haiyu, and Kusunda remnants of
the earlier occupants of the soil? or are they wanderers
from Tibet degenerated? I only submit that they are
in the same category with Ráwat, so that what the
Chepang are, that are the Ráwat also.
I shall now notice a few populations, which may pos-
sibly be truly Bhot; but which, nevertheless, have a
slight shade of doubt over their purity.
1. The Rongdur have already been mentioned. Neither
in habits nor locality can the Rongdur be very distant
from
2. The Drok or Brog, and (? or) the Chak or Jag.
These are occupants of the central parts of northern
Tibet. The language of the Chak is stated to be ordinary
HAIYU, AND KUSUNDA.
71
Tibetan. That of the Drok has yet to be investigated.
Mr. Hodgson believes them to be a mixed population—
robber-bands recruited from all quarters. The ordinary
Tibetans, peaceful-minded men, separate them from them-
selves. The difference of habits, however, is enough to
account for this. They may be Tibetan, or Tibetan plus
other elements, nevertheless. They may be Rongdu or
Kyampo under another name. They may be actually
Kyampo eo nomine—the change from m to k being a very
likely one. This, I think, is the case.
3. The Hor.-The Hor call themselves Ighur, and are
called by the Chinese Kao-tse; Hor (Hor-pa) being the
Tibetan names. Their occupancy of the Hor, of Mr.
Hodgson's researches, is the north-western frontier of Tibet,
on the confines of the Turk districts of Little Bokhara
and the Mongolian districts of Dzungaria. Even in
Tibet some of the Horpa are Mahometans; so are some
in Dzungaria. In Little Bokhara, a Mahometan district,
there are more.
This is a repetition of what we found in
Bultistan.
Mr. Hodgson makes them Turk at once. I cannot,
however, separate the following Hor Ighur, or any other,
form of the vocabulary from the Bhot, still less connect
it with the Turk.
English.
Hor.
Tibetan.*
Ighur.
Man
vzih
mi
er, kishi
Head
gho
go
bash
Hair
spu
kra
satsh
Eye
mo
mik
kusi
Ear
nyo
amcho
kulak
Tooth
syo
So
tish
Blood
sye
thak
khan
Bone
rera
ruko
sungguki
Hond
lha
lango
ilik
Foot
ko
kango
adakhi
* Spoken form.
72
THE HOR AND
English.
Hor.
Tibetan.*
Ighur.
Sky
koh
namkháh
tengri
Sun
gna
nyima
kun
Moon
slikno
dawa
ai
Star
sgre
karma
yuldus
Fire
umah
me
oot
Water
hrah
chhu
suw
Stone
rgame
do
tash
Tree
nah
shindong
yikhatsh
One
ra
chik
bir
Two
gre
nyi
iki
Three
su
sum
utsh
Four
pla
zhyi
tort
Five
gwe
gna
bish
Six
chha
thu
alty
Seven
zne
dun
yidi
Eight
rhiee
gye
sekis
Nine
go
guh
tochus
Ten
sga
chuh
on
* Spoken form.
Are
Still they call themselves Ighur, a Turk name.
they Turks, who have adopted the Bhot language, or is
there an error in the history of the vocabulary?
Again, in Strachey's map there is a district (a popula-
tion) marked Horba on the eastern bank of the Lake
Manasarowar, on the very frontier of Nepaul. Are these
in the same category with the Horpa of the frontier?
Are they Turk settlers? Not improbably.
4. The Kolo. These I treat as Mongolian, and when
the Mongolians Proper come under notice the Kolo will
do the same. They may, however, be Bhot.
Upon the whole, the Tibetan stock is pure. The
extent of its area favours its being so. So does the
exclusive character of the Chinese government; so does
polyandry. On the other hand, slavery is a Tibetan in-
stitution, and wherever there is slavery there is an inter-
mixture of blood. It may not be prominently con-
spicuous-it may not be recognized at all—it may be
GYAMI LANGUAGES.
73
In
studiously concealed. Still it exists. It exists along the
frontier most; but it extends inland as well. The Turk
tribes to the north-west, the Mongols to the north and
north-east, easily assimilate. They are all but Tibetan
as it is, differing chiefly in language; the Turks in creed
also. Then there are the Chinese on the east. Wherever
there is a Chinese frontier there is encroachment.
Mantshuria this goes on with the greatest rapidity. Look
to the old maps-the geographical names are Mantshú.
Look to the newer ones—they are Chinese. The evidence
to intermixture here is express. Huc enlarges upon it.
In the Sifan districts there is encroachment also. Then
there are the military establishments of the Chinese.
Wherever there are these there is intermarriage, or its
equivalent. Upon this there is direct evidence. Along
the Indian frontier there are numerous half-bloods;
dark-skinned on one side, fair on the other. In Lhasa
the population other than Tibetan is notable. The
Pebúns (the name is from Huc) are Indians, whose busi-
ness is trade, and whose residence is permanent. The
Katshi (the name is also Huc's) are Cashmirians; Mahome-
tan in creed, and with an inclination to remain so. The
first settlers took Tibetan wives. Since then they have
married and intermarried amongst themselves. When we
know more of Tibet we learn the characters of these
mixed races.
On the side of Bultistan the frontier is
Paropamisan and modified Persian. The Kafirs of
Kafaristan are Paropamisan. So are the natives of Gil-
ghit, Astor, Hunz, and Nagor. There is slavery here—
consequently intermixture. Again, in Ladak we have
seen that the half-bloods between the natives and the
Cashmirians are numerous, and that Argon is their name.
Again, Ladak was once under the dominion of China,
so that Chinese soldiers have been on Ladak ground,
74
THE BHOT.
introducing Chinese blood. At present it is partly sub-
ject to the Sikhs, partly to England. The Indian element
is likely to be greater than the British.
As he passed through the belt of hot and humid forest
that lies along the southern frontier of Bútan, Mr. Tur-
ner noticed what he calls a half-blood between a Lhopa
and a Bengal. He describes him in most unfavourable
terms; under-sized, badly made, dark-skinned. I take his
notice as it stands; thinking, however, that instead of a
half-blood he saw a sickly Bodo, and that intermixture
may have been an inference.
Be this particular case,
however, as it may, there is no difficulty in believing that
between the Lhopa division of the Bhot and the Bengali
Hindu there is a considerable number of intermediate
varieties. The same applies to other parts of the
frontier.
The amount of Paropamisan, Cashmirian, Sikh, Bengali,
Chinese, Mongolian, and Turk blood within the actual
limits of the Bhot family, as it stands at the present, is
one thing. The amount of Bhot blood beyond the pre-
sent frontier of Bhotland is another. It may exist from
two causes; from simple migration, and from an earlier
increase of area. Of the first we find but few traces-
practically none. There may be a few Tibetan soldiers in
China, a few Bhots in India, Cashmir, and on the Paro-
pamisan, Turk, and Mongol frontiers, sometimes as traders,
sometimes as captives. There may be this because we
have noticed that, notwithstanding the apparent want of
business in the numerous monastic and semi-monastic
towns of Tibet, there was still a great deal of real mer-
cantile industry in the metropolis. There may be this
because we have noticed the system of robbery and kid-
napping which is practised along the frontiers. There
may be this; but there is little besides. Tibet is one of
THE BHOT.
75
the most land-locked countries in the world; nowhere
touching the sea, nowhere near it; so that there is no
maritime enterprise to spread the Tibet sailors over
islands and archipelagoes; neither is there any activity
in their movements upon the land. They are anything
but a population of colonists.
That their area was at one time larger than it is at pre-
sent is probable. Say that it extended beyond its present
limits in the direction of Cashmir, Nepaul, and Hindostan.
In this case the Hindu, Nepalese, and Cashmirians, who
first encroached on the soil of the Bhot, may have taken to
themselves Bhot wives, and half-blood children may have
been the result. Of this there is, doubtless, a good deal.
If the Bhots Proper did not extend far-very far—into
India, some of their nearest congeners did. And this,
except for the purposes of the minutest ethnology, is
enough. The question, however, as thus put, will appear
when we treat of India; and a very prominent question
it will be. It will bring something either Bhot or Bhot
like, as far south as the Ganges, at least, and that in a
part where the river and the Himalayas are widely dis-
tant. For the parts where the stream approaches the
mountains (or the mountains approach the stream), as is
done in the parts about Calcutta, there are Bhot congeners
within sight of the Ganges at the present moment.
the banks of the Sutlej were, at one time, more Bhot
than at present is stated by Major Cunningham. The
Bhot population stretched further down the stream.
This he inferred from certain geographical names. They
were of Bhot origin, even where the present area was
Hindu.
That
The great extent of ground over which the Bhot lan-
guage is spoken is less remarkable than the paucity of
strongly-marked provincial forms of speech, and the
76
THE BHOT.
little difference that has, as yet, been found between its
extreme dialects. The Bulti of Little Tibet, the Lhopa
of Bútan, the Proper Tibetan of Lhasa are mutually
intelligible, as well as intelligible to the Ladaki of Leh,
and (I think) to even the Chepang and the Sifan. From
this we infer that the diffusion of the tongue over a great
portion of its present area is recent. I do not mean by
this that it took place within the last few generations, or
even centuries. Recent, in ethnographical philosophy, may
mean something of great historical antiquity. It may mean
something earlier than the time of which history takes cog-
nizance; and I think from its uniformity that the spread
of the Bhot tongue is recent. Upon the next point I speak
less decidedly. As far, however, as I have investigated the
matter I find that the uniformity increases as we go west-
ward, and that it is least in the Sifan and Thochu neigh-
bourhoods. If so, its direction has been from east to
west, rather than from west to east.
Such was, pro-
bably, the case. This, however, is a question which con-
nects itself with others, and has yet to receive its final
consideration.
Such is the ethnological sketch of a country concerning
which our information is as imperfect as it is recent, a
country of which the Southern frontier alone has been
explored with any approach to accuracy; and even here
the survey has been partial. Southern Tibet has yet to
be penetrated from Nepaul, from Sikkim, and from the
eastern parts of Bútan. The jealousy of the Chinese
government, is the chief, though not the only, cause of
the obscurity that involves it. To the north of the
hills above Asam there are rude and independent tribes
of mountaineers who impede explorations-Bor Abors,
Dophlas, and the like. These, though more or less akin
to the Bhot, will be described in the sequel.
THE BHOT.
by ray
A Tibetan calls—
His own country
China
Chinese
India
Russia
Europe
British India
Turkistan
Bodul.
Gyanak.
Gyami.
Gyagar.
Gyaser.
Filing.
Gya Filing.
Hor-yul.
FL
Mongolia
A sam
The Indian Himalaya
Butan
Sikkim
Nepaul
Kumaon
Gurwhal
Kunawer
Kashmir
Sok-yul.
Ashong.
Mon-yul.
Lho-pato, Lho-mon, Lho-duk.
Demojongs.
Palbo.
Kyunam.
Galdiya.
Kunu.
Kache-yul.
Lho-duk is, doubtless, word for word the same as
Ladak.
78
THE NEPAUL TRIBES.-THE SUNWAR AND MAGAR.
CHAPTER III.
The Nepaul Tribes.-The Sunwar.-The Magar.-Gurung.-Jareya.—
Newar. Murmi.-Kirata or Kichak.-Limbu.-Lepcha.-The Den-
war, Durré, and Bramho.
Or the tribes of Nepaul, other than Hindu, and, at
the same time, not so decidedly Bhot, as the Serpa and
their allied tribes, the most western are
The Sunwar.-Of these I only know that they lie in
the north-west, and at a high level, conterminous (I
believe) with the true Bhot. Then come
The Magar.-It is the lower levels, chiefly on the east
of the Kali, which are occupied by the Magar. They
are the occupants of the lower levels; a point worth
notice, because when we approach the mountain-tops the
population changes. The forces which have changed the
character of the indigenæ of western Nepaul, Gurwhal,
and Kumaon are in continuance, directing themselves east-
wards. Hence, the Magar may, at some future time,
be what their neighbours to the west are at present,
thoroughly Indianized. Their present condition is, more
or less, transitional. Their physical conformation is their
own, being that of the Bhot in general. At the same
time there has been much intermarriage, and amongst the
Hindus we may find the flat faces of the aborigines;
amongst the aborigines the oval outlines and prominent,
regular, or delicate features of their conquerors.
The language of the Magar is their own; essentially
what is called monosyllabic; essentially in the same great
THE MAGAR.
79
class with the Tibetan, Chinese, Burmese, and Siamese.
If it were not so they would scarcely find their place in
this part of the work. There are elements, however, here
which betoken transition, inasmuch as numerous words of
Hindu origin have become incorporate. Besides this,
many Hindus speak the Magar; whilst many Magar have
either unlearnt their own tongue or use the Hindu in
preference. This is more especially the case with the
soldiers, many of whom are separated for long periods of
time from their fellow countrymen at home, doing service
in garrisons in other parts of the kingdom.
Upon the whole, the approximation to the Hindu type
has been sufficient to lead more than one author to
designate the Magar as Kshatrias-Hindu Khsatrias
neither more nor less. They are not this. On the con-
trary, they are members of the same great group with the
Bhot, &c.
The Magar alphabet is of Indian origin; indeed, this
may be said of the alphabets of all the languages now
coming under notice in general. In one or two cases we
may hear of a native alphabet. If such exist it will still be
of Indian origin, having been introduced earlier, having
been adapted differently, having been modified by the
course of time. A truly native alphabet is to be found
neither at the foot of the Himalayas nor at their sides,
nor yet at their tops, nor yet anywhere round about them.
There has been (in the very decided opinion, at least, of
the present writer) but one native alphabet in the world.
But the real hybridity appears in the religion. Without
being scrupulous in other meats the Magar abstains from
beef. Utterly unscrupulous in the way of drinks, he
indulges freely in the use of fermented liquors, and makes
anything in the way of a feast or festival an occasion and
80
THE MAGAR.
excuse for intoxication.
notable.
His excess in this matter is
Then he has his own priesthood, or, at any rate, an
Indian priesthood, with a Magar nomenclature. His
Brahmins are all Achars. In the pagan times a priest
was called a Dami; Dami being the name for a priest
in more than one of the tribes akin to the Magar
at the present moment. We shall meet with the word
when we get to the Bodo and Dhimal. Have we
not, indeed, met with it already? There is a change in
form and a change in sense-both being slight-but,
surely, the Dami of the Magar is, word for word, the
Jam and Tham of the Bulti populations, and of others
far away from Bultistan.
Imperfect as is our information for the early history
and social constitution of the Magar, we know that a
trace of a tribual division (why not say an actual division
into tribes?) is to be found. There are twelve thums.
All individuals belonging to the same thum are supposed
to be descended from the same male ancestor; descent
from the same great mother being by no means necessary.
So husband and wife must belong to different thums.
Within one and the same there is no marriage. Do you
wish for a wife? If so, look to the thum of your neigh-
bour; at any rate look beyond your own. This is the
first time I have found occasion to mention this practice.
It will not be the last; on the contrary, the principle it
suggests is so common as to be almost universal.
We
shall find it in Australia; we shall find it in North and
South America; we shall find it in Africa; we shall
find it in Europe; we shall suspect and infer it in many
places where the actual evidence of its existence is in-
complete.
THE GURUNG.
81
(2.) The Gurung.-The tribes that lie equally west-
ward with the Magar, but differ from them in occupying
a higher place on the mountain sides, are those of the
Gurung. These are decidedly and eminently pastoral;
the breeders of sheep. They use, too, the sheep as a
beast of burden, and lay upon its patient back such light
loads as their chapmanship requires them to move about
with. The higher the level of his occupancy the more
the Gurung is said to thrive. The heat of the plains is
better borne by the Magar.
Their language is their own; different from that of the
Hindus; different from that of the Magar; not very well.
known even to professed philologues; but known from a
sufficiency of samples to enable us to place-or rather to
isolate-it. It is the medium by which the Gurung
priests propagate a Buddhist creed; for the Hindu re-
ligion, though not unknown to some of the Gurung,
has yet to make its way to any notable extent. That it
will encroach on the earlier creed is likely. On the other
hand, it is not certain that even Buddhism has wholly
replaced the original Paganism. A tribe, or collection of
tribes, called Bhujal Gharti is accused of numerous im-
purities in the way of food; for they eat anything except,
perhaps, milk. At any rate they eat beef. When the
details of the Bhujal superstitions are known they will
probably turn out to be those of the Bodo and Dhimal ;
neither Buddhist nor Brahminic, but yet tinctured with
an early Brahminism, which, in its present state, is either
a rudiment of something that has to be developed, or a
fragment of something that has fallen into decay. Like
the Magar the Gurung fall into tribes; some of which are
the Nisi, the Ghali, and the Thagsi; the Thagsi being the
occupants of the highest altitudes, and constituting the
truly Alpine division of the family.
VOL. I.
G
82
THE JARYAS.
(3.) The Jaryas.-Of the Jaryas I can give but an
indifferent account. They lie to the south of the Gurung,
with whom they are intermixed, and with whom they
intermarry. Hamilton says that they have a peculiar
dialect; but of this he gives no specimen. Mr. Hodgson
denies the existence of a Jareya form of speech altogether.
They are eminently Hindu both in creed and manners,
notwithstanding which they may easily be as separate
from both Gurung and the Magar, as those two families
form one another. But they may also be either Gurung,
or Magar, or Newar.
(4.) The Newar.-For now comes the notice of a new
section thus named. The main portion of the central
valley of Nepaul Proper was originally Newar, and
Newar it is now, save and except the Hindu populations
of the conquest. Favoured in respect to both soil and
climate, at a lower level than the sheep-feeding Gurung,
the Newar occupy a strong clay soil, fitted for brick-
making, tile-making, and tilth. And this determines
their industry and their architecture. The Newar are agri-
culturists and masons. No better cultivation, no better
domestic architecture, is to be found than that of the
Newar. The houses, as a general rule, are well-built
and three stories high. They form large villages or small
towns. The morals their occupants exhibit in the way of
the sexes is by no means exemplary; indeed, the freedom
(to use no stronger term) of the women is notorious.
Of their primitive Paganism no traces have been
noticed. Perhaps they have no definite and tangible
existence. Analogues to the Bujal Gharti amongst the
Gurung there are none; so, at least, runs the evidence
as it stands. On the other hand, there is no small portion
of Hinduism engrafted upon the original Buddhism.
There is also a great deal of true, or slightly-modified,
THE NEWAR.
83
Brahminism.
Still it is Brahminism with a difference. A
Newar priest is not a Hindu Brahmin, but a native Achar.
Then there is the class of surgeons and physicians called
Jausi. These are the sons of Brahmin fathers and Newar
mothers.
A little before the Ghurkha conquest Hinduism took
root in the Newar country, when some influential pro-
selytes to the worship of Siva were made. These have
developed themselves and their successors into a definite
division of the population. Nowhere, however, is there
absolute purity. Like the Magar the Newar eat beef;
like the Magar the Newar drink alcoholic liquors. We
have seen that, like the Magar, they have a priesthood,
Brahminic in many respects, but not Brahminic in name
and origin. A worshipper of Siva will both kill and eat
his beef; one of Buddha will eat but not kill it. They
burn their dead.
On the 11th of August a curious operation is effected
in the matter of frogs. The Newar farmer on that day
goes forth into the field, takes with him some mashed
rice, looks out to find the frogs, and gives them the rice
to eat.
English.
Sunwar.
Magar.
Gurung.
Newar.
Man
muru
bharmi
mhi
mijang
Head
piya
mitalu
kra
chhong
Hair
chang
chham
moi
song
Hand
table
hutpiak
lapta
palaha
Foot
kweli
mihil
bhale
Eye
michi
mik
mi
Ear
nopha
nakyeh
nabe
pali
mikha
nhaipong
Bone
nishe
miryaros
nugri
kwe
Blood
usi
hyu
koh
hi
Tooth
kryu
siak
sak
wa
Day
nathi
namsin
dini
nhi
Sun
na
namkhan
dhini
suja
Star
Fire
soru
mi
bhuga
pira
nagu
mhe
mi
mi
Water
pankhu
di
kyu
lau
G 2
84
THE MURMI AND KIRATA.
English.
Tree
Sunwar.
Magar.
Gurung.
Newar.
rawa
sing
sindu
sinia
Stone
phunglu
thung
yuma
lohong
One
ka
kat
kri
chhi
Two
nishi
nis
ni
ni
Three
sang
song
song
son
Four
le
buli
pli
pi
Five
gno
banga
gna
gna
Six
ruk
tu
khu
Seven
chani
nis
nhe
Eight
yoh
pre
chya
Nine
guh
kuh
gunh
Ten
sashi
chuk
sanho
(5.) The Murmi. (6.) The Kirata or Kichak. The
Sikkim frontier is now near, so that the remaining popu-
lations, in all probability, belong to the two kingdoms.
Of the four that stand over for notice, the first two are
the Murmi and the Kirata.
Of the former I only know that they are Buddhists,
with a less amount of Hinduism amongst them than any
of the aforesaid.
Of the Kirata, or Kichak, half may be Buddhist, half
Brahminic. Brahminic, however, as that half is, it either
eats beef or unwillingly abstains from it.
(7.) The Limbu.-The Limbu are called Chung by the
Lepcha.
The Limbu intermarry with the Kirata, and are some-
what less Buddhist, and somewhat more Brahminic than
their situation leads us to expect. It has been the policy
of the Nepaul rulers to conciliate them.
The few known notices concerning the Limbu make
them hardy and hardworking. They cultivate grain, feed
cows, pigs, and poultry. Their huts are neat and well
made; the walls being of split bamboo, the roofs of the
leaves of the wild ginger and cardamon. They are
guyed down to the ground by long rattans, to steady
them against the winds-violent, frequent, unexpected.
THE LIMBU.
85
A glimpse at the nature of a Limbu festival is got from
another part of Captain Sherwill's narrative. All the men,
women, and children, amounting to about twenty, were
drunk. And they were hospitable. The best of what they
had was laid out before his party of sixteen—chee (the
chong of Bútan) to drink, fowls and rice as food; and not
only fowls and rice but milk, against which so many of the
populations akin to the Limbu have a prejudice. At the
house of the principal man of the neighbourhood some
thirty men and women were sitting on the ground, drink-
ing hot chee. Some beat drums. In the middle a young
girl, highly excited, in a fantastic dress fringed with
the teeth of beasts, the beaks and spurs of birds, the claws
of bears, and cocks' tail feathers, was dancing. Her action
was slow and monotonous at first, then livelier and more
rapid, then most lively and most rapid, then hurried and
irregular, then frenzied and uncontrollable. The noise,
too, increased; the humming or singing became a shout;
the drums beat louder and more discordantly. There was
a fire in the middle of the circle; the poor girl dashed
into it, and with her naked feet sent the burning ashes
over the floor. Then a propensity to mischief set in.
She would pull down the frames upon which the domestic
utensils were hung; she would burn down the house. The
next morning she was as quiet and demure as any decent
little Limbu could be.
(8.) The Lepcha.-The Lepcha is hemmed in between
the Newar and the other tribes of Nepaul, and the Lhopa
of Bútan; the Lepcha area being barely sixty miles in
breadth. Darjeling is the town wherein the Lepcha is
most found; Sikkim the district which he more peculiarly
calls his own. His decidedly Mongolian physiognomy
has been admitted and insisted on by all who have
noticed him-by Hodgson, Hooker, &c. The latter
86
THE LEPCHA.
""
expressly states that of his Mongolian kindred he is
more specially Tibetan than either Newar or Lhopa-
"he differs from his Tibetan prototype, though not so
decidedly as from the Nepalese and Bhotanese.' The
stature is short, varying from four feet eight inches (which
is very short) to five feet; the face broad and flat, nose
depressed, eye oblique, chin beardless, skin sallow or
olive; the lip shows a little moustache. Broad-chested
and strong-armed the Lepcha is still fine-boned; at least,
his hands are small, and his wrists thin. In like manner
the legs of the Lepchas are stout, the feet small. The
expression of their features is more mild and frank than
cunning and quarrelsome, and this seems to agree with
their real character. The Ghorkas are brave and fierce,
the Lhopa quarrelsome and cruel, but not brave; the
Lepcha timid and peaceful; such, at least, is Hooker's
statement. He adds, that in their dealing with each other
they are an honest people.
The chief article in a Lepcha dress, scantier and cooler
than the altitude of their occupancy would suggest, is a
cotton cloak, which is loosely thrown round the body, so
as to leave the arms free, striped with blue, and worked
with white and red. In cold weather an upper garment,
with loose sleeves, is added. The hat, when worn, which
is only on occasions, is made of the leaves of one of the
Scitamineæ spread out between two thin plates of bamboo,
extravagantly broad, wide-brimmed, and with a hemi-
spherical crown. This is when the weather is rainy.
When dry it is changed for a conical one, ornamented
with peacock's feathers, and flakes of talc. The umbrella
is a hood rather than a true umbrella, reaching from the
head to the thighs. A Lepcha in a shower is like a snail
with its shell on.
The ornaments-amulets as well as ornaments-are
THE LEPCHA.
87
chiefly of Tibetan make, some of great beauty, others of
great value, having in them little idols, charms, copies of
prayers, bones, hairs, and nail-parings of Lamas. The
hair, an object of pride and care, in the dressing of
which a female will assist a male, is collected into a large
tail-simple or plaited, flat or round. The women wear
two tails, and when in full dress are much less ungainly
in their costume than the men. Besides the skirt and
petticoat they wear a small sleeveless woollen cloak,
covered with crosses, and fastened by a girdle of silver
chains. A coronet of scarlet cloth adorns the head. The
common dress (as with the Bodo) is of silk, coarse in
kind, and spun by a worm peculiar to the country which
feeds on the leaves of the castor-oil plant.
The Lepcha knife is long, heavy, and straight, serving
for all purposes to which a knife can by any human
ingenuity be applied; it is always worn, but rarely
drawn in anger. They drink out of little cups turned in
the knots of maple and other woods. A common one
costs but 4d. or 6d. ; but, besides these, there are several
fancy articles (so to say) polished or mounted in silver.
These are dearer. If made of a peculiar wood, paler
than the common material, they are supposed to serve as
antidotes, and of these the price is extravagant-say
forty times as much as that of the common ones. Mr.
Hooker gave a guinea for one hardly different from the
ordinary kind in its outward appearance. The knots,
from which they are shaped, are the modified roots of the
oak, &c., as attacked by the balanophora, a parasite.
Their stimulus is the fermented juice of the Eleusine
Coracana (Murwa grain). It is acidulous, refreshing,
slightly intoxicating, and not unlike hock or sauterne in
its flavour; is not common, above 6000 feet elevation ;
is presented in a joint of a bamboo, and sucked through
88
THE LEPCIIA.
a hollow reed. Word for word it is Murmi chee, the
Bútani chong.
The only musical instrument, described as Lepcha, is a
kind of flute, made of the cane of the bamboo, with four
or six holes burnt in it considerably below the mouth-piece.
The tone is low and sweet, and its sound monotonous, but
not unpleasant, like that of the Eolian harp. The
Lepcha songs are monotonous also.
Marriages are contracted in nonage, and even in child-
hood. Brides are purchased either by money or service.
The violation of the marriage tie is sharply punished.
The children of mixed marriages belong to the country of
the father.
Though the Lepcha is no Buddhist, the Buddhist
religion has considerably modified some of his customs
and ceremonies. The priests, for instance, called Bijua,
profess mendicancy, like the begging friars of Tibet; carry
the Mani or prayer-machine, and wear Buddhist rosaries
and amulets. The natives, who treat them with no little
respect, liberally answer to their applications for charity,
and so freely admit their sanctity, that a little energy in
the business of conversion would, doubtless, be followed
by a large amount of Lepcha proselytism. As it is,
however, the original creed is but little interfered with.
In this the priest is the medicine-man, the exorcist, and
the director of feasts, ceremonies, and sacrifices. These
are to the evil rather than the good spirits. "Why should
we sacrifice to them? They do us no harm. The evil
spirits, who dwell in every rock, grove, and mountain, are
constantly at mischief, and to them we must pray, for it
is they who hurt us."
A list of
Omens are sought for in the entrails of fowls, and
superstitions of all kinds are rife and common.
Lepcha charms is long and heterogeneous.
The dog-
THE LEPCHA.
89
tooth of a leopard, the dog-tooth of the barking deer, an
ornamented brass bead, a piece of ginger, a clove of gar-
lic, the hard seeds of some tree-all these at once strung
on a thread did Major Sherwill see on the neck of a
Lepcha child.
A list of Lepcha vegetables is peculiar. Mountain
spinach, fern tops, fungi, are what a Lepcha will contrive
to exist on amongst the hills; but he adds to his mess of
spinach a sauce of stinging-nettles, crushed, but raw.
The Lepchas are one of the many rude tribes who are
skilful in kindling a light by means of two pieces of
wood. One lies horizontally, and has a hole in it;
another is worked vertically, and is sharpened to a point.
Both are prepared beforehand, highly-dried, and smoked.
The point of the vertical, is fixed in the hole of the hori-
zontal, piece, and rapidly revolved; the friction at the
points of contact soon produces fire. This is just how it
is done amongst the Dyaks of Borneo, also amongst some
of the American tribes. It is effective. When "lucifers,
matches, flint-and-steel, and several other modes of pro-
curing fire were utterly unavailing in these damp moun-
tains, the Lepchas were never at a loss." They rubbed
the sticks and got a light. After about a minute's work-
ing the wood catches fire. It is the wood of a particular
tree, and resembles willow. Two men do the revolu-
tionary part of the operation. One begins at the top of
the upright stick. As his hand gradually slides downwards
another succeeds. So that before the light is kindled four
hands are in action.
The Lepchas believe that dysentery is infectious, and,
accordingly, take certain sanitary precautions to prevent
its spread. It was at Hee when Major Sherwill was on
his survey.
The people begged him not to go there,
refusing to follow him if he did. Ere long he came
90
THE LEPCHA.
upon two upright posts, one on each side of the path.
They were connected at top by a horizontal pole-
gallows-fashion. From this pole hung two bundles of
sticks, near them two cudgels; a few feet further stood
two more posts, but without any pole or bar to join.
The meaning whereof is this. Any one coming from the
side of the two unconnected posts may pass on; any one
coming from the side of the two connected ones must not
pass on.
If he do he will be beaten by the cudgels, and
fined thirty rupees; thirty being the number of the sticks
in the two bundles-fifteen in each.
The chief Lepcha diseases are small-pox (the most
dreaded of all), goitre, remittent fevers, and rheumatism.
The dead are burnt or buried, sometimes burnt first
and buried afterwards.
English.
Murai.
Man
mi
Kiranti.
mana
Limbu.
yapme
Lepcha.
maro
yembocha
tagri
Head
thobo
tang
thagek
athiak
Hair
kra
moa
thagi
achom
Hand
ya
chukuphema huktaphe
kaliok
Foot
bale
ukhuro
langdapphe
dianghok
Eye
mi
mak
mik
amik
Ear
nape
naba
nekho
anyor
Bone
nakhu
saiba
sayet
arhet
Blood
ka
hau
makhi
vi
Tooth
swa
kang
hebo
apho
Day
dini
len
lendik
sakne
Sun
dini
nam
nam
sakhak
Moon
ladima
lava
lavo
dau
Star
karchin
sangyen
kesva
sahor
Fire
me
mi
me
mi
Water
kwi
chawa
chua
ong
Tree
dhong
sangtang
sing
kung
Stone
yumba
lungta
lung
long
One
grik
ektai
thit
kat
Two
gni
hasat
nyetsh
nyet
Three
som
sumya
Four
bli
laya
syumsh
lish
sam
phali
DURRE, DENWAR, BRAMHO.
91
English.
Murmi.
Kiranti.
Five
gna
gnaya
Lepcha.
phagnon
Limbu.
gnash
Six
dhu
tukya
tuksh
tarok
Seven
nis
bhagya
nuksh
Eight
pre
reya
yetsh
kakyok
kaken
Nine
kuh
phangya
phangsh
kakyot
Ten
chiwai
kip
thibong
kati
Three other populations seem to belong to the same
group with the Ráwat, Kúsúnda, Haiyu, and Chepang.
They occupy the districts where the soil is moist, the air
hot, the effluvia miasmatic. They are named, but not
described in full, by Mr. Hodgson as Durre, Denwar, and
Bramho. Word for word, I believe these names to be
Tharu, Dunghur, and (possibly) Rawi. No specimen of
their language is published. It may be akin to the Che-
pang; it may be more akin to the Dhimal and Bodo of the
next chapter.
92
THE KOCCH, DHIMAL,
CHAPTER IV.
The Kocch.-Dhimal and Bodo.-Western Bodo of Sikkim and the
Bútan frontier.-Eastern Bodo, or Borro, of Asam and Cachar.-
The Garo.-The Kasia.-The Mikir.
FAREWELL, for awhile, Buddhism and welcome Paganism.
We may say this and mean it; for Paganism is both more
instructive than Buddhism and more practicable. It is
more instructive, because it exhibits the thoughts and feel-
ings of an earlier period in the history of humanity.
That it is more practicable is known to every commercial
man and every missionary. It presents fewer obstacles to
those who look for work; fewer obstacles to those who
would make proselytes to Christianity. This is because
its hold on the mind is weaker, and its prejudices fewer.
Asia tells us this, speaking through the mouth of Parsís,
Brahmins, and Buddhists. Africa tells us as much. A
Pagan country is a promising, a Mahometan a hopeless,
field for the missionary.
Farewell, too, for awhile, white, yellow, and brown
skins. You are about to grow black. It is no longer the
high and rare atmospheres of the snow-line and the parts
in its neighbourhood that will now be respired. It is no
longer even the healthy breezes of the hill-side; no
longer even the fresh air of the level and cultivated plain.
We are moving on a lower level, and in a medium
tainted with malaria. We are in India, and not in the
best parts of it. We are in a belt of forest fatal to
Europeans, fatal, in many cases, to even the Hindu of the
healthier localities.
AND BODO.
93
Upon the extent that these unfavourable conditions.
affect the human frame, the evidence is conflicting. The
Saul forest, full of malaria everywhere, but fullest in the
range to the east of the Kosi, is endured by no human being,
save and except the remarkable individuals that have, for
ages, made it their dwelling-place. Yet the Dhimal, the
Bodo, and others thrive in it, love it, leave it with regret.
When others show in their fever-stricken aspects the in-
roads of the poison of the atmosphere, these breathe it as
common air. Nay, they prefer it to the open and un-
tainted air of the plains; where the heat gives them fever.
So writes Mr. Hodgson; and so his communicants in-
formed him. Yet they may easily have been exceptions.
to their countrymen, stronger in body, more patriotic in
spirit. They may, also, have exaggerated. It is certain
that all our testimony is not to this effect. It is certain
that other writers have noticed the unhealthy complexion,
and undersized limbs of the foresters of the Saul belt, the
so-called aborigines of the district.
What we have seen in the tribes of Nepaul we shall
see in the tribes coming under notice, or, at least, with
the greater part of them. There will be a certain amount
of Hindu influence; sometimes sufficient to disguise the
original ethnological characteristics. So that there will
be varieties and sub-varieties, as we expect à priori.
Never mind, for the present, how these are named. They
exist. They will come under notice when India becomes
our subject. They will all be explained on the same
principle; the principle that gave us the varieties and sub-
varieties of the Magars and Newars. They will all repre-
sent an intermixture of Hindu and Himalayan elements;
sometimes of language, sometimes of creed, sometimes of
blood.
Of the populations about to be noticed we meet with
94
THE KOCCH, DHIMAL,
branches within the confines of the Indian Peninsula.
They extend, however, beyond it, into Assam as well as
Bengal, into Assam and the parts beyond. They ex-
tend also, I think, into Bútan. If so we are on a class
which connects India, Tibet, and the Transgangetic Pen-
insula.
The Kocch (Koktsh, Koksh, or Kúksh).-The Kocch
are the Kavach of the Yogini Tantra, where they are
noticed as Mlekhs, or barbarians; as, without doubt, they
then were, one and all. They are not all barbarians now;
but, on the contrary, fall into three divisions; two of
which are sufficiently modified to disguise their real affi-
nities. Two are disguised after the manner of the modified
Magars and Newars; or rather they are in the condition
of the Jareyas where the concealment of the original cha-
racter is greater. What this arises from we can antici-
pate; though not altogether. Brahminism has something
to do with it. Has Buddhism also ? No. We are anti-
cipating too much here. We are no longer in Tibet and
Nepaul, but in India, where Buddhism is said to be
banished. It is not, then, a case of Brahminism and
Buddhism, but one of Mahometanism, and Brahminism.
When the Mahometan power was established in Bengal the
kingdom of the Kocch bounded it on the north, extend-
ing from 88 to 93° E. L., and from 26 to 27° N. L. It may
have touched the south-eastern extremity of Nepaul. At
any rate it lay along the southern frontier of Sikkim, and
Bútan, extending itself into Assam, with Kocch Bahar
for its metropolis. Such a kingdom as this was powerful;
and, although the Hindu and Mahometans called it the
Kingdom of Kavach, or Kocch, its ethnological con-
stituents were heterogeneous. In fact, they consisted of
all the tribes under notice; one being as much Kocch as
the other, the name being, when first given, general, though
AND BODO.
95
now exceedingly limited. At present a Kocch is one
thing, a Dhimal another, a Bodo another. Some centuries
ago they were all Kocch. Suppose the sub-alpine regions
of Lombardy and Piedmont to have been called Barbary,
by the Romans, without distinction of the tribes which
composed their population. Suppose this population to
have been heterogeneous. Suppose some portion of one
division of it to have become Romanized; and, so changed,
to have abandoned the name of Barbari; the remainder
retaining it. The name would, in all probability, be any-
thing but a complimentary one. Meanwhile, the king-
dom breaks up, and the other divisions are no longer
blended with the general mass of Barbars, but known in de-
tails; or, supposing them to be taken en masse, the name
by which they are known to the Romans is changed.
What could now befall the primitive Barbari, i. e. those
who were not Romanized? They would be the only
section of the population that retained the original name,
which would now have become special and particular-
general and collective-as it had been originally. They
might or might not be proud of it. They might be proud
of it if left alone; yet easily made to abandon it by being
acted upon from without. Its discreditable nature might
be enlarged on: and, in the course of time, its application
might become equivocal. Mutatis mutandis, this seems to
have been the case with the word under notice. The Bodo
of the immediate neighbourhood call the population we
are considering Kocch. The more distant Bodo of Asam
call them Hásá. The Dhimal call them Kamul (? Dhimal).
But what do they call themselves? The Mahometan and
Hindu members of the class have, as aforesaid, abandoned
the name.
But the unconverted portion; what of it?
They called themselves Koocch when "not perplexed with
Brahminical devices;" by which I understand that, when
96
THE KOCCH.
they are persuaded that the same is a badge of rudeness,
they are easily put out of love with it.
The unconverted Kocch, the only ones at present un-
der consideration, live in the woods, and cultivate the soil
with the hoe. They move from spot to spot as the soil
gets exhausted. They are well fed and fairly clothed; of
average strength and vigour. They abstain from beef;
but respect and admire the Garo who do not, and be-
cause they do not; for they hold that the less a tribe is
restricted the more exalted it is. They eat no tame ani-
mal without sacrificing some part of it to the gods, two of
whom are Pushi and his wife Jago. They sacrifice, too,
to the sun, moon, and stars, to the deities of the rivers,
hills and woods, to their deceased parents. The chief
feast is at the harvest. The end, too, of the rainy season.
is a time for solemn sacrifices. The sacrificant priest is
called a Deoshi. He is chosen by his employer, marries,
and works like the rest, and has no hereditary authority.
Of the victims, the blood goes to the deities, the flesh
to their worshippers. The dead are kept two days, dur-
ing which time the family mourn, the friends feast. They
are then burnt, by a river's side, where the mourners
bathe and have done with their mourning. There is also
a sacrifice of pigs. Whoever marries out of his tribe in-
curs a fine, and whoever incurs a fine without paying it
must become a bondsman until his wife can redeem him.
And here we come in contact with a strange piece of so-
cial economy. The property of the husband is made over
to the wife; when she dies it goes to her daughters, and
when he marries he lives with his wife's mother. Mar-
riages are arranged in the nonage of the parties concerned
though not without consulting the inclination of the con-
templated bride. Ante-nuptial frailties are overlooked,
and a girl can always marry her lover. After marriage
THE KOCCH.
97
however, the morality becomes strict, and polygamy or
polyandria, concubinage and adultery, are punished with
fines. The general character of the social organization
of the Pani Kocch is patriarchal. The elder of the set-
tlement decides between contesting parties.
The northern parts of Rungpúr, Púrnea, Dinajpúr, and
Mymansing, are the chief Kocch localities.
At the risk of being accused of improperly rationalizing
on historical statements I cannot forbear taking an excep-
tion to the account of the Kocch kingdom during the
days of its supremacy, as given in Buchanan, and en-
dorsed by Hodgson. It is to the effect that its founder's
name was Hájo, that he lived more than three hundred
years ago, at the end of the fifteenth, or the beginning of
the sixteenth, century, that he had no son, that his
daughter was his heiress, that he gave her to a Bodo chief
in marriage, that he thus founded the kingdom, and suc-
cessfully defended it against its three most formidable
enemies, the Sauman, the Plov, and the Javan. In all
this there is nothing intrinsically improbable, and if it
were not for two out of the five names in the narrative no
objection would arise. But Hájo is a suspicious denomi-
nation. It has all the appearance of being such a word
as Romulus in the history of Rome and Hellen in that of
the Hellenes. We shall see the name Hojai as that of
a population before we get three degrees eastward, if we
have not seen it already in the word Hásá. I suggest, then,
that Hájo is a fabulous individual, no real founder of the
Kocch or any empire; but an eponymus hero. Then
comes Javan.
In the ordinary translation of ordinary
statements it is rendered Greek, being neither more nor
less than Ion and Javan. Here, however, it is said to
mean Mahometan; Saumar meaning the Ahoms of Upper
VOL. I.
H
98
THE DHIMAL.
Asam, and Plava the men of Bútan; Phih or Pruh
being the name by which the Lepchas designate the
Bútani.
The Dhimál.-The Dhimál live to the north and east
of the Kocch, between the open plains and the higher
levels of the mountains (both of which they avoid);
also between the rivers Konki and Dhorla, touching the
Bodo districts as well as the Kocch; indeed, the Bodo
and Dhimál are intermixed, though each population
occupies separate villages.
Of these
Neither do the two divisions intermarry.
the Dhimál is the smaller, amounting to no more than some
15,000 souls, a number that decreases rather than in-
creases. It was the opinion of Mr. Hodgson, founded
upon four months' intercourse with the Dhimál as well as
the Bodo, that their traditions were nothing worth; that
their area, however, had once been larger than it is he
inferred from the fact of there being a tract in North
Bengal still called Dhimáli, lying considerably beyond
the present limits of the reduced and receding Dhimáls.
Again, although no chief of the Dhimál tribes now exists,
a migration from Kamba to the Tengwa, and from the
Tengwa to the Konki, in order to escape the oppressions
of the Ghurkas of Nepaul, a migration from west to east,
is still within the memory of man, having happened no
more than sixty years ago.
I am probably wrong in departing from the plan so well
illustrated by Mr. Hodgson in his valuable monograph on
these tribes, wherein, on the strength of the little differ-
ence between them, and the great extent to which an ac-
count of the one serves as an account of the other, the two
divisions of the Bodo and Dhimál are treated together,
the minutia in which they differ being pointed out as
THE DHIMAL.
99
they arise. Nevertheless, as it is my wish to give special
details rather than to advance generalities, I adhere to the
distinctions with which I have begun, and continue the
notice of Dhimál as one separate from that of the Bodo,
though not wholly, as will be seen in the sequel. What-
ever may be their similarity in other respects—
1. The languages of the two populations are different.
2. The Pantheon of the two populations is different.
This, however, is a difference of less importance than it
appears to be at first sight, inasmuch as the chief objects
of reverence with both the Bodo and the Dhimál are the
rivers of their respective districts, which are sometimes
invoked under the name of the deity that is supposed to
preside over them, sometimes by the simple geographical
designation. Thus, as examples of the former, we have
the names Timai, Lakhim, and Chima, denoting the
Teeshta, the Mahamada, and Kosi Rivers respectively,
Timai, Lakhim, Chima, being three sisters. On the other
hand, however, the names of the Konki, Mechi, Soran,
Boas, and Dubelly Rivers are simply Kankai, Menchi,
Sonusi, Bonasi, and Dhulpi. Some of these are of the
masculine, others of the feminine gender; i. e. some are
gods, others goddesses.
3. The details of the marriage ceremony are different.
The Dhimál priest propitiates Dáta and Bidáta by invoca-
tions and offerings of betel-leaf and red-lead—Dáta and
Bidáta being the deities who preside over wedlock. This is
a cheaper operation with the Bodo than with the Dhimál ;
for with the Dhimál the marriage feast may be prolonged
to the third day, and cost from thirty to forty rupees;
whereas the Bodo ceremony may be gone through for four
or six. When Dáta and Bidáta have been invoked, the
bride and groom are placed side by side, each with five
pauns, with which they feed each other; the parents of
H 2
100
THE BODO.
the groom then cover the couple with a sheet, when the
priest completes the nuptials by sprinkling them with
water.
4. If the Dhimál weddings are dearer than those of
the Bodo, their funerals are cheaper, for the Bodo practise
more formality. A Bodo, when the funeral feast is
ready, repairs with his assembled mourners to the grave
of the deceased, and, if he be the nearest of kin, takes a
little food, and presents it to the departed one with these
words: “Take and eat: heretofore you have eaten and
drunk with us; you can do so no more: you were one of
us; you can be so no longer : we come no more to you;
come you not to us.' After this each member of the
meeting breaks and casts on the grave a bracelet of
thread; proceeds to the river and bathes, and having thus
lustrated himself, repairs to the banquet, and eats, drinks,
and makes merry."
5. That the names of the Dhimál festivals should differ
is nothing more than what we expect from the difference
of language. There are differences, however, in their
number and details as well-not very important, nor yet
calling for description. Still they are differences.
Word for word, I believe Dhimál, Kamul, and Tamul
to be the same.
The Bodo.-The Bodo area extends much further than
the Dhimál, the Bodo population being by far the more
important of the two. Its western branch belongs to
Bahar and Bengal, to the Sikkim and Bútan frontiers;
and it is described in the valuable and well-known mono-
graph of Mr. Hodgson, along with the Kocch and
Dhimál. The eastern branch occupies Asam and Cachar.
The western Bodo build their houses and lay out their
little villages in the same manner as the Dhimál and
building houses, and clearing grounds, are matters in which
ز
THE BODO.
101
the two populations intermix and help each other. The
chief material with which they work are the jungle grass
and the bamboo. From ten to forty of the huts thus
rudely made form a village. If the family be large each
house forms a court or enclosure. First, the main dwell-
ing-house; secondly, a cattle-shed, stable, or fold opposite
it. Then, if needed, there are two wings on each side so as
to form a quadrangle. The roof projects. The body of
the houses falls into two compartments, one to sleep, the
other to cook in. A bedstead, a few stools, a few mats
and shelves, constitute the furniture-all home-made, as
is, also, the earthenware. For the metal pans there must
be a little barter at Kocch markets. They are all of
brass-none of copper, none of iron. Neither is there
any manufacture or use of leather. Ropes of grass, and
baskets of cane do instead. In the way of clothing, they
use silk and cotton, (but no wool); which they spin,
weave, and dye. Their sandals are of wood: their orna-
ments, few in number, like their pots and pans, are pur-
chased. Rice, maize, millet, fresh-water fish, and a fair
allowance of meat, constitute the chief Bodo aliment, and
Jo their chief drink. This is made of rice or millet, the
grain of which is boiled, and flavoured by the root of a
plant called Agai-chito. It then stands, nearly in a dry
state, to ferment for two days. Water is then added, and
the whole, after three or four days, is fit for drinking. The
plant is grown for the purpose. Hodgson compares the
Jo of the Bodo with the Aji-mana of the Newari of
Nepaul. I think he might have done more.
He might
have suggested that the name of the Newari beverage was
the name of the Bodo plant (Aji-mana, Agai-chito). Be-
side their Jo, the Bodo use tobacco-both freely; but not
hemp, nor yet opium.
102
THE BODO.
The Bodo are tillers of the soil; but their agriculture
is imperfect, and quasi-nomadic; since they are not fixed
but erratic or migratory cultivators. They have no name
for a village, no sheep, no oxen, no fixed property in the
soil. Like the ancient Germans, arva in annos mutant, et
superest ager. They clear a jungle, crop it as long as it
will yield an average produce, and then remove themselves
elsewhere.
The Bodo villages are small communities of from ten to
forty huts. The head of these communities is called the
Grá. It is the Grá who is responsible to the foreign govern-
ment (British, Tibetan, or Nepaulese), for the order of
the community, and for the payment of its tribute. In
cases of perplexity the Grás of three or four neighbouring
communities meet in deliberation. Offenders against the
customs of the community may be admonished, fined, or
excommunicated.
The Bodo religious ordinances are simple. The birth,
the weaning, and the naming of children are all unat-
tended with ceremonies requiring the presence of a priest.
At funerals and marriages, however, the priest presides.
This he does, not so much as a minister to the essential
ceremony, as for the sake of the feast that accompanies it.
No Bodo or Dhimál will touch flesh which has not been
offered to the gods: and this offering a priest must make.
Marriage is a contract rather than a rite. Polygamy
or concubinage is rare: the adoption of children common.
All the sons inherit equally; daughters not at all. A
Bodo can only marry to one of his own people. Divorce,
though practicable and easy, is rare; the wife and
daughter have their due influence. Children are named
as soon as the mother comes abroad, which is generally
four or five days after her confinement. The idea that
THE BODO.
103
the delivery involves a temporal impurity is recognized;
so that all births (and deaths also) necessitate a temporary
segregation and certain purificatory forms.
A price-Jan-must be paid by the bridegroom elect for
the intended bride. If the former have no means of dis-
charging this sum, he must go to the house of his father-
in-law elect, and there literally earn his wife by the sweat
of his brow, and labour for a term of years.
When any person is afflicted by witchcraft "the elders
assemble and summon three Ojhás or exorcists, with
whose aid and that of a cane freely used, they endea-
vour to extort from the witch a confession of the fact
and the motives. By dint of questioning and of beating,
the witch is generally brought to confession, when he or
she is asked to remove the spell, and to heal the sufferer ;;
means of propitiating preternatural allies (if their agency
be alleged) being at the same time tendered to the witch,
who is, however, forthwith expelled the district, and put
across the next river, with the concurrence of the local
authorities."
"When sickness takes place, it is not the physician but
the exorcist who is summoned to the sick man's aid. The
exorcist is called, both by the Bodo and Dhimáls, Ojhá,
and he operates as follows. Thirteen leaves, each with a
few grains of rice upon it, are placed by the exorcist in a
segment of a circle before him to represent the deities.
The Ojhá, squatting on his hams before the leaves causes
a pendulum attached to his thumb by a string to vibrate
before them, repeating invocations the while. The god
who has possessed the sick man, is indicated by the ex-
clusive vibration of the pendulum towards his representa-
tive leaf, which is then taken apart, and the god in ques-
tion is asked, what sacrifice he requires? a buffalo, a hog,
a fowl, or a duck to spare the sufferer. He answers (the
104
THE BODO.
Ojhá best knows how!) a hog; and it is forthwith vowed
by the sick man and promised by the exorcist, but only
paid when the former has recovered. On recovery the
animal is sacrificed, and its blood offered to the offended
deity. I witnessed the ceremony myself among the
Dhimáls, on which occasion the thirteen deities invoked
were Póchima or Waráng, Timai or Béráng, Lákhim,
Konoksiri, Ménchi, Chímá, Danto, Chádúng, Aphói,
Biphói, Andhéman (Aphún), Tátopátia (Báphún), and
Shúti. A Bodo exorcist would proceed precisely in the
same manner, the only difference in the ceremony being
the invocation of the Bodo gods instead of the Dhimál
ones."
The great Bodo festivals are four; the Shúrkar, held
in December or January, when the cotton-crop is got in;
the Wagaleno for February or March; the Phúlthépno
for July or August, when the rice comes into ear; and the
Aihúno in October, or bamboo festival.
The Wagaleno was witnessed by Dr. Campbell and Mr.
Hodgson. A noise of voices by the wayside between
Siligori and Pankhabari drew them from the direct road
to the spot whence it came. This was the bed of the
river, where they found thirteen Bodo men, in a circle,
facing each other, and each carrying a long bamboo pole,
with different articles of wearing apparel streaming forth
as its ornaments and a yak's tail at the end. Of three
men who stood within the circle, the first danced to the
singing (for the thirteen around him were solemnly
chanting a kind of chorus) and gesticulated. The second
was a priest; the third a servitor or assistant. It was a
priest, clothed in red cotton, who set the tune to the
thirteen chanters. The servitor had a brush and a water-
pot. More important, however, than either servitor or
priest was another actor, the seer, prophet, or inspired
THE BODO.
105
one.
He it was who, full of the God, answered such
questions as were put to him about the prospects of the
coming seasons. He was Déódá, or Possessed. "When
we first discerned him, he was sitting on the ground pant-
ing, and rolling his eyes so significantly that I at once
conjectured his function. Shortly afterwards, the rite
still proceeding, the Déódá got up, entered the circle, and
commenced dancing with the rest, but more wildly. He
held a short staff in his hand, with which, from time to
time, he struck the bedizened poles, one by one; lower-
ing it as he struck. The chief dancer, with the odd-
shaped instrument, waxed more and more vehement in his
dance; the inspired grew more and more maniacal; the
music more and more rapid; the incantation more and
more solemn and earnest; till at last, amid a general low-
ering of the heads of the decked bamboo poles, so that
they met and formed a canopy over him, the Déódá went
off in an unaffected fit, and the ceremony closed without-
any revelation-a circumstance which must be ascribed to
the presence of the sceptical strangers."
The Aihúno is a domestic ceremony. The "friends
and family being assembled, including as many persons as
the master of the house can afford to feast, the Déóshi or
priest enters the enclosure or yard of the house, in the
centre of which is invariably planted a Sij or Euphorbia,
as the representative of Báthó who is the family as well
as national god of the Bodo. The Báthó, thus repre-
sented, the Déóshi offers prayers, and sacrifices a cock.
He then proceeds into the house, adores Mainou, and
sacrifices to her a hog. Next, the priest, the family, and
all the friends proceed to some convenient and pleasant
spot in the vicinity, previously selected, and at which a
little temporary shed has been erected as an altar, and
there, with due ceremonies, another hog is sacrificed to
106
THE BORRO-HOJAI.
Agráng, a he-goat to Manásho and to Búli, and a fowl,
duck, or pigeon (black, red, or white, according to the
special and well-known taste of each god) to each of the
remaining nine of the Noöni madai. The blood of the
sacrifice belongs to the gods—the flesh to his worshippers,
and these now hold a high feast, at which beer and to-
bacco are freely used to animate the joyous conclave, but
not spirits, nor opium, nor hemp."
Mannou is the wife of Báthó, an eminently domestic
goddess. She is found in every house, under the guise
of a bamboo pole, about 3 feet high, with one end in the
earth, and with a small earthenware cup of rice on the
other. Such the symbol; which has its annual and its
monthly offerings. The annual one has been described;
the sacrifice being that of a hog. The monthly offerings
are eggs, and they are made by the females.
The Borro of Cachar.-The Eastern Bodo (Borro), or
Cachar, are divided into the Cachars of the hill-country
and the Cachars of the plains; and these again are sub-
divided according to their difference of creed. A hill
Cachar may be either a Hindu or a Pagan, though he is
oftener the latter; and a Cachar of the lower levels may
be the same, though he is generally, perhaps always,
the former.
A Cachar of the plains is called a Hazai, Hojai, or
Hajong, and this is what is meant by the Hojangs of
Assam, and the parts about are spoken of. They are
Hindu in creed, more or less Hindu in language and
manners, Cachar in blood.
The Hojai have had rajahs of their own. Again,
the title Burmon, or Brahmin, is applied as a mark of
distinction to some of their nobler families, families
which, notwithstanding their title, are a tribual aristo-
cracy rather than an aristocracy of caste. Of this they
THE BORRO-HOJAI.
107
have little; so little as to make them but loose and
imperfect Hindus. They eat freely of both fowls and
pigs. They sacrifice them to their deities. They in-
dulge freely in fermented liquors; in short, they depart
widely from what a Brahmin of Benares would consider
orthodox. Their education is Hindu, their alphabet of
Hindu origin. Those that read and write are prone to
leave their ordinary agricultural industry and become
collectors, policemen, and the like; showing no want of
intelligence or activity in their new employments, but
by no means showing the simplicity of character they
maintained as cultivators of the rice and cotton of their
fertile soil. In office they become adepts in chicanery,
corruption, and oppression, imitating the worst practices
of the Bengali.
The hill Cachar is more simple and unsophisticated,
stouter, hardier, and more turbulent; more formidable,
too, in the eyes of the neighbouring marauders of the
Naga family. However little an Anjami Naga may
hesitate to attack a Mikir village, he generally abstains
from the occupancies of the hill Cachar.
Of the hill Cachars each head of a family lives in a
separate house, of which from 20 to 100 go to constitute
the village; the batchelors living in the dekha chung, or
warriors' house. This is a large building in the centre of
the village more like a club than an ordinary dwelling.
The young men who have attained a certain age and
have not chosen for themselves a wife, support it, and in
it they live, their parents having eliminated them from
the houses of their nativity. The Nagas have the same
practice.
The great locality of the Borro of Assam is a frontier
district, named Chatgari, between Desh, During, and the
108
THE GARO.
Bútan hills, where their numbers may amount to 30,000,
half the whole Borro population.
English.
Man
Kocch.
Dhimál.
Bodo.
beta-choa
waval
hiwa
diang
manshi
Head
mura
purung
khoro
Ear
kan
nhatong
khoma
Eye
chaku
mi
mogon
Blood
lohu
hiki
thoi
Bone
harwa
hara
begeng
Tooth
dant
sitong
hathai
Hand
hath
khur
akhai
Foot
bhori
khokoi
yapha
Sun
bela
bela
shan
Moon
chand
tali
nokhabir
Star
tara
phuro
hathotk hi
Fire
agni
men
wat
Water
jal
chi
doi
Stone
pathai
unthur
onthai
One
ek
elong
manche
Two
du
nhelong
manne
Three
tin
sumlang
mantham
Four
char
dealong
mambre
Five
panch
nalong
manba
Six
choe
tulong
mando
Seven
sat
nhilong
manchini
Eight
ath
yelong
Nine
noze
kuhalong
Ten
das
telong
The Garo.-The mountaineers of the Garo Hills, to
the north-east of Bengal, have long commanded the atten-
tion of investigators, and a good account of them is to be
found in the third volume of the Asiatic Researches, by
Mr. Eliot. Their language, of which a specimen is there
given, is left unplaced in the Asia Polyglotta of Klaproth.
It is, however, a member of the class under notice, and
was known to be so when the Bodo and Dhimál were con-
sidered Indian.
The Garo, like so many mountaineers, are hardy, stout, and
THE GARO.
109
surly-looking, with a flattened nose, blue or brown eyes,
large mouth, thick lips, round face, and brown complex-
ion. They have a prejudice against milk; but in the
matter of other sorts of food are omnivorous. Their
houses, called chaungs, are built on piles, from three to
four feet from the ground, from ten to forty in breadth,
and from thirty to one hundred and fifty in length. They
drink, feast, and dance freely; and, in their matrimonial
forms, much resemble the Bodo. The youngest daughter
inherits. The widow marries the brother of the deceased;
if he die, the next; if all, the father.
The dead are kept for four days; then burnt. Then
the ashes are buried in a hole on the place where the fire
was. A small thatched building is next raised over them,
which is afterwards railed in. For a month, or more, a
lamp is lit every night in this building. The clothes of
the deceased hang on poles-one at each corner of the
railing. When the pile is set fire to, there is great feast-
ing and drunkenness.
They worship the sun
The Garo are no Hindús. Neither are they unmodified
Pagans. Mahadeva they invoke; perhaps worship. Ne-
vertheless, their creed is mixed.
and the moon, or rather the sun or the moon; since they
ascertain which is to be invoked by taking a cup of water
and some wheat. The priest then calls on the name of the
sun, and drops corn into the water. If it sink, the sun is
worshipped. If not, a similar experiment is tried with
the name of the moon. Misfortunes are attributed to
supernatural agency; and averted by sacrifice.
Sometimes they swear on a stone; sometimes they take
a tiger's bone between their teeth and then tell their
tale.
Among them
them "a madness exists, which they call
110
THE GARO.
transformation into a tiger, from the person who is afflicted
with this malady walking about like that animal, shunning
all society. It is said, that, on their being first seized
with this complaint, they tear their hair and the rings from
their ears, with such force as to break the lobe. It is sup-
posed to be occasioned by a medicine applied to the fore-
head: 'but I endeavoured to procure some of the medicine
thus used, without effect. I imagine it rather to be
created by frequent intoxications, as the malady goes off
in the course of a week or fortnight. During the time
the person is in this state, it is with the utmost difficulty
he is made to eat or drink. I questioned a man, who had
thus been afflicted, as to the manner of his being seized,
and he told me he only felt a giddiness without any pain,
and that afterwards he did not know what happened to
him."
In a paper by Captain C. S. Reynolds, we have the no-
tice of a hitherto undescribed superstition; that of the
Korah. A Korah is a dish of bell-metal, of uncertain
manufacture. A small kind, called Deo Korah, is hung
up as a household god and worshipped. Should the
monthly sacrifice of a fowl be omitted, punishment is
expected. If "a person perform his devotion to the
spirit which inhabits the Korah with increasing fervour
and devotion, he is generally rewarded by seeing the em-
bossed figures gradually expand. The Garo believe that
when the whole household is wrapped in sleep, the Deo
Korahs make expeditions in search of food, and when
they have satisfied their appetites return to their snug re-
treats unobserved."
The greater part of the Garo population is independent.
A part, however, is British.
It is the northern members of the family that are in
THE GARO.
111
this predicament; their area being on the boundary of
the Calúmalúpara pergunnah. This pergunnah is divided
into shares of six and of ten annas; a fact which has en-
gendered the names Cheanni (6 anna) and Dusanni (10
anna). There is Cheanni portion of Calúmalúpara, and
there is Dusanni portion also; and it is the Calúmalúpara
people who are either Dusanni or Cheanni.
The terms,
however, have been extended to the Garo, who lie along
the frontier, those opposite the Cheanni parts being Che-
anni; those opposite the Dusanni parts being Dusanni.
Though "we have hitherto considered the Dusanni and
Cheanni Garows as separate tribes, I believe that they are
both of one Abengyas, and that this distinction is without
a difference. They consider themselves one and the same
people." Word for word, abengyas is, doubtless, the same
as buniah, a term used by Eliot, and applied to the Garo
chiefs. In the passage before us it seems to mean chief-
taincy.
In 1822-23 the pergunnah of Calúmalúpara was sold to`
the Company, and the Garo mehauls seem to have gone
along with it. These were troublesome possessions, for
the Garo of Currybari were in actual revolt, and the whole
occupancy had been a source of annoyance rather than
gain.
Soon after its transfer the chiefs made their submission,
and agreed to pay a revenue of 196 rupees per annum; the
chiefs of each village paying it. In 1832, however, there
were arrears, a demonstration against them, and a settle-
ment which lasted till 1848; when another demonstration
was necessary. A murder had been committed; and, as
the murderer was not given up, Captain Reynolds, from
whose narrative this notice is taken, made an inroad into
their territory, burnt a village, and exacted promises of
112
THE GARO.
better behaviour for the future. He found the road bar-
ricaded in several places, and planted with panjis, or bam-
boo stakes, short, sharp, and dangerous. One end is set
in the ground. The other wounds the feet of those who
tread on it. So effective are they, that the troops, in one
place, were an hour and a half getting over 200 yards of
ground. They had to shave them off close to the soil
before they could proceed. I draw attention to this, be-
cause, in another notice of the mode of warfare of the
tribes of south-eastern Asia, these panjis will appear
again. Several Malay tribes use them, and find them
more formidable than either spear or sword. They are
not above four inches long-little better than strong
thorns. The whole weight, however, of the body, comes
down on them, so that they penetrate to the bone-and
this through the sole of a shoe or boot.
The expedition ended in the following agreement,
signed by fifteen Locmas of village chiefs. It gives us a
better insight into what the people are, and what the
Company wishes them to be, than a longer notice.
“Art. 1st.—We agree to abstain from committing murder,
either in our own clan or in any other, nor will we permit any
amongst us to do so, or to commit any other heinous offences
that we may be able to prevent.
“Art. 2nd.—It was our former custom to hang human
skulls in our houses, we hereby agree to abstain therefrom
for the future.
“ Art. 3rd.—All disputes which may occur in our jurisdiction
requiring investigation, we will endeavour to settle with the
assistance of a punchyat of four or five of the most influential
chiefs amongst us, and in presence of the disputing parties,
and should we be unable to settle it ourselves, we will report
the same to the Hunt Mohurir, with a view to its being settled
by your lordship.
THE GARO.
113
“Art. 4th.-When any officer or government servant may
have occasion to travel through our country, we agree to
clear the roads in our several jurisdictions, and to furnish
him with coolies, and render him every assistance in our
power.
"Art. 5th.-When any officer or his deputy may arrive at
Bengal Katta and summon us to attend him, we will in-
stantly do so, and if it is necessary for us to attend him
at any other place, we agree to do so on his summons.
"Art. 6th.-We agree to prevent any independent Garros
from entering the government territories through our juris-
dictions with intent to murder or commit any other dis-
turbances.
“ Art. 7th.—When any officer orgovernment servant arrives
at our Doar, we agree, on being called on, to pay, without de-
lay the revenue due by us.
"Art. 8th. The road which has been cleared from Bhaya-
mara to Kuntanangiri, and Bengal Katta to Ripoogiri, we
agree to keep clear every year throughout our respective
jurisdictions from twenty-four to thirty feet wide.”
The Dusanni Garo occupy twenty villages, the smallest
consisting of a single house paying one rupee, and the
largest of 100, paying 100. The whole number of houses
is 306, each holding (say) ten persons. Hence, the total
population of the Dusannis is 3060. In the Cheanni
country the number of villages is twenty-five. In each
district the names of them end in either -giri or -parrah,
as Repúgiri, Rungtupara. This, however, is Indian,
so that the British Garo, at least, have been Indianized
in respect to their language, always assuming that the
names in question are native, i. e. names given by the
Garo themselves, and not names given by the Hindus of
the frontier.
VOL. I.
I
114
THE KASIA.
English.
Garo.
Borro.
Bodo.
Man
mande
manse
hiwa
Head
skho
khoro
khoro
Eye
mikran
nigan
mogon
Ear
nachil
khama
khoma
Tooth
wagom
hathai
hathai
Blood
anchi
thoi
thoi
Bone
greng
begeng
begeng
Hand
jak
nakhai
akhai
Foot
jatheng
atheng
yapha
Sun
sal
san
shan
Star
jashki
hatolthi
hathotki
Fire
wal
wat
wat
Water
chi
doi
doi
Stone
rong
lanthai
onthai
Due east of the Garo country comes that of
The Kasia, which falls into petty rajahships, and, by so
doing, exhibits a little more political organization than
that of their western neighbours, where the constitution
seems to be simply patriarchal. The difference between
the Garo and Kasia tribes seems but slight. Both abstain
from milk. Both chew pawn. A Kasia man expresses
his contempt of a Bengali by saying that he "has white
teeth."
In his accounts of rude tribes an ethnologist must take
what he can get in the way of information without asking
too minutely whether each particular fact tallies with the
rest of his description. He is in the hands of his infor-
mants, and it rarely happens that they examine the pheno-
mena which come under their notice from the same point
of view. One describes the dress, another the customs,
another the manners of a country, a fourth its religion.
Others notice certain facts because they are common,
others because they are rare. Two tribes may be so
closely allied as to have, in all fundamental points, the
same ethnological character.
ceptions, may be the same.
The details, with few ex-
Yet if the descriptions of
THE KASIA.
115
them be imperfect (as most descriptions are and must be),
it is possible that the similarity may be concealed. Let
one writer note what the other omits, and this will be the
case.
I have no doubt but that many isolated facts in the
description of a Garo apply to a Kasia also, though in
the notices of the Kasia they may be non-apparent, and
vice versâ. I find, for instance, no notice of the Kasia
believing in men becoming tigers; yet it is, probably, a
Kasia superstition. The Kasia, on the other hand, have
an especial fear of the snake. The Garo may have this
also. No account, however, has been taken of it. From
the Garo alone, or from the Kasia alone, we get but a
slight notion of the mythology of the parts to which
those families belong. Combine the two and our data
increase. One account becomes the complement to the
other. The fragmentary character of our material is at
the bottom of this. If every section of every class had
its full and complete description we might condense,
generalize, connect; as it is we must take facts when we
can get them, not caring overmuch whether they be isolated
or systematically connected.
The construction of the Garo house is, at present, an
isolated fact. When we get further southwards, and
further eastwards, we shall find that the large house on a
frame of piles is the ordinary structure.
The Garo panjis are in the same predicament. As has
been stated, they will re-appear in Borneo.
Numerous rude nations catch fish by means of traps.
I find, however, the Kasia fish-trap particularly noticed.
Like the large houses, and the panji spikes, it will be
noticed again, i. e. in Java, Borneo, and Sumatra.
Most of the tribes of the Bhot alliance are not only
thirsty drinkers, but skilful distillers. No one, however,
has told us this as a general fact; on the contrary, a
I 2
116
THE KASIA.
certain number of observers have stated that such and
such tribes practised such and such contrivances, and
indulged in such and such potations.
So it is. There are some facts which we must note be-
cause they are peculiar, others because they are common.
They may be trifling; still they should be noted. Of course
when they appear and re-appear too frequently they may
be pretermitted. Until, however, they have re-appeared
once or twice they should be noted. Otherwise we may
assume likenesses improperly.
The living bridges of the Kasia country may be commoner
elsewhere than the existing descriptions make them. In the
present state of our knowledge, however, they claim atten-
tion. On the bank of the river that runs between Ring-
hot and Cherra grows a large India-rubber tree. Whilst
its fibres are young and pliable they are stretched across
the stream, and fastened by their free ends on the soil at
the other side.
They take root, grow, and form a bridge
of live wood. Sometimes two trees are planted on the
two sides of the river opposite each other, in which case
their fibres join in the middle. I subjoin Captain Yule's
account. The tree throws out " a multitude of roots.
Two or three of the long fibres, whilst still easily pliable,
have been stretched across the stream, and their free ends
fastened on the other bank. There they have stuck
firmly into the earth, and now form a living bridge of
great and yearly-increasing strength. Two great roots
run directly one over the other, and the secondary shoots
from the upper have been bound round and grown into
the lower, so that the former affords at once a hand-rail and
suspending chain, the latter a footway. Other roots have
been laced and twisted into a sort of ladder as an ascent
from the bank to the bridge. The greatest thickness of
the upper root is a foot, from which it tapers to six or
seven inches. The length of the bridge is about eighty
THE KASIA.
117
feet, and its height about twenty above the water in the
dry season.
"This bridge was constructed by the people of the
village of Ringhot, and forms their communication with
Cherra during the rains; the present generation say it
was made by their grandfathers. This was the first and
most remarkable bridge of the kind that I saw in the
Kasia Hills, and I supposed it to be unique, perhaps half
accidental. But I afterwards found it to be an instance
of a regular practice, and saw such bridges in every stage,
from that of two slender fibres hung across the stream, to
such as I have described above, and there are not less than
half a dozen within as many miles of Cherra. One I
measured ninety feet in clear span. They were generally
composed of the roots of two opposite trees (apparently
planted for the purpose) bound together in the middle.”
From living bridges to dead stone the transition is,
perhaps, abrupt. The analogues, however, of the Crom-
lechs and Stonehenges, numerous in most countries, have
been specially described in Kasia. Groups of erect oblong
pillars, hewn or unhewn, are common; the number gene-
rally odd-from three to thirteen. The middle one is
generally the highest, and is sometimes surmounted by a
circular disk. A flat table stone near the village of Sai-
lankot stood five feet above the ground, was two feet thick,
and thirty-two by fifteen in circumference. Many of the
villages take their name from these monuments. Mau means
stone; and the villages Mau-smai, Mau-inlu, Mau-flong,
and Mau-mlu, mean the Stone of the Oath, the Stone of
Salt, the Grassy Stone, the Upturned Stone, &c. The
upright stones are said to be cenotaphs, and if a Kasia be
asked why his ancestors erected it, the answer will be that
"he did it to preserve his name." Yet the name is rarely
remembered. So much for the credit due to the tradi-
118
THE KASIA.
tions of rude nations. Others are believed to have been
erected as memorials of a compact. "There was war be-
tween Cherra and Mausmai, and when they made peace
and swore to it, they erected the stone as a witness." So
said Umang, an intelligent native. Nevertheless, the
stone may be older than the war, and the oath have
been sworn on it because it was where it was, not because
it was erected for the occasion. The name, however, fa-
vours Umang's view. Then there is the Mau-mlu, or the
Salt Stone. To eat salt from the point of a sword is said
to be a Kasia mode of oath-taking.
The names of persons are short, as Tess, Bepp,
Mang, Sor, Mir, Bi; and fathers are sometimes addressed
by a title taken from their children. "How is it with
Pabobon, the father of Bobon? How is it with Pahai-
mon, the father of Haimon?" Not that the link between
fathers and sons is of the strongest. On the contrary,
when a child has grown up he leaves his father, and all
but treats him as a stranger. The details of this account
want criticism. The son of the sister inherits. The male
child of a Raja may be a labourer, whilst his cousin may
succeed to a large property once his (i.e. the labourer's)
father's. As a rule, the matrimonial relations are lax. In
other matters the habits of the people are such as en-
courage the missionary. The heads of a large village near
Cherra invited one (Mr. Jones) to settle amongst them,
offering, if he would do so, to build a house for him.
This was in 1842.
The children spin peg-tops. In how many more coun-
tries do they do the same? No man knows. How to ob-
serve has yet to be applied to children's games. There is
ethnology, however, in all things-even in peg-tops.
One of their ordeals is that of water. The man who
can hold his head under water longest, wins.
THE KASIA.
119
They draw omens from broken eggs, noting the way
which they break.
in
The moon, once a month, falls in love with his wife's
mother: she, to repel his addresses, throws ashes in his
face. In days of old the stars were so many individuals,
who climbed to the top of a tree. Others from below cut
this tree. The company in its upper branches are the stars.
The group of the Pleiads is called the Hen-man (man and
chickens).
Every fourth day is a market-day in each village;
the great and little markets being held alternately. The
space between two of these is the Kasia week.
A Kasia before drinking a glass of brandy dipped his
finger four times in the glass, first filliping a drop of the
spirit over each shoulder, then dropping one along each
side. "Why do you do this?" "For the name of the
God." The name, however, of the deity is not given. It
seems that Nat worship is the culture of the Kasia.
A superstition in respect to snakes has been alluded
to. It is this. If a snake dwell in your house you may
sell and consume what you like and your store will not
diminish.
Kano Likai, or Lika's Leap, is a waterfall near Cherra.
“Once on a time, a man of foreign race came to the hills,
married a woman named Likai, and settled with his wife
in a village north of Maumlu. They had two children, a
boy and a girl. One day the woman betook herself to the
forest as usual to cut firewood, and in her absence the
father killed his two little children, and cooked them; on
his wife's return, he invited her to feast on what he had
prepared, and she did so; he then disclosed what she had
eaten. Then said Likai, 'It is no longer good to remain
in this world,' and, hurrying to the adjoining precipice,
leapt over."
120
THE KASIA LEGENDS.
"Ula
Another legend, concerning the wife of Ula.
was a great warrior at the court of the Raja of Linkar-
dyem, and the Raja married his sister.
"Now in those days there were but twelve households in
Cherra, and the Raja of Linkardyem, making war on the
Raja of Cherra, drove him with his people to the woods,
where they ate leather, and the rind of certain fruits. But
the Raja of Linkardyem was a savage, and abused his
wife, the sister of the brave Ula. For he placed her on
a frame of bamboos, and lighted a fire beneath; and so,
being roasted, she died. So Ula was wroth, and he went
to the Raja of Cherra, and said, 'Make me a great man
and I will avenge thee on thine enemy.' So he of Cherra
agreed; and Ula, having cut off the head of the Raja of
Linkardyem, brought it to him of Cherra, and so became.
first counsellor of the Raja.
"One day, as Ula was going forth on his avocations, with
others of the village, he said to his wife, 'Clothe thyself
with my arms and garments.' Meantime the new Raja of
Linkardyem came against Cherra with a mighty host of
four thousand men. Now the village of Cherra was well
girt with palisades and ditches, and the wife of Ula went
forth to the barriers in her husband's arms and clothing,
and the other women, doing likewise, went with her; and
when the army of Linkardyem beheld the arms and the
shield, they shouted in terror, Ula! Ula!' and turned
their backs in flight, for great was their fear of Ula; and
the wives of Cherra and the men who remained, went forth
with the wife of Ula, and chased the Linkardyemians, and
smote them sorely. From these twelve households come
the twelve tribes which now exist in Cherra. My inform-
ant was of the house of Ula.
6
The Jaintia Tribes-East of the Kasia range, lies that
of the Jaintia hills, the occupants of which may differ
THE MIKIR.
121
from the Kasia about as much as the Kasia differed from
the Garo. Instead of being independent, these are under
the Company. Instead of being nearly pagan, they are
tinctured with Hinduism; the Saiva form of worship
being partially and recently introduced.
Of the tribes in situ, or in their actual Jaintia occupan-
cies amongst the hills, I have seen no full account. There
is a population in Cachar and Asam which is considered to
represent them. Whether it do so or not is another ques-
tion. This is that of—
The Mikir.-In Cachar, and in the Asam district of
Nowgong, the Mikir, whose name is, I believe, word for
word, that of the Mekhs, occupy a considerable area; the
lowest computation of their numbers amounts to 26,000.
They cultivate rice and cotton, changing their localities
every four or five years. Arva in annos, &c. We have
seen this already. Arva in annos, &c. We may quote
the sentence ad libitum in the notices of these parts.
·
The Mikir are, in the matter of name, Mekhs, Mlec-
chas or impure infidels; the word being of Hindu origin.
So, at least, it seems; although I am not able to affirm
that they call themselves differently. And they are what
their designation is supposed to suggest, either unbelievers
or imperfect converts. The latter are forbidden to drink
spirits, but allowed to chew opium; and in this they in-
dulge.
They hold, too, as many of their original superstitions
as are compatible with the profession of Brahminism—and
these are numerous. This is the story of the Converted
and Unconverted Kocch over again. Like the Bodo, the
Unconverted Mikir delight in festivals, and in the drunken-
ness which attends them. Like the Bodo, they have no
prejudices in the way of eating. The cow is rarely killed;
but this is because it is inconvenient rather than because
122
THE MIKIR.
there is any prejudice against beef. Pork is eaten freely.
The sacrifices of fowls are common. These they offer to the
sun, the moon, and the invisible deities attached to trees
and rocks remarkable for either size or shape.
There are the Mikir of the plains, and the Mikir of the
hills; the Cachar distribution over again. The Mikir of
the plains belong to Nowgong in Asam rather than to
Northern Cachar; the Mikir of the hills belong to
Northern Cachar rather than Asam. The evidence of their
connection with the Jaintia tribes is partly inference,
partly what is called tradition. It is capable of improve-
ment.
Stewart writes that they were originally settled in or
near their present districts; that they lived under chiefs
of their own; that the Cachar Rajas oppressed them ; that
they fled to the Jaintia Hills; that they were oppressed
there; and that they returned. He merely, however, says
that this is tradition. I take exception to it. The descent
from the Jaintia Hills is, probably, true. The previous
occupancy of Cachar is doubtful. The single movement
is historical. There is no evidence of the double ones.
On the contrary, the statement that in settling in Cachar
they were only retaking their own, is one likely to develope
itself from a minimum amount of fact.
Robinson says that they have a tradition that their an-
cestors came from the Jaintia Hills, and he adds that they
have a few Jaintia words in their vocabularies. But he
superadds that he has not compared the two forms of
speech.
Again-the Mikir physiognomy is Kasia. So is the
Mikir dress, which consists of two pieces of striped cotton
cloth made bag fashion and with holes for the head and
arms.
If the Jaintia tribes be Kasia, these affinities may be real.
THE MIKIR.
123
But what are the Jaintia tribes? I wait for a full ac-
count of them. Meanwhile, I remark that whatever they
may be, and whatever may be the relation between them
and the Mikir, the latter have decided Naga affinities in
the way of language. It is probable that in these parts
the transition from the Garo to the Naga may be found.
It is possible, too, that the Mikir may always have been
where they are; that they may know as a matter of
fact that they resemble the Jaintia tribes in language
and customs, and that they may explain this likeness by
the assumption of a descent. Extremes meet. Learned
ethnologists theorize thus, and savages do the same; one
consciously, the other unconsciously.
The Mikir of North Cachar are the mildest and least
courageous of the numerous populations of that district.
The Kutcha and Angami Nagas of their neighbourhood,
attack the hill Mikir with impunity, burn their villages,
enslave their women and children. And the Mikir resist
slowly and inefficiently; the story running that, long ago
they attempted to throw off the dominion of the Rajah of
Asam, failed, and were disarmed; that habitual cowardice
arose out of the disuse of their weapons; that it has
become hereditary, and has been transmitted to the pre-
sent generation. The present Mikir carry the dhao
carry the spear-but they do not use them for actual
warfare.
Their arts are the arts of peace. They are manageable,
industrious, regular. They keep clear of the courts of
law, grow rice and cotton, sell them to the Kasia, and
pay their taxes regularly. When not at work in the fields
they fell timber, make canoes, float them down to Lower
Asam, and realize profits on their labour, and humble
enterprize. The ground that they work is forest-land
rather than jungle, and (as such) requires more clearing.
124
THE MIKIR.
They are obliged to work harder than their neighbours,
and have established a more industrial character accord-
ingly.
They build their houses on platforms. One of them
may contain as many as forty individuals; men, women,
and children, members of the same family, or of different
ones, as the case may be. Of these large houses, jointly
occupied, we have seen something, and shall see more.
English.
Man
Kasia.
uman
Mikir.
Naga.
arleng
minyan
penso
Woman
ka kantei
arloso
dehiek
Head
kakli
iphu
kho
Eye
ka kamat
mek
mit
Ear
Nose
ka skor
ino
na
ka kamut
inokan
kho
Mouth
ka shintur
ingho
tun
Tooth
ka baniat
isso
pa
Tongue
ade
Hand
ka thallid
ripa
thali
Foot
ka kajat
kengpak
da
Sun
Moon
ka sngi
ubanai
arni
cheklo
Star
Fire
Water
uklur
kading
kaum
*cheklo longsho
Stone
man
Wood
kading
san
da
merik
me
van
lang
jo
arlong
long
theng
pan
* Little moons.
THE AKA, DOFLA, AND ABOR.
125
CHAPTER V.
The Hill-tribes of Asam.-Northern Boundary.-Aka, Dofla, Abor, and
Miri Tribes.—The Bor Abor.-Eastern extremity and South-eastern
margin.-The Mishmi.-The Muttuk, Singpho, and Jili.
THE main part of the valley of Asam is either Indian or
Indianized. Not so the hills round it.
The mountain-range that forms the northern boundary
is a continuation of the hills of Bútan, the occupancy of
the tribes whose languages are represented by the Tak and
Changlo vocabularies.
The details of the Bútan frontier are but imperfectly
known; since the populations are rude, inaccessible, and
independent. We know, however, that the four follow-
ing belong to the same class; at any rate their languages
are closely allied.
The Aka.-On the western extremity of the northern
range lie the Aka tribes, of which, though there is a
sample of the language, there is no good description. I
can only say that they are succeeded by
The Dofla.-No less than 180 petty chiefs are said to
hold authority in the numerous Dofla villages of the Char
Dwar.
Char Dwar means the Four Marches; the Char Dwar
being but one of the Dofla areas.
The Dofla are succeeded by-
The Abor.-The hills on the right bank of the Dihong
belong to the Pasial and Mayong, those of the left to the
Padú, Sibú, Nibú, and Goliwar, Abor; tribes which were
126
THE ABOR.
visited in 1825 by Major Bedford, whose notice of them
finds place in Major Wilcox's report upon Asam.
In the matter of food they were well-nigh omnivorous;
but expressed a horror for those who eat beef.
Whether
or no they drank milk is not stated. The generality of
the mountain tribes of the Himalaya eschew it. Each
warrior had a bow and quiver; some of the arrows being
poisoned. Their dress was from the bark of the Uddal
tree. It was tied round the loins and hung down behind
in loose strips. It served for a rug to sit down on by
day, and for a pillow to sleep on at night. Some wore
basket caps
some caps made of cane and skin; some
caps made like helmets, and ornamented with stained hair.
Every man had something woollen in his possession; some-
times a waistcoat, sometimes a blanket; sometimes co-
loured, sometimes figured. When first visited they were
in the habit of making periodical descents from their
highlands and taking tribute, or levying black mail, from
the villagers of the level country. They also took slaves ;
for amongst the Abors of Pasial many Asamese captives
were found. This has now been put a stop to.
The buffalo is the animal they most especially hunt.
They wound him with a poisoned arrow, and follow his
tract, until they find him either dead or dying. The
favourite ornament for their caps is the beak of one of the
toucans, or horn-bills, the Buceros (? Nepalensis). With
this at the front, and a red chowry behind, the appearance
of their head-gear is imposing.
If the derivation of the word Abor be accurate, the
term Bor Abor is something like a contradiction. Bor
means tribute ; whilst a (like the Greek a) = not. Hence,
Abor free from tribute. It is no native word at all; but
one used to the Asamese; consequently, it can be applied
to more populations than one. They may, for instance,
THE ABOR.
127
be Bor Naga who pay tribute, and Abor Naga who do
not; the latter being called simply Nagas. But what if
one tribe more pre-eminently independent than the rest
get called Abor, xar' toxnv? Such a thing may easily
be. And what if a portion of it lose its independence, as
it may easily do? In such a case it becomes Bor Abor,
or the Tributary Independent, and we get an oxymoron.
This really happens. The population which the Asamese
call Abor call themselves Padam, of which they are two
divisions, the Bor and the Abor, the payers of no tribute,
and the payers of tribute.
Does
This really happens if the current explanation of the
words Abor and Bor be accurate. But I take exception
to it. The Bor Abors are the stronger, the more distant,
the more independent population. Besides which, there
is a branch of the Khamti called the Bor Khamti.
Bor mean great? I have seen a statement to this effect;
indeed, it appears in the very paper wherein we find the
other etymology. It should be remembered, however, that
it may do this and not mean much in the way of superiority
of magnitude. Magna Græcia was not so large as ordinary
Greece. Can it mean the mother country? In some
cases it seems to do so. What it means in the case of the
Bor Abor and the Bor Khamti remains to be decided.
A Padam village on the river Shiku consisted of 100
houses, with granaries at a distance (for security against
fire), and a morang in the centre. The morang is a large
building for the reception of strangers, for the transaction
of public business, and for the residence of the unmarried
men, who live in it as in a common club or boarding-
house. At the dawn of day the boys go round like
watchmen, bawl out the time, and tell the half-awakened
sleepers that it is time for them to be at work.
In their politics there is unlimited freedom, both of
voting and of speaking. The people pass the resolutions,
128
THE MIRI,
each individual having a vote. And this they cherish
carefully, jealously; their constitution being essentially
democratic. Age and oratory have some weight. Upon
legislation lies with the masses,
the whole, however, the
small though they be.
Their creed is simple.
of the woods and hills.
They sacrifice to certain deities
The conical mountain, Regam,
is the abode of an ill-natured, not to say malignant demon,
who would cause the death of any one who should pry
into the secrets of his dwelling, which is at the very top of
the peak.
•
The Miri.-The Miri are in closer relation to the
Asam government than the Abor, for it is against the
Abor that the Asam government protects them. The
bow and arrow-the arrow poisoned-are the chief Miri
weapons. Their occupancy is on the eastern frontier of
the Abor area.
English.
Dofla.
Abor.
Miri.
Man
bangni
amie
ami
Hair
dùmùk
dumid
dumid
Head
dompo
dumpong
tupko
Ear
niorung
narung
ierung
Eye
nyuk
aming
amida
Blood
ui
yi
yie
Bone
solo
along
along
Foot
laga
ale
leppa
Hand
lak
elag
Sun
dani
arung
elag
dainya
Moon
polo
polo
Star
takar
Fire
ami
tekar
emme
polo
takar
umma
Water
esi
asi
achye
One
aken
ako
ako
Two
ani
ani
aniko
Three
aam
angom
aumko
Four
apli
api
apiko
Five
ango
pilango
angoko
Six
akple
akye
akengko
Seven
kanag
konange
kinitko
Eight
plagnag
pini
piniko
Nine
kayo
kinide
konangk
Ten
rang
iinge
uyingko
THE MISHMI.
129
The Bor Abor.-The Bor Abor, probably, belong to
the same division of the same class as the Abor. The
evidence, however, of their speaking the same language is
incomplete. They lie to the back of the Abor, on the
higher hills, and in a more inaccessible country. They
are rude, independent, powerful, and but little known.
As we approach the head of the valley, and prepare for
turning round towards its south-eastern margin, we come
to the country of
The Mishmi.-The Mishmi frontier touches that of the
Padam, or Abor, being on the drainage of the Dihong
and Dibong. The details of the area beyond it are un-
known. Its villages are small. Jillee and Anundea con-
tain from thirty to forty families, Mabúm ten, Alonga
twenty, Chunda twelve; making, in all, eighty.
The Mishmi, differing from the Padam in language,
and in the shrine at which they worship, acknowledge
them as relations, and are acknowledged by them; a
common origin being claimed by the two populations.
They also eat together. On the other hand, they quarrel
and fight, and when the Mishmi of the above-named vil-
lages were visited by Captain Wilcox, they were at
variance with the Padam of the Dihong and certain
members of their own stock as well. They were variously
dressed. None, however, were observed to wear anything
woollen. Some wore rings beneath the knee, some caps of
cane. Their ears were pierced, and their ear-rings
various; now of metal, now of wood. Their arrows were
poisoned so effectively that they were said to kill ele-
phants. The wounded part was cut out; the rest eaten.
They described the tribes with which they were at war,
but which were as Mishmi as themselves, unfavourably.
Those of Bubhajia were accused of cannibalism.
The hut of the chief of the Thethong Mishmi was
VOL. I.
K
130
THE MISHMI.
strangely and filthily ornamented. Long poles of bamboo
were hung with the blackened, smoke-dried skulls of all the
animals with which the owner had ever feasted his friends
and retainers. The smokiness of the huts has told upon
the physiognomy of the Mishmi. They habitually con-
tract their eyebrows. What is the mortality of the chil-
dren? In Iceland, and the island of St. Kilda, where
the reek is as impure as it is profuse, the deaths of infants
from trismus neonatorum are inordinately numerous.
Some of the tribes turn up the hair and tie it in a
knot, whilst others are closely cropped. The lower classes
dress scantily; the chiefs well; in Chinese and Tibetan
cloths, and with Chinese and Tibetan ornaments. The
cross-bow is a common weapon.
Polygamy is common; the limit to the number of wives
being the means of the husband. For each wife so many
heads of cattle. Ghalim, one of the more powerful
chiefs, had ten or twelve in his house, and a large re-
mainder in separate establishments, or quartered amongst
their relations. The women mix with the men, and join
them in every labour but that of the chase.
For even ten wives a man must have a large house.
Ghalim's was about one hundred and thirty feet long, and
eleven wide. It was raised on posts. He was proud of the
skulls that adorned it. It showed the number of cattle
he had killed in the exercise of a noble hospitality.
When he dies they will all be cleared away, and buried
near the burial-place of the chief himself. And then his
son will take his pride and pleasure in filling the house
afresh. A chief who was either shabby or ostentatious
retained the skulls of his father's time, and bragged of
them as his own. He was voted an impostor accordingly.
The calf of the leg of the daughter of the Gam of
Dilling measured more round than both Captain Wil-
THE MISHMI.
131
cox's put together. What was the size of the captain's?
Was the enlargement natural? In more than one savage
country artificial means of thickening the legs are resorted
Men should remember this, and make inquiries ac-
cordingly, when the legs of young ladies are twice as thick
as their own.
When trouble comes upon a Mishmi he sacrifices fowls
or pigs to the rural deities, and places the branch of a
tree over his door to inform strangers that his house is
under a temporary ban, and that it must not be entered.
The Mishmi are traders. Every man amongst them will
either buy or sell. They are also blacksmiths, and forge
their own spear-heads, though they buy them as well.
They are skilful, too, in making suspension bridges.
The Taying and Mijhu of the following table are Mishmi
tribes; the Miri being Abors, Dofla, or Aka, rather than
Mishmi.
English.
Taying.
Mijhu.
Miri.
Man
nme
ktchong
ami
Head
mkau
kau
tupko
Eye
mollom
mik
amida
Ear
nkruna
ing
ierung
Blood
rhwei
vi
yie
Bone
lubunglubra
zak
along
Hand
ptoya
yop
elag
Foot
mgrung
mpla
leppa
Sun
ring-nging
lemik
dainya
Moon
hho
lai
Fire
naming
mai
Water
machi
ti
One
eking
kmo
polo
umma
achye
ako
Two
kaying
kaning
aniko
Three
kachong
kacham
aumko
Four
kaprei
kambum
apiko
Five
mangu
kalei
angoko
Six
tharo
katham
akengko
Seven
uwe
nun
kinitko
Eight
elyeni
ngun
piniko
Nine
konyong
nyet
konangk
Ten
halong
kyep
uyingko
K 2
132
THE SINGPHO.
The Singpho, &c.-The group that now comes under
notice seems to fall into three (or more) divisions; (1) the
Muttuk, (2) the Singpho Proper, (3) the Jili. There
may be others. These, however, are all we know; and
these we know imperfectly. Error, therefore, in the
classification is excusable.
Up to the very bank of the river, on its southern rather
than its northern side, and at no great distance from its
entrance into the valley from the north-east, lies the
country of-
(1.) The Muttuk.-Muttuk, Moran, and Moameria, or
Mowameria, are all names of the same population, the sub-
jects of the Barsenaputi, a vassal of the Raja of Asam.
The Muttuk are Hindu in creed, worshippers of Vishnu,
but worshippers of a very equivocal orthodoxy.
I have no vocabulary of their language eo nomine. The
statements, however, concerning it are these-that though
spoken by a small population, and in districts not more
than a day's journey apart, it falls into no less than seven
dialects, sufficiently unlike each other to be understood
with difficulty. That of the Khaphok tribe is just intelli-
gible to a Singpho. In Khanung there is still a resem-
blance to the Singpho; but no mutual intelligibility.
The Khalang and the Nogmún forms of speech are, again,
like the
(2.) The Singpho Proper.-The Singpho Proper are
a powerful intrusive population, of the physical appear-
ance of the populations with which they come in contact,
partly in Asam, partly in Manipur, partly in the unex-
plored tracts to the east. Their religion is Buddhism,
tinctured with Paganism, or Paganism modified by Bud-
dhism. They live in separate villages under chiefs, cap-
tains, or elders called Gams. The Bisa Gam's account of
his nation is as follows:-
THE SINGPHO.
133
"In the beginning, the Great Gosein (the Supreme
Being) created man, and regarded him with especial kind-
ness and favour. He gave him the whole earth to dwell
in and enjoy, but forbade him to bathe or wash in
the river called Rámsíta under a threatened penalty of
being devoured by the Rákhas (Demon), and totally de-
stroyed; as the forfeit of his disobedience. If, on the
contrary, he refrained, the Rákhas should have no power
over him, and he should inherit the earth eternally.
Mankind, however, soon disobeyed the injunction, and
the whole race was devoured by the Rákhas with the ex-
ception of a man called Sirí Jía and his wife Phaksat.
These were seated under a tree, when the Gosein caused
a parrot, perched on a bough, to speak, and give them
warning to avoid the north, and fly to the southward, by
which they would escape the Rákhas's hands.
"The man Sírí Jía obeyed, but Phaksat took the other
road, and fell into the clutches of the Rákhas. When Sírí
Jía saw Phaksat in the power of the Demon, he was di-
vided from them by the river Rámsíta, the forbidden
stream, and forgetting, or disregarding, the prohibition, he
immediately crossed it to her rescue, and was also taken
by the Rákhas, who prepared to devour them. In the act,
however, of lifting them to his mouth, a flame issued from
all parts of his body, and consumed him on the spot,
since which time no Rákhas have been seen on the
earth, in a palpable shape. The great Gosein, having then
fully instructed Sírí Jía and Phaksat in all useful know-
ledge, placed them on the Mújaí Sangra-bhúm hill, and
from them the present race of men are descended."
The Satao Gam's narrative-" The race of man having
killed and roasted buffaloes and pigs, which they devoured,
without offering up the prescribed portions in sacrifice to
the gods, the Supreme Being, in his anger, sent an universal
134
THE SINGPHO.
deluge, which covered the earth, and destroyed the whole
race of man, with the exception of two men, called Kung-
litang and Kuliyang, and their wives, whom He warned to
take refuge on the top of the Singra Bhum Hill, which
remained above the waters; from them the present race
are descended. A brother and sister, belonging to a race
superior to man, were also saved. The Supreme Being di-
rected them to conceal themselves under a conical mound
of earth, taking with them two cocks, and nine spikes of
bamboo; the latter they were to stick through the sides of
the mound, and pull them out one by one daily. They did
so for eight days, but the cocks took no notice. On
drawing out the ninth, the light appeared through, and
the cocks crew, by which they knew that the waters had
subsided. They then went out, and, as they were in
search of fire, they encountered the old woman belonging
to the Demon Rákhas, who endeavoured to seize them;
they, however, effected their escape to the ninth heaven,
where they were deified, and are sacrificed to by the Sing-
phos, with cocks and pigs.
"The name of the brother is Kai-jan, and the sister
Giung."
The Singpho seem from these narratives, each of which
suggests the idea of a migration, to have encroached upon
a population akin to themselves from the east.
They held, and hold, their own. When necessity com-
pels, one of the Gams takes an increase of influence and
power, and becomes the head, not of a village, but of a
small confederacy.
Of the Singpho tribes we know the names of four; the
Thengái, the Mayang, the Lubrang, and the Míríp (Miri,
Mru, &c.). A Singpho in a state of dependence (we may
call it domestic slavery) is called a Gúm Lao. A Gúm
Lao may be, in all other respects, a true Singpho. He
THE KAKU.
135
may be a poor man, who has sold himself to some richer
countryman into bondage; either for life, or for a term of
years. Sometimes, too, men earn a wife for themselves,
even as Jacob earned Leah and Rachel; in which case
they are incorporated with the family, and treated as
members of it.
The law of succession is remarkable. The whole pro-
perty is divided between two brothers-the eldest and the
youngest. The eldest takes the land, the house, and the
title; the youngest, the personal chattels, arms, imple-
ments, flocks, and herds. The intermediate take nothing
at all, but remain with the families, attached to the head
of it, as clansmen to a chief.
Polygamy is practised without restriction, and without
any loss of caste to the children of foreign mothers, of which
there are many. Since the Singpho area has been brought
up to the Asam frontier, the inroads into that country have
been numerous, and Asam slaves are frequent in the Sing-
pho houses.
More important, however, are their relations to the
Kaku. The Kaku religion is more or less Buddhist, and
the chief object of their worship is Gautama. But, besides
this, there is the god of the elements, Megh Duta, to
whom they sacrifice buffaloes, hogs, and poultry; and,
besides Megh Duta, there are the Ningshi, who may,
possibly, be the most indigenous of their deities; Lares
and Penates when domestic, elemental spirits when wor-
shipped out-of-doors. To the Ningshi they hang up, in
their houses, the sculls of buffaloes previously sacrificed.
They dedicate, also, to the Ningshi such of their enemies
as they may kill in battle. Of true anthropothysia, or the
sacrifice of living human victims, I find no notice. The
account I follow runs thus :- They are in the habit of
deifying any Singphos whom they may kill in action,
136
THE KAKU-THE JILI.
during a fray with some other tribe or village, and of
sacrificing them to the Penates."
Word for word, I hold that Kaku is Kuki. It is also
Kakui, and Kakhyen, names which will appear again,
when their ethnological relations will be considered. At
present it is enough to say that the Kaku are mixed with
the Singpho, and intermarry with them; forming an in-
ferior but scarcely a servile population.
The Jili.-Of the Jili I only know that they are con-
terminous with the Singpho Proper, and that 70 per cent.
of their language is Singpho, and 22 per cent. Garo. Add
to this that it has decided Burmese affinities, and its
transitional character becomes apparent.
English.
Singpho.
Jili.
Aká.
Man
singpho
nsang
bangne
Hair
kara
kará
demuk
Head
bong
nggum
dumpa
Ear
na
kaná
nyárung
Eye
mi
njú
nyek
Blood
sai
tashai
oyí
Bone
nrang
khamránį
sala
Foot
lagong
takkhyai
lágá
Hand
letta
taphán
lák
Sun
jan
katsán
dahani
Moon
sita
satá
Star
sigan
sakan
Fire
wan
tavan
polo
takar
ummah
Water
ncin
mchin
issí
Stone
nlung
talóng
Tree
phun
phún
elung
sangná
One
aima
Two
nkhong
Three
Four
masum
meli
Five
manga
Six
kru
Seven
sinit
Eight
macat
Nine
tsekhu
Ten
si
THE NAGAS.
137
CHAPTER VI.
The Hill Tribes of Asam.-The Nagas.
THE valley of Asam is Indian, or Indianized. Not so the
hills around it.
.
On the eastern frontier of the Mikir and Cachar
comes a population rude and pagan; or, if not wholly
pagan, with a minimum amount of Buddhism or Brahmin-
ism. The numerous tribes which compose it are on the
boundary of the British dominions-some of them within
it. Expeditions have been made by British officers
against them. Like all pagans, however, they are fitter
objects for the missionary than the soldier; and mission-
aries are finding their way to them. The fullest notice of
their dialects is to be found in the American Oriental So-
ciety (vol. ii.), where specimens of no less than ten of their
dialects are to be found. They fall into four groups.
(1.)
English.
Namsang, &c.
Mun
minyan
Woman
dehiek
Head
kho
Joboka, &c.
mi
tunaunu
khangra
Hair
kacho
kho
Eye
mit
Ear
na
Tooth
pa
mik
na
va
Hand
dak
Foot
da
Sky
Sun
san
Moon
da
rangtung
chak
tsha
rangphum
ranghan
letlu
Star
merik
letsi
Fire
van
van
Water
jo
ti
138
THE NAGAS.
English.
Stone
Namsang, &c.
long
One
vanthe
Joboka, &c.
long
tuta
Two
vanyi
anyi
Three
vanram
azam
Four
beli
ali
Five
banga
aga
Six
irok
azok
Seven
ingit
annat
Eight
isat
achat
Nine
ikhu
aku
Ten
ichi
ban
(2.)
English.
Mulung, &c.
Tablung, &c.
One
cha
cha
Two
ih
ih
Three
lem
lem
Four
peli
peli
Five
nga
nga
Six
vok
vok
Seven
niath
neth
Eight
thuth
thuth
Nine
ther
thu
Ten
pan
pan
(3.)
English.
Tengsa, &c.
Khari.
One
khatu
akhet
Two
annat
Three
asam
Four
Five
phale
phungu
Six
thelok
anne
asam
phali
phanga
tarok
Seven
thanyet
tani
Eight
thesep
sachet
Nine
thaku
taken
Ten
thelu
tarah
(46)
English.
Angami.
One
po
Two
kona
Three
she
Four
da
Mozome Angami.
po
kane
sus
deh
Five
pengu
pangu
Six
soru
soru
Seven
thena
thene
Eight
thetha
thetha
Nine
theku
thaku
Ten
kerr
kurr
THE NAGAS.
139
The Naga houses differ from the Mikir; so does the
Naga dress—or rather un-dress. From this they are sup-
posed to have taken their name, which is anything but
native. Indeed, it is not likely to be so. Few tribes so
rude as these mountaineers have any general or collective
name at all amongst themselves. Amongst themselves
everything is particular or specific. Each tribe has its
name, but the whole stock none. It is the neighbours
who know them in their collective capacity. Now, in the
languages of the plains, nunga equals naked. I do not,
however, find that the Nagas are actually this: they have
some clothing, though not much. It is, moreover, home-
made; manufactured by the Naga women, dyed by them.
The name Naga, as we may easily believe, is, in general,
foreign to the Nagas. There is one tribe, however, in
North Cachar that so denominates itself. The Aroong
Nagas call themselves what the neighbours call them.
In one respect they differ from the Mikir, Kukis and
Cachar, with whom (in some portions of their area at
least) they come in contact; and that notably. All the
above-named tribes, though not migratory, are easily
moved to a change of residence. They crop the ground
around their settlements, and when it is exhausted go else-
where. The Nagas crop the ground also, and exhaust it;
but when, having done this, they find it necessary to make
a fresh choice of ground, they go to a distance, cultivate
their allotments, and never mind the trouble and labour of
bringing the produce home. This is the sacrifice they
make for the love of their old localities. The field is
changed; the house remains where it was.
houses, some twenty, thirty, or one hundred constitute a
village, the situation of which is generally on the tops of
the hills. Can this extraordinary affection for particular
spots be accounted for in an otherwise not over-active
Of Naga
140
THE NAGAS.
community? I think the suggestion of Stewart is cor-
rect—viz. that the habit of burying the dead near the
houses promotes it. The Nagas inter their deceased rela-
tions at the very threshold of their homes, rolling a stone
over the grave to mark the spot. The village streets are
full of these rude memorials, some falling into neglect, but
others fenced-in and ornamented with flowers.
When no blood has to be avenged the Naga is simple,
social, and peaceful. His government is so pre-eminently
patriarchal as to be no government at all. A quarrel,
however, between two villages, or even between two fami-
lies of the same village, leads to miserable results-blood
for blood, treacherous surprises, cruel punishments.
The first deity of the Naga Pantheon is Semeo, the god
of riches.
The next (perhaps) is the god of the harvest, or Ku-
chimpai.
The chief malignant deity is Rupiaba, a Cyclops, not
only with one eye, but with that in the middle of his
forehead, even as the eye of Polyphemus. But-
Inter cæcos regnat luscus. His assistant Kangniba,
bad-tempered and malicious, is blind altogether. He
must, however, be propitiated. And this can be done
cheaply. A fowl is the sacrifice; but the sickliest and
smallest of the roost will do. He can only feel what
room it takes. So the crafty Nagas put the little
bird in a big basket, and so deceive Kangniba the
sightless.
The custom of the Genna is this. When certain occa-
sions call for the preliminary rite, the whole village is
closed. Work is suspended. The fires are put out.
Eating and drinking, however, are believed to go on with
more than usual vigour. A buffalo, or some animal, is
sacrificed. When a fresh piece of jungle is cleared the
THE NAGAS.
141
ceremony of the Genna precedes; and the fire used for the
purpose is made by rubbing two pieces of wood together.
The ordinary light of a household hearth would be im-
proper.
English.
Cachar.
Man
subung
Kuki.
mi
Angami.
Mikir.
ma
arleng
Woman
masainjoo
wamei
thenuma
arloso
Head
khoro
loo
uchu
iphu
Eye
ma
met
umbi
mek
Ear
kumao
bill
uneu
ino
Nose
gung
na
Mouth
khu
kum
ume
unheu
ingho
inokan
Tooth
hatai
ha
uhu
isso
Hand
yao
khutpang
ubiju
ripa
Foot
yapha
kengpang
uphi-ju
kengpak
Sky
nakhasu
vanpi
keruke
shineng
Day
saing
ni
ja
arni
Sun
saing
ni
naki
arni
Moon
daing
lha
thirr
cheklo
Star
hatri
ashi
themu
cheklo longsho
Fire
wai
mei
mi
me
Water
di
tui
zu
C
lang
Stone
lonthai
shong
keche
arlong
Wood
bon
thing
si
theng
One
masi
khut
po
hisi
Two
maguni
ni
kana
hini
Three
magtham
thum
se
kithom
Four
mabri
le
da
phili
Five
mabonga
nga
pengu
pbanga
Six
mado
gup
shuru
therok
Seven
masni
suggi
thena
theroksi
Eight
majai
get
thata
nerkep
Nine
masku
ko
theku
sirkep
Ten
maji
som
kerr
kep
142
THE BURMESE GROUP.
CHAPTER VII.
The Burmese Group.-The Khumia and Kuki of Sylhet, Tipperah, and
Chittagong.-The Old and New Kuki of Cachar.-The Mugs of Ara-
kan.-Tribes of the Koladyn River.-Mhru, Kami, and Kumi.-Sak.
-Shendu, or Heuma. The Khen of the Yoma Range. The
Karien.
THE Naga dialects lead so decidedly to those of Munipúr,
and the northern portions of the area now coming under
notice, that the present chapter is, in many respects, their
proper place. It was chiefly for the sake of the reader
that they were separated. It was convenient to carry him
round the great Asam valley as continuously as possible.
We have seen how it is bounded on the south. First
come the Garo, then the Kasia, then the Jaintia Hills;
then the occupancies of the Nagas in North Cachar, and
Nowgong; then those of the Singpho, which take us up
to the great bend of the Brahmaputra. Now all the
native populations of all these localities, so far as they
have already been enumerated, are, more or less, akin to
the populations of the Burmese Empire; the Naga being
somewhat less so than the rest.
South of the Nagas lies Munipúr and its dependencies;
leading to Ava.
South of the Jaintia, Kasia, and Garo ranges lie the
districts of Tipperah, Sylhet, and Chittagong, leading to
Aracan.
In all these the population is equally Burmese. But it
is not equally unmixed. The nearer we are to Hindostan,
the greater the amount of foreign influences; the greater,
KHUMIA AND KUKI.
143
too, the amount of Hindu blood. Sylhet, Tipperah, and
Chittagong are like Asam-Indian, or Indianized.
Khumia and Kuki.-Khum means village; Khumia,
a villager. The Khumia occupy the skirts, the Kuki
the tops, of the hills. Except so far as the difference of
level may develop differences in their mode of life, a
Kuki is a Khumia, a Khumia a Kuki.
The Kuki, however, are, as may be expected, the ruder,
and more truly pagan tribe; the creed being, nevertheless,
tinctured with Indian elements. They "have an idea of
66
a future state, where they are rewarded or punished, ac-
"cording to their merits in this world. They conceive
"that nothing is more pleasing to the Deity, or more
"certainly ensures future happiness, than destroying a
"number of their enemies. The Supreme Being they
"conceive to be omnipotent, and the Creator of the
"World, and all that it contains. The term in their
CC
language for the Supreme Being is Khogein Pootteeang.
"They also worship an inferior deity under the name of
"Sheem Sauk, to whom they address their prayers, as a
“mediator with the Supreme Being, and as more imme-
66
diately interesting himself with the concerns of indi-
“viduals. To the Supreme Being they offer, in sacrifice,
"a gyal as being their most valued animal; while to
"Sheem Sauk they sacrifice a goat only.
In every
"parah they have a rudely-formed figure of wood, of the
“human shape, representing Sheem Sauk; it is generally
"placed under a tree, and to it they offer up their prayers
"before they set out on any excursion or enterprize, as
"the Deity that controls and directs their actions and
"destiny. Whenever, therefore, they return successful,
"whether from the chase, or the attack of an enemy, they
religiously place before Sheem Sauk all the heads of the
"slain, or of their game killed, as expressive of their de-
"C
144
KHUMIA AND KUKI.
"votion, and to record their exploits. Each warrior has
"his own particular pile of heads; and according to the
number it consists of, his character as a hunter and
"warrior is established in the tribe. These piles are
"sacred; and no man dares attempt to filch away his
neighbour's fame by stealing from them to add to his
They likewise worship the moon, as conceiving
"it to influence their fortunes in some degree. And in
every house there is a particular post, consecrated to the
"Deity, before which they always place a certain portion
"of whatever food they are about to eat. In the month
"of January they have a solemn sacrifice and festival in
"honour of the Deity; when the inhabitants of several
("
،
own.
neighbouring parahs (if on friendly terms) often unite,
"and kill gyals, and all kinds of animals, on which they
"feast; and dance, and drink together for several days.
They have no professed ministers of religion, but each
"adores the Deity in such manner as he thinks proper.
""
They have no emblem, as of Sheem Sauk, to represent
"the Supreme Being." (Account of the Kookies, or Lunctas,
by J. Macrae, Esq. Asiatic Res., vol. vii. 1801, p. 195.)
Such is the belief of the Kuki of Sylhet, Tipperah,
and Chittagong, of whom the Kuki of Cachar are an
offset.
The Kuki, who about sixty years ago came from the
jungles of Tipperah to settle in Cachar, were, at first, in
the same category with the Nagas, i. e. naked. In the
course of time they ceased to deserve the name. They
not only wear clothes now, but are skilful in the cultiva-
tion and weaving of cotton. They are well clothed and
well fed; on a level with the Angami Nagas for physical
strength, as also with the Kasia-these being the ablest-
bodied of the frontagers of Asam.
In Cachar they are called the Old Kuki. They fall
OLD AND NEW KUKI—LUSHAI.
145
into three divisions—the Rhángkúl, the Khelma, and the
Betch, the first being the largest. The whole, however,
are under 4000.
The Old Kuki of Cachar have a New Kuki to match.
Both came from the south-both from the ruder parts of
Tipperah and Chittagong. They came, however, as the
name implies, at different times, and, as their language
suggests, from different districts. The New Kuki form of
speech is not always intelligible to an Old Kuki. Mr.
Stewart saw one of the Khelma tribe as much puzzled
with what a New Kuki was saying to him as he would
have been with a perfect stranger. On the other hand,
the Manipur dialects and the New Kuki are mutually in-
telligible. I do not think that the vocabularies verify this
doctrine; either in the way of likeness or of difference. It
may, nevertheless, be accurate.
It was the Lushai (Looshais) who caused the flight of
the New Kuki into Cachar; the Lushai who inhabited
the same parts only further to the south, the Lushai who
spoke (and speak) a Kuki dialect, the Lushai against
whom we had to protect the fugitives. In 1848-49 four
Kuki tribes-the Thadon, the Shingshon, the Chúngsen,
and the Lumgúm-driven from their native districts,
poured themselves into Cachar, and were pursued by the
Lushai. Three hundred men of the Sylhet Light In-
fantry Battalion, under Colonel Lister, were not long in
coercing them. They drove them beyond the frontier,
and returned to settle and protect the Kuki.
Some had settled themselves. Some, however, hung on
the skirts of the Lushai, and only waited for the oppor-
tunity of being revenged on them. To prevent the
chronic state of warfare that would have originated from
this, Colonel Lister enlisted them as soldiers, officered
by their own clansmen, but trained and disciplined
VOL. I.
L
146
OLD AND NEW KUKI-LUSHAI.
according to English tactics. The measure succeeded.
The Kuki soldiers are found to constitute excellent posts
on the frontiers of both the Lushai and the Angami coun-
tries.
Of the fugitives some fixed themselves in Manipur,
some in South Kachar, some in North.
The Lushai I hold the same population, as that which
in the paper of Macrae's, just quoted, is called Luncta; a
population scarcely differing from the ordinary Kuki, or
rather, a population of ordinary Kuki under another name.
The best observer of the New Kukis credits them with
clearer and more definite notions in the way of religion
than any of the tribes of their neighbourhood. This is,
perhaps, the actual fact. It may, however, be otherwise.
The Kuki creed may simply be the one best known. It
recognizes one deity, more important than the rest, whose
name is Puthen. His passions are human; though, on
the whole, he is benevolent, and is interested in the wel-
fare and virtue of the Kuki family; perhaps in that of
the world at large. He visits sin with sickness in this
world; punishes it in a world beyond the grave. He is
sometimes invoked in order that he may abate his own
anger; sometimes that he may intercede with other
deities. Sometimes animals are sacrificed to him.
The family of Puthen is large; though it is not cer-
tain that every one charged upon it is a true member.
Ghumoishe, for instance, is doubtful. He is the deity who
exercises the worst influence on mankind. He does a
great deal of mischief, and delights in doing it; for his
disposition is naturally malevolent. If he show himself to
a Kuki, death ensues.
If he inflict disease, the symptoms
are of the worst sort. What, however, is his relation to
Puthen? Some say that he is his illegitimate son.
deny the paternity altogether.
Some
NEW KUKI CREED.
147
Ghumoishe has a wife-and a very bad one too-whose
name is Khuchom, and whose special delight is to inflict
colic and pains in the stomach. It is no good praying to
either of them. You may avert their wrath by sacrifices,
but you will never get any positive services. You may
obtain, too, the intercession of Puthen; but direct prayer
in reliance of any amiability on the part of either Ghu-
moishe or Kuchom is useless. Hila, the daughter, is the
Goddess of Poisons, or, at least, of indigestion. She can
make viands otherwise edible poisonous, disturbing
healthy stomachs by means of wholesome food. To keep
her from mischief you must apply to Puthen.
Thus far Puthen may or may not be the father of a
family; Ghumoishe's best claim being but a bastard one.
With Nongjai and Thila the case is different. The former is
the wife, the latter the son. Thila, without being absolutely
malignant or diabolical, is harsh, ill-conditioned, and vin-
dictive. His anger, however, can be averted by prayers
and sacrifices; either at first-hand (in which case they
are made direct to him) or mediately, through the inter-
cession of Puthen or Nongjai.
Ghumnu
If Thila has his faults, his wife has hers.
is her name; a name which, even when you pray to Thila,
it is not well to omit. She is pre-eminently sensitive on
this point. When you pray to her husband, pray to her
also. If you don't you may take a headache, a toothache,
or some similar ailment.
Khomungnu is the household, Thingbulgna the forest,
god. Then there are the gods with the compound names;
names wherein Puthen simply means deity. Such are
Tui Puthen the Water God, Thi Puthen the Iron God.
From the Pantheon to its priests is but a short step.
The Thempu are initiated priests, skilful (in the case of
god-sent diseases) to divine the offended deity, to point
L 2
148
NEW KUKI.
out the propitiations he expects, to conduct the pro-
pitiatory ceremonies. In a large Pantheon, whereof
more than one member is mischievous, the office of a
Thempu is a medical necessity. As often as disease
occurs, his services are wanted. Necessary, however, as
they are, they are not always to be obtained. The Thempu
are not a caste. Novices from the people at large who
choose to undergo the initiatory ordeal, may become
Thempu. But so formidable is the initiation that few
covet the honour. Indeed, so great is the fear-physical
or superstitious—of its pains or dangers, that, in order to
prevent the order from dying out, the rajahs have, on
occasions, been obliged to coerce their unwilling sub-
jects into the privilege of holding communion with the
deities. The details of the initiation are unknown. One,
however, of its formulas is a prayer of indemnity on the
part of the neophyte. Should anything go wrong during
the ceremony, let the punishment fall on his head-not
on the heads of his teachers. Another known fact is the
use of a mysterious language, unintelligible to the people
at large. Judging from what we know elsewhere, it is,
probably, a mixture of slang and archaism.
Not so,
The details of the initiation are unknown.
however, the professional practice of the Thempu. When
a villager feels ill, he gets the Thempu to feel his pulse,
and ask him certain questions concerning the place and
time of the first ailment, the nature of his recent occu-
pations. On this he meditates. He then names the
offended god, and enjoins the necessary propitiation. The
sacrifice may be a fowl; in which case the remedy is
cheap. Or it may be a pig, a dog, or a goat; in which
case there is an entertainment as well as an oblation.
Or
it
may be a cow, or methin; in which case there is an
expensive feast, and the remedy is as bad as the disease.
MANIPUR.
149
The Kuki country lies to the south of the Garo,
Kasia, and Mikir areas or the hill-ranges of Garo,
Jaintia, and Cachar, in Sylhet, Tipperah, and Chitta-
gong.
Manipur lies to the south of the Naga districts, east-
ward of the Kuki area, and on the drainage of the Ira-
wadi.
Of the frontier between the southern members of the
group represented by the Nagas and the northern
tribes of Manipur, I can give no account.
It seems,
however, that over and above the civilized and Buddhist
occupants of the capital and the parts around, the
phenomena which we have seen in the Naga districts
repeat themselves. From the southern slope of the
Patkoe range the feeders of the western branch of the
Irawadi cut channels and fertilize valleys; the occupan-
cies of rude tribes, whose dialects differ notably from
each other. Eleven of these are known, through vocabu-
laries; the percentage of proper Manipur words in each
being as follows:-
In the Songpu
Kapwi
21
41
Koreng
18
Maram
25
Champhung
28
""
Luhuppa
31
North Tankhul
28
Middle
35
وو
""
South
33
""
Khoibu
40
""
99
Maring
50
·
When we have said this, we have said nearly all we can say.
The three Tankhul forms of speech are said to be all but
150
ARAKAN.
mutually unintelligible. The Kapwi is a very small tribe.
The Champhung consists of but thirty or forty families.
The resemblance between the words Songpú and Sing-
pho should be noticed. So should the re-appearance of
the root mr in Maram and Maring. It has already
appeared as Miri, and will do so again as Mru and
Mrung. Luhuppa is very like Lhopa and (?) Lepcha.
At any rate the terminations -pa, -po, -pu, are old
acquaintances. Then there are the names for Manipur,
some of which appear in the maps as Moitay and Kathi, or
Kassay; which is Kasia.
East of Chittagong lies the Jo country; the language
of which is neither more nor less than a rude dialect of
the ordinary Burmese; the population being Burmese
also.
The same is the case with the Mugs; Mug being the
name by which the native population of the towns and
villages of Arakan is designated. The Mugs amount to
about six-tenths of the whole population; one-tenth
being Burmese, and the remainder Hindu.
The only
town of importance is the capital. Some of the Mug
villages lie but just above the level of the sea; others
are on the sides, others on the tops, of hills. The
early history of Arakan, so far as it may be dignified by
that name, makes it an independent state, sometimes
with Chittagong and Tipperah in subjection to it, some-
times with Chittagong and Tipperah separate.
The island of Ramri, Cheduba and Sandoway are
parts of Arakan; Mug in languages, British in politics.
In the hill-country the type is changed, and instead of
the comparatively-civilized Mug we get tribes like the
Kuki and Naga. The best known of these are-
The Tribes of the Koladyn River.-The tribes of the
Koladyn River form a convenient if not a strictly-natural
THE KOLADYN TRIBES.
151
group. The Koladyn being the chief river of Arakan,
and Arakan being a British possession, the opportunities
for collecting information have been favourable; nor have
they been neglected. Of the names of tribes, and of
specimens of tribes, we have no want; rather an embarras
de richesse. There Buddhism, as a general rule, is par-
tial and imperfect; partial as being found in some tribes
only, imperfect as being strongly tinctured with the orginal
Paganism when it is found. And of unmodified Pagan-
ism there is, probably, not a little. The forms of speech
fall into strongly-marked dialects; in some, into separate
languages; by which I mean that, in some cases, they
may be mutually unintelligible. The government seems
to be patriarchal during a time of peace, ducal during a
time of war; ducal meaning that a tribe, or a confederacy
of tribes, may find themselves, for the time, under the
command of some general chief. That such occasions are
by no means unfrequent, we infer from the history of
certain sections of the population rather than from any
direct account of their wars. The story of almost every
tribe is the same. It came upon its present locality a
few generations back, having originally dwelt elsewhere;
somewhere northwards, somewhere to the south, some-
where to the east. It dispossessed certain earlier occu-
pants. But these earlier occupants may, in their turn,
be found in fragments, consisting of a single village,
or of a few families. The form that the history (if so
it may be called) of these marchings and countermarch-
ings, of these fusions and amalgamations, of these encroach-
ments and displacements assumes, is deserving of notice.
Ask a Khyen how he came to be where he is, and he will
answer that his ancestors came there as soldiers and
invaders in some Burmese army long ago, that they
remained on the spot, settled, propagated their kind,
152
THE KOLADYN TRIBES.
and left issue. Is this true? No. Is it a tradi-
tion? No. What is it? It is an inference. It is the
narrator's mode of accounting for a phenomenon which he
knows as a fact, but has not ethnology enough to explain.
It is his mode of accounting for the likeness in language
between himself and more powerful neighbours. Lest
any one should condemn this as so much rationalism out
of place, I will add that it is not in one place, nor in two,
but in many that these accounts are to be found. We
shall find them amongst the Shans, mutatis mutandis.
Now there cannot well have been a succession of armies
with a succession of stragglers who became colonists.
More than this, the story is sometimes absurd. In one
case it runs that the part which was left behind consisted
of lazy or tired men who fell asleep, and stayed where
they were, whilst the others kept awake and left them
behind. Child's play this. Child's play, but still dig-
nified by the name of tradition. Traditions do not grow
on every tree. The Mring state that their ancestors were
brought as captives from the Tipperah hills. This is more
probable, since removals of this kind are commoner than
armies leaving stragglers. At the same time it is not
safe, even here, to believe more than this, viz. that the
tribes who tell the story believe that they have congeners
in the quarters where they lay its venue; their belief being
prima facie evidence of the fact.
Does any one believe this, viz. that one of the forms of
tribute to one of the conquerors of one of the branches
of the Khyens was the payment of a certain number of
beautiful women? To avoid this the beautiful women
tattooed themselves, so as to become ugly. This is why
they are tattooed at the present time. So runs the tale.
In reality, they are tattooed because they are savages.
The narrative about the conqueror is their way of ex-
THE KOLADYN TRIBES.
153
plaining it. Should you doubt this, turn to Mr. Tur-
ner's account of Tibet, where the same story repeats
itself, mutatis mutandis. The women of a certain town
were too handsome to be looked at with impunity;
for, as their virtue was proportionately easy, the morals
of the people suffered. So a sort of sumptuary law
against an excess of good looks was enacted; from the
date of which to the present time the women, whenever
they go abroad, smear their faces with a dingy dirty-
coloured oil and varnish, and succeed in concealing such
natural charms as they might otherwise exhibit.
There is another class of inferences; for which, how-
ever, learned men in Calcutta and London are chiefly
answerable. Some of the tribes are darker-skinned than
others. The inference is that they have Indian blood in
their veins. They may have this. The fact, however,
should rest upon its proper evidence. I venture to guess
that, in most cases where this darkness of complexion
occurs, the soil will have more to do with it than any
intercourse with the Hindus. There will be least of it
on the hill-tops, less on the hill-sides, most of it in the
swampy bottoms and hot jungles. At the same time,
some Indian influences are actually at work.
The tribe which, most probably, is in the closest geo-
graphical contact with the Kuki of Chittagong is the
Mrú, or Túng Mrú.-The name is native. It is also
Rukheng. It means in Rukheng, or the language of
Arakan, over and above the particular tribes under
notice, all the hill-men of the surrounding district; this
being the high country between Arakan and Chittagong.
That the Mrú are the same as the Mrúng, who deduce
their origin from Tipperah, I have no doubt; though I
doubt the origin. They were all parts of one and the same
division. At the present moment, the Mrú are in low
154
THE KOLADYN TRIBES.
condition; fallen from their ancient, high estate. For at
one time, a Mrú chief was chosen king of Arakan; and
when the Rukheng conqueror invaded the country, the
country was Mrú. However, at present, the Mrú are
despised. Their number in Arakan amounts to about
2800. Their present occupancy is somewhat west of
their older one. This was on the Upper Koladyn;
whence they were expelled by-
The Kami, or Kumi.-The Kami or Kumi are them-
selves suffering from encroachments; gradually being driven
westwards and southwards. They state that they once
dwelt on the hills now held by the Khyens. What this
means, however, is uncertain. The Khyens of a forth-
coming section lie south of the Koladyn on the Yuma
mountains. If these, then, were the men who displaced
the Kami and Kumi, the Kami and the Kumi, when they
moved upon the Mrú, moved northwards. But this need
not have been the case. Khyen is a name given to more
populations than one; and the very Mrú of the last
noticed are sometimes called Khyen. If so, it may have
been from one part of the Mrú country that the Kami
and Kumi moved against another part. I do not give
this as history; scarcely as speculation. I only give it
as a sample of the complications of the subject.
Word for word, I consider the Kami and Kumi to be
neither more nor less than the name of the Khumia of
Chittagong. I also think that Mrú is Miri.
The Kami (Kumi) of British Arakan amount to 4129
souls.
The Sak, or Thak.-The Sak, or Thak, are a small tribe
on the river Nauf.
THE KOLADYN TRIBES.
155
English.
Mrá.
Kúmi.
Kami.
Sak.
Head
lú
a-lú
a-lú
a khú
Hair
s'hám
s'hám
a-s'hám
kú-mí
Eye
min
me
a-mí
a-mí
Ear
pa-rám
ka-no
a ga-ná
a-ka-ná
Tooth
yun
he
a-fhá
a-tha-wa
Mouth
naur
li-boung
a-ma-ká
áng-sí
Hand
rút
ka
akú
ta-kú
Foot
khouk
khou
a-kho
a-tar
Skin
pí
pé
a phú
mi-lak
Blood
wi
a thí
a thí
thé
Bone
a-hot
a-hú
a-hú
a-mrá
One
loung
há
ha
sú-war
Two
pré
nhú
ní
nein
Three
shún
túm
ka-tún
thin
Four
ta-li
pa-lú
ma-lí
prí
Five
ta-ngá
pán
páng-nga
ngá
Six
ta-rú
ta-rú
ta ú
khyouk
Seven
ra nhit
sa-rú
sa-ri
tha-ni
Eight
rí-yát
ta-yá
ka-yá
a-tseit
Nine
ta-kú
ta-kau
ta-ko
ta-fu
Ten
há
hau
ha-suh
si-su
Sun
ta-nin
ka-ni
ka-ní
sa-mi
Moon
pu-lá
hlo
lá
that-ta
Star
ki-rek
ka-si
a-shi
tha-geing-thi
Fire
má-i
mhá-i
má-i
bá in
Water
tú-í
tú-í
tú-í
mi (?)
Bird
ta-wá
ta-wú
ka-vâ
wa-si
Fish
dám
ngho
moí
pan-na
Snake
ta-ro-a
pú-wi
ma-khui
ka-pú
Stone
ta-whá
lún-s'houng
ka-lún
Tree
tsing-dúng
din-koung
a-kún
ta-lon
pung-páng
Mountain
shung
mo-i
ta-kun
ta ko
River
au
ka-wú
ka-vá
pi-si
Village
kwá
a váng
váng
thing
House
kín
úm
ín
kyín
Egg
diú
díu
du
wa-tí
Horn
anang
ta-ki
at-ta-ki
a-rúng
Man
mrú
ku-mi
ka-mí
lú
The Heuma, or Shendu.-In 21° 15′ N. L. the Meeyk-
young falls into the Koladyn from the east. It, of course,
arises on some higher level, and this higher level is the
watershed between it and the drainage of the Manipur
156
THE HEUMA OR SHENDU.
rivers; the Manipur rivers being on the system of the
Irawadi. And this watershed is the range of the Yeoma-
toung hills, the occupancy of a population with a like
name; the occupancy of the Shendu, or, as they call them-
selves, Heuma. The hill-ranges themselves are low at first,
but they soon arise mass upon mass, and tier upon tier,
with jungle along their skirts, and deep, narrow water-
courses down their sides.
What we know of the Heuma is from Captain Tickell,
whose informant was one of their Aben, or chiefs, named
Lebbey. Lebbey's village was on the Khoon (Khyen ?)
frontier. Its name was Búkí, and it consisted of 350
Further to the north-east lay the following
houses.
villages.
Houses.
2. Thubban.
400
3. Lalyang
100
•
4. Tumbú
100
5. Rúngfe
6. Yanglyng
50
250
7. Húthe
240
The numbers, here, are inordinately and improbably,
high. I give them, however, as they stand.
In shooting elephants the Heuma use the trap-bow, or
rather a pair of them, so set that a line pulls both triggers
and shoots the huge animal on each side. The use of
the musket is superseding that of the ruder and more
native arms.
Men may marry two sisters at once, but not more; may
not marry their stepmothers. This the Khumia may do.
All property goes to the eldest son; provided he be un-
married. Should he have settled himself in life the pro-
THE HEUMA OR SHENDU.
157
perty is divided amongst his brothers. Daughters get
nothing widows as little. They bury their dead.
They regard the sun and moon as deities, and sacrifice
pigs and cattle to them at the beginning of the rainy
season.
English.
Man
Heuma.
Woman
che-pa
che-noung
Village
kit
Hill
klo
Forest
roley
Stream
peva
O'ne
mé-kha
Two
Three
mé-ny
me-thao
Four
mé-pullee
Five
mé-pá
Six
mé-churru
Seven
mé-sharree
Eight
mé-charia
Nine
mé-chúkru
Ten
mé-hra
The Mowtu and Tantang.-These are the names of
certain tribes occupant of the country beyond the Heuma
boundary, as taken from the Heumas. They, probably,
belong to the Yo country.
The Khyen.-I believe that most of the rude tribes
of the Arakan and Burmese mountains are called Khyen,
or Kho, by some one or other. The Khyens, however,
who are now about to be brought under notice, lie south
of tribes already noticed, occupants, however, of the
same range of hills. They fall into two divisions, divi-
sions which we expect à priori. The Khyens of the lower
levels are nearer the centres of the Burmese power, and
more amenable to Burmese influences. They have, con-
sequently, unlearned something of their original rudeness,
158
THE KHYEN,
and live a life of comparative quiet and inoffensiveness.
They pay taxes. They are liable to be called upon for
a quota of soldiers. In short, they are Burmese sub-
jects.
Not so, however, the Khyens of the hills and hill-tops.
They acknowledge no Burmese, no native, sovereign, but
live a life of democratic or patriarchal simplicity; after
the manner of the Abor, the Mishmi, and the other rude
tribes of Asam, in small and distant villages.
At one time, they say, their ancestors were the occu-
pants of the fertile plains of Ava and the rich alluvia of
Pegu. But strangers came down upon them, and drove
them both northwards and eastwards. At first they kept
up the appearance of friendship, but afterwards threw off
the mask of dependence, and comported themselves as
the lords of the soil. It was "contrary," said they, "to
the dictates of nature for two kings to reign, or for two
populations to live together." So they deposed the
Khyen king, and banished the most powerful chiefs.
These, along with others, fled to the hill-country, and,
for a while, kept up a semblance of a sovereignty and a
royal family. But the members of it died out, and now
they have no one but their little village chiefs, captains,
patriarchs, elders, or whatever they may be called.
that the republican principles of the Abors and Bor Abors
prevail amongst the Khyens also; carefully observed,
jealously defended.
So
In their religious matters their liberty and equality is
somewhat less than in their secular. The Passin is the
head of the Khyen Church. He resides on a mountain by
the side of a river, and by his descendants in the male and
female line the office of prophet, soothsayer, or priest, is
continued. Passins officiate at weddings and funerals;
expound doubtful points of law and custom; are the
THE KHYEN.
159
conservators of the traditions; are the exorcists in cases
of sickness.
One of the objects of the simple worship of the Khyens
is a thick bushy tree, bearing a small berry, called subri,
and under its branches they assemble at certain seasons,
with all the members of their family, and with their
cattle, feasting and making sacrifices of pigs and fowls;
just the animals that so many other rude tribes are in the
habit of offering.
Another object is the thunderbolt, or what passes for
such. When a storm occurs they watch the lightning,
see what it strikes, and if it strike a tree or building, or
can be seen to touch the ground, wait anxiously for the
weather to become calm, and then dig for the thunder-
bolt. They are unfortunate if something in the shape of
a stone is not found, and when found supposed to have
fallen with the lightning from heaven. It is thus in-
vested with supernatural powers—has a hog and a bullock
sacrificed to it—is delivered to the Passin, and kept as a
talisman.
The souls of those who have acted well are transferred,
after death, to the bodies of oxen or pigs; so that the
Khyen creed admits of a rude kind of metempsychosis.
Yet they kill their cattle without compunction, but not
without the leave of the Passin.
When any one dies a feast is held over his remains. If
they be those of a poor man they are buried in the imme-
diate neighbourhood. The burial-places of the wealthy,
however, are the two holy mountains of Keyúngnatin, or
Yehantoung, to one of which they are conveyed, even when
the death takes place at a distance. From the summit
of Yehantoung "the whole world can be seen." Near
the tombs there constructed a hut is erected, in which a
160
THE KHYEN.
certain number of people are left for the purpose of
defending it against malignant spirits. Over the remains
a rude carving converts a log into a likeness of the
deceased.
Marriages are just so far religious ceremonies that the
Passin is consulted about them. The contracting parties
ask his sanction. When given, the bridegroom sends pre-
sents to the parents of the bride. A feast follows.
But the bride may prove unfaithful; if so, the
adulterer is fined, and the wife is restored to former
favour, her reputation being as good as before.
With unmarried women the custom is different. Simple
discovery is fined. The birth of a child creates a claim
on the part of the female. The offender must either
marry her or pay the fine over again, and take the child—
the fine being a bullock. The damsel starts de novo as a
damsel.
Unless she be the daughter of a chief, when the fine is
tripled, other things being as before; but three bullocks
instead of one being the mulct.
Cousins marry, but not brothers and sisters. Inter-
course, however, between even these is possible and con-
templated. The fine for it is a bullock to the father.
A divorce costs a bullock.
A murder costs ninety rupees; the valuation being got
at by the following process. The murderer is seized by
the village chief, who requires of him either three of his
friends to be given up to the family of the sufferer, or
thirty rupees a man for each. But he may escape. If
so, he must be given up, or war ensues unless he be given
up. Given up, he is committed to slavery; bloodshed for
offences being forbidden.
Ordinary theft is not much punished. The stealing,
THE KHYEN.
161
however, of corn is a felony. The culprit must either
become a slave, or pay thirty rupees, i. e. the third of the
price of a murder.
We know beforehand what the medical practice is.
The thunderstone in the hands of the Passin will cure
everything.
Are the Khyen hospitable? We are inclined to say
yes; because hospitality is the virtue of rude tribes. We
answer, however, à priori. So few strangers traverse
their land that a precedent in the way of the reception
of one is unknown. Those, however, from whom our
authority (Mr. Trant) got his information, said that if a
foreigner fell in with one of their nation "he would not
be ill-treated; but that they did not remember such a
visit having taken place."
A
The women wear a
Are they handsome?
Cotton grows in the Khyen country, and of cotton the
Khyens spin enough to dress with and export. Black
seems their favourite colour, or no colour. A black
cloth, striped with red and white, is thrown across their
shoulders. A black cloth goes round their loins.
black jacket is used occasionally.
black petticoat reaching the knees.
More so than they make themselves; for a story runs in
the Khyen country that when it was overrun and con-
quered, the marauders, who drove the aborigines to the
mountains, imposed upon them a tribute, in default of
which they seized the most beautiful of their women, and
laid them out before their king, who chose the flower of
them for his harem. To save the race from extermination
the men persuaded the maids to disfigure themselves. So
they cheerfully complied, and tattooed their faces. We
have seen something of this kind already in Tibet. It is
as true as the story in the so-called Anglo-Saxon history
of Edwin and Elgiva. In the natural history, however, of
VOL. I.
M
162
THE KHYEN.
personal disfiguration, a natural history which beginning
with the Pagan populations of these parts, and, after go-
ing through the nose-pieces and labrets of America, the
leg bandages of Africa, the tooth operations of Australia,
and ending with the ear-rings of London and Paris, is of
importance. It is a sign of rudeness. It is a practice
which the women keep up longer than the men.
It is a
barbarity which they explain away. As a general rule
the explanation admits that what passes for an ornament
is, in reality, a deformation.
The true and typical Khyen is the independent moun-
taineer of the central districts. Of the Khyen of the
lower country some, as aforesaid, are under Ava. It may
be added that others (those in the west and (?) south)
are British subjects. All are described as a simple agri-
cultural people; quiet, if left alone, though not without
their quarrels amongst each other.
More important, more widely spread, and, to a certain
extent, better known than the Khyen, but, like them, a
wild, and (generally speaking) an independent race, are—
The Karen.-The ordinary way of speaking of the
Karen is to call them a population of remarkable geo-
graphical extent, both vertically (or from north to south)
and horizontally (or from east to west). In fact they are
said not only to be found within the British, Burmese,
Siamese, and Chinese frontiers, but to extend from 28° to
10° N. L., if not further. Then there are the Karens of
the eastern part of Siam, separated from those of the
Burmese, or western, frontier by the Valley of the
Menam, and the great bulk of the native T'hay population.
In Bowring's map this eastern branch occupies the parts
about Korat, and the foot of the mountains that form the
watershed of the Mekhong.
Now the evidence that these are true Karen is un-
THE KAREN.
163
satisfactory. It consists of the name only. Different
populations, however, may easily have borne it, especially
as it is not native. Nevertheless, the fact may be what
the term suggests, and true Karen may have an actual
existence in Eastern Siam.
The evidence to the Karen of the north is better.
Mr. Cross met with one from the Chinese province of
Yunnan, from whom he obtained the following infor-
mation. The Karen of the parts between the Burmese
empire and China, although some of them lie within the
Chinese province of Yunnan, are, upon the whole, indepen-
dent, though not beyond the reach of attacks from the
Burmese. They are agricultural, with a patriarchal con-
stitution. They reckon themselves by families, not by
cities or villages, nor yet by tribes. Each family occupies
but one house, and this house may be large enough to
contain three or four hundred individuals. Its floor is
raised some six or seven feet above the ground, the
material being bamboo, with mattings and a thatch of
palm-leaf. Strong posts sunk firmly into the ground
constitute its foundation and frame-work. A raised floor
made of beams is attached to them, with a matting of split
bamboo laid over them. The whole house-a court or
covered village rather than a house-is divided into com-
partments, one for eating, one for sleeping, and so on, with
a regular household discipline to match.
The continuity of the Karen area has yet to be proved;
the only ascertained facts being that there are Karen in
Tenasserim, and in Western Siam, that there are Karen
in Yunnan, and that there is a population called by one or
more of its neighbours by the name Karen in Eastern Siam.
With such a distribution as this we need not wonder
if we find a multiplicity of doctrines respecting the origin
of these remarkable tribes. Did they move from north
M 2
164
THE KAREN.
to south, from east to west, or vice versá? The primary
divisions into which fall the hypotheses concerning their
occupancies in Tenasserim are two-one embracing the
opinion that they are aboriginal to their present seat, the
other the notion that they are immigrants.
The reasoning which makes them aboriginal is based
upon the so-called traditions of the Burmese and the Môn.
That of the Burmese certainly makes them older than
themselves; more than which cannot be said. But the
Burmese themselves are of no great antiquity, either in
Pegu or Tenasserim; on the contrary, they are intruders
and strangers.
The Môn, however, of Pegu are actually, to all appear-
ance, the aborigines of the land. Nevertheless, they, also,
are said to make the Karen older occupants than them-
selves. I do not, however, find this in the actual narrative;
which runs thus-when Gautama visited Pegu, Tavoy and
Mergui were inhabited only by Nats and Belú. Now a
Nat is simply a spirit or demon; whilst Belú means wild
man. Why should these Belú have been Karen? The
fact is, that nothing is commoner than a notice like the one
under consideration when either Buddhism or Brahmin-
ism is introduced into a Pagan country. "All," say the
historians, "was either devilish or barbarous." The Belú
may have been unconverted Môn as easily as aught else.
At the same time a statement of Mr. Mason's should be
made known. He infers that the Belú were Karen, from
the fact of an island south of Martaban being called, when
first discovered, Belu, and at the same time exclusively
occupied by Karen. Valeat quantum. The Karen may
easily have been in Pegu, Tavoy, Mergui, and Tenasserim
in the sixteenth century. Add to this, that any wild tribe
may have so been called, and that Pulo (suspiciously like
Belú) is the Malay for an island, and that the men who
THE KAREN.
165
1
furnished the early navigators with the name of the island in
question, were, very probably, Malays. Still, the question
is an open one.
The doctrine that they are immigrants takes two forms.
In one, they come from India-the evidence on this point
being unsatisfactory. It may be found in Mr. Cross's
paper.
Far, far more probable is the second doctrine, which de-
rives them from the north. They "crossed" says one of their
so-called traditions, "a river of sand." So the Chinese,
and probably others, call the desert to the north of the
Laos country. They did this before the Shans came into
Zimmay; a statement which will be explained in the next
chapter.
Their language points to the north. It is decidedly
Burmese, with notable Singhpo affinities.
They are called the Red
from their complexion as
Such, at least, is the ex-
The Karen on and within the British frontier are the
only ones described in detail.
Karen from their dress; not
has, occasionally, been stated.
press statement of Mr. Cross, an American Baptist
Missionary, to whom we owe a full account of them.
The same authority connects the Kakhyen with them; a
population to be noticed hereafter.
Some of the tribes are Buddhists; but the two described
by Mr. Cross, which may fairly serve as a sample of the
stock, are Pagan. They are the Sgau and the Pgho; the
former being the more primitive. They are also smaller
and lighter-coloured than the Pgho.
The term Karen is Burmese; the native name being
Pgha-Kenyau =man.
Word for word Karen is Khyen; and so it is often
sounded in Burmese.
Their government is patriarchal; but, besides the elders,
166
THE KAREN.
two classes of men exercise considerable influence, the
bukho and the wí.
The bukho is, perhaps, a priest rather than a prophet,
inasmuch as he rarely commits himself to the prediction of
future events, but limits himself to the regulation of feasts,
and the conduct of ceremonials. He is also the great
authority for magical formulæ. He is also, more or less,
a physician.
He
The wí, on the other hand, is a shaman, capable of
foretelling events, recalling departed spirits, seeing em-
bodied ghosts-only, however, when in a particular
physical condition. Of course, this is one of excitement
into which the wí is capable, like the Sibyls and Python-
esses of classical antiquity, of working himself.
writhes his limbs, he twists his features, he foams at the
mouth, he affects an epilepsy. When the fit, real or
affected, is over, he delivers his prophecy. Many of these
relate to the political condition of his countrymen, and
(amongst the dependent Karens) predict a deliverance from
the grinding tyranny of the Avans. Some of these either
suit, or are fitted to, the political and missionary advent of
the English and Americans. I give the following wí pro-
phecies as I find them in Mr. Cross.
"If deliverance come by water, rejoice, for you will be
able to take breath.
"When the Karens have cleared the horn-bill city hap-
piness will arrive.
"When the Karens and white foreigners shall fight
happiness will arrive.
"The white foreigners possess the word of God, and
will one day restore it to the Karens who have lost it."
The local, personal, and individual genii of the Karens
are called kelah. Every object has one. If the rice-crop
look unpromising, the rice kelah is supposed to be away,
THE KARENS.
167
and has to be called back.
Come to the field.
each gender come.
from the river Kaw.
meet. Come from the West.
the crop of the bird, from the
throat of the elephant, come.
rivers and their mouths. Come from the country of the
Shan and Burman. From the distant kingdoms come.
From all granaries come. O rice kelah, come to the
"O come, rice kelah, come.
Come to the rice. With seed of
Come from the river Kho. Come
Come from the place where they
Come from the East. From
maw of the ape, from the
Come from the sources of
rice."
The human kelah may leave the body and wander about,
in which case it has to be recalled. For this there are
various formulæ, which it is the business of the wí to
understand.
This is a sketch of the first series of ideas attached to the
word kelah. There is a second. The kelah is supposed
to possess seven existences, seven yet one. The first seeks
to render the person to whom it is attached mad, the
second produces reckless folly, the third shamelessness, the
fourth anger, and so with the rest of our bad passions and
infirmities. All kelahs of this kind are essentially bad.
The moral principle, however, is thah. It is thah
rather than kelah, through whom we sin or act rightly.
The following distinction is from a native Karen, though
not (I imagine) an untaught one. "When we sin, or com-
mit any offence, it is the thah, soul, which sins; and again,
when we perform any good action, it is the thah. Praise-
worthiness, or blame-worthiness, is attributed to the thah
alone. By some the kelah is represented as the inner man,
and with others the inner man is the thah. When the eyes
are shut and in sleep, the reflective organs are awake and
active. This is sometimes attributed to the kelah. Hence
the kelah is the author of dreams."
168
THE KAREN.
Another deity, spirit, demon, or genius is named Tso.
Tso resides in the upper part of the human head, and as
long as he keeps his seat no kelah can do any mischief.
But, in order for him to do so, the head must be attended
to. Its owner must attire it handsomely. He must keep
it, too, out of the reach of danger; away from roofs that
may fall in, or from trees that may break down.
The Karen vampires, goblins, et hoc genus omne, are
named kephoo, theret (theret thekah), tahmus (or tahkas),
plupho and sekhahs.
The kephoo is more of a raw-head-and-bloody-bones
than aught else. It is the stomach of a wizard which
prowls about at night to devour the kelahs of men in the
shape of a human head and entrails.
The therets, too, feed on kelahs; the therets being the
souls of men untimely slain, and malefactors, not wicked
enough for a place in the seat of punishment, nor yet good
enough for the full fruition of the region of bliss. Hence
they wander about on earth.
The tahmus and tahkas are the spirits of pre-eminently
wicked men, tyrants and Burmese most especially. After
leaving the body they invest themselves with the forms of
the lower animals; sometimes with that of a gigantic
human being.
The sekhah is the spirit of an infant, or of an old man in
his second childhood. Or it may be that of one forsaken
by his tso.
Plu-pho is the occupant of Plu, which is Hades. In Plu
the dead alive renew their earthy occupations. To go to Plu
is the normal state for the deceased. To become a kephoo,
theret, tahmus, tahkas, or sekhah is irregular and excep-
tional. The king of Plu is named Cootay or Theedo.
He "holds his dominion in the country of Plu. When he
comes to call our kelaks, our bodies die, and we become
THE KAREN.
169
the inhabitants of Plu, and enter the dominions of Cootay.
When he has called men, and they are under his dominion,
if they by their endeavours please him, or are good, they
are in due time dismissed to the region above, or heaven.
But, on the contrary, if they are wicked, such as strike
their fathers and mothers, they are delivered into the
hands of the king of hell, and punished by being cast
into hell."
Hell is called Lerah. It has two divisions, the Lerah
of the milder, and the Lerah of the severer inflictions.
The tah-nahs or nahs (word for word the nat of the
Burmese, &c.) are invisible beings, capable of taking the
forms of animals, and endowed with a theret's appetite for
kelahs. Some are worse, and more malignant than the
others. The king of the more fiend-like nats is Mu-
kauli.
Then there are the deities of the elements and atmo-
spheric phenomena, the kelipho who create the winds
with their fans, the tah-yumu, who cause eclipses, the
cuda and laupho presiding over seasons. The dry season
and the wet season fight for victory, each in its turn win-
ning or losing.
The mukhas are worshipped with offerings. Though
they are more gracious than malevolent, it is as well to
keep on terms with them. Besides this there is a natural
feeling of affection and respect for them, since they are
the parents and ancestors of the Karens who have ascended
into the upper regions, where they live under a king,
in towns and cities. They are the creators of the
present generation. The work that the mukhas them-
selves do is good; that of their king bad. He is too
busy to allow himself time; so that the individuals which
he sends into the world are lame, or ill-formed. The
170
THE KAREN.
mukhas that preside over marriage take care the blood of
the two producing parties is properly commingled.
Phíbí Yau sits on some lonely stump and watches
the livelong day over the ears of corn as they ripen. She
fills the granary, and is one of the best loved and the most
beneficent deities of the Karen Pantheon.
A mother behaved herself so cruelly towards her daugh-
ters that they died; whereupon the mother repented of
her harshness, and betook herself to a wí. The wi
called to him first the spirit of the younger daughter, and
entreated it to prevail upon the elder one to return. So
they returned. But the mother kept on with the cruel
usage that had before killed them, and, when they had
died, again called upon the wí. This second time the
younger daughter alone could be prevailed on. Never-
theless, she is cruelly treated for the third time. After
this she retires to the world of shades, never more to be
tempted by either the invocations of a wí or the ephe-
meral contrition of a cruel mother.
one.
In revivifying the dead the wí operates upon, and
through, the living; his first step being to catch the
spirit of some person alive and to divert it to the dead
The Karen thus robbed of his animating prin-
ciple sickens and dies. But as he can be revived by a
similar process
process inflicted upon some one else, his death is
only temporary. Some one is killed off (ex-animated so
to say) in order to restore him to life; and so they go
on, ex-animating and re-animating, ad infinitum.
The wís are the chief poets of the Karens.
So much for the true and undoubted points of Karen
paganism. The following extracts savour so much of a
perverted Christianity, possibly introduced by some of the
early Roman Catholic missionaries to Ava or Siam, that
THE KAREN.
171
I give them separate. I give them, however, in full and
as I find them.
The name of the supreme deity is Ywah. The traditions
concerning him run as follows:
"God is immutable, eternal. He was from the beginning
of the world." "He is everlasting, and existed at the begin-
ning of the world." "He existed in the beginning of time.
The life of God is endless. Generations cannot measure
his existence." "God is complete and good, and through
endless generations will never die." Again, "God is om-
nipotent, but we have not believed him. God created
man anciently. He has a perfect knowledge of all things
to the present time." "The earth is the footstool of God,
and heaven his seat. He sees all things, and we are not
hid from his sight. He is not far from us, but in our
midst”—showing that God was believed to be a spirit.
More particular allusion to the specific work of the crea-
tion, and an almost exact resemblance to the Scripture
history of it, is found in other traditions. "He created
man, and of what did he form him? He created man at
first from the earth, and finished the work of creation.
He created woman, and of what did he form her? He
took a rib from the man and created the woman." Again,
"He created spirit or life. How did he create spirit?
Father God said: 'I love these my son and daughter. I
will bestow my life upon them.' He took a particle of
his life, and breathed it into their nostrils, and they came
to life and were men.' "Thus God created man. God
made food and drink, rice, fire and water, cattle, elephants,
and birds." *
The evil deity is Nauk'plau; male or female as the case
may be.
* Mr. Mason's translation.
172
THE KAREN.
""
Nauk'plau at the beginning was just,
But afterwards transgressed the word of God.
Nauk'plau at the first was divine,
But afterwards broke the word of God.
God drove him out and lashed him from his place:
He tempted the holy daughter of God.
God lashed him with whips from his presence;
He deceived God's son and daughter."
The account goes on as follows. "Pa Ywah, our father
God, spoke and said: 'My son and my daughter, I shall
make for you a garden, and in the garden will be seven
different kinds of trees, bearing seven different kinds of
fruit. But among the seven different kinds of fruit there
will be one which it is not good for you to eat. Do not
eat of it. If you eat of it, sickness, old age and death
will come upon you. Eat not of it. Consider, every-
thing which I have created, all, I give to you. Select to
eat and drink whatever you desire. Once in seven days I
shall come to visit you. Hearken to all I command you,
and take heed to what I say. Do not forget me.
Wor-
hip me each morning and evening as they return.'
"After this, Mukaulee" (the devil under another name,
but the name principally in use to designate that being)
came and asked them: 'Why are you here?' 'Our father
God placed us here.' 'What do you here find to eat?'
asked the devil. To that they replied: 'Our father God has
created for us food and drink, and our food is more abun-
dant than we can eat.' The devil said to them: 'Permit
me to see your food,' and the husband and wife both con-
ducted him away to show it to him. The devil followed
them to the garden, and they showed him the fruit and
said: This is sweet, this is sour, this bitter, this astrin-
gent, this delicious, this pungent, this savoury. But this
tree we do not know. Whether it is sour or sweet, we
THE KAREN.
173
know not. Our father God commanded us, in reference
to this tree: "You shall not eat of it. If you eat of it,"
said he to us, "you shall surely die;" and we have not
eaten of it; and whether it is sour or sweet, we know not.'
Then the devil said: 'Not so, my children. Your father
God has no regard for you. The tree of which the fruit
is most delicious and the sweetest, more delicious and
sweeter than any other-he commands you not to eat
of it. Not only is the fruit of this tree delicious and
sweet, but if you eat the fruit you will become divine,
and will ascend to heaven or enter the lower parts of
the earth at pleasure; and will be able to fly. Your
God has no love for you, and does not wish to make
your lot agreeable. I am not like your God. Your
God is unjust and envious. But I am just and not
envious. I love you, and tell you all things. Your
father God does not love you, and does not tell you all
things. If you do not believe me, do not take the fruit.
But if you will each of you take of it and eat, you will
know.' The man replied: "Our father God commanded
us not to eat the fruit of this tree, and we will not eat it.'
So saying, he arose and left the place. The woman, on
the contrary, listened to the words of the devil, and was
slightly pleased with what he said. Upon this the devil
renewed his attempts, and at length she yielded to his
varied solicitations, and raised her eyes upon him and
said: Do you say that, if we eat, we shall be able to fly?'
The devil replied: 'My son and my daughter, it is purely
from my great love for you that I have spoken to you.'
Then the woman took of the fruit, bit and ate. Upon
which the devil laughed and said: 'My daughter, you
have well and readily listened thus far to my words, but I
will again speak. Go to your husband, and give him of
the fruit to eat; and say thus to him: "I have eaten the
174
THE KAREN.
fruit, and it is exceedingly delicious." Thus say to him,
and, if he refuses to eat, you must entice till he eats. You
have already eaten, and if you die you will die alone. If
you become divine, you will become so alone.' As the
devil said to her the woman did, and enticed her husband
as he directed her. She repeated her enticements until
finally he yielded to her, and took the fruit from the hand
of his wife and ate it. When this was done, and her hus-
band had eaten the fruit, she went and told the devil, and
said to him: My husband has eaten the fruit.' Where-
upon the devil laughed excessively, and said: 'Now, my
son and my daughter, you have well done in listening to
me.'
"But again, on the morrow after the day in which they
had eaten the fruit, Ywah [Jehovah] came to visit them.
But they no longer followed God, and met his coming
with their songs and their hymns of joy. God came to
them, and asked of them: 'The tree of which I said ye
should not eat, have ye eaten of it? I commanded you.
Why have you eaten of it?' But they were afraid to
return any answer to God; and he cursed them and said:
'That which I commanded you, you have not heeded nor
obeyed. The fruit of which I said: "It is not good to
eat, eat it not,” ye have eaten. You have disobeyed, and
have eaten it. And now, old age, sickness and death
shall come upon you. But it shall be in this way. Some
of you shall sicken and recover, and some shall die.
There shall be those among you who shall die after the
life of a single day. There shall be those who shall live
two days and die, three days and die. There shall be
those among you who shall die in their youth-virgins and
young men shall die. Women shall die when but half
their births are finished, and others shall die when their
bearing is passed. There shall be some among you who
THE KAREN.
175
shall die when their locks are white, and others shall die
when old age has come upon them.' Thus God com-
manded and cursed them, and God ascended up from
them. ""*
The following lines give us the additional fact that it
was in the form of a dragon that Nauk'plau effected his
temptation.
"Ywah in the beginning commanded,
But Nauk'plau came to destroy.
Ywah at the first commanded,
Nauk'plau maliciously deceived unto death.
The woman E-u and the man Thay-nai-
The malicious fiend enviously looked upon them.
Both the woman E-u and the man Thay-nai
The dragon regarded with hatred.
The great dragon deceived the woman E-u,
And what was it that he said to her?
The great dragon deceived them unto death,
And what was it that he did?
The great dragon took the yellow fruit of the tree,
And gave it to Ywah's holy daughter.
The great dragon took the white fruit of the tree,
And gave it to Ywah's son and daughter to eat.
They kept not every word of Ywah,
Nauk'plau deceived them. They died.
They kept not each one the word of Ywah,
Then he deceived and beguiled them unto death.
They transgressed the words of Ywah,
Ywah turned his back and forsook them.
After they had broken the commands of Ywah,
Ywah turned his back upon them and left them."
Then follows an allusion to a flood.
"Anciently, when the earth was deluged with water,
two brothers, finding themselves in difficulty, got on a
raft. The waters rose and rose till they reached to
heaven; when, seeing a mango tree hanging down, the
younger brother climbed upon it and ate, but the waters
suddenly falling left him in the tree.*
* Mr. Mason's translation.
176
THE THOUNG-THU.
"Men had at first one father and mother, but, because
they did not love each other, they separated. After their
separation they did not know each other, and their language
became different, and they became enemies to each other
and fought."
"The Karens were the elder brother;
They obtained all the words of God.
They did not believe all the words of God,
And became enemies to each other.
Because they disbelieved God,
Their language divided.
God gave them commands,
But they did not believe him,
And divisions ensued."*
That the presence of missionaries, whose teaching might
touch the Karen, is by no means a gratuitous assumption
will be seen by the sequel.
The Thoung-thú. - If the Thoung-thú, a population
of the Karen frontier be not actually Karen, it is one
which, in language, at least, is closely allied.
English.
Sgau.
Pgho.
Thoung-thoo.
Sun
mu
mü
mu
Moon
lá
lá
lu
Star
tshá'
shá'
hsa
Fire
mé'u
mé
may
Water
thi
thi
htí
Bird
thó
thó
á-wa
Fish
nyá
ya'
lita
Snake
gu
wgü
h'm
Stone
lu.
lón
lung
Tree
thé
then
thing-mu
Mountain
ka-tsu
khó lon
koung
River
thi-kló
thi-kló'
nhrong
Village
tha-wo
ta-win
dung
House
hi
yén
sam
Egg
di'
di'
de
Horn
ku-nu
nón-
nung
Man
pó-khwá
pshá
lan
* Mr. Mason's translation.
THE BURMESE.
177
Thoung-thoo.
English.
Sgau.
Pgho.
Head
khó
khó
katu
Hair
khó thu
khó thu
tu-lu
Eye
me
me
may
Ear
ná
na
nau
Tooth
me.
thwa
ta-gna
Mouth
thá khó
nó
proung
Hand
tshu
tshu'
su
Foot
kho
khán
khan
Skin
phi
phi
phro
Blood
thwi
tshu thwi
thway
Bone
ghi
ghwi
htsot
One
ta
ka du
ta
Two
khi
ni
ne
Three
thu
thun
thung
Four
lwi
li
leet
Five
ye
yei
ngat
Six
ghu
ghü
ther
Seven
nwi
nwi
nwot
Eight
ghó
ghỏ
that
Nine
khwi
khwi
koot
Ten
ta-tshi
ka-tshi
tah-si
Such is the notice of those members of the Burmese
family with which the ethnologist most especially concerns
himself, such the rude tribes of the hill and forest,
always more important than the comparatively civilized
men of the town or city; because they more truly exhibit
humanity in its older and more primitive forms. Physical
conformations, so long as the physical conditions of soil,
climate, aliment and the like, remain the same, alter (if
at all) but slowly. The same is the case with language.
Religious beliefs, however, may be not only changed within
the course of a few generations, but, when changed,
modify the numerous characteristics that accompany them.
It is as rare for one of the literate religions (by which
I mean Christianity, Judaism, Mahometanism, the Parsi
creed, Brahminism, and Buddhism) to be introduced
into a country without carrying with it the alphabet by
which its ritual is embodied, as it is for an alphabet to
VOL. I.
N
178
THE BURMESE.
find its way into a country without a creed to attend it.
Hence, the loss of a system of paganism is the gain of a
literature; or, if not of an actual literature, of the means
of creating one. When a population has arrived at this
period of its development, foreign influences become rife
and common, and actions and reactions take place between
it and its neighbours. When this has gone on beyond a
certain time, nine-tenths of the individualities of the
primitive populations are abolished. Small and indepen-
dent streams meet in one large plain and the wide expanse
of a lake is the result of their confluence. Small and
independent families become united to large and dominant
nations; losing their characteristics; merged into uni-
formity.
As surely as rivers find their way to the sea will the
Khyen and Kuki, the Karen and Luncta, become some-
thing not only different from their present selves, but some-
thing similar to one of the ruling populations. Let them
lose a single characteristic, and the fusion begins. Let
them lose them all, and it is complete. Let the character-
istics be numerous, and the process of fusion will be slow.
Let them be few, and it will be speedy. Most of the tribes
under notice have nothing to lose but their pagan creed
before they become ordinary Burmese; a little ruder, per-
haps, than their fellows of Ava and Umerapura, but still
ordinary Burmese. This is the case if Buddhism be the
religion to which they become converts. That such,
however, will be the case universally is, by no means,
certain. Asam is Hindú, so is Sylhet, Tipperah, and
Chittagong. Here are points whence Brahminism may
diffuse itself; as it has done, as it will do. Munipúr is
Brahminic in its creed; with an alphabet directly from
the Devangari of India; and Munipúr, with much of its
original rudeness remaining, is still in the category of
THE BURMESE.
179
Arakan, Tipperah, and Ava itself—a civilized state. But
much of its original rudeness remains. So it does else-
where. So it does in Ava itself. Side by side with
Buddhism, and (if we prefer the expression) underlying
it, the worship of Nats, or Spirits, is to be found in the
very metropolis itself, in the palace of the king—
"
manent vestigia ruris.”
Such is the case with Ava. Such the case with Siam.
Such the case with China; old as its Buddhism, older
as its philosophy is believed to be. Such the case with
France and England-with all the world. In even the
most purified creeds the last sparks of the original pagan-
ism have yet to die out.
That the alphabet, without being exactly that of either
Southern India, or the neighbouring countries of Pegu,
Siam, Laos, and Kambojia, belongs to the same class with
all these, and is of Indian origin, is what we expect from
the fact of the religion being Buddhist. The same applies
to the language of the Scriptures. It is a learned tongue,
the Pali; the same as that of Siam, Ceylon, and the
Buddh countries in general. The native language, how-
ever, has its secular literature, lyrical, historical, and
dramatic; no composition being of any high antiquity, and
none of any notable merit. There are songs for lyrics; a
mixture of pantomime and dialogue (more or less extem-
pore) for a drama; a Buddhist chronology, and a short
period of trustworthy narrative for a history. When does
this begin? In the mind of the present writer very little
earlier than the time of the first European visitors.
Then there are the laws; full of cruel and degrading
punishments, even as the laws of Siam and China. And,
then, there is the ceremonial-full of degrading obeisances
and absurd circumlocutions. There is one set of words for
N 2
180
THE BURMESE.
equals, one for inferiors, one for superiors; even as there is
in Siam, Java, and elsewhere. A difference between the
language of politeness and rudeness exists everywhere.
The phenomenon of a court dialect, as contrasted with
the dialect of ordinary life, exhibits itself in the greatest
prominence in the south-east of Asia.
The character of the Burmese drama, in respect to its
decency or indecency, is a matter upon which there are
two opinions. It has found defenders. The presumptions,
however, are against its purity, the fact of a given
writer having seen or heard nothing improper in a
given number of performances being of no great weight
against a single statement in evidence of indecorum.
The general character of the population has not been
given in very favourable terms. Allowance, however,
must be made for the class with which our embassies have
come in contact. Residents of towns, and the official
classes, are never safe representatives of a nation. The
character of the rural population is probably that of the
pagan tribes out of the like whereof they originated.
Now these form a class that generally gets its due (and
over-due) meed of praise. Where the mode of living is
simple, there is no want of either courage or energy. Sim-
plicity of living, however, is the exception rather than
the rule with any one who can indulge in sensualities.
The stimulants are those of the neighbouring populations,
opium, bang, and the betel nut. The Burmese tattoo
themselves, and they are, perhaps, (after certain Turks,)
the most civilized men and women that do so.
It was in the middle of the last century that the Bur-
mese power developed itself into that of a leading nation,
and the hero of its development was the adventurer
Alompra, the founder of the present dynasty. What
Sivaji was to the Mahrattas, Alompra was to the Bur-
THE BURMESE.
181
mese. In the direction of Asam, in the direction of
China, in the direction of Kambojia, Alompra conquered.
This means that he annexed portions of territory from
Munipúr on the north, and from Siam on the east. He
also conquered Arakan and Pegu; since ceded, along
with the Tenasserim districts, to Great Britain. The rule
of the Burmese over the tributary populations is said to
be hard and grinding.
A minute knowledge of the history of the countries of
the Transgangetic Peninsula in general is necessary to
enable us to fix, with any degree of accuracy, the relations
of Ava to its neighbours as a military power. Its people
seem to be warlike and brave, and to make good soldiers.
Under Alompra the prestige was in their favour. Yet the
very fact of Alompra being the conqueror he was, and the
sudden development of the Burmese power, suggests the
likelihood of the military history having once been differ-
ent. And such was the case. The prominent place held by
Ava, at the present moment, seems to have been held by
no less than three other states in turn, Tipperah, Munipúr,
and Pegu; all now on the low level of third or fourth-rate
powers. The relative strengths, too, of Ava and Siam
have been different; and Siam has at times been more
superior than equal. When the T'hay populations come
under notice, it will be seen that several petty districts,
whose ethnological and geographical relations are Siamese,
are subject to Ava. The Burmese call these the Shan
part of their empire; and if the present work, instead of
being ethnological, were political, the Shan states would
find their place in the present notice. As it is, they will
come before us in the next.
English.
Man
Burmese.
Rukheng.
Khyen.
lu
youkkya
padau
Women
mairima
mingma
notau
182
THE BURMESE.
English.
Burmese.
Rukheng.
Khyen.
Head
k'haung
gaung
lu
Eye
myitsi
myitsi
Mouth
n'hok
kandwen
Sun
na
ni
myik
kako
k'hu-n'hi
Moon
la
la
klau
Star
ke'nek kat
kre
ashe
Sky
moh
kaungkan
ane
Fire
mih
mi
mia
Water
re
ri
tui
River
myit
mrik
lik
Sea
pengle
panle
panlai
Stone
kyank
kyauk
long
Mountain
toung
toung
song
One
tit
taik
pa-hat
Two
n'hit
n'haik
pa-n'hi
Three
thon
thong
pa-thong
Four
le
le
l'hi
Five
nga
na
n'hau
Six
k'hyauk
khrauk
s'houk
Seven
k'how-n'hit
k'hu-naik
shi
Eight
s'hit
s'hit
s'hat
Nine
ko
ko
ko
Ten
tase
tase
ho
There is another family besides that to which the Shans
belong, which, though other than Burmese, has its repre-
sentatives in Ava. This is the Môn. Môn is the native
name of the indigenæ of Pegu. The Burmese call them
Talieng. The Siamese appellation is Mingmôn; appa-
rently the native names in a state of composition. In
the early Portuguese notices a still more composite form
appears, and we hear of the ancient empire of Kalamen-
ham, supposed to have been founded by the Pandalús
of Môn or Pegu. Notwithstanding the recent annexation,
some Môn are still Burmese subjects. They will be
briefly noticed in the sequel.
THE T'HAY POPULATIONS.
183
CHAPTER VIII.
The T'hay, or Siamese group.-The Khamti.-The Shans.-The Laos.-
The Siamese Proper.
It seems as if all our ethnology were centred in Asam;
so numerous have been the notices of the different popula-
tions which occupy the mountain-ranges of its margin.
We have already given a long list-Changlo Bhots, Akas,
Doflas, Abors, Bor Abors, Miris, Mishmis, Singhpos,
Muttuks, Jilis, Nagas, Mikirs, Kukis, Kasias, Borros, and
Garos. Necdum finitus Orestes. There is still an addition
to be made to the frontage. At the eastern extremity,
on the Mishimi, and Singhpo frontier, dwell the Khamti;
far north as 27° or 28° N. L.
The Khamti.-It is the Siamese stock to which the
Khamti belong. The Siamese are Khamti, the Khamti
Siamese. The Khamti and Siamese belong not only to
the same stock, but, in speech at least, to the same division
of it. Between the language as it prevails on the frontier
of Asam, and the language as it is spoken at Bankok, the
difference is simply that which exists between the English
of Somersetshire and the English of Aberdeen. In Brown's
tables ninety-eight per cent. of the words are identical.
Such a fact as this is worthy of notice, because it exem-
plifies what may be called the vertical direction of a lan-
guage, i. e. a direction from north to south as opposed to
one from east to west. The Khamti creed and alphabet
are Siamese ; indeed, the whole population seems to be but
184
THE SHANS.
a northern branch of a division of the T'hay group
which has already been alluded to as-
The Shan.-I have little doubt but that Shan is a
political, rather than an ethnological, term. It means a
man of the T'hay stock who is a subject of, or tributary
to the Burmese empire. Cross the frontier, and get into
the Siamese dominions, and the name no longer prevails.
Yet the population is essentially the same. So are the
political relations. As certain petty chiefs are to the
central government at Ava, so are certain petty chiefs to
that of the metropolis of Siam. The authorities, however,
of Bankok do not call them Shan, but Laos. Laos states
are Shan, and Shan states are Laos, mutatis nominibus. If
Shan, they are Burmese; if Laos, Siamese; in each case
they are T'hay.
The Shans of the Burmese empire remind us of what
we found in Bultistan. They fall into so many small
states. What shall we call them? Kingdoms? Princi-
palities? Rajahships? We cannot, perhaps, do better
than take the local and national title of the chiefs, Tsaw-
bwa, and talk of so many Tsawbwaships. The Shan
Tsawbwaships are hereditary in certain families; but
nothing more. The individual who takes one is appointed
at Umerapura. It is only necessary that he belong to the
right family. Doing this, he has a locus standi—nothing
more. If the Tsawbwa be, in a small way, an Augustus,
the Einshe Mon is a sort of Cæsar. He is the Tsaw-
bwa designatus—a Prince of Wales to a King of Great
Britain and Ireland. When he comes to his full honours
he keeps a kind of court, and resides in a palace at his
capital. Perhaps he builds, or patronizes the theatre, after
the fashion of the small German potentates. At any rate,
Captain Yule writes that the Tsawbwas appear in greater
contrast to their subjects in the way of blood and its
THE SHANS:
185
concomitant refinement than do the rulers of Ava, where
there is little distinction of the kind. Good. Better,
however, the statement that their domestic administration
is really paternal, or as near an approach to it as any
sovereign administration can be. More definite, too, the
statement of Macleod, that the particular Tsawbwa of
Kiang Tung was a fine, blind, old, noble gentleman. More
definite, too, a comparison between a Shan Tsawbwa and
the Hebrew patriarch, Boaz. In harvest-time the chiefs
and their followers move into the fields, reside there in
temporary sheds, and superintend the getting-in of the
crops. The particular example is from the Zimmay
states; but it very probably is Burmese also. At any
rate, it is T'hay.
The number of the Shan Tsawbwaships, according to
Captain Yule, is twelve; of which seven are on the west,
five on the east of the Salwen. The further they are from
Burma Proper, the more uncertain is their allegiance.
Neither is their frontage a matter of unimportance.
China has influence on the Chinese side, as we expect;
besides which three of them are dangerously near the
independent Red Karen. The nearest of these is
Mobyé; and the Red Karen have so encroached upon its
area as to have left the unhappy Tsawbwa little more than
his dilapidated capital; a capital, which, in '37, contained
no more than fifty-six houses. He sent to Ava for assist-
ance; but in vain. So now he pays tribute, or black mail,
to the Karen, barbarians and pagans as they are.
The next state of Mokmó does the same; at least to a
great extent. The town of Mokmó contains about 350
houses.
Nyúng-yuwé, with a metropolis of about 150, and a
population in all, of about 1000 houses, has been more
flourishing than it is now; the Karen having done the
186
THE SHANS.
mischief. So that of the Shan states of the east, there
are three that are less exclusively Burmese than the
heading of our notice suggests. Amongst the inhabitants
of the valley Nyúng-yuwé is a colony of settlers whose
traditions and language connect them with Tavoy. The
traditions, however, are vague. They were to the effect
that it was the ancient monarch Narapati-tsítsú who
brought them; the date of Narapati-tsítsú being fixed by
Crawfurd in the twelfth century. A town called Thatúng,
on the frontier of the Karen, to whom it pays tribute, is of
similar origin; at any rate, its inhabitants are from the west.
The great king Nauratha-men-zau led them from a town
of the same name in Martaban. I doubt whether this be
a tradition. I think it is more likely to be a mere infer-
ence from the identity of name. Most traditions are only
inferences of this kind in disguise. Again, I am by no
means satisfied as to the historical existence of Narapati-
tsítsú.
Conterminous with Nyúng-yuwé is the district of Myelat.
It is under no Tsawbwa at all, but pays its revenue direct
to the king.
Moné comes next. Of all the Shan states this is the most
important. It is the one, too, in which the Burmese in-
fluence is strongest; indeed, it is the seat of the Burmese
presidency, and the occupancy of many Burmese families.
It extends to both sides of the Salwen; and is the largest
of all the Shan capitals, a town about 2000 feet above the
level of the sea, with as many as 8000 souls.
Of Legya and T'heinné I only give the names; remark-
ing that, for area, T'heinné is the largest of the Shan Tsaw-
bwaships, although not the most populous.
Mormeit and Túng-bain are in the predicament of Mye-
lat, i. e. they are districts without any recognized Tsawbwa.
Beyond the Salwen to the north is either a single state,
THE LAOS.
187
or a confederacy of two-Kaingma-Maingmaing. It is
but little known, and is believed to be in closer relations
to China than Ava. The nature of this relation is made
intelligible by the state of
Maing-leng-gyé, which pays tribute annually to Ava,
and triennially to China. It seems to be divided into
petty chieftaincies, which practise private war against each
other. The Lawa area lies in or on the frontier of
Maing-leng-gyé.
Kiang-hung lies on both sides of the Mekhong, or
Kambojia River. It sends tribute to Ava once in three
years. In other respects it is Chinese; produces tea; is
occasionally placed within the limits of the Chinese pro-
vince of Yunnan in our maps; has the wild tribes of the
Kakui on its frontier; and is divided into as many as
twelve petty and subordinate Tsawbwaships, which quarrel
amongst themselves, and practise private war as in Maing-
leng-gyé.
With Kiang-tung and Kiang-khen the list of Shan states
ends. It ends because we cross from Burma to Siam.
The Laos, &c.—On crossing the frontier we reach Zim-
may, also spelt Chang Mai, and Xieng Mai. It is easily
found, even in an indifferent map. It lies on the Menam
between 19° and 22° N. L.; due north of Siam Proper,
due west of the Burmese frontier.
A small territory, with a capital of about 12,000 in-
habitants, is dependent upon Zimmay, and seems to have
followed its fortunes. It is named Laphun. Another
district, Lakhon, is (perhaps) in the same category.
The metropolis of Zimmay bears the same name as the
kingdom itself. Standing at the foot of a high mountain,
and rising from a wide plain, it contains a population of
50,000 inhabitants. On the top of the mountain is a
print of Buddha's foot; a print which invests the hill-
188
THE LAOS.
top with an atmosphere of sacro-sanctitude. It helps, too,
to fill the city with talapoins; whose lives are said to be
none of the purest. Then there is a large body of men
from Siam, who have run in debt in their own country, and
chosen a residence in another. I mention this to show
that the Laos are anything but barbarians. The country
is but little known, and, in the maps, seems destitute of
inhabitants, and beyond the pale of civilization. Such,
however, is not the case. The differences between them
and the T'hay are, probably, less than those between the
English and the Scotch. The language of the two is
identical; the Buddhist creed is common to Bankok and
Zimmay; probably the self-same form of it. The Laos,
however, are the poorer population. Many of them visit
Bankok in quest of work; where they have a good name,
not only as labourers, but as musicians. Not a little
praise has been bestowed upon the Laos songs and airs.
On the other hand, debtors and other offenders (as afore-
said) from Siam find a refuge in Zimmay. Money is
scarce. Salt the chief article of barter.
The history of Laos, if known in detail, would be of
equal interest with that of Siam Proper. In the first
place it is probable that, as the T'hay migration followed
the course of the Menam, it was from Laos that the lower
portions of the river were colonized. Secondly, Laos has
been, at one time, an independent kingdom; and not only
that, but, in all probability, the chief of the T'hay states.
In its alphabet it still shows signs of having derived its
Buddhism from a separate source. The Laos letters are
less like the Siamese than is the language. The Laos
letters are Kambojian rather than Siamese.
Between Zimmay and Bankok there are upwards of
thirty waterfalls. This is a bar to navigation; helping to
isolate the Laos, and to separate their civilization from that
THE LAOS.
189
of the Siamese. They can make but little use of boats.
When the valley of the Menam is cleared, it is all forest
and mountain. This makes the elephant the chief beast of
burden. In no part of the world are elephants used more
exclusively than at Zimmay. Rice is the chief grain.
The natives eat it. They distil it. They get intoxicated,
very intoxicated, off the result of the distillation. They
are good Buddhists withal; the town being full of pagodas.
In 1843 a missionary tour was made by Mr. Grandjean.
In Zimmay he was tolerated: in Laphun and Lakhon in-
sulted.
Due west of Zimmay lies Nan, with its capital, Muang
Nan, with a population of 60,000 (?), and, south of Nan,
Phre, with Muang Phre (15,000 inhabitants) for its me-
tropolis.
To the south-east lie Muang Loon, a small, and Muang
Phre Bang, a large, state. It lies, not on the Menam, but on
the Mekhong, on the frontier of Kambojia, with a capital
of 80,000 (?) inhabitants. It just recognizes the sove-
reignty of Siam.
Of Phre Khiail, and Suvan-naphum we know little
beyond the name. Korat, in the midst of a rude popula-
tion, manufactures sugar, and works copper-mines. It is
the capital of a district of about 60,000 souls. The Karen
of Eastern Siam are placed in the neighbourhood of Korat.
In claiming for the Laos a civilization akin to that of
the proper T'hay, I restrict the statement to the popu-
lations of the central portions of the Laos area, to the
valley (perhaps the very bank) of the Menam and its
feeders. Neither do I extend it to the northern frontier
of the area so denominated, on the high lands in the direc-
tion of the Menam's head waters.
The Laos of the west are called Thaung Khao, or White
Bellies, because they do not do what is done by the
190
THE LAOS.
Thaung Dari, or Black Bellies. The Thaung Dari, or
Black Bellies of the east, tattoo themselves, the abdomi-
nal region more especially, and that with a black indeli-
ble ink. Hence the name. As the White Bellies are said
to pay little respect to their idols and talapoins, we must
suppose that there is some Buddhism amongst them—
some, though not much. Their "character approaches that
of the Chinese, and it would not be difficult to convert
them to Christianity."
The Thaung Dari are more like the Siamese in temper,
more bigoted to their Buddhism, less likely to be ame-
nable to missionary influences. Their Buddhism, how-
ever, is imperfect; their native superstitions numerous.
Of the Laos superstitions, other than Buddhist, we
know thus much that certain genii and demons are, in
reality, more respected than the Buddhist idols. The
Phi-phrai, or wood-demons, are especially feared. Pene-
trate into the recesses of their forests, and you may never
be heard of again. It is doubly dangerous to do so during
the night. Your fate may be to be taken away from the
earth altogether, and transported to an enchanted land,
full of illusions, where you may live for years and years.
At the end, however, of a certain time you escape from
these supernatural scenes, shake off the magic influence,
and find yourself at your own door-step, as altered as Rip
Van Winkle; so altered that neither wife nor child shall
recognize you. Sometimes these same Phi-phrai smite the
trespasser on their grounds with fever.
The Phi-lok-the bugbears or bogies of Laos-delight
in frightening men and women at the turnings of roads,
and in sequestered parts of the forest. At night they
haunt the neighbourhood of houses and gardens, making
strange noises, putting on strange shapes.
The Phi-pob are gluttons. When one person wishes to
THE LAOS.
191
injure another he bribes a sorcerer to invoke a Phi-pob,
who enters the body of the victim, feeds upon his intes-
tines, and so kills him.
The Thevada are the tutelary deities who protect the
hut, and watch over the family. They are more good than
bad in the way of temper; yet require conciliation. They
must be treated well, or the rice crop will fail, the family
sicken, the undertaking fail. To gratify them do thus:
-erect at one end of the hut a small pyramid, and attach
to it some loose cotton threads. Let these blow into the
house, and the Thevada will enter along with them. For
the Thevada sits at the top of the pyramid, which is a good
place for a look-out. From the top of the pyramid the
Thevada keeps watch and ward against serpents and tigers,
against Phi-loks and Phi-pobs. Every family recognizes his
presence; and honours him with an altar, on which are
presented to him wax-candles, scented woods, arrack, and
rice-rice steaming hot. This is put for him every morning,
and every evening. He does not eat it all; not always
any part of it. It is the fragrant steam which he loves
to inhale. He is jovial in his tastes, but jealous; unwill-
ing to share the house with a guest. A stranger in a
Laos house, after three days' reception, is often requested
to depart for fear of offending the Thevadi.
The T'hay of the Chinese Province of Yunnan.-Some
members of the T'hay family are to be found within the
limits of the Chinese empire, in the province of Yunnan.
It is needless to say that we know nothing about them.
They are most likely Shans, or Laos, more or less modi-
fied by Chinese influences.
The Siamese Proper.-These are the occupants of the
lower part of the Menam, a river which is Thay or
Siamese, in the same way that the Nile is Ægyptian.
The occupancy of the Menam, as far as its course is
192
SIAMESE PROPER.
known, is wholly, or almost wholly, T'hay; and it is on
the alluvial soil of the Delta of the Menam that the T'hay
civilization attains its chief development. As the tribes
descended the stream they found a richer soil, a warmer
climate, and access to the sea. The Laos people are less rude
than the tribes to the north; the Siamese more refined than
the Laos. The present metropolis is Bankok; but when
Siam was first visited, Ayuthia, higher up the river, was
the capital.
Founded in the fourteenth century (1351), it was aban-
doned in the eighteenth (1751), when it was devastated by
the Burmese, and Bankok became the royal residence.
Mandelsloe visited it about 1640, and described it. The
king's palace was a town of itself. The temples, with gilt
steeples, amounted to 300. 400,000 inhabitants dwelt
within its impregnable walls; three leagues in circumfer-
ence. Of these only the outlines remain. A new city
has arisen near the old, but with curtailed proportions,
containing, perhaps, some 40,000 inhabitants. The king
visits it once a year; but his palace is meanly built of
teak and bamboo. One sacred edifice of great height,
half spire, half pyramid, represents its ancient glories.
That the stream of population ran from north to
south is probable; other facts, besides the ordinary pre-
sumptions, favouring this view. One of these is the
opinion of the Siamese themselves, who look upon the
Laosas the older people. Another will be suggested in
the sequel, when the languages of Pegu and Kambojia
have been noticed.
The differences between the Burmese of Ava, and the
Siamese of Bankok lie within narrow limits; the chief
difference being that of language. No dialect of the
T'hay is intelligible, or anything like intelligible, to a
Burmese. The alphabets, too, differ, though in a less
THE SIAMESE.
193
degree. The Buddhist creed and the Pali ritual are com-
mon to both. The Siamese cultus is, perhaps, somewhat
the more priestly of the two. The Siamese habits may
be somewhat more maritime and commercial. The con-
tact with foreigners may, perhaps, be greater in Bankok
than in Umerapura. The details of their dress and
ceremonial may differ. Upon the whole, however, the
essentials of their civilization are the same on both sides.
Some writers have described the Siamese as having more
than a Burmese share of the Chinese physiognomy and
frame; which may or may not be the case.
difference, as aforesaid, lies in the language.
The chief
The Laos alphabet slightly differs from that of the Sia-
mese Proper; more, perhaps, than does the language,
which is spoken with remarkable uniformity over the
whole T'hay area. From this I infer that the spread of
the T'hay population is recent. Practically speaking,
the Siamese Proper, the Laos, the Shan dialects, and the
Khamti, so far, at least, as they are known, are one. Such
being the case (philologically speaking) the T'hay is the
only member of its group, the only genus of its order.
Khamti.
English.
Laos.
Siamese.
Man
kun
khón
khón
Hair
phom
phom
phom
Head
ho
ho
hoa
Ear
pu
pu
pu
Eye
ta
ta
ta
Blood
lüt
leut
Bone
nuk
duk
leut
kaduk
Foot
tin
tin
tin
Hand
mü
mü
mü
Tooth
khui
khiau
khiau
Sun
wan
kangwan
tawan
Moon
lün
deun
tawan
Star
nau
lau
dau
Fire
fai
fai
Water
nam
Stonc
pin
Tree
tun
C
ton
nam
pin
fai
nam
pin
ton
VOL. I.
0
194
THE SIAMESE.
English.
Khamti.
Laos.
Siamese.
One
nüng
nüng
nüng
Two
song
song
song
Three
sam
sam
sam
Four
si
si
si
Five
ha
ha
ha
Six
hok
hok
hok
Seven
tset
tset
chet
Eight
pet
pet
pet
Nine
kau
kau
kau
Ten
sip
sip
sip
There is more foreign blood in Siam than in Ava. In
the port of Chantaburi, the Chinese and Cochinchinese
form a notable portion of the population. In the town
of Meklong, containing 10,000 inhabitants, more than
half are Chinese. Bongplasoi, a large fishing-town, is
chiefly Chinese. Paklat is a colony of nearly 7000 men
from Pegu. The Chinese generally marry Siamese women.
Of Portuguese half-bloods there are many. Of French
and Dutch blood there may be a little. Then there are
the Malays and Kambojians of the frontier. The chief
foreigners, however, are the Chinese. Pallegoix' table,
based upon calculations which can scarcely be called satis-
factory, gives us the following population. Whatever else
may do it shows the supposed number of the Chinese,
and the vast proportion they bear to the natives.
it
Siamese Proper
1,900,000
Laos
1,000,000
Chinese .
1,500,000
Malays
1,000,000
Kambojians
500,000
Môn (from Pegu)
50,000
Karen, Khong, &c.
50,000
Total
6,000,000
THE SIAMESE.
195
Like the Burmese, the Siamese have encroached on their
neighbours. There has been a T'hay conquest of Asam.
Kambojia pays tribute to both Siam and Cochinchina.
In the Malay Peninsula, Ligore, Kedah, Patani, Perak,
Kalantan, and Tringanu are, more or less, directly or indi-
rectly, under Siamese control.
Of trustworthy history, in Siam there is but little. It
may possibly begin about the middle of the fourteenth
century, when the southern capital Ayuthia was founded.
It pretends, of course, to a fabulous antiquity; the an-
tiquity of a Buddhist chronology. Wars with Burmah,
Pegu, and Kambojia, are what we expect and find.
The drama is, perhaps, inferior to that of Ava; the
lyrical poetry superior.
Of the T'hay music Craufurd speaks favourably; as
favourably, at least, as he speaks of anything belonging
to the T'hay country. Bowring does the same in respect
to the native airs of the Laos. Laos, or T'hay,—be it
which it may-the music has commanded the approbation
of more than one writer.
The sacred literature of the Siamese is in the Pali
language; the profane in the native tongue. In this
it is chiefly metrical; the epistolary correspondence of
ordinary life being the only kind of composition which
runs in prose. The songs are in verse ; the romances
in verse; the histories (such as they are) are in verse.
The dramatic performances are based on the romances,
the actors being left to improvise the dialogue.
Pali language is generelly called Bá-li or Pá-li, some-
times Pasa Makata or the language of Magadha (Bhasa
Magadha). There is a medical literature, of some extent,
in it.
The
Descending from the romance and drama, to the lower
amusements, we find the game of chess amongst the fore-
o 2
196
THE SIAMESE.
most; then puzzles with numbers, then gambling and
betting on cock-fights, and other contests stranger still.
A T'hay boy will fight crickets against each other, and
bet on the result. Then there is a fighting fish; small
in size, irritable in temper. He will attack a fellow fish
with violence, bristling up his fins, and showing all the
signs of ferocity and anger that so mute an animal can
show. He will fight his own self, when seen in a looking-
glass, and butt his own head against his own shadow.
On fish-fights, then, the Siamese will bet; and they will
ruin themselves at lotteries. All this is Chinese, Bur-
mese, and Malay as well.
Like the Japanese they enjoy and support pugilism.
They join, too, in boat-races; and delight in jugglery
and feats of leger-de-main. Children take pleasure in
flying kites, in which there is nothing remarkable. It is
only remarkable that adults should find pleasure in the
same childish amusement. So, however, they do; and
when certain winds prevail kite-fighting comes into season.
You entangle your kite with the kite of your adversary,
pull it down if you can, and then, if you can, get posses-
sion of it.
As both the T'hay and Laos populations are Buddhist
little is known concerning the original paganism of the
Siamese. Of superstitions there is abundance. I do not,
however, say that any are sufficiently characteristic to de-
mand a lengthened notice. There are official astrologers
attached to the Court. There is a class of modu or wise
men who give professional advice on the ordinary trans-
actions and events of common life. There is a widely-
diffused belief in amulets and talismans; there is a strong
partiality for odd numbers (much to the prejudice of any-
thing like the decimal system); there is a trust in philtres
and love-potions; there is a dread of ghosts and evil genii
;
THE SIAMESE.
197
there are strange doctrines connected with the gestation
of women, and the birth of children; and, lastly, there
are traces of alchemy; Arabic, no doubt, in origin. La
Loubere mentions one king of Siam who wasted 2,000,000
(sic) horses in pursuit of the philosopher's stone.
Magicians have the credit of being able to reduce buffa-
loes to the size of peas; which peas, after some unfortu-
nate individual has swallowed them, resume their original
dimensions, and burst his abdomen.
Servitude exists in several forms. There is the corvée,
or forced labour. Every Siamese is bound to give one-
third of the year to the service of the kings. Debtors,
like the nexi of republican Rome, have to work out the
extinction of their debts. Prisoners of war are absolute
slaves. The language itself is ceremonial, or, rather, I
should say, that there is a ceremonial language; a lan-
guage of humility on one side and assumption on the
other; but this we shall see more in Java and elsewhere.
In China the left hand is more honourable than the right;
in Siam the right more honourable than the left.
As the Nile is to Ægypt, so is the Menam to Siam. It
rises to a certain height before it does its due amount
of good. It sinks after attaining it; or else does mis-
chief. The swelling of its waters is the occasion of more
than one periodical ceremony.
The spirits of their ancestors are special objects of
reverence to the Siamese; and it is probable that in the
fact of their being so we find one of the most character-
istic elements of their original paganism.
The following is a Siamese ode:
Human tortures are not one hundred thousandth part equal to the
tortures of hell. He who is condemned by the king of hell will be
exceedingly tormented.
His sin has brought to pass that he is confined in a dungeon, bound to
a beam with chains, on account of his sin in unmercifully binding others
198
THE SIAMESE.
with fetters. They stretch him on a heated iron plate, they stab him,
his blood gushes forth, he dies, and is born again seven times in a
day.
Being greedy of rewards he feared not to lie; his tongue shall be
plucked out, because he judged unjustly.
When he was a judge, he threatened in order to extort money; having
received which, he held false evidence to be good. Assuredly, after his
death he shall not escape punishment; he did not pronounce judgment
in accordance with the truth, therefore will he be subject to hell for
a long period.
He was blind to crime, he despised the institutions of his ancestors;
therefore dogs as large as elephants, vultures, and ravens shall devour his
flesh.
The Siamese described by one of themselves, a T'hay
Theophrastus, are men of this fashion:-
"In the kingdom of Siam things are thus-viz. The men and women
have a form three cubits high (near five feet), it is generally agreed.
Some are three cubits and a half. A few are four cubits high; about one
man in a hundred.
"Another subject: The complexion of the Siamese is a dark red. Some
are light, and they dress after the same fashion. There is no difference.
They make their teeth black. They take the shell of a cocoa-nut, burn it
and take the dark water which comes out of the shell, and rub it on the
teeth. The teeth then become black. When the teeth are well blacked,
they take quicklime and spread it on seri leaf to be rolled up-they take
of betel-nut quartered, one part, and one seri leaf rolled up—they take
tobacco rolled up into a little ball about the size of the poot-sa fruit, and
all being prepared, they eat, taking the tobacco to wipe the teeth, and
then depositing it between the lips and the teeth.
((
Again: the men smoke cigars. These cigars they carry behind their
ears. Sometimes they also carry there a scented preparation made with
fragrant materials, and a wreath of flowers is worn on the wrist.
"Another subject: They preserve long finger nails. In the cool of
the day they take hog's fat to anoint the nails every day. Another way is
to take garlic to rub their nails, and the nails grow long very fast. They
take care not to do any labour-they only work at toys. The man who
keeps long finger-nails is a man of dissolute mind. His heart rides on
primpness. He is the master of harlots, and desires to deck himself that
he may stroll about and talk with the women that they may have a heart
to love him. Men of this sort are few; amongst a hundred men there will
be about forty.
At the present time, persons fancy pa-nungs. Chintz pleases the men.
Pa-nungs of alternate stripes of silk and gold thread-also chintz of a
THE SIAMESE.
199
very small blue and white check, with gold thread borders, please the
women.
Again: the men are pleased with pa-homs of black silk crape sewed
together, and also silk crape of various colours. If they wish them to
make merit, they can. If they wish to go anywhere, they can.
If they
wish to go to transact business, they can. If they wish to visit their rela-
tions, they can, according as they fancy a pa-nung or a pa-hom. There is
no particular choice. A pa-nung either dark, red, purple, green, light, or
scarlet, with a silk crape pa-hom, answers the same purpose. There is
particular choice.
"Again: the men cut off their hair. The shape of their hair is like the
lotus flower. They cut that hair all around even with the edge of the hair
on the forehead. On the back part they shave off the whole. They pre-
serve only what is on the crown.
"As to the women, they cut their hair like the open lotus flower. They
never shave, but preserve the whole head, trimming the forehead, the eye-
brows, and a small circle around the crown. And they bore their ears,
and insert ear-rings made with pure gold, set with jewels and precious
stones. They also wear finger-rings made with pure gold, and set in the
same way. They also wear guards—the strands being made with pure
gold. They have girdles; they have sashes; they have bracelets; and
their pa-homs are the same with those of the men mentioned above.
"Another subject: The children (male and female) dress themselves,
preserving a bunch of hair-some, about a cubit and a half long-others,
only a cubit; and it is twisted up into a knot on the crown of the head, and
a gold pin is stuck in, and a wreath encircles the knot. Bracelets encircle
the wrists, and anklets encircle the ankles. Strands of large beads also
encircle the wrists. A large badge is worn about the neck. A double
guard is worn athwart the breast, having a roll of gold sheeting strung
on it. The pa-nung being put on, they take a girdle and gird the
loins.
"All these ornaments which are used in the dress of children are made
with pure gold, set with jewels, precious stones, and jet; different ones
being made in different ways.
"Another subject: If one be a prince, he fares well. If one be the
child of a prince, he fares well. If one be the nephew of a prince, he
fares well. If one be the offspring of the royal family, he fares well.
Would such visit any one, he can. Would he walk for pleasure in any
direction, he can. Would he go anywhere, he has four men to carry him
on their shoulders. He has an umbrella spread over him. He has men
to attend him, and various marks of distinction-viz. a royal waiter, a
royal goglet, and a royal betel-bag prepared according to the rank of
princes.
("
Again: public officers and the children of public officers act according
to their several grades, agreeable to established customs.
"Another subject: Gardeners' and farmers' pa-nungs and pa-homs are
200
HAIRY FAMILY.
different. They are vulgarly short, and they wear a jacket and a hat
suitable to keep off the rays of the sun.
"We have a season in the first, second, and third months that is con-
sidered very cool. All the inhabitants of the exalted city put on jackets,
because it is very cool. But in the hot season the men prepare themselves
cloth of light materials, in width about two cubits, in length about two
cubits and a half, and they dip this pa-hom in water.
"In this explanation respecting the kingdom of Siam, the manner of
dressing is, in general, the same throughout the kingdom."
SIAMESE PROVERBS.
When you go into a wood, do not forget your wood-knife.
Place not your boat across the stream (in the way of the current).
An elephant, though he has four legs, may slip; and a doctor is not
always right.
Go up by land, you meet a tiger; go down by water, you meet a croco-
dile-(Difficulties on all sides.)
Nobility is seen in the race; good manners, in the individual.
If a dog bite you, do not bite him again.
He who lives under the sky should not fear the rain.
Nourish no worms that eat timber: i. e. Be cautious in the selection of
your friends.
I conclude with the following notices from two very
competent authorities of a Siamese generation of indi-
viduals covered with hair. Craufurd, who describes the
grandfather, writes: "Wallich and I took down on the
spot the following account of himself and his history.
His name was Shive-maong, and he stated himself to be
thirty years of age. He was a native of the district of
Maiyong-gyé, a country of Laos. The chief of the
country presented him to the king as a curiosity when a
child of five years of age, and he had remained in Ava ever
since. His height was five feet three inches and a half,
which is about the ordinary stature of the Burmese. His
form was slender, if compared with the usually robust
make of the Hindoo-Chinese races, and his constitution is
rather delicate. In his complexion there was nothing
remarkable, although upon the whole he was perhaps
HAIRY FAMILY.
201
The
rather fairer than the ordinary run of the Burmese.
colour of his eyes was a dark brown, not so intense as
that of the ordinary Burman. The same thing may be
said of the hair of the head, which was also a little finer
in texture, and less copious.
"The whole forehead, the cheeks, the eyelids, the nose,
including a portion of the inside, were covered with a
about fine hair. On the forehead and cheeks this was
eight inches long, and on the nose and chin about four
inches. In colour it was of a silvery gray; its texture was
silky, lank, and straight. The posterior and interior sur-
face of the ears, with the inside of the external ear, were
completely covered with hair of the same description as
that on the face, and about eight inches long: it was this
chiefly which contributed to give his whole appearance,
at first sight, an unnatural, and almost inhuman aspect.
He may be strictly said to have had neither eye-lashes,
eye-brows, nor beard, or at least they were supplanted by
the same silky hair which enveloped the whole face. He
stated that when a child, the whole of this singular cover-
ing was much fairer than at present. The whole body,
with the exception of the hands and feet, was covered
with hair of the same texture and colour as that now de-
scribed, but generally less abundant: it was most plentiful
over the spine and shoulders, where it was five inches
long over the breast, it was about four inches long: it
was scanty on the fore-arms, the legs, thighs, and abdomen.
We thought it not improbable that this singular integu-
ment might be periodically or occasionally shed, and
inquired, but there was no ground for this surmise. It
was quite permanent.
"Although but thirty years of age, Shive-maong had, in
some respects, the appearance of a man of fifty-five or
sixty. This was owing to a singularity connected with
202
HAIRY FAMILY.
the formation of the teeth, and the consequent falling in
of the cheeks. On inspecting the mouth, it was dis-
covered that he had in the lower jaw but five teeth,
namely, the four incisors and the left canine; and in the
upper, but four; the two outer ones of which partook of
the canine form. The molares, or grinders, were of course
totally wanting. The gums, where they should have
been, were a hard, fleshy ridge; and, judging from
appearances, there was no alveolar process. The few
teeth he had were sound, but rather small; and he had
never lost any from disease. He stated that he did not
shed his infantine teeth till he was twenty years of age,
when they were succeeded, in the usual manner, by the
present set. He also expressly asserted that he never had
any molares, and that he experienced no inconvenience
from the want of them.
"The features of this individual were regular and good
for a Burmese. The intellectual faculties were by no
means deficient; on the contrary, he was a person of very
good sense, and his intelligence appeared to us to be
rather above than below the ordinary Burmese stan-
dard.
"He gave the following account of the manner in which
the hairy covering made its appearance. At his birth, his
ears alone were covered with hair, about two inches long,
and of a flaxen colour. At six years of age, hair began
to grow on the body generally, and first on the forehead.
He distinctly stated that he did not attain the age of
puberty till he was twenty years old.
"Shive-maong was married about eight years ago, or
when twenty-two years of age; the king, as he stated
himself, having made him a present of a wife. By this
woman he has had four children, all girls; the eldest died
when three years of age, and the second, when eleven
HAIRY FAMILY.
203
months old. There was nothing remarkable in their form.
The mother, rather a pretty Burmese woman, came to us
to-day along with her third and fourth child. The eldest,
about five years of age, was a striking likeness of her mother,
and a pretty, interesting child, without any malconforma-
tion whatever, or, indeed, anything to distinguish her
from an ordinary healthy child. She began to teeth at
the usual period, and had all her infantine teeth complete
at two years of age.
"The youngest child was about two years and a half old,
a very stout, fine infant: she was born with hair within
the anterior portion of the ear. At six months old it
began to appear all over the ears, and at one year old on
different parts of the body. This hair was of a light,
flaxen colour, and of a fine silky texture. When two
years of age, and not until then, she got a couple of in-
cisor teeth in each jaw, but had as yet neither canine nor
molares. Shive-maong assured us that none of his parents
or relations, and, as far as he knew, none of his country-
men were marked like himself.”
The complement to Mr. Crauford's notice of the father
is Mr. Yule's of the daughter and the grandchild. "The
whole of Maphons" (so she was named) "is more or
less covered with hair. On a part of the cheek, and
between the nose and mouth, this was confined to a
short down, but over all the rest of the face was a thick
silky hair of a brown colour, paleing about the nose
and chin, four or five inches long at the alae of the
nose, under the eye, and on the cheek-bone this was very
fully developed, but it was in and on the ear that it was
most extraordinary. Except the extreme upper lip no
part of the face was visible. All the rest was filled and
veiled by a large mass of silky hair, growing apparently
out of every part of the external organ, and hanging in a
204
HAIRY FAMILY.
dependent lock to a length of eight or ten inches. The hair
over her forehead was brushed so as to blend with the
hair of her head, the latter being dressed (as usual with
her countrywomen) à la chinoise. It was not so thick as
to conceal altogether the forehead.
"The nose, densely covered with hair as no animal's is
as I know of, and with long, fine locks, curving out and
pendant like the wisps of a fine sky terrier's coat, had a
most strange appearance. The beard was pale in colour
and about four inches in length, seemingly very soft and
silky.
Her
"Her manners were good and modest, her voice soft and
feminine, and her expression mild and not unpleasing,
after the first instinctive repulsion was overcome.
appearance rather suggested the idea of a pleasant-looking
woman masquerading than that of anything brutal.
"Her neck, bosom, and arms appeared to be covered
with a fine pale down scarcely visible in some lights. She
made a move as if to take off her upper clothing, but
reluctantly, and we prevented it.
"Her husband and two boys accompanied her. The
elder boy, about four or five years old, had nothing ab-
normal about him. The youngest, who was fourteen
months old and still at the breast, was evidently taking
after his mother. There was little hair on the head, but
the child's ear was full of long silky floss, and it could
boast a mustache and beard of pale silky down that
would have cheered the heart of many a count. In fact,
the appearance of the child agrees almost exactly with
what Mr. Crauford says of the mother as an infant.
"This child is thus the third descent exhibiting this
strange peculiarity, and in this third generation, as in the
two preceding, this peculiarity has only appeared in one
individual. Maphons has the same dental peculiarity
HAIRY FAMILY.
205
also that her father had, the absence of the canine teeth
and grinders, the back part of the gum presenting
merely a hard ridge. Still she chews pawn like her
neighbours."
When we remember the Siamese twins, it seems as if
the valley of the Menam were prodigal of abnormalities.
The distribution, however, of the several deviations from
the ordinary standard of the human form over different
countries has yet to obtain the attention it deserves.
Considering how little we know of Siam at all, the pro-
minence of wonderful men, women, and children in our
accounts is remarkable. The country of the white
elephants is also the country of strange human beings.
Mr. Hunter describes an aquatic child:-
“Mr. Hunter sent for us to witness a sight which in
more enlightened countries than Siam would be considered
equally strange. It was a young child sporting in the
water as in its native element, with all the buoyancy and
playfulness of a fish. Its evolutions are astonishing,
sometimes rolling over with a rapid motion and apparently
no exertion, then turning round like a hoop by bending
its face under, as it lies on its back, and throwing its feet
under its head. It floats like a cork, with no apparent.
motion of any of the muscles; occasionally allows itself
to sink till only half of the head is seen, dives, holds its
face under water enough to alarm those who are ignorant
of its powers, and yet appears to breathe as easily as
though it had suffered no suspension of respiration.
From its actions and countenance it is evidently de-
lighted with the exercise, evinces no fatigue nor the least
apprehension, and often cries when taken up. It is a
singular object, both in and out of the water. It is three
years old, very small, can neither speak nor walk, is very
206
HAIRY FAMILY.
defective in sight, will take nothing but its earliest pro-
vision,-in fact, appears quite idiotic, and has exhibited
the same fondness for the water, and peculiar feats in it,
from the first year of its age, the first time that it was
tried."
1:
1
THE MÔN OF PEGU.
207
CHAPTER IX.
The Môn of Pegu.
THE head-waters of the Irawadi are Burmese. So is
the middle course. But not the Delta.
The Delta of the Irawadi is Môn; Môn being the name
of the native population of Pegu and the provinces of
Martaban. In both these districts there is a Burmese
population. In both, however, it has the appearance of
being foreign to the soil. The aborigines call themselves.
Môn. Their neighbours call them Talieng. The Môn,
or Talieng, is the vernacular language of Pegu.
It is quite unintelligible to a Burmese; quite unin-
telligible to a Siamese. The alphabet, also, in which it is
written is slightly different; though equally of Indian
origin. Like the T'hay and Burmese it is essentially the
alphabet of the Pali form of speech. Like all alphabets
of this kind it embodies a Buddhist literature; of which,
however, but little is known.
In the 16th century the king of Pegu seems to have
been a powerful monarch; inasmuch as the T'hay histories
speak of a Pegu invasion of Siam, and a Pegu conquest.
Whether, however, the leading men in this event were
actual Môn is uncertain. A conquest from the kingdom
of Pegu may have been effected by Burmese.
The Môn are now British; Moulmein or Amherst
having been ceded to us at the close of the Burmese war
of 1825, and the remainder in 1853. The condition of
the inhabitants under their previous rulers is believed, on
208
THE MÔN OF PEGU.
fair evidence, to have been that of a very oppressed and
misgoverned population.
English.
Mon.
T'hay.
Burmese.
Man
bani
manut
lu
Head
kadap
hoa
k'haung
Eye
mot
paned
Mouth
pan
pak
Sun
man-tangwe
p'hraatid
myitsi
n'hok
na
Moon
man-katok
p'hraachan
la
Star
nong
dao
kc'nekkat
Sky
taka
fa
moh
Fire
kamet
fai
Water
dat
nam
mih
re
River
bukbi
menam
myit
Sea
talle
talle
pengle
Stone
kamok
hin
kyauk
Mountain
tu
fukao
taung
One
muo
nung
tit
Two
ba
song
n'hit
Three
pai
sam
tong
Four
pol
gi
le
Five
pasun
ha
nga
Six
ka-rao
hok
k'hyauk
Seven
ka-bok
chet
k'hown'hit
Eight
ka-cham
pet
8'hit
Nine
ka-chit
kao
ko
Ten
chok
sib
tase
Word for word, the Burmese name of the Môn, Talieng,
is Telinga. That an important and influential settlement
was made in Pegu by certain Hindus of the Telinga dis-
tricts is highly probable. More than this, in the way of a
direct affinity between the Môn and Indians, cannot safely
be asserted. The nearest relation to the language of Pegu
seems to be that of the Kho, or Kamer, of Kambojia.
THE KHO OF KAMBOJIA.
209
CHAPTER X.
The Kho, or Kamer, of Kambojia.
The
THE Môn occupied the Delta of the Irawadi; the Kho
occupy that of the Mekhong. Pegu was the country of
the Môn. The Kho are the natives of Kambojia.
Môn differ from the Burmese in language; agreeing with
them in creed. The Kambojians do the same with the
Siamese; the Kho and T'hay languages being mutually
unintelligible. At the same time the alphabet of each is
a modification of the Pali.
Lying between Siam and Cochinchina, the kingdom of
Kambojia has had the ordinary history of areas similarly
situated. When it has been strong it has struck its own
blows; to the right and to the left. When it has been
weak it has been stricken on both sides. When the Por-
tuguese first discovered the country its power was at or
near its zenith; and Siam, and Cochinchina were, at best,
but its equals. At present they encroach upon it; yet,
jealous of each other, leave it a modicum of independence.
So that, with the parts to the east of the Mekhong under
Cochinchina, and with the western side under Siam,
there is still a central portion under the king of Kambojia,
whose port is Kampot (whence the name of the country),
and whose capital is Ujong, and whose four provinces
are Potisat and Kampong Suai, in the interior, and Kam-
pong and Kampot Son on the coast. The population of
these is about 500,000, of which about 400,000 are of
VOL. I.
P
210
THE KHO OF KAMBOJIA.
the Kho family, the rest being Chinese, Cochinchinese,
Siamese, Malays, Portuguese, and half-bloods.
English.
Kambojia.
Ka.
Khong.
Mon.
Mun
manus
rum
bani
Head
kabal
tuwi
tos
kadap
Eye
panek
mat
mat
mot
Mouth
mat
boar
raneng
pan
Sun
tangai
tangi
tangi
man-tangwe
Moon
ke
kot
kang
man-katok
Star
pakai
patua
sum
nong
Sky
kor
krem
pleng
taka
Fire
plung
un
pleu
kamet
Water
tak
dak
tak
dat
River
tanle
dak-tani
talle
bukbi
Sea
sarmot
talle
Stone
tamo
tamoe
tamot
kamok
Mountain
pnom
manam
nong
tu
One
moe
moe
moe
mue
Two
pir
bur
bar
ba
Three
bai
peh
peh
pai
Four
buan
puan
pon
pol
Five
pram
chang
pram
pasun
Six
pram-moe
trao
ka-dom
ka-rao
Seven
pram-pil
puh
ka-nul
ka-bok
Eight
pram-bai
tam
ka-ti
ka-cham
Nine
pram-buan
chin
ka-sar
ka-chit
T'en
dap
chit
rai
choh
The Ka and Khong (the Gueo of the Portuguese)
are rude tribes either actually pagan or imperfectly
Buddhist. Little or nothing is known concerning them,
except that they are elephant hunters, and that the
great epic poet of Portugal in his Lusiad describes them
as cannibals; tattooed cannibals. That they coloured their
own flesh is likelier than that they fed upon their neigh-
bours'.
ANAM, OR COCHINCHINA, AND TONKIN.
211
CHAPTER XI.
Cochinchina and Tonkin.
ALTHOUGH the exact details of the boundary between
the Burmese and Siamese areas are unknown, I have little
hesitation in committing myself to the doctrine that the
two stocks are conterminous; by which I mean that of
the numerous rude tribes of the hill or mountain, the
forest or the jungle, there is none which cannot be referred
to one of the two divisions. Mutatis mutandis, this is what
will apply to the boundary between Siam and Kambojia;
also to the boundary between Kambojia and Cochinchina.
The ethnology of Cochinchina is also that of Tonkin;
the language, manners, and physical conformation of the
occupants of the two countries being the same. The collec-
tive name for them is Anam, or Annam; whence we get the
adjectives Anamese or Anamitic, as the name of the group,
which is a section of the division to which the Chinese
belong. The Chinese form of Annam is Ngannan. The
Tonkinese call the Cochinchinese Kuang and Kekuang;
names which are, probably, the same as Khyen and
Kakhyen. The Cochinchinese, on the other hand, call
the Tonkinese Kebak.
The Anamese are said to be the lightest coloured of all
the tribes of the trans-gangetic peninsula; it being also
stated that they are the most warmly and completely clothed.
Their average height is low: a fact to which both Crau-
P 2
212
ANAM, OR
furd and Finlayson bear witness. The former considers
them to be lower in stature than any people of Central
Asia; the latter compares them with the Chinese, but
makes their average height something less. The upper
extremities are long, the lower short and stout, at least
with the males; who, if squat and somewhat ill-favoured
in aspect, are hardy and active. The women, on the
other hand, are disproportionately fairer and handsomer
than the men, for their extremities are well formed, and
the carriage, even amongst the lower orders, is graceful.
The form of the skull is more globular than square, the
eyelids less turned than those of the Chinese. The mouth
is large, the lips more prominent than thick, the mustache
more abundant than the beard. Craufurd compares their
features to those of the Malays, except that they bear
none of the Malay expression of ferocity, but, on the con-
trary, exhibit good-humour and cheerfulness. And this
seems to be their character. The lower orders are eminently
lively, talking and laughing as if their government were
as satisfactory and agreeable as it is despotic and oppres-
sive. The higher classes, however, are solemn and decorous,
after the manner of the Chinese. Their dress is that of
the Chinese before they adopted that of their Mongol con-
querors. It varies but little with the sex, consisting, with
both men and women, of loose trousers, and a loose frock
reaching half-way down the thigh. The sleeves are loose;
and when the wearer has no need to labour, hang a foot or
foot and a half over the fingers. The ankles and neck
only go bare. The hair is worn long, and put up in a
knot at the back of the head: this, too, being the old and
original Chinese practice. A straw hat, which is some-
times in the form of an inverted basin and sometimes like
a sugar loaf, which is of great breadth in the rim, and
which is constantly worn out of doors, is a good fence
COCHINCHINA, AND TONKIN.
213
against the sun. As to the materials of the clothing, they
are generally of silk or cotton; oftener of silk than in any
other country. Metallic ornaments are far rarer. White
is the colour of the national flag-white is the colour
for mourning: but the royal colour is yellow or orange.
The use of the cigar, and of the usual masticatories, is
universal.
The government is despotic, and the punishments cruel;
the religion is Buddhist, but latitudinarian, as in China.
There is little vitality in any of their venerational feelings,
save and except those which are so embodied in the respect
shown towards the manes of their ancestors.
In all this they agree with the countries in their neigh-
bourhood; with Siam, with Burmah, with China itself.
The miserable fooleries of the medicine-man of the North-
American Indians are not more American than Siberian
(for where is the tribe of Northern or Central Asia that
has not its shamans?), and not more Siberian than Ana-
mitic. Buddhism should expel such follies. Yet the
Buddhist countries, one and all, are full of them. The
exorcisers in Tonkin and Cochinchina have " their books
by which they pretend to find out the cause and result of
all sickness, and never miss to tell the sick party that his
distemper proceeds from the devil, or some water-gods,
and pretend to cure it by the noise of drums, bassoons,
and trumpets. The conjuror of this tribe is habited very
antickly, and sings very loud, and makes hideous noises,
pronouncing many execrations, and jumping and skipping
as if the devil were really in him; and all this while there
is a store of victuals prepared for an offering to the devil,
but it is eaten by himself; and he will continue this sport
for several days, till the patient be either dead or re-
covered, and then he can give an answer with some cer-
tainty. It belongs to them to dispossess such as are pos-
214
ANAMITIC SHAMANS.
sessed by the devil, which is the ultimate of their con-
juration, and is commonly effected in this manner :-They
curse and most impiously invoke-I do not know what
demon; and they paint the pictures of devils with hor-
rible faces, on yellow paper, which is fixed to the wall of
the house. Then they fall to bawling so terribly, and
scream so loud, dancing and skipping as is most ridicu-
lous, sometimes fearful to see and hear. They also bless
and consecrate new houses; and if they be suspected to
be haunted, they drive the devil out of them by their con-
juration, and the firing of muskets."
Buddhism takes no cognizance of processions like the
following; which form part of the ceremonies by which
the new year is opened:
"The King, general, and prince, with most of the man-
darins of the court, on this solemn occasion, go before
break of day severally to a place at the south end of the
city, purposely built for this occasion, with three gates
different from their other pagodas; neither are there any
images in the house. Here they stay without in sundry
apartments till daylight. The King, in the meantime, is
to wash his body, and put on new clothes never worn be-
fore.
"About eight of the clock a piece of ordnance is
fired; on which signal the general, prince, and mandarins
repair to the King, to do homage, though it extends, as
to the general and prince, no further than a bare point of
formality. This compliment passes in silence, yet with
much state and gravity on both sides; then immediately
the second signal of a gun is heard, whereupon the King
is accompanied to the gates of the said house, which are
all shut; whereat he knocks, and is by the door-keeper
asked who he is. He answers, The King,' and they let
him in; but none may enter with him, that being con-
ANAMITIC SHAMANS.
215
trary to their superstition. Thus he does three several
times till he comes into the house, where he falls to his
devotion and supplications, having kept a strict fast to
his gods, after their mode; which done, he seats himself
in a gilt chair, placed in the yard of the said house; and
having paused a little, a plough with a buffalo tied to it,
in the same manner as they use them for tilling the ground,
is presented him, who, holding it by the place usually
taken hold of when they work it, he blesses the country,
and teaches the people, by this emblem, that none should
be ashamed to be a husbandman, and that the diligent,
industrious, and provident, especially in the culture of
the ground, may certainly expect the enjoyment of their
labour and pains.
I am informed by some that at the same time the cere-
mony of the cups is used; others again contradict that, and
affirm it to be on the day of installing the new King.
"Be it when it will, the manner is thus: on a bandesia
or lacquered table stand several cups, with prepared vic-
tuals in them; and, among the rest, there is one with boiled
white rice, another with yellow rice, one with water, and
one with herbs or greens. All these cups are nearly
covered with fine paper, and with starch fastened thereon,
so that one cannot be known from another. One of these
the King takes at adventure, which is immediately opened,
and if he lights on the yellow rice there is great rejoicing,
because it portends (as they believe) plenty in the land; if
on the white rice, a good harvest; if water, an indifferent
year; but the herbs or greens are extremely bad, denoting
great mortality, famine and desolation; and so of the rest
of the cups, every one hath its particular signification and
augury, according to what their superstition and idolatry
dictates.
"With this ends this grand ceremony."
216
ANAMITIC SHAMANS.
It is not the only one. The agency of evil spirits is
believed in throughout the whole length and breadth of
the land; but it is also believed that some ceremonies will
propitiate, and that others will frighten them. On a cer-
tain day towards the end of February, the general of the
empire prepares himself for a grand demonstration. The
procession is formed. Three blows are given to an enor-
mous drum.
"On this signal the general comes from the arsenal to
the place where the soldiers stand in order, and enters the
house prepared for him. In a while after three other
strokes are given on a great copper bassoon or gong, in the
same manner as on the drum for distance of time; the
general beginneth then to offer meat offerings to the crimi-
nal devils and malevolent spirits (for it is usual and cus-
tomary likewise amongst them to feast the condemned
before their execution), inviting them to eat and drink,
when presently he accuses them in a strange language, by
characters and figures, &c., of many offences and crimes
committed by them, as to having disquieted the land,
killed his elephants and horses, &c., for all which they
justly deserve to be chastised and banished the country.
Whereupon three great guns are fired as the last signal;
upon which all the artillery and muskets are discharged,
that, by their most terrible noise, the devils may be driven
away; and they are so blind as to believe for certain that
they really and effectually put them to flight.
"At noon every one may feast himself at his own cost,
but the soldiers are fed with the offered meat.'
More effectually to terrify the evil genii, the Tonkinese
give their children strange names, changing them when
they think that the children are old enough to be indepen-
dent. They let six or seven tufts of hair grow to diffe-
rent lengths; this in honour of one idol, that to the glory
ANAMITIC SHAMANS.
217
of another. At the beginning of the year they set up
hideous figures before their doors.
The first of these two ceremonies is called Bovidiyaw;
the second Thekkydaw. The magicians, medicine-men,
or shamans, fall into four classes; being either Thay-bu,
or Thay-bu-twe; either Thay-bu-di-lye, or Bacote, the
last named being the lowest of all. The name for either
the shamans in general, the belief in them, or the believ-
ers is Lanzo.
Marriage takes place later than in most of the other
parts of Asia; for if the rich sometimes marry at fifteen,
the poor often remain single till thirty. The age of the
female is from seventeen to twenty, at least in the lower
orders. In no country-our own not excepted—is the
date of the marriage more regulated by the ways and
means of the parties contracting. A Cochinchinese mar-
ries as soon as he can; but his wife must be purchased.
Marriages are indissoluble; but, as polygamy is habitual,
the first wife has a pre-eminence over the others. Abor-
tion is commoner than infanticide, and a violation of the
laws of chastity amongst unmarried women commoner than
either. Adultery, however, is an offence of the gravest
nature, of which the legal punishment, though often com-
muted for milder penalties, is death. Without being
jealously confined, as in the Turk and Persian parts of
Asia, the Anamitic women are coarsely and often brutally
treated. The infliction of corporeal punishment on an
offending wife passes without comment, and as a matter of
course.
Less industrious than the Chinese, the Cochinchinese
are also less ingenious. Their arts, however, are the
same in kind, though on a lower level of excellence.
218
English.
Cochiuchina.
Cochinchina.
ANAM, OR COCHINCHINA, AND TONKIN.
Chinese.
Tonkin.
Man
nga'oi
danon
nguoi
nan
Head
dau
tu
drâu
t'eu
Eye
male
mok
mok
mu
Mouth
mieng
kau
kau
k'eu
Sun
mat-troi
nhet
nit
zhe
Moon
mat-tran
blang
blang
yue
Star
sao
sao
sao
sing
Sky
troi
bloei
bloei
ti'an
Fire
lu'a
hoa
hoa
kuo
Water
nu'oe
nak
nak
shui
River
song
sou
sou
kiang
Sea
bien
be
be
khai
Stone
da
ta
dra
shi
Mountain
nui
nui
nui
sham
One
mot
mot
mot
i
Two
hai
hai
hai
öl
Three
ba
teng
tam
san
Four
bon
bon
bon
syu
Five
nam
lang
lam
ngu
Six
sau
lak
luk
lu
Seven
bay
bai
bai
zi
Eight
tam'
tang
tam
pa
Nine
chin'
chin
chim
kui
Ten
mu'oi
taap
tap
shi
The Anam analogues of the Ka and Chong, the rude
tribes of the more impracticable parts, are the tribes of
the Nguon, Moi, Romoi, Kemoi and, Diditsh (all un-
known in detail), who occupy the mountain ranges between
Tonkin and Cochinchina, and Cochinchina and Kam-
bojia. The Tshampa will be mentioned in the sequel.
THE CHINESE.
219
CHAPTER XII.
The Chinese. The Name.-Civilization.-Its Date.-Neither very
Early nor Self-developed.-Moral and Physical Character of the Chinese.
-Conditions of Soil and Climate.-Foreign Influences.-India.—Syria.
THE Chinese have no truly national name; the name by
which they are described in the present and all other
European notices of them being one which is unknown
in China. Sometimes the inhabitants call their country
by the name of the ruling dynasty; sometimes they give
it some fanciful designation. They are, for instance, the
people of the Celestial Empire, the people of the Central
Empire, the people of the Flower of the Centre. If
these be over complimentary, the terms under which they
describe the populations of the rest of the world are any-
thing but eulogistic. The Sifan of the Tibetan frontier,
are the western, the English and other Europeans the
outer, Barbarians. That the ideas conveyed by the
original expressions are both less offensive on one side
and less flattering on the other than they appear in the
current translations is likely enough, for the genius of the
Chinese language is far removed from that of the tongues
of Europe. At the same time the absence of a definite
common-sense name, with the use of an absurd circum-
locution in its stead, is a fact which has always commanded
the attention of geographers. It certainly stands out with
greater prominence in China than elsewhere; though
something of the kind may be found in most of the em-
pires of the far East.
220
THE CHINESE.
The name China itself, a modification of Sin, Tshin,
Dzhin, and other allied terms, is probably Indian in origin;
and, being Indian, it is Persian, Arabic, Malay, and
European also. It is an old name, being, word for word,
the Sinæ (Thina) of the classical writers. Whether this
exactly denoted the Chinese in general, or any portion of
them, is uncertain. It was a name by which the Indians,
and other populations between Europe and the extreme
East, denoted the occupants of certain countries beyond
their own. Respecting the name, Seres, which many have
applied to the ancient Chinese, I have elsewhere main-
tained that no such population existed; the argument
being that the similarity between the word serik as the
name for silk, and the adjective Enpinn (Seriké), which
would be the name for the country of the Seres, first en-
gendered the local, and, after that, the national name--not
as geographical facts, but as etymological deductions.
One thing is certain, that if the Chinese, during the
flourishing periods of Greece and Rome, were a polished
and powerful people, their power and polish were utterly
unknown to the lettered nations of the West. They were
not even a mystery to stimulate their curiosity and awaken
their imagination. The Sinæ, or Thinæ, for all that is
said to the contrary by any Greek or Roman writer, may
have been amongst the rudest of the tribes of Asia. The
Seres, as the men whose country produced so costly an
article as silk, and who wore it on their persons, may have
been held in higher estimation-though except in the
later writers we have no proof of even this. But the
Seres were not a population at all eo nomine. They were
simply the occupants of the silk-producing country, where-
ever and whatever that was.
Of the notices of China in Indian compositions I
can say but little.
They may, or may not, occur in the
THE CHINESE.
221
earliest works on Buddhism. Let them, however, appear
as early as they may, they are no evidence to that extreme
antiquity which so many writers have attributed to the
Chinese civilization, and which is sometimes supposed to
transcend that of India itself.
It is clear, that if this be the case it must be a thorough
homegrowth of the soil of China, developed out of itself,
and independent of foreign influences. For whence could
they have come? There is nothing in the history of Tibet,
Siam or Ava which carries us back to any very remote
period; less in that of Turkestan or Mongolia. India,
on the other hand, was, at an early period, in continuity
with countries like Bactria and Persia, which, in their
turn, were continuous with Assyria, Phoenicia, and
Greece.
If the civilization of China be older than that of India, or
(if not older) independent of it, it gives us so remarkable
a phenomenon in the history of the world at large that
we may well ponder over, and wonder at, the intellectual
constitution of the people who developed it. But this
very fact raises a presumption against its being the case.
Add to this, as a second presumption against it, its
stationary character. England passes for a nation in
which progress is rapid; and so it is, inasmuch as many
of the great inventions and discoveries which have accele-
rated our onward movements are quite recent. They were
made. They were used. No time was lost in applying
them. They bore fruit; and they bore it soon. Our
reputation for progress is formed accordingly.
what, if steam were as old as the time of Alfred, printing
a familiar process in the reign of Ecbert, and gunpowder
known to the ancient Britons, the present conditions of
our arts, science, and literature remaining as it is, neither
better nor worse? In such a case we could scarcely be
But
222
THE CHINESE.
called progressive, though not without high claims to
a civilization—very respectable and very stationary.
How long has the civilization of China remained as it
is? Perhaps as long as 3000 years. If so, it is disgrace-
fully remarkable for its immobility. Perhaps only 300.
If so, it has gone forwards less rapidly than we expect à
priori. Still, it has not sunk in absolute torpor. Between
extremes of this kind there may be any number of inter-
mediate points. It is only certain that where the absence
of progress is so extreme as to simulate absolute immobility
for a long series of years, the primary fact of its antiquity
becomes questionable. There is a certain amount of pre-
sumption against all cases of antiquity, simply because
things are oftener lost than kept. There is an additional
amount of presumption against it when this antiquity is
sterile, i. e. when early discoveries remain as they were at
first, without developing themselves into anything better.
Still, it is only so much presumption after all—so much
presumption which so much evidence on the other side
may outweigh. Is this evidence forthcoming in the case
of China? I answer this question, without hesitation, in
the negative. That China in the time of the Athenian
and Roman republics was, even in kind, the China of the
nineteenth century I neither believe nor pretend to be-
lieve. That when Greece had its Thales, the Celestial
Empire had its Confucius I hold to be improbable and
unproven. That there was printing and gunpowder, and
paper money in Pekin and Nankin, before there was
printing, gunpowder, and paper-money in Genoa or
Venice is incompatible with the general history of human
civilization. The presumptions are against such being
the case; and the testimony is insufficient to neutralize
them. It is more probable that such things, though non-
existent, should be imagined; more probable that they
THE CHINESE.
223
should be claimed by a vain nation unduly, and admitted
by uncritical writers on insufficient evidence than that
they should actually have had a bond fide real existence.
The main argument to the contrary rests upon the ac-
counts of the Chinese themselves; accounts which have
not, as yet, been submitted to more criticism than had
the Epistles of Phalaris, before Bentley wrote, or the
Epics of Ossian before Johnson had asked for the ori-
ginals. Individually, I believe, that until Buddhism was
introduced from India, the Chinese were in the condi-
tion of the Khyens, Nagas, and similar wild tribes; ex-
cept in certain favoured localities along the alluvia of
rivers. In these, there was probably a barbarous tiller
of the soil, instead of a barbarous feeder of flocks and
herds; an unlettered farmer instead of an unlettered
grazier. Such, I hold to have been the imaginary cotem-
poraries of an unreal Confucius.
·
If the Chinese developed an independent civilization
they differed from their neighbouring nations, not in degree
but in kind. Denying that they did this, I by no
means take exception to a moderate view of their supe-
riority. As a political power, they are immeasurably
more important than all the rest of their congeners put
together. There is, probably, no art in which the Siamese
or Burmese excel the rude tribes, in which they are not
themselves excelled by the Chinese. Their industrial
energy and commercial aptitude are generally recognized.
Politically speaking China is all in all. The area itself
of China Proper is large; but to China Proper Tibet is a
dependency. Though Ladakh at the present moment
belongs to Ghúlab Singh and the East India Company,
it was once Tibetan and (as such) Chinese. Though Bul-
tistan is now Sikh, it was once a dependency of Ladakh ;
as such Tibetan; as such Chinese. China here, China
224
THE CHINESE.
there, China everywhere. From Nepaul the Chinese pro-
fess to have taken tribute. If they have not done this,
they have been in intimate political relations. The
Ghorka (Ku-ru-ka-li) were reckoned upon as auxiliaries
in the last war; and they may possibly be looked to in
the present. In Lin's report, the English are said to
respect three hostile powers beyond the pale of China,
viz. Russia, France, and the United States, and to fear
four of the Chinese tributaries-Cochinchina, Siam, Ava,
and Nepaul. Cochinchina carries with it a part of Kam-
bojia, just as Ava carries with it Pegu. Now with Ava
there is, at least, this much in the way of politics. The
frontiers touch. Some of the Shan states pay tribute to
both Ava and China. There are, then, between them wars,
treaties, and standing agreements. I cannot say that what
is done by Siam may not be done by the Burmese also.
The Siamese pay something to China. What it is is a
matter for diplomatists to decide. The Chinese call it tri-
bute. The Siamese consider it a sort of licence to trade.
It is, certainly, compatible with a practical independence.
Again, the nearest approach to freedom of trade and inter-
course that is permitted to any nation by the Japanese is
permitted to China. The Dutch can do more with those
cunning islanders than all the rest of Europe put together.
But the Chinese can do more than the Dutch. Much of
the civilization of Japan is Chinese in origin. So is that
of Korea.
Bringing all these points together, bringing in also
Mongolia and Chinese Turkistan (Chinese Tartary), we
make up a whole world over which the influence of China
is to be felt; and it may be added that it is felt where that
of no other country is to be found. What does the little
Tibetan either know or care about Siam?
Burmese of Ava to the Gurung or Magar?
What is the
To each and
THE CHINESE.
225
all of these, however, China is a reality and a power. It
is safe to say that what Turkey is to the Mahometan, that is
China in the Buddhist, world.
With this it is, as nearly as may be, co-extensive. It ex-
tends up to its boundaries
to its boundaries; and it extends but little
further. Cross the Himalayas from Tibet; cross the Paro-
pamisus; cross the Russian frontier. The decidedly Chinese
characteristics either wane or disappear; and things are
Hindu, Persian, Uzbek, or Moscovite, as the case may be.
The superiority of the Chinese in the art of war may
possibly be denied. It is one which they may easily have
lost for want of exercise. To which it may be added that,
even here, the loss is apparent rather than real. If the
soldiers have but few opportunities of exhibiting their
valour, there is plenty of naval enterprise. Next to the
Malays the Chinese are the most formidable pirates of the
eastern seas; and where there is piracy there are skill and
courage also.
In the arts of peace the skill of the Chinese is well
measured by both their success as settlers at a distance
from home, and the ease with which they displace or
encroach upon the populations of their frontier.
In respect to the settlements beyond the sea the migra-
tory habits of the people stand in strong contrast to the
exclusiveness of their government. The Malay ports
swarm with Chinese, and in Sincapore, Borneo, and the
Philippines there are large Chinese colonies. So there are
in Australia, in the West Indies, in the Sandwich Isles,
and in California. In all these settlements the spirit of
combination keeps them closely connected with each other.
They settle their disputes as much as possible by arbi-
tration amongst themselves, and form societies more or less
secret. They send out remittances of their earnings home.
They look forward to returning with a competence to
VOL. I.
Q
226
THE CHINESE.
China. Most of their wives are the women of the
country; more or less temporary, and liable to be left. The
effect of this is that there are numerous half-bloods;
Chinese on one side, Javanese, Malay, Hawaiian, Siamese,
&c., on the other.
At the same time it is not all the Chinese that thus
readily emigrate. When Mr. Fortune went with the spe-
cial object of procuring a body of men skilled in the grow-
ing, sorting, and preparing of tea, he found the greatest
difficulty in procuring them. He went to the tea-farms
and found all the tea-growers attached to their tea-trees.
He offered high wages if they would go with him. A
sailor would have done so for half the money. The tea-
growers, however, kept at home. They were as truly
Chinese as the men of Canton and Fokien; the only
difference being that whilst the one population was agri-
cultural and inland, the other was in contact with the sea,
and addicted to maritime pursuits. As a general rule
the Chinese abroad are from the districts round the sea-
ports. The English are migrants; but there is no part
of England a hundred miles from the sea coast. The
Norwegians are migrants; the Danes, the Sleswickers,
and the Holsteiners the same. Hanoverians within the
circles of Hamburg and Bremen are migrants; and
all, in their degree, are maritime. For other reasons,
poverty and bad government, certain Rhinelanders and
Bavarians become migrants. As a general rule, however,
the clinging to the soil is in a direct ratio to the distance
from the sea. France colonized Canada. The habitans,
however, of Canada are chiefly from the one province
of Normandy.
Equally remarkable with the success with which a
Chinaman holds his own in distant countries is the effective
manner in which he extends his own frontier at the ex-
THE CHINESE.
227
99
pense of the Mongols and Mantshus who lie beyond, and
in contact with, it. How does he do this? Not by what
historians are over-fond of calling the "inroads of bar-
barians; not by that unproven piece of ethnological
dynamics called a national migration; nor by processes
like the invasion of Rumelia by the Ottomans, Hungary
by the Magyars, or England by the Normans. For the
analogues of these we look in vain. The closer parallel is
that of the back-woodsman in America or of the annex-
ationist in Texas. Closer still is that of the money-lender
in England and Ireland. Closest of all is that of the
British mortgagee.
Huc saw much of this kind in
the parts to the north of the great wall. The area was
Mongol. The names of the localities were Mongol. The
language of the country was Mongol. All the estates in
these parts are encumbered, and the capitalist is a Chinese.
The Chinese is the mortgagee; but on occasions, he must
carry his life in his hand. The land is full of silver and
gold; which the Chinese can find out, the natives can-
not. Although there are severe penalties against work-
ing these mines, or diggings, the thing is done. Bands
of Chinese marauders undertake the work. Innumerable
vagabonds follow. In '41 a great mass of them were
crowded together in a single mine. The Mongols blocked
up the entrance. The cries of the wretched, starving,
suffocated robbers were piercing and horrible. They
were left, however, to starve and smother. Some escaped
with life. These were taken to the king and had their
eyes put out.
The town of Tolon-nor is walled, populous, and com-
mercial. It is a depôt for the Kiakta goods from Russia.
The workmen in its foundries are skilful in modellings and
castings. The bells, vases, idols, and other metallic im-
plements of Buddhism are made here. The large images
Q 2
228
THE CHINESE.
are cast in several pieces and soldered together. The
parts of a single statue seen by Huc loaded eighty camels.
Besides its foundries Tolon-nor has a considerable
trade. But it is all to the benefit of the Chinese. The
Chinese make their fortunes, the Mongols are ruined.
The whole place is one "monstrous pneumatic trough for
producing a vacuum in Mongol purses.'
The bearings of these notices are various. They show
the aptitude of the Chinese for both head-work and
hand-work, as well as the way in which he exercises them
at the expense of his neighbours. In the physical history
of mankind this is important; inasmuch as the amount of
Chinese blood, either pure or mixed, beyond the area of
China Proper is annually increasing. The pure Mantshus
of the northern frontiers become, in certain localities,
more or less Chinese. The pure Mongols, on the western
frontier, do the same. In parts of Tumet the occupants
are no longer nomads. They cultivate the soil, and that
well. They look down upon the brethren of the camp
and steppe. Many of them speak Chinese, and some of
them nothing but Chinese. Their own native tongue they
have wholly forgotten.
Again, on the very frontier of the Russian dominions,
as well as on the side of independent Tartary, there are
several convict settlements; settlements which bring
Chinese blood into the very heart of Asia; far, very far,
to the west of the most western part of China Proper.
The skin of the Chinese is yellow rather than brown,
not unlike parchment in the matter of colour. Sometimes
there is a maroon tint. The yellow-brown hue, however,
predominates. The face is broad and flat; the cheek-
bones projecting; the irides black; the eyes oblique; the
beard scanty; the stature above that of the Malay and
Tibetan, below that of the European. The crania of
THE CHINESE.
229
several Chinese have been examined and described; but
the results are not very definite. Sometimes the occipital
protuberance has been large, and given the head an elon-
gated appearance; whereas, in other instances, it has been
nearly wanting. I believe this inconsistency has puzzled
that excellent anatomist Professor Retzius, whose divi-
sion of skulls, as is well known, is into the brakhy-kefalic
and dolikhokefalic—the short-headed, with a great dia-
meter from side to side, and the long-headed with a great
one from fore to aft. Both kinds are found in China.
In Morton's collection there are eleven specimens (chiefly
the skulls of murderers and pirates), the largest of which
measures 98, the smallest 70 cubic inches, internal capa-
city. The mean is about 85.
As are the habits and appearance, (different in many
notable details from those of the neighbouring popula-
tions,) so are the physical conditions of soil and climate.
As opposed to the areas of Mongolians and Mantshú,
China is one of the lands of the South. As opposed to
Siam and Cochinchina it is a northern country. As
opposed to Tibet it is a flat. As opposed to the steppes
of Turkistan it is a broken tract of hill and valley; an
undulating country at least. It has less of a seaboard than
the kingdoms and principalities of the Transgangetic pe-
ninsula; and much less of one than either the Malay or the
Japanese islands. On the other hand, it has large rivers.
They run, as the Danube runs in Europe, west and east;
and so doing lie under the same parallels during their whole
course; there or thereabouts. This ensures to the alluvial
soils on their banks a uniformity of climate which we
should seek for in vain if streams of the same length ran
from north to south. If the Hoang-ho did this its
mouth would be within the tropics, and its source on the
frontiers of Siberia. Cotton might be grown at its delta,
230
THE CHINESE.
barley might be starved at its head-waters. Let us say
that the rivers of China run horizontally, rather than
vertically. Whatever else such horizontal lines of water
may ensure, they ensure to the country through which
they run a certain amount of uniformity in the way of
agriculture and industry. Now the uniformity of the
Chinese civilization is one of its most prominent cha-
racteristics.
Though the details of the physical conditions under
which Chinese civilization has been developed are inter-
esting, they are still details. If it were necessary to en-
large on them the list would be a long one. There would
be in it metals; clay both for building and pottery; gums
for varnishes; and a Fauna and Flora containing the silk-
worm, the mulberry on which it feeds, and various kinds.
of tea. The land of silk and tea must, of necessity, have
much that is peculiar to itself.
Of the Chinese civilization the basis is, to a great ex-
tent, agriculture; agriculture, for which we have seen
that the Tibetans displayed an aptitude, but which the
inhospitable character of their country prevented from
being carried to perfection. Where, however, there is an
acre of alluvial soil in Tibet, there is a square mile of it
in China; not to mention the difference of climate and
elevation.
Its basis is, to a great extent, trade. For this, too, the
Tibetans have displayed an aptitude. Though Tassisudon
and Tíshú Lúmbú were monasteries rather than com-
mercial cities, Hlahsa was full of trade. The country,
however, in general was unfavourable to its full develop-
ment. Where were its ports and harbours? In China
they are numerous enough.
A notable portion of Tibet was occupied by nomad
herdsmen. Their occupancies, however, were either a
THE CHINESE.
231
desert or the border of one. In China such localities
form but a small part of the surface, so that, as far as our
knowledge goes, herdsmen are rare.
Without undervaluing the numerous points in which
China is thus favoured, as forces by which civilization is
developed, I repeat the statement of my belief that they
have not been sufficient, single-handed, to give the phe-
nomena with which the Celestial Empire is too often
credited, viz. an antiquity so remote as to transcend that
of all other countries, and, so doing, exist as a self-
developed, indigenous, and independent product of the
soil and climate.
The complement to the conditions afforded by these
agencies is the history of the influences from without.
Of these, the most important, beyond all comparison,
are those from India, as they have been the earliest. The
Buddhist creed is, certainly, of Indian origin. Those
who believe in the existence, or even the antiquity of
great philosophers like Confucius and Mencius, at a time
when Solon was giving laws to Athens, will, probably,
make but little of it. They will merely see in it, so
much dogma engrafted upon so much philosophy. They
will see metal upon metal; one civilization upon an-
other. They will merely see what they see in the relations
of Greece and Rome. There is an early native culture.
There is a foreign addition to it. There is a case of more
or less in the way of ideas; a difference, not of kind, but
of degree. There is possibly, in some respect, a retrograde
movement, just as there would have been in Ionia if the
philosophy of Thales had been disturbed by some strange
piece of fire-worship from Persia. Those, however, who,
sifting evidence, have doubts and something more on these
and similar points of Chinese antiquity may, possibly,
believe that when Buddhism was first introduced it fell
232
INDIAN INFLUENCES.
upon a nation of savages and pagans; unlettered mountain-
eers in some cases (just like the Miaoutse at the present
moment), unlettered lowlanders in other: men who were
potters, after the fashion of the Fiji islanders, simply
because a good kind of clay was ready to their hands; men
who drank tea because the tea-plant grew in their country,
and the infusion was easily made; men whose highest and
most peculiar art was the rearing of silkworms and the
spinning of silk-and a very characteristic art we must
admit this to have been.
The next influence is from Turkestan; not that the
tribes of that district had anything of their own to com-
municate. In the sixth and seventh centuries, they were,
probably, what they are now; herdsmen for the greater,
agriculturists for the smaller part of their area; carriers,
too, in the way of commerce. Robbers they were as
well, and, when united under some energetic captain,
conquerors. Just now, however, we are looking at them
as civilizers. Originators they were not. Propagators
they were. Nestorian Christianity, which in the sixth
century was rife and common in Persia, extended
itself from Persia to Turkestan, and from Turkestan to
China. The evidence that satisfied Gibbon upon this
point may satisfy his readers. Here and there, indeed,
he may have claimed for his Nestorian missionaries a
tribe or two too many. He may have counted certain
Kerait Mongolians as Christians at a time when they were
not even Buddhists. He may have laid too much stress
on the evidence of such a writer as Cosmas Indicopleustes.
He may have introduced the suspicious name of the
mythic Prester John. He may have spoken too favour-
ably of the famous inscription of Siganfu. He may have
erred in introducing the Christianity of the Chinese
through the port of Canton; erred in making his mission-
SYRIAN INFLUENCES.
233
aries seamen. But upon the whole his notice of the
extent to which Nestorian Christianity prevailed amongst
the so-called Tartars of Central Asia is true and unex-
aggerated. It is true that in "the sixth century Christian-
ity was successfully preached to the Bactrians, the Huns,
the Persians, the Indians, the Persarmenians, and the
Elamites; the barbaric churches from the Gulf of Persia
to the Caspian were almost infinite; and their recent faith
was conspicuous in the number and sanctity of their monks
and martyrs. The pepper coasts of Malabar, and the isles
of the ocean, Socotra and Ceylon, were peopled by an in-
creasing multitude of Christians. The missionaries of
Balch and Samarcand pursued without fear the footsteps
of the roving Tartar, and insinuated themselves in the
camps of the Imaus and the banks of the Selinga. In
their progress by sea and land the Nestorians entered
China. Unlike the senators of Rome, who assumed with
a smile the characters of priests and augurs, the mandarins,
who affect in public the reason of philosophers, are de-
voted in private to every mode of popular superstition.
They cherished and they confounded the gods of Palestine
and of India; but the propagation of Christianity awakened
the jealousy of the state, and after a short vicissitude of
favour and persecution, the foreign sect expired in igno-
rance and oblivion."
The evidence of this has grown in strength since Gibbon
wrote. The Mongol alphabet is that of the Oriental
Turks; the alphabet of the Oriental Turks is Syriac and
Nestorian. Klaproth has shown this; and it is one of the
very best of his showings. For the "Huns and Bactrians"
of Gibbon, read " Chinese Tartars." It was when Chinese
Tartary was visited by the missionaries whom Gibbon
celebrates that their language was reduced to writing.
We have carried, then, Christianity from Syria to the
234
THE CHINESE.
very frontier of China. The evidence of its having pene-
trated into the country is less decisive. The presumptions
are in its favour. A great deal of evidence, which a great
many competent judges admit, is also in its favour. The
phenomena for which it would account are numerous.
Individually, I treat Christianity in China during the
sixth and seventh centuries as a fact; Christianity on the
frontier being one upon which no doubt can exist.
The third series of influences is modern Europe, that of
the Jesuits being the chief.
It is to the learned men of this order that the great
mass of our information concerning China is due; some
of them having worked as missionaries at Pekin, others as
closet students in Europe. The earliest materials were
almost wholly of their collection; and, as they chiefly
found their way to the Royal Library of Paris, a French
school of investigators was developed. By these the cur-
rent ideas respecting the value of the Chinese historians.
were introduced. A show of antiquity strikes the imagi-
nation, and warps the judgment. For a time it generally
passes as a reality, inasmuch as criticism is in abeyance.
Again; the newer a subject the greater the monopoly
of those who possess a knowledge of it. Out of this
grow an exaggerated appreciation of the thing known
and a mischievous intolerance of dissentient judgments.
The opinions that prevailed during the last century are
best known to the English reader through the famous
chapter (the 27th) of Gibbon, upon the manners and his-
tory of the nations akin to the Huns. All his authori-
ties are French. Most of their opinions are adopted.
Since the date of the Decline and Fall, the stream of
Chinese scholarship has widened itself. Without leaving
France, it has spread over England, Holland, Germany,
Scandinavia, and Russia. Yet the same acquiescence in
THEIR SUPPOSED HISTORIANS.
235
an unproven antiquity prevails. The latest editor of
Gibbon, indeed, no special Chinese scholar, but a critical
judge of evidence in general, takes certain exceptions of
his own, and rejects the date which Gibbon assigns to the
commencement of the historical period in China. Never-
theless, he shows that the ablest Chinese scholars in
Europe, men of the newest school and the most advanced
opinions, men of great acquirements in philology at large,
accept with little scruple what, after such authorities,
few are inclined to reject, viz.-traditions instead of
documents, inferences instead of traditions, ex-post facto
narratives, improbable dates, doubtful eclipses, an unrea-
sonable history, a suspicious astronomy. Remusat carries
the history of China to the twenty-second century before
our æra. Neumann admits an equal antiquity. Klaproth
-as Klaproth-is a sceptic of the sceptics; I give his
account of the origin and development of the Chinese
school of history, as a sample of the extent to which
acute men will shut their eyes to suspicious circumstances
when they make against the value of a special study.
The Chinese alphabet, according to Klaproth, is as old
as the very germ of the empire; for when its founders
consisted of no more than 100 families, those 100 fami-
lies could read and write. Originally there was no more
than 100 family names in China. Hence the inference
that out of so few individuals arose so great an empire.
Had China been a colony from India or Arabia, this ac-
curacy in the way of pedigree might be probable. But
China was not built or made. It grew; and, like all
other growths, had approached maturity before its origin
got thought about. If writing came to men as building
goes to beavers, by an instinct, this contemporaneous
origin of the state and alphabet would be natural.
is, it requires proof.
As it
236
THE CHINESE.
But inscriptions exist as old as 800 B.C.; one, that of
Yú, being earlier. This, however, may be but a trans-
cript. Upon this I can give no opinion. I only know
that, with our very imperfect knowledge of Chinese
palæography, an inscription from the Hoang-ho of the date
of the building of Rome requires an extraordinary amount
of evidence to support it. The presumptions against its
preservation have to be overbalanced, as well as the pre-
sumptions against its original production.
To continue-where writing exists, there exists history
also; for without writing no record can become per-
manent. True.
True. History without an alphabet is scarcely
possible. An alphabet, however, may exist without
being used by a historian.
From the earliest time the rulers of China registered
the remarkable events of their reigns. They also made
collections of laws, religious liturgies, ceremonial direc-
tions, old poems, and the like. In the sixth century B.C.
these had grown to so unwieldy and inconvenient a bulk,
that Confucius undertook to make an abstract of them.
Doing this he composed-
(1.) The Shu-king; or, a history of China from the year
B.C. 2357, to his own times.
(2.) The Shi-king, a collection of poems.
(3.) The Li-ki; or, book of ceremonies.
(4.) The Yo-king; or, a treatise on music.
(5.) The Y-king; a mystic work on transformations.
(6.) Tshun-tsieu; or, spring and autumn, a history of
Lu, the district in which the author was born, from B.C.
723 to B.C. 479.
The first two dynasties lasted from B.c. 2205 to B.C.
1122; the third, that of Dzheu, from B.c. 1122 to the
middle of the third century--also B.C. Vu-Vang founded
the dynasty of Dzheu; and changed the constitution.
THEIR SUPPOSED HISTORIANS.
237
·
Before his time it was a pure monarchy. Under him,
however, and his successors, it became feudal. As long
as the king was strong enough to hold his feudatories
in hand, the system of Vu-Vang flourished and the
Dzheu dynasty ruled. But discontents set in, and in the
eighth century as many as twenty petty kinglings quar-
relled with each other, and disorganized the empire. They
were, however, eventually coerced, and the dynasty of
Dzheu was succeeded by
The dynasty of Tsin. Of the dynasty of Tsin the
Emperor Shi-kwang-ti was the great ornament. His
nobles, however, troubled him. They looked back to the
feudal times of the Dzheu; hankered after lost powers.
and privileges; made inconvenient claims, and supported
them by reference to the works on history, and the works
on law. Whereupon Shi-kwang-ti issued an order that
all such books should be burned, especially the Shu-king
and the Shi-king. What he ordered was done, but imper-
fectly. In a country where writing is general, it is diffi-
cult to destroy all the copies of all the books, especially
when they are written, or scratched, on so incombustible
a material as bamboo. So writes Klaproth, not without
simplicity.
Now any one at all conversant with the history of fic-
tion can write the forthcoming narrative à priori. There
is the loss and the gain; the wreck and the salvage; the
fire and the preservation. A new dynasty will succeed
the old one; and a king will come who will sigh with
sadness over the hasty folly of Shi-kwang-ti. He will
try to undo the harm that has been done. He will search
for odd and scarce copies: perhaps he will offer a reward
for them. Failing this he will have recourse to the oldest
inhabitants, and the longest memories. He will, of course,
be successful; and the result will accurately coincide with
A
238
THE CHINESE.
the conditions required for an old-new history; a history
in which we must expect imperfections, and yet find facts.
The fire accounts for the first; the reconstruction for the
second.
So about B.C. 200, when Fabius Pictor and Nævius
were founding a literature in Rome, the first of the
kings of
The dynasty of Han begins to rule. He restores the
feudal system of the Dzheu, and attempts to restore the
books on which their claims were based. An old man
knows the Shu-king by heart, from whose dictation the
work, as we have it at present, is written down. Other
works were similarly reconstructed; sometimes with the
commentary as well as the text; for, so advanced were
the subjects of the Dzheu, and Tsin, that they had not
only original authors, but critics also.
B.C. 100, lived Vu-ti, the Liberal; Vu-ti held out
rewards for any one who would discover, and produce, an
old manuscript; and many were the applicants unto
Vu-ti.
Vu-ti was the patron, Szu-ma-tan the artist. Szu-ma-
tan compiled, abridged, and arranged the MSS. that
Vu-ti's premiums brought forth. Szu-ma-tan, however,
died during his work, and was succeeded in the editor-
ship by Szu-ma-tsien, his son.
Szu-ma-tsien's history (Szu-ki as it is named) begins
with Kwang-ti, who reigned B.C. 2637, and with the
Tsin dynasty; in other words, it ranges from the ear-
liest times to those of the author, a fact which gives
us Klaproth's opinion in the following statement, viz.
that history of some kind, uncertain history, begins as
early as B.C. 2637; certain history as early as B.c. 782.
The text of Szu-ma-tsien, on grounds which satisfy
all who can read it, is believed to have come down to us.
THEIR SUPPOSED HISTORIANS.
239
It has not, however, been translated into any European
language; though notice of its contents is given by Abel
Remusat in more than one of his valuable contributions
to oriental literature. We should remember, however,
that Abel Remusat believes not only in Szu-ma-tsien,
but in a history 2000 years older than Szu-ma-tsien.
If the unlearned critic has no means of getting at the
exact text of Szu-ma-tsien, he has easy access to that
of the Shu-king of Confucius, which is translated by
Deguignes, into French. The following is a translation of
a translation. Making allowances for this, the reader
may form from it a notion of what the so-called history
of the early Chinese actually is. Of this it is a favour-
able specimen, being taken from the end of the book,
and, consequently, giving us the times nearest those of
the author. Ping-vang, who reigned about B.c. 900, is
the king. The following is the account of his reign;
nothing being added, nothing been taken away. Can
any one pretend to mistake it for history? It is simply
a piece of morality that would suit any king, of any
country, at any time, and, mutatis mutandis, might be
called the reign of Numa Pompilius, Alfred the Great,
Charles V., or the King of Yvetot. It is locus communi;
neither more nor less :-
"C
Yho, Ven-vang, Vu-vang were once famous. They followed exactly
the laws of reason. The splendour of their virtue reached the sky.
Their fame spread over the whole kingdom. The sovereign Khang-ti
placed them on the throne. Illustrious subjects, full of capacity and
zeal, served these princes. In all that they undertook, great or small,
they followed justice and reason. It is to this sage conduct that the
prosperity which our ancestors enjoyed is due. 'How I am afflicted at
mounting the throne! I see that Heaven has ceased to favour the
people that have submitted to our yoke. The Yong have reduced my
kingdom and my family to the last extremity. My ministers are no
longer the old men renowned for prudence. I can do nothing by myself.
Who shall stand beside me like my father and my grandfather? Could I
see any one who would serve me faithfully, I should believe that my
crown was safe.
240
THE CHINESE.
"O my father, Yho; thou comest to give a new lustre to the memory
of the chief of thy branch. Thou hast retraced the image of the times
when Ven-vang and Vu-vang founded the kingdom. Thou hast esta-
blished me as their successor. Thou hast shown that thou art the equal
of thy ancestors in filial piety. Thou hast helped me in my affliction.
Thou hast strongly supported me in all my dangers. I cannot but load
thee with praises.
"O my father, Yho!' said the prince, examine the subjects of thy
state. Make peace and union reign amongst them. I will give thee
a vessel full of the wine of Kutshang, a red bow with 100 red arrows, a
black bow with 100 black arrows. I will also give thee four horses.
Depart then. Make thyself obeyed by those who are afar. Instruct
those who are near. Love the people and put peace amongst them.
Avoid pleasure and amusements. Prove and love the people of thy
royal city, and give to all the world a great example of virtue.'
The contrast of these not unfavourable samples of the
supposed sources of Szu-ma-tsien's history are the ac-
counts of early writers other than Chinese, of which the
date is known, and the conditions, under which the infor-
mation was attained, intelligible. That the classical
writers give us little or nothing has already been stated.
What a Chinese Buddhist saw in India, in the sixth cen-
tury, is to be found in the translation, by Stanislas Julien,
of his narrative. This, however, is an account of Hindo-
stan, not China. It shows, however, that China produced
Buddhists, observers, and writers at an early period, i. e.
as early as the reign of Justinian; provided the date be
accurate. In this there is nothing very improbable; the
reign of Justinian being the date of the introduction of
silk into Europe.
The work, however, is no description of China. Of
these the earliest is the work translated by Renaudot, and
known as the Travels of the Two Mahometans. It is re-
ferred to the eighth century. It re-appears in Masudi,
who wrote in the tenth, running thus:-
"The money of the Chinese consists, for the most part, of copper and
brass coins.
"This city became the residence of the kings of China. The name of
it is Ankú, and it is three months' journey distant from the Abyssinian
THEIR SUPPOSED HISTORIANS.
241
sea. They have another large town called Madú (Amid) in the north-
west of their empire towards et-Tubbet. Madú and et-Tubbet keep up a
constant warfare, without either party being conquerors or conquered.
Order in the affairs of the empire, good government, and prosperity con-
tinued under the successors of this king; justice was everywhere exer-
cised, and injustice was banished from their country. They followed the
regulations made by the former kings, whom we have mentioned; and
they kept up the wars with their enemies. Their frontiers were well
guarded by soldiers, the armies received their pay regularly, and mer-
chants flocked there, by land and sea, from all parts of the world. They
were of the ancient faith, the Samanean religion, which is about the same
as the belief of the Koraïshites before Mohammed. They worshipped
symbols, towards which they turned their faces in praying. Persons of
intellect addressed their prayers to the Almighty, and they considered
the images of idols and other symbols merely as objects to fix their eyes
upon; whilst the uneducated and ignorant confounded these symbols
with the Almighty, and worshipped them both (God and the symbols) to-
gether. The adoration of the idols brought them nearer to God, although
the notions expressed in their religious service were too concrete to be
adequate to the sublimity, greatness, and majesty of the divinity. The
service which they performed to these idols was nevertheless an expression
of obedience to God, and it brought them nearer to Him.
"This continued until speculations and sectarianism grew up in China.
Then rose the Dualists, and those who believe on a time without limits.
Previous to these innovations, they had worshipped images like the
higher and lower classes in India. These religious quarrels caused a com-
plete revolution. They had not been without speculation, but they had
referred in all questions to the ancient sacred laws.
"The Chinese empire borders on the kingdom of the Taghizghiz, and it
was from them that they received the doctrine of Manes, of a god of light
and darkness. Previously they had been in ignorance, and had the same
system of worship as the various Turkish hordes, until a satan of a Manichean
came to them, and preached to them in flowing phrases of the discord which
prevails in this world; the opposition of life and death, health and illness,
rich and poor, light and dark, separation and union, continuity and division,
rising and setting, existence and non-existence, night and day, and other
things which are opposite to each other. He named to them the different
pains and frailties to which all animals are subject, both those endowed with
speech and those deprived of this faculty; and by which even children, and
persons not possessed of their mental faculties, are tortured, adding, that as
God the Almighty did not stand in need of their sufferings, they must be as-
cribed to a powerful opposite principle, which was active in contaminating
what is good and moral; and that this was in God. Far be from God
what he professed! for He is the Exalted, the Great. Manes misled by
this and similar theories their reason, and they believed them. When the
king of China was a Samanean he sacrificed animals, and was constantly
VOL. I.
Ꭱ
242
THE CHINESE.
at war with Jikhan the king of the Turks, but when he had turned Mani-
chean, they became on terms of friendship.
"The kings (and governors) of China follow different sects and religions,
and they are at variance in their faith. But they are not biassed so as to
abandon the laws commanded by reason, and sacred by usage, in making
regulations and passing sentences. The laws of reason are acknowledged
by all sects. The Chinese are divided into tribes and branches, like the
tribes and families of the Arabs. They bestow great care upon the
preservation of their genealogies, and some persons can name fifty ances-
tors; many know them as far back as Abúr. Persons of the same family
do not intermarry; so, for instance (referring for an example to Arabia),
a man of the Modhar tribe would marry a woman of the Rabiah tribe, and
a man of the Rabiah would marry into the Modhar tribe, or a Kahlan
man would marry a Himyarite woman, and a Himyarite a woman of the
Kahlan tribe. They are of opinion that the children of such a match
will be of a good constitution; and, indeed, this law contributes to public
health and longevity."
The opinions of the Chinese as to their relations with
the rest of the world are collected from the following con-
tinuation of Masudi's account.
"He asked him further, what was the gradation in dignity of the kings
of the earth? 'I do not know,' replied the Arab. The king ordered the
interpreter to explain to him. 'We count five great kings; the most
powerful of them is he who is in possession of el-Irak; for this country is
in the middle of the world, and is surrounded by all other kingdoms.
We give him, since ancient times, the title of king of kings. After him
ranks this our king, to whom we give the title of king of men (mankind).
No government is better than ours, no monarch more absolute and firm in
his power than our king, nor do the subjects of any other monarch yield
such strict obedience as we to our king. We are the kings of men. After
ourselves follows the king of the lions, this is the king of the Turks, our
neighbour. They are men-lions. Next to them ranks the king of the
elephants; that is to say, the king of India, which has with us the name
of the kingdom of wisdom, for the Hindus have invented philosophy.
"Then follows the Byzantine king, whom we call the king of men; for
no men on earth have better constitution or finer countenances than the
Byzantines. These five stand at the head of kings; all others are beneath
them.'"
Upon these extracts we may remark that, even if the
date assigned to Szu-ma-tsien be, at one and the same
time, correct and too early for the art of writing in
China to be considered as an introduction of Buddhism
THEIR SUPPOSED HISTORIANS.
243
from Tibet or India, there is still the earlier religion of
the fire-worshippers, the religion of a lettered nation, to
account for such elements of civilization as transcend the
Christian era; if any actually do so. With this notice I
leave the subject; which I have treated only as an eth-
nologist. If Chinese civilization be as ancient as it is
supposed to be it must be self-evolved; self-evolved and
independent of foreign influences, for all of which it is
too old. If self-evolved, it is so remarkable an instance
of a difference on the part of the Chinese, in respect to
their moral and mental constitution, from all the surround-
ing populations as to simulate a difference of species.
Are those who uphold this antiquity prepared to maintain
that Chinese differ from Mongolians and Tibetans, as
hares from rabbits, or as dogs from foxes?
The Chinese system cannot always have been so ex-
clusive as it is. When the bounds of the empire were
narrower, when the imperial treasury was poorer, when a
moderate number of soldiers and officials was all that
could be supported, the accessibility of the country must
have been neither more nor less than that of the rest of
the world. At any rate, exclusion was a matter of some
difficulty; and when exclusion was the exception rather
than the rule, the influences from without must have been
greater than at present.
English.
Head
Mandarin.
te'u
Canton.
Tibetan.
te'u
mgo
Eye
mu
mok
mig
Ear
öl
y
sa
Nose
pi
pi
Mouth
ke'u
hou
nawa
ka
Tongue
shi
shit
bdzhe
Hand
sheu
sheu
lagha
Foot
kio
koh
rkangha
•
Blood
khiue
hiut
khrag
Sun
zhi
yat
nyima
Moon
yue
yuet
zlava
R 2
244
THE CHINESE..
English.
Mandarin.
Canton.
Tibetan.
Star
zing
zing
skarma
Fire
kho
ho
Water
shui
shoi
Tree
mu
mok.
me
chhu
ljonshing
Stone
shi
shap
rdo
One
i
• pad
yik
gchig
Two
Three
ny
y
gnyis
zan
zam
gsum
Four
szu
si
bzhi
Five
ngu
:
ong
hna
Six
lü
- lok
druk.
Seven
tsi
tsat
Eight
pa
pat
Nine
kieu
kou
Ten
shi
shap
bdun
brgyud
dgu
bchu.
THE MIAOUTSE.
245
!
CHAPTER XIII.
The rude tribes of China.-The Miaoutse.-The Gyami dialect.
THAT the civilization of China is, by no means, uni-
formly spread over the whole country has long been known.
It has also been known that the nationality may, possibly,
be as little uniform as the civilization. Have we not seen
that on the Tibetan frontier there were the tribes of the
Sifan, who, although for the most part actual Tibetans,
may also have had offsets in China? Have we not also
seen that in the province of Yunnan there were Karens and
Shans? In both of these cases we had populations which
were other than Chinese in blood and language at least.
They were not, however, the so-called aborigines of China.
Now whoever the so-called aborigines of China may be,
they are a population of more than ordinary interest to
the generality of investigators. The Chinese themselves
are old—very old—even in their ordinary condition; at
least such is the current doctrine. How primitive then,
and ante-diluvian, and primeval, and Ogygian and the
like are men who are their aborigines; who stand to
them, with their own wondrous antiquity, as the Welsh do
to the English! Such aborigines the Miaoutse are said
to be. That they have stimulated curiosity is true; but
that the stimulus has led to much is doubtful. How are
246
THE MIAOUTSE.
they accessible? They belong to those parts in which
aborigines most especially delight, the hillier parts of the
more retired areas. We have no first-hand account of
them, no vocabularies, no minute or trustworthy notices.
They are probably (but by no means certainly) Chinese in
blood. They are probably not so much the aborigines of
China as the Chinese in their aboriginal state. It is not
likely that they have any general name for themselves.
It is not likely, then, that the name Miaoutse is native.
Chinese in origin, it is, nevertheless, convenient.
There are the White Miaoutse and the Black Miaoutse;
so named according to the difference of their complexion.
I do not know the evidence of this. It may only be an
inference. The names of colours are not always what they
appear to be. There is a White Russia and a Red Rus-
sia. There is a White Wallachia and a Black Wallachia;
for so the Turks call Moldavia. There are White Croa-
tians-all the names being applied without any regard to
the colour of the skin. The Red Karen were one of the
populations of the Burmese empire. Some said that
they were named from the colour of their cheeks. Others
said they were named from the colour of their breeches.
All we know, then, about the Miaoutse is, that there is a
Black and a White division of them.
One tribe (occupant of the Ping-sha-shih hills) has the
following custom. When a man marries he sticks five
small flags into a bundle of grass, bound together by seven
bands. Of this he makes a sort of idol, kneeling before
it. Meanwhile his friends fold their arms and bow. After
this they feast. At the death of a parent the eldest son
remains at home without washing his face for forty-nine
days. Having done this he sacrifices to Tang-kwei. Tang-
kwei is the Miaoutse Mercury.
THE MIAOUTSE.
217
Another tribe (Hea-king by name) offer the
tiger to their chief deity when a friend is sick.
head of a
The head
is placed on a dish or platter, with a sword, with three
incense-sticks and two candles behind it, and three cups.
of wine in front. Before this they cross the arms and
bow.
Another tribe (name unknown) when they wish to pro-
pitiate the good-will of the demons of the weather, ap-
point ten companies of young men and women, who,
after dressing themselves in robes of felt, and binding
their loins with an embroidered girdle, dance and play the
(?) organ. This is done for three days and three nights,
and ensures a plentiful year. A father, when his son is
ten years of age, sacrifices a white tiger, and names the
child.
Another tribe (Chung-king), when they mourn for their
dead, kill an ox, and place the head and feet upon an altar,
with basins filled with food, lighted candles, and cups of
wine.
Another tribe (name unknown) solemnize the marriage
by sacrificing a dog.
Another (name unknown) in the middle of autumn
offer a sacrifice to the founder of their race. Having fed
an ox, they sacrifice, and feast on it; drinking a liquor
distilled (sic) from rice. This is done by one of the
western tribes.
Another (name unknown, but of the Miaoutse division)
keep an ox ready fattened for sacrificing to the honour of
their founder on such occasions as may demand a fes-
tival.
Another (name also unknown, but remarkable for the
purity of its manners) kindle a vast bonfire at the funeral
of their friends.
24.8
THE GYAMI VOCABULARY.
Another (name also unknown), when a man is about to
marry, knock out two of his teeth with a hammer. This
is remarkable because we shall see the custom repeating
itself in Australia.
The Gyami.-One of the languages which Mr. Hodgson
treats as Sifan, or as the language of one of those tribes
of China which are, at one and the same time, occupants
of the western frontier, and either really or apparently
ruder than the rest of the population, and which he calls
Gyami, is certainly more Chinese than Tibetan, more
Chinese than T'hay, more Chinese than Burmese, more
Chinese than aught else.
It has also an affinity with a vocabulary of Stralenberg's
which has perplexed Klaproth. Stralenberg gives a short
list of words which he says belong to the language of the
Mantshu Tartars who were once the vassals of the Mon-
gols. Yet it is not, as Klaproth remarks, Mantshú; but
rather Chinese. It is certainly Chinese in its numerals;
at the same time ten (about half) of the other words "ex-
hibit not the least likeness to any Asiatic language known
to me (i. e. Klaproth)." Now both this vocabulary of
Stralenberg's, and the Gyami of Hodgson agree in adding
-ko and -ku, or -go to the numerals. One of the Mishmi
dialects does the same. The Chepang adds zho.
English. Gyami.
Chinese.
Strahlenberg.
Karen.
T'hay.
Tibetan.
Man
rin
nan, zhin oydzha
pokwa
mi
Head thau
têu
nedo
kho
hon
go
Hand syu
sheu
tshu
me
lango
Foot
chyaa
kio
kho
tin
kango
Sun
rethau
zhi
mu
let
nyima
Moon
yoliang
yue
la
leon
dawa
Star
singshu
sing
tsha
lao
karma
Fire
akkha
kho
meu
fai
me
Water
shiu
shui
thi
nam
chhu
One
iku
i
yga
ta
ning
chik
THE GYAMI VOCABULARY.
249
English.
Gyami.
Chinese.
Strahlenberg. Karen.
T'hay.
Two
liangku
ol, ny
hanga khi
song
Tibetan.
nyi
Three
sangku
sang
sanga
thu
sam
sum
Four
siku
szu
shygga
lwi
sy
zhyi
Five
wuku
ngu
ugæ
ye
ha
gna
Six
leuku
lu
higa
ghu
khok
thu
Seven
chhiku
zi
szy gæ
nwi
dzhea
dun
Eight
paku
pa
baye
gho
ped
gye
Nine
chyaku
kieu
dzhugæ
khwi
kau
guh
Ten
issha
shi
shy
tatshi
sib
chu
It is probable (nothing more) that the Miaoutse and
Gyami are in the same category in respect to their lan-
guage.
250
UNDESCRIBED POPULATIONS.
CHAPTER XIV.
Population of unexplored districts.- Bibor.- Kulta-Lawa.- Lolo.-
Moy.-Kwantong.-Tshampa.
THUS far the populations which have come under notice,
with the exception of Miaoutse, whom we have (possibly
upon insufficient grounds) considered as Chinese, have
been known to us by specimens of their several languages;
so that, as far as speech is concerned, they have been
classified. I do not say that the blood and the language
always coincide. I only say that the latter is prima facie
evidence of the former.
But the populations whose languages are thus known
are, by no means, the whole of the occupants of south-
eastern Asia. Several large districts are either imper-
fectly explored or wholly unknown.
The parts due south of Upper Asam are in this pre-
dicament. So are the parts due north thereof. Who
succeed the Bor Abors, the Mishmi, the southern and
eastern Naga? Who touch the Khamti, and the Singpo
on the east? Where does the Shan family end? Where
does the Chinese begin? What are the details of the
southern frontier of Manipúr? What those of northern
and eastern Siam? Where do the Kambojians begin and
end? Where the Anamese ?
The populations to the north and east of the Abor and
Mishmi localities are, when other than Tibetan or Chinese,
in all probability, allied to the known mountaincers of the
UNDESCRIBED POPULATIONS.
251
Asam boundary; being like them rude, more or less in-
dependent, more or less pagan. Of these the Bibor may
be the least, the Kulta the most, Indianized.
The Bibors, called Barkan by the Abors of the Suban-
shiri, tattoo their lips.
The Jubars lie three days' journey beyond them.
The Kulta, or Kolita, are more civilized, having received
a tincture of Brahminism, and having been at one time
sufficiently powerful to effect a conquest of part of Asam.
They dwell to the north-east of the extremity of the
Asam Valley.
Beyond the Kulta country lies that of the Yam Sinh
Rajah, whose subjects are independent and warlike;
famous, too, for their horses; also for their trowsers, or
breeches, which are somewhat after the European fashion.
In this respect more than one tribe (or if not this the same
tribe under a variety of names) has commanded notice.
Captain Yule heard of the same article of dress being
used on the northern eastern frontier of Burma.
The Bibor, Jiobar, and Kolita are on the drainage of
the Brahmaputra. But, besides the Brahmaputra, there
are the great rivers that run from north to south, the
head-waters of which are, one and all, unexplored. There
is the Irawadi, which is more especially Burmese; the
Siamese Menam; the Kambojian Mekhong, the longest
and the least known of all. Then there are the rivers of
Cochinchina and Tonkin; running from west to east,
rather than from north to south, of less length than the
one previously mentioned. There are the rivers and the
water sheds between them; the banks being alluvial, and
fit for cultivation, the watersheds being either hilly or
mountainous, woods or forests. Such is the difference in
the physical geography. In ethnology the difference is—
we need scarcely say what it is. We anticipate its nature.
252
UNDESCRIBED POPULATIONS.
The plains will be occupied by the more civil, the hills by
the ruder, race. The more civil tribes will be Buddhist;
paganism being a non inventum. The ruder will be more
or less pagan; sometimes wholly so.
The watershed of the Irawadi and Menam. On the
watershed between the Irawadi and the Menam, and on
the frontier of Siam and Ava, common, in all probability,
to both empires, lie the Lawa.
In Bowring's map they are placed due north of the
Karens and due west of the Laos. It is only for the sake
of making assurance doubly sure that I notice them here;
having but little doubt as to their being T'hay. Word
for word Lawa is Lao, Lau, or Laos. Still, as the name
may be applied to more populations than one, there is a
shade of doubt over their exact ethnological position.
The same applies to the Khong. The name is generic.
Some of the tribes to which it applies are certainly Kam-
bojian. These have already been noticed. Whether
all are so is a question upon which further evidence is
wanting.
Watershed of the Upper Menam and Mekhong-Valley of
the Middle Mekhong.-Here we find the names Kakui
and Kakua applied to the occupants of both sides of the
Mekhong, the Mutsa being near them. Word for word
Kakui is the name of certain tribes, already noticed, of
the Singpho area. The criticism that applies to the term
Lawa and Khong applies here.
That the Lilun, the Laulan, and Lolo are populations
bearing one and the same name, I have little doubt. They
lie (some of them at least) east of the Mekhong, being
Buddhist in creed.
That Pulai and Paloung are one and the same words I
have little doubt; holding also, that they may, possibly,
be Lilun and Lolo as well. The Yem, the Dumu, and
UNDESCRIBED POPULATIONS.
253
Duner lie in their neighbourhood, i. e. on the drainage
of the Mekhong, and in a tea-growing district.
Lastly, comes a series of names beginning with ka; viz.
Kali, Kapin, Kalau, Kadam, Kamu, Kamet. The popu-
lations which bear them seem to lie to the west of the ones
just enumerated, on the frontier of Siam and Ava rather
than on that of Siam and China. They may be Karen.
They may be Shan.
Watershed of Mekhong, and the rivers of Cochinchina
and Tonkin.—In the south, between Kambojia and Cochin-
china, reside the Moy; to the north, on the frontier of
Tonkin, the Kwantong. The Moy are said to be very
dark-complexioned. The Kwantong are said to be a let-
tered nation. They are, probably, in the same category
with the Lolo; the Moy being either Anamese or
Kambojian.
The Tshampa.-The coast between the mouth of the
Mekhong and the frontier of Cochinchina is in the occu-
pancy of a population called Tshampa. The only known
vocabulary for these parts is Malay. Whether this repre-
sent the language of true Tshampa is a question upon
which we desire further evidence.
English.
Tshampa.
Malay.
Man
orang
orang
Head
akoh
ulu
kapala
Eye
mata
Mouth
chabui
mata
mulut
Sun
naharai
mata-ari
Moon
bulan
bulan
Star
bintang
bintang
Sky
langi
langit
Fire
apoi
api
Water
aya
ayar
River
sungai
sungi
Sea
laut
laut
Stone
batao
batu
254
UNDESCRIBED POPULATIONS.
English.
Tshampa.
One
satu
Two
dua
Malay,
satu
duwa
Three
klao
Four
pak
Five
Six
num
Seven
Eight
tuju
dalapan
limo
tiga
ampat
lima
anam
tuju
Nine
samilan
Ten
plu
dalapam
sambilan
pulú,
This list is from Craufurd, who took it from a merchant
trading to Sincapore.
ISLANDERS.
255
CHAPTER XV.
Islands. The Mergui Archipelago, Formosa and the Nicobars.-The
Mincopi of the Andamans.
ALL the populations hitherto noticed belong to the Con-
tinent; indeed the class to which they belong is pre-
eminently a class of landsmen. As a general rule the
islanders of both the Indian Ocean and the Pacific are
Indians (like the Cingalese of Ceylon), Japanese (like
the Luchu), or (like the natives of Sumatra and Borneo)
Malay. At the same time, there are the following ex-
ceptions:-
Hainan is, as we expect from its contiguity to the main-
land, Chinese.
The Mergui Archipelago and Formosa, wide apart as
they lie, are in the same category, with each other, and
with the Tshampa district. The known specimens of their
language are, more or less, Malay; it being, however,
doubtful whether they represent the aboriginal form of
speech.
Of the Silong, or wandering fishermen of the Mergui
Archipelago, the number amounts to about 1000 souls.
English.
Man
Silong.
mesa
Malay.
orang
Head
atak
Hair
autak
ulu
kapala
rambut
bulu
Eye
matat
mata
Ear
tengah
talinga
Tongue
klek
lidah
Tooth
lepadn
gigi
256
ISLANDERS.
English.
Silong.
Malay.
Hand
langan
tangan
Foot
Sun
kakai
matai-alai
kaki
Moon
bulan
Star
bituek
matar-ari
bulan
bintang
Fire
apoi
api
Water
awaen
Stone
Tree
ayar
batu
kayu.
batoe
ki
Formosa.-The western coast of Formosa is occupied, to
a great extent, by Chinese, recent settlers. But the in-
terior is the residence of more than one rude tribe. These
it is whose language is supposed to differ from that of the
only known specimen, which is as follows:
English.
Formosan.
Malay.
Man (irr.)
paraigh
laki
(homo)
aulong
orang
Eye
matta
mata
Ear
Head
Mouth
Tooth
ualigh
Tongue
dadila
Hair
waukugh
Hand
rima
Foot
rahpal
tangira
bungo
mutaus
talinga
ulu, kapala
mulut
gigi
lidah
rambut, bulu
tangan
kaki
Blood
amagh
darah
Sun
uai
Moon
waunat
mata-ari
bulan
Star
attatalingahei
bintang
Fish
tung
ikan
Fire
apœi
api
•Water
ralaum
ayar
Sea
waungh
laut
Tree
parannah
kayu
Stone
watto
batu
Hill
waukein
bukit, gunung
Earth
nai
House
tallag
One
saat
tana, bumi
rumah
satu
Two
rauha
duwa
ISLANDERS.
257
English.
Formosan.
Malay.
Three
tauro
tiga
Four
hpat
Five
rima
Six
nnum
Seven
pytto
ampat
lima
anam
tuju
Eight
kauyphpa
Nine
Ten
matauda
kytti
dalapar
sambilar
pulu
The Nicobar Islanders.-The natives of the Nicobar
islands are described as an ill-looking population, with
dark skins, yellow scleroticas, flat faces, and scanty
beards, whose chief aliment consists in hogs, poultry, and
cocoa-nuts, whose deities are the Ividi, or genii of the hills
and woods, and whose priests are called Malains.
In northern islands-Carnicobar, Shovra, Teressa, Nan-
kovry, and some others of less importance, differ from the
Great and Little Nicobar in being volcanic rather than
coralline, and in their occupants being somewhat better
shaped, and somewhat less wild. In the interior of the
Great Nicobar a population ruder than that of the
coast is said to reside.
Crawfurd's notice of the Nicobar language is founded
upon the vocabularies of Hamilton and Fontana, the
former representing the language of the most northern,
the latter that of the most southern of the islands. Such
being the case, the extent to which the two forms of
speech differ, seems considerable. No wonder, then, that
the following list of the fourteen words common to the
two vocabularies should suggest the suspicion that the
Carnicobar and the Nicobar were "two distinct lan-
guages.
English.
Man
Carnicobar.
Great Nicobar.
Woman
kejonïa
kekana
enkoni
Child
chu
enkana
keйu
VOL. I.
$
258
ISLANDERS.
English.
Fowl
Carnicobar.
Great Nicobar.
hayam, m
toföak
Hog
höon
not
Dog
tamam
ham
Fire
tamia
henu
Rain
kumra
hame
House
alhanum
ni
To laugh
ayelaur
hethai
To eat
na
hanino
To drink
ok
pëum
To sleep
lumlum
etaja
pöing
höum
To weep
Again-the vocabularies to which alone Mr. Crawfurd
had access gave very few Malay words; a fact which led
that writer to the statement that the base of the language
they represented was other than Malay. Since this
opinion was published the whole group has been visited in
detail by the Danish exploring expedition under Steen
Bille, and our philogical data have been increased thereby.
Of these it may fairly be said that they help to break
down the broad line of demarcation both between the
northern and southern dialects, and the language of the
group in general and the Malay. The little islets, com-
pared to which even such small blocks of land as the main
islands assume a continental magnitude are called by the
Malay name pulo.
English.
Carnicobar.
Teressa.
Nancowry.
Man (homo)
bayu
dzhubayu
Head
gosh
Hair
kheui
hehok
Eye
olmat
Ear
nang
Nose
ehelme
mhang
moah
Mouth
monoi
meno
Hand
genâs
Foot
gundron
Blood
mam
vhoa
Sun
huik
Moon
tingæt
hahæ
khat
ISLANDERS.
259
English.
Carnicobar.
Toressa.
Nuncowry.
Fire
pala
Water
mak
Stone
manghæ
Egg
laal
Demon
pivi
The Mincopie of the Andaman Islanders.-The Andaman
islanders are mentioned as early as the twelfth century,
i. e. by the two Mahometan travellers of Renaudot.
These write, that beyond the Nicobar Islands "lies the
Sea of Andaman. The people on this coast eat human
flesh quite raw; their complexion is black, their hair
frizzled, their countenance and eyes frightful; their feet
are very large, and almost a cubit in length, and they go
quite naked. They have no embarkations; if they had,
they would devour all the passengers they could lay hands
Marco Polo writes equally unfavourably-" Anga-
man is a very large island, not governed by a king. The
inhabitants are idolaters, and are a most brutish and
savage race, having heads, eyes and teeth resembling
those of the canine species. Their dispositions are cruel,
and every person not being of their own nation, whom
they can lay hands on, they kill and eat."
on.
A paper, by Lieutenant Colebrooke, is the chief source
of our knowledge concerning the Mincopie, the author
being indebted to his predecessors Major Kyd and Cap-
tain Blair, for some of his facts. He describes them as
plunged in the grossest ignorance and barbarity; barely
acquits them of the charge of cannibalism; and unhesi-
tatingly affirms that they are guilty of the murder of
the crews of such vessels as may be wrecked upon their
coast. Does he do this on the strength of his observation
or his reading?
The late Sir Charles Malcolm, who had had one of
the natives aboard-ship with him, took considerable
s 2
260
ISLANDERS.
pains to dilute the charges that lay against this ill-famed
population, and spoke in strong terms as to the gentleness
and docility of the individual with whom he thus came in
contact.
Arm
Nose
Finger
Hand
Blood
Belly
Teeth
English.
Andaman.
Man
kamolan
Hair
otti
Head
tabay
Eye
Ear
Mouth
jabay
kwaka
morna
pilie
melli
mornay
gonie
monie
kotshengohi
napoi
mahoi
Breast
kah
Tongue
talie
Bone
Chin
Foot
Knee
Leg
Fire
Water
Sky
gitongay
pitang
guki
ingolay
tshigie
mona
migway
madamo
ahay
tabie
Sun
Moon
Star
Wind
Wood
tshelobay
tomjamy
tanghi
House
beaday
Bird
lohay
Fish
nabohi
Black
Cold
tshigiuga
tshorna
The Mincopie are skilful in shooting fish with their
arrows. They take, however, but little pains to culti-
vate the soil; feeding on what they find or kill. They are
ISLANDERS.
261
fond of singing and dancing; ignorant of the art of work-
ing in metal; but not unskilful in the management of
These are hollowed out of the trunks of
their canoes.
trees by means
times they use
of fire, or instruments of stone. Some-
rafts of bamboo. Their bows are re-
markably long. Hand-nets, wicker-baskets, and a few
specimens of pottery-ware have been seen amongst
them.
262
THE TUNGUS.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Tungus Stock. The Mantshu or Tungús of China. - Tungus of
Siberia.-Horse; Reindeer; Dog.-Lamuts.-Daurians.-Application
of the European Alphabet to Siberian Languages. —Shamanism. -
Tshapodzhirs, Tungús, &c.
TUNGUS is a general name, current amongst ethnologists
for a population common to Siberia and China; a popu-
lation of vast area and varied manners, a population,
however, whose physiognomy connects it with the tribes
of Northern Asia in general, whose history links it to
China, and whose language forms a transition between the
monosyllabic and agglutinate forms of speech. It ap-
proaches inflection nearer than any of the dialects hitherto
enumerated; recedes from it more than any that are likely,
for some time at least, to be mentioned in the sequel.
I have little doubt that the name means, or, originally
meant man, and that it is a word which we shall find
frequently appearing and re-appearing in Asia, in Europe,
and still more frequently, in America. In some respects
it is a native name; in others not. For the family at
large there is no general name at all. There is only a series
of names for the several divisions of it. One of these
is beye, which we know means man. Another is donki,
which I suppose is the word out of which Tungús arose.
In Chinese this becomes Tong-chu. This the Russians
adopt from the Chinese, the ethnologists adopting it
from the Russians.
The Tungús area is of vast extent in every direction.
It touches, or, at least, approaches, the Arctic Ocean on
THE TUNGUS.
263
the north. It extends to the frontier of China on the
south; not to mention the Tungús who, under the name
of Mantshus, constitute the dominant population of
China itself. The court of Pekin is, more or less, Tungús.
East and west it reaches from the Yenisey to the Pacific
Ocean. No wonder, then, if the nations, families, tribes,
stocks of divisions of the Asiatic populations with which
the Tungús come in contact be numerous. No wonder,
too, if the frontier be irregular. We shall find several
cases where its outline is deeply indented, and where popu-
lations other than Tungús interrupt its continuity.
The Tungús of China-Mantshu.-The political division
of the Tungús stock is convenient, and, by no means, very
unnatural. The tribes of Siberia are under Russia. The
tribes of Mantshuria belong to China. The Mantshuria
of the maps is, there, or thereabouts, the water system of
the river Amur or Sagalin; Amur as it is called by the
Russians, Sagalin, or Sagalin Ula (Black River), as it is
called by the Mantshu. The whole, however, of the
river is not Tungús. The parts about the mouth are
occupied by members of the Aino family. The peninsula,
too, of Korea is other than Mantshu. Thirdly, in the
parts due north of Pekin a long process, or offset, from
Mongolia cuts-in, and well-nigh separates the true Tungús
part of Mantshuria from China. The Mongols, however,
of this district are intrusive.
The Tungús of China-and it must be remarked that
there are Tungús only in the way that an Englishman is
a German and that the designation is purely technical—
are in a very different predicament from their congeners of
the more ungenial climate of the north. The valley of the
Saghalin, a district of which the geography is imperfectly
known, seems to present free undulations of hill and valley,
to have a large surface of productive land, and to be fer-
264
THE MANTSHU, OR
tilized by a moist atmosphere. In its latitude it coin-
cides with Northern Germany; but it is a Germany
without either a Baltic on its north, or a Mediterranean
on its south; desiderata which must be carefully remem-
bered when we speculate upon the causes which have de-
-termined the difference of the two civilizations. All the
tribes of Mantshuria are not on the same level with the
Proper Mantshu: for the Proper Mantshu are a lettered
population; though neither their literature nor their
alphabet is of any great antiquity; the latter being a
mere modification of the Mongol. They are more or less
agricultural and industrial, occupants of valleys and vil-
lages. They are conquerors; for the present dynasty of
China is Mantshu. And this suggests a division. There
are the Mantshus of Mantshuria and the Mantshus of
China. Of course they are numerous in this latter
country, where there is a court and a government, and
where official aptitude leads to honour and emolument.
The rewards, however, of this kind are chiefly monopo-
lized by Chinese. Still, the dynasty is Mongol, and some
portion of the bureaucracy is the same; though the extent
to which it is so is unknown. The army, on the other
hand, is Mantshu to an inordinate extent; and as the Euro-
pean practice of quartering the soldiers of one country on
the soil of another is also that of China, there are Mantshu
soldiers everywhere but in Mantshuria. There are Mantshu
soldiers in Mongolia; Mantshu soldiers (far outnumbering
the Chinese) in Tibet. The Kumaon frontier, as we have
already seen, is kept by a Mantshu garrison. By this
means Mantshu blood is propagated far and wide, and
Mantshu half-bloods must be common in garrison towns.
Well clothed, warmly lodged, and with an environment
of civilization, many of the Mantshus of China have
changed their physiognomy no less than their habits. Sir
TUNGÚS OF CHINA.
265
John Barrow saw both men and women of Mantshu blood
who were "extremely fair and of a florid complexion;
some had light blue eyes, straight or aquiline noses, brown
hair, immense bushy beards, and had more the appearance
of Greeks than of Tartars." Whatever intermixture may
account for in this description, it will not explain the
beards. Who were the bearded nations to supply it?
The Chinese are nothing of the kind. Still less the
Mongols.
The Mantshu of China are inconveniently called Tar-
tars and the Mantshu dynasty a Tartar dynasty. The
Bhot of the Himalayan frontier of Tibet are also so
called; as are the Turks of what stands in the maps as
Chinese Tartary; by which we mean the countries of
Khoten and Yarkend, or Little Bokhara. The less we
use the equivocal term Tartar, Tahtah, or Tatar, the
sounder will be our ethnology.
The Mantshu call
China
The Mongolians
The Russians
Nertshinsk
The Giliak*
Korea
Nikan.
Monga.
Oros.
Niptshi.
Fiaka.
Solgo.
This last name is remarkable because the Mantshu
tribes of the Upper Sagalin are called Solon; and because
there is evidence of other kinds that a portion, at least,
of what is now Mantshuria, was once Korea.
English.
Man (vir)
Man (homo)
Mantshu.
Korean.
Aino.
sand
okkai
beye (?)
saram
ainu
gura
Eye
yasa
nuon
shigi
Head
udzhu
mati
shaba
Hair
funieke
muri
numa
Ear
shan
kui
kisara
* A branch of the Aino, or Kurilian stock.
266
THE MANTSHU, OR
English.
Mantshu.
Korean.
Nose
okoro
ko
Aino.
idu
Mouth
anga
yip
Tongue
veikhe
hie
Tooth
ilengu
ni
Hand
gala
sun
Foot
betkhe
pal
Sun
shun
Moon
bia
oru
Star
uzhikha
Fire
tua
pol
Water
make
mu
peng
peru
paru
ai
nimaki
tegi
kima
tshukf-ramo
tshukf
nodzi
raka
undzhi
Tree
moo
nan
nü
Stone
vekhe
tu, tol
Egg
Fish
umkhan
al
shioma
nuku
nimakha
koki
zepf
The tribes that, collectively, constitute the Mantsbu
division amount to more than sixty; so many names, at
least, are to be found in Klaproth's list.* The Mongols
call them either Uzun Dzurtshit or Angga Dzurtshit.
Tshurtshut, Zhudzhi, Nyudzhi, Geougen, and Nyudzhri
are the same word under different forms. A list of
Nyudzhi words from a Chinese narrative is shown by
Klaproth to be Mantshu.
The Nyudzhi, or Mantshu conquest of China, A.D.
1644, under Taidzu, from whom the reigning emperor of
China is descended, is a definite piece of history, to which
we shall do well in giving due prominence; inasmuch as
the details of the several, real or supposed, Tungús in-
vasions of earlier date are by no means sufficiently esta-
blished. Chinese and Mantshu scholars may, perhaps, be
satisfied. If so they should have better grounds for being so
than those which they have made accessible to the general
reader. The editor, for instance, of Castrén's posthumous
work on the Altaic populations allows himself to believe
that this same tribe of Nyudzhi, Zhudzhi, or Yutshi are
mentioned, eo nomine, as a Tungús tribe of the eleventh
* See page 287.
TUNGUS OF CHINA.
267
century before the Christian era; concerning which we
learn thus much, viz., that they paid tribute to China in
arrows made of a sort of wood called pu, the heads of
which were of stone. It is these Yutshi who have been
identified by respectable writers with the Goths, and
converted into the Germans of North-eastern Asia. If
Yutshi be Goth, why may not Nyutsh be Deutsch?
That certain Chinese writers describe certain Tungús
tribes as rude Nyudzhi, or Zhutshi, or the like, I
believe. I only demur to the doctrine of these being
anything more or less than the tribes of the sixteenth
century so denominated.
From the time of these early Nyudzhi to the year 263,
A.D., no notice of anything Tungús is to be found. So
runs the continuation of the statement in Castrén. It
means that during the tenth, ninth, eighth, seventh, and
subsequent centuries of the times B.C., the times of the
Trojan war, the Homeric poems, the rise of Athens, &c.,
&c., there was no one in China who has given us any
account of Mantshuria. I believe it; only wishing that
the rest of the early history of China and the neigh-
bouring countries were equally satisfactory. Let those
who over-love antiquity limit themselves to negative state-
ments. This, however, is not done; so that, A.D. 263,
another tribe of Mantshuria emerges. The Yleu or Yliu
send in that year a tribute of bows, arrows, and sables
to the emperor of the Goey dynasty, then sitting on
the throne of China. The land of the Yleu was cold
and hilly; susceptible, however, of agriculture. The
Yleu themselves had neither prince nor chief, but lived
under the direction of their elders in small villages, the
houses of which were underground holes. In these the
rude and miserable occupants passed the winter, smeared
with lard, and clothed in garments of hogskin; for, though
268
THE MANTSHU, OR
In
sheep and oxen were wanting, swine were numerous.
summer the Yleu ran naked. They had no iron. Nor yet
salt. For this they used wood-ashes. As to their meat
they thawed it, when frozen, either by stamping or by sit-
ting on it. The bridegroom bought his bride. At funerals
a pig was buried along with the corpse. Their arms were
the bow and arrow.
A break again (and, be it remembered, that every break
increases suspicion,) until the fifth century-when, again,
under the dynasty of the Goey, we hear of the Mu-ky,
Mokh-o, or Mo-ho. Their country lay on the banks of
the Songhari. It is strange to find how like the de-
scription of the Mokho is to that of the Yliu. They
dwelt underground; had no flocks and herds; ate pork;
could till the soil, and (what is not said of the Yliu) could
brew an intoxicating liquor out of corn. At a Mokho
wedding the wife brought her jacket and petticoat; the
husband a dress of hogskin. Mark the re-appearance of
these hogs. They point to the Nyudzhi. The head-
dress, however, of the bridegroom was the tail of a tiger
or leopard. If a woman were accused of adultery so
openly as to make it impossible for the affair to be hushed
up, or winked at, the husband struck her dead on the
spot; then and there, when and where the news was told.
They shot with bows, and their arrows were poisoned.
So strong was the poison that to open a quiver and smell
at the cover was death. Die in the summer or spring, and
you will be buried on a hill with a building on the spot
where you lie. Die in winter, and your frozen body goes
to the foxes and polecats.*
The Chinese who describe these nations call them foul
* Urina in lotum adibebatur. Nuptâ virgine, pro primitiis, mammæ
à marito sugebantur. Multa de nigritudine mammarum apud Samoyedas
scripsere historici. Olim credidi aut gravidas aut fusciores visas fuisse.
Quid si hæc mammarum stupratio causa nigritudinis fuerit?
TUNGÚS OF CHINA.
269
and filthy. So far Chinese history is right. I give what
I find (at second-hand) as it comes. It is worth something
as Chinese geography. It is worth something as actual
ethnography. As chronology it is vain and foolish. There
were certain barbarians, whom, at a certain time, the
Chinese justly described as barbarians. What this time
was is another question. It is not likely to have been
200 A.D.
Still less is it likely that it was 1000 B.C.
The period which begins with the Mokho and ends with
the Nyudzhi Mantshu is, more or less, historical. It will
be considered more fully when the Mongols and Turks
have been noticed.
Even in the ordinary Mantshu conquest there are
mythological elements. Huc found in the capital of the
Chinese province Setshuan a kind of Euhemeric worship of
one of the Mantshu captains. Of the present emperor he
also gives the following genealogy :-"Ten generations,"
said his informant (who was he?), "ten generations
have now passed away since three young girls descended
from the skies to bathe on the banks of the Songai;
their names were Argila, Changula, and Fégula.
Some magnificent red fruits, coming they knew not
whence, were found on the banks by the river close by
Fégula's tunic, and she perceiving them, and admiring
their beauty, ate of them. Her two companions, after
rising from the stream, reascended into heaven, but Fégula
could not follow them. She had become pregnant, and
had no longer power to quit the earth. She gave birth to
a beautiful male child, suckled it, and then placed it in a
little island formed by the waters of the river. She di-
rected it to await there the coming of the person who was
to be its guardian, and who would, ere long, come to the
island to fish; and having said these words, she arose
up into the sky whence she had descended.
270
THE MANTSHU, OR
"It happened as Fégula had foretold. The child grew
up into a prodigiously strong and valiant man. He had
sons and grandsons, who by degrees became powerful in
the land. After five generations, a terrible war broke
out, which annihilated them; they were all put to death
with the exception of one, who fled across the desert.
When overpowered by weariness, and unable to continue
his journey, he sat down on the ground, at the risk of
dying by the hands of his pursuers.
"But the divine Fégula was watching over him. She
directed the flight of a magpie, which perched on his head.
The enemy, thinking that the magpie was perched on the
trunk of a tree, departed; and thus, by the help of
heaven, was rescued the heir of that race which Fégula
had brought into the world. He became the progenitor
of the Mantchu Tartar nation, and from him descended
in a direct line the founder of the dynasty which now fills
the imperial throne of Pekin."
The division into tribes is Mantshu and Tungús, and in
Mantshuria there are tribes, and sub-tribes. Does this
exist in China as a Chinese institution? Mr. Daa of
Christiania, whose opinions on all matters connected
with those dubious points whereon ethnology and the
history of the development of society meet, are of the
highest value, has laid great stress on the fact of there
being traces of a tribual constitution in China. Indivi-
dually, I should as soon expect to find them (in the
towns) as in England. He states, however, that families
of a different name do not intermarry. This may be the
case. It may occur on the soil of China. Still, it may or
may not be Chinese. It may simply be Mantshu. Let
future observers decide. Masudi's statement has already
been noticed.
The Russians call the Nyudzhi Deutsheri. Before we
TUNGUS OF CHINA.
271
have passed from Siberia into Europe we shall find a
Ugrian tribe that calls the Russian Dyutsh. No wonder
(I repeat it) that the Yutshi have been made Goths. Yet
they are simply Tungús.
There may possibly, and not improbably, be a few in-
dependent Tungús tribes in the Tshuktshi country, the
only part of Northern Siberia which is not Russian.
Roughly speaking, however, all that is not Chinese is
Russian.
English.
Man (homo)
Tungús of Amur.
Mantshu.
Head
topti
beye
udzhu
Hair
nurikta
funiekhe
Eye
yesa
yasa
Ear
syen
shan
Nose
ongokto
okhoro
Mouth
ommün
anga
Tongue
ini
ilengu
Tooth
ikta
veikhe
Hand
nyala
Foot
adbigi
Sun
delesa
Moon
bega
Star
ohikta
Fire
Water
Stone
One
mu
Two
dyul
toho
mu
dsholo
gala
betkhe
shün
bia
uzhikha
tua
vekhe
emu
dzheio
muke
Three
ela
elan
Four
duye
Five
tonsa
Six
nyuyu
Seven
nada
diun
sundzha
ninggun
nadan
Eight
tshapku
dzakun
Nine
khuyu
uyun
Ten
dzha
dzhuan
I add the following tables, believing that the history
of Mantshuria will have to be worked out to a great ex-
272
TUNGUS OF SIBERIA.
tent, through its dialects. Chinese geography is like
the lovers in Martinus Scriblerus. Annihilate time and
space and it would be happy. Give it dates and longi..
tudes and it would be useful.
English.
Middle Amur. Mouth of Sangara. Mantshu.
Kisi.
One
amun
omu
amoa
omu
Two
dyuo
dzur
dzhoua
dyul
Three
elan
ela
gilang
ela
Four
diyin
duye
tuye
Five
tonsya
tonga
sundzha
duye
tonsa
Six
nunyun
nyungu
nyunguen
nyungu
Seven
nadan
nada
nadang
nada
Eight
dzabkun
dzhakfo
tsakoi
tshapku
Nine
yögin
huyu
uyen
khuyu
Ten
dzhan
dzhoa
dzhuyen
dzha
In
Tungús Proper―The Tungús of Siberia-Russian Tungús.
-The ordinary division of the Tungús of the Russian
empire is founded upon the names of the animal with
which the different sections chiefly come in contact.
Dauria it is a horse, in the middle districts a reindeer,
on the east a dog; so that Horse Tungús, Reindeer
Tungús, and Dog Tungús are the denominations. The
Horse Tungús approach the Mongolians, the Reindeer
the Koriak, the Dog the Kamskadals and Eskino. The
Forest Tungús is a sub-division; possibly a cross-division.
The Steppe Tungús the same. The Foot-going Tungús the
same also. Let a Tungús of any kind live in a steppe
or a wood, and his habits are modified. Let a rich man
become poor, and he goes on foot instead of driving or
riding. Ermann gives a saddening and sickening account
of a poor Tungús and his daughter, in a lone hut, deso-
late, and isolate. They had simply lost their cattle and
hunted, apart from their fellows, in solitude. A Bush-
man who has lost his herds is a Tungús without his dogs,
reindeer, or horses, and the history of an afflicted family
THE LAMUT-THE DAURIANS.
273
in the south of Africa is, mutatis mutandis, the history of
an afflicted family in the north of Asia.
The Lamut.-Lamu, or Lamut, means Sea, and the
Tungús of the coast of the Pacific are the Tungús of the
Sea. They lie between the watershed of the Aldan, &c.,
and the Ocean. They are Dog Tungús; for they are near
the great dog country, Kamtskatka. Their language
connects them with the Mantshú. The parts about
Okotsk are their chief locality and the Okota is their
chief river.
English.
Lamut.
Head
del
Kumskadal.
kobbel
Koriak.
lavut
Hair
nyurit
tsheron
katshugui
Eye
esel
elled
lalat
Ear
korot
ilyud
vyilut
Nose
ongata
kayako
enigytam
Mouth
amga
tshkylda
zekiangin
Tongue
ilga
dydzil
gügil
Hand
ngal
tono
myngakatsh
Sun
nyultan
koatsh
tykete
Moon
bekh
quingankuletsh
geilygen
Star
otshikat
ezhingin
lelapitshan
Fire
toh
pangitsh
milugan
Water
mu
i
mimal
Tree
mo
00
uttepel
Stone
dzholo
kual
guggon
The Tungús of Dauria.-The Lamut lie north and north-
east of Mantshuria; the Daurian north and north-west.
In language they are connected. The Tungús grammar
of Castrén represents the language of the Urulga and
Manikov tribes, whose dialect is less pure than those of
many others inasmuch as it contains a great number of
words from the Buriat dialect of the Mongol.
English.
Nertshinsk.
Man (homo) boie
Head
deli
Hair
Eye
nyurikta
isal
Buriat.
kun
tulgai
nokhon
nidu
Yakut.
Yeniseian.
hit
baz
takai
az
khingayang
kharakh
tesh
VOL. I.
T
274
TUNGŪS LANGUAGE
English.
Nertshinsk.
Buriat.
Yakut.
Ear
zin
tshikin
Nose
ongokta
kabar
murun
kulgakh
Yeniseiau.
klokan
an
Mouth
amga
ama
ayak
hohui
Tongue
ingni
kylyn
tiz
alup
Hand
dzhalan
gar
ili
Foot
bokdil
kull
pulang
Sun
shivun
nara
kun
oga
Moon
biga
khara
ui
shui
Star
oshikta
odun
zulus
alak
Fire
togo
gall
wot
hat
Water
mu
ugun
u
ul
Tree
mo
modun
maz
atsh
Stone
dzhalo
tsholo
taz
shish
In the Yakut Districts
Russian Tungús.
"
Circle of Gishiginsk
"
•
Neighbourhood of Turuchansk-Males
13,550
500
1,011
1,981
Females 970
Circle of Kirinsk
Males 826
""
•
Females 869
1}
1,695
On the Baikal Lake and in the Sayanian
Mountains
Males 890
1,706
Females 816
In the Circle of Verkneudinsk
Males 1,252
2,395
Females 1,143
Circle of Nertshinsk
Males 7,060
13,791
Females 6,731
The Tungús language being now, for the first time,
exhibited in a grammatical form and treated as a lettered
language, we are induced to ask the question, what is its
alphabet ? Native letters there are none. The only
member of the group which has long been reduced to
writing is the Mantshú. Doubtless, the letters which
suit the Mantshú will also suit the Tungús. They are,
however, both inconvenient in form, and limited in
application. They embody the scanty literature of the
Mongols, from whom they were derived. They embody
the scantier literature of the Mantsúhs themselves. Be-
sides this they are connected with China rather than
AND ALPHABETIC EXPRESSION.
275
Western Asia and Europe; with China rather than Mus-
covy. A Mantshú alphabet might, possibly, have been
a convenience to such missionaries as had begun with
a knowledge of the Mongolian. To the Russians, in
general, it would have been useless. So it would have
been to the literati of Europe.
It is in the ordinary Roman alphabet that Castrén's
Tungús grammar is drawn up; the author having pre-
ferred this to the Russian. This latter would, indeed, have
fitted the language well, being both more copious than
the Roman, and being already applied to more than one
language of Northern Asia. More than this-one of
Castrén's own grammars (that of the Ostiak language) is
Russian in respect to its letters. Nevertheless, the Tungús
orthography is Roman. The grammar itself is in German;
and the fact of its being addressed to the readers of the
German language has probably determined the character of
the alphabet. Whether Russian missionaries, and Rus-
sian officials, whose views in the matters of writing and
reading are practical rather than theoretical, may confirm
the choice is another question. As a general rule, the
Slavonic alphabet and Greek Christianity go together.
They do this even in Wallachia and Moldavia, where the
language is of Latin origin.
The introduction of the European alphabets into Rus-
sian Asia is a point which we may advantageously con-
template; inasmuch as the principles by which it has been
regulated are, if not unexceptionable, at least laudable.
These alphabets are two; the Russian and the Roman.
The former is the easier to handle; the easier by far.
By this I mean that when an unwritten language has to be
written, and the elementary sounds of that unwritten lan-
guage are new and strange, so that the question of their
representation becomes difficult, the Russian orthography
T 2
276
TUNGÚS LANGUAGE
can be applied with greater ease than any other in Europe.
There are three reasons for this. One is, the fact of its
consisting of a full and sufficient number of simple single
signs for the expression of its sounds. The second is, that
of the sounds themselves being numerous. The third and
the most important, is the freedom with which it has al-
ready been treated. It was originally the old Slavonic;
closely akin to the present Servian. To become Russian it
took four new letters. It was extended to the writing of
the Rumanyo of the Danubian Principalities. Here, the
existence of two peculiar sounds called for the addition of
two new letters. In England, France, or Germany, two
old ones would have been combined. We, of Western
Europe, are chary of adding new letters to an old alphabet.
In Eastern Europe there is no such prejudice. A new
sound calls for a new sign, and obtains it. Of the pre-
viously-unwritten languages the following have, within
the last few years, been embodied by means of the Rus-
sian alphabet.
1. The Aleutian of the Islands between Kamtskatka and
America.
2. The Osset of Caucasus; the application being made
by Sjögren.
3. The Ostiak; the application being made by Castrén.
This was in 1849. The adoption of the Roman letters
took place later.
4. The Yakut; the application being by Middendorf
and Botlinck.
The Roman alphabet-what have been its applications,
what the principles on which those applications were
made? To the Fin of Finland it had been applied from
the beginning, introduced along with the introduction of
the Gospel. For the Fin of Finland it was as natural and
current as it is for the English or French; Finland having,
AND ALPHABETIC EXPRESSION.
277
until 1812, been Swedish. On the other hand the Ziria-
nian and Permian languages are written in Russian.
But, then, the Estonian and Magyar are Roman. So
that, on the whole, it is not too much to say that the
Roman is the alphabet for the Fin family.
In 1830, the great Danish philologue, Rask, found his
attention directed to the Georgian and Armenian lan-
guages; each with an alphabet one-third longer than our
own, and each with strange sounds for those alpha-
bets to express. However, they did express them; having
signs, or letters, to match. These signs did Rask trans-
literate into Roman; and that, upon a principle, which,
though negative rather than positive, is worthy of imi-
tation as far as it goes. He avoided the expression of
simple sounds by complex combinations. If a new sound
appeared a new sign was excogitated. It might be wholly
new. It might be an old letter modified. The former
gives us the better and bolder, the latter the more usual
and easier, plan. However, in the proposed alphabet
the Georgian runs thus-
0, u, P, f, v, F,
k, g, k,
a, e, i,
t, d, þ,
S, Z, 's,
ż,
C,
ħ,
ħ, l,
1,
3, j, h,
The Armenian thus-
r, q, X,
3, 3, ¿, ź,
m, n, r, h.
a,
e, é,
ë,
i,
0,
u, P,
p,
b,
b, u or w
V, F, t,
d, þ,
k, g,
g,
k,
ror f
X, S, Z,
ś, ż,
S,
C, 3, 3, ċ,
3, 3, 1, m, n, r, i, j,
j,
h.
F, þ, and k, were sounded as the ph, th, and kh in
ha-phazard, nu-thook and in-khorn; the original alpha-
bets having thus compendiously expressed three pairs of
278
TUNGÚS LANGUAGE
compound sounds. If it were not for this the combina-
tions of p, t, k and h would have sufficed. The r was,
nearly or exactly, the Arabic, a variety of g.
ق
The
corresponding variety of k is expressed by q, compared to
the Arabic Another guttural was expressed by a
(Arabic). For two varieties of h were proposed ħ and
h; for the sibilants s' (sh); z' (zh); c (ts); c' (tsh);
3 (dz); 3 (dzh or the English j). Then, for a pair of
sounds described as approaching dhz, and dhzh, 3 and 3.
The Armenian transliteration had the additional signs é, ë,
t, and i.
Previous to the work in which these two alphabets were
proposed the author had been engaged on the Lap of
Norwegian Lapland, and had published a grammar on it
in which the signs 3 and 3 were introduced; as well as n for
the ng in king, sing, &c.
3
Though Castrén's Ostiak grammar, published in 1849,
is in Russian, his Zirianian grammar, published 1844, is
in Roman letters; these being those of Rask, except
that for 3 and he used dz and dź. The Samoyed was
the next sound-system he found it necessary to investi-
gate. Here there were two modifications of 7, viz.: t, 1,
and r; the sound of the gn in French words like Bou-
logne, along with similar modifications of d, t, s, z, and
c; which were written dy, ty, sy, zy, tshy—there or there-
abouts.
Lastly, the Tushi alphabet of Schiefner contains x, h,
k, g, ċ, ç, ċ, 3, ś, ż, t, p, l.
All this, though exceptionable in many respects, is
better than the system too much in vogue amongst our-
selves of making combinations, which have generally no
other merit than looking as if they were pronounceable
in a foreign tongue because they were unpronounceable
in our own.
AND ALPHABETIC EXPRESSION.
279
The creeds of the Tungús coincide with their political
distribution. Those of China, as has been stated, are Bud-
dhists; those of Russia Christians of the Greek Church or
pagans. That their Christianity is little more than nomi-
nal is easily believed. The details of their paganism are
obscure; which is to be regretted inasmuch as the Siberian
mythologies in general have a common character, and this
of the Tungús is the first that comes under our notice.
The ordinary term for them is Shamanism. The exact
details of the application of this name are obscure. It
originated in India; and, in 295 B.C., Megasthenes, in his
embassy from Seleucus to Sandracottus (Chandragupta)
divided the philosophers of that country into two classes,
the Brakhmans and the Sarmans, Sramans, or Samans.
Of these latter the most famous were those who lived a
life of asceticism in the woods, clothed in the bark of
trees, and feeding upon seeds and fruits. The modern
Shaman is something of the kind. He affects a pecu-
liar intimacy with the divinities of the stream, cave, and
forest. He acts as the medium between them and the
dupes who put their trust in him. He fashions rude
images of what he calls deities. He works himself into a
strange mixture of trance and epilepsy. We shall, how-
ever, see more of their behaviour as we proceed.
With the Shaman as the adviser and go-between, the
objects of a Siberian cultus are not likely to be of an
exalted kind. The immediate wants of life determine
them, success in hunting, success in fishing, success in
journeys being the specialities most definitely requested.
Of a system of rewards and punishments after death
there are traces, definite and undeniable; but the punish-
ments are grotesque and impossible, the rewards coarse.
Of a God separate from his works, above nature, and not
himself a natural object, the ideas, whatever may be
280
SHAMANISM.
said to the contrary, are of the very faintest and loosest
kind; neither do they pervade the whole of those mytho-
logies in which they appear. A vague feeling of awe
is suggested by the contemplation of the heavens, a feel-
ing of fear by the storm, a feeling of loneliness by the
solitude of either the forest or the steppe; and these
find their exponent in the personification of things un-
seen, and the attribution of mysterious powers to any
object, natural or artificial, which may exhibit any pecu-
liarity of either form or properties. Let a stone or tree
of irregular shape depart from the ordinary type of trees
and stones,—still more, let it resemble some living object,
and it becomes the object of a Siberian cultus. The fami-
lies in the neighbourhood will make humble offerings to
it. Tribes from a distance will visit it. They do this in
Lapland, they do it on the shores of the Pacific, they
do it on the banks of the Obi, the Yenisei, and in all the
interjacent localities.
Nor must it be imagined that Shaman is a mere Euro-
pean name, a term adopted and applied by the learned
men of the West and speculating critics. So far is it
from being a word of this kind that there is the express
evidence of Stralenberg that the Yakuts of the Lena, a
Turk population in respect to their language at least, a
Turk population, notwithstanding their Arctic locality,
call the name by which they designate their highest
divinity Saman.
The chief deity of the pagan Tungús is Boa, or Bugi,
the Genii being called Agei, or (oftener) Buri. Garan
is the Buri of the waters; Dorokdi, or Kongdorokdi, of
the earth. Shuro takes cognizance of thieves; and
Atshintitei is the god of flies. The greater the influence
of Christianity the worse the character of the Buri.
Originally mere genii, good or bad as the case might be,
TUNGÚS DEITIES.
281
they are now evil-minded devils; the sense of the word
Buri being more and more unfavourable as the original
paganism wanes. The symbols representative of the divi-
nities are various. Dianda, like Garan, a god of the
waters, is represented under the figure of a boat. The
sun has the face of a man. The moon is a semi-circle ;
the stars little rings; the earth a four-cornered piece of
metal. Sokyovo, whose function it is to look after rein-
deer, has the form of that animal. The images, or sym-
bols of the domestic deities, which are made by the
Shamans, are of wood or metal, ornamented with fur,
tinsel, or coral. Georgi calls them Shovokoi. Castrén
found them named Hargi-this on the Yenisei. The
Han and Shonan are varieties of these holy images.
The first of the following lists represents the eastern
rather than the western dialect of the Tungús; the column
headed Yakutsk meaning, not the true Yakut of the So-
khalar Turks (of which more will be said in the sequel),
but the Tungús of the Yakut country.
The second gives us the Tungús of the west rather
than the east.
English.
Nertshinsk,
Yakutsk.
Lamut.
Man (homo)
boie
boye
bye
Head
deli
dyll
del
Hair
nyurikta
nyuritta
nyurit
Eye
isal
eha
esel
Ear
zin
zen
korot
Nose
ongokta
ongokto
ongata
Mouth
amga
hamun
amga
Tongue
ingni
ingni
ilga
Hand
dzhalan
nggala
ngal
Foot
bokdil
halgan
bodan
Sun
shivun
ziguni
nyultan
Moon
biga
bega
bekh
Star
oshikta
haulen
otshikat
Fire
togo
togo
toh
Water
mu
mu
mu
Tree
mo
mo
mo
282
TUNGÚS DIALECTS.
English.
Nertshinsk.
Yakut.
Lamut.
Stone
dzhalo
dzholo
dzhola
One
omon
ômukon
ömin
Two
dzhur
dzhur
dzhur
Three
ilan
elan
elan
Four
dygin
dygin
dügün
Five
tongna
tonga
tongau
Six
nyungun
nyungun
nyungun
Seven
nadan
nadan
nadan
Eight
dzhapkun
dzapkan
dzhapkan
Nine
yagyn
jagin
Ten
dzhan
dzhan
uyun
men
English.
Yenesei.
Tshapodzhir.
L. Tunguska.
Mangascia.
Man (homo) boya
boyo
boya
boyo
Head
dil
dyl
dil
dil
Hair
nyurikta
nyurikta
nuriktah
nyurikta
Eye
osha
esha
öhsah
esha
Ear
shin
shern
syen
shen
Nose
nigsha
oiokta
onoktah
ongokto
Mouth
amga
amga
amga
ammungah
Hand
hanga
nali
ngala
Foot
halgar
bodol
khalgan
ngala
halgan
Sun
shiggun
dylega
delatsha
delyadzya
Moon
byega
bäga
Star
oshikta
oshikta
oshikta
Fire
toggo
togo
toggo
beya
oshik ta
togo
Water
mu
mu
muh
mu
Tree
mo
mo
mo
Stone
dishollo
One
ummukon
zhyulo
omukon
hysha
mukon
mo
dzyollo
ommukon
Two
dzyur
dzhur
dyur
dyur
Three
illün
ilän
ilan
illen
Four
diggin
dygyn
degenn
diggin
Five
tungya
tunga
tonga
töngna
Six
nyungun
nugun
nungun
nyungun
Seven
nadan
nadan
naddan
naddan
Eight
dzyapkun
dzhamkun
dzhapkul
dzapkun
Nine
yegin
yegin
iyogyin
yögyin
Ten
dzyan
dzhan
dyann
dzhan
Bell, who, by the way, errs in saying that the Tungús
took their name from the river Tonguska (the converse
being the case), gives the following description of the
Tshapodzhir.
TUNGÚS DIALECTS.
283
"The Tongusy are the posterity of the ancient inhabit-
ants of Siberia, and differ in language, manners, and dress,
and even in their persons and stature, from all the other
tribes of these people I have had occasion to see. They
have no houses where they remain for any time, but range
through the woods and along rivers at pleasure, and where-
ever they come they erect a few spars, inclining to one
another at the top; these they cover with pieces of
birchen bark, sewed together, leaving a hole at the top
to let out the smoke. The fire is placed in the middle.
They are very civil and tractable, and like to smoke to-
bacco and drink brandy. About their huts they have
generally a good stock of rein-deer, in which all their
wealth consists.
"The men are tall and able-bodied; brave, and very
honest. The women are of a middle size, and virtuous.
I have seen many of the men with oval figures like wreaths
on their foreheads and chins, and sometimes a figure re-
sembling the branch of a tree, reaching from the corner
of the eye to the mouth. These are made in their in-
fancy by pricking the parts with a needle, and rubbing
them with charcoal, the marks whereof remain as long as
the person lives. Their complexion is swarthy. Their
faces are not so flat as those of the Kalmucks, but their
countenances more open. They are altogether unac-
quainted with any kind of literature, and worship the sun
and moon. They have many shamans among them, who
differ little from those I formerly described. I was told
of others whose abilities in fortune-telling far exceeded.
those of the shamans at this place, but they lived far
northward. They cannot bear to sleep in a warm room,
but retire to their huts, and lie about the fire on skins of
wild beasts. It is surprising how these creatures can
suffer the very piercing cold in these parts.
284
DESCRIPTION OF TUNGÚS
"The women are dressed in a fur gown, reaching below
the knee, and tied about the waist with a girdle. This
girdle is about three inches broad, made of deer-skin,
having the hair curiously stitched down and ornamented,
to which is fastened, at each side, an iron ring, that serves
to carry a tobacco-pipe, and other trinkets of small value.
Their gowns are also stitched down the breast, and about
the neck. Their long black hair is plaited, and tied above
their heads, above which they wear a small fur cap, which
is becoming enough; some of them have small ear-rings.
Their feet are dressed in buskins made of deer-skins,
which reach to the knee, and are tied about the ancle with
a thong of leather.
“The dress of the men is very simple, and fit for action.
It consists of a short jacket with narrow sleeves, made of
deer-skin, having the fur outward; trowsers and hose of the
same kind of skin, both of one piece, and tight to the limbs.
They have besides a piece of fur that covers the breast
and stomach, which is hung about the neck with a thong
of leather. This, for the most part, is neatly stitched and
ornamented by their wives. Round their heads they have
a ruff made of the tails of squirrels, to preserve the tips.
of the ears from the cold. There is nothing on the crown,
but the hair smoothed, which hangs in a long plaited lock
behind their backs.
"Their arms are a bow, and several sorts of arrows, ac-
cording to the different kinds of game they intend to hunt.
The arrows are carried in a quiver on their backs, and the
bow always in their left hand. Besides these they have
a short lance, and a little hatchet. Thus accoutred, they
are not afraid to attack the fiercest creature in the woods,
even the strongest bear; for they are stout men, and dex-
terous archers. In winter, which is the season for hunt-
ing wild beasts, they travel on what are called snow shoes,
BY BELL.
285
without which it would be impossible to make their way
through the deep snow. These are made of a very thin
piece of light wood, about five feet long, and five or six
inches broad, inclining to a point before, and square be-
hind. In the middle is fixed a thong, through which
the feet are put. On these shoes a person may walk
safely over the deepest snow; for a man's weight will not
sink them above an inch. These, however, can only be
used on plains. They have a different kind for ascending
hills, with the skins of seals glued to the boards, having
the hair inclined backwards, which prevents the sliding
of the shoes, so that they can ascend a hill very easily;
and in descending they slide downwards at a great rate.
"The nation of the Tongusy was very numerous, but
is of late much diminished by the small-pox. It is re-
markable that they knew nothing of this distemper till
the Russians arrived among them. They are so much
afraid of this disease that, if any one of a family is seized
with it, the rest immediately make the patient a little hut,
and set by him some water and victuals, then packing up
everything they march off to the windward, each carrying
an earthen pot with burning coals in it, and making a
dreadful lamentation as they go along. They never re-
visit the sick till they think the danger past. If the per-
son dies they place him on a branch of a tree, to which
he is tried with strong wythes, to prevent his falling.
When they go a hunting into the woods they carry with
them no provisions, but depend entirely on what they are
to catch. They eat every animal that comes in their way,
even a bear, fox, or wolf. The squirrels are reckoned
delicate food; but the ermines have such a strong, rank
taste and smell, that nothing but starving can oblige
them to eat their flesh. When a Tongusy kills an elk or
deer, he never moves from the place till he has eat it up,
286
DESCRIPTION OF TUNGÚS BY BELL.
unless he happens to be near his family, in which case he
carries part of it home. He is never at a loss for a fire,
having always a tinder-box about him. If this should
happen to be wanting he kindles a fire by rubbing two
pieces of wood against each other. They eat nothing
raw but in great extremity.
net.
'The sables are not caught in the same manner as other
animals. The fur is so tender that the least mark of an
arrow, or ruffling of the hair, spoils the sale of the
skin. In hunting them they only use a little dog and a
When a hunter finds the track of a sable
upon the
snow he follows it perhaps for two or three days, till the
poor animal, quite tired, takes refuge in some tall tree;
for it can climb like a cat. The hunter then spreads his
net around the tree and makes a fire. The sable, unable
to endure the smoke, immediately descends, and is caught
in the net. I have been told by some of these hunters
that, when hard pinched with hunger on such long chaces
they take two thin boards, one of which they apply to the
pit of the stomach, and the other to the back, opposite
to it; the extremities of these boards are tied with cords,
which are drawn tighter by degrees, and prevent their
feeling the cravings of hunger.
"Although I have observed that the Tongusy in gene-
ral worship the sun and moon, there are many exceptions
to this observation. I have found intelligent people
among them, who believed there was a being superior to
both sun and moon, and who created them and all the
world.
"I shall only remark further, that from all the accounts
I have heard and read of the natives of Canada, there is
no nation in the world which they so much resemble as
the Tongusians. The distance between them is not so
great as is commonly imagined."
MANTSHU TRIBES.
287
Notice may now be taken of some of the Tungús
names.
The Mantshú tribes are :-
Zukzukhu Aiman Dzhanggia
Dzhakuta
Zargu
Barde
Ula
Giamukha
Dzhaisian
Uzui
Dzhar
Dunggia
Yaran
Vanggia
Olkhon
Zirin
Elmeri
Dung
Ekhe Kuren
Dzhakumu
Dshusheri
Gunaka Kuren
Zakda
Neien
Sakahan ni Ainan
Zuan
Fodokho
Indakhun takurara-
Donggo
Zibe
golo
Yarkhu
Antshulaku
Noro
Andarki Aiman
Akiran
Zirakhin
Varka
Khezikhe
Yekhe
Fui
Omokho Soro
Gualtsha
Zzakhaltsha
Fenekhe
Uzuri
Dzhoogia
Khuifa
Khingan
Mardun
Khuye
Khuntshun
Onggolo
Namdulu
Kuala
Antu Gualgia
Suifun Niggudu
Nimatsha.
Dzhetshen ni
Tomokho
Muren
Aiman
Khunekhe Aiman Urgutshen
Mark the word Aiman.
The Mantshú call all the tribes other than Mantshurian
Orotshong. Orotong is what the Tungús of the Lower
Tunguska call themselves.
The native name for the tribes to the north and east of
Lake Baikal is Ovön, or Ovönk. This is, perhaps, but
another form of the root Tong.
The Mongolians call the Tungús Khamnoyon.
The Tshapodzhir are tattooed. So are many other
288
THE TSHAPODZHIR.
Tungús tribes. The Tshapodzhir, however, are in con-
tact with tribes who do not tattoo themselves. I think
(for reasons given* elsewhere) that their name is derived
from the practice, and that it is a name used by their
Turk neighbours rather than by the Tshapodzhir them-
selves.
As the Mantshú language appears to differ from the
other Tungús dialects more than they do from each other,
the division, suggested above, into Mantshú and Non-
Mantshú, or Orotong, is, probably, natural. If so, the
class stands thus-
Mantshú Division.
Zukzukhu Aiman
Zargu, &c.
TUNGÚS.
Orotong Division.
Orotong Proper
Tshapodzhir, &c.
Solon, Solo, or Solong, is the name of one of the tribes
of Mantshuria, on the Mongol frontier. It will be
noticed in the sequel.
Native Races of the Russian Empire. In the notice of the Yukahiri.
THE MONGOLIANS.
289
CHAPTER XVII.
The Mongolians.-The Mongolians Proper.-The Kalka.-The Buriat.-
The Ölöt, Torgot, Durbet, Khoshot, Dzungarians.—Kalmuk of the
Volga, &c.-The Aimâks of Cabul.
Now comes the notice of the Mongolians, agreeing in
many respects with that of the Chinese, Mantshú, and
Tungús, but, at the same time, exhibiting several peculiar
characteristics. The chief Mongol occupancy is Mon-
golia or Mogulistan, a vast area of elevated steppe and
desert to the north and north-west of the Great Wall of
China. Save and except some portions of the frontier,
and a few outlying isolated ramifications, the great Mon-
golian stock is Chinese in its political relations, and
Buddhist in creed. But it has not always been either.
In the time of the Tshingiz-khan, the Mongols were not
only independent of all the world, but the conquerors of
a great part of it. They were, too, but partial and im-
perfect Buddhists; some being pagans, others Christians,
some, perhaps, Fire-worshippers, and (as such) akin to
the Parsís.
Again-the successors of Tshingiz-khan conquered
China, and ruled over it under the name of the Yuans or
the Yuan dynasty. In 1367, however, they were ejected,
and the Ming dynasty ruled in their stead. The Mongol
title for their kings or chiefs is khan, and when the Yuan
dynasty is broken-up the history of Mongolia is the his-
VOL. I.
U
290
THE MONGOLIANS.
tory of so many khanates; some large, some small; some
wholly independent of their neighbours, some more or
less united with them; some comparatively isolate, some
consolidated; some friendly, some hostile to China; some,
perhaps, tributary; the Chinese title of a Mongol khan
being wang. The wang in Mongolia is the Tsawbwa of
the Shan, or the Gyalpo of the Bulti states, his power
being territorial.
More important, however, because more truly Mongol
than the division of the land into khanates, or wangdoms,
is the distribution of the population into tribes; for, in
no part of the world, Arabia itself not excepted, is the
tribual system more developed than in Mongolia. The
connection between the members of a tribe is that of
blood, pedigree, or descent; the tribe itself being, in some
cases, named after a real or supposed patriarch.
The tribe, by which term we translate the native name
aimauk, or aimák, is a large division, falling into so many
kokhúm or banners.
If the khanate, or wangdom, exactly coincided with
either the kokhúm or aimauk, it would be a matter of
indifference whether our division was territorial or genea-
logical. The two principles would coincide. This, how-
ever, is not the case. The political division frequently
traverses the tribual, and vice versa.
The Kalkas.-The population to which the name Kalka
applies falls into divisions and sub-divisions. In exhibit-
ing these I follow the phraseology of Timkovski, who
writes about "the tribe of the Kalkas." I imagine, how-
ever, that some of its divisions are also tribes. Be this as
it may, the Kalka country is of vast extent, and com-
prizes the greater part of Mongolia, being bounded on
the north by the Russian governments of Irkutsk, Yeni-
seyisk, Tomsk, and Tobolsk, and on the south and south-
THE KALKA MONGOLIANS.
291
west by Chinese Turkestan and Dzungaria. It falls in
four Lou (provinces), or Yam (ways, marches). These are
best named after the title of their khan, wang, or chief-
the title not the name. As a general rule, the Kalka
districts belong either to the great central steppe, or to
the water-system of the rivers that fall into Lake Baikal.
The eastern division, however, is at the head-waters of
the Amúr or Sagalin. This is the country of-
The Tsetsen-khan.-Its chief encampment is at the foot
of Mount Undúr-daba on the Kerúlen. In some of the
maps it is marked Baras, or Bars-khota = Tiger-city. The
number of banners is twenty-one or twenty-two, the most
eastern of which are in contact with the Mantshú Solon.
In 1688, when the chief of Tsetsen-khan submitted to
China, he had about 100,000 subjects. On the western
frontier of the Tsetsen-khan country lies that of—
The Tushitu-khan, with twenty banners. Urga (town),
or Kúren (encampment), belongs to this province. Still
more to the west-
The Dzassaktú-khan, on the southern side of the Kangai
mountains, commands nineteen banners.
The Sain-noyon government, with twenty-four banners,
is on the river Orkhon.
Kalkas of Wings.-Of the Kalkas of what are called
the Right and Left Wings the ethnological relation
differs from the political. Both are more directly under
China than the other members of the division. The first
belonged originally to the Túshetú, the second to the
Dzhasaktú, Khan.
Kalkas of the Koko Nor.-Of the twenty-nine banners
of the Koko Nor, or Blue Lake, one is Kalka.
Kalkas of the Russian Empire.-A few of the Kalka
are Russian, viz. the tribes (or parts of the tribes) of
Dzongol, Ashekhabat, Tabunggut, Sartol, Atagan, and
U 2
292
THE SUNID.
Khatshagan, their occupancies being the banks of the
rivers Selenga, Uda, Khilok, Tshikoi, Dzida, Onon, and
Ingoda, to the south of the Lake Baikal.
Along with the sections now coming under notice the
Kalkas form the proper Mongol division of that great
stock of which the Buriat and the Olöt are the other two
primary branches.
?
The Sunid.-East and south of the Kalka lies the
country of the Sunid, Sunites, or Sounites, on the road
from Kiakta to Pekin. So lying, it has been crossed more
than once by the members of the Russian mission. It
belongs to the Desert.
The Sunid tribes, which fall into two divisions, the
Eastern and the Western, are, like their land, poor; a land
with few streams, and with brackish water in many of the
wells, the lakes being actually salt. In the beginning of
summer the Sunid prays for rain; which, if denied,
causes drought and death to his cattle; whilst in the winter
they are chilled and starved. In 1815 the whole steppe
was so terribly afflicted with murrain and mortality that
some proprietors of 500 horses had only twenty left, and
others only saved four out of 200. The account of this
heavy visitation was given to the Russian mission in 1820,
at which time the tribes had yet to recover from their loss.
In many places the ground is white with salt; sometimes
at the edge of an existing lake, sometimes in spots where
lakes have once been. The face of part of the country
at least is broken and undulating, and more than one
mountain is invested with a halo of sanctitude. A pointed
hill named Karbatu, or the Mountain of Archery, is sacred
to a deified hero, Ghessur Khan, who is believed to have
set up his mark on the Karbatu, whilst he himself stood
on a similar mountain, fifty miles off. He shot and shot,
and never once missed.
THE SUNID.
293
As his target stands in the Sunid country, Ghessur
Khan must be more especially a Sunid hero; such, at
least, is our conclusion when we localize the scene of his
exploits. They may, however, have other points of at-
tachment. His fame fills Mongolia; and the Kalmuks as
well as the Buriats delight in the narrative of his exploits.
Whatever may have been the origin of the legends con-
cerning him, they have been greatly complicated by the
Buddhist creed. Pallas tells us that his spirit inhabits
the body of the present Dalai Lama; having, previous to
its incarnation in Ghessur himself, been that of Burkhan
Aria Balu. It was also incarnate in the form of a servant,
or shieldbearer; also in that of a horse: in both of which
capacities it served Ghessur Khan. If so, it was servant
and master at once. Such the spiritual view. Klaproth's
is diametrically opposite; reducing the legend to a simple
piece of euphemism. According to this :
Ghessur Khan was a captain or general, who lived in
the third century of our era. He was born near the Koko
Nor (Blue Lake), between China and Tibet. He was
commander-in-chief of the army which revolted from the
last emperor of the Han dynasty; was taken prisoner;
commanded the admiration of his captor, the imperial
general; was tempted to join the Imperialists, but with-
stood the temptation; was again taken prisoner, and exe-
cuted. The Chinese, however, believe that he is not dead,
but living amongst the demigods; and the Mantshú look
upon him as their tutelary genius, saint, or patron. He
is generally represented sitting with his son on his left,
and a black-faced shieldbearer on his right, hand. Some-
times he sits on a bay horse. The Chinese call him Kuan
yu tshang; the Mantshú, Kuang tshing ti kuin. The
following extracts from a work on his exploits in
the Mongol language increase the confusion; since the
294
THE SUNID.
prominence given to Kurmusta, or Ormuz, points to
the times when fire-worship was the dominant creed of
Mongolia; whilst Koubilgan is Kubilai-Khan. Or was
he a Mantshú, a Chinese, or a Tibetan demigod ?
Bogdo Ghessur Khan, born for the destruction of the roots of the ten
Evils, and reigning in the ten parts of heaven, arose like a lion, and con-
quered with the strength of a Koubilgan, Mangoucha, an evil spirit with
twelve heads, seized on his wife Aroula, and took possession of his golden
palaces.
Aroula, whose mind was filled with resentment, one day presented a
philter to Ghessur, inviting him to taste it. Scarcely had the khan, who
knew everything, drank it, than he forgot all that had passed.
The Bogdo resided for twelve years in the palace of the twelve-
headed Mangoucha. During this period, his possessions were invaded by
three khans of Sharagol, his empire destroyed and his subjects dispersed.
Then the three blessed sisters of this sovereign looked down from heaven,
and with sorrowful hearts spoke as follows:
'The enchanted beverage has vanquished him who was always invin-
cible; thou hast raised thyself with the might of a Koubilgan, to the
throne of the twelve-headed Mangoucha, and there thou hast forgotten
everything.' They wrote a letter on the shaft of an arrow, and sent it to
the sovereign; he read it and began to recollect past events. But the
wicked Aroula soon gave him the fatal potion, and the Bogdo again re-
turned into a state of oblivion.
The three sisters descended to the palace of Mangoucha, to reanimate
the spirits of Ghessur. They succeeded in delivering him from his enchant-
ment; the remembrance of the past returned; his voice, which was like
that of a lion, was heard; the earth trembled, and a torrent of flame
having enveloped the golden palaces eighty-eight times, and the walls of
the city three times, the whole was consumed. The conqueror mounted
his enchanted bay courser, and returned to his empire.*
Having raised himself to a dignity a thousand fold that of a Koubil-
gan, he devastated all the country of Sharagol, delivered his pious wife
from her imprisonment, and re-established the throne in the city,
which had twice thirteen temples, and a hundred and eight large for-
tresses.
This sovereign of the ten parts of heaven, seeing Tsarghin, a warrior
eighty years old, and the sons and daughters of this hero, vanquished by
the khans of Sharagol, uttered a deep sigh. His afflicted soul beginning
to recollect the heroes, his companions in arms, he cxclaimed:
'O thou rapid vulture, who with a generous heart wast ever foremost
* In the Mongol temples, Ghessur Khan is represented on a horse of
this description, made of wood.
THE SUNID.
295
in the fight, Sesse Shikher, my dear brother, where art thou? Where
art thou, haughty Shoumar, an eagle among mortals, and fearless like an
elephant crushing everything in thy way? And thou, falcon among men,
where art thou, my Bouiantik, who, endowed with a heart of adamant,
dedicated thy strength to me at so early an age?
'Lion's claw of the sovereign, thou who like a falcon didst never miss
thy prey, thou the conqueror of eighty nations, where art thou, my youth-
ful Nanson? And thou, my hero with thy rocky heart, Bars, the irresist-
ible conqueror, where art thou?' Thus speaking of his warriors, he
raised his voice, and the walls, agitated by the whirlwind, turned three
times.
The sovereign commanded his bay-horse to be saddled, in order to re-
pair quickly to the places where his heroes had been overcome. Behind
him Tsarghin spurred his piebald courser. When he arrived on the field
of battle the Bogdo uttered dreadful cries, and when he saw the skeletons
of Bouiantik and Bars, he fell on the earth insensible. But the soul of
Nanson having passed into the body of a lion, and that of Shouman into
that of an elephant, the sovereign recovered. He embraced the elephant
and the lion, and addressing the gods of all the ten parts of heaven, ex-
claimed sorrowfully:
'O, my incomparable heroes, Nanson, Shoumar, and thou, my beloved
brother, Sesse Shikher, and thou, Bars, who rushedst with fury upon the
enemy! you who have fallen so prematurely in my defence; you were the
bright torches which dispelled the gloom of my night! Thou, faithful
Bouiantik, and you, all my heroes, my priests, and my people, you opposed
the enemy, immoveable as a rock of granite. Yes, I am the reigning
Bogdo, but after I had vanquished the twelve-headed Mangoucha, I was
myself subdued by the enchanted potion of Aroula.'
Like the thunder produced in the heavens by dark blue dragons, re-
sounded the lamentations of the sovereign. The souls of the heroes in
the forms of elephants, tigers, and wolves, approached, and went three
times round the monarch, uttering plaintive moans.
The three sisters hearing the lamentations of the sovereign, descended
from their celestial habitations to give him repose; but finding Ghessur
inconsolable, they returned to Kourmousta, their father, chief of the thirty-
three Tengheri, and the supreme protector of the earth. Kourmousta
opened the book of fate, and read the following words: 'Ghessur Khan
left the empire of the Tengheri, at the head of his heroes, but fate has decreed
that they should perish before their master. However, Ghessur Khan, be-
fore he fought his last battle, had nine times conquered the three wicked
Tengheri, who, under the form of three powerful Khans, had once suc-
ceeded in overcoming him.'
Kourmousta, surrounded by a crowd of Tengheri, appeared before
Bouda, and said respectfully: 'Master of the Gods, your envoy upon earth
has lost thirty of his heroes. The war is concluded, but their valiant
chief laments over the remains of his warriors.'
296
THE SUNID.
The master of the gods listened with a complacent smile; and in the
presence of a thousand Bourkhans, took a black badin,* with arshan,
filled a boumba with it, and presented it to Kourmousta, saying:
Send this arshan to him who has terminated his combat. As soon as
he has shed a drop of it upon the body of his heroes, their souls will be
restored to them: the third drop will entirely recall them to life. Then
let them drink the arshan, and their protecting angels, returning to them,
will endow them with extraordinary virtues.'
Kourmousta took the arshan, and delivered it to the three sisters, with
these words: Say to him who has terminated his combat: What has be-
fallen thee? The gods of the ten regions of heaven guard thy head; thy
breast is defended by the valiant Tengheri, and thy steps are protected by
eighty-eight powerful Bourkhans; an hundred and eighty goddesses guard
thy girdle, O Ghessur Khan! thou commandest in the ten regions of
heaven; thou, the descendant of Kourmousta! if thou hadst not been
separated from thy heroes, thou wouldst not now lament their death.'
The three sisters descended from the clouds amidst dreadful claps of
thunder, like the bellowing of twenty dragons. Ghessur Khan, after
having prostrated himself nine times before the master of the gods, and
nine times before his father Kourmousta, took the arshan, and by means
of this miraculous beverage the thirty heroes were restored to life, and re-
sumed their original forms.
monarch as-
Cries of joy
Returning to his country after so many combats, the
sembled his heroes, and the three tribes of his people.
resounded on all the coasts of the sea, incense ascended in clouds from
the altars, lilies of extraordinary beauty rose from the ground, by day
they were invisible, but at night they served as brilliant torches. De-
fended by inaccessible ramparts the heroes prostrated themselves before
their sovereign. After three months' fetes and rejoicings, every one re-
turned to his own home. The lion-strength of the monarch had reanimated
his heroes. The destinies being accomplished, Bogdo Ghessur Khan lived
in profound peace.
The Chinese authorities seem to presume on the po-
verty and weakness of the Sunid; for Timkovski espe-
cially states that they treat them with less consideration
than either the Tshakar or the Kalka; indeed, that they
oppress them heavily, and with impunity. Their taidzi
or nobles are numerous, proud, pretentious, and poverty-
stricken, the last of a line of princes. A taidzi of the
* A sacred vase, with which the principal Bourkhan is generally repre-
sented among the Mongols.
THE SUNID.
297
first class has, in addition to a certain amount of land,
eighteen labourers; a taidzi of the second class, twelve;
a taidzi of the third class, eight; of the fourth, four.
The taidzi of the fifth class are scarcely taidzi at all; but
are ranked with the ordinary population.
A taidzi, when he visits Peking, must present the Em-
peror with a live sheep. Should it be accepted, the of-
ferer receives in return about double its value in money,
two measures of rice, and four pieces of nankeen. If
refused, no nankeen, one measure of rice, and half the
amount of money is equivalent. This custom, established
when the Sunid were formidable, is going out of use.
Chinese hats are worn during the summer by some of
the Sunid; not being worn by the Kalkas, who despise
the foreign fashion.
In 1634, when the Tshakar were subdued, the Sunid
submitted also. The name appears (and that prominently)
in the time of Tshingiz-khan. Considering that pi is no
part of the original word, but only an affix, it is probable
that, word for word, the name of the famous old Sienpi
and the name of the modern Sunid is the same; the
Sienpi districts appearing to have lain near the Sunid part
of Mongolia.
The Sunid seem to be well within the desert. To the
east and south, however, the physical conditions change.
To the east lies a range of mountains, in which numerous
streams that fall into the Pacific, either as small rivers or
as feeders of the Sagalin, take their rise. In these less
inhospitable districts, on the Sunid frontier, lie-
The Abaga;
The Abakanar ;
The Udzhumutshi; each with two banners.
Under the dynasty of Yuan, the Abkhanar, or Abaga-
nar, made part of a Chinese province, which was con-
298
THE ORTU, ETC.
quered by the Mongols, under the dynasty of the Ming,
and by the Mantshú, about A.D. 1640.
Conterminous with the Sunid, by which they are
bounded on the east and north, lie―
The Dürben Keuked, in Chinese Szu tsu pu lu, in
Mantshú, Dúin Dzhusé, and in English the Four Sons,
with one banner, and with an encampment to the north-
west of the town of Kalgan.
The Khaotshit, or Khagotshit, in contact with the Ud-
zhimutshi, has two banners.
The Tumet of Koko-khoto, or the Tumet of the Blue
Town, are one of the banners whose country touches the
Great Wall, where the Great Wall bounds the province
Shansi. The Durben Keuked lie to the east, the Ortú
to the west of them. They belong to the drainage of the
Yellow River. So do
The Maomingan, with one banner. And so do
The Orat or Urad.-Orat means artizan. The three
banners of the Orat occupy a country full of the signs of
an earlier population, earlier than the present Orat, and
more settled; for the ruins are those of ancient cities and
celebrated temples. It was here that the Thui-kiu
(? Turks) assembled for their attacks upon China. Also
on the Yellow River lie
The Ortú, with seven banners. It is in the Ortú country
that several of the earlier Chinese pieces of history (so-
called) find their venue. It is in the Ortú country that
the ancient city of Súfang, built under the Han dynasty,
before the Christian era, is supposed to have stood. It
was in the country of the Ortú that the Emperor Ngan,
of the Sui dynasty, built the palace of Yulinkúng, in the
city of Tshingtsheú. The Hiúngnú, whom so many in-
vestigators believe to have been the ancestors of the Huns
of Attila, were occupants of the Ortú country. The Ortú
THE ORTU, ETC.
299
country, in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, be-
longed to the kingdom of Hia, or Tangút, which was
one of the earliest conquests of the Temuginian Mon-
gols, or the Mongols of Tshingiz-khan. In 1550 the
tribe of Ghinang, or Dzinang, settled in it, the head of
the tribe assuming the title of Tsetsen Khan; a Kalka
designation, as we have already seen. After the death of
this Ghinang, his seven sons divided the population
amongst them, and formed an army of 100,000 men.
After this the territory fell under the Tshakar dominion,
and the name Ortú was attached to it.
It was one of the first to submit to the Mantshús.
So much for the tribes which belong either to the drain-
age of the Yellow River, or the edge of the desert; east
of which the streams grow broader, and the country more
favourable. Here lies valley after valley of the southern
feeders of the Sagalin. Here, too, lie those of the Sira
muren or the Yellow River of the North; the Yellow
River of Mongolia, with its Mongol name, as opposed to
the Yellow River of China or the Hoang-ho. The ban-
ners of this area, which more than one geographer has
compared, in respect to its soil and climate, to Northern
Germany, and which is doubtless well watered both by
rain and rivers, are--
The Durbet, with one banner, in 47° N. L., and on the
frontier (as aforesaid) of the Solones. South of them-
The Tshalet or Dzalaid, and
The Khorlos or Gorlos, with two, and-
The Aru Khortshin, or Kortshin of the north, with one
banner, and
The Dzharot with two.
The Barin.-The Barin, or Bagarin, are occupants of a
district in close and especial connection with the history
of the Liao dynasty. Puthu, an ancestor of its founder,
300
THE BARIN, ETC.
was born in the Barin country, Mount Bardan being his
birth-place. He was born in the Barin country and
buried there as well. The metropolis of his successors, the
ancient city of Ling-huan-tshing, was also Barin in respect
to its locality. Twenty-five cities were dependent on it.
It is remarkable that none of their ruins are to be found,
and that their sites are uncertain. There are the remains
of both dwellings, and burial-places in the Barin country;
but they are not the remains of the Liao dynasty; a
dynasty of the tenth century.
The Naiman.-One banner.
The Dokhan.-One banner.
The Kharatshin or Kartsin.-Three banners. The Kha-
ratshin country is full of the remains of ancient cities,
:
viz. of the
Chinese.
Thsing tsheú
Mougol.
Khara khoto
Hoei tshú
Tsagan khoto
English.
Black City
White City
and others.
Tumet.-Two banners.
Uniot.-Two banners.
Gesikten.-One banner.
The Uniot and Gesikten countries are pre-eminent
amongst the countries of the generally treeless Mongolia
for the luxuriance of their woods and forests. The
Chinese, however, clear the ground by felling them, and
the climate is said to be notably affected thereby. The
natives, too, recede; sometimes to become paupers, some-
times to become robbers, after the manner of banished
men in general. Sain Ula ill deserves its name of the
Good Mountain. Its occupants are bad amongst the
bad for their brigandage.
They are Buddhists; with decided traces of their ori-
ginal paganism. They adore the spirit of one of their
TSHAKAR MONGOLIANS.
301
more conspicuous mountains, Mount Obo. A cairn of
stones is the sign of their adoration. At the base is an
urn of granite for incense. On the top of the heap is a
mass of dry branches hung with relics-bones, or scraps
of paper with pious sentences written on them ; some in
Mongolian, some in Tibetan. The more devout adorers
give not only incense but money; bending and kneeling
before the urn and cairn. The Mongolians do this and
leave a few coins when they go away. The Chinese do
the same, except that they pick up and pocket the coins
which the Mongols have left.
Tshakar.-Timkovski and Klaproth decidedly commit
themselves to the doctrine that the word Tshakar, in
Mongol, signifies a frontier country. If so, it is a word
like the German March. If so, it is a word like the
Slavonic Ukraine. On the other hand, Schmidt, a more
special Mongol scholar than either, maintains that this
is a wrong translation.
Under the dynasty of the Ming, writes Timkovski, the
name of the territory of the Siao-vang-tsu, or the Little
King, a descendant of the Yuan, was Tsagan. In 1530,
the powerful chief Butsi took possession of it, his tribe
taking the present name, Tshakar, from their forming a
March, or frontier to China. Under Butsi's successor the
Tshakar khanate became powerful; indeed Tshakar was
the chief kingdom of Mongolia. The Mantshús, how-
ever, reduced it in 1632. In 1675, the Tshakar khan
Búrni revolted, was subdued, and (along with his brother)
put to death. Many of his subjects were transplanted
elsewhere.
Again-when the Emperor of China was at war with
Galdan and his Olöt, the Tshakars assisted him. When
the war was over, several Kalka and Olöt companies were
joined to them. This has mixed the population; indeed
302
TSHAKAR MONGOLIANS.
the division seems to be, as its name suggests, political
rather than ethnological. Its divisions are military,
eight in number, and named thus:-
1. The plain yellow banner;
2. The bordered yellow banner;
3. The red banner;
4. The bordered red banner;
5. The white banner;
6. The bordered white banner;
7. The blue banner;
8. The bordered blue banner.
Each banner has its district; each district its chief.
From the eight chiefs a captain general is chosen.
Tshakar is eminently the Land of Grass, as more than
one district of Mongolia is called. The 365 herds of the
Imperial horses graze it. Each herd contains 1200 (or
more) horses. For these the Mongol at the head is re-
sponsible. Should he lose one he replaces it.
Department of Tshing-te-fú.—To the north-east of Pekin
lies the least Mongolian of the Mongol districts—the de-
partment of Tshing-te-fú-originally, according to the
Chinese accounts, the occupancy of two rude tribes, the
Shan Dzhung and the Túnghú (word for word Tungús).
It is in Tshing-te-fú that the Emperor most especially di-
verts himself with hunting. In Tshing-te-fú is the chief
imperial summer residence; along with numerous temples.
In Tshing-te-fú the Chinese population amounts to more
than half a million of souls; this being the fact which
renders the district less Mongolian than the districts
around. These, however, are all, in their degree, in-
vaded by the Chinese. There are Chinese settlers in
Bagarin, in Uniot, in Tshakar, and in many other pro-
vinces besides.
THE OLÖT.
303
Head
Hair
usü
Eye
nidu
Nose
English.
Man
Ear
Kalka.
ere
tologoi
tshikè
khamar
East Mongol.
ere
tolokhai
usü
nüdu
tshiki
khamar
Mouth
ama
ama
Tongue
kolè
kele
Hand
gar
khar
Foot
küll
gül
Sun
narà
Moon
zara
Star
odo
Fire
gal
Water
uzu
Tree
modo
naran
zaran
odon
gal
uzu
modon
Stone
tsholo
tsholon
One
nege
nige
Two
khoyir
goyer
Three
gurba
khurban
Four
dürba
dürban
Five
tabu
tabun
Six
dzurga
dzirkhokhan
Seven
dolo
dolokhun
Eight
naima
naiman
Nine
Ten
yuzu
arban
dzhisun
arbau
The Olöt, Ulut, Eleut, Kalmuks.-The chief authorities
treat the words Olöt and Kalmuk as synonyms. They
denote the tribes to the west and south of the Kalka,
the tribes of the Turk frontier, the tribes of the very
centre of Asia, the tribes of Dzungaria, and that district
of small lakes and blind rivers (rivers with either no out-
let, or falling into inland seas) which lies to the north of
Khoten and Yarkend. The valley of the Ili, falling into
the Balkash Nor, belongs to this district. There are, how-
ever, Olöt occupancies elsewhere. It has already been
stated that some of the Mongols of Tshakar are Olöt.
Then there are the Mongols of the Volga; who are,
certainly, more Olöt than either Kalka or Buriat. Upon
304
THE OLOT.
the whole, the Olöt division is irregularly distributed over
a discontinuous area.
The Chinese form of Olöt is Wala; the Tata, or Tartars,
and the Wala being clearly and decidedly separated from
each other. In a geographical work of the Ming period
it is stated that "the land of Tata is bounded on the east
by that of the Uliangkhai, and on the west by that of
the Wala." Again; the Tibetan name is Tnsa; the name
for the other Mongols being Sok. This shows that the
division is natural. The Kalka are one branch; the
Buriat another; the Olöt a third. This is indicated by
the nomenclature. It is also indicated by the language.
The Mongol of the Kalmuk of the Volga is more akin
to the dialects of the Ili and Koko Nor than to either
the Buriat or the Kalka.
?
Olöt, according to Klaproth, means separate. This state-
ment would be unexceptionable were it not that Tim-
kovski deduces the Olöt of Tsoros from a prince of the
Yuan dynasty named Olutai; complications of this kind
being common in Asiatic ethnology. The import of the
word is, by no means, clear. It seems to me to have two
interpretations. There are certain tribes who are, eo
nomine, Olöt; being called, and calling themselves Olöt of
the Koko Nor (Blue Lake), Olöt of the Alashan, Tsoros
Olöt. Here the appellation is specific. On the other
hand, however, there is Olöt, a generic name, for the
Durban Oirad, or four tribes, viz. the Durbet, the
Torgod, the Dzungar, and the Khoshot. These are, cer-
tainly, somewhat different from the Olöt Proper in the
restricted sense of the word. I first notice
The Khoshot. Having no specimen of the Khoshot
language, I am unable to say whether or not it belongs
to the Olöt group of dialects. I should not, however,
be surprised to find it Kalka. This is because, according
THE OLOT.
305
to Klaproth, "the Khoshot are, from one of their old
royal families, named Kalka;" this being a statement
that suggests the probability of the present arrangement
being political rather than ethnological.
The Dzungar are the Mongols of Dzungaria, a geogra-
phical, rather than an ethnological, term; one, however,
which gives us true and undoubted members of the Olöt
group, as is shown by the dialect. The etymology of the
word is said to be dzun = left, and gar = hand; which
may, or may not be the case. I think it possible that it
is another form of Tshakar or March. The nucleus of
the Dzungar division is the drainage of the Ili, and those
numerous lakes, which appear on the frontier of what is
called Chinese Tartary, under the native or Mongolian
name of Nor; e. g. the Lob Nor, the Balkash Nor, and
others. Here the population is pure. In the parts about
Ulan-kum, however, the sixty banners that constitute the
population are only partly Dzungar; some being Durbet,
other Khoit.
The Torgod.-Four banners of the Torgod are in the
Koko Nor district; one on the frontier of China; others
on the Volga, associated with the Durbet.
The Durbet.-Some of the Durbet are associated with
the Dzungar; some with the Torgod of Chinese Mon-
golia; some with the Torgod of the Volga.
The Olöt Proper.-Of the Mongols of the Koko Nor
the great majority is Olöt-twenty-one banners.
Of the Olöt united with the Tshakar the number of
banners is eight.
The Tsoros Olöt (of the Koko Nor and Mount Alashan)
give three banners.
The Tsoros Olöt, the Dzungar, and the Durbet seem to
be most especially and most closely connected. That the
Khoshot genealogies pointed towards the Kalka has
VOL. I.
X
306
THE BURIAT.
been already stated. The Torgod have a particular patri-
arch Mahatshi Mengho. But the Durbet and Dzungar
have a common ancestor, Olinda Budun Taidzhi, who
was exposed under a tree, but nourished by the juice
of its twisted and crooked tshoros, or branch.
Other Mongols of the South and West.-One of the
banners of the Koko Nor district is named Khort, another
Tsagan Nomon Khan.
Another banner is that of the Dzakhazin.
The Mongols of the North of Tibet are called Hor (or
Horpa) and Sok (or Sokpo). Some call themselves
Siragol or Sharagol, which seems to mean neither more
nor less than Yellow River.
All these are probably allied to the Olöt. I cannot,
however, give their exact relations.
The Tsiken.—Besides the Mongols of the different ban-
ners, there dwelt, under the Ming dynasty, on the frontier
of the Chinese province Shensi, the Tsiken Mongols.
Klaproth is unable to say whether these exist at the pre-
sent time as a separate tribe, or whether they are undis-
tinguishably mixed up with the others.
English.
Dzungarian.
Kalmuk.
One
nege
nigen
Two
khoyur
khoyur
Three
gurba
gurban
Four
dörbö
dörbön
Five
tabu
tabun
Six
surga
surgan
Seven
dolo
dolon
Eight
naima
naiman
Nine
yezu
yezun
T'en
arba
arban
The Buriat.-The Buriat, to the amount of about
190,000 souls, live in Russian Siberia, divided into tribes,
and are, as compared with the other Siberians, civilized.
THE BURIAT.
307
The majority of them is Buddhist.
Still there are
amongst them some Pagans, some Christians of the Greek
Church, and some few Mahometans.
Their area touches that of the Mantshú on the east,
and the parts about Nizhni Udinsk on the west; where
it comes in contact with that of the Tungús of the Tus-
guska, the Yeniseians, and certain Turk tribes. Castrén
divides them, according to their dialects, into the Buriat
of the Kuda, the Lena, the Akhon, the Ida, the Alari,
and the Tunka rivers; to which he adds the Bolagan of
the left bank of the Angara; all of which lie on this side
of Lake Baikal. Beyond, and to the south or south-
east of that great inland sea, lie the Khorin Buriat, and
the Bargu Buriat, the former the more numerous, and
consisting of eighteen tribes, the latter on the river Bar-
guzin.
Due south of the lake, the Kudarin are an offset of
the Buriat of the Kuda.
The Selenga Buriat of Castrén are the Zongol and
their allied tribes, which Klaproth (as has been stated)
makes Kalka.
The Buriat of the parts about Nizhni Udinsk, the
Buriat of the extreme west, call-
Themselves
The Russian
Tungús
Buriat
Mangut
Kaldzhak-shin
Kat-kum
Kotob-kum
Byr-hu.
Katshintsi Turks
Kot
river Birus
The chief difference between the Buriat and the Kal-
ka seems to be political. Neither is it quite certain
that Castrén's divisions between the Buriat of this side
x 2
308
THE PELU.
of the Baikal, and the Buriat beyond the Baikal, is
natural.
The Selenga forms of speech approach most closely
the written or literary language. They also approach the
Khorin dialects.
English.
Khorin.
Nizhni-Uda.
Tunkin.
Selenga.
Man (vir)
ere
ere
ire
ere
Man (homo) khung
kung
kung
Head
tarkhi
tologoi
tologi
khung
tologoi
Hair
uhun
uhung
uhung
usu
Eye
nyudeng
nyideng
nyudeng
Ear
shikheng
shikeng
shikeng
Nose
khamar
kamar
khamar
nyude
shikhe
khamar
Mouth
amang
amang
amang
Tongue
kelen
keleng
khelengn
ama
khele
Hand
gar
gar
gar
gar
Foot
khol
köl
köl
khul
Sun
narang
narang
narangn
nara
Moon
hara
hara
hara
sara
Star
odon
odong
odong
odo
Fire
gal
gal
gal
gal
Water
uhan
uhung
uhungn
OSO
The Pelu.-From the Japanese encyclopædia, known in
China as Kho-khan Zan-zai-tu-khuy, completed A.D. 1713,
Klaproth gives a specimen of a Mongol dialect entitled
Pelu; adding that Pe means north and lu means western bar-
barians. If so, the Pelu are the north-western barbarians.
Mongol.
English.
Pelu.
Man
kore
ere
Woman
khoton
Father
kozike
khatun
etshige
Mother
koke
eki
Brother
teuge
dagu
Girl
oka
okin
Sky
tengri
tangri
Sun
nara
nara
Moon
zara
zara
Star
khuton
odon
Sea
talai
dalai
River
murun
muran
Water
uzo
uzu
THE MONGOLS.
309
Such are the divisions of the Mongols of Mongolia, or
Mongolistan, arranged, as much as possible, according to
their tribual affinities; affinities which are by no means
clear and patent, and which correspond much more defi-
nitely in books than in nature. They are evidently
traversed by political and other complications. The great
steppe of Gobi, or Shamo, exhibits itself so prominently
in our maps that it looks as if the Mongolians were pure
nomads of a desert. The extent to which this view is in-
accurate may be inferred from the notices of Tumet,
Tshakar, and Gesikten.
At the same time the Mongolians are as nomad as any
nation in the world. Few are exclusively so.
Say that the Sunid, who (by the way) are more espe-
cially the occupants of a steppe than any tribe of which
we have a description of any notable fulness, represent
the average Mongolians, and the following is a notice of
them. Their country is stony rather than sandy, and un-
dulating or broken rather than flat.
It is also stony
The
rather than clayey. It abounds in nitrous, and other
saline, scurfs. The wells are from six to ten feet deep.
Yet streams are by no means wanting. If Mongolia
were in Africa it would be a desert full of oases.
industry, however, such as it is, is nomadic rather than
agricultural. Wheat will grow. Flax grows wild. Millet,
however, is the chief object of cultivation. So uncertain
and severe are the seasons that, out of flocks of 1000, no
more than eighty have, in certain seasons, been preserved.
Metallic wealth may or may not exist. It is only known
that the Mongols have as little taste for mining as for
agriculture. Gold, too, probably, is to be found. Yet
there are few or no washings and diggings. One thing
especially favours the breeding of cattle. There are few
or no tormenting insects. Of wood there is little. The
310
THE MONGOLS.
framework of the tents is osier. The chief fuel is camel's
dung. This is the case with the steppes. Yet on the
Russian frontier wood is abundant, and in Eastern
Mongolia wheat is grown and agricultural habits are
developed. The trade is done by the Chinese. A few
Mongols act as merchants, and sell their goods in China.
Numerous Chinese make profitable journeys to different
parts of Mongolia. On the eastern edge of the desert
there is no want of rain; of rain irregularly distributed.
The droughts are frequent; yet the rainfall is consider-
able. More fish is to be found in the rivers; more game is
to be found in the plains, than the inhabitants use as food;
the greater part of which is supplied by the flocks. Of
domestic animals the horse, camel, ox, sheep, and dog are
the chief. The cat is scarce. To have husbanded a few
stacks of hay is a great fact in Mongolian economy.
Under conditions like these a dense population is im-
possible. For a single herd and single flock a large tract
of land is needed. There must be a winter pasture, and
a summer one. There must be locomotion from place to
place; and places to match. The population is thin. It
is doubtful whether the Chinese officials themselves have
a true census. Each Mongol prince, when he submitted
to China, declared the number of men he could bring
into the field. Each Dsarsak, or noble, must bring to
the field from three to twenty-three companies, squad-
rons, or regiments; each consisting of 150 horsemen.
Taking thirteen of these as average, and multiplying
them by the 49 banners of the Southern Mongols, and
the 84 of the Kalkas, Timkovski gets 260,000 men;
without the eight banners of the Tshakar, calculated at
241,000 men. This estimate, however, applies to the
end of the seventeenth century, after the struggle between
China and the Dzungarians. Since then, there has been
THE MONGOLS.
311
peace, with no need for a levée en masse. Under peace,
however, population increases. The present estimate is
500,000 tents, or 2,000,000 souls.
The desert is the country where the primitive habits
are best preserved. In Tshakar and the neighbouring
khanates or wangdoms there is a great loss of the original
simplicity; Chinese practices being largely adopted.
The dress, in the east at least, is of nankeen, cloth, fur,
and leather; a nankeen robe, a cloth vest, a leather girdle,
leather boots, fur trimmings. Of the women coral is the
favourite ornament. The bow and arrow, with a short
sword, is the chief weapon. Powder, shot, and muskets.
are obtained from China. The tents are of felt; contain-
ing, over and above the ordinary utensils, some copper
idols. In the list, however, of ordinary utensils chairs find
no place. The Mongol sits on the ground cross-legged.
Pure water is drunken but rarely. Brick tea is the
ordinary beverage-beverage and food as well; for it is
thickened with butter, milk, and salt. In every tent
there is a kettle full of it; of which the passing stranger
is free to partake. Arrak is made from the milk of the
cows and sheep; kumiss from that of the mares. Hunt-
ing, horseracing, wrestling and archery are the chief
games. I find no notice of boxing; though a boxing-
match is a favourite spectacle in Japan. Again; Tim-
kovski never heard of a Mongol dance. Amongst the
closely-allied Tungús we hear of many.
Story-telling and singing are the usual accompaniments
to tea, arrak, and kumiss. The songs remind us of what
the Romans believed to have been the custom of their
ancestors. A boy takes down the lyre from the peg;
the lyre being a violin with three strings, made out of a
goat's horn. He then hands it to the master of the feast,
who passes it to the Tulholos, minstrel, or bard. The
312
THE MONGOLS.
Tulholos begins often with an invocation to Timur. "O
divine Timur, will thy soul be soon born again? Come
back! Come back! we await thee, O Timur." Yet
Timur was no Mongol, but a Turk. The great Mongol
was Temudzhin or Tshingiz-khan, from whom Timur
and a whole Timurian family deemed it an honour to be
derived. But of this more hereafter.
Till the time for marrying, children of both sexes live
with their parents. The time, however, for separation
comes early. The bridegroom receives from his father
some cattle and a separate tent; the portion of the bride.
consisting chiefly of clothes, and household utensils.
When a couple is thus settled its residence is generally
within the same district as that of the parents; as near
as the pasturage permits. First cousins marry. Two
sisters may successively marry the same man. Pedigrees
are kept so carefully that the yasu, or degree of affinity,
between two individuals is rarely lost sight of.
Before a marriage is concluded the stars have to be
consulted. One star rules another. The woman born
under such a star would rule the husband. This is to be
avoided. If the woman be born under the ox, or the
mouse, and the man under the dragon or the serpent, the
marriage is allowed; but if one be born under the mouse,
and the other under the horse, it is forbidden. Other
signs, also, are hostile; e. g. the tiger, the hen, the
horse, the hog, and the ape.
The signs, themselves, are twelve; corresponding with
the twelve months.
1. The mouse.
2. The ox.
3. The tiger.
4. The hare.
5. The dragon.
6. The serpent.
7. The horse.
9. The ape.
10. The hen.
11. The dog.
8. The ram.
12. The hog.
The preliminaries are carried on by proxies, or nego-
THE MONGOLS.
313
tiators; strangers, very often, to the parties most con-
cerned. The father of the man visits the relations of the
bride. The negotiator attends him. They take a sheep
ready dressed and cut up, some arrak, and some khaduks,
or consecrated pocket-handkerchiefs. These are placed be-
fore the image of the Burkhan along with lighted tapers.
Then follow prostrations; then a feast; then a largess.
This is called the tabil tabikhu; succeeded by the bar-
gaining part of the business. What will you give for the
girl? How many head of cattle?
When will you
deliver them? Will you pay at once or by instalments?
When the parties are rich these points are understood
rather than discussed.
Another feast, the khorun khurgeku, finds place when
the bridegroom receives presents, and consults the priests
about fixing the day. Let it be a lucky one. The mother
sets these inquiries afloat; the mother of the bride-
But where is the bride? Not at the feast;
groom.
not with her intended. From the day of the betrothal
neither of the elect sees each other. The bride must live
secluded. Her lover is the very last person for her to con-
sort with. She may not see him. She may not see even his
parents. After marriage the same restraints prevail. For
a certain time (a week, ten days, or a fortnight) the bride's
mother, who accompanies her daughter, lives in the tent.
As long as she does this, husband and wife (if so they may
be called) know nothing of each other.
The Mongols were a lettered nation soon after the
death of Tshingiz-khan, their alphabet being that of the
Uigur Turks. How far it was used is another question.
Two circumstances prevented its developing itself into a
literature. First, there was the natural character of the
Mongols themselves, a character which, combined with the
conditions under which it was evolved, inclined them to
314
THE MONGOLS.
war rather than peace. Secondly; there were their con-
quests in the east, the south, and the west; in China, in
Persia, and in Turkey. In all these countries the intruders
adopted the higher civilization of the natives. The de-
scendants of Kublai Khan became Chinese; the Holagu
dynasty Persians; the descendants of Tshagatai and
Dzhuzhi Turks and Indians. There is a Mongol alpha-
bet as early as the fourteenth century. There is no pure
Mongol literature equally old. But there is a notable
amount of authorship in a Persian and Turkish dress.
The earliest, perhaps the only classic, whose work is in
the language of his tribe, and that tribe one of Mongolia,
is Sanang Seetsen, of the country of the Ortu, and of real
or supposed royal blood; in other words, a descendant of
Tshingiz-khan. He lived early in the seventeenth century,
and wrote soon after the establishment of the Mantshú
dynasty in China. Translated into German by the learned
Schmidt, it is, under the title of The History of the
Eastern Mongolians (Geschichte der Ost-Mongolen), an
accessible, if not an interesting, work. It begins with the
Creation, and ends with the Mantshú conquest. Tibet,
however, in the earlier part of the work, is much more
prominent than Mongolia. The Mongols derive their
royal line from Tibet; the Tibetans from India. From
Tibet, too, came the Buddhist creed to the Mongols;
India having given it to Tibet. Now the whole work of
Sanang Seetsen is eminently Buddhist; so much so that
it is a religious history rather than a political one. It is
difficult to praise it. Even its editor admits that it is
faulty. A sad want of accuracy, and a sadder want of
discrimination is apparent throughout. The language,
however, is simple, and the narrative brief; in this
respect, unlike the majority of Asiatic compositions.
Preliminary notices, like the history of the Tibetan
THE MONGOLS.
315
Buddhism, take up about one-fourth of the book, and
must be waded through before we arrive at the times of
Tshingiz-khan; the notice of whom is very lax and
unsatisfactory, though it fills another quarter of the
volume. This is followed by a very short sketch of the
Yuan dynasty. The most historical portion of the work
is what now follows. The dynasty of the Ming, which
succeeded that of the Mongols, is characterized by the
vindictive zeal with which it destroyed all the literary
records (what were they?) of the hateful foreigners; so
that the condition of the ex-rulers between the time of
their ejection from China and the Mantshú conquest is
one of the very darkest of the numerous dark questions
of Asiatic history. This, however, Sanang Seetsen gives.
Without going too minutely into the question of his
authorities, we may take a general view of his account;
which is to the following effect. There was first a state
of anarchy, during which the very existence of the Bud-
dhist belief was in jeopardy. There was war, and there
were its barbarities and barbarisms, and, whilst these were
in operation, a reaction towards the old paganism set in.
The Shamans revived for a while, and confronted the Bud-
dhists. More than one speech of the Kami (Shamans),
made during these controversies, is given. However, an
approach to order was effected; the descendants of Dayan
Khan formed a dynasty, and Buddhism was re-established.
This brings us to the Mantshú conquest and the conclusion
of the work; in reading which we must remember that
the author was an Ortu, and that the Ortu are among the
most eastern of the Mongolians. Hence, he tells us but
little of what took place westwards. The Religions of
the Eastern Mongolians-this is Sanang Seetsen's work,
a work which, from its unique character, we may easily
overvalue, but which is, nevertheless, one of no little
316
THE MONGOLS.
importance. It is a history of the countrymen of
Tshingiz-khan in the language of their great emperor.
The Mongols of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
were formidable conquerors. Because they were this
their military organization is of interest. Fortunately it
has been described. Their chief weapon was the bow;
as it was that of the conquerors of Hungary. It was the
weapon at which they were the most expert; the weapon
which the very children loved to practise themselves in.
The next was the iron mace; the next the spear. This
was somewhat exceptional: "their arms are bows, iron
maces, and, in some instances, spears. The ox supplied
the defensive armour. Ox-hides, dried by fire, and so
made hard and strong, served as a defence to their bodies.
Was it shields or breastplates into which it was made?
We are only told that it was made into defensive armour.
Such the individual. The system of the army was
truly and pre-eminently decimal. To every ten men an
officer; to every ten of these lower officers a centurion;
to every ten centurions a chiliarch; to every ten chiliarchs
a commander of 10,000. A company of 100 was called
a tuk. Ten tuks made a toman.
When a march is to be made, a company is drafted from
the main body and sent two days in advance, other compa-
nies being stationed upon the flanks and in the rear to
prevent surprises. When one horse is tired, another is
mounted. Eighteen horses to one man is the average
allowance. Under the pressure of an extreme scarcity
the horseman bleeds his horse and drinks the blood as it
flows warm from the veins. In sight of the enemy, he
fights after the fashion of the old Parthians, hovers about
him at a distance, affects a flight, shoots arrows as he rides
away, makes a sudden turn, and wins a battle.
All the chiefs of the family of Tshingiz are buried in
THE MONGOLS.
317
the same place; on the side of a lofty mountain named
Altai. So writes Marco Polo; but, as Altai is the name
of a range rather than any particular mountain, the exact
locality is undetermined. Wherever they may chance to
die, it is on the Altai that they are buried. Thither
they must be borne even though the journey last 100
days. During the removal, sacrifices are made of horses
and of men. The best of the stud is killed in order
that, in the next world, his master may have the use of
it. Any one who is met on the road is killed, in
order that he may help to form an escort to the de-
ceased. The bearers and attendants of the body kill
him, saying, "depart for the next world, and there
attend upon your deceased master." When the corpse
of a particular prince named Mongù was followed to the
Altai burial-ground no less than 10,000 persons, whom
fanaticism, or fate, or bad luck threw in the way, are
said to have been killed.
The Mongol huts are of felt, round, and well-made, easily
taken down, easily set up, easily packed up and moved
about. The waggon on which they are carried is four-
wheeled, drawn by oxen or camels. The women attend to
them. When the tent is pitched its entrance faces the south.
The women work. The women trade. The men hunt and
hawk. The dogs and the falcons are of the best. What-
ever the hunters take they eat; sometimes they eat the dogs
themselves, sometimes the camels, sometimes the horses.
Camels' flesh is eaten at the present time. Huc, who
tasted it, reports unfavourably. The preparation of
mare's milk which they drink now they drank in the
time of Marco Polo; and they called it by its present
name-kemurs or rather kumiss.
The women work; being industrious and well-behaved
as well. No females in the world excel them in chastity.
318
THE MONGOLS.
This cannot always be said of them at present. In Polo's
time, however, infidelity was the most heinous of crimes.
Neither was rudeness of speech permitted. Offensive lan-
guage (frequent at the present time amongst all the nomad
tribes) is never heard (they now call a spade a spade),
so busy are they, and so exclusively attentive to their
domestic employments. And the men are as steady as
their wives; of which (by the way) they are specially
stated to take as many as they choose; some having ten,
some twenty. The expense of such establishments is
moderate. A wife not only earns her keep, but has to
be purchased; the kalim system being thus old, and,
doubtless, much older. When a husband marries he
pays a dower to the wife's parents. The one first
espoused has a sort of supremacy over the rest. She
is the true wife. The rest are concubines.
The rest are concubines. When the
father dies, the son may take to himself all the wives left
behind, save and except his own mother. Upon the
death, too, of one brother the others may marry the
widow. Is this done at once, or in succession?
The chief object of worship was Natigay. Every
Mongol had an image of Natigay in his house. This
was covered with cloth or felt. To this they made
humble offerings of morsels of food and lumps of fat;
never eating a meal without greasing his lips, and at the
same time those of his wife and children. For Natigay
has a family, the different members of which have also
their images. These are associated with that of Natigay
himself; the wife on the left hand, the children in a
reverential posture round about him. When the lips of the
Natigay family have been greased some of the liquor in
which the meat has been cooked is thrown out of doors.
This is for the other spirits-the spirits of the open air
as opposed to those of the domestic hearth. Until all
THE MONGOLS.
319
this has been done, the real meal has to begin. The Nati-
gay first; then the spirits out of doors; then the masters
of the feast-this is the order. When all has been done,
the family eat and drink without further ceremony.
The worship of Natigay is intelligible. It is con-
ducted after the manner of the Siberian tribes in general;
with all of whom the analogues of the Italian Lares and
Penates, the domestic deities, are objects of affectionate
veneration. The worship, too, of the gods outside the
tent is intelligible. The remainder of the notice, how-
ever, may be criticised. It is to the effect that, over and
above these minor godheads, the Mongols believed in a
single deity whose nature was sublime and heavenly. To
him they burned incense. To him they offered prayers
for bodily health and moral excellence. This may have
been the case. The idea, however, of such a deity may
have been no native offspring of the Mongol intellect. It
may have been due to the early Christianity of some of the
Tartar tribes. Or the fact itself may be overstated. There
is some danger of this being the case. A great deal of
what Marco Polo describes, he has seen; but a great deal
which he tells us is either drawn from second-hand ac-
counts or rests upon inference. The "original manners,
he says,
are much corrupted. What we see now is
other than original. The Tartars at Ukaka have forsaken
their old laws, and worship idols. The Tartars of the east-
ern provinces have adopted the manners of the Saracens."
Yet it is the original manners which he professes to describe.
Of the present superstitions we have anything but a
full, systematic, and trustworthy account.
Atkinson witnessed the immolation of a ram. An assist-
ant killed it. The priest himself turned towards the
east, chanted a hymn, beat a tambourine, and prayed for
a large increase of cattle. The victim was then flayed,
320
THE MONGOLS.
the skin hung aloft on a pole; the flesh cooked and
eaten. Meanwhile the priest chanted, and the tambou-
rine went on being beaten. This was in the valley of
the Tshurish, in the Yabagan steppe, amongst the Olöt.
The specimens given by Castrén of the Buriat language
supply a complement and expansion to this notice of At-
kinson's. From them we learn that the sacalga, or libation,
is accompanied by the following song or invocation :
There there! go on! speaking in a whisper;
There! strewing, speaking aloud;
There! lord of the sky, expanded;
There! space of earth, stretched out;
There! ninety princes of the south-west;
There! nine grey-haired old men;
There! Buriat and Bulgat;
There throw the millet even;
There! spout out like a spring;
There! Bukha Noyan, our father;
There call on him;
There! I pray to thee
There thy father's tribe was
There! thy mother's tribe was
There! thy father was
There! thy mother was
There that was thy name
At the third libation, the song or invocation is again
taken up:-
There! in the beginning was the king of men;
There! then was the king of the earth;
There! then were the princes of the hills;
There! then were the gods of the greenswards;
There! advancing with the echo of high hills;
There! advancing the roar of wide seas.
The brandy is then poured, drop by drop, upon the
fire, the invocation continuing thus:-
Father father! Malan Tengri ;
Mother! mother! Yoren Tengri ;
Giving the names of the person prayed to, &c.
THE MONGOLS.
321
Youngest son of the father Malan Tengri;
Old man Sagadai, wife Sakhalu,
Lying and blowing, gnawing and kindling
The fire Bului-khan, his wife Gulyi,*
With the covering of grey lambskin,
With the offer of a lamb a year old;
At bed-time like a hill,
At rising like a greensward;
May he be rich in herds,
Rich in heritage.
The kerek, or solid sacrifice, consists in the offer of a
sheep. The Shaman who kills it wets his staff, whirls it
round his head, and sings:-
For the life, a compensation;
For the body, a gift ;
Kinsman here, evil hence;
Cry wrong, blame the Shaman;
Minister wrongly, blame the ministers;
Cry right, minister right;
The Gods go away,
Blame yourselves.
Lighter than a feather,
Swifter than an arrow.
When the ecstacy is over, and the spirit which entered
into the Shaman has left him, he prays for his employer,
the founder of the feast or sacrifice:
Ho ho here! here!
I call on the king of the wide-spread sky,
The king of the wide-spread earth;
The ninety princes of the south-west;
The nine white-haired old men ;
Our father Bukhu Noyan,
The body of our mother Budan Khatun,
For good fortune and prosperity,
For long life,
Lasting luck,
A skin a span thick,
A body like iron,
We pray for.
VOL. I.
* Brass.
Y
322
THE MONGOLS.
The operation of the offerings,
The defence of life,
We pray for.
The cure of sickness,
The healing of ills,
We pray for.
Riches and cattle
We pray for.
A numerous posterity
We pray for.
Bukhu Noyan was the husband of Budan Khatun, and
the two together were the first beings in the human shape,
and the makers of the rest of the human race. These
they cut out of paper, and placed in a yurt. In the wall
of the yurt was a hole, and at the door of the yurt was a
dog. The dog watched, to guard the men in the yurt
against the evil spirit. The men were all covered with
hair; the dog had no hair at all. The men slept; the dog
did so too. The evil spirit entered through the hole in
the wall. He maimed and defiled the new-made men.
When Bukhu Noyan and Budan Khatun knew this, they
knew not what to do; but arose in a hurry, and laid their
hands upon a shaving-knife. With this they shaved the
men until they were bare of hair, except in certain parts
of their bodies. The dog they punished for his heedless-
ness by clothing with the foul hairs.
Much in favour of either the solemnity or beauty of
the Shaman's invocation cannot be said. Neither are the
other Buriat specimens of any literary value.
1.
From the prince has come a board sprinkled with
black marks;
The chief holds all the people together:
From our lord has come a paper marked with
diverse-coloured marks;
All these our lord supports,
Ever pitying us all.
THE MONGOLS.
323
2.
The hoof of the horse crashes
The white stone of Agi.
The sorrow of the heart
Vexes the distant friend.
3.
The willows of Kemnikhe* wave here and there;
Khulebaksen,† the brandy warmed my body;
In the midst of seventy or eighty horse is a red nag;
Father! take him; thy son is on horseback.
In the front tent, on the stand, is a strong red
breast-plate;
Mother! take it; thy son is on horseback.
On the right side, in the box, is a harness;
Father! take it out; thy son is on horseback..
4.
On the bottom of my quiver
Are three-and-twenty arrows;
Uncle! take them.
Sege Mergen I.
Go into yon land.
On the bottom of my box
Are thirteen arrows,
Uncle! take them.
Sege Mergen I.
Go into yon land.
In the bottom of my chest
Are many arrows;
Uncle take them.
Sege Mergen I.
Go into yon land.
5.
!
Yo! yo! galde! to-day I am drunk;
Yo! yo! galde! to-morrow I will be drunk
Yo! yo! galde! the day after to-morrrow I'll be
drunk ;
Yo! yo! galde! to the feast I will go ;
Yo! yo! galde! I will be drunk.
The following samples, less rude than the preceding,
represent the poetry of either the Kalkas, or the Eastern
* Name of a place.
+ Name of a person.
Y 2
324
THE MONGOLS.
Mongolians. The first is theological, or moral; the
second, heroic; the third, convivial.
1.
Dzungkaba, the prince of the law, is the powerful king of all that
exists. Oh! happy people, born in the country of the gods! We beg
you to carry us beyond the great river; that our souls may freely soar
towards the abode of Outar Khan. And you, perverse men, who trouble
the repose of your fellow-creatures, know that there is a judge for good
and evil; the equitable Eerlik Nomoum Khan. The Lamas teach us the
dogmas of the faith; our parents good manners: let us endeavour to
profit by their lessons; for, wandering at random in an obscure valley,
we cannot walk securely, or penetrate the thoughts of the man who lives
with us; but if the intercession of the Delai Lama is favourable to us, we
shall escape the snares of our enemies, and our secret faults will be par-
doned by the three Bogda.
2.
A troop of warriors is going to issue from the territory of the Tsetsen
Khan;
it is composed of three thousand warriors, with the brave Tseden
Beílé at their head. Among the horsemen of the court, Kounkoun Taidyi
has been chosen; the valiant Beile Dordji Djonom, and Bauba Bouissoun
noin, guided by their own inclination, will soon join their companions.
The extraordinary valour of these heroes has already been felt by the
enemy in the sanguinary battle on Mount Kangai; and when the august
master (the Emperor), in his clemency, shall have put an end to our
labours, we will pass, on our return to our own country, by Euketala,
the thick and verdant grass of which will serve as food to our excellent
coursers.
3.
What a delicious beverage is the generous archan, the gift of the
Emperor; it is as sweet to us as honey; let us drink it, then, in our
own social meetings.
The immoderate use of it causes stupidity; but he who drinks of it in
moderation enjoys supreme pleasure.
Hail! to health, strength, and youth! as chance seldom unites us, let
us enjoy together the delicious beverage; a banquet among brethren is
the greatest of pleasures.
Dzungkaba is the Dalai Lama, of whom notice was
taken in the account of Tibet; Utai Khan is a holy
mountain of China; Irlik Khan, the Erle-khan of the
Turks, is (I think) the Erle-king of Göthe's well-known
ballad-
"Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind," &c.;
THE MONGOLS.
325
a fact which is probably new to the commentators,
and was, I think, unknown to the author.
It gene-
rally passes as a Danish ballad. The three Bogda are
the Dalai Lama, the Bantshan Erdeni, and Kutuku
Ghegen, the august three Buddhist dignitaries of the first
class.
Riddles are to be found in the literature of most rude
nations. Friis gives a collection for Lapland. Schleicher
one for Lithuania. Amongst those of the Mongols of
the Selenga we find that of our friends the Sphinx and
Edipus.
Question-Uglo durbo, edur dunda khoyir, udesi
gurba? Morning, four; noon, two; evening, three.
Answer-A man.
There is Buddhism in the paganism, and paganism in
the Buddhism of the Mongols. There are also traces of
an intermediate creed-fire-worship. Khormusta, the
name of a deity of frequent occurrence, has been iden-
tified (by Schmidt) with the Persian Oromasdes.
Okodil, according to Georgi, is the chief of the devils
-the Obersatan as that writer calls him. Details con-
cerning him would have been welcome. So would any-
thing further concerning the terms Tengri, Burkhan,
Esan, Ongon, Nogit, and Illmetshetshin. So they would
concerning Irlik-khan, notwithstanding the appearance
of his name in a poem. He is Turk as well as Mongol;
as will soon be seen. Okodil occurs twice in Sanang
Seetsen, where it means a corpse.
Tengri means sky or heaven; then (according to Castrén)
the God of Heaven; then any minor deity.
Burkhan, by Castrén, is identified with Buddha; as I
imagine word for word. I am much more inclined to
make it, word for word, Perkunos, the Lithuanian deity;
326
THE KALMUKS.
who is not only Lithuanian, but Fin as well. I also
make it the Scandinavian Fiorgyn. It seems, in the pre-
sent state of Buddhism under which the Mongols live,
to mean God; being often accompanied by a qualifying
prefix, and becoming Tengri Burkhan, or Oktorgoi Burk-
han, meaning Sky God.
Esan and T'tsen are the same word. They denote the
little domestic tutelary gods, or the images.
Ongon has much the same meaning as Esan; and
Nogit is an Esan, or Ongon, painted. Nogit, perhaps,
means the representation rather than the person; Esan
and T'tsen (for they mean lord, or master) the person
rather than the representation.
Imegiltshin is an image (or deity symbolized by it)
made more especially out of lambskin than aught else;
lambs and cattle being the especial objects of Imegiltshin's
attention.
Another name for Okodil is Tshitkyr.
Over and above the Mongols of Mongolia, there are
the Mongols of more than one area other than Mongol.
The most important of these are the
Torgod and Durbet of the Russian Empire.-These are
best known under the name of Kalmuk. A Tartar in
Russia is a Turk; a Kalmuk a Mongol. The whole of
the seventeenth century was a period of danger and dis-
turbance; so much so that more than one division of the
Mongols placed itself under the protection of China or
Russia. About 20,000 families of Kalkas sought the
Buriat country.
But the Olöt movements give the greatest results—
two migrations and (to coin a new word) one re-migra-
tion.
The first migrants were of the Torgod tribe; the date of
THE KALMUKS.
327
their migration being A. D. 1630.
Worsted by the
Dzungar and Koshot they moved westward; reached
Astrakan, attacked it, and were repulsed with the loss
of their khan, whose attempt cost him his life.
His son
succeeded him, setled the horde, ruled over it for a time as
an independent potentate, but eventually acknowledged
the Russian dominion.
A. D. 1700-1703 a second movement took place; the
majority of the migrants being, as before, Torgod, but
some being Durbet.
Aiuki Khan, who died A. D. 1724, was a warrior of
many battles.
He defeated the Nogays. He assisted
Peter I. in his war against Persia. He sent, in the reign
of Elizabeth, 30,000 men to the Crimea, the descendants
of whom still exist as colonists in that peninsula.
Aiuki, however, was the last of the khans whose power
was real. His immediate successors were but puppets
under a Russian president. His successors, too, always
had their title ratified from Petersburg.
Discontents arose. A.D. 1771 saw the withdrawal of
70,000 families. These were led by their khan Ubakha,
and they forced along with them the Russian Captain
Duden and a hundred soldiers. They were not pur-
sued in any earnest, but they were harassed, and robbed,
and killed by the tribes of their route; by the Kirghiz,
and the Turcomans of Independent Tartary. They lost,
indeed, 20,000 families by the way. They reached, how-
ever, the Chinese frontier after a journey of eight months
-miserably distressed, diminished by nearly a third, and
half-starved.
This was the re-migration; and, as real migrations are
great rarities in history, though common enough in books,
it deserves attention. The remnant that reached China
was kindly and honourably received.
328
THE KALMUKS.
Fifteen thousand families were left behind; the an-
cestors of the present population, which amounts-
In Astrakan to
Caucasus
99
Saratov
99
Stavropol
Total
87,556
20,591
692
10,223
119,162
To which add, some in the Don Kosak country, in Oren-
burg, in Samar, and also an offset in the Crimea.
Their simple polity is regulated by a committee in
Astrakan, consisting of two Kalmuk deputies, and two
Russian judges under a Russian president.
The social constitution is that of their brothers in Mon-
golia. There is the head of the horde, or ulus; the heads
of its divisions; some commanding 100, some 150, one
more than 4000 tents. These are called Zaizans. There
is also the Lama for the Buddhist majority; and a few
priests, or missionaries, for the Christian minority. The
nobles are called White, the commonalty Black, Bones.
The wealth of the former is in their sheep and horses.
I imagine that the Kalmuks of Orenburg are those
to whom Georgi devotes a short chapter, describing
them as the Mahometan Mongols. A. D. 1753, there or
thereabouts, they were received in their present locali-
ties by the Bashkirs, and in 1783 (when Georgi wrote)
resided in three villages in the Government of Orenburg
and in the district of Tset, to the number of fifty families.
They intermarried with the Bashkirs, who are specially
stated to have given them, on their arrival, both pastures
and wives. Their children, though of Turk blood on the
mothers' side, are still Mongol in appearance-flat-faced,
big-eared. In the winter they reside in fixed dwellings.
In summer, they move from pasture to pasture in tents.
THE TSHEHAR AIMAK, ETC.
329
There are a few Mongols in Bokhara; traces, real or
supposed, of some in India; the same in Persia and
Syria; the same in parts of Russia and Tartary. A true
settlement, however, of greater importance than all these
put together, is that of
The Mongols of Caubul and Persia.-There are a few
Mongols near Herât. In the king's body-guard is a regi-
ment of Kalmuks (so-called even in Afghanistan), intro-
duced from Balkh towards the end of the last century.
But it is not these who are most especially under notice.
The Mongolians of Caubul and Persia are the
Tshehar Aimák and the Hazara.-On each side of a line,
drawn from Herat to Caubul, lies, to the north of the
proper Afghan, and to the south of the Uzbek and Tur-
coman, frontier, a great range of undulating country,
often mountainous, almost always hilly, well-watered in
some parts, bleak and rough in others. This falls into a
western and an eastern division, with an important water-
shed between them. From the west flow the Murghab,
the Tejend, and the Furrarud; from the east, the Hel-
mund, the south-eastern feeders of the Oxus, and the
north-western feeders of the Caubul River.
The former of these districts, lower and less moun-
tainous, is the occupancy of the Tshehar Aimâk; the
latter that of the Hazara ;-names that require notice,
because, unless we guard against it, confusion may arise
in the use of them. Aimâk is our old friend, the Mon-
golian word for tribe; a word, however, which, though
more Mongolian than aught else, seems to be Mantshú
and Turk as well. Tshehar is the Persian for four; so
that Tshehar Aimâk is a hybrid phrase, half from one
language, half from another.
difference of opinion as to its
per name, but a common term.
Hazara, though there is a
actual meaning, is no pro-
Say that it means soldier,
330
THE TSHEHAR AIMAK, ETC.
regiment, horseman, noble, military frontier, or anything
of the same kind, and it is clear that you may have Ha-
zaras in more places than one. More than this, the word
may in one place be used specially, or as the name of a
single tribe or sub-tribe; whilst it may be used elsewhere
as a general denomination for a collection of tribes, sub-
tribes, clans, septs, families, or whatever we may call
them. This is the case here. A special sub-section of
the Tshehar Aimâk (Durban Aimâk it would be if the
whole phrase were Mongol) will be called Hazara, and
Hazara will also be the collective name for all the tribes
of the other division.
Both are noticed in Elphinstone's Caubul: both are
placed in the same category. The only doubt in the mind
of the author is as to the nature of the class that con-
tained them. He hesitates to make them Mongols. They
generally spoke Persian. A sample of the language,
since published by Lieut. Leach, settles the doubt-for
the speakers of it, at least:-
English.
Aimak.
Head
ekin
Kalka.
tologoi
Ear
tshakin
tsike
Nose
kabr
k hamar
Eye
nuddun
nidu
Tongue
kelan
kolè
Hand
ghar
gar
Fire
ghar
gal
Water
ussun
usu
Tree
darakt*
modo
Stone
kuri
tsholo
One
nikka
nege
Two
koyar
khoyin
Three
ghorban
gurba
Four
dorban
dürba
Five
tabun
tabu
How many members of the Aimâks thus show their
origin in their language? What tribes are even more
* Persian.
THE TSHEHAR AIMAK, ETC.
331
purely Mongol than the speakers of the Mongol dialect—
if any? What, if any, are less so? What are most
Persian? What most Turk? I raise, rather than answer
these questions. The Aimâk and Hazara areas are but
little known and imperfectly described.
The Four Aimáks.-We know from the name the num-
ber of the primary groups. We anticipate their division
and sub-division. The primary groups are:-
(1) The Timuni, divided into (a) the Kiptshak, and (6)
Durzye.
(2) The Hazara, containing (a) the Jumshidí and (b)
the Firuzcohi; the latter lying east, on the watershed,
and on the frontier of Hazara (in the general sense of
the word) division.
(3) The Zuri; and-
(4) The Timuri.
The Keri lie to the south of Meshed, far to the west
of the others, and are doubtful Aimâks.
The Timúri and Hazara lie beyond the boundaries of
Caubul, and, consequently, are subject to Persia. The
former have long been where they are. The latter origi-
nally lay on the Timuri frontier; but a border quarrel
caused their removal by Shah Mahmud. In dress, feature,
and manners, the Hazara are more Uzbek than any other
of the Aimâks, just as some are more like the Persians.
The tents of the Aimâk in general are Turk rather than
Afghan; those of the Timuri, however, are Afghan
rather than Turk.
As contrasted with the Afghans, the Aimâk (and, it
may be added, the Hazara also) love a despotic rather
than a free government; their princes being powerful and
uncontrolled. They carry on the government in the name
of the Shah of Persia or the Amir of Caubul, as the case
may be; but are never controlled in the management of
332
THE TSHEHAR AIMAK, ETC.
their own tribes, within which they have the power of life
and death. They live in well-fortified castles, not without
pretensions to comfort. They eat horseflesh, and mix the
flour of an oily sort of nut, called khundzhik, with that
of their wheat.
A few Persian villages are found in the Aimâk country.
The date of the introduction of the Aimâk themselves is
the thirteenth century; Manku Khan, the grandson of
Tshingiz, having settled them. Elphinstone fixes their
number at 400,000 or 450,000, without, however, pre-
tending to accuracy.
As he only gives the primary divisions, we are not sur-
prised to find, in the notices of the few travellers who
have been in their country, new names. Ferrier names
the tribe whose occupancy lay nearest to Herat, Zeidnat.
Martial in habits, and yet not wholly averse to industry,
it possesses the district of Kaleh-nuh, on the head-waters
of one of the southern feeders of the Murghab. Here
it is where it comes in contact with the Afghans of the
Khorasan frontier. Here it is where the powerful chief
Kerimdad Khan commands the efficient services of 5000
horsemen and 3000 foot. In case of need, the cavalry can
be trebled, for the number of tents is 28,000.
Two other Zeidnat districts are governed by his two
brothers-the districts of Pinjdeh and Murghab. A third
brother resides in honourable exile at Herat, as a hostage
in the hands of Yar Mohamed Khan for the fidelity of
the other three. Nor is this precaution needless. The
only doubt is as to whether it is effective. Kerimdad
Khan, active, brave, intriguing, has twice been coerced,
and twice shown that the coercion was insufficient. He
was, at first, an ordinary plunderer, ravaging the districts
to the south, and selling his captives to the Uzbeks.
Then he was forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of
THE HAZARA.
333
Herat, in evidence of which he sent an annual tribute of
a few horses to Yar Mohammed, and received in return
more than their worth of Herat valuables.
The Aimâk are, doubtless, a very free and independent
population.
The Hazara.-The Hazara lie East; the Aimâk, west.
The Hazara live in houses rather than tents; the Aimâk
in tents rather than houses. The Hazara are Shia,
the Aimâk, Sunnite, Mahometans. There are few or no
Tadzhiks in Hazara. These are the chief points of dif
ference.
The Aimâk have been described by those who knew
them in their westernmost, the Hazara by those who have
seen them in their easternmost localities-i. e. in Ghor-
bund, and Bamian. They are said to lend their wives to
their guests. The tribes are as follows:-
No. of
Names.
Names.
Families.
No. of
Families.
Da Murda.
2000
Da Murda.
Durbi Ali.
1000
Dal Timur.
Ism Tunun
1000
Deh Kundi
Dia Zingi
5500
Durghan
Doulat Pai
2000
Jakuri
Marak
1000 Naur
Kuptseom
2600
Baddaws
Yarkhana
Zhalek
500
•
Syud Dan
•
200
Tazak
•
Tejuk
100
Sugh Pah.
Die Murza
300
Deh Zingi.
5000
Sheek Ali
3000
Tatar
1000
Jurghai Burjeghai
1000
| | | | | | |
Diah Pollah
2000
334
THE HAZARA.
The first list gives the eastern, the other the western
tribes-as far, at least, as they were known to our inform-
ant, Lieut. Wood; who puts the whole population at
about 156,000 souls. Some are subject to the Uzbek
Khan of Kunduz.
Many of the foregoing names are very suggestive.
The word Hazara will appear and reappear again. The
Jumshidi remind us of the Persian Jamshid. Then
there are the Kiptshak Turk and Mongol. Then
there are the names Timur, Tshingiz, and Tartar. Durbi
(or Durbi Ali) is, probably, the Mongol durbet.
The story about the laxity of Hazara females, and the
carelessness of Hazara husbands, is found in both Elphin-
stone and Wood; in the latter, with the additional state-
ment that the evidence is Afghan, and that the particular
tribe of the Jakuri is most obnoxious to the charge.
Let us hope that this frees the rest; though, by any one
conversant with the extreme amount of coarseness which
mixes up with the jealousy of rude nations, the fact
must be pronounced credible.
The influence of the Mongols upon the world's history
is so mixed up with that of the Turks, that the notice of
it must stand over for the present.
The colossal figure,
however, of Temudzhin, or Tshingiz-khan, is purely
Mongol. For his earlier history during the time when he
was taking his first steps towards the consolidation of his
power as a Mongol, it is clear that, with all his imper-
fections, Sanang Seetsen is our only approximation to an
authority. For conquests in Persia, Turkestan, Armenia,
or Europe, Europeans, Armenians, Turks, and Persians,
are available. What, however, could they know of small
additions made to a small nucleus; that nucleus being
divided from the nearest of them by a third of the breadth
of Asia ?
TSHINGIZ-KHAN.
335
Of Sanang Seetsen's account thus much seems trust-
worthy; that the original tribe of Tshingiz was in the
north-east; not far from Lake Baikal; that (as far as the
divisions are natural) it was Kalka, or Buriat, rather than
Olöt; that the first blows were struck against the tribes
of the north-east; that the Oerad Buriat, who were Mon-
gols, submitted to him; that he attacked the Dzhurtshid
and Solongos, who were Mantshurian Tungús; that Tan-
gut and Tibet were afterwards reduced. In none of
these conquests do we find the Mongols far from home.
They simply extend their frontiers at the expense of their
neighbours.
Upon the name of one of these we may pause. In the
thirty-seventh year of his age Tshingiz sent a message to
Ong Khan of the Kerait, saying, "At the time that I
married my chief wife Burte Dzhenshin thou sentest to
me a congratulatory gift, presented me with a robe of
sable-skins, and behaved as a father. Let us be friends,
even as father and son." But Ong Khan was distrustful;
and assembled his men, and attacked Tshingiz unawares.
Tshingiz, however, won the battle, and conquered the
famous khan of the Kerait; famous, because of all the
Mongolians he was the first who had a European reputa-
tion. Ong Khan was neither more nor less than the
famous Prester John.
When we turn from the special to any general historian,
we find a decided confirmation of the doctrine that the
reputation of Tshingiz as a conqueror is beyond his
actions. He consolidated the Mongols; and this is his
chief work. He founded, rather than wielded, a power.
Besides the conquests noticed by Sanang Seetsen,
he con-
quered the northern part of China (but not the southern),
and overran Kharismia and northern Persia.
Far beyond the bounds of Mongolia Tshingiz-khan
336
TSHINGIZ-KHAN.
never went. His generals and successors it was who
spread the terror of the Mongol name over Asia and
Europe. They were the Alexanders. Tshingiz, the Philip
of Mongolia, organized, rather than effected, distant vic-
tories. His special injunctions were that China should
be conquered. This was done by his grandson. The
captain, however, who led the Mongols round the Caspian
from Bokhara to Dzungaria was, not Tshingiz, but
Holagu.
Kubilai Khan, the grandson of Tshingiz, conquered
China, and it is at the court of his grandson, Kubilai
Khan, that we find our best informant for the Mongols of
the fourteenth century, Marco Polo. By A. D. 1367 the
native dynasty of the Ming had succeeded that of the
Yuan, and little importance thenceforward attached itself
to the once formidable name of Mongol.
Small heroes of more than one inter-tribual war, un-
successful and successful insurgents against China, with
captains who lent their swords to their former subjects,
are all that history supplies. The Mantshú are now the
conquerors. Galdan, prince of the Dzungarian Olöt, in
the middle of the eighteenth century effected, partly by
arms and partly by policy, an imperfect consolidation of
the western tribes. His kingdom, attacked both by
Russia and China, broke up after his death. Next,
however, to Kubilai and Tshingiz, though by a long
interval, Galdan is the greatest historical character of the
Mongols. His field, however, was only Mongolia.
When Blumenbach published his celebrated Decads of
human crania, those of the Mongols and Kalmuks ex-
hibited characters so prominent, decided, and pal-
pable, that he took them as the types of their class;
much the same being done by more than one of the dis-
tinguished writers who have since illustrated the physical
THE MONGOLIAN PHYSIOGNOMY.
337
The
and natural history of Siberia and Central Asia.
accessibility of the Kalmuk country has had something
to do with this. The main reason, however, lies in the un-
doubted and undeniable fact of the Mongol features being
more strongly contrasted with those of either an ordinary
European or an African than those of any other population
equally well known. "It is easy," says Pallas, as quoted by
Prichard, "to distinguish by their traits of physiognomy
the principal Asiatic nations, who rarely contract mar-
riage except with their own people. There is none in
which this distinction is so characterized as amongst
the Mongols. If the colour be set aside, the Mongol has
as little resemblance to other people as a negro has to a
European." There is some exaggeration in this state-
ment, excellent observer as is its author. There is some
exaggeration in it, but of such does a great deal of our
ethnology consist. There is exaggeration; but it is not
altogether useless. It helps to give prominence to a fact
upon which the use of a very common term now rests.
Mongolian physiognomies, Mongolian crania, Mon-
golian eyes, the Mongolian division of the human species,
are phrases which few writers are cautious enough to
use with either moderation or discretion. Hence it is as
difficult to dispense with them altogether, as it is incon-
venient to use them too freely.
The face of the Mongolian is broad and flat. This is
because the cheek-bones stand out laterally, and the nasal
bones are depressed. The cheek-bones stand out laterally.
They are not merely projecting, for this they might be
without giving much breadth to the face, inasmuch as
they might stand forward. The cheek-bones of the
African do this. Not so those of the flat-faced popula-
tions. A ruler laid across the face of a Mongol (or an
Eskimo) is said to pass from cheek to cheek without
VOL. I.
Ꮓ
338
THE MONGOLIAN PHYSIOGNOMY.
touching the nose, so flat, snub, or depressed is that
usually prominent organ. I consider this to be a some-
what extreme illustration. The distance between the
eyes is great; the eyes themselves being oblique, and their
carunculæ being concealed. The eyebrows form a low
and imperfect arch, black and scanty. The iris is dark,
the cornea yellow. The complexion is tawny, the stature
low. The ears are large, standing out from the head;
the lips thick and fleshy rather than thin; the teeth some-
what oblique in their insertion; the forehead low and
flat; the hair lank and black.
With such elements the approach to beauty on the part
of a Mongol must needs be distant and rare. Yet there
are recorded cases of it. "Round and pretty faces, fine
and regular features,"-so writes Pallas. The former aré
more likely to be of frequent occurrence than the latter.
The rarity of personal deformities is a more definite
characteristic. So is the rarity of fat people. What else
do we expect with a population that lives an out-door life,
and leaves the children to nature? Exceptions, however,
lie against the lower extremities, to which continual ex-
ercise on horseback, beginning early and ending late in
life, imparts an ungraceful curve, impairing the nutrition
and development of the calves.
The well-trained eye of the Mongol discerns and dis-
tinguishes objects at a distance which surprises a Euro-
pean. It is a refinement, however, to refer this to any
congenital peculiarity of the retina. The ordinary avoca-
tions of the life he leads call the senses both of sight and
hearing into constant play; add to this that he is used to
the atmosphere through which he sees.
The following description of the Kalmuks of the Don
Kosak country is from Dr. Clarke. "Of all the inhabi-
tants of the Russian empire, the Calmucks are the most
THE MONGOLIAN PHYSIOGNOMY.
339
In •
distinguished by peculiarity of feature and manners.
their personal appearance, they are athletic, and very for-
bidding. Their hair is coarse and black; their language
hoarse and guttural. They inhabit the countries lying
to the north of Persia, India, and China; but from their
vagrant habits, they may be found in all the southern
parts of Russia, even to the banks of the Dnieper. The
Cossacks alone esteem them, and intermarry with them.
This union sometimes produces women of very great
beauty; although nothing is more hideous than a Cal-
muck. High, prominent, and broad cheek-bones; very
little eyes, widely separated from each other; a flat and
broad nose; coarse, greasy, jet-black hair; scarcely any
eyebrows; and enormous prominent ears
very inviting portrait."
compose no
The inter-parietal diameter of a Mongol skull, as com-
pared with the occipito-frontal, is very great, the occipital
protuberance so inconsiderable as to give the back of the
cranium a truncate appearance, the zygomata curved out-
wards.
Behind the meatus auditorius the head swells out late-
rally; so as to present a remarkable broad base, and, at the
same time, to look round and globular. The bones, too, are
smooth and glabrous. Blumenbach writes of a Kalmuk
cranium that it had habitus quasi tumidus et inflatus; and
Dr. Meigs finds the only Kalmuk skull of Morton's col-
lection to be tumidus and inflatus also. He quotes Blu-
menbach's epithets. The largest collection I have myself
seen, that of the Berlin Museum, verifies them. The base
of some of the Buriat crania, and the truncation of the
occiput, are, in some cases, inordinate. Morton's speci-
men measures ninety-three cubic inches internal capacity.
If anything, the Tungús physiognomy is an exaggera-
tion of the Mongolian Proper. So, at least, writes one
z 2
340
TIJE MONGOLIAN PHYSIOGNOMY.
of the most competent of our authorities, Pallas. The
face is flatter and bigger than the face of a Mongol. It
is Samoyed as much as Mongol. The beard is pre-
eminently scanty; next to no beard at all.
Blumenbach, having written before the occipital protu-
berance and the ratios between the side-to-side, and the
fore-and-aft diameters had taken their present importance,
places, decidedly and without circumlocution, the Tungús
skulls in the same class with the Mongolian, notwith-
standing the fact that the particular specimen before him
was eminently long-headed. He noticed the circumstance.
He measured the longitudinal diameter. It was as much
as nine inches. His view, however, has been refined on,
in the mind of the present writer, needlessly.
THE KIRGHIZ TURKS.
341
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Turk Stock.-The Kirghiz.-The Karakalpak.-The Barama, Baraba,
or Barabinski Tribes.-The Tshulim, Kuznets, Abintsi, Katshalar,
Yastalar, Boktalar, Kaidin, Beltyr, Birgus.-Teleuts.-Tubalar.—The
Sokhalar or Yakut.-Turks of the Khanates, of Siberia, Kazan, Astra-
kan, the Crimea.-Basian.-Karatshai.-Kumuk.-Chunsag.-Nogays.
—Bashkirs.—Meshtseriak.—Teptyar.-Tumuli, &c.-Uzbeks.-Turk-
man.
In the details of the Turk name, it is convenient to begin
with the Kirghiz, whose occupancy is the northern and
eastern part of that portion of our maps which is denomi-
nated Independent Tartary, but which would, more pro-
perly, be called Turkestan. As for its independence, the
less prominence given to it on paper the better for histo-
rical accuracy. The land is more or less Russian, and
more or less Chinese. At the same time, a large though
decreasing portion of it is actually what its name denotes.
The Uzbeks of Khiva are independent. The Turkomans
of the Persian frontier are independent. Some of the
Kirghiz themselves are independent.
Word for word, I believe that Kirghiz is Tsherkes, or
Circassian, the exact details in the history of its applica-
tion to the mountaineers of Caucasus being unknown. It
is an old term, and appears in Menander's account of his
embassy to the Khan of Fergana or Bokhara, in the reign
of Justinian. With the Tartars under notice it is neither
the native name exactly, nor yet a wholly strange one, as
will soon be seen.
342
THE KIRGHIZ TURKS.
The adjectives applied to the three divisions, containing
the Kirghiz of the Great, the Kirghiz of the Little, and
the Kirghiz of the Middle, Horde, mislead us.
The Great Horde is by no means what its name indi-
cates. Though not the most numerous, it contains the
most dangerous and savage of the Kirghiz; either plun-
derers of every caravan that passes through their country,
or levyers of black-mail as the price of passing it unpil-
laged. Its area lies eastward, on the frontier of Mongolia
and Chinese Turkestan, its line of frontier being irregular
and indented. Far to the east of the boundaries of what
is marked Dzungaria, and even in the parts where the
lakes are called (in our maps, at least) by the Mongolian
term nor, Mr. Atkinson describes his interviews with
various Kirghiz sultans. The whole district was divided
between a number of them, all being but petty chieftains
of limited areas—so many lords of so many valleys; dif-
fering but little in the style of their insignificant presi-
dencies; differing more in habits, temper, and intelligence.
One was a dangerous robber, who, whilst you were a guest
in his tent, would not allow himself to be tempted to an
injury, but who would waylay you on your way back.
Others were men of only average dishonesty, others
friendly and intelligent. One, especially, was more
so than any Kirghiz Mr. Atkinson had met with. Silk,
from Bokhara, entered somewhat largely into their dress.
The curtains, too, of their sleeping-place, and the other
hangings of their otherwise rude yurts were of silk.
Neither was expense spared on their arms and accoutre-
ments, nor yet care in the breeding of their horses. Fal-
conry, in its noblest form, was their amusement and exer-
cise-falconry, with eagles for hawks, and with deer for
the quarry.
In Scind, Lieut. Burton saw a gazelle
killed by a falcon. On the edge of Great Cobi Desert,
THE KIRGHIZ TURKS.
343
Mr. Atkinson saw a stag struck down by an eagle-a
bearcoot as he calls it. No dogs are taken out when the
hunting is with the eagle, who would assuredly kill them,
as he kills foxes (in the way of sport) and (as the Kirghiz
say) even wolves. The deer and antelope never escape,
but the fox, if he be near a hole, occasionally contrives to
cunningly run into it.
It is safe to say that, as early as the time of the Yuan
dynasty in China, a population bearing the name Kirghiz
was to be found upon the Upper Yenisey, the name under
which they are noticed by the Chinese geographers being
Kilikiszu. a. D. 1606, these eastern Kirghiz, along with
the Barabinski, submitted themselves to Russia, though
not for a permanence. Sometimes they affected an imper-
fect independence, sometimes they contracted alliances
with the Olöt Mongols. About the beginning, however,
of the following century, they moved southwards, and at-
tached themselves to the Great Horde-the Great Horde
which calls itself Brut Erdena, or Burut. Burut was the
name of the Kirghiz of the Yenisey; the exact import of
which denomination I am unable to give-i. e. I am un-
able to say whether it be or be not a sign of relationship
to the Mongols so called. The other two divisions call
themselves Kasak, Kirg Kasak, and Kirghiz Kasak, which
does not seem to be done by the members of the Great
Horde.
The Middle Horde of the Kirghiz Kasak.-The Horde on
the head-waters of the Ishim and Tobol consists of the
following tribes:-
1. Atagni;
2. Naiman;
3. Argin, containing the Tshak-tshak, Tshartshid, Tür-
tül, Karaul, Karakisak, Kandzhagali, Atshai, Tarakli,
Kultshan-argin.
344
THE KIRGHIZ TURKS.
4. Uvak-girei;
5. Kiptshak, containing the Kundelen, Usun, Tana-
buga, Karabalyk-kiptshak.
In the winter they resort to the Lake Balkash.
The Little Horde of the Kirghiz Kasak.-The following
are the divisions of the Little Horde:-
Usen-bemer
Diagus
Alatsha
Boibat
Baibakte
Koshai
Adoi
(?) Bersh
Kitai
Kaselgurt
Tazeke
Mashkar
Kensalban
Karakitai
Tshumankai
Serkesh
Moat
Tshiklin
Tana
Kartmalat
Tukmer-adoi
Tasdar
Balaksha
Dzhilgan-bailin.
Taibysh
Diemenei-karash
Aslan
(?) Bersh
Levshen's calculations make the numbers of
The Great Horde
The Little Horde
The Middle Horde
100,000
190,000
500,000
790,000
The skin of the Kirghiz Kasak is a deep brown, height-
ened by dirt and smoke; the colour being as much the
effect of the heated atmosphere of their tents in winter,
as of the dry heat of the summer sun. In habits they are
idle; in temper, fickle and uncertain. Between China
and Russia they have contrived to play a part which
makes them distrusted on both sides; and until the
strength of the latter kingdom was unmistakably felt,
the Kirghiz wars and the Kirghiz inroads were formi-
dable. On the other hand, the men are temperate, hardy,
and dirty. Add to this, that they are thoroughly hos-
THE KIRGHIZ TURKS.
345
pitable. When they have come in contact with the
Russians, and applied themselves to smith's or carpenter's
work, they have proved quick and docile.
The Kirghiz of Pamer are in immediate contact with
Chinese Tartary, the political relations being with Kokan.
To the ruler of this Uzbek State they acknowledge alle-
giance and pay tribute. With China and Tibet they are
in a chronic state of border warfare. Their relations to
the little States of the Upper Oxus are but little less
hostile. It was from these that Lieutenant Wood heard
his exceedingly unfavourable character of them—that they
were cowards as well as robbers, and faithless as well as
cowardly. That they robbed even of each other, tribe
from tribe, encampment from encampment-their Bais
(Beys) having but little power to restrain them even if
they had the inclination. His own experience of them
was less unfavourable.
They were small men. Out of seven that were mea-
sured the tallest stood 5 feet 5 inches, the shortest 5 feet
2 inches-a height somewhat above that of the Ladaki
Tibetans. Their "countenance is disagreeable; the upper
part of the nose sinks into the face; leaving the space
between their deep-seated and elongated eyes without the
usual dividing ridge; the brow immediately above the
eye is protuberant, but stands back more abruptly than
in Europeans; the cheeks, large and bloated, look as if
pieces of flesh had been daubed upon them; a slender
beard covers the chin, and with those individuals who
have a more luxuriant growth of hair, both beard and
whiskers have a close natural curl; their persons are not
muscular, and their complexion is darkened by exposure
in all weathers rather than by the sun." This smacks
of the language of Jornandes in describing the Huns,
with whom the face was "offa magis quam facies." The
346
THE KIRGHIZ TURKS.
A
women, on the other hand, were better-looking, and re-
sembled the Hazara females in their comparative delicacy
of frame and figure. They went quite unveiled, and
seemed to enjoy full freedom, were attentive to their
domestic duties, busy with the needle, unreserved, and
dressy, wearing, as their chief ornaments, beads of black
coral, beads of red coral, beads of glass, rudely-set gems,
brass nick-nacks, hollow brass buttons, and mother-of-
pearl decorations, &c.; all obtained from China.
daughter is more valued than a son; the price of the
former being 401. English money. On a husband's
death the widow goes to his brother, or next of kin.
Failing this she returns to her father. If a stranger take
her a blood-feud results. Slaves are somewhat uncom-
mon amongst them. The chief domestic animals of the
Kirghiz are the horse, the sheep, and the camel. Kumiss
is made from the mare's milk, and the enemies of the
tribe say that when the kumiss feasts take place their
encampments are scenes of the grossest intoxication, and
the most unrestrained and sexual indulgence. The wild
herds of Pamer are all objects of the chase, and the horns
serve many of the purposes of iron. They serve, for
instance, as stirrups; and even as horse-shoes, a Kirghiz
horse-shoe being but a semicircular piece of horn fixed
on the fore part of the hoof, and requiring to be renewed
once a week. In summer the hordes split up in small
encampments, and spread themselves over the higher
levels of their mountains and table-lands; no spot being
more visited by them than the lake out of which the
Oxus takes its source-the Sir-i-kol 15,600 feet above
the level of the sea. As winter comes on they move with
the water-fowls, and as they depart the Kirghiz descend.
Many of them encamp about the town of Kokan.
Till the beginning of the seventeenth century the
THE KIRGHIZ TURKS.
347
Kirghiz were pagans. They are now Sunnite Maho-
metans-with many pagan observances and superstitions.
The Kirghiz seen by Lieutenant Wood had ascended
into the region of the yak, and rode the animal just like
the Himalayans and Tibetans. Their hardiness was pro-
verbial even amongst the hardy Wakhani.
English.
Kirghiz.
Uzbek.
Turkman.
Baraba,
Head
baz
bash
bash
bash
Hair
tshatsh
zatsh
zatsh
tshatsh
Hand
kol
al
kol
Foot
ayak
ayak
ayak
Eye
kus
kyus
küs
kos
Ear
kolak
kulak
klak
kulak
Tooth
tiz
tish
dish
Blood
kan
kan
kan
Day
kündus
kündus
kyondos
Sun
kün
kyonash
koyash
kyosh
Moon
ai
ai
ai
ai
Star
dzhildzhis
yoldos
yoldos
eldar
Fire
ut
ot
ot
ut
Water
zu
zu
zu
zuu
Tree
agatsh
agatsh
agatsh
agaz
Stone
taz
tash
tash
tash
One
bir
bir
bir
bir
Two
oke
iki
iki
ike
Three
utsh
utsh
utsh
ytsh
Four
tyort
dyort
durt
tyort
Five
bez
bish
bish
bish
Six
alty
alty
alto
alte
Seven
dzhede
edi
edi
sette
Eight
zikus
zigus
zikis
zogus
Nine
tokus
tokus
tokos
togus
Ten
on
on
on
on
Russia has pressed steadily upon the Kirghiz frontier,
upon which it has encroached, and is encroaching. The
Buriat of the Yenisey, the most eastern population of
the name, and, perhaps, the most northern also, felt the
sword of the earliest Siberian immigrants. About the
beginning of the eighteenth century the independence of
the Little Horde was invaded. The time was
The time was one of
348
THE KIRGHIZ TURKS.
turbulence. The Dzungarian Mongols were exchanging
their independence for submission to China. Their move-
ments affected the whole area. Abulkhair, the khan
of a great part of the Little Horde, called in the pro-
tection of Russia; several tribes of the Middle Horde
doing the same. In 1732, Abulkhair and Shemyaka,
another khan, took the oath of allegiance to the Czar.
Disturbances, however, continued. There were Kirghiz
inroads upon the Baskir districts; and Kirghiz inroads
upon the Kalmuks of the Volga. Then Abulkhair died,
and factions arose about the succession. The Chinese, too,
now masters of Dzungaria, intrigued. The caravans to
Bokhara got plundered more than ever. The remedy for
all this was a change in the constitution, which took the
power away from the khan, and distributed it amongst
the secondary elders or nobles. The chief scene of
this division was the Little Horde, which now ran a
risk of being broken-up. Some of its tribes joined
the Middle; some went over to the Uzbek Khanate of
Khiva; some, probably, joined the Turkomans on the
south; finally, a division of 10,000 families, under the
headship of Bakei, son of Narali, and grandson of Abul-
khair, made its way into the Government of Astrakan,
settling itself on the left bank of the Volga. In 1812
Bakei was declared their khan, and has since been suc-
ceeded by his son.
In 1823 the Middle Horde, at the request of some of
its Sultans, prevailed upon Russia to protect it. At first
it paid no tribute at all; afterwards a certain number of
cattle.
The Karakalpak (Black Caps).—There are a few Turks
thus called in
(1.) The Governments of Perm, Orenburg, and Astra-
kan. Others more numerous in
THE KIRGHIZ TURKS.
349
(2.) The parts to the east of Lake Aral.
Common opinion connects these two divisions, deducing
the latter from the former, so as to make the eastern
Karakalpaks recent occupants of the present area. I
cannot say how this may be; it being clear that wherever
there is a population with black caps there is also a place
for the name Karakalpak.
The eastern Karakalpaks, settled during the winter but
migratory during the summer, partly belong to Khiva, and
partly lie under the protection of Russia. Some may be
wholly independent. They are but little known; passing
for one of the rudest and most imperfectly Mahometan
tribes of the Turk name.
The northern Kirghiz may truly be called Siberians, so
thoroughly do they belong to the northern slope of the
great Asiatic table-land and the drainage of the rivers
which, falling into the Obi, finally find their way to the
Arctic Sea. I follow the prolongations of these areas,
beginning with those that run eastward. It would, per-
haps, be more systematic to take the Uzbeks, and Turko-
mans next to the Kirghiz, with whom they divide Inde-
pendent Turkistan—the Kirghis holding the northern, the
Uzbeks and Turkomans the southern half of that vast
steppe. The dialects agree. The histories, however,
differ.
So the northern line is preferred. In this we must
remark two layers or strata. Some of the Turks are in
situ, by which I mean that they belong to their respective
areas as the Kirghiz belong to theirs, viz. from times
anterior to history. Others, however, are Turks of the
Kiptshak, a term which will be explained in the sequel.
Between the two there is this difference. The Kiptshak
Turks are Mahometans; the older tribes are pagans, or,
350
THE BARAMA TURKS.
if not pagans, recent converts; sometimes to Mahomet-
anism, sometimes to Christianity. I am not aware that
any are Buddhists; though, from contact with the
Mongols, this may be the case in a few instances.
The old occupants are the only ones which will, for the
present, be noted. Of these the first are the
Barama, Baraba, or Barabinski.-The termination inski
is Russian. In Fin ma means land. Hence, the very
oldest occupants of the Bara-ma or Bara-land may have
been Fins or Ugrians. The Barama Turks live in the
Barama, or Barabinski, steppe. In summer they dwell
in tents and encampments; in winter in huts and villages.
They may amount to 3500 individuals paying yasak or
tribute, Russia being the power that holds them tributary.
They call
The Russians.
وو
""
Kirghiz
Kalmuks.
Urus
Kasak
Kalmuk
Ishtak
Ostiaks
With the Ostiaks they come in contact on their northern
frontier. They fall into the following Aimâks; this
Mongol term being the one I find in Klaproth.
In Turk.
In Russian.
1. Langga.
2. Lubai.
3. Kulaba.
Tanuskaya Volost.
Lubanskaya Volost.
Turashkaya Volost.
4. Barama.
Barabinskaya Volost.
5. Tsoi.
Tshaiskaya Volost.
6. Terena.
7. Kargala.
Tereninskaya Volost.
Kargalinskaya Volost.
Their features are Mongol, or Mongoliform; their
habits pastoral, though not exclusively so. A little
THE BARAMA TURKS.
351
agricultural industry is to be found amongst them.
Christianity is making way amongst the Barabinski.
Bell describes their Shamanism.
"Baraba is really what its name signifies, an extensive
marshy plain. It is generally full of lakes, and marshy
grounds, overgrown with tall woods of aspin, alder,
willows, and other aquatics; particularly many large
birch-trees, having their bark as white and smooth as
paper. The lakes abound with various kinds of fishes,
such as pikes, perches, breams, eels, and particularly a
fish called karrass, of an uncommon bigness, and very
fat. These the inhabitants dry, in summer, for winter
provisions, which are all the food to be found among
them. I have eat of it often, and thought it not dis-
agreeable. In winter they use melted snow for water.
They are very hospitable; and desire nothing in return
of their civilities, but a little tobacco to smoke, and a
dram of brandy, of which they are very fond. The dress,
both of men and women, consists of long coats of sheep-
skins, which they get from the Russians and Kalmucks,
in exchange for more valuable furs. As they wear no
other apparel, nor even skirts, they are very nasty. Their
huts are most miserable habitations, and sunk about one-
half under the ground. We were glad, however, to find
them, as a baiting place, in such a cold season.
"The Barabintzy, like most of the ancient natives of
Siberia, have many conjurors among them, whom they
call Shamans, and sometimes priests. Many of the female
sex also assume this character. The Shamans are held in
great esteem by the people; they pretend to correspond-
ence with the shaytan,* or devil; by whom, they say, they
are informed of all past and future events, at any distance
* Word for word, Satan.
352
THE BARAMA TURKS.
of time or place. Our ambassador resolved to inquire
strictly into the truth of many strange stories, generally
believed, concerning the Shamans, and sent for all of
fame in that way in the places through which we passed.
"In Baraba we went to visit a famous woman of this
character. When we entered her house, she continued
busy about her domestic affairs, without almost taking
any notice of her guests. However, after she had
smoked a pipe of tobacco, and drunk a dram of brandy,
she began to be more cheerful. Our people asked her
some trifling questions about their friends; but she pre-
tended to be quite ignorant, till she got more tobacco and
some inconsiderable presents, when she began to collect
her conjuring tools. First, she brought her shaytan;
which is nothing but a piece of wood, wherein is cut
something resembling a human head, adorned with many
silk and woollen rags of various colours; then a small
drum, about a foot diameter, to which were fixed many
brass and iron rings, and hung round also with rags. She
now began a dismal tune, keeping time with the drum,
which she beat with a stick for that purpose. Several of
her neighbours, whom she had previously called to her
assistance, joined in the chorus. During this scene, which
lasted about a quarter of an hour, she kept the shaytan,
or image, close by herself, stuck up in a corner.
charm being now finished, she desired us to put our ques-
tions. Her answers were delivered very artfully, and
with as much obscurity and ambiguity as they could have
been given by any oracle. She was a young woman, and
very handsome."
The
English.
Barama.
Ostiak.
Samoyed.
Head
bash
og
ollo
Eye
kos
zem
sai
Ear
kulak
pel
ka
THE TSHULIM TURKS.
353
English.
Barama.
Ostiak.
Samoyed.
Nose
murun
nel
putsh
Mouth
aus
lul
ak
Hair
tshatsh
upat
apte
Tongue
tel
nalem
she
Hand
kol
ket
uten-ol
Sun
kyosh
khat
tsheled
Moon
ai
tilesh
ireda
Star
eldas
khuz
kysheka
Fire
ut
tut
tu
Water
zuu
ying
it
Tree
agaz
yokh
po
Stone
tash
kiv
po
O'ne
bir
it
Two
ikke
katn
okkur
shiddega
Three
ytsh
khulym
nagur
Four
tyort
nyelle
tyetto
Five
bish
uet
zomblag
Six
alte
chut
muktotn
Seven
sette
lazat
zeldzhu
Eight
zogus
nulle
shittetshan-
Nine
togus
irani
Ten
on
yang
gutköt
okurtshan-
gutköt
köt
The Tshulim.-Tshulim is the name of a feeder of the
Obi. Word for word, it seems to be Kolyma. If so,
the oldest occupants may have been Ugrian. The Tshu-
lim features, are, more or less, Mongol. The language is
said to contain many Mongol words. It is also said to
approach the Yakut. More pastoral than agricultural,
the Tshulim tribes are also more Christian than Mahome-
tan, more pagan (perhaps) than either. They number about
15,000. Like the Baraba, Barama, or Barabinski, they
have been described by Bell.
“In summer, the banks of this river are inhabited by a
tribe of Tartars, called by the Russians Tzuliminzi, from
the name of the river, who live by fishing and hunting.
We found several of their empty huts as we went along.
In autumn, these people retire from this inhospitable
VOL. I.
A A
351
THE TSHULIM TURKS.
place towards the south, near to towns and villages,
where they can find subsistence.
"The 20th, we arrived at a Russian village called
Meletsky Ostrogue, where we staid a day to refresh our-
selves and horses. In the neighbourhood of this place,
we found many huts of the Tzulim Tartars, who seem
to be a different race from all of that name I have yet
mentioned. Their complexion is indeed swarthy, like that
of most of the other descendants of the ancient natives of
Siberia; but I have seen many of them having white
spots on their skins from head to foot, of various figures
and sizes. Many imagine these spots natural to the
people; but I am rather inclined to believe they proceed
from their constant diet of fish and other animal food
without bread. This, of course, creates a scorbutic
habit of body, which often breaks out in infants; and
the scars falling off, leave that part of the skin as if
it had been scalded, which never recovers its natural
colour. I have, however, seen several children with
these spots, who seemed healthy.
“The Tzulim, like other Tartars, live in huts half-
sunk under ground. They have a fire in the middle,
with a hole at the top to let out the smoke, and benches
round the fire, to sit or lie upon. This seems to be the
common method of living among all the northern nations,
from Lapland eastward to the Japanese ocean.
"The Tzulim speak a barbarous language, composed
of words from many other languages. Some of our
people, who spoke Turkish, told me, they had many
Arabic words which they understood. They are poor,
miserable, and ignorant heathens. The Archbishop of
Tobolsky in person came lately hither, and baptized
some hundreds of them, who were inclined to embrace
the Christian faith. As they are a well-disposed and
THE TSHULIM TURKS.
355
harmless people, probably in a short time they may be
all converted."
English.
Tshulim.
Kuznetsk.
Yakut.
Tobolsk.
Head
bash
bash
baz
pash
Eye
kos
kus
kharakh
kus
Ear
kulak
kulak
kulgakh
kulak
Nose
murun
mondu
murun
parun
Mouth
agus
aksy
ayakh
auus
Hair
tshatsh
tshatsh
az
tsats
Tongue
til
til
til
til
Tooth
tish
tish
tiz
tish
Hand
kal
kol
ili
khal
Sun
kun
kun
kun
kun
Moon
ai
ai
ui
ar
Star
yoldus
tshlitis
zulus
yoldus
Fire
ot
ot
wot
Water
su
su
ui
Tree
agats
agatsh
maz
Stone
tash
tash
taz
ot
su
yagats
tash
One
bir
pir
bir
bir
Two
ike
iki
iki
ike
Three
itsh
utsh
uz
itsh
Four
dyort
dort
tirt
dört
Five
besh
bish
vez
bish
Six
alte
alty
alta
alty
Seven
sette
setti
seta
siti
Eight
zegus
segys
agys
segis
Nine
togus
togus
dogys
togus
Ten
on
on
on
on
Their tribes, which are called Dyon or Yon, are—
Kursu Ayen
Bilek
Bura
Tutal (Obek)
Kitshi Tardegi
Yaseu Boshi
Uye
Ulu Buru
Yazi
Kitshi Kurnatshi
Ulu Terena
Tshibi
Temerzi (?)
Yatshin
Kamnar I.
Bilet
Bagasari
Ulu Yeshi
A A 2
356
THE TSHULIM TURKS.
Kueruk
Tutal
Kitshi Pushku
Ulu Pushku
Kitshi Argun
Anggas
Shus
A tshig
Kamnar II.
Kisil Ashi
They are fishers as well as herdsmen. They were once
called Tutal; a term which is now restricted to two of
their tribes. They call the Tshulim Tshum (Kem? Tom?).
The occupants of the towns call them Uriankhai.
The Verkho-Tomski tribes, lie above Kuznetsk. Verkho
means Upper, so that the Verkho-Tomski tribes are the
tribes of the Upper Tom.
The Abintsi are a portion of the Verkho-Tomski. The
Tsumush, the Kondoma, and the Mrasa are their rivers.
The Katshlar, Katshtalar, or Katshintsi lie beyond the
unimportant watershed that separates the drainages of
the Obi and the Yenisey, and occupy the Katsha, whence
their name, a feeder of that river.
The Yastalar or Yastintsi (the form in -lar is Turk, that
in -tsi Russian) are mixed with the Katshlar.
The Bokhtalar (Boktintsi) are on the Kom, to the east
of the Yenisey, below Abakansk.
The Kaidin are on the same side, above Abakansk.
The Beltyr, on the right side of the Abakan, number
about 150 tribute-payers.
The Biryus, on the river so-called, originally occupied
the banks of the Kondama, a Kuznetsk locality. To
each of their four divisions-Kobin Aimâk, Kargin
Aimâk, Kain Aimâk, and Shaskin Aimâk is a Chief,
Bashlik, or Head (bas head). They are all poor; the
last the poorest, and the occupants of the highest levels.
They have a few horses and oxen, and grow a little
rye.
THE TELEUT.
357
The Teleut. Abulgazi calls the Teleut (in Mongol
Telengut) Uriat, a name which implies that they were
Kalmuk Mongols. At the time of the Russian conquest
they were called white Kalmuks. Their looks are Mongol.
They were, and are subjects to the Mongols. Their lan-
guage, however, is Turk.
English.
Head
Telcut.
Osmanli.
Mongol.
bash
bash
tologoi
Eye
kus
gos
nüdün
Ear
kulak
khulak
tshakin
Nose
muran
buran
khamar
Mouth
ous
aghes
aman
Hair
tshatsh
satsh
üşün
Tongue
til
dil
kele
Hand
kol
el
gar
Sun
kun
gyun
naran
Moon
ai
ai
sara
Star
yiltis
yildis
odun
Fire
ot
od
gal
Wuter
su
su
usun
Tree
Stone
agash
tash
agatsh
tash
modo
tshulu
For "Mongol" read "Samoyed" and, mutatis mutandis,
the history of the Teleuts is the history of the
Tubalar, Tubintsi, or Tuba, tribes-Occupants of the
Turk in language, though, probably,
banks of the Tuba.
Samoyed in blood.
lar, i. e. Kirghiz.
They are sometimes called Kyrgis-
And here we may pause, for the Teleut and Tuba
Turks (if so they may be called) have introduced a new
question. The blood and language differ.
The lineage
Such being
is Mongol or Samoyed, the speech Turkish.
the case, it is better, when the evidence is sufficient, to
speak of certain Samoyeds or Mongols who have lost their
own language and adopted that of their neighbours, than of
certain Turks whose blood is Mongol, Samoyed, or aught
else. The blood, lineage, pedigree, genealogy, descent,
358
SAYANIAN TURKS.
or affinity is the primary ethnological fact. The lan-
guage is the evidence in favour of it. This may be
conclusive, or the contrary. It is rarely conclusive when
it stands alone.
It
Members of, at least, two different stocks, other than
Turk, are reasonably believed to speak Turkish. Certain
Mongols are reasonably believed to do so.
So are
certain Ugrians. The same may, probably, be said of
certain Tungús. The Ugrians that have thus taken a
Turk character belong to the Samoyed and Yeniseian
divisions; to these certainly, probably to others.
is sufficient, however, to name these two; adding, that
when the Soyot, the Matar, the Koibal, the Kamass,
and the Karagass Samoyeds come under notice, they will
all be said to use a Turk form of speech; adding, too,
that the Arin, and other Yeniseian populations, are,
mutatis mutandis, in the same category.
And may not some of the populations, already men-
tioned, the Baraba, the Beltyr, and the like, be less Turk
than we have made them? They may. In saying that
one group of Siberian tribes is other than Turk in blood,
though Turk in tongue, I, by no means, claim pure Turk
blood for each and all of the others. Of the Baraba, Tshu-
lim, and the like, I have only said that the occupancy of
their respective areas transcends the historical period.
I think, with others, that they were preceded by cer-
tain Ugrians, having drawn my conclusion after the
method of the geologist, rather than after that of the
historian.
The name Sayan is given to that part of the Altaic
range which contains the head-waters of the Yenisey, and
is the occupancy of the populations under notice-popu-
lations which are conveniently called the Sayanian Turks;
Sayanian Turks from the north-eastern parts of the
SAYANIAN TURKS.
359
Kirghiz area; Sayanian Turks who are not the oldest
occupants of the Sayanian range, but who seem to have
thrust themselves in between Mongolians and Samoyeds,
Samoyeds and Yeniseians, Yeniseians and Tungús. In
the circles of Minusinsk and Nizhni Udinsk representa-
tives of all these groups may be found, a fact which
makes them one of the most interesting ethnological areas
of all Asia. Mongolia lies to the south of them, but in
North Mongolia there are Samoyeds. The Yeniseians
touch both the Turks and Ostiaks. A little beyond the
Yeniseians, the Tshapodzhirs represent the Tungús family.
Ostiaks, Samoyeds, Tungús, Mongolians, pagan Turks-
all these lie within a comparatively small compass in the
Sayanian part of the Altai.
Of these pagan Turks but little is known, and that
little is due to Castrén, who made his inquiries on the
spot. The most prominent term in their mythology is
Aina, which means three things. It means a spirit, and it
is with the Aina that the Shaman puts himself in relation
when the aid of a spirit is wanted. His dwelling is
under-ground. What his own proper form may be I can-
not say. He can change it, however, for that of men and
certain animals, transforming himself into a human being,
a bear, a fox, a snake, or a swan—a swan most especially,
and by preference. Hence, all such animals are more or
less holy, and the swan is the holiest of them all. Its
value is that of a good horse. The fowler that kills a
swan does not keep it himself but takes it to his nearest
neighbour, presents him with it, and takes his best steed in
exchange. The late owner of a good steed, but now the
fortunate possessor of a valuable bird, repeats the process,
and makes a similar good bargain with his neighbour, who
does the same with the next, and so on. In this way the
swan passes from hand to hand until it will keep no
360
SAYANIAN TURKS.
longer, when the last owner, who has given for it a horse
has to throw it away or bury it, having got nothing in
return. A swan, then, may be an Aina in disguise.
The gewgaws and gimcracks that ornament the Sha-
man's robe are called Aina, being, in many cases, made of
the skin of some Aina animal.
Thirdly. The rude stone busts that, sometimes on the
sites of ancient graves, and sometimes in localities not
known to be sepulchral, are spread over the great Saya-
nian steppe, are Aina. Concerning these, the tradition
runs thus:-They were once living men and women,
heroes and heroines, whom Kudai had endowed with cer-
tain superhuman powers, and placed upon earth as his
lieutenants or representatives. They presumed, however,
on their strength, skill, and privileges, and their presump-
tion so exasperated Kudai that he converted them into
lifeless images of stone. As such they are Aina and ob-
jects of worship. To smear their stony lips with gobbets
of flesh and fat is to show them honour-this being done
at the present time.
The larch is amongst trees what the swan is amongst
birds. With some tribes it is usual, when a child dies, to
hang its body on the larch-tree bough.
A strange story, far too long for insertion, but
which may be found in Castrén, gives us a view of the
invisible world of these Sayanian Turks, the world of
the Irle-khans and Talai-khans. The realm of the dead is
presided over by nine Irle-khans, one of whom is the lord,
prince, or Ataman (Hetman) over the others. Over his
fellow Irle-khans he presides, and over a vast number of
visible and invisible spirits besides. One of these is a
nine-headed monster named Dzhilbegan, who rides on a
beast with forty horns. One day he visited the upper
world, where a hero named Komdei-mirgan was hunting a
SAYANIAN TURKS.
361
black fox, but broke his leg during the hunt. Whereupon
Dzhilbegan cut off his head, and took it with him to his
home below-the region of the departed, the realm of the
Irle-khans. Komdei-mirgan's sister, Kubaiko, follows
Dzhilbegan; her adventures, successful in the end (for she
got back her brother's head), constituting the story just
alluded to.
Kudai, above-ground, was what the great Irle-khan was
below. "It is useless to shoot at me," said the latter to
Komdei-mirgan, "since I am here what Kudai is on
earth, and neither can, nor am to, be killed.”
Then there is the legend of Ai-kyn. The Ainas, in
general, only raise half their body above the earth's sur-
face; so that their visible form is like that of the monu-
mental busts of the steppes, it probably being these that
suggested the imitation. One, however, named Ai-kyn
(sun-and-moon) raised the whole of his body, and stood
upon the earth with his feet. He stood upon the earth
with his feet, and showing his full dimensions, challenged
to single combat Ainas, heroes, and men. None at-
tempted it. The seven Kudai, however, knew of a being
who could conquer Ai-kyn. This was a certain three-
year-old child. To it they sent an embassy, the seven
Kudai and seventy heroes, begging its aid, which was
granted. The two fought long and fiercely, until, at last,
Ai-kyn was thrown down and bound hand and foot.
Bound, however, as he was, he was sword-proof; at least,
no amount of mutilation could kill him.
This was
because he carried his life, soul, or spirit, in the body of
another object — a snake, which he kept in a sack which
lay on the back of his horse. This snake had twelve heads.
Now when the child of three years found out this, he left
off hewing at Ai-kyn, and killed the snake. Whereupon
Ai-kyn died.
362
THE YAKUT.
The Sokhalar or Yakut.-But there are Turks beyond
the Yenisey, and the Turkish language, at least, is spoken
in the parts about Lake Baikal. And the valley of the
Lena, in language at least, is Turk. So are the parts
within the Arctic circle. So are the shores of the Polar
sea. The government of Yakutsk takes its name from
the Yakut or Sokhalar; Sokhalar as they call them-
selves, Yakut as they are called by the Russians.
One of the Sayanian tribes is called Sokha.
The word Baikal is Yakut; meaning Great Lake.
In Stralenberg's account, the Sokhalar are divided into
the following ten tribes, (1) Boro Ganiska, (2) Baitungski,
(3) Badys, (4) Yok Soyon, (5) Manga, (6) Kangalas, (7)
Namin, (8) Bathruski, (9) Lugor, (10) Bologuir, in all
about 30,000 men, calling themselves Zacha, after an
ancient prince of that name. This prince we may fairly
look upon as an eponymus, unhistoric, unreal. The name
of the chief who headed them when they left the parts
about Lake Baikal, and separated from the Brath, with
whom they formerly made one nation, was Deptsi Tar-
khantegin. Tarkhan is a name which frequently occurs in
Turk narratives. The Brath were, probably, the Buriats.
They are especially said not to worship "Bullwans,
or idols carved in wood, like the Ostiaks and Tungús," but
to "offer sacrifices to one invisible God in heaven. Yet
they have a type or image of that deity stuffed out with a
monstrous head, eyes of coral, and the body like a bag.
This they hang on a tree, and round it the furs of sables
and other animals. Each tribe has one of these images.'
What then, we ask, as we read this account, is the diffe-
rence between the Yakut and the Tungús? The Yakut
priests have drums like the Laplanders; i. e. like all
Shamanist nations. They worship the Invisible under
three names, Ar-toygon, Shugo-toygon, and Tangara. At
THE YAKUT.
363
the funeral of a prince the oldest servants used to be
buried alive with the master; a practice abolished by
the Russians. The cultus of trees is common. A fine
tree gets hung with iron, brass, and other gewgaws. The
New Year begins in April, or, at least, in the spring, with
its sacrifices. A green spot, shaded by a tree, is sought
out, and horses and oxen sacrificed. The heads are then
hung up on the boughs. Those of the horses keep the
skin on.
Of the kumiss, of which on these occasions
they drink freely, they sprinkle, some in the air, some in
the fire.
In February and March, as the sap begins to rise in
the trees, they have a bast harvest; bast meaning the
inner bark of the young fir-trees. This they collect,
carry home, and beat into a fine powder; which they
mix with fish, also dried and powdered, and boil in
milk. This, and anything else edible, they feed upon
most voraciously; pork only being the exception. From
this they abstain, though not Mahometans, as do the
Votiaks of the Government of Vologda. Horse-flesh
they eat greedily. The tale in Strahlenberg of four
Yakuts having eaten a whole horse, merely shows the
credit they have, as a nation, for a large appetite. Similar
tales are told of the North-American Indians of the same
latitude. Cold and uncertainty of food are at the bottom
of all this. Doubtless, they gorge themselves enor-
mously, and that without taking harm. They smoke
tobacco, which they buy (by barter) of the Russians.
Their winter houses, for they shift their dwellings with
the season, are built of planks and beams; their summer
ones, which are round, and conical, are made of the bark
of the birch-tree. This is ornamented with the tufts of
dyed horse-hair. They are buried by choice near fine
trees, and when the corpse is interred some of the valuables
364
THE YAKUT.
of the deceased are interred along with it. Sometimes
however, the dead body lies above ground, in a box,
supported by posts, with a few hides thrown over it.
Sometimes there is no funeral rite at all; but the body
is left in the hut, and the hut shut up. Those who die
in the streets of the town of Yakutsk are left to the dog.
Each tribe looks on some particular animal as sacred,
and abstains from eating it.
English.
Yakut.
Osmanli.
Tungús.
Yeniseian.
Head
baz
bash
dyll
tshig
Eye
kharakh
gos
eha
des
Ear
kulgakh
khulak
zen
Nose
murun
burun
ongokto
okten
olgen
Mouth
dyakh
aghis
hamun
ko
Hair
az
satsh
nyuritta
tshonga
Tongue
tyl
dil
ingni
ei
Tooth
tiz
dish
ikta (?)
Hand
ili
el
ngala
togan
Foot
atakh
ayakh
halgan
toigen
Sun
kun
gyun
zïguni
i
Moon
ui
ai
bega
khip
Star
zulus
yildis
haulen
kugo
Fire
wot
od
togo
bok
Water
ui
su
mu
ul
Tree
maz
agatsh
mo
oksa
Stone
taz
tash
dzholo
tshugs
One
bir
bir
omukon
khus-em
Two
ike
iki
dzhur
uk-em
Three
uz
utsh
ilyan
dong-em
Four
tirt
dort
dygin
si-em
Five
ves
besh
tongo
gag-em
Six
alta
alty
nyungun
ages
Seven
seta
yedi
nadan
onse
Eight
agys
sekis
dzhapkun
Nine
dogys
dokus
yagin
Ten
on
on
dzhun
khogem.
Such are the Turks who spread themselves over Siberia
as pagans. The later layer was Mahometan. I believe
that before the dawn of history (and, be it remembered,
that, for the parts now coming under notice, this dawn is
THE KIPTSHAK TURKS.
365
pre-eminently early), the parts between the Volga and
the Don were Turk. Over the dreary steppes that lie
between Astrakan and the Crimea, the Skoloti of Hero-
dotus, Scythians as they are more usually called, must
have passed in their way to Europe. Nor is there any
reason to believe that they passed over them sicco pede.
Some of them stayed in the way, and became occupants
of the present governments of Astrakan, Caucasus, and
the Don Kosaks. In other words, the Turk population
from the Caspian to the Danube was continuous; not,
perhaps, regularly distributed, but still continuous. To
the north of the area thus occupied lay the frontier of
the southernmost Ugrians, to the south that of the most
northern Circassians. The intermediate populations I
hold to have been displaced by the Scythians or Turks,
who, without being the absolute aborigines of the land,
were early, very early, intruders into it. Nor is there
any evidence of their having ever ceded the possession of
it to any one except its present masters, the Russians;
themselves strangers to the soil, and only half occupants
of it. In the third, fourth, and fifth centuries the
name of the occupants was Alani, a name which (I think)
occurs in Herodotus, in disguise, i. e. as Hellenes. Be
this, however, as it may, the Alani of the time of Attila
were Turks.
In the times immediately preceding the Mongol con-
quests the Alan country, along with, perhaps, much
besides, was called the Kiptshak; and Kiptshak was the
name it retained under the Mongols. It was not Mongol,
though often treated as such. The Mongols found, but
did not make, it. The name occurs in writings anterior to
their time. It was a Turk area; with Ugrians to the
north, Circassians to the south; some of whom were, pro-
bably, Turk tributaries.
366
THE KIPTSHAK TURKS.
That the Kiptshak, already Turk, may have been made
more so by the Turks of the Mongol army is likely
enough. I only object to the doctrine that it was the
Mongol conquest which made it Turkish.
It is likely, too, that the court and the army were
Mongol. I object, however, to considering the Kiptshak
as a Mongol country. The Kiptshak was Mongol only
as Lombardy is Austrian.
Mr. Erskine, in his history of India under the house of
Timur, writes as follows:-"When Dzhindzhiz deputed
his sons or generals to govern any of the conquered coun-
tries, and in this policy he was imitated by his successors,
he sent along with them an uluus, or tuman, or some
Moghul tribe, or division of a tribe, to overawe the con-
quered. The Moghul tribe so employed received an
allotment of country, and placed themselves, with their
families and flocks, in the pasture-range of the tribes
amongst whom they were sent. By the inevitable inter-
course that takes place between persons living under the
same government, near to and in habits of intercourse
with each other-by intermarriages-by traffic, and in
other ways, a considerable mixture of the two races took
place, which showed itself both in their language and in
their features and bodily appearance.
The doctrine
that Mongol features imply Mongol intermixture will be
considered in the sequel; considered and objected to.
The eldest of the sons of Tshingiz was Dzhudzhi, who
died prematurely, when his portion was transferred to his
son Batu. He it was who conquered Russia, and made
his way so far westwards as Silesia.
By A. D. 1375, all was confusion in the Kiptshak; and
when Timur had risen to power in the parts beyond the
Oxus, he found that two rivals, Urus and Toktamish,
were quarrelling for the dignity of Khan of the Kiptshak.
THE KIPTSHAK TURKS.
367
The latter being worsted, appealed to Timur for help;
who gave it and seated him on the throne of Serai, on the
Volga, and then proceeded to favour further discord, by
raising successively, as Anti-khans, Timur-Kutk and
Kaurtshik. Civil war, and such help as Timur's, soon
broke the family of Batou and Dzhudzhi, and, though a
Great Khan was nominally acknowledged, it was only in
name that he was a khan at all.
Four khanats were developed out of the break-up of
the Kiptshak; viz:-
1. The khanat of Siberia.
2. The khanat of Kazan.
3. The khanat of Astrakan.
4. The khanat of the Crimea.
The khanat of Siberia, to a great extent other than
Turk, and where it is Turk, pagan rather than Maho-
metan, received settlers from the south and west. These
are the so-called Tartars of Tobolsk, the Tom, the Tura
(Turalinzi), and the Yenisey rivers-Mahometan in creed
and with a language like that of Kazan and Astrakan.
The western parts, to which Russia, Poland, and
Lithuania belonged, became European.
The central parts fell into the khanats of Kazan and
Astrakan.
The Turks of the Kazan division are distributed not
only over the Government of Kazan, but, in the following
numbers, over those of-
Permia
Viatka
Simbirsk
Orenburg.
To which add in Kazan, itself.
17,271
57,944
87,730
230,080
308,574
The present town of Kazan is either the most Asiatic
368
THE KIPTSHAK TURKS.
of European or the most European of Asiatic cities. Of
a population of more than 50,000, two-thirds are Rus-
sian, one-third Turk-the later living apart and in the
so-called Tartar town. No longer the metropolis of a
khanat, it is still a town full (comparatively speaking)
of trade, industry, and intelligence. Its University is the
great seminary for missionaries and propaganda agents
for the religious and political designs of Russia in the
direction of the east. For hemp, flax, and corn, it is a
mart; and for curriery and tanning, a manufacturing
town. The province, too, is the centre of the oak-tree
district of Russia; the zone between 53° and 56° N.L.,
being the tract where that tree preponderates-prepon-
derates to the exclusion of the firs and pines of the
north, the pines of the south, and the beeches of Cau-
Kazan is the great imperial forest for the Russian
casus.
navy.
All travellers speak well of the Kazan Tartars—or
Turks, as the ethnologist loves to call them. In the towns
they have wholly sunk their originally nomadic character,
and are as truly industrial as so many Jews, Armenians,
or Anglo-Saxons. In the country, some of the old
characteristics keep their ground. Yet, in the country,
they are hard-working farmers-though shepherds and
bee-masters also. In both they are zealous and sincere,
though not intolerant, Mahometans; less sensual, because
less wealthy and dominant, than the Osmanli of Con-
stantinople, circumspect in business, and it may be, sharp
in practice and suspicious-though more so to Russians
than to others. In dress, they are rapidly accommodating
themselves to that of the Russians, with whom, in their
domestic architecture, and their ordinary mode of life,
they are favourably contrasted; and still more so when
compared with the Tshuvashes, Tsheremis, and Mordvins.
THE KIPTSHAK TURKS.
369
If the memory of their former power be extinct-of
which, it should be added, we have no evidence-the
daily experience of the feeling of being a subordinate
population irritates them; so does the Russian ascendancy
in matters ecclesiastic.
In respect to their physical appearance, they fall into
two divisions; are referrible to two types. Of these the
Osmanli of Constantinople, in his most European form,
gives us one extreme; the flat-faced Mongolian of the
Wall of China, the other: the one with an oval contour
of face, prominent features, not inexpressive eyes, and a
fine manly beard; the other with a broad and flattened
nose, prominent cheek-bones, and glabrous skin.
That each of these physiognomies is to be found amongst
the Kazan Tartars, we learn from the evidence of most.
observers. Some praise the beauty of both the men and
women, and put their physical good qualities on the credit-
able level of their moral ones. Others compare them with
the Mongols. A third line of criticism indicates the likeli-
hood of a change for the better, having gone on since the
time of the earlier observers, one of whom, Herberstein,
writes-"Tartari sunt homines statura mediocri, lata
facie, obesa, oculis intortis et concavis, sola barba horridi,
cetera rasi. Insigniores tantum viri crines contortos
eosque nigerrimos secundum aures habent."
I am not aware of any important details by which the
khanat of Astrakan is separated from that of Kazan.
To the khanat, however, of Astrakan must once have
belonged
The Turks of Caucasus.-Of these;
(1.) The Basian are but recent occupants of their present
area.
So are-
(2.) The Karatshai.-Not so, however—
(3.) The Kumuk. -Klaproth specially calls them an
VOL. I.
B B
**
370
THE KUMUK.
"old" Turk tribe. They stand in contrast to the Basian,
who were introduced into their present localities in the
fifteenth century. They live under a number of petty
chiefs, who are often at war against each other; but who
are, nevertheless, Russian subjects. They cultivate the
soil, breed cattle, and fish the rivers of their hilly occu-
pancy. Their dwellings are lightly constructed of wattles.
and mud-huts rather than either houses or tents. The
White River or Aksu, the Koisu, and the Zundzha water
the land of the Kumuk; on the drainage of which we
find the Kara-bulak, the Kara-kaitak, and, doubtless,
other Turk denominations. The Kaitak on the Caspian
speak Turkish. The Karabulak use a Tshetshentsh
dialect, and it may be that they are Tshetshentsh
in blood. Their name, Turk as it is, only proves.
that they are in a Turk neighbourhood. The Kasi-
kumuk, as a language, is Lesgian. Word for word,
however, the latter part of the name is Kumuk. Surely,
this is Koman, Cuman, or Cumanian. The Middle
pass, that of Dariel, near the Russian fortress Vladi-
kaukasus and the town of Dariel, is the porta Caucasica,
or porta Cumana of the Latin writers. In the Arabic
notices this is the Bab-al-Lan of Bellad Allan, or the Gate
of the Alan land; a fact in favour of the Alans and
Cumanians being identical or allied populations; also in
favour of the Kumuk being the present representatives of
the Alan or Cumanian branch-some of them retaining
their original language, others speaking that of their
neighbours.
Alan was a Greek as well as an Arab term, and we
learn from Constantine Porphyrogeneta that in the tenth
century the Land of the Alans-Bellad Alan-lay beyond
Caucasus, i. e. to the south of Circassia. In 1346 Barbaro
mentions an Alania. Earlier still Carpini speaks of the
THE KUMUK.
371
Alans. Whether, however, either Alan or Cuman was a
native name is doubtful. The Greeks used it. The Arabs
used it. The Italians used it. But what said the Alans
themselves? They called themselves As-" L'Alania,"
writes Barbaro in the passage just alluded to, "è derivata
dai popoli detti Alani, liquali nella lor lingua si chiamono
As." The evidence of Carpini is to the same effect. The
early Russian writers notice the Yas.
Let us call them As, and go a little further in their
history. Klaproth gives two accounts of them, both
Georgian, the latter Iron as well.
(1.) In the year of the world 2302, the Khazars, who then
occupied the parts north of Caucasus, invaded Georgia
and Armenia. The khan who led them had a son named
Uobos; to whom he gave all the prisoners from the parts
between the Kur and Araxes. He also placed him over
certain districts on the Terek. The settlement thus
effected is the present Oseti, or land of the Osi; the
name being Georgian.
(2.) At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the
Osi were spread over the whole country from Circassia to
the Don, when the Mongol conquest reduced their area.
Batu-khan drove them from the open land to the moun-
tains.
Klaproth, who supplies this account, adds that Ptolemy
places a population called Ossilii at the mouth of the
Don.
The distinction between the name by which a popula-
tion designates itself and the name by which it is desig-
nated by its neighbours, always important, is of pre-
eminent consequence in the ethnology of the Alans,
or Osi; as will be seen when the Iron come under
notice.
В Б 2
372
THE KUMUK.
English.
Head
Kumuk.
bash
Kuzzilbash.
bash
Eye
gos
gos
Ear
kulakh
kulakh
Nose
burun
buruni
Mouth
aus
aghis
Hair
sadzh
sadzh
Tongue
dil
til
Tooth
dish
Hand
kol
Sun
gun
Moon
ai
Star
yoldus
Fire
ot
Water
su
dish
el
gun
ai
yuldus
oth
su
Tree
Stone
terek
tash
dyadzh
dash
The Kuzzilbash is spoken in Northern Persia.
The Cumanians of Hungary.-In A. D. 1770, an old
man, named Varro, died in the Chunsag districts of
Hungary. He was the last man who spoke the Coma-
nian Turk of a country so far westwards as Hungary.
Reasons for connecting this with the Kumuk of Caucasus
will appear when the Lesgians come uuder notice.
The Cumanians, or Chunsag (mark the name), are Turks
in blood, other than Turk in speech.
The Tubalar, &c., were Turk in speech, other than
Turk in blood.
Kazan was reduced by Russia a. D. 1552, Astrakan two
years later.
Before the time of the Kiptshak the khanat of Kazan
was, more or less, the kingdom of Bulgana.
Before the time of the Kiptshak the khanat of Astra-
kan was, more or less, the kingdom of the Khazars.
The Crim Tartars (so-called) of the khanat of the
Crimea. The history of the Crimea is that of Kazan
and Astrakan, with the difference that it became Osmanli
THE KHANAT OF CRIMEA.
373
before it was Russian. Indeed, it was not incorporated
with the dominions of the Czar until the end of the last
century.
After the break-up of the Mongol dynasty it became
a khanat, the change being due to the conquests of the
time of Timur. If so, the first century, at least, should
be either a period of independence or one of vassalage,
more or less close, to some one of the Timurian empires-
to some one of the Timurian empires as opposed to that
of the Amuraths, Bajazets, and Mahomets, who ruled in
Rumelia and Constantinople. It should, at any rate,
be other than Osmanli. Perhaps, it was so at first.
On the other hand, however, I find that the earliest
notice which occurs in so full and voluminous a writer
as Von Hammer, in his history of the Ottoman (Osmanli)
Turks, is in the first third of the sixteenth century, under
the reign of Selim I., who is made to speak of the Tartars
of the Crimea as formidable enemies, but, at the same
time, as tribes, more or less, acknowledging his suze-
rainty. At any rate, he nominates their khan. The
history of the times between the obliteration of the
House of Tshingiz and this notice of a state of sove-
reignty and vassalage between the Porte and the Crimea,
I am unable to give, and would willingly see investigated.
I can only say, that by the beginning of the fourteenth
century, the Crimea, or Crim Tartary, had ceased to be
Mongol, and that by the middle of the sixteenth it was
more or less Osmanli. The fragments of its history that
I find, are the notices of so many murders, chiefly fratri-
cides; and its details are bloody and revolting even for
those of an Oriental dynasty. The usurper, the pre-
tender, the unscrupulous minister, the renegade, play
more than their ordinary parts. The authority of the
374
THE KHANAT OF CRIMEA.
Porte is a see-saw-now up, now down-now strong
enough to carry out its mandates with a high hand, now
but nominal. As we approach our own times, the com-
plications of modern state-craft set in-and there is
diplomacy on the parts of Austria, of Poland, and (last
and most effective) of Russia; diplomacy not unbacked
by military demonstrations; diplomacy and menace, diplo-
macy and intrigue. The penultimate stage is one of
Russian protection, the ultimate, one of Russian domina-
tion.
It was in 1778 that peace was concluded between
Turkey and Russia, and the independence of the Khan of
the Crimea of the Ottoman empire recognized. Upon
this, no fewer than 30,000 Greeks and Armenians emi-
grated to the country of the Don Kosaks, where they now
occupy several villages between the Don and the Benda.
In 1783 the second of the two changes took place, and
the khanat of the Crimea, from being independent of
Turkey, became subject to Russia. On this event, such
Tartars as chose were allowed to emigrate, and Anatolia
and Rumelia were the countries that vast numbers of
them sought. During ten years lasted these emigrations;
and in 1784 alone no less than 80,000 Tartars left their
country.
It is not easy to take the exact value of these evictions,
inasmuch as the calculations of the numbers of the Tartars
before the peace of 1778 vary; Georgi making the number
of both sexes between 330,000 and 400,000; whereas
Pallas raises it to 500,000.
But the census of 1796 was inaccurate, and had to be
taken over again. The highest number, however, that it
gave was 90,000. In 1800 it had increased to 120,000.
At present it is (as seen from the figures) more than twice
THE KHANAT OF CRIMEA.
375
as much. These give (less the Slavonians) for the whole
peninsula-
Tartars
275,822
Germans
22,324
Gipsies
7,726
Greeks
5,426
Karait Jews
4,198
Talmudic Jews
4,110
Armenians.
3,960
Bulgarians.
1,234
Mordvins
340
325,140
The Crimean Tartars on the hills live as shepherds and
herdsmen, rather than as tillers of the ground. In the
plains they exercise a moderate but not discreditable
amount of agricultural industry, in a country where the
soil is grateful and the climate mild, where tobacco
thrives, and where the grape ripens into a vinous flavour.
The representatives of some of the great families still
retain their own lands,-lands held under feudal or quasi-
feudal conditions; but the family of the khan himself
removed to Asia Minor on the conquest of his khanat.
There are a few unimportant points of difference between
the Tartars of the hill-country and the Tartars of the
plains the herdsmen and the cultivators. Upon the
whole, however, the Crimean civilization, creed, and
speech are those of the Kazan and Astrakan Tartars.
This is as much as will be said of them at present.
Tartars (so-called) of Esthonia, Lithuania, and Podolia.-
In the central parts of European Russia we find no notice
of any Tartar population whatever-no notice of any
376
THE NOGAYS.
Tartars in such Governments as Vladimir, Tula, Kaluga,
&c., the Governments where the true and typical Russian
population of Great Russia presents itself in its fullest
and most exclusive development. So that we lose
them as we go westwards. Not, however, for good.
When we reach Esthonia they re-appear, increasing in
numbers in the Lithuanian provinces. The so-called
Tartar census runs as follows: for the Governments
of-
Esthonia
12
Kovno.
415
Grodno .
849
Vilna
1874
Minsk
2120
Podolia.
46
5316
The Nogays.-In the beginning of the seventeenth
century the Nogays occupied the country between the
Tobol and the Yaik. From the Government of Astra-
kan Peter the Great transplanted the majority of them
to the banks of the Kuma and the Kuban.
To the north of the upper part of these rivers, between
Georgievsk and Stavropol, the Nogay tribes of the Kas-
bulat, the Kiptshak, the Mang-gut, the Yedi-san, the
Dzham-bulat, the Yedi-kul, and the Navrus reside; with
the Mansur-ogli on the other side of the Kuban.
The Zhukan-Kangli and the Kabil-Kagli-Agakli lie
to the north of the Black Sea. Thirdly, we have-
The Budziaks in Bessarabia; and fourthly, a tribe with
a peculiar and separate history, viz.
The Kundur, on the Aktuba, one of the mouths of the
THE NOGAYS.
377
Volga. These are called by the Russians the Kundur
Tartars. They change their residence with the season.
In the winter they resort to the town of Krasnoyarsk,
and dwell in houses: in the summer they occupy the
ordinary felt tent of so many Turk populations. These
Kundur were the Nogays who remained behind in the
Government of Astrakan when Peter the Great effected
the removal of the others.
Orenburg is full of traces, real or accredited, of the
Nogays; tumuli, earthworks, and the like.
In the Crimea there is a Nogay colony; of which the
members present a striking contrast to their nomadic
brethren of the steppe between the Don and Caspian.
The Crimean Nogays are truly stationary. So far from
their being impracticable, migratory, and unsteady in
their industry, so far from their preferring the tent to
the village, and showing a repugnance to farming-work,
the very converse is the fact. "The Nogais are, alas! the
least numerous of the Tartars of the Crimea. They com-
bine the taste for a nomadic life with the cultivation of the
soil. They are the best agriculturists in the Crimea, and
they now begin to settle in villages and to deal in cattle.
It is a pity that this laborious and agicultural population
is too small for the cultivation of the steppes." (Mé-
moires de l'Academie de St. Petersburg. Serie vi., tom. i.,
p. 36.)
The Nogays are what is called Mongolian in physio-
gnomy. I am not aware, however, of any proof of inter-
mixture.
The Bashkirs.-The Government of Orenburg is the
great Bashkir district. But besides the Bashkirs it con-
tains Mordvins and Tsherimis, besides numerous Tshu-
vashes. The following tables give us the amount of
378
THE BASHKIRS.
the different populations, other than Russian, in the
Government of Orenburg :-
Bashkirs
332,358
Tartars (so-called)
230,080
Meshtsheriak
71,578
634,016
Mordvin
5,200
Tsheremis
2,626
7,826
Tshuvash
8,352
To these add a few Germans, Gipsies, Votiaks, Tept-
yars, Kalmuks, and Poles.
The Bashkirs of the present century are as truly Turk
both in language and features as the Kirghiz. They are
breeders and feeders of cattle, rather than tillers of the
soil, or occupants of towns; but they are bee-masters
even more than they are shepherds and herdsmen.
In religion they are Mahometans, like so many of the
other Turkish populations.
Bashkir is the name by which they designate them-
selves. The Kirghiz, however, call them Ishtaki, a form
of the name Ostiak.
A. D. 1555, three years after the battle which broke the
power of the Tartars of the Volga, the Bashkirs sub-
mitted themselves to Russia and her victorious Czar Ivan
Vasilievitsh. He is said to have ruled them gently, to
have protected them well, and to have laid upon them a
tribute of skins far lighter than the one they paid to their
old masters.
Since 1741 the Bashkirs have themselves taken-on
THE BASHKIRS.
379
more or less of the character of the Kosak, and submitted
to a military organization. Instad of paying the tribute
of peltry, they serve as soldiers; sending an annual relay
of 1500 men to act with the Kosaks to the Yaik.
The ancient nobility is broken, so that the leading indi-
viduals in the different volosts (lodges, encampments) are
the starshin (judges, captains). With these, the fountain
of honour springs in Russia; in other words, they are
officials. They decide disputes; they take the command
of the detachments sent on military service; they pro-
mulgate the ukases. Russia appoints and the Bashkirs
pay.
The numbers of the Bashkirs are-
In Orenburg
Permia
Samar
Viatka
332,358
40,746
15,351
3,617
392,072
The Meshtsheriak.-The Meshtsheriak are Turk in
speech, and occupy-
The Government of Orenburg to the
number of
Perm
Saratov
Penza
71,587
5,783
2,580
?
79,950
They appear to be an increasing population.
They are Turk in speech, and Mahometan in creed,
though considered to be Ugrian in blood. They are,
probably, too, immigrants-their original locality being
380
THE MESHTSHERIAK.
on the Oka, in the neighbourhood of the Mordvin and
Tsherimis.
In the Bashkir rebellion the Meshtsheriak kept on
the side of Russia, and were rewarded by being freed
from their previous tribute, and having the privileges of
the Kosaks extended to them.
English.
Kazan.
Bashkir.
Meshtsheriak.
Nogay.
Head
bash
bash
bash
bash
Hair
tshatsh
ᏃᏃ
tsats
zatsh
Hand
kol
kol
kul
kol
Eye
kus
kyus
kus
gyos
Ear
kolak
kulak
klak
kulak
Tooth
tyesh
tish
tish
tysh
Tongue
tyel
tel
til
til
Blood
kan
kan
kan
kan
Day
kyun
kyun
kun
gün
Sun
kuyash
kun
kuyash
gyon
Moon
ai
ai
ai
ai
Star
yaldus
yuldus
yuldus
ildis
Fire
ut
ut
ut
ut
Water
Zu
zu
zu
su
Tree
agatsh
agatsh
agatsh
agatsh
Stone
tash
tash
tash
tash
One
ber
ber
ber
bir
Two
ike
ike
ike
iki
Three
utsh
ysh
uz
utsh
Four
dürt
dört
dyört
dört
Five
bish
besh
besh
bish
Six
alty
alty
alty
alty
Seven
yedi
yedi
idi
siti
Eight
zigis
zigis
zigis
zegis
Nine
tokus
togus
togus
togus
Ten
on
on
on
on
The Teptyar.-When the khanat of Kazan became
Russian, a mixed multitude of Turks, Tsherimis,
Votiaks, Tshuvash, and Mordvins, fled to the east of
the Ural. Out of these has arisen a population which the
Turks call Teptyar-a population which, like the Mesht-
sheriak, kept to the side of Russia during the Bashkir
rebellion, and became a privileged population accordingly.
THE TEPTYAR.
381
They are Mahometan rather than Christian, and (pro-
bably) Pagan rather than Mahometan. Their habits in
general are those of the Bashkirs. Some of them are
employed as carriers in the salt trade between Orenburg
and Kazan.
The underground monuments of the northern Turks,
indeed of the Siberian tribes in general, deserve greater
attention than they have found. They are spread over a
vast area. Bell describes those of the valley of the
Tom, a locality originally Ugrian :—
"About eight or ten days' journey from Tomsky, in
this plain, are found many tombs and burying-places of
ancient heroes, who, in all probability, fell in battle.
These tombs are easily distinguished by the mounds of
earth and stone raised upon them. When, or by whom,
these battles were fought, so far to the northward, is un-
certain. I was informed by the Tartars in the Baraba,
that Tamerlane, or Timyr-ack-sack, as they call him, had
many engagements in that country with the Kalmucks,
whom he in vain endeavoured to conquer. Many persons
go from Tomsky and other parts every summer to these
graves, which they dig up, and find among the ashes of
the dead considerable quantities of gold, silver, brass,
and some precious stones, but particularly hilts of swords.
and armours. They find also ornaments of saddles and
bridles, and other trappings for horses, and even the
bones of horses, and sometimes those of elephants,
whence it appears, that when any general or person of
distinction was interred, all his arms, his favourite horse
and servant, were buried with him in the same grave;
this custom prevails to this day among the Kalmucks and
other Tartars, and seems to be of great antiquity. It
appears from the number of graves, that many thousands
must have fallen on these plains; for the people have
382
ANTIQUITIES.
continued to dig for such treasure many years, and still
find it unexhausted. They are sometimes, indeed, inter-
rupted, and robbed of all their booty, by parties of the
Kalmucks, who abhor the disturbing of the ashes of the
dead.
“I have seen several pieces of armour and other curi-
osities that were dug out of these tombs, particularly an
armed man on horseback, cast in brass, of no mean design
nor workmanship; also figures of deer, cast in pure gold,
which were split through the middle, and had some small
holes in them, as intended for ornaments to a quiver, or
the furniture of a horse.
"While we were at Tomsky, one of these grave-
diggers told me, that once they lighted on an arched
vault, where they found the remains of a man, with his
bow, arrows, lance, and other arms, lying together on a
silver table. On touching the body, it fell to dust. The
value of the table and arms was very considerable."
Atkinson writes that in the northern part of the
Kirghiz steppe the tombs are built of rough stone, with a
base from ten to twelve feet square, and about eight feet
in height. On the top of this is a small pyramid. In
the cemeteries formed by a collection of these structures,
one is, generally, larger than the others; as if the chief
had been laid in the grave of honour, and his followers
ranged around him. The present graves are much less
elaborate. A shallow grave, with a few stones over it,
suffices.
The fuller account of Müller divides the tumuli into
two classes, one of which is generally believed to indicate
a much higher antiquity than the other, and it also
states that in the older the ornaments and implements
that reward the toil and trouble of the investigating exca-
vator, are of gold or copper, not of iron.
ANTIQUITIES.
383
Now this distinction between the old and new is not
the distinction of the Russian traveller or the English anti-
quarian, but, on the contrary, one drawn by the Kirghiz
themselves. The burial-places which the present nomad
assigns to his own people, are definitely separated from
the older ones, to which he assigns an unknown origin.
The labourer of an English parish knows all about the
graves of the village churchyard. The barrow of the
neighbouring field he attributes to the Romans, the
Danes, Oliver Cromwell, or the devil. And so it is
with a Kirghiz of Independent Tartary.
He knows
what belongs to his own times and the memory of man,
in the way that a sexton knows a parish grave, and he
leaves unknown what belongs to a time anterior to his
own, just as the same sexton leaves unknown the history
of a Roman, Saxon, or British tumulus.
The sepulchral memorials of their own ancestors, the
analogues of the parish grave, the Kirghiz call Uba.
The sepulchral mounds of a pre-historic period, the
analogues of the barrow or cairn, he calls Moly.
No one has yet classified the Moly and Uba with any-
thing like the necessary minuteness, or rather, no one has
taken much pains to ask how far they are susceptible of
classification, and, assuming that they are so, to ask what
any classification leads to. We only know that they vary
both in form and construction, possibly as much as our
own barrows. They are sometimes mere earthworks;
sometimes earthworks plus a stone walling, and stone
pillar. They are commoner on the eastern than the
western side of Tartary. They extend into Mongolia (in
the notice of which area they might have been men-
tioned), and they extend into several districts yet to be
described.
But the Moly and Uba are not the only antiquities
384
ANTIQUITIES.
of the Kirghiz. Their area supplies us with monuments
above ground, as well as with records below. The walled
town, the moated fortress, are, doubtless, exceptional, im-
probable, and, loosely speaking, impossible phenomena in a
steppe. Yet approaches to them may have been effected
by ancient populations. Ruins remain. There is, at least,
one building of stone, walling-in a space of twenty-eight
feet square within the limits of Kirghiz Tartary, not far
from the Mongolian frontier, an object of superstitious
reverence to the tribes around. There is this, at least;
possibly others. Let us take it, however, as a sample or
specimen of a class of remains, which may or may not
be a large one. The like of it appear and re-appear else-
where, far beyond the area under notice. The Mongol
country has its tumuli in abundance; and of architec-
tural ruins not a few. Mantshuria has, at least, tumuli.
The Bashkir country has both tumuli and ruins. So has
the Crimea. So has a large portion of the remainder of
Siberia. We shall hear of them under different names.
The monuments themselves, however, will be substan-
tially the same.
The older graves are believed by the Kirghiz to have
been constructed by a nation named Myk,—query Magi.
Besides the tumuli, there are the earthworks of numerous
old encampments. One of the barrows, measured by
Mr. Atkinson, was 200 feet in diameter, and 40 feet
high, with a trench round it twelve feet wide, and
six feet deep. A circular hollow on the top was ten feet
deep. On the west side were four circles of large stones.
Respecting this the tradition ran thus-a certain nation
which once dwelt in these parts resolved that all the men,
women, and children, of which it was composed, should
be put to death. They were to destroy each other.
Before they began to do this, they raised the barrows in
KIRGHIZ LEGEND.
385
which they were to be buried. The father killed his
wife, and also his children; all except the eldest. The
eldest killed his father first, and himself afterwards.
The name of this people was the Self-slaughterers.
So runs one tale.
Another, belonging to the parts about Zaisan Nor,
runs thus:"Two mountains, the one called Kolmack
Tologuy, and the other Sarte Tologuy, stood in the
Tarbogatai chain; and two heroes or giants, father and
son, engaged to carry Kolmack Tologuy to the rocky
shores of the Irtish, and place it on the plain where the
town and fortress of Oust Kamenogorsk are built, for
the purpose of damming up the river.
the river. At a certain dis-
tance from the Karagol mountains, the heroes were to
pass the night. Having put down their load, the son
asked the father's permission to go and visit his bride, who
dwelt on the broad steppes extending along the shores of
Zaisan Nor. 'Remember,' said the father, that the
kalim is not paid, and that you cannot stay with her in
the right of a husband.' The son proceeded to the aoul
of his bride; but was so charmed with her beauty, that
he forgot his father's strict injunctions, and remained till
sunrise, when the stern old man, growing impatient of
his son's delay, had already raised his side of the moun-
tain. On resuming his labour, the young giant found,
notwithstanding all his efforts, that he was utterly unable
to move his portion of the load. Enraged by this proof
that his injunctions had been disobeyed, the old man
ordered him to place himself under the mountain; when
he remorselessly let go his hold, and the enormous mass
fell, crushing both.
"The mother anxiously awaited the return of her hus-
band and son; at length, tormented by painful uncertainty
about their fate, and feeling a presentiment that some
VOL. I.
C C
386
KIRGHIZ LEGEND.
misfortune had befallen them, she determined to follow on
their track. She at last recognized the mountain, now
the monument under which her husband and son lay
buried. The bereaved widow and mother sobbed bit-
terly-absolutely, according to the best authorities, shed-
ding tears of blood. She mourned her loss for a long
while, and would not be comforted. Finally, the blood-
drops ran dry, and when she wept again, her tears were
pure and transparent as a spring. The rocks were the
silent witnesses of her misery, and have preserved the
proofs of her sorrow and devotion; the tears of blood
and drops of crystal having become petrified and trans-
formed into layers of argil and quartz, which can be
distinguished from a great distance by the colours of red
and white. This mountain of quartz is about five versts
south from Kolmack Tologuy. It is named by the
Kirghiz, Ac-tas, or white stone, and is held by them in
great veneration.”
The extensions of the Turk area from the north have
been sufficiently considered for the present. It has been
convenient to give them in detail before we move south-
wards. It has been, perhaps, more convenient than
systematic. If, on starting with the Kirghiz, we had
merely looked for their nearest congeners, we should
probably have taken the Uzbeks and Turkomans of the
southern half of Independent Turkestan before the Baraba
and Sokhalar; the latter being an extreme and outlying
member of the group. Beyond doubt, the closer affini-
ties with the central Kirghiz lay nearer home.
Kirghiz.
English.
Uzbek.
Turkoman.
Head
bash
bash
baz
Hair
zatsn
zatsh
tshatsh
Hand
al
kol
kol
Foot
ayak
ayak
ayak
THE TURKOMANS.
387
English.
Uzbek.
Turkoman.
Kirghiz.
Eye
kyus
kus
kus
Ear
kulak
klak
kolak
Tooth
tish
dish
tiz
Blood
kan
kan
kan
Day
kündus
kyondos
kündus
Sun
kyonash
koyash
kün
Moon
ai
ai
ai
Star
yoldos
yoldos
dzhildzhis
Fire
ud
ot
ut
Water
zu
zu
zu
Tree
agatsh
agatsh
agatsh
Stone
tash
tash
taz
One
bir
bir
ber
Two
ike
iki
oki
Three
utsh
utsh
utsh
Four
dyort
durt
tyort
Five
bish
bish
bez
Six
alty
alto
alty
Seven
edi
edi
dzhede
Eight
zigis
zikis
zikes
Nine
tokas
tokos
Ten
on
on
tokus
on
Whether the language represented by these lists be
that of the oldest occupants of the land is doubtful. It
is only certain that it is much more akin to the Kirghiz
than was the Yakut.
The Uzbek is spoken in the eastern, the Turkoman on
the western, side of the parts between the Caspian Lake
and the Chinese frontier.
The Turkomans.-A little to the south of the town of
Bokhara, the river of both that city and Samarcand, a
northern feeder of the Oxus (from which it is only
artificially cut off), after having been held up by the
dam of Karakul, ceases to irrigate and fertilize the
otherwise barren soil, and stops or stagnates in a lake
which the Turks call a sea (denghiz). Where the face of
the country changes, the population changes also. The
Uzbeks end and the Turkomans begin-the particular
cc 2
388
THE TURKOMANS.
Turkoman tribe, occupant of the parts around the Den-
ghiz, being the Ersari.
The Ersari Turkomans are settled subjects to the khan
of Bokhara, the greater part, if not the whole, of their
area lying within the recognized limits of that kingdom.
They are one of the nine great divisions under which
Sir A. Burnes, who was amongst them, classes the
140,000 families of the Turkomans, e. g.
Tribe.
Locality.
Families.
Ersari
Bokhara
40,000
Sakar
Middle Oxus
2,000
Saruk
Merve
20,000
Salore
Shurukhs
2,000
Tuka
The Tejend
40,000
Goklan
The Gurgan
9,000
Yamud
Asterabad
20,000
Ata
Balkhan
1,000
Choudur
Mangusluk
6,000
140,000
The Goklan fall into nine divisions, which encamp
apart from each other, and are probably subdivided.
If a Turkoman slave-holder let his love of beauty
prevail over his love of money, he may marry his pri-
soner, and have issue by her. But the sons or daughters
thus born will ever be but as imperfect Turkomans. The
pride of blood, potent throughout the whole population,
will keep them down, not, indeed, as slaves, though
with the name of such, but as half-casts. A Turkoman
can liberate his captive; but his offspring by his captive
he cannot liberate. The mother may be free; the son
unequal to a freeman. The name for these half-blood
half-casts is kul, and it is a name which a long line of
THE TURKOMANS.
389
descendants is insufficient to throw off. It is kept up by
the common habits of conversation; for a full Turkoman
in addressing a half-blood, says Kul-i-Otaboi, Kul-i-Tlgi,
&c., as the case may be, not meaning much of an insult,
but still using a title of inferiority. The value, too, of
a kul's life is less than that of an ig, or full-blooded
Turkoman. Kill an ig, and a blood-feud will follow.
He belongs to a tribe, and his tribesmen must avenge
his death. Kill a kul, and he has no tribe that either
owns or avenges him.
The Trukhmen.-Word for word, Trukhmen is the
same as Turkoman, except so far as it has come to us
through a Russian rather than a Persian channel. It
applies, however, to a different locality, and to a some-
what different population.
The Turkomans occupy the parts due north of Persia,
and harass the Persian frontier from the south-eastern
extremity of the Caspian Sea to the confines of Caubul.
The Trukhmen are distributed as follows: in
Astrakan to the number of
Stavropol
Taurida.
. 1,600
5,271
•
4.50
7,321
The Uzbeks.-The Uzbek physiognomy is Mongol;
decidedly so. The men are short and stout, with broad
faces, scanty beards, and small eyes. They occupy the
countries due west of Chinese Turkestan, and seem to
have been projected into them as intruders and conquerors
at no very distant period. In one respect they resemble
the Osmanli Turks in Europe-i. e. in being strangers in
the land. In most of the Uzbek countries there is, side
by side with the ruling nation, a subordinate popula-
390
THE UZBEKS.
tion of older occupants. These are Persians in language,
and, doubtless, in blood also. They are strongly con-
trasted with their lords; being occupants of houses, agri-
cultural and industrial in their habits, and submissive
in temper. They are submissive in temper where the
Uzbeks have encroached. In some few districts where
they have preserved their independence, they are bold
and high-spirited. Some of them are to be found in
Chinese Turkestan; but here we may suppose that it is
the Tajiks (for that is what they are called) who are the
immigrants. In the Uzbek countries, however, they are
the older population. They are found in countries other
than Turk; but this is a point of Persian ethnology.
In a certain number, then, of Tajik countries, and
some which can scarcely be called Tajik, the Uzbeks are
dominant, continuing, as a fixed population, the habits
and
organization of an army. The people are nothing.
The power of the chiefs is broken. The sovereign is as
absolute as in Constantinople. The country in which
they settle is divided into districts, whose officers are
appointed by the king. These have other officers below
them; and it is not till we reach the head man of the
village that we find any approach to independent or con-
stitutional government. In the villages, however, the
influential men have a voice in the recommendation of
their head. Again, the Ulema, or Church, has a con-
trolling, and, sometimes, a commanding, influence. In
all the Uzbek States the Sunnite form of Mahometanism
exhibits itself in all its bigotry. Bokhara and Morocco
are, perhaps, the two most intolerant countries of all
Islam.
With these premises, and with the repetition of a
statement that, as a general rule, whatever is Uzbek in
respect to the ruling powers, is Tajik in respect to the
THE UZBEKS.
391
subordinate population, we may give the details of the
Uzbek name.
Balk is Uzbek; Balk Proper, or the parts immedi-
ately round the capital.
Kunduz is Uzbek. In Khost, however, and Inderaub,
which are mountainous countries, the population, al-
though the districts are annexed to Kunduz, is wholly,
or almost wholly, Tajik.
Taulikhaun is Uzbek; the population of Tajiks being,
nevertheless, great.
Huzrut Imaum, along with Khullum, to which it is
annexed, is Uzbek.
Meimuna, Andkhu, and Shibbergaun, further to the
west, are Uzbek; though here there are independent
Turkomans intermixed.
Bokhara is Uzbek. Kokan, or Fergana, is Uzbek.
Khiva is Uzbek.
Of the Turks beyond the Turk area, the most impor-
tant are:-
(1.) The Ilyat of Persia.-These are the nomads of
Persia, occupants of tented encampments or imperfect
villages. They will re-appear when Persia is investi-
gated.
(2.) The Turkomans of Asia Minor-
(3.) The Turks of Syria.-Each of these is best noticed
in the sequel.
(4.) The Osmanli, or Turks of Turkey, whether in Europe,
Asia, or Africa.-Historical notices, which find no place
just now, but which will find place ere long, best precede
the notice of these.
So much for the representatives of the movement
westward. India on the east and south-east has been con-
quered, more or less completely or incompletely, more
than once. So has Caubul. So has China. Turks, how-
392
THE UIGUR TURKS.
ever, co nomine or ed lingud, no longer exist as a separate
element of the population. Hence, the notice of the
Turk influence in these parts must stand over.
One movement, however, eastwards must be mentioned.
I say "movement" because, hypothetically, Independent
Turkestan (or Tartary) is our centre. It is possible,
however-barely possible-that the parts in question may
be the cradle of the stock. If so, no movement is
needed. They start from it to go elsewhere.
Chinese Turkestan (Tartary).-Chinese Turkestan, Chi-
nese Tartary, or Little Bokhara, is bounded on the north
by the Mongols, on the east and south by the Tibetans,
and on the west by other Turks, and the all but unknown
populations akin to the Kafirs of Kafiristan. The minu-
tiæ of the boundaries are unknown; the tract in ques-
tion belonging to China, and being (as such) a terra
incognita.
The countries of Khoten and Yarkend are the occu-
pancies of this branch, countries traversed by rivers that
have no outlet to the sea, and which, from their relation
to the mountain-ranges of Tibet, are probably steppes,
imperfectly watered by small rivers and unimportant
lakes. Conditions like these favour a nomadic life
modified by occasional opportunities for agriculture.
They also favour an imperfect commerce; in which case
the inhabitants are carriers and merchants rather than
producers. Such is, probably, the case with a large pro-
portion of the Chinese Turks. In religion they are
Mahometans-Mahometans under a rule of tolerant or
indifferent Buddhists.
In one respect the populations of these parts have a
great historical importance. They were a lettered nation
at an early period. The Mantshú alphabet was derived
from the Mongols; that of the Mongols from the Uighur
THE UIGUR TURKS.
393
Turks. The Uigur alphabet was of Syriac origin, though,
perhaps, derived directly from Persia. The influence of
the Nestorian Christians has already been noticed. These
it was who, along with a Christianity now replaced by
Mahometanism, introduced the alphabet in question;
perhaps as early as the seventh century of our era.
My reasons for differing, unwillingly, with Mr. Hodg-
son, and considering a population called Hor, or Horpa,
to be, in language at least, Tibetan rather than Turk,
have been already given. I do not, however, deny that
the Hor may be more Turk in blood than in speech. It
has already been stated that they call themselves Igur.
Again, I can so easily believe that the word Chorbad,
a name for one of the districts of Little Tibet, is Horpa,
that I am ready to place the Chorbad Tibetans in the
same category.
I find, too, that the Keris of Tibet may also be of
Turk blood, though other than Turk in language.
English,
Uigur.
Mongol.
Tibetan.
Bokhara.
Head
bash
tologoi
go
tser
Hair
zatsh
üsü
ta
mui
Hand
ilik
gar
lango
dest
Foot
adakhi
küll
kango
pai
Eye
kusi
nüdü
mik
tshesm
Ear
kulak
tshike
amtshuk
gush
Sun
kün
nara
nimo
aftab
Moon
ai
sara
oula
mah
Star
yaldus
odu
karma
sitara
Water
zuv
usu
chhu
ab
Stone
tash
tsholo
doh
tsenk
The Tshagatai.—We are dealing with the Turks eo
nomine or eá linguâ; with the populations decidedly and
directly akin to the Kirghiz Uzbeks and Turkomans-the
central populations as they exist in a definite form. For
this reason I give the Tshagatai a place here. The Mogul
dynasty was Tshagatai, and certain Tshagatai are its
394
THE UIGUR TURKS.
fallen representatives.
Yet these are no longer Turk,
but Persian or Indian. Many of the Caubul families are
Tshagatai, just, perhaps, as certain English families are
Norman. Yet what distinguishes them from the Afghans?
There is Tshagatai blood in Mongolia. Yet this is not a
population of Tshagatai. At the same time I have read
of Tshagatai Turks in books written by living men, though
the details and differentiæ of a Tshagatai locality with a
Tshagatai population I have yet to find. These are in
Caubul, India, or Kokan (Fergana) if anywhere.
The family of Timur was Tshagatai. The conqueror
of India, Baber, was a Tshagatai. The countries he ruled
over and (what is better) described were, more or less,
Tshagatai.
Ferghana fell, in the time of Baber, into seven dis-
tricts, two of which lay to the north, and five to the
south of the Jaxartes. Of these, Andeján, the district of
the capital, seems to have been the most Turk, for, says
Baber, the inhabitants are "all Turks," and "there is
no one in the town or market who does not understand
the Turki tongue.
Asfera, on the other hand, was pre-eminently Persian,
Tajik, or Sart; as was, also, Marghinân. Of Asfera,
writes Baber," the inhabitants are all mountaineers or
Sarts." In Marginân, too, "all the inhabitants are
Sarts; the race are great boxers, noisy and turbulent,
so that they are famous all over Mâweralnaher for their
blustering and fondness for boxing, and most of the
celebrated bullies of Samarkand and Bokhâra are from
Marginân."
In the other four districts I imagine that the popula-
tion was more mixed, partly Turk and partly Persian,
though in what proportions I am unable to say.
It is clear that, however little we may know about
THE UIGUR TURKS.
395
the existing Tshagatai, we know a good deal about
the historical ones. Baber's Memoirs is the autobio-
graphy of a Tshagatai prince; besides being the most
natural piece of regal life, regally written, in existence.
Which makes it clear that the Tshagatai of Baber's
time were no illiterate barbarians, but readers and writers.
This brings us to the consideration of the relations between
the two old lettered, or classical, languages of the Turk
stock. Were they the same? Was Tshagatai Uigur,
and Uigur Tshagatai? They may or may not have
been this. Whatever, however, was the case as to the
language, the external conditions of form and time were
different.
An Uigur literature (if there be such a thing, and if
all truly Uigur compositions be not irretrievably lost,
which hope rather than knowledge leads us to believe is
not the case) must be the literature of the sixth, seventh,
or eighth centuries of our era, Christian in origin as far
as the alphabet is concerned, and in a character borrowed
from Syria, and lent, or given, to Mongolia.
A Tshagatai literature is Persian in alphabet, and, to
some extent, Persian in spirit. That such existed is
beyond doubt. Baber wrote his own life. He quotes
Turki, and Tshagatai, or, perhaps, Uigur, poets. He
knew the Tshagatai Turk as a lettered, literary lan-
guage. Yet Baber's life, as we have it in English, is
a translation from the Persian, and the evidence that the
so-called Turki originals are not also translations is less
satisfactory than the means of making them so allow.
There is more than one translation of a Persian translation
from the Turki. There is more than one Turkish scholar
in England who could translate from the Tshagatai direct.
Yet Tshagatai texts and Tshagatai translations, at first
hand, are rarities, to say the least.
396
THE UIGUR TURKS.
And now let us look back upon our details, especially
the philological ones. The forms of speech converge as
we approach Independent Turkestan. They diverge as
we move from it. The two extreme forms are
(1.) For the east, the Yakut and Uigur.
(2.) For the west, the Comanian and Osmanli.
The Yakut and Comanian are from the north, the
Uigur and Osmanli from the south, of the central
region.
Again let us look back on our details. They are
numerous. Yet they represent less than half of the
ethnological importance of Turks. Why they do this
will appear anon.
Enough, however, has been written to show that the
attempted analysis of the Turk population, and the
separation of its primary, secondary, and tertiary layers
is a subject on which error is excusable. What was
Tshagatai in Baber's time, may or may not have been
Uigur as well. It is certain that it is now Uzbek.
THE UGRIANS.
397
CHAPTER XIX.
The Ugrian, or Fin, Stock.-The Fins, or Finlanders, of Finland.-The
Hämalaiset and Kiriolaiset.--The Kwains of Norway and Sweden.—
The Fina of Ingria.-The Auramoiset, Savakot, and Izhor.—The
Tshud, Vod, and Vesp.
THE group that now comes under notice is named Fin or
Ugrian. The Finlanders of Finland are its chief repre-
sentatives. Ugoria, or Ugria, was the name of the parts
on each side of the Uralian Mountains, the occupancy of
more than one tribe akin to the Fins of Finland.
The Ugrian both agrees and differs with our last three
classes; the chief points of agreement being physiologi-
cal. Whatever may be meant by the term Mongolian,
as applied to the anatomy of the human subject, it is
certain that nine authorities out of ten have agreed in
making the Ugrians Mongol. In the general character,
also, of their languages, the Ugrians, Turks, Mongols,
and Tungús agree; the Ugrian being, in some of its forms
at least, liker to the Turk than to the other two. On the
other hand, it approaches the Lithuanic.
The details of the difference are somewhat more com-
plex. In the first place, the value of the class termed
Ugrian is far higher than that of the other three. Pos-
sibly it is as high as all the three put together. All the
Tungús, and all the Mongol forms of speech, are mutually
intelligible. Whether an extreme form of the Yakut
398
THE UGRIANS.
could be understood by an Osmanli or an Uigur is
doubtful. It is certain, however, that the more distant
forms of the Turk are less unlike each other than many
of the nearest congeners of the Ugrian. This may be
seen by comparing the Ostiak and Vogul, or the Fin and
Lap, on one side, with the Uigur and Yakut, or the
Yakut and Osmanli, on the other. Similarity in Ugria
is difference in Turkestan.
In the way of religious belief, no Ugrians are Bud-
dhists like the Mongols and Mantshú. Few, like the
great majority of the Turks, are Mahometans. They are,
for the most part, either Christians or Shamanist pagans.
The Christians belong to either the Eastern or the Western
Church; those of the latter being Protestants when they
are in contact with Sweden and Norway, and Romanists
when in contact with Austria. The recent proselytes.
from paganism are of the Greek Church, all being
occupants of either Russia or Siberia.
That the Turks and Mongols were nomads rather than
agriculturists has been made transparently clear in the
foregoing notices. Many would say as much of the
Ugrians. The writer, with whom, of all others, I most
unwillingly differ, Mr. Norriss, in his edition of Pri-
chard,* commits himself to the doctrine that "even the
stationary Fin is little more than half reclaimed. The
Fin of the large towns is rather a Scandinavian than
a Ugrian." In confirmation of this view, the Russian
ethnological map gives a special colouring, and a special
name to the Fins of Abo, Helsingfors, and the southern
half of the sea coast in general. It makes them "Swedish
Fins." Nor can it be denied that, in these parts, the in-
dustrial and intellectual influences are of Swedish origin.
Mutatis mutandis, this applies to the Magyars of Hungary.
* Vol. i. p. 201.
THE UGRIANS.
399
They have large towns; but it is Slavonic soil on which
they stand, and German civilization with which they come
in contact. I admit, then, that we have no conclusive
evidence of any Ugrian population having ever, single-
handed and proprio motu, built anything larger than a vil-
lage. Yet the Permians and Bulgarians must have had
emporiums, and Ugrian hands may have had much to do in
construction of them. Residence in the tent rather than
the hut, residence in dwellings of felt and skin, residence
after the fashion of the Mongols and Turks, has always
been, in Ugria, the exception rather than the rule.
Of Ugrian agriculture there is plenty. Compare it
with that of either modern Germany or ancient Italy,
and it is rude; no ruder, however, than that of the
ancient Germans. The agricultural Fin is the destroyer
of the forest. He burns for himself a clearing, and sows
oats on the ash-manured soil till it is exhausted. He
then goes on burning again. The Fins of the Norwegian
settlement in Finskogen did this to such an extent as to
provoke the legislature, bringing down laws upon
themselves to the effect that no such burnings should be
allowed. Yet the Norwegian himself often effects them.
To clear woods, to sow oats and rye, and to milk cows, is
to be agricultural; and this is what the Ugrians do,
wherever the face of the country allows them. Many of
them are nomads, with the reindeer instead of the cow.
Where they are, the face of the country constrains
them.
Lest the influence of this be undervalued, let us
remember that the Turk and Mongolian steppes are
amongst the most treeless parts of the world; whereas a
great portion of the Ugrian area is a forest. The Govern-
ment of Vologda, the occupancy of the Zirianians, has
nine-tenths of its surface in wood. Again, the mineral
400
THE UGRIANS.
wealth of the Ugrian area is far greater than that of the
Turks. Again, the Mongols and Turks are essentially
inlanders. The Fins and Estonians, at least, possess a
sea-board, and exhibit nautical aptitudes.
In its greater amount of wood, in its sea-board,
and in its climate, Mantshuria is more Ugrian than is
either Mongolia or the Turk area; and it is probable that
if we knew more of the details of the Mantshú popula-
tion, we should find numerous points of resemblance.
Like conditions give like results.
The tribual system is Ugrian, though only to a limited
extent. The signs of it will be indicated as they occur.
This they will most especially do in the Votiak and
Ostiak districts.
The ruder members of all the four groups mistake
disfiguration for ornament, and tattoo themselves. The
Ugrians and Tungús do it most; the Turks and Mongols
least.
The reindeer, as a domestic animal, was strange to the
Turks and Mongols. The camel is strange to the Ugrians.
All three populations use the horse; the Ugrians, how-
over, use it but little. I cannot quite commit myself to
the statement that, whilst both the Turks and Mongol
enjoy its flesh, no Ugrians are hippophagi. I am only
sure that if any of them are so, they are so to a very
slight extent.
As originators of ideas and inventions the Ugrians
have as little to boast of as the Turks, the Turks and
Mongols of as little as the Mantshús.
As physical or material influences in the world's history,
the Turks hold the foremost place; and that by a long
interval. The notice, however, of their comparative con-
quests and settlements belongs to a later chapter.
The area occupied by the Mongols is eminently com-
THE UGRIANS.
401
pact and continuous, i. e. regular in outline, with few
offsets, and not many outlying districts. Of these the
most important were those of the isolated Aimâk and the
isolated Kalmuk. The Turk area, more irregular and
more discontinuous than the Mongol, is, nevertheless, far
more continuous and regular than the Ugrian; which, in
some parts, has no continuity at all. Many of its occu-
pants are quite isolate, separated from their nearest con-
geners by Russians, Tungús, or Turks. This implies
that the Ugrians are a population upon which others have
encroached. The Turks are eminently one that has
encroached upon others. In short, the Ugrians belong
to a broken-up, fragmentary, and ever diminishing fa-
mily. Their occupancies extend from Norway to the
neighbourhood of Behring's Straits, and from the North
Cape to the Lower Volga. Yet the population amounts to
less than eight millions. Of these half are in Hungary;
and a fourth in Finland. The other two millions (there
or thereabouts) are Laps, Ingrians, Estonians, Liefs,
Zirianians, Permians, Votiaks, Tsherimiss, Tshuvash (?),
Mordvin, Voguls, Ostiaks, Samoyeds, Yeniseians, and
Yukahiri. Some of these divisions contain only a few
hundred individuals; the largest numbers less than
400,000.
It is convenient to begin with
The Finlanders or Fins proper.-The Finlanders proper
amount to about 2,000,000 individuals, speaking a let-
tered language; the alphabet being Roman, introduced
along with Christianity, from Sweden. Like the Swedes,
the Finlanders are Lutherans, with the exception of some
few members of the Greek Church.
Many of the Finlanders are, more or less, Swedish in
blood. Still more speak the Swedish language. Until
A. D. 1809, their political relations were with Sweden.
VOL. I.
D D
402
THE FINLANDERS.
Their
Since then, they have been subject to Russia.
civilization, however, so far as it is European, is essen-
tially Swedish.
The nearest approach to a name, at once general and
native, is Suomelaiset, meaning swamp, morass, or fen
people; the term Fin and Finlander being of foreign
origin. Two divisions, however, are recognized-by the
learned at least.
(1.) The Hämalaiset.-Hämalaiset the plural of Häma-
laine,* is the name for the Finlanders of the south-west,
especially those of the parts about Tavastahus. Hence
Tavastrian is another term for them. A difference of
dialect is the chief characteristic of the Tavastrians, or
Hämalaiset, as opposed to-
(2.) The Karelians or Kirialaiset.-The great block of
land, more or less square in outline, and coinciding in
respect to its physical geography with the table-land of
the duchy, is the area of the Karelians. Here the sur-
face of the earth lies high, and the rivers empty them-
selves into innumerable lakes, rather than directly into
the sea.
The latest ethnologists for Finland lay great stress upon
the difference between the Tavastrian and Karelian
branches, and take considerable pains with the analysis
of the sporadic populations of Fin blood in localities
beyond the frontier of Finland. They take considerable
pains to ascertain which is Karelian, which Tavastrian.
I give their results as I find them, beginning with the
Karelians.
The Kwains or Quains.-The Kwains or Quains are
*Suomelaiset was, in like manner, the plural of Suomelaine. This
remarkable termination is an instrument of criticism. It indicates a
Fin gloss. For this reason the name Rhoxolani in Tacitus has been
looked upon as the Ugrian Ruotsalaine.
THE FINLANDERS.
403
held to be Karelian rather than Tavastrian. They are
the Finlanders of the north-western parts of the duchy.
Their country lies along the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia
from Tornea southwards, and they come in contact with
the Swedes and Laps of Scandinavia.
The name is
native, East Bothnia being the land of the Kainu-laiset,
a word of which the singular form is Kainulaine. Cur-
rency has been given to it by the Scandinavians; the
old Norse form being Konir, and Kvonir. As early
as the time of Alfred, the Norse name was sufficiently
common to have found its way into the Anglo-Saxon
writings of that royal geographer, and Finland is the
land of the Cvenas, or Cvena-land. But quinna is
Swedish for a woman, the same word as the English
queen and quean, different in their degrees of courtesy as
the two words are. Now, it is by no means improbable
that when a nation of Cvenas was heard of, a nation
of women (qvinnas) was suggested. Out of this would
come a nation "ruled by a woman" (queen or quean).
This confusion is not merely a likelihood; it is, in
three parts out of four, a fact. The land of the Sitones,
over which Tacitus is satisfied with making a woman
a ruler, becomes, when we get to Adam of Bremen,
a land of Amazons-"hæc quidem insula" (Estland)
"terræ feminarum proxima narratur."
Again" circa hæc littora Baltici maris ferunt esse
Amazonas, quod nunc terra feminarum dicitur, quas
aquæ gustu aliqui dicunt concipere.
Hae simul
viventes, spernunt consortia vivorum, quos etiam, si adve-
nerint, a se veriliter repellunt."
Such is the history of a blunder; of which there are
many to mislead the ethnologist.
The present population of Finland is roughly put at
2,000,000. In a paper of Koeppen's, read before the
DD 2
404
THE KWAINS.
Academy of St. Petersburg in 1846, the exact numbers
are
Fins (pure)
1,102,068
Swedes
136,612
Fins and Swedes (mixed)
129,520
Russians and Fins (mixed)
43,752
Germans
363
1,412,315
In Norway the term more especially requires attend-
ing to; not only because the Kwains in that country
are numerous, but because the word Fin has a very
different meaning. It denotes a Laplander. Hence, to
call a Kwain a Fin is an error of no slight importance.
There are two Fin localities in Norway, one in Finmark,
one in Solöer. The first is certainly Kwain; the latter
may be, more or less, Tavastrian.
The Kwains of Finmark.-They are an increasing popu-
lation, as may be seen from the comparison of the two
following censuses.
Parish.
1845.
1855.
Ibestad
Tranö
25
7
Lenvik
10
Maalselven
80
Tromsö parish
22
91
town
82
38
Karlsö
29
45
Lyngen
436
721
Sjærvö
426
858
Alten
863
1107
Hammerfest parish
50
26
THE KWAINS.
405
Parish.
1845.
1855.
Hammerfest town
118
150
Kistrand, &c.
154
195
Næscby, &c.
205
276
Vardö parish
14
town
8
14
Vadsö parish
129
259
town
134
353
In the second of these two censuses, account is taken
of half-bloods, whether Kwain and Norwegian, or Kwain
and Lap. Only those, however, are enumerated whose
father or mother was a pure Lap, or a pure Kwain; the
further offspring being considered as Norwegian. This is
to be regretted, as the results of a series of marriages
between half-bloods would have been a valuable con-
tribution to the physiology of the mulatto, mestizo,
sambo, and other mixed races.
Kwain and Norwegian. Kwain and Lap.
Parish.
Tranö
11
4
Lenvik
43
Maalselven
21
5
Tromsö town
8
3
Sjærvö
107
167
Alten
283
63
Loppen
34
9
Hammerfest parish
29
2
town
1
I
Kistrand
8
Kautakeino
6
Vardö parish
5
town
3
Vadsö parish
12
town
27
406
THE FINS OF
The intermixture is stated to be, as a general rule, the
result of legitimate marriages. Of the pure Kwains, 186
are landed proprietors.
The Finlanders of Finskogen.-These belong to the
south rather than the north of Norway, and are old
occupants of their present occupancy, which is on the
Glommen, in the district of Solöer. They are far less of
a separate people than the Kwains of the north. Most
of them speak Norwegian. They may amount to 2000;
the parishes of Grue and Hof being their localities.
Finskoven, or Finskogen, means the wood (shaw) of the
Fins.
The Fins of Finskogen entered Norway A. D. 1624 from
Sweden. At first, they were spread over many parishes,
in which they are now no longer to be distinguished.
They cleared the forest by burning, and sowed their rye
or oats. They used, and use, the steam-bath.
As the district of Solöer is on the boundary of Sweden
and Norway, there are Kwains in the former country as
well as the latter. I am unable, however, to give the
details of the
Finlanders of Sweden.-I only note the fact of there
being some.
We may now pass to the other extremity of the
Duchy, and consider the parts about the metropolis of
Russia. These lie in the Government of St. Petersburg;
but, as this name is political rather than ethnological, the
older term is the more convenient one. This is Ingria,
Ingermannia, or Ingermannland, as we find the word in
the Latin, the Swedish, and the German. In this the
root igr- is, doubtless, the same as the ukr in the word
Ukraine; Ukraine, as is well known, meaning a boundary,
or limit, and corresponding most closely to our word
mark, or march. In this case, Ingria and the Ukraine
INGRIA, ETC.
407
are the Slavonic analogues of the Welsh and Scottish
marches the occupancies of Borderers, Marchmen, or
Marcomanni.
If this be the meaning of the name, it is not difficult
to ascertain the area of which it represented the Marches.
On the south and west were the Germans of the Baltic
provinces; on the north, the Fins and Swedes of Finland.
Towards the interior, extending far eastwards and far
southwards, lay the Slavonians of Novorogod and Mos-
cow; and these it was who gave the name.
I enlarge upon this, because the same root will appear
over and over again-almost as often as we find a Sla-
vonic frontier, either actually in existence, or reasonably
inferred.
That Ingria was originally wholly Ugrian is obvious
from its situation and history. It is partially Ugrian
now.
The Auramoiset, Savakot, and Izhor.-In the Govern-
ment of St. Petersburg are three populations, other than
Russian, and decidedly Fin, called Auramoiset, Savakot,
and Izhor. They are clearly separated, by these names,
as well as by other minor details, from each other.
How far are they Karelian? Should this seem too
much of a verbal question, let us put it in a real form, and
ask whether they are aboriginal to the soil or decidedly
recent settlers? Or are they intermediate in character ;
less ancient than the one, not so modern as the other
would be? The Auramoiset and Savakot have most of
the appearance of recent settlers. They lie most to the
north, and, consequently, nearest to Finland Proper.
Some of them stretch into the district of Viborg. They are
closely allied to each other; the Savakot being somewhat
the less rude. In some of their localities the two popula-
tions are intermixed. Other forms of the word Aura-
408
THE FINS OF
moiset are, Akramoiset and Agramoiset. Now in 1623 a
portion of Viborg called Agrepää was ceded by the
Swedes to the Russians, and it is believed that when this
was done, the ancestors of the Auramoiset, or Agramoiset,
migrated into their present seats.
When Agrepää was ceded, Savolax (another district of
Viborg) was ceded also; and it is believed that when this
was done, the Savakot did the same as the Auramoiset.
All this is highly probable. I am not aware, however,
that it is received as an actual historical fact. As an
inference from the similarity of name it is by no means
unexceptionable. The root Agr, may have originated
within the government of Ingr-ia.
The Izhor have the most of the appearance of abori-
gines. They call themselves (for Izhor is the Russian
name) Ingrikot. This connects them with the name of the
district-Ingria. On the other hand the Vod call them
Karelians.
NUMBERS IN 1848.
Auramoiset.
Of the Government of St. Petersburg
Novogorod
Savakot.
29,344
31
Of the Government of St. Petersburg 42,979
Izhor.
Of the Government of St. Petersburg
17,800
Isolated or Sporadic Karelians.-South of those parts of
the Duchy of Finland and the Governments of Archangel
and Olonets, which constitute the proper occupancy of
the Karelians, there are several groups of villages, more or
less isolated, whereof the population is not only other than
Russian, but where it is Fin; and where it is not only Fin,
but where it is of the particular division called Karelian.
INGRIA, ETC.
409
South of Lake Onega lies one of these settlements,
separated from the ordinary Karelians of Olonets, and in
immediate contact with a mass of Tshuds. It has also a
few patches of Tshuds to the north.
South of these and south of all the Tshud localities,
lie the Karelians of the Government of Novogorod; and
south of these those of Tver and Yaroslav.
There are
others in the Government of St. Petersburg.
The number of the Russian Karelians is as follows:-
In Government of Archangel
Novogorod
11,228
27,076 (sporadic)
St. Petersburg.
3,660 (sporadic)
Tver
84,638 (sporadic)
Yaroslav.
1,283 (sporadic)
Tambov.
?
Olonets
43,810 (some spo-
radic, others not).
Word for word, Karelian is Coralli, the name of a
population of the middle ages credited with cannibalism
-"Coralli, gens paganorum ferocissima, carnibus crudis
utens pro cibo." I also think that, word for word, it is
the Kur- or Cour-, in Kurland (Courland).
The Tshuds. What is meant by the word Tshud? It
has just been used; the populations which bore it being
contrasted with the Karelians of their neighbourhood.
Word for word, I, along with many others (many others
holding a decidedly contrary opinion), believe it to be
Scytha. It is a word which the Slavonians of Novogorod
applied to the Non-slavonic populations with which they
came in contact. We shall see its import more clearly
after a notice of the Vod, and the Vesp.
(1.) The Vod.—A few villages within the circles of Oran-
ienbaum and Yamburg, in the Government of St. Peters-
410
THE VOD.
burg, and in the district called Ingria, Ingermannia, or
Ingermannland, are the occupancies of a small population
whose dialect, dress, and manners have presented suffi-
cient peculiarity to draw the attention of more than one
investigator. At first they were pronounced to be a
separate people; but this was by an inquirer who knew
nothing of either the Estonian or the Fin; but who
judged of their isolation from a specimen of their lan-
guage in the shape of a song which he was unable to
construe. The men and women who spoke this called
themselves Vadjalaiset, the plural of Vadjalaine, both of
which names are so thoroughly Fin in their form that
they tell their own story. Other forms were Vadi, and
Vaihsi, the latter being the adverb. Loquerisne Voticé is
tunnet pajattaa Vaihsi, a fact which is by no means
without its importance as an instrument of criticism, as
will be seen hereafter. The Fins call them Vatjalaiset,
the Swedes Voter, or Vatlanders; their country being
Vatland. The Russian designates them as Tshud.
In 1848 the whole number of Vod amounted to 5148
souls; a small number to represent the original popula-
tion of Ingria-for this the Vod are. They are the
Fins whose area most closely touches the present capital
of Russia; intermediate in their ethnological characters,
as well as their geographical position to the Finlanders on
one side, and the Estonians on the other.
The name appears in the early annals of Russia. They
resisted for a time the Slavonians of Novogorod; though
before the end of the thirteenth century they were re-
duced. Their area, then, formed one of the five divisions
of the Novogorod domain, and was called the Vodskaya
pyatina or the Vod fifth.
It is in parishes of Kattila and Soikena where the
existing remains of the Vod are to be found. Of their
THE VESP.
411
language there is a grammar and glossary by Ahlqvist,
published within the last two years at Helsingfors, and,
on their relations to the other members of the Fin stock,
a valuable paper by Sjögren in the Memoirs of the
Academy of St. Petersburg.
Vod Wedding Song.
Neitsüeni ainagoni !
Menet kaiwolle, kanani!
Wesitielle, wierakkoni!
Alä waad warjoa wetee!
Wesi wetab kaiuiu.
Meill on naised nagrajad;
Meill on cinainaad eliäd.
Alä mene kurjosa kujalle !
Pääpaikas parapi muita,
Körja muita körkääpi.
Neitsüseni ainagoni!
Neitsüt aianagoanoni !
Alä tuskaa tuloa,
Kao katsche lähtego!
Emmä pannu pakasialle,
Emmä wienüd wöhkasuolle;
Panimma poisile üwälle.
Single, dear daughter-in-law !
Thou goest to the spring, chicken!
The water-way, dear stranger!
Give way to the reflection on the water
For the water takes away thy charms.
We have fair wives;
We have fair meadows;
Keep aloof from the house of the flat-
terer.
Bright is the cap of thy head,
Higher than that of all the rest.
Single, dear daughter-in-law !
Dear daughter-in-law, single only!
Never may thy coming rue thee,
Never may thy journey trouble!
I did not betrothe you to a deserter,
Took you not over the mossy moor,
But I gave you to the good youth.
(2.) The Vesp.-At some distance to the east of the
Vod lie the Vesp, in the Governments of Novogorod and
Olonets; some on the banks of Lake Onega, some on
the White Lake, or Bielozero. When Sjögren, in 1830
or 1832, described them, he carried their numbers as
high as 21,000. In 1848 they were reckoned at about
15,600.
The ancestors of the Russians who, in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, had to make their way, and keep their
footing in their country, sword in hand, called them Yam,
or Yem. In 1042, Vladimer, the son of Yaroslav, marched
an army against them, fought a battle, and won it. His
412.
THE VESP.
success, however, was incomplete, for he lost his horses
by a murrain. The Yam, however, though vigorous in
their resistance, were eventually reduced; their present
representatives being the fifteen thousand and odd Vesp
in the aforesaid localities.
The Russians call them Tshud, just as they do the
Vod.
The Vod, like the Vesp, are connected with the Yam;
for we have seen that one of their localities is in the
circle of Yamburg.
The language of the Vesp and Vod are, according to
the decision of the most competent Fin scholars, connec-
ted by special affinities.
The names, however, of the two forms of speech are
different. The term by which Tshuds of Novogorod
and Olonets designate their speech is Luudin kiele, the
Luudin language, or Lingua Ludina. Upon the simila-
rity of this to the word Latina I say nothing. Latium is
a long way from Lake Onega. Its likeness, however, to
the name of what was once the contiguous language of
the Lets and Lithuan-ians deserves notice. So does the
word Vais. The Ves are mentioned by Nestor: the
Vesi, by Sidonius Apollinaris, as members of the armies
of Attila.
Numbers.
Vod-Of the Government of St. Petersburg 5;148
Vesp
8,550
7,067
15,617
Now comes the practical application of the difference
between the Tavastrians and the Karelians. The former
are supposed to represent the older inhabitants of the
THE VESP.
413
parts nearest to Novogorod and St. Petersburg, to be the
Yam, or Hamailaiset, and to form a class to which the
so-called Tshuds, the Vod and Vesp, belong. The
Kirialaiset, on the other hand, are colonists from a more
distant part of the Fin area, and of comparatively recent
origin.
414
THE RAHWA
CHAPTER XX.
The Ugrians of Estonia or Rahwas.-The Liefs.
ESTONIA differs from Finland in its frontier; inasmuch
as the Ugrians which occupy Estonia are in contact with
the Germans and Lets, rather than with the Swedes and
Laps. For this reason the foreign influences have been
German rather than Swedish. The difference, however,
is of no great importance. The alphabet is Roman, the
religion Protestant; just as it was in Finland.
At one time, when all Ingria was Ugrian, the Esto-
nian and Fin populations must have been in contact.
The Vod, at the present time, is believed to represent
one of the intermediate forms of speech.
The Estonians call themselves Rahwa, and their country
Marahwa, or Rahwa-land; the parts north of the river
Salis being their chief area.
In Liefland the Rahwa number
Estonia
Vitepsk
Pskov
- St. Petersburg
355,216
•
252,608
9,936
8,000
7,736
633,496
Some of the purest blood in Europe must be to be
OF ESTONIA.
415
found amongst the southern, the eastern, and the central
Rahwas; the admixture of foreign elements being
greatest on the northern and western frontiers. In the
south, too, and the east, the greatest number of national
characteristics present themselves. This they do in the
way of language, in the way of physiognomy, and in the
way of manners and customs. In the ordinary works on
comparative philology, the Estonian language is divided
into two main dialects; one with Reval, the other with
Dorpat as its centre; so that we hear of the Dorpatian
and the Revalian forms of speech as paramount.
believe, however, that almost every parish presents some
peculiarities, and I am no means sure that the distribution.
of the numerous dialects and sub-dialects thus developed
corresponds with the usual classification. Nevertheless,
it represents the written language; for there is the Reval
New Testament and the Dorpat New Testament ex-
hibiting notable differences of idiom.
I
A love for song and music is exhibited throughout the
Rahwa country; and of this we may judge by more than
one collection of songs, legends, charms, nursery rhymes,
and the like. The harp was the instrument-with wires,
not strings; the harp or kandel. With this the bards, the
exact analogues of the Gaelic bards of almost our own
days, musical and locomotive, used to wander from place to
place, as the harvest-home, or the wedding-feast, might
tempt them.
There are none such now alive, the last
having died in 1813. He had no fixed residence; but was
known, and welcomed, whithersoever he chose to roam, as
the wanna laulumees, or the old singer.
Neuss, whose account I am following, maintains that
the true Estonian popular minstrelsy died out with
him; perhaps a little before his time. At the beginning
416
ESTONIAN POETRY.
of the last century it flourished. Towards the end of it
it declined. At the beginning of the last century re-
ligious and other compositions after German models were
afloat in Estonia; but only as oil on water. They
touched the native style; but without affecting it. Now,
however, they are imitated; and just in proportion as
these prevail, the older poetry dies off.
This is the first time we have had an opportunity of
enlarging upon the character of the Ugrian poetry. The
notice, indeed, has yet to take its full dimensions and
prominence. We shall, ere long, talk of epics, and the
like. In Estonia, we can only find tales, wedding songs,
harvest songs, songs for the sowing-time, riddles, and the
like; a little in the way of narrative; a little redolent
of heathenism—much what we expect. Elements, too, we
find of what might be developed into the Satyric drama;
if we had Greeks instead of Ugrians to develope it.
Those who apply classical names to modern phenomena
describe the Ugrian metres in general as trochaic; some-
times being dactylic, but never iambic. This means that
the accent is on the first, third, and fifth syllables, rather
than the second, fourth, and sixth; a fact which arises
out of the structure of the language.
The common formula is
~, more rarely with
with --- instead of
called spondee; e. g.
Töulis rebbust Körge-sare,
; sometimes
or the so-
Muña walgest Tüttar-sare,
Muña tumest teised sared.
or,
Kotkad lensid Some-male,
Some-maalta Saksa-male.
ESTONIAN POETRY.
4.17
Add to this that, within a certain interval, a certain
number of words must begin either with a vowel, or, if
with a consonant, with the same; as
Minna sulg ei annud suda
Egga pärg ei pöörnud peada.
This is the alliteration of the old German metres; almost
to its minutest details. It is held, however, to be no
more German in origin than the German is Ugrian.
Archaic words are, in Estonia, as elsewhere, poetical;
a fact which creates trouble and perplexity to modern
commentators; indeed, many expressions which have
wholly dropped out of the current language are to be
found in the songs. Like the ballad-mongers of our own
country, who, when they wanted a double rhyme and
could not get it out of a monosyllabic ending, would tack
on an -a, and write
With cloves and nutmegs from the line-a,
And even oranges from China,—
the Estonian changes isfal, mind, &c., into isfal-a, mind-a,
&c.
Notwithstanding the little communication between the
different sections and sub-sections of the Estonian
population, the same details appear in different parts of
the country with slight modification. The story, of which
the venue lies, in one district, on such or such a hill or
bank, lies in another in such a one. Mutatis mutandis,
the same tale is told. This is evidence in favour of
the antiquity of the poetry altogether; and as such it
has been received. Some of it points to the times of
Estonian heathendom-some, but not much; the little
that does so being obscure.
Perhaps the face of the
most remains of paganism.
VOL. 1.
country itself shows the
Finland has its numerous
E E
418
THE RAHWAS.
pyhävesi, pyhäjärvi, and pyhäjoki, or the holy waters,
holy lakes, and holy rivers. So has Estonia. In Es-
tonia there is a particular stream which has long been
the object of reverence, the Wohhanda. It joins the
Meddä, which falls into the Peipus Lake. It is, of
course, a pöha jögge, the Estonian for pyhäjoki. In the
olden time, no Estonian would fell any tree that grew
on its banks, or break one of the reeds that fringed its
watercourse. If he did he would die within the year.
The brook, along with the spring, that gave it birth, was
purified periodically, and it was believed, that if dirt were
thrown into either, bad weather would be the result.
Gutslaf tells a tale of a bold, bad German, whose
hardihood and avarice induced him to build a mill across
its stream, and to stop its waters with his mill-dam.
Soon after the grinding had begun, a bad season set in,
and lasted as long as the mill stood, which was only until
the peasants of the parish and parts around became
incendiaries, and burnt the whole establishment down
to the very ground. Earlier still, tradition speaks of
offerings-sometimes of little children-having been
made to Wohhanda; the river-god being a little man
in blue and yellow stockings, sometimes visible to mortal
eye, resident in the stream, and in the habit of occa-
sionally rising out of it.
English.
Fin.
Karelian.
Olonets.
Ingrian.*
Estonian.
Man (vir)
miös
mijazh
mes
mês
mees
(homo) ingémin
inegmine
mes
mês
innimene
Head
pöja
pijä
pä
på
peja
Hair
iwusa
tukka
tukka
karw
Eye
silme
silmä
silmä
silmä
silm
Ear
kyrwa
korwa
korwu
körwa
körw
Nose
njena
nena
nena
nenä
ninna
Mouth
Sun
shun
su
sû
sun
Tongue
kieli
kijali
keli
culi
keel
* Or Vod.
THE LIEF.
419
Estonian.
English.
Fin.
Karelian.
Olonets.
Ingrian.
Hand
kesi
käsi
käsi
c'äsi
kässi
Foot
jalka
jalja
jalgu
jalka
jalk
Blood
weri
weri
weri
weri
werri
Sun
pöiwa
päiwäne
pewen
päiwa
paw
Moon
kou
kuudoma
ku
kû
kuu
Star
tögyt
tägti
techte
tjccht
Fire
tuli
tuli
tuli
tuli
tulli
Water
wesi
wesi
wesi
wesi
wesi
Tree
pún
puu
pu
pû
pu
Stone
kiwi
kiwi
kiwi
'ciwi
kiwwi
One
yks
juksy
juksi
ühsi
yks
Two
kaks
kaksi
kaksi
kahsi
kaks
Three
kolmi
kolmje
kolshe
kölme
kolm
Four
nelja
nellä
nelli
nell'a
nelje
Five
wisi
wiisi
wizhi
wîsi
wis
Six
kusi
kuuzhi
kusi
kúsi
kuus
Seven
seitseman
zhitshemän setshemi
seitsê'
seitse
Eight
kadeksän kagekshan kaesak
kahetse'
kattesa
Nine
ydeksän
Ten
iujekshan igokse ühetsê'
kymmemen kymmen
uttesa
kümmene cümmê'
kuemme
The Lief.-The Lief are the remains of the popula
tion that gave its name to Liefland or Livonia.
They amount to
In Livonia
Courland
22
2052
2074
Word for word, I believe Lief to be Lap. I also
believe it to be the element Lem of the word Lemovii
in Tacitus. The Estonians, however, are not the Æstyii
of that writer.
That Estyii, Estonia, Esten, and Estland, are the
same words I believe; also believing that they all mean
the eastern country. I only doubt about the eastern
end of the Baltic having been the same in the time of
Tacitus as now.
In the time of Tacitus it must have
EE 2
4.20
THE LIEF.
begun at Memel, where the coast-line turns suddenly to
the north. Now it means the Gulf of Finland. If so,
The Estyii of Tacitus were Old Prussians.
Lemovii
Rugii
Fenni
Lief.
Rahwas.
Laps.
- Sitones
Kwains.
How far the names were native is another question. One
of them, Æstyii, is German; the oldest German gloss
we have. It is the 'noriaio of Strabo speaking of the
voyage of Pytheas.
THE SABME, OR LAPS.
421
CHAPTER XXI.
The Laplanders-of Russia, Sweden, Norway.
Laps of Russia.-A Lap calls himself Sabme, a Rus-
sian calls him Lopar. The Laps of Russia, entirely con-
fined to the Government of Archangel, amount to about
2289. They are all Christians (more or less imperfect),
of the Greek Church. This is the point in which they
most especially differ from
The Laps of Sweden, who are Lutheran Christians, and
occupants of Lapmark. They differ from the Laps of
Norway in being called Laps, and in their dialect.
The Laps of Norway differ from those of Sweden in
their dialect, and in being called Fins. It is the Nor-
wegians, however, who call them so; though the name is
occasionally adopted by the Laps themselves. They
apply it with satisfaction, perhaps with pride. The
Kwain repudiates it. A Lap of Norway lives in Fin-
mark, Lapmark being the occupancy of the Swedish
Sabme. For Sabme is the true name. Word for word, it
is the first part of Suome-laine.
For the most northern population of Europe the Laps
are favoured in respect to climate; no part of the world
equally arctic being so warm-or, rather, so little cold.
It is only when we approach the North Cape that we get
beyond the region of trees-the birch being found as
high as N. L. 70-71°; the Scotch fir up to 69-70°; and
the spruce fir to 67°. The elm, lime, oak, hazel, and
alder have, however, long been passed; so has the lati-
422
THE SABME, OR LAPS.
tude at which fruit ripens. On the other hand, as far
north as 67°, barley ripens at the level of 800 feet.
Potatoes, too, pay for cultivation even farther north. So
do cabbages, turnips, spinach, and carrots.
The Lap, except so far as he has adopted the industry
of his neighbours, is a nomad, essentially so. His country
is that of the reindeer-moss, and the reindeer that feeds
on it. Its streams are prolific with salmon; but the main
aliment is the flesh of the reindeer, itself migratory.
The Sabme may fairly be looked upon as the least in-
dustrial, and the least civilized tribes of Christian Europe.
They are herdsmen rather than agriculturists. The Nor-
wegian of their neighbourhood plants potatoes, the Fin-
lander keeps cows, but the Lap attaches himself to the
reindeer and adapts himself to its habits.
Essentially nomad as they are, the habits of the Sabme
have been considerably modified by the influences of the
populations with which they come in contact; and it
cannot be denied that, upon the whole, the attention
bestowed upon them by the different Governments under
which they live, has been, as things go with the weaker
populations of the world in general, praiseworthy, even if
insufficient. I state this with more confidence respecting
the Norwegian than the Swedish, and with more confi-
dence respecting the Swedish than the Russian, Laps.
The language has been reduced to writing, and that
well. As the adapters of the Lap alphabet had no pre-
conceived views in the way of etymology, they have
spelt the speech as they found it, created new letters
when they were necessary, expelled old ones when super-
fluous, and limited the power of each sign to the expres-
sion of a single sound, each sound having also its appro-
priate sign. The effect of this is, that, other things being
equal, a Lap child learns to read easier than another.
THE SABME, OR LAPS.
423
The Christianity of the Laps is of the same imperfect
character with their industry and culture. The original
heathenism of the country still tinges the better creed.
The old creed shows itself through the new, and the super-
stitions of the Sabme of the time anterior to Christianity
are seen almost as clearly and transparently now as they
were seen in the days of their unmodified paganism.
There was not much to get rid of, and of that little more
than a fair portion has been retained. There was not
much to get rid of, for the Sabme superstitions were
simple, and the mythology far from elaborate. Neither
does it seem to have been wholly native. At least one of
their objects of veneration has a Norwegian name.
The being who has the Norwegian name is the Stor-
junker, pronounced Stor-yunker; a name which means
great noble. A full-grown reindeer, with full-sized
antlers, used to be the proper sacrifice to the Storjunker.
A thread was put through his ear, and this thread had to
be a red one. No other colour would suit the Storjunker's
reindeer. When the feast was over, and the flesh had
been eaten by the feasters, the antlers were fixed in the
ground so as to mark a certain space-a space
which was
thus made holy; women, most especially, being forbidden
to approach it.
Next amongst the Lap gods to the Storjunker, was
Tiermes. The third was Baiwe. The rites of Tiermes
are much the same as those of the Storjunker, but those
of Baiwe exhibit a difference in some of their details.
The string which is put through the ear of the victim is a
white one. A red one would be out of place. The reindeer
is a young one. An old one would be inappropriate. Then,
as the young reindeer has no antlers, the sacred enclosures
of deers' horns are wanting to the sacrificial grounds of
Baiwe, or the Sun; for that is the object symbolized.
424
THE SABME, OR LAPS.
But there was a deity higher than any of these, who
seem to have been mere subordinates. This was Jubmel
-but more will be said of Jubmel hereafter.
In one sense the old Lap religion was a religion with-
out a priesthood. There were no roofed temples, no offi-
ciating ministers. The head of the family performed his
rites himself. His proceedings were as follows. About
a bow-shot from his tent he chose a convenient piece of
ground and marked it out by rows of boughs; of the
birch-tree in summer, of the fir in winter. The area
within was holy ground; pre-eminently holy, and, like
most of the Lap enclosures, forbidden to females. The
path from this to the tent was also marked out by
branches. In the centre stood the representative of the
deity of wood or stone as the case might be; of wood
for Tiermes, who was thence called the wooden, of stone
for the Storjunker, who was similarly known as the stone,
god. Wood and stone were the materials; to which the
workmanship was scarcely equal. Indeed, there was
none, or next to none. Instead of fashioning an image
with his own hands, the Lap thought himself lucky if he
found one ready-made, the workmanship of Chance or
Nature. Hence, if a birch-tree grew crooked and con-
torted about the roots, if it were knobby and knotty on
the stem, if its branches grew in abnormal clusters, it
was looked upon as a deity already represented. The
same with stones. Those that were water-worn, rubbed,
or drilled into strange shapes, became divinities; or
rather, the divinity grew out of the shape of the symbol.
If it suggested a bird, the idea of the Storjunker became
birdlike; quadrupedal if the likeness were that of a
beast. He would, too, be a fish, as often birch-roots
grew fish-shaped. The same with Tiermes. He might
fly one year, swim the next, and go upon four legs the
THE SABME, OR LAPS.
425
third; or, as the sacrifices took place twice a year, he
might be a pike at Midsummer, and an otter at Christmas.
A piece of reindeer flesh was the offering to him; the
heart or liver by preference.
When the worship took a more public character, and
approached the form of a festival, the drum came in
request; the drum being the most important of all the
articles in a Laplander's pontifical apparatus. This was
a skin drawn across a frame of birch-wood; rudely
painted with figures of the chief deities. In the middle
was fixed a ring with bobbins (much like those used in
lace-making) attached to it. The drum is beaten and the
bobbin dances about. The beating leaves off and the
bobbin lies quiet. The drummer then sees on whose
figure it lies. If on that of Baiwe, Baiwe has to be
honoured; if on that of Tiermes or the Storjunker, it is
Tiermes or the Storjunker accordingly.
These are the most specific of the Lap superstitions.
That certain wizards have the power of selling favourable
winds to sailors is believed not only amongst the Laps
themselves, but by the Norwegians, the Swedes, and the
Russians of their neighbourhood.
The most characteristic, perhaps, of their habits or
accomplishments, is what we may call by a name coined
for the occasion-she-running. The skide (pronounced
she) is a snow-skate upwards of six feet long. Up-hill
the Lap toils with a stick: down-hill he drives with the
rapidity of an arrow. The Tshapodzhir does the same.
I have said that the civilization of the countries to
which they belong has told upon the Laps. I believe
this to be the case in both Russia and Scandinavia. In
Norway, however, we can measure the extent to which it
has done so; this meaning the extent to which, within the
last ten years, a nomad population has become stationary.
426
THE SABME, OR LAPS.
In 1845.
In the year
Laps.
Laps.
Parishes and Towns.
In fixed
Noma-
Total.
habitations
dic.
In fixed
habitations dic.
Noma-
Total.
Röros....
31
31
45
45
Trondhyem Town
31
Sælbo
44
44
Stördal
10
10
16
16
Skogn
10
10
Værdal
Ytterö
Inderö...
Sparbo..
Stod.....
Snasen..
Beitstaden
Overhalden..
Grong
Fosnæs
101 500||
~
12
12
2
2
8
8
14
14
12
17
17
41
41
9
9
5
2
8
89
97
97
97
....
14
14
Brönö
6
6
1
1
Bindalen...
Alstadhoug.
Vefsen
253
12885
28
253
| | |
39
39
36
Nesne
2
2
...
Kemnes
47
36
83
38
27
65
Rödö
25
25
29
29
Mo
59
59
26
77
103
Gildeskaal
4
4
21
Skydrstad
240
240
230
230
Saltdalen..
119
119
94
94
Bodö
53
53
49
49
...
Folden...
60
60
69
69
Stegen...
9
9
1
1
Hamerö
54
54
52
52
Lödingen
140
149
163
Ofoten
522
522
570
577
Hadsel..
80
80
84
84
Bö
28
28
34
34
Oxnes
98
Dverberg.
5
5
3
3
Vaagen
14
11
14
14
Borge
3
Trondenes
202
202
231
231
Krædfyord
112
112
118
118
Ibestad
653
653
734
734
Tranö
207
207
235
235
380
380
Lenvik
Maalselven }..
329
}....
329
109
109
THE SABME, OR LAPS.
427
of the Census 1855.
Social Condition. Heads of Families.
cha- of
Besides of mixed
origin, and in-
cluded in the Nor-
wegian population.
Norwego-Lapps.
Cotters Cotters New Settlers Me- Captains
Landed pro- Far-
prietors.
mers.
with without in waste
land. land.
lands.
nics. vessels.
1
011
4&
1
1
1
| 1
3
4
1
1
∞
* | | | | | | |
2
| | | | ~ | |~||~||∞ |♡~~
| | | | | | | | | | | |
1
19
1
3
13
10110
2
4
1
6
1
7
6
8
8 13
3
16
1 1 1 1
| |
5 co os
2
10
27
7
13
43
31
10
2
87
8
3
19
1
29
4
9
14
4
1
7
3
SE SEJE
L.* 41
27
28
32
12
F.
1
1
1
1
1
L.
16
25
6
26
10
5
2511881|
32
F. 1
L. 11
4
F. 6
1
2
co co
6
8
21
78
14
* L. means Lap; F., Fin, or Kwain.
4,28
THE SABME, OR LAPS. .
In 1845.
In the year
Laps.
Laps.
Parishes and Towns.
In fixed
abitations. dic.
Noma-
Total.
In fixed
habitations. dic.
Noma-
Total.
Tromsö Parish
Tromsö Town......
Karlsö ……….
...
600
10
3
844
211
610
720
3
844
708
908
Lyngen
1460
1460
1601
1601
Skyærvö
1447
1447
1620
1620
Alten
1069
1069
1019
1019
Loppen
550
550
569
569
Hammerfest Parish
1011
1011
1166
1166
Hammerfest Town
1
Kistrand
Koutokeino
}..
763 405
1168
664
1026
1690
122
705
827
233
20
253
Lebesby
Næsseby
}......
919
116
1035
1303
85
1388
Vardo Parish …………..
65
....
Vardo Town
4
Vadsö Parish
1093
Vadsö Town
1 8 11
4
5
5
93
1186
564
110
674
3
3
That the Swedes and Norwegians have encroached
upon the Sabme is certain; indeed, the belief that the
whole of the Scandinavian peninsula was once Lap is as
general as it is well-founded. How far, however, the
eastern members of the family may, by extending south-
wards, have occupied portions of the present Duchy of
Finland is a question upon which less evidence has been
brought to bear. It has been thought that the conflict
between the men of Kalevala and Pohjola, the subject of
a poem which will be specially considered in the sequel,
expresses the struggles between the Laps and Finlanders.
Be it so. That the evidence of their language suggests a
more southern locality than the present for the north-
most Finlanders is certain. The differences of dialect
THE SABME, OR LAPS.
4.29
of the Census 1855.
Social Condition. Heads of Families.
Besides of mixed
origin, and in-
cluded in the Nor-
Cotters Cotters New Settlers Mc- Captains wegian population,
Landed pro- Far-
prietors.
|
with without
mers.
land. land.
in waste
lands.
cha-
of
nics. vessels.
Norwego-Laps.
8
L.* 23
127
43
129
{
F. 19
42
22
66
2
116
( L. 162
16
7
7
F. 84
2
2
2
16
28
L. 60
30
6
19
F.
1
3
50
11
w
6
2
L. 154
F. 51
I
2
L.
8
26
11
F.
1
L. 236
F. 14
42
L.-
F. 10
1
1
== ||
227212
8
4
19
11
113
12
31
increase as we go south. The affinities with the Esto-
nians indicate a southern origin; as do those with the
Votiak.
This northward movement of the Finlanders implies
the obliteration of more than one population, which may
fairly be supposed to have been transitional or inter-
mediate; a fact to be remembered whenever we speculate
upon the difference, in physical form, between the Laps
and the Finlanders.
Of this difference, full enough has been made. The
Laps are a short people. The Finlanders are, by no
means, tall. Nevertheless, they are the taller of the two;
being better housed, better fed. Between the skulls of a
* L. means Lap; F., Fin, or Kwain.
430
THE SABME, OR LAPS.
Lap, a Finlander, and an Estonian, there is but little
difference. All are broad rather than long. In all the
occipital protuberance is slight, the orbits large, the
nasal bones more depressed than elevated.
Of the external form of the Finlanders there are many
individuals who have had means of judging for them-
selves, and that without visiting Finland. The prisoners,
who, during the late war with Russia, lay at Lewes, were
numerous enough to serve as fair specimens of their
countrymen in general. They were undersized and
small-boned. Strong beards were rare; and there was,
with many of the men, a peculiarly glabrous skin. The
complexion varied. Of red-haired heads I saw fewer
than the current accounts had led me to expect. Of
truly Mongol faces there were a few. There were an
equal number that might be found amongst the agri-
cultural labourers of England. The hair was brown,
the eyes generally dark. Upon the whole, however,
few would be mistaken for any thing but what they were.
Less European than the Swedes and Norwegians, less
Asiatic than the true Mongols, they were more like
Slavonians than aught else except Fins. They were
almost all Tavastrians,
English.
Lap.
Fin.
Norwegian.
Man (vir)
olma
mios
mana
(homo)
almaz
ingemin
Head
oike
pöja
menneske
hoved
Eye
tjälme
silme
öje
Ear
pelje
kyrwa
ohn
Nose
njuone
njena
näse
Mouth
nälme
suu
mund
Tongue
njuoktem
kieli
tunge
Hand
ket
kesi
hand
Foot
juolke
jalka
föd
Sun
peiwe
poiwa
sol
Moon
mano
kou
maane
Star
täste
tögït
sterne
THE SABME, OR LAPS.
431
Norwegian.
English.
Lap.
Fin.
Fire
tollo
tuli
ild
•
Water
tätse
wesi
Stone
kedke
kiwi
vand
sten
One
akt
yks
en
Two
kwekt
kaks
to
Three
kolm
kolmi
tre
Four
nelje
nelja
fire
Five
wit
wisi
fern
Six
kot
kusi
seks
Seven
kjeta
seitseman
syv
Eight
kaktsat
kadeksan
otte
Nine
aktfe
ydeksan
ny
Ten
tokke
kymmemen
ti
Until the publication of Rask's grammar, the Fin and
Lap languages were supposed to be less alike in their
structure than in their vocabulary. Especially was it
thought, that out of the fifteen cases in Fin, the Laps
had only eight or nine. Traces, however, of the others
were found by those who knew how to look for them;
and, at the present time, both languages being well
known, the evidence of the grammarian, as to their close
affinity, is admitted to agree with that of the lexico-
grapher.
In a sort of preface to one of the earliest vernacular
translations of the Psalms of David, a copy of Fin
verses, by Bishop Agricola, enumerates the heathen gods
and goddesses, who, notwithstanding the nominal Chris-
tianity of the Finlanders, were still more or less believed
in. It is a list which contains more than twenty names.
In a poem published within the last thirty years a great
number of these names re-appears. In other words,
there was a pagan element in Finland in the sixteenth
century, and there is a pagan element in the nineteenth.
There is more of this in Lapland, and much of it in
Estonia.
Towards the end of the last century these remains of
432
THE KALEVALA.
the original heathenhood commanded the especial atten-
tion of Ganander and Porthan; the latter the founder of
the present school of mythological investigators. Then
followed Topelius, who gave the germs of a system by
arranging the legends round their several subjects. He
collected, for instance, those that appertained to a
fabulous individual named Wainamoinen. Lönröt went
further, both in the collection of legendary poems and in
their arrangement. The result is the Kalevala; a Fin
Ossian with fair claims to authenticity. It grew into form
gradually and was the work of more investigators than
one. It is a pagan poem in respect to its machinery,
though not without allusions to Christianity. Towards
the end the names of even Herod and the Virgin Mary
(Marietta) appear; but this is in a kind of appendix to
the poem, rather than the poem itself.
The Kalevala is a series of rhapsodies; the word being
used in that technical sense in which it appears in the
numerous writings on the Homeric poems. It is in the
language of the present time, and the metre of Long-
fellow's Hiawatha; or rather, Hiawatha is in the metre of
the Kalevala. The heroes are Wainamoinen, Illmarinen,
and Lemminkainen, whose actions, like those of Diomed
or Ulysses in the Iliad, though separate, are still
capable of being connected in such a manner as to give
unity to the poem in which they are exhibited. The
scenes are, for the most part, in Kalevala and Pohjola.
All three of the above-named agents agree in acting more
or less in concert. They represent Kalevala as opposed
to Pohjola. Those who love to find the symbolic in the
material may make out of this dualism an antagonism,
and out of that antagonism a moral, a meteorological, or
a historical struggle, according as they see in it the con-
trast between good and evil, summer and winter, light
THE KALEVALA.
433
and darkness, the Laplanders and the Finlanders. For
our present purpose it is enough to consider it simply as
a vehicle for so much fantastic narrative.
There is a contest, and a long one-not the less remark-
able for the negative fact of its being, comparatively,
bloodless. There are fights in it more than one; but
not fights with the sword or spear. It is the skill of the
enchanter that is most particularly tried; the skill of the
man of powerful spells and sweet sounds, the skill of the
man of a crafty head and a cunning hand, the skill of
the musician and the metallurgist. Wainamoinen is
much of a smith, and more of a harper. Illmarinen is
most of a smith. Lemminkainen is much of a harper
and little of a smith. The hand of the daughter of the
mistress of Pohjola is what, each and all, the three sons of
Kalevala strive to win; a hand which the mother of the
owner will give to any one who can make for her, and for
Pohjola, Sampo. Wainamoinen will not: but he knows
of one who will-Illmarinen. Illmarinen makes it, and
gains the mother's consent thereby. But the daughter
requires another service. He must hunt down the elk of
Tuonela. We now see the way in which the actions of
the heroes are, at one and the same time, separate and
connected. Wainamoinen tries; Illmarinen tries (and
eventually wins); Lemminkainen tries. There are alter-
nations of friendship and enmity. Sampo is made and
presented. It is then wanted back again.
"Give us," says Wainamoinen, "if not the whole,
half."
"C
Sampo," says Louhi, the mistress of Pohjola," cannot
be divided."
"Then let us steal it," says one of the three. "Agreed,"
say the other two.
So the rape of Sampo takes place. It is taken from
VOL. I.
F F
434
THE KALEVALA.
Pohjola, whilst the owners are sung to sleep by the harp of
Lemminkainen; sung to sleep, but not for so long a time
as to allow the robbers to escape. They are sailing Kale-
valaward, when Louhi comes after them on the wings of
the wind, and raises a storm. Sampo is broken and thrown
into the sea. Bad days now come. There is no sun, no
moon. Illmarinen makes them of silver and gold. He
had previously made his second wife (for he lost his first)
out of the same metals. However, Sampo is washed up,
and made whole. Good days come. The sun and moon
shine as before, and the sons of Kalevala possess
Sampo.
Others
But what is Sampo? "A temple," say some.
say a "talisman." Others, a "mill.”
"mill." Wainamoinen
found it hard to make. Speculators on Wainamoinen.
find it hard to understand. Let us take the order for it
simply as so much fantastic narrative. It was to be made
out of a swan's feather, a lock of wool, and a grain of
corn, and it was to bring prosperity to the possessor.
Wainamoinen, &c., are heroes rather than gods. First
amongst the gods is Jumala.
All the importance we attach to such words as Zeus,
Jupiter, Baal, Odin, &c., in the Greek, Latin, Syrian,
Scandinavian and other mythologies, we must give to the
word Jumala in the Ugrian, or if not to the exact word,
to its several modifications, some of which, though real,
are obscure. The cultus of Jumala is one of the great
Ugrian characteristics. It is widely spread. It origi-
nated early. Languages, wherein the names of the
minor and newer divinities are different, all agree in
containing the root Jum-for the syllable -la is a deriva-
tional affix. Thus, in the Samoyed, the word is Num, from
probably Nyum, the change from y to ny being common.
The Tsherimis form is Juma, the Zirianian Jen (from yenm,
THE KALEVALA.
435
or yeml). The Estonian and Lap names are Jummal and
Jubmal respectively.
We may talk, then, of the Jumala-cultus as being the
chief cultus of the Ugrians. Its meaning, like its form,
varies-being threefold. Jumala means, (1) the Sky or
Heavens; (2) the God of the Sky or Heavens; (3) God
in general; the present Finlanders, who have been Chris-
tianized, using it in this third sense at the present moment,
notwithstanding its relation to their old heathen mytho-
logy; just as we use the word Hell from the Goddess Hela.
Ukko bears a name with, apparently, a very definite
signification. In the Magyar, agg means old. In Ostiak
yig does the same. In a secondary sense this latter word
is father. Word for word, it is the aga, or aka, of the
Turk dialects, wherein it has almost as many meanings
as forms. All, however, imply seniority, and the respect
which seniority demands. In Yakut it is father, in other
languages elder brother, uncle, grandfather. In the
Osmanli it is a title expressive of rank. The Mantshú
aga Sir, or Master; whereas in Mongol it re-appears
as elder brother-c'est une expression respectueuse comme, en
français, Monsieur. In pursuance with this, Ukko is, as
Lencvist writes, totius aula celestis senior et præses; his
designation being a title, or form of address, rather
than a true and proper personal name. It is only this,
however, in its primary etymology. It is a true and
=
proper personal name as well. If so, Ukko is not only
Pater and Princeps, but Diespeter, Jupiter, or Zeus.
Like Zeus he is the God of Heaven.
Ukko, who art in the heavens ;
Ukko, father of the heavens;
Ukko, in the clouds that rulest,
And the clouds and breezes drivest;
Rule the clouds, and rule the heavens,--
Rule the sky, and rule it kindly;
FF 2
.
4:36
THE KALEVALA.
Send a cloud from east to westward,
Send a cloud from north to southward,
Send a cloud from west to eastward,
From the south send clouds and showers-
Clouds whose showers drop like honey, &c.
Tapio, of Tapiola, or Tapio-land, heads the list of
the genii of the forest, presiding over the beasts, both of
the chase and the homestead, more especially, however,
those of the chase. Yet his apparel and harness are
scarcely those of the hunter. His cap is made of the
needles of the fir, his jacket of the lichens. His jacket
fits tight, and his cap is like the mitre of a bishop; at least
it bears the same name, hippa. His beard is brown, and
his neck is long, so that he is sometimes called knippana
(long-necked) on that account. But he has many names
besides this; or, at any rate, many circumlocutions under
which he is invoked. He is the Lord of Tapiola;
the Old Man of the Woods; the Elder of the Hills; the
King of the Forest; the Master of the Waste; and the
like.
His more especial epithet is tarkha, that is, the exact or
careful, for where need a man be careful and exact if
not in hunting?
He has a wife, a maid, and a son. The son is noticed
first; because when he has been noticed the whole of
the male part of Tapio's family is disposed of. Yet the
family is a large one. It is large; but it is a family
of daughters. The gods of the Fin forest are chiefly
goddesses. The Fauni and Silvani are Dryads and
Oreads. Nyyrikki, however, or Pinneys, is the son;
son of Tapio; son and heir-male; well-shaped and
comely, with a high cap on his head, like his father;
but no jacket of lichens on his body. He has a
blue vest instead of this, and bears himself nobly in
it. When the ways are foul, and the bogs deep,
THE KALEVALA.
437
Nyyrikki, or Pinneys, makes bridges, or lays stepping-
stones; or, this being done already, directs the feet of
the wandering huntsman to where they are.
He marks,
too, the trees, and, so doing, shows which way is
to be taken, which avoided. Tapio, the father, gives
the game. Nyyrikki, the son, gets it pursued in
safety.
The mother of Nyyrikki, and his numerous sisters, is
Miellikki. She has many names besides; but Miellikki
is, probably, the commonest. She is the hostess of the
woods; the mistress of the court of Tapio; the queen
of the woodland; the mother of the honeycomb-of
which she is the consumer as well. One of her names
is Simanten; sima meaning honey. A damsel of her train
is named Honeymouth.
How is she dressed? That depends upon the season
not the season in respect to its heat or cold, but the
season in respect to its goodness or badness in the eyes of
the hunter who invokes her. If things go but badly, she
is an ugly old woman dressed in rags, and those rags
dirty. But if game be abundant, she is loaded with
golden ornaments; rings on her fingers, rings on her toes,
rings on her wrists, rings on her ankles, and ear-rings;
all of gold. Golden, too, is the band round her fore-
head; and of gold the wires and pins of her hair.
But her eyebrows are adorned with pearls. Her stock-
ings are blue, and her garters red.
"Take off thy old and mean garments, and dress
thyself in thy noble attire. Put on the 'giving smock.'
So prays the hunter to Miellikki; much as he does to
Tapio as well. Though not so regularly; for the contrast
between Tapio's best and worst, his Sunday-clothes and
his work-a-day dress, is less. He is a quiet dresser in
general; as has been already remarked.
438
THE KALEVALA.
As are the garments, so is the dwelling; so, at least,
according to Castrén's interpretation, runs an obscure
passage in the Kalevala. Lemminkainen sings that one
day, when he was a-hunting, he saw three houses, one of
wood, one of bone, one of stone. The mansion of stone
was the residence of Tapio when he was free and liberal
in sending game. When he was chary, he lived in the
lodge of wood; and when an actual niggard, in the bone-
house. He owned treasures; of which honey in abun-
dance was the chief. The key of the storehouse was of
gold, and his wife, or housekeeper, kept it on a ring by
her side.
For Tapio had a housekeeper as well as his Miellikki.
This was Tellervo, or Hillervo. She had a round and
full figure and golden hair. She dressed herself in a fine
linen smock, with ornamented edges. I call her house-
keeper, because I am uncertain about her actual relation
to Tapio; who may have been a polygamist. She is
called Tapio's maid, and the maiden of the woods. She
is once, however, if not oftener, called Tapio's wife, and
occasionally she is confused with Miellikki.
She has a name to herself. So has the good-natured
Tuulikki. The rest of the children, or maids, of Tapio,
are known only by their function; which is to look after
the wild and tame. Collectively, however, the female
portion of them (which, with the exception of Nyyrikki,
means the whole) is called Luonnottaret, or Luonnon
tyttärat. One of these is more especially Metsän püka, or
the wood-maiden, short in stature, fond of music, fond
of honey. Indeed, this is the young woman who has
already been named as Honeymouth (Sima-sun). Her
flute is Sima-pilli, or honey-flute. She wakes the milkers
with this, by blowing it in their ears if they be too
late of a morning.
THE KALEVALA.
439
The name of Kekri presented itself in the translation
of Agricola's poem.
At curat pecudem Kekri, atque propagine læta,
Respondet votis pastor avare tuis.
He is not to be found in the Kalevala, though found
in the practices of the country people. All-Saints' day
is called, in some parts of Finland, Kekri. It is the
time when much corn is thrashed, so that, probably, Kekri
is the genius of harvest, or the threshing-floor.
Ahti is the god of the sea; Wellamo being his wife.
The land of the dead is either Tuonela, or Manala.
Ukko, however, and Tapio, are by far the most prominent
gods of the Pantheon.
I conclude this sketch with the three following extracts.
They give us the mundane egg of the Ægyptians. They
give us a cosmogony common to the Scandinavians and
the Fins. They give us (as in the Estonian narrative) a
specimen of the transformation or, as some would say,
the degradation, of a myth.
FIN OF FINland.
Old true Wainamoinen
Floats here and there,
On the great bosom of the sea;
Under him floats the water,
Over him waves the sky.
Then comes an eagle from Turialand;
Seeks a place for itself;
A place where it can rest.
Now the old Wainamoinen
Heaved up his knees out of the sea,
So that out of the sea there was a sod,
Over-grown with straw, withered.
The eagle from Turialand
Finds a place for it to build,
Marks the sod on the sea,
Drops on Wainamoinen's knees,
440
THE KALEVALA.
Builds for himself a nest of hay,
Lays in it six eggs :
Golden were the six eggs,
But the seventh was an iron egg.
Then she sits on the eggs,
The eagle warms the end of the knees,
Thereupon old Wainamoinen
Felt the heat in his knees,
Moved when his limbs were warm;
Suddenly he moved his knees,
Shook his limbs.
The egg rolled in the water;
The egg split in pieces;
The eagle flew off in the air.
Then said old Wainamoinen,
"The lower part of the egg
Shall become the earth;
The upper part of the egg
Shall be changed into the sky;
All the white of the egg
Shall be the sun in the sky;
The yolk of the egg
Shall be the moon in the dark;
And all the little bits of the egg
Shall be the stars of the sky."-From the Kalevala.
NORSE.
Out of Ymer's flesh
The earth was made;
Out of his sweat the sea;
The hills out of his bones;
The trees out of his hair;
Out of his brow the sky;
And, from his hair,
The gods made
Midearth for the sons of men;
And out of his scalp
Was there made
All the sky.-From the Older Edda.
ESTONIAN.
The eagle of the north, the cunning bird,
Built a nest in the fir-trees of the island,
In the middle of the rocks of Kalleva.
There were in the nest three eggs;
Two were of the hen of the eagle,
THE KALEVALA.
441
The third was of the hen of Kalleva.
This was the nest-egg of Kalleva.
The eagle flew forth to Finland,
Thence from Finland through Saxony;
Secretly did I slip to the nest,
Took the egg of Kalleva,
Carried it to the town,
Raised it with a crane into a boat,
Hastened homewards in the skiff.
The egg sunk to the bottom of the sca;
Smashed in two on the rocks.
Out of one shell came a man of war;
Out of the other was a merchantman;
Out of the shard barges.
Out of the yolk came Kargesare,
Out of the white came Tutlarsare,
Out of the embryo the other islands.*
From Neuss Estnische Volkslieder.
Word for word, the Norse Ymer is the Fin Jumala.
Sare is the Estonian for an island. Dagö and Osel, &c.,
seem to be alluded to.
* The original of the last six lines of the Estonian poem are remarkably
regular in their metre, for which reason I subjoin them.
Sääl korest sõa-laiwa,
Teisest korest kauba-laiwa,
Kore kildest killa-padid.
Tõusis rebbust Kõrge-sare,
Muña walgest Tüthar-sare
Muña tumest teised sared.
442
THE KOMIMURT.
CHAPTER XXII.
The Ugrians of Vologda, Permia, &c.-The Komimurt, or Permians and
Zirianians.-The Udmurt, or Votiak.-The Biserman.
The Komimurt.-The Komimurt in the eyes of a Rus-
sian fall into two divisions, one occupant of the Govern-
ment of Vologda and called Zirianian, the other called
Permian, occupant of the Government of Perm. It is
only, however, in the eyes of a Russian that this distinc-
tion exists. A Permian calls himself Komimurt, and he
calls the Zirianian so as well. The Zirianian does the
same. In short a Zirianian is a Permian of Vologda, and
a Permian a Zirianian of Perm. So it is now. So it was
in the times of the old Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons,
who call the whole country Biarmaland, and Beormalaud,
i. e. the land of the Beormas, a population of no small
commercial importance, a population whose early history,
whether read in the old Norse sagas, or deduced from
the examination of their antiquities, is well worth inves-
tigating. Indeed, the commercial history of the Beor-
maland would be the commercial history of the White
Sea, a history of bold explorers, active traders, and,
doubtless, unscrupulous pirates. It would be impor-
tant, too, in its relations to the populations of Central
Asia.
Notwithstanding the historical prominence of the
ancient Beormas, their descendants, the present Komi-
murt, have no recollections of their ancient nationality,
THE KOMIMURT.
443
no traditions, no explanation of the several monuments
of antiquity in which their country abounds. Of their
ancient renown they know as little as they do of the dis-
tinction which the Russian draws between their Zirianian
and Permian elements; a difference which is political
and geographical rather than ethnological. Both popula-
tions occupy a region of streams and woods, both being
fishers and foresters. The Permian, however, is in a min-
ing district, and is, in his present occupations, a miner.
Both have asufficient aptitude for trade and labour; both
are active and hard-working.
The Komimurt are, to a man, Christians, Christians of
the Greek Church, and of long standing, the history
of their conversion being that of St. Stephanus, in the
fourteenth century. An inscription from the Church of
Vozhemsk, in Vologda, though not yet deciphered, is
believed to be Zirianian.
The Zirianians and Permians call themselves Komimurt.
Wotiaks Wotiak.
Woguls Wagol.
Samoyeds Yarang.
Russians Kotsh.
Rodsh.
The Udmurt, Udi, or Votiak.-The Udi, or Udmurt,
were first visited by the Russians of Novogorod in
1174, who settled a few colonists in their country, and
established a trade, the settlement being, more or less,
independent. It was not until the reign of Ivan Vasi-
lievitsh, who subjected the great town of Novogorod
itself to tribute, that the whole area of what is now
the Government of Viatka was thoroughly reduced.
Nor was this reduction absolutely final. In 1553, a re-
4.4.4
THE UDMURT.
bellion of the Udmurt, Tsherimis, and Tartars of the
conterminous districts, though quashed, took formidable
dimensions.
At present it is in the circles of Glasov, Malmysh,
Yelabuga, and Sarapul, all in the Government of
Viatka, that the bulk of the Udmurt is to be found.
Sometimes it bears all the characters of a separate sub-
stantive population, retaining the Udmurt language, the
Udmurt customs, and the Udmurt creed. At others, one
or more characteristics is lost, and the language is Turk or
Russian, the creed Christian or Mahometan.
Word for word, Udmurt is a compound of murt =
man, like Komimurt, the name of the Permians and Ziria-
nians. It is native. The Russian term is Votiak; the
Votiaks of the river and Government of Viatka being
Udmurt under a Russian name. The Tartar name for
them is Ari. From this we may learn that, at one time,
the Udmurt, or Votiak, area extended further south than
it does now; since there is a locality on the river
Kasanka called the Fortress of the Ari, or Arskoi Prigo-
rod. It was one of the last strongholds that yielded to
the Tartars, and exhibits, at the present time, remains of
its ancient defences.
In person the Votiak resembles the Finlander, as he
does in temper.
His hair is often, very often, red;
indeed the Votiaks have the credit of forming the most
red-haired nation in the world.
The men dress like the Russians, the women only
adhering to the ancient costume. Of this the most im-
portant part is the aishon, or cap, made of the white bark
of the birch, with a band of blue linen round it, and
silver ornaments, often coins, in front. To these decora-
tions add streamers behind and embroidery on the borders,
and you have the aishon of the Votiak, or Udmurt,
THE UDMURT.
445
woman. She resides with her family, in small villages
erected on clearances in the forest. Her business is to
weave, to spin, to felt, and to tend bees; for the Votiak
area is in the heart of the bee country, a country of limes
and birches. In the vast woods of these trees the Udmurt
lives, like the German of old, in tribes, with wastes or
woodlands as marks between the villages. These take
their name from the tribe to which they belong; for the
tribual organization belongs to the Votiak country, and,
though many of their nobler families have become ex-
tinct, some few still remain. When the ground of a
settlement has been exhausted, the tribe, or village,
removes itself to a fresh spot. Like so many other rude
nations the Udmurt is, at one and the same time, migra-
tory and agricultural. To Russia they pay a capitation-
tax, either in money or peltry, but beyond this are
left to themselves, i. e. to the government of their own
elders.
The Votiak Christianity (to say nothing about the truly
pagan portion of the country) is of an imperfect kind.
It just overlies, or surmounts, a basis of original super-
stitions. The chief deity is Juman, resident in the Sun;
then Tasa Buss the Bad, and Urom Bus the Good, deity;
then a lot of little household gods called Modor. Not
seldomer than three times a year solemn sacrifices, in the
deepest and gloomiest parts of the forest, are made to
Urom and Tasa Bus, the chief offerings being milk,
honey, sheep, and poultry. The priest is called Tona,
the festival Nunal, the locality in which it takes place
Keremets. At the great feast of the Keremets Nunal, a
horse, a chestnut horse if possible (but never a black
one), is sacrificed. His fat is burnt, his hide taken
home, his skull left to bleach in mid-air. In praying,
the priests look to the sun at noon.
446
THE UDMURT.
The Votiaks are generally considered to be a very
pure-blooded population, intermarrying but little with
the Tsherimis, and less with the Turks and Russians.
English.
Permian.
Zirianian.
Votiak.
Man (vir).
aika
weres
kart
(homo)
mort
mort
mura
Head
jor
jor
jor
Hair
jors
jorsi
jirsi
Eye
sin
sin
sin
Ear
pel
pel
pel
Nose
nyr
nyr
nyr
Mouth
im
wom
im
❤
Tongue
kyl
kyv
kyl
Tooth
pin
pin
pin
Hand
ki
ki
ki
Foot
kok
kok
pud
Sun
shonde
shonde
shunde
Moon
tyles
tyles
Star
kod
kadzil
toles
kesele
Fire
by
bi
tul
Water
wa
wa
wu
Tree
pu
pu
pu
Stone
is
is
is
One
otyk
ytyp
odyk
Two
kyk
kyk
kik
Three
kwiu
kuim
kwin
Four
njula
njul
nil
Five
wit
wit
wit
Six
kwet
kwait
kuat
Seven
sysim
sisim
sisim
Eight
kykamys
kekames
kiyamis
Nine
Ten
okmys
das
ykmis
ukmys
das
das.
The Beserman.-In my work on the Native Races of
Russia, I stated that in the Government of Viatka, there
were 4545 Besermanians; this being all I could say.
What was meant by the term I knew not; neither did I
know who these Besermanians were.
I have since learned that, word for word Beserman, is
Mussulman; the B being changed to M; just as, on the
THE BESERMAN.
4.47
•
banks of the Lena, the huge fossil mastodon that the
Arabs (for Arab trade forced itself thus far north) called
behemoth, took the name by which it is now known in
Europe, i. e. that of mammoth.
Beserman, then, is Mussulman, and the Besermanians
are the Ugrians whom the neighbourhood of the Turks
of Viatka converted to Mahometanism.
The Komimurt and Udmurt languages are sufficiently
like the Fin Proper to suggest the likelihood of all four
having originally belonged to the same area, i. e. to the
Governments of Viatka, Perm, Vologda, Kostroma (a Fin
name), Yaroslav, and Novogorod. This fixes them in
the centre of Russia rather than in the extreme north.
Northwards, however, they have extended themselves;
for the Zirianians of the Government of Archangel, in
contact with the Samoyeds, Voguls, and northern Ostiaks,
and on or within the Arctic Circle, appear to be in-
trusive.
The distribution of the Komimurt, Udmurt, and
Beserman, is as follows:-
Komimurt-
Zirianians:
In Archangel
6,958
Vologda
64,007
70,965
Permians:
In Perm
47,605
Viatka.
4,599
52,204
448
THE BESERMAN.
Udmurt-
In Viatka.
Kazan
- Orenburg
Samar
Beserman
In Viatka.
181,270
5,500
?
?
186,770
4,545
The Turks of Viatka (those who, being in the
closest contact with the Beserman, are the most likely to
have effected their conversion) amount to 57,944.
sides which there are 3617 Bashkirs, also Mahometan.
There is, probably, some Komimurt blood in Siberia.
A village on the Obi is named Zirianovskoe. The Yeni-
seians call the Russians Zirianians. Castrén states that
there has been, within the last three centuries, a direct
Zirianian settlement in some part of the Government
of Tobolsk.
THE TSHEREMIS.
4.19
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Ugrians of Viatka, Kazan, &c.-The Mari, or Tsherimis.-The
Mordvin.
The Tsheremis.-Word for word, I believe Tsheremis to
be Arimaspi. It is no native name.
Mari man.
The Tsheremis census is as follows:
The native name is
In Viatka.
75,450
Kazan
71,375
•
Perm
7,938
Nizhni Novogorod
4,330
Kostroma
3,357
Orenburg
2,626
165,076
The face of the Tsheremis is flat, the beard scanty, the
stature moderate.
Haxthausen saw none but dark-skinned, dark-eyed,
and dark-haired individuals. Other observers report
differently, and speak of light complexions, with hair to
match.
Though he is said to delight in the flesh of the horse,
the Tsheremis abominates that of the hog; and this even
where his habits are unwarped by any influence from his
Tartar neighbours.
The price that a Tsheremis pays for his bride, and, as
VOL. I.
G G
450
THE TSHEREMIS.
polygamy is allowed, he may pay it for several, is called
Olon. The Votiak word was Yerdon.
The following hymn shows that Christianity has yet to
displace the original heathendom of the Tsheremises;
indeed, to say nothing about the imperfect and inchoate
religion of the converts, the number of unmodified
pagans is far greater than with the Mordvins.
1. May God give health and happiness to him who offers a sacrifice.
2. To the children who come into the world, give, O Yuma, plenty of
good things, gold, bread, cattle, and bees.
3. During the new year make our becs to swarm and give much honey.
4. Bless our chase after birds and after beasts.
5. Give us our fill of gold and silver.
6. Make us, O Yuma, masters of all the treasures buried in the earth,
all over the world.
7. Grant that in our bargains we may make three times the value of
our goods.
8. Enable us to pay our tribute.
9. Grant that, at the beginning of the spring, our three sorts of cattle
may find their ways back by three different paths, and that we may keep
them from bears, from wolves, and from robbers.
10. Make our cows with calf.
11. Make our thin kine fatten for the good of our children.
12. Enable us with one hand to sell our barren cows, and with the
other to take the money.
13. Send us, O Yuma, a true and trusty friend.
14. When we travel far, preserve us, O Yuma, from bad men, from
sickness, from fools, from bad judges, and from lying tongues.
15. As the hop grows and throws out its scent, so, O Yuma, grant that
we wax strong through goodness, and smell sweet from reason.
16. As the wax sparkles in burning, so let us, O Yuma, live in joy and
health.
17. Let our existence be as calm and regular as the cells of a honey-
comb.
18. Grant, O Yuma, that he who asks may obtain the object of his
prayer.
When this prayer is finished, the head, heart, lungs,
and liver are offered up to the deity to whom it is ad-
dressed. A feast follows. The remains are burnt.
The Mordvin.-The Mordvin men dress like the Rus-
THE MORDVIN.
451
sians, live like the Russians, and are, with few or no
exceptions, Christians. They speak, however, a Ugrian
language.
They amount to—
In Penza
Simbirsk
106,025
98,968
- Saratov
78,010
Samar
•
74,910
Nizhni Novogorod
53,383
Tambov
48,491
Kazan
14,867
- Orenburg
Taurida
Astrakan
5,200
340
48
480,242
They fall into three divisions:-
1. The Ersad on the Oka;
2.
3.
Mokshad Sura;
Karatai about Kazan.
The name is native.
Among the Ersad red hair is not uncommon ; else-
where it is brown, rather than black.
In Taurida and Astrakan they are recent settlers.
English.
Tsheremis.
Mordvin.
Man (vir)
mara
mirda
(homo)
edem
loman
Head
bui
prä
Hair
ip
Eye
shinsha
tsher
syälme
Ear
piliksh
pilye
Nose
ner
sudo
Mouth
ushma
kurgo
Tongue
yolma
kel
Tooth
pü
päi
Hand
kit
ked
G G 2
452
THE MORDVIN.
English.
Mordvin.
Tsheremis.
Foot
yal
pilge
Sun
ketshe
tshi
Moon
tilsye
kov
Star
shuder
teshtye
Fire
tul
Water
wüt
tol
wät
Tree
pu
tshufto
Stone
ku
käv
One
iktet
wait
Two
koktet
kafto
Three
kumut
kolmo
Four
nilit
nilye
Five
wisit
wäze
Six
kudut
kota
Seven
shimit
sisem
Eight
kandashe
kauksa
Nine
indeshe
wäiksye
Ten
lu
kämen
Word for word, Mordvin is the root mard = man, in
so many Asiatic languages. It is also, in all probability,
the same name as Amardi, a name belonging to the
ancient geography of Persia.
Word for word, Ud seems to be Vod.
THE OSTIA KS.
453
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Ugrians of the Ural.-The Mansi, or Ostiaks and Voguls.
The Mansi, or Ostiaks and Voguls.-The Ostiak Mansi.—
Under the name of Mansi I include two populations, akin
to each other in all the chief ethnological characters, and
in immediate geographical contact. The first of these is
known by the Turk and Russian designation of Ostiak,
and, as its occupancy is the river Obi, the Ostiak of the
Obi appears somewhat conspicuously in the ethnology
and geography of Siberia. The other is called, by the
Russians, Vogul.
The Ostiaks have no general or collective name at all.
So at least I infer from the description of them. The
nearest approach to one is Kondiko; but, as this merely
means the occupants of the river Konda it has only a
partial application. In like manner, the terms, Asyakh =
river-men, and Tyukum morass-men, are anything but
general.
=
Undersized and deficient in muscle, the Ostiak is
nevertheless hardy. In youth he is healthy; but, as
age comes on, scorbutic and cutaneous diseases, evi-
dently connected with his filthy habits of life, set in.
The winter hut is close and fetid with the reek of damp
fuel and putrid fish. The winter provender is dried
or frozen; for salt is scarce. The product of the sum-
4.54
THE OSTIAKS.
mer's fishing is stored in abundance and over-abundance,
some part of it for human use and some for the dogs; some
having been previously bartered away. The cold weather
drives them from the river-side to the forest, where, on
long snow-skates, like those of the Lap, or on dog-drawn
sledges, they search for bears, foxes, sables, and squirrels.
Their clothing is the skin of the reindeer doubled—hair in
and hair out.
The women are partially tattooed.
It is only the winter cabin of the Ostiak that aspires to
the name and dignity of a house. It is half sunk in the
soil and sodded over with turf by way of a roof. The
summer habitation consists of a few slanted poles, with
wattles, or birch-bark, for a wall. Where the winter
house takes its full dimensions it becomes the joint occu-
pancy of some three, four, or six families, in which case
as many as thirty individuals of all ages and either sex
may be cabined and confined together, cooking, smoking,
and sleeping.
The tribual system of the Ostiak Mansi, though exhi-
bited on a smaller scale than that of the Turks and
Mongols, is eminently instructive not only to the ethnolo-
gist, but to the civil historian, who, in many cases, would
do well if he trusted less to testimony and more to induc-
tion. The Mansi Ostiaks are both tribesmen and pagans; a
fact which gives us a double division. It is the parts about
Obdorsk of which our informant, Castrén, most especially
speaks. There are several tribes in its neighbourhood.
Each has a head, with elders under him. This head,
chief, or prince has large powers; being judge in
all cases for which, in Russian law, the penalty is less
than death. But the subordinate elders are appealed to
in the first instance. They also take cognizance of minor
quarrels, offences, and suits.
THE OSTIAKS.
455
Members of the same tribe, whether large or small,
consider themselves as relations, even where the common
ancestor is unknown, and where the evidence of consan-
guinity is wholly wanting. Nevertheless, the feeling of
consanguinity, sometimes real, sometimes conventional, is
the fundamental principle of the union. The rich, of
which there are few, help the poor, who are many. There
is not much that can change hands. The little, however,
that is wanted by the needy is taken as a right rather than
a favour. This makes the hunting-grounds, and (in a less
degree) the product of the hunt common property.
The names of the following tribes, or Megh, are from
Klaproth :-
1. Luhung Megh.
2. Waghu Megh.
3. Tormiogon Megh.
4. Pyhm Megh.
5. Agon Megh.
6. Endl' Agon Megh.
7. Ay Agon Megh.
8. Lokatsh Megh.
9. Palakh Megh.
10. Salâhm Megh.
11. Tahsen Megh.
Such are the names of the Asyakh divisions; occupant
of the Obi. The principle on which they are given
seems to be other than uniform. The second, third, and
fourth are geographical, the Waghu Megh, the Tormiogon
Megh, and the Pyhm Megh being the tribes of the rivers
Wakh, Tohrm-yogan, and Pyhm. It is probable, too,
that this is the case with the sixth and seventh, where
yogan (river) takes the form agon. The Luhung Megh
has a different derivation. So at least writes Klaproth,
who objects to deriving it from Lung, an idol, as some of
his predecessors had done. He prefers the root Lun, the
name of a bird. If so, the principle that gives us the
Hare, Tortoise, Wolf, and other tribes in America gives
us the Owl, or Hawk tribe in Siberia. The other names
456
THE OSTIAKS.
may or may not be local. I should have been glad to
have found that some of them were personal: for this is
what is expected à priori. The principle of eponymy
(i. e. the principle of naming the tribe after a real or
supposed progenitor) is so common that the absence of a
body of Ostiaks bearing the name of some chief or hero
is remarkable. When the eponymus is real (as he rarely
is) the tribe takes its name from him in reality as well
as in appearance. When the eponymus is fictitious or
conventional, and the name of a hypothetical ancestor is
an after-thought to account for the name of a tribe, the
denomination is fictitious, and the hero takes his name
(and existence as well) from the tribe.
The Ostiak tribes, however, have local rather than per-
sonal denominations; and the Ostiaks are Wak-men or
Pym-men, rather than the sons of A, or the children of B.
•
The Megh is a political division. But besides the
political division, there is a religious one. The use of
the same consecrated spot, or the same priest, is also a
bond of union; and I infer, from the notice of Castrén,
that the two divisions thus formed by no means neces-
sarily coincide.
The priest is a Shaman, i. e. priest, sacrificant, sorcerer,
prophet, and medicine-man at once; capable of working
himself into real or mock frenzies; fond of the sound of
the drum.
Some of the idols are called Lung, others Yilyan.
Mean and Kuly are the names of two of the minor
divinities; each malevolent rather than kind. The highest
deity is Torom. Of oaths, the greatest, like that of the
Yeniseians, is that which is taken on the head of a
bear, and concludes with the imprecation "if I swear
Other Siberians, besides
untruly, may a bear eat me."
the Ostiaks and the Yeniseians, reverence the bear. The
THE OSTIAKS.
457
old Zirianians did so, and, probably, the Permians as
well. Indeed, if an ordinary huntsman meets his death
in the forest, and a bear have killed him, he is generally
accused of having forsworn himself during life.
The practice of interring the weapons and accoutre-
ments of the deceased along with the corpse, common in
so many rude countries, is common amongst the Ostiak.
Polygamy is allowed. But it is not common. For a
plurality of wives the country is too poor. Brothers
marry the widows of brothers. Two brothers, however,
may not marry two sisters.
Of the two branches of the Ostiaks, the hunters and
the fishers, the latter are the poorest.
The Ostiaks call the river Obi As.
Men of the As, Asicolæ, or Obicolæ, call
The As-yakh,
The Ostiaks of the Demianka Tshonto-yakh.
Irtysh
Long-gol-yakh.
other rivers Nang-wanda-yakh.
Narym, and the banks of the river Ket, are the most
eastern points of the Ostiak occupancy, and there they
come in contact with the Samoyeds. Now the term for
man changes here, and is-
In the singular number, kup = homo.
plural
kula homines.
Hence the compound Gentile names all end different,
and a Narym Ostiak calls himself Dshumul-kula.
The Surgut Ostiaks
Tangyl-kula.
Russians
Turks in general
Ruzhil-kula.
Tül-kula.
of the Tshulim Tshulim-ku-kula.
Tungusians Guellon-kula.
the river Obi Koldy.
Tym Kasükh-kü.
458
THE OSTIAKS.
Koldy is also the Samoyed name of the Obi.
The Asjaikh of Surgut call themselves Kaxta-yakh.
the Ostiaks Narym Nyorom-
Samoyeds Yeryan-yakh.[yakh.
Turks Katan-yakh.
Russians Rutsh-yakh.
Germans Nimet-yakh.
Word for word, Njorum is Narym, meaning fen, and, as
a Ugrian gloss, it is an instrument of criticism. Where the
root Nar and a swampy locality go together, we have a
presumption in favour of either a Ugrian occupancy or a
Ugrian neighbourhood.
English.
Ostiak.
Samoyed.
Man (vir)
kuim
khayodu
(homo)
koiet
menatshe
Head
ugol
ngaiva
Hair
upat
ngcepta
Eye
sem
Ear
pel
Nose
näl
Mouth
lul
seu
khau
ngpuie
nyan
Hand
ket
uda
Foot
kur
ngai
Sun
syunk
khaer
Moon
tylesh
yirri
Star
koz
numge
Fire
tyod
tu
Water
ying
yi
Tree
yog
pya
Stone
kiw
pai
One
ogy
ngob
Two
ketto
zidde
Three
kholym
nyahar
Four
nül
Five
uet
Six
kut
Seven
labut
tyet
sambalyank
mat
ziu
Eight
nuul
Nine
yirteng
zidden-tyet
khasoai-yu
Ten
iyani
luste-yu
THE VOGULS.
459
The Vogul Mansi.-The Voguls hold a cheerless and in-
hospitable tract of land along the ridge of the Ural in its
northern parts, and on its eastern aspect, being bounded by
the Zirianians, Samoyeds, and the Kondicho, whom they
call by the name they give themselves, viz. Mansi. The
Mansi, or Voguls, ruder than the populations to the west
of them, are, there or thereabouts, on a level with Kon-
dicho and Samoyeds, their villages being small and far
apart, their clearances in the forest imperfectly cultivated,
their habits those of the hunter.
As Beresov was the great mart for the Ostiak, Obdorsk
is the emporium for the Vogul. Thither he takes the pro-
duce of his long and wearisome hunts, the skins of the rein-
deer and elk, shot by the bow or gun, and caught by the
trap or pitfall. Of hunting on horseback the Vogul has
none; neither are dogs common in his country, a country
of bog and wood, where the wealthy proprietor keeps but
a few cows, and where agricultural industry is only
inchoate.
In the south part of the Vogul country Christianity
has advanced a little; feebly and imperfectly, but still a
little. In the north, paganism prevails. The head of
the family is the priest. The chief object of the prayer
is success in hunting. To ensure this, images in the
shape of the beast more especially sought for, rudely
shaped out of wood or stone, are set up; so that a Vogul
divinity is elk-shaped, fox-shaped, or sable-shaped, as
the case may be.
The Voguls call themselves Mansi.
the Ostiaks Mansi.
Samoyeds Torran-kum.
Turks Nyurma-kum.
Russians Rus.
river Obi As.
460
THE VOGULS.
The Voguls call the Irtish
Shap.
Tawda Tagget.
Konda Khonda.
The Vogul language is the least known of all the
Ugrian tongues; there being no grammar of it, and
only short vocabularies.
English.
Vogul.
Ostiak.
Samoyed.*
Man (vir)
kom
kuim
khayoau
(homo)
klas
khoiet
menatshe
Head
pank
ngol
ngaiva
Hair
ata
upat
ngeepta
Eye
sham
sem
Ear
bal
pel
Nose
nöl
näl
seu
khau
ngpuie
Mouth
tozh
lul
Tongue
nelma
nälim
nyan
nyami
Tooth
ping
penk
Hand
kat
ket
uda
Foot
lal
kur
ngai
Sun
kotal
syunk
khaer
Moon
yankop
tylesh
yirri
Star
kenza
koz
numge
Fire
taut
tyod
tu
Water
wit
ying
yi
Tree
yo
yog
pya
Stone
ku
kiw
pai
The Magyars.-The vernacular name for the natives
of what we are in the habit of considering the pure
and proper Hungarian districts of Hungary, as op-
posed to the Germans, Slavonians, and Rumanyos,
is Magyar-Magyar, and not Hun. This latter, the
commoner and more current denomination, is foreign
to the real Hungarians. It is Slavonic in origin;
being Uhri in Bohemian, Wegry in Polish, and Vengri
in Russian. It was adopted, however, by the Germans,
* Of Obdorsk.
THE MAGYARS.
461
In
and that at an early period, inasmuch as the first notices
of the western annalists speak of the Hungarii. They
give them a bad name, and depict them as the wildest of
the wild. They come from Scythia. They fight (as the
Tsheremises are described to have done) with the bow;
the bow made of horn. Where the sword kills its tens,
the arrow destroys its hundreds. They are very savage;
indeed, they are like the Britons in their fierceness.
However, the Britons use darts rather than arrows.
doing this they exhibit their chief difference between
themselves and Hungarians. These Britons are the Britons
of Brittany. The Hungarians are the Magyars. Nomads
and warriors, they occasionally got called Hagarens, as if
they were Arabs. From Agar to Ishmael the transition
is short, and, in one of the notices, we hear of Billa and
Bocsu, who found a place called Pest, at the head of a
great multitude of Hishmaelites, who came from the land
of Bular, i. e. Bulgaria.
They are more excusably confounded with the Turks;
for they both came from a Turk district, and settled
in one. They came from the kingdom of Bulgaria and
the frontier of the Khazars and Petshineks, and they
settled in what had, a few centuries back, been the
land of the Huns, and, nearer to their own time, that
of the Avars. Add to this that the Magyars effected
during one of their marches an alliance with the
Comanians or Polovczi. There was much, then, to con-
nect them with Turkestan. No writer does this more
than the imperial historian Constantine Porphyrogeneta,
writing about two centuries after their first appearance.
With the Huns they were confused in the tenth century
by learned writers in Constantinople. With the Huns
they are confused at the present moment by learned
462
THE MAGYARS.
writers in Berlin and Vienna-by some, though not by
all. Now, whatever the Magyars may have been, they
were not the strength of the armies of Attila.
Another name, found in Porphyrogeneta, is Savartoy-
asfal (Zaßagroiάopanoi); and a mysterious name it is.
It is said to be an older name than Turk; Turk being no
true name at all. We must, however, take the word
as the author who supplies it, took it. Can it be
German? One of the Slavonic denominations for the
Magyars was Czernij Ugri, or black Ugrians; and Zeus
suggests that the first part of the name Savartoyasfal is
Swarthy. Who, however, applied it? The Russians
(he further suggests), before they had become Slavonic,
and when they were the Scandinavians of Rurik. In
the topography of eastern Hungary the termination -val
(fal) is common. We must be satisfied, however, for
the present, with leaving the name Savartoyasfal unex-
plained.
With such a choice of denominations it is not sur-
prising that the native name Magyar has been limited to
the Magyars themselves; who use it now, when they
speak of themselves, and who used it at the beginning of
their historical period. Its Latin form is Mogerii, its
Greek, Μαζαροι.
The original Magyar-land fell into three kingdoms,
Bostardia, Dentia, and Magaria; the first of which is
the land of the Bashkirs, a name variously transformed,
and which appears, in different writers, as Bashkart,
Bastarque, and Pascatir, and (to pass from a verbal to
real designation) Great Hungary. Baschkart, ou Pas-
catir, qui est la grande Hongrie. So writes Rubriquis,
A. D. 1255.
To return, however, to the use of the word amongst
THE MAGYARS.
463
the Magyars themselves. It appears in two compounds;
Dentu-moger, and Hetu-moger, or the seven Magyar.
To the Hetumoger were seven chiefs.
1. Almus, the father of Arpad.
2. Eleut, the son of Zobolsu, from whom are descended
the Saac.
3. Cundu, the father of Curzan.
4. Ound, the father of Ete, from whom are descended
the Calan and Colsoy.
5. Tosu, the father of Lelu.
6. Huba, from whom are descended the Zemera.
7. Tuhut, the father of Horca.
The sons of Horca were Gyyla and Zombor, from
whom are descended the Moglout.
This list, though it gives us no true genealogy, gives
us an historic fact, that of there being, at the time of its
concocter, certain tribes, clans, septs, or families (genera)
named Moglout, Zemera, Calan, Colsoy, and Saac. Let
these fall into divisions and subdivisions, and the num-
ber increases. They did do so; and, according to other
so-called traditions, the tribes of the Magar amounted to
108.
Word for word, I suspect that Magar is the Ostiak
Mekh. At any rate, the seven tribes of Hungary would
be-
In Ostiak
Vogul
labut mekh
satu mekh
the Vogul form being nearest to the Magyar.
That the Government of Orenburg is the original
Magyar country is shown by the remark of the writer
(Rubriquis) who speaks of the Bashkir country as being
the Great Hungary, adding that its language is that of
Hungary in Europe.
464
THE MAGYARS.
The best-ascertained facts in the way of chronology
respecting the movement westwards turn upon the names
of Leo the philosopher and the German emperor Arnulf.
The former employed the Magyars against the Bulgarians,
the latter against the Slavonians of Moravia.
That a branch settled in Persia is also fairly attested.
Porphyrogeneta writes of his Savartoyasfal that some are
in Persia "even until now." The minuter details of the
invasion are obscure.
All the blood in Hungary must be mixed. Before the
Magyars settled in it, it had been occupied by Dacians,
Jazyges, Romans, Huns, and Avars, to which add
Cumanians, and other less important elements.
That many females accompanied the Magyar invaders
is unlikely. The first generation was one of half-bloods.
The Magyar is not only Ugrian, but Ugrian of the
Mansi branch. The Ostiak and Voguls, however, are
amongst the most northern members of the stock. The
Magyar affinity suggests that, in their present localities,
they are intrusive; for the Magyar affinity brings them
southwards. So, it is said, do some of the traditions of
the Ostiaks themselves, according to which they came
from the upper Irtish.
I think, with others, that, word for word, Bashkir is
Magyar, the M being changed into B, upon the principle
which converts Mussulman into Biserman, and behemoth
into mammoth. I think that Meshtsheryak is the same;
also that in the Ostiak and the Magyar languages we
get the names for the Montes Rhipæi and the Volga
or river of Bulgaria. In the former, rip = hill; in the
latter, volgy = valley. In Arabic wadi means not only the
valley through which a river flows, but the river itself.
The Guadalquivir is, not the valley of the Iberis, but the
Iberis itself.
MAGYAR LANGUAGE.
465
Eye
Belly
Tree
fa
Hill
Leaf
Blood
wer
Bad
kar
Bread
kenyer
Thou
te
Ice
jeg
Egg
mony
Feather
toll
Fire
tüz
Finger
uij
Fish
hal
Spring
tawasz
Foot
lab
Goose
lud
Grass
pasit
Throat
Good
jo
Cock
kakas
Neck
nyak
Hand
kez
House
haz
Heart
sziv
Sky
meny
Horn
szarv
Cold
hideg
English.
Magyar.
szem
has
hegy
lewel
torok
Other Ugrian Languages.
sem-Ostiak, &c.
waz-Fin
pu-Fin and Permian
kuruk-Tsheremis
lybet, &c.-Ostiak, &c.
wyr-Ditto
kurya-Fin
kinda-Tsheremis
ty, &c.-Permian, &c.
yenk, &c.-Ostiak, &c.
muno-Tsheremis, &c.
tuul-Vogul, &c.
tut-Ostiak, &c.
lui, yoi-Ditto
kul-Ditto, &c.
kawed-Karelian
lal-Vogul
lont-Ostiak, &c.
pady, Ost.-pizhe, Mordvin
tur-Ostiak, &c.
jowo-Fin
kikkas, &c.-Estonian
naugol-Ostiak
ket-Ostiak, &c.
kat-Ditto, &c.
sem-Ditto
manen-Mordvin
sarv, &c.-Estonian, &c.
itek-Ostiak
Bone
czont
koint-Fin
Head
fo
pa-Ditto
Herb
fu
Slow
lassan
Live
elet
Easy
könmu
Man (vir)
fery
Mouth
szaj
pum-Ostiak
lasy- Vogul
let, &c.—Ostiak, &c.
kunna-Vogul
veres-Zirianian
su--Fin
Night
es
at-Ostiak
Take
elvenni
Ear
ful
Horse
lo
Rye
ros
Red
veres
Sow
vetek
wain - Vogul
pel-Ostiak
lo- Vogul
oros-Ditto
vyr-Ditto
vidik-Mordvin
VOL. I.
A H
466
MAGYAR LANGUAGE.
English.
Magyar.
Sand
humok
Sleep
alom
Other Ugrian Languages.
yema- Vogul
olm-Ditto
Swift
gyors
tshuros-Fin
sereny
sarag-Ostiak
Black
fekete
Sister
hugom
Silver
ezyst
Son
fui
Sun
nap
nai-Ostiak
Stone
ko
puqqete-Ditto
iggem-Ditto
esys-Permian
pu- Vogul
ku- Vogul
Star
tsillag
tisil-Permian
Deep
mely
Dead
hallal
mil-Ostiak, &c.
kul-Ditto
Drink
iszom
asokh-Vogul
Over
felette
pällä-Fin
Under
allat
alla-Ditto
Water
viz
wisi-Ditto
Wind
szel
tyl-Permian
Winter
tel
telli-Ostiak
We
mink
mung-Ditto
Worm
fereg
perk- Vogul
nyii
nynk-Ditto
Tooth
fog
penk-Ostiak
Tongue
nyelu
nalem-Ditto
One
egy
ogy-Ostiak
Two
ketto
ketto-Ditto
Three
harom
korom-Vogul
Four
negy
nül-Ostiak
Five
ot
uet-Ditto
Six
hat
kut-Ditto
Seven
het
sat-Vogul
Eight
nyoltz
nuul-Ostiak
Ten
tiz
das-Permian.
Word for word, Eleut and Saac seem to be Olöt and
Sak, suggesting Mongol elements.
The Magyar language, in respect to its phonesis, uses
the secondary sounds like ƒ and h, rather than the primary
sounds p and k.
The Mansi forms of speech have special affinities with
the Tsherimis.
THE SAMOYEDS.
467
CHAPTER XXV.
The Samoyeds.-Northern Branch.-Yurak.-Tawgi.-Ostiak.-Southern
Branch. Soiot or Uriankhai. Mati. Koibal. Karakas. Soiot
Proper.-Kamash.-The Andon Domni, or Yukahiri.
THE Samoyeds are a small population widely spread.
That some of them lie within the Arctic Circle is shown
rather ostentatiously in the ordinary maps. Look to
the parts between the White Sea and the Lena, and
the word Samoyed is one of the few that meets your eye.
It will probably appear twice; once on the borders
of Europe, once in Asia. It fills up the vast vacancy
between the Petshora and the Chatunga; and suggests
the idea of intense cold and discomfort suffered by a
population of savage nomads. As a set-off to this, the
Samoyed tribes seem to have the country all to them-
selves; and a very cheerless country it is. It is a tundra;
i. e. a tract of moss, a swamp, beyond the tree-line, bleak,
damp, foggy, boggy; for the Northern Samoyeds are pre-
eminently the tundra population of the Old World. The
Laplanders are the same, but in a far less degree, and only
partially. The Northern Samoyeds are wholly so.
The word Northern is by no means unnecessary. Far
as the Samoyed area extends in the direction of east and
west, it extends equally as far from south to north.
There are Samoyeds within the Chinese frontier, on the
Upper Yenisey, and on the drainage of the Lake Baikal;
HH 2
468
THE SAMOYEDS.
-of course, under very different conditions from those
of the Arctic Circle and Icy Sea.
The Northern Branch.—Of the Northern Samoyeds the
chief divisions, according to Castrén, who founds them
upon the differences of dialect, are three; (1), the Yurak;
(2), the Tawgi, and (3), the Ostiak.
(1.) The Yurak Samoyeds are those that lie in the
closest contact with the Russians; those, also, that are
the best known. They are those, too, who are not only
Asiatic but European as well-common to the two con-
tinents. To them the name Samoyed was first applied.
It is a name which is, by no means, native. The native
name is Kasovo (Hasawayo), or Nyenek Men.
The Yurak Samoyeds, or the Samoyeds of Yugoria,
appear on the eastern coast of the White Sea, to the
north of the river Mezene. On the lower course of the
Petshora they are more abundant still. They are sepa-
rated from the Russian Laplanders by the sea and by
the valley of the Dwina; for the parts about Archangel
have long been wrested from them, and Russianized.
Neither is it certain that the Russians were the first
who pressed upon them in this direction. The Karelian
Fins may have done so before; so may the Zirianians
of Vologda.
Between the Petshora and the Ural, the Samoyed is
bounded on the south by the Zirianian area. On the
Obi he comes in contact with the Ostiak; and that at
the very mouth of the river. In the parts, however,
about Obdorsk, Samoyed is spoken. From the Obi to
the Tas, all is Yurak Samoyed. On the Tas, however,
there is a break; beyond which the details are obscure.
The Yurak division is generally carried as far east as the
Yenisey. We will here, however, carry it to the Tas.
The Yurak proper is only one dialect out of five; the
THE SAMOYEDS.
469
other four being represented by the (1), Kanin and Timan ;
(2), the Ishim; (3), the Bolshizemla and Obdorsk; (4),
and the Kondin or Kazym forms of speech.
(2.) The Tawgi division reaches from the Lower
Yenisey to the Chatunga; the tribes which belong to it
being sometimes called the Avam Samoyeds.
(3.) The Ostiak Samoyeds have the disadvantage of
being described by an inconvenient name. The true
Ostiaks are something else, as has been seen. That
they form a natural class in the way of dialect I
hold on the authority of Castrén; or rather his editor
Schiefner. That their habits are, more or less, peculiar,
is an inference from the difference of the physical con-
ditions under which they live. We have left the cheer-
less regions of the Arctic Circle. We have left those
of the swampy boggy tundras. We are in the region
of the woods and forests, on a river prodigal of fish.
We are in contact, too, with the northern members of
the great Turk stock. We are not far from the Chinese
and Tartar frontiers. We are in a region of an improved
civilization; a barbarous region, nevertheless. We are
beyond the latitudes where wheat can be grown; though
we are south of that of St. Petersburg, Stockholm,
Christiania, and the Shetland Isles. We are, in short,
in the very middle of Siberia, and, on an elevated
portion of it. We are high-up on the streams of the
Obi and the Yenisey, and we are, more or less, on the
elevation which forms the watershed between them.
The Ostiak Samoyeds are to be found not only
in the districts to which they are indigenous, but in more
than one locality beyond them; the evidence of their
language, and (to a certain extent) that of their history,
pointing to one or more movements northwards and east-
wards.
470
THE SAMOYEDS.
Of the dialects, however, in situ, the most northern is
that of the parts about the Tym and Narym; next comes
that of the river Ket; thirdly, that of the Tshulim. The
Ket forms of speech extend as far as the rivers Parabel
and Tshaya, on the frontier of the Barabinski Steppe,
feeders of the Obi. The dialect of the Circle of Pumpo-
kolsk is also akin to the Ket.
The migrations are represented by the Karasin and
Tas forms of speech; the former being spoken in the
parts to the north of Turukansk, on the Yenisey, and
the latter by the Tym and Karakon tribes of the Tas;
tribes that use the reindeer and call themselves Mokase.
Such are the three principal divisions of northern
Samoyeds, called also Kasovo or Nyenek.
We are
scarcely prepared to hear them called "powerful." That
epithet, however, has been applied. As compared to
some of the Ostiaks, they may be so. Indeed, it is
specially stated by Castrén, that where the Ostiak and
Samoyed frontiers touch, the Samoyed nationality pre-
vails. The dress of the Ostiak then becomes Samoyed;
his habit Samoyed; his creed Samoyed; his language
Samoyed. There are, certainly, many Ostiaks disguised
as Samoyeds.
The Southern Branch.-The Southern Samoyeds may
be called Soiot, or Uriankhai, according to the political
position of their occupancy. When it lies in Russia or
Siberia they are the former. When it lies within the
Chinese frontier it is the latter. A Soiot is an Uriankhai
of Russia. An Uriankhai is a Soiot of China. The
names, perhaps, are more convenient than strictly accu-
rate. One population, indeed, is common to the two
areas. Hence, it is partly Soiot, partly Uriankhai. I
will notice it first, and then follow out the details of the
less equivocal names.
THE SAMOYEDS.
471
The population in question is that of
The Mati, Motorians, Matlar, or Modorzi.-The last of
these names is Russian, the last but one Turk, in form.
The root is Mat. The Russian Mati are, probably, either
extinct, or amalgamated with the Turks of their neigh-
bourhood. They are, probably, in the same category with
the Tubalar, of which they may be (or may have been) a
part. I think this because the banks of the Tuba were
their occupancy. They came, however, from the main
stream of the Yenisey. They are, probably, extinct or
amalgamated, because, in 1722, they numbered only ten
families.
The Samoyeds of the Koibal division.-Before the Russian
conquest of Siberia a powerful people, divided into tribes
and sub-tribes, bore the name Koibal, a name which
has since changed its signification. The natives of the
parts about Krasnoyark and Abakansk are, at the present
moment, divided into four divisions; the Katshinzi, the
Sagai, the Kisilzi, and the Koibal.
The Koibals fall into eight families, or clans, whereof
three are believed to be Yeniseian, and five Samoyed.
They call themselves Tufa. In 1830, they amounted to
635 males, and 493 females. In 1847, a few aged indi-
viduals alone spoke the original Koibal language; by
which, I presume is meant, the language of the Samo-
yed, rather than the Yeniseian, portion of the group. I
presume, too, that it is the language represented by the
following specimens from the Asia Polyglotta.
English.
Koibal.*
Motorian.*
Kamash.
Head
ulu
nambam
ulu
Hair
abde
ipti
apty
Tongue
zeka
kashte
shika
Tooth
tyme
tyme
Eye
zima
zimc
saimo
* Collected by Klaproth not later than A. D. 1823.
472
THE SAMOYEDS.
English.
Koibal.
Motorian.
Kamaslı
Mouth
an
agma
ang
Blood
kam
kem
Hand
oda
udam
udam
Foot
musta
hoi
uyu
Nose
piya
eyem
peya
Ear
ku
kuma
Sky
num
num
ku
num
Sun
kuya
Moon
kuii
kaye
kishtit
kuya
kü
Star
kynsygei
kindzhikei
kinsygai
Fire
ziu
tuck
Water
bu
bu
shu
bu
Stone
pi
dagia
phi
Tree
pa
kha
unet-pfa.
The language which has replaced the original Samoyed
is the Turk; the present Koibals (whether Samoyed or
Yeniseian in blood) being Turks in speech, imperfect
Christians in creed, and, more or less, agricultural in
habit. They possess horses, oxen, and camels.
·
The Koibal districts lie on the Yenisey, between Aba-
kansk and the Chinese frontier; the right bank of the
Abakan, from its junction with the Yenisey, upwards as
far as the Tabat, being one of their districts; as is, also,
the right bank of the Yenisey itself as far as the Sogda,
a feeder of the Tuba. That the Tuba is a Samoyed
river has already been stated.
The name Kyzdym, or Kishtim, is sometimes applied
to the Koibal. It is Turk in origin, and means servants.
It implies that certain Turks pressed upon certain Samo-
yeds, and reduced them. It also suggests the likelihood
of a certain amount of intermixture. That this has taken
place is a historical fact. Koibal blood is to be found
amongst the Kirgis; inasmuch as, when the latter nation
moved westwards and southwards, some of the Koibal
accompanied them.
The Karakas.-Word for word, Karakas may be a com-
THE SAMOYEDS.
473
pound of the Turkish kara (= black), or the term Kirgis.
The population to which it applies, has its occupancy on
the rivers Oka, Uda, Biryusa, and Kan. It is nomad in
habits, and amounted, in 1851, to 284 males, and 259
females. Small as is the Karakas group, it falls into no
less than five sections, tribes, or families.
The Kash,
Sareg Kash,
The Tyogde,
The Tyeptei.
Kara Tyogde,
The last is on the Buriat frontier, and, more or less,
Buriat in habits, and dialect.
Samoyed in blood, the Karakas are Turk in language.
They are poor, like
The Soiot Proper, who live about Tunkinsk.—It is
especially stated, by both Müller and Pallas, that they
speak Samoyed. The only vocabulary, however, which
Klaproth succeeded in procuring, was Turk. This, how-
ever, is not conclusive. A part of them might still use
the language of their ancestors. A part, too, (indeed a
large part) is Buriat, rather than Turk. Samoyed in
blood, it is Mongol in speech, and Buddhist in creed.
The Kamash, Kangmash, or Kamashinzi.-Nomads, and
Shamanist pagans, on the head-waters of the Kan and
Mana, the Kamash are the weak representatives of a once
powerful tribe. Most of them speak Turkish. From
one division, however, which still speaks Samoyed, Kla-
proth has procured specimens of their vocabulary, and
Castrén of their grammar.
The Uriankhai.-There are four tribes of the Urian-
khai:-
1. The Matlar, already noticed.
2. Bagar, on the Russian frontier.
3.
Tozhin.
4.
Ulek.
474
THE SAMOYEDS.
Lake Ubsa (a Turk name) lies in about the centre of
the Uriankhai area. The name seems Chinese; being
applied to other populations. The Uriankhai, along
with the Teleut, were subjects to Dzungaria, until
reduced, by the Chinese, in 1744-1755. Two of their
chiefs, at that time, mustered 10,000 men between them.
I mention this to show that one member of the Samoyed
group, at least, has borne an appearance of something
like power and organization.
I have given the divisions and subdivisions of the
Samoyed family only so far as I feel satisfied with the
arrangement. The two main sources of our information
are the Asia Polyglotta of Klaproth and the grammars
and lexicons of Castrén. Castrén's works, however, are
posthumous; so that it is, by no means, in all cases, an
easy matter to ascertain what rests on the original investi-
gations of the author, and what has been added by the
editor from works already published, especially Kla-
proth's. It is only certain that the details of the two
chief authorities are not exactly the same. Klaproth lays
the Tawgi in the same class with the Yurak, along with
which he places the Pustosersk, the Obdorsk, the Man-
gaseia, and the Turukansk dialects. His second class
contains the Tas, Tomsk, Narym, Ket, Tym, and Karass
forms of speech along with a short specimen of what he
calls the Lak. Finally, a list headed Taigi (the import of
which is not explained), finds place in the third division;
a natural and accurate class, containing the Motorian,
the Koibal, and the Kamash.
.
Even in Castrén the details and value of a fourth
section called (most inconveniently) the Yeniseian are
obscure. The class itself is small. Its name gives the
locality of its members. They lie between the Yurak
and Tawgi divisions, on the Lower Yenisey. They lie,
THE SAMOYEDS.
475
too, in the parts about Mangaseia, or Turukansk, using
two sub-dialects; the Khantai-Karassin, and the Baikha.
But, as has already been stated, certain members of the
so-called Ostiak division, have intruded themselves into
these parts, have been described by the same names as the
older occupants, and have engendered an amount of con-
fusion, which future researches may advantageously rectify.
Again, for the Yurak Samoyeds, from the Lower Obi
to the White Sea, Klaproth gives us, besides the specimens
of their language, the tribual divisions. Evidence that
these coincide with the divisions suggested by the philo-
logue is still wanting. The divisions themselves are as
follows :—
(1.) The Vanoita.-The Vanoita, the most western mem-
bers of the Yurak, or Kasovo, group, occupy the rivers.
Mezen and Petshora, as well as the coast of the White Sea,
and Arctic Ocean, as far as the parts about Obdorsk.
(2.) The Tyzya Ilogei belong to the interior of the
Government of Archangel.
(3.) The Khyryutshi, or Karatsheya, are Siberian
rather than European. The Circles of Obdorsk, and
Beresov contain their chief districts.
The text continues:-" This division of the kinsman-
ships" (Geschlechter) "is so rigidly observed that no Sa-
moyed takes a wife from the kinsmanship to which he
himself belongs. On the contrary, he seeks her in one
of the other two." That this practice of going out of the
family, clan, or tribe of the bridegroom in search of a
bride, is common amongst the ruder populations is well
known. I doubt, however, whether the fact be exactly
as Klaproth gives it. From Archangel to Beresov, or
from Obdorsk to the Petshora, is a long way to go for
a wife. The observation, more probably, applies to some
of the divisions, or subdivisions of the larger groups.
476
THE SAMOYEDS.
Nevertheless, it may be as it is said to be; so that I
draw attention to the statement in order to improve the
evidence on which it rests.
The terms Katshinzi, Sagai, Kisilzi, and Koibal, are
political rather than ethnological, artificial rather than
natural. As a general rule, however, they apply to popu-
lations which are Turk in speech, other than Turk in
origin. The Katshinzi are the Katsha tribes already
noticed as Turks, though, perhaps, Samoyed or Yeniseian
in blood. They fall into two divisions.
A few hundred (the males amount to 240) are still to
be found on the banks of the Katsha, their original area,
near, or in, the town of Krasnoyarsk. Wholly Russian-
ized, they represent that portion of the group which
stayed at home, when the remainder emigrated to the
valley of the Abakan. The descendants of this division
amounted, in 1830, to 3460 males, and 3119 females; in
1847, to 9436 individuals. They reach as far as Askyz;
where they are succeeded by
The Sagai, amounting in 1830 to 3897 males, and 4011
females, and extending to the head-waters of the Abakan.
The Kisilzi (2283 males, 2080 females), like the Kat-
shinzi of the Katsha, are all but Russians.*
English.
Man (homo)
(vir)
Yurak.
Tawgi.
Ostiak,
nyenyeate
hasawa
anasang
kum
kuayumu
teb
Head
acwa
acwua
ol
Hair
nobta
abta
opt
Eye
saeu
saime
hai
Ear
ha
kou
ko
Nose
puiyea
unka
potsh
Mouth
nya
ang
ak
Tongue
nyami
sieya
se
* These details are taken from the preface to Castrén's Koibal and
Karagass Grammar; a work which was not published until the notice on
the Siberian Turks had been printed.
THE SAMOYEDS.
477
English.
Yurak.
Tawgi.
Ostiak.
Tooth
tyibea
tyim
tsheu
Hand
uda
yutu
ud
Foot
ae
oai
tob
Sun
hayen
kou
tyel
Moon
yiry
kityada
äre
Star
numgy
fatayea
keska
Fire
tu
tui
tü
Water
yi
bê
öt
Stone
pae
fala
pö
Tree
pea
fa
po
One
ngob
ngoai
oker
Two
side
siti
sede
Three
nyar
nagur
nagur
Four
tiet
tyata
tet
Five
samblang
sangfalanka
somblang
Six
mat
matu
muktet
Seven
seu
syaibua
seldye
Eight
sidendyet
sitidata
sedetshan
Nine
hasawayu
ameaityuma
okertshan
Ten
lusayu
bî
kot
The numerals of the so-called Yeniseian division are as
follows:-
English.
1st Yeniseian.*
2nd.t
Srd.‡
One
ngo
ngo
ngo
Two
sire
zide
zire
Three
nehu'
nehu
negu
Four
teto
tetto
tetto
Five
soborleggo
sabbareggo
zoborriggo
Six
notu'
motu
Seven
seo
Eight
sirioto
Nine
êsâ
Ten
biu'
neesa
bü
zeo
ziditte
motu
zeo
aza
zirietto
bün
It is more likely that the northern part of the Samoyed
area should have been conquered from the south than vice
versa. Such being the case, the Northern Samoyeds are,
probably, intrusive. Castrén believes that they were, and
also that the previous occupants of the northern parts
* From Castrén.
+ The Mangaseia of Klaproth.
The Turukansk of Klaproth.
478
THE SAMOYEDS.
Now the Sirtye
of Siberia were Fins proper. He infers this from the
names of the rivers Ishma, Tsylma, Pyosha, Oya and
Kuloi, all of which are significant in the language of Fin-
land. Then there is the story of the Sirtye. The Sa-
moyeds called the Fins by this name.
fled before the Samoyeds, and hid themselves under-
ground, where they live at the present moment, with
abundance of beavers, foxes, and mammoths. I can
scarcely think that the aborigines of the North Samoyed
area were actual Fins, though they were, probably, an
allied population; perhaps more Lap than aught else.
Of the Samoyed mythology we know little, which is a
pity; for, as the Samoyeds are amongst the rudest of the
Ugrians, a knowledge of their superstitions would be of
great value, for the light it would shed over the otherwise
obscure creeds of the Laplanders, Finlanders, Estonians,
and the like. However, of the Samoyed mythology we
know but little. Perhaps, there is not much to know.
We know, however, that the word Num is the name of
the chief object of their cultus; and this is an important
word. It is applied to the thunder, and this in what
appears to Castrén, its original sense. It applies also to
the sky in general, and to the sun, as the chief luminary.
A Samoyed woman, stricken in years, and the observer of
old customs, which she spoke of with regret as dying
away, used morning and evening to leave her tent and
prostrate, or bend, herself before the rising or setting
luminary, saying, "When thou, O Yilibeambaertye, risest,
so, also, out of my bed rise I," and "When thou, O
Yilibeambaertye, settest, so, also, do I go to rest." This
is so little of a prayer, that it may only be a receipt for
early rising. I give it, however, as I find it.
Yilibeambaertye is a sort of synonym, or epithet for
It means, Guard over the hearths. The tribes
Num.
THE SAMOYEDS.
479
who use it most are those that have taken a tincture of
civilization and Christianity; indeed, it is used, occa-
sionally, to denote Christ. The ruder the Samoyed the
more exclusively he speaks of Num, the sky, or the God
of the Sky; the God of the Sky in the second instance,
though, probably, the God of Thunder in the first. The
tribe which most restricts its meaning to the original sense
is that of the Kangmash.
Occasionally the name is given to physical phenomena
other than atmospheric; other, at least, than those that
belong palpably and visibly to the sky. Castrén once
heard it applied to the earth; and once, when on the
coast of the Icy Sea, he asked "Where is Num?'
his attendant said "There," pointing to the waves.
The Tawgi tribes give to a deity named 'A or 'Nga the
same importance that the others give to Num. To judge,
however, from the Yurak creed, 'Nga is a subterranean,
rather than a super-celestial, being. He dwells under-
ground, dark and in darkness; sending to men and
beasts death and disease. Do the souls or bodies of
deceased men go to him? Castrén doubts this. He
finds the idea of any place whatever for the reception of
the spirits of the dead all but non-existent. Nevertheless,
there is an approach to it in the residence of 'Nga.
There is also an approach to it in the Tadebcyo of the
Tadibeas. A Tadibea is the Samoyed Shaman, or Medi-
cine Man-a mere priest of ordinary flesh and blood,
alive amongst living men. But the spirit, with whom he
has the power of putting himself in contact, and who is
called his Tadebcyo, is immaterial, and invisible; at least
to ordinary eyes. The Tadibea, however, can see him,
speak to him, propitiate him, learn the future events from
him. In short, the Tadibea is the mediator between the
uninitiated believer, and the Tadebcyo.
480
THE SAMOYEDS.
Where Christianity has taken root, the Tadebcyo is an
evil, rather than a good, demon. Where paganism, how-
ever, remains intact, he is more good than bad. A Tadibea
would repudiate the idea of dealing with anything dia-
bolical. He will admit, however, that his friend is capri-
cious, hard to please, accessible only through a proper
mediator. If he were not so, what would be the use of
a Tadibea?
In explaining this Castrén takes an opportunity of
stating that the antagonism between absolute good and
absolute evil finds no place amongst the Samoyeds.
There are no extreme divinities; no Ahriman, no Aura-
mazdes; nothing, in short, divine at all. The human
temper is the divine temper also, good and bad mixed;
more of the former than the latter. He adds, too, that
the Samoyed, in worshipping a material object, such as a
rock, tree, or the like, has no secondary ideas in respect
to any divinity enshrined therein. He simply worships
the object, stock or stone as the case may be. The
negative character of this assertion must be borne in mind.
It must also be borne in mind that negative statements
are, pre-eminently, subject to correction.
The Itarma are the souls of departed Tadibeas.
In some tribes the Tadebcyo are called Los, Loh, and
Koika.
The Samoyed analogies of the Roman Penates now
claim our attention. They are of two kinds; those made
by nature, and those made by human skill. Those of
nature's making are odd-shaped stones, especially such as
can be compared to the human form. Of course, these
are essentially local. They are usually called Hahe.
The Yilyan,* on the other hand, are artificial. One
* Word for word, this is the first element in Yilibeambeartye, as well
as the Ostiak Yilyan.
THE SAMOYEDS.
481
They are
kind is called Syadaci, from Sya = face.
sometimes naked, sometimes clothed. They are naked
when they stand out of doors, on the moor, in the bog,
or on the tundra. They are clothed when they are placed
under cover; thoroughly domesticated, and made inmates
of the Samoyed dwelling-house.
A certain variety of these requires great care in its
fabrication. It must be made partly by a Tadibea, partly
by a spotless virgin. The Tadibea takes the skin of a
squirrel, an ermine, or a sable, and twists it into some-
thing like the shape of a human being; when it has to
be dressed, and when the work of the vestal begins. A
virgin has to stitch the clothes; a virgin to make the
basket in which it lies.
One of the most famous of the Samoyed objects of
adoration seems to have been of neither native nor natural
workmanship. Castrén thinks it was a Mongol piece of
art. It stood near the village of Karbin on the Ket,
and had a hut built over it for its special preservation.
In vain. It was destroyed a few years ago by a band
of Tungús marauders.
But the great repository for the Hahe was the island
Waygatz, before its purification by some recent mission-
ries, who (in 1827) burnt, on one spot, 420 Hahes;
Waygatz being to the Samoyed what Heligoland was to
the Angle, and Rugen to the Pomeranian heathens. It
contained three most especial Hahe localities. The first
was the Hahe-salye, or the Promontory of the Hahe, the
most south-western projection in the island. It was here
where the 420 were burnt. The chief of them, named
Wesako, or the Old One, had three heads.
The second locality is in the centre of the island; en-
nobled by the stone Ya Yieru Hahe = the Hahe the
Lord of the Land. It lies in a hole. It did not lie there
VOL. I.
I I
482
THE SAMOYEDS.
always. It came there by a miracle. It looks like a
man with a peaked head, a head like that of Thersites ; a
head which both the Samoyeds and the Ostiaks are fond
of giving to their artificial Hahe. Nyebe-hahe = The
Mother Hahe is either a second stone in the same district,
or the Ya Yieru Hahe under another name.
The third locality is in the north-west. Castrén heard
it called Ya Mâl Hahe, or the Land's End Hahe; Islavin
names it Nyu Hahe Son Hahe. Concerning which he
adds, that it was the son of Wesako Hahe and Nyebe
Hahe, the parents of three other stones besides, (1) Mi-
nisei, a peak of the Urals; (2) Yabmal, a peninsula to
the west of the Gulf of Obi; and (3) a stone about
twenty versts from Mezene, surrounded by Hahe of wood;
which the missionaries treated as they did the 420, and
burned.
The word Samoyed.—Samo-yed is one of those words
that an etymologist can play tricks with; and that in
more languages than one. Wherever the root sam = self
and ed = eat, we may translate it self-eater. It does this
in Russian. It nearly does so in English, where the word
same and self are closely allied in meaning. It does so to
some extent in Latin, where edo means I eat. But as men
are not in the habit of devouring themselves, we must
allow a little latitude, and consider self-eater to mean merely
an eater of beings like himself, an eater of his own kind, a
cannibal in short. And for cannibals the Samoyeds have
passed. Herberstein tells us that "beyond the river
Petshora, near the mountain Camenipoyas, and the sea
and island in its neighbourhood, lie various and innu-
merable nations, called by the common name of Samoged,
which being interpreted is eaters-of-themselves" — "uno
ac communi nomine Samoged (quasi diceres se ipsos
comedentes) nuncupantur." Doubtless, there have been
THE SAMOYEDS.
483
other blunderers in things appertaining to the Samoyeds,
besides the etymologists. I find in the preface to
Castrén's grammar that some one committed himself
to the doctrine that they shrieked and chattered like apes
instead of speaking, and that some one else, once, took the
credit of a discoverer when he notified the fact of their
using the languages of articulately-speaking men. Phy-
siologists, too, have related strange things concerning
them.
Having stated what the word Samoyed is not, I will
now say what I think it is. Word for word, I believe it to
contain the root of the Fin Suomelaiset, a word which means
the men of a fen, marsh, morass, or swamp. It was applied
by the Karelians or Zirianians to the country occupied by
their Samoyed neighbours, and taken up from the Karelians
or Zirianians by the Russians, from whom it spread over
the learned world of Europe at large. If this be true, it is
the same word as Samogitia, distant as the latter locality
is from the Samoyeds; since a case may be made out for
believing that word to be Lithuanic, only in the way that
such a name as Britain is English, i. e. not at all. As
Britain belonged to the language of a population, occupant
of a given locality, anterior to the Angle conquest, so did
Samogitia apply to a district which was either Ugrian
or on the Ugrian frontier before it became Lithuanic.
At present
The Zirianians call the Samoyeds Yarang.
Ostiaks
Voguls
Tungusians
Yeryan-yak.
Yorran-kum.
Dyandal.
The Russians, as aforesaid (and, after the Russians,
the French, English, and Germans), say Samoyed. But
it is only the Kasovo, or northern branch, that they so
II 2
484
THE YUKAHIRI.
denominate. The southern Samoyeds have been called
Ostiaks; which they are not.
The ordinary interpretation of such a fact as two
populations so distant from each other as Herberstein's
Samogedi and the Samogitæ of Lithuania, bearing names
so similar, is that they both belonged to the same class.
The true inference is, that they are in a certain relation to
some third population which lies between them, which
touches their two frontiers, and which supplies the name
common to the two.
This is the principle upon which the natives of Wales,
of Italy, of the Valais in Switzerland, of the Walloon
country in the Ardennes, are all Wel-sh (Weahl-as).
They all lie in contact with populations sufficiently allied
to each other to denote their neighbours by the same
term.
The Andon Domni, or Yukahiri.-A fragmentary popu-
lation on the lower part of the Kolyma and Indidzhirka
calls itself Andon Domni, and is called by its neighbours
Yukahiri and Atal. Before the Samoyed was shown to
be Ugrian, I placed it in the same class as the Yukahiri.
A vocabulary of the language of these last, along with
the names of some of their now extinct tribes, is nearly
all we have in the way of data for their ethnology. They
are said to be fine-looking men, though not strong enough
to hold their own against the Yakut on one side, and
Tshuktsi on the other. The Tungús, too, seem to have
pressed on them. Of all the primary tribes of Siberia this
seems to be the nearest its dissolution.
English.
Yukahiri.
Koniak.
Yakut.
Tungús.
Head
monoli
lawut
baz
dyll
Eye
angdzha
lalat
kharakh
eha
Ear
golendzhi
vyilut
kulgakh
zen
Nose
yongyul
enigytam
murun
Mouth
angya
zekiangin
ayak
ongokto
hamun
THE YUKAHIRI.
485
English.
Yukahiri.
Koriak.
Yakut.
Tungús.
Hair
manallae
katshugui
az
nyuritta
Tongue
andzhub
gügel
tyl
ingni
Tooth
tody
wannalgyn
tiz
ikta (?)
Hand
tolondzha
myngakatsh
ili
ngala
Day
bondzhirka
hallo
kun
inangi
Sun
bugonshe
tyketi
kun
ziguni
Moon
kininshe
geilygen
ui
bega
Star
lerungundzhia lelapitshan
zulus
haulen
Fire
yenyilo
milugan
wot
togo
Water
ondzhi
mimal
u
mu
Tree
tshal
uttepel
maz
mo
Stone
kall
guggon
taz
dzholo
One
irken
onnon
bir
omukon
Two
antaklon
nioktsh
ike
dzhur
Three
yalon
niyokh
uz
ilyan
Four
yekalon
niyakh
tirt
dygyn
Five
onganlon
myllangin
ves
tongo
Six
malhiyalon
onnanmyllangin alta
nyungun
Seven
purkion
langin
seta
nadan
Eight
malhielekhlon niyokh-myllangin
agys
dzhapkun
Nine
khuni-izkeel- khonnaitshinkin
dogys
yagin
lendzhin
Ten
kuniella
mynegytkin
on
dzhur
The root malhi, in the Yukahiri numerals for six and
eight, is the malhuk (malguk) = two of several of the
dialects of North-west America. Yakut and Aino are
also (along with several others) American glosses. East
of the Lena decidedly American characteristics present
themselves; and that prominently.
486
THE YENISEIANS.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Doubtful Ugrians.-The Yeniseians.-The Tshuvash.
THE present chapter is possibly the place for three
populations already noticed-the Bashkirs, the Mesh-
tseryak, and the Teptyar, all of which, though Turk in
speech, are probably Fin in blood. It is probable, too,
that others besides are in this predicament.
(1.) The Yeniseians.-In all the works anterior to the
publication of the Asia Polyglotta, in 1823, a number of
tribes occupying the valley of the Yenisey were known
under the name of Ostiak. As, however, they were a
different population from the true Ostiak, Klaproth called
them Yeniseians.
Their area lies along the Yenisey from Abakansk,
in 53° N. L., to Turukansk, in 66°. A few are found
on the Ket, a feeder of the Obi. The Yenisey, however,
is their river; on the left bank of which they are more
numerous than on the right.
The Yeniseians proper, or Könniyüng, between Yeni-
seyisk and Turukansk, amount to about 1000 men, who
pay tribute, split up into different tribes. They live
in movable huts, consisting of a few poles, encircled by
the rind of the birch, and, with a few reindeers, but
more dogs, subsist chiefly by fishing and hunting; skilful
in both pursuits; skilful, too, as smiths and smelters of
THE YENISEIANS.
4.87
iron; still retentive of their original paganism, paying
particular respect to the bear.
Small as is this branch of the family, that to which the
Kot belong is smaller still; Kot being the name by which
its members are noticed by the writers of the last century.
At present they consist of a few families on the river Agul,
a feeder of the Kan, which constitute a single village.
They hold fast to their language and nationality, as it is
wise in them to do; being lighter taxed than if they
were counted as Russian. Nevertheless a few Russian-
ized families have attached themselves to the settlement;
of which the pure Kot make a trouble. This little
Agul village is in the country of the Kamass Samoyeds.
Castrén saw five individuals of the stock, and took down
of their language enough to form the last of his numerous
and valuable works. It is now in the course of publi-
cation.
There are, possibly, a few other members of this group
which still retain their original language. The greater part,
however, of the tribes has lost it. The forms of speech
which they are most likely to have adopted are, of course,
those of the tribes with which they come in contact, viz.
the northern and southern Samoyeds, the Obi Ostiaks, the
Tshapodzhir, the other Tungús tribes to the east of the
Yenisey, and, finally, the Sayanian Turk.
It is an historical fact that this last-named language is
that which has been adopted by the Arini, or Arintsi,
south of Krasnoyarsk. As long ago as 1721 the Arini
amounted to no more than forty or fifty individuals, and
in 1735 to no more than ten; of which only two spoke
their native tongue. The rest had either died off, or
become assimilated to the Turks of the river Katsha.
Their power was broken at the time of the Russian con-
488
THE YENISEIANS.
quest of the parts about Tobolsk and Tomsk; and it was
broken by a blunder. When the Russians were fighting
against the other Siberians, the Arini sent to Tobolsk
an arrow, some red earth, and a black fox, as a symbol
of friendship. It was mistaken for the contrary, and the
nation was attacked accordingly.
The Deng, or Denka, as they call themselves, are called
also the Sable Ostiaks; though less correctly. In 1723,
Messerschmidt took a vocabulary of their language, and
remarked, that it carried its numerals no further than five.
Their locality was on the Tunguska.
Of the Yesirti and (? or) Dzesirti I can only say, that,
along with the Arini, they bury their dead as follows:
-The bow and arrows are placed in the grave of the
deceased, over which his best horse is slaughtered and
flayed. The skin is then stretched over a pole, set up
on the grave, and the flesh is feasted on.
The women, after their confinements, wash themselves
three times within the first seven days, and then fumigate
themselves with a herb named Irben. The first friend
that visits them names the child.
Their oaths are taken over a bear's head, of which the
swearer fixes his teeth in the nose.
When a sentence equivalent to banishment is pro-
nounced against a culprit, he is placed between a dog and
a reindeer. These are then set free.
Whichever way
they run must be taken by the man also, who is no longer
allowed to remain where he was. Even a draught of water
from his old locality is forbidden. So is all further inter-
course with any of his original neighbours.
For no population throughout Siberia are our notices
more scanty than they are for these Yeniseians.
The name Arini is probably Turk rather than native.
THE YENISEIANS.
489
It is said to mean wasps; the population to which it
applies being so denominated from their warlike activity.
But it most likely means nothing of the kind. Word for
word, it is Yarang, &c.
English. Inbazk.
Pampokolsk.
Assan.
Kot.
Arini.
Man (homo) ket
kit
hit
ilit
khitt
(vir) tshet
ilset
hadkip
hatkit
birkhanyat
Head
tsig
kolka
takai
tagai
kolkya
Hair
tonge
khynga
khingayang hingayang
khagang
Foot
toigen
aning
pulang
pulang
pil
Eye
des
dat
tesh
tetshagan
tieng
Ear
hokten
klokan
kalogan
utkhonong
Nose
olen
hang
an
ang
arkhui
Mouth
ko
kan
hohui
hohu
bukhom
Tongue
ei
ilygyl
alup
alup
alyap
Sun
i
hikhem
oga
ega
ega
Moon
khip
khep
shui
shui
eshui
Star
koogo
kaken
alak
alagan
ilkhoi
Fire
bok
butsh
hat
khott
khott
Water
ul
ul
ul
ul
kul
River
ses
tom
ul
kem
sat
Hill
kai
khai
yii
dzhii
kar
Tree
oksa
oksy
atsh
atshshi
kush-oshtshe
Stone
tshugs
tshys
shish
shish
khez
Egg
ong
eg
shulei
shulei
ang
Fish
isse
gite
tyg
tig
ilti
God
eis
es
etsh
esh
es
Sky
eis
es
etsh
esh
es
House
khush
hukut
hush
hush
hu
Milk
mamel
den
tengul
Snow
begges
tyg
tik
tik
the
O'ne
khus-em
khuta
hutsha
hutsha
khusei
Two
un-em
hinneang
üna
inya
kina
Three
dong-em
donga
tongya
tongya
tyonga
Four
zi-em
ziang
sheggiang
tshega
shaya
Five
gag-em
kheilang
geigyan kega
khala
Six
ag-am
aggiang
gedudzhiang kelutsha
ögga
Seven
enh-am
onyang
geiliniang
kelina
unnya
Eight
unem-boisan- hing-basi-
geiltaniang kheltonga
kina-mant-
khogen khaiyang
shau
Nine
khusem-boi- khuta-yamos- godzhi-buna- hutshabunaga kusa-mant-
san-khogen khaiyang giang
Ten
khogen
khaiyang hagiang haga
shau
khoa
490
THE TSHUVASH.
(2.) The Tshuvash.-In the Government of Kazan reside
as many as 300,000 Tshuvashes, differing from the other
Ugrian populations in their somewhat superior civiliza-
tion, and from the so-called Tartars in the fact of their
being Christians rather than Mahometans. Respecting
their language much has been written; some inquirers
maintaining that it is essentially Ugrian upon which a
great deal of Turk has been engrafted; others that it is
Turk at bottom, but Ugrian in respect to its superadded
elements.
English.
Tshuvash.
Osmanli.
Tsheremis.
Head
puz
bash
bui
Eye
kos
gos
Ear
khulga
khulak
shinsya
piliksh
Nose
sumsah
burun
ner
Mouth
zuvar
aghis
ushmu
Hair
zuz
satsh
ip
Tongue
tshilge
dil
Tooth
shil
dish
elmye
puntshal
Hand
alla
el
kit
Sun
khwel
gyun
ketshe
Moon
oikh
ai
tilsye
Star
zuldur
yildis
shuder
Fire
wot
od
tul
Water
shiva
su
wut
Tree
evyz
agatsh
pu
Stone
tshol
tash
kü
One
pra
bir
ik tet
Two
ikke
iki
koktot
Three
vise
utsh
kumut
Four
dwatta
dort
nilit
Five
pilik
besh
visit
Six
alta
alty
kudut
Seven
sitshe
yedi
shimit
Eight
sakar
sekis
kandashe
Nine
tukhon
dokus
indeshe
Ten
wonka
on
lu
Schubert reckoned the Tshuvash at 370,000; a high
number for a Ugrian, or even a Turk, population. At
THE TSHUVASH.
491
the present moment they are more numerous still, being
an increasing population.
Their distribution of the Tshuvash is as follows:-
In Kazan.
Simbirsk
Samar
Orenburg
Saratov
Viatka.
300,091
84,714
29,926
8,353
6,853
17
429,954
The Tshuvash (for the name is not native) call them-
selves Vyres, Vereyal, and Khirdyal.
NOTE.
I originally placed the Yeniseians in the same category with the
Samoyeds. (See "Varieties of Man.") Castrén, however, so decidedly
denies that the Yeniseian language is Ugrian that, in deference to his
opinion, I suspend my judgment until the publication of his forthcoming
grammar of the Kot. I may also add that, when I connected the Yeni-
seian with the Samoyed and Yukahiri I overlooked some notable Turk
affinities, some of which may be seen in page 273 of the present volume.
Whatever the Yeniseian may be, the Yukahiri is Samoyed.
492
THE KOREANS.
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Koreans.-The Koriak and Kamtskadales.-The Kurilians or Aino.—
The Japanese and Lúchú Islanders.
(1.) The Koreans.-The natives of the peninsula of
Korea resemble both the Chinese and the Japanese in
their physical appearance, having flat faces, oblique eyes,
broad cheek-bones, strong black hair, scanty beard. They
are strongly made, and they vary in respect to the colour
of the skin. Sometimes it is tawny or yellow rather
than brown, sometimes brown. Siebold calls it "wheat-
coloured" and "straw-coloured." He also calls it "red-
dish yellow." This means that it has a maroon tint ; as
has that of some of the Chinese.
The chief foreign influences that have acted on Korea
are those of China and Japan; the religion being Bud-
dhist. The alphabet, however, is other than Chinese. So
is the language. The former is phonetic rather than
rhematographic; the latter agglutinate rather than mono-
syllabic.
How far the Koreans are a pure or a mixed race is
uncertain. The Chinese, according to Klaproth, make
some of them descendants of the Sam Han, and others
descendants of the Sienpi. But everything about the
Sienpi is obscure.
Again-Siebold writes that many individuals depart, in
THE KOREANS.
493
their physical appearance, from the Mongol type and
approach the European; having sharp profiles and beards.
That the Korean area extended beyond its present
limits is an inference from the word Solgo. This is what
a Mantshú calls a Korean. Word for word, it is Solon,
the name of a Mantshú tribe in contact with the northern
Mongols.
English.
Eye
Korean.
Japanese.
Mantshú.
Head
nuon
mati
mi
yasa
kaobe
udzhi
Ear
kui
mimi
shan
Nose
Mouth
Tongue
Tooth
ཛྙྰ་ོ་
khana
okoro
kuti
anga
sita
veikhe
ni
kha
ilengu
Hand
sun
te
gala
Foot
pal
asi
betkhe
Sun
heng
fi
shun
Moon
oru
zuki
bia
Star
peru
fosi
uzhikha
Fire
pol
fi
tua
Water
mu
midz
make
Tree
nan
ki
Stone
tu, tol
isi
Fish
koki
ivo
One
hodzhun
fito
moo
vekhe
nimakha
emu
Two
tupu
fitak
dzhuo
Three
sai
miz
ilan
Four
nai
yots
duin
Five
tashu
izuts
Six
ishu
muts
sundzha
ninggun
Seven
iki
nanats
Eight
ita
yats
nadan
dzhakun
Nine
yahao
kokonots
uyun
Ten
ye
tovo
dzhuan
(2.) The Koriak.-To the north of the peninsula of
Kamtskatka lie the Koræki, or Koriak, Shamanist, or
imperfect Christians of the Greek Church, those of the
Circle of Okhotsk being more Russianized than the rest.
The Tshuktshi.-The Tshuktshi are a branch of the
494
THE KORIAK
same stock, more exclusively Shamanist than the Koræki;
and more independent of Russia. They lie on the edge
of the Arctic Sea between the Yukahiri and the Namollo
Eskimo.
The Kamtskatkans, or Kamtskadales, whose native name
is Itülmen, occupy the parts to the south of the river Tigil,
in the peninsula that bears their name; the extreme point
of which, however, is not Kamtskatkan but Kurilian.
They are few in numbers.
English.
Head
*Koriak.
lawut
+Kamtskatkan.
kobbel
Namollo.
naskok
Eye
lalat
elled
ik
Ear
vyilut
ilyud
tshintak
Nose
enigytam
kayako
tatuk
Mouth
zekiangin
tskhylda
Hair
katshugui
tsheron
nuyak
Tooth
wannalgyn
gutuk
Tongue
gügel
dydzil
ullyu
Hand
myngakatsh
tono
Day
hallo
taazh
gannak
Sun
tyketi
koatsh
shekinak
Moon
geilygen
quingan-kuletsh tankuk
Star
lelapitshan
ezhingin
igalgetak
Fire
milugan
pangitsh
annak
Water
mimal
1
mok
Tree
uttepel
00
unakhtshik
Stone
guggon
kual
uigakh
Egg
lygly
nygagada
Fish
kokayalgatyng
etshuda
zalyuk
River
waim
küg
kiuk
God
anggang
kutkhai
istla
aghak
Sky
khain
kokhal
kiulah
kollaa
keilak
Snow
kalatyg
kolaal
aunu
One
onnon
dysyk
atashek
Two
nioktsh
kaas
malgok
Three
niyokh
tsúk
pigayut
Four
niyakh
tshaak
ishtamat
Five
myllangin
kúmnak
tatlimat
*Of the Kolyma.
+ Middle of the Peninsula.
AND KAMTSKATKANS.
495
English. Koriak.
Kamtskatkan.
Namollo.
Six
onnan-myllangin
kylkoak
sevinlak
Seven
langin
etakhtana
malguk
Eight
niyokh-myllangin
tshonutono
pigayuk
Nine
khonnai-tshinkin
tshanatana
aginlik
Ten
mynegytkin
tshemyktagona
kulla
The Kamtskatkans of A.D. 1701 are contrasted with their
northern neighbours the Koraki (Koriaks), and Lutorzi,
or occupants of the coast of the Gulf of Pendzinsk.
The Koraki were beardless, and spoke a language unin-
telligible to the Kamtskatkans. The Kamtskatkans spoke
a language unintelligible to the Koraki, and were bearded.
The Koraki made their huts of reeds and reindeer skins.
The Lutorzi dwelt underground. So did the Kamtskat-
kans in the winter. In the summer, however, they dwelt
in the air, in huts erected on a wooden frame, into which
they ascended by ladders. Three or four hundred of these
built close together, made a village. This implies that
the population was, comparatively speaking, dense. Along
the river Yelovka alone, a Kosak sent for information as
to the occupancy of the parts near the sea, reported as
many as 160 forts. These seem to have consisted of one
large and several smaller buildings; the large ones holding
from 150 to 200 men. Near each of these every man had
a smaller one for himself, built on posts, the covering
being of hides. The reporter added that since the Rus-
sians had been in the country, the number of these forts
had been increased. The Russians, however, soon de-
stroyed them. They burnt the buildings, and killed the
inhabitants as they came out. Against a warfare of this
kind, and men armed with fire-arms, the ordinary weapons
of the Kamtskatkans, slings, pointed poles, and clubs,
were of little avail. The diminution of the population
proceeded at a sad and rapid rate. Besides the wooden
forts there were some earthworks; but these were carried
496
THE KAMTSKATKANS.
as easily as the forts.
The fire-arms frightened away the
defenders. Amongst themselves they went to war, during
the winter, on snow-skates. The Koraki used, as war-
chariots, their sledges. The Koræki drove reindeer; the
Kamtskatkans dogs.
They were foul feeders; their meat being eaten either
raw or frozen, and the cookery being of an incredibly
rude character. To boil their messes of putrid fish (pre-
viously put in a hole in the ground and covered up to
keep), they used a wooden trough, into which they flung
hot pebbles till the water boiled.
They are stated to have gone naked during the summer.
Sometimes they were brave, sometimes panic-stricken
cowards. Much, indeed, has been written concerning the
moral qualities of the Kamtskatkans, the basis of which
is the account of the naturalist Steller, who lived long
amongst them, and became almost as much of a Kamtskat-
kan as the Kamtskatkans themselves.
They were excitable, not to say (for men) hysterical.
A light matter sent them mad; or made them commit
suicide. Their stimulants were strange and nauseous.
Their sexual appetites morbid. In all this they seem
to differ from the ruder nations of the north. The dif-
ference, however, may be more apparent than real. It
may arise out of the fact of the description of its elements
being fuller. The dances of the Tungús seem to resem-
ble those of the Kamtskadales. The tendency to male
hysteria is Lap. So is much of the Kamtskatkan exci-
tability.
The Kamtskatkan sledge is drawn by dogs. So is that
of the Dog Tungús, and the Eskimo. Indeed the dog
as a domestic beast of draught now replaces the rein-
deer.
The maker of the earth and heavens is Katshu, whose
THE AINO.
497
sister is Katligith, whose daughter is Sidanka, and whose
son is Tigil. Tigil, however, is, also, the name of a river.
(3.) The Kurilians, or Aino.—The Kurilians, or Aino,
occupy two localities on the main land, and all the islands
between Kamtskatka and Japan. The localities on the
main land have been already mentioned. One was at
the mouth of the Sagalin, one at the southern extremity
of Kamtskatka. Of the latter we know but little; not
knowing much more about the former. We know the
people, however, under the name of Gilak.
that the peninsula of Tarakai is Kurilian.
We know
Some of the Aino are subject to China, some to Japan,
some to Russia. They are said to be dark-skinned, but
as the iris is light, their depth of colour may be apparent
rather than real. Mongol features are common ; yet pro-
minent noses, and comparatively thick beards, are by no
means wanting. Indeed, the phenomena that appear in
Korea, suggestive of the notion of a double population,
re-appear in Kurilia.
In the island of Karafto, at least, Kamoi is the chief
deity; Kami being the name of a god in Japanese, and
of a Shamanist priest in Mongolia.
In their marriages the Aino avoid near relationships.
The northern occupants of Karafto take their wives from
the south.
That the Kurilian area, like the Korean, once extended
inland beyond its present frontier, is likely. The numerals
of the Mantshú of the frontier, seem to have taken the
Aino ending in f.
English.
Aino of Kamtskatka.
Tarakai.
Yeso.
Man (vir)
okkaiyu*
okkai
(homo) ainuh
ainu
oikyo
ainu
guru
guru
Eye
Head
sik
gpa
shigi
shaba
VOL. I.
* Oyakotsh, Koriak.
K K
4.98
THE AINO.
English,
Aino of Kamtskatka.
Tarakai.
Yeso.
Hair
ruh
numa
karnu
Ear
gsahr
kisara
Nose
ahdum
idu
Mouth
tshar
paru
Tongue
aukh
ai
Tooth
imak
nimaki
mimak
Hand
dek
tegi
Foot
kehmma
kima
Blood
kehm
kim
Sun
tshupu
tshukf-kamoi
touki
Moon
tshupu
tshukf
zuki
Star
kytta
nodzi
noro
Fire
apeh
undzhí
abe
Water
peh
raka
vakha
Tree
nyh
nü
Stone
poinah
shioma
Egg
nokh
nuku
Fish
tshep
zepf
zizf
One
syhnap
shnepf
senezb
Two
dupk
tup
zuzb
Three
raph
repf
rezb
Four
yhnap
inipf
inezb
Five
ahsik
ashiki
Six
ihguahn
yuvambi
Seven
aruahn
aruvambi
Eight
duppyhs
tubisambi
Nine
syhnapyhs
shnebishambi
asaraníof
yuiwambe
aruambe
zuyemambe
sinesambe
Ten
upyhs
wambi
fambe.
English.
Aino of Kamtskatka.
Eye
sik
Head
gpa
Hair
ruh
Kamtskatkan proper (South).
nannin
tshysha
kubün
Ear
gsahr
igiad
Nose
ahdum
kaiki
Mouth
tshar
telun
Tongue
aukh
nitshil
Hand
dek
sittu
Sun
tshupu
galen-kutelsh
Moon
tshupu
koatsh
Star
kytta.
ashangit
Water
peh
asamkh
Tree
nyh
nuda
Stone
poina
uvatshi
Egg
nokh
lylida
Fish
tshep
entshudu.
THE JAPANESE.
499
I cannot think that it is by mere accident that the root
kor appears in the names Kor-ea, Kur-ile, and Kor-iak;
nor yet that it is by accident that, when we reach the
Baltic, the same syllable appears in Kar-elia, and Kur-
land; also appearing in the name of the Government of
Kur-sk. In Siberia, similitudes between the geographical
names occur where the languages (in the present state of
our classification at least) belong to either widely-different
groups or to different sections of the same group. Thus,
Tagil is the name of a river as far westward as the
Government of Perm, Tigil the name of a river as far
eastward as Kamtskatka. Tagil is on the boundaries of
Europe. Tigil flows into the Pacific. Neviask, one of
the oldest mining establishments in Siberia, is on the
eastern side of the Ural, on the river Neva. St. Peters-
burg, in the Ingrian portion of the proper Fin country, is
on a Neva as well. The Kolyma is, apparently, word for
word, the Tshulim. There is also a river Kialim. The
Tshuvash of Kazan have already been spoken of. The
Tshuvants were a tribe of the Yukahiri.
(4.) The Japanese and Lúchú Islanders.-In its essentials
the civilization of Japan is that of China. The Japanese,
like the Chinese, have towns, arts, commerce, agriculture,
a central Government, a Buddhist creed, and a lettered
language. The language, however, is agglutinate rather
than monosyllabic, and the alphabet, like the Korean, is
phonetic rather than rhematographic.
There are differences in the details of the Buddhism.
In Japan the traces of the primitive creed are numerous.
There is the cultus of the deity of the sun, the son of
Izanagi and Izanami, husband and wife, the last king
and the last queen of the seventh dynasty of gods, each
of whom reigned thousands, or even millions of years.
The Amat-sukami, whose name is a compound of kami =
K K 2
500
THE LÚCHÚ ISLANDERS.
deity, ruled before the world began. I cannot say that
this is not Buddhism. It is certainly something more
than mere Shamanism.
Thunberg's description of a Japanese is that of
an ordinary Mongol, with a flat face, black hair, broad
cheek-bones, and oblique eyes. Siebold's is somewhat
different. He notices two types. The field-labourers
have broad faces, brown hair with an occasional tinge
of red, flat noses, large mouths, and a comparatively
light complexion. The fishers of the sea-coast have
prominent features, with their noses inclining to the
aquiline. Their hair is black, and crisp; wavy and with
a tendency to curl.
The nobles, writes Kæmpfer, are somewhat more
majestic in their deportment than the generality, and are
more like the Europeans.
We have now had the details of the double type. It
has appeared in Mantshuria, in Korea, amongst the
Koriaks, amongst the Aino, and in Japan.
The Lúchú Islanders.-In language and physical form
the Lúchú islanders resemble the Japanese; their Bud-
dhism being more imperfect and their manners more
simple.
English.
Eye
Japanese.
Lúchú.
Aino of Tarakai.
mi
mi
shigi
Head
kaobe
busi
shaba
Ear
mimi
mimmi
kisara
Nose
khana
honna
idu
Mouth
kuti
para
Tongue
sita
stsha
ai
Tooth
kha
kha
nimaki
Hand
te
ki
Foot
asi
shanna
tegi
kima
Sun
fi
tida
tshukf-kamoi
Moon
zuki
gwazi
tshukf
Star
fosi
fushi
nodzi
Fire
fi
fi
undzhi
THE LUCHÚ ISLANDERS.
501
English.
Japanese.
Líchú.
Aino of Tarakai.
Water
midz
mizi
raka
Tree
ki
ki
nü
Stone
isi
ishi
shioma
Fish
ivo
io
zepf
One
fito
tizi
shnepf
Two
fitak
tazi
tup
Three
miz
mizi
repf
Four
yots
yuzu
inipf
Five
izuts
ashiki
Six
muts
Seven
nanats
Eight
yats
Nine
Ten
kokonots
tovo
The small islands between the Lúchú
yuvambi
aruvambi
tubisambi
shnebishambi
wambi.
group and
Formosa are in the same category with the Lúchús them-
selves, i. e. they are Japanese rather than Malay. The
names of them end in -sima (Madzhikosima, &c.), mean-
ing island.
mutsi
nanatsi
yatsi
kannizi
tu
•
502
RETROSPECT.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Relative importance of the preceding Groups in the History of the World.
-Burmese.-Siamese.-Chinese.-Tibetans.-Mantshú.-Mongols.-
Ugrians.-Turks.-Paramount importance of the latter.-Turks pro-
per.-White Huns.-Alans.-Avars, &c.- Khazars.-Ghuznevids.—
Seljukians, &c.-Mameluks.-Ottomans.-Petshinegs.-Uz.-Kuma-
nians. Huns.-Scythians.
WE may now look back upon the divisions and sub-
divisions of the numerous groups that have been under
notice, with a view of deciding upon their relative im-
portance as material or moral forces in the history of the
world. How far has a given influence been extended?
How far and in what direction? When did it begin,
when did it cease to act? Was it moral rather than
material, or material rather than moral?
As a general rule the forces in question have been
material. None of the great religions, nor yet any of the
important literatures, have originated with any of the fore-
going populations. Or, if they have so originated, their
development and diffusion have been effected by others.
In that great class of which the Tibetan, the Nepaulese,
the Burmese, the Siamese, and the other allied groups,
were sections, the civilization is, for the most part, of
Indian origin. So, at least, it appears to those who put
the same low value as myself upon the pretensions of
the Chinese to an indigenous and independent culture.
The Burmese are the dominant members of the class to
which they belong; the direction in which they have in-
truded and conquered being from north to south. The
annexed table illustrates the extent to which the nume-
BROWN'S VOCABULARIES.
503
| Khamtí.
Siamese.
| Mishimí.
| Burmese.
Karen.
A'bor.
A'ká.
Singpho.
Jili.
Manipurí.
Songpú.
Kapwí.
Koreng.
Champhung.
Luhuppa.
N. Tángkhul.
Gáro.
Marám.
C. Tángkhul.
S. Tángkhul.
Khoibú.
Maring.
| Anamese.
Khamtí.
Siamese
A'bor.
A'ká
•
Mishimí
Burmese
•
•
Karen
Singpho
Jilí
•
Gáro
Manipurí
Songpú.
Kapwi
Koreng
Marám.
Champhung
•
•
92
92 1 1 5 8 8 310 3 3 1 0 1
0 0 3 6 8 310 1 3 1 0 1
10
1 047
2HID∞∞∞
47 20 17 121515 511 310 3 8
10 10
이이이​이이 ​10
이이​이이 ​10
이이 ​05
8 8 5 6 10 810 0
20 11 10 18 11 615 611 5 8 6 8 8 8101018 0
5 3 20 20 101010131011 011 0 3 5 6 8 61310 8 1
8 61711 10 |23|23|26|12|16 820 61111111013131616 1
8 812 10 10 23 1721 8151015 812 412 812121015 2
3 3 15 18 10 23 17 70|16|25|10|1811 1113151325132018 5
10 10 15 11 13 26 21 70 |22|16|10|21|13111118202013 2020 3
10 5 6 5 8 5 81311 5 5 5 3
311 15 11 16 15 25 16 10 21 41 18 25 28 31 2835334050 6
|
3 1 5 6 10 12 81622
3
•
1 1 3 6 0 8101010 521 35 50 532023151513 815 6
641 35 |30|33|20|35|30|40|45|3840 5
518 50 30
1 1 3 5 0 6 81113
•
0 0 10 11 11 20151821
•
Luhuppa. 01 0
•
N. Tángkhul. 0 0
8
0088 311121111 825 53 33 41
이이 ​8 511 413 11 5282020|1821
611121518 831 23 35 212840
810 8132013281530|20|25|20|63
41 18 21 20 20 1015 3
|21|28|25|20|16|2326 3
40|20|20|161525 3
6355 36 33 40 5
S. Tángkhul
5
Khoibú.
i
85 30 31 31 3
C. Tángkhul. 0 0 6 8 6131225 2011 35 154020 2020 5585 41 45 41
0 01010 13 13 12 13 13 533134511161636 30 41 43 43
0 0 8101016102020 540 838 10231533 31 45 43
0 01018 8 16 15 18 20 55015401526 25 4031 41 43 78
5 5 0 0 1 1 2 5 3 3 6 6 5 3 3 3 5 3 1 5 3 3
Maring
Anamese
1
78 3
3
rous vocabularies, collected by the Rev. Mr. Brown, and
published in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal, represent like or unlike languages. The
numbers give the percentage of words that agree. And
it is clear that they tell a long tale briefly. They give,
indeed, not only the nucleus of the Burmese group, but
most of its details. They show, too, that the Anamese,
on the one side, and the Siamese and Khamti on the other
are strangers to it. A language that is spoken so far
south as Pegu, yet has its nearest congeners on the frontier
of Asam, is evidently a language that has spread itself at
the expense of others, and that to a great extent. Such
a language is the Burmese proper. Such a language is
the Karien. That
The T'hay tongues have done the same, and that their
504
TURKS.
direction has been vertical, is shown by the resemblance
of the Khamti to the Siamese proper; the distance from
the extreme points of the two areas being upwards of
twenty degrees.
The Bhot of the Tibetans has also diffused itself within
a comparatively recent period. Such, at least, is the
inference from the great extent of ground over which it
is spoken with a minimum amount of difference of dialect.
Its original situs is on the east. This is an inference from
its affinities with the Burmese and T'hay.
So much for the leading members of what may be
called the northern or north-eastern division. The Tibe-
tan has stretched itself westward; the Burmese and
T'hay southward.
Of the southern
group
The Mon and Kho are more allied to each other than
they are to the interjacent Burmese and Siamese.
The Chinese has its nearest congener in the Anamitic ;
its differences of dialect decreasing as we go northward.
This suggests that its diffusion has been from south to north.
We now pass from the domain of the nations whose
language is monosyllabic to that of the Turanian popu-
lations.
The Tungús.—The Tungús have spread themselves at
the expense of the southern Koriaks and the Yukahiri.
The Mantshús have conquered China; and, again, the
Chinese are pressing upon the Mantshús.
The Mongols.-The influence of the Mongols is
measured by their occupancy of China and by the Temu-
ginian conquests.
The Ugrians.-The Ugrians have, as a general rule,
been encroached upon by others. It will be seen, how-
ever, in the notice of Persia, that there are fair reasons
for believing that one Ugrian nation, at least, has effected
THE EPTHALITES.
505
conquests to the south of the Caspian. The most defi-
nite event, however, in the history of Ugrian influence is
the Magyar conquest of Hungary.
The Turk stock. The place of the Turks in the world's
history is, in every way, conspicuous. They show them-
selves in most parts of the field. They are seen amongst
its earliest objects.
It is only, however, in the latter half of the sixth
century of our æra that the Turk proper-the Turk
eo nomine appears. The name Turcilingus has been found
earlier, but, though this is a form which the simpler
term Turk may reasonably be supposed to have taken in
the mouth of a Goth, it is not the actual term. The
actual term appears, for the first time, A.D. 558; and it
is the Alans and Avars who utter, and the Romans of
Constantinople, under the reign of Justinian, who hear,
it. I take the name as a landmark, and use it as
a text for a commentary upon those divisions of the
great Turk stock, of which we have clear and undeniable
notices. And first I mention
The Turks proper, occupants of the parts around the
Ektag, whose king was Dizabulus, and whose ambassador
was Maniach. They are, to all appearance, the ancestors
of the Tshagatai; at any rate, Transoxiana, or Kokan
and Fergana, is their country. They have pressed, and
they continue to press, upon Persia. They hold as subor-
dinates
The Epthalites, Nepthalites, Cidarites, Chionites, or
White Huns, who have but recently been conquered, and
who, not long before, had conquered Sogdiana. It was
the Sogdian subjects of the Epthalites who more especially
traded in silk, and who were most particularly displeased,
(their displeasure being mixed with amazement,) when
they were shown that the silkworm had found its way
506
TURKS.
into Europe. The Epthalite occupancies are now Uzbek
and Turkoman.
In Caucasus, where at present we find the Basiani,
Karatshai, and other Turk tribes (not to mention the
names Avar and Kumuk), the leading nation is that of
The Alans, under their king Sarosius. The Romans
are engaged in the war against the Colchians of Lazistan,
and Justin is commanding. To Justin the Alans make
known the request of
The Avars.-The Avars have been either the enemies or
the dependents of the Turks, from whom they are flying
westwards. From this I infer that their occupancy was
the present tract called Independent Tartary. How far
it extended northwards is another question. I have else-
where suggested that Bara in Barama, the land of the
Bara, may be, word for word, Avar. Be 'this, however,
as it may, the Avars fly before the Turks, and appeal to
the Alans for a recommendation to the court of Constan-
tinople. It is granted. The embassy of A.D. 558 results.
It ends in a portion of Pannonia being granted to the
Avars; who, from henceforth, are a European popula-
tion; a European population of what is now Magyar
Hungary, but which was then what its name denotes, i. e.
the land of the Huns of Attila; of the Huns of Attila,
shorn of their strength, and encroached upon by both
Gepida and Lombards.
I think that Avar was the name by which the Avars
designated themselves.
The Turks called them Varkhonitæ.
Slavonians
Germans
Obri.
Hun.
They are said to have belonged to the Ogor nation.
Word for word, this is Uigur.
THE KHAZARS.
507
The Avars conquer
The Zali, especially called a tribe (punov not vos is
the word) of the Huns;
The Savir (Záßeigo), of whom little is said, and
The Utigur (Ut-igur), who, along with
The Kotrigur (Kotr-igur), are a portion of the Huns of
the Thracian frontier under Sandilkh and Zabergan, i. e.
Zaber-khan. A chief of the Avars is as regularly called
Khakhan (Xάxavos) as Darius or Xerxes was called the
Great King. This is to be noted; inasmuch as the word
is an instrument in ethnological criticism. Again, when
Sandilkh, the Utigur, is requested to declare war against
the Kotrigurs, he half excuses himself by saying that “it
would ill become him to act as enemy against his tribes-
men (ὁμόφυλοι), who use the same language (ὁμόγλωσσοι),
the same arms (öμóσxɛvoi), and who, though under differ-
ent chiefs, are our kinsmen (σvyyeveïs).”
Whether any of these populations may have been the
same as certain Turks of the Don, who have been called
descendants of the Massagetæ, and whom the Persians
called
Kermikhion, is uncertain. It is only possible that the
Kermikhion, though specially named Turks, were neither
exactly Turks proper, nor yet Avars. They begged the
Romans not to receive those fugitives. They begged and
sent presents. The Turks commanded and threatened.
The difference, however, in the tone of the legations thus
suggested is not conclusive.
They
The Khazars.-The Khazars appear somewhat later, i. e.
in the seventh, rather than in the sixth century. In
A.D. 626 Heraclius forms an alliance with them.
are said to come from Berzilia, i. e. the parts between
the Volga and the Jaik.
And now the two known extremities of the Turk area
508
TURKS.
are Fergana on the Amur, and Hungary on the Danube,
the former being the land of the Turks proper, the latter
that of the Avars.
The history of the Avars is but brief. They conquer
quickly. They are quickly conquered. When Nestor
writes his history, his countrymen talk of nations who
have been wholly obliterated, as nations who have "passed
away like the Avars."
The Slavonians more especially cut them off. Between,
however, their settlement and their fall they had been
more formidable to their neighbours than even the Huns
were. They had overrun Thrace, Moesia, and Macedon.
They had touched the Adriatic on the south, and the
upper Elbe on the north. The Frank kings had
fought with Avars (Huns as they called them) in Thu-
ringia.
For a time, how-
As a general rule
The Turks play a far greater game.
ever, their movements are obscure.
they are in alliance with Rome, and in hostility to Persia.
They are always on the frontier of this latter kingdom;
often on that of Armenia; for it is in an Armenian war
that we find the Zali and Saviri taking part; as do the
Alans and the Dilmain (Aλuaivov E0vòs). Word for word, I
imagine that Dilmain is Dhilem. I also think that the
Dhilemites were Turks. The history, however, of the
Turk name, during the reigns of the latest Sassanidæ is
obscure. So it is under those of the earlier Kaliphs. As
the power, however, of the Abassides breaks up, the
name re-appears, and we hear of the Turk guards—the
Prætorians of Bagdad.
There were the Prætorian Turks in the heart of the
Kalifat. There were the Turkomans of the Persian
frontier; and there were (to the back of them) the Turks
of Bokhara, Kokan, Kashgar, and Yarkend, frontagers to
THE SELJUKIANS.
509
the Mongols, and probably ancestors to the Tshagatai,
Uigurs, and Uzbeks.
To the Turks who, rendering military service to the
later Abassides, must be looked upon as settlers in
Persia rather than as actual immigrants, I refer, after
Gibbon,
A.D. 868-905.
A.D. 905-968.
(1.) The Tulinides and
(2.) The Ikshidites of Egypt.
(3.) The Ghuznevids of Caubul.-Sebek-tegin (mark the
name and mark the title) was the father of Mahmud,
whose capital was Ghuzni, whose conquest was India,
and whose title was Sultan. Gibbon writes that he was
the first who bore it. His editor, however, remarks that
the authority of Ibn Chaldun is in favour of its having
been first assumed by the Bowids. If so, the Bowids
were Turk; as were their predecessors: who will appear
when we treat of the dynasties of Persia. In like man-
ner the Indian branch of the line of Mahmud will appear
when we notice Hindostan. In the west the star of the
Ghuznevids waxed pale before that of
The Seljukians (so called)-the Seljukians of the house
of Togrul. It seems that Mahmud of Ghuzni encouraged
the immigration into Persia of the tribes from beyond
the Oxus, tribes that he introduced into his dominions to
the ruin of the power of the Ghuznevids. He asks a
chief named Ismael "how many men he can supply";
Ismael being a Turk of Bokhara. "If you send," is the
answer, one of these arrows into our camp, 50,000 of
your servants will mount on horseback."
Mahmud." And if that is not enough?"
Ismael." Send this second arrow to the horde of
Balik, and you will find 50,000 more."
Mahmud." But what if I need the whole force of your
tribe?"
510
TURKS.
Ismael.-"Dispatch my bow, and 200,000 horse will
appear."
I give the dialogue (from Gibbon) because it fixes the
locality. Bokhara is the land of the present Uzbeks.
Balik (Balig) is a name either Mongol or belonging to the
Mongolian frontier.
A.D. 1038.
If the conqueror of India was able to control these
bold and numerous tribesmen, his son Masúd was too
weak for them. He is defeated on the
field of Zendecan. The conquerors then
elect their king, and "if the probable tale of a Latin
historian deserves any credit, they determined by lot the
choice of their new master. A number of arrows were
successively inscribed with the name of a tribe, a family,
and a candidate; they were drawn from the bundle by
the hand of a child, and the important prize was obtained
by Togrul Beg, the son of Michael, the son of Seljuk,
whose surname was immortalized in the greatness of his
posterity. The Sultan Mahmud, who valued himself
on his skill in national genealogy, professed his ignorance
of the family of Seljuk; yet the father of that race ap-
pears to have been a chief of power and renown.
For a
daring intrusion into the harem of his prince, Seljuk was
banished from Turkestan. With a numerous tribe of his
friends and vassals he passed the Jaxartes, encamped in
the neighbourhood of Samarcand, embraced the religion
of Mahomet, and acquired the crown of martyrdom in a
war against the infidels. His age, of an hundred and
seven years, surpassed the life of his son, and Seljuk
adopted the care of his two grandsons, Togrul and Jaafar,
the eldest of whom, at the age of forty-five, was invested
with the title of Sultan in the royal city of Nishabur."
Word for word, I believe Seljuk to be Seleucus ;
that the Seljukian Turks are neither more nor less than
SO
THE BAHERITE MAMELUKS.
511
the Turks who, along with the empire, assumed the title
of the Seleucidæ. Seljuk the Turk, eo nomine, has no
historical existence. If so, the ignorance of the Sultan
Mahmud is better than the learning of the historians.
Alp Arslan is the nephew of Togrul, and Malek Shah the
son of Alp Arslan.
The empire of Malek Shah includes (1) Georgia, Ar-
menia, and Asia Minor on the west; (2) Kashgar on the
east.
A.D. 1092.
It breaks up, however, after his death,
into the minor kingdoms of Persia, Kerman,
Syria, and Roum.
(1.) Persia.-The little that is known concerning the
kingdom of Persia suggests, the idea that it was broken
up by fresh invasions from Turkestan. At any rate its
Sultan Sangiar is defeated and taken pri-
soner by the Uz.
A.D. 1151.
(2.) Kerman.-The history of Kerman is darker than
that of Persia. Not so that of
(3.) Syria, which is, to a great extent, the history of
the first and second crusades. It is against not merely
the Mahometan but the Turk Mahometan, that the Chris-
tian puts on his armour.
In Syria,
A.D. 1127-1174.
The Atabegs (Turks with a Turkish title)
make themselves masters of Aleppo, Damas-
cus, Edessa, and Mosul, encroaching on the Kurd frontier,
as preliminaries to their conquest of Egypt. Egypt,
however, they soon abandoned to the great Kurd, Sultan
Saladin; only, however, as rulers. There are still Turks
in the valley of the Nile, and of these come
A.D. 1250.
The Baherite Mameluks.-Baherite as op-
posed to Borgite; the Borgite Mameluks
being of Circassian origin. When Selim I. invaded Ægypt,
512
TURKS.
the "military force of the Mamelukes consisted of three
classes of warriors; all cavalry superbly mounted and armed,
but differing materially in rank. First, there were the
Mameluks themselves-properly so called-all of whom
were of pure Circassian blood, and who had all been
originally slaves. The second corps was called the Djeb-
bans, and was formed principally of slaves brought from
Abyssinia. The third, and lowest in rank, was called the
Korsans, and was an assemblage of mercenaries of all na-
tions. There were twenty-four beys or heads of the Mame-
luks, and they elected from among themselves a Sultan,
who was called also Emirol Kebir, or Chief of Princes.
He reigned over Egypt and Syria, and was also recognised
as supreme sovereign over that part of Arabia in which
the holy cities of Mecca and Medina are situated.”*
(4.) Roum, Anatolia, or Asia Minor.—The Seljukians of
Roum are defeated by the Mongols. A fragment, how-
ever, of their power is preserved in the little kingdom of
Konieh (Iconium); connected with which is the history
of
A.D. 1304.
The Chorasmian Turks.-We find formidable bodies of
Turks, called Chorasmians or Karismians, in Persia, in
Syria, and in Asia Minor, between the death of Malek
Shah and the death of Kazan Khan, the last descendant of
Tshingiz who governed Persia. They must
have come from western rather than east-
ern Turkestan, from Khiva rather than Kokan or Kashgar.
I believe that they were Uz. It was they who dethroned
Sanjiar. It was they who, under Mohammed, were attacked
and defeated by the Mongols under Tshingiz-khan. It
was they who, under Gelaleddin, attempted
the recovery of their lost empire after the
decline of the power of the Mongols, and who, after the
* Creasy's Ottoman Turks, vol. 1.
A.D. 1218-1284.
THE UZ.
513
death of their chief, broke up and separated; some for
Syria, some for Palestine, some for the service of the
Sultan of Iconium. Amongst these last was Soliman
Shah, the father of Ortogrul, the father of Othman, the
founder of the dynasty of
The Ottoman Turks, or the Turks of the present Turk-
ish empire-occupants of Rumelia, masters of Bulgaria,
Bosnia, Macedonia, Anatolia, Syria, suzerains to Mol-
davia, Wallachia, Ægypt, Tripoli, Tunis.
The Tokhar.-This is the name of one of the tribes of
the north-east. They are expected by the Romans as
allies against some of their enemies on the west. A
district of Persia took from them the name Tokharis-
tan.
The Tshagatai.—It is the Tshagatai Turks whose his-
tory is so pre-eminently mixed up with that of the
Mongols, whose history is that of Timur, and of Baber,
conqueror of India, and founder of the Great Mogul
dynasty. Yet he was a Turk, notwithstanding. So was
Timur. The notice, however, of the Turks of India
will appear hereafter.
I now return to
The Khazars. It is in the seventh, eighth, ninth, and
tenth centuries that they are conspicuous. The Khanat
of Astrakhan is Khazar. The Arab name for the Caspian
is the Sea of the Khazars. Meanwhile the Khanat of
Kazan is Bulgarian, i. e. Turk and Ugrian.
As the Khazars recede from the field of history,
The Petshinegs grow prominent. Wallachia and Mol-
davia are their area; and they are known to the Hun-
garians as Bisseni and Bessi, the etymon of Bessarabia.
Out of the rougher form of the word has grown the
name Budziak.
The Uz.-Whether this be a name of a new group, or
VOL. I.
L L
514
TURKS.
a name of general application, is uncertain. The Arab
form is Ghoz. There were, as has been seen, Uz in
Karismia. There were Uz in Moldavia.
The Cumanians.-These have been already noticed.
They overrun Volhynia, parts of Galicia, and parts of
Hungary. Their language was spoken A.D. 1770-so
that they are all but an actually-existing tribe.
The Khazars, the Petshinegs, the Cumanians, and the
Osmanli are pre-eminently the Turks of Europe; of
which the Danubian Principalities, Bulgaria, Rumelia,
and parts of Hungary are (in blood at least) the most
Turkish portions.
All the tribes of the preceding list agree in being not
only Turks, but Turks of the historical period. Some-
times they are Turks eo nomine. Oftener, however, the
place in the Turk family is expressly stated by some com-
petent authority. In the instance of the Cumanians we
have a specimen of the language. In all cases, however,
the evidence is direct, satisfactory, and generally recog-
nized. With
The Huns, and with
The Scythians there are differences of opinion. That
both were of Asiatic origin is universally admitted.
That, Mongolia, however, rather than Turkistan was
their original area has been not only suggested but in-
sisted on; and that by able writers and influential
authorities. Nor can it be denied that the accounts of
the physical appearance of both the subjects of Attila
and the Herodotæan Skoloti suggest Mongolian affinities
to those who only know the Turks as they are repre-
sented by the Osmanlis of Constantinople. The Osmanlis,
however, to say nothing of the effects of their long
residence in Europe, are Georgian, Circassian, and much
else beside in blood. As for the identification of the
THE SCYTHIANS.
515
Huns with the ancestors of the present Magyars, it is a
careless inference from the word Hungary. The evidence
that they were in the same category with the Avars is as
conclusive as the evidence that the Avars themselves
were Turks.
Satisfied as I am that the Scythians of Herodotus were
members of the Turk family, I am not prepared to say
that all to whom the name Scythia applied were the same.
I think that some particular divisions of the name may
have been Mongol. The further we go east the likelier
this is to have been the case. The Persian equivalent to the
word Scythæ was Sacæ. Hence what was Scythia in
Europe became Sacasthan in Asia. Now, Sok is the name
by which, at the present moment, a Tibetan designates a
Mongolian. An ancient Persian, I think, most probably
applied it to both; oftenest to the Turk. Some few of
both the Scythæ and Sacæ may have been Ugrian. As
a rule, however, the names applied to Turks.
For the purposes, however, of the present inquiry the
details of the difference are unimportant. The minute.
ethnology of the Turks is one thing. The extent to
which tribes akin to the Turk, if not actually Turk,
whose original occupancies were the distant steppes of
Central Asia, extended themselves southwards and west-
wards, is another.
Now, I wish to show not only that the Turks have
been remarkable amongst migrants and conquerors for
their conquests and migrations, but that at the beginning
of the historical period the general character of their dis-
tribution over the face of the earth was much as it was in
the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries. The degree to which
India, Persia, and Syria, and even parts of Africa, were
just as Turkish in the reign of Cyrus as they were under the
Seljukians will be considered when the proper ethnology
of those countries comes under notice.
516
TURKS.
I conclude this chapter with drawing attention to very
remarkable details in the history of the Alan name. The
Alans were what the Huns were. They were, too, what
the Avars were. Their name shows itself early, and
lasts long.
The Huns of Dacia and Pannonia are
closely connected with the Alans of Caucasus, and
when Attila fights the great battle of Chalons, the
king of the Alans is his ally. So, the Alans find
their way into Gaul. They also find it into Spain, as
joint invaders with the Vandali Silingi and the Suevi.
They occupy a portion of the kingdom of Genseric.
But Genseric effects settlements in Africa. Suppose any
portion of his Alan subjects to have accompanied him, and
you have Turks in Tunis in the fifth century; Turks in
Tunis who reached their African locality, after traversing
the whole breadth of Europe, and sailing past the western
half of Africa.
They have fought their way through France and Spain,
to settle in the neighbourhood of Carthage, and to be
engaged in the sack of Rome. Their fathers lived under
the shade of Caucasus and their present king is a Vandal
from Silesia.
Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
DATE DUE
AUG 1992
NOV 2 5 1996
APR 19 1997
PR 04 1997
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