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0133 Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1
Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 / Page 133 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000196
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( 83 )

application. All that can be distinctly stated is that Tartar blood predominates with a greater or less admixture of the Turk element, and a sprinkling here and there, more or less thick, of the foreign Tajik forms; such obtains in the cities only.

In the rural districts the case is very different. Here the population consists of two distinct classes, the settled or agricultural, and the wandering or nomad.

The settled population is everywhere in the western divisions of the country of Turk descent, and represents the ancient Hiungnn or Uighdr, the Hun of Hyatila or Attila's invading armies. Time and circumstances have completely changed their personality, and now they differ but little in external appearance from their cousins, the heirs of the Saljuk conquest of Asia Minor and Byzantium, where, in the west as in the east, they have given their name to the country of their adoption; Turkey on the one side, and Turkistan on the other.

They are a fine, well-grown people, with a more or less distinct trace of northern origin which has not been quite obliterated by their Caucasian development of beard and stature. This Tartar cast of countenance is more noticeable in some districts than in others, and especially in Yangi Hissar, where the effects of the Tajik innervation are less developed than in the divisions to the north and south. In physical constitution the rural population is superior to that of the cities ; but, though diligent and orderly in their avocations, they are equally incapable of enduring continued or severe labor. This may be partly accounted for by the life of inactivity they lead during the long winter, from November to March, during which period all agricultural operations are in abeyance. It is said that they only have three months of real work in the year, the season of ploughing and the season of reaping. For the rest, they have an easy time of it, and are seen stretched before their homesteads basking in the sun, or sleeping away the heavy hours under the shade of their plantations, as the case may be. They are not given to athletic exercises, nor to sport generally, and the weekly market-day is the only event that rouses them to activity.

At Karghalik I took the measurements of height and circumference of the heads of thirty men as at Yarkand. They were taken indiscriminately from the crowd of spectators gathered about our quarters; the subjoined are the results :-

Ileiglii and Circumference of head in inches.

 

Inches.

Inches.

 

Tallest   ...

...   70-40

21.00

Maximum.

Medium   ...

...   66.75

20.66

Medium.

Shortest   ...

...   6150

20.40

Minimum.

The nomad population is represented by the Kirghiz. They are of distinct Moghol type, but of a different family from their kinsmen and neighbours on the north, and west, and east, viz., the Kazzak, Kapchak, and Kalm6,k, respectively. Their occupation is entirely that of shepherds and breeders of cattle, They are a hardy race, and fond of field sports and hunting. The tribes most in contact with the fixed population show signs of the intermixture with the superior stock in increased growth of body and some show of beard. Their intellectual qualities and morality, however, are described as of a low order. They are said to be quarrelsome, indolent, and filthy in habits; to be much addicted to drunkenness, robbery, and petty theft. Their women are said to do all the domestic labor in the camps, and manufacture the felts, carpets, tapes, &c., for which the race is celebrated. In complexion they are fair, and some of them are rosy ; but their type of beauty is only suited to the Kirghiz taste, and for ugliness is not to be matched in many countries. Yet some of the younger girls, though with no pretensions to beauty, according to the European standard, have comely features, and simple, modest manners, which, if common report be true, is more than can be said of the matrons and wives of either the nomad or the fixed population.

The foregoing remarks apply to the representative inhabitants of the country. The special tribes found located amongst them have been already mentioned in the notice of the several governmental divisions.