Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-11-17
kirghiZ Customs.

kirghiz Customs.
QUEER AsIATIc TRIBE-How THEY LIVE, HOW
| THEY ANUsE THEMSELVES, AND HOW THEY
| BECAME MUssULNANs WITHOUT MEANING IT.
We make the following extract from
Engene Schuyler's "Turkistan' because of
the interest which every reader will feel in
the curious glimpses they give us, of men
and manners on the Steppes of Asiatic
Russia.
| TIE KIRCHIZ.
The Kirghiz, who engage Mr.. Schuyler's
attention in mis- first chapter, furnish many
interesting peculiarities for study. OF their
mode of life he says:
In winter the Kirghiz sometimes live in
underground huts, entered by crooked pas
sages, where children, calves and colts all
sleep and play together; but usually their
habltatlon, both in winter and summer, is
Eitlfkd, circular tent made of felt spread
| over light wooden frame. This frame is
easily taken apart and put together, and is
so Light as to form a load for single camel
only. The broad pieces of felt are easily
stretched over it, SO that the whole can be
| put up in about ten minutes. On one side
is a door covered by a flap of felt, and the fire
Is built in the middle. the smoke escaping
through an opening in the roof The in
terror OF the tent Is decorated with pieces of
ribbon OF various kinds used to fasten down
the felt, and around the sides the Kirehiz
place and hang all their valuable goods,
consisting Il carpets, silk mattresses and
clothes, and sometimes, in cases of the richer
men, OF even silver articles, with the trap
pings OF horses and household utensils.
The Gt1fGd forms most comfortable abode.
being cool IN summer and warm in winter
Beng Mussulmans, the men all shave
their heads and allow their boards to grow,
although usually their boards are yery in
slgniticant-a straggly tuft of hair scarcely
covering the chin. They wear immense
baggy leather breeches, and coarse shirt
with wide tapping collar. Their outer gar
ment Is dressing gown, and they usually
wear two or three, according to the weather.
The rich and distinguished have magnificent
velvet robes, richly embroidered with gold
and silver. A red velvet robe is given by
the government as mark Of distinction,
and there Is nothing the Kirghiz are more
proud OF, unless it be medal or a cross"
KIRGnIz FOOD AND DRINK.
These people are nomads, but their wan
derings are confined within certain law-im-
posed limits. They are stock breeders
chiefly.
Along the Syr Darya the Kirghiz have
to some extent begun to cultivate the ground.
but IN general "A person who engages in
agricultural pursuits is looked down upon
by the rest. 1t is perhaps
one characteristic Of nomad life to be utterly
improyident, and the Kirghiz are particular
ly so. They are able to 20 without d,ink
for a whole day and food for several DAYS,
and will then gorge themselves to repletiOn.
Their foods consists principally Of mutton,
although sometimes, especially at great
ieasts, they will indulge in horse flesh.
They, Of course, have no bread, but they
make a sort of porridge OF millet or other
easily cultivated grain, although many of
them never use this from one years end to
the other. As drink tea is now greatly
used in the Sterpe, the Ki-ghiz buying the
cheapest kind OF what is called brick tea
tea which Is hard pressed into moulds so
that It resembles bricks-otherwis they al
ways have kumVs- liquor made Of fer
mented mares milk. hlgnys is sourish to
the taste, but not unpleasant, and possesses
agreeable exhilarating although not into1-
eating qualities. 1t Is rapidly coming into
use IN Russia especially in the neighborhood
OF Samara, as a cure for many diseases.
One Of their fayorIte drinks, especially in
Central Asia, is bua>, a kind of beer made
of grain, the effect of which is to immediate
ly, stupefy and deaden the senses rather than
to inebriate"
A PrnrTE CoNvrpTrn ny ,frSr.rr IN vou,u
NEDANIsN.
One Of the most curious things about the
kirghil Is their religious state and history
They have been made Mohammedans, ii ap-
pears, without their own consent and with
out exactly knowing it, and that too by the
Intervention Of the most Mohammedan-
hating Christian nations. Mr.. SCHUYLER
says
In religion the Kirghiz are regarded as
Mohammedans, although few have any fixed
religious principles, a. they have no settled
priests, and but few can read or write.
They rarely pray, and their faith is
mingled with many suuerstitious notions de-
rived from paganism and Snamanism. 1t Is
only externally that they ere Mnssulmans.
On being asked what religion they have,
unaccustomed TO such a form of question,
they will say they do not know, but at the
same time they would repel with vigor any
lnslnuatlon that they were rot good MusSul-
mans
1T IS a curious fact that the Kirghiz
were converted to Mohammedanism by the
mistaken efforts of the Russian government.
At first but a few Of their sultans and chiefs
had an idea Of the doctrines of Islam, and
there was not a mosque nor a mullsh in the
Steppe, but the Russians Gust as they in
sisted on using the Tartar language in inter-
course with them) insisted on treating them
as though they were Mohammedans, built
mosques and sent mullahs, until the whole
people became outwardly Mussulmans, al
though the farther from the Russian lines,
and the nearer to the settled populations of
Central Asia the weaker was the faith. In
the same way the Buriats during the present
century were made Buddhists by the Rus
sian officials, when they were nothing but
Shamanists. 1t would have been. easier,
had the government known it, to convert
both races to Christianity at the outset. y
\ CURIOUS SOCIAL LAW.
The habits of the Kirghiz arc very sim
pie, in character they are childlike, but like
all oriental people they have rigid rules of
courtesy, established by custom and never
violated upon any account. The author
gives several examples of this:
being Mohammendans, they use to the
full extent the privilege of having many
wives, though the first wife is alSays the
mistress of the hJitka, and takes rank over
the others. The seclusions of the harem is
impossible in a tent on the Steppe, and the
women are therefore unveiled, nor Is any
effort made to keep them from the obserya-
ton of the men. One curious thing, how
ever, in connection with their life is that,
as mark of respect to their husbands and
male relatives, they are not allowed to men
ton their real names in the presence OF
others, but must either call them by some
term adopted for the purpose or use cir
cumlOcution. An incident is related OF a
Kirghiz woman who wanted 10 say that
wolf haG stolen a sheep and taken it to the
reedy shore of the lake. Unfortunately the
men of Sae family bore names correspond
ing to most Of these words, and she was
obliged to gasp out that, in the rustling be-
yond the wet growler gnaws one OF our
woolies.
KIRGHIz RACES.
Chief among the sports Of these stock
breeding nomads, Of course, is the hsrse-
race, which is varied sometimes by
the substitution of the other animals for
horses. Mr.. Schuyler attended the races on
several occasions, and has thistto sayrespect-
ing them.
"A circumcision, a marriage or funeral
feast among the Kirghiz is the signal for a
large festival accompanied by games and
! u