Semi-weekly herald. [volume] (Durango, Colo.) 1907-1917, 1910-08-29

Lien. Tney shave their heads and
allow their beards to grow. wear baggy
leather breaches, coarse shirts with
wide striped collars, and from one to
three padded dressing gowns of bril-.
liant colors, according to the weather.
The rich indulge in velvet and silk
robes, often heavily embroidered with
gold and silver braid. The government
has frequently encouraged their pride
ard vanity by presenting red velvet
ropes to the chieftains Is marks OF
distinction. On their heads they wear
little skull caps embroidered in an
elaborate manner under enormous sha-
kos of sheepskin. Much of their
wealth is invested in ornaments for
their saddles and brides, which are
sometimes heavy laden with silver and
go)d.
The Kirkhiz look like Mongols and
as rule are short of stature, with
round, swarthy faces. flat noses, high
cheek bones. sharp black, slanting
eyes and tightly drawn eyelids.
They live in kibitkas, which are cir
cular tents made of felt, of their own
weaving, stretched over frames of will
low which can be taken apart and
packed easily. and one kibitka makes
a load for a single camel. The en-
trance is protected by a flap of felt.
The interior of the tent is carpeted
with rugs and hung with embroideries,
tie trappings of horses. and the robes
of the owner, of more or less value,
according to his wealth. A rich Kirg
biz will sit upon priceless rug, sleep
upon mattress covered with silk and
carry several hundred dollars worth
of precious metal upon his person in
the form OF ornaments.
The Kirghiz that wander and live in
kibitkas are called kara Kirghiz, which
means black, and those who live in
which means located" but you gen
orally find them together. Every vii.
lage of mud huts is surrounded by an
encampment of round movable tents
made of frame work of willow withes
and covered with felt.
If you enquire of Kirgiz concern
ing his ancestry he will tell you that
Noah had nine sons, one of whom,
after the flood, moved to Turkestan
and settled on the banks of the Oxus.
This son had forty daughters and be-
came famous for that reason-"kir" be-
ing the Persian word for forty, and
"ghiz" the word for daughters. Hence
the descendants OF this prolific family
became known as KirkiZ and the name
has stuck to them. But they have
no history, or literature; scarcely a
written language. Very few OF them
can read or write, and printed words
have no meaning for them. 1t is be.
bers, although they have never been
counted and will not permit them
selves to be seen by the census
agents. AS soon as any attempt of
that kind is made they scatter over the
plains.
But comparing accounts that are civ
en- of them by ancient authors with
their condition today it is very plain
that they are dying race. A horde of
100000 Kirghiz followed Tamerlane
in his campaign in 400, and it would
be difficult to muster 100000 today.
As the train approaches Bokhara the
landscape brightens again, and far
away across the barren table land
which has been lifted above the sur
rounding country, you can see evil
dences of verdure ten or twelve miles
before the boundaries of the oasis
are reached. Then you first come to
cultivated areas surrounded by mud
walls six and eight feet high, with
the .boughs of fruit trees hanging over
them and poplars standing in low rows
like sentinels to guard them on either
side. These Enclosures are the country
seats of the rich men of Bokhara
who are compelled to protect their
gardens and their fruit in this way
from the wandering tribesmen of the
desert and the followers of the cara
vans that even now are continually
crossing the sandy wastes. As long
ago as the tenth century an Arab
traveller wrote a description of this
country in which he described the sub.
rrbs of Bokhara as the most beautiful
spot on earth, and declared that he
never again hoped to see anything so
lovely as where the green of the earth
and the azure of the heavens were
united among the villas of that noble
city.
MANY LIVES PAID