River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1918-06-13


Black KirghiZ, who inhabit
the upiands of the Russo
Chinese frontier on the headwaters Of
the Yenisei river, and the KirghiZ-Ka-
zaks or Kirghiz-Riders, who live on
the steppes of the central Asiatic
plateau and extend as far west as the
Volga. The Kirghiz-Kazaks are a
Turko-Mongolian people, whose ap-
pearance inclines to the Monaghan
type, but whose language has pre-
served its primitive Tatar (Turkish)
form, writes E. Nelson Fell in Asia.
They number about two million souls
and are scattered over a wide terri
tory of about two million square miles
in extent.
During seven years the writer lived
In intimate association with this peO-
pie, as employer of the small fraction
of them willing to work in and around
the mines, and as a friend and com
Danion of the large majority of them,
who preferred to carry on the spirit of
their race on the open steppe, meet
ing the sun in his daily course over
the bOundless plateau and watching
their animals under stars at night, fit
ting from pasture to pasture as their
focks and herds required fresh graz
ing.
Here is a people which neither
! sows nor reaps, and which takes no
thought of the morrow, but unthink-
fngly relies upon nature to provide for
its wants by natural increase; which
preserves it's own integrity and con-
tinuity, not by restraints imposed
from the outside, but by restraints
imposed by the individuals upon them
selves; which cares for the stranger
by the divinely imposed duty of hos
pftality, which provides for the IA
therless and the old and infirm by self
imposed rules and customs; which re-
spects it's dead and raises monuments
to protect their remains and which
(probably since it's adoption of Mo-
hammedanism) believes in a future
life The Kirghiz have been Moham-
medanS for three or four centuries.
The essence of their code is kindness
and self-restraint; kindness to man an
beast and to the helpless and weak,
and a self-control which arouses the
sincere respect of our unbridled west
ern natures.
Their PatriarchaI Government.
They are a strictly nOmadic people,
who have wandered over this semi
arid land for centuries and have &C
quired a prescriptive title to it, with
out any centralized form of govern
ment to assert their rights to it
against intruders. Their form of pa
triarehal Self-gOvernment is quite we'll
defined to themselves but almost invis-
ible to our centralized minds. Each
Aool Ga settlement of Is or 20 tents)
is in charge of a headman, sometimes
a sultan" in whom all the property
of the AOOl is considered to be vested.
This overIordship usually passes
from father to son without friction,
and the responsibility for the physical
well-befng of the Aool rests with him
the rules for the care of the old and
young are prescribed by ancient Gus
tom, and the harmony of the Aool is
rarely disturbed.
1t is a gay life which the Kirghiz
lead in their tents in the summer.
Chattering an unceasing chatter, they
watch the sun slip across the sky and
night finds them chattering still. If
stranger comes in sight they jump
into their saddles and rush heller
SHELTER to meet him. With loud cries
of "Amann! Amann, Bail" they well
come him and seize the reins of his
horse, drag him at headlong speed into
their Aool and lead him into the tent
suitable to his rank. The intensity
of the chatter increases; the koumis
is whipped to foam in the huge
skins which contain it and poured into
a large bowl; from this it is served
lin smaller painted bowls, made of
wood and holding about a quart, to
each person present.
The Kirghiz Tent.
It is a gay. merry life, and in the
tents of the rich patriarchs, it is one
of considerable dignity. Their tents
are of snowy white felt with the edges
gaily embroidered. The ropes passing
over such a tent are of camels hair
whose strands are of varied and gay
colors. Like all yurtas, it is circular
in shape with a semi-circular dome
like top. A large one will be % feet
In diameter, and the interior is free
from all distractions. The top is open
10 the sky, but can be closed at night