The Nenana daily news. (Nenana, Alaska) 1918-1921, 1919-05-21

Of
AS|AT|C RUSSIA
HETEROGENEOUS

OMSK, Siberia. = Siberia, which
has forced world attention by reason
Of the important political events
there, includes all the Asiatic pos
sessions of Russia with the excep-
, ton of the trans-Caspian and trans
Caucasian regions and the govern
ment general Of Turkestan, whose
capital, Tashkent, was captured by
the Bolsheviki and whose American
Ivice-consul, Roger c. Tredwen was
arrested and left to languish in
prison.
Since the Mongolian invasions in
the thirteenth century, Siberia has
been the home of many tribes, de-
seconded from that race. To the
foreigner the Tartars are perhaps
the most interesting Their great
center IS kazan, though the Nation
al Tartar Council, which. like
Ukraine and other regions of Rus
STA, seeks the development of its
national aspirations" is now locat-
ed at Petropavlovsk, not far from
Omsk. This is on account of Boil
shevik terrorism.
The Tartars are true followers
of Mahomet and their mosques are
found in almost every city Thev
are estimated to number 100000
in the districts of Kazan and Cri-
mea. They are keen seekers after
education and many Tartar boys
and girls receive lessons in French,
English. and German from foreign
instructors in places like kazan.
Samara, and Ufa. The last two of
these places were occupied several
months ago by the BolShevik ar
mics. The Tartars have an oval
face, black eyes, placed obliquely
and their skin is brown. Their
costume is unusual, the distinguish
ing feature being their couture, over
which is worn tight-ftting calotte.
or skull-cap.
a considerable number of Tar
tars live in the Altai mountains on
the frontier of China. They are
still nomads and given over to
idolatry. Many of them worship
the sun.
The people of the Monaghan race
inhabiting Russia, either European
or Siberian, should be generally d.
vided into groups. The Finnish
group includes Firms, Esthonians.
Mordva, and Cheremises. The Tar
tar group is composed of Tartar$
and smaller tribal peoples.
An important nomadic Monaghan
tribe is the Kirghis, who live in
the steppe regions of Akmolinsk
and Semipalatinsk. They aggregate
more than million Of both sexes,
speak a Turkish dialect and are
devout mussulmans. They are chief
ly cattle raisers.
The Iakouts inhabit the region
of Irkutsk, near Lake Baikal, and
speak a language principally Turk
ish, but partly Monaghan. They
are idolatrous and live by the hunt
and by the raising of cattle.
In the province Of Tobolsk, AMI
generally in the north, even up to
the Arctic ocean, are found the
Voguls and the Ostiacks. They de-
scend from an ancient Finnish
branch. Although in principle con-
verted to Christianity, they have no
real idea of the Christian religion
and, as in ancient times, practice
Chamanism, the religion of their
ancestors. Still other tribes are the
Teleouts, on the plateaus of the
Atlas; the Buriats. in the trans
Baikal district; the Manchus, in the
Amur, and the Samoyedes, on the
Arctic borders, where they engage
in the raising of reindeer.
In the large cities like Hardin,
Irkutsk and Omsk, Americans are
struck by the large number of Burr
ats and Tartars who are drivers of
public droskies. They seem to
speak the Russian language indif-
ferently and apparently hardly know
the streets and different quarters OF
the city. They are distinctly Mon
golian in type and have flat noses.
The present population of Siberia
is estimated at ten million, as
against a total Russian population
of perhaps 1s0,000,000. Despite the
numerous races and tribes men,