The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-04-23
Tartars of Siberia
The Warlike Tribes That Inhabit
Large Stretches of Russian
Territory

Territory
Omsl, Siberia, Feb. u Correspond
ence of The Associated Press s)-Siberia
which has forced world attention. by
reason Of the important political
events there, Includes all the Asiatic
possessions Of Russia with the eXcep-
ton of the trans Caspian and trans
Caucasian regions and the government
general of Turkestan whose capital,
!; Tashkent, was captured by the Boil
sheviki and whose American vice
consul, Roger c. Tredwell, was arrest
ed and left to languish in prison.
Since the Mongolian invasions
! in the thirteenth century, ST.
IBERIA has been the homo Of many
+! tribes, descended from that race. To
the foreigner the Tartars are perhaps
! the most interesting. Their great cen
ter is kaZan though the National Tar
tar Council, which like Ukraine and
other regions Of Russia, seeks the de-
i velopments Of its national aspira-
jtions,'' is now located at Petropavlovsk,
not far from Omsk. This is on account
| Of Bolshevik terrorism.
The Tartars are true followers Of
Mahomet and their Mosques are found
| in almost every city. They are esLi-
mated to number 100000 in the dis
tricts of kazan and Crimea. 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 ka-
zan. Samara and Ufa. The last two or
these places were occupied several
months ago by the Bolshevik armies.
The Tartars have an oval face. black
eyes, placed obli1uely, and their skin
is brown. Their costume is unusual,
the distinguishing feature being their
coiffure over which is worn a tight
fitting calotte, kull cap.
A considerable number Of Tartars
live in the Altai mountains on the
| frontier Of China They are still no
nads and given over to idolatry. Many
of them worship the sun.
The people OF the Mongolian race
inhabiting Russia. either European or
Siberian, should be generally divided
into groups The Finnish group in
cludes Films, Esthonians. Mordva and
Cherenaises. The Tartar group Is
conlposed Of Tartars, and smaller
tribal peoples.
An important nonladic Mongolian
tribe is the Kirghis who live in the
steppe regions Of Akmolinsk and Sem
! ipalatinsk. They aggregate more than
q million of both sexes, speak a Tur-
kish dialect and are devout mussul-
mans. They are chiefly cattle ralsers.
The Iakouts inhahit the region of
! Irkutsk, near Lake Baikal. and speak
a language principally Turkish but
partly Mongolian They are idolatrous
| and live by the hunt and by the rails
ing Of cattle.
In the province Of Tobolsk. and gen
orally in the north, even up 70 IN"
| Arctic ocean. are the Noguls ana
the Os,iacks They descend from an
ancient Finnich Branch. Although in
principle converted to Christianity
they have no real idea Of the Christ
ian religion and as in ancient times
practice Chananisn, the religion OF
their ancestors Still other tribes are
the Tcleouts on the plateauS Of the
Altais. the Duriats in the trans-Balkal
district, the Manchus in the Amur
and the Samoyedes on the Arctic bor-
ders where they engage in the rails
ing of reindeer.
In the large cities like Harbn, lrk-
utsk and Omsk, Americans are struck
by the large number Of Buriats and
Tartars who are drivers Of public dros-
kies. They seem to speak the Russ
ian language indiferently and appar-
emily hardly know the streets and dit
ferent quarters of the city. They are
distinctly Mongolian in type and have
fat noses.
The present population Of Siberia is
estimated at ten million, as against
a total Russian population of perhaps
10000, 900 Despite the numerous
races and tribes mentioned above, the
population Of Siberia is mainly Rus
sian, formed Of peasants who nnigrat-
ed from European Russia when Slber-
ia was reconquered and to some OK
tent OF the descendants Of the unhappy
people who were exiled to the frlgld
zone for political conspiracies and
crimes.