TARTARY, a tract of territory in central Asia, of which the limits have never been exactly defined. It is generally understood to embrace that wide space which intervenes between the dominions of Russia and China on the west and east, and which on the south is bounded by the kingdom of Persia and the lofty central mountains of Asia. This vast space was formerly occupied by pastoral tribes, who, united under one great chief, assailed and finally overthrew the Roman empire; and who afterwards, under their great leader Ghenghis Khan, carried their devastations both into Europe and Asia. Central Asia is one vast meadow, extended on a dead level to an almost boundless extent, covered with flocks and herds, and necessarily the habitation of a pastoral people. Such has accordingly been the character of the Tartars from time immemorial; their sole employment being to tend their flocks and herds, and occasionally to hunt the wild animals of the forest; living in tents in the open fields, without towns or villages; delighting in horsemanship, and in all manly and warlike exercises; and having a breed of the finest horses in the world. “The fancy of the poet,” says the Roman historian, “has clothed the pastoral life in the fairest attributes of innocence and peace; but it is the province of history to exhibit a different picture, and to exhibit these shepherds as they truly are, fierce, bloody, savage, and vindictive.” The Tartars were accordingly known in ancient history under the appellation of Scythians, and were admired for their warlike virtues and for the simplicity of their manners, for their hospitality, and their ignorance of money and luxury, by the Greek legislators of Athens and Sparta, whose policy it was to form a community on the same warlike model, where nothing was to be seen but

Man and steel, the soldier and his sword.

They were at all times the most formidable enemies of civilized life, and the various inroads into their dominions by the greatest conquerors only ended in disaster and defeat. As light troops, they were most formidable in the ancient wars; and the Persian monarchs, with their well-trained bands, and even Alexander of Macedon, were forced to retreat before their formidable though desultory attacks.

While Rome retained the vigour and simplicity of her republican institutions, and the iron discipline of her armies, the rude assaults of these barbarians were invariably repelled; but when the warlike habits of the Romans began to be corrupted by the progress of luxury, their attacks were renewed with increased fierceness, and with greater chances of success. Numbers of the first invaders perished in the inroads into the Roman provinces. But these being still reinforced with increasing multitudes, while the vigour of the defence was relaxed, they at length effected permanent conquests; and, under the appellation of Huns, finally extended their ravages over all Italy. The intelligence of their success, and of the riches and beauty of the conquered countries, attracted multitudes from the remote extremities of Asia, and under their repeated assaults the empire of the west was subverted. This event was hastened by the dreadful invasion of Attila, who was characterized as “the sword of God and the destroyer of nations.” On the east the Tartar tribes, under the appellation of Toorks or Turks, from Chinese or Independent Tartary, poured their innumerable hordes on the Persian empire, where they established a dynasty celebrated under the name of the Seljnkian. About the end of the tenth century, they crossed the Euphrates in four divisions under different leaders, and invaded Asia Minor and Syria, of which they conquered and retained possession of the finest provinces. They endured various vicissitudes, and were at one time reduced very low. But being directed by able leaders, they recovered the ascendant; and, their numbers being swelled by the warlike and migratory population which, in the course of long wars, was scattered over those countries, they finally succeeded in overturning the eastern empire, and Constantinople became, and still continues, the seat of their empire. In the twelfth century the Tartar tribes were still more formidable. Their whole power being consolidated under Zingis or Ghenghis Khan, they successively conquered China, Persia, and all central Asia from the Black Sea to eastern Asia. His successors pursued the career of conquest, and added Russia and Poland, with part of Germany. A general panic was now diffused over the whole civilized world by the intelligence of these conquests, and of the ravages committed by these barbarians in the fairest portions of the earth. The great empire of Ghenghis Khan was broken into divisions; but the different chiefs who now reigned were still eager for conquest; and Timur the Tartar, or Tamerlane, having established his dominions over a large and fertile portion of [7:21:83]Asia, conquered Persia, where the degenerate chiefs of the race of Ghenghis still bore sway, broke the power of the Turks in Asia Minor, ravaged and conquered India, and in that country established a dynasty which continued till the close of the last century, when every minor authority in that part of Asia was swallowed up by the extending sway of Britain, on whose bounty the great Mogul, the descendant of Ghenghis, is now a humble pensioner. China fell an easy prey to these conquering hordes, and has long been the seat of a Tartar dynasty, having been conquered about the sixteenth century by the Mantchoos, a tribe which issued from the north, near the coasts of the Eastern Ocean. But the rising power of Russia has reduced most of those wandering tribes under her dominion; and the reign of Independent Tartary is now contracted within a narrow span. The progress of civilization, and the improvement of the art of war by the invention of fire-arms, have entirely broken the power of these savage hordes. The Russian cannon now forms a sure barrier against the incursions of the Tartar horse; and under her growing civilization and military power, the fiercest tribes have been taught to tremble and obey. All northern Asia, to the limits of China, and eastward to the Pacific Ocean, has been reduced under the power of Russia; and the narrow space that is now occupied by Independent Tartary is ruled by numerous petty sovereigns, who are often engaged in mutual wars, and can never be again formidable to the civilized states of Europe. On the contrary, the rude tribes of Asia will hardly be able to maintain their ground against the encroaching flood of European civilization or of European arms. The powers of Europe seem now to have imbibed the spirit of conquest which formerly propelled the Asiatic hordes into the seats of European civilization; and the late unsuccessful expedition of the Russians from the west to Khyvah, about 240 miles east of the Caspian Sea, and the bold and admirably conducted inroad of the British from the east as far as Candahar and Caubul, are among the fruits of this ambitious policy.

This extensive country may be divided into Independent Tartary and Chinese Tartary.

I. Independent Tartary includes that extensive region which stretches from the Caspian Sea, as far cast as the great Himalaya range of mountains, which runs through the centre of Asia, and from which a branch diverges from the main ridge, under the designation of Beloor Taugh, northward, and separates Independent Tartary from the country of Kashgar and from Chinese Tartary. On the south, this country is indistinctly bounded by Persia, and on the north by the provinces of Oufa, Orenburg, and Tobolsk, belonging to Asiatic Russia. Independent Tartary is divided into various states; namely, L Khyvah, which is a stripe on the banks of the Oxus, of which the length does not exceed between 200 and 300 miles, and the breadth in no place more than fifty. 2. The kingdom of Bockhara or Bukharia, which is by far the most important both in power and extent. The habitable part of this kingdom is small in proportion to the desert with which it is chiefly surrounded, and which may be considered in a great measure as its boundary. It is divided from Khyvah on the west and north-west; to the north-east stretch vast tracts of desert, thinly sprinkled with the tents of the Toorkoman and other tribes, and only interrupted by the stream of the Jaxartes; on the east it is bounded by Kokaun; and the Oxus, with the mountains from which it flows, may be said to form its southern boundary. The limits of this kingdom are, however, in a state of fluctuation, varying, as is generally the case in the disorderly regions of Asia, with the success of its arms; so that they can hardly be laid down with any precision. 3. The independent state of Kokaun, which is fully 250 miles in length by 150 in breadth, is bounded on the east from Bockhara by a steep and inaccessible chain of mountains, the two countries being divided by the White River; on the south it has the mountainous tract which divides it from Buduckshan and Chitral; on the south-west it is bounded by Kurratageen; on the east and north-east by mountains tributary to China, and inhabited by Kirgeesh and Kuzaks; on the north-west by the district of Tash-kund, with mountains and deserts. South and east of Bockhara lies the large and interesting province of Balk; and about 600 miles east of Kokaun lie the Mahommedan states of Kashgar and Yarkund.

One of the great peculiarities of Asiatic manners:, well calculated to attract attention, is the division of the population into the two classes of fixed and wandering communities. In the richer countries to the south and east of Asia the inhabitants are mostly stationary, dwelling in fixed habitations, and occupied with trade and agriculture; but the northern and western parts, including Arabia, Persia, a portion of Afghanistan, Balk, and all the country that lies in the same parallel of latitude, as far east as the most civilized parts of China, and on th west including a portion of Poland and Russia, have been occupied by wandering tribes, migrating with the winter and summer in quest of pasture, and having no fixed habitations in towns and villages. This class has been gradually diminishing with the progress of civilization. But in the country we are now describing, the pastoral life is still seen in its original rudeness and simplicity; and in many districte those shepherds discover all the cruelty and ferocity of the Tartar tribes. The original invaders were the Mongoles from the eastern regions bordering on China; but they have been supplanted in their turn by other invaders, and the country is chiefly occupied by the Toorkomans, and the Oosbecks or Usbecks, and other rude tribes. The Toorkomans are divided into other tribes, the three principal of which are, the Tuckch, the Gocklan, and the Yamoot. They occupy the country to the north of the Elburz range of mountains, and of Persia, and are found as far north as Khyvah, all along the shores of the Caspian Sea. They are extremely barbarous and cruel in their manners. They live partly by plunder, and pour down from their deserts upon the cultivated countries around, plundering villages and caravans with every circumstance of atrocious outrage, murdering on the spot the old, the feeble, and the helpless. Those who are fit for labour they carry into slavery. They have depopulated many extensive districts, which but for them would continue fertile and inhabited. The Toorkomans, and most of the tribes in the same quarter, are Mahommedans of the sect of Soonies; the Persians again are Sheahs, and the deadly hatred which prevails between these sects may exasperate the fury of their invaders, and add to their cruelties. On the east, there are other tribes who commit the same ravages. The captives that are carried off are disposed of to slave-merchants, and are by them sold in the great slave-markets of Khyvah and Bockhara. All these tribes are described by Fraser^[1. Fraser’s Narrative of a Journey into Khorassan, chap. xii. ] as cruel, blood-thirsty, and rapacious, even in their private lives and domestic relations. They set no value whatever on human life; and a word, a look, or some trivial mistake, he observes, is apt to occasion bloodshed. A Toorkoman will put to death his wife, his child, or his servant, for the merest trifle; and if crimes of this sort do not more frequently occur, it is more from considerations of interest than from any regard to the ties of blood or affection. “Even the wars between the tribes,”
[7:21:84]

observes this judicious writer, “have assumed the same cruel and rapacious character which marks their foreign warfare; avarice has quite overpowered religious zeal; and the unholy practice of selling captives of their own faith is now frequent.”

The tribe of Tuckch is the most numerous of the Toorkoman tribes, containing 40,000 families. They are a treacherous and faithless race, and never suffer an opportunity to escape of plundering even their friends. The Gocklans were formerly powerful, but their power has been broken by adverse events, and they now acknowledge the Persian supremacy. The Yamoot tribe is divided into two parts: the one, amounting to 15,000 families, acknowledges the Persian monarch; the other, amounting to 16,000 families, is subject to Khyvah. All these tribes resemble each other in their customs and manners. They live in tents or portable houses, and frequently change their stations, as pasture becomes scarce, seldom remaining more than five or six days in one place. They encamp in parties of from 30 to 200 families; each party is ruled by its elder, whose advice is taken in all matters affecting the interests of the community, and who adjusts petty disputes; but they have no governors, chiefs, or nobles among them, nor would they endure any one arrogating such superiority. The same spirit of equality prevails in common life, no distinctions of rank being at any time observed, nor any great deference to the claims of age or relationship. Like all rude tribes, the Toorkomans pique themselves on hospitality; but so vitiated have their morals become by the love of plunder, that even this tie is often violated.

The wealth which they acquire by perfidy and rapacity, they generally invest in such property as camels, horses, valuable swords, arms and armour, women’s ornaments, clothes, jewels of gold or silver, and rich furniture. The women are not concealed, as in Mahommedan countries; nor do they wear veils. Their dress consists of a long loose vest or skirt, with sleeves, which covers the whole person down to the feet, and is open at the breast in front, but buttons or ties close up to the neck. It is made of silk or cotton stuff, red, blue, green, striped red or yellow, checked, or variously coloured. Underneath are drawers of silk or cotton. Their head-dress is a lofty cap with a broad crown, made of light chips of wood or split reeds covered with cloth. With respect to the dresses of the men, those of the poorer class consist of a stout woollen shirt, and a pair of woollen drawers, or a long brown woollen wrapper; but the better classes have generally adopted the common Persian habit. There is much individual variety among those tribes. The Tuckehs have a good deal of the Tartar physiognomy. Many of them are tall, stout, and well made, with scanty beards, small eyes drawn up at the corners, high cheek-bones, and small flat noses; all the true features, in short, of a Tartar face; while others have handsome features, more resembling a European than an Asiatic countenance. The Gocklans also bear traces of a Tartar origin, but less than the Tuckehs, while there are remarkable differences among them, marking the intermixture of different races. The Ya-moot men have less of the Tartar physiognomy than any of the other tribes. Many of them resemble the Persians, and also the Russians, in a certain harsh irregularity of feature which they possess. They are all ferocious and warlike in their habits. Their arms are a spear and sword, in the use of which they are sufficiently dexterous. The sword is generally formed in the curved Persian fashion, and very sharp. They also wear a dagger. Fire-arms are as yet not in general use among them. The Gocklans and Yamoots use bows and arrows, in the use of which they are not nearly so dexterous as their ancestors. These tribes arc all excellent horsemen, and they possess a race of horses which are celebrated all over Asia. They greatly value size and bone, which are indigenous to the country; but figure and blood, borrowed from the Arab breed, much more. Their horses are capable of enduring extraordinary fatigues. When properly trained for a plundering expedition, they will carry their riders without flagging for eight days together, at the rate of from eighty to a hundred miles per day. Those of the best breeds cannot be purchased under L. 150 or L.200. For the protection of their flocks they have a breed of very large and fierce dogs, which assist their shepherds in managing their flocks. But though they attend to their flocks, they still delight in plunder, to which they look for riches and extraordinary indulgences; and when they resolve on any expedition, they unite under some leader whose conduct and courage inspire them with confidence; and, sallying from their haunts, they move with astonishing celerity into some of the frontier provinces of Persia. They lie near the gates of the town or village which they have marked out for their prey; and watching in silence until dawn, when the unsuspecting inhabitants begin to issue from the gates to pursue their daily labour, they start from their lurking place, seize all they can catch, murder those who resist, rapidly plunder the houses, and, binding their booty on the cattle, hasten to retreat before the country is alarmed. They massacre the old and infirm; and those who are taken captive to be sold for slaves, they fasten by ropes to their horses, with their arms tied behind their backs; and they drive them on with blows of heavy whips to increase their speed. They have a few manufactures, such as carpets, which they weave of a very beautiful fabric, and which are highly valued, and bring high prices. They also weave cloth of camels’ hair, and coarse woollens chiefly for their own use; and they dispose of butter and cheese, the produce of their flocks.

A large portion of Independent Tartary, farther to the east of the Caspian, in the neighbourhood of Bockhara, Balk, and Samarcand, countries which lie near the river Oxus, is inhabited almost entirely by the Oosbecks, a people of the widely extended race of the Turk or Toork, but whose original seat is not precisely ascertained. They appear to have come from the north, and to have been tempted from their original and inhospitable abodes by the finer countries on the plains of the Oxus and the Jaxartes. Like the other Turks, they are celebrated all over the east for their fine appearance, which is remarkably contrasted with the Mongoles, Kalmucks, and other Tartar tribes. They are distinguished by broad foreheads, high cheek-bones, thin beards, and small eyes; by a clear and ruddy complexion, and generally by black hair. The women are fair and beautiful. Their dress resembles that of the Toorkomans of the desert. They wear a lofty cap upon the head, with a handkerchief over it. The shirt and trousers, with the gown, are not unlike those of the men. The dress of the latter at Khyvah consists of a shirt and drawers of white cotton cloth, with two or three gowns over them of striped silk stuff, blue, red, and gray, all open at the breast, so that when the girdle is loose the person is very indecorously expelled. A broad-topped sheep-skin is worn upon the head. The khan is hardly to be distinguished by his dress from his subjects; but on grand days he wears a small jewel in his turban, with a gold-embroidered Oosbeck gown over his white shirt and drawers; and the other ensign of royalty which he assumes, is a tuft of gold and jewels upon his horse’s head.

The Oosbecks at Khyvah are described as a very uncivilized race, gross in their domestic habits, and coarse and disgusting in their food and manner of eating; the khan, his ministers, and almost all his nobles, being fat and un-wcildy, owing to their habits of indolence. There is little distinction between the different ranks of society; the master and servant, the chief and the groom, standing or sitting promiscuously together. In Bockhara, where the Oosbecks constitute the chief portion of the population, along with the Taujicks and Toorkomans, they are represented [7:21:85]by Fraser as honest, just, sincere, good tempered, generally well disposed, and by no means either cruel or treacherous; rarely quarrelling, and their quarrels rarely stained with blood; nor are they addicted to private and murderous revenge, like most of their neighbours. They are fond of horse-flesh, which they prefer to beef; and by their fondness for the intoxicating drink called mare’s milk, they are often seduced into excess and drunkenness. They are likewise fond of tea. They are the chief inhabitants of Kokaun, and other districts to the east, and are there represented as a fat, fair, and high-complexioned people, extremely quiet, good humoured, and hospitable; very fond of riding, hunting, hawking, and getting drunk on kimmiz, or mare’s milk. The other wandering tribes who are scattered over this country are also described as peaceable and honest. The Oosbecks who inhabit the desert tracts of the country, live in parties of from two hundred to above one thousand families. These parties have no particular chief, but each is regulated in all its concerns by a bey or beg, who is chosen by common consent, on account of his wealth, character, or abilities. In the larger divisions, the king has a voice in the election of the bey or chief, but in the smaller divisions this is little attended to. These chiefs decide in all disputes which are not of great importance. In serious cases several of them consult together; and if they cannot agree they remit the matter to the cauzee, who is always appointed by the king, and is held in considerable awe. In all the different states, the king or chief is perfectly absolute, the fountain of all authority and power. The only restraint on his will is derived from the influence of religion; the oleemut and heads of religion alone possessing any authority or respect, to which it is necessary for the king to defer. The influence of this body, however, has been of late so much weakened, that some of them have been put to death by the reigning monarch. The priests rank above all classes, civil as well as military. The nobles belonging to the army occupy the second rank. The revenue is collected by the bey in kind; namely, sheep, camels, oxen, and other animals, in the proportion of one in forty. He fixes a price on them, and the tribute is paid in money to a collector sent with another legal officer and ten soldiers to receive it. In order to preserve his control, the king discourages different tribes from living together in the same union; but it is common in the desert to see a variety of tribes mingled together. The tents of the Oosbecks consist of a frame-work of thin laths covered with thick black felt, and these are called kirgahs or black houses. The floors of the rich are spread with carpets and numuds; those of the poor with a blanket or mat of camel’s hair; and a hole in the roof, of open lattice-work, is the only chimney, over which they draw a piece of black felt when it rains. The dress of the Oozbecks in Bockhara consists of the same loose and flowing garments as in most parts of Asia. They were a shirt and drawers, of cotton in summer and of woollen in winter, and over these a silk or woollen wrapping gown, tied round the waist with a girdle; and in winter a sheep’s skin, or a coat of thick felt, in which they wrap themselves. The head-dress is in summer a painted cap of silk, which they call a calpak, and in winter a small cap of broad cloth lined with fur; a checked or white turban is often worn round this, and forms the true national dress. Bandages of cloth rolled round the legs form a rude substitute for stockings; or boots are worn, of brown leather, reaching up to the knee. The dress of the women is very similar to that of the men. They wear boots and silk gloves, and throw over the person a silk sheet, which conceals them from head to foot, a small orifice being left for the eyes. They are fond of ornaments, wearing necklaces of gold beads, with nose-rings and ear-rings. In the country the women wear no veils, but go about openly as in Europe. The Taujicks are a peaceable class, who are understood to be opposed to the Toorks or Toorkomans, and the Oosbecks, and other wandering hordes, who, under various designations and subdivisions into tribes, form a scanty population, inhabiting chiefly the banks of the Oxus, and the habitable spots scattered through the desert; but they are to be found in greater or smaller numbers, according to the quantity of cultivated land, all over the more fertile and well-watered country to the south and south-east of Bockhara.

The towns of Tartary are, Khyvah, Ourgunge, Haza-rasp, Zercaun, Pitnuck; Bockhara, Balk, both large towns; Samarcand, now ruined and in a state of decay, though still containing many fine buildings; Kokaun, Khojund, Yarkund, and others of less consequence. Of the commerce of this distant region, some account has been given under the articles Bukharia and Balk. The Russians have long carried on commerce with Khyvah and the western parts of Tartary. The possession of the port of Astracan, and more lately those of Bako, Salian, Derbund, and Lanke-ran, has given them an entire command of the navigation and commerce of the Caspian Sea; and it is long since they began to build forts on its eastern shore. The principal of these is Okh Trappeh, not far from Astrabad, and some miles to the north of Attruck, in the territory of the Toorkoman tribes. They also occupy a port or point in or connected with the Bay of Balkan, called by the Russians Krasnovodsk, and an island in the Bay of Mangushluck, still farther to the north. It is from some of these points that they have sent a military force against Khyvah, which, according to the latest accounts, had nearly perished from cold and fatigue. The greatest obstacle to the march of an army in these deserts is the want of water. The distance from Krasnovodsk to Khyvah is about 500 miles, in which, for several days’ journey, no water is to be found. Fraser, in his account of the Persian empire, states his opinion that a Russian force might be set down on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, either at Balkan or at Mangushluck, “that, with common management, might not only capture, but retain possession of, Khyvah, and project and prepare for ulterior enterprises.”^[2. See Appendix B, part ii. ] Russia has, as anticipated by Fraser, undertaken this expedition, which has in the mean time failed, as already stated, but whether from want of common management, or of a sufficient force, or from the difficulties of the enterprise, has not been clearly ascertained.

Russia supplies this extensive country, Khyvah, as well as Bockhara, with the greater portion of the European articles which its inhabitants require. With both these places an intercourse is maintained by means of caravans, which proceed from Astracan by Orenburg. The route is long and dangerous, being about forty days’ journey, and in many places exposed to the attacks of the Kirgeesh and Kuzaks, w ho inhabit the steppes north and north-west of Khyvah. The chief traffic is by sea to Mangushluck, where the Russian traders bring their goods, and are met by those from Khyvah. One great branch of trade consists in slaves captured from the surrounding countries in plundering expeditions, and Khyvah and Bockhara are the chief marts. The Toorkomans, the Yamoots, and even the tribes around Khyvah itself, make inroads into Persia, and carry off the cattle and the inhabitants, who are sold for slaves; and on the other side, the Kirgeesh and Kuzaks make prisoners of the Russians on their own frontiers, or when journeying in caravans, and carry them for sale to the great slave-markets in the east. Bockhara carries on a regular trade with Russia, Persia, and the east; for a more particular account of which, see the article Bukharia.

Several of those cities which have been mentioned, towards the east of this extensive region, arc said to be rich [7:21:86]and populous. But unless in those richer tracts which are interspersed through central Asia, and in the cities on the banks of rivers, the inhabitants generally retain their pastoral and migratory habits; and more especially as we proceed farther northwards among the Kirgeesh, who connect Independent Tartary with Russia, and have been already described. Everywhere fertile tracts are to be found; but the desert, the abode of the wandering tribes, greatly preponderates.

Besides those tribes who still inhabit the country of Tartary, this pastoral population is spread over the southern provinces of Russia, which is inhabited by the Kalmucks and Baschkirs. The Kalmucks have been already described. They entirely resemble the other wandering tribes in their habits. They were formerly numbered among the most powerful tribes in Tartary, and they even boasted of the great conqueror Zingis as belonging to their nation. After various wanderings and misfortunes, the whole body settled, in 1723, on the banks of the Volga, from Tzaritzin to Astracan. They numbered 14,000 tents or families, and owned the supremacy of the czar. They could not, however, relinquish at once their predatory habits, in consequence of which they experienced the iron grasp of Russia, and numbers of them sought an asylum near the frontier of China, whither they emigrated about the year 1771. Those now inhabiting Russia still amount to about 40,000 or 50,000.

The Baschkire inhabit the southern parts of the provinces of Orfa and Orenburg, with part of Tobolsk, between the rivers Belaia, Kama, Volga, and Oural. They were established in these countries from a very early period, and were instigated to repeated revolts, particularly in 1676, 1708, and 1735; and in 1771 they joined the standard of Pugatscheff. Their power was entirely broken in the course of their various conflicts with Russia; and after they were subdued, they experienced so much lenity from the Russian government that they are now numerous and prosperous. They retain all their Tartar habits, being entirely devoted to the rearing of cattle, and, so far, to the growing of such a supply of oats and barley as may serve them for winter food when milk fails them. They consist of 27,000 families, and are obliged to furnish their contingent to the Russian armies, being placed on the footing of Cossacs, mounted and equipped at their own expense.

II. Chinese Tartary. On the decay of the Tartar sway over central Asia, and the breaking up of their empire, a vast portion of territory fell under the dominion of China. It comprehends that extensive country which is situated between Hindustan and Asiatic Russia, bounded on the north by the great range of the Altai Mountains, and between the Eastern Ocean and the great range of the Beloor Taugh, which bounds Independent Tartary on the east. This space extends in its widest dimensions over seventy degrees of longitude and twenty of latitude. It is doubtful whether it includes or is bounded by Thibet on the south. It is in many parts mountainous and desert. The great desert of Shamo or Cobi stretches, nearly through its whole extent, over a space of nearly 2000 miles in breadth, and interposes between China and the Russian empire. This immense plain is in many places barren and destitute of water, but in other places is watered by rivulets and springs, or lakes, and affords pasturage to the hordes that wander over its desert parts, and is covered with herds of cattle. Our knowledge of this tract, especially of its western limits, is but imperfect, and is chiefly derived from the accounts of the early missionaries by whom it was visited. The most westerly district on the other side of the great mountain range of Beloor Taugh includes, according to the most recent accounts, the Mahommedan states of Kashgar and Yarkund, about 600 miles nearly east of Kokaun. The appearance of this country is in general more pleasing than that to the west, being better watered and more finely diversified, more verdant and better wooded, and differing both from the gravelly and rocky soil of Persia. Khorassan, Balk, and from the salt or sandy deserts of Khaurezm or Bockhara to the west. Kashgar is the more westerly of the two, and is situated in long. 76° 15 45'' E. and in lat. 39° 25' N. It is a city of great celebrity, and of great commercial resort from the surrounding countries. It embraces a circuit of three miles, contains 10,000 houses, and is crowded with strangers. It was destroyed by Meerza Abubekr, the grandson of Timur, who having afterwards made it his residence, restored it to prosperity, and adorned it with many splendid edifices. Along with several of the neighbouring states, it has been under the dominion of China for the last seventy or eighty years. Yarkund, which by the road is 180 miles from Kashgar, and is placed in long. 78° 27' 45'' E. lat. 38° 19' N., enjoys a high degree of celebrity in that part of Asia, and is a rendezvous of merchants from India, Caubul, and Independent Tartary. The bazaar contains many handsome shops, which are chiefly occupied by the Chinese. The country which surrounds these cities is described as rich and fruitful, well watered and delightful, abounding in towns and villages, in rich cultivation, and especially in well-flavoured and delicious fruits.

The conquest of the country by the Chinese, as related by Fraser, took place about seventy or eighty years ago. About the year 1670 or 1680 the countries of Yarkund, Kashgar, and other neighbouring districts, were under the Moghuls or Mongoles, the descendants of Timur, from whom they were conquered by the Kalmucks, whose king resided at Eelah, and appointed governors over the other cities. A great plague having broken out among the Kalmucks, the Mongole lords, seeing the weakness of their rulers, rose in rebellion against them, and succeeded in regaining their lost power. But at this period they put to death an ambassador from China, who was despatched to their country by the emperor, on which he sent an army to avenge the insult, and after a severe conflict the country was subdued, and has ever since remained under the yoke, though they have still preserved their paternal seat, and live ostensibly under the government of their own princes. According to the accounts of travellers, the strictest order and an efficient police are maintained throughout the wide precincts of the Chinese authority; moderate duties are levied, trade is protected, and a single traveller may journey as securely as a large caravan.

That portion of Tartary which is to the west and north-west of China, is for the most part desert, or a naked and wide-extended plain, with occasional spots which are fertile and well watered, and afford pasture to the flocks of the wandering tribes of Mongoles, Kalkas, and Eluths. The origin of these tribes is but imperfectly known. The Mongoles are generally considered as having been the great disturbers of the world, whose reckless devastation seemed destined to destroy and obliterate arts and knowledge, and every vestige of civilized life. Being gradually broken into separate states, they were partly crushed by the rising power of Russia, and partly fell under the dominion of China. They are really, however, under the rule of the Chinese, though a small portion of them are within the dominions of Russia. These withdrew themselves from the Chinese dominion, and voluntarily put themselves under that of Russia; and this example would have been followed by other races, had not Russia engaged by a treaty not to give admittance to any more of these tribes. The Russian Mongoles inhabit the regions about the Selenga, in the government of Irkutsk, from the 122d to the 125th degree of longitude, and between the 50th and 53d degree of north latitude. The allegiance of those who are under the dominion of China is secured by a pension to their chiefs. They sometimes also engage in wars with each other, though these con [7:21:87]tests, when they rise to a certain height, are quelled by the Chinese. All these rude tribes are devoted to the religion of the Lamas.

The Mantchoo Tartars inhabit the most eastern extremity of Tartary, bordering on the Pacific, which, in consequence of having given a conquering dynasty to China, now forms a province of that empire. They resemble the Mongoles in person, but have a fairer complexion. They have adopted only to a limited extent the religion of Fo or Boodh, so universally established over the east of Asia; they have an ancient superstition of their own, to which they are greatly attached. They have also a peculiar language, which differs materially from that of the Chinese, Coreans, and Mongoles. It is rude in structure, but is said to be copious. Their country is in general mountainous and woody; the mountains are lofty, and the forests are of great depth. The cold is in proportion to the altitude; and though the latitude be only that of the south of France, the climate is cold, and the rivers begin to freeze in September. (f. )