The Human Race Part 20

[Ill.u.s.tration: 105.--YAKUT PRIESTS.]

The Turkish family comprises rather a large number of races. We shall consider here only the _Turcomans_, the _Kirghis_, the _Nogays_, and the _Osmanlis_.

The _Turcomans_.--The Turcomans wander in the steppes of Turkestan, Persia, and Afghanistan. They stray as far as Anatolia to the west. The tribes who dwell in this last district have the shape and the physical characteristics of the White Race; those who inhabit Turkestan show in their physiognomy the admixture of Mongol blood.

The Turcoman is above the middle height. He has not strongly developed muscles, but he is tolerably powerful and enjoys a robust const.i.tution.

His skin is white; his countenance is round; his cheek bones are prominent; his forehead is wide, and the development of the bony part of the skull forms a kind of crest at the top of the head. His almond-shaped and nearly lidless eye is small, lively, and intelligent.

His nose is usually insignificant and turned up. The lower part of his face retreats a little, and his lips are thick. He has scanty moustachios and beard, and his ears are large and protruding.

The Turcoman's dress consists of wide trousers falling over the foot and tight at the hips, and of a collarless s.h.i.+rt open at the right side down to the waist, falling, outside the trousers, halfway down the thigh.

Outside these an ample coat is fastened round the waist by a cotton or wool belt. It is open in front and slightly crossed over the chest. Its sleeves are very long and very wide, a little skull-cap is worn instead of the hair, and is covered with a kind of head-dress called talbac, made of sheep skin, in the shape of a cone with a slightly depressed summit. His shoes are a sort of slipper, or simply a sandal of camel or horse skin fastened to the foot by a woollen cord.

The type is more strongly defined in the Turcoman women than in the men.

Their cheek bones are more prominent, and their complexion is white.

Their hair is generally thick but very short; and they are obliged to lengthen their tresses with goat-hair loops and strings, to which they fasten gla.s.s beads and silver pearls.

We will not describe their dress, but will only observe that they wear a round cap on their head, to which they fasten a silk or cotton veil falling backwards. The whole is surrounded by a kind of turban of the breadth of three fingers, on which are some little squares of silver.

One end of the veil is brought under the chin from right to left, and is fastened, by a little silver chain ending in a hook, on the left side of the face.

Trinkets, necklaces, bracelets, and chains play such a prominent part in the adornment of the Turcoman women, that a dozen of them together drawing water make as much tinkling as the ringing of a small bell.

The men wear no ornament.

Fig. 106 represents a camp of nomadic Turcomans.

M. de Blocqueville, who published in 1866, in the "Tour du Monde," the curious account ent.i.tled "Fourteen months' captivity among the Turcomans," describes as follows the habits of these tribes:--

"The Turcomans keep close to their tent a sheep or a goat, which they fatten and kill on special occasions. The bones are taken out and the meat is cut up and salted; some of it is dried and acquires a high flavour much liked by the Turcomans; the rest, cut into smaller pieces and placed in the animal's paunch, is kept to make soup out of. They collect the bones and other leavings, and stew them down in a pan so as to have some broth to offer on festival occasions to their friends and neighbours. The intestines fall to the children's share, who broil them on the coals and spend whole days in sucking and pulling about this half-cleansed offal.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 106.--TURCOMAN ENCAMPMENT.]

"... ... Women are treated with more consideration by the Turcomans than by other Mussulmans. But they work hard, and every day have to grind the corn for the family food. Besides this, they spin silk, wool, and cotton; they weave, sew, mill felt, pitch and strike the tents, draw water, sometimes do some was.h.i.+ng, dye woollen and silk stuffs, and manufacture the carpets. They set up out of doors, in the fine weather, a very primitive loom made of four stakes firmly fixed in the ground, and, with the a.s.sistance of two large cross pieces on which they lay the woof, begin the weaving, which is done with an iron implement composed of five or six blades put together in the shape of a comb. These carpets, generally about three yards long and a yard and a half wide, are durable and well made. Every tribe or family has its own particular pattern, which is handed down from mother to daughter. The Turcoman women are necessarily endowed with a strong const.i.tution to be able to bear all this hard work, during which, they sometimes suckle their children, and only eat a little dry bread, or a kind of boiled meat with but little nourishment in it. It is especially turning the grindstone that wears them out and injures their chest.

"In their rare intervals of leisure they have always got with them a packet, of wool or of camel's hair, or some raw silk, that they spin whilst they are gossiping or visiting their neighbours; for they never remain quite idle like the women of some Mussulman countries.

"The man has also his own kind of work; he tills the soil, tends the crops, gets in the harvest, takes care of the domestic animals, and sometimes starts on plundering expeditions in order to bring home some booty. He manufactures hand-made woollen rope; cuts out and st.i.tches together the harness and clothing of his horses and camels; attempts to do a little trade, and in his leisure moments makes himself caps and shoes, plays on the doutar (an instrument with two strings), sings, drinks tea, and smokes.

"These tribes are very fond of improving themselves, and of reading the few books that chance throws into their hands.

"As a rule the children do not work before their tenth or twelfth year.

Their parents up to that age make them learn to read and write. Those who are obliged to avail themselves of their children's a.s.sistance during the press of summer labour, take care that they make up for lost time in the winter.

"The schoolmaster, mollah (priest or man of letters), is content to be remunerated either in kind, with wheat, fruit or onions; or in money, according to the parents' position. Each child possesses a small board, on which the mollah writes down the alphabet or whatever happens to be the task; this is washed off as soon as the child has learned his lesson.

"The parents satisfy themselves that their children know their lessons before they set out for school: the women in particular are vain of being able to read. The men sometimes spend whole days in trying to understand books of poetry which come from Khiva or Boukhara, where the dialect is a little different to their own.

"The Turcoman mollahs spend some years in these towns to enable themselves to study in the best schools.

"All these tribes are Mahometan and belong to the Sunnite sect. The only external difference between them and the Persians of the Schiite sect, who recognise Ali as Mahomet's only successor, consists, as is well known, in their mode of saying their devotions and of performing their ablutions.

"Whilst at their prayers, they keep their arms crossed in front of them from the wrist upwards only, instead of keeping them by their side like the Persians.

"Although they follow pretty regularly the precepts of their religion, they show less fanaticism and ostentatious bigotry than most other Easterns whom I have seen. For instance, they will consent to smoke and eat with Jews.

"Every Turcoman has an affection for his tribe, and will devote himself, if need be, for the common weal. Their proper and dignified manners are far beyond a comparison with those of their neighbours--even the inhabitants of Boukhara and Khiva, whose morals have become corrupted to a painful degree. I have seldom seen quarrels and disturbances amongst the Turcomans. Sometimes I have been present at very lively and animated discussions, but I never heard any low abuse or bad language as in other countries. They are less harsh towards their women, and show them more consideration and respect than do the Persians.

"When strangers are present, the women pa.s.s an end of their veil under their chin and speak in a low voice, but they are saluted and respected by the visitors, and enter into conversation with them without any harm being thought of it.

"A woman can go from one tribe to another, or make a journey along an unfrequented road, without having to fear the least insult from any one.

"When a Turcoman pays a visit he makes his appearance in one invariable manner. He lifts the door of the tent, bowing as he enters, then comes to a stop and draws himself up to his full height: after a pause of a few seconds, during which he keeps his eyes fixed on the dome of the tent, probably to give the women time to cover their chins, he quietly p.r.o.nounces his salutation without making the slightest gesture. After exchanging civilities and inquiries about the health of relations and friends, the master of the tent begs the visitor to take a seat on the carpet beside him. The wife then offers him a napkin with a little bread, or bread and water, or some sour milk, or a little fruit. The stranger discreetly only takes a few mouthfuls of what is offered to him."

[Ill.u.s.tration: 107.--KIRGHIS FUNERAL RITES.]

The _Kirghis_.--The Kirghis (fig. 107) are a nomadic tribe. They inhabit the tract of country situated on the frontiers of the Russian and Chinese empires. They wander to and fro on wide spreading plains from lake Baikal to the borders of the Siberian steppes.

They travel armed, and always prepared, either for war or for the chase.

As wild beasts attack men when by themselves, they nearly always travel on horseback in troops.

For the matter of that, the Kirghis never get off their horses. All business is settled, and all merchandise is bought and sold, on horseback. There is in a town, by name Shouraahan, where the sedentary Kirghis reside, a market-place where buyers and sellers do all their business without leaving the saddle. The Kirghis are much below the middle height. Their countenances are ugly. Having scarcely any bridge to their nose, the s.p.a.ce between their eyes is flat and quite on a level with the rest of their face. Their eyes are long and half closed, the forehead protrudes at the lower part, and retreats at the top. Their big puffy cheeks look like two pieces of raw flesh stuck on the sides of their face. They have but little beard, their body is not at all muscular, and their complexion is a dark brown.

The Kirghis are something like the Uzbeks, a race whom we can only just mention, but the latter, living in a temperate climate, are tall and well made, while the former, under the influence of a rigorous one, are short and stunted.

Both these people possess a certain kind of civilization in spite of their nomadic habits. In the districts in which they are in the custom of travelling, they have established relays of horses, a very necessary adjunct to their mode of life.

The _Nogays_.--The Nogays, who once const.i.tuted a powerful nation on the sh.o.r.es of the Black Sea, are now scattered among other peoples. Many of them still wander in nomadic tribes, on the steppes between the banks of the Volga and the Caucasian mountains. Others who have settled down are tillers of the soil or artisans. Such are those to be met with in the Crimea or in Astracan. M. Vereschaguine came across some Nogays on the Caucasian steppes. This Russian traveller says that they are peaceful and laborious, and more capable of becoming attached to the soil than the Kalmuks, whom they resemble a great deal in their mode of life and in their habits and customs.

The _Osmanlis_.--The most important members of the Turkish family are now the Osmanlis. The Osmanlis were the founders of the Turkish Empire and the conquerors of Constantinople.

A tendency to a nomadic mode of life is a strong instinct with this race. It degenerated as soon as it settled down anywhere, and this perhaps is the cause of the decline of the Turkish nation, which at present inhabits south-eastern Europe and Asia Minor.

The residence in Europe and the civilization of the Osmanli Turks date from the Hegira of Mahomet in the seventh century after Christ.

Physically speaking, their outlines would seem to ally them to the Caucasian race. This was the reason that they were so long cla.s.sified among the White or Caucasian race; but most modern anthropologists place them in the Yellow Race.

The head of the Osmanli Turks is nearly round. The forehead is high and broad: the nose is straight, without any depression at its bridge or widening at the nostrils.

The Turkish head does not resemble the European head. It has a peculiar abrupt elevation of the occiput. Its proportions, however, are very good. Mongol descent can be traced in its shape, but scarcely in a perceptible manner, if the features of the face alone are to be taken into account.

The Turks, in general, are tall, well made, robust men, with a rough but often n.o.ble physiognomy, a slightly tawny complexion, and brown or black hair. Their carriage is dignified, and their natural gravity is still further increased by the ample folds of their dress, by their beard, by their moustachios, and by that imposing head-dress, the turban. They are the most recent of all the races of Asian descent who have become Europeanized, and they still preserve, especially in Turkey in Asia, the habits, the costumes, and the belief that distinguished them three centuries ago.