inhabitants of these islands are in general of a short stature, with stout robust limbs, but free and supple. They have lank black hair and little beard, flattish faces, and fair skins. They are for the most part well made, and of strong constitutions, suitable to the boisterous climate of their isles. The Fox islands are so called from the great number of black, gray, and red foxes with which they abound. The dress of a native consists of a cap, and a fur coat which reaches down to the knees. Some of them wear common caps of a parti-colored bird-skin, upon which they leave part of the wings and tail. On the fore-part of their hunting and fishing caps they place a small board like a screen, adorned with the jaw-bones of sea-bears, and ornamented with glass beads which they receive in barter from the Russians. 12. INHABITANTS. This vast country contains more than 100 tribes, differing in manners, language and religion. The Russians, Caffres, and other settlers from Europe are chiefly in the towns and military stations. There are many Tartars, and colonies of them north of the Caspian and the Caucasus. The Calmucks are perhaps the most peculiar race in the empire. They are of a dark color and athletic form. They have high cheek bones, small eyes, distant from each other, and enormous ears. There are some tribes of Monguls and Manshurs. Of the latter the Tungooses are a branch, occupying the central parts of Siberia, about a third of the whole. In the northern regions there are Finns and Samoieds; the latter are short in stature, seldom exceeding five feet, and often but four. They have short legs, large flat heads, wide mouths, large ears, small angularly placed eyes, and black and bristly hair. Their complexion is an olive. The Yakauts are a large tribe on the river Lena. The Georgians and Circassians are a well formed race of men, and the females are renowned for beauty. They have fair complexions, regular features, and commanding forms. The Circassians have slender waists, and these in the men are rendered more so by a light sword belt, which they constantly wear. Besides these tribes, or people, which are a small part of the whole, there are many foreigners, as Germans, Poles, Swedes, Armenians, together with a few Hindoos, Gypsies, and Jews. The form of dress is nearly as various as the people. In the northern countries, it consists for a great part of the year in furs, while the Calmucks have scarcely any clothing but a strip of cloth about the waist. The dress of the Tartars is chiefly a striped silk, and cotton shirt, a short tunic, and over this a caftan or eastern robe, girded with a sash. Short boots, and loose drawers are worn. In summer the head is covered with a turban, in winter, with a helmet of wood. All Tartars shave their beards. The languages are various, and that of Georgia is radically different from all others. The dwellings are of almost every form, though there is little good architecture. In Siberian towns, the Russian mode of building is somewhat followed. The Tartars have neat cottages, whitewashed, and with gardens attached. The Tungooses dwell in tents. The Kamschadales live in villages, built like those of Russia. Many Georgians dwell in huts half sunk in the earth, and the Circassians, in cottages of wood, and plaited osiers. The food is different in various parts. In Siberia fish forms a great article of food. The Tartars eat the flesh of horses, or whatever they can the most easily obtain. All of the Tartar race make use of Koumiss, the spirit drawn from mare's milk. * * Cochrane relates the following instances, of which he represents as a general voracious ness. 'At Tabalak I had a pretty good specimen of the appetite of a child, whose age (as I understood from the steersman, who spoke some English and less French) did not exceed five years. I had observed the child crawling on the floor, and scraping up with its thumb the tallow grease which fell from a lighted candle, and I inquired in surprise whether it proceeded from hunger or hiking of the fat. I was told from neither, but simply from the habit in both Yakuti and Tongousi of eating whenever there is food, and never permitting anything that can be eaten to be lost. I gave the child a candle made of the most impure The courtship of the Calmucs is a horse race. The lady whose good will is solicited, is mounted on horseback and the wooer follows. If he is favored, he is permitted to overtake; if not, whip and spur are vain, for the lady is too good an equestrian, and has too much at stake to be overtaken. Among the Crim Tarters, courtship and marriage are cumbered with ceremonies. The parties seldom see each other till the ceremony, and the contract is made with the heads of the tribe. At the period of the wedding, the villages near are feasted for several days. Much ceremony is used in preparing the bride, who is bound to shew every symptom of reluctance. There is a contest be tween the matrons and girls for her possession. The priest asks the bride if she consents, and on the affirmative, blesses the couple in the name of the prophet and retires. There is a great ceremony and cavalcade, when the bride is carried to her future home. She is carried in a close carriage, under the care of her brothers, while the bridegroom takes a humble station in the procession, dressed in his worst apparel, and badly mounted. A fine horse however, is led for him by a friend, who receives from the mother of the tallow, a second, and third, - and all were devoured with avidity. The steersman then gave him several pounds of sour frozen butter; this also he immediately consumed; lastly, a large piece of yellow soap,-all went the same road; but as I was now convinced that the child would continue to gorge as long as it could receive anything, I begged my companion to desist. 'As to the statement of what a man can or will eat, either as to quality or quantity, I am afraid it would be quite incredible; in fact, there is nothing in the way of fish or meat, from whatever animal, however putrid or un wholesome, but they will devour with impunity, and the quantity only varies from what they have, to what they can get. I have repeatedly seen a Yakut or a Tongouse devour forty pounds ofmeat in a day. The effect is very observable upon them, for from thin and meagre-looking men, they will become perfectly pot bellied. Their stomachs must be differently formed from ours, or it would be impossible for them to drink off at a draught, as they really do, their tea and soup scalding hot. (so hot, at least, that a European would have difficulty in even sipping at it,) without the least incon venience. I have seen three of these gluttons consume a reindeer at one meal; nor are they nice as to the choice of parts; nothing being lost, not even the contents of the bowels, which, with the aid of fat and blood, are converted into black puddings.' bride a present of value, as a shawl. There are not many facilities for travelling in any part of Asia. In the Russian possessions however, posts are generally established, and in Kamschatka, they are supplied instead of horses, with dogs. In Siberia there are few inns, and the traveller, finds money to be an incumbrance. The generous hospitality of the people not only supplies his wants, in food and clothing, but he is feasted as though he were a long absent relation. The diseases most general or fatal are scurvy, small pox, fevers, and the most of the common maladies of other countries. Among a people so various as the inhabitants of Asiatic Russia, there must be great diversity, and opposition of manners and customs. In some of the towns of Siberia there is considerable intelligence. There is in all great hospitality and much social intercourse, and the provinces are better residences than Central Russia. It is remarked that no government banishes fools: and it may be added that many of the exiles in Siberia, are banished only for their virtues. The effect of these is seen in the state of society. The gayety of the Siberians is somewhat rude; but their hospitality is deserving all commendation. The Tunugses occupy nearly a third of Siberia. They are hospitable, improvident, honest, and faithful to their word. They bear privation with wonderful endurance, and when they are forced to kill a reindeer for want of food, they refrain till they have fasted a week or more. They are filthy in the extreme. They smoke and drink spirits whenever they can obtain them. The Yakauts are quick and observing. Many of the Tartars and Calmucks are nomades. The appearance of the latter is athletic but revolting. They are cheerful and much given to equestrian exercises, and the women ride better than the men. The Samoieds, live without rulers, and have no words to express virtue or vice. It is not probable however that they are without either quality. The Kamschadales are in a great degree independent, honest, and veracious. The Georgians and Circassians are a rude people, addicted to violence. The latter live in a feudal state in which the princes are paramount, the nobles next in authority, and the main body of the people serfs. The princes gives their children to the nobles to be educated, and seldom see them till they are of age. The Circassians carry the principle of revenge to an unlimited extent. Blood for blood is so far the practice, that the innocent are involved with the guilty, and the duty of redressing an injury is hereditary. The amusements of all these different nations are various. Almost all of them, however, have the game of chess, and all practice dancing. Of the religions, perhaps Mohammedan is the most general, and after that Christianity, Lamaism, and Buddhism. Paganism is, however, as extensive as any of these. The Yakauts have a corrupted Shamanism; and they worship principally the sun and fire. The form of Christianity is that of the Greek, or of the Armenian church. The Scotish Missionary Society has stations at Astracan, Karass, Nazran, and Orenburg; and the London Missionary Society, at Astracan and Selinginsk, CHAPTER CII.-INDEPENDENT TARTARY. 1. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. Independent Tartary is a part of central Asia, extending from the Belur Tag mountains to the Caspian Sea, and bounded north by Russia; east by the Chinese empire; and south by Cabul and Persia. Very little is known about this country, it having been seldom visited by Europeans in modern times. The area is variously estimated from 600,000 to 1,000,000 square miles. 2. DESERTS. The northern part of the country is an immense desert ertending into Russia; the western part, lying between the Oxus and the Cas pian, is also a desert called the desert of Karasm. The district in the south east extending from the Belur Tag mountains to the sea of Aral and watered by the Oxus, the Sihon and their numerous tributaries, was well known to the ancients for its delightful climate, its fertile soil, and dense population. The Arabian geographers describe it as the paradise of Asia, and are never weary of expatiating in its praise. It is represented as filled with splendid cities, and the populousness is said to be such, that an army of 300,000 horse and the same number of foot could be drawn from it without the country suffering by their absence. This tract is now called Great Bukharia. It has been touched by modern travellers only at a few points, and even the names of most of the cities mentioned by the Arabian geographers are wholly unknown to the moderns. 3. RIVERS. The Oxus or Amu rises in the southeast part of Great Bukharia, and flowing in a northwest direction, receives numerous tributaries and falls into the sea of Aral after a course of 1,200 miles. It has been generally believed that this river fell anciently into the Caspian Sea, and was turned artifi cially into its present receptacle, but the opinion seems now to be abandoned by the best geographers. The Sihon or Sir, the ancient Jazartes, falls into the sea of Aral on its eastern şide after a northwest course of 600 miles, during which it receives numerous tributaries. 4. CHIEF TOWNS. Samarcand, an ancient and celebrated city, once the residence of the famous Tamerlane, is on the Sogd, a branch of the Oxus. It is famous among the Mohammedans as a seat of learning, and is resorted to from all the neighboring countries. It has manufactures of leather, cottons and silks, and carries on an extensive commerce with Persia, Hindoostan and the Chinese dominions. Pop. 60,000. Bokharia, also on the Sogd, 50 miles from its mouth and 100 west of Samarcand, has a celebrated school for the study of Mohammedan theology and law. It is said to contain 100,000 inhabitants. 5. INHABITANTS. The name of Tartar has been incorrectly applied to the nomade tribes of northern and middle Asia. Turks is the name by which they prefer to be called, and many of the tribes are not strictly Tartars. The Monguls are as different from those commonly called Tartars, as the Moors are from the Negroes. In the various tribes of Tartars there is some diversity of form and feature. Generally the Tartars have large wrinkled foreheads, thick, short noses, and small eyes sunk in the head. The cheek bones are high, and the lower part of the face narrow. The teeth are long and distant from each other, and the upper jaw seems to be shorter than the lower. The face is flat, the skin tawny, and the hair black. The Calmucks are exceed ingly ugly. Their faces are flat, their eyes small and several inches apart, and their noses so low, that the nostrils seem to be two holes. The Usbecks, the Kirgheese, and the Turcomans compose numerous tribes in Tartary. The most common dress among the Tartars is a calico robe and drawers. Red is the favorite color. Some of the dresses are trimmed with wool. Garments of skins also are sometimes worn. In a country inhabited by wan * A late traveller gives the following account. I approached, (says he,) a group of Tartars assembled round a dead horse, which they had just skinned. A young man about eighteen, who was naked, had the hide of the animal thrown over his shoulder. A woman, who performed the office of tailor with great dex terity, began by cutting the back of this new dress, following with her scissars the round ef the neck, the fall of the shoulders, the semicircle which formed the sleeve, and the side of the habit, which was intended to reach below the knee. She proceeded in the same manner with the other parts, till the cutting out was finished; the man then who had served as a mould, crouched on his hams, while the several pieces were stitched together, so that in less than two hours he had a good brown-bay coat, which only wanted to be tanned by contin ual wearing.' 1 1 1 dering tribes, there are few cities, and costly habitations. Many of the tribes dwell in tents, and the richer individuals in wooden houses so small, that they may be removed in wagons. The Turcomans sometimes have only the shelter of caves. The food is principally drawn from the herds, and from hunting. A little millet is sparingly used. Horse flesh and mutton are preferred to beef and veal. There is much milk, butter, cheese, and koumiss. The manners and customs are those of a people warlike and fierce. The Tartars have neither regular employment, nor settled habitations. They remove with their flocks and herds from place to place. When a Tartar would curse with emphasis, he imprecates upon his enemy a settled abode, and a life of labor, like a Russian. The predatory habits of many of the tribes of this region render travelling very hazardous among them. Caravans are often attacked and plundered on their route by the Tartar hordes, and the only security in passing through this country is to travel in large numbers and well armed. The Tartars are distinguished for their performance of filial duties and reverence for the memory of their fathers. They are brave, rude, and hospitable. Their chief amusement is in the chace, which inures them to danger and fatigue. The prevailing religion is the Mohammedan, but there are many Pagans. Polygamy is general. Some tribes burn the dead, and cover the ashes in mounds. Others expose the body to be devoured by dogs, from some superstitious belief. The government is that of khans elected over the smaller tribes, and appointed on a few large ones, by the great khan, who styles himself king of kings. The system of laws, is principally that of the Koran. 1. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. This country is bounded by the Black Sea and Russia on the north; by Persia and the Caspian Sea on the east; by Ara |