plaining the nature of the true Doctrine, and the necessity of holding firmly by it.

20. Maggavagga (the section of the Path), in which the nature of the Noble Eightfold Path is explained. 21. Pakinnakavagga (the miscellaneous section), containing advice on various subjects.

22. Nirayavagga (the section of the hells), describing the nature of the men whose karma will bring upon them terrible suffering after death.

23. Någavagga (the section of the great), which explains the nature of the truly great man. This is sometimes called the Elephant section.

24. Tanhâvagga (the section of desire), showing what desire or lust is, and its evil effects.

25. Bhikkhuvagga (the section of monastic life), describing how a monk should live.

26. Brahmanavagga (the section of the Brahman), showing that the true Brahman is the pure-minded man, whether his birth be high or low-not the mere man of high caste.

In conclusion, I may say that I consider the study of the Dhammapada of the greatest importance, since it is of itself sufficient, if properly comprehended, to give a perfect understanding of the nature of Buddha's religion. I am much pleased to hear that Sir Edwin Arnold, to whom we already owe so much, has commenced a poetical translation of it, and I hope that he will find time to complete it.

The Bashkir, more accurately Bashkurt, are the most important of the tangled group of Turko-Tatar races that lie scattered over the extreme eastern borders of Russia. A line drawn from Orenburg due north through Ufa and Perm bisects Bashkiria into two not unequal portions, and would also mark that part of the territory in which the Bashkir are most compact. East of this line they are scattered over the Urals well across the Siberian frontier, and westward they extend as far as the valley of the Volga. Outside the governmental divisions of Ufa, Orenburg, Perm, Viatka, Kazan, and Samara, the Bashkir are not met with. The town of Ufa is the centre of Bashkiria, both for administrative purposes and geographically.

POPULATION.

The lowest estimate that I have seen of the number of Bashkir is Castrén's,* 150,000, the highest that of Hellwald,† whose estimate is 750,000. As is generally

* Ethnologische Vorlesungen. † Die Erde und ihre Völker.

the case, the truth is a mean between these extremes. Kazantseff, whose figures may be taken as absolutely reliable, states that the Bashkir number 224,331 males and 235,986 females, a total of 460,317.

RACE AND ORIGIN.

The origin, the early home, and the remoter history of this most interesting people are unknown. As with their neighbours the Tchouwash, so with the Bashkir, historians and ethnologists have offered many plausible hypotheses as to their connection on one side with the Ugro-Finnic races, and on the other with the TurkoTatar; but it is hardly probable that at the present time we possess sufficient information to generalize on this matter with any degree of assurance. That the Bashkir at one time were spread much further to the south than at present is clear from the accounts of Arabian travellers who found them scattered over the steppes watered by the Lower Ural. It is also quite certain that before the expansion of Muscovite power in the south, the Bashkir wandered with their flocks and herds over the greater part of the plains of the Lower Volga. When they were visited by the Arabian travellers, they were the neighbours of the Magyar. Among the Bashkir themselves exist various traditions as to their origin. One is that they are descended from the Buriät of Irkutsk, a tradition that may have been in Castrén's mind when he suggested that the Bashkir were from Southern Siberia, a mixed race of Tatar and Ostiak. If the Kirgiz name for the Bashkir, Istiak, be the same word as Ostiak, there may be something in this theory. But the most prevalent opinion among the Bashkir is that they are remnants of the Nogai, and certain ethnological details, as, for instance, uniformity of face-index, height, colour of hair and skin, etc., bear them out in this. The prevalence of numerous theories as to origin has given rise to a controversy which may be thus stated: Are the Bashkir of Ugro-Finnic or of Turko-Tatar origin? Are the alleged traces of Ugro-Finnic origin due to long vicinage to the Finnic races, the Ostiak and others, whereby their physical appearance has been slightly altered by intermarriage, and phonetic changes introduced into their language? In the space at my disposal I am unable to enter at large into this interesting question. A most succinct and able examination of the whole question is made by Vambéry. With him as guide I would place these considerations before the reader: Nearly a thousand years ago we find Ibn Fozlan describing the Bashkir as a Turkish people, "The worst of all the Turkish peoples," he calls them. As to their being Turks, he is followed by all subsequent Mohammedan writers. So far all is plain. It is only

* Opisanie Bashkirtsev.

when we begin to examine their physical characteristics that the problem becomes complicated, and that we seem to discover evidence of a mixture in the race. To go into statistics is quite outside the scope of this paper; it may be sufficient to state that the investigations of anthropologists like Ujfalvy and Baudouin de Courtenay have brought to light distinct traces of Ugric admixture, but not of sufficient importance to affect the preponderating Turkish element in the race. If history and anthropology alike agree in proving that the Bashkir are Turks, the evidence of language is still stronger in this direction. Vambéry shows that in his examination of the modern Bashkir language, he has found traces of grammatical forms which enable him to place this dialect as a link in the long chain of Turki dialects that commences on the Irtish and among the Altai, and stretches to the Middle Volga. The same distinguished Orientalist shows that the Bashkir dialect bears strong resemblance to the dialect of the Tobolsk Tatars on one side, and to that of the Kirgiz on the other, but at the same time he notices such phonetic and grammatical peculiarities as prove it to have been all along an independent language, however much its dialectic simplicity may have been injured by the intellectual influences of the more cultured language of Kazan. The one point on which the Bashkir differs from its cognates is the slight trace of Ugric influences already referred to. This is seen in the first place in phonetics, as for instance in the change of s into h:

Secondly, in word-store, where we have elements of unquestionable Ugric origin.* These Ugro-Finnic traces are, however, of so slight a nature considering the geographical position of the Bashkir and their juxtaposition to Finnic tribes for perhaps 2000 years that they ought not to afford grounds for ascribing an Ugric (Vogul or Ostiak) origin to them. It may be taken as proved that this fraction of the Turkish race, although at one time mixing sporadically with Ugric elements, has always retained its direct ethnic connection with the other peoples of the Turko-Tatar race.† Ahlquist's conclusion on this point is worth quoting: "The notion that the Bashkir, a few hundred years ago, might have been some sort of Finns or Hungarians who during their nomadic life became Tatarized, can only be believed by him who has no idea how hard it is for a nation, or even a great body of people, to change both language and nationality.” ‡

* Vambéry, Das Türkenvolk.

↑ Ibid.

Ahlquist, Unter Wogulen und Ostjaken.

HISTORY.

The earliest information we possess of the Bashkir is drived from the writings of those Arabic merchants and envoys already alluded to, who visited the Bolgar during the height of their power for the purposes of commerce. We are told that the Bashkir had as their neighbours the Petcheneg and the Bolgar, the latter living in towns on the banks of the Kama and Volga. It is, perhaps, reasonable to suppose that the Bashkir were not altogether uninfluenced by this commerce, and by the comparative civilization of their neighbours, and that they derived considerable profit from trading in skins and honey, and from allowing their extensive territories to be worked for minerals. Be this as it may, whatever degree of prosperity was theirs was suddenly and ruthlessly stopped when in 1236 TchengisKhan made his terrible onslaught on Eastern Europe. The Bolgar resisted him and were almost annihilated. The Bashkir, with commendable wisdom, at once gave in their submission to the Mongol conqueror, became his allies, and preserved all their rights and privileges. Indeed, Tchengis seems to have made considerable additions to their territory, at any rate to have given them the seal and banner as tokens of national independence. From this time until 200 years later, when the Golden Horde began to decline, we hear little of the Bashkir. Internal dissensions had so eaten away the strength of the Mongol Khans at Kazan and Astrakhan, that the Moscow princes towards the close of the 15th century were able to inflict serious damage on them. At that time the Bashkir on the Bialaya and Ika rivers were subject to Kazan; those on the Uzen to Astrakhan; while their brethren in the hills and on the plains east of the hills owed allegiance to the Siberian Khans. They were thus brought into connection with the Russians, and it is evident enough that they must have suffered crushing defeat, for we soon hear of them petitioning the Moscow princes to receive their allegiance. The journey of their deputies to Moscow and its incidents, and their reception by Ivan the Terrible, are still the theme of Bashkir folk-tales. In 1556 they were formally admitted as subjects of the Czar. The officials sent to govern them were so numerous that Ivan gave orders for founding a city which might serve as the administrative centre of Bashkiria. This was the origin of the town of Ufa, the first Russian colony among the Bashkir. The next 200 years are filled with rel ellion, and blood, and confusion. At the beginning of this period we find the Siberian and Kirgiz Khans in alliance with the disaffected Bashkir, attempting the capture of Ufa, and repulsed with heavy loss. But nevertheless we find the work of administration and reconciliation going steadily for

In

ward. Large powers of self-government in the election of elders and the control of tribal affairs were delegated to the Bashkir. Every effort was made to conciliate them, yet rebellion follows rebellion. 1676 they were in league with the Kirgiz-Kasaiak and Kalmyck, under Ayuk-Khan. Thirty years later their allies are the Tcheremiss and Mestcher. In 1735 they are engaged single-handed against Russia, when 30,000 of them were slain. After 20 years the fanatic Mollah Batyrsha-Ajin succeeds in exciting them to rebel, a movement having a religious rather than a political significance. In Pugatcheff's rebellion against Katharine II. a small section of the Bashkir took part; but save for the exploits of their young leader Salavat, one of their national heroes, the affair, as far as the Bashkir were concerned, was of little importance. Towards the close of the last century they were formed into an irregular cavalry organization against the Kirgiz, who were at that time rather unruly neighbours of Russia. This organization consisted of 12 cantonal divisions, each canton with its own officers appointed by the crown. This was a military form of government, closely resembling the Cossack organization, and having little in common with the ordinary Russian system of village government by elected elders. Within recent years a dual system combining civil and military government has been established, under which the country has been subdivided into 28 cantons, and in which the Teptiär and Mestcher are included. The central administrative chancery is at Ufa, under the direction of a Russian general, who controls all affairs and receives reports at stated intervals from his subordinates in the villages and yurts.*

RELIGION.

Our scant knowledge of the early religious life of the Bashkir is derived from the writings of those Arabian travellers to Bolgar of whom mention has been already made. When they visited the Bashkir in the 10th century, they found a most comprehensive list of objects of adoration-serpents, fish, and other living creatures; but, in addition, they had a separate list of twelve gods, and it is interesting to notice how near these wild Bashkir nomads came to Pantheism, Winter, Summer, Rain, Storm, Trees, Cattle, Water, Night, Day, Death, Life, Earth. There was, moreover, one great unknowable deity supreme over all the others. It was not until the years 1313-1326 that the Bashkir embraced Islam. Their great apostle

The chief military duties of the Bashkir are garrisoning the Orenburg and Siberian cordons, and acting as a police Every male Bashkir must take his turn in serving. When on duty he must support himself and his horse, as the government stipend is only one rouble a month.

was Azbek-Khan. The nomadic Bashkir are not strict Musalmans, neglecting as useless and cumbrous many important details of Mohammedan ritual, and mixing together in their worship ancient heathen usages with the purer religion of the Prophet. But as they become settled in towns and villages, it is remarked that they are more precise, more exact in their devotions, in their attention to ablutions and fasts, and more intolerant of unbelief and of their besetting sin, intemperance.* In every village there is a mosque, and adjoining it the medress, or elementary school, where the boys are taught to read the Koran. These elementary schools are widely used; I have seldom met a Bashkir altogether illiterate. In the towns and larger villages a few of the well-to-do have even commenced to teach their girls. The clergy are under the control of the Mufti at Ufa, and have three ranks, Akhun, Mollah, and Azantchi. are paid no salary, but enjoy considerable emolument from free-will offerings.

PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND COSTUME.

They

The outward appearance of the Bashkir differs very little from that of the Tatars in the N.W. and W. of Siberia, those viz. on the outposts of Tatardom. We have the slight evidences of Ugric admixture already referred to, an admixture which probably dates from pre-Mongolic times. The head is large and flat, the face round and smug, the forehead flat and narrow, the eyes small, generally grey or darkbrown, nose short and blunt, mouth medium, large and prominent ears, beard and moustache dark brown, nearly always thin, the head shaven in accordance with ordinary Musalman usage, straight legs, gait light and easy, height medium, build graceful and well-proportioned, with a tendency towards obesity in middle-age. Some travellers make a point of distinguishing between the outward appearance of the Bashkir on the steppe and their brethren in the hills and forests. One authority describes the forest Bashkir as having a long face, an oval or rather a convex profile, a round prominent nose, high stature, and other characteristics reminding one of the Asiatics of the Caucasus. I have been able to procure a photograph of one of these forest Bashkir possessing the features here described, but I think I am accurate in stating that these long-faced Bashkir are rare among the hills and forests, and, moreover, that they are not seldom met with as dwellers on the steppe. The principal garment worn by the Bashkir is a long

I have noticed the same process at work among the nomadic Tekké of the Transcaspian desert. As soon as they become in any degree sedentary, as in the neighbourhoods of Askhabad and Merv, they are better Musalmans, at any rate more formal and fanatical.

caftan reaching below the knees, with a broad collar open and thrown back. Rich Bashkir have their caftans made of blue cloth, with fancy stitching or embroidery about the shoulders and breast; the poorer have home-made whitish or brown cloth. Trousers are worn very wide and short. The summer headdress is a cap of white felt, in winter a low broad cap of sheep-skin or other fur is worn pressed down on the ears. The piercing frosts which prevail in Eastern Russia make furs a necessity, and the richer Bashkir display considerable taste and sometimes not a little foppery in arranging them. Their forests produce deer, bears, wolves, foxes, notably the silver fox, badgers, ermine, marten, etc. The variety of

much darker than that of the men, plaited into thin tails, to the end of which are attached small silver coins. Many Bashkir belles blacken their eyebrows and teeth, and stain their finger nails with the red juice of a certain plant. Moreover they are devoted to the use of powder and rouge. I speak of the wealthy. Their poorer sisters eschew all and every elaborateness of toilet arrangement, their simplicity in many cases being more primitive than charming. The garments worn by the women are a shirt embroidered round the neck and breast, and a long outside garment resembling the men's caftan, except that in summer it is worn without sleeves, and that it is ornamented with embroidery and innumerable little metal discs or silver coins sewn on

skins gives every scope to the Bashkir dandy, who is often most elaborately befurred. Sheepskins worn with the woolly side next the body are the winter covering of the poorer classes. Long boots, blue or yellow, of soft leather, in accordance with the directions in the Koran, adorn the feet of the well-to-do ; the poor wear commoner and plainer materials, and leather or bark sandals often very skilfully made. The underclothing is a shirt of cotton or linen, the front in most cases embroidered in various designs with red thread. Among the Bashkir one meets many rather pleasant-looking women. A handsome woman, as we understand the term, does not exist in all Bashkiria. Their hair is either dark brown or black,

CG.H

STEPPE-BASHKIR.

round the breast and neck. The girls have their heads uncovered, the married women wear the kashbav, a sort of ornamental hood. In their ears are heavy silver earrings of simple workmanship. But their most splendid adornment is the kalyabash, an elaborate head-dress overloaded with silver and gold ornaments and coins, and often costing as much as one thousand roubles. Like the Kirgiz and Turkoman the Bashkir women are not veiled.

MARRIAGE.

The primitive nature of Bashkir society is well exemplified by reference to their marriages. The consent of the bride, and her wishes one way or the other,

are not considered, and have nothing to do with the matter. It frequently happens that a girl of ten is married to a wealthy old beau of sixty who has previously arranged all particulars of the kalym, the number of cattle, the sum of money, the minor presents of clothes, etc., which he is to bestow on her father as her equivalent. The Bashkir have no desire for sons; daughters, especially if they are at all presentable, are preferred as more valuable merchandise. A Bashkir with a large family of good-looking young girls is either actually or prospectively a wealthy man. Among the Bashkir polygamy is rapidly becoming extinct. Not so very long ago the officials and other wealthy Bashkir often possessed four wives. But it was quite as frequently the case that their circumstances though easy did not allow of this. As a consequence quarrels and divorce suits were perpetually before the Mufti, and were a source of grave scandal in the community. So the Mufti enacted (1864) that those who could not bring evidence to prove that they were in a position to support a plurality of wives were to rest satisfied with one. Since that time monogamy has been more and more the rule. The social position of the women is wretched they are despised, beaten, treated like dogs. Not only do the ordinary household duties, such as preparing the food and making the clothes, fall upon them; in addition they shear the sheep, tend and milk the cattle, and take the larger share in the cultivation of the ground.

CHARACTER.

The Bashkir are pleasant-mannered, peaceful, obedient, patient, and hospitable, in no way resembling the "thieving wolves" whose characteristics they were said to possess in former times. But on the other hand many travellers with considerable truth have noted their cunning, their extreme selfishness, their laziness, and dirt, their astonishing inquisitiveness, and a lingering desire to possess themselves of other people's horses by unlawful means.

SEMI-NOMAD AND SETTLED.

The pure nomadic state of life as we find it among the Turkoman and Kara-Kirgiz no longer exists in Bashkiria. Although the process is a slow one, we find the settled life gradually taking the place of the nomadic. The Bashkir may therefore be divided into sedentary and half-nomadic. The sedentary Bashkir engage in trade in the towns with fair success, in the country in agriculture, cattle raising, bee-culture, hunting, and timber felling. They are very indifferent agriculturists.†

* A rich Bashkir will sometimes pay as much as R.3000 ready money, in addition to cattle, etc., for the girl of his choice. The poorer pay with cattle and horses, and I have heard of one poor fellow whose kalym was a black astrakhan cap and some tobacco.

Including mountain and forest they occupy some 33 millions of acres, or about 51,600 square miles of territory.

With the better classes one will always find a tolerably clean and comfortable whitewashed room, often with the addition of a Dutch stove. A long bench serves as chairs, tables and bed. Often a handsome rug from Central Asia or a soft felt of home manufacture adds colour and an air of luxury to the room, and the Russian samovar or tea-urn is found in every decent house. The Tangaur-Bashkir* of the South Ural district afford a good example of the semi-nomad. Although compelled in recent years by the force of circumstances to resort in some measure to agriculture, their old nomadic forms of life retain fast hold of them. In the neighbourhood of Verkhny-Uralsk we find semi-nomadic Bashkir settled for many generations, but their agriculture is still wretched, worse even than that of their Tchouwash neighbours, and their poverty and misery are extreme. Although the process of assimilation to the settled population around them is gradually going on, they have always a hankering after the roaming life on the steppe. In winter the semi-nomad lives in a low felt or rough wooden hut. These huts are wretched erections, unfinished, ruinous, and filthy. Their interiors closely resemble the Kirgiz kibitka, the same fittings and furniture. An assemblage of these huts is called an uzbe. In summer his home is somewhat similar, but lighter, more easily moved from place to place. The summer kibitka are often very tastefully decorated, a wealthy nomad sometimes spending one or two hundred roubles on external ornaments of different kinds.

FOOD.

The most common dish is dried cheese made of sheeps' milk crushed between stones, mixed with flour, and either baked into cakes or soaked in sour milk. This is a tasty enough article of food, and is said to be very nutritious. They have a great variety of food made from milk, the most important are katyk, sour milk, and kaimak, thick clotted cream. A favourite dish is boiled meat minced finely and again boiled with cheese and served up in a semi-liquid state with bread. There is also a less savoury dish known as bish-barmak, a hotch-potch of fat or oil, with meat. But their choicest morsel is tchutch-paria, small cakes filled with finely-cut meat, boiled in butter or water. Their drinks are numerous and good. Cows' milk, the famous koumys or fermented mares' milk, a sort of butter-milk called airan prepared from cows' and goats' milk, but judging from the method employed in preparing it not very inviting. As the Bashkir are most proficient bee-farmers, we find among them several wholesome drinks derived from honey. The

The Bashkir were originally divided into three tribes or clans-the Tangaur, Karagai-Kaptchak, and Bursian, the firstnamed most to the South.