KAZAK, a nomado race, known in Europe as the Cossack, and erroneously the Kirghiz, for the people only style themselves Kazak. 'they are extended through the northern desert lands of Central Asia. Like all the Turkoman, they have many subdivisions, with branches, families, and lines, but the European classification into Great, Little, and Middle Ilordes is unknown to them. Love of travel and war have often brought together the most distant branches, and whether on the shores of the Emba, or of the sea of Aral, whether in the environs of the Balkash and Alatau, there is little difference to be found in the dialects spoken by them. The Kazak first appeared in Transoxiaua as an independent tribe, under the leadership of Tokel Sultan. Lewchine, in his Description des Hordes et des Steppes Kirghiz Kazaks, p. 141, calls him Teokel Sultan. The K rink seem to have assumed a threatening attitude in the steppes north of the Jaxartes some time before this, for as early as Aar. 941 (A.D. 15:34) Ivan the Terrible received the following report from his envoy, Danila Gubine Et les Kazaks, sire, sont tres-forts, dit-on, et Fon (lit, sire, qu'ils out fait la guerre Techkene (Tachkenil), et les fils du roi de Techkene, dit-on, se sont battus avec ceux deux fois, et les Kazaks les out battus' (Lewchine, p.140). Tokel sent several embassies to Czar Fedor at Moscow, and appears to have been one of the most powerful of the Sultans of the Kazaks.
These rough warriors, who believed in the powers of their Ynda tashi (magic stone) to control the elements, cure diseases, and ensure victory in battle, were sincerely devoted to their religion and to its priests.
Kazan, up to the middle of the 1Gth century, was the advanced guard of the Tartar hordes. These wandering tribes which,. profiting by division among the Russian princes, overcame and ravaged all Russia, weakened in their turn by division, fell back from the invaded territory, and only held their own on the Volga, from Kazan to Astracan, till they were utterly routed and brought under Russian sway by Ivan the Terrible. Even then, however, though their strength was broken, their spirit was untamed. The men of high warrior caste who survived their defeat sought a refuge among their kindred tribes farther east, at Samarcand, Bokhara, and Khiva, where the Russians have now overtaken them ; but the mere multitude, accustomed to their pastoral life on the steppes, laid aside without giving up their arms, passively accepted without formally acknowledging the Czar's sway, and abided in their tents. Kazan has a popula tion of 90,000 to 100,000 inhabitants, one-fourth of whom are Tartars. They have distinct, if not separate, quarters, and mosques, and a burial ground of their own. Some of the Kazan Tartars are men of great wealth, enterprising merchants, carrying on important trading operations with CentrarAsia, Persia, and China. Some of them
are also great landowners, and they indifferently employ Tartars or Russians in their field work. The Kazan Tartars of the upper classes are among the best educated and polished of Muhaminadans. The Russian civil law does not in any manner interfere with their domestic arrangements.
Shades of differences are perceptible amongst them, scattered as they are so extensively through the northern desert lands of Central Asia. In manner of life and language, the Kazak is hardly to be distinguished from the Burnt. In colour the Kazak women and young men have a white, almost a European, complexion, which darkens by exposure. The Kazak have the short neck of the Turanian race, so different from the long necked Iranian, and they have thick-set, powerful frames, with large bones ; head not very large ; crown round, and more pointed than flat ; eyes less almond-shaped, but awry and sparkling ; prominent cheek-bones, pug noses, a broad flat forehead, and a larger chin than the Burnt. Beard on chin thin, only hairs on both ends of the upper lip. They deem the Kalun Kazak women more beautiful than their own. The men in summer wear the Kalpak head-dress, and in winter the Tumak cap of fur covered with cloth and flaps. They are almost all Muhammadans, but like all nomade tribes, are lax in their observ ances, for they retain much of the Shamanist belief which they held prior to their conversion some centuries before. Chiromaucy, astrology, casting out devils, are common to all Muham madans ; but the Kazak draw omens from the burnt sacrifices, of the shoulder-blade and the twisting of the entrails.
During the campaign of 1812-1816 almost all of the Kazaks of the Don capable of bearing arms were called forth ; • and about 50,000 may be computed to have fallen in that space of time. The quota of force which this branch of the Cossack nation furnished to Russia, for European and Asiatic service, amounted then to 80 regiments, each regiment numbering from 500 to 600 men. • The men of the Don are robust, fair, and handsome ; hospitable, brave, honourable, and scrupulously religious. The female is short in stature, face of strong Tartar feature, with eye almost invariably large and dark. The dress of the women consists of a sort of chemisette (or small shift) of coloured linen buttoned round the neck, and with sleeves to the wrist. A pair of trousers of a similar stuff are covered by a silk caftan, reaching as low as the ankles. The waist is bound with a girdle. The heads of married women are adorned with a silken night-cap, which is wrapped about with a gaily-coloured handkerchief in the form of a fillet. The unmarried wear the hair in a long plait down their backs.—Vambery, Bolchara, p. 299 • Porter's Travels.