KIRGHIZ were originally a small tribe settled in a remote corner of Southern Siberia, on the banks of the Yenisei river, but migrated or were removed in the 17th century to the shores of the 13alkash and Issyk-kul lakes. In their new abode they amalgamated with the Kazak and Burnt, and absorbed a host of smaller tribes, the debris of the old Ghuz, Koman, and Kipchak, and have gone on increasing until their number is now nearly • three millions of souls, and constitute almost the exclusive population of the steppe from the Aral river in the west to the Mongolian frontier on the east, and north and south from the Siberian line to the plateau of Pamir.
Kirghiz are in the neighbourhood of Issyk-kul and in the valleys of the Tian Shan, also in those of the Alai mountains and the Pamir east of Badakhshan, to the south of Khokand. Their name for themselves is Kirghiz, but they are called Burnt by the Chinese and Kalmuks ; the Russians call them Kara-Kirghiz, meaning Black Kirghiz, also Dikokamenni, meaning Wild Mountain Kirghiz, to distinguish them from the Kazak.
They are partly (about 200,000) under Russian sway, partly (150,000) under Kashgar, and in Eastern Turkestan and Khokand. They are sup posed to be 350,000. Those at Pamir whom Lieutenant Burnes saw had flat countenances, and strongly resembled the Turkoman.
They profess Muhammadanism, but retain Shaman practices. Their Shamans wear long hair.
Kirghiz derive their origin from a red dog and forty maidens (Kyrk-kyz). Some tribes say the maidens were impregnated by the form of the lake Issyk-kul in the Kirghiz steppe. The fable of Cyclops is current, but there called Alp, a giant ogre, and a Kirghiz giant, Batur Khan, enacts the part of Ulysses.—Schuyler; Muller's Lectures; Malcolm's Persia; Staunton's Narrative; Markham's Embassy; Vigne'sNarrative ; Captain V. M. Vemukof.