(:untcha), and upon the thumb, whilst the men thus
adorn the third or ring finger.
In their houses, in Kuldja, they are said to have
introduced improved surroundings and furniture, such
as bedsteads and tables, at which they sit to eat, using
stools and sometimes even chairs of simple workmanship.
This, however, was not the case in the house of a
former Taranchi bek, occupied by his five-times married
widow, wherein lived Colonel Mayevsky, whom we
visited in Kuldja. In this case a large proportion of the
room was taken up with a raised divan, covered with
rugs, and the dining-table was less than a foot high.
A t their feasts one may see the Kashgar dance, in winch
the performer accompanies himself on the tambourine.
The Taranchis have a national song, but it is^ very
expressive of sadness. Most of them speak Chinese,
but their own tongue is Eastern Turki.
The Dungans, or Tungans, are fellow Muhammadans,
and wear a skull cap, shaving the head like the
Taranchis; but in language, dress, and almost every
other respect they resemble the Chinese. Several
guesses have been made at the etymology of their name,
and their origin is uncertain, t
* In another dance the man (accompanied by a Chinese fiddle, and a
stringed instrument called “ chitra,” or | cithara ’ ) strikes his head,
shoufders, legs, and soles with a bamboo cane, carrying little bells. This
latter dance is unknown at Tashkend or Samarkand There is yet a
third rollicking dance, in which the Taranchi wears bells round his neck,
large enough for horses, and, putting himself through a variety of contortions
elicits from his auditory furious bellowing by way of applause.
+ Some think them descendants of the old Uighurs ; Terentieff makes
them Turanians converted to Muhammadanism m the eighth century
and transplanted into China to the province of Han-Su. L e gendary
accounts connect their coming to Kuldja w.th Tamerlane who hey
sav married a Chinese princess and received the province of 111 to
eovem a n d t h e land was afterwards given to his followers Hence the
Dungans consider themselves its rulers by right. According to other
The Dungans throughout Turkistan are supposed
to amount to 20,000. In 1862, in the Ili valley, they
numbered 60,000, but in 1877, after the war, they
counted only 2,100 males and 1,900 females, being
chiefly in Suidun, Chinchakhodzi, and Torji. Some
have emigrated and others been exiled to Ferghana
and Semirechia, in which latter province, about Tokmak,
they number 4,000 souls. The Dungans living in the
towns north of the Thian Shan, as Manas, Urumtsi,
etc., have been said by some to be Chinese turned
Mussulmans, but Mr. Ujfalvy declares this to be absolutely
false as regards the Dungans of Kuldja, who are
of a type quite distinct and radically different from
the Chinese. They resemble rather the Uzbegs and
Sarts, inhabiting Tashkend and Kashgar. The women,
however, are like the Chinese, except that they do
not disfigure their feet. The Dungans abstain from
spirits and opium ; neither smoke nor take snuff.*
traditions their Mussulman ancestors subdued China, and were by
degrees, and partly through taking Chinese wives, absorbed in the
conquered nationality.
* The Dungans are of middle height, and inclined to be stout. They
have high and prominent foreheads, thick and arched eyebrows, eyes
rather sunken, fairly prominent cheek-bones, face oval, mouth of
average size, lips thick, teeth normal, chin round, ears small and
compressed, hair black and smooth, beard scanty and rough, skin
smooth, neck strong, and extremities of average proportions. The
characteristics of the Dungans are kindness, industry, and hospitality.
They engage in husbandry, horticulture, and trade. In domestic life
parental authority is very strong. After the birth of a child the mother
does not ge t up for fifteen days, and, without any particular feast, the
child receives its name in the presence of a mullah the day succeeding
that of its birth. Circumcision takes place on the eighth, ninth, or
tenth day. When a girl is married she receives a dower. In sickness
they have recourse to medicine and doctors, but never to exorcisms.
After a death the mullah and the aged assemble to. recite prayers ; the
corpse is wrapped in white linen and then buried, but never burned.
On returning from the interment the mullah and the elders partake of
bread and meat. To saints they erect monuments like little mosques
VOL. I. 1 4