Mr. Howorth, who says that in the second half of
the fifteenth century they followed Sultans Girei and
Jani Bek to the neighbourhood of the Balkhash,
where they were joined by others, and flourished
into a community known among their neighbours as
Kazaks, or refugees p a r excellence. Gaining more
and more strength, they conquered, in 1598, under
their khan, Tevvekel, the provinces of Tashkend
and Turkistan, which latter was the seat of the
Kirghese dynasty, as I have before mentioned, till
they were dispossessed by the Sungarians in 1723.
Rather than submit to the Kalmuk khan, the Middle
and Lesser Hordes made a despairing movement
westwards, drove out the Bashkirs between the Sea
of Aral, the Caspian, and the River Ural, and thus
became the immediate neighbours of the Russians,
to whom they gradually submitted.
In appearance, as in geographical position, a Kirghese
is midway between a Mongol and a Caucasian.
M. Ujfalvy corrects M. Girard de Rialle, who says
that the Kara-Kirghese have all the characteristics
attributed to pure Mongols. The men are below
rather than above the middle stature. The women
are almost all short, perhaps accounted for by the
hard work to which they are subjected.*
* From 11 Kazaks that he measured, M. Ujfalvy obtained a mean
of 5 feet 1J inches, and for 25 Kara-Kirghese 5 feet 11 inches. Of these
latter, 11 had ample beards, 15 scanty, and 2 none; whilst of the 11
Kazaks, 7 had scanty beards, and 4 none. A ll the Kazaks, and all the
Kara-Kirghese, except 2, had the skin smooth. The head is not very
large, the cranium round or pointed, rather than flat, and the cheekbones
stand out, though not so sharply as those of Mongols and
Kalmuks generally. The skin is bronzed, yellowish, sometimes rather
dark, the covered parts being white, especially with the women. Individual
Kirghese of fair countenance are met with, butonly rarely. The hair
is usually black, sometimes chestnut, dark, glossy, and even stiff. The
narrow, obliquely diverging eyes are brilliant and sharp, and in colour
The Kirghese are fairly strong, but clumsy, with
slouching gait on foot, though bold riders, excelled in
this respect only by the Kalmuks. Their sense of
sight is so keenly developed, that on level ground
they can see small objects at seven miles’ distance ; and
when a European can perceive but the barest outline,
the Kirghese is able to distinguish its details, as the
colour of a horse, etc. Their capacity for finding their
way is not less remarkable ; the smallest elevation of
ground serves a Kazak as a sign he never forgets ;
and if there be no mark, the presence of certain grasses
and the direction in which they grow often show him
the road. Eye-witnesses relate that, after having lost
the road, a Kirghese has been seen to dismount, tear
up a handful of dry grass, and, after smelling it, quietly
change his direction. These qualities, says M. Potto,
make them useful for reconnoitring duties, but their
military valour and courage are doubtful.
They are, as a rule, fairly healthy. In the 3,111
cases (including 1,044 females) attended in 1881 by
the district physicians of Semipolatinsk, the majority
of Kirghese appeared to be suffering from ague, fever,
catarrh, and diseases of the stomach and intestines.
brown, grey, and sometimes greenish. The nose is blunt, short, and
wide. Lips nearly always thick, and slightly turned outwards ; teeth
large or medium, and, of incomparable whiteness and beauty. The
forehead is low, flat, and wide ; the protuberance over the eyebrows
little marked, and the depression separating the nose from the glabella
is wan ting; mouth large and w id e ; chin square and m assive; aspect of
the face, as a whole, is wide, flat, and angular; ears always large, and
standing out. The body is very vigorous, sinewy, and squared ; hands
and feet sm a ll; muscles strong; calf, almost none; the legs curved and
slim ; wáist thick and sh o r t; trunk vigorous ; neck short, but often
strong. A still fuller description of the Kirghese, and of other Central
Asian races, is given at the end of M. Ujfalvy’ s volumes in his Tables
of Anthropological measurements, ruled with 63 columns for particulars
of each person measured.