spoken the same language as the latter.* They are termed
Gusses by Masudi in-a; passage cited by»,M. Fr'ahn, who
finds an account, of their passing the great riy-érs from Tartary
into the „ country which they conquered from the Cha-
zars.f This took place during the tenth .century. By
Henry, the Lettish chronicler, they are termed Chômant
and described, “ gens immundissima, quæ carnihu-s utebatur
fere crudis pro ciho, et lacté equorum et sanguine pro
potu.”J This description leaves no doubt ,pf their Turkish
origin, which, is fully established by a later Persian and
Romanian vocabulary, Copied in 13Q3, .and published by
Klaproth, from the MSS. in the library of St. Mark at
Venice^ M
. 2 .'The Turkish origin of the Romanians being, fully,
established, no doubt remains respecting, the Fetcheneges,
who are authentically recorded to havei spoken thepsamb
language. The Petcheneges occupied the -'country .from
which they were expelled by “the Chazars and Uzi jar
Romanians, fifty yearsibsieffe Jbe time when Constantine
Porphyrogenitus compiled his w o rk .^ Their first invasion
of the Russian territory is mentioned- by Nestor in the
year 915.^[ The Turkish origin of,, the Petcheneges is
besides testified - by Ibn-el-wardi in a passage.; cited by M.
Frähn.**
3. That the Chazars were Turks and not a Finnish tribe
the express testimony of Theophanes is sufficient to prby.d
in opposition to mere conjectures.kb | That writer terms
* Anna Commena, Alexius, lib. 8, p. 2.82. | t Frähn’s Ibn-Foslan, p. 244.
t Chron. Zwetl.ad ann. 1239.—Zeuss,'744.
§ Klaproth, Mém. réh à l’Asie, tom. 3.—M. d’Avezaç, Notice sur les anciens
voyages des Tartares en général, &c.—-Rec. de Voyages, par la Société de Géogr.
Paris, 1839,p. 489.
- [J Constantine Porpb. de adm. Imperio., c. 37.—ZeuSs, p’, 742. '
Nestor, ed Seht, 4-5.—Zeuss, ibid.-
-. ** Frähn’s Ibn-Foslan, p. -44.—Zeuss, ibid.
ft Bayer long ago maintained' the Turkish origin of the Chazars (Comm.
Acad. Petrop., T. 9), and Lehrberg has argued in defence of this opinion in
his learned work entitled “ Untersuchungen zur Erläuterung der älteren Geschichte
Russlands (St. Pet. 1316).—Ueber die. geograph. Lage der Chasarischen.
Festung Szarkel.
thehl TbCpKoC airb rrjc Ewae, ' Xa£apovc ovofia^ovcriv*
They arfe-fifstf'mehtioned in 62fiJon the occasion of their
marching in the expedition of Heraclius against the Persian
ChosKbea. They are said by the same' writer to have come
from the i-nmoSt parts of Berzilia*; Meaning the country on
the Caspian # h ik d • tWWolf a^d to haver invaded the *
Country of^the BulgariansIon the Mseotis. They became
the' ifebst-powerful pebple in tfcii Pontic country, and exacted
trib’utbef¥bm the^southern Slavonian tribes on the
Dnieper, but were afterwards pressed on that side by the
PeCtChjenege's, against whonb their last frontier town was
Sarkfel? on the Donetz.f-
We are informed; in a passage ’cittd-'from Ibn-Haukal,
that the Chazars wbrb-sa '^divided pbbple,’ and! that-bne tribe
of them ‘wtire’ called Rara-Chaizars or Black Chazars.
This Turkish epithet, if it was not merely a name bestowed
m them by the Bulgarians, is a strdnk argument for their
Turkish affinity. The ArabklSpread commerce and Islam
through«these: »Countries4'early in the tenth ‘century,-’and
Ibn-Foslan;' ambassador^ from the chalipli Muktfedir to
the'-king off Great Bulgaria, ^gaine#*some knbWledg^%f'
the- Russians' and- bthbr neighbouring nktidhs.Cf?4' km- a passage'.
cited from Ibn-Foslan it -is1- expressly affirmed that
the language of the Chazars was the same as that of the
Bulgarians on the Wolga, “ Lingua Bulgarorum similis
n;st lingusbGhasarorum/^
* Theophao., p.’263—Zeuss. ' ' t Nestor, 2*, 153, 211.
4 Zeuss, p. 721t722.fH-Frf9to.de Chasaris. Excerpt* ex,Histor. Arab. Petrop,
1822.
§ Zeuss, art. B u lg ^ p . 723. It is sin^jilar that M. M.W and
iefiliil; apparently fromlbe same original, a totally opposite meaning'on the
question, whether the Chazars and Bulgarians had the Turkish' language or not.
The following are M. Frahn’s words :—“ Duplex Chasarorum genus exstat. Al-
teri'nomen est Kara Chasa/ffe. Chasari nigri): hi fusco colore suut, sed propter
fusci iritentionem ad mgredinem vebgeiite, ita ut species Indorum esse vide-
antur. Genus alteram albb cdlote ;est afque pulchritudine et forma insipid.”
Then as to their language, “ lingua Chasarorum k TurcicA et PerstcA differt,
nee ullius populi lingua aliquid commune cum ek hahbt. * Chasari Turms
-similes .»no'li sunti* ppTigrum - capillum habent.” Ibn-Haukal in Ouseley’s
version gives an opposite statementfen^The principal persons of Atel (the
capital of the Chazars on the Atel or Wolga), are Mussulmans and merchants; ’