Peter Kropotkin and Charles Eliot

“ Polygamy is rare with them, and their women go to work unveiled.
The Siberian Tatars are estimated (1895) at 80,000 of Turki stock and about 40,000 of mixed Finnic stock. They occupy three distinct regions—a strip running west to east from Tobolsk to Tomsk, the Altai and its spurs, and South Yeniseisk. They originated in the agglomerations of Turkish stems which in the region north of the Altai reached some degree of culture between the 4th and the 5th centuries, but were subdued and enslaved by the Mongols. ”

“ Those of the south coast, mixed with Greeks and Italians, are well known for their skill in gardening, their honesty and their laborious habits, as well as for their fine features, presenting the Tatar type at its best. ”

“ They are known under the name of Sagais, who numbered 11,720 in 1864, and are the purer Turkish stem of the Minusinsk Tatars, Kaibals, and Kizil or Red Tatars. Formerly Shamanists, they now are, nominally at least, adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church, and support themselves mostly by cattle-breeding. Agriculture is spreading but slowly among them ”

“ The name is derived from that of the Ta-ta Mongols, who in the 5th century inhabited the north-eastern Gobi, and, after subjugation in the 9th century by the Khitans, migrated southward, there founding the Mongol empire under Jenghiz Khan (q.v.) ”

“ They are chiefly hunters, passionately loving their taiga, or wild forests, and have maintained their Shaman religion and tribal organization into suoks. They live partly also on cedar-nuts and honey collected in the forests. ”