Turkestan

“ The people dwelling in Turkestan are mainly of the Turkish race; their language is Turkish, and the country was the seat of the race that spread its boundaries by a career of conquests, which did not stop until it entered Europe and pressed as far westward as the walls of Vienna. Briefly we may say the inhabitants of Turkestan are Ozbeks or Uzbeks (the [Pg 450] dominant race) , Turcomans, Kirghese, Karakalpaks, Tajiks, Persians, Kipchaks, and a few Arabs, Hindoos, and Jews. The Ozbeks are the most civilized people of the country, and are mainly settled in the cities and towns ”

“ There is also an import and export trade to and from Urumchi and China, via Kulja and Ak-su.
Population.—Turkestan has been the theatre of so many migrations and conquests that its present population could not fail to be very mixed. Both Aryans and Mongols have their representatives there, the former settled for the most part, the latter chiefly nomad. The Ural-Altaians are numerically the predominant element, and consist of Turkomans, Kirghiz, Uzbegs and Sarts. The Turkomans inhabit chiefly the Transcaspian region. They number less than a quarter of a million. ”

“ The sultans of Turkestan made war upon one another in order to steal the others’ crowns, but they did not do so as brutes greedy of slaughter and scenes of bloodshed: often warfare was their only means of living and of defending themselves against the incessant attacks of their rapacious kinsmen. ¶ The transition from the school of Turkestan at the time of the princes of the House of Timur to the third great school of painting in Persia, that of the Sefevæans, was not so clearly defined as that which separates the Mongolian from the Timurid school. ”

“ The civilization of Turkestan was constantly being revived and refreshed by the newcomers from Mesopotamia, especially by the later Andite cavalrymen. The so-called Aryan mother tongue was in process of formation in the highlands of Turkestan; it was a blend of the Andonic dialect of that region with the language of the Adamsonites and later Andites. Many modern languages are derived from this early speech of these central Asian tribes who conquered Europe, India, and the upper stretches of the Mesopotamian plains. ”

“ Samarcand and Bukhara
Russian Central Asia has ten million inhabitants and an area twelve times as large as the British Isles. The part which is called Turkestan extends between Eastern Turkestan and the Caspian Sea, the Kirghiz Steppe, Afghanistan, and Persia. The greater part is occupied by blown sand, the "Red Sand" and the "Black Sand." Right through the desert flow the two rivers, the Syr-darya and Amu-darya. Two railway lines cross Turkestan, one from the Kirghiz Steppe to Tashkent, the other from the Caspian Sea to Tashkent and Ferghana. ”

“ The Sacæ and Massagetæ were, like the Persians, tall, blond dolichocephs and they have left behind them dim traces of their blood among the living Mongolized nomads of Turkestan, the Kirghizes. Ancient Bactria maintained its Nordic and Aryan aspect long after Alexander’s time and did not become Mongolized and receive the sinister name of Turkestan until the seventh century, when it was the first victim of the series of ferocious invasions 260from the north and east, which under various Mongol leaders destroyed civilization in Asia and threatened its existence in Europe. ”

“ A people of Turkish race, who, at the close of the 15th century, invaded and conquered the numerous principalities into which Turkestan was at that time divided, and have ever since maintained dominion over the country. At the present day, they are for the most part a settled people, and are scattered over both Independent and Chinese Turkestan. ”

“ Turkestan is bounded on the east by the empire of Tarsae, to the west by Khorasmin or Khuaresm, and to the south it extends to the desert which forms the northern frontier of India. In this country there are few good towns; but many extensive plains, which afford excellent pasturage to cattle, and the inhabitants are almost universally shepherds and tenders of cattle. They dwell mostly in tents, and in huts which can be transported from place to place. They cultivate only a small quantity of corn, and have no wine. Their drink is beer and milk, and they subsist upon meat with rice and millet. ”

“ The real ‘Turkey’ is Turkestan, and the real Turks are the Turcomans. The Osmanlis are the least typical Turks surviving. Only a very small proportion of them have any strain of Turkish blood, and this is diluted till it is rarely perceptible in their physiognomy: and if environment rather than blood is to be held responsible for racial features, it can only be said that the territory occupied by the Osmanlis is as unlike the homeland of the true Turks as it can well be, and is quite unsuited to typically Turkish life and manners. ”

“ Indeed it is very probable that the great migration of the first centuries of our era resulted from the necessity of abandoning East Turkestan. The climate is severe : a cold winter follows a burning summer. Climate. A few showers slightly moisten the surface in spring ; but the summer and autumn are rainless. The air is continually charged with dust, and often with sand. The vegetation of the interior of East Turkestan is very poor, Flora, being the same as that of the steppes of West Turkestan. ”

“ The Kudatku Bilik (about 1065) gives a picture of life in Eastern Turkestan after the conversion to Islam, but still showing many traces of Chinese influence. But after this period nearly all the Turks (except a few obscure tribes like the Yakuts) adopted the Perso-Arabic civilization. Some however, such as the Kirghiz, Turkomans and Yürüks of Asia Minor, have not yet abandoned the nomadic life. The Turks seem to be everywhere characterized by their innate sense of discipline and their submissiveness to their own authorities; councils or assemblies have rarely assumed importance among them ”

“ Turkestan, the native region of these nomads, lies north-east of the Caspian, but their tribes are widely dispersed over Persia, Asia Minor, and Syria. Their horses are large, swift, and possess extraordinary powers of endurance, though their figures are somewhat ungainly. When a Turkman starts on an expedition, he takes with him some hard balls of barley-meal, which are to serve both him and his horse for subsistence until his return. ”

“ These incidents gave me a glimpse of the docile spirit of the race, and partly explained why the inhabitants of Chinese Turkestan have nearly always been ruled by a succession of foreign masters. They are small [Pg 202] cultivators and petty shopkeepers, taking little interest in anything outside their immediate circle, and their life seems to destroy initiative and independence, thus rendering the task of their Chinese rulers easy. ”

“ The same may be said of Turkestan, in which violence has been suppressed and industry encouraged, [Pg 309] while the Russian population, alike of the steppes and of the oases, is rapidly increasing. A railroad penetrates the formerly mysterious land, trains roll daily over its soil, carrying great numbers of Asiatic passengers, and an undreamed-of activity of commerce has taken the place of the old-time plundering raids of the half-savage Turkoman horsemen. ”

“ The dress is that customary in West Turkestan. But the habits of the people differ to some extent and the women enjoy greater liberty than in other Mohammedan countries : they go in the streets unveiled ; free marriages, contracted for short terms, are not un- frequent. As a rule, the position of women is more independent a feature noticed even by the earliest travellers in the country. The aggregate population of East Turkestan, estimated between 575,000 and 1,500,000 in 1825, is now (1887) hardly more than 1 ,000,000. ”

“ Further north, on the banks of the Oxus river, the border line that divides Afghan from Russian Turkestan, are Turkoman and Usbàk tribes. The Turkoman is, as the name implies, of Turk descent. This people lived to the south of the Thian Shan or Celestial mountains, and in the eleventh and twelfth centuries overran Bokhara, Armenia, and Georgia. Physically they are immensely strong men, taller than the Hazara, of rough manners and coarse fibre, seeming more or less insensible to pain or sorrow: their cold insensible nature contrasting strongly with the more amorous nature of Afghan and Persian. ”

“ It proved to be of extraordinary artistic interest, not to mention its historical importance both as the centre of Moslem learning and of Russian experiments in civilizing Central Asia. Russia looks with a jealous eye upon the traveller, and a special permit has to be obtained in order to travel through Turkestan, even on the railway line. ”

“ Kirghiz and Kara- Kirghiz inhabit the slopes of the Tian-Shan. Kalmucks occur in the north-east ; and in the central parts the population consists of Turkish Sarts and Uzbegs and of Persian Tajak, the Mongolian clement increasing towards the north-east The language is Turkish, like that spoken in West Turkestan, with several varieties of patois and a considerable addition of Chinese words. As a rule, the inhabitants of East Turkestan have an air of jioverty. There are no rich mosques in their towns, such as those of Samarkand and Bokhara ; the houses are of unbaked brick and poorly furnished. ”

“ Travellers going any distance by carriage continue day and night without stopping longer than for meals and to change horses, but it must require an iron constitution to do this. Nearly every one at Tashkent seemed to ride or drive; in fact we learnt that it was considered quite infra dig to go on foot anywhere in Turkestan.
The town boasts two good new hotels; a fine public library, especially rich in works on Central Asia; an observatory; a museum; two large public schools; an experimental agricultural station and school ”

“ It has grown rapidly in modern times. The Troitskiy fort, erected in 1743, became a centre for trade with the Kirghiz steppe and Turkestan, and in that trade Troitsk is now second only to Orenburg. Cotton, silk, and especially horses and cattle are imported, while leather, cotton, woollen and metal wares are exported. ”

“ Notwithstanding the salt springs of Ferghana and Syr-darya, the salt lakes of the region, and the rock-salt strata of the Alexander Mountains, salt is imported.
Industry and Trade.—Turkestan has no manufacturing industry carried on by means of machinery, except distilleries and establishments for dressing raw cotton. These last have greatly increased in number; over a score are driven by steam and about a hundred by water. But there is a great variety of artisan work, such as copper and brass, paper, knives (at Bokhara) , silver filigree, shoes, caps (at Samarkand and Andijan) and carpets ”

“ The interests of British trade are the first consideration of the British statesman. Many thousands of Africans and Asiatics have died by British bullets and sabres that the commerce of England might be extended. Unless I mistake the temper of the British Government, I am afraid that the advisers of the Queen would prefer the old state of things to the new on the Turcoman steppes. The sale of a thousand bales of Manchester cottons in the bazaars of Turkestan is of more consequence to England than the enslavement of a thousand Persians and the desolation of their homes. ”

“ It is strange to observe how, when trade becomes active in any seaport, or upon the railway lines, the Osmanli retires and disappears, while Greeks, Armenians and Levantines thrive in his place. Neither does he much affect law, medicine or the learned professions. Such callings are followed by Moslims but they are apt to be of non-Turkish race. But though he does none of these things ... the Turk is a soldier. The moment a sword or rifle is put into his hands, he instinctively knows how to use it with effect, and feels at home in the ranks or on a horse. ”

“ The amazing legend that the Turk is a gentleman is dying hard. That legend has saved him many a time when he was on the brink of destruction. It came to his aid in October last when the policy of this country was changed by the revolt of the Turcophile against the Coalition. The Turk has massacred hundreds of thousands of Armenians, and dishonoured myriads of Christian women who trusted to his protection. Nevertheless the Turk is a gentleman! By his indolence, his shiftiness, his stupidity, and his wantonness, he has reduced a garden to a desert. ”

“ Someone has said: "The greatest enemy of Turkey is the Turk." I have too much love for the Turkish people, too much sympathy for them, to adopt this pessimistic attitude without great inward opposition; but unfortunately it is only too true. We have seen how the Turkey of Enver and Talaat has reacted sharply against the Western-minded, [Pg 263] liberal era of the 1876 and 1908 constitutions, and has turned again to Asia and her newly discovered ideal, Turanism. To the Turks of to-day, European culture and civilisation are at best but a technical means; they are no longer an end in themselves. ”

“ There were Turks, Kurds, Circassians, Turcomans, Tartars and Laz in the country, a few remaining Armenians in the interior, an increasing number of Greeks between Samsun and Trebizond along the Black Sea littoral, and a handful of widely scattered Americans, mostly in the employ of the Near East Relief. The large majority of its population, however, was Turkish and most of the non-Turks were bound to the Turks by their acceptance of Islam. The country, while wholly primitive, was far more single-minded than its capital had been for a century. ”