children, and goods in their arabas, and move at random to some other point of the steppe. Averse to steady toil, they only cultivated the ground for a little millet, devoting themselves chiefly to tending cattle, and assembling for pastime to sit in a ring upon the ground, smoking and hearing traditional accounts of their forefathers. These habits have been abandoned. At first, when invited to become stationary, and till the soil, they would reply, "My father led a wandering life, and was happy; and I will do the same." “Such is the order established by God himself; to us he has given wheels, to other nations fixed dwellings and the plough." Owing to the judicious and persevering efforts of Count Maison, a French emigrant, Governor of the Nogais in the interval from the year 1808 to 1821, they were gradually induced to renounce a nomadic life, settle in villages, build permanent dwellings, and practise agriculture. They are principally found in the peninsula of Kertch; and frequently display in a very marked manner the Mongolian type of conformation, both in features and person. Notwithstanding this, and the general yellow hue of the skin, the women, from seventeen to twenty years of age, have often pretensions to beauty; but become excessively ugly as they advance from thirty to forty. The men, on the

contrary, rather improve in personal appearance with the flight of time, acquiring an amplitude of beard, which hides to some extent an unpleasing physiognomy, and gives patriarchal dignity to the counte

nance.

In the more secluded districts, the Tatars are generally a very creditable people, not having been exposed to the contaminating influence of low Russian life. They are sober, honest, generous in the extreme, and remarkably domesticated. Though polygamy is allowed by law and the Mohammedan religion, it is very rarely practised. Kohl inquired of one in possession of some wealth, how many wives he had, and the answer was, " Of course only one! No Tatar has more than one wife, except such as are rascals." Their family life is said by all travellers to be almost unexceptionable, marked by union among the different members, the love of regularity, the industry of the females, and the home attachments of the men, who seldom spend a copeck away from their households. On entering one of their villages, remote from general society, the first thing that attracts the attention of the stranger is the cleanliness of the streets and houses. Naked, ragged, and dirty children are never seen running about, as is so frequently case in both Mohammedan and Christian

countries. Though the women are considered inferiors by the men, in accordance with Eastern notions, they are far from being treated as drudges or merchandise; and the respect which the wife pays to the husband is only equalled by the honour which the children pay to the parents. They never think of sitting down in their presence until permission has been asked and obtained; and every opportunity is seized to kiss the hands of father, mother, and relatives, and implore their benediction. The women are chiefly engaged in spinning; and constantly carry the distaff about with them. They esteem red hair an ornament, and use a dye to produce the colour. They join the eye-brows also with paint by way of personal decoration. In public, they wear a long white veil, the two ends of which hang over their shoulders; and are remarkably free from every appearance of vulgarity. While prone to be indolent-the usual failing of orientals-and fond of listening in a lounging attitude to a tale of wonder, the men will cheerfully address themselves to extreme fatigue and hardship, as occasion may require. They are admirable equestrians. Their small steeds nimbly scale the most difficult ascents, cautiously descending the slopes. They still retain the custom of their ancestors, of eating the flesh of colts, and esteem it

a delicacy. A young mare is the "fatted calf" killed to greet the arrival of a welcome guest; and this is deemed the greatest mark of attention that can be shown to a stranger. Their language is a dialect of the Turkish, spoken in its greatest purity at Bakchi-serai. The preceding remarks refer to the more isolated Tatars. Under other circumstances, they have suffered in manners and morals by contact with the knavish and notoriously sottish Russian peasantry.

The Tatars are a rapidly diminishing race; and failing numbers is accompanied with declining moral energy. This melancholy fact is referable to their position as a conquered people, spoiled of territorial wealth, social and political importance, and exposed to the harassing peculations of subaltern agents of government. It is painful to reflect, that the present war must be an additional disaster to them, arresting industrial employment, taking away their substance to support the troops of their master, and conferring upon them no boon, however successfully closed by the allied armies. Turkey could not keep the Crimea if it were entirely conquered; and for the Anglo-French to burden themselves with maintaining it, is out of the question. With the capture of Sebastopol, and the demolition of its forts and

arsenals, the Western Powers must be content. But an instance of righteous retribution it would be, if possible, to render the port unserviceable for military purposes, by closing up its mouth with the masonry of the citadels erected to be a terror, a menace, and an instrument of aggression.

THE END.

LONDON:

A. and G. A. SPOTTISWOODE,

New-street-Square.