Page:Morgan Philips Price - Siberia (1912).djvu/114

 80 theless besides pure Russians there are Mohammedan Tartars of Kazan and Tobolsk; but these are in a minority and, except in religious matters, have few distinctive characteristics. They must not be confused with the Abakansk Tartars, who are the native aborigines of the southern part of Central Siberia. The Kazan and Tobolsk Tartars are Mussulman Russian subjects, who originally came from old Khanates of Kazan and Tobolsk in Western Siberia and European Russia, before they were overthrown by the early Russian Tsars. Most of those in Minusinsk had been born and had lived there all their lives, but a few had migrated recently from European Russia and Western Siberia. On visiting the houses of one or two, I expected to find some old Tartar "Hadji," with a skull-cap and turban, sitting squat-legged on a raised dais, surrounded by carpets and prayer rugs, and attended by veiled women from the harem. But I was disappointed. I found instead a Russian log-house. The room inside was furnished with tables and chairs, there was a samovar of tea and Russian food, and the family wore Russian clothes and spoke Russian, calling each other by Russified Tartar names, such as "Islamof," "Achmetof." In fact, by continual contact with Russians, though without any systematic Russification by officialdom, these Tartars were slowly losing their national characteristics. But their religion survives as strong as ever; for, on the one hand, the Russians make no attempt to proselytize, nor on the other do the Tartars show any signs of breaking from their old faith. Christian Russian and Mussulman Tartar in Siberia, as in old Russia, mutually respect each other's religion, and inter-