In the simple life of the Tatars, much may be traced of similarity with those recorded in the earliest ages of Scripture history. Their riches consist now, as was usual then, in flocks and herds, and in the number of their families. Many also of their domestic habits are the same : nor is it so much a matter ofwonder, that, in lives so simple, so much accordance should be found, as that any people, having had for some centuries past an intercourse with more civilized nations, should still retain those manners which characterized mankind before learning had enlightened and commerce enriched the world. Here, the former is still unknown, and the latter scarcely ventures a step beyond the neighbourhood of the seaport whither navigation tempts her. Exchange is still the medium ofpurchase, and money is but seldom required or produced in bargains made between one Tatar and another, since they look with far more anxious eyes at the expenditure of a single petack (about a halfpenny), than at the cost of ten or twenty rubles, if negociated by the way of exchange. Poor Tatars, like Jacob, serve an apprenticeship for their wives, and are then admitted as part of the family.
The Tatars of the Crimea may be divided into three classes : the Murzas, or noblemen ; the Mullas, or priests; and the peasantry; the latter paying great deference to both the former.
The Mulla is considered the head of every parish, and nothing of consequence to the community is undertaken without his counsel. His land is ploughed for him, his corn sown, reaped, and carried home, and it is seldom that the proprietor of the soil takes tithe of the priest.
The language used in the mosques is the Arabic, which the clergy learn to read without being able to translate, only having a general idea as to the tendency of each prayer. The Effendis (a higher class of the priesthood ) are doubtless more learned, but it is considered sufficient for a Mullaof the smaller villages to be able to read, and to understanda few of the mysteries of their religion. Not even the smallest village is without a minister; and mistaken as these poor people are in the objects of their belief, and in the observance of senseless laws, at least they are entitled to the merit of sincerity in their devotions, and a strict adherence to those duties which their religion enjoins.
The dress of a Tatar gentleman is of cloth, trimmed with gold or silver lace, or in the heat ofsummer, of Turkish silk, or ofsilk mixed with stuff, and in winter his coat is lined with fur.
His trowsers are worn tight, and low at the ancles, and are made of some bright coloured linen, frequently blue. He wears upper and under slippers, and no stockings. He has generally a large high cap of broad cloth (which distinguishes him from the peasantry), and a coloured linen shirt. The priests and old men wear their beards, but the young shave them. All shave the head ; and the Mullas are known by a white linen cloth which they bind round the outside of their caps.
The dress of the women consists of a pair of trowsers tied at the ancle, and falling loose to the heel, a shift, and a quilted robe, made either ofTurkish silk or cotton, or of gold or silver brocade, according to the rank and condition of the wearer. The cap worn by the girls is of red cloth trimmed round with gold fringe, or (amongst the peasantry) with their small gold money, of which they also make necklaces; these latter are likewise sometimes of silver, in form somewhat resembling a collar, being tight round the neck, with silver pendants hung close around it. Their bracelets occasionally consist of three or four silver chains affixed to a broad clasp, but are most commonly rings of coloured glass, of which they often wear two or three on each arm. Every finger is loaded with a multitude of rings of brass, lead, silver, and some few of gold, generally with coloured stones in them. A broad belt is worn around the waist, hanging very loose, and as low as the hips : its materials vary according to the taste of the owner, but it is generally worked with gold or silver thread on black velvet, and fastened with a clasp as big as the palms of both hands; these are sometimes of gold or silver, richly embossed, and occasionally of brass or lead. A pair of silver clasps costs from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and seventy rubles.