been
passed, and modified by them. They have been invaded by no conqueror,
they have brought no captive arts or literature home, they have
undergone no conversion in mass, they have been taught by no commerce,
by no international relationship; but they have in the course of
centuries slowly soaked or trickled, if I may use the words, through the
Saracenic populations with which they came in contact, and after being
nationally lost to the world, as far as history goes, for long periods
and through different countries, eventually they have come to the face
of day with that degree of civilization which they at present possess,
and at length have usurped a place within the limits of the great
European family. And this is why the path southwards to the east of the
Aral was, in matter of fact, the path of civilization, and that by the
Caucasus the path of barbarism; this is why the Turks who took the
former course could found an empire, and those who took the latter have
remained Tartars or Turcomans, as they were originally; because the way
of the Caucasus was a sheer descent from Turkistan into the country
which they occupy, but the way of the Aral was a circuitous course,
leading them through many countries--through Sogdiana, Khorasan,
Zabulistan, and Persia,--with many fortunes, under many masters, for
many hundred years, before they came round to the region to which their
Turcoman brethren attained so easily, but with so little eventual
advantage. My meaning will be clearer, as I proceed.

5.

1. First of all, we may say that the very region into which they came,
tended to their civilization. Of course the peculiarities of soil,
climate, and country are not by themselves sufficient for a social
change, else the Turcomans would have the best right to civilization;
yet, when other influences are present too, climate and country are far
from being unimportant. You may recollect that I have spoken more than
once of the separation of a portion of the Huns from the main body, when
they were emigrating from Tartary into Europe, in the time of the
Goths.[21] These turned off sharp to the South immediately on descending
the high table-land; and, crossing the Jaxartes, found themselves in a
fertile and attractive country, between the Aral and their old country,
where they settled. It is a peculiarity of Asia that its regions are
either very hot or very cold. It has the highest mountains in the world,
bleak table-lands, vast s