The Strangest-Looking Graves in the World : Tombs of Horsemen of the Kirghese Steppes in Central Siberia. 1907

For Sale is a Full Page taken from "The Sphere," April 20th, 1907, showing the following Photographs of "The Strangest-Looking Graves in the World : Tombs of Horsemen of the Kirghese Steppes in Central Siberia."
1- A Small Tomb - 60 miles North of Lake Balchash.
2- Built a Few Years Ago - 100 miles North of Lake Balchash.
3- Pinnacles Surmounted by Horses' Skulls.
4- The Largest Tomb in the District.
5- A Tomb with a Hawk's Nest on its Top.
6- Probably a Kalmuck Tomb.

The Kirghese are a curious people who interest all sportsmen. They are essentially horsemen, and to this day as we once showed hunt with eagles. Their Tombs (or "Maghila") are as interesting as their lives. They are built of yellow sun-baked clay, and as every Kirghese is his own architect great variety of design is shown. All the graves illustrated here are in the region of Lake Balchash. The two pictures at the bottom of the page, representing the outside and the inside of the same tomb, show what is probably a grave left by the Kalmuck Tartars when they migrated (as described by De Quincey in his essay on "The Revolt of the Tartar") from Russia east of the Volga to China. Of the 600,000 who started only some 200,000 reached their destination.