Taranchi

Taranchi, a Mongolian word meaning "peasants," applied specially to the settled agricultural populations of Chinese Turkestan and Kulja. All speak dialects of the Turki language of East Turkestan, and in the north they are of distinct Mongolo-Tatar type, but in the south (Kashgaria) they have been largely assimilated to the Tajiks (q.v.). so much so that they have been called Iranians of Turki speech. Although Mohammedans, they retain many of the old usages; the women go unveiled and polygamy is little practised. Since the retrocession of Kulja to China large numbers have crossed the frontiers, and are now settled in Russian territory. (Kuropotkin Ch. de Ujfalvy.)