There are many villages in the eastern and north-eastern provinces of European Russia which have been for generations half Tartar and half Russian, and the amalgamation of the two nationalities has not yet begun.

Near the one end stands the Christian church, and near the other stands the little metchet, or Mahometan house of prayer.

The whole village forms one Commune, with one Village Assembly and one Village Elder; but, socially, it is composed of two distinct communities, each possessing its peculiar customs and peculiar mode of life.

The Tartar may learn Russian, but he does not on that account become Russianised.
It must not, however, be supposed that the two races are imbued with fanatical hatred towards each other.

On the contrary, they live in perfect good-fellowship, elect as Village Elder sometimes a Russian and sometimes a Tartar, and discuss the Communal affairs in the Village Assembly without reference to religious matters.