Daurs

(Dakhury), in the People’s Republic of China, a people settled along the right bank of the Nonni River and in Hsinchiang Province. There are approximately 50,000 Daurs (1967, estimate). They speak a Mongolian dialect, preserving many of its archaic features. The pious among the Daurs are shamanists. They are not nomadic, and their principal occupations are farming and cattle breeding. Until the mid-17th century the Daurs inhabited the upper course of the Amur River and the valleys of the Argun’ and Zeia rivers. The Nonni valley was first settled by them in the 17th century.