I am listening to tolstoy's "The Cossacks" on audiobooks.  It takes
place in a Cossack village in the Caucasus in the middle l800's. 
Reference is made to an aroma or smell of "kissyack" or "kissiaq"
smoke.  Can you find out for me what that is?  In the Arctic Eskimos
burn a certain weed to drive away mosquitoes, and the smell of that
smoke permeates everything in the summer.  Is "kissiaq" like that, or
is it something else?

Dear nanauq04,

The Tartar word you have in mind is "kizyak" (sometimes spelled
"kisyak"). Generally spoken, this term describes fuel consisting of
dried animal dung; thus the frequent references to its omnipresent
smell.
Kizyak can be made of dung from both cows and sheep. The fresh
kizyak-dung can be mixed with straw and wheat chaff before drying, but
that is not obligatory.


Sources:

Zygmunt Frankel: Siberian Diary - Arrival
http://www.zygmuntfrankel.com/zf518.html

IWRAW: Uzbekistan
http://iwraw.igc.org/publications/countries/uzbekistan.htm

Mizii: A List of Tartar Words used in Tolstoy's "Hadji Murad"
http://mizii.com/jesusi/authors/tolstoy/hadji_murad/toc.htm

Search terms used:
kizyak
://www.google.de/search?q=kizyak&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=0&sa=N
kizyak fuel
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=kizyak+fuel&btnG=Google+Suche
kizyak dung
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=kizyak+dung&btnG=Google+Suche


Hope this answers your question!
Regards,
Scriptor

I am pleased to have this information.  The question was obscure and
the money offered not great.  I will use this service again.  Thank
you.