 When Circassians tried to beg for bread, Turkish soldiers chased them out for fear of the diseases they carried.It was reported that the Turks were unable to keep up with burying Circassian corpses, and recruited convicts to do the work as well; one Circassian wrote to the Governor General "We rather go to Siberia than live in this Siberia ... one can die, not live, on the indicated place".In 1861–1862 alone, in the Danube Vilayet, there were 41,000 Circassian refugee families.