different courses in their wanderings, and are termed the
Noghaian, the Siberian, the Kasanish, and Osaish roads or
ways. In each of these divisions are comprehended many
tribes.
S e c t io n XI.— Races of Eastern Turkistan.
To the eastward of the plains belonging to Middle Turk-
land or Jagataï-Turkistan is the empire which fell to the
lot of Ogota'i, the third son of Tsehingghis-khakan. The
capital of this empire was the celebrated eastern city of
Karakorum* and its territory extended to the north of
China. —Eastern Turkistan, which is perhaps coëxtensive
with the dominion of Ogota’i, lies above and beyond the
great barrier of the Belut-tagh, which-separates it as a
wall from Low or Western Bokharia. This chain, as we
have seen, forms the division of waters betweemthe-western
and the eastern parts of Central Asia. Towards the West
the Oxus and Jaxartes flow from its sides, affording., by the
valleys which they open, the only passes from the lower to
the higher regions of the Eastern Continent. To the east-
ward the land subsides in a less degree, and the streams
which here take their rise pour their waters into-ï médites-
amean lakes. The rivers of Kashgar, Yarkiang, Akson,
and Khoten, discharge their waters by one channel into the
basin of Lop-n6r. The river Ili supplies the lake of RaL-
kash or Tenghiz, while further eastward the great lake of
Khq-kho-n6r receives the waters which flow from the high
mountains of Tangut. Where these high plains are fertilised
by rivers and lakes the Turks have from old times
* Karakorum was situated on the hanks of the river Orkhon. Its exact sit®
is unknown. M. Abel-Rémusat has written a learned treatise on this subject
in his “ Mémoires sur plusieurs questions relatives à la géographie de l’Asie
Centrale.” In this paper he cites a notice on the subject from the memoirs of
the Thang dynasty. According to Visdelou and to D’Ohsson, who cites the Tar-
ikh of Atta-melik Djouveini, ancient ruins and inscriptions, found in the time of
Ogotaï, proved that Karakorum had been the principal seat of Bâkû, khan of
the Ôuigours, and of his successors, from the eighth century after Christ.
been induced to lay aside their wandering habits and to
become isettled inhabitants of towns. The Ouigours, instructed
by Nestoriari teachers,’ became the lettered people
of Central Asia. In that country, Khoten, a s Abel-R6mu-
sat has shewn, had been one of the seats of internal commerce
and was even' embellished by arts and cultivation
derived from India- and Tibet,*•: long before Islam was
introduced. The region of Turkistan now subject to China
is .termed by the Bokharians >Adti:-Cliakan or “ The Six
Cities :v these cities, inhabited^by people who speak the
Turkish language1 and are , Moslims£i are’ garrisoned by
'Chinese! soldiers.* The1 six*<M?thls!are Kasghar,» Yarkiand,
Khoten, Aksou, and the two towns named Ili* or the Great
and Little' Kouldja on the river Ili.
To the north-westwards of Kashgar, in the highf-moun-
tains of Ala-tagh and froim^themce to the lofty>3teij|le-land
of Pamer/are • the wandering-places of the great Turkish
nation named Kirghises or Kirghis-Kasaks. isTheir;country
is on the . borders of the,, Chinese empir^f Th}ey are the
principal- race ^ truly nomadic fh%pe- now remaining in
Eastern Turkistan.: Inhabiting.for the most part wild and
inaccessible, tracts they have? escaped- th ^ innovations in
manners and habits to which all the Turkish.. Muslims
have been exposed5- in -^regions morp ^within reach of
strangeis$ and they may be considered, as the only; representatives,
yet surviving of a large» class of natioks belong-*
ing to the Turkish family.
Of the Kirtfhises or Kirghis-Ketsaks.-r-Soine Russian
authors who have written on the history of the' Kirghises
declare that the people long termed Kirghis-Kasaks have
been erroneously so named, and that the Kirghises are in
reality a race qui-te distinct from the Kasaks. M. Alexei
Lewschin, in a work expressly, devoted to history of the
Kirghises’, assures us that theiffe formerly existed, as -Senkou-
sky maintained, a Tartar nation named Kasak : that these.
Kasaks were distinguished by, their wild predatory habits as
well as by their use.of long pikes-; It came topass ahldngth
that all people who adopted the habits of the Kasaks, or who
bore similar weapons and addicted themselves to a roving
Vol. iv. - 2 x