TURKISTAN, or Independent Tartary, a region of Central Asia, inhabited by many tribes of Tartar race, extends from about 36° to 55° N. lat., and from 52° to 89' E. loug. It is bounded N. by llussia, E. by China, S. by Afghanistan and Persia, and W. by the Caspian Sea.
Lake Sir-i-Kol, situated in 37° 27' N. lat., 73° 40' E. long., on the high tableland of Pamir, near the southern frontier of Turkistan, appears to be 15,600 feet above the level of the sea. It is bordered by hills on three sides; those on the south rise to the estimated height of 8500 feet above the level of the lako. [Benelesnent ; Oxus.] Near Ilazrat-Imam, in 69° E. long., the bed of the river is said to be only 500 feet above the level of the sea, and here are its lowest fords. As far as the meridian of 68° E. long., the passes across the mountain range which extends south-west from Sir-i-Kol do not sink lower than 18,000 feet above the level of the sea. Twenty-five miles W. from tho lake tho bed of the Amu is 1200 feet below its level ; 35 miles farther west it is only 10,000 feet above the sea. The village of Rebel, on tho banks of a southern affluent of the Amu, 60 or 70 miles W. from this latter point, is 8100 feet above the sea. The crest of the pus east of Talishkau is 6600 feet above the sea.
These elevations indicate that the general level of the laud south of the Amu above its lowest fords immediately attains a high level; it is in feet an elevated plain furrowed and intersected by numerous deep narrow valleys down which flow the Kokcha and Kunduz rivers and their affluents. In the low ridge at the east end of Sivi-Kol the Yarkand River, which runs to the north of east, has its rise; and from the sources of the Ystrkand and Amu rivers the country slopes down on every aide except to the south-east The high ground north of the Amu, at the mouth of the Kokcha, is at a greater distance than that on its south, and does not rise so high. At Kurshi however, two degrees farther north, Sir A. Burnes saw mountains covered with snow in July about 150 miles to the west, which would be nearly in the meridian of the mouth of the Kokcha. Their summits must have been about 18,000 feet above the sea; they continued in sight nearly at the same distance for about seven hours, and appeared connected.
The Sir-Deria (Jaxartes) has its rise on the north side of the ridge of hills extending westward from the north side of the Sir-i-Kol, opposite laser, which is about 70 miles S.W. from the lake. The Zer-Afahan, which flows by Samarcand and Bokbara, is acid to have its sources not far distant from those of the Sir-Deria. From the latitude of Kurshi (3r 52' N.) the high land seen by Burnes appears to stretch to the north-east, to beyond the meridian of Samarcand (about 67' E.). North of the Zer-Afahan the high land appears to continue as far west as the meridian of Bokbara (64° 55' E.), and is visible to the north of that town. About the meridian of 6S;j' E., and the parallel of 41' N., the Sir-Deria, which flows to that point in a direction a little north of west from its source, turns to the north. The high land comes nearly close up to the cast bank of the river in this part of its course, but does not appear to continue farther north than the ridge which separates the lake called Issi-Kol from the Balkash Lake (about 42° N. lat.). Yarkand and Kashgar, which appear to have an extensive plain to the east, and are evidently on a much lower level than the country to the west of them, may be assumed as the eastern limit of the high tablo-land of Pamir. From Kaabgar to Kokand the road lies up the Kashgar River to its source, and through the pose of the Terek to the valley of the Sir-Deria. A road leads in winter from the Terek Pass to Sini-Kol in two or three days; in summer the road is said to be impassable on account of torrents fed by the melted snow. The high table-land of Pamir slopes down on the north towards Kokand.
At the western base of this enormous table-land is the broad valley of the Oxus. At its eastern base is the plain which extends between the high land of Tibet on the south and the Thian-Shan on the north, as far as Lake Nor ; and north of it is the comparatively low country which slopes from the plains of Songaria westward to Lake Aral and the Caspian. These three natural divisions of Turkistan will be described in the order in which they are here enumerated.