Turkistan, or 'Artery, is named from its predominant race, the Turk, or Tartar, for they are the same or a kindred people. The Kiegbis Tartars, properly so called, inhabit the high table-land of Pamir, and its bordering mountains and valleys. They arc nomads, They are a people of iow stature, with Mongolian countenances, though speaking a Turkish dialect, which differs little from that of the Uzbek Tartars of Kunduz. Thu tribes called Kirghiz by the Russians, whc roam the 'tappet' from the north declivity of Pamir and the southen shore of the Aral to the Ituasian frontier, and from the Caspian to On Chinese frontier, are divided Into the three great horde". That whicl ranges the country on the south-east acknowledges the designatior Kirghiz, and appears to resemble in most respects the highlanders of Pamir. Tho horde on the Siberian frontier, and that which roams from the Ural range to the Uet-Urt, call themselves Kassak, or Cossak.
The men of the Middle Horde have less of the Mongolian features than the Kirghiz, and those of the Little Horde, an it is called, still less. The Turkoman tribes range the deserts around the Amu and Caspian, from the Ust-Urt to the frontiers of Persia and Balkh : these tribes appear, from their lineaments as well as from their language, to be more free from any mixture of Mongol blood than those previously mentioned. The Turkish clans possessed of political power iu Khivn, Bokhara, Kunduz, and Kokand, are called Uzbeks : in their lineaments they bear a considerable resemblance to the Kirghiz, differing from them mainly iu those peculiarities which distinguish a people long civilised from one which has scarcely emerged from savage life. A number of tribes of alien lineage and language live intermingled with the Turkish clans. The Afghans, Jews, Ilindoos, and other colonists, present no uncommon feature in Asiatic society ; but the Persian Nike, or agricultural settlers, and the Sortie, or mercantile classes of the same race, who preponderate in Bokhara and some other towns, nro remarkable as vestiges of an earlier population which possessed the country previous to the arrival of the Turks. In the cities west of Pamir these Persian tribes aro said to preponderate in number ; in the cities east of Pamir, on the other hand, the Turkish population would appear to be the most numerous. The predominant religion among all these tribes is the Mohammedan.
The political divisions of independent Tartary are :—The steppes of the Kassaks and Kirghiz ; the plain of the Turkomnne, between the Amu and the Caspian ; the territory subject to the Khan of Khivn ; the territory subject to the Mir of Bokhara ; the territory subject to the Khan of Kokhand; the territory subject to the Mir of Kunduz; and the territory east of Pamir, incorporated into the Chinese empire.
1. Tho Kirghiz and Kassaks number about 400,000 tents or families; of these 75,000 belong to the Great Horde : they encamp on the rivers Sara-Su and Tehui, on the middle course of the Sir-Deria, and around the lakes on the west side of the Chinese province of Sougaria. The Middle Horde numbers 165,000 tents : its families encamp on the streams and lakes north of the sources of the Turgai and Sara-Su.
The tents of the Little Horde amount to 160,000, which are scattered over the delta of the Sir-Deria and the country west of tho Turgai, between the Russian frontier and the southern termination of the Ust-Urt. Along the Chinese and Russian frontiers an uncertain deference is paid to the injunctions of these governments. 2. The Turkomans number about 366,000 families or tents, including n number of tribes subjected by the khans of Khiva. 3. Kuiva. 4. BOKHARA. 5. Kokand extends on the north to within 45 miles of tho south bank of the Tshui : its most western station is Urutuppab, for merly a frontier town of Bokhara ; on the east it is bounded by the Chinese frontier, and on the south all the wandering Kirghiz of the Pamir profess to be subjects of the Khan of Kokand. The government of this state much resembles in its character that of Killen.; it is how ever less fnvonrably situated for participating in the gains of the Turkoman and Kirghiz slave-trade, and for levying black-mail on caravans, and is therefore less heard of. 6. Chinese Turkistan forms a Chinese province, under the designation of the Country of the New Frontier. Chinese garrisons are placed in all the towns along the base of the Thian-shan, iu Kaslignr and Yarkand, and lines of pickets keep up the communication between these principal stations. Double rows of custom-houses are placed along the frontier of the province to examine strangers and net as n check upon each other. The adminis tration of justice and the exercise of the local police is left to the Uzbek authorities; the general military and civil authority is vested in Chinese or Mantehu officers. The public revenue is employed to defray the expenses of the provincial administration, and any surplus is sent to Ili. 7. The Mir of liunduz exercises an authority much of the same kind as that exercised by the khans of Khiva and Kokand. His dominions extend on the west to a station nearly midway between Khulm and Balkh ; on the south to Sykan, north of Bamian, and farther west to the crest of Hindu-Kush ; on the east to the Chinese frontier. North of the Amu he exercises a precarious authority over all the settlers who are so unfortunate as to live within reach of his chupaos, or predatory incursions. The forces of the Mir consist chiefly of cavalry : he can bring together on a surprisingly short warning 15,000 horsemen inured to predatory warfare. He has razed every hill-fort in his country ; the fastnesses on the plain are held by mem bers of his own family. Within his own territories ho is strict and impartial in the exercise of justice, and subjugated tribes aro on the whole leniently dealt with. Besides these states, there are at least four Omni, with their adjoining territory, in Turkistan, which may be considered independent of any external goverument—Maimanu, Andkho, Shibbergan, and Sir-i-PuL They are all situated in oases formed by streams from the Ilazareb Mountains, south of the plain of the Oxus. The chief of Maintauu can raise 6000 horse among his Turkomau adherents; the chief of Sir-i-Pul can raise 1000 Uzbeks; the chiefs of Andkho and Shibbergau 500 each. The chief of Audkho is an Afshar Turk ; the rest are Uzbeks.