Turkistan is formed by nature to be the scene of n transit commerce between the countries which surround it on all sides, rather than of a trade iu its own productions. Balkh, Bokhara, and Kokand produce silk and cotton; the Pamir and Hindu-Kush supply furs, all the oases large quantities of fruit and grain ; metals are raised and smelted in various localities; the steppes supply beasts of burden and for food; and at Kokand and Bokhara silk and cotton stuffs are manufactured. The traces of former cultivation which abound in so many places, are proofs of the extent to which this transit-trade was once carried. The present lawless and unsettled state of the greater part of Turkistan is the consequence of the decline of this trade, not its cause. These now deserted sites continued to flourish in the times of Tamerlane and Tshinghis-Khan (Genghis-Khan); they have become waste and desolate since the discovery of the route by sea from Europe to India and China. There is however still a considerable trade carried on in these regions. Caravans from Bokhara to Russia proceed by way of Khiva to the Lower Ural, carrying the products of India, Kashmir, and Tartary, to Nishnei-Novgorod. :The trade between Bokhara and Russia is more extensive and valuable than that from the south of Hindu-Kush. Next in importance to the trade with Russia is that carried on with Kaahgar. A caravan is annually dispatched by way of Kokand to that city, and here the interchange of commodities with the Chinese is effected. A branch of this trade goes up the valley of the Upper Oxus to Kashgar. Kokand is an entrepat of the trade between Bokbara and Kashgar, but it is also visited by Russian fur caravans on the Russian frontier. Kunduz has little trade : it lies off the direct line of commerce from Bokhara to the Indus, and the diffi culty of the road across the high land of Pamir makes merchants prefer the northern pass of Terek in travelling between East end West Turkistan. Kashgar and Yarkand, lying at the intersection of the great lines of traffic which connect Russia with Tibet and Kashmir, and China with West Turkistan and Tibet, and being moreover situated in productive countries, are the centres of an active and lucrative trade. Even the Kirghiz and Kassab of the northern steppes of Turkistan have a considerable barter trade. They exchange camels, oxen, horses, sheep, goats, wool, hides, horns, and furs, for manu factured goods, grain, and flour. Their principal dealings are with the Russians and Chinese; with the former at Uralsk, Orenburg, Troitzk, Omak, Semipolatinsk, Ust-Kamenogorak, and some Inter mediate frontier forts, from the middle of Jane to the beginning of November; with the latter at Ili and Tshugutahak or Tarbagatai. They also visit Khiva, Bokhara, Kokand, and Tashkend to exchange their raw material for grain and clothing; and passing caravans keep up a petty traffic with the tribes they meet in crossing the desert, while more adventurous trader! make the desert itself the scene of their speculations.
Alexander crossed Western Turkistan from the western termination of the Hindu-Kush by the sites of Balkh, Kurahi, and Samarcand, to the south-west curve of the Sir-Deris. After his death the Grecian
dynasty of Bactria appears to have ruled the country as far north as the Aral till about.120 years before the commencement oflhe Christian era. [Sacral...] The Greek power north of 11h:du-Kush was then subverted by Scythian invaders from the east, who in their turn were overthrown by the Parthian kings, about the time of the birth of our Saviour. The Parthian kings introduced the worship of fire, of which religion traces are still everywhere to be met with. The early historians of the Chinese remark that upon reaching the country areund Lop-Nor the Mongol tribes are succeeded by a race with long or 'horse-like' faces. The Lop-Nor continues till the present day the south-east frontier of the Turkish race. In 569 the ambassadors of the younger Justinian found the most powerful of the Turkish tribes seated around the Altai, and Turkish hordes had pushed their encampments as far west as the Caspian. When the kalifs succeeded to the Persian throne, they found the frontier of Iran extending beyond Samarcand, and for a time they kept it there. The conquests of the Mongol chiefs who overthrew the kaWate broke down this frontier, and opened the way to successive incursions of nomad hordes from the east. The first princes who inherited the power of Genghis-Khan were Mongols; but the Turkish or Tartar tribes would appear to have predominated In their armies. All the Turkish tribes who have played a conspicuous part in history embraced at an early period the Mohammedan religion. Of the tribes m Turkistan, the Karaite, who occupy the north-western steppes, are probably the oldest settlers. The Little and Middle Hordes may be descendants of those who wandered in the same regions in the 6th century. The Great Horde, the mountain Kirghiz, and the Turks of Chinese Tartary, received a reinforcement from the Siberian Turks, who submitted to Russia in 1600, emigrated from its territories in the beginning of the 18th century, and settled among their Independent brethren to tho south. The origin of the name Turkoman is difficult to ascertain. The Turkomans are the Turkish tribes who in the Ilth and 12th centuries crossed the Amu and invaded Persia; the name is common to those who still inhabit Turkis tan with many tribes in Perrin and the Ottoman empire. The Uzbeks are a mixture of the descendants of the Uigur and Neiman, Turkish tribes 'ho originally inhabited the country from the north-east of Lop-Nor to Kashgar, and from Ushl to Khotan, and who figure in the annals of China. They crossed the SirDeria in the beginning of tho 16th century, and spread terror and desolation wherever they came. They are at present masters in Kunduz, Kokand, Bokhara, Khiva, and the oases to the west of Balkh. In the seats of an ancient civilisa tion, such as Bokhara and others, wo find tho Turks of Turkistan raised to the average level of Mohammedan civilisation; the nomad tribes appear to bo much in the same state that their ancestors were at the time when history first takes notice of them.