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 66 TURKISTAtf bio, Persian, and Turkish, especially the last (including the series of official histories), to- gether with hosts of less valuable or altogether insignificant productions. Many translations have been made by the Turks of European as well as oriental works. Among original works are a history of the Turkish sultans by Hajru- hah Effendi (1854 et eq.), the biographical works of Resnu Ahmed Effendi and Faik (1853), the works of travel by Mehemed Khur- shid Effendi (1861), and Prince Subti's numis- matical writings (1862). Several societies have been established in Constantinople for the pro- motion of various branches of scientific re- search, and besides the regular journals of these, several literary and scientific magazines of some merit are now published. The most accessible and useful grammars are those of Da- vids (London, 1832) and Redhouse (in French, Paris, 1846). Kazem-Beg's grammar (in Rus- sian; German by Zenker, Leipsic, 1848) in- cludes also the other dialects, and is valuable for the comparative study of the language. Bohtlingk's Yakut grammar (in German, St. Petersburg, 1851) is also important in this bearing. Of chrestomathies, we have one by Dieterici (in French, Berlin, 1854), and Bar- ker's reading book, grammar, and vocabulary (London, 1854). The best dictionaries are those of Kieffer and Bianchi (2d ed., Paris, 1843-'6, Turkish-French), and Redhouse (London, 1856 -'7). A new and more complete one, by Zen- ker, explained intrench and German, and em- bracing the Turkish, Arabic, and Persian lan- guages, is now (1876) nearly completed. TCRKISTABf, a region of central Asia, ex- tending from the Caspian sea eastward half way across the desert of Gobi, mainly be- tween the 36th and 46th parallels of N". lati- tude, bounded N. by the Russian dominions, and S. by Persia, Afghanistan, India, and Thi- bet. Its name is due to the fact that it is considered the earliest known abode of the Turks or Turkomans, and thus as a seat of the Tartar race it has also long been called Tartary. The region is separated into the two great natural divisions of East and "West Turkistan by the junction of the Thian-shan mountains with the Hindoo Koosh in the lofty table land of Pamir, which is a ridged plateau, rising W. of Kashgar to an average altitude of 15,000 ft. above the sea. According to Ilum- boldt, the two great ranges are united by a transverse chain, called the Belur or Bolor Tagh (Cloud mountains), bordering Pamir on the east, the separate existence of which, how- ever, is rendered doubtful by recent explora- tions, although commonly assumed on maps of Asia. West Turkistan, formerly known as Independent Tartary, comprises the khanates of Khiva and Bokhara, the former khanate of Khokan, annexed by Russia in March, 1876, the territories previously annexed by Russia from the three khanates, and in the south Wakhan, Badakhshan, Koondooz (including Khooloom), and Balkh, lately incorporated into Afghanistan. East Turkistan, also called Chi- nese Tartary, is the extensive region E. of the table land, in which Kashgar is now the para- mount state. The hydrographic systems of Turkistan originate in the lofty, lake-studded region of culmination which wo have men- tioned. On the southern edge of the Puinir steppe, in the Sir-i-kol (Lake Sir), according to the latest authorities 13,900 ft. above the ocean, rises the Oxus or Amoo Darya, flowing westward down the steep slope of the plateau through Bokhara and along the border of Khiva into the sea of Aral. The Sir Darya or Jaxartes, which under the name of the Naryn has its source in the Thian-shan range 300 m. N., and also empties into the Aral sea, waters Khokan and the N. part of Russian Turkistan. Between these two great rivers, and enclosed by parallel ranges stretching westward from the central table land, runs the smaller Zerafshan, in whose fertile val- leys are the cities of Bokhara and Samarcand. Though naturally an affluent of the Oxus, its waters are exhausted for irrigation. Down the eastern and more gradual slope of Pamir into Chinese Tartary flow numerous streams, of which the most important are the Yarkand and Kashgar rivers, which are believed to co- alesce with others to form the eastward-flow- ing Tarim, emptying into Lob-nor, the great lake or swampy expanse of the Gobi desert. Of West Turkistan, Khiva, Bokhara, Khokan, Badakhshan, and Balkh have been described under their own titles. The territory is natu- rally divisible into three physical regions. The first comprises the more elevated mountainous districts among the outlying spurs of the Pamir steppe, which afford rich summer pasturage for the flocks of the hardy inhabitants. Thence flow innumerable torrents to the Oxus, the Sir Darya, and their tributaries, and enrich the al- luvial soil of their upper valleys and plains, con- stituting the second distinctive region, which is populous, fertile, and well cultivated. Here are found the principal cities. Still further westward toward the sea of Aral, the area of cultivation ceases, and the rivers flow through the third region, comprising vast tracts of arid saline deserts, only relieved at the delta of the Oxus by the facilities there for irrigation. Al- most the entire country stretching from the shores of the Caspian eastward to the valley of the Oxus, and from lat. 46 southward to the frontiers of Persia and Afghanistan, is oc- cupied by the Turkoman steppes, including fhe Ust-Urt plateau between the Caspian and the sea of Aral, of which the Tchink mountains constitute the S. declivity, and the Khiva or Kara-Kum desert, S. of Khiva. Many parts of these sandy and trackless wastes are below the level of the sea. The ancient bed of the Oxus leading to the Caspian traverses the coun- try, whose chief rivers now are the Murghab from Afghanistan, which loses itself in the sands N. of the town of Merv, and the Attrek, on the southern border. The wells of the