The total population of the Khanate amounts approximately to 2,500,000; the well-watered, flourishing oases bear in some places as many as 4000 people to the square mile. The steppe and mountainous regions are sparsely populated. The most important inhabited centres of the Khanate are as follows: DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION. _Town._ _Population._ Bokhara 100,000 Karshi 60,000 Shaar 10,000 Guzar 25,000 Kara Kul 5,000 Ziadin 8,000 Hissar 15,000 Shir Abad 20,000 Karki 10,000 Charjui 15,000 Kermine 12,000 Kelif 7,000 According to ethnographic distribution the population falls into two divisions. To the first belong those of Turki extraction and to the second the Iranian group. Amongst those of Turki descent the Uzbegs take the most prominent place, constituting not only a racial preponderance but the ruling power in the Khanate. Among the remaining constituents of the Turki division are the Turcomans (chiefly Ersaris) and the Kirghiz. To the Iranian category belong the Tajiks--the original inhabitants of the country, even now constituting the principal section of the population throughout its eastern and southern portions; the Sarts, a conglomeration of Turki and Iranian nationalities, comprise a considerable proportion of the urban and rural population. In smaller numbers are the various colonies of Jews, Afghans, Persians, Arabs, Armenians, Hindus and others. With the exception of the Jews and the Hindus the entire population is Mahommedan. It will be seen that the population is represented by sedentary, semi-nomadic and nomadic classes. The first, constituting about 65 per cent. of the whole population, is distributed principally in the plains, a considerable proportion comprising Tajiks, Sarts, Jews, Persians, Afghans and Hindus. The semi-nomadic population forms about 15 per cent., consisting partly of Uzbegs, Turcomans and Tajiks dwelling in the hills. The nomads, who make up 20 per cent. of the population, live in the steppes of the western portion of the Khanate, in Darwaz and along the slopes of the Hissar mountains. They comprise Uzbegs, Turcomans and Kirghiz.