To describe with more exactitude the divisions of the Turkomans, we will make use of their own expressions. According to our European ideas, we name their main divisions, stocks or tribes, because we start from the assumption of _one_ entire nationality. But the Turkomans, who, as far as history records, never appear united in any single body, mark their principal races by the name Khalk (in Arabic _people_), and designate them as follows:-- I. Tchaudor. II. Ersari. III. Alieli. IV. Kara. V. Salor. VI. Sarik. VII. Tekke. VIII. Göklen. IX. Yomut. Employing, then, the expression adopted by these nomads themselves, and annexing the corresponding words and significations, we have-- Turkoman words. Primitive sense. Secondary sense. Khalk. People. Stock or tribe. Taife. People. Branch. Tire. Fragment. Lines or clans. {303} The Khalks are divided into Taife, and these again into Tire. We proceed to touch briefly upon all these main stocks, devoting, however, our particular attention to the Tekke, Göklen, and Yomuts, who are settled to the south, as occasion permitted me to visit and to become more acquainted with these from personal contact. I. TCHAUDOR. These inhabit the southern part of the district between the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea, counting about 12,000 tents; their principal Tire, or branches, extending from the former sea as far as Köhne Urgendj, Buldumsaz, Porszu, and Köktcheg in Khiva, are-- Abdal. Bozadji. Igdyr. Burundjuk. Essenlu. Sheikh. Karatchaudor. II. ERSARI. These dwell on the left bank of the Oxus, from Tschihardschuj as far as Belkh. They are divided into twenty Taife, and still more numerous Tire. The number of their tents is said to amount to from fifty to sixty thousand. As they inhabit for the most part the bank of the Oxus, and are tributary to the Emir of Bokhara, they are often alluded to as the Lebab-Türkmen, or Bank-Turkomans. III. ALIELI. These, who have their principal seat at Andkhoy, form only three little Tire, not counting more than three thousand tents. {304} IV. KARA. A small but exceedingly savage tribe of Turkomans, who, for the most part, are found loitering about in the vicinity of certain wells in the great sandy desert between Andkhoy and Merv. They are pitiless robbers, and are warred against as such by all the surrounding tribes. V. SALOR. This is the oldest Turkoman tribe recorded in history. It was already renowned for its bravery at the time of the Arabian occupation. Its numbers were then probably greater, for they have suffered very much from incessant wars. They number only eight thousand tents, although it is not ten years since they were in possession of the important point of Merve. They are now-a-days supplanted by the Tekke in Martschah and its vicinity. They consist of the following Taife and Tire:-- Taife. Tire.