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On the Yamud and Gokldn Tribes of Turkomania. By the 

 Baron Clement Augustus de Bode. 



Read before the Ethnological Society of London, 13th March 1844, and 

 communicated for this Journal. 



In offering an account of some particular branches of the 

 Turkoman race, it will be proper at first to cast a rapid glance 

 over what constitutes Turkomania in general, and name the 

 principal tribes that form the great Turkoman family. 



The extensive plains between Bokhara on the east, the 

 Alburs chain to the south, the Caspian Sea to the west, and 

 the Khanat of Khiva to the north, form the natural, although 

 insufficiently defined boundaries, in which the wandering Tur- 

 komans roam with their droves of horses and camels, and their 

 flocks of sheep, spreading their tents along the banks of the 

 mountain streams which flow into the Caspian, or are lost in 

 the sands of the desert ; and, in default of rivers, digging wells 

 in the dry steppes, to slake their own thirst and supply their 

 cattle, often only with brackish and salt water. 



The Turkomans consist of the following great divisions : — 

 The Salu, reckoned the most noble tribe, occupy Serekhs, 

 to the east of Mesched in Khorasan, on the road to Bokhara. 

 The Saruk or Sarik, inhabit Merv at Merti, to the north of 

 Mesched, in a straight line to Khiva. The Tekke, the most 

 numerous tribe, are scattered along the northern skirts of the 

 Alburs chain, called Attok, to the north-west of Mesched, 

 and subdivided into Tekke Akhdl and Tekke Tejen. 



The Goklans live to the west of the latter, and the Ya- 

 muds to the west of the Goklans, up to the eastern shores of 

 the Caspian. 



Before I enter into a more minute description of the Yamiid 

 and Goklan tribes of Turkomania^ it may be as well to point 

 out the geographical limits to their wanderings. To the west 

 is the Caspian Sea ; to the south, the great chain of Alburs 

 and the province of Asterabad ; to the east, spurs of the same 

 chain, separating the Goklans and Yamuds from another con- 

 siderable Turkoman tribe, the Tekeh ; and lastly, to the north, 

 the desert extending to Khivah. 



This country, the ancient Hyrcania, and very probably the 



