200 On the Yamud and Gokldn Tribes of Turkomania. 



Vehrkdna, the eighth abode of bliss mentioned in the Zend 

 texts, and known to the Arab writers by the name of Jurjan ; 

 is watered by two great rivers, the Giirgan and the Attrek, both 

 of which flow from east to west, and fall into the Caspian 

 Sea. The country occupied by the Turkomans bears the repu- 

 tation of being healthy. The plain at the foot of the mountains 

 being more open and lighter, than the strip of land which, in 

 Ghilan, Mazanderan, andAsterabad, runs between the hills and 

 the shores of the Caspian, there is much less dampness in the air 

 and unwholesome exhalations in summer, which, combined with 

 other causes, produces in those provinces intermittent fever and 

 bilious complaints. The lower courses only of the Gurghan and 

 the Attrek partake of the same unwholesome climate ; there 

 the country is low, and from the overflowing of the rivers in 

 spring, marshes and pools are formed, which, in summer, cor- 

 rupt the air, breed swarms of gnats, and render the place dis- 

 agreeable and unwholesome. The heats in summer are tem- 

 pered by the cool breezes from the sea, which waft freely 

 across the open plains ; the dews at night are likewise copious 

 and refreshing ; the winter, nearer to the mountains, is not 

 severe ; further to the north, in the desert, it is more sensible ; 

 there, likewise, the snow lies longer on the ground. Autumn 

 and winter are, however, more especially the seasons for rain, 

 although Turkomonia is not deprived of it at other periods of 

 the year, as is the case on the high table-land of central Per- 

 sia. Rains are most frequent in the neighbourhood of the 

 hills and near the Caspian Sea. 



The Turkomans, then, who live nearest the Caspian Sea, 

 are the Yamuds, having the Goklans to the east of their en- 

 campments. As great animosity reigns between them, there 

 is a strip of neutral land which separates the two rival tribes, 

 having the solitary minaret of Jurfan as a sign-post to mark 

 the boundary. 



The Yamuds are divided into four principal tribes :— 



1. Sheref, subdivided into 6 shafts. 



2. Chdni, subdivided into 10 shafts. 



3. Beyram-Shali, 5 shafts. 



4. Kujuk-Tat4r, 8 shafts. 



These tribes are said to be the descendants of four brothers, 



