202 On the Yamud and Gokldn Tribes of Turkomama. 



further from Asterabad, they are perfectly independent of 

 the Persian sway. 



It frequently happens that the Chomtir and the Chorva 

 change their avocations. When a Chomtir realises a small 

 fortune, he lays out his stock in the purchase of sheep, camels, 

 &c., quits the banks of the Gtirgan, approaches the desert, 

 and becomes a Chorva, in order to be beyond the reach of 

 the Asterabad authorities. On the other hand, when a Chorva 

 is deprived, through misfortune, of his flocks, he turns agri- 

 culturist, and becomes a Chomtir. According to the prin- 

 ciples laid down in political economy, the agriculturist stands 

 a degree higher in the scale of society than the shepherd who 

 tends his flocks ; it is the reverse on the plains of Turko- 

 mania. We must observe, however, that although the Chorva 

 lead essentially a pastoral life, they still possess some fields 

 which they cultivate between the rivers of Attrek and Gur- 

 gan, but the soil is much inferior to that on the southern 

 banks of the latter river. 



It would be foreign to the object of the Society were I to 

 dwell at any great length on the various remains we meet on 

 the plains of the Yamtids and Goklan Turkomans, and which 

 denote that this country must have been formerly densely 

 populated, and have attained a certain degree of civilization, 

 to which, at present, it can lay no claim. I shall, therefore, 

 limit my observations to a summary sketch of what may 

 appear most interesting. The first object deserving of notice 

 is the great wall which runs from E. to W., and situated be- 

 tween the Gtirgan and Attrek rivers. By whom was it 

 erected ? In D'Herbelot we find some obscure accounts about 

 a certain wall to the east of the Caspian, which he surmises 

 may extend to the Chinese walls, and compares with the 

 Saddi Tuj-i-Majuj of the Arab writers — the Gog and Magog 

 of Scripture. Oriental historians speak of a wall which 

 Ntishirvan raised against the encroachments of northern bar- 

 barians, or only repaired an old one, attributed to Alexander 

 Dtilkarnein ; but I shall leave the hypothetical and historical 

 part concerning this wall (although the subject well deserves 

 a closer investigation), and attend to the description of it in 

 its present state. 



