On the Yamud and Gokldn Tribes of Turkomania. 205 



durgd and Alghidagli^ from whom all their different clans 

 proceed. They are now divided into the following tribes : — 



1. Yangakh. 



2. Senkrik. 



3. Kerrik. 



4. Boindcr. 



5. Kara-Balkhan, 



6. Erkegli. 



7. Koii. 



8. Ay-dervish. 



The number of the Goklans formerly amounted to 12,000 

 families, but of late years it has, from various causes, consi- 

 derably decreased. The Khan of Khiva forced several thou- 

 sands to settle in "his dominions ; others voluntarily migrated 

 in the same direction at the approach of a Persian army in 1836, 

 They soon found, however, that they had exchanged their 

 wooded, fertile, and beautiful valleys, abundantly watered by 

 mountain streams, for a barren and sandy waste, and prepared 

 to return to their former habitations, but were met with an 

 obstinate resistance on the part of the Khan of Khiva, who, 

 to prevent their escape, issued an order that the first deserter 

 should be thrust into the mouth of a loaded mortar and blo\vn 

 up into the air. But such is the love of country, and the 

 power of local associations, that the Goklans braved the san- 

 guinary decree, and the no less dangerous flight across the 

 desert ; and many escaped pursuit. It is on occasions like 

 those that the excellency of the Turkoman horse can be best 

 appreciated — the fugitives being obliged to traverse, day and 

 night, immense tracts without water. The Goklans, on escap- 

 ing from the pursuit of the Usbeks, are exposed to the attacks 

 of the Teke Turkomans, their deadly foes, through whose ter- 

 ritories they are under the necessity to pass before they can 

 reach their native vallies. Hiding themselves during day time 

 in ravines, they continue their flight at night, often traversing 

 from 35 to 40 miles at a brisk trot on their hardy, yet slen- 

 der-limbed animals. 



As a proof (if proof be yet necessary) how kind Providence 

 is over watchful to help the needy, I may state tliat, on the 

 very verge of the desert, but still in the country of the enemy, 

 the Goklans find a tribe of their own countrymen — the Kdl — 



