j 



/ 



THE LAND OF UNREST 389 



Pxiedan Dungans and Chantos are the grain-growers ; 

 while the Mongols and Kirghiz are the ranchers. 



All Dzungaria outside the cultivated zone lying 

 under the northern spurs of the Tian Shan is, practically 

 speaking, a land in which the tribes live under nomadic 

 conditions. Its physical features have been dealt with 

 in another part of this chapter, and we can now 

 supplement this by a description of the various peoples 

 who wander over it. Mingled with the nomadic popu- 

 lation is a small population of cultivators ; the lower 

 Borotala in the west, for instance, holds out possibilities 

 for agriculture, as also do the Emil Valley in the north, the 

 Irtish in the east, and the lower Manas River, — flowing 

 through the very heart of the central steppes, — all these 

 may some day become centres of large sedentary com- 

 munities. The nomadic tribes consist of the Turkish 

 Kirei and Kasaks, as well as the Torguts and Charkhars 

 of Mongol origin. 



The distribution of the main section of the Kirei 

 has been given in Chapter XII ; the very important 

 mountain district surrounding the Emil Valley, on 

 the northern frontier of Dzungaria, is inhabited by 

 a western branch of these people. The Tarbagatai, 

 Urkashar, Barlik, and Maili mountain-ranges are all 

 used by them, the Kosho, or Kun Valley, between the 

 Chagan-oba and Maili Mountains forming the centre 

 of their range. 



Kirghiz tribes, not belonging to the Kirei family, are to 

 be found in certain localities in Tian Shan, — the southern 

 border-range of Dzungaria, — as far east as Urumchi ; but, 

 for the most part, Mongol — or, more truly, Kalmuk — 

 tribes of Torguts hold the eastern portion of this range. 



The Torguts of Dzungaria are divided into two 



