390 DZUNGARIA 



sections : those of the Kobuk Valley in the north, where 

 they live, in small reservations, under their hereditary 

 Khan ; and those of the Tian Shan, who have their 

 headquarters on the Yulduz plateau, but extend in small 

 communities along the whole Dzungarian side of the 

 range. The story of the Torguts is typical of the history 

 of Inner Asia, being that of a people buffeted about 

 by changing circumstances and generally " on the 

 move." All that now remains of the Torgut tribe in 

 Dzungaria, is merely the remnant of the once numerous 

 and important section of the Mongol people, who were 

 driven out during the storm}^ period of Dzungarian 

 ascendancy towards the end of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury. The whole tribe then wandered westwards 

 across Southern Siberia, attempted to fight the Russians, 

 and finally promised them allegiance in return for 

 territory allotted to them on the banks of the Volga. 

 The exiles, however, did not rest securely in their new 

 home ; the}- were harassed by the other nomad tribes 

 of the region, who were jealous of their possessions, 

 and they eventually fell out with their Russian masters. 

 In 1770, within eighty years of their migration from 

 the east, they started off once more on a movement 

 which has been compared to the Exodus of the Israel- 

 ites from Egypt, and described as " the most extra- 

 ordinar}^ emigration of modern times." The entire 

 tribe, with the exception of a few thousand families,^ 



^ Accounts vary as to the number of Torguts resident on the Volga 

 and of those who attempted the journey back to Dzungaria. The Torguts 

 estimated themselves at 50,000 tents; but, as this did not include lamas, 

 and as they naturally minimized their total on account of the levies 

 demanded of them, the number was probably nearly 65,000 to 70.000 

 famiUes. It is said that 15,000 famiUes remained on the Volga. Russian 

 accounts put the number of those who left the Volga at 40,000 famihes, 

 while the Chinese claim that 50,000 arrived back in Dzungaria. 



