14 
HISTORY OF THE KHOJAS OF EASTERN TURKISTAN. 
it is, in fact, to tlie Choros section of the Zunghar, or Left-hand Qalmaqs 
that he alludes, though in applying the term to the whole of these Qal- 
maqs or Oirats he is strictly accurate. 
But in addition to the four sections of Choros, Durbet, Turgut and 
Khoshot, mention is often found of the tribe of Khoit (the Chinese Hnci- 
te) and, with some writers, this has been the cause of much confusion. 1 
Mr. V. M. Uspenski, however, has, I think, shown, in an elaborate paper 
on the Koko-Nor region, that, according to certain Chinese and Mongol 
authors, the Khoit have never been included among the Four Oirat, or the 
Zunghar proper, but that they are a tribe of the Boronghar , or Bight-hand 
Qalmaqs. If so, they are probably the only remnant that now exists of 
that ancient branch of the nation. 2 3 But just as these Khoit would, in 
their own language, call themselves Oirat, so they are also classed—and 
rightly so—by their Turki-speaking neighbours under the general term 
“ Qalmaq.” The Turks, though, are not right when they apply this name, 
as they do in Eastern Turkistan, at the present day, to all the Mongolian 
tribes. 
The habitat of the Oirat tribes has varied a good deal in the course of 
the last five centuries, though it has been, in the main, about the same as 
at present, that is, the region between the southern frontiers of Siberia on 
the north, and the chain of the Tien Shan on the south; or, in other 
words, the territory pretty generally known now-a-days as “ Zungharia ” 
In addition to this tract, certain sections of some of the tribes have also 
occupied parts of the Koko-Nor region, while others again are located on 
the north slope of the Altais. During the period covered by the history 
of the Khojas, the Choros (known as Zunghar ) was the tribe that held 
supremacy over the others. They inhabited chiefly the Hi valley, but 
seem to have been distributed, to some extent, over nearly the whole of the 
region that might be called Qalmaq territory. Still the centre, or home¬ 
land, of each tribe can be fairly well made out, and may be roughly stated 
as follows:— 
The Choros in the Ili valley and North-western Tien Shan. 
The Durbet on the Upper Irtish. 
1 Among the appendices will be found a note by Mr. Sbaw on “ Tribe Nomenclature” 
of the Qalmaqs. It was found among his papers and seems to have been intended as an 
appendix to his version of the History of the Khojas. The particulars it contains were 
evidently gathered by him at Kashghar or Yarqand, and though not entirely correct, are 
interesting as coming direct from the people themselves. 
3 Mr. Uspenski (in translation at least) is not very clear but I take his u Barin tribe” 
to be the Borongar wing. [See Memoirs of Russia a Geographical Society (Ethnographic 
Div : ) No VI. J 
