Khiva and Turkestan Author:Henry Spalding General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1874 Original Publisher: Chapman and Hall Subjects: Russians West Turkestan Khiva Asia, Central Khiva (Uzbekistan) Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General ... more »Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER II. Character of the Turkoman Steppes. -- The Caspian Sea. -- Climate. -- Natural Productions. -- Roads through the Steppe to Khiva. -- Population. -- Social Organization. -- Economic State. -- Commerce and Trade. Between the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea, beginning in the north with the peninsula Mangishlak, and the Elbourz Mountains and the river Kara Sou in Persia, and eastwards as far as the Khivan and Bokharian territories, lie broad steppes inhabited by a nomad race known under the name of Turkomans, who have thus given their appellation to the steppe itself. It is certainly impossible to define precisely the boundaries of the Turkoman steppes in consequence of the constant peregrinations of the Turkoman tribes ; thus the space designated by us is simply approximate, for the steppe itself is in great measure entirely unknown. It is more important for us to define the western frontier, as in this direction it is adjacent to our inland lake, the Caspian Sea. Here we may describe the boundary linefrom Ashourada on the south toCape Tiouk Karagan on the north, a distance of nineteen hundred and twenty-six versts along the shores of the Caspian. The whole of the Turkoman steppes consist of uninterrupted plains of sandy or saline soil, without any other vegetation than scattered clumps of saksaoul and dwarf acacias, and certain grasses common to the steppe. In one word, the steppe of Turkestan is a naked and mournful waste, in many parts lying below the level of the ocean. The...« less