in the immigration from the Central Asian plateau of such species | tion. Successful attempts are being made to grow the tea-plant as could adapt themselves to the dry climate and soil, in the dis- in the Transcaspian region. Large numbers of oleaginous plants appearance of European and Altaic species from all the more arid are cultivated, such as sunflower. parts of the region, in the survival of steppe species, and in the Agriculture. The arable land, being limited to the irrigated adaptation of many of the existing species to the needs of an arid terraces.of loess, occupies little more than 2% of the whole area of and extreme climate and a saline soil. The Pamir vegetation and West Turkestan. The remainder is divided between pasture land that of the Aral-Caspian steppes constitute two types with numberless (less than 44%) and desert (54%). Owing to a very equitable intermediate gradations. distribution of irrigation water in accordance with Moslem law, There is no arboreal vegetation on the Pamir, except a few willows agriculture and gardening have reached a high stage of development and tamarisks along the rivers. Mountain and valley alike are in the oases. Altogether close upon 4,000,000 acres are irrigated, carpeted with soft grass, various species of Festuca predominating, and the crops are usually taken every year. Wheat, barley, millet, In the immediate vicinity of water the sedge (Carex physoides) pease, lentils, rice, sorghum, lucerne and cotton are the chief agricul grows, and sporadic patches of Allium. To these may be added a tural products. Carrots, melons, vegetable marrows, cucumbers few Ranunculaceae, some Myosotis, the common Taraxacum, one and onions are extensively species of Chamomilla, and a few Leguminosae. In the north and at Kazalinsk and Kopal Gown, Rye and oats are cultivated is exported. Owing to the irriwest the Stipa of the Russian steppes supersedes Festuca and affords gation, total failure of crops and consequent famines are unknown, splendid pasture for the herds of the Kara-Kirghiz. In the gorges unless among the Kirghiz shepherds. The kitchen gardens of the and on the better-watered slopes of the mountains the herbaceous Mahommedans are, as a rule, admirably kept. Potatoes are grown vegetation becomes luxuriant. Besides the above-named there are only by the Russians. The cultivation of cotton is extending many other Gramineae, such as Lasiagrostis splendens, the whole rapidly-from 1300 acres in 1883 to 531,000 acres in 1902, of which seas of Scabiosae. Eremurus, 6 to 7 ft. in height, forms thickets along 402,000 acres were in Ferghana. Sericulture, a growing industry, with Scorodosma foetida. The northern slopes of the Alai chain are is chiefly carried on in Ferghana, whence silk cocoons are an imporricher in trees. Up to 12,000 ft. full grown specimens occur of the tant item of export, the output having doubled between 1892 and archa or juniper (Juniperus pseudo-Sabina), characteristic of the 1903 (3869 tons). Livestock breeding is extensively pursued. The whole northern slopes of the Turkestan highlands, the poplar, flocks of sheep on the Kirghiz steppe are so large that the proprietors spruces, cedars, a very few birches (B. Sogdiana), and a copious themselves do not know their exact numbers. undergrowth of shrubs familiar in European gardens, such as Rhododendron chrysanthum, Sorbus aucuparia (rowan), Berberis heteropoda (berberry), Lonicera Tatarica (honeysuckle) and Crataegus (hawthorn). Farther east and north comes the Turkestan pine (Picea Schrenkiana), while at lower levels there grow willows, black and white poplars, tamarisk, Celtis, as well as Elaeagnus (wild olive), Hippophae rhamnoides (sallow thorn), Rubus fructicosus (blackberry), Prunus spinosa (blackthorn) and P. Armeniaca (apricot). The charac teristic poplar, Populus diversifolia, and the dwarf Acer Lobeliivery different from the European maple-also occur.

The above applies to most of the highlands of the Tian-shan. The drier southern slopes are quite devoid of arboreal vegetation. On the northern slopes, at the higher levels, Juniperus pseudo-Sabina is the only tree that grows on the mountains, and luxuriant meadow grasses cover the syrts. Lower down, at 7500 to 8000 ft. the coniferous zone begins, characterized by the Picea Schrenkiana. Of course the juniper and a few other deciduous trees also occur. The richest zone is that which comes next, extending downwards to 5000 and 4500 ft. There woods of birch, several species of poplar, the maple (Acer Semenovii), and thick underwoods spread over the mountain slopes. Orchards of apple and apricot surround the villages. The meadows are clothed with a rich vegetation-numberless Paconiae, Scabiosae, Convolvulaceae, Campanulae, Eremurus, Umbelliferae, Gallium, Rosaceae, Altheae, Glycyrrhizae, Scorodosma foetida and Gramineae. But as soon as the soil loses its fertile humus it produces only a few Phlomis, Alhagi camelorum, Psammae, Salsolaceae, Artemisiae, Peganum and some poppies and Chamomillae, but only in the spring. The invading steppe plants appear everywhere in patches in the Turkestan meadows.

Minerals. The mineral wealth of Turkestan is considerable. Traces of auriferous sands have been discovered at many places, but the percentage of gold is too poor to make the working remunerative. Silver, lead and iron ores occur in several localities; but the want of fuel is an obstacle to their exploitation. The vast coal-beds of Kulja and some inferior ones in Samarkand are not seriously worked. The petroleum wells of Ferghana and the beds of graphite about Zairamnor are neglected. There are abundant deposits of gypsum, alum, kaolin, marble and similar materials. Asphalt is obtained in Ferghana. Notwithstanding the salt springs of Ferghana and Syr-darya, the salt lakes of the region, and the rock-salt strata of the Alexander Mountains, salt is imported.

Industry and Trade.-Turkestan has no manufacturing industry carried on by means of machinery, except distilleries and establishments for dressing raw cotton. These last have greatly increased in number; over a score are driven by steam and about a hundred by water. But there is a great variety of artisan work, such as copper and brass, paper, knives (at Bokhara), silver filigree, shoes, caps (at Samarkand and Andijan) and carpets; but most of these have been for some time declining and now stand at a rather low level. Trade is very actively carried on. Tashkent and Bokhara are the chief commercial centres, the principal articles of export to Russia, via Orenburg and Semipalatinsk, being raw cotton and silk, cattle and their products, while manufactured wares are imported in return. There is also an import and export trade to and from Urumchi and China, via Kulja and Ak-su.

Population. Turkestan has been the theatre of so many migrations and conquests that its present population could not fail to be very mixed. Both Aryans and Mongols have their representatives there, the former settled for the most part, the latter chiefly nomad. The Ural-Altaians are numerically the predominant element, and consist of Turkomans, Kirghiz, Uzbegs and Sarts. The Turkomans inhabit chiefly the TransCaspian region. They number less than a quarter of a million. The Kara-Kalpaks ("Black Bonnets") number about 104,000. They are supposed to be recent immigrants to Syr-darya, having come from the former Bulgarian Empire on the middle Volga. Their language and habits are the same as those of the Kirghiz; but for the last century and a half they have had some acquaintance with agrculture. Their pacific temper exposed them to the

The "culture or "apricot " zone is followed by the prairie belt, in which black-earth plants (Stipa and the like) struggle for existence against invading Central Asian forms. And then come the lowlands and deserts with their moving sandy barkhans, shors and takyrs (see TRANSCASPIAN REGION). Two species of poplar (P. pruinosa and P. diversifolia), Elaeagnus angustifolia, the ash, and a few willows grow along the rivers. Large areas are wholly destitute of vegetation, and after crossing 100 m. of such a desert the traveller will occasionally come upon a forest of saksaul (Anabasis Ammodendron). Contorted stems, sometimes of considerable thickness, very hard, and covered with a grey cracked bark, rise out of the sand, bearing green plumes with small greyish leaves and pink fruit. Sometimes the tree is a mere knot peeping above the sand with a sheaf of thin branches. In spring, however, the steppe assumes quite another aspect, being clothed, except where the sands are shifting, with an abundance of vegetation. Persian species pene-raids of the Kirghiz, who compelled them first to settle in Dzuntrate into Bokhara and the region of the upper Amu.

Vegetable Products.-As already stated the climate of Turkestan varies considerably from north to south. In Akmolinsk and Semiryechensk most of the kinds of corn which characterize Middle Russia are grown. South of the Chu and the Syr-darya gardening is a considerable industry; and, although rye and wheat continue to be the chief crops, the cultivation of the apple, and especially of the apricot, acquired importance. Attempts are also made to cultivate the vine. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood of Tashkent and Samarkand, as well as those of the much more northern but better | sheltered Kulja oasis, add the cultivation of the almond, pomegranate and fig. Vines are grown and cotton planted in those districts. Finally, about Khojent and in Ferghana, where the climate is milder still, the vine and the pistachio tree cover the hills, while agriculture and horticulture have reached a high degree of perfec

1 See Krasnov's researches in Izvestia of Russ. Geog. Soc. (1887), vol. xxiii.

garia, then to move their dwellings several times, and ultimately (in 1742) to recognize the sovereignty of Russia. Even since that time they have been driven by the persecution of their old enemies to cross the Aral-Caspian steppes and seek refuge near Astrakhan. The real masters of the steppes and highlands of Turkestan are the Kirghiz, of whom there are two branches-the Kazak (Cossack) Kirghiz, who number about 3,787,000, and the Kara (Black) Kirghiz or Burut, who number nearly 202,000. The Uzbegs, who played a predominant political part in Turkestan before the Russian conquest, are of Turko-Tatar origin and speak a pure Jagatai (Turkish) dialect; but they are mixed to a great extent with Persians, Kirghiz and Mongols. They are subdivided into clans, and lead a semi-nomadic life, preserving most of the attractive features of their Turkish congeners-especially their honesty and independence. They number some 726,500 in

Turkey's Arabian possessions comprise, besides El-Hasa on the Persian Gulf, the low-lying, hot and insalubrious Tehama and the south-western highlands (vilayets of Hejaz and Yemen) stretching continuously along the east side of the Red Sea, and including the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

African Territories.-Turkey in Africa has gradually been reduced to Tripoli and Barca. Egypt, though nominally under Turkish suzerainty, has formed a practically independent principality since 1841, and has been de facto under British protection since 1881.

Population. The total population of the Turkish Empire in 1910, including Egypt and other regions nominally under the mile; in the provinces directly under Turkish government, sultan's suzerainty, was 36,323,539, averaging 25 to the square 25,926,000.

52,000.

Obshchestva po centralnoy Asiya, 1893-1895 (St Petersburg, 1897, &c.); | the south-west by the Red Sea, and in the south-east by the Persian V. I. Roborovsky, Trudy Tibetskoi Ekspeditsiy, 1889-1890; K. Bogdan Gulf. ovich, Geologicheskiya Isledovaniya v. Vostochnom Turkestane and Trudy Tibetskoy Ekspedusty, 1889-1890 (St Petersburg, 1891-1892); V. A. Obruchev, Centralnaya Asiya, Severny Kulas i Nan-schan, 1892-1894 (2 vols., St Petersburg, 1899-1901); A. N. Kuropatkin, Kashgaria (Eng. trans., London, 1883); and P. W. Church, Chinese Turkestan with Caravan and Rifle (London, 1901). For the archaeological discoveries, see the books of Sven Hedin already quoted; M. A. Stein, The Sand-buried Cities of Khotan (London, 1903), and Geographical Journal (London, July and Sept., 1909); and D. A. Klements and W. Radlov, Nachrichten über die von der k. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu St Petersburg im Jahre 1898 ausgerüsteten Expedition (St Petersburg, 1899). Consult also books cited under TIAN-SHAN, LOP-NOR, GOBI and KUEN-LUN. (J. T. BE.; P. A. K.) TURKESTAN, or HAZRET, a town of Russian Turkestan, in the province of Syr-darya, on the railway from Orenburg to Tashkent, from which it lies 165 m. to the N.N.W. Pop. (1897), The following towns have over 50,000 inhabitants each: Con11,592. It lies on the right bank of the Syr-darya river, 20 m. stantinople, 1,150,000; Smyrna, 250,000; Bagdad, 145,000; Damasfrom it, at an altitude of 833 ft. It has a very old mosque of the cus, 145,000; Aleppo, 122,000; Beirut, 118,000; Adrianople, 81,000; saint Hazret-Yassavi, which attracts many pilgrims. It is an Brusa, 76,000; Jerusalem, 56,000; Caesarea Mazaca (Kaisarich), important dépôt for hides, wool and other produce of cattle-72,000; Kerbela, 65,000; Monastir, 53,000: Mosul 61,000: Mecca, breeding. The town was captured by the Russians in 1864.60,000; Homs, 60,000; Sana, 58,000; Urfa, 55,000; and Marash, TURKEY. The Turkish or Ottoman Empire comprises Turkey Race and Religion.-Exact statistics are not available as in Europe, Turkey in Asia, and the vilayets of Tripoli and Barca, regards either race or religion. The Osmanlis or Turks (q.v.) are or Bengazi, in North Africa; and in addition to those provinces supposed to number some 10 millions, of whom 1 million belong under immediate Turkish rule, it embraces also certain tributary to Turkey in Europe. Of the Semitic races the Arabs-over states and certain others under foreign administration. Turkey whom, however, the Turkish rule is little more than nominal— in Europe, occupying the central portion of the Balkan Peninsula, number some 7 millions, and in addition to about 300,000 Jews lies between 38° 46′ and 42° 50' N. and 19° 20′ and 29° 10' E. there is a large number of Syrians. Of the Aryan races the Slavs It is bounded on the N.W. by Montenegro and Bosnia, on the Serbs, Bulgarians, Pomaks and Cossacks-and the Greeks N. by Servia and Bulgaria, on the E. by the Black Sea and the predominate, the other representatives being chiefly Albanians Bosporus, on the S. by the Sea of Marmora, the Dardanelles, and Kurds. The proportion borne to one another by the different the Aegean Sea and Greece, and on the W. by the Ionian and religions, as estimated in 1910, is: 50% Mussulman, 41% OrthoAdriatic Seas. Turkey in Asia, fronting Turkey in Europe to dox, 6% Catholic, 3% all others (Jews, Druses, Nestorians, the south-east, and lying between 28° and 41° N. and 25° and 48° &c.). In the European provinces about two-thirds of the popuE., is bounded on the N. by the Black Sea, on the N.W. by the lation are Christian and one-third Mahommedan. Full and fairly Bosporus, the Sea of Marmora and the Dardanelles, on the W. accurate statistics are available for a considerable portion of by the Aegean Sea, on the E. by Persia and Transcaucasia, and Asiatic Turkey. Out of a population of 13,241,000 (1896) in on the S. by Arabia and the Mediterranean. So far as geo- Armenia, Kurdistan and Asia Minor, 10,030,000 were returned graphical description is concerned, the separate articles on ASIA as Mahommedans, 1,144,000 as Armenians, 1,818,000 as other MINOR, ALBANIA, ARMENIA, and other areas mentioned below-Christians, and 249,000 as Jews. There are also about 300,000 constituting the Turkish Empire-may be consulted. (For maps Druses and about 200,000 Gipsies. The non-Mussulman popu. of Asiatic Turkey, see ARABIA; ARMENIA; ASIA MINOR; lation is divided into millets, or religious communities, which are PALESTINE; SYRIA.) allowed the free exercise of their religion and the control of their own monasteries, schools and hospitals. The communities now recognized are the Latin (or Catholic), Greek (or Orthodox), Armenian Catholic, Armenian Gregorians, Syrian, and United Chaldee, Maronite, Protestant and Jewish. The table on the following page, for which the writer is indebted to the kindness of Carolidi Effendi, formerly professor of history in the university of Athens, and in 1910 deputy for Smyrna in the Turkish parliament, shows the various races of the Ottoman Empire, the regions which they inhabit, and the religions which they profess.

The possessions of the sultan in Europe now consist of a strip of territory stretching continuously across the Balkan Peninsula from the Bosporus to the Adriatic (29° 10' to 19° 20' E.), and lying in the east mainly between 40 and 42° and in the west between 39° and 43 N. It corresponded roughly to ancient Thrace, Macedonia with Chalcidice, Epirus and a large part of Illyria, constituting the present administrative divisions of Stambul (Constantinople, including a small strip of the opposite Asiatic coast), Edirne (Adrianople), Salonica with Kossovo (Macedonia), lannina (parts of Epirus and Thessaly), Shkodra (Scutari or upper Albania). To these must be added the Turkish islands in the Aegean usually reckoned to Europe, that is, Thasos, Samothrace, Imbros and, in the extreme south, Crete or Candia. In December 1898, however, Crete was granted practical independence, under the protection of Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia (see CRETE), and the suzerainty of the sultan is purely nominal.

Asiatic Turkey-The mainstay of the Ottoman dynasty is the Asiatic portion of the empire, where the Mahommedan religion is absolutely predominant, and where the naturally vigorous and robust Turki race forms in Asia Minor a compact mass of many millions, far outnumbering any other single ethnical element and probably equalling all taken collectively. Here also, with the unimportant exception of the islands of Samos and Cyprus and the somewhat privileged district of Lebanon, all the Turkish possessions constitute vilayets directly controlled by the Porte. They comprise the geographically distinct regions of the Anatolian plateau (Asia Minor), the Armenian and Kurdish highlands, the Mesopotamian lowlands, the hilly and partly mountainous territory of Syria and Palestine and the coast lands of west and north-east Arabia. Asiatic Turkey is conterminous on the east with Russia and Persia; in the southwest it encloses on the west, north and north-east the independent part of Arabia. Towards Egypt the frontier is a line drawn from Akaba at the head of the Gulf of Akaba north-westwards to the little port of El Arish on the Mediterranean. Elsewhere Asiatic Turkey enjoys the advart a sea frontage, being washed in the north-west and west by Aegean and Mediterranean, in

Administration.-Until the revolution of 1908, with a very short interval at the beginning of the reign (1876) of the deposed sultan Abd-ul-Hamid, the government of Turkey had been essentially a theocratic absolute monarchy. It was subject to the direct personal control of the sultan, who was himself a temporal autocrat, which he now is not, and the most generally recognized caliph, that is, "successor," of the Prophet, and consequently the spiritual head of by far the greater portion of the Moslem world-as he still is. Owing principally to the fact that the system of the caliph Omar came to be treated as an immutable dogma which was clearly not intended by its originator, and to the peculiar relations which developed therefrom between the Mussulman Turkish conquerors and the peoples (principally Christian) which fell under their sway, no such thing as an Ottoman nation has ever been created. It has been a juxtaposition of separate and generally hostile peoples in territories bound under one rule by the military sway of a dominant race. Various endeavours have been made since the time of Selim III. (1789-1807), who initiated them, to break down the barriers to the formation of a homogeneous nation. The most earnest and