Kirghiz form 76% of the population, Taranchis 5.7%, Russians 14% and Dzungans most of the remainder.
Live-stock breeding is very extensively carried on by the Kirghiz, namely, horses, cattle, sheep, camels, goats and pigs.
The language of the Kirghiz is Turki and their religion that of Mahomet.
To this power or to the Kirghiz the "Whites" and "Blacks" alternately appealed in their struggles, in which Yarkand supported the latter and Kashgar the former.
Closely connected with the Khan-tengri knot are the Khalyk-tau on the east, and on the west three diverging lines of elevation, namely the Terskei Ala-tau or Kirghiz Ala-tau, overhanging the south shore of Issyk-kul; the Kokshal-tau, stretching away southwest as far as the Terez Mountains between Kashgar and Ferghana; and, intermediate between these two, the successive ranges of the Sary-jas, Kulu-tau, and Ak-shiryak.