From it the Oxus, or Amu, flows off to the west, and the Jaxartes, or Syr, to the north, through the Turki state of Khokand, while to the east the waters run down past Kashgar to the central desert of the Gobi, uniting with the streams from the northern slope of the Tibetan plateau that traverse the principalities of Yarkand and Khotan, which are also Turki.
West of the Indus the dialects approach more to Persian, which language meets Arabic and Turki west of the Tigris, and along the Turkoman desert and the Caspian.
The language of the Kirghiz is Turki and their religion that of Mahomet.
Two periods may be distinguished, namely the Turki (120o-1526) and the Mogul empire.
The former comprised several dynasties of mixed Turki and Iranian race, but was wanting in coherency.