KARATEGHIN

karateghin, a country of central asia, subject to bokhara, and consisting of a highland district bounded on the n. by samarkand and ferghana (khokand), on the e. by ferghana, on the s. by darvaz, and on the w. by hissar and other bokharian provinces. the plateau is traversed by the surkhab or vakhsh, a right-hand tributary of the amu-darya (oxus). on the n. border run the hissar and zarafshan mountains, and on the s. border the peter i. (periokhtan) range (24,900 ft.). the area is 8000 sq. m. and the population about 60,000--five-sixths tajiks, the rest kara-kirghiz. with the neighbouring lands karateghin has no communication except during summer, that is, from may to september. the winter climate is extremely severe; snow begins to fall in october and it is may before it disappears. during the warmer months, however, the mountain sides are richly clothed with the foliage of maple, mountain ash, apple, pear and walnut trees; the orchards furnish, not only apples and pears, but peaches, cherries, mulberries and apricots; and the farmers grow sufficient corn to export. both cattle and horses are of a small and hardy breed. rough woollen cloth and mohair are woven by the natives, who also make excellent firearms and other weapons. gold is found in various places and there are salt-pits in the mountains. the chief town, harm or garm, is a place of some 2000 inhabitants, situated on a hill on the right bank of the surkhab. the native princes, who claimed to be descended from alexander the great, were till 1868 practically independent, though their allegiance was claimed in an ineffective way by khokand, but eventually bokhara took advantage of their intestine feuds to secure their real submission in 1877.