406 the turkic tribes
618: big pearls (rejected).^37
620: ostrich eggs (or ostriches).
622: one lion skin.
fine horses.
627: genuine pearls,
10,000 nails,
one precious belt of fine gold,
5000 horses.
635: fine horses.
It can be seen that the Eastern Turks traded almost exclusively in
livestock, while the Western Turks had access to goods brought on
the Silk Routes.
The Chinese paid with gold, silk, brocade robes, chariots, horses,
banners, fifes, drums, objects of precious metal, Palace Ladies, and
singing girls.
The Sha-t’o
The Sha-t’o were a Western Turkish tribe, whose original grazing
grounds were east of Zungharia. After the collapse of the two Turk-
ish empires, they became dependents of the Uighurs and then the
Tibetans but replaced the Uighurs later as a major power in Central
Asia. Many of them settled in the Chinese northwest. One of their
chiefs was conferred the T’ang imperial surname of Li, and his son
Li K’o-yung founded the Later T’ang dynasty (923-936).
In 633, Emperor T’ai-tsung of T’ang recognized the Li-pi-to-lu
Qaghan of the Sha-t’o and presented him with drums and banners
(Wen-hsien t’ung-k’ao 347:30b).
The Basmil
The Basmil, Pa-hsi-mi in Chinese, lived to the northwest of the East-
ern Turks and were their enemies.
(^37) These were presented by the Ch’u-lo Qaghan after his surrender, which means
that he had brought some of his treasury with him.