 During the Early Middle Ages, the "Toquz Oghuz" ("Nine Tribes"), included a people known in Chinese sources as "Sijie", who have been identified with "Sīkari" in the Saka Stäel-Holstein Miscellany.This name may be a sinicisation of "igil", a Turkic root meaning "many" ("Sijie" < "γiei-kiet" < "igil" ).In the middle of the 7th century, they were reported to be located on the northern bank of the Kherlen River.