Ala-at, Ala, Alachin, Alagchin, Alchin, Alchi, Alayontli, Ulayundluğ (اُوﻻيُنْدْلُغْ) ("piebald horse", pinto); Boma 駁馬 or 駮馬 "piebald horse", Helai 賀賴, Helan 賀蘭, Hela 曷剌, Bila 弊剌;[a] dru-gu ha-la-yun-log[3] "Ha la yun log Turks"[4]) were one salient Turkic tribe known from Chinese annals.
[10] Zuev took this as a variant of 遏羅支 Eluozhi[11] (supposedly from MC *a-la-tsie) and asserted that this is the earliest transmission and certainly ascends to Alagchin (Alachin, Alchin, Alchi).
All of those foresaid names & titles are traceable back to Turkic or Turco-Mongol *atlan "to ride" < *at- "horse", whereas *ala- *alaɣ-, or *alutu means "variegated", "dappled", or "piebald", thus describing the preferred coat-color(s) of nomadic northerners' warhorses.
[14] The ethnonym Alat might have been transcribed as Khalaj or Qalaj in Persian, Arabic and Bactrian sources, corresponding to 訶(達)羅支 He(da)luozhi (< *ha-(dat-)la-tɕĭe) or 葛(達)羅支 Ge(da)luozhi (< *kat-(dat-)la-tɕĭe), which in turn are variants of 葛羅支 Geluozhi.
Arab geographer al-Idrisi recorded that the Khalajes' winter quarter and castle were situated near the Kimeks, who in turn dwelt in the Irtysh basin, to the north and/or west of the Kirghizes.
[17] 9th-century author Duan Chengshi described the Kyrgyz tribe (Jiankun buluo 堅昆部落) as "yellow-haired, green-eyed, red-mustached [and red-]bearded".
[18] New Book of Tang also described the Kyrghyzes (whose name was transcribed as 堅昆 Jiankun in ancient days, 黠戛斯 Xiajiasi, 居勿 Juwu, 結骨 Hegu) "all tall, red-haired, pale-faced, green-irised";[19] Kyrgyzes regarded as black hair as "infelicitous" (bù xiáng 不祥) and insisted that black-eyed individuals were descendants of Han general Li Ling (李陵).
[24] The Tuoba-Xianbei-founded Northern Wei dynasty's Eight Great Noble Clans (八大貴族) were Buliugu 步六孤, Helai 賀賴, Dugu 獨孤, Helou 賀樓, Huniu 忽忸, Qiumu 丘穆, Gexi 紇奚, and Yuchi 尉遲.
"[28] Jiu Tangshu & Tongdian mentioned a tribe of "skewbald horses" Boma, besides Basmyls, Kyrghyzes, Khwarazmians etc., who in 638, submitted to the Western Turkic Duolu Qaghan.
[33] From the story of Abulgazi and description of two Mongolian embassies (in 1233 and 1254) to Alachins, they lived along Yenisei, the sources of Angara, and the east coast of lake Baikal, called by the Chinese chroniclers "Northern sea".
Based on annalistic traditions, the author of the "Family tree of Türks" Abulgazi described the country of skewbald horses: The Khaljī tribe had long been settled in Afghanistan.
However, the movement for independence continued, and it continued until 1925, when the war for independence was finally extinguished The historical Alats' descendants now live in China, Russia in the Altai, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, the Caucasus, eastern section of the Iranian plateau; as well as possibly Turkmenistan, India, and Afghanistan, if Alats were indeed the Khalajes known in Bactrian inscriptions and to medieval Arab and Persians geographers.