Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/53

Rh M E R V 43 Sogdiana after the capture of Bessus. The city was destroyed in 666 A.D. by the Arabs, who built a new one, afterwards known as Sultan Sanjar, about 1000 yards away, and occupying an area, according to Mr O Donovan, of about 600 yards square. The towers are still extant, and inside can be seen the ruins of a most elaborate tomb, in which the supposed bones of Sultan Sanjar are enshrined. It has always been a place of pilgrimage for the faithful. Not far to the south-west lies the site of the last city of Merv, that which existed up to a hundred years ago, when it was laid waste by the Bokharians. It bears the name of its gallant defender Bairam All. These three ruins are all that remain of that which flourished of yore as &quot; sovereign of the universe.&quot; At the time of the visit of Burnes, Abbott, Shakespear, and Taylour Thomson, about the fourth decade of the century, Merv was under the jurisdiction of Khiva, and the administrative centre was at Porsa Kala, where the dam is situated. This place is now also a waste of mud ruins, uninhabited. Rivers. The Heri-rud (or Tejend, as the river is named below Sarakhs) runs a course of some 280 miles within Afghan borders. On reaching the Persian fron tier it turns north and forces a channel through the mountain chain near Sarakhs. Beyond Sarakhs the river is Turcoman on both banks, runs close to the Khelat mountains, and in the latitude of Askabad loses itself in the marshes formed by the spring floods. It is probably the Ochus of ancient geography, which watered Nissa, once the capital of Parthia, and joined the Oxus just before the latter river disembogued into the Caspian (RennelPs Herodotus}. The Tejend is fordable at all points below Sarakhs except in the early spring after the melting of the snows. On the road from Meneh to Merv the river is sluggish, 50 yards wide and 4 feet deep in February. The river-bed is sunk 12 to 15 feet below the level of the surrounding country, and has immense quantities of drift wood on its banks ; trees and luxuriant herbage clothe the immediate borders. At midsummer the river runs nearly dry, and does not reach Sarakhs. The Kashaf-rud, which flows near Meshed, is one of its chief affluents. The Murghab takes its rise in the northern slopes of the Paropamisus, and runs parallel to the Heri-rud at a distance of 70 miles from it. On this river lies the plain or oasis of Merv, irrigated by means of an elaborate system of dams and canals cut from the main river. Beyond the limits of the oasis the Murghab &quot;hides its streams in the sand,&quot; like the Tejend. The river at Porsa Kala (near the principal dam) is 80 yards wide, at Koushid Khan Kala 30 to 40 yards wide. In summer it is much swollen by the melting of the snows, and its stream is then barely fordable. The water is yellow in colour from suspended matter. Formerly a great deal of the country, now a waste, between the two rivers was also cultivated by the agency of water derived from canals cut from the Tejend. These canals extended to Kucha Kum in the desert, rendering the journey between the two rivers much easier than in the present day. From the Murghab was also cut, among others, the Kara-i-ab canal, which ran for a distance of 40 miles towards the Tejend. Recent explorers affirm that there is no reason why these canals should not be again filled from those rivers, when the intervening country, &quot; an argil laceous expanse &quot; (O Donovan), would become culturable. Communication. Merv is surrounded on all sides by desert. On the north, west, and east this desert is sandy and arid ; water is exceedingly scarce, the wells being sometimes 60 or 70 miles apart, and easily choked. To the south of Merv, between the rivers Murghab and Tejend, there are traces of past cultivation, of irrigating canals, and of considerable settlements. Between the Tejend and Askabad the road lies through a populous well-cultivated country (Persian territory) by way of Kahka and Lutfabad. There are no roads in Merv, nothing but mere tracks. Many wide and deep irrigating canals have to be crossed ; bridges are few and bad. The inhabitants cross by inflated skins. The following tracks lead to the Persian frontier from Merv: (1) via Mahmur or Chungul to Lutfabad eight days on camels; (2) via Shahidli to Mehna 120 miles ; (3) via Shahidli to Fort Cherkeshli arid Meshed, for 85 miles between the Murghab and Tejend there is scarcely any water; (4) via Sarakhs to Meshed, 9 or 10 inarches for camels, and, according to Petrusevitch, without water between Merv and Sarakhs 120 miles. To the Afghan frontier lead (1) the track via Sarakhs and up the Heri-rud to Herat fit for a coach, according to Sir Charles Mac- Gregor and Mr Lessar ; and (2) a practicable track, used by Abbott and Shakespear, up the Murghab and Kushk rivers. To the Oxus in Bokharian territory lead several tracks, the chief of which is that to Charjui nine marches for camels. Water is scarce. To Khiva by the direct track is 360 miles. Water is scarce. Palliation. The Turcomans, according to Sir Henry liawlinson and others, are descendants of the Ghuz or Komani, a race of Turks who migrated westward from their homes in the Altai before the Christian era, and penetrated even to the Danube. From sub sequent intermixture with Persian and Caucasian peoples, they exhibit variations from the true Tartar type. According to Baron de Bode the Turcoman closely resembles both in appearance and in speech the Nogai Tartar and the Tartar of Kasan on the Volga. They are an independent race, as wild and free as their native desert, brave and very impatient of control &quot;Wild warriors in stormy freedom bred &quot; (Moore). They have a very evil reputation for brigandage and murder, so much so that the Bokharians and Khi vans have a proverb &quot; If you meet a viper and a Mervi, com mence by killing the Mervi and then despatch the viper. &quot; Of late years a change for the better has taken place, and recent travellers among them state that the Mervis show an inclination to lead a more settled life and to establish an elementary form of government (Medjliss), and that it is no longer accounted an honour among them to kill their neighbours. Opium smoking and arrack drink ing are apparently widespread vices (O Donovan); at the same time they are described as clever and intelligent. The Merv Tekkes (like the Akhal Tekkes) are classed in two great divisions the Toktamish and the Otamish. Each of these divisions consists of two clans, and each clan is subdivided into families. The two clans of the Toktamish are called Beg and Wakil ; those of the Otamish, Suchmuz and Bukslii. The clans of Beg and Wakil are the most powerful, and occupy that part of the oasis which lies on the right or east bank of the Murghab. The Suchmuz and Bukshi have their tents on the left or west bank. There is no machinery of government, and no taxes are levied. Whatever government there be is of a patriarchal nature. Each family has a ketkhoda (patriarch), who represents the family in matters of policy, but can only act in accordance with the wishes of the clan. The aksakals, or grey beards, are also useful in settling intertribal disputes, but they are tolerated only so long as they do not act in opposition to the tribesmen. For external affairs and in time of war the kctkhodas exercise a certain amount of power. The authority of kclkhodas and aksakals is, however, overriden by the laws of custom or usage (deb) and the less respected laws of religion. The injunctions of deb are paramount. It sanctions the alaman, or plundering raid, and in general regulates the Turcoman s daily life ; its prescriptions are more binding than those of the Koran. The Tekkes marry young. The father purchases for his twelve- year-old son a child-wife for 500 to 2000 krans (20 to 80). A young widow cf twenty-five is much more valuable, but a woman over forty is not worth the price of a camel. On the conclusion of the bargain, the priest reads a prayer from the Koran, and the marriage becomes valid. The dress of the men consists of a long tunic of coarse crimson silk reaching below the knees, with a white sash through which is stuck a dagger ; an outer robe of brown camel-hair cloth, a huge sheepskin hat, trousers and slippers or amber-coloured knee-boots, complete the costume. The women are exceedingly fond of trinkets, rings, and amulets, which accompany their movements with a sound as it were of bells. Their dress consists of the same red silk robe as the men wear, with a sash round the waist, and high-heeled boots, red or yellow. The religion is Suni Mohammedan ; their language Jagatai or Oriental Turk. The numbers of Merv Tekkes on the Murghab and Tejend are variously estimated, but may be stated approximately at 40,000 tents, including 5000 tents of the Salor tribe. These 40,000 tents represent a population of 200,000 to 250,000 souls. The Salors and Sariks at Yulutan and Panjdeh, higher up the Murghab, are given at 11,000 tents, or some 60,000 souls. Products, Arts, and Manufactures. The country in all times has been renowned throughout the East for its fertility. Strabo tells us &quot; that it was not uncommon to meet with a vine whose stock could hardly be clasped by two men with outstretched arms, while