JBO'C's Historical Reference |
Merv Oasis Vol. II Page 80 | ||
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108 A DISAGREEABLE AWAKENING. CHAPTER
36. An early start - General discomfort - Dash Robat - Derivation of name - Entering Merv territory - Gloomy forebodings - Effect of an umbrella - Doubts - A field council - Caravan - My costume - Reasons for - My reception - A frightened servant - False friends - Beg Murad Khan - Forbidden to write - Under guard - Taking notes under difficulties - Tokme Serdar - Impromptu map-drawing - The military situation - The Serdar's views and subsequent action - Across country to Merv - A bridge - Kadjar Khan - The ' Queen of the World' - Earthworks - A relic of the Persian campaign - My anomalous position. It was still dark when voices around me told that a fresh move was about to be made. I found myself half afloat. A torrent of rain was falling, and I was thoroughly saturated, leopardskin and all. My limbs were stiff with rheumatism; and many specimens of the divers species of insects which haunt these bush-grown solitudes had fled to me for refuge against the downpour. I was for the moment a peripatetic museum of entomology. There were juvenile tarantulas, too young as yet to be capable of much harm, stag-beetles, lizard-like mantis, and every imaginable variety of colceopteree. As may readily be imagined, I did not spend much time in examining them, but, brushing them out of my hair and ears, and shaking them from the sleeves of my coat and legs of my trousers, I endeavored to put myself in marching order. The Turkmen were busying themselves with their horses, and looking ineffably cross, for notwithstanding their powers of endurance they also were very much knocked up. It was quite impossible to kindle the water-pipe, with which accustomed luxury they were for the moment compelled to dispense. Our horses were standing DASH ROB AT. 109 round, with drooping ears and tails, piteously gazing upon the wet mud. As I mounted, my animal fell to his knees with sheer weakness and wretchedness. Then we were off again, not at a very rapid rate, for the horses were scarcely able to put one leg before another. The dull leaden dawn of a rainy morning showed that at every step the plain was becoming less and less encumbered with jungle - jengal, as my companions termed it. Within an hour and a half we halted amid a mass of brick and broken tiles, which for the moment I took to be part of the renowned city of which I was in search. Sore and wretched as I felt, I was immediately on the qui vive. I took note of the peculiarities of the place. Close by was a domed structure, the ruin of what I at once perceived to be an old caravanserai, dating back perhaps to the time of Timur Lenk, or still further - a remnant of the better days of Merv. This place is called Dash Robat. On inquiry I found that at least sixteen miles stretched between us and the nearest limit of what my companions called Merv. We halted among the ruins to wring our dripping garments and gnaw our remaining crusts. One of the company collected the twigs which had fallen from the numerous birds' nests in the crevices around, and proceeded to kindle a fire and to compensate himself and his comrades for their enforced abstinence from the kalioun. I walked round the building to examine its nature and extent. The ground plan and general architecture bespoke an amount of science and intelligence lamentably absent at present in these wretched wastes. There is a quadrangular space, eighty yards square, round which runs a broad corridor, opening off which on either side are apartments - an outer one for summer, and an inner one for the cold weather. The latter was furnished with a fireplace, as is generally the case in Eastern caravanserais at the present day. The main no DASH ROB AT. Page 110 entrance, which has a south-easterly aspect, was capped by a ruinous dome of flat, yellowish brick, similar to that which composes the entire structure. A shattered fountain stood below its centre. Ample stabling existed on the northern side of the edifice, and there were numerous chambers of larger size, probably intended for the accommodation of persons of importance. All is at present in a state of utter dilapidation, though many of the chambers are perfectly weather-proof. When once their floors were cleared of the accumulated ruins of years, they would afford no bad accommodation for wayfarers traveling over such ground as this. It is difficult to guess how the ruin has been wrought, for there are no evidences of earthquake shocks. Probably the mere vertical pressure, seeing that the cement used was of a very inferior kind, and little more than a sort of adhesive loam, was sufficient to produce the wreck which I saw. The storms of ages, whistling through the corridors and arcades, would complete the destruction. The dismal, silent arches were a welcome shelter to us after our miserable night, and I could not help asking my conductors, somewhat angrily, what they meant by halting out in the open when so good a shelter was so close to us? They appeared to think my question rather childish. Said one of the party, laughing, ' Why, we kept out in the jungle expressly to avoid robbers. The surest way to find them would be to come here. This is invariably their halting- place when they are abroad, and at night honest people like ourselves always avoid it.' The name Dash Robat probably means the ' stone or brick halting-place,' or it may be the ' halting-place in the plain,' or ' a distant halting-place,' for the word ' Dash,' accordingly as we take it in Jagatai or Persian, may mean one or the other. It was doubtless one of a numerous series of similar edifices constructed by the rulers of Merv for the accommodation of caravans plying between their capital and the Persian border. I could willingly have lingered among the ruins some time longer, in hope of the weather clearing up and a gleam of sunshine setting in ; but my guides urged the absolute necessity of finding forage for the horses, and the still greater one of avoiding the risk of meeting the evilly-disposed persons whose trysting-place Dash Robat was said to be. It
was a dismal morning as we left the grim ruins and made
straight for Merv, distant, as I had been told, about
sixteen miles. The spirits of My Kurd
servant were by this time at the lowest ebb, and, to
tell the truth, I did not feel very gay myself. He gave
it as his unalterable conviction that, on arriving at our
destination, we should be murdered forthwith; but I was
in such a state of bodily suffering that I did not much
care whether he were a true prophet or not. "When
one is wet, tired, and hungry, and in the midst of a
drizzling fall of chilly rain, mounted on a jaded steed
whose faltering steps betoken that he has nearly broken
down, any distance will seem long; and as that which lay
before us was in reality much greater, as is usually the
case, than the guides had announced, my patience was
fairly worn out before we came upon any trace of
inhabited ground. At length we were within sight of some
marshes. Then came a boggy expanse, traversed by narrow,
deep-cut trenches, proceeding from an offshoot of the Seyd Ali Khan, the Governor of the Attok, had presented me with an umbrella when I was leaving Lutfabad, and my Akhal Tekke servant had hoisted it to keep off the miserably cold drizzle that was falling. This phenomenon Page 112 DOUBTS - A CONSULTATION. of an umbrella, an article hitherto unseen in this part of the world, called around us many spectators. From the audible observations on all sides I could learn that the opinion was that a successful raid had been made, and that I was being brought in as one of its results. As we proceeded, the irrigation trenches became larger and more numerous, the sluggish waters scarce flowing between the high-piled banks. Considerable reaches of ground were under water. Through the rain-mist beehive outlines were visible. They were the first aladjaks of Merv, and I strained my eyes eagerly to catch a sight through the fog of the domes and minarets which I expected to see looming athwart it above the embattled walls of the ' Queen of the World.' Here came a pause. Some of my conductors suddenly entertained doubts as to my nationality, and my motives for visiting them in their inner penetralia. ' How could anyone know that I was not a Russian ?' 'What will our friends say when we bring him among them?' ' Who knows but he has a brigade of Cossacks at his heels ? ' 'What is his business here?' Such were the words I heard pass between them. The more considerate said, ' Who knows but that they will kill him at the first village ?' For two long, weary hours we sat on horseback in the driving rain, our backs to the wind, awaiting the result of this field council. Some of the party looked daggers at me, and seemed inclined to solve the matter by there and then finishing me off; but the better-minded majority seemed to get their own way. One of the latter rode up to me and told me not to be afraid - that all would yet be right, he hoped. He added, significantly, that if all were not right, I should have only myself to blame for coming there. A decision was come to at last, MERV From a
distance, a Turkmen village looks like an immense apiary.
The dun-colored, cupola-shaped eves resemble so
many large beehives. The group of houses towards which we
directed our steps numbered some hundred and fifty. A few
jujube, apple, and willow trees grew here and there
around them, and some patches of vine and melon
cultivation were to be seen. A number of bales of silk,
with some tobacco, tea, and other merchandise from
Bokhara, lay around, for a caravan which had come from
the latter place was on the point of re-starting for A
crowd of wild-looking people of both sexes, who were
busying themselves with packing the bales upon camels,
left their work to stare at myself and my cavalcade as I
rode up - the women, with their draggled locks and
rain-sodden, witch-like garments, perhaps the most weird
of all. We were at the Bakshih Vol. H. I 114 REASONS FOR NON-DISGUISE. fairly well, and my sun-tanned countenance and passably lengthy beard offered no extraordinary contrast to that of an inhabitant, but my accent, and a thousand other little circumstances, not to speak of the indiscretion of my servants, whom I knew perfectly well it was utterly useless to pledge to secrecy, would have been enough to infallibly betray me. To appear in Turkmen costume, or in any other which tended to conceal my real nationality and character, would, under the circumstances, have been to court almost certain destruction. I have to congratulate myself upon having adopted the course I did, for subsequently, when taxed with having a covert and hostile mission to Merv, I was able to plead that in coming there I had made no attempt at a disguise, and that my servants, one of whom was of their own race, could speak as to the character in which I resided in Deregez. I dismounted at the door of a hut to which my horse was peremptorily led, and, in view of the attitude of the people, I for the first time fully realized the risks which at the commencement of my venture I had so gaily faced - at best, captivity for an indefinite period. Nevertheless, I was so delighted to have reached my long-sought destination, and to be at Merv at last, in spite of all the difficulties which the .nature of the ground, the efforts of adversaries, and the jealousy of the population had cast in my way, that my pleasurable emotions overcame all others. Here I was, at last, in the heart of the Turkmen territory. Let the future take care of itself. The
circular bee-hive house into which I was shown was
instantaneously crowded almost to suffocation. Before the
entry of myself and my following, it was occupied by the
caravan bashi, or chief of the commercial
cavalcade about to start for HOSPITALITY - IN JEOPARDY. 115 instincts probably teaching him that it was best to be so. Some one pulled off my wet riding-boots, after a prolonged struggle; another substituted a lamb-skin mantle for my drenched leopard-skin and overcoat. A bowl of scalding hot green tea, without sugar, and tasting like a dose of Epsom salts, completed my material comforts. I sat close to the fire, and warmed my shivering members. All the time, the assembled people were gazing at me with an eagerness of expression that no words could convey. They apparently thought that after all I might be somebody mysteriously connected with the events transpiring so near to them, and who had come among them on a friendly mission. This idea was evidently still further propagated by the volubility of my Kurd, who, in the last agony of apprehension about his own personal well-being, was pouring torrents of lies into the ears of his auditory, telling them what a tremendous personage I was, and what wonderful comfort I was about to administer as soon as I could get the ear of the Khan. As for my late escort, some of them simply stated that I had come from the direction of the Russian camp, and were sufficiently cowardly to shirk all responsibility, and declare that they knew nothing further about me, though on the road they had at times been quite enthusiastic about the advent of a friendly Ferenghi to Merv. They even went so far as to say that they believed me to be a Russian, and that I came to Merv as a spy. Their expression of opinion seemed to take effect, and I could see, by the thinning of the audience, that I was losing ground. Angry voices, reaching me from a hut, close by, told me in half-heard words that the general opinion was not in my favor. 'Who knows but he is a Russian, and come to survey the road, and we will have an aleman (hostile foray) on our backs in forty-eight hours ?' Then a great fat man, with a mingled expression of ruffian 116 BEG MURAD - NOTE-TAKING EXTRAORDINARY. ism
and humor, came in, and asked me plainly who and what I
was. This was Beg Murad Khan, a gentleman whose more
intimate acquaintance I subsequently made in more than
one disagreeable instance. I told him as well as I could,
considering that the language used was Jagatai Tartar,
and that the Turkmen
have not a clearly defined notion of the functions of a
peripatetic literary man. I said that I could set myself
right in a few days by dispatching a letter to the
British native agent at In fact, these people were so startled and frightened by the rapid Russian successes at Yengi Sheher (Geok Tepe), and entertained such dire apprehensions that Skobelev might be on the point of repeating his performance at Merv itself, that my appearance as a stranger and possible Russian put them in such a temper that it was not by any means safe to trifle with them. Struck by the peculiarity of my surroundings, and wishing to chronicle them while they were still vividly impressed upon me, I once ventured to produce my note-book and jot down a few hurried items. At once an excited Turkmen darted from the hut with the news that the Ferenghi was writing, and such is the dread of these unlettered people of the mighty effect of litera seripta that a regular storm arose, and I could hear the recommendation to finish me off at once repeated by many a lip. In came the humorous-looking ruffian again - evidently a person of high standing - to assure me in a vehement manner that if paper and pencil were again seen in my hand I could only blame myself for the result. Everyone save myself and my two servants was then UNDER ARREST - A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR. 117 ordered to quit the kibitka. A strong guard was mounted at the door; and I was left to ruminate over the possible outcome of a situation into which, my conscience whispered, I had thrust myself with a scarcely justifiable amount of recklessness. However, under the combined influence of dry clothes, a fire, and a meal of boiled rice, which was considerately sent to us, I speedily began to recover good spirits. 'After all,' said I to myself, 'unless they are even worse than they arc painted, these Merv Tekkes won't murder me out of hand simply on suspicion of being a Russian, especially as my hypothetic countrymen are not far off.' I longed very much to commit these and other details to writing, but fears of awakening another storm by my obduracy made me content with comparative inactivity. Under cover of my mantle I from time to time jotted down the leading points of my adventures since quitting Meneh, acting with the greatest possible caution, for I knew that, while I was apparently left alone with my attendants, fully a dozen eyes were watching me intently through crannies in the door and walls. Moreover, twenty hours in the saddle, with only a couple of attempts at rest, such as I have described, and with so slender a commissariat, justified some repose. I lay down, and in half an hour was sleeping soundly. It wanted but an hour of sunset when I was awakened by the opening of the door, and the entry of a man whom I had not previously seen. My Kurd servant at once recognized him. He had often met him at Geok Tepee previous to its fall. The stranger was no other than the celebrated Tokme Serdar, the chief military leader of the Akhal Tekkes, and the man by whose energy and ability the defense of the Turkmen territory and fortress had been so prolonged. He was slightly under the middle height, broadly built, very quiet, almost subdued in manner, his small grey eyes sometimes lighting up with a humorous 118 TOKME SERDAR. twinkle.
His features, though not at all regular, had that
irregularity which is often seen in a distinguished savant
of the West, and bore the impress of thought. Had I
met him elsewhere, and clothed in European garb, I should
not have been surprised to learn that he was an eminent
member of the Bar, or some other learned profession. For
some time he said but little, being evidently engaged in
examining me closely. At length he seemed satisfied that
I was not a Russian, having probably had sufficient
experience of Russians to enable him to form a sound
opinion. He went on to say what I had so often heard from
Tekke lips, how disappointed they were that the English
troops had stopped short, and not come on via Herat to the Turkmen
country. Then he proceeded to review the general
situation, and its bearing on the Turkmen
question. He displayed a knowledge of geography that
surprised me. On the sandy floor he traced with his
finger a rough map of the ground from This
was Tokme Serdar's way of looking at the situation - a
sufficiently broad one, and probably the correct one too.
He believed that if the Russians wished to move on TOKMAS OPINIONS. 119 partially
cultivated and watered country to some point on the Tejun river, and then along
the banks of that stream to This
had always been my way of looking at the question, and I
was glad to find it confirmed by a man of such great
practical experience and knowledge of the country of
which he spoke as Tokme Serdar. ' The only difficulty,'
said the Serdar, ' would be for the Russian infantry and
baggage wagons to clear the ground intervening between the last water to
westward and the Tejun river.' A pretty stiff march
of thirty miles, however, would be sufficient to
accomplish this - a few wells dug at a medial point
rendering the journey quite an easy affair. Of course
there would be another route from Askabad, vid Kuchan
or Muhammedabad, to the I spent the entire evening talking over these matters with Tokme Serdar. He said he had received an invitation to the Russian camp, coupled with an assurance of perfect immunity and forgiveness for the past. He said that all his property was in and about Geok Tepe, and that he would much desire, if it were possible, again to enter into possession of it. He expressed himself as being satisfied that the Russians would not kill him, albeit he had killed a good many of them; but he thought that perhaps the fact that sixty prisoners had been taken during one of the combats, 120 HIS DEFECTION. and
killed within the walls of Yengi Sheher a few days before
its capture, might militate against him. ' I fear,' he
observed, ' being sent away to reside in some distant
part of At ten o'clock on the following morning I was ordered to mount my horse and proceed to head-quarters - to Merv itself, the seat of the Tekke Government, that mysterious goal to which I had been so long looking forward. It was still raining, and the flat country presented a wretchedly dismal appearance. I was escorted by my fat acquaintance of the previous day, together with twenty other horsemen, and preceded and followed by over a hundred persons on foot. We rode in a north-westerly direction, crossing large and deep irrigation canals, roughly bridged over by tree- trunks covered with brambles and earth, and floundering a good deal through flooded spaces. Then the weather began to brighten somewhat, and I was able to look round. On every side was an immense plain, here and there broken by extensive plantations of trees, and hundreds of groups of bee-hive shaped huts or aladjaks, each group consisting of from fifty to two hundred dwellings. The OLD
BATTLE-FIELD - ACROSS THE villages
were usually from one to two miles apart. The ground was
everywhere well tilled, corn-fields and great melon-beds
alternating. In a few minutes the ground became higher,
and vegetation more sparse. We were crossing a portion of
the battle-field on which, some twenty- two years
previously, the Persian expedition was defeated,
thirty-two field guns being captured by the Turkmen.
Another hour brought us to the banks of the I found myself in the midst of about two hundred huts, ranged in rows of two or three hundred yards in length. In front of one of the foremost waved a small red banner, from a lance-shaft lashed to the top of a pole. This marked the residence of the Ichthyic, or executive chief, elected by the leading persons of the entire Merv district. Five hundred yards distant to the northward loomed a long line of earthwork, forming a front of a mile and a half in length, and shutting out the prospect in that direction. This line formed the cord of an arc described by the river, and constituted the new Turkmen stronghold, Kouchid Khan Kala, 122 KOUCHID KHAN KALA - MY TEMPORARY HOME. so named in memory of the late supreme chief, who had died three years before. The original fort bearing that appellation formed one extremity of the new work in course of construction. To the west and east were extensive tree plantations, and away over the plain, in every direction, seemingly countless numbers of groups of huts could be discerned. A few yards behind Kadjar Khan's house was a tolerably large pavilion tent of a pale blue color, intended, I was informed, for myself. It was part of the spoil captured from the Persians, and had evidently belonged to some ill- fated officer of rank. Within it I found a thick felt mat, covered by a Turkmen carpet. In a shallow pit near one end burned a charcoal fire. A decent looking, white- bearded old man received me. He was the brother of the Khan, and a mullah. Kadjar Khan himself was absent at some distant village. While very civil, my new acquaintance was exceedingly reserved in manner towards me, as the current of public opinion was still in favor of my being a daring Russian agent, sent forward to reconnoiter for a coming force. Under the circumstances, doubtless, he did not care to be too cordial with a person whose throat might have to be cut within the next twenty-four hours. My position was altogether anomalous. Every precaution was taken to prevent my evasion, for fear of my proving to be a hostile individual; while at the same time I was treated with a good deal of personal consideration, in view of the possibility of my being a person of importance who had come on a friendly mission. My saddles and scanty luggage were piled up at one end of the tent, and I took my seat upon the carpet, to commence the semi- martyrdom which lasted for the next twenty days, and which tried my patience more severely than it had ever been tested before. Chapter 30 - Chapter 31 - Chapter 32 - Chapter 32 - Chapter 33 - Chapter 34 - Chapter 35 - Chapter 36 - Chapter 37 - Chapter 38 - Chapter 39 - Chapter 40 |
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| These
are my notes on some important historical works. I have
edited and where possible standardized spellings. The
subject of the works has not and will not change but they
are not word for for word identical with the originals.
For instance in the case of General Mikhail_Dmitrievich
Skobelev I adopted the more common use of Skobelev
rather than Skoboloff. If this presents a problem then
find another source. Barry O'Connell Some other works:
Last count I have over 29,000 web pages in my notes. My main sites are www.SpongoBongo.com and www.PersianCarpetGuide.com
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