Historical Reference |
Merv Oasis Vol. II Chapter 38 | ||
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CHAPTER XXXVIII. ROUND
ABOUT MERV. A
change of residence - Kibitka, et, aladjak, description
of - Household furniture - Ancient superstitions - Tekke
costume - Letter from Meshed - A visit to the
fortifications - Construction - Fault* - Water supply of
fortress - Foulness of Murgab - Distant view of old
cities - Captured artillery - Miscellaneous calibers -
Dilapidation - Unbusinesslike ideas - Promenade -with the
Khans - Working at defenses - Old Kouchid Khan Kala -
Jewish village - A Turkmen
college - Khodja Nefess - Graves - Uita adam - Susana
thob - An absurd idea - The factory in prospecto -
Provisional appointment - Gaining ground -
Precautionary measures - Gholam Riza sent home - Reasons
- A letter to Teheran - Alone among the Turkmen. A
Few days had elapsed since the meeting of the medjlis,
when I perceived an unusual movement towards the rear
of my tent. On drawing aside one of the folds, I saw a
number of Turkmen
women engaged in the erection of an aladjak quite
close to my tent. The new dwelling was destined for me,
for I had several times complained about the dust and the
extreme heat to which I was exposed in my canvas house.
No one who has not resided in tents in a hot climate can
imagine the great inconvenience of living under canvas.
During midday hours the heat is unbearable unless the
tent be doubled with felt or very thick colored stuff. I
will now describe in detail an aladjak and the
method of its construction. It is also styled kibitka,
and ev. Aladjak is AN
ALADJAK OR EV. Page 139 height of six feet its walls are
vertical. These walls are composed of an open
lattice-work of rods nearly an inch and a half in
diameter, sloping at an angle of forty-five degrees with
the horizon. They cross at intervals of eight inches. The
entire height of the lattice-work is nearly six feet. At
the point of junction the rods are pierced, and bound
together with the dried intestines of sheep. When a
village is being moved, the four pieces of lattice-work
which complete the entire circle of the kibitka close
up into a limited space, and can easily be packed upon
the back of a single camel. When a house is being
erected, the four component pieces of the lattice-work
are expanded to their greatest extent, and placed in the
form of a circular enclosure. They are bound firmly
together by cords of plaited camel- hair thread. The
dome-shaped roof is formed of a number of curved wooden
rods, of about the same dimensions as those which compose
the lateral lattice-work of the wall. One extremity of
each is firmly lashed to the top of the lattice-work, the
other being inserted into a cart-wheel-like construction
some six feet in diameter, which constitutes the summit
of the cupola. When the lattice walls have been erected, the women - for the mounting and dismounting of these residences are invariably effected by women - place the central cart-wheel- like piece upon the top of a pole, and hoist it to the necessary height in the middle of the enclosure. Three or four others simultaneously insert the extremity of the curved rods into the holes pierced in its circumference, lashing the lower ends as I have already described. The result is a structure very similar to a gigantic parrot-cage. Outside the vertical lattice walls are suspended sheets of felt, of a breadth equal to their height. Outside this felt the walls are enclosed by a roll of reed matting. This latter consists of giant cane- like reeds, of about six feet in length, placed vertically side Page
140 TURKMEN FURNITURE. by side, and bound together by
half-a-dozen parallel threads of interlacing camel-hair.
This, in turn, is further secured by an exterior belt,
passing round the entire structure, and connecting with
the door-posts on either side. The roof is covered with
felt alone. The central aperture has a hood of the same
material, which can be drawn over it and pulled back at
pleasure by strings which 'hang near the door. In fine
weather this aperture is always open, for, save the door,
there is no other means whereby light and air can
penetrate to the interior, or the smoke of the fire find
an exit. An ev has no windows. In these inland
districts precautions against storms, the tenkia especially,
are quite unnecessary. The
furniture of the ev is very simple. The fire
occupies the middle of the apartment, immediately under
the central opening in the dome. The half of the floor
remote from the entrance is covered with a ketche, or
felt carpet, nearly an inch in thickness. On this are
laid, here and there, Turkmen
carpets, six or seven feet long by four to five in
breadth, on which the inhabitants sit by day and sleep by
night. A special bed is unknown to a Turkmen.
The semi-circle next the door is of bare earth, and on it
chopping of wood, cooking, and other rough domestic
operations are conducted. Round the walls hang large flat
camel-bags, six feet by four, one side being entirely
composed of the rich carpet-work in which the Turkmen
women excel. Ordinarily, all the household goods are
packed in these bags, for transit from place to place on
the backs of camels. When empty they form a picturesque
tapestry. I have sometimes seen a kind of rude bed, supported upon four legs, the space within the frame--a rude network of coarse camel-hair cords - being covered with a felt mat by way of mattress. There is another article of furniture, a kind of rude support upon which boxes, quilts, and bolsters are stored, so as to be removed from the damp PRE-MAHOMETAN SUPERSTITIONS. Page 141 earth.
Besides the primitive horizontal hand-mill, or quern of
our Celtic forefathers, and the samovar, which is
in almost hourly requisition, for the courtesies of Within
the roof, and near its top, hang a couple of lamb or
goat-skins, turned inside out, and smoke-dried. The
neck-aperture is kept widely open by four crossed sticks.
These skins swing to and fro in the air current produced
by the fire, and are termed toonik. I have
repeatedly questioned the Turkmen
as to the meaning of this. They evidently attached some
mysterious importance to it, but were loth to explain.
The skins are probably remnants of some old pre-
Mussulman worship, such as that which was customary among
the Scythian forefathers of this people. Near the
doorway, against the felt wall-lining, is sewn a piece of
linen or calico, four or five inches square, forming a
pocket for the reception of the bounties of wandering
spirits. This they call the tarum. A horseshoe,
too, is occasionally to be found nailed upon the
threshold. These are the principal superstitious usages
of the Turkmen.
I was surprised to find how few they were. It was an unspeakable relief to me to abandon my old quarters in the tent for the comparative coolness of the ev; and I longed to be equally quit of my tormenting visitors, who continued to observe and catechize me with the same unflagging zeal as at the commencement. At last, perceiving that it must be my European garb which attracted their curiosity, I resolved to adopt the attire of the country. A native dealer from the bazaar waited upon me, Page 142 TURKMEN ATTIRE - ABASS KHAN. produced
a store of choice garments. I selected the ordinary Turkmen
costume - a long crimson tunic of coarse Shortly
after procuring the Turkmen
costume, a letter arrived from 1. The words kuigun, yapundja, and also kapnek, are often used indifferently, to indicate any kind of heavy outer garment. FORTIFICATIONS OF MERV. Page 143 attitude
towards me - partly that of hosts, and partly that of
jailers. Naturally of an extremely suspicious turn of
mind, they were watching the course of events, to see how
they would be affected by my arrival among them. One
day, old Kadjar Khan called upon me, and asked me to
accompany him on a visit to the fortifications then in
process of construction, and to the guns captured by the Tekkes
from the Persians and others. Kouchid, or the Fort of
Kouchid Khan, is named after the last actual ruler of Merv, who had died
three years previously. It lies to the east of the main
channel of the The
fortifications were of that kind which the populations of
these Central Asian plains seem to have constructed from
time immemorial, and the remnants of which one still sees
scattered far and near. They consist of one huge
continuous embankment, thirty-five or forty feet in
vertical Page 144 TURKMEN ENGINEERING. height,
and sixty feet at the base, steeply revetted on both
exterior and interior slopes, and crowned by a parapet
wall the exterior surface of which was continuous with
that of the main rampart. Whatever may be said about Turkmen,
and, to tell the truth, there is not much good to be said
about them, they have shown themselves well able to hold
their own behind a breast-work. I mounted a steep incline
close to the main entrance, and stood upon the summit of
the ramparts. Looking along the line, one perceives it to
be slightly devious in trace. This might possibly be with
a view of obtaining cross and flanking fire, but the
indentation of the ramparts was too slight to be of any
practical use in this respect. Most likely the divergence
from a rigidly straight line was owing to carelessness in
construction rather than to any plans of the engineers.
The summit of the embankment was sixteen feet wide, and
the parapet on its top seven feet in height. The footbank
to enable the defenders to fire over the crest was about
two feet wide. The parapet itself, like the whole
superstructure, was of well-kneaded and rammed tenacious
yellow loam. Two feet thick, it was impervious to the
most potent rifle bullet at reasonable range, but through
it and the breastwork the projectile of the smallest
mountain gun would pierce as through cardboard. The
construction has two, if not three, very grave faults.
Firstly, there is no flanking fire. An enemy within forty
feet of the foot of the rampart would not be under fire,
direct or otherwise. The scarp, or exterior surface of
the wall, is too steeply built. The earth was first built
up roughly, in a series of mounds, intervals being left
for the workers to mount by, without going too far round
or climbing too steep a slope. Then, outside of this, a
revetement of moist earth clods was built, having an
incline of nearly seventy degrees. No artificial means
were taken to bind this facing to the inner mass. The TURKMEN ENGINEERING. Page 145 consequence is that on the occurrence of every slight shower forty or fifty yards of it come down with a run, bringing with it the breastwork above. Even without rain, its own ill-arranged weight drags it down. Untaught by daily experience of its instability, the Turkmen went at the repairs again and again with the most praiseworthy diligence. Besiegers would only have to plant their batteries at fifteen hundred yards or so, and an hour's firing with large caliber howitzers and heavy bursting charges, at the base of a given hundred yards of the wall, would annihilate the breastwork and leave a gently sloping path to an assaulting column over the entire distance. So much for Turkmen engineering. The third fault is the great height of the work, the whole forty feet being sheer above the level of the ground. They dared not dig a ditch, lest water from the ubiquitous irrigation trenches should accumulate in it, and do the work of the enemy's artillery beforehand, by sapping the foundations. The overflow of the river, too, would do this wholesale if the least lodging-place were given for the water; that is, in view of the actual height and bad construction of the earth mass. Such an idea as leaving the exterior earth at its natural slope and procuring permanent cover from projectiles never occurred to them. The Turkmen is accustomed to the dead level of the plain in usual internecine combat. On the top of something lofty he considers himself invincible. It is an old idea of these plains, and can be traced in every colossal mound that dots its expanse. He has no notion that his laboriously constructed cliff can be brought down about his ears. If the ramparts could only be got to keep up, they would be really almost insurmountable barriers to an attack. The long lines of the work, too, would give admirable scope to an enemy's enfilading artillery; and, tall though the covering masses, vertical fire could play havoc with the crowded huts Page 146 WATER SUPPLY-VIEW FROM RAMPARTS. within, for it was the intention of the Mervli to concentrate themselves and their families within the fortress in case of an invasion. The interior slope of the rampart is built steeply, with a view of ranging the kibitkas as closely as possible under its shelter. This is well enough in its way; but half a million of people cannot find cover immediately behind less than two miles of rampart of any practicable height. The
water supply is independent of the main river, which
flows along the western front. The fields within are
irrigated from an easterly branch of the Standing on the ramparts, the eye ranges over a fair expanse of well-cultivated country. Corn of various kinds, and melons, seemed the only produce, if I except the apples, jujubes, grapes, and apricots of the frequent enclosed plantations. Around the fortification, at distances varying from half a mile to three miles, is a broad belt of tree growth, which would admirably supply all the needs of a beleaguering force with regard to firewood and gun platforms. Away on the eastern horizon are frequent mounds, the remains of former fortalices; and just visible are the towers and cupolas of the ruined capital of these plains - long, long ago, amid which perhaps, as the poem tells us, Mokanna held his revels and his soliloquies. CAPTURED PERSIAN CANNON. Page 147 Later in the afternoon I went to see the cannon captured from the Persians, about which I had heard a great deal before my advent to Merv. Half a dozen of. them were close by the hut which I occupied; the remainder were within the new ramparts. No sooner did I emerge from my dwelling in company with the Khan, than, as usual, I was surrounded by a crowd of some hundreds of persons pressing so close upon us that I was nearly suffocated. They seemed to treat me as some inanimate object of interest. Thus escorted, I visited the nearer half-dozen of guns. Three were still on their field carriages of rather ponderous construction ; the other three lay on the ground, the broken wood-work of their supports rotting hard by, and the iron-work scattered around or still clinging to the fragments of the carriages. One was an 18-pounder, the others were six-pounders - all smooth bore, and of bronze. The guns themselves were in fair condition, save that the vent- holes were inordinately enlarged, and of such irregular form as to lead me to think that when abandoned the guns had been spiked, and the nails subsequently roughly wrenched out. One of these guns was of Bokharan make, as the inscription on it told. The bores were, as a rule, so scraped, apparently by the passage of heterogeneous projectiles, such as gravel and horse nails, that at first sight the guns might pass as having been formerly rifled. Passing onwards, a great gap in the ramparts was reached, and I stood within the interior of the enceinte. There were a group of aladjaks, and some young trees and bushes. This was the immediate dwelling-place of Baba Khan, son of old Kouchid. On a small open space - some on the carriages, some on the ground - were twenty-eight pieces of bronze ordnance. There were three or four 18-pounders, a dozen four-pounders, one chambered seven- inch howitzer, and two six-inch mortars. The Persian Page 148 SHOT AND SHELL SUPPLIES. artillery seems to have been composed of very heterogeneous calibers. The Turkmen were very proud of their spoils, and took every pains to tell me all about the different guns. I said that in view of the possible arrival of the Russians I wondered that some pains had not been taken to mount the disabled pieces. 'Oh,' said the Khan, ' there are plenty of people who could do that in a couple of weeks. There is abundance of wood growing in the gardens. Most of the iron-work is on the spot; and I know where the tire of one wheel is - it fell off as we were bringing the gun across the river.' This was all highly satisfactory to the general audience; but I knew that in the whole of the Merv tree plantations not a trunk of more than eight inches in diameter was to be found. I asked whether any considerable quantity of projectiles was on hand. Thereupon the chief told me of several traders in the bazaar who had many, which they used as weights when selling corn. 'Besides,' he said, ' the Persians fired a great deal; and the old men who were looking on could easily point out where the shot fell, and we could dig them up when required.' Up to this time I had a kind of vague notion that the Turkmen had made some kind of military preparations, considering the nearness of the Russians. What I have just narrated will speak for itself. As regards the gunpowder, there were Ali Baba, and Hussein and Hodja Kuli, and several others who knew what it was composed of; and, besides, there was every reason to believe that the Emir of Bokhara would not be backward in affording facilities for a supply if he got a good ' present.' All this was extremely melancholy from the point of view of military precision; and I inwardly congratulated myself on the fact that I was not one of the officers charged with ' haunting the oasis and stirring up the Turkmen.' The Khan further naively remarked that he hoped I should be of MILITARY IDEAS. Page 149 no small assistance in remounting the guns and founding the necessary projectiles. Having deciphered the inscription and date on each gun, I left the precincts of the Turkmen park, having impressed the spectators with the idea that I was consequently no small artillerist in my way. I was all the more struck by this extraordinary insouciance and want of preparation in a very essential military department, because these people are by no means unacquainted with warfare, and, at Geok Tepe at least, showed considerable knowledge of military organization. But the fact was that among these more easterly Turkmen, who had never known the contact of stern mechanical drill, each man thought that, armed with his curved brittle saber, his antiquated, cumbrous muzzle-loader with its forked rest, the half-pound of bad gunpowder he bought the last time he was in Meshed or Herat, and the bullets he founded from the material dug up on the battle-fields of his ancestors, he was amply provided with all the necessaries of war. "While examining the guns, I was joined by Baba Khan and Aman Niaz Khan, each of whom arrived on horseback, attended by a large following, also mounted. They told me that they were about to make a tour of inspection of the works, and invited me to accompany them. The fortifications were under the immediate superintendence of these two Khans, in virtue of their separate jurisdiction over the two great divisions of the population - the Toktamish and the Otamish. Kadjar Khan, for the moment, was the general director of affairs. As he was on foot, and attended only by a rabble of the general populace, he declined to go on with us, and I could not help seeing that he had a strong objection to my accompanying the others. 'Whatever his objection might have been, however, he signified it only by his general demeanor, and said nothing. We rode up the breakneck slopes of the unfinished Page 150 WORKING AT THE FORTIFICATIONS. ramparts, and at very considerable risk, as we trod upon half-finished parapets and terraces, following the line in a north-westerly direction. Parties of toilers were everywhere at work, the great majority creeping, ant-like, up the ramps specially provided, and bearing on their backs great bags of earth taken from the irrigation trenches in course of construction within the works, and from the surface of the ground outside. Anything like the formation of a great exterior fosse was carefully avoided, for the reason that an excavation near the foot of the wall would inevitably induce an accumulation of water, and undermine the solidity of the exterior escarpment. The contents of the bags of earth emptied on the summit of the embankment were leveled out, and beaten with rammers. One elderly man, doubtless having a repute for engineering skill, supervised the work of some fifty of his younger companions. The great quadrangular enclosure which constituted the fortress had but two entrances - one in the middle of the south-western face, the other directly opposite to it, on the north-eastern. At the north-western angle, however, was a wide space, to admit of the waters proceeding from the great irrigation canal, which supplied the interior space, finding exit, and being used for irrigation purposes beyond. It was intended at this point to construct some kind of a water-gate. The entire enceinte was rapidly nearing completion. Each of the Khans took occasion to point out to me the relative superiority of style in the works progressing under his own immediate care. The ground within the walls, plentifully supplied with water, was highly cultivated, though corn and melon were the only vegetables to be seen. As I followed the contour of the enclosure I saw that I had been rightly informed as to the numbers daily employed upon the fortifications. As we passed by they ceased working, to salute the Khans and take note of my AROUND THE WORKS. Page 151 self,
for I was still, and continued to be for a long time
afterwards, the great centre of attraction for
sight-seers. With the exception of Baba Khan's group of evs
there were no villages within the works, save at the
south-eastern extremity, where about a hundred and fifty
houses were grouped around the old Kouchid Khan Kala,
which gave its name to the new entrenchments. I was
conducted to the summit of this old work, and from it
were pointed out to me the various positions occupied by
the Persians during their invasion, and the advanced
batteries where the half- dozen guns then in the
possession of the Tekkes
had been brought to bear upon the invaders. It was a
singular fact that the south-eastern extremity of the
enclosure was almost entirely open ; what would be termed
in field fortification a musketry trench alone closed it.
I enquired the reason of this, and was told that from
that direction little danger was apprehended, and that
the points most likely to be immediately attacked were
being put in a state of defense. My informants seemed to
imagine that an enemy would dash himself against the
first point of their defenses with which he came in
contact, and would not seek any easier access to the
interior of their fortress. They appeared to regard the
river During our promenade, which lasted some hours, I was struck by the great respect shown to the two hereditary Khans, and the careful attention with which their instructions were followed after they had pointed out anything which seemed to them at fault. We sallied out by the north-eastern gateway, and, turning to the left, wended our Page
152 JEWISH VILLAGE- way
towards a collection of huts and buildings of earth,
surrounded by luxuriant groves of trees, and situated
half a mile distant from the northern angle. This
settlement was a curious one in its way, being chiefly
composed of several Jewish families, who had been settled
there, as they themselves told me, from time immemorial.
They seemed by far the busiest and most flourishing of
the Merv
communities which I had hitherto visited. Bales of
merchandise lay in the vicinity of every house, awaiting
transport to Bokhara or At this point, too, was the madrasah or college, presided over by a Turkmen much renowned for his erudition, and named Khodja Nefess. His academy, a large and not un- picturesque edifice of loam, was surrounded by a grove of pomegranate, jujube, peach, and willow trees. I never had an opportunity of meeting this worthy. He studiously kept aloof from me, doubtless lest his sanctity might be impaired by contact with a glamour, for he had a great reputation for holiness - whether deserved or not I am unable to say. I had heard of him at Gumush Tepe; and the Yomud there seemed to deem him the opposite of a holy person. I believe that in his tune he had been a great AN USTA ADAM - SUSANA THOB. Page 153 raider, and had amassed considerable wealth by the sale of captives seized upon the frontier of the neighboring kingdom. It
was evening as we turned our horses' heads towards the '
capital,' and rode along the Baba Khan left us to proceed to his own village, but Aman Niaz accompanied me to my house, which, on our arrival, was filled by a very numerous and disagreeable crowd. Among them was an individual of considerable note - the ustd adam, one of those universal artists or Jacks- of-all-trades of whom I have already spoken. He could work in silver and gold, repair gun locks, shoe horses, and perform all manner of skilled labor. He was introduced to me with great ceremony, and evidently looked upon me with no small amount of awe, as he appeared to think that, in my capacity of Ferenghi, I must be his superior in all manner of arts. His object in coming to see me was ludicrous enough. The Turkmen had had a sore experience of Russian breech-loading cannon during the siege of Geok Tepe, and the desire of every heart was that the Merv artillery should be converted into Susana thob. He wished me to draw him a plan and section of one of these modern implements of destruction, and also sought my I54 PRIMITIVE TOOLS. co-operation in the work of altering the pieces on hand to the newest form. I asked him what tools and apparatus he could command for the purpose. From beneath his robe he produced an old rasp, such as is used in these parts for finishing off the hoofs of newly-shod horses. It was considerably the worse for wear. Along with it he had brought a hand-saw, probably manufactured by himself, for each tooth pointed in a direction different to that of its neighbor. With these two implements, and my aid, he purposed to effect the wished-for transformation of the cannon. To endeavor to explain to this man the absurdity of trying to change old-fashioned muzzle-loading bronzefield- pieces into breech-loaders, with such extensive modifications as were entirely beyond the power of the most skilled artisans, and, above all, with such implements as he produced, was entirely useless; so I contented myself with nodding my head, looking very grave, and adopting such other tricks as are usual when one desires to pass for being exceeding wise. Aman Niaz became quite enthusiastic, and was already verbally laying out plans for the construction of a large factory close at hand, of which I and the ustd adam were to take the direction. He graciously added that I should have command of the pieces in action, at which condescending intimation I rose and bowed profoundly. I felt that if I had to follow Kadjar Khan's hint about remounting the guns on carriages sawn out of trunks of apple and peach trees, and, moreover, to convert the guns themselves into breech-loaders with a hand-saw and a horse rasp, I might safely accept the position of artillerist-in-chief without in the least compromising my national neutrality. All this will serve to convey an idea of the extremely primitive notions of the people among whom I found myself, in regard to artillery, at any rate. In some other matters they were shrewd enough. However, PROGRESSING IN FAVOR . Page 155 notwithstanding
the disagreeable circumstances immediately attending my
arrival, and the manner in which I had been kept in
custody, I managed to make some progress towards securing
the good opinion of the Turkmen.
This was principally owing to the receipt of the letter
from the British Consular Agent at At this time, my object was to make as perfect a survey as possible of the Merv district, to become fairly acquainted with the manners, customs, and government of the people, and their general tone of mind, and then get out of the place as quickly as possible. I knew that, whatever measures I might take, my departure would be considerably delayed, and that I should in all probability have ample opportunities for doing everything that I desired. The same evening, I took the first step towards effecting my release - one of many which ultimately proved successful. I wrote a letter to Abass Khan, explaining my position, in which I confined myself to asking him to emphasize the fact of my being a British subject by immediately sending me a communication stating that my presence was instantly required at Meshed, and expressing the hope that he would Page 156 A LETTER TO TEHERAN. see me there shortly. The more to impress those around me with the genuineness of this communication, and especially as I was not sufficiently master of Persian orthography to convey in that language all I wished to say, I wrote to Her Majesty's Minister at Teheran asking him to make the desired communication with the Meshed agent. This letter to the British Minister was naturally calculated to show the genuineness of my statement as to my nationality. I found a ready messenger in my Kurd servant, Gholam Riza. That personage had long since utterly despaired of ever getting out of the hands of the Tekkes, but having no resources from which to pay a ransom, however small, and being tolerably certain that the Persian Government would give him no aid in the matter, he had wandered about the village in a state bordering on distraction, engendered partly by fear, but to no small extent by excessive indulgence in arrack and opium. Notwithstanding all my injunctions, he had gone on reiterating that I was an emissary of the British Government, and that immense importance attached to my mission. He hoped that, by a kind of reflected lustre, he might become endued with a dignity of his own. As he could speak the Jagatai fluently, and was ready to pour forth the most apocryphal information about myself in particular and the governments of the earth in general, he was pretty well received in the houses which he visited. Sometimes I did not see him for days together. My horses were neglected, and I had to shift for myself. Kadjar Khan called upon me, and inquired whether I had any objection to Gholam Riza being sent away from Merv. This was exactly what I wanted. The fellow was of no use to me; he was daily endangering my existence by his wonderful stories, and, furthermore, he was receiving from me a salary far higher than that ordinarily DEPARTURE OF GHOLAM RIZA. Page 157 given to such an Eastern servant. ' I do not think,' said the Khan, ' that he is a proper attendant for you. I have to send men to look after your horses, while he receives the pay. Besides, he goes round to all the evs at meal times, and eats up all the food, a thing which would be highly improper in itself, for the people of Merv have not too much to eat, and cannot afford to support a stranger.' I
immediately assured the Khan that I was quite of his way
of thinking, and that nothing would please me better than
to see Gholam Riza sent back to I was somewhat surprised at the readiness with which Gholam Riza was allowed to take leave of Merv, but the real truth was that he was recognized as a man utterly incapable of paying any ransom whatever; and in addition to this, Makdum Kuli Khan, the defender of Geok Tepe, had borne witness to the fact that the Kurd had frequently called upon him before the fall of that stronghold, with messages from the British Agent at Meshed. This circumstance also favored the supposition that I was not a Page 158 TURKMEN PRECAUTIONS. Russian emissary. It is also possible that my servant's knowledge of the country had entered into the calculations of the Merv authorities, and that they wished to prevent the devising of any scheme for my escape which could result from our remaining together, for though the Turkmen had begun to exhibit a certain amount of confidence in me, they were as yet by no means willing to let me go away. Chapter 30 - Chapter 31 - Chapter 32 - Chapter 33 - Chapter 34 - Chapter 35 - Chapter 36 - Chapter 37 - Chapter 38 - Chapter 39 - Chapter 40 |
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are my notes on some important historical works. I have
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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
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rather than Skoboloff. If this presents a problem then
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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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