The Merv Oasis: Travels and Adventures
East of the Caspian During the Years 1879-80-81,
Including Five Months' Residence Among
the Tekkes of Merv
By
Edmund O'Donovan
Published by G. P. Putnam's sons, 1883 Volume II
Page 65
NEWS FROM GEOK TEPE. 65
examination. The jailers, as soon as I had looked at the
horrid object, proceeded to skin it with as much
indifference as a cook would pluck a dead fowl. A few
days afterwards I learned that the wounded man's throat
had been summarily cut for the purpose of sending his
head, along with others, to Meshed.
This fact will give an idea of the respect in which human
life is held in this country. The strangest thing about
these barbarities is the indifference with which they are
regarded by both sides. Mehemet Ali Khan himself not only
corresponded in a friendly way with the Turkmen
chiefs while trading in the heads of their tribesmen, but
some years before, when forced to fly from his province
by the Shah's troops in consequence of a revolt, he had
taken refuge with the Tekkes
without hesitation. It did not appear that he felt any
particular fear of retaliation from the friends of the
numerous victims of his raids, public and private, nor,
apparently, was any malice borne towards him in
consequence of deeds such as I have just described.
A couple of days afterwards I was at last allowed to
start on my long-delayed journey. The secret of the
matter was that the Russians
had by this time completed the investment of the Tekke
stronghold, and their agents were now perfectly
indifferent to my arrival. I started from Muhammedabad
about January 16, and proceeded to Durangar. News had come in of two
sorties of the garrison of Geok Tepe on the 9th and 10th.
The plans
of the Tekkes had been betrayed to the enemy, and, in
consequence, the first sortie was repulsed with loss. On
the 10th, almost the whole Tekke
force made a desperate attack on the advanced Russian
works, and succeeded in storming three of the four
entrenchments which had been thrown up in front of the
gates of the town at about a thousand yards’
distance. Two breech-loading field pieces,
VOL. H. F
Chapter 30 - Chapter 31 - Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Page 55 - Page 56 - Page 57 - Page 58 - Page 59 - Page 60 - Page 61 - Page 62 - Page 63 - Page 64 - Page 65 - Page 66 - Page 67 - Page 68 - Page 69 - Page 70 - Chapter 34
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