Journal of the Royal United
Service Institution
VOL. XIX. 1875. No. LXXX.
LECTURE.
Page 1
- Page
2 - Page
3 - Page
4 - Page
5 - Page
6 - Page
7 - Page
8 - Page
9 - Page
10 - Page 11
- Page
12 - Page 13
- Page
14 - Page 15
- Page
16 - Page 17
- Page
18 - Page 19
- Page
20 - Page 21
Page
14
it may be well to note what Mr. Taylour Thomson writes
with regard to Merv, from a visit paid in 1842. This
gentleman was then on his way to Khiva from Tehran, via
Mashhad, Sarakhs, and the Oxus. He found the city, known
to modern times as Merv Shah Jahan, and, to Persia
especially, as one of the four great cities of Khorasan
(Herat, Mashhad, and Nishapur being the other three),
"an assemblage of " wretched huts, commanded by
a small mud fort, in which a Governor " of the Khan
of Khiva resides, and defended by a few patereros and
" swivel matchlocks." It had nothing to boast
of but a small bazaar to supply the Sarik
and Salor
tribes who frequented it.
Merv by
Galen Frysinger
"Merv-i- Qajar," or
Merv of the Qajar (the present reigning dynasty in
Persia), evidencing by its name that it is the last
built of the four towns of Merv, was roofless ; but its
streets, walls of houses, mosques, and baths remained, a
silent and gloomy record of the past. The Merv of the
Seljukian dynasty was marked by low hillocks and a
solitary tomb. Ancient Merv had been utterly effaced.
Merv to Khiva. — On leaving Merv, Abbott crossed a
dry channel of the Murghab, and proceeded by a
well-beaten road, in direction E.N.E. He soon observed to
the east the rains of a former Merv, of which a mosque
and several forts were prominent features. The space
covered by these remains of bygone prosperity appeared
some thirty miles in circumference; so that it might well
have included more than the city of the Persian kings.
Rejoicing to quit a plain which, in his estimation, was
"wretched, though much vaunted," and to which
the desert was “a paradise in comparison," he
mounted a lame horse, and proceeded in a direct route
across the latter towards Khiva. Two return caravans,
with slaves, were in company with his own party. One
halt, probably the first, was at another “Kara
Tepe," where was a small” Khail," and a
sluice of pure water from one of the canals. The next
morning the march was resumed “over a plain”
encumbered by sand hills, and sprinkled “with low
jungle." The lower lands ho found occasionally
cultivated, with old watercourses and remains of
habitations, speaking of a more prosperous period; the
country, rather a wilderness than a desert, with
abundance of dry firewood, and plenty of camel thorn, but
no grass. As we are without detail of the marches of this
party, Abbott's review of the ordinary day's procedure
must be taken to supply the deficiency. He himself rose
at midnight, and sitting at a blazing fire (for the
supply of dry wood continued), and sipping tea without
milk, awaited the loading and departure of the camels.
Riding after and overtaking the latter, he alighted for
half an hour, to spread his carpet at a new fire. He then
mounted a second time, to proceed silently along a track
not wide enough for two horsemen abreast, until day
dawned upon the travelers, when they pulled up to get
thawed and warmed again. By sunrise they had continued
the march, and about ten they sought a convenient place
for halting, sheltered from the wind, but exposed to the
sun. Breakfast and a short sleep enabled them to resume
operations, until about four o'clock, when the night's
bivouac was to take effect. The cold was at times very
severe. Icicles hung from the camel's beards; on one
Page 1
- Page
2 - Page
3 - Page
4 - Page
5 - Page
6 - Page
7 - Page
8 - Page
9 - Page
10 - Page 11
- Page
12 - Page 13
- Page
14 - Page 15
- Page
16 - Page 17
- Page
18 - Page 19
- Page
20 - Page 21
|