Merv, the Queen of the
World;
and the Scourge of the Man-stealing Turcomans. With an
Exposition of the Khorassan Question:
By Charles Thomas Marvin, Published by W.H. Allen, 1881
CHAPTER II. TUKKMENIA.
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sunny slopes, speckled with
scattered trees; on our right were the boundless plains
stretching away to the
north and north-west, all rich with verdure, and covered
with Goklan encampments, whose smoke arose in the mid-day
sun, and whose flocks and herds were scattered wildly
over the surrounding pastures. A more perfectly pastoral,
peaceful, and delicious scene could not be imagined ; and
it was melancholy to reflect, that this, the fairest spot
of the Persian dominions, instead of supporting a rich
and happy peasantry, should be usurped and retained by
hordes of lawless robbers, who, incapable themselves of
appreciating the blessings they have seized, prevent all
others from turning them to better account, commit
outrages of all kinds upon their neighbors, and make a
trade of plundering both property and person. Were any
proof of the weakness and misrule of the Persian
Government required, in addition to those that everywhere
meet the traveler’s eye, a view of the state of this
country would furnish a most conclusive one."
And, in another place: — “Thus, then, we reach
Astrabad, journeying through a country which for beauty
and richness I have seldom seen equaled, and never
surpassed. The former I have made some attempts to
describe; of the latter some idea may be formed when it
is stated, on the authority of all those of the country
with whom I conversed on the subject, that the wandering
tribes, whose culture, it may be presumed, is not of the
best description, reap full forty and fifty returns for
their seed. They, however, have their full choice of the
plains; the villagers are more circumscribed in their
range — they cannot venture to
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