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 III. THE ORIGIN OF THE Turkmen.
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE MINOR TRIBES.
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tyranny towards all who resided
within the limits of their authority. Bokhara, engrossed
with wars with Khokand and the khanates lying to the east
and north of her, had rarely time to conduct expeditions
against the Turkmen,
and hence, beyond occasional conflicts with the Ersari
and other tribes dwelling in the desert between Charjui
and Balkh, her annals are free from Turkmen
campaigns. Khiva, on the contrary, surrounded on all
sides by nomad tribes, could only gratify her military
instincts by making war upon the Turkmen,
Kirghiz, or Kazaks, and thus we read of constant fighting
between her khans and the Turkmen,
and even of ambitious efforts to effect, from a temporary
lodgment at Merv in 1833, a complete subjugation of North
Khorasan and the region of the Atrek.*
Burnes' list of the Turcoman tribes
in 1832 is still quoted by writers on Central Asia, and
indicates the position and strength of them at that date.
Tribes. Tents.
1. Tekke (of the Tejend) - - 40,000 •
2. Ersari (of the Upper Oxus) - 40,000
3. Sarik (of Merv) - - - 20,000
4. Yomud (of Astrabad and Khiva) 20,000
5. Goklan (of the Gorgon) - - 9,000
6. Chodor (of Mangishlak) - 6,000
7. Salor (of Sarakhs) - - - 2,000
8. Sakar (of the Oxus) - - - 2.000
9. Ata (of the Balkan) - - - 1JOOO
Total of the race - 140,000 *
In 1840, when Abbott visited Khiva, nearly half a million
Turkmen
paid tribute to the Khan, and furnished 25 ,000 horsemen
for his army.
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