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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RUSSIA AND THE “HAPPY
LAND." 68 Lomakin in 1876 mentions that the ruins of
Mestorian lie 36^ versts from Bugdaili and those of Meshed5
versts beyond. The locality is very fruitful and grows
still richer as one approaches the Atrek. The Turkmen
say that in good seasons they succeed in securing
harvests of corn 40 or 50 fold, maize 150 or 160 fold,
and djugari 200 fold; such harvests are unknown in Khiva.
Six versts above Tchat there is the first branch, and 4
versts higher up the Sumbar the second branch, of a canal
running 65 versts to the ruins of Mestorian. The town
anciently covered a square mile, and fruit-trees still
testify to the orchards once existing there.*
Petroosevitch concludes: —
“Even in ancient times this region was famous for
its beauty and richness. It bore the title of Degh-i-Stan
(Happy Land), and was celebrated for the abundance of its
wine and fruit, corn and honey. Thus, Bode's description
of the Goklan country is not exaggerated. But Bode visited the region from
Astrabad (present day Gorgon), where the vegetation is
still more profuse and on a more grandiose scale. Had
he rode thither from the north, from the barren steppes
of the Uzboi “(as Petroosevitch himself had done)
"the enchantment would have been still greater. None
the less, the whole of the expanse to the north of the
Atrek, and to the east of the Sumbar to the very passes
of the Kopet Dagh, is uninhabited, and presents the
aspect of a once ran into the Caspian, see Transactions
of the Caucasian Branch of the Imperial Russian
Geographical Society, No. 11, Tiflis, 1880. *
For an account of these ruins, see Conolly and Vamb6ry'fl
travels, and Rawlinson's lecture just referred to. —
C. M.
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