Future development

Russian articles sold in the shops at Merv came to about 719,765 roubles. Bokharan goods now enter free of duty by special favour, so that there is no means of judging their value. There are also no regular statistics of goods entering by railway. Altogether the overturn is reckoned at five. millions, which is putting it at its very highest figure.

In speaking, however, of the resources of the of the oasis Mery oasis, I am referring to that which is still in a backward condition, and is capable of immense development. The soil is well adapted to the growth of cotton, though little is at present produced, the Turkomans apparently not having taken very kindly to the industry, though after the Russian occupation several tons of American cotton-seed were distributed gratis among the inhabitants. Here, however, as well as along the equally suitable banks of the Oxus, improvement may be expected. The growth of timber, so necessary in these parched regions, has also been taken in hand. General Komaroff told me that the planting of the oasis had been commenced in real earnest, and that in time there would be growing there not less than sixty million of trees. Three million young saplings were already to be seen at the height of several feet from the ground at Bairam Ali, ten miles to the east. At the same time the work of

1 The failure of the first attempts is attributed to the fact that the imported seed came from plantations lying near the sea coast. Since it has been brought from the interior the experiment has proved more successful.

scientific irrigation, hitherto neglected, has been begun the repair of the great Sultan Bend Dam, fifty-three miles further up the course of the Murghab, by which alone its distribution over the lower surfaces can be properly regulated, having been committed to a young Polish engineer named Poklefski, and the entire district having been made over to the private purse of the Czar--a guarantee that its development will not be allowed to slacken, or its revenues to result in loss to the exchequer of so economical a monarch. When the new system of

1 The following interesting description of the Sultan Bend works in 1888 is translated from the Comte de Cholet's book, Excursion en Turkestan, pp. 202-3: 'An embankment of concrete 58 feet high, acting as a dam, will completely bar the course of the river from bank to bank. Its waters, thus driven back, will form an immense lake 375 acres in extent, out of which four sluices will be constructed, at a height exactly calculated beforehand, so as to allow of the water being distributed into big canals, carrying it into the interior of the country. Special dredging machines, invented by M. Poklefski, will be employed to stir up the waters of the lake, and to prevent the alluvium from settling; and as the velocity of the stream, the moment the sluices are opened, will be greater than that of the original current, only an insignificant portion will sink to the bottom of the canals. The latter, which are also to be intersected with sluices, and are carried forward with a regulated fall, will be subdivided into smaller canals, gradually diminishing in size, and spreading fertility and riches among the Turkomans far beyond Merv. Even in flood-time, the top of the dam being much above the normal level of the river, only an insignificant quantity of water will pass over. The lake alone will be considerably swollen, but without serious consequences, since its waters will be confined between the hills that border the Murghab both on the right and left, at a distance of several versts, and converge exactly at this spot, leaving only a narrow passage between, which will be barred by the dam. The small amount of water that may succeed in escaping over the embankment will fall into the old bed of the river, and be hemmed in between its banks; so that it will not be able to repeat the serious damage to the country that was caused by the floods of two years ago (1886), which all but swept away the new town of Merv, and destroyed at its outset the excellent handiwork of Alikhanoff. Small dams, made only

Turkoman character

canalisation is in working order, it is anticipated that it will subdue to cultivation a territory of some 200,000 acres, upon which it is proposed to plant Russian peasants as colonists in equal number with the Turkomans. If we add to this that Merv is the very central point of the trade routes from Bokhara and the Oxus to Eastern Persia, and from Central Asia to India through Afghanistan, we can believe that there yet may rise on the banks of the Murghab a city worthy of the site and of the name.

When Alikhanoff, in the disguise of a clerk, visited Merv in 1882, his report to the Russian Government contained the following not too flattering account of his future subjects: Besides being cruel, the Merv Tekkes never keep a promise or an oath if it suits their purpose to break it. In addition to this they are liars and gluttons. They are frightfully envious; and finally, among all the Turkomans there is not a people so unattractive in every moral respect as the Tekkes of Merv.' We may conjecture that this

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of fascines and sacks of earth, because they will only have to resist a slight pressure, will stop up the old canals which are no longer to be used; whilst all the other constructions, whether dams or sluices, will be made of concrete, manufactured and cemented on the spot. Two years hence (i.c. 1890) the whole of this work, in the competent hands of M. Poklefski, will be completed. Every aoul, every hamlet, every single proprietor will know exactly the period of the year at which to irrigate his fields. The surface of arable land will be multiplied almost tenfold. The whole country will be covered with marvellous crops; and the market of Merv will be able to send to Russia and the Caucasus an immense quantity of first-rate cotton, which has cost nothing to produce, and, being subject to no duty, can be sold at prices of extraordinary cheapness.' The estimated cost of the new dam was 24,000l.

The general reputation of the Turkoman as a savage and a bandit may be illustrated by Turkoman proverbs :—

is a verdict which he would not now endorse without qualification; and though the broad features of the national character may remain stereotyped-though Turkoman morals are indubitably coarse, and their standards of honesty low, yet later travellers who have resided in their midst, or have had occasion to employ their services, have testified to the possession of good qualities on their part, such as amiability, frankness, hospitality, and a rough code of honour. M Bonvalot, the French traveller, who was at Merv in 1886, wrote a letter to the Journal des Débats, in which he said, 'The Russians are of opinion, and I agree with them, that the Tekkes are worthy people, very affable and mild, and with a frankness that is both astonishing and delightful after the rascality of the Persians and the platitudes of the Bokhariots.' Their behaviour is largely dependent upon the handling of the Russians, which has so far been eminently successful. As the same authority very truly remarked in his latest work, So long as they can get

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The Turkoman neither needs the shade of a tree nor the protection of man.'

'When the sword has been drawn, who needs another excuse?'

The Turkoman on horseback knows neither father nor mother.' 'Where there is a city there are no wolves; where there are Turkomans there is no peace.'

The prodigious prestige enjoyed by the Turkoman brigands is amusingly illustrated by the story told by Grodekoff (chap. i.) of a Persian who enjoyed a great reputation for bravery, and was attacked in the night by a Tekke. The Persian, being the stronger of the two, soon threw his assailant to the ground; but just as he was taking out his knife to cut the latter's throat, the Tekke called out: What are you doing? Do you not see that I am a Tekke?' The Persian at once lost his presence of mind and dropped the knife, which was seized by the Tekke and plunged into his opponent's heart.

Through the Heart of Asia to India. By G. Bonvalot. 1889.

3trategical importance of Mery

water, toleration, speedy, stern, and equitable justice, and have their taxes levied fairly, the people of Central Asia do not as a rule ask for anything more.'

The overwhelming strategical importance of Merv in relation to India is a dictum which I have never

been able to understand. I have seen it argued with irreproachable logic, in magazine articles, that Merv is the key to Herat, Herat the key to Kandahar, and Kandahar the key to India. But the most scientific