Merv and Its Surroundings Author(s): Edmond O'Donovan Source: Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, New Monthly Series, Vol. 4, No. 6 (Jun., 1882), pp. 345-358 Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1800089 . Accessed: 16/06/2014 05:54 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) and Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 62.122.73.86 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 05:54:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions MERV AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 345 also blacksmiths, carpenters,durry makers,weavers, and barbers. The Takht-i- Suliman properis a niche in a rock about 10 feetbelow the summit,looking as if it had been cut out by hand, and in fronta small ledge, below which the mountain falls precipitously. The legend is that King Solomon used to cause himselfto be transportedby genii to this place and sit thereto enjoy the cool air. There is a shrineon the summit,and many pilgrimsvisit the place, which is approachedby a steep and difficultpath. Colonel H. C. B. Tanner's descriptionof the operationsabout Gilgit shows that all the passes leading across the watershedbetween Gilgit and the Indus have been mapped, and the two most importantones which have been used of late years by Kashmir troops have been visited. A good deal of topographyhas been accom? plished in otherparts of this section of the Indus basin, and Colonel Tanner antici- pates that the subsequent work of the currentyear will have furnishedus with a reliable record of every pass marchingwith the boundary of British and Kashmir territoryon the one side, and the countryof the independenttribes of the Indus on the other,for a distance of over 200 miles,from Gilgit, in the extremenorth-west, to Amb, in the Hazara districtof the Punjab. The work at the headquartersoffices in Calcutta, where the various laborious operations of drawing,compiling, and examining go on, as well as the work of reproductionthrough lithography,copper-plate engraving, and the differentphoto? graphic processes,displays the same unremittingactivity thatever characterisesthis important branch of the Survey Department. The Mathematical Instrument Department,which is chargedwith the importantfunction of supplying the wants of the Marine and Land Survey,the Public Works, Military,and otherGovernment Departments, show a good record of work done, and the Great Trigonometrical Survey Officehas been likewise indefatigablein its varied duties,which include the preparationof a fifthedition of Walker's Turkistan,by far the best map of Central Asia attainable in this or any othercountry. The two last matterscalling fornotice in connectionwith the Indian Survey are the establishmentof various freshstations fortidal observation,by which the number of these points along the Indian coast is now nineteenin all, and the kindredwork of spirit-leveilingby which the opposite localities of Madras and Bombay have been connectedby lines of levels carriedright across the peninsula of India. Merv and its Surroundings. By Edmond O'Donovan. (A Lecturedelivered at the Evening Meeting,March 27th,1882.) Mr. O'Donovan spoke as follows:? As the President has told you, the subject of my lecture this evening is Merv and its immediate surroundings. I have much to say about portions of the Caspian coast westward of Merv, but the time allotted to me will not permit entering into details on that part of my travels. I shall simply preface what I have to say about Merv by noticing the circumstances which brought me there. I had been detaiied on an exploring expedition to Central Tibet, and while passing through the Trans-Caucasus I learned that an expedition was being fitted out against the Turkomans. It was deemed advisable that I should go with it. I was attached to the expedition under General LazarefF, and accom- No. VI.?June 1882.] 2 a This content downloaded from 62.122.73.86 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 05:54:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 346 MERV AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. panied it for about 200 miles ; but on his death and the advent to power of General Turgukasoff, objection was raised to my presence, and I fled at night across the frontier and gained Persian territory at Astrabad. I subsequently went to Gumush Tepe, on the Giurgan, staying in the same house that Yambery occupied. Then I crossed over to the Akhal Tekke frontier, but I found that the way was blocked to me, the Eussian authorities wishing to prevent me, as an Engiishman, from witnessing operations which they desired to keep secret. I had to contend not only with the natural obstacles of the country, but with a very well-managed political opposition. Still I managed to get to Merv, When I commenced my ride to Merv I was on the extreme north- eastern frontier of Persia at Kelat-i-Nadiri. From there I made my start across to Merv. I knew that I should be obliged to have recourse to a ruse de guerre in order to pass the lines, for the Prime Minister of the Shah had given very strict orders that I should not be allowed to join the Turkoman ranks. I pretended to visit the town of Kahka, giving out that that was my only object. I found a Eussian agent there who had sufficient influence over my escort to induce them to lay down their arms and refuse to accompany me. I then simply rode out of the town, pretending to be about to return to Kelat-i-Nadiri, whence I had started, but when once out of sight of Kahka, I turned due east, not knowing what was to happen to me, but I was determined to get to Merv or to perish in the attempt. Fortune favoured me. I reached Mehna where there is an outlying colony of Tekke Turkomans from Merv, who are nominally paying tribute to Persia, but who are really independent. They received me very well, but they were not quite sure that I was not a Eussian. They knew that Skobeleff was close by, and they were not without doubts that I was a forward agent, but still they allowed me to accompany them to their permanent home at Merv. With them I crossed the Tejend river. You have so often heard of the desert in connection with this ground that you are apt to imagine it is one of those sandy, stony wastes, such as you read of in Central Africa and in different parts of Northern Asia. It is no such thing. The country is perfectly fertile, it is only desert through want of water, and notwith- standing that want of water occasional rains produce a herbage which is quite sufficient for the maintenance of camel trains passing through it. Neither is it correct to say that Merv is the only fertile spot of earth in the midst of this desert. It would be simply necessary to construct a proper series of dams on the Murghab and Tejend rivers, and adopt a scientific system of irrigation, and the desert would become fertile again. The distance from Mehna to Merv is about 120 miles, and as our supply of water was carried in goat-skins upon our saddles, we had to make haste and do the distance in twenty hours. Nothing but Turkoman horses could have done that without water, for I need not tell you, horses This content downloaded from 62.122.73.86 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 05:54:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions MERV AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 347 could not be made to drink from leather bags. It is true we came upon a very deep well at Shaitli (Shahidli), about half-way between the Tejend and Merv, but the water there was so mixed with nitrate and chloride of sodium that the horses, though they were thirsty, refused to drink it. The only way in which we could get at it was by lowering a nose- bag into the water and hauling it up as quick as we could. But half the water at least ran through the camel-hair texture, and the horses would not look at it. Late at night we camped in a wood. My companions told me that they were afraid of robbers; I thought this rather peculiar, inasmuch as I was with the most select party of thieves it was possible to find. It reminded me of Gautier's experience in Spain, taking robbers with you to avoid meeting them on the road. While we slept, what is not usual to the desert took place?a tremendous shower of rain commenced falling, and it was nearly four in the morning before we resumed our march. After a couple of hours we arrived at the old caravanserai of Dash Kobat. It is a very extensive establishment indeed, but now inhabited only by jackals and wolves. We remained there for an hour, wringing our garments under the groined arches of the building, once erected by the old authorities of Merv for the service of the caravans that plied in those days between Persia and other parts of Asia.