frank and fred in the turcoman country.—the trans-caspian railway.—skobeleff's campaign, and the capture of geok tepé.—english jealousy of russian advances.—rivers of central asia.—the oxus and jaxartes.—agriculture by irrigation.—khiva, samarcand, and bokhara.—a ride on the trans-caspian railway.—statistics of the line.—kizil arvat, askabad, and sarakhs.—route to herat and india.—turcoman devastation.—the afghan boundary question.—how merv was captured.—o'donovan and macgahan: their remarkable journeys.—railway route from england to india.—return to baku.
map showing the relations of russia and england in the east.
our young friends were up early, in their eagerness to see the country of the turcomans. they found themselves looking at a comparatively flat region, quite in contrast with the chain of the caucasus, that filled the horizon to the west of baku, and interposed a formidable barrier between the caspian and black seas. the steamer headed into a narrow bay which formed the harbor of mikhailovsk, the new town[pg 452] whence the trans-caspian railway takes its departure in the direction of india.
sand-storm in the desert.
everything indicated the newness of the place. houses, barracks, piers, railway-station, all were new, and many of the houses were not even finished. russian soldiers and russian officers were numerous in the crowd at the landing-place, and there were scores of mujiks busily engaged in handling goods destined for the railway or for the steamers, but they did not by any means have a monopoly of the labor market of mikhailovsk. tartars, kirghese, turcomans, persians, and other asiatics were there in considerable numbers. they appeared to be quite as industrious as the mujiks, and every way as keen to scent a job wherein money was to be earned.
it is an interesting circumstance that the turcomans, now that they are forbidden to indulge in raiding, have turned their attention to steady[pg 453] industry, and promise to make good citizens. whatever may be their faults, they are not a lazy people; they gave up their raiding habits very unwillingly; but when once convinced that they must live by industry, they seem to have accepted the situation.
turcoman court of justice.
mr. ivanovich, the gentleman who invited our friends to cross the caspian, was connected with the management of the trans-caspian railway, as the line from mikhailovsk is called. during the voyage from baku he gave the youths an account of the building of the railway, and matters connected with it, of which frank made the following notes:
"the trans-caspian railway," said mr. ivanovich, "owes its existence to a military necessity that arose in 1879. when the russians first occupied the turcoman country they built fortifications, and settled down to stay. general skobeleff always claimed that we made a great mistake in doing so; the government did not think it safe to make a movement directly into the turcoman country, and consequently several years were occupied in doing what skobeleff thought should have been done in one. the turcomans knew nothing about regular warfare, and we might have crushed them in a little while with our trained battalions. but we waited so long that they learned how to fight, partly through our own instruction, and then it required the best of fighting to defeat them.
"it looked at one time as if the turcomans would altogether prevent us from getting any foothold in their country beyond the shores of the caspian. skirmishes almost without number occurred, in which sometimes the russians and sometimes the turcomans had the best of the contest.[pg 454] skobeleff, then a captain, was one of those who landed at krasnovodsk in 1869. he made more successes in the fighting with the turcomans than anybody else; but in 1873 he was called away in the campaign against khiva, and from that time to 1879 nothing of moment was accomplished.
kirghese tomb.
"in 1878 tekme sardar, a turcoman chief, submitted to the russians, and was received into their camp at krasnovodsk. he remained there several months, and then, for some real or fancied injury, fled from the camp, and collected his followers with the determination to make war on the invaders. at a place called geok tepé he formed a junction with other chiefs, and established a camp.
"tekme sardar had made good use of his eyes during his stay among us. he showed his people how to build forts. about forty thousand turcomans, with their families, collected at geok tepé, and threw up an immense earthwork exactly like the defences built by the russians. general lomakin advanced against this earthwork in 1879, and after a series of skirmishes outside the walls he attacked the turcomans in their stronghold, and was severely repulsed. he retired to the shores of the caspian, and thus ended the campaign for that year.
charge of russian cavalry against turcomans.
"general skobeleff was then appointed to the command of the turcoman[pg 455]
[pg 456] district, and the government told him he could have anything he wanted in men or munitions of war.
"the government had a hundred miles of railway material somewhere on its south-western frontier, which was intended for use in case of the failure of the berlin congress. skobeleff asked for this material, and it was at once transferred to the caspian. he changed the base of operations from krasnovodsk to mikhailovsk, and at once began the construction of the line. the whole movement was made so quietly that hardly anything was known of the work until the track had been laid about half-way to kizil arvat, one hundred and forty-four miles from mikhailovsk.
"skobeleff could not wait for the completion of the railway. while the road was being constructed he pushed forward to bami, a strong point in the akhal oasis, where he built a fort, and gradually collected the materials for the siege of geok tepé. when everything was in readiness he advanced and began the siege, which lasted fully a month.
"perhaps the following figures will interest you: the russians were between eight and ten thousand strong, of all arms, infantry, cavalry, and artillery. the artillery comprised sixty-nine guns, while the turcomans had no cannon to oppose them with. when the siege began, skobeleff found that his cannon made little impression upon the clay walls of the fort, so he ordered his artillery to fire over the walls and into the enclosed space, in order to demoralize the people within as much as possible. in fighting against asiatics, artillery always has a prominent part. its moral effect in frightening them is certainly ten times as great as its destructive power.
russian army on the turcoman steppes.
"during the siege the artillery fired from one hundred to five hundred shots daily, and the infantry used from ten thousand to seventy thousand rounds of ammunition in the same time. skobeleff sunk a mine under the rampart, and exploded more than a ton of gunpowder at a single blast. it made a wide breach, through which the russian army poured into the fort, with very little opposition on the part of the turcomans. the latter fled in the direction of merv, but were pursued by the russian cavalry. the slaughter is said to have been fearful, and the russians say that twenty thousand turcomans perished in the siege and capture of geok tepé. during the assault and pursuit the infantry fired 273,804 rounds, the cavalry 12,510, and the artillery 5,864; 224 military rockets were also used.[8]
"many careful students of the history of central asia," continued mr. ivanovich, "consider the siege and capture of geok tepé the most important[pg 457]
[pg 458] victory ever achieved by the russians in turkestan. it opened the way for the russian advance to the frontier of india, and carried the boundaries of the empire southward to those of persia. in the interest of humanity it was of the greatest importance, as it broke up the system of man-stealing and its attendant cruelties which the turcomans had practised for centuries. the people of northern persia no longer live in constant terror of turcoman raids; the slave-markets of central asia are closed, and doubtless forever."
frank asked if the english government was as well pleased with the result of the siege as were the russians.
mr. ivanovich said he did not know exactly how the english regarded the victory, but from the tone of their press and the utterances of british statesmen, he did not think they would have mourned if the russians had been repulsed. "england," said he, "is jealous of russian advances in turkestan. lord salisbury believed that the turcoman barrier against russia would last his lifetime, and many other english statesmen and officers shared his belief.
"no doubt they were very sorry for the sufferings of the persians, who were sold into slavery after seeing their homes plundered and their fields devastated, but i question if they were willing, for political reasons, to see the turcomans wiped out as they were at geok tepé. i think i have read much more in the english papers about the loss to english commerce by the russian occupation of central asia than of the gain to humanity by the suppression of the turcoman raids.
"the interests of british trade are the first consideration of the british statesman. many thousands of africans and asiatics have died by british bullets and sabres that the commerce of england might be extended. unless i mistake the temper of the british government, i am afraid that the advisers of the queen would prefer the old state of things to the new on the turcoman steppes. the sale of a thousand bales of manchester cottons in the bazaars of turkestan is of more consequence to england than the enslavement of a thousand persians and the desolation of their homes.
"but that is wandering from the subject," said mr. ivanovich, with a smile. "i may be prejudiced, but can't help regarding england as a disturber of the peace all over the world, whenever the disturbance will benefit her trade. she doesn't believe in monopoly, except where she can be the monopolist, and for that reason she is jealous of the way we russians are trying the monopoly business for ourselves. we have the trade of ten millions of asiatics: no great thing to be sure, but we don't propose to[pg 459] hand it over to england just because she wants it. we have cotton factories and other manufacturing establishments, as england has, and the more markets we can have the better it will be for us."
the gentleman paused, and gave fred an opportunity to ask if there were any navigable rivers in turkestan, and, if so, what they were.
winter camp in turcomania.
"there is no navigation worth the name," was the reply. "central asia contains only two rivers of any importance—the oxus and the jaxartes. the oxus is sometimes called the amoo darya, or jihoon, and the jaxartes the syr darya. the oxus is the largest; it rises in the pamir district, in a lake fifteen thousand feet above the sea, and in the upper part of its course receives several tributary rivers that drain bokhara and the north-eastern part of afghanistan. it is about twelve hundred miles long, and flows into the aral sea; for the last eight hundred miles of its course it is navigable for small steamboats, but its mouth is divided into so many shallow channels that boats have great difficulty in entering it. the russians have half a dozen steamers on the aral sea, and as many more light-draught steamboats for navigating the oxus."
"haven't i read that the oxus formerly emptied into the caspian sea?" said frank.
[pg 460]
"quite likely you have," said mr. ivanovich, "as there is little doubt that such was the case. the old bed of the oxus can be distinctly traced, and geographers are generally agreed that the river entered the caspian by three mouths. ptolemy and strabo both state distinctly that in their time the oxus flowed into the caspian, and formed the principal trade-route between europe and asia."
"how came it to change its course?"
turcoman irrigating wheel.
"much of the region traversed by the oxus is a desert, and the only agriculture possible there is by irrigation. in order to increase the area under cultivation, the turcomans built dams that turned the oxus in the direction of a vast plain which contains the aral sea. since the occupation of the country by the russians, it has been proposed to return the oxus to its ancient bed, and bring it down to the caspian. it is not likely that this will be done, as the result would be that the whole lower[pg 461]
[pg 462] course of the oxus, where there are many flourishing farms and gardens, would again become a desert waste. much less water flows through the oxus than in former times, and the engineers who have studied the question do not think the river would be navigable when returned to its ancient bed.
scene at a ferry on the oxus.
"the other river of central asia, the jaxartes, or syr darya, is smaller than the oxus, and about eleven hundred miles long. it rises in the pamir region, and empties, like the oxus, into the aral sea. its course is generally parallel to the oxus, and in the same way it fertilizes a large area of what would otherwise be desert. its volume has greatly diminished in the last few centuries, and is even known to be considerably less than it was sixty or eighty years ago. the oxus enters the southern end of the aral sea, while the jaxartes comes in considerably farther to the north. the diversion of these two rivers would probably result in drying up the aral sea, a shallow body of water two hundred and fifty miles long by half as many wide."
map of the russo-afghan region.
fred asked if the caspian was higher or lower than the aral sea.
"they are of the same level, or nearly so," was the reply, "though[pg 463] some engineers say the aral is about one hundred and fifty feet higher than the caspian, and the indications are that the two seas were formerly connected. the whole plain of turcomania is thought to have been at one time an inland sea. at its southern extremity the aral is bordered by an immense marsh, and it is through this marsh that the oxus discharges its waters.
"khiva stands near the oxus, in the midst of beautiful gardens, all nourished by the water from the river. khiva, bokhara, samarcand, and kokan would become masses of ruins if the oxus and jaxartes were dried up, and you may be sure the russians will give the subject careful consideration before disturbing the course of the waters. nowhere in the world will you see more careful irrigation than along these rivers, with the possible exception of the nile valley. all through central asia the only possible agriculture is upon the watercourses, or where there are never-failing wells. canals and irrigation-wheels are everywhere, and you will often see evidences of excellent engineering abilities in the construction of some of the artificial water-ways.
"general annenkoff, the officer in charge of the construction of the trans-caspian railway, has a scheme for creating a new oasis, capable of supporting two hundred thousand people, near the disputed boundary between turkestan and afghanistan. he proposes to turn one of the tributaries of the oxus for that purpose, and is confident that he can make a fertile area of several hundred square miles by carefully utilizing the water of the stream."
on landing at mikhailovsk, our friends were introduced to several russian officers, some of whom had been in america, and who heartily welcomed the trio of travellers from that far-away land. they were invited to the club-house, where they were lodged and cared for; the town did not boast an hotel other than a very indifferent khan, which had all the discomforts of the orient, with none of its good points.
frank and fred endeavored to find the time-table of the railway, with a view to making an excursion into turkestan. their inquiries were rewarded with the information that there was no regular time for running the trains, as the business transacted on the line was nearly all of a military character. but a train was to leave in the morning for kizil arvat, one hundred and forty-four miles, and if they cared to make the journey they were at liberty to do so.
finding they would have time to go to kizil arvat and return before the departure of the steamer for baku, they accepted the invitation, which included the doctor as well as themselves. early the next morning the[pg 464] train rolled out from the station; it consisted of a locomotive and ten or twelve carriages. one carriage contained the officers of a regiment of infantry that filled the remaining vehicles; the regiment was bound for the frontier, where england and russia have latterly been discussing the question of the boundary, and a discussion of this kind is materially assisted by the presence of soldiers.
turcoman woman spinning.
we will refer to fred's account of the railway journey in turkestan.
"we were invited to seats in the carriage where the officers were riding. they did everything to make our journey agreeable, and we were indebted to them for a great deal of information about central asia.[pg 465] some of them had been to the british frontier, and one had visited cabul, herat, and candahar.
"the route of the railway was partly across the desert, and partly along the valleys of two or three small rivers of no special importance except for their usefulness in supplying water for the line. for a considerable distance the line lies near the etrek, a river that was of great use to general skobeleff in his advance upon geok tepé. at times it is simply a dry channel, but water can generally be found by digging a few feet in the sand that forms, in the rainy season, the bed of the stream.
village of turcoman tents.
"the country is a plain, with here and there a few hills not worthy to be called mountains. sometimes the plain is flat for a long distance, and again it is undulating like the rolling prairies of our western states. vegetation is scanty at best, and a large part of the country is absolutely desert. the great need of central asia is water. if a million springs could be opened, all giving a copious flow like some of the great springs in our rocky mountains, the next ten or twenty years would see a great change in the aspect of turkestan.
"one of the officers told me that the country was of the same general character all the way to the frontier of afghanistan. 'the railway can be extended without trouble,' said he, 'as far as we wish to carry it. there's not an obstacle at all formidable to railway engineers.'
"i asked, with some hesitation, where they wished to carry their railway line. i knew the subject was not disconnected with politics, but the[pg 466] question was innocent enough, and he could answer it as he chose, and probably did.
the new russo-afghan frontier.
"'we built the line,' said he, 'first to kizil arvat, one hundred and forty-four miles, and then extended it to askabad, one hundred and ten miles farther. we are now building to sarakhs, one hundred and eighty-five miles from askabad, and there we may stop. perhaps it will be pushed on to herat, two hundred and two miles from sarakhs, but it can not be under the present political situation. afghanistan is under english control. you know the english government gives the ameer of that country a large annual payment of money for his friendship; and until we are willing to give a higher bribe he is not likely to permit us to build railways in his territory.
"'from sarakhs our next line will be to merv, the rich oasis that came under russian control a few years ago, or possibly merv may be reached by a branch from askabad. perhaps there will one day be a line from merv to samarcand and bokhara, but this is far in the future. from merv a railway may be run along the valley of the murghab to herat; but it is not a direct route, and we are much more likely to reach herat by way of sarakhs, along the valley of the heri-rud. whichever way[pg 467] we take, the building of the road would not be at all difficult. the murghab route has the disadvantage of being longer than that of the heri-rud, but its cost per mile would be much less, as the country is smoother.
"'i suppose,' he continued, 'that there is a sort of race between england and russia to get to herat with a railway. england is building north from india, while we are building south from the caspian. the terminal points of the two lines are now less than eight hundred miles apart, and it is very evident that the english and russian locomotives will be whistling in the hearing of each other, and blowing steam in each other's faces, within the next few years.[9]
"'if we were not confronted by diplomacy we could reach herat considerably in advance of the english, as we have the shorter and easier line to build to get there. but with our scrupulous regard for treaties and agreements, we may be hindered in our railway building, and have the mortification of seeing our rivals there ahead of us. the english consider herat the key to india, and are determined that we shall not possess it. we don't care much for it anyway, but are perfectly willing to place it beneath the sheltering wings of the black eagle.
[pg 468]
"'when you are considering sarakhs,' he continued, 'remember that there are two places of that name. old sarakhs is a mass of ruins; only a single building remains, and that is a tomb in which the body of abel is said to rest. another tomb a few miles away is known as the tomb of cain, and there is a tradition that the garden of eden was in the neighborhood of sarakhs. the russians have occupied old sarakhs, and will establish a military post there of considerable importance as soon as the railway is completed.
old sarakhs.
"'old sarakhs is near the heri-rud river, which here forms a dividing line between persia and the turcoman country. the persians have built a town called new sarakhs on their side of the river, and protected it by a fort; they keep a small garrison there, and as we have no quarrel with persia, and are not likely to have, it is quite sufficient for all purposes of peace.
"'i wish you could go with me through that country and see the effect of the turcoman raiding system which was continued through generations, and has only recently come to an end. centuries ago the valleys of the murghab and heri-rud contained a large population, and the same was the case over a wide extent of country.
"'ride where you will, you find the traces of irrigating canals in great number. in the third century this region was said to contain a thousand cities, probably an exaggeration, but indicative of the dense population it sustained, and might still sustain. in many places the valleys of the murghab and heri-rud are several miles in width and perfectly flat. there are ruined canals all over these wide places, showing that they were once cultivated; they might be cultivated again and rendered fertile as of old by the same system that was once in vogue. the country is a desert because it is not tilled, and it is not tilled because it has no inhabitants. turcoman[pg 469] raids have made the desolation by enslaving, killing, or driving away the people that once lived here.
sarik turcoman woman.
"'since the raiding ceased the sarik turcomans, who were formerly as much addicted to it as any others, have turned their attention to agriculture. they have occupied parts of the murghab valley near pul-i-khisti and ak tapa, where they have cleared out the old irrigation canals, set their ploughs and other implements at work, and seem to be forgetting altogether their former mode of life. they have settled into villages, but live in kibitkas in preference to houses of mud or other solid materials. considering their recent subjugation, they are quite friendly with the russians; they know we will never allow them to resume their predatory life, but as long as they behave themselves they will find us to be kind masters, and our military and engineering work in their country will assure them a good market for their surplus produce.'
"i asked the gentleman to tell me the difference between pul-i-khisti and pul-i-khatun, which we had read so much about in the newspapers, at the time of the conflict between the russians and afghans.
"'pul-i-khatun is on the heri-rud or tejend river, a few miles south of sarakhs. in the persian language "pul" means bridge, and "khatun" lady, so that pul-i-khatun may be translated "bridge of[pg 470] the lady." the bridge that bears this name is said to have been erected in the time of tamerlane, the great conqueror, at the request of one of the ladies of his family. it is of brick, in six arches, and has not been repaired for a long time; the central arch is broken, but the others are in serviceable condition.
pul-i-khisti and ak tapa.
"'pul-i-khisti means "bridge of bricks," and is over the murghab river, where that stream unites with the kushk. it became famous as the scene of the fight between the russians and afghans, in the early part of 1885. each party throws the blame of the affair upon the other; naturally enough i think the afghans were at fault, but as i may be prejudiced on the subject it is not worth while to discuss it. pul-i-khisti is close to penjdeh, which is nothing more than a mass of ruins where a town once stood; the russians may be able to make something out of it, and the next time i go there i shouldn't be surprised to find a strong fort.
"'the english wanted to make the boundary so that it would leave penjdeh in the possession of the afghans, but we persuaded them that the place would be safer in our hands than theirs. you will find on the map the boundaries as they have been arranged, and as long as england[pg 471] keeps to her agreement there is not likely to be any trouble. of course we shall faithfully abide by our promises, but one can never tell when the treacherous afghans will cross the boundaries and make depredations upon our peaceful subjects. then we will defend our rights; it is for such defence we have built the railway on which you are now travelling, and we shall maintain a good-sized force of troops on or near the frontier. by means of our railways and steamers we can get to the frontier a great deal quicker than england can possibly reach it from her capital; and if she chooses to make war on us she will find us ready.
penjdeh.
"'with the vladikavkaz railway finished to petrovsk on the caspian, and the trans-caspian railway completed to sarakhs, we could bring troops from moscow to the latter point inside of a week. there would only be the crossing of the caspian, which is little more than a ferry, between petrovsk and mikhailovsk, to break the continuous journey by rail. from sarakhs to herat, as i before said, is about two hundred miles, which could be covered in two or three weeks by a russian army. we think we can get to herat more quickly than england can in case of war, but let us all hope that the necessity for the experiment may never come.'"
fred thought there was a confident smile on the face of the russian as he pronounced the above words. it was very evident that the russians in central asia had an abiding faith in their ability to take care of themselves in case of a conflict with england.
[pg 472]
while conversing with another officer, the youths ascertained that he had accompanied the first russian expedition to the merv oasis, or rather the expedition that converted that stronghold of the turcomans into russian territory, with the loss of only one man. the gentleman said the oasis was watered by the murghab, which practically terminated there; the river was diverted into a great number of little streams, and the country included in these streams formed the oasis. the mervis were more peaceable than their fellow turcomans, but very jealous of strangers, and not willing to admit anybody to their limited territory.
they had a fort larger and stronger than the one against which skobeleff's army was nearly shattered to pieces at geok tepé; it was an enclosure with high, thick walls of mud, and large enough to hold the whole population with their flocks and herds. the oasis is about one hundred and twenty miles from askabad and ninety from the nearest point on the tejend; it was formerly incorporated with the surrounding provinces of turkestan, but for many years has been independent.
colonel alikhanoff.
"we wanted merv," said the russian officer to whom allusion has just been made, "but we didn't want to fight for it; so we resorted to diplomacy, and through the skill of general komaroff and colonel alikhanoff, aided by a few others who were in the secret, we came into peaceful possession of the place. i have no doubt the mervis are all very glad we are there, now that the thing has been done.
"colonel alikhanoff went from askabad to merv in company with a russian merchant who had a dozen camels laden with goods. they remained there a fortnight, and then returned safely, accompanied by several delegates from the mervis who wished to consult with the russian commander[pg 473] at askabad about some camels that had been stolen from them by the persians. the delegates were kindly received, and went home with a favorable report which ultimately led to the occupation of merv by a small force of russian cavalry and infantry. a fort was built, and a bazaar opened for the exchange of russian goods for the products of the oasis, and ever since then the russians and mervis have been on terms of friendship. of course there were some of the mervis who opposed the advent of our soldiers, but they are now our earnest advocates, and would be the last to ask us to leave.
the great highway of central asia.
"merv is about two hundred and forty miles from herat, and if we should ever be obliged to march against that afghan stronghold, the oasis will be an excellent point to start from after accumulating the necessary stores and material of war. it promises to be a good centre of trade, and its importance was easy to comprehend when the english government made such a fuss as it did about our taking it.
"before we were established there," continued the officer, "an english newspaper correspondent, edmund o'donovan, went to merv by way of[pg 474] persia, and lived in the oasis for five months. at first the people treated him coldly, but he gradually won their confidence and convinced them of his friendliness. they made him one of their elders, and appointed him to a place on the governing council; he has told the story of his residence among these strange people in an interesting volume entitled 'the merv oasis.'
"one of the most remarkable journeys ever made on the turcoman steppes," said the gentleman in conclusion, "was accomplished by another newspaper correspondent, an american named macgahan, during the campaign against khiva in 1873. without an escort, and accompanied only by a servant and two guides, he started from fort peroffsky, on the jaxartes or syr darya river, near the aral sea, to overtake general kaufmann's army, that had gone to the attack of khiva. its exact whereabouts were unknown; he had eight or ten days of desert travel before him, and if he had fallen into the hands of the turcomans or kirghese who roam over the desert, his fate would have been certain death.
"the russians at fort peroffsky refused to allow him to start, as they considered it impossible for him to make the journey, and he was obliged to slip out of the place in the night. he had several narrow escapes, but managed to get through all right and join general kaufmann's column just as the fighting before khiva began. the officers told him the chances of his getting across the desert with his life were not more than one in a hundred. he remained with our army till the end of the khivan campaign, and every officer who knew him felt that he had lost a personal friend when the news of macgahan's death came a few years later. the story of his adventures is told in his book—'campaigning on the oxus and the fall of khiva.'
"in 1875 a similar journey was made by captain burnaby, an english officer of the guards. he has given an admirable account of his experience in a book entitled, 'a ride to khiva.'"
"conversation such as this," writes fred in his journal, "beguiled the tediousness of the ride over the flat and desolate region through which the railway passes. at the few oases where we stopped, we saw little villages of turcomans, but they were so much alike that the descriptions you have already read will answer for them all. at kizil arvat we found an oasis containing altogether half a dozen square miles of tillable land, on which were several turcoman villages, and a russian town of perhaps a thousand inhabitants.
"we call the town russian from the flag that waves over it, rather than from the nationality of those who live in it. they are russians,[pg 475] turcomans, kirghese, persians, armenians, and jews, and i don't know how many other races and kinds of people. there is a good deal of commerce, mostly in the hands of armenians and russians, but much less than when the railway terminated here. the business of merv and the penjdeh district is at the end of the railway; in this respect the commerce of central asia is much like that of our far-western country, and changes its base with each change of the means of transport.
turcoman farm-yard.
"there is a fort at kizil arvat, and also a bazaar, and we are told that askabad is similarly provided. whenever the russians establish themselves[pg 476]
[pg 477] in any part of turkestan, they build a fort and a bazaar side by side. hardly has the army pitched its tents before the shops are opened and the natives are invited to come in and trade. all who come are kindly treated; in a little time whatever hesitation the natives may have possessed is gone, and the cheapness of the goods on sale converts the former enemies into friends. there is no doubt that russia thoroughly understands the asiatic nature, and deals with it accordingly.
map of turkestan, showing route of the trans-caspian railway.
"most of our return journey to mikhailovsk was made in the night, which we did not specially regret, where so much of the route was through the uninteresting desert. we were told that when the railway was started, it was intended to make a narrow-gauge line that would be taken up as soon as the capture of geok tepé had been accomplished. but the undertaking had not gone far before the plans were changed and a well-built railway, on the standard gauge of russia, was the result. the line is well equipped with cars, and at no distant day will form a link in the overland route from england to india.
"when the russian and indian lines form a connection near herat or candahar, the vladikavkaz railway will be completed to petrovsk, on the caspian. the traveller may then go from london to bombay or calcutta in nine or ten days. his entire journey will be made by rail, with the exception of the passages of the english channel and the caspian sea, the former requiring two hours, and the latter an entire day. russia is already talking of an extension of the line from tsaritsin, along the lower volga and around the northern end of the caspian to a connection with the trans-caspian railway. should this line be made, the journey to india would be wholly a land route, with the exception of 'the silver streak,' between dover and calais."
while our friends are musing on the possibilities of the railway to india, and its benefits to commerce and civilization, they have recrossed the caspian and are once more in the petrolia of europe. and now behold them seated in a train of the trans-caucasian railway for a ride to tiflis and the black sea.
a letter in the new york herald of april 19, 1886, says:
"the russians have established a military and naval station at novi golfe, on the caspian, twenty-two versts north-west of mikhailovsk, and connected it with the latter point by railway. in case of war with england, the russians are prepared to strike heavy blows in asia. they have two army corps in the caucasus, and another in turkestan ready for service on their south-eastern frontier. the vessels of the kavkas and mercury steamship company, noble's naphtha fleet, and the greek and armenian vessels on the caspian (which all fly the russian flag), would be immediately pressed into the service. the russians believe that, barring bad weather, they could, with these steamers and a number of[pg 478]
[pg 479] sailing-vessels in tow, transport sixty thousand men across the caspian from astrachan, baku, and petrovsk to novi golfe and mikhailovsk in three days.
crossing a river in central asia.
"the russians would thus dispose of about one hundred and fifteen thousand men—army of the caucasus, sixty thousand; turkestan, thirty thousand; and fifteen thousand turcoman auxiliaries. these latter will supply the advance of the russian columns heading southward from askabad and merv.
"the russians have shown great tact and cleverness in the management of their turcoman subjects. there is at merv a skeleton army, or cadre, of three hundred turcomans, under the command of a cossack officer named kalotine. of the three hundred, one hundred are from merv, one hundred are tekkes, and the remainder from other tribes. these men (irregular horse) remain in the service six months. during that time they are paid twenty-five roubles a month, and at its expiration are discharged with the rank of sergeant, but remain liable to military duty in time of war. this plan was adopted to secure good native non-commissioned officers for the fifteen regiments of irregular cavalry. the son of the last khan of merv is now a russian sergeant. ten native turcomans hold the rank of captain in the russian army, and four that of lieutenant, besides which many decorations have been given to those who took part in alikhanoff's foray.
"the construction of the railway between askabad and merv presented great difficulties, on account of the absence of water in many places. to overcome this, artesian wells were dug. the width and current of the tegend-bud necessitated an iron bridge at kara-bend. the trans-caspian railway is built upon the model of the trans-caucasian one, the stations on both being near together, solidly built and comfortable. there are sixteen stations between mikhailovsk and askabad (four hundred and twenty-two versts).
mikhailovsk to
mallakara 22 versts.
bala ischen 35 "
aidin 29 "
paraval 15 "
atchai-komm 16 "
kasandjik 31 "
ossausan 16 "
ouchak 23 "
kizil-arvat 30 "
koteh 28 "
barni 24 "
arolman 30 "
baharden 30 "
keli-atta 27 "
geok-tepé 25 "
besmeni 21 "
askabad 20 "
[pg 480]
a native traveller.
