Proceedings of the
Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain)
Norton Shaw, Francis Galton, Clements Robert Markham,
William Spottiswoode, Henry Walter Bates, John Scott
Keltie
Published by, 1879
The Road
to Merv. By Major-General Sir H. C. RAWLINSON, K.O.B.
(Read at
the Evening Meeting, January 27th, 1879.)
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selected as their permanent station
for controlling the Akhal, and which requires therefore
to be noticed in some detail. "
With the district of Ghoochan, Geok
Tepe," we are informed,” communicates by the Garmab
Valley, up which runs the best existing road. It is also
about the nearest point of the Atock to Khiva.
Southeastwards all the Akhal settlements lie open to it,
and if it were occupied by Russia, the neighboring tribes
must either submit or move away to Merv. The three '
obahs ' of Geok Tepe, Akhal, and Yengi Kileh which lie
together, have a population estimated at 5000 families,
the largest number by far to be found at any one time in
one place in the Atock. There is ample pasture and corn
land, watered by the Garmab stream, which is called by
the Turkmen
the Sekez-ab from its division in former times into eight
irrigating branches, and is said to have a constant
discharge of 10 feet section, with a rapid current.
A large mound now known as the
Karaoul Tepe marks the site of extensive ruins and the
plain for some distance is said to be covered with broken
bricks and pottery."
The extreme eastern limit of
the Akhal Tekes (Tekke) is at the Obah of Gawars; beyond
that point, after an interval without camps, commences
the Deregez Atock, which is a district of great
importance in itself, and of still greater importance in
connection with the expected Russian advance on Merv.
Deregez is a Persian district along the northern slopes
of the great range, and shut out from the desert beyond
by a chain of lower hills.* It is about 40 miles from
west to east, by 30 miles from north to south, well
watered, fertile, and populous, and mainly owes its
celebrity to its being held by Turk and Kurdish tribes,
who are exceptionally brave, hardy, and inured to war. It
would be impossible for an army to pass from the Akhal
Atock to Merv without traversing Deregez, for the desert
comes up close to the foot of the northern hills. It is,
moreover, the natural base for any serious operation
against Merv, and it may therefore be regarded as certain
that after the final subjugation of the Akhal Tekes
(Tekke), should this ever take place, there will he a
Russian occupation of Deregez, either with or without the
consent of Persia, preparatory to a final movement on the
Teke (Tekke) stronghold, between the arms of the Murghab.
Captain Napier, whose visit to Deregez is described in
the Society's Journal, estimates the population at about
18,000, distributed between three largo villages and some
*
- Deregez has no place
either in ancient or modern geography, the
district having been a dependency of Abiverd,
which, as is well known, is mentioned both by
Pliny and Isidore, and until quite recently has
been an important place. It is probable that the
Epardus of the Greeks which was lost in the sand,
and which has accordingly been usually identified
with the modern Tejen, may have derived its name
from this same district of .Abiverd (water of
Verd or Eterd), the two streams of the Tejen and
Abiverd having been at one time absorbed in the
same sandy swamp before reaching the Oxus.
Persian tradition derives the name of Abiverd
from a certain hero of romance, Bacerd, son of
Gudarz, to whom the city was supposed to owe its
foundation.
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