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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Such are the local conditions
rendering the triangle between the Kopet Dagh and Elburz one of
the most favored spots in the world. There, rains and
snows are common to the hills, while side by side the
wastes stretching to the north of the Kopet Dagh are
rarely visited by either. On this account the whole of
the country on both sides of the Atrek, and in particular
on the left side, between the Atrek
and the Gorgon, contains every requisite for
extensive agriculture. Rice grows there, and cotton,
besides walnut and lemon trees, peaches and apricots, and
even the sugar-cane. There also may be seen the ruins of
important cities, such as, Djordjan, Goom-bed-i-Kaus,
Meshed-i-Mesrian, and others. The last, in particular,
claims especial notice. The ruins lie on a plain 30 miles
to the north of the Atrek, and cover a large expanse of
ground. Many buildings are still in a state of almost
perfect preservation. To this town, lying so far from the
river, water was, in ancient times, conveyed by a canal,
known as the Mesto-Doauran canal, running from the
Sumbar, and which may be traced to-day almost from one
extremity to the other." Elsewhere Petroosevitch
observes, in regard to Rawlinson’s lecture on Merv
before the Royal Geographical Society, 27th January 1879:
— “Rawlinson makes the mistake of confounding
Meshed-i-Mesrian (in Turcoman " Myast-Devran "
or " Mestorian ") with Moozderan, wishing to
prove thereby that Meshed-i-Mesrian was the frontier of Iran
and Turania."* A report of General * For
Petroosevitch's lengthy denial of this, and for his
elaborate refutation of Sir Henry Rawlinson’s
statement that the Syr Doris
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