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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thirty hamlets and he says that
there is room in the valley for at least 5000 more. At
present only sufficient grain is raised for the
consumption of the inhabitants, but the communication is
easy with Kuchan and Shirwan, which are among the best
corn-producing districts of Khorasan, so that every
facility would exist if a Russian force were encamped
here for filling up supplies before crossing the desert.
The final operations against Merv
will always be of considerable difficulty, whether the
march be attempted directly across the desert from
Deregez or Kelat, or whether a detour be made to the
south, so as to reach Sarakhs, and thus gain the high
road leading to the Oxus.
Captain Napier estimates the
distance from the eastern extremity of the Deregez Atock
(say from Abiverd, the ancient capital which gave its
name to the district, but which is 30 miles beyond the
inhabited part of the Deregez Plain) at 160 miles, and
says that it is traversed by camels, or laden mules, in
six days ; the Tejen, which is the last remnant of the
Hari-Rud, here shrunk to a rivulet, and absorbed shortly
afterwards in the sands of the desert, being crossed in
the second stage, and a few wells of brackish water being
found at the other halting-places between the Tejen and
the nearest arm of the Murghab; but there is no instance
that I am aware of, of an army having ever attempted the
"trajet," certainly not in face of an enemy,
and 1 doubt exceedingly if General Llomakin, unless under
circumstances of the most pressing urgency, would
undertake so perilous an enterprise.* It is far more
likely that the Russians from Abiverd, which, though well
watered, is now uninhabited, would traverse the Kelat
Atock by Chardeh and Mehna to Serakhs, leaving the famous
plateau of Kelat-i-Nadiri some 10 or 20 miles to the
right. The distances along this Hue are approximately as
follows : — From the last Akhal " obah "
at Gawars, to Abiverd, through the Deregez Atock, 70
miles ; to Mehna, along the Kelat Atock, 60 miles, and on
to Serakhs, 70 miles, giving the whole distance from
Kizyl-Arvat to Serakhs at 360 miles.
The Deregez and Kelat Atocks have
not, perhaps, as fine pasturage as the Akhal Atock, but
they have much greater advantages in regard to soil and
water, the rivers being more numerous and of larger
volume, while the plain when cleared of sand is found to
be covered everywhere with an alluvial deposit. In
ancient times Niesa and Abiverd were sister capitals, and
Mehna, south of Abiverd, was also a place of some
consequence, being the chief city of the district of
Khaieerdn, which was one of the most fertile portions of
Khorasan.
Kelat-i-Nadiri, from which the Kelat Atock takes its
name, is a natural fortress of extraordinary size and
strength. A plateau 18 miles *
- The high road described
by Isidore seems to have led direct from Abiverd
to Merv, as the distance is only 58 echeni, or
about 170 miles, from the frontier of the Nissa
district, through Abiverd to Margiana, but the Oxus
may at that time have contained water which would
have greatly facilitated the transit.
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