174 THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILWAY IN 1903. 



khan that such conduct on his part could not be con- 

 tinued with impunity," brought about that ruler's 

 downfall. So great was the stir caused in England 

 by the advance of Kaufmann's expedition that it was 

 deemed necessary to reassure the British Government, 

 and Count Schouvaloff was instructed to inform Lord 

 Granville that " not only was it far from the intention 

 of the emperor to take possession of Khiva, but positive 

 orders had been prepared to prevent it." Nevertheless, 

 Khiva fell ; a most unjustifiable massacre of the Yo- 

 raud Turkomans was indulged in by way of an extra 

 military flourish, and a treaty signed with Bokhara, 

 which gave over to Russia all Khivan territory on 

 the right bank of the Oxus, opened the river to free 

 navio-ation, and the whole of the khanate to Eussian 

 trade. 



At 11 P.M. I awoke with a start. We were just 

 drawing up alongside of a brightly lit platform. I 

 knew in a moment where we were — we were at Merve. 

 Merve is a name which has rung through England. 

 Not the Merve of ancient splendour as capital of 

 the world of Islam, when the Kalifs ruled from the 

 Mediterranean to Tibet, and from the Caspian Sea 

 to the Persian Gulf— though the ruins of this Merve, 

 too, may be seen ten miles away from the present 

 town, close to the station of Bairam Ali — but the 

 Merve where, in 1881, O'Donovan saw from 7000 to 

 8000 Turkomans working daily on the vast earth- 

 works of Kushid Khan Kala, which was to raise an 

 impenetrable barrier to the Russian advance. But 

 neither the Turkomans nor the frightened protests 

 of an awe-struck Cabinet in London saved the strong- 

 hold of the Turkomans from the Russian maw. In- 

 dignant denials of any intention to take it, from St 

 Petersburg, were thankfully swallowed by the trem- 



