624 REPORT— 1882. 



MONBA T, A UG UST 28. 

 The following Papers were read : — 



1. The Deserts of Africa and Asia. By P. de Tchihatchef. 

 See Reports, p. 35G. 



2. On Merv. By E. O'Donovan. 



Starting from Kelat-i-Nadiri Mr. OTonovan travelled to Archengau, and thence 

 northward to Kahka, a considerahle walled village of 5,000 inhabitants. His next 

 station was Dushakh, or Chard(5h, twenty-five miles distant to westward, and beyond 

 it, some thirty-five miles, the Tekke colony of M6hna. From this latter he started 

 direct for Merv. The ground up to the banks of the river Tejend was flat, partly 

 cultivated, and cut up in many places by the beds of old irrigation canals. The 

 river itself, about fifty yards wide, had cut a shallow ravine some twenty feet in 

 depth. The water was sufiiciently low in that month (March) to allow the stream 

 to be forded, though with difliculty. Trees of various kinds grew plentifully 

 along it, and drift wood had accumulated at places in great quantities. The plain 

 beyond was marly and overgrown with tamarisk bushes. The only water met 

 with was a very brackish well at Shahidli, about half-way between the Tejend and 

 Murghab. Some miles further on were the ruins of a large caravanserai at a place 

 called Dash Robat, and then the inhabited oasis was reached, everywhere dotted 

 with groups of beehive-shaped huts, fifteen feet in diameter, and twelve in lieight. 

 Through its midst the river Murghab flowed, and at a dam at the southern end 

 of the Tekke territory two canals branched ofl", the Alasha to the west, the Novur to 

 the right. These supply the irrigation trenches of the ground occupied by the 

 Toktamish and Otamisn Turkomans, the first settled ou the eastern, the second 

 on the western banks of the river. The Merv oasis is some forty-five miles in 

 length from north to south, and thirty-five in breadth. Numerous groves of fruit 

 trees surround the villages. The staple products are corn of various kinds, melons, 

 cows, sheep and goats. Manufactures there are none, save that of hand-made 

 carpets, which are exported to Persia and Bokhara in very limited quantities. 



On the eastern margin of the oasis are the ruins of the old cities of Merv. The 

 oldest is named Giaour Kala, and is about 900 yards square. The ramparts are 

 forty feet in height — huge earth-banks in fact. This was destroyed by the Arabs, 

 A.D. 666. The next in age of the cities is named at present Sultan Sanjar. The 

 walls are in a good state of preservation. Their circuit is about 2,500 yards. In 

 the midst of the enclosed space stands the lofty domed mausoleum of Sultan 

 Sanjar. The town was taken and ruined in the thirteenth century by a son of 

 Genghis Khan. The third and latest city, destroyed nearly a century ago by the 

 Bokharians, stands close by, and is named Bairam Ali. A little to the northward 

 are the remains of an extensive entrenchment, called by the Turkomans, Iskander 

 Kala, or the fort of Alexander. These ruins, situated but 1,000 yards apart, 

 are entirely uninhabited. The population of the Merv oasis is estimated at half a 

 million, which is probably not an excessive computation. The two great divisions, 

 the Toktamish and Otamish, are governed by two hereditary chiefs, that of the 

 Toktamish being the senior and taking precedence at the medjlis or general 

 council of the elders of the nation. 



The soil of Merv is very fertile, as is also that of the country far and near on 

 every side of it, and were it not for lack of water the entire plain from the Oxus 

 and Merv to the Caspian might be highly cultivated, for the desert is not a sandy 

 one, but of sun-scorched marl. 



There is now no central point like the Merv of old. The only rallying point of 

 the Turkomans is at Koushid Khan Kala, a great earthwork on the eastern bank of 

 the Murghab at about the centre of the oasis. Here some 2,000 huts are gathered 

 together, and here dwell the principal Turkoman chiefs. 



