"تقرير عن الحدود الشمالية الشرقية لبلاد فارس والتكه تركمان" [ظ‎‎١‎٢‎١] (٥٠/٣٤)

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railway from Rami to Askabad is projected. The country between Michailof and Kizzil
Arvat is desert, hat there are do serious difficulties in making a railway over it.
There are sandy pieces, hut a great portion of the desert is hard clay, and over this a
railway is very easily made. Deserts are difficult to traverse with camels, travelling
miles per hour, but present few difficulties to the laying of railways, as provisions
and water can he carried along the line as it is laid, and when once Kizzn Arvat is
reached there is no desert between that point and the Tejend river.
CHAPTER VIII.
Description of Daragez.
From the 25th November to the 27th December 1880 I stayed in Mahomadabad
-collecting information, and buying a few horses and carpets to keep up my character.
I often visited the Begler Begi, or Governor of Daragez, who was most civil, probably
in consequence of the presents 1 made him. I also lent him a small sum ot money.
He did not suspect me to be anything hut a well-to-do merchant ot Calcutta.
Mr O’Donovan the “ Daily News ” correspondent, who was living in Mahomadabad,
did not suspect me, though T saw him frequently. At the end of a month l told him
who 1 was, and showed him my passport. He was very much surprised to discover
that I was an Englishman. Mr. O’Donovan; though treated with all respect, had
always a guard over him, and was not permitted to go about without it. It was
stated that the guard was to do him honour and protect him, but they had orders not
to let him communicate with any Turkomans, and he, as an Englishman tound it
most difficult to get any information, while I was permitted to wander about and
sneak to any one 1 liked without let or hindrance. Mr. O’Donovan made an effort to
escape into the Akhal Tekeh country, but was brought hack a prisoner by the 1 ersian
cavalry belonging to the Governor. ^ . . .
On the 26th December I heard that the Begler Begi was going on an excursion in
the direction of Askabad, to a group of villages known as Kalta Chmar, and I asked
permission to accompany him. He gave me leave to do so, and I rode out with him
on the 28th December. He had an escort of 50 cavalry. We proceeded to the village
of Nakundan, some nine miles from Mahomadabad. # r
Nakundan is a flourishing small town of some 2,000 inhabitants, where a brothei o
the Beeler Be^i, called Surruk Khan, resides. I was given a comfortable room m
the village, and was well treated. On the 29th the Begler Begi rode out to visit a
holv shrine, a few miles in advance, and I went on in the Askabad direction to a
village called Julfan, which is said to have been formerly a Christian village. I rode
out until 1 was near the village of Tojanlu, some 14 miles from Mahomadabad, and
then returned towards Nakundan. Near Julfan I visited a mound which is known as
Tene KalEsa or the church mound. Tradition declares that formerly a Christian
church was here situated, and that it and the Christian village of Julfan were de
stroyed by Jenghiz Khan in the 13th century. There were Christian bishops of the
Nestorian church at Tus and Merv in Khorasan previous to the Mahomadan invasion
in A D 666 but I should doubt there having been Christians here so late as the
13th century. However, all destruction is attributed to Jenghiz Khan, and the ruins
of villages to be seen in this place in all directions are said to have been his handi
work. °The present inhabitants are Kurds, who say they were brought here by ^hah
Abbas to repeople the land, and know nothing beyond the tradition that this was a
Christian village, and that a Christian church existed on the mound still known as
Tene Kalissa. The Christian suburb of Isfahan is called Julfa. The Armenian
Christian town near the Araxes is also called Julfa. It is curious that this village,
said to have been Christian, should be known as Julfan. We have no positive know
ledge when Christianity ceased to exist in these regions where once a considerable
Christian population existed. r *-i i *
The country passed over between Mahomadabad and 1 ojamu is very fertile, nit
covered with refuge towers, showing how dreadfully the whole country is harned with
Turkomans. Almost every fifth person one speaks to has at some period or other been
carried off and either sold as a slave or ransomed. I met many slaves who had, alter
years in Khiva, been released by the Russians. All these men were loud m their
praises of the great and merciful Russian Government, and the prestige of Russia has
been enormously increased by the release of the Persian slaves. 1 he slaves ave
met here declare that 40,000 were released, that 10,000, who tried to return through