'Report on the North-Eastern Frontier of Persia and the Tekeh Turkomans' [‎120r] (31/50)

government it is situated. Plenty of water from stream. This stream is lost, and
does not reach Tejend.
Kangali, on banks of Tejend river, 32 miles.—No inhabitants. It is just a resting
place for caravans on the bank of the river. The bed of the Tejend is here some
200 yards wide. Camels cannot reach the Tejend in one march from Kara Chacha.
They generally halt a few miles short of it.
Dashlalung (the stony place), 30 miles.—Merely a stony place where caravans
halt for a few hours’ rest for the camels. Sometimes in spring some water is found
here, but this is not common. A good hard road.
Kucha Kum or Shaitli, 36 miles.—Wells of brackish water. These wells are peiv
manent. The road via, Sarakhs joins here.
Dash Robat (the stone caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). ), seven miles.—A fine stone caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). in not very
bad repair. No water. There is a stone inscription telling who built the caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). .
Kunju Kulun, 12 miles.—Inhabited place. No houses; people live in tents. Canal
from Murghab river.
Kala Koushid Khan, 10 miles.—Cross Murghab river by wooden bridges, except in
spring, when boats have sometimes to be used.
Total, 213 miles.
There is another road by Mehna, in the Khelat Nadiri district, but it only differs a
little from that by Kara Chacha, and has no water from the time the Tejend is crossed
until the Merv country is reached, as it does not pass the wells at Shaitli. I will here
mention a place called Artyk Kala. It is of some importance, as it is situated on the
direct road from Kara Chacha to Sarakhs. It, like Kara Chacha, is cultivated by
Turkomans, who pay one tenth of the produce to the Persian Government as revenue.
It belongs to Persia.
While I was staying at Lutfabad with Syd Aly Khan, the Begler Begi’s brother,
I had much talk with Fasheh Khan about the course of the Tejend river. It seems
very curious that so little is known or can be discovered about what becomes of it.
When it passes Sarakhs it is still a good sized stream flowing in a wide bed. Much
farther down at Kangali, where the caravan road from Kara Chacha crosses the
stream, it is said to be 200 yards wide, or as my informant said, it was a gunshot
across, meaning a shot from an ordinary Persian rifle. Beyond this point, opposite
Mehna, where crossed by Mr. O’Donovan, it was still a considerable river, but soon
after this it must divide.
Fasheh Khan, the Akbal Tekeh chief from Askabad, says it divides into four small
streams, sometimes there is water in one, sometimes in another, sometimes in all four.
The nearest of these branches to Lutfabad is the smallest, and rarely has water in it;
this is the one that fills the pool at Adna Awaz, the first halting place on the Route
No. 2. Beyond this is a second branch of the Tejend, cailed Kizil Jar, beyond this
again is a third branch, called Ketchelli. The fourth or furthest branch of the Tejend
passes near Mahmur. In this branch there is almost always water. The other
branches are often dry. In spring and early summer there is plenty of water in the
Tejend. At Mahmur there is a fine well besides the water which comes from the
Tejend. On the branch of the Tejend passing near Chungul there are large pools
of water and great reeds. The Turkomans leave this neighbourhood in summer, as
their cattle are much troubled by the heat and insects. The branch of the Tejend
which passes Adana Awaz is lost in the Kara Kum desert, near a place called Ker-Kui.
From Askabad to Ker-Kui it takes 2+ hours of riding. The country where the river
ends is very heavy sand, and would be quite impassable to guns. The part of the
country where this branch ends is known as Minara, from a ruined minar or pillar
which used to be there.
The Kizil Jar branch of the Tejend river ends at a place called Palwanthi, in the
Kara Kum desert, to the eastward of the Adna Awaz branch.
The Ketchelli branch ends at a place called Musa, still more to the eastward.
The Mahmur branch goes past a place called Togul to Khurgojaz, where it finishes
in the Kara Kum desert. There is very heavy sand where these streams cease, but
no marshes. Although a horseman can go in 24 hours from Askabad to the point
where the most western branch of the Tejend ends, it would take him much longer
to reach the point where the most eastern branch ends.*
• All the Turkomans I spoke to said they knew of no large marsh where the Tejend ends, but that it is
finally lost in the sand of the desert. However, the Russiaus in their latest map, published in 1881, show a
marsh. There is some small amount of water and large reeds near Chungul, but this is far away from the
swamp shown on the Russian map. I was much puzzled by this, as the Russians should know, as they were
closer to the marsh, if it exists, than I was.