'From Captain the Honourable G. C. Napier, on Special Duty in Persia, to the Political Secretary, India Office, Westminster, dated London, 30th July 1879' [‎127v] (4/12)

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Towards the end of September I made a tour in the Kelat Atak, and
while there received fresh communications from Merve. To judge from
the letters I received and the reports brought over, all the principal
Aksakals had come to the conclusion that, in default of Persian protec
tion, the value of which they had seen, there was no course open to
them but to attempt to obtain some assistance from India. Exaggerated
reports of war preparations there had by this time reached Khorassan
from Seistan, auxl were carried off into the desert by Turkomans from
Mashad. Having learnt at the same time of the retreat of General
Lomakin from his advanced position on the Akhal border, it appeared
to me that a suitable opportunity for the prosecution of my journey to
the oasis was offered.
In many other respects my position in the Atak was favourable to the
project. Owing to the friendship of the Khan of Kelat, who was with
me on my tour, I was able to communicate with Merve rapidly and
freely, and I was promised by him all the assistance in his power.
The great heat of summer too had passed, and the route from Kelat
was as easy as the high road by Sarakhs.
The internal dissensions also, which had made any dealings with the
tribe before so difficult, had much subsided, through fear of a Russian
incursion from the Oxus, and the necessity of uniting for the repair of
the great irrigation dam, on which the cultivation of the oasis is to a
great extent dependent.
I therefore sent messengers to Merve with a favourable reply to the
invitation of the Aksakals, and had made every preparation for my
journey, when I received final instructions to return from Khorassan.
The Russian Consul’s communication with Merve was limited to
interviews with a few of the Turkomans who were brought to him by a
Khivan Turkoman in Russian pay, and his object appears to have been
simply to obtain information of the nature of my-dealings with the
tribe.
It was currently reported that I was arranging for the supply of arms
to the Turkomans through Afghanistan, and was inciting them to send
aid to the Akhal, and to attack the Russian detachments on the Oxus,
but he must have been thoroughly well aware that there was no ground
for such reports, for the Turkomans who went to him, and received
presents, always came subsequently to me, with the same view, and I
was able to ascertain from them the nature of the information they had
imparted.
Negotiations with the Akhal Turkomans.— In my projected
journey through the Atak or Akhal Turkoman country, I was con
fronted with few of the difficulties that compelled so much caution in
my dealings with Merve. The country was easy, and safe to enter, and
I could command almost absolute security when there, while the elders
of the tribe were unanimous in their desire to receive me.
No obstructive measures that the Persian Government was prepared
to take could have prevented my going to the tribe and remaining in
safety with them, if insuperable political objections had not arisen.
At the time of my deputation, in March 1878, the east coast of the
Caspian was denuded of troops, Russia appeared for a time incapable
of any fresh aggressive efforts, and she had never made any absolute
claim to the possession of the Atak. She w^as not, in fact, in the field,
and it seemed possible to make a successful and politically unobjection
able, if not advantageous, journey. By the time of my arrival on the
border (May) this aspect of affairs had, however, changed, and Russian
troops were again collecting for an invasion of the “Atak.”
The conditions under which I had undertaken the duty entrusted to
me thus no longer existed.
My instructions did not contemplate or provide for any such change,
and it w T ould have been easy to proceed on my journey without regard
to contingent political effects, the results of which, however mischievous,