"ملخص لمراسلات، إلخ، تتعلق بشؤون آسيا الوسطى، بلوشستان، بلاد فارس، إلخ، ١٨٧٥-١٨٧٧. مع ملاحق." [و‎‎٢‎١‎٠] (٥٦٢/٤٢٤)

17
APPENDIX VI.
THE TURKOMAN STEPPE IN 1875.
The Trans-Caspian regions up to the last few years, were a blank space on all maps and
m could form no just notion of the condition, the inhabitants, and the history of these vTst
regions, which, nevertheless, have played an important part in the annals of Asiatic history
This void is now beginning to be supplied, thanks to the progress of the Russian arms
brought about as much by political combinations as by considerations of a more elevated
character, which induce Russia to sacrifice a considerable portion of her material and intellec
tual resources for the object of making known to the world forgotten countries and races and
to carry the germs of civilization to peoples whom circumstances of a historical political or
physical nature, have hitherto kept in complete isolation. ' ^ '
Since the year of the occupation of Krasnovodsk, viz., 1869, the trans-Caspian districts
have been traversed in every direction by Russian detachments. In the train and under the
protection of the military force, men of science have endeavoured t® explore this terra incognita
One of the first places in the list of these men must be given to Colonel Stebnitzky, Chief of
the Topographical Department of the Caucasus, whose wanderings in the track of the Russian
detachments in 1873 have furnished an abundant harvest of trustworthy and scientifically
exact data respecting the country of the Turkomans. * y
The more recent expeditions of the columns from Krasnovodsk, and more especially the
marches of General Lomakin in 1875, have added new and valuable details to the previous
information.
The present sketch is intended to review the state of the Turkoman Steppe in 1865, as it
appears from the reports of General Lomakin, a portion of which were published in the
Invalids Russe ; it recapitulates, at the same time, the principal geographical data furnished
by M. Stebnitzky in the diary of his journey.f
GENERAL ASPECT OP THE TURKOMAN STEPPE AND ITS INHABITANTS.
Generally speaking, the following physical conditions and configuration are presented in
the Turkoman Steppe.
The Uzboi, or dried-up bed of the Oxus, constitute the lowest lying portion, which
extends from the Caspian Sea (the Gulf of Balkhan) to the present course of the Amu Darya.
The Great Balkhan, a rocky elevation of 5,450 feet above the level of the Caspian, a
western ramification of which extends as far as Krasnovodsk along the northern shore of the
Gulf of Balkhan, bounds this district and marks its direction from the (old) mouth (of the
river) in the Gulf as far as the well of Buyurudji. To the north of the Great Balkhan is a
vast sandy plain, named Chil-Mamed-Kum, which comes close to the Uzboi, and forms its
boundary from the most easterly slopes of the Great Balkhan to beyond the well of Dektcha.
Beyond this are the last outlying elevations of the Ust-Urt plateau, called here Boguraslan-kir,
which border the ancient bed of the Oxus on the north, and run by the side of it as far as
Igdy, at a more or less varying distance from it. No doubt, even beyond Igdy as far as the
lake or Betandali-gol near Sary Kamysh, the slopes of the Ust-Urt are to be found bordering
the course of the Uzboi.
Its general direction, throughout its course of nearly 1,000 versts, may be summarised as
follows:—Prom the Amu Darya to Dekteha and Sary Kamysh, from east to west; from Sary
Kamysh to Igdy, from N.N.E. to S.S.W.; from Igdy to the Gulf of Balkhan, in a
westerly direction with a decidedly southerly trending, caused by the Great Balkhan mountain
chain.
South of this low country, which bounds the Turkoman Steppe on the north, immense
sandy deserts, some of which are 100 versts in breath, extend as far as the valley of the
Tekkes, known under the name of Arkatch, which, stretching from north-west to south-east,
is situated at the foot of the northern slope of the •Kurendagh. This expanse of sand
extends to the east as far as the Amu Darya, encroaches upon the oasis of Khiva, and stretches
south along the Oxus up to the ancient frontiers of Bokhara.
* The journey of Colonel Stebnitazy was made during the months of August to December 1872, m the
track of the detachment of Colonel Markosof, by the following route: Prom Krasnovodsk to Dzoi-uriuk, by a
cross road to the Uzboi, or ancient bed of the Oxus (nearly 200 versts); from Dzoi-uriuk to Igdy, a | on ? fj 16
Uzboi, 114 versts ; from Igdy to the south-west, across the sands to Kizil-Arvat, the first fortress of the
Turkomans (130 versts) ; from there the length of the Tekke oasis to the. fortress oi Beurma and back (13
versts); from Kizil-Arvat to the south-west, across the Kurendagh Mountains by the Adji Pass to Bair on e
Sumbar, a stream falling into the Attrek on its right bank (82 versts);. from Bair, still to the south-west, along
the Sumbar and then the Attrek to Chikishlar, the mouth of the river in the Caspian (more than 150 versts).
t See the Journal of the Caucasus Section of the Russian Imperial Geographical Society, Yol. II., T®73
This report is accompanied by splendid map of the south-west portion of the Turkoman bteppe, on a sea e o
versts to an inch.