Journal of the Royal United
Service Institution
VOL. XIX. 1875. No. LXXX.
LECTURE.
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occasion snow had fallen a foot in depth. Sand hills
covered the surface of the ground; bushes of camel thorn
were profusely scattered among the sand hills; nor were
thickets of tamarisk wanting. The greater part of the
tract was stated to be safe to travelers provided with
passes. But here and there caution was needed, such, for
instance, as in the vicinity of a well about the fourth
march, noted for forays from Deregez. One short passage
may be extracted in the narrator's own words. "
The aspect of the desert, or rather wilderness, from Merv
to Khiva " is that of a sandy plain, broken into the
most irregular surface by " deep pits and high
mounds, the whole thinly sprinkled with bushes of three
several kinds, between which grow wormwood and the camel
thorn. On approaching Khiva, the surface is often
ploughed into ravines and ridges, whose course is north
and south, giving some idea of abandoned watercourses,
and traditionally reported to be old channels of the Oxus.
The ridges are gravelly, but there is no want “of
sand. Wells on this route are found at long intervals, in
one case “of 160 miles. The water is generally
brackish, but there are exceptions. On approaching Khiva,
there appeared a very thin sprinkling “of grass,
which our horses eagerly devoured. But no dependence Is
“to be placed upon the pasture of this wilderness,
and the traveler “must provide barley, or jowdri,
sufficient to supply the place of "fodder."
Shakespeare states that the regular road to Khiva crosses
the River Murghab, close to the town. As the boat was
injured, and the water was deep, he had to proceed in
search of a ford. Abbott, on starting, crossed a dry
channel. This apparent discrepancy may be attributed to
the different conditions under which the two traveled;
Abbott was at Merv in January, or the depth of winter,
Shakespeare late in May, when the hot season had nearly
set in. But there may be, and doubtless are, several
branches of the Murghab conveying its waters to the
desert below Merv, and some of these may take their rise
above that place. Shakespeare's first march was of 12
miles to a Turkmen Khail, during which no river-crossing
was affected. He afterwards moved in two marches of 16
and 17 miles, respectively, or 33 miles in the 24 hours,
then only reaching the River Murghab, or, it may be
fairly assumed, the main branch of the river. Marching
the next morning along the bank for 15 miles, he crossed
at an excellent ford, where the stream was about 30 yards
wide, 3 feet deep, and there was a hard bottom. In the
evening he started again, intending to make a long march,
but at 5 miles he came upon another stream with
quicksand.
In the morning a third stream met him
at 4 miles, when ho had difficulty in finding a good ford
; and 15 miles farther he found a fourth stream, nearly
as large as the first, which detained him two hours. It
is to fee observed, therefore, that modern Merv, such as
it is, — in all probability a miserable relic in its
reality, — is on the left bank of a main branch of
the Murghab ; and that Shakespeare crossed that main
branch at 60 miles, but did not clear the river wholly
until 84 miles north of the town. We have not the
recorded bearings, but as we know that the party was
bound for Khiva via the Oxus, and that they
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