The reduction of Khiva marks a new era in the history of the Russian advance. The last semblance of organised opposition to the movement had disappeared, and the Tsar saw himself the unquestioned suzerain of the great Khanates. Westwards, his base was planted securely on the Caspian, where the port of Krasnovodsk, founded in 1869 by General Stolietoff,560 was connected with the Russian colonies in the Mangishlak peninsula by a chain of strong places. The Amu Darya, that ancient boundary of nations, marked the limits of the new empire in the west. But the vast tract between sea and river was still unsubdued, and Russia’s boundary marched with that of no organised state. Here lay the habitat of the Turkomans, a race with whom no peace or truce was possible, and the story of their subjection forms the final chapter in the history of the heart of Asia. The haunt of these untamed tribes may be described as a triangle, with Khiva as its apex; its sides the Caspian and the Amu Darya; and its base formed by a line drawn from the city of Balkh in Afghanistan to the south-eastern corner of the Caspian Sea. The area thus enclosed is not far short of 240,000 square miles, more than twice as great as that of the United Kingdom. The north portion is a trackless waste; but it is by no means a desert of the Sahara type, made familiar to us by so many records of African travel. Variety is its most salient characteristic. In some parts so firm is the surface that a horse’s hoof rings on it as on a macadamised road. In others, again, the loose sand forms ridges like petrified waves.561 After the spring rains the expanse of dull white is carpeted, as if by miracle, with gorgeous lilies, tulips, and other bulbous plants, long grass and tufts of reed. Water is, indeed, required to clothe the arid sand with perennial verdure, and render it a breeding-ground for countless flocks and herds. It is found at depths rarely exceeding thirty feet below the surface, and wells are of frequent recurrence.562 The only rivers of importance are the Murghab and the Tajand, which rise in the mountains of Afghanistan and lose themselves in the sand; but streams innumerable descend their flanks. In times beyond the range of history the western portion of the Turkoman Desert was watered by the Amu Darya, which discharged itself into the Caspian at the head of the Bay of Michaelovsk. Owing to some convulsion of nature, or to interference with its course by an attempt to employ it for irrigation, the bed of the mighty stream shifted and now discharges into the Sea of Aral. Vegetation is scanty, except during the brief spring-time. The soil is covered, in some parts, with the camel’s thorn, a forbidding plant which can be masticated only by the “ship of the desert.” The perennial flora are completed by the stunted tamarisk, a root like the stem of a rose called takh, and a shrub termed saxaul (haloxylon ammodendron). The latter is full of knots, and has a grain most difficult to cut or split, but it is precious as fuel, and still more valuable as a means of binding the billowy sands. These steppes contain few traces of animal life. Herds of beautiful wild asses are sometimes seen in the distance, and a species of antelope is oftener met with.563 Wells are beset with a variety of birds, which fly down to their depths in search of water. But the stillness of the waste is intense, and the boundless horizon is seen through the clear pure air shimmering with the heat or broken only by a mirage. The climate of the Turkoman Desert is one of extremes. In December and January the cold is intense. Moser, who traversed the Karakum in the depth of winter, encountered a temperature of 15 degrees below freezing-point, with squalls, snow, and glacial cold.564 In the summer months the heat is equally trying, and it is sometimes accompanied by sand-storms which render respiration almost impossible. But the Turkomans are not confined to regions so inhospitable. They have long been established in the south-east of the Caspian, a tract watered by the rivers Gargan and Atrak, which is swampy towards the embouchure, but farther inland is broken by valleys as rich and full of charm as any on the flanks of the Pyrenees.565 The streams descending from the Kopet Dagh, a mountain range which separates Persia from the Turkoman Desert, has produced a fertile belt of fifteen to twenty-five miles wide, extending from Kizil Arvat to Giaour, a distance of 187 miles. This is the Akkal oasis. Where the Murghab enters the desert it forms the great Merv oasis, a land which, even in its decadence, is one of the most fertile in the world. This ancient seat of empire, which fell into Turkoman hands after its invasion in 1784 by the forces of the Amir Murad of Bokhara, has other advantages precious to a predatory race. It is within striking distance of Northern Persia, and is separated from Herat by a low range of rolling hills which offer no obstacle to an invading horde.566 Such is the land which, from time immemorial, has been the haunt of one of the most interesting races in the world. Like the Red Indians, with whom they have many characteristics in common, they have succumbed to the ruthless force of Western civilisation; and a study of their traditions and usages possesses the greater interest because both will soon disappear under the process of Russification to which Central Asia is being subjected. In the opinion of a well-known living authority,567 the Turkomans belong to a branch of the Turkish race inhabiting the Altai Mountains and the upper regions of the Yenesei and Irtish in Mid-Siberia. Long before the Christian era the pressure of population led them to migrate southwards and eastwards, and, following in all probability the old course of the Oxus, their hordes spread over the great steppes extending from the Caspian to the Hindu Kush. The appellation by which the race has for centuries been known is considered by VambÉry to be derived from “Turk,” a proper name which the nomads always employ when speaking of themselves, and “men,” a suffix equivalent to the English “ship” or “dom.” That the Turkomans were identical with the Parthians, who were so long a thorn in the side of the Roman Empire, admits of little doubt, and the supposition derived from identity of racial character finds corroboration in the fact that the DahÆ,568 a famous Parthian tribe, dwelt in ancient days in the region between the Balkans and the river Atrak, which is still called Dehistan. But the strangers from the icy north were not long contented to roam over steppes which were well-nigh as hospitable as those of Siberia. They smelt booty in the richly watered slopes of the Kopet Dagh and the populous cities of Northern Persia. The era of the Samanides (A.D. 218–639) was one of constant struggles between these unwelcome immigrants and the settled Iranians of Northern Persia, and history repeated itself in the ruin and desolation which befell the latter. Towards the end of the Middle Ages the northern portion of the old empire of Darius was given up to Turkoman tribes bent on war and pillage. At this date we find them divided into many tribes. The most famous were the Salors, who possessed some at least of the traits of the noble savage of fiction. They dwelt at the edge of the hills on the oasis formed by the Murghab and Tajand. In the twelfth century the Sultan Sanjar, the greatest of the Seljukides, was defeated by the Kara and Alieli Turkomans at Andakhuy and Maymena, where both are still to be found. The Balkan Mountains in the sixteenth century looked down on Ersari encampments, and at an earlier date the peninsula of Mangishlak was roamed over by various tribes. For centuries unnumbered the Turkomans were free from foreign influence, and maintained the primitive ferocity and power for aggression unleavened by intercourse with civilisation. They found their master in rare exceptions to the long succession of debauchees who filled the throne of Persia. In the seventeenth century Shah `Abbas the Great (1585–1626) drove them from the rich valleys of the Kopet Dagh and planted colonies of 15,000 Kurds along the crest, in the not altogether vain hope that these scourges of Asia Minor would hold their neighbours in check. Nadir Shah, infamous for the bloodshed attending his capture of Delhi, was himself a Turkoman, and proved more than a match for his kinsmen. In 1796 Agha Mohammad, the first sovereign of the reigning dynasty, who was also of Turkoman origin, took effectual measures to protect his frontier, and, had his brief career not been brought to a close by the assassin’s dagger, he would doubtless have tamed these fierce children of the desert. His successor, Fath `Ali Shah, attempted the process, and in 1813 the Turkoman tribes appealed to the Tsar of Russia for assistance against him. Alexander I., however, was then engaged in rolling back the tide of Napoleon’s invasion, and was powerless to help them, thus exciting an intense irritation. We obtain a glimpse of the position occupied by the Turkoman tribes in 1831 in the pages of Burnes.569 At that date the Tekkes were second to no tribe in numbers, though they had not reached the commanding position which they attained at the eve of the Russian conquest. This section of the Turkoman race is found at the dawn of their history occupying the Isthmus of Mangishlak, on the north-eastern coast of the Caspian. Driven thence in 1718 by the Kalmaks, they dislodged the Yamuds from Kizil Arvat, and the Kurds and Alielis from the strip of fertile land at the basis of the Kopet Dagh, known as the Akkal oasis. Their name, which in our tongue signifies “Mountain Goat,” is said to be derived from the agility with which they urged their horses over the ravines on the mountain side. The Tekkes proclaimed their allegiance to the Khan of Khiva, and each village paid a tribute of a camel, but they were forced to recognise the supremacy of Nadir Shah. Until the commencement of the present century they were confined to the limits of the oasis; but population began to press too heavily on the means of subsistence, which, in Central Asia, is synonymous with water. The cultivation spread to such an extent that the ariks, or small irrigation canals, proved unequal to its necessities. Hence, about 1830, 10,000 families migrated eastwards and established themselves on the banks of the Tajand. Here they built a fort, called after their chief, Oraz Khan Kal`a. The total number of Tekke tents or kibitkas570 is put by Burnes at 40,000.

At that epoch the Ersaris roamed over the Upper Oxus, and were equally numerous with the Tekkes. The Merv oasis was inhabited by the Sariks, numbering 20,000 tents, who were engaged in a struggle with the Khivans, then temporary masters of Merv. The Yamuds, about as numerous as the Sariks, wandered between Khiva and Astrabad in Khorasan, while the territory watered by the Atrak and Gurgan was inhabited by the Gokhlans, who acknowledged the sway of Persia. Finally the Salors, who made up by courage for the paucity of their numbers, held the upper reaches of the Tajand near Sarakhs. In 1832 their constant ravages led to reprisals on the Persian side. They were attacked by an overwhelming force under `Abbas Mirza, son of Shah Fath `Ali, and after a desperate resistance their stronghold, Sarakhs, was captured. The survivors fled northwards and occupied the Yoletan oasis, south of Merv. Meantime the Tekkes, who had settled in the upper reaches of the Tajand, had been desolating the northern possessions of Persia, and the cry of the harassed inhabitants reached the capital. Vigorous measures were ordered by the Shah, and in 1845 Asaf ud-DawlÉ, the governor of Khorasan, fell on their settlements and utterly destroyed them. The Tekkes, ousted from their coign of vantage, sought refuge in the Akkal oasis, but it was already over-peopled, and their brethren there were constrained to refuse them ingress. They finally obtained Asaf ud-DawlÉ’s leave to settle in Sarakhs, which had been depopulated thirteen years earlier by the expulsion of the Salors. At first they respected the Persian territory, for the energetic governor of Khorasan had shown that he knew how to deal with them. Their relations with Khiva were very different, for that Khanate was surrounded by nomad tribes, and had no outlet for the prowess of their cavalry save in conflict with them. Mohammad Amin Khan, then sovereign of Khiva, stormed Sarakhs and left a viceroy with a garrison there. Hardly was his back turned when the Tekkes rose at the intruders and put them to the sword. This outrage brought the Khan again into the field. He laid siege to Sarakhs, but, while directing the operations upon a mound on the right bank of the Hari Rud, was surprised by a body of Turkomans and decapitated. His head was sent to the Shah and his body to Khiva for burial. The Tekkes were encouraged by this brilliant success to resume their raids into Persia, and again the governor of Khorasan was provoked to retaliate. He burnt Sarakhs and drove the Tekkes northwards as far as Merv, which had, with one brief interval, been held by the Sariks since its devastation by the Amir of Bokhara in 1784. The inhabitants resisted the Tekkes’ invasion with the fierce jealousy which reigned between all Turkoman tribes. They implored help of the Persians, and the governor of Khorasan forthwith marched on Merv with 18 battalions and 7000 cavalry. The Tekkes, finding themselves between two fires, offered submission to Persia, and rendered it acceptable by costly gifts. Then they turned on the churlish Sariks, and drove them from Merv to the oases of Yoletan and Panjdih in the upper reaches of the Murghab, dispossessing in their turn the Salors, who, with the permission of the Persian authorities, settled at Zarabad on the left bank of the Hari Rud.571 Thus the pressure of population in the Akkal oasis led to a dispersal of the Tekkes who inhabited it. In little more than a quarter of a century we find them masters of the wondrously fertile lands irrigated by the Murghab, after dislodging the former occupants and destroying a force sent against them by the greatest of Khivan rulers. On taking possession of their conquest the Tekkes began to develop its resources according to their lights. They made a rude dam twenty-five miles above Merv, and excavated twenty-four small canals which irrigated lands sufficient to support 48,000 families.572 But they were as far from being peaceful cultivators as ever. They overran the whole of Khorasan, and carried their raids 450 miles south of its capital, Meshed. Stung to madness by the desolation thus wrought, the Persians planned a systematic vengeance.

In 1860 they built a fort as a basis of their operations, which they called New Sarakhs, opposite the old citadel of that name. Then, in the following year, the commander-in-chief advanced against Merv with a force of 12,000 infantry, 10,000 horsemen, and 33 guns. The Tekkes, in great alarm, offered submission and a substantial tribute. But the Persian general, confident in his numbers and armament, would hear of no compromise. The tribesmen, compelled to fight for life and freedom, acquitted themselves with a gallantry which inspired terror in the invaders. The Persian artillerymen and infantry were slain or captured to a man, and the guns served twenty years after to arm a citadel which the Tekkes built as a defence against an anticipated Russian attack.573 The cavalry alone, including the cowardly commander-in-chief, found safety in flight, and so great was the glut of prisoners that the price of a Persian slave in Khivan and Bokharan markets fell to a sum equal to a pound sterling.574 This was the last organised attempt from the Persian side to subvert Tekke independence, and the tribe, settled firmly in the great oases of Akkal and Merv, were free to pursue their lawless impulses at the expense of their neighbours. For Persia was not alone in serving as a quarry. The fierce children of the steppes carried rapine and murder within a few miles of the citadel of Herat,575 and spread far and wide a terror as abject as that inspired by the Danish pirates in the coast towns of Saxon England. Such is the history of the rise of the Tekke division of the Turkoman race to a position which rendered it the chief obstacle to the Russian advance. It is a modern reproduction, in miniature, of the great Mongol movement which, starting seven centuries ago, has not yet spent its force. Like the other Turkoman tribes, the Tekkes were ranged in divisions and clans—the Tokhtamish inhabiting the eastern portion of the Merv oasis, while the Otamish occupied the western. In the extreme east lived the Beks.576 These great divisions were split up into minor ones, and the latter again ramified into clans.

The organisation applied to Tekkes of the Akkal and Merv oases alike, for members of the various sections were scattered over the entire territory in their occupation.577 Government among the Tekkes of every tribe was a pure democracy.578 Affairs of state were discussed by an assembly consisting of the entire population. These gatherings elected a Khan to represent the executive by acclamation, and withdrew the dignity when the chosen one ceased to please. The office was not an object of ambition, for the Khan’s authority was little more than a matter of form. He had forty jigits, or attendants, to enforce order; but he had not the power of the purse. For special purposes a tribal representative, termed Ikhtiyar, was chosen by the popular assembly. Thus, in 1881, O’Donovan found one at Merv who had been sent to treat with the Shah of Persia at Teheran.579 In latter days the tribe exhibited a tendency to follow the ordinary evolution of a state, which is from a democracy to a hereditary monarchy acquired by the sword. The new departure began with a famous chieftain named Nur Verdi Khan, who had led the Tekkes in the victories over the Khivans, the Persians, and the Sariks. He was intrepid, just, and hospitable, moulded in the stamp of those who carve for themselves empire, and his influence was so great that he was permitted to hand over the chiefship of the Akkal Tekkes to his son Makhdum Kuli Khan,580 when he assumed that of the Merv oasis. The growth of the hereditary principle was doubtless fostered by the sense of impending danger from the Russian avalanche. In earlier times an attempt to introduce it would have been fiercely resisted by the untamed nomads. Old age and experience alone commanded weight, and the yoke of Mohammedanism, elsewhere so heavy in the East, pressed but lightly on these popular assemblies. Though nominally Sunnis or orthodox followers of the Prophet, the Turkomans practised few of the interminable observances prescribed by the Koran; and the mullas, mostly steeped in ignorance, possessed no influence over them.581 But the Tekkes felt instinctively the impossibility of maintaining democratic methods in times of stress. Military operations were confided to the tribesmen of known valour and intelligence, termed Sardars,582 who had a minute knowledge of the country to be traversed, and were intrusted with the direction of the raids, which were the main object of the Turkoman’s existence. Thus did these banditti acquire prisoners who could be held to ransom, and slaves who found a ready market in the neighbouring Khanates. The things needed were a good horse, arms,583 and a contempt for death. “He who puts his hand to his sword-hilt,” runs a Turkoman proverb, “hath no need to ask for a good reason.” “On horseback,” says another, “a Tekke knows neither father nor mother.” When one of these natural leaders of men determined on a foray, he planted his lance, surmounted by a flag, in the ground in front of his kibitka, and invited all good Musulmans, in the name of the Prophet, to range themselves under his banner.

The call to arms was rarely disregarded; and the Sardar soon found his tent besieged by several hundreds, or even thousands, of warriors prepared to yield him a blind obedience. He fixed the date and place of gathering, but the object was not disclosed. On the day prescribed his followers assembled, each on a well-trained stallion, and leading spare horses with provisions. If the object of attack lay in the plains of Khorasan, the Kopet Dagh Mountains were scaled by one of the three passes practicable to Tekke horsemen. On reaching the southern slopes, the provisions were left in some sure retreat, known only to the Sardar, under the charge of a few horsemen, while the day was spent in preparing for the raid.584 Far in the valley below lay the village destined to destruction. The smoke curled upwards from its white cottages embowered in forest trees. The old men gossiped in the evening sun; the maidens were bringing home the cattle from the pastures. This was the moment chosen for the onslaught. In a few moments the village street was thronged with fierce Turkomans bending low over the saddle-bow and hacking and stabbing right and left. Then the survivors, with the cattle and valuables, were gathered together and hurried off to the robbers’ lair. When pursuit was feared, 100 or even 130 miles were traversed ere rein was drawn. The girls and child captives, being more valuable than adults, were carried at some warrior’s saddle-bow, but all able to run were dragged in chains behind the captors. When they sank from fatigue their sufferings were ended by a thrust from the long Turkoman dagger. If the quarry were a Kurd village, greater precautions were needed, for every settlement had its tower into which the population fled on an alarm being given. These fortresses were sometimes stormed while the defenders slept, and the garrison stabbed with fiendish ferocity. In dealing with caravans, the Turkomans lay in wait for their prey in the vicinity of wells,585 and swooped down on the travellers during their halt. At other times they hung on the outskirts of the procession of camels and cut off stragglers. Success depended on the suddenness of attack; and if it failed it was seldom repeated, for bravery was not a characteristic of the Turkoman, except when the safety and honour of his family were at stake. Then, as the Russians found to their cost, they fought like lions.

For the slaves a ready market was found in the Khanates of Khiva and Bokhara, whence dealers visited Tekke settlements at frequent intervals. The traffic was of ancient date, and, until the advent of the Russians, was recognised by law and custom. Florio Beneveni, an Italian who passed some time at Bokhara in the early part of the eighteenth century, informed Peter the Great that 3000 Russians were held captive there, and, at the commencement of our own, Mouravieff reported that a similar number languished in bondage in Khiva.586 Wolff, writing in 1843, estimated the number of Persian slaves in Bokhara at 200,000, and those detained at Khiva about the same period were stated by Major Abbott to exceed 700,000. The price paid varied with the age of the prisoner, children and young girls being twice as valuable as adults.

But the Tekke considered his steed as even more indispensable than a trusted leader to success in pursuing his inherited instinct. The fame of the Turkoman horse is as old as Alexander’s days. Timur improved the breed by distributing 5000 Arab stallions among the tribesmen, and in our own day Shah Nasir ud-Din, of Persia, unwisely sent 600 to his ancient foes.587 But the Turkoman’s innocent ally in his marauding expeditions showed hardly any traces of Arab ancestry. He was big, leggy, and narrow-chested, with a high crupper, large head, and sloping quarters.588 The neck and tail showed none of the proud curves which characterise the courser of Yemen. At short distances he was no match for the English thoroughbred; but with careful training and special diet he was able to amble for 60 or 70 miles a day for an almost unlimited period.589 When hard pressed, a Tekke has been known to travel with two steeds at the rate of 160 miles a day, and even more. The endurance of the horseman was even more remarkable, for he could keep his saddle for twenty hours out of the twenty-four during eight consecutive days.590 The Tekke stallions—mares were rarely ridden—were not indulged in stabling, but picketed outside their owner’s tent, and preserved against cold by layers of felt,591 the number of which increased with his age. They were never removed without the greatest precaution, and served to maintain the coat in a lustrous sheen, though a knife and a piece of felt were the only substitutes for the currycomb, brush, and clippers of Western stables. On these coverings was placed the wooden saddle with a high peak, which was covered with a piece of coloured silk tied across the chest. The Turkoman’s warmest affections were lavished on his steed, with whom he would share the last drop of water, the last handful of barley meal. The whip was carried merely for show, and spurs were unknown. His attachment was repaid by his dumb friend, whose fiercest encounter with another stallion could be stayed by his master’s well-known accents.

The daily life of the Turkoman varied with the category to which he belonged. Those who adopted a nomad existence were styled Chomry,592 and dwellers in fixed habitations Charva; but they passed from one stage to the other at their own inclination, wealth being the prevailing factor.593 The nomads wandered on the banks of the rivers and the limits of the desert where the mountain streams had not been absorbed by the thirsty sands. Their herds were their only wealth, and they rarely pitched their felt abodes for more than three days at any spot. The Chomry, or sedentary Turkomans, dwelt for a portion of the year in fastnesses termed kal`a, open spaces crowded with their tents, and fortified with clay walls flanked by towers. Around them spread the fields and gardens of the aul, in which barley, juwari (holcus sorghum), rice, and finely flavoured melons were produced in abundance, thanks to the water distributed by the ariks, or irrigation canals. In times of stress the fortresses, which had but a single gate, formed places of refuge. At the eve of the Russian conquest594 the whole Akkal oasis was covered with these strongholds. They stretched in a single line, afterwards in two or more lines, from Kizil Arvat to Askabad. The great stronghold of Geok Teppe, destined to give the Russians so much trouble, was situated in the broadest part of the oasis; Askabad, now the headquarters of Transcaspia, was a congeries of eight of these fortified villages.

The physiognomy of the Turkoman betrays the indelible Mongolian type. He is above the middle height, of a dark olive complexion, with prominent cheek-bones, and small almond eyes, shifty, and glittering with intelligence.595 His nose is generally broad and uplifted at the extremity, his lips thick, and moustaches scanty. The ears are very large, and stand up from the head. The senses of smell and hearing are as strongly developed as those of the Red Indian.596 In the female the Mongolian strain is even more visible. Their hair is short, but very thick and coarse. In youth they are tall and well formed, with every movement full of grace.597 Their rosy cheeks give a charm to features destined in early middle-life to become a network of wrinkles. No characteristic of savage life is so marked as the rapid decay of beauty. The Turkoman dress has changed but little since he met the Roman legionaries in battle grip. It consists of a long crimson tunic of coarse Bokharan silk, with slender black and yellow combined stripes.598 Over this is worn a loose dressing-gown, termed jabba, descending below the knee, of black or dark brown material, which in summer is of cotton and in winter of camel’s hair or wool. The wealthier adopt the Uzbeg costume of several jabbas of coarse Bokhara silk, confined by waistbands of silk over a shirt and pantaloons of the same material. The legs are covered with thick socks of a checked pattern, and the feet with high metal-heeled slippers just large enough to admit the insertion of the toe. They are slow and ungraceful walkers, and show to more advantage when on horseback. Then the jabba is tucked into wide leather boots of a Hessian pattern, giving a most ungainly appearance to the equestrian. But the distinguishing mark of the Turkoman is his large cylindrical head-covering of black sheep-skin, termed kalpak. It is worn over a skull-cap fitting tightly to the half-shaved head, and is far less heavy than its appearance would imply. The women’s dress consists in long floating skirts of red or blue silk.599 The bosom is covered with a sort of cuirass of silver plaques, coins and amulets, the trophies of her husband’s prowess in war or raids. The wealthier add bracelets of thick silver, and collars with plates suspended therefrom, like that worn by Jewish high priests. Married women confine their stubborn locks in a small, round, embroidered bonnet, while those of young girls cover their shoulders. On occasions of ceremony a casque of open silver-work is worn over a red cloth cap, giving a Minerva-like appearance.600 The face is partly covered by the end of a silk mantila or burunjak.

The character of the Turkomans before the process of Russification began was a compound of the virtues and the vices to be found in half-tamed races of the higher type. He has been branded as an irreclaimable savage because he wrought untold misery on the helpless populations within striking distance of his own den.

But no greater mistake can be made by the student of ethics than to judge men of other nationalities by the standard of right and wrong maintaining in our own.601 It would be as unjust to blame the Turkomans for the bluntness of their moral sense in the matter of raids as to condemn George Washington because he did not think fit to emancipate his slaves. By dint of inherited instinct the inhabitant of Merv and Akkal had come to regard depredations as a necessary incident of his daily life. His barbarous insensibility while engaged in an alaman was not inconsistent with the exercise of solid virtues. He was hospitable to a fault, and is so at the present day, though the advent of Russians has sorely curtailed his means. A stranger was made welcome to the Tekke’s smoky kibitka, and was safe beneath its shelter. He was invited to share the family meal, were it thick cakes of unleavened bread pilaw,602 compressed curds, or rice boiled with sour milk. For his delectation the tea-pot, the Persian watet-pipe,603 the chess-board, and the clarionet604 were produced, and he was forced to listen till dawn to tales of ancient prowess, to legends of Iskandar and Timur, those twin heroes of Central Asian romance. And there was a strain of inbred nobility in the nomad characters. They were robbers on occasion; but they scorned to pilfer. Espionage was unknown amongst them. Rarely, indeed, was the foul abuse so common in Mohammedan countries heard from Tekke lips. His most scathing epithet was “coward.” His faults were those of other races which have not come into contact with civilisation. He was greedy, self-indulgent,605 and prone to take every advantage possible of a wealthy stranger. His childish curiosity and utter disregard of that which is conventionally termed good manners were equally conspicuous. In one essential, indeed, which is rightly considered to indicate an advanced culture, he shone by contrast with the people of every other country governed by the Koran. His women-folk were free from those restraints which dwarf the intelligence and degrade the moral sense. They went unveiled, and associated freely with the tribesmen and even with sojourners in their tents. And yet the standard of chastity was comparatively high; while in times of stress the Tekke girls fought desperately by their husbands’ side. It must be admitted that misdeeds were punished with a dagger-thrust, and that, in a Tekke’s affections, a wife ranks far below a horse. She rose early to bake her husband’s bread, cooked and fetched water for him, and presumed not to eat till he had finished his meal. Her industry was extraordinary.606 Her embroidery was once a marvel of good taste, and she still weaves carpets which are unrivalled in Asia for beauty and durability. The superintendent of the state domains at Bahram `Ali, near Merv, has specimens which are more than three centuries old and are yet as brilliant as if they had just left the loom.607 The method of manufacture can be watched in every Turkoman village.

The warp is merely a piece of canvas pegged out on the ground, with the transverse threads removed. The weaver, who crouches over her handiwork, takes a pinch of coloured wool and, with a deft twist of her fingers, attaches it to one of the horizontal threads, pressing it afterwards into position with a heavy wooden comb. It is a curious fact that the intricate patterns are never committed to paper, and have been handed down from mother to daughter from generations unnumbered. The marriage customs of the Turkomans are unique. Polygamy is permitted by the Mohammedan law, but rarely can a Tekke afford the separate kibitka and establishment which any wife is entitled to demand. Wedded life begins early—at fourteen or fifteen for males, and in the case of girls before the age of puberty. As married women wear no veils, a youth has little difficulty in selecting his future bride. When a damsel has found favour in his eyes he waits on her father and offers a given price for her—slaves, horses, or cattle to the value of £40 to £80. This essential once agreed upon, the father-in-law presents the young couple with a new kibitka, ak ev, untarnished by smoke, in which the relatives assemble. Then a mulla recites a few verses from the Koran—and the wedded pair are left to themselves.608 Should the price agreed on be not paid, at once the bride returns to her parents after a brief honeymoon. In old times her absence stimulated the youthful husband to prowess in distant raids, which afforded the only opportunity of gaining the needful wealth.