Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-25

subsidized STILL however did 1t merit the
| title, THE great Oxus stream-the yellow
Oxus.' The color of the water is very
| dirty coffee-hued brown, the fac-simile OF
| that of the Nile, but it is extremely
| healthy and can be drunk with impunity.
| l was strongly reminded by the appear
| ance of this great river, by the formation
of it's bed. by the structure of its banks
and by the scenery and life which they
| displayed, of many a landscape on the
Nile in upper Egypt. There is the same
| fringe of intensely fertile soil along its
| shores, with the same crouching clay
| built villages, and even Bokharan
counterpart to the Sakkiyeh and Shadoof
| for raising and distributing the life-giving
| waters Of the stream. Only on the OXus
there is no cliff Ike the eastern wall of
| the Nile at Gebel-Et-Tayr, and. alas, In
this northern latitude there is no belt of
| cOroneted palms
| The ruins of big mud fortress called
| kOushid Khan kala, which the Turko-
| men were building to hold back the
Russian invasion, when the massacre of
Geok-Tepe ended all resistance. stand
| alongside the railway track as mute
| but convincing witness of the superiority
| of q live over a dead civilization. AS
an object lesson to the natives. it has
| been of great effect. because they be-
| lieved their fortress to be impregnabie.
| And, to make it still more forceful. the
| railway engineers cut off corner of
| the walls to make room for side
| track. The fortress was erected in 1SSO-1
| by the forced labor of eight thousand
TekkeS, members of tribe of TurkO-
| men. and the mud walls. which are be-
| tween thirty and forty feet high, sixty
feet thick at the base and twenty feet
! thick at the top, inclose space nearly
one mile square.
| Russian Forts il Contras1.
In striking contrast to the impotent
| faxv 81
| batteries of Russian artillery, half con-
ceaIed by trees.
| The Russian government has planted
more than three million trees in the
Merv oasis. mostly poplars, mulberries
| and locuStS. The muiberrieS iced the
silk worms, the poplars make the best
| roof poles for the matched cabins of
| the natives, and the locusts perfume the
| atmosphere with honeyed odor.
The Merv oasis has the most fertile
soil and the densest population of the
several cultivated areas in Turkestan
The "Moorshub. as Matthew Arnold
/ calls it, gives life to about sixteen thou
sand square miles of farms. titled by
| about $4,000 farmers. who are raising
| vast quantities OF cotton, wheat. rye,
barley. sorghum, rice, melons. vegeta-
| bles of all kinds, grapes, berries, peaches,
| apricOIs and other orchard fruits. Mil
| lions of cattle and sheep drink from the
| taWny stream; hundreds OF thousands OF
| camels are bred on the prairies; the
| Merv horses are the best in central
Asia, and when the Russians first occu-
| pied the land they seriously discussed
the policy OF making the Mervites sur
| render their horses, as they ha4 sur
rendered their guns No native is allowed
| to nave a rifle or revolver unless ne
| belongs to the militia, but they are per-
| mitted to wear their ancient dagsers.
| which much part of their native
| costume as their boots or their shirt.
/ iS
| to Kushk, and branch to Maruchak,
| unimpOrtant towns upon the borders OF
Afghanistan. but the trains carry no
| freight. excep: military supplies. and no
| passengers, except soldiers. No civilian
| is allowed to pass over this road. 1t
| Is as much as mans life and liberty
| are worth to ask permission to 90 so.
tecause the Russian secret service would
| at once have compton fit for fear the
! applicant was an English spy. There are
supposed to be strong fortiticaIions. with
| heavy ornaments, on the border, but no
one is allowed to see them. Everybody
| knows, however, that large garrisons
| are kept continually under arms and
| ready for action. ard the warehouses at
Merv are filled with military supplies.
Ten Thousand Men Available.
The Russian viceroy can throw 10000
| troops into Afghanistan in forty eight
| hours if it should ever become necessary,
| and netwithstand the recent treaty
| of amity and alliance with Great Britain,
| this menace of Herat and kandahar, the
two principal cities of Afghanistan, Is
| maintained. The Russians also have a
pretender to the Afghan throne living
at their expense in Tashkend, Samarkand
and BohhaTa, in turn, who might be
made useful in an emergency by putting
in claim to the authority and emoiu-
ments of the present ameer.
The Russians found Merv an inSignifi-
cant Turkoman encampment of habit
kas surrounding a village of mud huts,
and have made it a military post of
great strategic Importance, commanding
the western approaches to Afshanistan.
This means a great deal to England with
India On the other side of that semi
civilized buffer state, but of greater in
terest to us are the successful efforts
CT the Russians to introduce American
cotton into Asia, so as to supply their
own mills With raw material. and thus
escape then present dependence upon
the planters of the United States; but
shall have to tell you about that in an
other letter.
George Funk, thirty-eight years old, a
/ ~ NN