The inhabitants of the Attek live chiefly in mud huts,
but to some extent in tents. Formerly each settlement
consisted of a fort, or “ kala,” within whose walls
stood the mud huts of the inhabitants ; tents were
pitched outside the fort, and these, when in danger,
were removed into the kala. A t present, at Chacha,
all the new buildings are of clay, and the number of
tents decreases with the pacification of the country.*
A s regards the important question of water in the
Attek, the quantity is limited, and the streams are
wide apart. There is also in this oasis another disadvantage,
in that considerable portions of the streams
are in the territory of the Persians, who are thus able
to cut off the water from the Turkomans, f
Along the whole extent of the Attek there is a
population of about 7,000 Alieli and Tekke Turkomans.
It is only at Küren and Kakha that there is
a settled population. All the inhabitants of the Attek
are engaged in agriculture and horticulture. Great
* M. Lessar says : “ Here, as also in Akhal, a watch-tower was, a
short time ago, the necessary appurtenance of every field. The towers
are either round or square, with a small aperture at the base sufficiently
large to admit the passage of the human body. When robbers
appeared on the scene, the people working in the fields crawled into the
tower, and, closing the entrance with heavy stones, remained there till
the marauders disappeared.
t The following are the watered and inhabited places of the Attek.
At Baba-Durmaz the water, though slightly salt, is good for drinking
purposes. A t Artyk, n miles further south, are 20 tents. Luftabad
and Küren, 3 miles from Artyk, and the succeeding settlements as far
as Kakha, are supplied with water from the Rud-Khan, or Rudbar
river, which takes its rise in the Allah-Akbar mountains, and is the
finest river in the oasis. Here water is abundant. Between Luftabad
and Kakha are about 500 tents. Kakha, with 650 tents, is the largest
settlement in the oasis. Dushak, 14 miles beyond, has 160 tents;
Mehna, 29 miles further, has 130 tents; Chacha, n miles beyond, 70
huts. These last two settlements, M. Lessar says, suffer much from
the Persians who deprived them of water. From Chacha to 'Sarakhs,
a distance of 37 miles, there is no water.
poverty prevails, and no trade originates there, whilst
the bazaars of Luftabad and Kakha are more than
sufficient for the whole of the Attek. No great
increase of the inhabitants can be expected, because
the Attek cannot supply the means of existence for a
dense population, and there is no inducement for further
migration thither of the Merv and Tejend Tekkes.
The third oasis I have named is that of the Tejend,
on the lower Heri Rud. That river rises in the
mountains near Kabul, waters the Herat plain, passes
the Afghan fortress Chorian, or Ghorian, to Kusan,
and thence onwards to Sarakhs forms the boundary
between Afghanistan and Persia. On the parallel of
Mashad the Heri Rud is joined by the Kashaf from thfe
west, and near the confluence is Pul-i-khatun, up to
which point Russian troops penetrated in 1884. After
a course of about 250 miles the river forces a channel
through the mountains south of Sarakhs. Beyond this
point the Heri Rud receives the name of Tejend, runs
into the Turkoman desert, and is lost, on the parallel
of Askhabad, in the swamps and lakes formed by
the spring floods. For a few miles below Sarakhs
both banks are Turkoman. T h e settlements of the
Tekkes along the Tejend are concentrated north
of Karybent, and in the direction of Alaman Chungul.
T he slopes of the aforesaid mountains are dotted
over with pistachio-trees, and the mulberry is
occasionally met with, whilst the edges of the river
are in some spots covered with almost impenetrable
willow bushes and reeds. Grass, M. Lessar says, is
abundant everywhere and of good quality, and the
water of the Heri Rud, though not clear, is wholesome.
* At Daulatabad, 10 miles above Sarakhs, the river divides into
several branches, in consequence of which in the dry season the water