consisting of about forty men, to a disgraceful flight. No wonder that these fellows became the dread and terror, not only of all Persia, into which they penetrated in small bands from a hundred to a hundred and fifty miles into the interior, but also to the rest of Central Asia, particularly to Bokhara, Khiva, and to the very walls of Maimene. "May you fall into the hands of the Turkoman," was the most bitter curse; and the saying, "Khouf-i-Turkmen"-i.e., fear of the Turkoman, was able to chill the blood even of the bravest of Asiatics, with the exception of the Afghans, who frequently had proved an unequal match for them.

Such was the people vanquished by Skobeleff at Geok-Tepe, such the enemy which Russia crushed in the north of Persia; and the reader may easily imagine how these feats of arms had raised the consideration of Russia in the eyes of all the Asiatics. First of all came admiration of the military strength and valour of the White Padishah on the banks of the Neva, who had surpassed in glory and greatness even the names of Djenghis, Timur, and Nadir. No less deep was the impression of gratitude wrought in the feelings of the Persians by the Russian success in the steppes of the Turkomans. Exposed for centuries to the irruptions of these reckless nomads, the peaceful and industrious inhabitants of Iran had vainly looked

for assistance to their king and government; the round tower of shelter erected on their fields could afford but a temporary refuge, and the final redemption from the inveterate enemy and terrible plague came only from the hand of a Christian ruler, from Russia, which now was called the real redeemer of half of Persia. It will remain an ever deplorable fact, that England, by whose civilising work so very many Asiatics have been benefited hitherto, did not try to anticipate her rival in this great work, considering that she could have done it more easily and much better. As to Persia, rotten to the very core, the ministers of the Shah, when asked about their feelings for the services rendered by the Russians, impudently remarked, "We did not invite the Muscovites to deliver us from the Turkomans, nor do we feel particularly grateful to them for having done so."

The feeling of the people, however, was widely different. Along the whole route through Khorassan, beginning from Shahrud, to Meshed and Sarakhs, but more particularly in the districts adjoining the newly acquired Russian territory, namely in Kabushan, Budjnurd, and Deregöz, people are now most anxious to exhibit their sympathies with the northern conqueror. Russian dresses are becoming the fashion of the day, Russian drinks get more and more into favour, every man of note strives to learn the Russian language,

D

and there is no exaggeration in saying that Russia has already morally conquered the northern slopes of the Kubbet Mountains to such an extent, that the physical conquest is only a question of time.

The next benefit Russia will derive from the subjugation of the Akhal-Tekke Turkomans, will be found in the strategical as well as commercial position she gained through her standing on the southern slopes of the Kubbet Mountains, known in antiquity as the country of the Parthians. Excepting the embouchures of the Gurgan, the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea is, as far as Kizil-Arvat, nothing but a dreary desert, a sterile and an arid country. Cultivation, owing to irrigation carried from the mountain, begins only at the last-named place. But the more we advance eastward the richer becomes the soil, the more plentiful is the water in the irrigating canals, and the more varied and luxuriant are the products. In fact, up to the beginning of the thirteenth century, this country was noted for its fertility and for its centres of culture. In antiquity, the great commercial road leading from the interior of Asia to the west, has passed the southern slopes of the Kubbet Mountain to the Caspian, and in spite of having been laid waste by the irruption of the Mongols, the places of Kahka and Mehne, Abiverd, and some others, enjoyed a fair amount of reputation up to the end of the seventeenth

century. Nothing, therefore, is easier to surmise than that Russia, being in the undisputed possession of that rich country, will do all in her power to revive the bygone period of culture. The country could be much more quickly colonised and peopled than any of her more recent acquisitions in Turkestan. Russia is prompted to hasten the process of colonisation here, in order to get a firm footing on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, on the very spot which is calculated to become the second link of connection in her great chain of communication, running from the interior of Russia over the Black Sea, the Caucasus, and the Caspian, to the outskirts of the Paropamisus. It was in full recognition of this important fact that the Caucasus was bridged over by rail from Batoum to Baku, at the cost of £9,000,000; and considering the extraordinary increase of private and governmental ships on the Caspian during the last twenty years, it was but natural that the Russian government did not shun the expense, but began, simultaneously with the conquest of Turkomania, the construction of the Transcaspian railway, which until quite recently, starting from Mikhailofsk on the Balkan Bay, stretched over 144 miles to Kizil-Arvat, involving a cost of £648,000.

The heavy blow inflicted, Russia's first care was to pacify the country, and to show to the Turkomans

that the Czar was not only able to strike hard, but that he also possessed the power to heal the wounds, to show mercy, and to become a kind-hearted father of his subjects. Skobeleff, the originator of the massacre, and the dreaded exterminator of the Turkomans, was recalled from the scene of his bloody action. and replaced by General Röhrberg, a GermanoRussian officer noted for his administrative faculties, and evidently the best man to represent the benignant rays of the sun after the frightful storm which had swept over the Akhal country. He began by alluring the large masses of fugitives which were dispersed in every direction of the less accessible sands in the north of the Karakum, invited them to re-occupy their former places, petted and encouraged them to go on with their usual work, promising, and giving too, all kinds of assistance; they were only asked to give up the arms they had concealed, and to keep quiet under the new order of things which awaited them. The returning Akhal-Tekke Turkomans presented the most pitiful aspect of dreary desolation and bewilderment; the greater portion of their property was lost and scattered; more than half of their cattle had perishedin the desert. The haggard-looking and terror-stricken nomads, happy to save the last resources of existence, were certainly the best material cut of which the first nucleus of