'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎197] (232/714)

POLITICS AXD COMMERCE OF KHORASAN
197
as a prospecting pioneer of Russian advance, later as a member
of the Afghan Boundary Commission, and now diplomatic agent at
the Court of Bokhara, was at Sarakhs on the surveying tour which
first laid bare to European knowledge the country between Sarakhs
and Herat. ^ He described the pitiable fright of the wretched gar
rison, who, instead of being a terror to the foe, were practically
beleaguered themselves, inasmuch as they never dared to sally out
and^ burnt alarm fires on the watch-towers at night.
. . Iwo 7 ears later ' 111 A P ril 1884, largely in consequence of the
information which M. Lessar had collected, and in pursuit of that
Eeoccupa- ^ff^cthe but indefensible advance that resulted in the
Sarakhs 01d affray on tlie Kushk and the seizure of Panjdeh in 1885,
Eussians tlie . Ilussians appeared in force, and occupied the deserted
position of Old Sarakhs on the eastern bank of the river.
Here they soon constructed a fortified position and barracks • and
the resuscitated Old Sarakhs, which I suppose may now be called
the Newer Sarakhs, has ever since remained one of their frontier
military stations. The only account of it that I have seen since it
passed into their hands is that by the Comte de Cholet, a young
French officer who rode down this way in disguise in 1888 with
Colonel Alikhanoff from Merv. His description (translated) is as
follows :—
Strictly speaking to call Sarakhs a town would be somewhat of an
exaggeration. It is simply a military post around which are grouped
the houses of the officers and of some persons engaged in trade. As
the Persians seemed to resent the annexation of the Turkoman tribes
who inhabit this neighbourhood, the Russians replied by erecting this
advanced post, in which they placed two battalions, one of the first
line, and one reserve or garrison, in all from 1,500 to 1,600 men. This
was more than enough to teach the Persians that they could never
hope to recover the country ; at the same time that, upon a really very
shallow pretext, it established an important advanced post in the
valley of the Tejend, commanding one of the two roads to Herat.
Besides a large and excellent barrack, the town consists only of 100
houses, inhabited by the military or civil officials and the merchants.
Two streets and two squares—one of which is the scene of a very busy
and animated market divide the town, and constitute a long parallelo
gram, half a mile in length by 200 yards in width. It is the residence
of a pristav, or chief of district. 1
I have in my previous work quoted the important opinion of
1 Excursion en Turkestan, pp. 80-82.