Colonel Ulyanin, of the Corps of Engineers, was appointed Chief Constructor and the overseers were also engineer officers, the majority of whom had already taken part in the laying of the Krasnovodsk-Merv section of the Trans-Caspian railway. The workmen consisted of Russians, Persians, Bokharans, Sarts from the province of Samarkand, Ersaris and Afghans from Maimana, the daily roll averaging between 3500 and 5000. Of this number from 27 per cent. to 45 per cent. were Russians, who were paid from eighty-nine kopecks to one rouble eighty kopecks per day. Native workmen received no more than eighty kopecks daily; several hundred of them worked for a monthly salary of between fifteen and seventeen roubles. The prevalence of malaria in the Kushk and Murghab valleys interrupted the building and hundreds of instances of labourers breaking their contracts occurred, the authorities being obliged to repair the shortage by enlisting inexperienced men. In spite of this difficulty work upon the permanent way was completed in November 1898, and the task of laying the rails, which began on November 15, 1897, was finished on December 4, 1898. Rails were laid at a rate varying between 1 and 2½ versts per day, the job being carried out by the newly formed companies of the Railway Battalion. The cost per verst fluctuated from 350 to 450 roubles. The difference existing between the gauge of this railway and the standard of the Russian railways has since been altered. At first the line was of narrow gauge with rails weighing 18 lbs. to the cubic foot, metals of a heavier type only being laid for a distance of forty versts. The service of trains from Merv to Kushkinski was opened on December 4, 1898. At the present time, it comprises four daily local trains and two bi-weekly expresses, “through” trains, which complete the journey in eighteen hours at a speed of 11 miles an hour.

Upon completion and after inspection by a commission, control of the Murghab valley line reverted to the Minister of Ways and Communications by whom the original narrow gauge was adapted to the broad gauge of the Russian system. Various other alterations and improvements in the siding and hutting accommodation were also carried out. In 1901-02 branch lines to Chahil Dukteran and Tanur Sangi, skirting the left bank of the Murghab and passing Maruchak on the Afghan bank, were constructed. It is now proposed to double the entire track between Merv and Kushkinski Post, these highly significant changes making the railway available for any service the military authorities might impose upon it. The line itself is veiled in such close secrecy by the Russian authorities that peculiar interest attaches to any particulars upon it, and these notes, presented for the first time to the public, convey an accurate and not unimportant description of its character, from the junction at Merv to the terminus at Chahil Dukteran.

A NOTABLE GATHERING

From Merv station, 118.01 sagenes above sea-level, the railway runs at first in a south-easterly direction, passing due south and south-west along the valleys of the Murghab and Kushk rivers. The first station beyond Merv is Talkhatan Baba, some 37 versts distant at an elevation of 127.06 sagenes. This place is situated in country which is both sandy and flat, while barely 6 versts away is the Murghab river, upon which the station is dependent for its water-supply. Twenty versts further the line meets the spreading prosperity of the Yulatan oasis, from which the point derives its name. Yulatan station stands at a height of 134.16 sagenes; and, although a pleasant freshness is imparted by the oasis to its environment, the general spectacle is very dreary, being broken only by the contours of low dunes and undulating sand ridges. A small village has been founded by the Russians on the banks of the stream, the first colonists to establish themselves in Yulatan appearing in 1885. An open square, surrounded by little brick and stone buildings distinguishes the centre of the settlement. Four wide streets, along the gutters of which are planted tall trees, radiate from it; while the population consists principally of Persians, Khivans, Sarts, Armenians and Bokharan Jews. The percentage of Russians is inconsiderable.

Yulatan contains the headquarters of the District Commissioner, the Sixth Company of the 1st Trans-Caspian Railway Battalion and two companies of the 1st Caucasian Rifle Battalion. There are also a post and telegraph office, a mixed primary school, an hospital with six beds, a synagogue and a large public garden. The trade is in the hands of Bokharan Jews and the market assembles upon Mondays and Thursdays. In the district around the station there is a Tekke population of 15,000, occupied, for the most part, in the cotton industry. By reason of its trade this station is the most important commercial centre on the line. In 1901, for which statistics have only just become available, there were:

Passengers.
Arrivals. Departures.
2108 2084
Imports. Exports.
Merchandise 10,569  poods Merchandise 30,161  poods.
Sugar 413 ” Wheat 2,109 ”
Kerosene 602 ” Barley 3,581 ”
Flour 856 ” Cotton 16,763 ”

These figures have increased greatly in more recent years, the bulk of the trade from the Yulatan oasis line now converging upon this point.