Afghanistan

by A. Hamilton

THE RUSSO-AFGHAN BOUNDARY

The Afghan fortress of Maruchak has experienced a varying fortune, the vicissitudes of which once brought it to ruin and caused its defences to be abandoned. Since then the advance of the Russians has thrown it into prominence again. Its walls have been restored, although it can never serve any other purpose than that of a frontier post of observation. The fortress is in the shape of a square of which the outer walls, measuring some 600 yards, rise 20 feet from the side of a moat. The main entrance faces the river on the west. Other entrances of less importance are placed at the north-east and south-east angles. In the centre, rising from a circular mound some 40 feet in height with a diameter of 250 yards, is an inner fortress. Quarters for the troops have been constructed along the eastern wall where there is now accommodation for 1000 men. Gun towers stand at the four corners of the main wall and an infantry platform runs round the inner face of the square, a few feet below the parapet. At an angle of the inner fortress and slightly higher than the fortress itself is the citadel, some 80 yards square, where a last stand would be made. The walls and bastions of this are about 15 feet high and gun platforms have been constructed at the corners.

Bala Murghab, a sister fortress, is smaller than Maruchak and lies about 46 miles south-east of Pendjeh. The principal work consists of a fort 120 yards square, situated on a mound itself 30 feet in height; the walls of the fort rise a further 15 feet. An underground passage from it leads to the river and there are quarters for 200 cavalry, 300 infantry and one battery of artillery, besides storehouses and a magazine. The interior of the fort in its present size does not afford accommodation for the existing garrison, all of whom are Irregulars with the exception of the officers. The larger proportion of the mounted men have their lines outside the walls. On a mound, which hitherto has marked the ruins of an ancient citadel, a more commodious fort has been constructed. It stands at the bend of the river, covering Robat-i-Ishmail and protecting the entrance to the Mangan defile. Its dimensions provide for a square of 200 yards, with walls 25 feet in height and an inner defence work standing some 50 feet higher.

MESHED TRADERS AT PENDJEH

Independent of the regular garrison at Herat, there is a levy roll for the Bala Murghab district of 1000 mounted and dismounted men. Two hundred of the former are supposed always to be mustered as Bala Murghab finds details for a number of outlying fatigues, including pickets at the fords and certain mounted patrols. In the immediate vicinity of the fort there is a settlement containing several thousand families. It should be remembered that the garrison at this point is comprised of Afghan Irregulars, who still retain their old titles and organisation. Their company strength is 100 and each company is quite independent of the remaining ones. Five companies form the command of a Sarhang, whose superior officer is a Sartip. Each company commander is known as a Sad Bashi; and for every ten men there is a Dah Bashi. In the regular Afghan army the commissioned ranks are known by the English equivalent; but in general the military organisation, whether regular or irregular in men as in matériel, is hopeless.

No point in the Murghab region is more important than the Pendjeh oasis as an agricultural colony. It is principally confined to the limits of a single valley, some 25 miles in length and 2 miles in breadth. Dotted about its spreading expanse there are a number of tiny settlements, containing in all some eight to nine thousand households. The areas under cultivation do not return sufficient grain to support so large a population; there is, therefore, a constant migration of Pendjeh Sariks to the adjacent valleys of Kushk and Maruchak as well as to the more distant oases of Yulatan and Tejend, where they have become ardent agriculturists.

The settlers in the Pendjeh valley are divided into five sections. Although united by tribal ties intercommunal jealousies are responsible for continuous discord. The richest and most influential section is that of the Soktis, who occupy the land on the western bank of the Murghab between Pendjeh, Kuhnah and Sari Yazi, a distance of some 35 miles. The Harzagis settlement, lying on the same bank, extends between Takhta Bazar and Maruchak; between these two large settlements are the areas occupied by the Khorassanlis. The two remaining sections, the Bairach and the Alishah, share the opposite bank.

The occupation of the Pendjeh valley by the Sariks took place about thirty years ago, when they were turned out of Merv by certain of the Tekke tribes. At first the Soktis were the sole possessors of the district; but, as other parties came in detachments from Merv, the different sections, increasing in numbers and in strength, were able to enforce upon the earlier arrivals a general division of the valley. Under existing arrangements the Pendjeh oasis has developed, the advent of the railway having attracted the attention of the Russians to its agricultural capacity. There must be now some 75,000 acres under cultivation, the entire area owing its fertility to the Murghab river, whose waters are confined by the Band-i-Nadir.