The Mervi Turks of Herat
Valley
We
stopped for the night at Shekeevan. When within a mile and half of the village,
we were met by the Governor of Goorian, Shagasi Samat Ali Khan, within three
hundred horsemen, who had received orders to escort me to the Persian frontier.
The escort was accompanied by the standard-bearer of the regiment1.
All the troopers were of the Maoor tribe, which derives its name from Maoro, or
Merv, to which oasis it was deported in the reign of Nadeer Shah, and from
which it subsequently returned when the city fell into ruins. The whole of them
were mounted on splendid horses. Although the Maoor tribesmen belong to the
Persian race, it is easy to observe a distinction in their form, their
features, their fresher appearance, and their greater regularity of dress. They
have the reputation of being a brave people.
The
distance from Herat to Shekeevan is about thirty miles. The road is traversed
twice by small streams; but is, all the same, a very easy one.
1Every thousand Khazadars is furnished with a standard.
Colonel Grodekoff's ride from Samarcand to Herat,
through Balkh and the Uzbek states of Afghan Turkestan (1880)
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