Dargaz
I
stayed a considerable time in Mahomadabad and other parts of the Daragez, viz.
from the 25th of November, 1880, to the 15th of January,
1881. I rented a house, and was given a shop in the bazaar, which I accepted
but never opened. Mahomadabad is a particularly good place at which to obtain
information of the Turkomans, as the Daragez district lies between the Akhal
Tekke and Merv Tekke Turkoman country, and the shortest road from one to the
other leads through Lutfabad, a town 14 miles from Mahomadabad. In the bazaar
there are always numbers of Akhal Tekkes buying and selling, Mahomadabad being
the town where they purchase all they require. Askabad, one of their largest
settlements, is only two marches off. From the Merv country many caravans come
in, and I saw and spoke with many Merv Tekke. I used to wander about the
bazaar, conversing with the people. Mahomadabad is a bilingual town, every one
speaking both Persian and Turki.
The
Daragez district has a length of some 65 miles, and a breadth of about 40.
There is a governor appointed by the Shah, though the appointment is hereditary
in one family; he bears the title of Begler Begi, and the people speak of him
familiarly as the Khan. His name is Mahomad Aly Khan. He is of Turk descent, as
are a large portion of his subjects. There are also many Kurd villages, but it
is a distinction to be a Turk.
C. E. Stewart — The Country of the Tekke Turkomans,
and the Tejend and Murghab Rivers (1881)
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