That Herat and Meshed are the objectives of Russian railway policy is obvious from a pamphlet issued in 1902 by the Topographical Bureau in St. Petersburg and entitled _Railways Across Persia_. In its pages a railway was projected from Kara Kliss, a station midway between Tiflis and Erivan, _viâ_ Tabriz, Teheran, Shahrud to Meshed. The mileage, cost, the number of sidings and names of stations were all laid down. The principal stations in the first section--Kara Kliss to Tabriz--were Erivan and Julfa. At this moment the span from Kara Kliss to Julfa a distance of 135 miles is completed, the first hundred miles--Kara Kliss to Erivan--being open to traffic and the remaining thirty-five miles--Erivan to Julfa--in working order. From Julfa a carriageway, constructed under Russian auspices and in all essentials a Russian military road, runs to Tabriz, so that Russian schemes for broad gauge railways to Herat and Meshed are at least removed from their incipient obscurity. [Illustration: NATIVE SCHOOL] [10] “All the Russias.” H. V. Norman. CHAPTER VI THE MURGHAB VALLEY [Illustration: THE RUSSIAN COSSACK ON THE AFGHAN BORDER] The river Murghab, which, with the Kashan and the Kushk streams, waters the Merv oasis and then disappears in the sands of the Kara Kum desert, rises in the mass of mountains connecting the eastern extremities of the Safed Koh and Tir Band-i Turkestan ranges. It flows in a westerly direction through the great valley separating these mountain chains and, after receiving the waters of numerous tributaries, turns towards the north-west to pass the Afghan fortress of Bala Murghab and the post of Karawal Khana. At this latter point it receives the waters of the Kaisar affluent. Continuing in a north-westerly direction it flows past Maruchak, lying on the right bank, where a short distance below it is joined by the Kashan stream. Pendjeh and Ak Tepe are both situated upon the left bank. At Ak Tepe the Kushk river, which rises in the Paropamisus range, unites with it and from this point the Murghab runs in a due northerly direction past Yulatan to Merv, thence running dry in the desert.