[603] Moser, p. 332. [604] The efforts of Tekke musicians can only be described as grotesque. They perform on long bamboo trumpets, called _twidak_, with an accompaniment of bowings and contortions which is in ridiculous contrast to the bird-like notes emitted. [605] No Turkoman troubled his head about the ordinary business of life after fifty. His work was then done by the women and younger men; and his attitude was one of ease with dignity. In raids, however, and warfare, he was always ready to take an active part up to an advanced age (O’Donovan, p. 306). [606] O’Donovan, pp. 307, 308; Moser, pp. 330, 331. [607] A small mat costs £40, and a work of larger size sometimes as much as £400 (Moser, p. 331). The ordinary kinds were made of sheep’s wool and camel’s hair, with a little cotton; the better, wholly of silk. O’Donovan saw one, eight feet square, priced at £50 (p. 308). Carpets of the highest quality are now not procurable. They are cherished as heirlooms, and all are essential parts of a Turkoman maiden’s dowry. Those of the second grade, but coloured with honest native dyes, fetch 13s. a square yard. [608] Marvin, quoting Vambéry and Conolly, mentions more ancient forms of marriage customs--the simulated abduction of the bride and the pursuit of her on horseback. These, however, are obsolete. For a considerable time after the fall of Geok Teppe the price of Tekke spouses sank to a low ebb, owing to the fearful slaughter of eligible males. [609] The Merv oasis is a wedge driven between Persia and Afghanistān. Meshed is only 150 miles from the centre, Herāt about 240; and the Paropamisus range which intervenes was no deterrent in the eyes of Tekke horsemen. [610] According to the agents employed by a London relief committee, a fifth of the population perished (Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin, _Merv_, p. 326). [611] Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin, _Merv_, p. 321. [612] Astrabad Consular Report for 1879. [613] Provisory Ordinance of the 21st March 1874, quoted by Ney, p. 225. [614] Ney, p. 225. [615] In 1875 a caravan, fitted out by the energetic Colonel Glukhovsky, was destroyed between Krasnovodsk and Khiva. In 1877 the Turkomans looted one proceeding northwards from the Atrak; and a little later they cut up, near Krasnovodsk, some of their brethren who had accepted Russian rule, and intercepted many postal couriers (Petrusevitch, quoted by Marvin, _Merv_, p. 331). [616] Ney, p. 226. It is now the site of a great railway workshop. [617] In 1878, when Russia was within an ace of going to war with England on the Eastern question, it was arranged that columns from Turkestān and the Caspian should meet at Merv and subdue that almost unknown region; but the Congress of Berlin rendered the measure unnecessary (Ney, p. 227).