. All the Russias: travels and studies in contemporary European Russia, Finland, Siberia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Bread-sellers at a Station. sented no difificulties, and the only engineering exploit is thebridge over the Oxus. But, as I said at the beginning, the as-tounding fact is that it is here at all. It was begun on June 30,1885; Merv was reached in July, 1886; the Amu-Darya, inJune, 1887; the bridge, 4,600 yards long, was opened for trafficin January, 1888; Samarkand reached in May, 1888; and Tash-kent soon afterward. Thus twenty years ago it was not thoughtof as it exists to-d
. All the Russias: travels and studies in contemporary European Russia, Finland, Siberia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Bread-sellers at a Station. sented no difificulties, and the only engineering exploit is thebridge over the Oxus. But, as I said at the beginning, the as-tounding fact is that it is here at all. It was begun on June 30,1885; Merv was reached in July, 1886; the Amu-Darya, inJune, 1887; the bridge, 4,600 yards long, was opened for trafficin January, 1888; Samarkand reached in May, 1888; and Tash-kent soon afterward. Thus twenty years ago it was not thoughtof as it exists to-day; the notion of it was even strenuously repu-diated by Russian statesmen when England grew nervous abouttheir intentions. Twenty-five years ago Samarkand and Tash-. <y z?< H THE TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY q.^i^ kent were only to be reached by adventurous travellers carry-ing their lives in their hands; Bokhara was as dangerous and asinaccessible as the capital of Thibet is to-day; Andijan was un-heard of; England would not have tolerated for a moment theidea of the absorption of all Central Asia by Russia. Now Rus-sia has it all—for ever, beyond the possibility of internal revolt orexternal attack; you book to Kokand as easily as to Kentor Kentucky; you are as safe there as in Calcutta or Colorado;the railway has brought Russian troops once more close to thefrontier of China, and actually to the frontier of Afghanistan;most wonderful of all, this line, planned and carried out as apurely military work, is already paying its way handsomely, andhas been transferred from military to civil administrators. Andit has brought peace and commerce and civilisation, as Russiaunderstands the word, to a vast region where so few years agoutter barbarism re
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjecttolstoy, bookyear1902
