. Russia's railway advance into Central Asia; . ebarren and blighted character of the land-scapes by the beautiful fine weather and acloudless sky with lOO degrees of Fahrenheitin the shade. The train was timed to start at six oclockin the evening, which entailed another wholedays delay, and this time in such a miserableand uninteresting waste, that most of thepassengers preferred to stay in the steameruntil the hour of departure. Instead of sixoclock, it was nearly midnight before the trainactually did leave, as the one due from theopposite direction had first to be waited for ;and there had
. Russia's railway advance into Central Asia; . ebarren and blighted character of the land-scapes by the beautiful fine weather and acloudless sky with lOO degrees of Fahrenheitin the shade. The train was timed to start at six oclockin the evening, which entailed another wholedays delay, and this time in such a miserableand uninteresting waste, that most of thepassengers preferred to stay in the steameruntil the hour of departure. Instead of sixoclock, it was nearly midnight before the trainactually did leave, as the one due from theopposite direction had first to be waited for ;and there had been no communication eitherway for several days in consequence of therails near Kizil Arvat and other places havingbeen washed away by the floods. A wholeday was certainly too long to inspect thisbivouac on the edge of the desert ; and itsdescription may be summed up in \cryfew words. Eighteen low, and narrow woodenpiers jutting out into the water round a semi-circular and sandy bay, with one or two u Map of the Russian Central Asian DISTANCES:- from Oozoofi Ada /o Hml Arvat 162 Miles . Hizil Arvat . Asksbad /36 . Asifabad . Merv ?/^ ,_ Aferf - Cfiard/ui 0,7 . Amu Dang . Bofihara 66 . Bokhara Samarkand _I75 . Length of Railway 300 , Oozoon Ada and Krasnovodsk. 111 larger and stronger landing stages belongingto the steamship companies; a few dozensaiHng brigs, barges, and smaller craft ; twoor three steamers at anchor ; with stragglingrows and clusters of flimsy wooden houses, hutsand warehouses, the whole enclosed by a back-ground of bare hills and mounds of light yellowsand. Such is a picture of Oozoon Ada as I firstsaw it. The hurriedly built settlement had avery ephemeral and unsubstantial appearance,and in no way corresponded with the fancifuldescription of a Russian newspaper writer whohad filled it with imaginary fine streets andsquares. There was the green painted dome ofthe indispensable wooden church, dedicated toSt. Michael the Archangel, or, as the Russian
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1890
