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~ 474
THE LAKESIDE LIBRARY.
Vou. IV.
learned officially from Russian sources; but unof-
ficially, and one by one, many little bits of infor-
mation crept out. I now first learned that Gen-
eral Milutin, the Minister of War at St. Petersburg,
Was personally very much opposed to the idea of
an English officer traveling in Central Asia, par-
ticularly in that part which lies between the bound-
aries of British India and Russia. According to
chim, a Russian traveler, a Mr, Pachino, had not
-been well treated by the authorities in India, and
this gentleman had not been permitted to enter
. . Afghanistan; and, in consequence, General Milutin
- «did not see why he should allow an Englishman
. to do what was denied to a Russian subject.
: Another peculiarity, which I remarked in sey-
~. eral Russians whose acquaintance I at that time
had the honor of making, it may here be not out
~ of place to mention. This was their desire to im-
. press upon my mind the great advantage it would
be for England to havea civilized neighbor like
. Russia on her Indian frontier; and when I did net
take the trouble to dissent from their views—for
it is.a waste of breath to argue with Russians
about this question—how eager they were for me
to impress their line of thought upon the circle
of people with whom I was the more immedi-
ately connected. Of course, the arguments brought
forward were based upon purely philanthropic mo-
_tives, upon Christianity and civilization, They said
ithat the two great powers ought to go together
shand in glove; that there ought to be railways all
‘through Asia, formed by Anglo-Russian compa-
nies; that Russia and England had every sympathy
in common which should unite them; that they
both hated Germany and loved France; that
. England and Russia could conquer the world, and
$0 on.
_ It wasa line of reasoning delightfully Russian;
and though I was not so rude as to differ from
my would-be persuaders, and lent an attentive
“ear to all their eloquence, I could not help think-
. hat the mutual sympathy between England
and Germany is much greater than that between
England and Russia; that the Greek faith, as prac-
ticed by the lower orders in Russia, is pure pagan-
ism in comparison with the Protestant religion
which exists in Prussia and Great Britain; that
Germany. and Great Britain- are natural allies
against Russia, or any other power aggressively
disposed toward them; that Germans and. English-
men who are well acquainted with Russia, under-
stand by the term “Russian civilization ” some-
thing diametrically opposite to what is attributed
to it by those people who form their ideas of Mus-
covite progress from the few Russians whom they
meet abroad; and that the Honduras. Railway
would be a paying concern to its English share-
holders in comparison with an Anglo-Russian line,
to be constructed in Central Asia with English
capital and Russian directors. :
The time was wearing on, November was
-drawing to a close, my leave of absence
would Begin on the first of the following month,
-and on that day I must commence my travels.
Preparations were rapidly made, Under the ad-
yice of Captain Allen Young, of arctic fame,
“ordered a huge water-proof, and, consequently,
_ air-proof, bag of prepared Sail-cfoth. The ba:
was seven feet and a half long, and ten feet roun
_A large aperture was left on one side, and the
traveler could thus. take up his quarters inside,
. and sleep well protected fromthe cold winds. The | t
bag would also be useful in many other ways;
_and I found it of great convenience for every
purpose save the one for which it was originally
_ intended. The manufacturer, not calculating on
the enormous dimensions an individual assumes
when enveloped in furs, had not made the aper-
ture large enough, and the consenuence was that
. the difficulties, when I attempted to take a header
\into the recess of my sleeping-apartment, were
-almost insurmountable; and only on one occasion,
and when clad somewhat more lightly than usual,
I succeeded in effecting an entrance. Four pairs
of the thickest Scotch fishing stockings were also
ordered, and jerseys and flannel shirts of a texture
to which people in this country are but little accus-
tomed. Then came.a suit of clothes, made by
Messrs. Kino, of Regent Sireet, and in which the
assured me it would be impossible to feel cold.
The clothes, I must admit, were exceptionally well
made, and well suited to be worn under a sheep-
_skin attire; but I ean not wish my worst enemy a
greater punishment than forcing him to sleep out
on the steppes in winter time with mere cloth at-
tire, no matter how thick. Fur or skins of some
ind must be worn, or, without this precaution,
the traveler, should he once close his eyes, will un-
dergo a great risk of never opening them again.
Two pairs of boots lined with fur were also taken;
and for physic—with which it is as well to be sup-
plied when traveling in out-of-the-way places—
some quinine, and Cockle’s pills, the latter a most
invaluable medicine, and one which I have used
on the natives of Central Africa with the greatest
possible success.
produced upon the mind and body of an Arab
sheik, who was impervious to all native medicines,
when I administered to him five Cockle’s pills,
will never fade from my memory; and a friend of
mine, who passed through the same district many
months afterward, informed me that my fame asa
“medicine-man” had not died out, but that the
Marvelous cure was even then a theme of conver-
sation in the bazaar. :
So faras I could learn from the books which
In fact, the marvelous effects 0.
related to Central Asia, there would be but little
game, and nothing particular in the shape of
sport ; so I determined not to take a rifle, when
the cartridges would have considerably added to
the weight of my luggage, the prime object being
to travel as light as possible. However, as it» was
as well to have some sort of a gun in the event of
falling in with wild fowl, which I had been told
abounded in some places, 1 took a favorite old
No. 12 small bore, and some cartridges made up
with No. 5 shot and ball, in the event of falling in
with any bears or wolves ; while a regulation
revolver, with about twenty cartridges, made up
my defensive arsenal in the event of an attack
from the Turkomans. . .
The next thing to be thought of was a cooking
apparatus; and if I had taken the advice of many
kind friends, I should have traveled with a batterie
de cuisine sufficient for the wants of M. Soyer him-
self. But canteens could not be thought of for a
moment, on account of the extra weight,'so I
limited myself to two soldiers’ mess tins ; and ad-
mirable little-utensils they are too, whether for
cooking over a spirit-lamp or on a fire, and far
superior to any of the more costly and cumber-
some articles especially invented to get out of
order and perplex the traveler. A trooper’s hold-
all, with its accompanying knife, fork, and spoon,
completed my kit; and with a thermometer,
barometer, and pocket sextant by way of instru-
ments, I was ready to start. Even this amount of
luggage was much more than was desirable ; and
when placing the baggage for my journey—con-
sisting of the sleeping-sack, a pair of saddle-bags,
railway-bag, and gun—into the scales I foun
that it weighed exactly eighty-five pounds, An
officer in the Foot-guards, my friend K——, wished
yery much to accompany me in my journey ; and
he would haye been a most cheery and agreeable
companion, as he was accustomed to travel, and
capable of roughing it to any amount ; but as he
was ignorant of Russian, and by this time I was
thoroughly aware of the difficulties that would
most likely be thrown in my way, and of the little
chance I had of getting to Khiva alone, I was com-
pelled at the last moment, to my great reluctance,
to decline his proposal.*
e day before my departure from London I
received a very courteous letter from Count
Schouvaloff, in which he’ said_that, as I was pro-
yided with letters to General Milutin, the Russian
Minister of War, and to General Kauffmann, the
commander-in-chief of the forces in the Govern-
ment of Turkistan, it only remained for him to
give me a letter of introduction to his brother at
st. Petersburg, and to wish me godspeed on my
journey. also added that he had sent off a
dispatch to the Minister of Foreign Affairs at St.
Petersburg, asking him to do every thing he could
to aid me in my proposed journey. And so, at the
last moment, I began to flatter myself things
looked a little brighter ; but some observations
from Mr. MacGahan, whose acquaintance I was so
fortunate as to make at the house of a mutual
friend, a few evenings previous to my departure,
made me still rather doubiful of success. “You
will get on very well as far as Fort Number One,”
had been the remark; “and then you will have
to pull yourself together and make your rush, and
again in the same way when you leave Russian
territory for India ; but it is to be done, though
he odds are rather against you.” He had also
given me some valuable hints about acquiring a
knowledge of the Tartar language, and traveling
as light as possible.t
CHAPTER IT.
The 20th of November, 1875, broke cold and
damp. . It was one of those disagreeable days that
depress and lower the barometer of the human
spirit to a semi-despondent level; but 1 h
finished all my regimental duty, and having: pro-
vided myself at Thornhill’s with a strong waist-
belt to contain the amount of gold I thought
was a most uncomfortable bed-fellow, I drove to
the Victoria Station, to start by the night mail.
I had determined not to take a. servant—they
are generally in the way, unless they know some-
thing of the country traveled in: under other
conditions, master and man have to change places.
I must say, however, that I was sorry to leave be-
hind my faithful fellow. He had been with me
in several parts of the world, and was able to
make himself understood by signs and the few
broken words of the language he might pick up,
in amanner to me quite incomprehensible ; but
Russian moujiki (peasants) and‘ r camel.
drivers would have been too much even for him.
Besides, he was a married man, and I did not
wish to be saddled with his wife and family in the
event of a disaster.
Our iron horse galloped merrily over the dis-
tance between London and Dover. The passage to
stend was a favorable one ; and the following
afternoon at4 P.M. I found myself once again in
the familiar old station of Cologne. —
*K— was determined not to be idle during his leave,
and, as he cousd not go with me to Russia, went, by way
of achange, to Abyssinla, where, I belleve, he had some
interesting adventures.
+To Mr. MacGahan, and subsequently to Mr. Schuyler,
First Secretary at the United States Embassy at St.
Petersburg, Lam greatly indebted for much vaiable
&
information with reference to my route,
necessary for my journey, and which, by-the-way, | m
Two or three'hours’ delay waiting for the night
express to Berlin, and once more en route. The
capital of the empire was reached the followin;
morning, but I had no time to stop, much as
should have liked to visit the many well-loved old
nooks and corners familiar to me in my student
days. As it was, I could barely catch the train for
St. Petersburg, when I found the carriages very
much overcrowded, and with difficulty secured) a
lace. . '
. Two Russian gentlemen were in the same car-
riage; and in the course of conversation I found
that one had been employed in the diplomatic
service in Italy. He said that he had suddenly re-
ceived a telegram from Prince’ Gortschakoff, at
that time at Berlin, requiring his presence there
immediately. The clothes worn in Italy, even in
winter, are not necessarily of the warmest texture;
and my fellow-trayeler, who, by-the-way, looked in
very delicate health, found his journey northward
any thing but a pleasant one. But his troubles,
on arriving at the capital, were only beginning,
for the Prince said-to- him, “I-am going to S
Petersburg, and will give you your orders thera :
leave by the next train.” It was very cold weather;
and the unfortunate secretary, unprovided with
the necessary wraps, was miserable at the way the
fates had served him, He was an Anglophobist,
and much chuckled as he told his companion that
a violent article against England had appeared in
the Nord—a paper which, according to him, is in-
spired by the ministry at St. Petersburg — with
reference to Mr. Disraeli having purchased the
Viceroy of Egypt’s Suez Canal shares.
The English are a great nation, but very mad,”
observed another Russian. “They are sufiiciently
sane when their interests are concerned,” said the
secretary,“ for they have bought these Suez shares,
which they will make pay, financially as well as
politically speaking. Two years ago they nearly
inveigled the Shah intoa treaty with Baron Reuter,
and that would have given them the control of the
whole of Persia; but, thank goodness, our people
checkmated them there, and I do not think Eng-
Jand will try that game on again just at present;
as to Strausberg, he is a joke to that fellow, Reuter.
Anice business the latter would have made out of
it, and the English too, for the matter of that.” °
~ The day wore away, and the night came on cold
and bleak, as we rattled northward on our course,
The secretary sat shivering in the corner, and the
rest of us, enveloped in furs, sought the arms of
Morpheus, ‘It was an unusual thing to experience
such cold in a North German railway-carriage, as
generally they are well warmed by means of stoves,
and the more frequent fault to find with them is
overheating and stuffiness; but, for some reason or
other, the stupid attendant had let the fire out, and
the result was any thing but an agreeable night.
Presently we reached the boundary limit. between
Germany and Russia, when, a few minutes later, I
found myself, with the rest of the passengers, in
a large high hall, set aside for the examination of
luggage and inspection of passports. .
t was not a pleasant thing to be kept waiting
inacold room for at least three-quarters of an
hour, while some spectatcled officials suspiciously
fonned each passport, The Russian’ secretary
himself was not at all impressed with the wisdom
of his Government in still adhering to this system,
Which is so especially invented to annoy travelers,
What. nonsense it is!” he remarked 3 “the
greater scoundrel aman is, the greater certainty
of his Passport being-in the most perfect order.
‘Whenever go to France, and am asked for my
passport, I avoid the difficulty by saying : ‘Je suis
Anglais; no passport;’ and the officials, taking me
for an Englishman, do not bother me, or make me
8
I was myself a little uneasy about m
as it was one which had done service about. five
years previously, and I had forgotten to send it to
the Russian Consulate previous to my departure
from London. However, after looking at the
document for some time, and scrutinizing ‘its
owner very carefully, the official returned it to
O.
The customs examination was easily got throu:
and the only part of my luggage whieh posted
e a licer was the -sleeping-bag. He
smelled it suspiciously, the water-proof. cloth hav-
ing a strong odor. “What is it for?” “To sleep
He put his nose down again, and apparently
uncertain in his own mind as to what course to
pursue, called for another official, who desired me
to unroll it. “And you sleep in that big bag ?”
was the question. “Yes.” “What extraordinary
people the English are!” observed the man who
had inspected Tay passport, and sotto voce, “He
back a iti, thinking teat esi a eee
h .
ran ei NN int os was danger
Forward again, in a most commodious and well-
arranged carriage, well warmed, fairly lighted, and
containing every convenience the traveler could
require during the journey. The Russian trains
are constructed on the American principle, and
jou can walk from one end to the other, if you
ike, while two attendants in each carriage supply
every want of the traveler. I must say that in this
respect railway traveling in Russia is far better
arranged than er
rooms are unequal y any in that country. Eve:
thing you ask for is ready ata moment's notice
the dishes are hot and good, while the attendance
and the bill—a very important adjunct to a
England, andthe refreshment: :