Page:Kennedy, Robert John - A Journey in Khorassan (1890).djvu/103

 be, it is not altogether to be deplored, for, if knowledge be power, the Russian position in Central Asia is under the present régime one of great weakness. Cards, dice, and drink, with dreams of frontier affrays, which may bring him decorations and promotion, are the only means which the average Russian officer possesses for killing time in those barren steppes in which his lot may be cast, and he is content to be but a simple atom in the fateful and irresponsible Russian advance which has hitherto borne down in Central Asia all attempts at resistance by the sheer weight of overwhelming numbers and of mysterious prestige.

The voyage from Uzun-Ada to Meshed-i-Sar occupies thirty-six hours, including a few hours' stoppage at the dreary and desolate Russian outpost of Tchikishliar, as well as at the Persian harbour of Gez, near Astrabad. At Gez there is a large natural harbour formed by a long, narrow spit of land, at the extremity of which is the Russian naval station of Ashrada. Here there are a couple of Russian dispatch boats, and one or two hulks; but the raison