Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/435

Rh with only a narrow strip of territory between the English possessions and her own.

"From the time of Peter the Great to the present," the Doctor continued, "Russia has been steadily pressing farther and farther into Asia. If inclined to be a punster, I should say she has advanced steppe by steppe;



the Kirghese and Turcoman steppes have been conquered one after another—sometimes by fighting, and sometimes by diplomacy, but more frequently by a skilful combination of both forms of conquest. The Russians have a thorough knowledge of Asiatic people, probably because they have so much Asiatic blood in their own veins, and in their dealings with the savage or half-civilized natives of this vast country they manage things much better than the English do.

"A large part of the Kirghese country was won without actual fighting, though with military assistance. It was generally in this wise:

"Two tribes might be at war with each other, and Russia, after some negotiation, would come to the aid of the weaker. The presence of a