Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/483

Rh in any part of Turkestan, they build a fort and a bazaar side by side. Hardly Las the army pitched its tents before the shops are opened and the natives are invited to come in and trade. All who come are kindly treated; in a little time whatever hesitation the natives may have possessed is gone, and the cheapness of the goods on sale converts the former enemies into friends. There is no doubt that Russia thoroughly understands the Asiatic nature, and deals with it accordingly.

"Most of our return journey to Mikhailovsk was made in the night, which we did not specially regret, where so much of the route was through the uninteresting desert. We were told that when the railway was started, it was intended to make a narrow-gauge line that would be taken up as soon as the capture of Geok Tepe had been accomplished. But the undertaking had not gone far before the plans were changed and a well-built railway, on the standard gauge of Russia, was the result. The line is well equipped with cars, and at no distant day will form a link in the overland route from England to India.

"When the Russian and Indian lines form a connection near Herat or Candahar, the Vladikavkaz Railway will be completed to Petrovsk, on the Caspian. The traveller may then go from London to Bombay or Calcutta in nine or ten days. His entire journey will be made by rail, with the exception of the passages of the English channel and the Caspian Sea, the former requiring two hours, and the latter an entire day. Russia is already talking of an extension of the line from Tsaritsin, along the lower Yolga and around the northern end of the Caspian to a connection with the Trans-Caspian Railway. Should this line be made, the journey to India would be wholly a land route, with the exception of 'The Silver Streak,' between Dover and Calais."

While our friends are musing on the possibilities of the railway to India, and its benefits to commerce and civilization, they have recrossed the Caspian and are once more in the Petrolia of Europe. And now behold them seated in a train of the Trans-Caucasian Railway for a ride to Tiflis and the Black Sea.

A letter in the New York Herald of April 19, 1886, says:

"The Russians have established a military and naval station at Novi Golfe, on the Caspian, twenty-two versts north-west of Mikhailovsk, and connected it with the latter point by railway. In case of war with England, the Russians are prepared to strike heavy blows in Asia. They have two army corps in the Caucasus, and another in Turkestan ready for service on their south-eastern frontier. The vessels of the Kavkas and Mercury Steamship Company, Noble's naphtha fleet, and the Greek and Armenian vessels on the Caspian (which all fly the Russian flag), would be immediately pressed into the service. The Russians believe that, barring bad weather, they could, with these steamers and a number of