The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-05-10

~ tramp along, past gflded cup0ias gntterlng III
with green metal roofs past queer little shops IKE
magnifed rat-traps with keen, Well-WhiskeTou
tenant peerng out OF each pas. srs a. wtS
hats that look like exaggerated dice boxes till at
pass through double door into long, low,
crowded room, am relieved OF my coat and cap by
pair Of nimDe hands, ana near snsl voice utter
On the present occasion am graciously pleased
TO command "a glass OF tea." which speedily APP
pears under the following manipulation The
waiter-a bullet-headed Tartar boy, with fiat,
wde-mouthed face, not unlike penny with a
hole through ft-prOduces q large teapot full OF
warm water and q smaller one lull oil tea, pours
from each in turn till the glass Is filed launches
slice OF lemon upon u like Monitor, presents me
with four Jumps OF sugar in saucer and pro-
nOunces the cabaistic "G0t0U0" ready. which
implies that am to fall to. While slipping my tea
have leisure to note the surroundings, which are
certainly anything but luxurious. The moor il
greasy enough to skate upon the walls, Iarded
by the steam OF countless cabbage soups, glisten
ike caterpilars after shower; the huge, smoke
blackened rafters stand out like the ribs OF whale
and the rough tables Uttered with bread crumbs
way that Would dys Dutch housewife to
ton. But the ha6ifles are rare study neverthe.
less On my left sits Russian peasant In tattered
about, with look OF ind0lent enjoyment In every
line Of his salow, low-browed, patent, lnd0mta-
bic face on my right Smge @ 40 ss ra appears nm
face ard thick yellow hair are rresistbly sugges-
tive OF an overlooked apple dumping. little fur
ssa on s%Rp~s soaps GRIM old retrea
soldier in gray frieze who has lost his nose by a
frost bite. just in front OF me, over an enormous
dish OF boiled beef, sit three huge, red-faced I'M
couth-looking. fellows who, in England, would be
taken for porters or draymen, but here are three
or the richest merchants in town. II is from them
that the first mention OF the subject comes.
WHAT THE PEOPLE CHATTER.
~ tell you, brothers, ! know all about It, My
hwnt hnr On vuh n Uvaa or nra nhvtp
the other day. has just come back and he says that
everythngs ready and that the columns to start
the moment 5. the weather changes; and the fash
mani lHeathen) are going to catch 1t now, mark
ye; they've bothered US long enough, and their
times come at last. Isn't it so, Ivan Petrovitch"
John, the son OF Peter.) ivan Petr6vitch who
seems to be OF reserved turn OF mind answers
only with grunt; but the honorable member be-
side him ventures to start an objection. But
look you, Alexander Vasilievitch; suppose the
heather shut themselves up in their strong cities
bes' The look Of grand, indulgent contempt cast
upon him by No. / is as good as a play to be-
hold. Zach, Dmitrl Nikolaievitchl what do you
heather dogs, who don't believe in the true God,
can know anything. OF fortifying or making
war; WAR; For shame ps Mere Dmitri Nkoal-
posing they do shut themselves up III their
townsa Why, then, please God, Wen have bonn
bardrovanie (bOmbardment). The gusto with
which he rolls out This big word Is indescribaDle,
and Ivan Petr0yitch, evidently impressed by the
tremendous polysyllaDie, breaks silence with q
what is bombardment?" "I'll tell you that in
two words, brother answers the Oracle, with the
cain no o. saperi3r n,ea
in the earth, called trenches, and burrOw into
them for shelter from the cannon balls. Then the
people outside 1.-THE besiegers you understand) fire
great round things called bombs straight up in the
air so as to 1all into these holes and choke them
up, just as you'd put cork into bottle, and
smothered then the town gives in; and that's
called bombardmentl "G0spedt pomtluiin
lord have mercy cries Ivan Petr0vitch, startled
there are in the world. to be sure"
AS quit the truEteer group of young sub
and merry laughter forming curious foil to an
other picture that catches my eye the next mo-
ment--an old Tartar chief. whose dark features
look dOubly grim in their frame Of snow white
hair, seated upon his little square carpet before
house On the other side OF the street. There, In
sian Sistor r one side the railways and teie.
graphs, the gOld-laced uniforms and light drawing
room persinage OF the nineteenth century on the
other, the tameless guerilla Of the Eastern deserts,
the same in every feature as when his I0refathers
swept Russia as with whirlwind GOO years ago.
He replies courteousy to my brief salutation, but
without losing for moment the grand impassi
bty which Is the birthriQht OF all Oriental races;
and when look back at the end OF the street he
is there STILL In all my travels have seen few
finer or more touching spectacles than this grand
lonely. irreclaimable old savage, lingering IN the
midst of q world which has long since outgrown
BOUNDARY LINE OF THE EVERLASTING DESERT,
this mantle connecting link between q living
and dead worlds in his fitting place. There Is
no desoation like the great waste OF Eastern Rus
sia-the gray unending wilderness which the Rus
slams expressively call 1.-THE bad steppe." Other
spots may be as lonely but they have at least,
something to relieve them The sea is or one
color, but it has boundless life and motion. The
6as ali the 81 Of earthly coorng IN it,
measureless wealth OF flowers The very deserts
OF Arabia, grim and barren as they are, have de-
usive life in the whir OF their drifting sands. But
In the ghostiy wastes OF the VOlga all this is wholly
wanting The 'bGd steppe' has no dlmpling sur.
face no waving grass no varied coloring. no isets
OF verdure, nothing but a lmitless waste Of cold,
gray moorland, like the winding sheet OF q dead
universe. Here, In all It's fulness, is the tre-
mendous passivity Of nature, against which human
genius and human energy are as nothing-a
gigantic inaction, creeping onward slowly, pom
derously, remorselessy, like some monster OF
his inventions with vast brutal sOulless destruc-
tion In the presence OF such sight as this, one
begins to appreciate the grim truthfulness OF the
old Pagan conceptions oil nature-the colossal face,
unchangng In Its calm, passonless cruelty which
looks down upon US from the gates OF ancient East
ern temples
"What scene for Zichyn said I to myself on
taking my first look around from the hill and, in
deed, l regret that the Russian government has
expedition to paint as only he could do the splendid
portrait gallery which 1t would have opened to
him. At the very name OF Turkistan all its va.
RED types rise up again as saw them years ago,
when the forward stride OF Russian conquest was
still far distant The tall, wiry Turkoman, with q
latent vigor betraying Itself In every line OF his
long, gaunt limbs; the gnome-like Bashkir, hir-
suite and untamable as the four-footed ancestor
assigned him by tradition; the beardess mar
row-eysd Tartar; the mean-looking Sart, and
the shaggy-haired gpsy-like Dhouwana; the saw
age Kirghiz, with his hooked nose, coarse, matted
hair, and gitterng rat-like eyes; the lean, leath-
cry visage OF the Kashgarn, with his huge, bat-ke
ears projecting from under the little saucer-shaped
cap which crowns his narrow forehead; and, con-
spicuous above all, the sleek tigerlike beauty OF
the Afghan, with his fierce black eyes cleaning
from beneath the shadow OF his green turban and
the shining hilt OF his yatagnan standing out
against the spotless Wilderness OF his long, hanging
robe.
The report that Russia has made concessions OF
territory to the Kirghiz OF the Middle Horde in
der to keep them quiet during the Khivan cam
paign. is emphatcally contradicted: The three
columns are to make coDcentric advance upon
Knva, the forces under General verevkln and Col
onel Markoson acting rs reserve. The total cost
Is estimated at 100000 roubes ($15000, 000
and IN the event OF any disaster the at
lacking force will be able to fall BACK, like
Colonel Markoson last November upon the line
n and the strong OF TClik-