, 1885-12-26
pusslA's RAILWAY N ASIA.
a Marvel Of ~Eaginssrtng skilt-rhe sand
storm OF tbs De,ert- Work Done.

storip OF ms Desnrt- work Done.
David K.ri {, New YORK 4ines1
But apart from its military and polit-
ical signilcinc the Mu:hailoosk Bay d
AskaDad railroad merits attention MS a
marvel of engineering skill which has
success ully withstooI the formidable
''tebbad or sandstone OF the desert,
the terrific force OF which can never be
fully appreciated by any one who h Is
not actually experienced it The
storm which | encountered on my
way across the kAra-koum desert
TO Join poor Mtc iahan before
hiya in Is 3, though slight compared
with those which sometimes occur there.
wou d have been ute enough to satisfy
any ordinary traveller. 1t WAS drawing
toward midnight, and the moon hal
Just risen over the gray unending desc
lation OF the great waste upon which no
living thing vas TO be seen but our
selves, when our camels suddenly
stopped short, sn fled the air uneas ly,
and then lay down with their long necKs
fiat upon the sanI. At the sans mo-
ment "A strange dimness obscured the
ghosily splendor of the moonlight, while
a weird, unearthly sound, half whisper
and half moan. arose far away in the
silent distance.
''rebbadl' shouted our Kirghiz guide,
flinging him 'clf on tho ground unier
the lee of the nearest camel and hastily
mu ling himself in his huge Turcoman
shawl. My Tartar servant and | had
barely time to follow his example and
to throw ourselves down in the bottom
OF the wagon, when there came
a rush a roar. mingled with "a sound
like the rattle OF a furious hailstorm.
This was the patter Of the flying sand
against the sides OF our wagon, which
rocked to and fro as If about to capsi o
altogether. Against the whirl Of that
sandy tempest our thickest wrapp ngs
were of no avail. IL smarted in our
ewes, il cracked between o II teeth, it
made our skins gritty from head to foot
as we covered in the rocking wagon
listening to the vhooping Of the storm,
and wondering whether it would pass
over before We were choked outright.
AT last tho bowling and rafting died
away, and We crept forth gasping and
half sti ed to find ourselves to all APP
p~earances in the midst of a stormy seL
tar as eye could reach the smooth sur
face Of the desert was hur.ed up in mon
strous ridges or plowed into deep hol-
lows, bearing fearful testimony to the
might Of a tempest which could thus
alter the very face of the earth.
Tut even these dreaded ST rms in the
full height of their september wrath
have never been able to delay the desert
trains more than a very few hours at a
time The hostility OF untamed nature
has been met and parried with singular
dexterity. Light shields of wickerwork,
such as are used in other parts of Russia
to protect the railway track from the
snow, protect it here from the still more
formidable sand. The loose powderly
drifts have been bound together with
mud from the ~neighboringg swamps,
while the half liquid miro OF the latter
has in its turn been solidifed BIZ n
plentiful mixture of sand. in this way
the work has been carried forward with
a speed which, though far behind the
o aggerated reports spread concerning
1t 10y i.ussia for her " purposes dur
ing the late Afghan di Guilty. has never.
theless carried the line TO a point
within easy reach OF the Persian
frontier.
A very slight expenditure Of labor
will now su nee to r ng 1t right up to
AS abad, the capital Of the new prov
ince transferred to Russia a few years
ago Ly skobeloffs murderous victory
over TurcomHns Of Cock Tepe. tro d
Aska ad to Sarakhs, the nearest point
of the Afghan frontier. is n distance of
barely 9yO miles. 10 OF which will re-
quire just the same amoun OF earth
work as any ordinary railway in turo.
pean Dussia. while the remaining 10
will need none whatever. The work on
the line, Icing done entirely by Russian
soldiers, will not cost the government u
cent beyond the actual expense OF the
material, while the e ample OF the rail.
way constructed ly England in / ~
across the des Of northern Beloo-
chistdn TO the Afghan border, at a rate
OF one and a half to two and a half
miles a day. has shown with what rapid
ity a 7 ilroad may be pushed forward
over a level surface where neither tun-
nels, ridges nor cuttings are required
49, -