Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-05-14
oyCLINs ROUND THE WORLD.
Tam stevens ON HIS bicycle Crossing .fcrs
a, India.

To tndtA.
Thomas stevens, whose tour around the
world on a bicycle has been attracting great
attention in Europe as we'll as in America,
has reached Meshed, in Persia A letter Just |
received from him 10y outing, at the instance |
of which magazine he is making the trip, |
will be the last news Of the plucky bcycler
until he has either met his fate at the hands
OF the natives or completed his run. Mr.
stevens letter is ~ follows:
| arrived at Meshed yesterday evening,
after an almost continuous struggle with the
| elements for twenty days made the ms
take of starting too early in the season, ana
| have paid the penalty in the shape oi swollen
| streams, mud, snow, rain and bad weather
| generally 1t was summer weather when l
| left Teheran, but the climates ui Teheran
| and Khorassan are found to ho widely uiteI-
| emf. Starting out March 10, with summer mel
| met, low shoes and cycling slockihSS, llSut
| outfit for warm weather, l reached Meshe"
| on the Snth through two feet oi snow. hho'
| rassan is "A fearful country to bicycle through
| in March. After rain storm streams OF
| LIQUID mud come down from the mountains
| and spread over the plain, forming an almost
| tmpassable barrier To aCNcler. | have inrded,
| as many as fifty streams in day, and the
wind blows worse than it does in Wyoming
| or Nebraska
The changes in temperature are also sud
| den and violent On the 18th, iorty-hNo
| miles from Meshed, | got caught in biz.
/ zard that would do credit to Minnesota
| With cold severe enough to form tcycles on
| ones eyelashes, and to transform one
| downy upper lip into a solid cake OF ice and
| with the air filled with binding snow,
mountain torrents thigh-deep had to be
| forded, where one had to step out OF the
| water into suow-driits, | fell down in one
| stream, dropped the bicycle and wetted
| everything. With clothes frozen still, hands
numbed, one finger slightly frost-bitten aud
the blizzard at its worst, | had TO wade
through snow-driits, ford other streams ana
. | toll on over the desolate mountains Tor mllts
| before shelter was finally reached. Ahu'
, then, such accommodation \ mere cara
u yansary, crowded with mules, camels, don
d KEYS and their drivers, and with pilgrims er
n route to Meshed. huddled together fol
r. warmth and shelter. Next morning TIT
snow lay two feet deep between me au(
| Meshed, but II was question of forcing IN.
: way through or experiencing something lk
a weeks delay in place where nobod
n | would voluntarily remain an hour. PACK
d animals broke "A single trail through In
ia | snow, along which II was barely possible I
=, | struggle ahead. After noon the sun aSserte
y, its power ard it became un"omfortahiy ho
The narrow path became ankle deep in mu
:, | and slush, aud Tor fourteen miles | had |
,u wade through this and trundle the blcyCl
~ ahead with rear wheel alOiL occaSlOuali
u. varying this exhilarating performance b
" | splurging through stream. tomparauNe
n speaking all else on the journey has bee
- child's play yet with good weather II woul
y | be fairly agreeable journey with bicycle
IL These are no difficult mountains and niue
W good wheeling surface.
~ ~ | / have little complaining TO do, howeNe
I5u at this juncture-a complaint of the Russian
IS Is After the Russian minister at Teheran sPeat
:. i | ing to me so fair alter going to CONSIDERABLE
Va expense and trouble to provide myself wit
IL | Russian money sufficient TO carry me cleS
10 through to Japan via Merv, Samarkand an
S Southern Siberia, / received notice VINE
III half way TO Meshed that ! would not be a
VI lowed to go through. Here, also Wit
ou " Holy Russia - blocking my road on Il
vi one hand, | am assured on the other that
l., shall also be turned back at the Afghan IrO
ne ne tier that the Afghan government, unable
-, | guarantee my safety, will simply turn II
- | back. This Is comforting, to say the least
po am here the guest OF Mr.. Gray, an Engli
ho telegrapher, connected with the Atgh
boundary commission. Knowing before
d., | news reached me on the road that the RI
,x, SLAMS had refused to give me the road,
kindly sent letter by the boundary comm
sion courier explaining the difficulty to I
Sir West Ridgway and asking him to t
and obtain permission for me to go throu
red Afghanistan. The return courier with
answer is expected every day. The comm
III sion camp is some five hundred miles east
,,,,, | Meshed and il no insurmOuntable obstac
D' w present l shall probably reach India
ay' | their camp, Cabul and Peshawer. Gr
g OF crowds are at this moment NoclierOu
1s a | bowling "Tomasha tomssha! asp-i-awhe
ian Let us see the iron horse) on the streets o
.ear | side. Armed guards have Just been
k, | toned at our door by the authorities to kt
- OFT the mOhs.