The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-08-23

! ESa2 ME%%S students Messrs. Allen and
| E4sa GE@%S Sachtleben, now running in
EsaTka Imam The Century magazine, shows
sAlz&sAa5assEsssS how many dangers and diff
culties they had to contend with, and what en-
terprse and mastery of resource they display ed.
| Their route lay through countries that were
not accustomed to Western visitors, and their
strange method of locomotion invariably called
out great curiosity, not unmixed with super
stitious fear
In the August number of the Century the
young men describe their journey from Samar-
| kand to Kuldja. Soon after leaving the former
| place the lowering snow-line on the mountains,
the chilling atmosphere, and the falling leaves
warned them of the approach OF Winter. A
| failure to obtain necessary passports prevented
them from attempting to reach Vernoye. pro-
vincial Capital near the converglng points OF
the Turkestan, Siberian, and Chinese bound
| aries
Permission to enter Tsrkestan is by no
means easily obtained as is well understood by
| the student Of Russian policy in central Asia.
| We were not a little surprised, therefore, when
| our request to spend the Winter in its Capital
was graciously granted by Baron Wrevsky, as
| well as the privilege for one of US to return in
the meantime to London This we had deter
mined on, in order to secure some much II eeded
| bicycle supplies and to complete other arrange
ments for the success OF our enterprise.
! "Our Winter quarters were obtained at the
|
with young reserve officer. He, having fin
ished his university career and time of litary
| service, WAS engaged iii Tashkend i'll the inter-
est Of his father, wholesale merchant i'll Mos
| cow. With him we were able TO converse either
! in French or German, both of which languages
! he could speak more purely than his native
! Russian. Our gOoh-natured cprpulent host had
| emgrated in the pioneer days from the steppes
| OF southern Russia, aud had grown wealthy
| through the unearned increment.
| The Russian samovar is the characteristic
| feature of the Russian household. Besides a
| big bowl of cabbage soup at every meal, our
! Russian host would start in with half tum-
| bier of vodka, dispose of bottle of beer in the
| intervals. and then top Off with two or three
| glasses Of tea. The mistress of the household,
| being limited in her beverages to tea and soup,
| would usually make up in quantity what was
| lacking in variety. In fact one day she in
| formed Us that she had not imbibed drop OF
water for over six years. For this, however,
there is a very plausible excuse With the
water at Tashkend, AS with that from the Ter
afshan at Bokhara. a dangerous worm called
reshta is absorbed into the system. Nowhere
have drunk better tea than around the
steaming samovar of our Tashkend host. No
peasantry is toe poo, either in money or senti-
ment, to buy and feel the cheering influence Of
tea. Even the Cossack, in his forays into the
wilds OF central Asia, is sustained by 1t. Un-
like the Chinese the Russians consider sugar
necessary concomitant of tea-drinkiDg. There
are three methods of sweetening tea-to put
the sugar in the glass; to place lump OF sugar
in the h.outh and suck the tea through it: 10
hang a lump in tile midst of tea-drinking
circle to he swung around for each in turn 10
touch with his tongue, and then To take swal-
low Of tea"
When the Spring came the young men began
their journey again with undated ardor. At
Chimkend their course turned abruptly from
what was once the main route between Rnssia's
European and Asiatic capitals, aud here they
began that journey of l.500 miles along the
Celestial mountain range that terminated only
when they began to descend into the burning
sands of the Desert of Cobb.
The steppe is a good place for learning pa
thence With the absence of landmarks you
seem never to be getting anywhere. IL pre-
sents the appearance Of boundless level eX-
panse the very fluctuations of which
uniform rs to conceal the intervening troughs.
Into these, horsemen, and sometimes whole
caravans, mysteriously disappeared. In this
way we were often enabled to surprise herd
of gazelles grazing by the roadside They
would stand for moment with necks extended,
aud then scamper away like a shot, springing
on their pipe.stem limbs three or four feet into
the air. Our average rate was about seven
miles an hour, although the roads were some
times so soft with dust or sand as to necessitate
the laying Of straw for foundation. There
not accompanied by from to 90 Kirghiz
borsemen galloping behind us with cries OF
'Yakshee!' ('Good!) They were especially
curious to see how we crossed the roadside
streams. Standing On the bank they would
watch ntently every move we stripped and
waded through with bicycles and clothing on
our shoulders Then they would challenge us
to a race. and. if the road permitted, we would
endeavor 10 reveal some OF the possibilities Of
the DEVILS carts
"On an occasion like this occurred some of
our few mishaps The road was lined by the
occupants of a neighboring tent village, who
had ruR out to see the race. One of the Kirghiz
turned suddenly back in the opposite direction
from which he had started. The wheel struck
him at the rate of Is miles per hour lifting
him off his feet, and hurting the handle
bars the rider, who fell upon his left arm, and
tYisted it out of place. With the assistance of
the bystandcrs it was pulled back into the
socket, and bandaged up till we reached the
nearest Russian village. Here the only physi-
clan was an old blind woman of the faith cure
persuasion. Her massage treatment to replace
the missiles was really effective. and was accom-
panied by prayers and by signs of the cross, a
common method of treatment among the lower
class of Russians. In one instance cure was
supposed TO be effected by writing prayer on
piece of buttered bread to be eaten by the
patient.
Being users but not patrons of the Russian
post-roads we were not legally entitled to the
conveniences of the post stations. Tipping
alone, rs we found on our journey from Sam
arkand, was not always sufficient to preclude
request during tho night to vacate the best
quarters for the post-traveler, especially if he
happened to wear the regulation brass button.
TO secure US against this inconven ence and to
gain some special attention, letter was OBJ
tanned from the overseer of the TurlSestan post
and telegraph district. This proved advantage
Gus on many occasions, and once, at Aui-eta,
was even necessary. We were surveyed with
suspicious glances as we entered the
station house. and when asked for water to
lave our hands and face, we were directed to
the irrigating ditch in the street. Our request
for better room was answered by the question,
if the one we had was not good enough, aud
how long we intended to occupy that. Evil
IDENTIFY our English conversation had gained for
us the covert reputation of being English spies
and this verified III the minds of our hosts |
when we began to ask questions about the city
prisons we had passed way. To every |
interrogation they replied, / don't know But |
presto, change, on the presentation of docu- |
mcnts! Apologies were now profuse and be- |
sides tea, bread, and eggs the usual ration of q |
Russian post-station, we were exceptionally |
favored with chicken soup and uerainyik, the |