The times., 1899-03-19

| full. Armed with commendatory papers
| from Lii Hung Chang, who had not yet
| fallen from his high estate when the trav-
| elers started, they were most willingly
provided with relays Of as many horses
as they liked to take by the headmeu OF
the MongoliaD villages. or rather encamp-
ments, for these nomads still live in
| dome shaped tents of thick felt stretched
over a light wooden framework, like the
Russian Kirghiz. Their horses. resemb-
ling American mustangs, are never, it ap-
pears, harnessed TO the wagons which con-
tain the travellers baggage. They are
simply ridden by the Mongols. who twist
the ropes attached to the wagon around
their waists or legs, and thus the convey
ance is pulled along. The proverbial hos
pitality of the Eastern nomads was not
belied by these rude Mongols. They offer
ed their snuff boxes in return for cigar
cites, and generally killed a sheep at the
nights bivouac for the Anglo-American
caravan.
This Mongolian route between Pekin and
Kiakhta is the celebrated track OF the
caravan tea trade with Russia, which has
long been on the decline owing to the
increasing facilities of sea transport to
Odessa. The duty on overland tea is as
low as 2 1-2 rubles per 36 pounds. whereas
seaborne tea has to bear the high charge
of 20 rubles for the same quantity. The
new railway from Irkutsk will probably
enable the overland importers to become
dangerous competitors Of their rivals I'M
porting through the ports Of the Black Sea;
and the government is considering TIE
question Of read1usting the respective du-
ties so as to equalize again the advan-
tages Of the two routes. When. however,
the Siberian railway Is completed to the
Pacific, all the tea will probably obtain a
cheaper entrance into Siberia, through
Ports Talien-wan, New-Chwang, or Vladi-
vostok.
The railway journey from Irkutsk to ST.
Petersburg was accomplished by Mr.. Reid
and his companions in twelve days. The
rate OF progress was from 10 TO % miles
an hour. 1t was the smoothest railway
travelling at slow speed that they had ever
experienced, and shaving was quite easy.
The whole railway, of course, is composed
OF only single line, and the rails are SO
absurdly light, being only eighteen pounds
to the foot, that probably heavier material
will have to be substituted before long,
which is pleasant prospect for the foreign
rolling mills in Southern Russia that have
been created or extended on the strength
of future government orders. One OF the
more interesting features is that the sta
tions. which average about % versts apart,
are all built on sidings, so as to leave the
mann quitc Tree
through traffic. Another important fact to
be noticed is that an order has been is
sued to make new sidings every seven
versts. in order to provide plenty of room
everywhere to shunt off ordinary trains
in case of a quick through service being
necessary. One can conceive of military
emergencies which would be met by this
facility. The two rivers. the Yenisei and
the Obi, have not yet been bridged over;
and railway passengers have TO get them
selves ferried across these waters at their
own expense and convenience. large
number of trains filed with emigrants
were passed on the way, and special ar
rangements for providing them with cheap
food had been made at the railway sta
tions. where hot water for making tea was
also provided gratis. About 256.000 of
these Russian colonists are being settled
in various parts of Siberia during this
year.