Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1905-08-04
CHAYTER Xvii.

We are off on a Chinese railway, sin
gle line, the train drawn by a Chinese
engine, driven by Chinese driver. Let
us hope we shall not be telescoped on
the road, for among the passengers is one
of the chief functiOnaries of the COM
pany, in the person Of Faruskiar.
Our train runs at only moderate speed
since we left Kachgar On the opposite
horizon we can see the high lands of the
Pamir; to the southwest rises the Bolor,
the Kachgarian belt from which towers
the summit of Tagharma, lost among the
clouds.
do not know how to spend my time.
Major Noltitz has never visited the ter
ritories crossed by the Grand Transasi-
attic, and l am deprived of the pleasure
of taking notes from his dictatiOn. Dr.
Tio-King does not lift his nose from his
"COrnaro," and Pan Chao reminds me
more of Paris and France than of Pekin
and China; besides, when he came to
Europe he came by Suez, and he knows
no more of Oriental Turkestan than he
does of Kamtschatka. All the same,
we talk. He is a pleasant companion,
but little less amiability and a little
more originality would suit me better.
am reduced to strolling from one car
to another, lounging on the platforms, in
terrogating the horizon, which obstinate
ly refuses to reply, listening on all sides.
Halloo! there are the actor and his
wife apparently in animated converse
ton. approach. They sing in an I'M
dertone.
Ephrinell and Miss Bluett are talking
away with unusual animation, and !
nuf ol, he % 81 \ ,1o
II am afraid" said she, ''that hair
will be rising in Pekin.''
''And ]" said he, "that teeth will be
down. All! If good war would only
break out, in which the Russians would
give the Chinaman a smack on the
jaw"
There now! Smack them on the jaw,
in order that Strong, Bulbul & Co., of
New York, might have a chance of do
ing a trade!
Really, l do not know what to do, and
we have a weeks journey before us. To
Jericho with the Grand Transasiatic and
its monotonous security The Great
Trunk from New York to San Francisco
has more life in it. At least, the redskins
do sometimes attack the trains, and the
chance of a scalping on the road can but
add to the charm of the voyage
But what is that hear being recited,
or rather intoned, at the end of our
compartment
There is no man, whoever he NAV
be, who cannot prevent himself from |
eating too much and avoid the evils dus
to repletion. On those who are intrusted
with the direction of public affairs this is
more incumbent than on others"
1t is Doctor Tio-King reading Cor
marc" aloud, in order that he NAV re-
member his principles better. Eli! after
ALL this principle is not to be despised
Shall send it by telegram to our cabi-
net ministers? They might, perhaps.
dine with more discretion after it.
During this afternoon, l find by the
guidebook that we shall cross the va
manyar over a wooden bridge. This
stream descends from the mountains to
the west, which are at least twenty-five
thousand feet high, and its rapidity is
increased with the melting of the SHOWS.
Sometimes the train runs through thick
jungles, amid which Popof assures me
tigers are numerous. Numerous thev
may be, but l have not seen one And
yet, in default of redskins, we might get
some excitement out of tiger skins. What
a heading for newspaper, and what a
stroke of luck for a journalist! Terri.
hle Catastrophe! A Grand Transasiatic
Express Attacked by Tigers! Fifty
Victims! An Infant Devoured Before Its
Mothers Eyesr-the whole thickly lead.
ed and appropriately displayed.
The two principal stations have been
Yanghi-Hissar, where the train stops ten
minutes, and KILL, where it stops a
quarter of an hour. Several blast fur
naces are at work here, the soil being
ferruginous, as shown by the word
Kill" which means red.
Cfo be cOntInuedl