314 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



with my luggage to the stantsiya, or post station, and 

 slept the remainder of the night on one of the wooden 

 plank beds with which such places are always pro- 

 vided. I omitted, however, to register my name for 

 horses, so that travellers who arrived later were 

 preferred before me in the matter of starting in the 

 morning ; and when I did try to register, the rude 

 yamshtchik gave me to understand that there was no 

 ticket for me. Fortunately I noticed two Turks, 

 amongst the travellers present, who spoke French, and 

 with their assistance I was able to call the fellow to 

 account, by which means we struck up an acquain- 

 tance and they subsequently travelled with me as far 

 as Tabreez, their destination in Persia. We were 

 then bundled into a kind of covered waggonette, and 

 though we failed to have each the number of horses 

 to which we were entitled, yet we gained the advan- 

 tage, for several stations, of springs to our vehicle, 

 which the common troika is without. The dust was 

 excessive, which remark held good of the whole 

 journey as far as the Araxes. After passing two 

 Eussian regiments on the march towards the frontier, 

 we quitted the plain and entered a beautifully wooded, 

 hilly, and picturesque country. A change of horses 

 occurred every ten miles, when we emerged from the 

 conveyance perfectly white with dust, and glad to 

 stretch our cramped limbs and take a glass of tchai, or 

 tea, which is always ready, together with a brass urn 

 or samovar. By sunset we had accomplished four 

 distances and reached Delijan (72 versts), a Eussian 



