

Across the Roof of the World. 



railway, is no longer the unliappy land of former days, and 

 although convict settlements exist in the country, they are 

 situated to the north of the railway, many hundreds of miles 

 beyond civilisation, some of them within the Arctic circle, a land 

 of desolation and solitude, and where for nine months in the year 

 the sun never shines. 



The inauguration of the Trans-Siberian Railway has rendered 

 possible the journey from London to Pekin in fifteen days, whilst 

 the assistance it afforded the Russians during the late campaign 

 in Manchuria testifies to the great value its construction has 

 conferred from a military standpoint alone. 



I drove on into the town and up to the post-house, which 

 was full of other travellers, so we had perforce to be content 

 with the entrance hall which the proprietor transformed into a 

 bedroom. 



I dined that night at a restaurant in company with the 

 police officer and Khatimski, and the following day disposed 

 of the remainder of my kit by presenting it to the latter. Later 

 in the evening I drove down to take the overland express to 

 Moscow. 



As I neared the station I realised the long journey was at 

 an end. For nearly a year I had been marching across 

 mountain ranges, over interminable plains, and across the mighty 

 steppes of Mongoha and Siberia, lands of desolation, as they 

 might well be in mid-winter. I mentally reviewed the results 

 of such an undertaking, the regions I had traversed, the strange 

 and interesting tribes I had encountered, the superb shooting I 

 had enjoyed in the heart of Asia, the journey accomplished 

 which no man had ever done before. 



We rattled into the courtyard and drew up at the station 

 entrance; already my little orderly was busy bundhng out our 

 traps in readiness to place aboard the Moscow express. My 

 thoughts travelled back across the weary wastes to the Roof of 

 tlie World and the smiling valleys of the Thian Shan. I forgot 

 the hardships and the toil of nigh 4,000 miles of trekking, forgot 



428 



