12 ACROSS A CONTINENT. 



among them who had never set foot in the Russian 

 town, though that town had stood side by side with 

 their own for upwards of thirty years. 



But apart from the fascination of the people them- 

 selves, there is an indescribable interest in gazing upon 

 the vast store of monuments which abound, and which, 

 if good use has been made of the counsel of Francis 

 Bacon to the traveller to " carry with him also some 

 card or booke describing the country where he travelleth ; 

 which will be a good key to his enquiry," will each tell 

 some strange story of the past. The mouldering walls 

 of Geok Teppe tell of the ghastly horror of bloody war ; 

 the prison of Bokhara recalls the cold brutality of the 

 inhuman tyrants who once reigned ; the unrivalled 

 ruins of Samarkand tell of the greatness of a Tartar 

 king, while the very streets seem to whisper faintly of 

 a magnificence now gone. And to the student of 

 modern history the whole country repeats a tale of 

 the overwhelming advance of a mighty Power from 

 the north. 



Arrived at Tashkent, the Eussian capital of Turke- 

 stan, and finding no railway to take you any farther, 

 you cast about in your mind for some other means 

 of progress, and you learn that the post-road awaits 

 you. Very good. This suggests at any rate speed, 

 and remembering always the part of the world in 

 which you are travelling, perhaps a certain degree 

 of comfort. But I doubt if the reality altogether 

 corresponds to your expectation. The best class of 

 vehicle that is known on the Russian post-road in 

 Asia is the tarantass, and it has no seats, neither has 

 it any springs. The first deficiency is in reality an 

 advantage, because it enables you to wedge yourself 

 in with cushions and rugs between portions of your 

 baggage in a more or less recumbent position; but 



