CONTENTS. 



ACEOSS A CONTINENT. 

 CHAPTER I. 



ACROSS A CONTINENT. 



Object of the book — Length of journey and method of travel — The 

 desert — A site of ancient monarchies — Discomfort of travel — The 

 spell of the East — To the heart of Asia by rail — Performance at 

 a mosque — Monuments of the past — Central Asian post-roads — 

 Beyond the bounds of Russia — A great trans-continental railway 

 — -The political aspect — The return of the West to the East — The 

 remnants of Portuguese supremacy — The awakening of Russia — 

 The Powers in Asia — The objects of Great Britain and of Russia 

 — The policy of Tsar Nicholas 1.— Failure of the same — Ineptitude 

 of British policy in the past — Importance of British interests in 

 the East — Lord Curzon's views — The necessity of looking Asiatic 

 problems in the face ....... 



TURKEY IN ASIA. 

 CHAPTER II. 



THE GATEWAY OP THE EAST. 



Constantinople — The romance of the city on the Golden Horn — The 

 reality — Monuments of interest — The gulf between Europe and 

 Asia — Peculiarities of the East — The Haider- Pasha Ismid railway 

 — A climb to the Anatolian plateau — Lack of comfort on the 

 present Anatolian railway — Probabilities of the future — Konia — 

 Its streets — Improvement in the district under the adminstration 

 of Ferhit Pasha ....... 27 



