FROM GOKTCHAI TO LENKORAX. 291 



'troikas' (teams) kept at each station; now no 

 station had more than two. One of these teams 

 being always retained for emergencies (such as the 

 needs of a special courier), there remained one 

 team to do all the work. Luckily for me, I 

 appeared to he the only traveller ; had it been 

 otherwise, I might still be stranded at some post- 

 house on the borders of the Mooghan steppe. 



As Shemakha held out no great induce- 

 ments to me to remain, my man and I were not 

 long in resuming our journey. After a stage of 

 twenty versts through rough hilly country, we put 

 up for the night at a station which I have re- 

 corded by name, that I may make it infamous as 

 the very worst post-station in the Russian empire, 

 and, therefore, probably in the world. It seems a 

 great deal for one to say who, after all, has seen 

 only one side of the mighty empire of Russia ; but 

 it must be remembered that in speaking thus I am 

 simply relying on the Russians themselves, who 

 assure me that the Russian post-roads in the 

 Caucasus are the worst in the empire, and of 

 these I have had some experience. Though I 

 have carefully examined my map, I cannot iind 

 the name of the station of which I am now writing 

 upon it; but then I have had considerable diffi- 

 culty in recognising many other well-known 

 places, owing to differences in the spelling of 

 the names, and even in the names themselves, 



u 2 



