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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



SCENES ALONG THE TRANSCASPIAN RAILROAD IN THE MIDST OF THE DESERT 



Great fields of sand such as this often lie within only a few miles of scenes of occasional 

 floods like that shown in the second picture. In the sandy places much difficulty is exper- 

 ienced in keeping the sand from drifting over the tracks and preventing the running of trains. 



During the floods of May the railroad often suffers severely, sections many miles in length 

 being sometimes washed away. 



south of Transcaspia. For a time they 

 put a stop to the raids of the warriors of 

 the desert, but not permanently, perhaps 

 because among the mountains life was 

 easier than in the desert, and there was 

 consequently less temptation to commit 



robbery when a dry season or swarms of 

 locusts ruined the scanty crops and pas- 

 turage. 



The Tartars and their Turkoman suc- 

 cessors did not often rob the Kurds, for 

 that was dangerous, but until the coming 



