EN ROUTE FOR SIBERIA 41 



moonlight bathing the steppes in a light that made 

 them appear almost unreal. I returned to our com- 

 partment feeling very well satisfied with my first day 

 on the steppes. 



By turning over the little tables in this compart- 

 ment, the legs of which are made like a step-ladder, 

 it is convenient to climb to the top bunk. The 

 electric lamp can be taken off the table and fixed 

 in a clip just above the top bunk, in a convenient 

 place to enable the occupant, if so inclined, to read 

 before going to sleep. 



When we awoke next morning it was to find no 

 change in the landscape of the previous evening. 



Shaving was easy owing to the smooth running of 

 the train, but there was very little water in the two 

 lavatories at each end of the carriage, and, all the 

 passengers seeming to wash at once, we wasted half 

 an hour. At an early hour we stopped for a few 

 minutes at Visokovo. The small station was almost 

 buried in the snow and the trees were thick with 

 hoar frost. The effect was very striking. 



We crossed the Volga by the Alexander Bridge — 

 seven-eighths of a mile in length. The Samara- 

 Zlatoust railway commences at Batraki on the right 

 bank of the Volga, and the bridge is about five 

 and a half miles farther. At eleven o'clock we 

 reached Samara, 744 miles beyond Moscow and very 

 conveniently situated in a bend of the River Volga. 

 The Volga is frozen over four months in the year, 

 which is about two months less than the rivers of 

 Central Siberia. 



The country about Samara appeared very fertile 

 and the vegetation rich. It is not only an important 

 agricultural centre, but is also one of the principal 

 grain, cattle, and tallow markets in the Empire. 

 Between Samara and Ufa the country reminded me 

 somewhat of the south of Ireland. Ufa is reached 



