294 SIBERIA 



hours on the way from Novo-Nicolaevsk (Obi 

 Station) to Kourgan, and I arrived Just 3,fter mid- 

 night. Instead of risking driving through the town 

 at such an unearthly hour I bought 40 picture post- 

 cards, upon which I scribbled the information that 

 I had not yet been devoured by wolves and dispatched 

 them to my friends. From Cheliabinsk to Irkutsk is 

 practically the mid-Siberian section of the railway, 

 which runs through the lonely steppes, aind there are 

 103 stations along this section, which is 2,015 miles 

 in Jength. According to the official time-table the 

 post train takes 1 1 8 hours to make the journey, 

 allowing for all stoppages. These vary from 15 to 

 50 minutes at 27 chief stations and several minor 

 ones. The chief engineer of the Siberian railway, 

 Mr. Pavlovsky, had his special carriage switched 

 on to the back of our train, and the priests at nearly 

 all the stations met and had a conversation with him. 

 He was going to Cheliabinsk to meet General Koura- 

 patkin. Minister of War, who was bound for 

 Manchuria. . 



I left the train to spend a" day at Kourgan. I 

 discovered tha;t I had left my sealskin overcoat in the 

 carriage, but the train had gone so I telegraphed to 

 Cheliabinsk. I spent the day at Kourgan transacting 

 business. The weather was beautiful, the thermo- 

 meter registering 71 degrees Fahr. ; all the ice had 

 cleared off the river and the mud had cleared away, 

 the streets being very dirty. When I informed a; 

 few people that the River Obi was frozen over two 

 days before, they were very much surprised. The 

 thaw had come upon them ten days earlier. 



I rejoined the Siberian International Wagon-lits 

 Express train. The day I left Kourgan was the 

 commencement of a 25 per cent, quicker service, 

 and four trains a week had been adopted for the 

 summer instead of three. Two stations farther we 



