3 ° 
THROUGH ASIA 
caps and long coats, white churches with green onion- 
shaped domes and surrounded by rustic houses, windmills 
which now, at any rate, had no need to complain of want 
of wind — these were the chief objects to be seen from the 
carriage windows. Hour after hour, day after day, the 
same picture was unrolled before our eyes. The only tract 
of forest we passed through was in the east of Tamboff, 
but the trees were all low, except an occasional pine which 
lifted its head above the rest. 
On we hastened eastwards through the governments of 
Ryazan, Tamboff, Penza, Saratoff, and Simbirsk, until at 
last we reached the greatest river in Europe. We 
crossed it at Syzran by one of the longest bridges in 
the world, 1625 yards in length. The Volga resembled 
a large lake rather than a river. The opposite bank was 
lost in the mist ; the muddy brownish-grey masses of water 
rolled sluggishly on under the vast span of the railway 
bridge, every whit as lifeless as the landscape through 
which they flowed. Two or three rowing-boats, and a 
paddle steamer moored to the bank, were the only signs 
of life we saw. Then on again we were whirled across 
the never-ending steppe. On the boundary between the 
governments of Samara and Orenburg we began to detect 
signs of the proximity of the south-western extension of 
the Urals. The country became more broken, and the 
railway often curved in and out between the hills. For 
considerable distances the line was bordered by wooden 
palings, intended to protect it from the snow. The farther 
east we travelled the more desolate became the landscape. 
We never saw human beings except at the stations. The 
steppe was occasionally dotted with herds of cattle, sheep, 
and goats. The sky was grey and dull ; and the fields 
had the yellow tint of faded grass. Such were the border- 
lands between Europe and Asia. 
At the end of four days of railway travelling I arrived, 
considerably shaken and jolted, at the important town of 
Orenburg, situated near the point where the Sakmar joins 
the river Ural. The town was not very interesting. Its 
low stone houses are arranged in broad streets, unpaved 
