34 
THROUGH ASIA 
be provided with rope, twine, nails, screws, etc., so 
that you may be able to repair any damage that may 
happen to the equipage, and last but not least cart grease, 
for at every third station the process of greasing the 
wheels has to be gone through. Upon quitting Orenburg 
you leave behind every trace of civilization ; you plunge 
into tracts of absolute desolation, and are entirely depen- 
dent upon yourself 
For the first i 8 o miles we were still on European 
soil, through the government of Orenburg ; the next 330 
lay through the province of Turgai, and the remainder 
of the distance through the province of Syr-daria, along- 
side Lake Aral and the Ja.xartes or Syr-daria (river). 
The road passed through six small towns, namely Orsk, 
Irghiz, Kazalinsk, Perovsk, Turkestan, and Chimkent, 
and many villages ; but as a rule the white-painted 
station-houses, with their square courtyards for horses 
and vehicles, stood quite isolated in the desert, their 
nearest neighbour being probably a Kirghiz winter atil 
(tent -village). In the heart of the steppe some of the 
stations were primitive in the extreme, the station-house 
being merely a Kirghiz (tent), surrounded by a hedge 
of rushes laced through branches of trees. But even these, 
like the rooms in the better stations, were embellished by 
a portrait of the Tsar, as well as provided with a leather 
sofa, chairs, and a table. In one corner hung an ikon 
(sacred image), with its censer, and there was a Testament 
on the table for the edification of the traveller. Every 
station between Orenburg and Orsk possessed a copy of 
the Bible, presented by the great traveller Przhevalsky. 
The master of the posting-station, staresta or starskina, 
also called piser or clerk, is always a Russian, and spends 
his life with his family in a state of terrible loneliness and 
isolation. The only break in their solitary existence is 
the advent of the post-courier, or when some traveller 
comes rolling along in his tarantass. But this touch 
with the outer world is short-lived. The traveller’s one 
thought is to get away from the lonely house as quickly 
as possible. He orders fresh horses, drinks his glass of 
