36 
THROUGH ASIA 
Skobeleff’s campaign against the Turkomans and Annen- 
koff’s railway to Samarkand introduced a new order 
of things. The mail-post to Tashkend and the large 
majority of travellers prefer the new route, because it is 
shorter, cheaper, and more convenient ; and the days of 
the old posting -road through the Kirghiz steppe are 
numbered. Travellers are now a rarity. The towns have 
lost both in importance and size. The once flourishing 
vehicular traffic between Turkestan and Russia has been 
diverted to other routes. The caravans which carried 
cotton and wool to Orenburg have growm fewer and 
fewer. The local post, combined with political and 
strategical interests, alone prevents this road from becom- 
ing entirely disused. 
During my short stay in Orenburg the vice-governor. 
General Lomachevsky, placed at my disposal an honest 
old cliinovnik, Solovioff by name, who had seen forty-five 
years’ service in the town. With his help, 1 was able 
to procure everything I required both well and cheaply. 
I bought a perfectly new tarantass, roomy and strong, 
and provided with thick iron rims round the wheels, for 
seventy-five roubles {^£‘] lOi'.) ; I subsequently sold it in 
Margelan for fifty (.^ 5 ). It was an easy matter to stow 
myself and my luggage (about six cwt.) away in it; and 
for nineteen days and nights without a break it was my 
only habitation. 
