CHAPTER IV. 
ACROSS THE KIRGHIZ STEPPES 
N November 14th a buran (snowstorm), the first of 
the winter, raged in Orenburg, and the thermometer 
at mid-day sank to 2i°2 Fahr. (-6°C.). As everything 
was ready, however, I did not postpone my departure. 
My trunks and ammunition-cases were all sewn up in 
matting, and lashed with strong rope on the back of the 
tarantass and in front of the driver’s seat. Bags which 
were likely to be in constant use, cameras and boxes of 
provisions, together with carpets, cushions, and furs, were 
all crammed inside. The wheels were well greased, and 
the first troika of horses harnessed. It was, however, 
evening before everything was quite ready for a start. 
General Lomachevsky and the inmates of the hotel kindly 
bade me God-speed. The heavy carriage rolled through 
the gates of the courtyard, and its jingling bells began to 
echo merrily through the streets of Orenburg. Before 
dark we reached the edge of the barren steppe. The wind 
howled and whistled round the hood of the carriage, and 
drove clouds of powdery snow in our faces. By degrees, 
however, the wind went down, and the stars came out and 
lighted up the thin mantle of snow with which the whole 
country was covered. 
In Neshinka I was overtaken by the post, which goes to 
Tashkend twice a week. As it only conveys the local 
mails, there were but two troikas; the mail-bags, however, 
weighed in the aggregate between 16 and 17 cwt. The 
first postilion only goes as far as Orsk. From that place 
another courier conveys the post to Irghiz, a third takes it 
to Kazalinsk, a fourth to Perovsk, a fifth to Turkestan, and 
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