ACROSS THE KIRGHIZ STEPPES 39 
snow-sheeted river Urtil. Itxcept for an occasional Kirghiz 
yurt (tent), the landscape was desolate in the extreme, 
and the distances between the stations long. But the 
incessant jolting over the hard-frozen ground and the 
monotonous jingling of the horses bells had a somnolent 
effect, and time after time I dropped off to sleep. 
At Podgornaya the country became more broken. Our 
next stopping-place was in the Guberla Mountains. There 
MV TARANTASS WITH A TROIKA (TEAM OF THREE HORSES) 
I took a four-in-hand (^chetvorkd) and drove up hill and 
down dale, twice crossing the broad river Guberla. Along 
this stage an accident once happened to a Russian officer, 
his driver being killed ; since then railings have been put 
up at all the more dangerous places. 
At some of the better stations we met great droves of 
cattle, chiefly oxen, being driven to Orenburg, and thence 
farther on into Russia. After forty-eight hours travelling 
we eventually reached Orsk, a place of 20,000 inhabitants, 
situated on the left bank of the river Ural and on the right 
