ACROSS THE KIRGHIZ STEPPES 43 
bodies serve him as a guide. He recognizes every plant, 
every stone ; he notices the places where the tufts of grass 
grow more thinly or more closely together than usual. He 
observes irregularities in the surface which a European 
could not discover without an instrument. He can dis- 
criminate the colour of a horse on the horizon long before 
the stranger, with the best will in the world, is even able to 
discover its presence; and he can tell whether a cart, which 
when seen through a field-glass appears to be a mere dot 
in the distance, is advancing or receding. 
At Orsk my vehicle was well greased, the baggage 
re-stowed, and I again crept into my moving domicile, 
rhe driver whistled to his horses; the troika set off with 
lightning speed southwards, and — farewell to Europe ! 
At the first station, Tokan, I paid forty-four roubles 
^s.) to defray the cost of the entire journey of 
320 miles to Juluz; after that I had only to show the 
receipt. Between Orenburg and Orsk (175 miles; thirty- 
four roubles, or Z'3 ^.y.) each stage was paid for separately. 
From Orsk the posting-road followed the right bank 
of the river Or, through an almost imperceptibly diversi- 
fied country to the station of Buguti-sai, near which there 
was a Kirghiz village. The inhabitants did not seem 
to be particularly charmed by my visit, as I had my two 
cameras with me. They kept asking me if the bigger 
one was a gun ; and nothing would induce them to group 
themselves in front of it. I did however succeed in getting 
some of them to sit to the smaller one. 
After a long rest at Buguti-sai, we finally left the valley 
of the Or. The moon threw a silvery glamour over the 
lonely steppe, sheeted here and there with snow ; but there 
were neither people nor settlements to be seen. I he 
silence was unbroken except by the sound of the horses 
bells, the shouts of the driver, and the crunching of the 
snow as the wheels of my heavy tarantass pounded over it. 
The station-houses were all exactly alike — plain wooden 
houses, generally painted red, with a flight of steps in the 
middle of the front wall, leading up to the principal door. 
On one side of the steps was a pole for a lantern, and 
