LAKE ARAL TO TASHKEND 
59 
so from the river bank, and is annually threatened with 
inundation. Between that place and Mesheh-uli the 
country was rather broken. We crossed some narrow 
sand-belts, then some canals and dried-up watercourses 
by means of wooden bridges. All this part of the road 
was strewn with dried reeds, to prevent vehicles from 
sinking into the mud during the rainy season. At the 
time of my journey the ground was hard and lumpy, owing 
to the frost. Here the Kirghiz again became numerous. 
We frequently passed their auls, and saw their herds graz- 
ing- among the thickets. 
cS O 
A MISERABLE STATION NEAR THE SVR-DARIA 
On November 29th the sunset was very beautiful. 
The heavens in the west glowed as from the reflection 
of a prairie fire, and against it the gnarled and tufted 
branches of the saksaul stood out in inky blackness. 
The whole steppe was lit up by a magic fiery glow, 
while in the east the sombre desert vegetation was bathed 
in gold. 
A railway journey is certainly a very much more con- 
venient mode of locomotion than driving in a tarantass. 
In the former you have no need to trouble yourself about 
the friction of the wheels, or the safety of the axles , in 
a tarantass, on the contrary, you must always be prepared 
