62 
THROUGH ASIA 
which put me in mind of the nights of Ramadan in 
Constantinople. 
The first two stages from Turkestan were extremely 
dirty and rugged ; it was without comparison the stiffest 
piece of road on the whole journey. Between Ikan and 
Nagai-kura we literally stuck fast in the mud. I am 
not superstitious; but it was the thirteenth stage from 
Tashkend, and we had still thirteen versts (S^ miles) to 
Nagai-kura. It was impossible to move the horses. The 
shaft horse reared and became unmanageable ; while the 
other two had apparently made up their minds to kick the 
tarantass to pieces. It was midnight, and pitch dark. 
There was nothing for it but to send the yamshtchik back 
to Ikan for a couple of extra horses. Meanwhile I went 
to sleep and slept for three hours, only awaking when the 
“ five-in-hand ” were hard at work hauling us out of the 
mud. It had taken us 6^ hours to do a paltry fourteen 
miles. 
The country from Aris to Buru-jar was very much 
broken ; and it was considered advisable to keep on the 
team of five. The pace downhill was terrific, the horses 
fairly laid themselves flat with the ground, so that the air 
whistled past our ears. Now and again we sped past a 
village, a horseman, or a caravan, or a big lumbering arba 
(high-wheeled Turkestan cart), with its wheels literally 
fast embedded in the mud. 
At intervals along the road there were small pyramids 
of sun-dried clay, intended to .serve as sign-posts in the 
winter. You would suppose that the telegraph-posts would 
be sufficient for that purpose ; but the road wound now 
to the right, now to the left of them, and after a heavy 
fall of snow they are altogether buried from sight. The 
post-couriers, therefore, who are not under any circum- 
stances allowed to stop or wait, often have an adventurous 
time of it when crossing the steppe in a snowstorm. From 
one telegraph-post it is often impossible to discern the 
next, and they may easily lose their way whilst going from 
one to the other. It not infrequently happens that the 
post-troikas, when overtaken by a snowstorm, are forced 
