THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY. 
113 
In 1895 two field batteries were ordered to go from Ryazan, not far 
from Moscow, to Nerchinsk, a distance of 4,164 miles. The railway 
had been laid, and provisionally opened as far as Omsk; thither from 
Ryazan the distance is 1,987 miles, and the time taken by the troop 
trains, including two halts of one day each, was fifteen days. I may 
parenthetically remark that I have often had ponies sent from the 
Caucasus to St Petersburg by train, 1,600 miles or so, and they 
never had more than one halt on the journey. The average speed of 
the batteries was therefore, 5J miles an hour, including stoppages. 
Let us now see how quickly one can drive under the most favour¬ 
able conditions. In my time the railway ended close to Krasnoyarsk, 
so that I had to look forward to covering over 3,000 miles in an open 
sleigh. With ponies specially kept for me, owing to the courtesy 
of all the Russian authorities concerned, I took 153 hours to travel 
693 miles from Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk. I stopped only for a morning 
and evening meal of tea and black bread (boiling water is all that can 
be counted upon getting at post stations), and the performance was, 
thanks to the help so generously afforded me, a very good one. Yet 
the average rate was only 4 \ miles an hour with myself and all my 
baggage in one sleigh. But the private traveller is apt to fare badly 
on frequented routes. I met a man on that same journey who was in 
a hurry to reach Moscow ; he had taken nine days to cover 350 
miles, an average of a little more than a mile and a half per hour. 
It is, perhaps, worth while to explain the reason why unavoidable 
delays occur. Each post station maintains a stable of, perhaps, three 
dozen ponies. Ragged unkempt little animals they are, but their 
speed and endurance are wonderful. I have often travelled fourteen 
miles in an hour with a heavy load, from three to six ponies being 
used, according to the condition of the road or track. If more than 
four are required, the remainder are generally harnessed in front of 
the four wheelers. Where time is lost, when animals are available, is 
at the post stations on changing teams. Of the total establishment, 
a certain number are required so many times weekly for the mails, 
then come people who, travelling officially, are entitled to take horses 
from other less fortunate passengers, and, last in order of supply, 
come purely private travellers. Their position is certainly an aggrav¬ 
ating one, but there is no help for it, especially of late when traffic of 
all kinds is much more heavy than it used to be. 
The rates of travelling by rail or road in Siberia having been al¬ 
ready given, it is now necessary to state the facts respecting the two 
remaining modes of locomotion, riding and marching. With pack 
transport about forty miles daily can be covered, which is about 
1§ miles an hour. 
As regards marching, let us take typical instances. The first one 
is offered by the two field batteries which were sent by train to Omsk. 
From that place to Irkutsk they marched, the gunners being mostly 
on foot. The distance is 1,637 miles and took seventy days, of 
which sixty were marching ones. The average speed was, therefore, 
including halts, not quite one mile an hour, or a little over twenty- 
