TEMPLE ON THE BANKS OF THE OXUS
The custom of granting passages at reduced rates to all and sundry associated with the Government, observed throughout the railway systems of Russia, is adopted on the steamers of the Oxus flotilla. There are three classes of tariffs and two standards of accommodation:
(1) Officers and doctors travelling on duty;
(2) Children between the ages of five and ten years;
(3) Non-commissioned officers, soldiers, emigrants with families and prisoners.
These are all carried at a reduction of 50 per cent. Soldiers are compelled to show a warrant attested by the authority for the transport of troops by water; emigrants a permit signed by the local civil authority and the guard in charge of prisoners an order from the local police bureau, before being supplied with tickets. All passengers are entitled to one pood of baggage, free of charge; but for the unloading and reloading of baggage or of cargo, passengers must pay at the rate of one and a half kopecks per pood; for the hire of boats for the transportation of such baggage to the steamer or from the steamer to the shore at the rate of one kopeck per pood. Animals of a domestic description, such as sheep, camels, horses, cattle and dogs, bales of merchandise and timber are carried by special arrangement and under a special tariff. This can be supplied on demand at the chief bureau of the flotilla at Charjui and Farab, at the principal goods office of the company at Karki, by the captains of steamers and the mates of barges. Steamers are permitted to tow private vessels of any description at the rate of half a kopeck per ton of their displacement in addition to whatever other charges may be contracted.
The accommodation is divided between the first and third classes, the cabins being at the disposal of the first-class passengers. Restrictions are not placed on the movements of native passengers who, if they dared to pay for a cabin, would be permitted to berth in the first saloon. Meals are supplied on board by arrangement with the purser; but, while there is no material difficulty attaching to the journey up and down the river, permission to travel by these steamers is very rarely accorded to foreigners.
For the better comprehension of the terms which have been mentioned the following table is given.
| 1 | ton | = | 62 poods |
| 1 | pood | = | 36 lbs. |
| 1 | rouble | = | 2 shillings |
| 100 | kopecks | = | 1 rouble |