[645] The moral effect produced by the spanning of the Amū Daryā was immense and far reaching. General Annenkoff told the members of the St. Petersburg Technical Society that when the first locomotive, draped with the imperial flag, crossed the river, loud cheers echoed from the hosts that lined the banks (Ney, p. 304).
[646] It is interesting to compare the cost of the Russian Asiatic railways with that of Indian lines constructed under similar conditions. It averaged £6144 per mile. The report of the Director of Indian Railways for 1872–1873 gives that of the earlier lines as £18,000 to £20,000. It is probable that the cost of the three railway battalions has not been taken into account. But, allowing for that item, we must admit that the Russian railways were far cheaper than our Indian trunk lines.
[647] Ney, p. 305.
[648] The following statistics for 1897 have been furnished by Colonel Brunelli, the much respected commandant of the railway battalion stationed at Merv:—
| Revenue, gross | £751,000 | |
| ” nett | 615,000 | |
| Train mileage | 2,402,625 | |
| Exports. | ||
| Raw cotton | 81,000 | tons |
| Wool | 8,000 | ” |
| Dried fruit | 5,000 | ” |
| Barley | 2,000 | ” |
| Skins and hides | 5,000 | ” |
| Salt | 3,000 | ” |
| Miscellaneous | 5,000 | ” |
| Grand total | 109,000 | tons |
| Imports. | ||
| Manufactures | 15,000 | tons |
| Sugar | 12,000 | ” |
| Tea | 6,192,000 | lbs. |
| Metals | 5,000 | tons |
| Kerosene oil | 5,000 | ” |
| Wool | 8,000 | ” |
| Miscellaneous, including tan, naphtha, rice, spices, wine, brandy, beer, and thread | 22,000 | ” |
| Grand total | 70,000 | tons |
| Intermediate traffic | 70,000 | tons |
| Total movement of goods | 249,000 | ” |
[649] Phasis, Φᾶσις, a river of Colchis emptying itself into the Euxine. Its banks are clothed with forests whence pheasants were brought to delight Roman epicures (Mart. Ep. xiii. 45, 72).
[650] See an interesting paper read before the London Chamber of Commerce in 1866, by Colonel C. Stewart, C. B., H. B. M. Consul-General at Odessa. Sir W. W. Hunter, K.C.S.I., the brilliant historian of India, has also pointed out the striking correspondence between the former paths of trade and those mapped out by Russian engineers. It is, he explains, a question of correspondence rather than identity of work, but the section between the Black Sea and the Caspian follows the ancient ways very closely (History of British India, p. 32).
[651] Extensive additions to the station accommodation and rolling stock are contemplated. Estimates have received sanction which place the cost at two millions sterling. The question will shortly be studied by a committee of experts.
[652] An officer in command of the post at Kushk told one of the writers that the friendliest relations prevailed between the Russians and Afghans. On one occasion the staff of the Amīr’s Regiment, invited to a banquet by their brethren in arms, arrived in a grande tenue of second-hand railway uniforms. Thus the colonel’s collar exhibited the magic words “Ticket collector,” and a major strutted proudly with a label of “Guard.” The Russians were under the impression that a portion of our ally’s subsidy was taken out in cast-off accoutrements, but the fact is that His Highness, being a prince of frugal mind, is a bidder by proxy at the periodical sales of unserviceable railway stores held in Upper India.
[653] M. P. Lessar, who surveyed these hills in 1884–1885, states their height above sea-level as 3140 feet.