[CHAPTER XXII.]
FRANK AND FRED IN THE TURCOMAN COUNTRY.—THE TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY.—SKOBELEFF'S CAMPAIGN, AND THE CAPTURE OF GEOK TEPÉ.—ENGLISH JEALOUSY OF RUSSIAN ADVANCES.—RIVERS OF CENTRAL ASIA.—THE OXUS AND JAXARTES.—AGRICULTURE BY IRRIGATION.—KHIVA, SAMARCAND, AND BOKHARA.—A RIDE ON THE TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY.—STATISTICS OF THE LINE.—KIZIL ARVAT, ASKABAD, AND SARAKHS.—ROUTE TO HERAT AND INDIA.—TURCOMAN DEVASTATION.—THE AFGHAN BOUNDARY QUESTION.—HOW MERV WAS CAPTURED.—O'DONOVAN AND MACGAHAN: THEIR REMARKABLE JOURNEYS.—RAILWAY ROUTE FROM ENGLAND TO INDIA.—RETURN TO BAKU.
MAP SHOWING THE RELATIONS OF RUSSIA AND ENGLAND IN THE EAST.
Our young friends were up early, in their eagerness to see the country of the Turcomans. They found themselves looking at a comparatively flat region, quite in contrast with the chain of the Caucasus, that filled the horizon to the west of Baku, and interposed a formidable barrier between the Caspian and Black seas. The steamer headed into a narrow bay which formed the harbor of Mikhailovsk, the new town whence the Trans-Caspian Railway takes its departure in the direction of India.
SAND-STORM IN THE DESERT.
Everything indicated the newness of the place. Houses, barracks, piers, railway-station, all were new, and many of the houses were not even finished. Russian soldiers and Russian officers were numerous in the crowd at the landing-place, and there were scores of mujiks busily engaged in handling goods destined for the railway or for the steamers, but they did not by any means have a monopoly of the labor market of Mikhailovsk. Tartars, Kirghese, Turcomans, Persians, and other Asiatics were there in considerable numbers. They appeared to be quite as industrious as the mujiks, and every way as keen to scent a job wherein money was to be earned.