Project Gutenberg's The Adventures of a Special Correspondent, by Jules Verne

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Title: The Adventures of a Special Correspondent

Author: Jules Verne

Release Date: February 24, 2004 [EBook #11263]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE ADVENTURES
OF A SPECIAL
CORRESPONDENT

AMONG THE VARIOUS RACES AND
COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL ASIA

BEING THE EXPLOITS AND EXPERIENCES OF
CLAUDIUS BOMBARNAC OF "THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY" BY

JULES VERNE

BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jules Verne, French author, was born at Nantes, France, in 1828, and
died in 1905. In 1850 he wrote a comedy in verse, but he eventually
confined himself to the writing of scientific and geographical
romances, achieving a great reputation. He visited the United States in
1867, sailing for New York on the _Great Eastern_, and his book, _A
Floating City_, was the result of this voyage. His best-known books
are: _A Captain at Fifteen, A Two Years' Vacation, A Voyage to the
Center of the Earth_ (1864), _From the Earth to the Moon_ (1865),
_20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_ (1870), _A Tour of the World in Eighty
Days_ (1873), _Michael Strogoff_ (1876), _Mrs. Branica_ (1891), _Clovis
Dordentor_ (1896), _The Brothers Kip_ (1902). Most of his works have
been translated into English.

CLAUDIUS BOMBARNAC

CHAPTER I.

CLAUDIUS BOMBARNAC,
_Special Correspondent_,
"_Twentieth Century._"
_Tiflis, Transcaucasia._

Such is the address of the telegram I found on the 13th of May when I
arrived at Tiflis.

This is what the telegram said:

"As the matters in hand will terminate on the 15th instant Claudius
Bombarnac will repair to Uzun Ada, a port on the east coast of the
Caspian. There he will take the train by the direct Grand Transasiatic
between the European frontier and the capital of the Celestial Empire.
He will transmit his impressions in the way of news, interviewing
remarkable people on the road, and report the most trivial incidents by
letter or telegram as necessity dictates. Th