and hardy, and are never allowed either food
or drink until the journey is over; and, with the horses, the driver is
changed also, as every man brings and understands his own. It was a
wonderful study in character, temperament, and dress, for the men were
extraordinarily different from each other, though all most attractive
and interesting; the Kirghiz more so than the one or two Russians we
had.

We carried our food, chiefly tinned, with us, but there was an abundance
of eggs, butter, and white bread always to be got, and, most welcome
sight, always the steaming _samovar_, with its promise of cheering and
comforting tea. It is astonishing how one's ordinary food can be cut
down in quantity when necessary. We gradually came down to two meals a
day, and on the return journey these only consisted of eggs, bread and
butter, and tea; and yet the simple life and magnificent air made one
feel always extraordinarily fit and well and in good spirits.

The steppes, though vast solitudes as far as human habitations are
concerned, are full of life and movement, and the most is made of the
short summer. Caravans are continually meeting the traveller as he goes
south or north, or crossing his route from east to west, or west to
east, carrying tea from China, timber and other articles of commerce,
travellers from town to town, or from one village to another, or a
little band of colonists seeking land upon which to settle, or herdsmen
in charge of sheep, oxen, or horses. Perhaps one's driver catches sight
of another _troika_ going in the same direction, and with a shrill cry
urges on his team; the other, nothing loath, joins in, and for a quarter
of an hour there is a most thrilling race. There is never a dull moment
night or day, though perhaps the most inspiring times are those when one
has just changed horses, and has a wild young Kirghiz on the box who,
seeing an opportunity of showing off, stands up whirling his whip and,
shrieking, yelling, whistling, like a demon, urges his horses to their
utmost speed, making the dust and earth fly in all directions. It makes
one feel that it is good to be alive.

The air is most transporting at that height, four thousand feet above
sea-level; the whole steppes in the early summer are strewn with
flowers, larks are singing overhead, streams are flowing on every side,
there is a clear horizon as at sea, though now and then there is hilly
ground, the sky is ever delightfully blue and without a