course to the west. During
the day at moderate speed she passed over the territory of
Cabulistan, catching a momentary glimpse of its capital, and crossed
the frontier of the kingdom of Herat, nearly seven hundred miles from
Cashmere.

In these much-disputed countries, the open road for the Russians to
the English possessions in India, there were seen many columns and
convoys, and, in a word, everything that constitutes in men and
material an army on the march. There were heard also the roar of the
cannon and the crackling of musketry. But the engineer never meddled
with the affairs of others where his honor or humanity was not
concerned. He passed above them. If Herat as we are told, is the key
of Central Asia, it mattered little to him if it was kept in an
English or Muscovite pocket. Terrestrial interests were nothing to
him who had made the air his domain.

Besides, the country soon disappeared in one of those sandstorms
which are so frequent in these regions. The wind called the "tebbad"
bears along the seeds of fever in the impalpable dust it raises in
its passage. And many are the caravans that perish in its eddies.

To escape this dust, which might have interfered with the working of
the screws, the "Albatross" shot up some six thousand feet into a
purer atmosphere.

And thus vanished the Persian frontier and the extensive plains. The
speed was not excessive, although there were no rocks ahead, for the
mountains marked on the map are of very moderate altitude. But as the
ship approached the capital, she had to steer clear of Demavend,
whose snowy peak rises some twenty-two thousand feet, and the chain
of Elbruz, at whose foot is built Teheran.

As soon as the day broke on the 2nd of July the peak of Demavend
appeared above the sandstorm, and the "Albatross" was steered so as
to pass over the town, which the wind had wrapped in a mantle of dust.

However, about six o'clock her crew could see the large ditches that
surround it, and the Shah's palace, with its walls covered with
porcelain tiles, and its ornamental lakes, which seemed like huge
turquoises of beautiful blue.

It was but a hasty glimpse. The "Albatross" now headed for the north,
and a few hours afterwards she was over a little hill at the northern
angle of the Persian frontier, on the shores of a vast extent of
water which stretched away out of sight to the north and east.

The town was Ashurada, the most southerly of the Russian stations.