This page has been validated.
ACROSS THE CASPIAN.
451
CHAPTER XXII.
FRANK AND FRED IN THE TURCOMAN COUNTRY.—THE TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY.—SKOBELEFF'S CAMPAIGN, AND THE CAPTURE OF GEOK TEPE.—ENGLISH JEALOUSY OF RUSSLAN ADVANCES.—RIVERS OF CENTRAL ASIA.—THE ONUS 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.
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
MAP SHOWING THE RELATIONS OF RUSSIA AND ENGLAND IN THE EAST.
