CHAPTER II

FROM LONDON TO THE CASPIAN

Eastward the Star of Empire takes its way.'

Journey to St. Petersburg-Difficulty of obtaining permission-Obser vations on Russian character-Hostility to Germany and the Germans-Policy of Alexander III.-Russian feeling towards England -Russian feeling towards Austria and France--Continuation of journey-Permission granted-From St. Petersburg to TiflisFrom Tiflis to Baku and the Caspian-Approach to Uzun Ada.

St. Peters

In the summer and autumn months an express train Journey to leaves Berlin at 8.30 in the morning, and reaches burg St. Petersburg on the evening of the following day. A traveller from England can either catch this train by taking the day boat from Queenborough to Flushing, and making the through journey without a halt, in which case he will reach the Russian capital in sixty-one hours; or by taking the night boat to Flushing, and reaching Berlin the following evening, he can allow himself the luxury of a night between the sheets before proceeding on his way. At 8.30 P.M. on the day after leaving Berlin he is deposited on the platform of the Warsaw station at St. Petersburg. The journey via St. Petersburg and Moscow is not, of course, the shortest or most expeditious route to the Caucasus and the Caspian. The

Diffenity in obtain

quickest route, in point of time, is rid Berlin to Cracow, and from there by Elisavetgrad to Kharkov on the main Russian line of railway running south from Moscow, whence the journey is continued to Vladikavkas and the Caucasus. A less fatiguing but rather longer deviation is the journey by rail from Cracow to Odessa, and thence by sea to Batoum, and train to Tiflis and Baku. A third alternative is the new overland route to Constantinople, and thence by steamer to Batoum. I travelled, however, vid St. Petersburg and Moscow, partly because I wished to see those places, but mainly because I hoped at the former to obtain certain information and introductions which might be useful to me in Georgia and Transcaspia. Moreover, the stranger to Russia cannot do better than acquire his first impression of her power and importance at the seat of government, the majestic emanation of Peter's genius on the banks of the Neva.

When I left London I was assured by the representatives of the Wagon-Lits Company that all necessary arrangements had been made, that a special permit, une autorisation spéciale, to visit Transcaspia had been obtained, and that the rest of the party had already started from Paris. Not caring to share in the earlier movements of the excursion, which involved a delay in Europe, I proposed to join them at Vladikavkas. As soon, however, as I reached St. Petersburg I had reason to congratulate myself upon having gone to headquarters at once, for I found that matters had not been quite so smoothly

arranged, and that there were formidable obstacles still to be overcome. The Russian Government is a very elaborate and strictly systematised, but also a very complicated, piece of machinery; and the motive power required to set its various parts in action is often out of all proportion to the result achieved. It would not seem to be a very serious or difficult matter to determine whether a small party-less than a dozen--of tourists should be allowed to travel over a line, the opening of which to passenger traffic had been trumpeted throughout Europe, and an invitation to travel by which had originated from the director-general of the line himself. However, things are not done quite so simply at St. Petersburg. It transpired that for the permission in question the consent of five independent authorities must be sought: (1) The GovernorGeneral of Turkestan, General Rosenbach, whose headquarters are at Tashkent; (2) the GovernorGeneral of Transcaspia, General Komaroff, who resides at Askabad; (3) the head of the Asiatic department of the Foreign Office at St. Petersburg, M. Zinovieff; (4) the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. de Giers, or his colleague, General Vlangali; (5) the Minister for War, General Vanoffski; the last named being the supreme and ultimate court of appeal. All these independent officials had to be consulted, and their concurrent approval obtained.

My first discovery was that not one of this number had yet signified his assent, and very grave doubts were expressed by General Vlangali, in answer to

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inquiries, as to the likelihood of their doing so. I even heard that the Italian Embassy had applied for leave for an officer in the Italian army, and had been point blank refused. The only Englishmen-in addition to two or three Indian officers, who, joining the railway at Tcharjui or Merv on their return from India, had travelled by it to the Caspian-to whom official permission had so far been granted were the Times' correspondent; Dr. Lansdell, who had recently started upon another roving expedition of mingled Bible distribution and discovery in Central Asia; and Mr. Littledale, a sportsman, who had with great difficulty obtained leave to go as far as Samarkand with a view of proceeding from there in quest of the ovis poli in the remote mountains of the Pamir. In this pursuit I record with pleasure the fact that the last-named gentleman was entirely successful, being the first Englishman who has ever shot a male specimen of this famous and inaccessible animal. Matters were further complicated by the absence of the Minister for War, who was accompanying the Czar in his imperial progress through the south. One of my earliest steps was to seek an interview with the representative at St. Petersburg of the Compagnie des Wagon-Lits, and to inquire what steps he had taken or proposed to take. I found that he had as yet obtained no assurance of official ratification, but was relying upon the patronage and promises of General Annenkoff, who was absent and believed to be in Nice. I was, however, recommended by him to call upon M. Mestcherin, the resident engineer to

the railway, who had greatly interested himself in the expedition and was doing his utmost to further its success. The first item of reassuring news that I had received fell from his lips. A telegram had been received from General Rosenbach, to whom the names of the proposed party had been submitted, signifying his approval; and another of a similar character was hourly expected from General Komaroff. This intelligence was the more satisfactory, because I heard from M. Mestcherin that it was upon General Rosenbach's supposed objections that the authorities at St. Petersburg had principally based theirs; the General's hostility being attributed to his unwillingness to have a party of foreigners anywhere near the frontier, pending the unsettled rebellion of Is-hak Khan against the Afghan Amir in a quarter of Afghan Turkestan at so short a distance from the Russian lines. I confess I regarded this as a plausible objection, though I hardly thought that the situation would be much aggravated by the casual and almost meteoric transit of a harmless party of polyglot tourists over the railway line. However, these scruples, if entertained, had now been abandoned, and the hope presented itself that the confidence displayed by General Rosenbach might awake a similar generosity in the breasts of his official superiors in the capital. M. Mestcherin had no doubt whatever that this would be the case. Of certain information which he gave me on the subject of the railway I shall speak in a subsequent chapter. I left his apartments in a more sanguine frame of mind than I had yet