Identifier: visittorussiansi00phib (find matches)
Title: A visit to the Russians in central Asia
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: Phibbs, Isabelle Mary
Subjects: Russians -- Asia, Central Asia, Central -- Description and travel
Publisher: London : K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & co., ltd.
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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. - J- A Visit to the Russians One painful reminiscence of this wonderfuljourney was the sight of a group of prisonersbound for Siberia, among them one woman.They were chained to prevent escape, butthere appeared to be no unnecessary severity.I was allowed, with an English gentleman, tooffer the means of procuring for them somesmall comforts to cheer them in their terriblefate. The dreary desert appeared to me unspeak-ably dreary, dotted at intervals with the watchtowers that speak of the cruel days of slave-hunting. The only vegetation was the cameltkoin, the food of those long-suffering animals,that is used to keep together the dangeroussands to which palisades of wood offer butfeeble resistance. Moslem armies in theseterrible deserts were allowed to perform theprescribed ablutions with sand instead of water. At Askabad I was unable to accept theinvitations kindly offered to the English travel-lers, but I was not without compensation ina different line. Before leaving England I pro-
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in Central Asia 235 vided myself with Russian cigarettes, havingheard that it was customary for ladies to smokeon all occasions. I carefully smoked one tobe sure that I should suffer no ill effects ; butI forgot all about them until, at Askabad, atrain full of young Polish recruits drew up inline with my home or hospital. The happythought occurred to me to hand out from thecorridor to the opposite window the elegantlittle case of useless luxuries. The successof the idea was so great that an Englishgentleman procured for me at the station asupply of cigarettes sufficient for the wholetrain; they may not have been of superiorquality, but they gave pleasure. A short delay at Khizil Arvat attracted theinhabitants to the station, and I was painfullyimpressed with their appearance of squalidmisery. The women especially had a lookof hopeless degradation. Some of the menwere amused at my showers of chocolates uponthe children and helped to pick them up. A second visit to Baku does but deepen

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