RUSSIAN C E N T R A L ASIA,
INCLUDING
CULDjA, B O K H A R A , K H IV A , A N D M ERV .
C H A P T E R I.
IN T R OD U C T O R Y .
tentiol to cross the Steppe frustrated in 1879.— Considered afresh ii
188^.— Distribution of religious literature desirable,— Reasons fo
andfcgainst the venture.— The way cleared.— My objects chiefh
religious.— Help of Bible and Tract Societies.— Plans in relatior
ereto. Additional objects.—Failure anticipated by some —Feau
entajtained by others.— The start.
■H E N passing through Ekaterineburg in 1879,
I heard of a people in the south, wandering
)out in so primitive a condition with their flocks and
1 p ai when among them, one might fancy himself
a a ps it to the Hebrew patriarchs. This so far
iteresled me that I determined, on my way back, to
^ » r o u g h the Kirghese country from Omsk to
[ ren urg- But I was prevented from doing this bv
a11 across Asia> making a circuit of the
forld Once more safe home, so far was it from my
vol° extensiveI7 again, that I had asked my