able to finish. Three times a week in the summer
there is music in the garden, and in winter there
are dancing parties. They provided us an excellent
dinner— the best we had eaten for many
days— and we then returned to our grand hotel, to
find that during our absence the Governor-General had
honoured us with a call. Later in the evening two
German gentlemen paid us a visit, one of whom said
that he had come from Khiva in a tarantass, but
under exceptional circumstances, and we heard from
another quarter that the road was exceedingly difficult.
But before we could think of starting south, I had
many persons to visit, places to see, and arrangements
to make, to the doing of which we addressed ourselves
on the Monday morning.
C H A P T E R X X X I .
TA SH K E N D (Continued).
Bible work at Tashkend.— Visit to M. Oshanin at the Museum.—
Antiquities and curiosities.— Assistance from Colonel Maieff.— Visit
to Asiatic Tashkend.— Purchase of Sart curiosities.— Household
commodities.— Imports and exports of Tashkend.— Spring and
autumn fairs.— Russian trade in Central A sia .— Excess of imports
into Russia.— Influence of English competition.— Visit to seminary
for training teachers.— Tashkend schools.— Visit to observatory.—
Climate of Tashkend.— Visit to Colonel Serpitzky at the camp.—
Distribution of religious literature.— The public library, and its
Turkistan bibliography.— Dining with the Govemor-General.-S
Arrangements for departure.— My carriages and Kamensky.
I T O O K an early opportunity at Tashkend o f
looking into the prospects there of the British
and Foreign Bible Society. For a long time the eyes
of the Committee in Petersburg had been turned in the
direction of Central Asia before a suitable agent presented
himself by whom they could commence operations.
A t length it came to pass that a body of
German sectaries, called Mennonites, to avoid military
service in Russia, determined to proceed to one of the
independent khanates in Central Asia. Among them
was a man who had previously acted as a colporteur,
and he proposed that he should take with him copies
of the Scriptures, and endeavour to open a depot.
The Governor-General had given permission that the
depot might be opened, and I went on the Monday