“ The Buchara beef and mutton are very good and cheap; the natives have plenty of poultry for sale, and enormous quantities of wild ducks, thousands of which have their homes on the inland lake . Dried fruit, rice, and oatmeal are bought of the Persian traders who follow the new railway line, and Buchara melons, the excellence of which Sultan Ibn Batnia recognized as long ago as 1335, and pomegranates are every day brought fresh to our doors. The officers’ carriages are charmingly decorated with carpets and rugs which the emir has sent them. ”

“ The casual visitors are persons who have come by the new railway which has not yet been publicly opened, and who are on their way further into the country. The next carriages are made into a kitchen and a pantry, which is replenished by purchases at the two nearest towns and at the surrounding villages. ”

“ On the upper floors of their carriages their servants and grooms have their rooms, and the saddle-horses live in front of the train, where they are tied to posts. A post and telegraph office, a hospital with a doctor’s residence, and a chemist’s shop complete the staff quarters, besides which there are a number of carriages for soldiers and workmen. ”