A Ride to Khiva Author:Fred Burnaby Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. Waist-belt for Gold.—A Servant an Incumbrance when Traveling.—Cologne.—Russian Diplomatic Agent.—The Nord Newspaper.—The Disraeli Suez Canal Share... more »s.—Baron Renter.—Strausberg.—Examination of Passports and Sleeping-bag.—Railway Traveling in Russia.—Refreshment-rooms.—Russian Disregard of Time.—Officials easily Suborned.— St. Petersburg.—Sleigh-drivers.—The Russian Piece in any Theatre.—A Russian's Dislike to his Own Language.—His Contempt for any thing purely Russian.—Military Rank at Village Drinking Establishments.— Jonka.—Table-d'hote.—Fish Soups.—India and Education.—Agitators. —Our Military Attaches very Industrious.—General Kauffmann's Dislike to Publicity.—Mr. Schuyler.—Bismarck and the Russian Language.— All have their Price.—Gold an Open Sesam6.—Letter to General Milu- tin.—Count SchouvalofFs Brother not in St. Petersburg. The 30th of November, 1875, broke cold and damp. It was one of those disagreeable days that depress and lower the barometer of the human spirit to a semi-despondent level; but I had finished all my regimental duty, and having provided myself at Thornhill's with a strong waist-belt to contain the amount of gold I thought necessary for my journey, and which, by-the-way, was a most uncomfortable bed-fellow, I drove to the Victoria Station, to start by the night mail. I had determined not to take a servant—they are generally in the way, unless they know something of the country traveled in: under other conditions, master and man have to change places. I must say, however, that I was sorry to leave behind my faithful fellow. He had been with me in several parts of the world, and was able to make himself understood by signs and the few broken words of the language he might pick up, in a manner to me quite incomprehensible; but Russian mou- ...« less