The main line keeps to the Syr Daria, running through the steppe along the post-road to Karmakchi or Fort No. 2. On leaving Karmakchi it diverges from the post-road to wind round a succession of lakes and marshes which lie at a distance of 50 versts from the river. The railway continuing its original direction now runs along the basins of the Syr Daria and the Karauzyak, a tributary which it crosses twice by small bridges, each constructed with two spans 60 sagenes in length. The character of the country from Karmakchi to Perovski, a distance of 138 versts, differs considerably from the region preceding it. The low-lying ground, broken by swamps, is everywhere covered with a thick overgrowth of reeds; while the more elevated parts, watered by ariks, are devoted to the cultivation of crops. The town of Perovski is situated in flat country 1½ versts from the station. From there to Djulek the line returns to the post-road and some distance from the Syr Daria passes between the river and the Ber Kazan lakes to Ber Kazan. At Djulek, the name being adopted from a small adjacent hamlet, it diverges from the post-road to run direct to the village of Skobelevski, one of those curious peasant settlements which located in the uttermost parts of Central Asia preserve in their smallest detail every characteristic of remote Russia. At such a place life savours so strongly of the middle ages that one scarcely heeds the purely modern significance which attaches to the Iron Horse. Barely 30 versts from Skobelevski and situated close to the Syr Daria there is the station of Tumen Arik, which gives place to Turkestan, beyond which for 120 versts the line runs parallel with the post-road. The station is 2½ versts to the north of the town of Turkestan, one of the most important towns in the Syr Daria province and only 40 versts from the Syr Daria. The next station Ikan is associated with the conquest of Turkestan, a famous battle having been fought about the scene where the station buildings now stand. Twenty versts to the north of the station, close to the post-road, there is a memorial to Ural Cossacks who fell during the fight. Otrar the following station is identified with the tradition, derived from the existence of an enormous mound standing amid the ruins of the old-time city of Otrar, that Timur when his army crossed the Syr Daria ordered each of his soldiers to throw a handful of earth upon the ground at the point where the river was crossed in safety. Beyond Otrar the line runs along the right bank of the Aris river, crossing it at 1570 versts from Orenburg by a bridge of 90 sagenes in three spans of 30 sagenes each. Aris station is placed further along the river bank at a point where at some future date branch lines between it and the town of Verni, as well as to a junction with the Trans-Siberian system, will be laid. After leaving it the railway, still ascending, ultimately crosses the pass of