ThroughSiberiaand
ManchuriaBy Rail
Through
Siberia
and
Manchuria
By Rail
NOTE
This short account of my journey from London toShanghai by way of the Siberian Railway was at firstintended for private circulation only, in order to meetthe enquiries of numerous personal friends.
Now, however, that war has broken out betweenRussia and Japan, and that it may be years beforethis, the longest railway in the world, is again open tointernational traffic, I feel that any information, howeverslight, concerning so stupendous an undertaking, as wellas about the remote region which it traverses, may be ofinterest to the general public.
I wish to emphasize that much of what is hereindescribed was seen only from the windows of a movingtrain, and must therefore be lacking in that accuracyand detail which closer inspection could alone insure.
The Russian words on the cover“КТО ИДЕТЪ”signify “who goes there”?, and the Chinese characters
represent my surname. The Russian cross atthe end, is that of the original Greek Church.
Shanghai, 29th February, 1904.
EASTWARD HO!
[5]I left Charing Cross on the 15th October, 1903, by the 10 a.m.boat-train for Dover. As we glided on I mentally said good-bye tofamiliar scenes, for I was outward bound, to put in another five years’service under the dragon flag.
At Dover we went aboard the Belgian rapide “Ville de Douvres” and inten minutes were streaming at twenty miles an hour through the shippingon our way across Channel.
It was a lovely day with fair wind and smooth sea, and had only thevessel’s bows been pointed in the opposite direction, I should have beenperfectly happy, but they were not, so I had to make the best of things,which consisted in watching over the stern Old England’s chalk cliffs,gleaming white in the brilliant sunshine, slowly sink and disappear intothe heaving main. . . . . . . Good-bye. Eastward ho!
The Belgian coast was sighted at about 3 p.m., and shortly after 4 welanded at Ostende, and I was soon installed in a first-class coupé ofthe weekly Nord-Express, which was to carry me without change as faras Warsaw.
This train de luxe, consisting of an engine and five or six cars, wasas replete with comfort and luxury as it was possible to compress withinso limited a space.
[6]That night we passed through Belgium by way of Brussels, and at 7.30next morning, the 16th October, arrived at Berlin, but only stoppedfor half-an-hour, when we were again en route.
The day was fine and the country pretty, without being beautiful. Inplaces it was well wooded with firs and silver birches. For many miles Inoticed sorrel growing alongside the line almost as thickly as grass.
Shortly before arriving at the Russi