CHAPTER XIII.

FROM GOKTCHAI TO LENKORAN.

Rough travelling--Shooting by the way--Shemakha and Aksu--Tarantasses and post-roads--A wretched station--Mud volcanoes and naphtha springs--Bustards--On the road to Salian--Swarms of wild-fowl--A rascally official--Disappointed hopes--A good Samaritan--Rival hosts--Asiatic fever--The Mooghan steppe--Pelicans and myriads of other birds--Tartar orgies--Banished secretaries: the Molochans and Skoptsi--Arrival at Lenkoran--A Persian gunsmith--Fellow-sportsmen 287