But I had no fear of remaining dumb in Turkestan and the Celestial Empire.

There would be interpreters on the road, and I did not expect to lose a detail of my run on the Grand Transasiatic.

I knew how to see, and see I would.

Why should I hide it from myself?
I am one of those who think that everything here below can serve as copy for a newspaper man; that the earth, the moon, the sky, the universe were only made as fitting subjects for newspaper articles, and that my pen was in no fear of a holiday on the road.
Before starting off round Tiflis let us have done with this passport business.

Fortunately I had no need for a "poderojnaia," which was formerly indispensable to whoever traveled in Russia.