Work  began  on  June  30,  1885,  the  rolling  camp
which  carried  the  staff,  workmen,  and  material  moving
forward  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  a-day  as  the  line
was  laid.  Beyond  Kizil  Arvat  22,000  Tekke  labourers
levelled  the  soil,  with  a  result  that  Merve,  which  had
succumbed  to  the  intrigues  of  Alikhanoff  and  the  bravado
of  Komaroff  early  in  1884,  was  reached  in  a  period  of
fourteen  months.  In  August  1886  work  was  begun  on
the  section  between  Merve  and  Chardjui  on  the  Oxus,
and  in  spite  of  the  terrible  difficulties  experienced  from
driving  sand,  the  whole  distance  of  141  miles  was  com-
pleted in  little  more  than  four  months,  and  the  railway
brought  into  working  order  throughout  the  664  miles
from  the  Caspian  to  the  Oxus.
The  river  here  is  at  the  present  time  spanned  by  a
fine  steel  girder  bridge ;  but  such  an  undertaking  was
considered  out  of  the  question  in  1887,  and  a  huge  and
cumbrous  wooden  viaduct  was  carried  across  the  water
on  piles  driven  into  the  river-bed.  The  engineer  who
was  responsible  for  this  extraordinary  structure  was  a
Pole,  Bielinski  by  name — and  when  it  comes  to  be  con-


168  TEE   TRANSGASPIAN  RAILWAY  IN  1903.
sidered  that  he  laid  a  way  4600  yards  in  length,  includ-
ing 2270  yards  of  water-way,  resting  upon  no  less  than
3330  wooden  piles,  between  June  1887  and  January
1888,  for  the  very  moderate  sum  of  £44,000,^  he  must
certainly  be  credited  with  an  excellent  performance.
