- Project Runeberg -  Armenia and the Near East /
162

(1928) [MARC] Author: Fridtjof Nansen - Tema: Russia
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162 ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
which was being built at the time. His nåme was Jakimoff.
He was now second in command of the engineering work on
the canal and tunnel. The world is small indeed. When I
had got out of the tram that morning another engineer had
greeted me, but I had not recognized him either. Now it
transpired that he, too, had been engaged on the construction
of the Amur railway twelve years before.
With JakimofF to direct the chauffeur wc drove on through
the crowd, now along a road, now across country over bumpy
ground with dangerous hoies in it. Then suddenly wc found
ourselves on the edge of the gorge with the Arpa-chai far
below us. Wc descended the zigzag path down the cliff to
the bottom where the dam had been constructed.
It was strange to see such swarms of people in this deep,
wild gorge between the high mountain-sides, with nothing
but rocks on every hand, the river foaming along the bottom,
and a strip of blue sky between the cliffs far above our heads.
It was like a scene in the Divina Commedia.
Wc made our way through the throng, past the sluice,
which was still open to let the river run through, over a
suspension bridge crowded with people trying to get across,
then down the river-bank and across the river again, finally
coming to a stop in front of the mouth of the tunnel. The
engineer walked in front, and wc plunged into the unknown.
Followed an endless wandering through the blackness, faintly
lit at long intervals by electric lamps. It was high enough
for me to walk upright, and so wide that I could not touch
the sides. A herd of jostling people, chiefly boys, slipped
past us and tore on in front, kicking up mud and water, and
making the most blood-curling howls and screams. There
seemed to be women and girls there, too, so far as I could
see in that dim light. I could not help wondering what
would happen if the water were turned on, or even if a sudden
panic arose. What a mad flight for life—the pressure would
be so terrible that the crowd would be jammed fast in this
narrow tube !
The first part of the tunnel was dry ; by and by wc came
to some puddles, which became larger and larger until they
formed a continuous ditch along the middle ; only at the

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