Ella Christie arriving in arba at Novy Urgench
During her Central Asian travels in the early 20th century Ella Christie frequently encountered these native horse-drawn carts, called "arbas". They were very strongly built, with huge wheels five to seven feet (1.5 to 2m) in diameter, designed to negotiate the many large mud-holes in the local roads. Unlike British carts of that period, these vehicles had wheels fitted with studs rather than metal tyres, and had no sprung suspension, making for a rather rough ride. Ella Christie therefore generally preferred to walk alongside the cart, but on this occasion (one of the few when she herself was photographed) decided to climb aboard by clambering up the spokes of one of the wheels, and thus entered Novy Urgench "in proper style".
