THE CAUCASUS
If you will glance at the map, you will notice a mountain chain
extending diagonally across what looks like a narrow strip of land
between the Black and Caspian Seas, but it is not as narrow as it
looks. It is more than five hundred miles between the two seas.
The Caucasus range is one of the most remarkable of all geological
phenomena. It is the boundary between Europe and Asia, and an almost
impenetrable wall which can be crossed by vehicles or horsemen in only
two places, known as the Dariel and the Manisson Passes.
From the beginning of history until the Middle Ages it was the boundary
of the world. Beyond, all was mystery and fable, and for that reason
the ancients made the Caucasus the scene of much mythological activity
and the home of many marvels. They called the country Colchis, and
it was there that Jason and the Argonauts found the Golden Fleece.
Prometheus was chained to one of the peaks by the gods to punish him
for giving fire to the mortals. Within the Caucasus dwelt man-hating
Amazons of whom scandalous stories were told, with treasures of gold
and silver and precious stones unlimited but unattainable, because they
were guarded by griffins and one-eyed monsters called Arimaspians.
The Cæsars led their legions as far as the foot of the mountains;
Pompey fought a battle under the shadow of the highest peak; Alexander
the Great reconnoitred through the foothills seeking a passage to
the unknown regions beyond, but did not find it until he reached the
Caspian Sea. All the great invaders of the prehistoric period smote the
Caucasus with their impotent swords, but never passed beyond; and the
first Europeans to find their way through the rocky labyrinths were
Greek and Genoese traders, who crawled through the cañons on foot in
the Middle Ages in search of customers. Much was risked for gold and
glory in man’s struggle with nature that lasted many centuries here,
and it was not until the territory was added to the Russian Empire
early in the nineteenth century that the Caucasus became passable. For
military purposes the Russians have built wagon roads through the two
cañons at a cost of many hundred thousand rubles, over which its armies
and their supplies have since passed into the hinterland.
Shakespeare shared the awe of the ancient Greeks, and was also inspired
by the romance attached to these impassable barriers. He frequently
alluded to them in his plays.
“For who can hold a coal of fire in his hands
While thinking of the frosty Caucasus.”
Prometheus was one of the Titans, a gigantic race which inhabited the
earth before the creation of men. To him and his brother Epimetheus
was entrusted the duty of providing man and all other animals with the
faculties necessary for their comfort and preservation. Epimetheus
proceeded to bestow upon the animals gifts of strength, intelligence,
courage, and swiftness. He gave wings to one class, claws to another,
horns to a third, and fur to those that were to inhabit the colder
parts of the earth; but when man came to be provided for, Epimetheus
had been so generous in giving away his treasures that he had nothing
left to bestow upon him. In his perplexity he appealed to his brother
Prometheus, who, with the aid of Minerva, went up to heaven, lighted
a torch from the sun, and brought down to man the gift of fire which
made him superior to all other animals. It enabled him to make weapons
wherewith to subdue them, tools with which to cultivate the earth,
material for the arts and trades and commerce, and heat to warm his
dwelling and cook his food.
Jupiter, seeing this state of things, burned with anger and summoned
the gods to council. They obeyed the call and started for the palace
of heaven along a road which any one may see on a clear night. It
stretches across the face of the sky, and is called the Milky Way.
Having considered his offence, Prometheus was declared an enemy of the
gods and Jupiter had him chained to a rock at the summit of Mt. Kazbek
in the Caucasus, where a vulture preyed forever upon his liver, which
was renewed as fast as devoured. This state of torment might have been
terminated at any time by Prometheus if he had been willing to submit
to Jupiter, but he disdained to do so. He was a friend of mankind, who
had interposed in their behalf when the gods were incensed against
them, and had taught them civilization and the arts. He has therefore
been used as a symbol of magnanimous endurance, of unmerited suffering,
and strength of will to resist oppression.
The range is about seven hundred miles long, although the distance
looks much shorter on the map, and it bisects the Russian province of
the Caucasus northwest and southeast, dipping so low as it approaches
the Caspian Sea that for thirty miles the coast is only a few feet
above tide-water.
The territory north of the mountains is known officially as the
Caucasus, and that south of it as the trans-Caucasus. Both belong to
Russia. Formerly, and the names can be found on all of the old maps,
the territory north was divided into independent states--Circassia,
Daghestan, Astrakan, and the steppe of the Kalmucks--but they have lost
their identity, and the thrones of their former rulers may be found in
that marvellous collection of trophies of conquest in the Kremlin at
Moscow. South of the Caucasus is the ancient kingdom of Georgia, and
beyond that Armenia, Kurdistan, and the Azerbaijan province of Persia.
The geological interest in the Caucasus Mountains is due to the fact
that they rise abruptly from two flat plains, similar to our western
prairies, known as steppes, and are unique because of the simplicity
of their structure, the regularity of their outlines, the steepness
of the declivities, and the narrowness of the range. It is not split
up, as other great mountain chains are, into secondary and parallel
ranges, and has no buttresses running at right angles, nor outlying
peaks. The greatest width of the range is only about 120 miles; all the
loftiest summits are on the single watershed, which for several hundred
miles does not sink below seven thousand feet. Elburz, the highest
peak, rises 18,493 feet above the Black Sea and overtops all others
in Europe. Kazbek, to which Prometheus was chained, according to the
legend, is 16,523 feet. There are seven other peaks exceeding 15,000
feet and nine peaks exceeding 14,000 feet, which make the Caucasus by
far the highest mountains in Europe. The gorges are more savage, the
cañons are deeper, the peaks are steeper and sharper and more difficult
of ascent than those of any other range in the world. The Caucasus
Mountains are not as beautiful as the Alps, but are more imposing and
majestic.
[Illustration: A Georgian Prince and his sons]
[Illustration: A Georgian beauty]
There is supposed to be great mineral wealth in the Caucasus, and the
natives in ancient times, on both sides of the range, possessed much
gold and an abundance of rough jewels. The crowns and sceptres of the
Georgian and Circassian kings in the Kremlin at Moscow are richly
decorated with jewels, some uncut and others rudely cut. The nobles
and warriors of both countries loaded themselves with silver and gold
ornaments. Their guns and pistols and their swords and daggers had
handles of gold and silver set in precious stones. The vessels they
used in their households, the ornaments in their churches, the gifts
they presented to their friends, and the loot that was taken away by
the Persians, Russians, and other invaders, testify that there must
have been much profitable mining in ancient times: and the story
of the Golden Fleece is not a mere legend, because even to-day the
mountaineers are in the habit of anchoring fleeces of wool from their
sheep in the streams, as traps to catch the grains of gold that float
down in the water.
The Caucasians have always been famous as goldsmiths and silversmiths,
and in every museum of Europe you can find examples of their skill
and taste. Even to-day in the bazaars of old Tiflis, long streets are
occupied exclusively by cunning artificers making cups and flagons,
handles for swords and knives, pistols and guns, ornaments for the
body and the household, bowls and dishes for the table, and all sorts
of decorative and useful objects of the precious metals. They are
especially skilful in combining iron and silver, and iron and gold,
although this art has never reached the same perfection there that is
found in similar products in Toledo, Spain.
There are rumours of coal mines, and they probably exist, but the
abundance of timber has not encouraged the people to work them. Iron
and copper are found frequently, from which the ancients always had
an abundant supply. About twenty-five miles up the railway from
Batoum is an extensive operation by the Caucasus Copper Company, an
American-English syndicate. They are getting out a good deal of copper,
an average of 120 tons a month, which is shipped to Moscow and St.
Petersburg for local use. About eight hundred hands are employed in the
mines and in the smelters.
Petroleum has been known in the foothills and along the sea coast at
the eastern extremity of the Caucasus Mountains from the earliest times.
There is a railway on each side of the Caucasus Mountains. That on the
northern side runs from Baku, the oil centre, to the city of Rostov, at
the mouth of the river Don and the head of the Sea of Azov. That on the
south runs from Batoum to Baku, and is the principal thoroughfare for
the shipment of oil to other parts of Europe than Russia. The annual
shipments of refined petroleum from Batoum to the rest of the world
have averaged about four million barrels, but the Russian refiners
cannot compete with the Standard Oil Company, either in the quality or
the price of their product. Russian oil has practically been driven
out of all the European countries except Turkey, Roumania, Hungary, and
Russia, and the Standard Oil Company is now “the Light of Asia” without
a rival flame.
At the time of the revolution in Russia in 1905, the employés of both
oil companies at Batoum struck. Fifteen hundred men on the Nobel dock,
and a thousand more who were working for the other companies, quit work
because the new constitution of Russia, as they construed it, granted
them liberty to do as they pleased. The oil companies, assuming that
they possessed similar rights, closed their warehouses and have never
resumed business. After the strikers had enjoyed all of the liberty of
this kind they desired, they asked to be taken back, but the operators
shook their heads and said there would be no more work for them. Hence
the population of Batoum has been reduced by several thousand since
that time.
In 1863 the Russian government built a broad highway, with a gentle
grade, from Tiflis, the capital of the Caucasus, through the
southernmost of the only two passes by which the Caucasus Mountains
can be crossed. It is called Dariel Pass, and it crosses the grand
divide between Europe and Asia at an altitude of 7,698 feet. The other
pass, about eighty miles farther north, is called Manisson and crosses
the divide at 8,400 feet. On the European side of the Caucasus, at
the northern end of the pass, is the city of Vladicaucasus, sometimes
spelled Vladikowkaz, and in various other ways--a Russian word which
means “the master of the Caucasus,” and from a military sense it
answers that definition.
Mount Elburz, 18,493 feet high, the highest peak in Europe, is on the
northern side of the grand divide, but cannot be seen from either
Tiflis or Vladicaucasus. Kazbek, 16,523 feet, the second peak in
height, 112 miles almost directly north of Tiflis, can often be seen
from that city, and at one point of the military road, for a few rods,
a splendid vista can be had of the monster when its snow-clad summit is
not hidden in the clouds.
The pass is crossed daily by an automobile omnibus similar to those
which run between hotels and railway stations in our cities. The
passengers occupy slippery longitudinal seats inside, and their luggage
is carried on top. It is a most inappropriate vehicle for pleasure
riding and those who are unfortunate enough to cross that way see a
little of the scenery on one side of the road. It is much better to
take an open carriage, a “tsetvioria,” as they call it, a sort of
landeau drawn by four horses hitched abreast. That is open to all that
may be seen above or below, and has a cover that can be drawn over it
in case of rain. The journey across the pass by carriage requires two
days, being 135 miles, but you have to start at daylight both mornings.
There are rest houses on the way where one can eat and sleep if he can
put up with a good deal of dirt and discomfort, but the best way is to
make an excursion down from Vladicaucasus to the village of Kazbek at
the foot of that mountain, which will permit one to see the finest part
of the scenery and return the same night.
A railway has been planned and surveyed, and will doubtless be built,
through the pass. Indeed, we understand that construction has already
been begun by the Russian war department. It will not be a difficult
or very expensive task, because the cañon is wide, except in a few
places, and the engineering problem is nowhere nearly as difficult as
many that have been encountered in other parts of Russia.
The scenery will attract many tourists, although the Russian government
cares little about that. There is nothing in Europe grander or more
savage than the cañons and gorges and mountain peaks of the Dariel;
they equal, if they do not surpass, the boldest forms of nature in the
Alps. One cañon is 4,000 feet deep, with almost perpendicular walls,
and for seventy-five miles or more the cliffs and crags on both sides
rise to a height of 1,500 and 1,800 feet. From the time the cañon is
entered at the north until the traveller emerges from it at the south
the distance is about seventy-five miles, and there is not one mile
without peculiar interest and attraction. The Terek River, which finds
its source among the everlasting snows of Kazbek, dashes northward in
a tawny torrent and the carriage road follows its bed. On the southern
slope the river Kur, born in the glaciers of Kazbek, is followed to the
city of Tiflis. For three fourths of the distance the cañon is wide
enough to admit half a dozen railway tracks without trenching upon the
river or having to blast a roadway out of the rocky mountain side, but
in two or three of the narrower places some heavy stonework will be
necessary. The scenery will remind you of the fiords of Norway more
than anything you have ever seen in Switzerland or the United States,
and its greatest attraction is due to the forests and underbrush, with
which every mountain side is clothed up to the snow line.
Twenty-seven miles from Vladicaucasus, going south, the road suddenly
turns a sharp corner around a point of rocks and the traveller finds
himself face to face with Kazbek, a steep, glittering dome of snow
rising 16,523 feet above the sea. There is a little village of the same
name at the snow line, which is about 9,000 feet, in the most savage
part of the range, and the Russian government keeps a rest house there
for the shelter of those who wish to make the ascent.
According to local tradition, Prometheus was chained to a certain
precipice on the slopes of Kazbek. The guides will show you the exact
spot, just as visitors to the Chateau d’If in the harbour of Marseilles
are shown the exact dungeon in which the hero of Alexander Dumas’s
famous novel, “Monte Cristo,” was imprisoned. They forget that both
were heroes of fiction, and Æschylus, in writing his tragedy, evidently
did not know the geography of the Caucasus, for he describes the rock
as overhanging the sea, which is more than three hundred miles distant.
There are several magnificent glaciers in sight of the roadway, those
of Dievdorak being among the largest in the world and altogether the
most extensive in Europe. There are none in Switzerland that will
compare with them.
This road was built by the Russian government for purely military
purposes, in order that troops, artillery, and supplies may be hurried
across into Turkey or Persia or wherever else they may be needed, and
Manisson is the only other route by which the highest range in Europe
can be crossed. Otherwise, it would be necessary to go as far east as
the shores of the Caspian or as far west as the Black Sea.
[Illustration: The native costume of Georgia]
[Illustration: Head-dress of a Georgian lady]
The road is fortified from end to end. There are half a dozen garrisons
stationed at different points and a stronger military defence
can scarcely be imagined. A few rapid-fire guns could hold back an
army of millions. Nobody has ever tried to force the pass and nobody
ever will. The Russians usually allude to it as “the famous Georgian
military road,” and it is better known to military students than
geographers, and to strategists than to the public. The grand divide,
called “Krestovaia Gora” (the Crest of the Cross), is forty-one miles
from Vladicaucasus, and upon a ledge above it, at an altitude of 8,015
feet, is an obelisk surmounted by a cross attributed to Queen Tamara,
who ruled Georgia in the Middle Ages: and there, it is said, when that
amiable lady became tired of a lover, she would have him thrown over
the precipice.
[Illustration: Section of the road in Dariel Pass]
Going north from Tiflis the first place of interest is Mtskheta, the
ancient capital of the Georgian kings, which is now a humble and
uninteresting village of two or three hundred people with the ruins
of a large castle, two ancient Greek churches, and other evidences
of former greatness. The place is fourteen miles from Tiflis on the
railway to Batoum, and people who care to do so can shorten their
journey by taking a carriage there, although there is no decent place
to stop. The surrounding country was inhabited by a prehistoric race
of cave dwellers, even before the European invasion. Chambers have
been chiselled out of the limestone cliffs of the foothills similar to
those in the cliffs of Arizona and were evidently inhabited by a large
population.
The Georgians claim to be the oldest of races and Mtskheta is one
of the oldest cities in the world. It was founded, according to the
tradition, by Karthlos, who was the son of Thargamos, who was the son
of Gomar, who was the son of Japhet, who was the son of Noah, and came
up here from Ararat after the flood to settle down in that lovely
country. (See Genesis x. 3.) From him the royal line of Georgia sprang
and Mtskheta was their capital. The city is described by Ptolemy, the
Egyptian; by Strabo, the Greek; and by Pliny, the Roman geographer;
and its wealth and power and influence in his land caused it to be
called Dedakhalakhy which being translated into English means “the
Mother City.” Christianity was introduced among the Georgians by St.
Nina during the reign of King Meriam, in the year 322–324 A.D., and she
persuaded them to tear down their pagan altars, to abandon their human
sacrifices, and to accept the gospel of peace and love, although they
have not always lived up to it very closely. Of all the peoples in the
world, the Georgians have been the most consistent sinners.
King Meriam after his conversion built a church wherein to deposit “the
seamless garment” of our Saviour, which was bought at the crucifixion
by a Jew named Elioz. He purchased it of a soldier who won it by lot at
the foot of the cross. It was kept in that church for many centuries,
and in 1656 was presented by the king of Georgia to the czar Boris
Godunof of Russia, who placed it in the Cathedral of the Assumption in
the Kremlin at Moscow, where it may be seen to-day.
In the sanctuary where this precious relic was formerly kept, is a
pillar called the Samyrone (a Georgian word meaning “whence issues
sacred oil”) which possesses the miraculous power of supplying the
Holy Chrism with blood that oozes through its pores. This miracle
occurs every year or two, and, although the Georgians are not noted
for their piety, thousands come every year to worship and to touch the
pillar with their fingers. In that way, they believe, they can cleanse
themselves from all diseases of the body and the soul.
This old church was the burial place of the kings of Georgia for
centuries, and although the tombs are not well kept and are neglected
in a shameful manner, many of them are still splendid specimens of
the art of carving. In front of the tabernacle, where the robe of the
Saviour was kept, is a reliquary containing what is believed to be a
monk’s habit worn by the prophet Elias. Tradition claims that he was a
native of Mtskheta, although there is no documentary evidence of that
fact.
The dust of the last king of Georgia lies in a beautiful marble
sarcophagus bearing the following inscription:
“Here rests the Tzar George; born in 1750; ascended the throne of
Georgia in 1798. Desiring the welfare of his subjects and to secure
them forever in peace he ceded Georgia to the Russian Empire and died
in 1801.
“For the purpose of preserving to future generations the memory of the
last of the Georgian tzars, the Marquis Paolucci, commander-in-chief of
the Russian army, caused this monument to be erected in the name of His
Majesty the Emperor Alexander I in the year 1812.”
The renunciation of the crown and the cession of the territory of
Georgia to Russia, as described above, were not approved by his family
or his subjects. His queen accused him of cowardice and denounced him
to the people. When the Russians attempted to take her to Moscow to
prevent her from raising a rebellion, she drew a dagger from her breast
and drove it into the heart of Gen. Ivan Petrovitch Lazareff, who
expired immediately.
While she was being conveyed to Russia by General Toulthkoff an
attempt to rescue her was made in the Dariel Pass and nearly every one
of her escort were killed in the fight.
Among the other tombs is one bearing the following touching inscription:
“I, Miriam, daughter of Davian, and Queen of Georgia, have taken
possession of this little tomb. You who look upon it, remember me in
charity and pray for me, for the love of Jesus Christ.”
One of the early Christian kings of Georgia, named Ivane, who in 1123
delivered his country out of the hands of the Moslems, is identified
as the mysterious Prester John who attracted a great deal of attention
during the Crusades and was the subject of much speculation and
frequent discussion. He was first brought to the notice of Europe by
Pope Eugene III as having been the saviour and defender of Christianity
in this part of the world, but from the indefinite information it was
impossible to identify the original among several petty sovereigns in
the East.
Sir John Mandeville, knight, in his “Narrative of Marvells,” written in
1332, tells us more about this mysterious character than we have from
any other source. He says:
“The Emperor Prester John has been christened and a great part of his
land also. They believe well in the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost. The Emperor Prester John, when he goeth to battle, hath no
banner born before him, but he hath born before him three crosses of
fine gold, large and great, and thickly set with precious stones. And
when he hath no battle, but rideth to take the air, then hath he born
before him a cross made of a tree.”
In all their history there seems to have been only one of their
sovereigns of whom the Georgians are proud, and that was Queen Tamara,
who ruled all the territory between the Black and Caspian Seas, south
of the Caucasus Mountains, from 1184 to 1212. That was the golden age
of Georgia. Tamara seems to have been a mixture of masculine energy and
courage and feminine loveliness and grace, a Cleopatra and a Joan of
Arc in the same woman, combining the virtues of Queen Elizabeth and the
vices of Catherine II. Her portraits are found in every household, she
is credited with founding every monastery and every church of age, and
seems to have had a castle in every corner of the country. Her throne
may be seen in the Kremlin at Moscow.
Prince Aragva, the present representative of the Georgian dynasty,
a great-great-grandson of George XIII, who renounced his authority
in favour of the Russian emperor in 1799, lives at Donchet, at the
southern entrance to the Dariel Pass, an agricultural town of about
3,500 inhabitants. He has large estates and an abundance of money and
the Russian authorities treat him with distinction. He spends most
of his time in St. Petersburg and Paris, but cultivates, through his
agents, a large and productive estate. He is said to have no ambition
but pleasure and realizes a good deal of that.
The railway across the Caucasus from Batoum, the port on the Black
Sea, to Baku, on the Caspian, is 558 miles long, although from the map
the strip of territory between those two bodies of water does not seem
half so wide. The track follows the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains
through the ancient state of Georgia on the southern and Asiatic side,
and snow-capped peaks are in sight from the car windows nearly every
day in the year during half the journey. The highest point reached
by the train is 3,027 feet, where it passes through a long tunnel.
The railway was built by the Russian government for military purposes
about forty years ago, and is still under military control and managed
by military methods. All the material and rolling stock came from the
government shops at Moscow; the engines burn oil for fuel and the
tracks are five feet gauge.
A squad of soldiers accompanies every train and occupies a car
immediately back of the locomotive, to guard the mails and the express
car, which often contains treasure and always many valuable packages.
This guard has been maintained ever since the revolution. The functions
of the civil governor-general have been practically suspended for
years; the military commander exercises autocratic authority, and
martial law is enforced according to his judgment. That is, all crimes
which he construes as being political are tried by military courts
and punished by the military authorities, who have practically filled
the prisons with political offenders. Other crimes against person and
property, which, in the judgment of the military authorities, have no
political significance, are committed to the jurisdiction of the civil
courts.
No part of Russia suffered so much from fire and sword during the
revolution of 1905–6 as the Caucasus, and many revolting stories are
told of the barbarities and horrors committed on both sides. But there
is no use in reviving those disagreeable things. The terrible prison in
the citadel that crowns a hill overlooking the city of Tiflis is still
crowded with patriots whose zeal outran their judgment, and whose ideas
of civil liberty are somewhat broader and more radical than we are
accustomed to concede.
[Illustration: A Georgian Peasant]
[Illustration: A Georgian gentleman and wife]
Russian anarchists who throw bombs at their rulers and blow up
barracks filled with sleeping soldiers in the name of God and liberty
are not quite sane and are entitled to no sympathy. That is the most
charitable way to regard the awful crimes that have been committed in
the name of patriotism and liberty. The leaders of the insurrection
here look upon the French revolution as sacred history, and the
province of the Caucasus has been the scene of many similar occurrences.
The land troubles in Ireland have not been a circumstance to those
that have occurred there, and the same fanatical spirit has been
carried into education and religion as well as into business. The
Georgian church is a branch of the orthodox Greek, with some minor and
technical differences in theology and ritual. I have never been able
to learn just what they are, and, indeed, no one seems to know, but
the Georgians refuse to commune with the Russians and would burn the
Russian churches and massacre their priests if they could accomplish
anything thereby. They are ultra fanatical in racial prejudice.
The Russians are not altogether blameless for this terrible situation,
because they have attempted to force the Russian ritual and Russian
priests upon unwilling parishes in many places, and have insisted that
the Russian language instead of the Georgian language shall be used in
the schools. Therefore the children are growing up in ignorance. No
Georgian parent will allow his children to attend a school where the
Russian language is taught. He would probably suffer ostracism, if not
a worse punishment, if he did.
The railway from the Black Sea enters the mountains about 150 miles
from Batoum and climbs up very slowly with two locomotives over a solid
track between timber-crowned hills. There are forests of locust trees
white with blossoms, whose perfume fills the air. The locust seems to
be popular and is not only planted around every station on the railway
but around all the dwelling houses, farm houses and the cottages in the
villages along the way. The farm houses look like timber claims in our
Western states, and all the trees are locusts. There are a good many
orchards and the quince and apple trees were in bloom when we made our
journey. They seem to be well trimmed and cared for. The rocks along
the cañons are decorated with rhododendrons and yellow honeysuckles,
which are in blossom in April, and you can fancy how beautiful a
railway right of way can be where the walls are covered with such
foliage on both sides. But the scenery is not so wild as I expected
from the printed descriptions I had read.
We crossed the divide through a long tunnel at an elevation of 3,027
feet and dropped down rapidly into a lovely, wide, level valley, every
acre of which is covered to-day with a carpet of living green. The city
of Tiflis is 1,355 feet above the sea, about the same latitude as Rome,
and has an annual rainfall of nineteen inches, which is sufficient to
raise all kinds of staples of the temperate zone without irrigation.
Notwithstanding the restless and turbulent disposition of the Georgian
and other races who make up the population, the farming element seem
to be industrious and prosperous, and although their houses and the
manner in which they live, their tools and implements would not be
tolerated by an American farmer, their standards of comfort and luxury
are not high; they would be, no doubt, contented if they had political
liberty and were not so constantly reminded that they are the subjects
no longer of a Georgian king, but of a Russian czar. If the government
would do something for them to promote their material interests they
might be more contented, but the Russian official regards the Georgians
as an undisciplined and rebellious race, and as long as such relations
continue there cannot be much improvement.
Long trains of tank cars stood on the sidetracks at almost every
station, either loaded with oil for Batoum or empties on their way back
to Baku to be refilled. One of the most important oil companies built
its own pipe lines following the railway across the entire Caucasus
from Baku to Batoum, but the weaker and less wealthy operators use the
railway. There is an odour of petroleum almost the entire distance,
chiefly because the locomotives burn that kind of fuel, but also owing
to the continual leakage of the tank cars along the track. The track
between the rails is black with oil almost the entire distance between
the Caspian and the Black Seas, which keeps down the dust, although it
is an accidental and not an intentional device.
The passenger cars are large, the seats are wide, low, and comfortable,
and in the first-class coaches are arranged so that they can be made up
into beds at night like those in the ordinary European sleeping car,
although every passenger who desires to utilize them in that way must
bring his own sheets, blankets and pillow. The cars are divided into
compartments, and the only objection is that there is but one small,
high window in each compartment, so that it is impossible to see the
country you are passing through unless you stand up or go out into the
corridor, which is lighted in a similar way. The first-class passengers
except ourselves were military officers and their families, and they
all wore their uniforms and swords, high-topped boots and heavy
overcoats, notwithstanding the hot weather.
The first third of the distance from Batoum to Tiflis is a level plain,
called a steppe in Russia, which is thoroughly cultivated, but the
farm homes are wretched wooden hovels. We saw the women working in the
fields--which they have to do to keep the pot boiling, for the men are
in the army, drawing no wages and producing nothing.
There is a good deal of timber, and we saw several droves of
scraggy-looking cattle on the hillsides. Most of the cultivated land
is planted to wheat and other grains. At every stopping place a
portion of the platform at the end of the station house is surrendered
to vegetable sellers, usually old women, who have onions, lettuce,
radishes, and other garden truck piled up on little trays around
them and seemed to be doing a good business. Boys peddled baskets of
strawberries under the windows of the cars--and they were swindles,
of course. When we had eaten off a couple of layers we found nothing
but leaves. They offered us cherries in attractive form, the stems of
the fruit ingeniously inserted through slits in a stick, making long
red wands, some of them three feet long. There are refreshment stands
at every station, at which tea, sausages, sandwiches, bread, cheese,
and other edibles are offered, and the train makes long stops so that
the passengers have time to drink a cup of tea or a glass of vodka and
to exercise on the platform. At every station tanks of cold water and
samovars of hot water are provided free for third-class passengers, who
can help themselves and make their own tea, as most of them do.
The running time was very slow with the long stops, and it took us
thirteen hours to make 228 miles.