the wild boar,
the wild bull and an infinite variety of feathered game. The animal life
of the mountains has, in fact, become more abundant of late years on
account of the high charges for hunting licenses fixed by the Russian
Government. Wolves are so plentiful that in severe winters they descend
to the lowlands in great packs and rob the flocks before the very eyes
of the shepherds.

The most important mineral resources of the region are the oil wells;
here, in fact, around Batum, are situated some of the most important oil
fields in the world. Of manganese ore, an essential of the steel
industry, the Caucasus furnishes half of the world's supply, which is
exported from the two ports of Poti and Batum. Its mineral wealth seems
to be practically unlimited, copper, zinc, iron, tin, and many other
metals being found throughout the region, in most cases in exceedingly
rich deposits. The agricultural resources are not so important,
especially from a military point of view, though vast quantities of
sheep are raised in the highlands in the spring and summer, the flocks
being driven down into the plains to the south in winter.

One of the outstanding features of Russian occupation is the great
Georgian military road which has been built across the mountains of
recent years and maintained by the Government. Its engineering is
masterly; here and there it passes close to or under vast overhanging
lumps of mountainside. Everywhere the greatest care has been taken of
this most important military highway, Russia's avenue into that country
she coveted and fought for so long. Beginning at Vladikavkaz, it runs
through Balta, Lars, thence through the famous Gorge of Dariel, the
"Circassian Gates," the dark and awful defile between Europe and Asia.
The gorge is what the geologists call a "fault," for it is not really a
pass over the mountain chain, but a rent clear across it. Seventy years
ago it was almost impassable for avalanches or the sudden outbursts of
pent-up glacial streams swept it from end to end, but the Russians have
spent over $20,000,000 on it and made it safe. In 1877, during the
Russo-Turkish War, nearly all the troops and stores for carrying the war
into Turkey and Asia came by this road.

Its importance has since been lessened to a certain degree, for there is
now direct railway communication from Moscow to Baku, at one end of the
Trans-Caucasian Railway, and therefore to Kars itself, via Tiflis; and
equally from