Kaiser has convinced the
Turks that he is now converted from Christianity to Mahomedanism. In
every mosque he is prayed for under the title of "Hajed Mahomet
Wilhelm," and photographs of burned and ruined cathedrals in France and
Belgium are displayed to prove that he is now anti-Christian. Heaven
knows it doesn't want much proving!

[Page Heading: RASPUTIN]

There are rumours of peace offers from Germany, but we must go on
fighting now, if only for the sake of the soldiers, who will be the ones
to suffer, but who _can't_ be asked to give in. The Russians are
terribly out of spirits, and very depressed about the war. The German
influence at Court scares them, and there is, besides, the mysterious
Rasputin to contend with! This extraordinary man seems to exercise a
malign influence over everyone, and people are powerless to resist him.
Nothing seems too strange or too mad to recount of this man and his
dupes. He is by birth a moujik, or peasant, and is illiterate, a
drunkard, and an immoral wretch. Yet there is hardly a great lady at
Court who has not come under his influence, and he is supposed by this
set of persons to be a reincarnation of Christ. Rasputin's figure is one
of those mysterious ones round which every sort of rumour gathers.

We left Tiflis on Friday, 17th December, and had rather a panic at the
station, as our passports had been left at the hotel, and our tickets
had gone off to Baku. However, the unpunctuality of the train helped us,
and we got off all right, an hour late. The train was about a thousand
years old, and went at the rate of ten miles an hour, and we could only
get second-class ordinary carriages to sleep in! But morning showed us
such lovely scenery that nothing else mattered. One found oneself in a
semi-tropical country, with soft skies and blue sea, and palms and
flowers, and with tea-gardens on all the hillsides. When will people
discover Caucasia? It is one of the countries of the world.

We had letters to Count Groholski, a most charming young fellow, who
arranged a delightful journey for us into the mountains, and as we had
brought no riding things we began to search the small shops for
riding-boots and the like. Then, in the evening we dined with Count
Oulieheff, and had an interesting pleasant time. Two Japanese were at
dinner, and, although they couldn't speak any tongue but their own,
Japanese always manage to look interesting. No doubt much of that
depends upon being able to