ern end of the Caucasus.] but it is of no value for purposes of
offensive war--of some for defence.

It is cheaper in the proportion of 100 to 220 to send goods to Tabriz by
Trebizond than by the Persian Gulf.

The Imaum of Muscat carries on a large trade in opium between the Red Sea
and China. He carries British manufactures to the Indus, and trades
extensively with Cochin China, where sugar is half the price it is in
India.

The officers of the Crown Prince's army all speak Turkish. It is more
important to have at the head of it a man of energy than one conversant
with Persian.

His rank should be increased, as now he is made to rank below the last
member of the Mission.

The disturbed state of Persia has driven much trade to the Indus which was
carried on by the Euphrates.

Persia may now be considered not as a monarchy, but a Federative State, all
the King's sons being independent Princes.

Colonel Monteith was at Algiers--the only Englishman in the army. There may
have been twenty foreigners in all. He had letters of introduction and got
there in a transport, taking his chance of being sent back. He was with the
intendant of the army, and at the siege was attached to a division.
Bourmont offered to receive him in his family. Bourmont was hated and
despised. He seemed to take very little trouble about the army, and to
leave everything to the generals of division. On the 19th, the day of the
battle, he lost 600 men by not advancing sooner. The moment he advanced the
enemy fled. The loss was 2,200 men in all, yet fifty were never to be seen
dead and wounded together. The loss was by skirmishing at long shots along
the whole of the line. This sometimes lasted all day, and the troops, being
young, were too foolhardy. The Arabs are a miserable race, half naked.
Everything beyond Algiers seems a desert. For eight miles round Algiers the
cultivation is beautiful, and the villas more numerous than near any town
he ever saw. A profusion of water. The town, miserable in the extreme,
inhabited by Moors and the descendants of Turks, about 50,000. The port is
formed by one pier which hardly protects two or three frigates. There is no
safety in the bay.

There were 3,000 Turkish soldiers in Algiers, and about 7,000 in the
country. These kept order. Now they are sent away the French may colonise
extensively, but they cannot keep the country with the present inhabitants.

The Dey had ten millions sterling in gold and silv