arbour;
but the expense of doing this, and keeping up dredgers, would be
great--too great, it is thought, to allow of any profitable return. The
same landing difficulties are experienced at Astara and Lenkoran, the
places of call between Enzelli and Baku. Should there be any intention
of eventually making a railway from the coast to Kasvin and Hamadan,
there to meet a line to Baghdad, then it would be the best course in
every way to connect Resht with Baku by a railway along the coast,
passing through Astara and Lenkoran.

The coast country is famous for its rice, which could be extensively
cultivated, and the resources in forest and fishery produce are great.
There would be considerable local traffic as the country opened up, and
the through trade in oil from Baku would be a paying one. I believe the
Russians know that it would be cheaper to build a railway along this
coast-line of about three hundred miles, with such trade capabilities,
than, in the absence of harbours, to erect breakwaters, make sheltered
anchorages, and dredge navigation channels. For two-thirds of the
distance the line would lie in Russian territory.

I met at Enzelli a foreign artist, whose acquaintance I had formed in
Tehran, where he made some good pictures of local life and scenery. He
was loud in his complaints of the elements--the heavy rain and the awful
mud. He had come down the road with a minimum of travelling comforts,
and had been rather miserable. On going off to the mail-boat in the
steam-launch, he vented his feelings of disgust with Persia by spitting
over the side towards the land, and saying, 'Ach! ach! what a country!
'May I never see it again!' When I reminded him of Tehran and its club,
he acknowledged that he had enjoyed his stay there, and appreciated the
place; but the rain and sea of mud at Resht had drowned and smothered
all his pleasant memories of Persia.

The voyage to Baku was uneventful. There are two Astaras, one Persian,
the other Russian, with the frontier stream between them. The steamer
remained part of the night at the former place, and moved in the morning
three miles to the anchorage opposite the latter. There the Russian
Customs officers came on board to examine luggage. The first mate of the
steamer, a Swedish Finn, attended the search proceedings, and became
much interested In a rusty pistol which was found in the luggage of one
of the deck passengers. The question arose, Was the pistol loaded? and
he un