The harbor of Bunder Guz is so shallow that one may ride horseback into
the sea for nearly a mile. The steamers have to load and unload at a
floating dock a mile and a half from shore. Very pleasant, in spite of
the wretched hole we are in, is it to find one's self on the seashore
--to see the smoke of a steamer, and the little smacks riding at
anchor.

The day after our arrival, a man comes round and tells Abdul that he has
three fine young Mazanderan tigers he would like to sell the Sahibs. We
send Abdul to investigate, and he returns with the report that a party of
Asterabad tiger-hunters have killed a female tiger and brought in three
cubs. The man comes back with him and impresses upon us the assertion
that they are khylie koob baabs (very splendid tigers), and would be dirt
cheap at three hundred kerans apiece, the price he pretends to want for
them. From this we know that the tigers could be bought very cheap, and
since Mazanderan tigers are very rare in European menageries, we
determine to go and look at them anyway. They are found to be the merest
kittens, not yet old enough to see. They are savage little brutes, and
spend their whole time in dashing recklessly against the bars of the coop
in which they are confined. They refuse to eat or drink, and although the
Persians declare that they would soon learn to feed, we conclude that
they would be altogether too much trouble, even if it were possible to
keep them from dying of starvation.

On the evening of June 3d we put off, together with a number of native
passengers, in a lighter, for the vessel which is loading up with bales
of cotton at the floating dock. Most of the night is spent in sitting on
deck and watching the Persian roustabouts carry the cargo aboard, for the
shouting, the inevitable noisy squabbling, and the thud of bales dumped
into the hold render sleep out of the question.

The steamer starts at sunrise, and the captain comes round to pay his
respects. He is more of a German than a Russian, and seems pleased to
welcome aboard his ship the first English or American passengers he has
had for years. He makes himself agreeable, and takes a good deal of
interest in explaining anything about the burning of petroleum residue on
the Caspian steamers, instead of coal. He takes us down below and shows
us the furnaces, and explains the modus operandi. We are delighted at the
evident superiority of this fuel over coal, and the economy and ease of
suppl