t the foot of the Suran Pass. At its base, a stream disappears
in an arched cave at the foot of a towering rocky cliff, and I have
bethought me since of whether, like Allan Quatermain's subterranean
stream, it would, if followed, reveal things heretofore unseen. And so we
climb the lovely Suran Pass, rattle down the western slope upon the Black
Sea coast, and reach Batoum at 11 p.m.

As the chief mercantile port of the Caucasus, Batoum is an important
shipping point. By the famous Berlin treaty it was made a free port; but
nothing is likely to remain free any length of time upon which the
Russian bear has managed to lay his greedy paw. Consequently, Batoum is
now afflicted with all sorts of commercial taxes and restrictions,
peculiar to a protective and autocratic semi-Oriental government.
Notwithstanding this, however, ships from various European ports crowd
its harbor, for not only is it the shipping point of Baku petroleum, but
also the port of entry for much of the Persian and Central Asian
importations from Europe. An oil-pipe line is seriously contemplated from
Baku to replace the iron-tank cars now run on the railroad.

Big fortifications are under headway to protect the harbor; its strategic
importance as the terminus of the Caucasus Railway and the shipping point
for troops and war material making Batoum a place of special solicitation
on the part of the Russian military authorities. R------and I walk around
and take a look at the fortification works, as well as one can do this;
but no strangers are allowed very near, and we are conscious of close
surveillance the whole time we are walking out near the scene of
operations.

A pleasant day in Batoum, and we take passage aboard a Messageries
Maritimes steamer for Constantinople. Late at night we depart, amid the
glare and music of a violent thunder-storm, and in the morning wake up in
the roadstead of Trebizond.

To fully realize the difference between mock-civilization and the genuine
article, one cannot do better than to transfer from a Russian Caspian
steamer to a Messageries Maritimes. The Russians affect French methods
and manners in pretty much everything; but the thinness and transparency
of the varnish becomes very striking in contrast aboard the steamers.

The scenery along the Anatolian coast is striking and lovely in the
extreme as we steam along in full view of it all next day. It is
mountainous the whole distance, but the prospect is charmingly v