'-'/i/
THE REGION OF THE ETERNAL FIRE.
Wayne S. vucff^lc*^
THE REGION
OF
THE ETERNAL FIRE
AN ACCOUNT OK
A JOURNEY TO THE PETROLEUM REGION OF
THE CASPIAN IN 18S3
BY
CHARLES MARVIN
AUTHOR OF
'the RUSSIANS AT THE GATES OF HERAT," " RECONN'OITRING CENTRAL ASIA '
"ENGLAND AS A PETROLEUM POWER," " MERV, THE ilUEEN OF
THE WORLD," ETC.
NEW EDITION
LONDON
W. H. ALLEN & CO., Limited
IS, WATERLOO PLACE
1S91
\^An 7-iqhis rtserved'\
Inscrifirt
PROFESSOR A. H. KEANE,
AS A TOKEN OF APPRECIATION OF HIS EMINENT SERVICES TO SCIENCE,
AND THE GENEROUS, PATRIOTIC TONE
THAT HAS ALWAYS CHARACTERIZED HIS WRITINGS,
WHENEVER THEY HAVE TOUCHED UPON THAT GREAT EMPIRE,
WHOSE SECURITY IS NOW BEING MENACED
BY RUSSIA'S PROGRESS IN THE " REGION OF THE ETERNAL FIRE."
O ^7 **•
PREFACE TO THE POPULAR EDITION.
The interest excited by the development of Eussia's
po"n-er in the Black Sea and Caspian, and the progress of
the petroleum industry at Baku, has provoked a demand
for a popular edition of the account of my travels pub-
lished in 1884. So many have been the changes that
have occurred since, that the task of revising the work
has not been easy ; and to meet the difficulty, so far as
the petroleum section is concerned, an additional chapter
has been appended, bringing the subject wp to date.
GROSVE^■OB House, Plumstead Cojiiiox, KE^T,
Novemla; 1S87.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
When I proceeded to tlie Caucasus a few weeks after my
return from attending the coronation of tlie Emperor
Alexander III. at Moscow last year, I had no intention
whatever of writing a book of travels. However, the
interest which some letters about the Oil Fountains at
Baku, appearing in the columns of the Morning Post,
excited in various quarters, caused me to investigate
more fully the Petroleum industry, and the result is now
before the reader. If he be connected with the Petro-
leum trade, the data may be of value to him ; if, on the
other hand, he desires to know what Eussia is doing in
the Caspian, he may share with me the deep interest I
feel in the Kerosine factor of the Central Asian problem.
The preparation of the work has involved an amount
of labour I would not again readily undergo. A number
of excellent publications have been issued in Eussia on
Baku, but there is not one giving in a clear condensed
form the history of the Petroleum industry up to the
present time ; and it is during the last few years that the
greatest changes have been made. Besides, therefore,
extracting the pith of the literature dealing with the
subject, I have been compelled to go through files of the
b
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
Baku and Tiflis newspapers since 1879, and "boil down"
many hundred newspaper cuttings, reports, lectures, and
official statistics tliat had accumulated on my hands in
the interval ; to say nothing of the contents of the note-
book I took to Baku. Among the works I have consulted
I would particularly call attention to those of Gospodin
Grulishambaroff, undoubtedly the most prolific and im-
partial writer in Russia on the Petroleum industry.
These comprise "The present condition of the Baku
Petroleum Industry, with a plan of the Balakhani
Plateau," "The present condition of the Baku refining
industry, with a plan of the Black Town of Baku," both
published in 1882 ; " The Bibliography of the Petroleum
Industry," and " The heating of steamers and locomotives
with Petroleum," published in 1883 ; besides a number
of pamphlets: "Petroleum Fountains" (1879), "The
Petroleum sprmgs of Bradford" (1882), "The Oxokerit
Industry in Galicia " (1882), and "The map of the
Apsheron Peninsula," &c. Less valuable, because mainly
of a jiolemical or theoretical character, are Sokolovsky's
" Geological Investigation of Petroleum in the Caucasus "
(1883), Markovnikoff and Ogloblin's "Eesearchcs into
Caucasus Petroleum" (1883), Professor Mendelaieff's
" Petroleum Industry in the North American State of
Pennsylvania and the Caucasus" (1877), and Professor
Letni's "Eefining of Petroleum" (1875). The lectures
of Ludwig Nobel, Gospodin Poletika, and Professor
Lisenko, may be finally mentioned among those of the
class which have yielded the richest amount of data.
In making these acknowledgments, I cannot refrain
from appealing in turn to those who utilize this book
for purposes of reference to condescend to mention the
source. When I first took up the Central Asian Ques-
tion, there was a complete dearth of data on the develop-
ing Caspian phase of it. The importance of that phase,
further, was generally ignored. To render my opinions
PKEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. XI
the more forcible, I weighted them heavily with original
Russian facts. The result has been that since the fall
of Geok Tepe and the annexation of Merv, many news-
paper-writers and authors have displayed their consi-
derate appreciation by appropriating both opinions and
facts, without the slightest acknowledgment, and have
passed them off as their own. Two flagrant instances, in
particular, rankle in my memory. In September, 1883, the
Edinburgh Bevieio published an article on " Russian Rail-
ways in Asia," containing several pages of matter taken
almost en hloc from my " Russians at Merv and Herat,"
without the slightest indication of the source ; and on the
25th January this year, a Mr. Robert Gust delivered a
lecture at the " Royal United Service Institution " on the
" Russians on the Caspian and Black Seas," embodying a
large amount of information from the same source, as
well as from my pamphlet " The Russian Railway to
India," in which he left it to his audience to infer that
the data about the railway had been collected by him
during his journey to Baku, instead of from my writings.
Mr. Oust arrived at Baku on a dark autumn night last
year, and left early the next morning direct for Astra-
khan. Such a flitting was hardly favoui*able to deep
research, especially as he does not appear to have under-
stood Russian.
To be plagiarized, I am told, is the fate of all authors
who reach a certain eminence, and I suppose I ought to
bear the infliction meekly. But my grievance is some-
thing more than a sentimental one. I am not a military
ofl&cer or a government official, who may expect a reward
for his exertions in the shape of a better appointment or
a knighthood ; nor am I a party writer, receiving en-
couragement from any statesma^n. My works involve me
in a pecuniary loss, and the only recompense I can hope
for is a general reputation as a political writer. Conse-
quently, when my books are pillaged of their contents I
& 2
Xll PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
am not only robbed — let me hope heedlessly — of that
reward, but further experience the discouragement of
seeing public commendation bestowed in the wrong
quarter. On this account, I cannot help registering a
protest against the practice, and expressing a hope that if
nameless writers resort to it, men of established reputa-
tion at least will avoid doing unto others what they
themselves would be the first to cry out against, if done
imto them.
Charles Marvin.
Gkosvenor House, Plumstead Common, Kent
June 10, 1884.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
FROM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
PAGE
The old Worship of Fire at Baku ; the new Diffusion of the Light
throughout Europe and the East— The Way tc Baku— Summer
and Winter Routes— Equipment for the Journey— Pleasantest
Time for Visiting the Caspian— Departure from London— The
Flushing Route— The Westward Course of G leanliness— Rail-
way Arrangements in Germany — Berlin, Silesia, and Russian
Poland— A Halt on the Austrian Frontier— Journey through
Galicia— Crossing the Border into Russia— The Censor and
Foreign Literature — The South Russian Railways— The Russian
Poles — Jmerinka — A Sunday Morning's Ride Across the Rus-
sian Steppes— Arrival at Odessa ....••!
CHAPTER II.
ODESSA AND THE CORN TRADE.
A Change for the Better— A Sunday Morning in Odessa— The
Town no longer an Ink-hottle in Winter and a Sand-bos in
Summer— Growth of Odessa— Its Position as the Capital of
South Russia— The Export of Corn— Changes in the Trade
—Competition of America and India— Dearness of Transport
—The Elevator Question— Necessity for Organizing the Trade
—Slow Growth of Railways in Russia— Outrun by India,
Canada, and other Colonies— Trade between Odessa and the
East— The Suez Canal— An Odessa Country House— Departure
from Odessa for Batoum— Steamboat Arrangements— Daily
Life on board a Black Sea Steamer— A German Preferable to a
Russian as a Cabin Companion— Crossing over to the Crimea—
Eupatoria
XIV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
THE RESTORATION OF SEVASTOPOL AND THE RUSSIAN FLEET.
PAGE
Sevastopol and its Harbour — The Progress of the Place — Its Rival
Nieolaeff — Restoration of the Great Granite Docks — The Forti-
fications — The Dockyard of the Black Sea Steam Navigation
Company — The Origin of the Company— Statistics respecting
its Growth and Present Condition — New Ocean Liners for the
Black Sea — The New Ironclads — Russian Cruisers — The Present
Condition of the Russian Navy — Sir Edward P»,eed, the Naval
Professor Holloway — Admiral Popoff his Patent Pill— The
Fleet during the Russo-Turkish ^Ya^ — Fall of Popoff — The
Rcijime of the Grand Duke Alexis — The Fleet of the Future
— Sevastopol and the new Black Sea Fleet, and the Decadence
of Turkey — Sevastopol as a Commercial Port — The new Route
to Persia and Central Asia . . . . . . .41
CHAPTER IV.
GLIMPSES OP THE CRIMEA.
Departure from Sevastopol — Views of the Crimean Coast from on
board the Steamer — The Crimean War — Ought we to be ashamed
of it or not ? — The Rivalry of England and Russia in the East
— Real Importance of the Crimean War — Ought Russia to have
Constantinople 1 — English Policy in Turkey — St. George's
Monastery and Balaclava— Yalta as a Watering-place — The
Grape -Cure — Life at Yalta — Visit to Theodosia — Kaffa in
Olden Times — Wonderful Richness of the Crimea in the
Middle Ages — What the Russians have done for Theodosia —
The Beauty of the Black Sea— The Rat Fortress— The Defences
of Kertch — Cannon Stolen and Sold from the Ramparts of the
Fortress during the Turkish War 52
CHAPTER V.
A SECRET RUSSIAN MISSION TO CABUL.
Kertch and its Greek x\ntiquities— A Discovery made, not Classic,
but Modern — The .Tew who had been to Cabul — How he par-
ticipated in Skobeleff's Campaign against Geok Tep^ — Ali-
khanoff's Journey to Merv— Persons composing the Secret
Russian Expedition to Cabul— Their Route through Central
CONTENTS. XV
Asia — Samuel, the Interpreter, bound to Secrecy— What he
saw at Cabul — English Soldiers with the Ameer's Troops —
Loot from Geok Tepe — Caution displayed by Yenkhovsky —
Samuel's Description of Cabul — Afghan Opinion of the
Russians — The Massacre after the Capture of Geok Tep^ —
"Women Ravished — "It is better to be Silent in this World" —
Description of a Secret Survey of Merv — The true Bearings of
the Discovery of the Mission — SkobelefF's Memorandum on the
Invasion of India — Russia now possesses a Survey of the
direct Road from Herat to Cabul, which we know little or
notbing about ......... 64
CHAPTER VI.
CRCISISG ALOXG THE COAST OF THE CAUCASUS.
Departure from Kertch — The Romance of the Caucasus — Wanted, a
Historian — The Conflict for the Possession of the Caucasus —
Anapa— Its History— The Slave Trade, Old and New- Traffic
in Young Girls — Novorossisk — The Colonization of the Stav-
ropol Plains — Rapid Growth of Rostoft"-on-the-Don — Future of
Novorossisk — A Second Railway projected between the Caspian
and Black Sea— Petroleum in the Taman Peninsula — The
French Company at Novorossisk — Bartering Girls for Herrings
— Journeying along the Coast— A happy, memorable Day —
Soukhum Kale — What the Turks did and did not do in 1877
— Armed Mountaineers — Poti — Arrival at Batoum . . .79
CHAPTER YII.
THE EUSSIANS AT BATOUM.
Batoum at Night — !\Iore Tame than Heroic — Difference between the
Caucasus Army and the Army in India — Poti versus Batoum —
Drawbacks of Poti — A Costly Mole — History and Future of
the Port — Its Rival, Batoum — Extraordinary Development of
the Place — The Turkish Defences — Secret Russian Armaments
— New Batoum — Russian Improvements — The Bay of Batoum
— New Harbour Works in Progress— Mr. Peacock, the British
Consul — Benefit conferred on Russia by Europe in making
Batoum a Free Port — The Contraband Trade at Batoum — The
Caucasus Transit — How Smuggling is carried on — The Petro-
leum Export Ti'ade at Batoum — Export of Oil in 1883 —
Future of Batoum 91
XVI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
BATOUM TO TIFLI9 ACROSS THE LESSER CAUCASUS.
PAGE
The Transcaucasian Railway and its Present and Prospective Rami-
fications—The old Trade Route from India to the Black Sea,
vid the Caspian and Lesser Caucasus revived by the Line — The
future Rusian Railway to India — Luggage Troubles at Batoum
— The Batoum Railway : Cost of Constructing it— Shower- Bath
Railway Carriages — Lovely character of the Scenery — The
Route must some day become popular with Tourists — Cheap-
ness of Fruit along the Line — Tracking the Rion to its Source
— Romantic Views — Crossing the Suram Pass — Heavy Gra-
dients — A Two Thousand Feet Rise in-Four Hours — The Pro-
jected Tunnel — Congestion of the Petroleum Traffic — Ludwig
Nobel's Plan for Overcoming this^Remarkable Climatic
Differences between the East and West Side of the Suram Pass
— The Passengers on the Line to Tiflis . ... Ill
CHAPTER IX.
TIFLIS AS A POLITICAL AND MILITARY CENTRE.
Tiflis in the Autumn — Development of the City — One's Impres-
sions of the Place depend upon whether one is proceeding
East or West — The Administrative District of the Caucasus —
What it Cost to Conquer it — Political and Strategical Position
of Tiflis — Table of Arnexations during the various Russian
Sovereigns' Reigns — The Conquest of Central Asia — Tiflis
compared with Indian Centres — The next War in the East —
Value of Russian Assurances — The Approximation of Russia
and India inevitable — Lesson Taught by the Annexation of
Merv — The Principal Fact to be Remembered in regard to
Tiflis — The Armenians : their Present and Future — Not so
tame in Spirit as commonly imagined — Russian Interest in
the Armenian Question — The Caucasus Deficit . . . 125
CHAPTER X.
FROM TIFLIS TO BAKU.
The New Railway from Tiflis to Baku— Strategical Results of the
Construction — Departure from Tiflis — Transformation Scene
the next Morning — Views of the Elisavetopol Steppes — The
Caucasus Range — Mount Ararat— Refusal of the Armenians to
CONTENTS. XVH
believe that any Man has ever attained the Summit — Delights
of a Morning Meal off a Water-Melon— The Melon as a Fruit —
A free-and-easy Mode of Railway Travelling — Atrocious Pace
on the Transcaucasian Railway — Deficit in working the Line —
The Valley of the River Kura— The Transcaucasian Irrigation
System — German Colonies 'in the Elisavetopol Disti-ict — Adji
Cabul, and the projected Russian Railway to Teheran — The
Line described— The future Railways to the Persian G-ulf and
India — Alayat, the Second Terminus on the Caspian — A Night
Ride along the Caspian Coast to the Apsheron Peninsula. . 138
CHAPTER XL
BAKU AND ITS PETROLEUM SUPPLY, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES.
Night and Morning Impressions of Baku — Hotels — The Shipping
in the Bay — The Real Russian Base of Operations against
India — Proposal for supplying the Town with Water from the
Volga — Life at Baku — Stephen Gulishambaroff — The History
of Baku — The Ancient Fire-Worshippers— Baku Petroleum
during the Zoroastrian Period — Marco Polo and Baku Oil in
the Middle Ages — Conquest of Baku by Peter the Great, and
the Export of the Oil up the Volga — Jonas Han way's Account
of the Industry in the Time of George the Second — The Worship
of the Everlasting Fires — Cooking Food and burning Lime
■with Hydro-Carbon Gas — Natural Kerosine— The Deposits on
Holy Island and Tcheleken — Various English Travellers at
Baku since the beginning of the present Century — Descrip-
tions of the Place by Major Marsh, General Valentine Baker,
Mr. Arthur Arnold, M.P., General Sir Frederic Goldsmid, Mr.
O'Donovan, Mr. Gallenga, Professor A. H. Keane, and others
— Reasons assigned for giving such Prominence to the State-
ments of so many English Authorities ..... loi
CHAPTER XII.
THE PETROLEUM DISTRICTS OP RUSSIA.
OflScial Estimate of the Area of the Petroleum Region of Russia
— Localities where the Oil Abounds — The Crimean Deposits —
The Supply in the Taman Peninsula — Operations at Novoros-
sisk, in the Ter and Tiflis Districts, and near Petrovsk — The
Caspian Deposits — Setting the Sea on Fire— The Transcaspian
XYIU CONTENTS.
Oil Fields — Enough to Supply the whole Rassian Empire — A
Modest Annexation — Description of the Baku Oil Region —
The Surakhani and Balakhani Plateaux — Quantity of Petro-
leum Extracted up to now — Geological Characteristics of the
Caspian Petroleum Region — Erroneous Deductions of Scientific
Men — -Ludwig Nobel's Theory of the Petroleum Deposits —
Instances of Variations in the Supply of Oil from Contiguous
Wells — The Yastness of the Baku Supply beyond the Reach of
Controversy — Its Inexhaustibility — Relative Positions of the
Baku and Pennsylvanian Supplies from Ports accessible to
European Shipping ........ 181
CHAPTER XIII.
A DRIVE TO THE OIL WELLS.
The Phaetons at Baku — Driving to Balakhani — The Salines of the
Apsheron Peninsula — Passing the Black Town — The Grardens
and Vineyards of the Peninsula — Aspect of the Great Droojba
Fountain from Baku — The Pipe-lines — Too Clever by Half —
Baku Oil Transport before the Pipe-line Period — Grandiose
Schemes for Pipe-lines to Europe — The Pi-ojected Oleoduct to
the Persian Gulf — Duty on Iron Pipes — Capacity of the Pipe-
lines—Aspect of the Balakhani Oil Plateau — How America
Gained Upon and Beat the Old Baku Oil Supply— Statistics of
the Monopoly Period — Present Free Trade enjoyed by the
Industry — The Excise Period — Recent Revolutions in the
Trade — Stimulus given by the Swedish Engineers, Robert and
Ludwig Nobel — Prices of Crude Petroleum for the last Twenty
Years — Number of Drilled Wells— Effect of the Batoum Rail-
way upon the Industry ........ 194
CHAPTER XIV.
THE OIL FOUNTAINS OF BAKU.
Number of Wells in Baku and America compared — One Baku
Well yielding more than all the American Wells put together
— A Million's worth of Oil from a Single Well— Description
of a Baku Petroleum Fountnin — The Droojba Spouting Well —
Mode of Boring for Oil— The Balakhani Drilled and Pumping
Wells— Cost of Sinking a Well— Price of Land at the Oil
Fields — The Kalpak, or Well-stopper— Storing the Oil— The
CONTENTS. XIX
History of the Oil Fountains during the last Ten Years —
Subterranean Explosions— Six Hundred Gallons of Oil in
Twenty-Four Hours— Enormous Waste of Petroleum — The
Fire at Krasilnikofifs Wells— A Sand Volcano 400 Feet High-
Account of the Droojba Fountain— A Liquid Grind-tone —
Gagging the Wells at Baku— Statistical Account of the Oil
wasted by the Droojba Fountain— Science and the Oil Foun-
tains at Baku— Their Effect on Commercial Men— Necessity
of placing the Fountains under the Control of the State , 210
CHAPTER XV.
THE CASPIAN OIL REFINERIES.
The Black Town of Baku— The 200 Refineries of the Caspian —
The Smokelessness of Petroleum Fuel depends upon the
Apparatus and Care in Using it— A Lesson in Geography
for English Statesmen— The Refinery of Nobel Brothers
— Consumption of Kerosine in America — The Growth of
the Trade— Qualities of the Various Kinds of Refined
Petroleum Manufactured at Baku — Agitation for a Uniform
Standard— Mode of Refining Petroleum— Table Showing
the Productibility of 100 Gallons of Russian Crude Petro-
leum — The American and Baku Oil compared — Mr. Boverton
Redwood's Analysis of Russian Kerosine — Condition of the
Industry at Baku— The Fittings of a Refinery at Baku-
Russian Lubricating Oil— Export of Kerosine to Europe-
Future of the Lubricating Oil Trade — Medical Properties of
Petroleum— Ozokerit Deposits East of the Caspian— Barbarous
Waste of the Lighter Oils— Petroleum Dyes and Colours—
Hydro-Carbon Gas at Surakhani— Natural Gas Stoves . . 234
CHAPTER XVI.
LIQUID FUEL.
Petroleum Furnaces no Novelty — Use of Oil Fuel in Ancient Times
— Enormous Supply available at Baku — The Early Use of
Hydro-Carbon Gas — Bricks of Oil — Invention of Oil-Burning
Appliances in America — Aydon's Furnace — Shpakovsky's Dis-
covery of the Value of Steam as a Pulverizer — Why Liquid
Fuel has not been adopted in England and America — The
Piracy of English Inventions by Russian Engineers in the
Caspian Region — The First Liquid Fuel Steamer in the Caspian
— Shpakovsky's Success — Improvements effected by Lenz the
XX CONTENTS.
PAGE
Inventor of the Apparatus now general)}' in Use on Board the
Caspian Steamers — Flat-flame Pulverizers — Account of the
Vessels using Lenz's Apparatus — The Oil-burning Locomotives
on the Transcaucasian Railway — Brandt and KarapetofFs Pul-
verizers — The Rival Advantages of Oil and Coal — Experience
in the Caspian — Crude Petroleum may be safely Used as well
as Oil Refuse — Extension of the Use of Petroleum-burning
Locomotives on Russian Railways — The Discovery of Oil in
Beluchistan, and its Effect on the Russian Railway to India —
Liquid Fuel in the Black Sea — Summary of its Merits— Pros-
pects of Petroleum Fuel in the East — Satisfactory Results
areadj Achieved . . . . . . . . .251
CHAPTER XVII.
THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
The Most Important Factor of the Baku Oil Trade — "Beyond the
Sea a Chicken may be Bought for a Farthing, but it Costs a
Pound to Bring it Home " — Career of Ludwig Nobel — Origin
of the Nobels — Invention of the Torpedo by Emmanuel Nobel,
and of Dynamite by Alfred Nobel — How Ludwig Nobel
acquired the Fortune with which he started Operations in
Petroleum — Commencement of the Enterprise at Baku —
Laying Down the First Pipe-line — Replacing Barrels with
Cistern Steamers — Account of the Oil Fleet — The "Nine-
Foot" Shallows of the Volga— Transporting the Oil from
Baku to Tsaritzin — Inaugurating the Tank-Car System —
Establishment of the Petroleum Network of Depots through-
out Russia — Mode of Distributing the Oil in the Provinces —
Not a Drop Sold Except for Cash — Baku Kerosine in Germany
— Prospects of .the Trade Abroad — Statistical Description of
the Present Position of Nobel Brothers' Petroleum Production
Company — The World Does Not Know its Greatest Men —
Russian Hatred of Foreigners — Character of Ludwig Nobel —
His Remarkable Talents as an Engineer. .... 275
CHAPTER XVIIL
THE FUTURE OP THE CASPIAN PETROLEUM TRADE.
Repeated Crises of Late Years at Baku — Their Cause— Production
of Russian Refined Petroleum by Nobel Brothers and other
Firms — Russia beginning to Push the Petroleum Industry —
New Combinations on the Volga— Statistics of the Import of
CONTENTS. XXI
American Oil into Russia— The Russian Petroleum Trade and
the Markets of Germany and Austria — Prospects of Rivalry
with America — Projected Railways to Transport the Oil to
Europe— Petroleum Traffic on the Transcaucasian Railway in
1883— Export from Batoum and Poti— Progress of the Various
Branches of the Trade — New Markets in Southern Europe and
the East that may be expected to Fall to Russia once the
Batoum Route is Developed— The Cheaper the Oil the Larger
the Consumption — English Enterprise of the Past and the
Present— Whether we participate or not the Baku Petroleum
Region is sure to be Developed 299
CHAPTER XIX.
OLD PERSIA — NEW RUSSIA.
Sermons Preached by the Rocks at Baku — The Slovenly Persians of
To-day — Will the English some Day Become Pariahs in India ?
— Russia Growing towards our Eastern Empire — We are Only
Sojourners in India, the Russians are Settlers in the Caspian
— The Material Growth of Russia More Fraught with Danger
to our Rule than her Military Operations in Central Asia —
Russia Becoming More Unassailable in Central Asia, while We
continue as Vulnerable as Ever in India— Tbe Shortsightedness
of English Statesmen — The Caspian now a European Lake —
The Widening of the Boundaries of Europe — Its Significance —
The Waterway between London and Baku — The Population of
Baku ; Remarkable Growth— TchernayefPs New Road to
Central Asia vid the Mertvi Kultuk and Khiva— Discovery of
Petroleum along it — The Traffic on the Volga— Russia's Pro-
gress towards the Persian Gulf^Fate of Persia — The Baku
Road to India — Statistics of it — Disappearing Obstaeles— The
Cossack Approach to India — Impossible to Prevent an Ap-
proximation of the Two Empires— The Duty of all English-
men
CHAPTER XX.
1884-1887.
Rapid Development of Baku since 1883— Apathy of the British
Petroleum Trade—" The New Wonder of the World "—Foun-
tains at Baku of Late Years- The 1,000-Ton Gusher—
312
SXll
CONTENTS.
TagieiTs Fountain — The Great Fountain of 1887 — Production
of Crude Oil — New Pipe-Iines^Growth of Traffic on the
Transcaucasian Railway — Trade at Batoum — The Conflict
between the Crude Pipe-line and the Kerosine Pipe-line — The
Pipe-line over the Suram Pass — Policy of the Russian Govern-
ment — The Burmese Oil Fields — One Thousand Million
Gallons of Lamp Oil manufactured every Year — The " Moloch
of Paraffin" — Growth of Russian Power in the Caspian — The
Afghan Boundary Settlement — " A Clerk in Epaulettes " —
Russia and the Helmund ........
330
APPENDIX—
SkobeleS's Project for Invading India .
Skobeleff on the Russian Position in Central Asia
The Russian Invasion of India in 1877 and 1884
Russia's Power of Seizing Herat .
The Russian Annexation of Merv .
What the Annexation of Merv means
The Caucasus View of the Invasion of India .
349
362
367
374
388
401
403
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. Portrait of Author Frontispiece.
2. The Petroleum Fields of Europe . . . To face par/e 1
3. Autograph of the Russian Interpreter to the Secret Cabul
Mission 70
4. His Portrait 71
5. Batoum To face Tpar/e 90
6. The Batoum-Baku Railway Line 113
7. Section of the Poti-Tiflis Railway 119
8. The Transcaucasian Railway Station at EKsavetopol
To face page 141
9. The Future Russian Railway to Tcheran-Adji Cabul Station
To face page 149
The Transcaucasian Railway. View near Baku ., ,, 154
Map of the Petroleum Region of the Caspian . ,, ,, 181
Plan of the Pipe-lines at Baku ... ,, ,, 199
An Oil Fountain at Baku . . . . ,, „ 210
Portrait of Lud wig Nobel . . . . ,, ,, 275
The Caspian Base of Operations against India— One of the
Forty Oil Steamers To face page 283
. Map showing Nobel Brothers' network of Petroleum Depots
in Russia To face page 288
s^ S
M
THE
REGION OF THE ETERNAL FIRE.
CHAPTER I.
FROM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
The old "Worship of Fire at Baku ; the new Diffusion of the Light
throughout Europe and the East — The Way to Baku — Summer
and Winter Routes — Equipment for the Journey — Pleasantest
Time for Visiting the Caspian — Departure from Loudon — The
Flushing Route — The Westward Course of Cleanliness — Railway
Arrangements in Germany — Berlin, Silesia, and Russian Poland —
A Halt on the Austrian Frontier — Journey through Galicia —
Crossing the Border into Russia — The Censor and Foreign
Literature — The South Russian Railways — The Russian Poles —
Jmerinka — A Sunday Morning's Ride Across the Russian Steppes
— Arrival at Odessa.
A FEW years ago a solitary figure miglit have been daily
seen on the shore of the Caspian Sea, worshipping a
fire springing naturally from the petroleum gases in
the ground. The devotee was a Parsee from India — the
last of a series of priests who for more than 2,500 years
had tended the sacred flame upon the spot. Round about
his crumbling temple were rising greasy derricks and
dingy kerosine distilleries — symbols of a fresh cult, the
worship of mammon — but, absorbed in his devotions, the
Parsee took no heed of the intruders. And so time
B
FROM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
passed on, and tlie last of tlie Fire-Woi'sliipijers died,
and with him perished the flame that was older than
history. And yet not so. The flickering light the
Gueber priests had kept alive from the epoch of myths,
had only quitted the ruined temple to reappear in a
million brilliant jets throughout a region stretching for
thousands of miles around Baku — in the cities of the icy
north, in the teeming villages of middle Russia, here and
there upon the southern steppes ; lighting up the strong-
holds of the Caucasus, the caravanserais of Persia, the
tents of Askabad and Merv ; flaring in the furnaces of
hundreds of steamers on the Caspian and Volga, and
locomotives traversing the valleys of the Frosty Caucasus.
The worship of the Eternal Fire in the Surakhani temple
is dead ; the Priest has left behind no followers ; but
the oil that dimly lit a shrine now illuminates an empire,
and bids, ere long, to give light and heat to an entire
hemisphere.
From London to Baku is a distance of a little over
2,500 miles. The whole is traversed by steam. At
present the journey occupies ten or eleven days, but this
could be easily reduced by quickening the Eussian com-
munications. A twelvemonth ago, when the Eussian
Government sought to raise a loan in the European
money markets, to cover the cost of constructing the
Transcaucasian Eailway, the late Mr. Edward Cazalet
showed me a circular, ex-officially addressed to cajiitalists
by the Minister of Finance, describing the completion of
the railway as having brought Paris within six days'
distance of Baku. This was anticipating history a bit,
but there is very little doubt that before long it will be
possible to do the journey from London to the Caspian
in a week.
The direct route lies through Berlin, Odessa, Batoum,
and Tiflis ; but in the summer a very pleasant tour can
ROUTES TO BAKU.
be effected, with only a sliglitly increased expenditure of
time, by proceeding by rail through Berlin, St. Petersburg,
and Moscow to Nijni Novgorod, and then dropping down
the Volga in a steamer to the Caspian ; the return route
being via Tiflis, Batoum, Odessa, and Vienna. This I
should designate the best route of all. The Volga may
also be struck at Tsaritzin by those who have less time
to spare ; or, one may journey by rail direct to Vladikav-
kaz, at the foot of the Caucasus, and thence post by
road to Petrovsk on the Caspian, catching there the
steamer to Baku, or, view the magnificent scenery of the
Caucasus by proceeding through the Dariel Pass to
Tiflis, whence the railway takes the traveller on to his
destination. But these alternative routes to Baku, how-
ever attractive, are only summer ones. In winter-time
the Volga is frozen to its mouth, the Caucasian passes
are clogged with snow, and the traveller to Baku can
hardly do better than take the direct route across the
Black Sea. I myself travelled to Baku by this route,
going and returning, but I had imdertaken so many
journeys through Eussia previously, that there was little
temptation to adopt a more circuitous road, even if cir-
cumstances had not been altogether hostile to any such
notion.
As for equipment, so little is needed beyond the
ordinary requirements of home travelling, that one might
really start from Charing Cross with nothing excej)t a
spare suit of clothes and two or three changes of linen,
and pick up at the well-stocked shops of Odessa, Batoum,
or Baku whatever subsequently seemed necessary. In
summer, a helmet should be taken, not omitting some
pipeclay to clean it, as helmets rapidly soil, and Russians
in the south are very particular about the spruceness of
their head-gear. Or, better still, the traveller may leave
behind the helmet and its inconvenient case, and pur-
chase at Odessa one of those white caps which are
B 2
FROM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
universally worn by upper-class Russians and officers
throughout South Russia, the Caucasus, and Central
Asia. These have linen covers, which can be removed
and washed, and besides looking always spruce, they are
easily stowed away, are very comfortable, and provoke
less notice than the helmet. A couple of white suits
will be appreciated, and a light macintosh will be found
useful at Batoum, where heavy rains are common all the
year round. Any medicines the traveller may require
may be easily obtained at the chemist shops in Russian
towns, but as their drugs are sometimes dear and bad, it
is as well to take a little quinine, some chlorodyne, and a
few pills. But, providing he carefully avoids drinking
water, the traveller may disregard any fears of ill-health
during his journey. Batoum is the only place seriously
affected with malaria, and his stay is not likely to be long
there. Keating, of course, should not be forgotten by
those who have sensitive skins ; although this advice
sounds like recommending the carrying of coal to New-
castle, since Transcaucasia is the district where the
insect-killing Persian powder is produced. Small re-
volvers are invariably carried in the Caucasus.
The pleasantest time for visiting Baku is in the autumn,
when the torrid heat of summer is over, and travelling is
rendered enjoyable by the abimdance of fruit in the
Caucasus. Not many persons are likely to visit the
region in winter ; but all that is needed by those who do
is a fur-lined coat, such as have been fashionable in
London of late, a fur cap, and a pair of flannel-lined
goloshes. As I have before stated, anything else the
traveller fancies he wants he can readily obtain en route.
He will naturally not omit to have his jiassport vised by
a Russian consul before leaving, or he will be stopped at
the frontier. During his travels in Russia the j^assport
must be handed over to the keei')er of every hotel he stops
at, to be registered by the local police, and before quitting
TEAYELLIXG ADVICE.
the country he must obtain a notification (sveedaitelstvo)
from the police that there is no crime against him, with-
out which he will again render himself liable to be stopped
at the border. This notification is usually obtained by
the hotel-keeper of the last town the traveller stops at
before leaving the country.
Travelling direct first-class, the journey from London
to Baku costs about ,£35, including ordinaiw hotel and
every other expense en rotde. The cost second-class is
about ^£25, which includes first-class fare across the
Black Sea, the second-class cabins being too unsatisfactory
on the steamers. The Eussian second-class carriages are
not so good as those on the Grerman lines, but persons
travelling to the limits of Germany second-class can pay
the excess fare and travel first on entering Eussia. The
money for the journey should be taken in English gold
and notes, which may be readily changed at the principal
Continental stations, or in the form of a letter of credit
on a banking house at Odessa or Tiflis. In France 100
centimes make a franc, or lOd. ; in Germany 100 pfennigs
a mark, or Is. ; and in Eussia 100 copecks (pro-
noiinced copeeks) a paper rouble, or 2s. The silver
rouble is a myth ; it disappeared from circulation years
ago.
I have gone rather fully into these details, because
there are a very large number of people interested in the
petroleum trade anxious to avail themselves of the
resources of Baku. If they will accept my word that it
is as easy to go from London to the Caspian by the route
I traversed as from London to Newcastle, they wiU per-
haps be tempted to do what more than one Englishman
has already done — go straight to Baku and make arrange-
ments on the spot with the firms there for the opening
up of business relations. A splendid market exists at
Baku ready to be exploited, direct communication between
it and England has just been established, and all that is
6 FROM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
needed is that English men of business should avail them-
selves of the new opening before Continental rivals appear
upon the scene.
I left London at half -past eight on Wednesday night,
August 15, bound for Baku, via Berlin. On previous
occasions I had made for the German capital by the
Calais route, but this time I thought I would try the way
by riushing. It is an advantage of this route that if you
are a good sailor, and the steamer is not crowded, you
have an excellent night's rest, while, in addition, the
travelling through Holland is superior to that on the
wretched French railways. On the other hand, it is a
serious disadvantage that when you reach Berlin you
have only a quarter of an hour to change trains, purchase
your ticket, and register your luggage ; hence, besides
standing a chance of losing your train, you have no time
for either a wash and brush up or a supper.
The night was so boisterous that at the last moment I
was inclined to change the route and proceed via Calais.
However, never liking to alter my plans once they are
formed, I kept to my original intention, and after an hour
and a half's rapid spin found myself on the jetty at
Queenboro', making for the steamer " Prince of Orange."
The powerful vessels of the Zeeland Steamship Company
are well adapted for service across the Channel on rough
nights such as that on which I left England, and are
certainly preferable to the older boats on the Calais route,
on one of which I was last year ill from the time I left
Dover until I reached Calais. On the same boat I should
have probably been ill again, but in the case of the
, ,Prince of Orange " I had a good supper while the
luggage and mails were being hauled on board, and had
already made myself snug and fallen into a heavy sleep
before we were fairly in rough water. Shortly after mid-
night I was awakened by a deal of pitching and rolling.
ACKOSS TO FLUSHING.
but with the exception of one particularly vicious jerk,
which nearly deprived me at a stroke of what remained
of my supj)er, I suffered no inconvenience, and slept
again until the steward aroused me to say that we were
close alongside Flushing.
Proceeding on deck, I foiuid the vessel already made
fast to the quay, and the passengers hurrying across it to
the rambling station beyond. This is only of a tempo-
rary character, and doubtless will be made more con-
venient when the trafl&c settles down. The refreshment
room is very inadequate for the requirements of the
place, and when the steamer arrives crowded with pas-
sengers it must be almost impossible to get a comfortable
meal. Even at the best of times, there is a scramble for
the eggs and rolls and coffee.
Breakfast- over, there was plenty of time to dawdle
over one's toilet before the train drew into the station.
Then the doors were opened, and the passengers made
an unnecessary rush for the carriages, in which there
was plenty of room for twice their number. A few
minutes later all were comfortably seated, and institut-
ing comparisons between the Dutch carriages and our
own — not at all in favour of the latter — and then, shortly
after seven, the train set off at a rattling sjieed in the
direction of Berlin.
The morning was wet and cold, the landscape had a
drenched look, as is the case half the year in Holland.
But, in spite of this, it was impossible not to admire the
beautiful trinmess of the fields, the rows of stately trees
lining the well-kept roads and canals, and the scrupu-
lously clean and highly-painted cottages. The Dutch, I
suppose, are the cleanest people in Europe. The further
one travels east from Holland the dirtier the j)eople be-
come. The Germans are clean, but by no means so
scrupulously clean as the Dutch. The people of East
Germany are not so clean as those of West Germany.
8 FROM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
As for the Russians, their dirt and squalor are proverbial.
But even the Russians are as exemplary as the Dutch
compared with the Armenians and Persians. The climax
seems to be reached in Central Asia, where the nomads
rarely wash themselves and their clothes, and a condition
of person is attained which makes the reality a little
different from the picture of handsome warriors and
harem beauties drawn by the poets.
Chiefs of the Uzbek race
"Waving their heron crests with martial grace,
sounds very pretty, but the traveller would do well to
pack up some Keating when he puts his " Lalla Rookh "
into the portmanteau.
The journey through Holland occupied us the whole
morning, the German frontier being crossed shortly be-
fore mid-day. The landscape now lost its acute trimness,
the canals disappeared, and fields of waving corn and
orchards of ripening fruit succeeded the pasture-lands of
Holland. Before long the smart militaiy-looking Ger-
man guard who had replaced the Dutch functionary at
Goch aj^peared at the window, and handed in circulars
printed in several languages, announcing that the passen-
gers could either dine at Oberhausen during the half-
hour's halt, or have the dinner handed into the carriage
on trays to be eaten more comfortably during the journey.
All the other passengers decided in favour of dining at
the station, but I preferred the latter course, knowing
from exi:)erience its advantages ; and had the satisfaction
of afterwards seeing the rest, who, owing to the train
being behind time, had only twenty minutes at Ober-
hausen, gaze regretfully at the tranquil dinner I was
enjoying in the carriage. To dine in the train in Ger-
many is quite as cheap, and very much more convenient,,
than at the stations. Upon receiving your order, the
guard affixes a label to the window, notifying the number
LUXUKIOUS EAILWAY DINING. 9
of dinners required in tlie carriage, and when the train
stops at the station, waiters dart forward with trays and
deposit the corresponding number inside it. The tray is
a bright, clean, electro-plated one, with a velvet covered
rest to keep it steady on the knees, and contains in
separate compartments some bouillon or soup, a veal
cutlet, several slices of roast beef, two kinds of vege-
tables, some stewed fruit, and a half -pint bottle of white
wine, accompanied by a new roll, a nice white napkin,
and a couple of toothpicks. No one who has enjoyed
such a dinner in Germany will begrudge the two and a
half marks, or half-a-crown, which is exacted for it ; and
when he hands out the tray at the nest large station, half
an hour or three-quarters of an hour distant, he will be
inclined to agree with me, as he leans back against the
cushions to enjoy a cigar, that it would be cheaper even
at double the price than a scrambling meal at a railway
station.
At picturesque Minden, so full of historical associa-
tions, which we reached at about five o'clock, all the
passengers got out except one, with whom I travelled the
rest of the way to Berlin. When the distance is short,
a carriageful of good-humoured, sociable passengers is
very pleasant, but for a long journey one is enough for a
sound conversation. In this instance my companion was
a cultured Grerman, the brother of a celebrated musician,
settled in England, thanks to whose agreeable society the
six hours' journey from Minden to Berlin was rapidly
performed without any feeling of fatigue, and I was
really sorry he could not accompany me further. There
was one remark he made during the ride which made a
great impression upon me. Discussing which was the great-
est pleasure in life, he said, " I have tasted every possible
enjoyment, for I had a gay youth and married late in
hfe, but to my mind there is nothing that has ever occa-
sioned me such an exquisite feeling as I experience when
10 FKOM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
I hear my little children running to the door to greet me
on my arrival home." Poor fellow ! he was proceeding
to some G-erman baths to undergo a tedious course of
treatment for an internal disease, and from what he told
me, I felt certain he would never see his children out of
their infancy.
But even without his comj^any the journey would have
been pleasant enough, for, as I have before said in my
works, G-ermany is the best country in Europe for rail-
way travelling. The scenery is invariably charming, and
this is particularly the case in passing through Hanover,
and at the various stations there are plenty of waiters to
hand round coffee, beer, wine, fruit, and other refresh-
ments at the carriage door. I hope to be excused for
dwelling rather strongly on the j)oint of refreshments,
but I mostly find that when people question me about
undertaking a journey to Eussia, their first inquiry is not
about the scenery, but as to the character of the com-
missariat arrangements. After all, the best of scenery
palls on an empty stomach. In Germany, one has good
scenery and good living on the railway, and it is well to
make the best of both, since in South Eussia they are
very indifferent.
Berlin reached, I alighted at the Schlessische Bahnhof,
and seizing upon the sharpest looking of the blue-bloused
porters, made him hurry my luggage below to the book-
ing office. Here, while my portmanteau was being re-
weighed, I secured a through ticket to Odessa ; English
gold, as usual in Germany, being taken as readily as the
national currency, and then, hastening the registration of
the luggage, darted back to the platform in time to catch
the Breslau train. By tij^ping the guard I secured a
carriage to myself, with a lavatory attached, and after
ridding myself of the grime inseparable from prolonged
railway travelling, made myself comfortable for the
night.
THE BLACK COUNTRY OF GERMANY. 11
Wlien morning broke tlie train was already close to
Breslau, and at sis I was breakfasting at tlie ratlier com-
fortless station there. From Breslan to tlie frontier the
railway traverses the Black Country of Germany, a region
full of mines, ironworks, squalid towns and dirty villages.
The rural scenery is flat and tame, and the ground care-
lessly cultivated. In Western Germany, round about
Oberhausen and Dusseldorf, there is another Black
Country ; but the towns are clean there, the villages
prosperous and picturesque, and the land well tilled. In
the latter instance, however, the people are Teutons ; in
the former they are Slavs. The general features of
Silesia are identical in appearance with those of the
Pohsh provinces of Russia. If the region has a more
prosperous look than the latter, the circumstance is due
less to the Silesians themselves than to the constant
efforts of Germany to ameliorate their lot.
Myslowitz, the frontier town, which we reached at mid-
day, is as dull and as wretched a place as any in Silesia.
There everybody alighted, and I was arranging to leave
for Cracow by the one o'clock train, when I found that my
luggage had been sent on by mistake to Oswiecim. The
one o'clock train did not proceed to Cracow by this route,
but by a shorter one, and although I might have had my
luggage sent on to Cracow sealed up by telegraphing to
Oswiecim, I thought it safer to go by the evening train.
This involved spending at Myslowitz the five or six hours
I had intended to pass in the pretty city of Cracow, but
circumstances would not allow of my risking any delay
over the luggage. I almost regretted my decision after-
wards, when I began to ex23lore the town. It is a strictly
agricultural centre, of 2,000 inhabitants, with half-a-
dozen indifferent shops in its ill-paved thoroiighfares,
and two or three inns. At the best of these latter I
ordered dinner, and was surprised at the number of per-
sons that dropped in to follow my example — some of
12 FROM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
them Germans and tlie otliers Poles — commercial travel-
lers, ti-aders, clerks, and so forth. They talked politics
pretty freely, and their opinions were a fair sample of
those prevailing in the town. Myslowitz is more dis-
posed to see the rest of the Poles gathering under the
German Eagle, than allying themselves with Panslavist
Russia.
Tears ago I had occasion to travel through and reside
for a time in Eussian Poland. The general features of
provincial life in German and Russian Poland are the
same ; but I was particularly struck with one important
difference, which will exercise a significant bearing on
the future of the Poles. In Eussian Poland, as else-
where in Eussia, education is at a very low ebb. Schools
are rarely found in the villages, and only a minority of
the children attend school in the towns. While I was
eating my rumpsteak at Myslowitz — it was a very tender
one, and deserves to be publicly mentioned — I saw crowds
of little children running along the street merrily to
school ; not simply clean, tidy youngsters of the respect-
able classes, but also shorn-headed, barelegged, ragged
little mortals of the London Arab description. Myslowitz
is very much behind the rest of Germany in the race of
civilization, but even there every child, however poor, has
to go to school.
In German Poland the whole of the rising generation
is being educated. To a great extent this is also the
case, I beheve, with the Poles in Galicia. In Eussian
Poland, on the other hand, the children are growing up
as ignorant of the three E's as the majority of youngsters
elsewhere in the Tsar's empire. Panslavism may be a
very fine creed — for some of its advocates at Moscow,
whom I personally know, I have a sincere esteem — but
I cannot detect in it any attraction that should cause
the educated Poles of Gennany and Austria to throw in
their lot with the ignox'ant and oppressed masses of Eussia.
TEUTONIC AND SLAV SCENERY. 13
When I liad finished dining at the inn at Myslowitz
I went for a ramble in the country. As usual in Slav-
land, there was nothing in the landscape to invite a
prolonged walk. Forest scenery one never tires of —
had Myslowitz been one of the out-of-the-way stations
of Northern Russia I should have quickly got rid of my
sis hours' enmd by exploring the woods, heedless of
problematical wolves and inevitable mosquitos. But the
surroundings of Myslowitz were similar to those that
prevail throughout the whole of the southern parts of the
great plain of Europe inhabited by the Slavs — oblong
patches of vegetation stretching away over a flat esj^anse
as far as the eye could see, with not a tree or a shrub to
enliven the landscape. Even the most inveterate lover
of countiy walks would rapidly tire of toiling along a
dusty or muddy road, full of ruts, with nothing to see
except everlasting patches of wheat, barley, oats, millet,
and buckwheat. It is curious that the Teuton, wherever
he goes, carries with him his love of trees and a bit of
garden. The Slav, on the other hand, seems to prefer a
desert. GTerman colonies are scattered all over Russia,
from the Baltic to the Caspian. If you are travelling
through some of the southern districts intervening be-
tween those two seas, and are sick of traversing mile after
mile of flat country, village after village of Slavs, without
seeing a tree or a bush, you may rest assured if you
hear that a G-erman colony is near that you will find it
buried in verdure.
Returning to the station, I made the rest of the time
fly by writing until the train was ready to start. As
usual in Germany, the railway officials were very obliging.
One porter in particular — he who had caused my deten-
tion by sending on my luggage by the wrong train —
attended me most assiduously, assisting me in arranging
my writing materials on a table in the waiting-room,
bringing me coffee, and continuallv drojiping io to see
14 FROM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
how I was going on, until tlie first bell rang, wlien lie
carried me and my hand-luggage o£E to a coupe in the
train he had secured for me. His unremitting exertions
on my behalf even extended to licking for me the postage
stamp he had obtained for the letter I had written — and
taking it off afterwards, I imagine, for neither the letter
nor the stamp ever reached its destination.
' From Myslowitz to the first station on the Austrian
side of the frontier, Oswiecim, the journey occupies
about an hour. I noticed that all the houses in the
villages passed en route, in common with the whole of
the buildings in Myslowitz, were loopholed. This may
be said to be a regular feature of German frontier habi-
tations, at any rate along the Austrian and Russian
borders. Many of the loopholes bore obvious traces of
having been hurriedly broken through the walls during
former wars, but there must be some local regulation in
force that keeps them open still, as they are all unclosed,
and the whole of the new buildings that are constructed
alongside the main roads or railways are furnished with
musketry slits. Thanks to the prevalence of this system,
the villages and towns in the German borderlands are
capable of rapid defence against cavalry, and constitute
a troublesome impediment to invaders.
Oswiecim is an important strategical j^oint, for the
Russian and German railway systems converge upon the
point and join the Cracow- Vienna Railway. The station,
however, is veiy insignificant ; and more like a roadside
refreshment-house than anything else, and the refresh-
ments, like the officials, are very indifferent. I found
my luggage waiting for me, and had it passed without
any difficulty ; then whiled away the hour we had to
wait by drinking a tumbler of coffee with some Russians.
When the train arrived I was particularly pleased with
the handsome character of the Austrian carriages, and the
urbanity of the guards. The carriages are on the Ameri-
AN AGREEABLE COMPANION. 15
can principle, and are fitted with every comfort, but have
the defect of the gangway running through the centre
of them instead of at one of the sides. By this means
it is impossible to get a six-foot stretch at night. The
best ordinary first-class carriages in Europe, in my
opinion, are the new ones on the St. Petersburg-Moscow
Eailway. These are fitted with three rows of easy chairs,
one along the centre of the carriage and the other two
at the sides. By touching a bit of mechanism they let
down and form a roomy six-foot bed with a pillow at the
top. Eighteen or twenty persons can thus sleep in one
carriage very comfortably.
Cracow was reached at ten o'clock, and sufiicient time
allowed for supper. Here the coupe I occupied lost its
Russian occupants — a landowner's family from Kieff —
and a countryman entered, Mr. Herbert Coxon, of the
firm of James Coxon and Co., of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Mr. Coxon had conceived the idea of utihzing his holidays
by taking a trip to Constantinople and the Caucasus, to
see whether he could not arrange for a direct supply of
Oriental carpets, now so fashionable in England. Had I
not met him at Cracow he would have probably gone to
Constantinople first, but he changed his plans on hearing
I was bound for Baku, and shaped his course for the
Caucasus. Thanks to this circumstance, I had as far as
the Caspian a companion, whose never failing good
humour, hearty manner, and htige capacity for enjoyment
gave a zest to the journey and prevented it from becom-
ing dull. On his return home Mr. Coxon jxiblished an
interesting little work, recounting his experiences,
entitled, " Oriental Carpets : how they are made and
conveyed to Europe, with a narrative of a journey to the
East in search of them." This deservedly proved a great
success.
After an indifferent sleep, spoiled by the cramped posi-
tion in which we were compelled to lie, we traversed the
16 FROM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
prosperous and picturesque city of Lemberg early in the
morning, and about liaK-past ten o'clock reached Podvo-
lotchisk, the frontier station. A brief halt, and then we
crossed the Russian frontier and steamed slowly into
Volotchisk, the first station on the Tsar's territory. This
is not a very inviting place for one to make his first
acquaintance with the Russian Empire. The station is
small, with a wretched refreshment room to waste an
hour in, no lavatory, and a very indifferent set of oflB.cials.
Not that the latter bothered us much. They confiscated
two or three copies of the Newcastle Chronicle and other
English papers belonging to Mr. Coxon, but this was an
exceptional instance of adherence to the regulations, as
I have crossed the frontier several times with my port-
manteau haK full of books, pamphlets, and papers, and
even in this instance, after the newspapers had been
taken from Mr. Coxon's trunk, the same official turned to
mine, adjoining it, and passed its literary contents with-
out any qtiestion.
When I was proceeding last year to Moscow to visit
the exhibition, I took with me half-a-dozen copies of my
"Russian Advance towards India," which embodied
the conversations with Russian statesmen I had con-
tributed a few months earlier to the Chronicle. On the
way to Berlin I travelled with an Englishman who had
never been in Russia, and another who had been born
and bred there, and was a merchant of quite thirty years'
standing at St. Petersburg. The conversation turning
upon the severity of the Censor, the latter said to the
former, " They take everything from you at the frontier
that is printed. I go to England every spring for my
holidays, and when I return I deliver at the frontier all
mv books tied up together in brown paper, and after-
wards apply for them at the Censor Ofiice at St. Peters-
burg ; otherwise, any attempt at concealment would lead
to confiscation." I pooh-poohed such elaborate precau-
THE TEREIPLE RUSSIAN CENSOR. 17
tions, on the grounds that by delivering the books in a
packet to the officials one compelled them to adhere to
old regulations, -which are rapidly dropping into abey-
ance, and ai*e only enforced in exceptional instances.
When I added that I had six copies alone of a political
work on Russia, with passages referring to Prince
Krapotkin, the merchant earnestly begged me to follow
his example, and painted all manner of evil consequences
that would ensue if I did not do so.
Arrived at the frontier, the case was jnit to the test.
The six copies had been distributed throughout my
luggage. Diving into one side of my portmanteau, the
rummager produced one of the copies and handed it to
the officer. I translated the title into Euss, and said it
was simply a work on Central Asia. By this time the
searcher had dipped again, and brought up a second
copy to the surface. The officer examined its title and
then handed them back to the man, who replaced them.
Turning then to the other side of the portmanteau he
brought up two more coj^ies at a stroke. " This seems
to be a favourite work of yours," observed the officer,
with a certain amount of sarcasm. " Well, I suppose
an author has an excuse for taking an interest in his
own productions," I rejoined, pointing to the name at
the foot of the title. " Oh, I see," replied the officer
with a smile, and then tumirig to his subordinate said,
"You need not search any more of this gentleman's
luggage."
Had I followed the old merchant's advice I should
have compelled the officer to keep to his instructions,
whether he wished to or not ; and besides bringing on
myself the trouble of applving at the Censor Office for
the books, would have probably failed to get them passed
for several weeks, perhaps not until after my departure
from Russia. How inconvenient this must have been
will be seen from the following circumstance. A few days
c
18 FEOM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
after my arrival Skobeleff died, and tlie Novoe Vremya,
to wliicli a copy had been sent, publislied a translation
of all the matter in it referring to that general. This
translation was copied into almost every other Russian
newspaper. Subsequently it appeared in the pamphlet
biographies that were sold by tens of thousands in the
streets, and finally penetrated to every part of the
empire, where there are Russian troops, in the little
periodical " Reading for Soldiers," published under the
auspices of the Government. Such publicity and the
advantages it secured me would have been lost had the
book been thrust into the Censor's hands. In general,
it may be accepted as a rtile that there is no regulation
or law in Russia, however despotic, which may not be
set aside with greater facility than the proverbial driving
of a coach- and-f our through an English Act of Parliament.
After our luggage was passed and our passports regis-
tered, we changed some gold into dirty but convenient
Russian paper money at the official exchange office, and
sat down to a little lunch before leaving. It is as well
to make as good a meal as one can at Volotchisk, there
being no buffet worthy of the name beyond until the
train reaches Jmerinka, the junction for Kieff, at six in
the evening. The intervening stations are as bad as any
to be found in Russia. At Jmerinka, however, there is a
very fine and remarkably cheap buffet, and plenty of
time allowed for a good dinner. After arriving unwashed
from Austria, the excellent lavatory, where a barber is
kept, is a real luxury to the traveller.
Excluding Jmerinka, the Odessa- Volotchisk Railway
has nothing to recommend it. It consists of a single
line of metals laid on rotten sleepers, the rolling stock is
dirty and uncomfortable, and the pace of the trains
terribly slow. Easy-chair alarmists, who are fearful of
Russia some day swooping down upon Austria, should
take a trip along the Odessa Railway, after which they
EUSSIAN AND GERMAN RAILWAYS. 19
"vdll return liome convinced that it will be some time
before Vienna needs a Magyar or Teutonic Sobieski to
drive off tlie Cossack. A short time ago one of the
leading German military papers instituted an elaborate
statistical comparison of the Russian and German rail-
way systems, the results of which were accurately
worked out as follow. Russia suffers from the serious
inconvenience that most of her frontier railways consist
of only one line of metals, and that her stations are
widely apart from one another, the minimum distance
being twelve miles. In consequence of this she could
only send to the frontier along each line twelve trains a
day, while Germany could despatch sixteen. Russia
has only seven lines extending to the frontier, Germany
ten ; Russia, therefore, could only send eighty-four trains
per diem as compared with Germany's 160. In other
words Germany could accumulate in five days nine army
corps on the frontier, to confront which Russia could
only concentrate four. This is the outcome of figures.
But no one who has travelled on the Russian and Ger-
man railways, and noticed the superiority of the Germans
in working the trafiic, will dispute for a moment that the
comparison would, in reality, be very much more to the
disadvantage of Russia. I have not by me the means
for instituting exact comparisons between Austria and
Russia, but I know that Austria is very much better
able to invade her northern rival than for the latter to
rush upon her. Russia is conscious that in a single-
handed conflict she woiild get the worst of any encounter
with the Germans, and she is not by any means sure,
even in spite of the sympathy of the Slavs, that she
would come gloriously out of a conflict with Austria.
This consciousness is really the best guarantee for peace
we have in Middle Europe at the present moment, for I
suppose no one would seriously allege that Germany and
Austria desire to meddle with Russia.
c 2
20 FROM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
From the mid-day departure frora Volotcliisk until the
evening arrival at Jmerinka, the train traverses an undu-
lating country, which gradually becomes flatter and
tamer the further one gets from the off-shoots of the
Carpathians. The country is entirely devoted to the
growing of corn and rearing of flocks and herds, but
although identical in this respect with Galicia, the
province of Podolia has none of the prosperous, pro-
gressive, and well-cultivated look of the former. The
people are the same — save that the Podolians have a
dash of Cossack and Tartar blood in them — their modes
of living are almost identical ; but the border line divides
economical conditions enormously to the disadvantage of
Eussia's Slav subjects. The same is the case at every
other point of the Eussian frontier I have crossed in
my time — prosperous well-built villages, well- cultivated
fields, good roads, respectably-dressed intelligent pea-
sants up to the very border of GTermany and Austria ;
and then, directly afterwards, squalid villages, badly-
tilled fields, wretched tracks, and dirty ignorant peasants
on the Eussian side. I do not say that the Poles in
Germany and Austria do not suffer from many political
and sentimental disadvantages, but there is certainly no
material superiority in the neighbouring Eussian pro-
vinces to cause them to ardently desire annexation to
a Power, which still cherishes and exults over the
evil deeds of the "butcher" Berg, and the "hangman"
Mouravieff.
The afternoon ride from the frontier to Jmerinka was
an exti-emely hot one, and we arrived at the station
exhausted. The Volotchisk train went no further, and
we had to wait more than an hour for the one running
from Kieff to Odessa; allowing plenty of time for a
good meal and a pleasant promenade on the platform
afterwards, in the cool of the evening. I had hoped
we should have had a good night's rest in the roomier
A CORN DESERT. 21
Kiefl: carriages, but when we left Jmerinka at seven
o'clock there were so many passengers that there was no
chance of getting a comfortable stretch. We were as
imcomfortably packed for the night as in a crowded
compartment on an English line.
From Jmerinka to Odessa, fifteen hours' journey, the
railway traverses a real piece of steppe land — at places
so flat that gazing from the window on either side of the
carriage, it is often impossible to discern the slightest
elevation or depression as far as the eye can reach. All
around extends an interminable expanse of more or less
cultivated land, unbroken by a single mound, landmark,
tree, or shrub. Villages exist at intervals of many miles,
but the stone or mud cabins have no gardens round them,
HO bushes, no trees. The whole country is a com desert,
terribly monotonous to look at in summer, and a fearful
place for snowstorms in winter. I have traversed the
steppes in almost every part of Russia, but those of
Kherson are the flattest I have yet seen. For hours the
next morning after c^uitting Austria we crawled through
nothing but com — here cut and standing in massive
sheaves, there already carted away and the stubble
ploughed up .for the winter sowings, but mostly still
xmtouched by the reaper. It is this region that
absorbs the largest amount of the English agiicultural
machinery imported into Eussia; for, in the southern-
most steppes of Eussia the population is scanty, labour
relatively dear, and the harvest can only be won by the
aid of machinery.
Being Sunday morning, there were very few peasants
at work in the fields. As the train rattled slowly over
the metals, we constantly passed parties of them in
clumsy waggons, drawn by bullocks, going on visits to
other villages or to some neighbouring market. For
weeks there had been no rain in the district — the ground
was cracked and parched, the ponds dried up, and in
22 FEOM LONDON TO THE BLACK SEA.
places the entire crop had been scorched off the ground.
Huge dense clouds of black dust rose and enveloped the
peasants as their waggons rumble I over the uneven
roads, and even our train, jolting over the rotten sleepers,
on which the metals were loosely pinned, provoked
powdery emanations from the soil that filled the carriage
with motes, and clogged the pores of our skin. Long
before the hour that we should have sat down to break-
fast in England, we were experiencing the exhausting
effects of the heat, and longing for a bath to remove the
coating of dust that had collected since our evening
ablutions at Jmerinka. The railway carriage was pro-
vided with a lavatory, but it was so filthy that it was
impossible to perform one's toilette in the place. I was
soriy I had not brought with me a portable india-rubber
basin and ewer, which could have been easily strapped
with the rugs. There was plenty of water at the various
stations, and abundance of time for lavatory operations
either in the train, or, undisturbed by oscillations, during
the numerous halts.
The nearer we got to Odessa the larger the stations
became, and the greater the number of j)assengers. The
latter consisted of j^easants, mostly Cossack or Little
Eussian, with a considerable sprinkling of Jews. At
one of the stations, where we had an eight o'clock
tumbler of tea, the peasants had brought several waggon-
loads of water melons to a spot near the platform, and
did a brisk trade with the passengers by selling them at
the rate of about a penny a-piece. Still crawling along
at a miserable speed, the scenery never varying, we
reached Odessa at last at ten in the morning, hungry,
dirty, hot, and tired.
23
CHAPTEE 11.
ODESSA AND THE COKN TRADE.
A Change for the Better — A Sunday Morning in Odessa— The Town
no longer an Ink-bottle iu AVmter and a Sand-box in Summer —
Gi-owth of Odessa — Its Position as the Capital of South Russia —
The Export of Corn — Changes in the Trade — Competition of
America and India — Deamess of Transport— The Elevator
Question — Necessity for Organizing the Trade — Slow Growth of
Railwaj-s in Russia — Outrun by India, Canada, and other
Colonies — Trade between Odessa and the East — The Suez Canal
— An Odessa Country House — Departure from Odessa for
Batoum — Steamboat Arrangements — DaUy Life on Board a
Black Sea Steamer— A German Preferable to a Russian as a
Cabin Companion — Crossing over to the Crimea — Eupatoria.
" Come, come, Mr. Marvin, if tliis is Eussia, all I can
say is, that it is a little bit more civilized than the New-
castle folk believe it to be," said C, an hour later, gazing
with satisfaction at the breakfast table at the Hotel
d'Europe. To this hotel we had driven direct from the
station, and had enhanced the exhilaration produced by
rattling along the leafy boulevards at a furious pace,
breasting a glorious sea-breeze, by unlimited splashing
and dabbling in cold water. Eussians can wash them-
selves to their heart's content with a mere mugful of
that liquid. Hence the quart-pot supply that stood
in the bedrooms evidently represented what the Hotel
d'Europe thought to be the extra allowance demanded
by the more exacting nations of the West. However,
this little defect was overcome by impressing all the
24 ODESSA AND THE CORN TRADE.
sei-vants we saw loitering about tlie spacious corridors,
and ordering them to keep on bringing water in pans,
pots, and ewers until further notice. By this means we
accumulated in a few minutes a plentiful supply, and
went at it as only Englishmen can who have experienced
the craving for water that accompanies a long journey
across a dusty and arid plain.
There are a number of good hotels at Odessa, but few
equal the Hotel d'Europe for cleanliness, comfort, and
lusuiy ; while as regards site it is unsurpassable, situated
as it is in front of a square on a height overlooking the
harbour and sea, and catching the refreshing salt breeze
blowing from the water. One could hardly be more
comfortable in an English seaside hotel than at the
Hotel d'Europe, and if the charges are higher than those
of the other Odessa establishments, they do not exceed
the general run of prices in England. The manager
speaks English, and from the numerous English travellers
calling there, knows our ways tolerably well. To any one
arriving at Odessa from a journey to the East, it is an
additional comfort to be able to get there the latest
English newspapers.
Our breakfast was served up in a handsome spacious
room, with a highly polished cool parquet floor, and
windows and doorways decorated with palms and ever-
greens. Through the windows coTild be seen people
passing to and fro in flat caps or helmets, and loose white
summer clothing. The day was hot, and there was not
a cloud in the intensely blue sky to intercept the heat of
the southern sun ; but as they passed the windows they
evidently enjoyed as much as we did the cooling breeze
from the sea. This, entering by dooi-way and window,
ruffled pleasantly the cool clean white damask table-cloth,
spread on a little table near a grove of evergreens, where-
on were disposed delicious coffee and rolls, and a huge
dish of ham and eggs, set off with handsome electro-
EAPID GROWTH OF ODESSA. 25
plated ware and cliina, and a fresh uncut copy of the
Times received by the last post from London. One
might have searched a long while that pleasant Sim^day
morning to have found in any English town more agree-
able arrangements for a breakfast, and, coming to it as
we did, hungry from the Kherson 2:)lains, we thoroughly
appreciated every feature of it.
Odessa has greatly improved since the primitive time
of alternate mud and dust, which caused the poet Push-
kin to compare it to an ink-bottle in winter and a sand-
box in summer. Its broad quadrangular streets are
well paved, and planted Hke boulevards with acacia ; the
lofty white houses, built of shell concrete obtained from
neighbouring quarries, are enlivened by handsome shops.
As a town it is better built and better jDaved than either
St. Petersburg or Moscow, and in many other respects is
more advanced than either of those capitals. When the
2)oet Pushkin — the contemporary and admirer of Byron —
dwelt in it, the city was still in its infancy, like Novoros-
sisk, Poti, Batoum, and other points on the Caucasian
coast to-day. There are yet persons living in South
Russia who remember when Odessa had no existence.
It is only ninety-five years ago since General de Eibas
and the Eussians stormed the insignificant fortress of
Hadji Bey, and secured for the Empress Catherine the
Great the port of Odessa, and it was not until several
years after that assault that the conquerors began to
develop the place. Once a start was made, however, the
city grew amazingly ; acquiring in its career Gallic
characteristics, from the fact of its successive early
governors, De Eibas, Eichelieu, and Langeron, being
Frenchmen. At the beginning of the present century its
l^opulation was 2,000 ; it is now 190,000, and in point of
size it ranks as fourth city in the Eussian Empire, St.
Petersburg coming first with 840,000 people, Moscow
next with 625,000, Warsaw third with 340,000, and then
26 ODESSA AND THE COKN TRADE.
Odessa. If I add that it is distant 1,137 miles from St.
Petersburg and 933 from Moscow, it will be seen that
Odessa has very good reason to regard itself as the
capital of South Russia.
Odessa has derived its rapid growth and prosperity
largely from its export of corn. So long as the Turks
held the whole of the coast of the Black Sea, agriculture
in the provinces south of Moscow was cramped for want
of an outlet. Directly Catherine the Great, however,
secured the Black Sea littoral, the population began to
spread over the southern plains, and their produce,
added to that which filtered from the middle provinces
down to the coast, gave plenty of lucrative trade to
Odessa. Twenty years ago the total exports were valued
at ^£4,000,000 sterling, of .which the value of the grain
was ^£3,000,000. In 1882, the grain export alone exceeded
in value 100,000,000 roubles, or deiO,000,000 sterling.
This expansion in trade has been maintained in spite of
the competition of Nicolaieff, Sevastopol, Eostoff, and
other Azoff ports ; to say nothing of the rivalry of
America and India.
To deal satisfactorily with the Eussian com trade
would require more space than I have at my disposal ;
yet the subject is an important one, for a com crisis is
more calculated to bring about a revolution in Eussia
than any sentimental desire for a constitution. Corn is
still, as it has been for many generations, the staple
product of the country. Until a few years ago Eussia
was really the granary of Europe. Forty iper cent, of
the corn consumed ;in England and on the Continent
was supplied by Eussia. Of this forty per cent., the
larger proportion passed through the Black Sea ports.
Those ports were closed during the Eusso-Turkish war
of 1877-78, and it was only with partial success that
the export stream was diverted to the Baltic. The rise
in the price of corn that ensued in consequence caused
INDIAN COMPETITION WITH EUSSIA. 27
the United States, which for several years had been
steadily gaining on Russia as a corn-exporting country,
to redouble its efforts ; the apparent certainty of a war
between Russia and England exciting American enter-
prise to the utmost. In 1879 the United States not
only overtook Russia, but shot ahead with 38,000,000
bushels to the good. The following year Russia's ex-
port of com dropped at a lump from 180 million bushels
to 104 millions, and although the next year she went
ahead again with an export of 157 millions, the race was
only maintained by accepting a ruinous price for the
article.
That Russia will ever regain the monopoly she once
enjoyed in the com trade may be regarded as very im-
probable. Besides America, she has now another rival
to deal with, equally powerful and still more dangerous.
This is India. A decade ago India was thought very
little of as a corn-exj)orting country. Even in 1879
General Annenkoff, in advocating the construction of a
railway to India, so little foresaw the growth of the
wheat trade there that one of his strongest arguments in
favour of the Kne was the new market it would open up
for Russian com. As things now look, it is more pro-
bable that India will some day supply Russia with corn,
rather than Russia India. In 1880 India exported
2,195,500 cwts. of wheat, in 1881 upwards of 7,444,449
cwts., while in 1882 the total reached 19,863,520 cwts.
Formerly we traded most with Russia for wheat, but
already in 1880 we purchased of her only to the extent of
^61,568,261, as compared with ^£1, 773,216 from India;
while in 1881 the figures were as follow : —
Wheat Impokted into England.
Cwts. Value.
From India 7,308,842 £3,826,851
Russia 4,018,895 £2,171,372
28 ODESSA AND THE CORN TRADE.
Besides India, tlie dependencies of Australia and Canada
are already the equals of Russia in exporting corn to
England, and Egypt may be expected to become another,
under English rule.
In this manner, the agricultural outlook of Eussia
cannot be regarded as a very satisfactory one. Good
harvests are useless if no market can be found for the
crops ; and with corn, as with every other commodity,
there is a point in its price below which it is not worth
while to grow it. The Indian ryot can produce corn very
much cheaper than the Russian moujik, and the English
merchant can take it to market for him at half-a-dozen
times less the cost than the Moscow Icoopets, or the Jewish
intermediary at Odessa. A commission recently appointed
to inquire into the export of Russian com, foimd that it
costs nine times as much to get a bushel of corn away
from Odessa, reckoning all the charges from the field to
the hold of the steamer, as it does a bushel of com from
the ordinary American outlets. For want of a proper
system of transport it costs more to convey a sack of corn
from the Odessa railway depot to the steamer — a distance
of a mile — than it does to convey a sack from Chicago to
Liverpool. It is only by giving the Russian peasant the
poorest price for his corn, that it can be sold low enough
to cover the exorbitant transport charges, and compete
with other grain in the markets of Europe.
This is a very serious matter, and in his budget report
for the current year, the Minister of Finance, Professor
Bunge, admitted the extremely unfavourable effects of
English Colonial competition on Russian trade and
Russian revenue. To improve matters he announced
several fresh measures of a Protectionist character, but
these were calculated to benefit the occasional manufac-
turer rather than the millions of peasants. Nothing in
his report revealed that he had any consciousness of a
great fact, that the only way to improve the position of
THE ELEVATOR SCHEME. 29
the peasant and get him a better price for his com is to
diminisli the transport charges.
For years there has been a talk of improving the rail-
way system, but nothing has been done. "When Professor
Bimge held the chair of political economy at the Kieff
University, he advocated the use of elevators, and in 1882,
■while discussing the subject of American competition "with
him, he told me he "was then considering a scheme pre-
sented by the Due de Momy for establishing elevators
at Odessa and other South Russian ports. The project
"was dra"wn up in the name of the Due and one other
person, and the capital "was fixed at the sum of 12|-
million of metallic roubles, or nearly =£2,000,000 sterling.
After some negotiation the scheme "was "withdra"wn, and
a fresh one substituted, in "which the t"wo French capi-
talists "were reinforced by t"wo Russians, Prince P. P.
Demidoff, of San Donato, and Gospodin Duranoff, and
t"wo Americans, Messrs. Martin and Fisher. These six
increased the capital to 25,000,000 roubles metallic, and
added features to the project, to discuss "which the
Minister held a sort of congress of experts and delegates
from various ports a fe"w "weeks ago. "When the matter
"was put to the vote nearly all the members of the con-
gress black-balled the notion of granting any foreign
syndicate a monopoly, and in this condition things have
remained up to no"w. In "whatever form the elevator
scheme be ultimately adopted, a considerable amount of
time "will be needed to get it into "working order, and in
the interval Russia "will have lost still further her foot-
hold in the European market, and India and our colonies
"will have proportionately gained upon her.
A deal of the com exported from Odessa comes do"wn
the river Dniester in barges from the Kherson plain, but
52 per cent, is brought by the railroad. The fearful
muddle the South Russian lines made of the transport
of men and military material during the Russo-Turkish
30 ODESSA AND THE CORN TRADE.
war is not yet forgotten — tlie same chaos prevails every
year in transporting the corn to Odessa. Thousands
and thousands of tons of com rot every autumn at the
railway stations, for want of shelter, while waiting to be
conveyed to the coast. The slowness, inefl&ciency, and
dearness of Russian railway transport compare most dis-
advantageously with that of America or India, although
the transport service of India is susceptible of consider-
able improvement. This badness of railway transport
tells as much on the price of corn as the relative insig-
nificance of mileage in Russia. The United States pos-
sess over 100,000 miles of railway, while the Russian
Empire, with twice the population, contains only 14,500
miles, or very little more than the States sometimes con-
struct in a single year. India has a less mileage than
Russia, about 10,500 miles being open for traffic ; but,
owing to better arrangements, the transport power of
those 10,500 miles exceeds that of the 14,500 miles of
Russia. In 1882 Russia only constructed 130 miles of
railway ; India built 373 miles.
In 1883 the deficits on the Russian railways, which the
State had to make good, amounted to 13,500,000 roubles,
or dei,350,000. This was the acknowledged loss, for no
one in Russia or out of it regards the annual statement
of the Russian Minister of Finance as being as worthy
of confidence as a European budget. In India, on the
other hand, to quote the financial statement of Mr. J. H.
Cross in the House of Commons, August 22, 1883 — in
India, the railways were " the profitable branch of the
productive works expenditure. In 1882 the receipts were
,£15,23] ,261, the expenses =£7,580, 549, and the net profits
d£7, 650,712, or 5'37 per cent, on the total capital employed.
In the matter of railway development India wants no
help ; she asks for nothing but permission to develop her
own resources, and those who deny her that right incur a
grave responsibility, which I have no wish to share."
EMPIRE RIVALRY OF RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 31
From a financial point of view, Russia and India have
liad one drawback in common in the matter of railway
construction ; a large proportion of the lines have been
built for strategical purposes. But Russia has had three
other drawbacks, from which India has been exempt. All
her railways have been badly constructed, all of them
badly financed, and all of them badly worked. I know
there are many defects in our Indian railways, but there
is not one which is not tenfold worse in Russia. The
result is, that while Russia is becoming every year saddled
with a heavier deficit, India has already entered uj^on the
stage when, to use the words of Mr. Cunningham,* rail-
ways miist furnish her ere long with a " magnificent
source of income." Every mile Russia builds adds
to her indebtedness ; every mile India builds improves
her economical and financial condition. If Russia, by
developing her armaments and extending her territory, is
weakening our position in Asia, England, by constructing
railways and growing corn in India, is weakening Russia's
position in Europe. And this is a fact which the Secre-
tary for Foreign Affairs should take cognizance of, as well
as the Viceroy of India. A corn crisis may compel the
Tsar to choose between a revolution at home and a con-
flict abroad. That conflict would naturally be waged
with the country causing the crisis. Hence, a crisis in
corn might lead to an expedition against India as well as
a desire to possess Constantinople.
England is rapidly rendering the position of Russia
intolerable. Both empires are progressing ; but the pro-
gress of one is that of a lumbering stage-coach, and of
the other that of a swift locomotive. The prosj^erity of
Russia largely depends upon the export of certain pro-
ducts : corn, hides, tallow, wool, flax, hemp, and oil-seed.
England, through India and her colonies, has become
a formidable rival to Russia in every one of these articles.
* "British India and its Rulers," London, 1881, page 267.
32 ODESSA AND THE CORN TRADE.
There is notliing Russia produces which England is not
producing more cheaply in some part of the world.
Russia's exports, it is true, are still large ; but the prices
realized for the products are of such a low character that
the economical condition of the Russian people is yearly-
becoming more serious. Not only is India building
annually a greater mileage of railways than the whole
Russian Empire, but Canada likewise constructs more,
and also South Africa, Australia, and even New Zealand.
Russia has no chance against these rivals, handicapped
as she is with a costly and corrupt government, and an
antiquated mode of agriculture, transport, and trade.
Against our colonies Russia entertains no animus. She
believes they have no love for the mother coimtry, and
would hold aloof in the event of a conflict. As a rule,
she ignores them in her tirades against England. But
the case is different with India, She regards India, from
one point of view, as the keystone of our commerce, and
from another, as the vulnerable spot of our Empire. We
are rich, not because we have certain characteristics that
conduce to success, and hold with Free Trade, but because
we remorselessly exjjloit India. Sever India from us,
and our commerce would crumble to dust. There would
then be an end to the Eastern Question and the paralyz-
ing effect it exercises on Russian progress, and Russia
would no longer have to contend with the rivalry of Eng-
land in industry and commerce.
Such are some of the Russian considerations which, in
my opinion, constitute a greater incentive on the part of
our rival to upset our power in India, than either the
love of military glory or any desire to possess our Asiatic
empire. If Russia's views are illogical and erroneous,
that does not detract in any way from their importance.
Russia gazes across her plains towards India with her
own eyes, not with ours, and if ever she attacks our
power there it will be her own percej)tions of the feasi-
RUSSIA AND THE SUEZ CANAL.
bility of the enterprise that will lure her on, and not the
dogmatic assertions of English statesmen and generals
respecting her rashness, stupidity, and impotence that
will check her.
But, to get back to Odessa and its corn trade. What-
ever may be the fluctuations in the export of grain,
Odessa would appear to have a great future before it in
connection with the new direct trade its merchants are
opening up with the East. Formerly, before the Suez
Canal was opened, much of the merchandise exported
from Oriental countries to Russia was first conveyed to
London or Hull, and thence transhipped to the Baltic.
Most of the sea-borne tea reached Eussia by this route.
Now, however, goods from China and India are shipj)ed
direct to Odessa, to the injury of London trade, but to
the benefit of the Russian consumer. Odessa, in short,
is becoming a Russian Marseilles. The vessels of the
Moscow Cruiser Committee have been largely instru-
mental in opening up this new trade, which is becoming
more and more developed every year. Several powerful
steamers have been built in England of late, over 300
feet long, for the new line the Black Sea Steam Naviga-
tion Company is estaolishlug with the East. The result
of this intercourse is, that Lascars are now seen at
Odessa, and Russian seamen at Bombay.
The Russian Covernment takes great interest in
these trade relations of Odessa with the East, and does
its utmost to encourage them. Formerly, troops and
exiles were sent to the A moor region overland across
Siberia, the journey taking sometimes a year and a half.
Now they are all despatched to the Pacific by the
steamers of the Moscow Cruiser Fleet and the Black Sea
Navigation Company, and detachments of several hun-
dred Russian troops pass through the Suez Canal at the
time. This saves the troops and exiles many hardships,
and gives Russian diplomatists grounds for blandly de-
34 ODESSA AND THE COEN TRADE.
daring that Russia possesses an important interest in the
Suez Canal.
After breakfast at the Hotel d'Europe, we went for a
stroll along the Odessa boulevards. We had not gone
far when we ran against Mr. Eles, an old friend of C.'s.
Mr. Eles recently settled down in Odessa, and became a
member of the well-known local shipping firm of Smeles,
Eles, and Co. He had a charming fZa^c/i« (country house),
or datch, as English residents mostly call it, on the coast,
a little way outside Odessa ; and insisted on our spending
the rest of the day with him. Not much pressing was
needed to secure our acquiescence, for the best of Russian
towns, and Odessa is one of the best, are more inviting
outside than inside on a hot summer's day ; and, besides,
datch life possesses charms irresistible to those who have
once tasted them. In Russia all of the urban population
who can afford it migrate, bag and baggage, in the early
spring to wooden " summer houses " in the forests or
alongside the streams outside the towns, and do not re-
turn again until the autumn, when they coop themselves
up inside three-brick walls, double windows, and treble
doors for the winter. To dwell permanently in a datch
the entire season is miserable, but an occasional visit is
one of the pleasantest forms of " outing " that I know
of. Mr. Eles's datch was a charming villa, perched on
the edge of the cliffs, 150 feet high, overlooking the Black
Sea. Behind were woods, gardens, and vineyards ; in
front of the broad balcony, with its magnificent umbrage-
ous shelter of Virginia creepers, was an expanse of juniper
bush, from which the cliffs fell away in broken terraces,
covered with semi-tropical vegetation, to the very edge of
the sea. An enjoyable swim preceded dinner, and after-
wards we sat smoking on the balcony till nearly mid-
night — the moon shining brilliantly in the blue-black
firmament, its rays impressing a gorgeous golden slant of
LIFE ON A BLACK SEA STEAMER. 35
light on the undulating surface of the sea ; the surf
breaking softly at the foot of the cliffs, the frogs piping
\dth a muffled shrill noise in the distance, and the night
birds uttering sharp cries occasionally as they darted
about the garden.
The next morning we were up early, and after securing
our berths on board the Grand DuJce Michael, completed
our preparations for our departure. At half -past two we
drove down to the steamer with our luggage, and at three
qiiitted the commodious harbour, leaving on the stone
quay a motley assembly of passengers' friends, Cossack
teamsters, drosky drivers, and fruit- sellers. In a few
minutes we were passing through a score of English
steamers lying idly in quarantine outside the artificial
harbour, and then leaving in our rear Odessa — a hand-
some stately town seen from the water — were fairly out
to sea.
As soon as the 'passengers were comfortably settled
down, a loud ringing of the bell summoned them to
dinner. The fares between the various Black Sea ports
include meals for the first and second-class passengers.
The deck passengers find for themselves, bringing on
board their own huge loaves of black rye bread, and
making heavy meals off them, with such additions as
some slices of water melon or other fruit, and perhaps
a bit of dried fish or stale meat, washed down with in-
numerable tumblers of tea, thinly brewed by means of
hot water obtained from the steward. The newer
steamers of the Black Sea Navigation Company contain
regular accommodation below deck for the steerage
passengers, but in the older vessels, like the Grand Buke
Michael, they herd without any shelter, occupying two-
thirds of the deck space. A more motley crew of Turks,
Eussians, Caucasians, Jews, and Greeks it would be
difficult to find, or a more motley collection of baggage.
So long as the weather is fine they do not experience
D 2
36 ODESSA AND THE CORN TRADE.
much discomfort, being used to rougliing it in the open
air, hut a heavy sea and drenching rain make things very
miserable for these jjoor wretches.
The first-class fare from Odessa to Batoum is 39
roubles (^£3 18s.) ; second-class, 30| roubles (<£3 Is.) ;
and steerage, 13 roubles (^1 6s.). The first and second-
class passengers receive the same food, and make use of
the same deck, but the cabin and dining- saloon of the
second-class passengers are less luxurious than those of
the first, the company is more mixed, and, finally, the
berths are situated in the fore part of the vessel amidst
the evil-smelling steerage passengers. The fares may
seem high for the journey, but I believe few who have
travelled by the steamers of the company, and enjoyed
the good living accorded them, have ever seriously
regretted the cost on arrival at their destination.
As soon as the passengers are fairly awake in the
m.orning, which with Russians is not much before eight
or nine o'clock, tea and coffee, with bread and butter,
and rusks, are served up in the saloon. At eleven o'clock
the passengers meet for a light lunch, commencing,
of course, with the inevitable zakzisJca, or dinette of the
Russians — consisting of a glass of vodky, bitters, or
absinthe, and a taste of raw herring, a sardine, a bit of
cheese or sausage, two or three English pickles, some
caviare on bread, dried salmon, and innumerable other
little tit-bits calculated, according to Russian estimation,
to give one an appetite, The zaJctisha, to my mind, is a
grand institution, although it does not seem to flourish
well out of Russia. During the Tsar's coronation some
magnificent eahiskas were served up with the Imperial
banquets and suppers, but my tenderest recollections are
associated with one preceding a dinner given by the fifty
special correspondents to their amiable Censor, Gospodin
VaganofE, A huge table literally groaned beneath the
assortment of appetizers heaped uj^on it, and which could
AMONG EUSSIAN BAEBARIANS. 37
not have included less than a hundred different kinds of
dehcious tit-bits and forty or fifty stimulating drinks.
The zakusJca disposed of, the clean and liveried
stewards, whose unobtrusive attentiveness, by the way,
impresses itself upon the traveller, hand round in suc-
cession sturgeon or some other kind of fish, cutlets or
some made dish, cheese, confectionery, and grapes,
melons, apples, nuts, and other fruit. Eed and white
wine of the Crimea, grown on the Company's own
estates, and therefore real wine, free from adulteration,
the passenger can drink as much as he likes ; then, after
a cup of coffee, he can go on deck and smoke, or play at
chess in the cabin, with the calm self-satisfaction of a
man who feels that he " has not done so bad for break-
fast."
Dinner is served up at four in the afternoon. This
consists of half a dozen excellent dishes, preceded by the
zakuska, and accompanied by abundance of fruit and
wine ; and is equal to any table d'hote dinner, in point of
excellence and variety of cooking, obtainable at the
Criterion or other leading restaurants in London. At
eight or nine, tea and coffee, with rusks and roP.s, are set
forth again in the saloon, and when this is over, and the
passenger retires to bed, he must be a very exacting
mortal if he considers himself badly done by. Mr.
Gallenga, the experienced special correspondent of the
Times, has placed on record his conviction that nowhere
in the world is such excellent "feeding" obtainable on
board a steamer as on the vessels of the Black Sea Steam
Navigation Company, and I can readily endorse his
opinion. In no voyage round about the coast of England
will a man find his inner and outer comfort better looked
after, than has been the case for the last twenty years in
the Black Sea.
The vessels of the Navigation Company maintain a
perpetual service round the ports of the Black Sea, one
38 ODESSA AND THE CORN TRADE.
running one way and one the other, and passing each,
other in their circular course near Batoum. Generally
speaking, the steamers are crowded with passengers from
Odessa as far as Kertch, but from the Sea of Azoff along the
Caucasian coast, the most interesting part of the voyage,
there are hardly any passengers at all, except steerage,
and the traveller is thus able to enjoy the scenery without
being incommoded by a crowd. The afternoon we left
Odessa the saloon was full of people dining, but the fresh
breeze we encountered when we got a little way out to
sea soon thinned the tables, and hardly anybody at all
turned up for the evening tea. Among the passengers
was a Mr. Gibson, for many years in the employ of the
Company, who was returning to Sevastopol, and he con-
tributed to make the time pass rapidly away till he left
us the next morning.
During the night the steamer caught it a little in run-
ning across the open sea to Cape Tarhankoutt, the first
point attained of the Crimea, and the swell made nearly
all the passengers sick, including a, Russian who occupied
part of my cabin. The voyage would have been
pleasanter if Mr. C. and myself could have shared a
cabin between us ; but finding only single berths obtain-
able, we had been compelled to separate, which, as he
did not speak Russian, was rather inconvenient for him.
I tried hard to share a cabin with some German, on the
principle that, whereas a German is only occasionally sick
at sea, a Russian always is ; but was unsuccessful.
During the voyage it used to grieve me to see huge
swaggering Russian officers come on board in full regi-
mentals and decorations ; I knew what their fate would
be. But, as a rule, they took it quietly, retiring to their
cabins as soon as they felt queer, and drawing a curtain
over their undignified misery. Wore England not an
island, we should have innumerable Russian visitors, for
we are heartily admired in Russia. But even the enthu-
EUPATOPJA. 39
aiasm of Anglopliiles cannot cany tliem across the
Channel. " Just fancy," said a "^ell-kno-wn Eussian
general to me once — " just fancy me, in fuU regimentals,
ignominiously leaning over the bulwark of a steamer and
vomiting. The bare recollection -would prevent me ever
maintaining my composure before my troops again. 'No,
no, bridge over the Channel, or bore a hole under it, and
I will come and see you."
After daybreak we got well under cover of the coast
of the Crimea, and the rolling of the Grand Biike Michael
diminished. When the tea-bell rang at seven we were
abeady anchored in the roadstead of Eupatoria. The
town has a pretty appearance from the sea. The houses
are either built of a soft white stone, or of wood painted
white or yellow ; the roofs are red or green, interspersed
with picturesque minarets. At the base are brown bare
hills, and towards Sevastopol stretch along the flat coast
fifty or sixty windmills clustered together, giving quite a
peculiar appearance to the place. Eupatoria possesses
deep historical interest to Englishmen, on account of
its being the first Eussian point touched at and occu-
pied by the Allies in the invasion of the Crimea. Con-
cerning this occupation a funny incident is narrated by
Kinglake.
The English fleet arrived at Eupatoria on the 1st of
September, 1854, and the bright little town being defence-
less, officers were sent to summon it. The governor was
an official personage in a high state of discipline. He
had before his eyes the armed navies of the Allies, with
the coTintless sails of their convoys ; and to all that vast
armament he had nothing to oppose except the forms of
office. But to him the forms of office seemed aU-sufficing,
and on them he still calmly relied ; so, when the summons
was deUvered, he insisted upon fumigating it, according
to the health regulations of the little port. When he
understood that the Western Powers intended to land.
40 ODESSA AND THE COEN TKADE.
he said tliat decidedly they might do so ; but he explained
that it would be necessary for them to land at the
Lazaretto, and consider themselves in strict quarantine.
The following day the place was occuj)ied by a small
body of English troops.
We only stopped long enough at Eupatoria to dis-
charge a few barrels of merchandise into hghters, and
take on board two or three passengers, and in less than
an hour were ofE again. The comparative calmness of
the sea had drawn on deck most of the passengers.
These now promptly descended below again when the
steamer stood out to sea, to strike straight across the
bay to Sevastoj^ol. Our course lay too far out, and the
coast was too misty at the time, for us to distinctly dis-
cern where the Allies landed ; but when we neared
Sevastopol the steamer went close to the cliffs, and the
brighter weather enabled us to follow the course of the
troops from the Alma.
41
CHAPTER III.
THE EESTOEATION OF SEVASTOPOL AND THE RUSSIAN
FLEET.
Sevastopol and its Harbour — The Progress of the Place— Its Rival
NicolaefF— Restoration of the Great Granite Docks — The Fortifi-
cations—The Dockyard of the Black Sea Steam Na%'igation
Company — The Origin of the Company— Statistics respecting its
Growth and Present Condition — Xew Ocean Liners for the Black
Sea — The new Ironclads— Russian Cruisers — The Present Con-
dition of the Russian Xa^-y— Sir Edward Reed, the Naval Pro-
fessor Holloway— Admiral Popoff his Patent PiU— The Fleet
during the Russo-Turkish "War— Fall of PopofF— The rerjime of
the Grand Duke Alexis— The Fleet of the Future— Sevastopol
and the new Black Sea Fleet, and the Decadence of Turkey —
Sevastopol as a Commercial Port — The new Route to Persia and
Central Asia.
Sevastopol has been so often described that I shall
content myself "with simply saying " ditto " to the many
eminent authorities who, in language of more or less
felicity, have declared it to be one of the most magnifi-
cent harbours in the world. Travellers often exaggerate
what they see ; but the chorus of encomium pronounced
upon Sevastopol fails to create impressions which sur-
pass the reality. I never imagined the harbour to be so
splendid, the scenery so lovely. An impression prevails
that the Allies knocked the place into ruins, and that
little of its foiTQcr glory remains ; but it is impossible to
enter the harbour, passing the huge granite forts on the
left and the ugly earthworks on the right, without feeling
42 THE RESTOEATION OF SEVASTOPOL.
surprised at there being so few perceivable traces of the
great bombardment. Excluding the vast naked ruin of
the naval barracks, which, being situated on a j)roniiuent
cliff overlooking the harbour, arrests the attention the
moment the batteries are passed, there is little to remind
the traveller of the devastating effects of the siege.
As a matter of fact, Sevastopol has been looking up of
late years, and before the close of the present decade
will have recovered all its old prosperity and importance.
The tearing up of the Treaty of Paris in 1871 was the
first step towards the revival of Sevastopol ; the comple-
tion, a few years later, of the Lozova-Sevastopol Railway,
linking it with the Russian railway system, the second.
In 1878 the earthworks that were erected at the mouth
of the harbour, and the rows of torpedoes that blocked
the channel, kept away the Turkish ironclad fleet from
the place, as they would no doubt keej) out an English
fleet to-morrow. This defence — " successful defence,"
the Russians call it, although there was never any serious
attack — gave Sevastopol the position again of a fortified
harbour, and the security it accorded to Russian shijDping
during the war led the authorities to still further im-
prove it. There was even a talk of dismantling Nicolaeff,
and removing the dockyard there bodily back to Sevas-
topol, but more prudent counsellors suggested that it
would be foolish to trust all the eggs in one basket again,
and a decision was ultimately arrived at to retain Nico-
laeff as it was, using it in the future as an auxiliary
naval establishment.
During the last two years of Alexander II. 's reign the
maladministration prevailing at the Russian Admiralty,
by dissipating its pecuniary resources, checked the
realization of the designs for re-establishing Sevastopol.
The purer regime of the present High Admiral, however,
has led to money being more freely forthcoming, and in
excess of the heavy outlay on the four ironclads now in
DISAPPEAKANCE OF THE RUINS. 43
course of construction for the Black Sea fleet, a sum of a
quarter of a million sterling lias been expended in re-
storing the large stone docks that "were once the glory of
Sevastopol. When the Crimean War broke out it was
estimated that .£20,000,000 sterling had been spent upon
the harbour -works and the fleet, and =£7,000,000 on the
fortifications. The docks -were the -work of a British
officer, Colonel Upton, who had employed 30,000 labourers
to excavate them. Engineering and military science has
advanced very much since those days, and, thanis to
skilful appliances, a Eussian engineer officer is now
restoring with two or three thousand men what would
have needed tens of thousands a generation ago. So
also a few heavy guns suffice to do the work of the 1,200
guns the Russians were able to concentrate upon one spot
when the Allied fleet appeared before Sevastopol in 1854.
Throughout the whole of the town we saw men at work
like ants raising fresh structures, removing ruins, laying
out new streets, and making squares and gardens. A
few years ago there were 70 per cent, of ruins to 30 per
cent, of houses ; to-day the figures are reversed, and
there are only 30 per cent, of ruins left.
Our steamer stopped a couj^de of hours at Sevastopol,
thus allowing us to have a ramble ashore and a sail
across the harbour. Opposite the busy landing-place,
with its stalls of cheap and luscious fruit, was the exten-
sive yard belonging to the Black Sea Steam Navigation
Company, where a deal of bustle was in progress, arising
from the preparations for constructing the two new iron-
clads of the Inflexible t^^pe, TcJiesme and Sinope, for the
Black Sea fleet. Russia is well known as a country of
contrarieties, but few things are more mysterious than
that a company which cannot construct its own merchant
steamers, should be deemed fit to entrust with the
building of thick-ribbed ironclads.
The Black Sea Steam Navigation Company was estab-
44 THE RESTORATION OF SEVASTOPOL.
lished shortly after the Crimean War, with the object of
evading the clause of the Treaty of Paris, limiting
Eussia's fleet to six steam vessels, of 800 tons maximum
tonnage, by creating a flotiUa of transports, capable of
being turned into armed cruisers in time of war. The
company receives a mileage subsidy, and up to the pre-
sent time has drawn to the extent of nearly .£3,000,000
sterling upon the Russian Treasury. A report that I
have before me, published in 1881, states that its fleet
then consisted oB 76 steamers, of an aggregate of 78,162
tons, and 7,262 nominal horse-power. Of this fleet,
costing 9,942,000 roubles, or a million sterling, not a
single vessel had been constructed in Eussia. The fleet
burns 100,000 tons of coal a year, of which more than
half is obtained from England, and the rest from the
Donetz region, mostly from the company's own mines.
The original 500 rouble shares of the company are now
worth 750 roubles, and pay a dividend of 12 or 14 per
cent, every year.
Before the Eusso-Turkish War broke out in 1877, it
was confidently anticipated that the company would
render great assistance to the Grovemment. In reality,
it did very little at all. Several of its best steamers
were purposely kept away from Eussia when war became
inevitable, and of the rest only two or three proved of
any use as cruisers. This impotence caused great dis-
satisfaction in Eussia, and the Press unanimously
clamoured for a withdrawal of the subsidy ; but the
outcry neither affected the Government nor the company
until the present Emperor ascended the throne. The
new Ministers of the altered regime then took the matter
up, and the result of the pressure they exercised was a
decision on the part of the comj^any to build a fresh fleet
of steamers, of which nearly half a dozen have already
been constructed on the Tyne. Of these some have been
built by Messrs. Leslie, intended for the Batoum service.
THE BLACK SEA MARINE. '45
aud others by Messrs. Mitchell, for the direct trade
"between Odessa and the East. A representative of the
former is the Fuslikin, 1,485 tons register, 265 feet long,
34 broad, and 24 deep, with engines of 300 nominal
horse-power, or 1,616 indicated, steaming at fifteen
knots, and having accommodation for 166 first and
second-class passengers and 250 steerage. Her cost was
,£46,000. A typical vessel of the latter is the Tsaritza,
which is 332 feet long, 37 feet broad, 27 feet deep, and cost
.£55,000. All the new vessels are most luxuriously
fitted up, and whatever their future role in the next
war may be, they will certainly in the interval conduce
to the comfort of thousands of travellers in the Black
Sea.
To repair its steamers, the company early after its
formation spent £100,000 in constructing workshojis on
a site presented by the Government, and furnishing
them with machinery from England. Up to last year
another £100,000 had been expended in the same man-
ner, and when it seemed likely that the company would
secure the contract for the two new ironclads £40,000
more was allotted, making altogether nearly a quarter of
a million expended on the dockyard. Some months ago
the Russian Admiralty gave the company the order for
the two new vessels, and the keel of the first has recently
been laid in the presence of the Minister of Marine.
The two vessels, for which the company will receive a
payment of £643,500 sterling, are each 314 feet long,
69 feet broad, and 42 feet deep. Their plating will be
5 inches thick above water line, and 3 inches below ; the
turret having 14 inches of plating in front and 12 inches
behind. The engines will be of 9,000 horse-power,
and comprise 3 cylinders, 14 boilers, and 2 screws.
Twelve heavy guns will be carried by the vessels — six
12-inch guns in three open casemates, and six 6-inch in
closed casemates on the upper deck. The steel for the
46 THE RESTORATION OF SEVASTOPOL.
vessels is to be of Russian production, and the company
has pledged itself to roll its own armour-plates. At
present over 1,200 hands are employed at the company's
establishment, and fresh men are being taken on every
day. By 1885, the date fixed upon for the completion of
the two ironclads, the Grovernment should possess,
through the instnimentality of the company, a quasi-
State dockyard in fairly good working order. In excess,
it is not improbable that it may build a dockyard of its
own in the interval, for the use of the men-of-war
wintering at Sevastopol.
So much for the Black Sea Steam Navigation Com-
pany, whose headquarters may be regarded as temporarily
fixed at Sevastopol, although most of its trade is done at
Odessa. Sevastopol also serves as the headquarters of
the Moscow Cruiser Fleet, consisting of half a dozen
powerful steamers purchased during the war scare of
1878, or since then, and which have performed a useful
service in showing the Navigation Company how to open
up the direct trade between Russia and the East. To-
wards the cruiser movement Russia subscribed half a
million sterling in 1878-79. The vessels this money
enabled the promoters to secure were first used as trans-
ports, and then as merchantmen, the armaments being
placed in store at Sevastopol while the vessels were
engaged in commerce. In course of time, as might have
been expected, the committee grew tired of its duties
and neglected them, and the managers of the under-
taking were beginning to run into debt, when, a few
months ago, the Government stepped in and annexed
the concern to the Black Sea Fleet ; thereby adding
materially to a branch in which it was deficient. The
steamers are now used as troopships between South
Russia and the Caucasus, and South Russia and the
Pacific. One of them recently conveyed 3,800 time-
expired troops from Batoum to Sevastopol.
SIR E. J. EEED AND THE RUSSIAN FLEET. 47
It is impossible to quit the subject of the naval pro-
gress of Sevastopol without saying a few words about
the Black Sea Fleet. The public have not yet forgotten
the woK-cry Sir Edward Eeed raised in 1872, and again
in 1875, respecting the frigate Peter the \Great and the
circular ironclads or poj^offl-as. For years Sir Edward
Eeed posed as a naval Professor 'Hollo way ; Admiral
Popoff was his patent pill. By jumbling up matters
which were correct with matters which were wholly
imaginary — to put the advertising in no stronger light
— Sir Edward Eeed conferred naval prestige on Eussia
which that country did not deserve, and which disap-
peared in smoke the moment the imaginary armaments
of the northern Power were summoned to confront a real
enemy.
I have no space to deal with all the causes that led
to this impotence, so humihating to Eussia, so contrary
to the traditions of a fleet which Englishmen had helped
to establish, and with whose triumphs so many English
names are associated. If Sir Edward Eeed's gross
laudation of the fleet had been advantageous to Eussian
diplomacy during the period preceding the war, its
collapse directly afterwards gave a blow to its prestige
from which it has not yet recovered. The very praises
heaped so unstintedly upon the fleet helped to deepen
the disgrace attending its failure. Eussians could not
bear to hear the names of PopofE and Eeed mentioned,
for they were conscious that but for the support given
by the English constructor to his Eussian confrere, the
latter would have never gained such an ascendency at
the Admiralty, and acquired power to dissipate the naval
funds over unspeakably foolish hobbies. Had Sir Edward
Eeed shown himself at Cronstadt in 1877 he would have
been grossly insulted, perhaps lynched. As far as the
Press dared, it unsparingly assailed the Popoff regime,
and exposed the gross maladministration which, in effect.
48 THE RESTORATION OF SEVASTOPOL.
Tv^as more to blame for Enssia's impotence than climatic
drawbacks, and tlie absence of cheap iron, cheap coal,
and skilled labour. But, in spite of the protests of the
Golos and other papers, things went on from bad to
worse, and the fleet had become a by-word in Russia for
disorganization and disorder when Alexander II. suddenly
died, and a sweeping change took place in all the depart-
ments of State. The brothers of the old Tsar retired
from office ; the brothers of the new one took their place.
Vladimir succeeded Nicholas in the control of the army ;
Constantine gave up to Alexis the charge of the fleet.
The change was gladly welcomed in Eussia, and the
public expectation of improvement was speedily justified
by events. The Eussian Admiralty was exposed to a
thorough reorganization. Admiral Popoff was first to
o-o. So g-reat was the confusion found to be, that con-
siderable time was needed to put things to rights, with-
out attempting to develop the fleet. As Minister of
Marine, the Grand Duke Alexis chose Admiral Shestakoff,
who had been commander of the Svetlana, the frigate
which had taken him to America ten years earlier, when
the old Emperor wished to break off a secret marriage
he had contracted with the niece of the Minister of
Finance, Baron Eeutern. More recently, Shestakoff had
acted as naval attache in Southern Europe, and before
taking office had made a tour of inspection of the great
dockyards of the West, including those of this country.
Directly afterwards. Admiral Pestchuroff, another ener-
getic officer, was sent to the Black Sea to supersede
Admiral Arkas, a man who had let things drift, and had
covered himself with ridicule during the Turkish war by
continually issuing magniloquent despatches on dry land,
signed " Arkas, Commander-in-Chief of all the Eussian
ports and squadrons in the Black Sea " — a title hardly
suited to times when no squadron existed, and no port
was free from the Turkish blockade.
Russia's naval position in the black sea. 49
Having at length restored a little order in the navy,
the Grand Duke Alexis began to think of creating a new
Russian fleet. Two armoured frigate cruisers were com-
menced on the Neva, of which one, the Vladimir Mono-
marchus, is already in commission, and the second, the
Dmitri Donshoi, soon will be ; and then the order was
given for four ironclads for the Black Sea Fleet — two, as
stated, to be built at Sevastopol, and two at Nicolaeff.
Orders were also given for half a dozen sea-going torpedo
boats to firms abroad.
To sum lip, the position in the Black Sea is this : that
Russia will possess in two or three years' time a full-
grown town at Sevastopol, with a subsidized dockyard
capable of turning out ironclads, and probably a State
dockyard as well; together with the old large granite
docks restored, and an iron floating dock capable of
sustaining the largest ship of war. By the beginning of
1886 she will have afloat at Sevastopol a squadron of
four ironclads, incomparably stronger than the vessels of
the Ottoman fleet, and collectively able, with the projected
six new gunboats and twelve sea-going torpedo boats, to
prevent any Turkish squadron entering the Black Sea.
For cruiser or transport purj^oses she will have at least
twelve ocean-liners, comprising the steamers abeady con-
structed or projected of the Navigation Company and
the vessels of the Moscow Fleet. What aims Russia
may have in view in developing her Black Sea Fleet need
not be discussed. Sufiice it to call attention to the fact
that Turkish naval supremacy in the Black Sea, which
contributed so materially to prolong the last struggle, is
rapidly dying away, and that ere long the power will pass
completely to Russia, who, with her masked stronghold
at Batoum, her railway to Kars — also to be finished in a
few years' time — and her dominant position in the
Balkans, may be expected to adopt a very much more
£
50 THE RESTORATION OF SEVASTOPOL.
arrogant attitude in regard to Turkish affairs tlian slie is
content to do to-day.
But whatever may he the power and the prestige of
armaments, I have always considered that Turkey has
to dread more the material rather than the naval and
military progress of Russia. Sevastopol, in excess of
recovering its position as a dockyard, is becoming a great
commercial outlet. This is the case also with Nicolaeff,
where trade has developed with such remarkable strides
of late years that the place could forego the support of
the navy. In 1880 the exports from Sevastopol were
valued at 5,943,022 roubles ; the chief article being corn.
Last year the total was 9,888,706 roubles. At present
the shipping arrangements are very bad, but improve-
m.ents are impending, and these may be expected to be
accelerated by the growth of the new line of communi-
cation which is rendering Sevastopol the Brindisi of
Russia.
A glance at the map will show that Sevastopol is the
nearest Russian port for Batoum, and many Russians al-
ready prefer taking their departure from it instead of from
Odessa, which latter involves twenty hours' additional
sea journey. A few months ago an express service was
started between Moscow and Sevastopol, the distance,
945 miles, being done in forty-seven hours. More
recently, the enterprising and unsubsidized Greek firm of
Rodokanaki conceived the idea of running steamers direct
between Sevastopol and Batoum, instead of taking pas-
sengers round to Kertch and coasting slowly down to
that port, as is at present the practice with the Naviga-
tion Company. Three steamers have been ordered in
England for this service, and when they are placed on
the line nearly all the passenger trafl&c between Russia
and Transcaucasia, Central Asia, and Persia, may be
expected to pass thi'ough Sevastopol.
Thus Sevastopol has a great future before it, and will
THE FUTURE OF SEVASTOPOL. 61
doubtless restore itself without needing any particular
coddling on the part of the Government. Like Odessa,
Nicolaeff, Eostoff-on-the-Don, Taganrog, and half a
dozen other places on the Black Sea littoral, Sevastopol
is being pushed into prominence by the expansion of the
population and the trade at its rear. If, as many believe,
and myself among them, Russia is yielding to the
Teuton in Poland and along the Baltic, she is making
up for it by bulging out in the direction of the Black
Sea and Caucasus. Therein lies the real danger to
Constantinople.
E 2
52
CHAPTER TV.
GLIMPSES OF THE CRIMEA.
Departure from Sevastojiol — Views of the Crimean Coast from on
board the Steamer — The Crimean War. Ought we to be ashamed
of it or not ? — The Eivalry of England and Eussia in the East —
Real Importance of the Crimean War— Ought Russia to have
Constantinople ? — English Policy in Turkey— St. George's Mon-
astery and Balaclava — Yalta as a Watering-Place— The Grape-
Cure— Life at Yalta — Visit to Theodosia — Kaffa in Olden Times
— Wonderful Richness of the Crimea in the Middle Ages —
What the Russians have done for Theodosia — The Beauty of the
Black Sea — The Rat Fortress — The Defences of Kertch — Cannon
Stolen and Sold from the Ramparts of the Fortress during the
Turkish War.
We left Sevastopol at two o'clock in the afternoon, a
military band, bound for Kertch, playing a warlike tune,
and, with the numerous boats passing across the bay
from the north side, filled with white-coated soldiers
with their bayonets fixed, bringing back our memories
to the period of the siege. As we steamed out of the
harbour, and worked our way round the coast in the
direction of Balaclava, catching numerous glimpses as
we did so of the trench-traversed heights where the
English and the French fought out their great struggle
with the Russians, the heroic associations of the place
summoned all on deck, and more than one grey-headed
survivor of the conflict pointed out to eager crowds the
sites of the most cherished events of the belcaguerment.
That there were Englishmen on board made no differ-
ence to the narrators. Ignorant of their presence, or
THE VALUE OF THE CRIMEAN WAR. 53
perhaps ignoring it, tliey and their hearers discussed
the operations of the siege with that tolerance which is
so characteristic of Eussians. They were beaten, they
said, because the Allies had the superiority in the long
run of skill, money, and military resources ; but, aftei
all, the tenacity with which they held Sevastopol was
something to be proud of.
It has become the fashion to depreciate the Crimean
war, and to speak of it as something for Englishmen to
be ashamed of.* I do not share that feeling. Eegarded
as a whole, an Englishman certainly cannot but view
with vexation the blundering of the chiefs, the cruel
muddle and stupid mismanagement that cost us so many
lives, and the unpatriotic jealousies which led to Kars
being abandoned, in sj)ite of its heroic defence, to
Russia. That our soldiers fought with invincible bravery
is very inadequate consolation, for the world knew well
enough before what tough assailants we are, and there
is no need for us to embark in campaigns such as the
Crimean war simply to advertise our courage. From this
point of view, treating the matter in a military sense.
Englishmen cannot regard the Crimean war with unquali-
fied satisfaction. But this is not the ground on which
* The Duke of Argyll denounced this canting spirit in a most
creditable manner in his speech on the Russian annexation of Merv,
March 10, 18S4 : — " I have the honour, and a great honour I deem it,
of being one of the very few survivors of the Cabinet which fought
the Crimean war. Unlike many other members of the Liberal party,
•who are never tired of denouncing that war as either a great folly or
a great crime, I have never been ashamed of the part which the
English Government took on that occasion. - ^Ye did not fight for the
resurrection of Turkey. I, for one, never would. We fought for the
great principle that, whatever the fate of Turkey might be, it was
not to rest in the hands of Russia, but was a question to be decided
by Europe, not by Russia, not by secret treaties and conventions
gi\-ing her the power to do what she pleases when she pleases. That
"was the principle for which we fought, and it is the principle which I,
for one, should be ready to fight for again."
5^4 GLIMPSES OF THE CRIMEA.
the war is being attacked nowadays. It is asserted tliat
the war was a stupid, senseless war, because politically
nothing of permanent value was gained by it. It would
have been better, in short, to have left the Turks to their
fate, instead of involving ourselves in a struggle which,
after all, has failed to save the Ottoman Empire from the
danger of extinction.
This is an opinion which I do not think any one can
hold who has really at heart the interests of our Empire,
and is acquainted with the features of its progress
during the last thirty years. To be plain, the English
and the Russians have been rivals in Asia for more than
half a century, and leaving undiscussed the causes of the
rivalry, we have to face the fact that however much our
statesmen may aim at peace at any price, and at being
left alone, the competition will become more acute every
year. The mere expansion of the two Empires, apart
from schemes of conquest, real or imaginary, on the part
of Russia, is bringing the two Asiatic frontiers together ;
and I do not believe that a junction can be effected with-
out leading to serious dangers, which we ought to
prudently guard against by making oui' position as strong
as possible. Thanks to the check the Crimean war
imdoubtedly inflicted on Russia, the English have had
breathing time to consolidate their position in the East,
and the longer Russia is kejit from acquiring the whole
of the Black Sea and Constantinople, the better prepared
we shall be to confront her in any conflict which may
arise in the future out of the rival interests of the two
peoples. But for the Crimean war we should have been
seriously handicapped in establishing our power in the
East, and we have therefore to thank those statesmen
who gave the check to Russia for that start in the race
for empire, which is rendering the English the strongest
people in the world. In his recent work on Egypt, Mr,
Mackenzie Wallace urged that we should permanently
EIVALRY OF THE ENGLISH AND THE RUSSIANS. 55
occupy Egypt, and, as a sop to Russia, resign to her
Constantinople. I do not approve of this. By all means
render Egypt by degrees another India, but let us keep
Russia out of Constantinople as long as vre can. If the
concession of Constantinople to Russia "would put an end
to the rivalry of the two peoples, and afford a guarantee
of permanent friendship, I -would let Russia occupy the
city at once. No one desires more than I do that
England and Russia should be friends. But the gift of
Constantinople to Russia would no more put an end to
the rivalry of the two peoples in Asia — in China, in
Central Asia, in Persia, and Asia Minor— than the
presentation of Madagascar to France would suspend
Anglo-GralKc rivaliy on the Congo or in Tonquin. Hence,
however much we may secretly nourish the conviction
that Constantinople will idtimately fall to Russia, we
should strive to keep it out of her hands as long as we
can.
About a couple of hours' steaming brought us abreast
of St. G-eorge's Monastery and Balaclava ; but by this
time the passengers had exhausted their interest in the
siege, and were busy down below dining. The saloon
was crowded with passengers, all the tables being occu-
pied, for Sevastopol is the nearest railway terminus to
Yalta, the fashionable and flourishing watering-place of
South Russia. After dinner all hurried on deck, to
escape the intense heat and view the Crimean scenery,
the best of which is seen from Balaclava to Theodosia.
The huge solid blocks of mountain rising sheer out of
the sea to the height of three or four thousand feet,
afford continually scenes of a stupendous and picturesque
character, and render the evening's journey along this
part of the Black Sea full of interest. Unfortunately for
the Russians, when we reached Cape Aia, and left the
shelter of the mountains for less protected water, the
intense heat was suddenly dispersed by a fierce blast,
56 GLIMPSES OF THE CEIMEA.
which, made the steamer lively, and sent most of the
passengers in a melancholy mood to their bunks, there
to remain until at nine o'clock the steward conveyed to
them the cheering intelligence that the vessel had
arrived at Yalta, and that tea was on the table.
By this time it was already pitch dark, and there being
no jetty at Yalta we did not go ashore. On my return
home the steamer reached Yalta early in the morning,
and stopped long enough for me to have a look at a sea-
side resort, which has been well described by Mr.
Gallenga as " one of the most beautiful watering-places
in the world." It is a place of singular beauty, remind-
ing one of Oban, but beating it out and out. When the
late Emperor died, the palace he had built at Livadia,
three versts from Yalta, was closed, and many believed
that the prosperity of the place was at an end. But the
reverse has proved to be the case. Yalta is becoming
yearly a more and more favourite Eussian seaside resort,
and acquiring attractions which in time will doubtless
provoke a rush of visitors from Europe. The two new
monster hotels — Edinburgh and Eussia — on the sea-
shore, and the numerous villas on the hills at the rear,
testify, without any reference to statistics, to the growing
prosperity of Yalta. Were the railway system extended
from Sevastopol to Yalta, and the Eussians spared the
fears of a few hours' sea trip, the number of visitors
would immensely increase, for the air has the curative
powers of that of Switzerland, the scenery is enchanting
— particularly to the dwellers of the fiat and frozen
plains of Eussia, and innumerable miracles are said to
have been wrought by the " grape cure," for which the
Crimea is famous. '
All day long, at home in lodgings, in the streets, in the
shops, in the baths, on the quay, and in the public
gardens, people may be seen eating grapes. The ground
is everywhere littered with grape-skins. By eating very
GRAPE CURE AT YALTA. 57
little else than grapes and bread, and leading an outdoor
life, invalids are able to get rid of many ailments, and
return home full of gratitude to Yalta. Of all cures,
the grape cure is certainly the pleasantest, especially
when carried out amid such charming surroundings as
those of the Crimea. The grapes are extremely large,
and there are many varieties of them, of which the
dearest does not cost more than twopence a pound.
Scoifers affirm that it is the moderate living, the outdoor
life, and the absence of worry and responsibility, that
effect the cure rather than the grapes ; but, without
arguing this point, it is certain that the system benefits
by the infusion of grape juice into it. There is but one
defect to it ; the acid in the fruit is apt to tell on the
teeth after a person has been eating grapes for a few
weeks, but the evil is not discovered until the patient has
gone away from Yalta recovered in health, and when it
is found out the true cause of the mischief is rarely
guessed by the sufferer.
Nearly all the Eussian Grand Dukes possess villas
along the coast, stretching away from here in the direc-
tion of Sevastopol, and most of the nobility also. All of
them are charmingly situated, and often surrounded by
beautiful gardens ; and these being open to the public
when their owners are away, there are plenty of drives
to amuse the visitor. For those fond of climbing there
is good amusement in scaling the cliffs towering in the
background above Yalta, and shooting may be had in the
vicinity. To a certain degree. Englishmen must make
their own pleasures in places like Yalta, because the
Continental notion of recreation differs widely from our
own. After a drive or two to Alupka or Alushta, and a
trip to Livadia, the Eussian is satisfied with what he has
seen of the exterior of Yalta, and settles down for the
rest of his stay to a daily lounge on the quay in the morn-
ing, a nap between lunch and dinner at the hotel, and a
58 GLIMPSES OF THE CRIMEA.
promenade in the public gardens nntil midniglit. Occa-
sionally during tlie season Talta is visited by a dramatic
troupe, and the circus, with Jewish performers, is a
permanent feature of the place ; in excess of which,
there are weekly concerts and frequent balls. For those
who have time to spare, and are tired of Nice and Men-
tone, a trip to Yalta, achievable in five days, should be
an agreeable outing. Ignorance of Russian is no bar to
the journey, as French and German ai'e generally under-
stood at Yalta, and there are plenty of good-natured,
hosj^itable Russians, with more time on their hands than
they know what to do with, who are only too ready to
assist a stranger. In sjDite of the political quarrelling
between the two countries, English people are the most
popular foreigners in Russia, and the nationality of an
Englishman is a passport to good treatment wherever he
travels in that country. It is only in Central Asia
that his presence is objected to, and there are not
many who want to take a holiday trip as far as that.
If such halt at Yalta they are not likely to wish to go
beyond.
We turned in before the steamer left Yalta, and were
awakened shortly after midnight by the violent rolling
of the vessel, the banging of loose water-cans and hand-
bags about the cabin, and the groans of the unlucky
passengers. The steamer was in the midst of a storm,
and, as usual, every Russian was deadly sick. Com-
miseration for them kej)t me awake some time, but at
length I fell asleep, and when I aroused myself again it
was eight o'clock, and the vessel was in calm, deep water,
alongside the Thcodosia jetty. It is a feature of Black
Sea travelling that the misery of being afloat in stormy
weather is mitigated by the frequent runs into port, and
the shelter accorded by the moimtains. Under the most
unfavourable circumstances, the nervous passenger may
count on the certainty of securing a tolerable number
THE GRANARY OF ANCIENT GREECE. 59
of comfortable meals in the course of a journey round the
sea.
Theodosia is famous for two things : its ancient ruins,
and the gallery of modem pictures of the painter Aiva-
sovsky, who possesses a charming villa on a prominent
point overlooking the bay. Russians always rush to see
the pictures, and the passengers on board the Grand
Biike Michael were no exception to the rule. But it
occurred to me that while I might some day see the pic-
tures in London (Aivasovsky often displays them on the
Continent), I might never hope to have Theodosia brought
to my door ; so I spent the few hours going and return-
ing in exploring the ruins of the place. Not that I love
ruins as ruins, for I prefer new things to old, but for the
sake of forming an estimate of the political future of
Theodosia.
It is easy to see, even before landing, that Theodosia
must have once been a remarkable city. From the bay,
with its anchorage of eight to ten fathoms of water,
there is a grand view of tier upon tier of stone houses,
with bits of garden wall constantly cropping up in their
midst ; and, stretching far away, higher and higher upon
the heights to the rear, may be readily detected ruins of
villages, mounds of rubbish, and tumuli raised by the
ancient Greeks. Broken, dirty, dusty, ruined as Theo-
dosia now is, there was a time when it was called the
Granary of Greece, and shipped, according to classic
tradition, 3,000,000 bushels of corn in one year. Con-
sidering the size of vessels in those days, an immense
amount of shipping must have been employed upon the
task, even if we regard the figure as exaggerated, and
reduce it. During the second, or Genoese epoch of its
career, Theodosia, or Kaffa, as it was called, flourished
to such a degree that when the Turks took it in 1475,
after two centuries of Italian prosperity, they dubbed it
" Tarin Stanbol," or " Half Stamboul," because its size
60 GLIMPSES OF THE CRIMEA.
gave it a right to rank next to Constantinople. When
Chardin visited the place two centuries ago, there were
more than 4,000 houses and 80,000 people in Theodosia,
and 400 ships in the bay. A century later the Eussians
took it, and every stupidity and crime bad government
can be guilty of was experienced by Theodosia under
their rule. All the grand public buildings were pulled
down, the magnificent mosques destroyed, the beautiful
Genoese walls torn to pieces, and the inhabitants ill-treated
till they forsook the place, carrying its trade away with
them. Over and over again during the twenty-five hun-
dred years that have elapsed since the Milesians colonized
the site, Theodosia has been bombarded from sea and
besieged by land, but no enemies, Greeks, Genoese,
Venetians, Turks, or Tartars, ever desecrated it so wan-
tonly and ruthlessly as the Russians did after they placed
it under their administration, even if we include the un-
necessary and heartless banging Hobart Pasha gave it in
1878. The arch-vandal Kasnatchaeff, from whose un-
scrupulous hand nothing was saved, not only destroyed
the beauty of the town, but turned the environs into a
desert by cutting down all the woods, the orchards, and
the gardens. Gazing from the sea at the bare and bleak
mountain side, it is difficult to realize that the country
once bore the fruitful aspect of Devon and Kent.
The Russians of to-day have done little to repair the
ravages wrought by their fathers, however much they may
deplore and disown their vandalism. Theodosia is com-
monly spoken of as a " fashionable watering-place," but
it possesses nothing to deserve such a designation. Ill-
paved, inundated with dust, with one drowsy public gar-
den, a wretched hotel or two, a filthy strand along the
waterside, and water full of rank sea-weed and sewage,
it offers no inducement to tempt Russians, who are good
judges of luxury, from resorting to Nice, Mentone, East-
bourne, and Ostend. The only Russians who really visit
THE BLACK SEA AND THE BALTIC. 61
it are people who cannot afford to go farther in search of
a watering-place, or like a couple on board, deceived by
a fictitious reputation and " taken in." Perhaps, in the
distant future, Theodosia may become a clean and thriv-
ing little port ; but there is at present no speedy likeli-
hood of its attaining afresh the wonderful pitch of pros-
perity and power it enjoyed under the Greeks and Genoese.
After a couple of hours' stay the steamer quitted
Theodosia in the direction of Kertch. The view of
Theodosia as one crosses Kaffa Bay is very fine. Besides
the panorama of the port, there are to the right and left
magnificent configurations of the Crimean mountains,
which dwell on one's memory many a day. I do not
know what impressions the scenery had on the Russians,
but knowing the North well, I could not help asking
myself — How can men be content to dwell on the sullen
and marshy shores of the Baltic when they have such a
splendid sea in the South ? To have asked the question
of the passengers, however, would have been cruel, for
the " splendid sea," directly we got away from the shelter
of the mountains, began to tumble the steamer about,
and before long the bunks were full, and nobody was left
to enjoy the lunch but the English passengers on board.
In the afternoon the wind almost blew a gale, and the
deck passengers had a miserable time of it. After pass-
ing Cape Tash Kyryk the cliffs diminished in height, and
became grey and sullen, like those of Dorset. The only
striking bit of scenery the whole afternoon was the
curious Ship Rocks, lofty sharp masses of rock starting
out of the water a couple of miles from land, and
appearing in the distance exactly like a shij) in full sail.
The Tartars call them the Sytchan Kaleh, or Eat Portress.
When we got well into the Straits of Tenekale the sea
grew calmer, and the passengers began to troop on deck,
to find dinner over and cleared away, and the steamer
abreast of the fortress of Petropavlovsky.
62 GLIMPSES OF THE CBIMEA.
This fortress was erected after tlie Crimean War by
General Todleben, on the site of the batteries silenced
and captured by the Allies, when they invaded Kertch in
1855 with 15,000 troops. It has been described as a com-
bination of masked batteries and covered ways extending
over two miles, the casemates being masked by massive
earthworks supported in their rear with buttresses of
masonry. At the foot of the cape are a number of em-
brasure batteries, at present mounting 150 guns ; and at
the top is the citadel, Fort Todleben, whence the fire is
directed by means of telegraphic communication, the
entire view to seaward being comprehended in a camera.
In the opinion of Commander Buchan Telfer, R.N.,
"fortifications one-fifth of the size of Petropavlovsky,
and a few torpedoes, would have sufficed to defend the
entrance, half a mile in width, between the Touzla bank
and the works. When it is considered that this fortress
might be invested by an enemy without a mighty effort,
and the supply of water at the rear cut off, it is difficult
to conceive the object with which these enormous defences
have been erected, defences necessitating in time of war
a garrison of many thousand men. A second Sevastopol
has been raised, without the advantages of a good port."
During the Turkish War the defences of Kertch were
left untouched by Hobart Pasha, who evidently thought
them too strong for his ironclads, and the only event of
the campaign was a court-martial on a number of ofiicers
of the garrison, canght removing some of the guns and
ammunition from the batteries, and selling them to a pro-
fessional receiver of stolen goods at Kertch. The inquiry
into this little peccadillo extended over a long period ;
but revelations being threatened compromising the higher
authorities of the place, it was suddenly suspended, and
the delinquents let off, except, of course, the small
f rv : the watchmen, carters, and so forth, who were
promptly deported to Siberia. "Just like Russia!"
PEIVILEGED THIEVES. 63
exclaims tlie reader. But sucli abuses of justice are not
peculiar to Eussia alone. The rich and the powerful of
all countries are privileged thieves. In every land the
petty pilferer, whose chief incentive to crime is his
poverty, is heavily and wrathfully punished, while the
nobleman who steals common-land, the ofl&cial who re-
ceives bribes or appropriates public funds, and the
capitalist who thrives on bubble companies, are invariably
allowed to enjoy their plunder.
Two miles beyond the fortified cape lies Kertch. On
our way we passed thirty steamers, mostly English, idling
in quarantine.
64
CHAPTER V.
A SECRET RUSSIAN MISSION TO CABUL.
Kertch and its Greek Antiquities — A Discovery made, not Classic, but
Modern— The Jew who had been to Cabul — How he participated
in SkobelefFs Campaign against Geok Tep^ — Ahkhanoff's Journey
to Merv — Persons composing the Secret Russian Expedition to
Cabul — Their Route through Central Asia — Samuel, the Inter-
preter, bound to Secrecy — What he saw at Cabul — English
Soldiers with the Ameer's Troops — Loot from Geok Tepd —
Caution displayed by Venkhovsky — Samuel's Description of Cabul
— Afghan Opinion of the Russians — The Massacre after the Cap-
ture of Geok Tepd — Women Ravished — " It is better to be
Silent in this World " — Description of a Secret Survey of Merv
— The true Bearings of the Discovery of the Mission — Skobeleff's
Memorandum on the Invasion of India — Russia now possesses a
Survey of the direct Road from Herat to Cabul, which we know
little or nothing about.
Nobody goes to Kertcli without writing about its Greek
antiquities, or carrying away some of them with him. A
pleasant little place, it contains enough Greek remains in
the vicinity to satisfy the most inveterate archaeologist.
By mounting to the top of the limestone slope on which
the town is built, a fine view is obtained of a range of
hills running away inland seven or eight miles, studded
with tumuli. Every bit of elevated ground for miles and
miles round Kertch possesses these excrescences, and as a
large proportion have been excavated at some time or other,
they remind oae of the barnacle growth on oysters. The
panorama of the bay is grand, and it is flattering to the
Euflishman's pride that most of the year roimd nearly
THE ENGLISH AT KEETCH. 65
all the large sliipping in it should fly the Union Jack ; to
the Greek or Italian, however, the spectacle must be full
of melancholy. There was a time when all the shipping
was Greek. There was another ej)och when most of it
hailed from Genoa. Now the English flag prevails,
although the Russians have held the place a century.
In course of time, when the coal of the Donetz valley
and the iron beds of Kherson are more developed, the
Russians may build their own iron ships, and themselves
carry their wares to foreign markets. For the moment,
the foreign transport trade of the Don and the Azoff is
chiefly in English hands.
Kertch has never forgotten that it was once the capital
of the Kingdom of the Bosj^horus. In its traditions it is
far more Greek than Russian. Everybody has something
to say about King Mithridates, whose " arm-chair " is
one of the most prominent features of the locality ; and
near which antiquities are constantly being brought to
light. Few places have yielded more Greek treasures, or
a richer and finer assortment than Kertch. They, how-
ever, are not to be seen there, but at St. Petersburg,
where they constitute one of the sights of the imperial
Hermitage. The small museum at the town itself is only
a sort of temporary depository — the antiquities exhumed
being kept in it until the accumulation reaches a certain
point, when the treasures are carefully overhauled and
the pick of them sent to the Russian capital. Many
people make a Hvelihood by digging for antiquities,
which are still plentiful, in spite of successive rulers,
Khazars and Tartars, Genoese and Turks, and finally
Russians, having pillaged the tumuli for centuries.
It was seven in the evening when the Chrand Duke
Michael was made fast to the jetty at Kertch, and as the
steamer did not leave for the coast of the Caucasus until
midnight, those passengers who were bound for Batoum
were able to pass a pleasant evening ashore. It was too
¥
66 A SECRET RUSSIAN MISSION TO CABUL.
dark to visit the Greek ruins outside tlie town, or to hope
of seeing much even of Kerteh itseK ; but anything was
better than being cooped up on board the steamer, and,
at the worst, we thought a few antiquities might be
picked up at the shops to take back to England. The
sequel proved that Kei'tch contained other things of
importance besides musty Greek relics, and that at this
out-of-the-way comer of the Black Sea, of all places in
the world, I was fated to make a discovery throwing a
vivid light upon Russia's secret relations with Cabul,
The party comprised myself, Mr. Coxon, and another
Englishman on board, Mr. Call. Making our way to the
market, we loaded ourselves with grapes, here obtainable
for a penny a pound, and then, by chance, roamed into a
broad thoroughfare, which proved to be the Woronzoff
Street (yorontsovsJcaya Oolitzci), the principal street in
the town. Having walked a short distance along this,
on the right-hand side, we noticed two or three antiqui-
ties exposed in a small shop, belonging to a working
jeweller. Entering the place, we examined them, but
found them both indifferent and dear ; upon which the
man said that if we cared to accompany him he would
take us to a German's, where we should find plenty of
cheaper specimens. The German's shop was situated in
the same street, on the opposite side of the way, and
proved to be a large hardware establishment, with an
assortment of antiquities in one comer — vases, bottles,
images, coins, &c., obtained from the tumuli outside
Kerteh. The proprietor spoke a little English.
We made a selection, and, while bargaining, our guide
inquired where we were bound to by the steamer, and on
my telling him that my ultimate destination might
possibly be Krasnovodsk or Kizil Arvat, said that he
knew both places well, and, in fact, the greater part of
Central Asia, having travelled to Askabad and Merv,
Herat and Cabul, and other places. I pricked up my
A DISCOVEKY, NOT CLASSIC BUT MODEKN. G7
ears at this. When had he been to Cabul ? Last year,
was his answer ; he had been interpreter to a Russian
mission to the Ameer Abdurrahman Elian. This was
the first I had heard of any Russian expedition to
Afghanistan in 1882. Nothing was known about it in
England. It was clear that if this man was telling the
titith, there was some basis for the reports that had
been continually coming from Afghanistan respecting
the presence of secret Russian agents at Herat and
Cabul.
Leaving Mr. Cail, who spoke German, to settle the
bargain with the German shopkeeper, I commenced to
closely interrogate the man. As we pursued an eager
interrogation I do not know who seemed more astonished
— myseK, that this working jeweller at Kertch should
have turned out to be a secret Russian agent recently
returned from Cabul, or himself, that a person who had
never been beyond the Caspian should know so much
about what the Russians had been doing there for the
last five years. Probably, for months past he had come
in contact with no one who cared a rap what he had seen
and done in Central Asia, and now that he had met with
some one who knew all about Skobeleff' s siege at Geok
Tepe, in which he had participated, and who could fight
over again the conflict with him, he was delighted at his
experience being appreciated, and was only too ready to
talk of old times. In the course of a few moments the
following particulars transpired.
During Skobeleff' s expedition against the Turcomans,
1880-81, he accompanied the army to Geok Tepe as a
sutler. He was perfectly familiar with the incidents of
the siege, and described all the leading events and the
principal actors in them with a minuteness that could
have only resulted from personal participation in the
campaign. The day after the storm of Geok Tepe he
assisted in the pillage of the Tekke fortress, and secured
F 2
68 A SECEET RUSSIAN MISSION TO CABUL.
a large number of valuable carpets, whicli, however,
were taken from liim by tlie military authorities. After
tlie pacification of tlie country he resided at Askabad
until the early part of 1882, and the probability of this
was borne out by his account of Lessar's surveys and
Alikhanoff's journey to Merv in disguise. He told me
many things about Alikhanoff, which I knew to be cor-
rect ; that he had once been a major, but had been re-
duced to the ranks for fighting a duel ; that the Merv
Tekkes had been so hostile to his caravan that the
Eussians had abandoned their goods at Merv in a panic ;
that his companions had been Lieutenant Sokoloff and
the trader Gospodin Kosikh, together with other details
that could have only been obtained at Askabad, and
which he recounted without the slightest prompting or
pressing.
On the 27th of January (Eussian style), 1882, he set
out from Askabad for Cabul. The party consisted of
three persons, all disguised — Captain Venkhovsky, of
the Engineers, who had been attached to General
Gloukhovsky's survey of the old bed of the Amu Daria
(Oxus), and spoke Turki and Pushtoo (he had once
before visited Afghanistan) ; Prince Khilkoff, manager
of the Transcaspian Eailway ; and finally himself,
Samuel, a Jew. Venkhovsky was the envoy ; he, Samuel,
acted as interpreter, and was disguised as a travelling
watchmaker and jeweller. Leaving Askabad, they pro-
ceeded to Merv, where they stopped fourteen days.
Then they went to Khiva, afterwards to Bokhara, and
then back over the Oxus and the mountains to Herat,
which was reached in March. Prom Herat they pro-
ceeded direct to Cabul, where they stayed eight days in
May. Eeturning by the same way, they reached Herat
again June 10 (o.s.), and spent there also eight days.
Questioned as to what he did at Cabul, he said he
could not tell me ; as, on his return to Askabad, he had
THE EUSSIANS AT CABUL. 69
been compelled to sign a paper that lie would never
divulge what he had interpreted during his travels.
Finding my interrogations on this point made him sus-
picious, I said I quite understood how he was placed,
and changed the conversation to Turcoman carpets, of
which he said he had some specimens from Merv and
Geok Tepe. After a time I resumed the talk about his
travels, and got him to wi-ite in Euss in mv pocket-book
the name of the envoy, Venkhovsky, that there might be
no doubt about it. The second Russian's name he had
forgotten, but he bore the title of prince.
After he had thought for a few seconds, I asked if it
was Eristoff, the name of an enterprising Transcaspian
petroleum pioneer.
" No," replied Samuel, " it was not he. Eristoff was a
Greorgian. The person I mean was a Eussian prince,
who spoke many languages, including English."
" Was it KliiikofE ? "
" That's the name," replied the Jew, " Prince Khilkoff.
Travelling aboiit so much makes one forget and mix up
names. Khilkoff was controller of the Transcaspian
Eailway. He was once in America, and worked as a
locomotive driver. He is now in Bulgaria, Minister of
Eailways. He promised me a situation if he got the
appointment, but he has forgotten me, I suppose."
These personal details of Elilkoff were perfectly ac-
curate. To them he added others which need not be
repeated here. Nearly the whole of the conversation
was carried on in Euss ; but he repeatedly dropped into
Gennan, and this induced me to ask Mr. Call, who spoke
that language, to also question him on the subject. To
him he readily repeated much that he had related to me.
He said he spoke most of the Centi-al Asian dialects,
and also French and German, but no English. Alto-
gether he had spent four years in the Transcasjjian
region. While with the Eussian expedition in Afghan-
70 A SECKET RUSSIAN MISSION TO CABUL.
istan he receiyed 100 roubles a montli. His name, at my
request, lie wrote in my pocket-book. First be wi'ote
" Samuel " in Frencb characters, and then began " watch-
maker" in German — "Uhr . . ." — but I checked him,
and told him to write it in Russian. Thereupon he
wrote " Samoilo. Watchmaker. Vorontsovsky Street.
Own House. Kertch."
'(JJU
The above is a facsimile of what he wrote in my
pocket-book.
On my expressing a desire to see a photograjih of
himself in the costume he wore at Cabul, and also some
Turcoman carpets, he said that if we would proceed to
his shop, and wait while he closed it for the night, he
would go home and bring them to us in a public garden
near. We accordingly repaired to his shop, where
Messrs. Coxon and Gail bought some Persian krans
mounted as studs, and I obtained a coin picked up in
Geok Tepe. When he had packed up the few articles of
jewellery displayed in the window to take home, we pro-
ceeded to a garden near the Fruit Market. He excused
himself that he could not take us to his house, on the
score that his wife and children were probably asleep.
In a quarter of an hour's time he joined us again with
SA3IUEL THE INTERPRETEK.
71
anotlier Jew. He had a tolerably good specimen of a
small Merv cai-pet, for "which he asked 15 roubles, and
another from Geok Tepe, for which he wanted six. He
showed us two photograj)hs — one of himself in the cos-
tume he wore at Elhiva (Turcoman dress), and the other
showing the dress he wore at Cabul. The latter, he said,
was taken at Askabad, and had printed on the back in
Euss — " M. M. Sarkisiantz. In Akhal-Tekke." It was
^
a vignette, of which the above is a reproduction, and
represented him wearing a tall, white, conical, sheep skin
cap of the Turcoman pattern, and a striped Bokharan
Khalat.
I asked him to give me the photograph, but he refused.
It was the only copy he had got. The negative was at
Askabad, and I could easily get a duplicate there. If I
72 A SECRET RUSSIAN MISSION TO CABUL.
failed he would give it me on my return — a promise he
kept on my paying him a visit on my way home. In
case I went to Krasnovodsk and Kizil Arvat he gave me
the names of two persons who would lodge me there —
Gospodin Cohen, at the former place, and Biliani at the
latter.
By this time it was already late, and we had to make
our way back to the steamer. Both while walking to
the garden, and during our stay in it, Mr. Cail closely
questioned the man on all essential points in German,
Samuel giving ready replies to the questions, and accom-
panying them with details that rendered it impossible to
doubt that he had visited the places mentioned by him.
The only portion of his story that was at all difficult to
understand, was a statement that he had seen a number
of Enghsh soldiers at Cabul, saying with Oriental loose-
ness first that there were a hundred there, then fifty or
so. He did not know whether they spoke Pushtoo or
not. The guard of six men placed over the party during
its stay at Cabul contained two of these English soldiers.
He did not speak to them at all, and as his impression of
their nationaUty apparently arose from their appearance
and dress, they may have been the regular troops of the
Ameer's army, in uniforms cut after the European
fashion, such as several times misled our own troops
during the Afghan war by their similarity to our own.
He persisted in calling them English soldiers — they were
not Indian troops, he was certain, and I was sorry after-
wards I had not had time to interrogate him more fully
on this point. He mentioned having in 1882 seen at
Askabad an Englishman, who spoke Eussian fluently.
This was probably Mr. Condie Stephen, of the British
Legation at Teheran, who was sent that year to report
upon the condition of the Perso-Turcoman frontier.
While at Cabul he said that the Eussians had to be very
careful in what they said and did, and from motives of
WHAT THE RUSSIANS SAW AT CABUL. 76
prudence, to avoid arousing the proverbial suspicious-
ness of the Afghans, did not ask too many questions, or
confer privately with one another before them.
The whole story was so very curious that, in order to
set at rest any doubts that might be raised as to the
authenticity of my account of it, I drew up a statement
the next morning, embodying the above, which Messrs.
Coxon and Cail signed. Fortunately, Mr. Gardiner, the
Bi-itish Vice-Consul at Poti, joined the vessel at Kertch,
and they were able to discuss and attest its accuracy in
his presence. Subsequently the statement was read over
to Mr. D. E. Peacock, the British Consul at Batoum,
who has an extensive knowledge of politics in the
Caucasus. He said it was impossible to seriously doubt
the general truthfulness of the man's story. From
motives of prudence I did not send home by post the
statement to be published, but kept it in my pocket-book,
to add to it if circumstances should lead to my calling at
Kertch and seeing the man on my return journey. On
Thursday, September 15th, I found myself at sunrise
again at Kertch, and the steamer Tsarevna not leaving
before haK-past ten, I passed the early hours in exploring
the ruins of Kertch, and at eight o'clock made my way
to the shop of the Jew. Mr. Coxon, who happened to
be again travelling by the steamer, accompanied me.
I found the watchmaker already at work in his shop.
After a few minutes' conversation at the door, he invited
us to go to his house, a small stone building with a large
yard attached, situate about five minutes' walk from the
Woronzoff Street. It was poorly furnished. His wife
was out shopping, but returned after a while.
I began questioning him further about his travels in
Central Asia, in the course of which he produced a
number of articles he had brought from that region —
several carpets, some pierced with bullets and bought
with other loot from the soldiers at Geok Tepe ; the
74 A SECRET EUSSIAN MISSION TO CABUL.
ornamented travelling sack, of carpet material, wliicli
contained his food and was strapped behind him when
he rode to Merv ; a couple of belts he bought at Khiva,
the robe (very dirty and worn) he was disguised in
during the Cabul journey, and various other things.
While he was showing these I interrogated him closely
about the English soldiers he said he had seen at Cabul,
but could not disabuse him of the belief that they were
Englishmen. He told me he had not come in actual
contact with them. He had only seen them at a distance.
He had not even spoken with the two attached to the
Afghan guard placed over the Russian expedition, having
been cautioned by Yenkhovsky to avoid asking questions.
The Eussians had hardly spoken to the Afghan guard at
all, they were so apprehensive of exciting their hostility.
The alleged English soldiers could be readily distinguished
from the Afghan troops, both by their di'ess and physio-
gnomy. They wore high boots and blue tunics. It was
an Afghan who told him they were English soldiers.
They seemed to be on the best terms with the Afghans.
He saw them walking and talking together like " chums."
The Afghans treated them as brothers, not as foreigners.
The Eussian expedition went by the direct road from
Herat to Cabul, traversing mountains. They rode on
horses. During the journey Prince EliilkofE kept a
diary ; he had two large books, in which he made notes.
He was continually making them while on the road,
writing down every feature of it. On the arrival of the
mission at Cabul the Ameer was particularly friendly.
Venkhovsky and Khilkoff dined twice with him. On
the occasion of the first intei-view Venkhovsky gave the
Ameer a packet — he, Samuel, could not tell me the con-
tents of the despatches, nor did I press him. He said
he had no idea of the nature of the communications.
Letters were continually passing between the Ameer
and Venkhovsky during the stay of the expedition at
THE RUSSIANS AND THE AMEER. 75
Cabul, and when it left the latter took away another
packet with him.
The Ameer he described as a fine, stout man, remind-
ing him in burliness of Bismarck. He treated the
Eussians with every possible respect, and wanted them
to go to Candahar, but, owing to tribal disturbances
along the road, Venkhovsky thought it wiser to defer the
visit. The principal negotiations between the Ameer
and the Eussian mission were carried on by a Khivan
Usbeg at the Ameer's court. He had forgotten his
name ; he spoke Eussian a little, and was very fond
of women. Samuel described Cabul as a charming city.
If he had not had a wife he would have settled down
there as a watchmaker. He would go there again to-
morrow if anybody wanted him. There was plenty of
fruit at Cabul, and he had never visited a place where
such splendid kishliks [or kabobs, small bits of meat
roasted on skewers] were to be had. The Afghans cook
them at Cabul " in the English fashion, with plenty of
blood in the meat." He saw the places outside Cabul
"where the Afghans repeatedly defeated General
Eoberts," and the crosses above our soldiers' graves.
The Afghans have a high opinion of the Eussians, and
are inclined to be very friendly with them. He would
undertake to travel in any part of Afghanistan.
When we returned to the steamer he accompanied us,
carrying a Turcoman carpet Mr. Coxon had purchased of
him. He said it was one of the spoils of Geok Tepe.
He described the siege of the fortress as a dreadful
affair ; the Tekkes fought with such determination that
the Eussians several times thought they would have to
retreat. When the fortress was captured, and the Turco-
mans streamed out across the plain, the carnage was
fearful. One thousand Eussians cut down 8,000 Turco-
mans — men, women, and children — in a few hours.
The whole country was covered with coi-pses ; " the
76 A SECRET RUSSIAN MISSION TO CABUL.
morning after the battle they lay in rows like freshly
mown hay, as they had been swept down by the mitrail-
leurs and artillery. He himself saw babies bayonetted
or slashed to pieces. Many women were ravished before
being killed." On my mentioning that Skobeleff had
solemnly assured me none had been ravished, he re-
plied energetically, " Lots were. They were ravished by
the soldiers before my eyes. He may not have Imown it,
I could tell you many horrible things that took place,
but (tapping his lips significantly with his forefinger) it
is better to be silent in this world. The plunder from
Geok Tepe was immense. The troops were allowed to
get drunk, plunder, and kill for three days after the
assault."
I mentioned that Mr. Cail had carried away the im-
pression from the last interview that he, Samuel, had
served as interpreter to Skobeleff during the siege. He
denied this. He had been a sutler, pure and simple.
He had, however, acted as interpreter to Prince Khilkoff
after the war. On my asking if he had no other name
besides Samuel, he replied that his family name was
Q-ourovitch, but that he was commonly known as Samuel
at Kertch. He wrote his name in my pocket-book. I
should add that I made no secret of my personality.
What he told me was given openly, not in confidence.
As he disclosed to me nothing respecting what he was
bound to keep secret, I can do him no harm in giving
his statements in full. On the steamer I showed him
some of the illustrations appearing in my last work,
"The Eussians at Merv and Herat." The picture of
the "Northern Gate of Merv" (page 194) delighted
him.
" How many times have I gone up and down that
road," he said. "We used to go about the fortress,
scanning it, disguised as Tekkcs. Do you know that
inside the fortress, behind the wall, there are forty
OUR POLICY IN AFGHANISTAN. 77
English, camion ? " I replied that they were not English,
but Persian ones, thirty-two in number, cajjtui-ed from
the army of Sultan Murad Mirza in 1861. "Then if
they are not English, they are of English manufacture,"
rejoined Samuel.
The third bell now ringing, to warn the public that the
steamer was about to start, he bade me goodbye, and
went ashore.
I have no wish to give undue prominence to Ven-
khovsky's secret mission to Cabul, but I cannot dismiss
the subject without a few remarks. When the discovery
was made at Kertch, rumours were reaching India from
Cabul that Eussian agents had repeatedly visited
Afghanistan since our treaty of peace vrith the Ameer,
and that a secret representative was still there. Samuel's
story proved for the first time without doubt that there
had been at least one secret mission to Cabul since
1881, and thereby gave an air of probability to the state-
ment that others had been there also. This was something.
But the true bearings of Venkhovsky's mission can
only be understood by a reference to the condition of
political affairs at the time it reached Cabul. Europe,
in the early part of 1882, was in a state of agitation.
The rising in Herzegovina had f oimd England's sympathy
to rest with Austria, and Ceneral Skobeleff, chagrined
at Mr. Gladstone's falling off, had used ominous language
at the famous Geok Tepe banquet with reference to
Yienna and India. Already, even then, the Egyjjtian
Question was exciting rival ambitions among the Euro-
pean Powers, and Eussia had taken uj) a diplomatic
attitude decidedly hostile to this country. If Ven-
khovsky's mission had a political aim, the time was
certainly well chosen for preparing the groimd in Central
Asia for operations against India, in the event of a
necessity arising to coerce England in Europe.
78 A SECRET RUSSIAN MISSION TO CABUL.
But "wlietlier the expedition had a political purport or
not, it was certainly attended with geographical results
of the highest importance. There is, I believe, no pub-
lished march-route existing of the direct road between
Herat and Cabul. The road has never yet been traversed
by an English explorer, and we know so little about it
that Colonel Malleson, in his admirable " Herat," goes
back to 1506 for a description of the highway! In 1875
GTeneral Sir Charles MacGregor made preparations for
effecting the survey, but was foolishly hindered from
doing so by the over-scrupulous and timid ofl&cials at
Simla at the very moment he was setting out from
Meshed. Thus we have no survey of a road which has
been carefully investigated and mapped by a couple of
clever Russian ofi&cers, in a country which we were
assured when Candahar was evacuated would remain
wholly under our influence. So little is this the case
that Russia can send officers riding hither and thither
throughout Afghanistan and maintain agents at Cabul,
while we, who are paying the Ameer .£120,000 a year
and giving him armaments to fit out a fresh army, are
forbidden to send not only any agent to his capital,
but even solitary EngHsh officers or merchants across the
frontier. Such a policy is, on the face of it, a foolish
one. An independent Afghanistan is an idle dream.
The Gladstone Government are simply pandering to the
treachery of a prince who has given no real evidence
whatever that he is loyally disposed towards England, or
that he would be her ally in the event of complications
with Russia.
79
CHAPTEE YI.
CRUISING ALONG THE COAST OF THE CAUCASUS.
Departure from Kertch — The Romance of the Caucasus — Wanted, a
Historian — The Conflict for the Possession of the Caucasus —
Anapa— Its History — The Slave Trade, Old and New — Traffic in
Young Girls — Novorossisk — The Colonization of the Stavropol
Plains — Raj^id Growi;h of Rostoff-on-the-Don — Future of Novo-
rossisk — A Second Railway projected between the Caspian and
Black Sea — Petroleum in the Taman Peninsula — -The French
Company at Novorossisk — Bartering Girls for Herrings —
Journeying along the Coast — A happy, memorable Day — Souk-
hum Kale — "What the Turks did and did not do in 1877 — Armed
Mountaineers — Poti — Arrival at Batoum.
We left Kertch at midniglit, the moon shining brightly
upon the angry waters of the bay, and a wild wind
blowing. Several times during the night I was awakened
by the tossing of the vessel, but when a sudden cessation
of motion finally aroused me at daybreak, and I looked
out of the porthole, I found the weather calm and bright
again, and the Ch-and Buke Michael anchored in the
beautiful bay of Anajia.
From this point really commences the modem, exciting,
romantic part of the Caucasian coast. The Taman
Peninsula, and, as a matter of fact, the whole of the
region on both sides of the Straits of Yenekale, are full
of classical associations. A whole volume might be
written upon the rise and fall of the Greek colonies,
which at one period rendered the entrance to the Sea of
Azoff busier and more flourishing than any part of the
Russian littoral at the present day. For those who hate
80 CRUISING ALONG THE COAST OF THE CAUCASUS.
classical liistory, and prefer that of the Middle Ages,
the same region is full of mute memorials of the wonder-
ful trade centres established by the Genoese. But, once
we get away from the lower ground round about the
Straits, and reach the mountains of the Caucasus, practi-
cally conunencing at Anapa, the interest henceforth is
neither classical nor Genoese, but arises from the modern
fearful struggle which the chivalry of the Caucasus
waged against desperate odds until the other day. The
story of that struggle has yet to be written by some
sympathetic historian. A finer subject an earnest and
ambitious writer could hardly desire. For a period of
two centuries there is not a decade without its campaign,
and at times there are a dozen in as many years. Pitched
battles and sieges occur by hundreds ; of skirmishes,
reconnaissances, raids, and ambushes there are thousands.
Generation after generation of yeUow-haired Russians
swarm to the Caucasus and pierce its defiles by land, or
invade the coast and attack its flanks from the Caspian
and the Black Sea, and one after the other the Persian,
the Turk, and the Caucasian go down before them ; the
latter the toughest resister of the three, and maintaining
for a solid century such a defence as we can find no
parallel for in ancient or modern history. Considering
the marvellous character of that racial conflict, it is
remarkable that neither in English nor in Russian is
there any work extant describing from beginning to end
the conquest of the Caucasus. Abundance of materials
lie scattered through European works of travel ; and as
for Russia, it would take years to go through the records,
the narratives, and the fragmentary histories in the
Library of the General Staff and other great collections
of books. Yes, the materials are numerous and accessible
enough, but neither in Russia nor out of it does there
seem to be any man anxious to gain a reputation for him-
seK by evolving a history out of them.
I
ANAPA AS A POET. 81
Every inch of the Caucasus is full of memories of war
and romance. Anaj^a, which lay so quiet before us that
calm August morning, looking like a little vignette com-
posed of a few new staring- white Eussian buildings, a
lot of dingy native houses, a church or two, a ruined
earthwork with roads and paths running remorselessly
over it, and wearing away its outlines, a long stretch of
flat coast towards Kertch, and perpendicular hills 200 feet
high in the background towards the Caucasus, has been
the centre of many a stirring scene. Founded exactly a
ceatuiy ago by the Turks, it has been attacked five times,
besieged thrice, and completely ravaged and destroyed
four times. Two of its sieges any seaport might be proud
of. The fii-st was of six weeks' duration, in 1791, when
General Groudavitch took the place by assault, to be him-
self directly afterwards driven out by the Turks and the
mountaineers ; and the second lasted three months, the
town in 1828 defying the combined sea and land forces
of G-eneral Prince Menshikoff, and the Scotchman,
Admiral Creig. Since then Anapa has remained a Eus-
sian possession, its evacuation for strategical reasons
during the Crimean war being only of a temporary
character. As a fortified post it is no longer of any
importance. The Circassians were long ago exterminated
at the rear, and their places have not yet been taken by
fresh settlers from Eussia. Its trade amounts to a
quarter of a milhon sterHng a year, and is not likely to
increase very much, owing to the unsheltered character
of the port and its bad anchorage. For those who do
not care for war and commerce, Anapa may perhaps
excite interest as the poi't whence in the good old
Turkish times hundreds of lovely girls used to be shij^ped
to the harems of Constantinople.
The good old Tm-kish times are gone, yet slavery still
flourishes in the Black Sea. Swift sailing vessels no
longer scud across its dark waters to the Bosphorus with
G
82 CRUISING ALONG THE COAST OF THE CAUCASUS.
captive Circassian maids on board, but the trade in
female flesli is still carried on between tlie Russian ports
and Constantinoi^le by means of the steamers of the
Black Sea Navigation Company. The slave dealers are
Jews ; the victims attractive Russian girls, inveigled to
Turkey under the pretence of obtaining situations there,
or some other pretext. Hundreds of girls thus lose
their virtue and freedom every year. At Constantinople
there are schools where Russian girls purchased or kid-
napped from their parents in childhood are regulai-ly
reared, and ultimately sold into Turkish harems. In jus-
tice to the Russian authorities, it is but right to say that
every effort has been made of late to put down the trade,
and more than one slave dealer has been sent to Siberia ;
but the traffic in young girls is an evil which is not
readily crushed, and if it flourishes at intervals in London,
in the midst of our morality, the reader can imagine the
difficulties impeding its suppression in the Euxine.
We did not stop long at Anapa, and were away again
"by seven o'clock, steaming along the beautiful coast, and
enjoying the magnificent mountain scenery, which from
this point does not cease all the way to Batoum. Thirty
miles south-east of Anapa we passed Soudjuk Kale, or
Dry Sausage Fort, at the entrance to ISTovorossisk Bay,
once a powerful Turkish stronghold, but now a crumbling
ruin. Eight thousand out of fifteen thousand Russians
perished in 1836 in trying to establish their hold upon the
place, and the survivors exj^erienced fearful sufferings
from floods, famine, and the attacks of the Circassians
in their retreat to Anapa. Novorossisk Bay is one of the
finest in the Black Sea. It is between eight and nine
miles in circumference, possessing great depth of v/ater
and excellent anchorage, and is completely land-locked,
except to the south-east. There it might be easily
rendered secure by a mole, and being protected on the
land-side from violent winds by the mountains around it,
FUTUEE OF NOVOEOSSISK. 83
the bay would then become a magnificent outport for the
produce of Cis-Caucasia.
About seventeen or eighteen years ago, with some such
aim in view, the Eussians abandoned Soudjuk Kale, and
started a settlement further back in the bay, to which
they gave the name of Novorossisk — New Eussia. It is
this that now gives the designation to the bay. But
beyond shifting the seat of administration from one spot
to another the Eussians have done little to render the
place worthy of its magniloquent title. Novorossisk is
neither new nor Eussian. It consists of simply a few
hundred miserable stone houses, and two or three good
ones, scattered over a large area of ground, with a
miserable sleepy bazaar in the centre. The streets,
although carefully desig-ned, have never been paved ;
the grand stone quay of the future still exists on paper.
In the meanwhile, goods are loaded or discharged by
lighter, although the expenditure of a few thousand
roubles would give the place the convenience of a pier.
It is a question whether, for commercial purposes, Novo-
rossisk is not worse than the Soudjuk Kale it supplanted.
But, none the less, Novorossisk really is a place of the
future. The j)opulation of Eussia is swelling out towards
the Caucasiis. The steppes of Stavropol are losing their
pastoral character and becoming agricultural. The
Cossack element is being enguKed by the swarms of
peasants from Penza, Eiazan, and Koursk. Those
steppes have a larger area than the whole of England.
Their fertility is proverbial. Already the new-comers
have demonstrated the natural fitness of the region for
the cultivation of corn. During the last five years the
products of the Kouban have increased 50 per cent., and
the settlers can now export 400,000 tons of grain. Of
the 500,000 tons of bread-stuffs conveyed by the railway
to Eostof£-on-the-Don in 1882 for shij^ment abroad,
COO, 000 tons were despatched from the upper part of the
o 2
84 CKUISIXG ALONG THE COAST OF THE CAUCASUS.
line, in tlie rayon of tlie Kavkazskoi station, whence it is
projected to run a line to Novorossisk.
At present nearly all tlie Stavropol com and wool runs
tlie wrong way to the sea. The Eostoff- Vladikavkaz
Railway, passing through the heart of the country, draws
the traffic in a north-westerly direction to the mouth of
the Don. Forty years ago Eostoff was a wooden village,
with a couple of stone houses for the headman
and the priest. It has now a fixed popxilation of
70,000 people, which during the navigation season is
extended to more than double that number, and it trans-
acts a trade of quite seven millions sterling a year. Its
prosperity is largely due to the produce it sucks and
exports from the Cis-Caucasian region. But Eostoff is a
very inconvenient outport. It is situated twenty miles
from the mouth of the shallowest river in Europe, and
has to shi}) all its stuff in lighters ; and further, it is en-
closed by ice quite four months out of the twelve. Did
the Stavropol produce, instead of flowing towards the
Don, make direct for the Black Sea at ISTovorossisk, it
would not have half so far to go by rail, its outport
would be a day nearer Europe, and not only would no
lighters be needed, but the navigation would be open the
whole year roimd. From the mouth of the Don to
Novorossisk the coast of the Cis-Caucasian region is not
indented by a single good harbour ; but Novorossisk
makes up for this by offering to commerce a bay capa-
cious enough for the lai-gest possible traflfic. The two
factors needed to render Novorossisk a second Odessa are
a railway into the interior, and the quays and piers essen-
tial to every port.
The Eussian Government is perfectly well aware of the
wants of Novorossisk, and has already taken the initial
steps for dealing with them. A railway, standing almost
first on the list of those to be next constructed, will run
from Novorossisk to some station about midwav between
PETROLEUM IN THE TAMAN REGION.
Rostoff and Vladikavkaz. This will be 172.^ miles long,
and will cost, with d£l 50,000 for improving the port,
d£l,400,000 sterling, and require a couple of years to
construct. From Vesler, a station near Vladikavkaz,
another line is projected to the Caspian port of Petrovsk,
163 miles long, costing ^81, 600,000. This would establish
direct communication between the Caspian and the Black
(Sea, north of the Caucasus, parallel with that already
existing between Baku and Batoum, to the south of it.
If, as already projected, the Petrovsk line were pushed
on to Baku, another excellent outlet would be afforded
by Novorossisk for Caspian petroleum. Last autumn
oflB.cial surveys wei'e made for this line, and when subse-
quently the Minister of Railways, General Possiet, visited
Novorossisk, he promised the inhabitants the first section
of the network should be taken in hand as soon as pos-
sible. When his promise is carried into effect, Novo-
rossisk will rapidly take a prominent place among the
ports of the world.*
The Stavropol plains produce wool and corn ; the coast
jutting towards the west, and forming one of the jaws of
the Sea of Azoff, is rich in petroleum oil. The naphtha
springs of the Taman Peninsula were known to the world
so long ago as in the time of the ancient Grreeks. In
m.odern times they have been visited by many eminent
scientific men, and their copiousness is beyond question.
The exact area over which the springs extend has not yet
been accurately defined ; but, generally speaking, the
entire Taman Peninsula may be accepted as an oil-bearing
region, and has only remained undeveloped because of
the crushing effects of the abundant supply at Baku. A
* The railway is now finished, and the commercial port, which is to
cost £380,000, is well in hand. Tapping as it does the petroleum
region of Cis- Caucasia, a great future may be predicted for the jjlace.
A new town is rapidly growing, and military importance has been
given to Novorossisk by the location there of a battalion of troops.
There is also a talk of making it a naval station.
86 CRUISING ALONG THE COAST OF THE CAUCASI'S.
few years ago a Frencli company was formed to develop
the deposits sixty miles inland of Novorossisk. The
management was confided to an American, who had pre-
viously created some talk by a scheme for pumping petro-
leum thi'ough a pipe from the Caspian to the Black Sea.
At his instigation, a pipe, sixty miles long, was laid down
between the wells inland of ISTovorossisk and a refinery
on Novorossisk Bay. Last year there was a quarrel be-
tween himself and the directors, and he left the concern,
which does not seem to have been a very successful
undertaking. While I was on shore exploring Novo-
rossisk, a carriage full of Frenchmen drove into the
place from the refinery, and had much to say about the
capabilities of the Taman petroleum supply. But, while
sharing the belief that the deposits there are as large as
those of America, I cannot see that they have any chance
for the moment against those of Baku ; at least, not until
the inland railway is constructed, and obviates such
costly items of expenditure as laying down sixty miles of
piping. An American petroleum engineer, whom I met
in the Caucasus, and who is thoroughly acquainted with
Pennsylvania, the Taman Peninsula, and Baku, assured
me that nothing existing in the world can approach the
Baku supply in copiousness and ease of extraction. He
had no interest at all in Baku, and his opinion was quite
impartial.*
After a couple of hours at Novorossisk the steamer
continued its voyage. Twenty miles from Novorossisk
we passed Ghelendjik, which is considered the snuggest
and safest harbour on the coast of the Caucasus. Then
came Pshad and Tuapse, ports where in former times the
Genoese traders used to exchange dried-fish, wine, and
* In 1S8G the quantity of cnide oil produced in the Kuban region
■was a little over 4,2r)0,000 gallons, of which 4,000,000 wore raised in
the Iltiky district. A considerable proportion was shipped to Mar-
seilles.
GEANDEL'E OF THE COAST SCENEEY. 87
salt for girls for the liarems of Turkey and Egjrpt. It
seems cruel that beauty should have been sold for a tub
of salt or a barrel of herrings, but in principle the trans-
action was no worse than the occasional transfer of girls
nowadays by virtuous and Christian mothers to the pos-
sessors of greasy bank-books and tarnished coronets.
We did not stop at any of these ports, but steamed
steadily along the coast, about a mile from it, the whole
of the afternoon and evening.
I think this was the most enjoyable part of the journey.
The sea was without a ripple or a wave — it was like a
placid mountain lake. The ample awning effectually
protected us from the blazing sun, shining from a firma-
ment of blue, in which there was not the vestige of a
cloud. To share the spacious accommodation of the
vessel there were not more than half a dozen persons,
forming among themselves a pleasant little yachting
party. All day long the scenery never ceased to be mag-
nificent — stuj^endous cliffs rising sheer out of the water
into tree-clad, cloud-capped cones, stretching far away
out of sight in the background, and here and there lovely
little dells and valleys inviting the navigator to go ashore.
Not a sign of culture visible anywhere except at tiny
ports — nothing but virgin forests and trackless moiui-
tains ; both enjoyed without the slightest discomfort, and
with luxurious meals at intervals, such as probably no
millionaire cruising in his own yacht in the Mediterranean
would have been able to surpass. I would sooner live
that day over again than attend half a dozen Imperial
coronations.
We stopped at two or three places during the night,
and after breakfast the next morning halted at Monastyr,
or Monastery, where, in excess of the edifice giving the
port its name, were several white buildings peeping out
from the dense forests covering the whole of the country.
Here a score or more pilgrims, men and women, went
88 CRUISING ALONG THE COAST OF THE CAUCASUS.
ashore to do penance and pray, and make their way back,
perhaps, by the return steamer. It was like a scene
from the Middle Ages, to see the lay brothers rowing
the pilgrims, with their wallets and their staves, across
the placid bay towards the monastery, at the entrance
of which were monks and devotees waiting to receive
them.
In an hour's time we reached Soiikhnm Kale, a place
which in English hands would have long ago recovered
some of that importance it possessed in Pliny's time,
when to the " opulent city of Dioscurias resorted peoj^le
speaking seventy different languages." Soukhum was
fearfully pulled about during the last war. The Turks
landed several thousand men at the port, which General
KratchenkofE abandoned without firing a shot ; and
might have exercised a j^owerful effect on the fate of the
struggle in Armenia if they had pushed a little inland,
especially as the Eussians were retreating at the moment
from Kars, and the Daghestan tribes were rising against
them. But the Turks contented themselves with doing
less than they had even done during the Crimean war,
when they had also landed a similar fruitless expedition
at Soukhum Kale, and remained quiescent until the
struggle was over. As in 1856, so in 1878, the Turks in
evacuating Soukhum Kale left nothing but dirt, disease,
and ruin behind them. Fearing the vengeance of the
Eussians, nearly all the natives fled with them, and the
coujitry round about the port became depopulated. Ee-
cently some of the houses have been rebuilt, but every
street is disfigured with ruins. The bones of hundreds of
cattle mark the site where the Abkazians slaughtered their
herds to prevent them falling alive into the hands of the
Eussians. The fever and the stench which these carcases
produced still lurk in the air, and check the return of
many of the inhabitants to the place. The garrison is
kept under canvas on a mountain to the rear. In process
SOUKHUM KALE. 89
of time the town may be expected to recover itself and
thrive, but much will depend upon the fulfilment of a
long projected scheme for connecting Soukhum with the
Poti-Tiflis Eailway, and the colonization of the adjacent
region. The line is designed to run from Soukhum to
the Novosenaki station of the Poti-Tiflis Railway. It
would be 114 versts, or about 80 miles long, and would
enable travellers journeying from Eiiropeto Tiflis to save
nearly half a day by landing there instead of going on
to Batoum. Soukhum Kale is situated on a veiy fine
bay, which engineering science properly applied — not
misdirected, as in the case of Poti — could easily render
a safe and commodious port. In his " Summer Tour in
Russia," Mr. Gallenga speaks most erroneously of there
being " no " good ports between Kertch and Trebizond,
but with a few improvements Soukhum Kale could be
made, if not as good as Novorossisk, at least sufficiently
convenient for all the trade that might be expected to
pass through it. Pending the construction of the rail-
way, the Russians are fronting the place with a fine stone
quay.
We took aboard a good many deck passengers at Souk-
hum — Georgians, Mingrelians, Imeretians, and other
Caucasian natives, all in their national dress, and armed
to the teeth. Watching these mountaineers affords con-
stant amusement to the traveller. Their warlike dress
and demeanour, and the assortment of weapons every one
of them with any pretensions to breeding carries about
with him, remind the traveller very forcibly on his arrival
at Soukhum or Poti from Odessa that he has left the
land where Keating' s insect powder is the only defensive
weapon needed, and that he would do well to look out
his revolver. It is curious that the Russians, who act
invariably in a very systematic manner in crushing the
hostile spirit of the people they conquer, should have
never sought to disarm the inhabitants of the Caucasus.
90 CRUISING ALONG THE COAST OF THE CAUCASUS.
Many of tlie tribes dwelling betweem Soukhum and
Batoum have revolted times out of nnmber, and even
now secretly perpetrate acts of brigandage on the high
road ; but no attempt is made to take their weapons from
them, and they go about Soukhum and Batoum armed to
the teeth with Berdan, revolver and silver-hilted dagger,
securing respect from unarmed Russians and terrifying
timid European tourists. But if their aspect is warlike,
they are a very different class of people from the Afghans
or Kurds. Provided he treats them well, and forbears
from travelling past their villages at the dead of night,
the tourist can rely upon " doing " the Caucasus in
almost perfect safety. As a rule, their weapons are
mainly kept for show or hunting pui-poses, and if he is a
keen sportsman the traveller will be well treated and
assisted wherever he goes.
Leaving Soukhum Kale at eleven o'clock, we coasted
pleasantly alongside the mountains — separated from the
sea by a swampy beach — all day, and at six in the even-
ing passed Poti, of which from the water little is seen
beyond a house or two projecting above a forest marsh.
On board the G-rancl BuJce Michael were many passengers
bound for Poti, but instead of lauding them there, the
vessel carried them on to Batoum, where they had to
wait until the following day and return by a smaller
steamer. This roundabout way of doing business has
been going on for years, without the Black Sea Steam
Navigation Company adopting the simple expedient of
having a tug to meet the steamer outside Poti to take off
the passengers and mails, or the Russian Government
compelling it to respond to the clamour of the public to
be treated with greater regard for its convenience. Three
hours later we arrived at Batoum.
aJiil
91
CHAPTER VII.
THE RUSSIANS AT BATOUM.
Batoum at Night — More Tame than Heroic — Difference between the
Caucasus Ai-my and the Army in India — Poti versus Batoum —
Drawbacks of Poti — A Costly Mole — History and Future of the
Port — Its Eival, Batoum — Extraordinary Development of the
Place — The Turkish Defences — Secret Eussian Armaments — New
Batoum — Russian Improvements-^The Bay of Batoum — New
Harbour Works in Progress — Mr. Peacock, the British Consul —
Benefit conferred on Russia by Europe in making Batoum a Free
Port— The Contraband Trade at Batoum — The Caucasus Transit
— How Smuggling is Carried on — The Petroleum Export Trade
at Batoum— Export of Oil in 1883 — Future of Batoum.
It was about nine o'clock at night (Aug. 24) when the
Grand Bulce Micliael entered Batoiun harbour, and took
up a station alongside the wooden jetty. Up to that
moment we had had excellent weather, but the rain now
fell in torrents. "At Batoum," said a resident to us,
putting on his macintosh, " it always rains, just as at
Baku rain never falls at all." This was a somewhat
exaggerated way of putting the case, but, generally
speaking, for the greater part of the year, wet weather
prevails in the Batoum corner of the Black Sea, while
extreme dryness is the characteristic of the Caspian at
Baku. The backbone of the Lesser Caucasus, running
south-west of the Great Caucasus range, divides the
Transcaucasian region into two wholly different climates
— as widely diverse in their characteristics as Devonshire
and Sahara. Batoum catches the rain from the heavily-
92 THE RUSSIANS AT BATOUM.
laden clouds from the Black Sea striking against the
mountains at its rear, while Baku lies entirely open to
the desiccating effects of the heat radiating from the
sands of Central Asia.
The captain wanted us to stop on board the vessel all
night ; but we had been cooped up from Monday till
r"riday, and were only too glad to get [ashore. Selecting
some of the bare-legged, ragged, Turkish-looking mushirs,
or porters, crowding the head of the pier, we made
them shoulder our luggage, and filed off in the direction
of the Hotel de France, situated [about three minutes'
walk from the landing-stage. In any other country the
train for Tiflis and the interior of the Caucasus would
have been arranged to leave immediately after the arrival
of the steamer, but in Russia time is a commodity of no
value. Hence the steamer arrives at Batoum at nine at
night, and the train leaves at eight or nine the next
morning. On this account, passengers are compelled to
pass a night at Batoum, and this circumstance has given
rise to two hotels, the Hotel de France and the Hotel
d'Furope. The former is the^larger establishment, and
is located in an extensive and commodious building close
to the station. The] rooms^are well furnished ; the
charges are high, but , not exorbitant; and a decent
dinner can be had any time up to midnight. The chief
drawback is a want of civility, arising probably from
the fact that the majority of travellers only pass a night
there, and never repeat their visit. In course of time
the break at Batoum will no doubt be done away with,
and the journey to Baku will then be shortened by half
a day.
From what we had heard, we considered ourselves in
jeopardy from attack on oiu- persons and property the
moment we got ashore. Revolvers were disposed in our
pockets ready for action, and with a stout oak cudgel
apiece we mounted guard over the nmshirs, keeping one
TAMED BATOUM. 93
eye on tliem, that they did not bolt into the darkness
with our effects, and the other on the black expanse
around us, in case ferocious footpads should suddenly
start up and bar the way. These exaggerated precau-
tions, we afterwards found, were altogether unnecessary.
Batoum is as tame as any ordinary foreign port, and the
traveller who lands there is safer with the musMrs than
the foreigner usually is who confides himself to the
tender mercies of wherrymen and waterside porters on
the river Thames. Outside Batoum, in the savage and
inaccessible mountains, robbers exist and frequently
attack the sportsman or the traveller on the post-road ;
but, although street robberies and bui-glaries are not un-
known at Batoum, the jjlaee is probably quite as safe to
live in as any port on the Continent.
Ai-rived at the hotel, we secured our rooms, gave up
our passports to be registered, and adjourned for supper
to the dining saloon, where we found about a score of
officers and officials assembled and boisterously enjoyino-
themselves. Only a battalion or so of troops is main-
tained inside the free port of Batoum ; the rest of the
garrison is established in force outside, where it guards
the arsenal of eighteen and twenty-five ton guns and
other weapons lying ready to be despatched into the
l^lace the moment Russia declares war next time
against Turkey, or tears up the Berlin Treaty. Close to
the pier are corrugated iron barracks for several thou-
sand troops. These were almost entirely imoccupied
while I was there, but late in the autumn they are
crowded with recruits arriving at Batoum from Eussia
to join the army of the Caucasus, and in winter by time-
expired soldiers on their way home. The army of the
Caucasus is very different in one important essential
from our own in India — excluding the irregular cavalrv,
the whole of the troops are Eussians. The Caucasus
contains no Sepoys. On the other hand, while we in
94 THE RUSSIANS AT BATOUM.
India do our utmost to prevent the Indian gentry enter-
ing tlie army, or if tliey do, place a limit to tlieir pro-
motion, tlie Russians throw every inducement in the way
of the gentry of the Caucasus to encourage them to
accept military employment. The result of our system
is, to provoke a deal of discontent among Indian gentle-
men anxious to follow the only career which seems to
them fit for persons of their standing, while the result
of the Eussian plan is, to interest the nobles of the Cau-
casus in the maintenance of Eussian rule. The fact of
thousands of recruits and time-expired soldiers passing
through Batoum every year, exercises an important effect
upon the business of the place.
The next morning was nice and bright, and we spent a
pleasant day exploring Batoum. I was astonished at
the remarkable activity everywhere apparent. Houses
and shops were being built by hundreds, and there was
every evidence that in a few years nothing will be left
of the old Turkish town ceded in 1878. Before another
decade is past, Batoum will have become a great com-
mercial outport, and the Sevastopol of the Southern
Euxine.
For more than a year a discussion has raged in the
Eussian press as to the merits and prospects of the i-ival
ports of Poti and Batoum, both of which are connected
by railway with Tiflis and the Caspian. In England
we should leave the two ports to fight out their own
futures ; but in Eussia the State always exercises large
control over the development of new centres of com-
merce, and as much therefore depends upon the support
of the Government as excellence of site. At the pre-
sent moment Batoum is the favourite port, and Poti can
only hope to retain its position in the event of the new
outlet proving too small for the requirements of trade.
Poti has gained an evil reputation from two causes —
the prevalence of malaria, and the costliness of its mole.
THE POET OF POTI. 95
These drawbacks liave rendered it malodorous both to
the Eussian public, which can never refer to the place
without expressions of disgust, and to the Eussian
Government, from whose treasury 9,000,000 roubles have
passed to improve the port without the port being pro-
portionately any the better for the outlay. There was a
time when Poti was very differently thought of. Great
expectations were entertained of its becoming the Odessa
of the Caucasian side of the Euxine. After the Crimean
war the favour which the Government had shown to
Soukhum Kale was withdrawn, and eveiy effort was made
to develop Poti. In 1863 a scheme was taken in hand
for running out a mole to the sea, in such a manner as
to afford accommodation and safety to a large number of
steamers in bad weather. The river Eion, on which
Poti is situated, has too little water on the 8-ft. bar at
its mouth to allow of the entrance of vessels of large
capacity, and when the weather is at all windy outside
no communication can be maintained between the shore
and the shipping in the roadstead. It was to overcome
this serious defect that the mole was planned, and if
nothing has come of the project, the Eussian Government
cannot be accused of not having spent enough money
over it.
More than twenty years have elapsed since the first
stone of the mole was laid with pomp by the engineers
at Poti, and the work is still as far off completion as
ever. In the interval, the undertaking has been carried
on by a whole series of engineers and contractors, all
of whom have retired after a few years with fortunes,
leaving the mole to be continued by needy successors.
As originally designed, the harbour works were to have
cost only about £'200,000, but nearly a million sterling
has vanished and Poti has nothing to show for it. It is
said that the original plan was radically wrong, and
that the Government has never had the moral courage
96 THE RUSSIANS AT BATOUM.
to revoke or revise it ; but the more likely supposition
is, that the authorities mainly concerned have never
bothered themselves about the defects of the under-
taking, but have contented themselves with enriching
themselves out of it. How many times confident expecta-
tions have been announced of the work coming to an
end in a couple of years, it would be difiicult to say.
The only thing that is certain is, that the grants have
always come to an end long before the expiration of the
period over which the expenditure of them was fixed to
spread. When the Poti-Tiflis Railway was completed
at the close of the Khivan war, extra energy j was
infused into the undertaking, but nothing came of it ;
and after the spurt was over the works languished until
the Turkish conflict, since when they have been sus-
pended altogether. Originally the mole was to [have
been 6ft. above high water mark, and to have been
constructed of blocks of stone weighing not less than
three tons. After a while the height was raised to
16ft., and the size of the blocks of stone to thirty tons.
Not long ago a storm occurred, during which twenty of
these 30-ton blocks were carried away by the sea, to-
gether with a couple of massive cranes, weighing 100
tons apiece. To render the mole of any use it would
have to be carried out fifty yards from its present halt-
ing point, or else a costly breakwater constructed. While
the Government is making up its mind what to do, the
plant of the harbour construction works is rotting or
being swallowed up by the sea, and the foundering of a
steamer and a number of coasting craft the other day
proved that what there is of the mole is useless for
the protection of shipping. The local opinion is, that
now that Batoum has been connected by railway with
Tiflis, Poti will be allowed to go to ruin.
Already, owing to the revocation of free transit across
the Caucasus, the place wears a languishing asiDect
1
NOT SUCH A BAD FEVER AFTER ALL. 97
Very little business is being done, and many merchants
are leaving the port for good. The stoppage of the
free transit of European goods to the East, a measure
sanctioned by the Tsar during the Coronation, against
the recommendations of his leading Ministers, and in-
tended as a solace and gift to the merchants of Moscow,
then complaining of bad trade, has certainly failed to
produce the effect it was intended ; the despatch of
Russian goods on a large scale, in place of the prohibited
European ones, to Persia and Central Asia has not
yet commenced, while the traffic receipts of the Trans-
caucasian Railway Company have fallen seriously. The
people of Poti are very angry at the concession made to
the merchants of Moscow, and no wonder, since, besides
losing their transit business, they can get nothing for
their houses and land, and find themselves in many
instances absolutely ruined.
Poti has never been a favourite place with travellers,
who have always hurried from it by the first train or
post-cart. A guide book says that it is very dangerous
to pass even one night in Poti, owing to its malaria, at
which extreme criticism the inhabitants are very in-
dignant, affirming that even if fever is prevalent at
Poti, it is a better fever to catch than the fever at
Soukhum Kale or Batoum, because the victim recovers
from it sooner. Situated on marshy ground at a river
mouth, and surrounded by impenetrable forests, its only
two advantages over Batoum are that it has plenty of
flat ground round about to allow of expansion, and is
twenty-four and a half miles nearer Tiflis and Baku.
These, in my opinion, are sufficient to prevent the pessi-
mist views about the place being ever entirely realized.
Batoum is not a large port ; it cannot be increased in
size beyond a certain point ; and the inconvenience that
will then arise will drive trade back again to Poti. The
fact of the Black Sea Navigation Company having recently
H
98 THE RUSSIANS AT BATOUM.
applied for liarbour lands at Poti, after transferring its
operations entirely to Ealoum, is an indication of a
reaction which may assume encouraging dimensions at
no distant date. Poti may not become a second Odessa,
but it will never descend to the decayed condition of an
Anapa and Soudjuk Kale.
As regards Batoum, so rapid has been its transforma-
tion under Russian rule, and so quickly are changes
succeeding one another now, that any traveller who
visited the j^lace anterior to the war of 1877-78 would
probably fail to recognize it. A railway has been cut
right through the town to a cai:)acious pier stretching
some distance out to sea. Streets are being laid out,
and when I was there were being excavated for laying
on water. New houses are rising everywhere like mush-
rooms. Scores of shops, well fronted and filled with the
wares of the West, are crushing out of existence the
miserable little booths common to Batoum in its Turkish
days. Everywhere builders are at work. There must
have been at least 200 houses and shops in course of
erection last autumn, and the building is being carried
out on a regular plan, the hovels of the Armenian inhabi-
tants being remorselessly cut down to allow of the forma-
tion of wide rectangular streets, and no mercy being
shown to mosques or any structure that bars the way.
Where the Turkish outposts were placed by Dervish
Pasha in 1877 a surburban station occupies the ground.
A busy kerosiue canning factory has sprung up alongside
the Turkish redoubts. On the hills country residences
are being erected. Along the shore, on the Anatolian
side, is a regular suburb, almost as big as old Batoum,
consisting of corrugated iron barracks for troops, and
scores of two-storey stone residences for the military and
administrative staff. In a few years' time nothing will
be left of the Batoum of the Turks, and Russia will
possess on the south-east coast of the Black Se.i a well-
THE FORTIFICATIONS AT BATOUM. 99
built, well-drained, and well-lit town, ranking next to
Odessa as a commercial port in time of peace and next
to Sevastopol as a naval station in time of war. The
commerce of the place is growing with gigantic strides,
largely due to its privileges as a free port. As regards
purposes of war, the defences of the Turks — defences
which Russia herself could never overcome — are still
unrazed, large bodies of troops are assembled on the spot,
and if the Treaty of Berlin has been fulfilled to the letter
by mounting no Russian cannon on the Ottoman forti-
fications, it has been broken in the spirit by collecting
them in an arsenal outside the boundary of the free port,
whence in a few hours they could be dragged to the
defences and placed in position.
Respecting the fortifications an anecdote is current at
Batoum, which well illustrates how the Government is
acting in the matter. The princijDal Turkish position,
the casemated redoubt immediately controlling the har-
bour and alongside which the pier runs out to sea, some
time ago began to show signs of decay ; thereupon
tenders were invited to repair the place. One of the
local contractors, a Russian, sent in an estimate headed
" Repairs to fortifications." In a day or two he was
summoned to the Military Control office, and was there
informed that such a heading would never do. " There
are no fortifications in Batoum," said the general, " they
are forbidden by the Treaty of Berlin. Adopt as a head-
ing, therefore, and use throughout the words—' Garrison
barrack repairs.' "
Formerly Batoiim consisted of 800 or 900 shoj^s and
houses, and about the only two-storey one was that of
the Russian Vice-Consul. There must now be quite a
couple of hundred two-storey buildings, besides several
three-storey structures used as hotels and Government
offices. In Turkish days, the ground either belonged to
Allah or the Sultan. When Dervish Pasha evacuated
II 2
100 THE EUSSIANS AT BATOUM.
the place, lie and his oflB.cials reaj^ed a neat little sum by-
selling the land at any price to anybody who cared to
make the investment. Even after they were gone, money
was made by the Turkish officials at Trebizond by selling
titles, dated back, to Armenian speculators. At present,
owing to the demand, land can hardly be bought at any
reasonable price, while builders exact exorbitant sums for
erecting anything upon it. Besides the impulse given
to building by the trade produced by the porto franco,
there is another reason which acts as a stimulus. New
Batoum is being built on a regular plan, and as the
streets develop themselves the authorities take possession
of the land between the new houses to form the highway.
If there is nothing on the land, the projirietors get no-
thing for it. The slightest habitation, however, gives a
right to compensation, and to secure this, structures are
being run up everywhere, the officials apparently control-
ling their growth only where they happen to be of brick
or stone. It is said that the officials are not above set-
ting fire to the native quarters now and again, so as tO'
get rid of the structures and secure the land for nothing.
How far this is true I had no means of ascertaining, and
do not repeat the statement as correct, but it is certain
that improvements are being carried out with an amount
of despotic energy which fanatic improvers of London
would envy. Every obstruction goes down before the
will of the Governor and his officials, and if redress from
grievances cannot be secured from them, there is nothing
to be done by the sufferers but submit. No apjieal can be
made beyond.
Batoum undoubtedly possesses a splendid port — the
drawback is that there is not much of it. Resj^ecting the
question of size, there was a deal of wrangling in 1878,
when the Earl of Beaconsfield had to fijid an excuse for
relinquishing it to Russia, and when, to speak a little
plainer than is customary in these kid-glove days of ours,.
THE PORT OF BATOUM. 101
there "was a considerable amount of hard swearing on
both sides over the matter. To the traveller fresh from
the magnificent bays of Sevastopol and Novorossisk, the
first thought that strikes him as he mounts one of the
hills and surveys the place is — What a small port is
Batoum ! The promontory forming the bay is really
altogether insignificant, and the present harbour looks as
though a score of vessels would fill it. But although
small naturally, Batoum is capable of being considerably
extended, and, as a matter of fact, the Minister of Marine
and the Minister of Ways of Communication, who
visited the place at the end of 1883, have sanctioned
a scheme for enlarging the port, at a cost of half a
million sterling. The promontoiy is to be continued
further out to sea, and on the opj^osite side of the bay a
long mole is to be established, which will veiy consider-
ably enlarge the area of the harbour. When these works
are finished Batoum will answer the present requirements
of trade, and become an excellent outlet for the petro-
leum of Baku. According to some persons the trade will
■eventually be too much for the size of the port, which
is obviously incapable of extension beyond a certain
point. But, in that case, Poti can be called in as an
auxiliary, and afterwards the neglected port of Soukhum
Kale, giving the Transcaucasian trade route three outlets
in the Euxine.
Like Poti, Batoum suffers a little from fever, but the
■evil will probably disappear in a year or two with the
draining of the marshes outside the town. In 1881 the
Russian Government assigned £7,500 for this purpose,
and sent to supervise the works General Jilinsky, who
had rendered himself famous by draining the Pinsk
marshes. The trenches and canals in connection with the
undertaking were being cut while I was there, and when
finished Batoum will be a tolerably healthy place to live
in. Thanks to its being a free port, foreign produce and
102 THE RUSSIANS AT BATOUM.
manufactured goods can be purchased in abundance
cheaper than at Odessa, and a man can really make him-
self very comfortable in the place. If, as is anticipated,
the transport of petroleum from Batoum to the European
market be effected by English oil-carrying steamers, an
English colony will spring up in the town. Already
Lhere are several Englishmen on the spot ; among them
Mr. Peacock, the vice-consul, whose consular report on
Baku petroleum won him so much reputation two years
ago. Mr. Peacock is a very intelligent and active man of
thirty-six, a first-rate Russian scholar, having been edu-
cated in Russia, and is, I believe, married to a Russian
wife. While very appreciative of Russia, he is extremely
zealous on behalf of the interests of his own country,
and in this manner maintains a universal poi^ularity at
Batoum without detriment to his duties as consul. The
great difficulty English statesmen usually have to con-
tend with is, to secure imj)artial representatives abroad.
English ambassadors and consuls either write \ip or write
down the country they live in. Their despatches and
reports have nearly always to be taken cum grano salis.
It seems to be quite natural for Englishmen to take
sides. An objective survey is beyond the power of most
of them. Mr. Peacock is free from this common defect,
and is making a special study of the Caucasus, which
should render him of extreme value to the Foreign Ofiice
when the Armenian Question crops up in an active form.
Not that the Foreign Office may be expected to utilize his
services in that case. In all probability, when he be-
comes ripe for any important post in Russia, where his
Russian knowledge would be of use, he will be packed
off to Pekin or Pernambuco. Mr. Peacock had just
come back from Kars, and was strongly impressed with
the necessity for constructing the Euphrates Valley rail-
way l^efore Russia acquires an overshadowing influence
in Turkish Armenia. If any one could cajyitalize all the
BATOUM AND THE BERLIN TREATY. 103
money and time that have been wasted over that project
during a miserable controversy extending over the last
twenty years, he would need no guarantee from the
Government. He would possess enough funds to carry
out the scheme alone.
The raj)id development of Batoum has proceeded from
two causes — its privileges as a free port, and the remark-
able progress of the petroleum industry at Baku. When
the Treaty of Berlin was signed, its framers probably
thought that the formation of Batoum into a free port
would impede Russian growth in this j^art of Transcau-
casia. Quite the contrary has been the case. If Batoum
had been given to Russia without any restrictions, it
would certainly have been made a strong naval port, but
it would almost as equally assuredly have failed to be
come a great mercantile centre. Batoum protects Poti,
but Poti does not protect Batoum. Had Russia acquired
Batoum unreservedly she would have made commerce
remain at Poti, and used Batoum exclusively as a naval
station. The harbour would have been left as it is —
small, although powerfully defended ; and the town that
would have grown around it would have consisted almost
exclusively of the residences of ofl&cials. No commercial
resources could have grown up. Surrounded by natural
disadvantages, Poti would have embarrassed and cheeked
trade as it has always done, and Batoum would have
exercised influence simply through the prestige of its
military and naval strength. But, by forcing Batoum to
be a free port, Europe has laid the foundations of a great
commercial emporium, which will soon have trading
ramifications all over Anatolia, and exercise influence
which Poti could never have hoped to enjoy, and which
even a fortified Batoum would have failed to secure.
Generally speaking, the commercial growth of a vigoi'ous
European community is more fatal to the seciu-ity of its
Asiatic neighbours than the maintenance of armies and
104 THE RUSSIANS AT BATOUM.
fleets. From Batoum to the Bosphorus the Turkish coast
is so unprotected that, provided she had a stronger fleet
than the Ottomans, Russia could do pretty well what she
liked along it. Such a fleet she will have in two years'
time. By the end of that period also she will possess at
Batoum most of the resources of a great naval station,
together with a flourishing town, with magazines and
shipping to enhance its strength. Had Batoum been
given freely to Russia she would have had in 1886 only a
well-fortified harbour to renew her historical struggle
with Turkey. As it is, she will have a fortified harbour
— the forts are all there, and the guns and munitions of
war are gathered just outside the boundary of the port,
ready to be brought in at a minute's notice — plus a town
full of traders' stores, bristling with factories, and well
provided with shipping. Russians are very sore at the
porto franco imposed upon Batoum, and universally con-
demn it ; but it seems to me that Europe has conferred
thereby upon Russia a benefit which will some day pro-
duce significant military results.
When the Russians took over Batoum the population
was very small and very poor, and nearly the whole of
the inhabitants of the interior, as is well known, migrated
to Turkey. As only a few colonists have arrived to re-
2)lace the latter, and no manvifactories except a kerosine-
canning woi*ks have yet been established, it would appear
difficult at first sight to explain the remarkable trade
that has sprung up in a few short years. Huge shops
a,re rising like mushrooms ; their fronts are crammed
with goods from Europe. The j)opulation of the place
is small ; the garrison is poor ; yet every street resounds
with the hum of business. When you land from the
Odessa steamer, you are not allowed to return to the
vessel without your effects being rigorously examined.
When you walk through the town to the boimdary of the
free port, you cannot pass beyond without a second
WHAT MAKES BATOUM SO THRIVING. 105
investigation taking place. Theoretically, therefore, all
that comes into Batoiini of a dutiable character — and
what is not dutiable in Russia ? — should be consumed
at Batoum, or, nearly all of it, for there is, after all, a
trifling per centage of goods which passes regularly
through the Custom House. That trifling per centage,
however, cannot in any way explain the amazing
development of the place. The explanation must be
found elsewhere. It will be discovered, perhaps, in a
few figures.
The year before last 10,000 tons of fruit, fresh and
dried, were imported to Batoum from Turkey. Of this
amoimt 35 tons were transhipped to Russia, and paid
the regular duty. During the year Batoum sent to
Russian ports, as Russian-raised duty-free produce,
25,000 tons of fruit. Now, it is clear a town of a few
thousand inhabitants could not consume 9,965 tons of
fruit in a year, or raise — for the orchards and gardens
are few — 25,000 tons. It is tolerably certain, therefore,
that the 25,000 tons sent to Russia included more of the
10,000 tons of Turkish fruit than the 35 tons duly
registered, and that there were other shipments from
abroad that passed through Batoum to Russia without
paying a fraction of duty. The official value — a low
one — of the 25,000 tons of fruit that Batoum reshipped
to Russia was ^£72,598, and if nearly the whole of this
was in reality contrabrand the loss in duty alone was
.£10,000. What was the case with fruit was the case
also with a large number of other articles. If official
returns of the imports and exports represented a real
state of things, the inhabitants of Batoum would eat
more, drink more, smoke more, wear out more clothes,
purchase richer garments, and manufacture more goods
than the inhabitants of any city in the world. Yet,
whatever may be the story told by figures, facts go dead
106 THE EUSSIAKS AT BATOUM.
the otlier way. The Batoumtsi are wretched eaters — it
is difficult to get a good square meal iu the place ; they
are rarely seen drunk ; their garments are common or
shabby ; and so far from producing anything, their
whole time seems to be spent in unpacking and packing
bales and boxes. If you stop long at Batoum you see
the contents of the innumerable shops constantly being
replenished, and in the warehouses all manner of goods
entering in one kind of package and disappearing in
another. Yet the houses at Batoum are meagrely fur-
nished, the owners seem to purchase little, and it is cer-
tain that the goods that are sold and disappear are not
purchased by them, or secretly stored up in their cellars
or lofts. Last year Batoum sent to Odessa 125,000
roubles' worth of certain fabrics as foreign goods, paying
duty upon them, and 725,000 roubles' worth of the same
fabrics, as being of Batoum manufacture, paying no
duty. Yet there is no manufactory in the place, except
for making cans for kerosine. In one word, Batoum is a
contraband centre, and fortunes are being made by taking
advantage of its privileges as a free port to introduce
without paying duty all manner of European wares into
Russia.
This explains the bazaar-like character of Batoum,
and the extraordinary expansion of its trade. In excess
of its contraband intercourse with Russia, it carries on a
lucrative smuggling trade in a smaller way with the
Caucasus, which has recently received a great impetus
by the suppression of the free transit of goods to Persia
formerly enjoyed by Europe. Up to the present summer
foreign goods could be landed and sealed at Poti, and
conveyed thence aci'oss the Caucasus to Tiflis for Tabreez,
or Baku for Astrabad, without paying duty to Russia.
Envying the trade Europe carried on by this means with
the East, Russia resolved to seize it for herself by su])-
now SMUGGLING IS CARRIED ON. 107
pressing tlie transit, and compelling Western wares to
take the long and roundabout caravan route via Trebi-
zond. One of her reasons for doing this was the alleged
prevalence of an extensive system of smuggling, in con-
nection with the transit across the Caucasus. Last
siunmer the free transit was finally abolished, and the
main result of this would appear to be, that all the old
smuggling has been transferred to Batoum. The modus
operandi of the wholesale smuggling is kept a secret,
but that of the retail is obvious enough. Every night
large numbers of Armenian and other merchants arrive
by the Tiflis and Baku train, with very little baggage.
Every morning the train leaves for Tiflis and Baku,
swarming with Armenian and other merchants, who re-
quire a host of native porters to convey their luggage to
the station. For quite an hour before the train leaves,
the station is crammed with merchants and their rmishirs,
all groaning beneath the weight of bales and packs. In
advance of mounting the platform all luggage has to be
examined by Custom House officials, and this is done
amidst a scene of confusion and din impossible to
describe. The curious part of the affair is, that all the
packs opened reveal nothing but dirty clothes when the
officials poke their hands into them, and that the revenue
benefits little or nothing by the investigation. Yet, if
the packs were properly rummaged, it would no doubt
be fotmd that they consisted largely of manufactured
goods wrapped in a few old garments, and that much of
the confusion and din is a farce arranged between the
officials and the contrabandists to make appear that the
examination is a genuine one. Thanks to this system
of smuggling, pedlars recruit their packs with the
greatest ease, and whole consignments of goods make
their way to Tiflis. Things are so cheap at Batoum
compared with Tiflis, that a man who wants a new outfit
can pay his expenses there and back and leave a margin
108 THE RUSSIANS AT BATOUM.
of profit besides by taking a trip to the free port to get
them.*
It may be said that smuggling is a precarious thing
for a town to thrive upon, and that if a purer atmo-
sphere were introduced, Batoum would at once be
subjected to depression and decay. Odessa was once a
free port, but it had at the back of it an immense area
of corn land, which extended its prosperity after its
contraband trade was extinguished by the abrogation
of the porto-franco privileges. At the rear of Batoum is
nothing but uninhabited hills, which cannot be readily
colonized by the peasants of Russia, accustomed to a
different climate. Malaria has already killed off or
driven away many settlers who arrived after its first
occupation, and, at present at least, the Government
has no intention of rendering the country inland fit for
European life by sanitary improvements. But there is
one thing that Batoum possesses which seems likely
not only to enhance its present trade, but also to sustain
it if smuggling ever falls off. That thing is the best
harbour on the Black Sea coast for the exportation of
Caspian oil, and a railway already conveying to it con-
signments of petroleum from Baku. The petroleum
export trade was in an embryotic condition when I was
at Batoum, and it has hardly yet assumed definite form.
Still, although the railway from Baku to Batoum was
not opened until May, and the oil trafiic did not com-
mence for some time after, 8,301,289 gallons of Baku
petrolevim products were shipped from Batoum in 1883.
The total number of vessels clearing Batoum in January
1884 was 140.
* A few weeks ago, a correspondent of the Moscow Gazette at Tiflis
described the visit of a pedlar to his house, with packs full of contra-
band goods from Batoum. The authorities subsequently made a raid
upon the bazaar, and brought to light many thousand roubles' worth
of smuggled goods, including hundreds of Persian carpets secretly
introduced from Tabreez without paying the heavy duty.
EXPORT OF OIL FROM BATOUM. 109
The export trade showed an increase last year upon
1882 of de250,000 to foreign countries, and ^£135,000 to
Eussian ports, The increase was largely due to the
export of oil, which found its way from Batoum to
almost every part of Europe, and laid the foundations
of what must some day become an enormous trade.
At present there is only one packing establishment at
Batoum. The kerosine brought in tank-cars from Baku
is there barrelled or canned, and shipped to the Continent
and the East. Nobel Brothers and other large firms,
however, have bought sites for factories, and in a few
years' time there will be a score or more in active exist-
ence. If the trade makes anything like the progress it
has achieved in the Caspian and on the Volga, we may
expect to see Batoum a great, prosperous, populous port
in less than a decade, and fleets of cistern oil steamers
conveying Baku petroleum from its harbour to every part
of the West and the East.
Since this was written Batoum has ceased to be a free
port, Russia having in July 1886 repudiated the 59th
Article of the Treaty of Berlin. While sharing the
indignation which this breach of international engage-
ments provoked among English statesmen of all parties,
I did not hesitate to point out (^Contemporary Review,
August 1886), that the free port had proved to be a
serious impediment to the petroleum trade, as well as a
contraband centre, and that Eussia in consequence was
justified in her desire to see the obnoxious 59th Article
cancelled. The change has inflicted no harm on British
commerce, while, on the other hand, the removal of the
cordon has allowed the port to expand freely, to the satis-
faction of Eussia. Numerous canning factories have
sprung into existence, many storage reservoirs for oil and
piers have been erected, and Batoum has become the
principal petroleum jort of Euroj^e. The exj)orts from
110 THE RUSSIANS AT BATOUM.
Batoum to foreign countries in 1885 comprised 24,000,000
gallons of refined petroleum, 330,000 gallons of lubricating
oil, and 532,000 gallons of astatki, or about 25,000,000
gallons altogether. In 1886 tHs total was doubled.
More than a dozen tank steamers now run regularly
between Batoum and the ports of Europe, and the
petroleum export trade of the port, only in its infancy
when I was there in 1883, is now firmly established. In
the meanwhile Eussia's naval power has developed, and
the desire to make use of Batoum as a dockyard for the
fleet has led to fears that ere long the Government may
summarily divert the commerce of the Transcaucasian
railway to Poti, and employ Batoum solely for naval pur-
poses. It is a well-known fact that the Tiflis authorities
have repeatedly recommended this course. However, be-
fore this is done, another Tiflis wish may be realized and
the Eussian flag be planted at Trebizond, where a dock-
yard could be formed without interfering with commerce
in the least, and, in that case, Batoum could be left ex-
clusively to petroleum.
Ill
CHAPTEE YIII.
BATOIJM TO TIFLIS ACEOSS THE LESSEE, CAUCASUS.
Tlie Transcaucasian Railway and its Present and Prospective Piamifi-
cations — The old Trade Route from India to the Black Sea, via
the Caspian and Lesser Caucasus revived by the Line— The future
Piussian Railway to India— Luggage Troubles at Batoum— The
Batoum Railway ; Cost of constructing it— Shower-bath Railway
Carriages— Lovely Character of the Scenerj'— The Route must
some day become popular with Tourists — Cheapness of Fruit
along the Line — Tracking the Rion to its Source — Romantic Views
— Crossing the Suram Pass — Heavy Gradients — A Two Thousand
Feet RLse in Four Hours — The Projected Tunnel — Congestion of
the Petroleum Traffic — Ludwig Nobel's Plan for Ovei-coming this
— Remarkable Climatic Differences between the East and West
Side of the Suram Pass — The Passengers on the Line to Tiflis.
The Transcaucasian Eailway, connecting Batoum on the
Black Sea with Baku on the Caspian, is 561 5 miles long.
Poti, which was originally intended to be the Black Sea
terminus, is 24 .j miles nearer the Caspian than Batoum.
The section from Poti to Tiflis, 196 miles, which owes its
construction entirely to Enghsh enterprise, capital, and
skill, was commenced in 1871, and opened for traffic a few
years afterwards. The section from Tiflis to Baku, 341
miles, was taken in hand soon after the conclusion of the
Eusso-Turkish war in 1878, and completed a few months
ago. The branch line joining Batoum to the railway at
Samtredi, 65^ miles distant, was also finished at the same
time. The railway possesses only one other offshoot,
running a short distance to Kutais, whence it is now
112 BATOUM TO TIFLIS.
being puslied on 25 miles further, to the coal fields of
TkTibooli.* A project, already sanctioned by the Govern-
ment, is expected to be shortly carried out for making a
branch from Tiflis to Kars, a distance of 200 miles, at a
cost of ,£3,050,000 sterling. Another scheme is also
being pushed for running a Hne from Adji-Cabul station,
near Baku, to Eesht, in Persia ; thence to be extended to
Teheran. This would complete steam communication be-
tween London and the capital of the Shahs.
Starting from the Black Sea, the Transcaucasian Eail-
way winds its way up the sinuous valley of the river
Eiou ixntil it reaches its source in the ridge of the Lesser
Caucasus, whence, after traversing the latter at a height
of 3,200 feet above the level of the ocean, it descends
along the valley of the river Kura to the Caspian Sea.
It thus pursues the old trade route by which, according
to Pliny, the wares of the East used to find their way to
Europe. Immediately opposite Baku, on the other side
of the Caspian, commences the Transcaspian Eailroad,
running 144 miles to Kizil Arvat. From here to Sibi,
the first railway station on the Indian frontier, is a
distance of 1,122 miles.f It is in this direction that the
shortest and quickest railway to India will some day be
constructed. The old trade route mentioned by Pliny ran
from India to Cabul, then over the Hindoo Koosh to the
Oxus near Balkh, whence the wares floated down the
river towards the Caspian, and made their way by the
Kura and Eion to a point where Poti now stands. But
this route was taken to ensure the use of a waterway
running with occasional breaks from Balkh to the Black
Sea. Owing to geological changes, there is now no water-
way whatever between the Oxus region and the Caspian,
• This is now opened for traffic.
t The completion of the Russian line to Merv, ar.l the Indian line
to Pishin, reduces the distance now to about 700 miles.
THE EUXINE-CASPIAN RAILWAY.
113
nor is there any need to construct one solely to reopen
the old trade route, smce the line selected by Anneukoff
for his railway to India traverses low hills, steppes, and
easy valleys, instead of the frightful passes, 15,000 feet
high, separating Cabul from the Oxus. The extension of
THE BATOUM-BAKD RAILWAY LINE.
the railway system to India promises a great future for
the Batoum-Baku line, even apart from the trade it will
attract from Persia and Asia Minor. It is this circum-
stance that renders the petroleum supply of the Caspian
of such vital importance to Eussia. Baku will be able to
114 BATOUM TO TIFLIS.
furnish for ages oil fuel for tlie locomotives running on
tlie Transcaucasian lino and its extensions, while the
vast deposits east of Krasnovodsk will render a similar
service to the Transcaspian Railway, penetrating to
Turkmenia, Afghanistan, and India.
Probably no railway in Europe offers such climatic
contrasts in its course as that between Batoum and Baku.
You begin the journey in Devonshire, you end it in
Sahara. The scenery for most of the way is magnificent,
and if it grows tamer towards the end, the characteristics
of the desert sweeping round to the Aj)sheron Peninsula
are so utterly different from anything to be seen else-
where in Europe, that they cannot fail to deeply interest
the traveller.
We left Batoum on Sunday, August 26th, and experi-
enced a disagreeable amount of bother at the railway
station. This is a small temporary wooden structure,
close to the pier and the hotel, and possesses no accom-
modation whatever for the rigorous examination of
passenger luggage insisted on by the Custom. House
authorities. Batoum being a free port, all dutiable
goods are liable to be taxed on quitting it for the
Caucasus ; the examination t ikes place in Batoum itself
before the train starts, and when the new station is built
will probably be conducted in as orderly a fashion as
elsewhere in Russia. At present the hustling to which
the traveller is subjected in leaving Batoum by train or
steamer, is sufficient to overcome the calmest temj^er.
Much trouble will be avoided by the traveller if he
restricts himself to a little hand luggage, and allows his
portmanteavi to be sealed and kept in the Custom House
while he remains at Batoum. This will j^rotect him also
if he lands at a second Russian port after leaving
Batoum. Where he fails to adopt this course, a few
fifteen copeck pieces judiciously placed at the corners of
A IMOIST BUT BEAUTIFUL REGION. 115
his portmanteau, within easy reach of the rummager's
fingers when that functionary dives down for dutiable
goods, will save him a deal of trouble, and perhaps
expense, should he haj)pen to have any Persian em-
broideries with him.
Delivered from the confusion of the Customs' inspec-
tion, we took our seats in the train, which consisted of
about eight or ten carriages on the Ameincan principle,
and at eight o'clock bade adieu to Batoum. The morning
was very wet, and the rain fell in torrents. The moun-
tains at the rear of Batoum were buried in huge lowering
masses of black clouds. Our course lay along the
marshes for a few miles, and then leaving behind the
Tzikinzeri lines, six miles from Batoum, where Dervish
Pasha held his ground so successfully dui'ing the last
war, we began pushing our way through the spurs of the
mountains frowning over the sea-shore. The scenery at
this part is very fine. The mountain sides are covered
with rhododendrons, laurels, hazels, and ferns, growing in
a rich loose soil, and sustained by an atmosphere which
for the greater part of the year is hot and moist, like
that of a greenhouse. For nearly an hour the locomo-
tive runs alongside the bay, over a road, at every step
mounting higher, formed by alternate scarp and tunnel.
This section was the most difiicult to construct, and
occasioned the loss of hundreds of lives from fever and
scurvy. Out of six months there were only fifty days that
the men could work, owing to the incessant rains. Even
now the road is far from satisfactory, the scarping being
so badly formed in places that storms frequently wash it
away. Considering that the line was chiefly constructed
as a military one, it is an obvious defect that it should be
exposed for so many miles to bombardment from the
enemy's shipping, or to destruction by any enterprising
landing party. A line further inland, however, could not
I 2
116 BATOUM TO TIFLTS.
have been constructed without an immense outlay on
tunnels and steep gradients, to say nothing of a delay of
years in connecting Batoum with the Poti-Tiflis Railway.
As it was, the 65^ miles of line from Batoum to the
junction at Samtredi cost 6,531,864 roubles, or d£653,186
sterling, being at the rate of about ,£10,000 a mile. The
line consists of only a single row of metals, the stations
are of a very ordinary character and wide apart, and the
rolling-stock is altogether insignificant.
The higher we mounted the heavier became the rain,
which beat so fiercely against the windows, and streamed
down the panes with such copiousness, that we could not
see any of the scenery on the sea-side. Before long it
forced its way through the roof in half a dozen places,
and kept us well employed in dodging the cascades. The
carriages leaked like sieves. The first and second-class
carriages were particularly bad in this respect, the com-
posite one I was in being so jDorous that only one seat
was dry in it, and the rain poured through the roof in
places in a regular stream. Had the passengers been
civilized enough to possess umbrellas, the curious spec-
tacle would no doubt have been witnessed of their sitting
in the carriage with their umbrellas up. Outwardly, the
carriages were well enough built — for the convenience of
their arrangements, and their numerous little comforts,
they would have gained a prize in any English exhibition
of rolling-stock ; but there was not a door that would
shut without terrific banging ; not a window that would
move up and down without a groan or a curse ; not a
ventilator that would open if shut, or would shut if
open ; and, in short, there was not a movable fitting
that was not warped or otherwise out of gear. The
cause of this extraordinary condition of things I soon
discovered after a little inquiry. From Poti and Batoum
to Tiflis the line runs through a region in which, as far as
SHOWER-BATH RAILWAY CARRIAGES. 117
the Suram Pass, where the Lesser Caucasus is traversed,
the climate is always more or less moist and wet. It is
rare that the rolling-stock runs through the country with-
out getting a wetting. On the other hand, from Tiflis to
Baku the region grows drier the further east one
advances, until in approaching the Caspian the line
traverses a desert where rain scarcely ever falls, where
the heat is sometimes terrific, and where the dryness of
the air is such that timber shrivels, and cracks, and
warps under its influence. One day soddened with rain,
another day passing through the temperature of an
oven, it would be difl&cult for even the best built rolling-
stock to remain unaffected. As for that of the Trans-
caucasian Railway, which was built at Riga, it is simply
going to rack and ruin as fast as it can, and nothing is
being done by the company to arrest its decay, or in any
way to imjirove matters.
But for the drawback of having to dodge the rivulets
from the roof, and attend to the erratic movements of
doors and windows, all of which would not keep closed
on the windy side, and would not remain open on the
other, we should have enjoyed undisturbed the magnifi-
cent scenery passed on our way from Batoum to the Poti
line at Samtredi, and thence in the journey up the Rion
Valley and the ascent to the Suram Pass. Por splendid
sea views, for ever-varying magnificent forest and moun-
tain scenery, and for the interest imparted to the land-
scape by the constant presence of Mingrelian, Imeretian,
and other mountaineers, all more or less picturesquely
habited and armed, this railway journey is the most
striking and most beautiful in Europe, and must sooner
or later become a favourite one with English tourists.
Now that the Baku line is open, a summer tour of a
month's duration via the Dutch flats, the romantic
Rhine, the primitive Carpathians, and the unicjue Russian
118 BATOUM TO TIFLIS.
steppes to Odessa, occupying four days ; the Crimea and
Caucasian coasts to Batoum, and across Transcaucasia to
Baku, taking a week ; thence up the Caspian and Volga
to Nijni Novgorod, and by railway home via Moscow, St.
Petersburg, and Warsaw, using up the rest of the time,
has become such a simple performance that it is bound in
time to become a popular tour. I have said already that
the mere coasting alone round the lovely scenery of the
Crimea and Caucasia is worth the fatigue of the railway
journey to Odessa ; the same might with equal truth be
said of the trip from Batoum to Tiflis. The stations are
good ; plenty of time is allowed at the excellent buffets
to enjoy good living on the way ; the pace is slow enough
for the traveller to appreciate the beauty of the scenery ;
and he not only has plenty of time at the constant stop-
pages to stretch his limbs at the stations, but can pur-
chase at most of them freshly-picked fruit at fabulously
cheap rates — a huge water melon for a penny, a rope of
grapes, consisting of bunches strung on ropes like onions
and weighing two or three pounds, for five farthings, a
handful of peaches for a halfpenny, and a pocketful of
delicious filberts for a farthing. At nearly every station
there is a regular bazaar, where not only fruit can be
bought, but poultry, game, and other provisions. In con-
nection with this very peculiar feature of the Batoum-
Tiflis Eailway, it is noteworthy that alongside and round
about stations which, when originally built, contained
no habitation near them, rows of shops have sprung up,
attaining the proportions in one or two instances of large
bazaars. In this manner the stations are becoming
encompassed by markets, and facilities are afforded for
trade en mite to be witnessed nowhere else in Eussia.
Between Batoum and Tiflis the train is so crowded, and
there is such a large traffic on both sides of the Suram
Pass, that the Company ought to run several through
THE POTI-TIFLIS RAILWAY.
119
HcheOxdidi.
^ome SeruaJd.
Sanitredi
ArtsclhxLL
TiRLs-
trains a day instead of simply one every twenty-four hours.
Under English or American railway administration the
Transcaucasian region would develop rapidly, but what
growth there is seems to be
rather in spite of it. After
a couple of hours' travelling
we cleared the confines of
Gouria, and at eleven o'clock
reached the junction station
of Samtredi, where we had
twenty minutes for lunch,
and picked up the passen-
gers from Poti. Here we
came in contact with the more
settled part of the Trans-
caucasian Railway. Hitherto
w^e had passed newly annexed
moiintains and forests, with
merely a bare little station
here and there, and occa-
sionally a tiny village. Pas-
sengers were neither picked
up nor put down. Hence-
forth to Tiflis, however, there
■was plenty of bustle, and
new-comers experienced a
difficulty in getting a seat.
Two stations beyond Sam-
tredi is Rion, whence a branch
line takes the traveller in
seventeen minutes to Kutais,
the capital of Imeritia. From
here to the top of Suram
Pass, five hours' journey,
the scenery never ceases to excite interest. The railway
runs along the river Eion, tracking it to its very source,
three thousand feet above the level of the sea. For the
120 BATOUM TO TIFLIS.
most i^art the railway keejjs to the right-hand side of the
river, and the fine old military macadamized road to the
left : cloud-topj^ed mountains tower above both. Villages
perched upon precipices, or down on the river bank, are
constantly passed ; the military road is enlivened by groups
of horsemen in the warlike Mingrelian costume ; now and
again a caravan of camels is seen, and at every strategical
bend are the ruins of some old fort or castle, the stones
of which, if they could speak, would tell many a story
of romance, war, and chivalry. For magnificent and roman-
tic sceneiy, this part of the journey will compare with the
Rhine from Coblentz to Cologne ; in my opinion, it beats
it. The presence of handsome armed horsemen, like the
knights of old, imparts to the journey up the Eion an
interest which is altogether lacking in the case of the
Rhine.
As the train approaches the Suram the inclines become
very steep. The topmost station is Poni, 3,200 feet above
the level of the sea. In climbing up this point and de-
scending from it, the gradients for more than eight miles
are one foot in 22^. During the four hours' journey from
Quirill, on the Rion side, to Michaelova on that of the
Kura, the train rises a height of 2,000 feet.* Three
engines, one a 60-ton Fairlie, are employed to haul the
train up to the tojD of the pass and ease it down the other
side. The operation is naturally slow, but the magnifi-
cence of the scenery repays the traveller for the delay.
* The line starts from Batoum and Poti at 18 feet above the sea-
level. From Poti for 40 miles the railway traverses a swamp, after
which the line rises with gradients from 1 in 125 to 1 in 70, with
curves of from 200 feet to 250 feet. Beyond this the gradients are
1 in 45 and 1 in 40, and finally the profile changes to 1 in 22J, landing
at the Poni station, at the top of the Suram Pass, 3,200 feet above
the sea-level. After leaving Poni the line goes down a few miles at
1 in 22^, after which the grades grow slighter. Beyond Gori, to Tiflis,
they are comparatively easy, and thenceforth the line is virtually level
to the Caspian.
THE SURAM PASS. 121
Commercially, the travei'sing of the pass by such steep
gradients is a mistake, however grand the railway may be
from an engineering' jjoint of view. Only a few trucks or
carriages can be taken over the pass at a time, and the
line being a single one, this will inevitably lead to a con-
gestion of the traffic the moment the petroleum trade
assumes large proportions. It is but right to say that
the English engineers who constructed the line urged a
tunnel instead of a crossing, and the Tiflis authorities
long ago regretted that they did not listen to their
advice. The forty miles of gradients involve a special
extra outlay of ^£55,000 yearly, or nearly .£1,400 a mile
to keep it in order. As this sum would be more than
sufficient to jjay 5 per cent, guaranteed interest on the
^81,000,000 needed to construct a tunnel, there is very-
little doubt that before long the latter will be excavated.
Of course, this would be a work of years, which is a
serious matter for the petroleum trade, but, in the
meanwhile, Mr. Ludwig Nobel suggested that the con-
gestion in the oil traffic should be relieved by rimning a,
pipe-line over the pass. The trains from Baku would
deposit the oil in reservoirs on the east side of the Lesser
Caucasus, whence it would be pumped to the top of the
pass. From here its own gravity would carry it dovni to
the bottom, and a considerable distance beyond, and it
could then be carried on again in oil-trucks to its destina-
tion. The idea is excellent, and it has this great advan-
tage, that it would form a section of the pipe-line that
will some day run from Baku to Batoum.*
Poni station was reached at half-past six. I do not
know any j)lace that would give a 2:)erson a better idea of
* The tunnel is now being bored, and the new loop line avoiding
the pass will be finished in two years' time. The Russian Government
has also sanctioned the laying down of a kerosine pipe-line over the
Suram Pass. This will be nearly 40 miles long, and will greatly re-
lieve the traffic.
122 3AT0UM TO TIFLIS.
a waterslied, or impress upon him m.ore clearly tlie dif-
ference in climate and scenery produced by a range of
mountains. Up to the top of the pass, on the Rion side,
he has forests, bushes, grass, and creepers growing with
the utmost luxuriance under the influence of the humid
climate of the Black Sea littoral. From the station at
Poni, he has before him, in the direction of Tiflis, a
grand panorama of mountain toj^s — forming, as it were,
a plain of cones — all more or less bare and bleak in ap-
pearance. The cold here is very sensible ; we should
have enjoyed our greatcoats. Directly the descent com-
mences, and the new valley, that of the Kura, begins to
broaden out, there is a perceptible decrease in the luxuri-
ance of vegetation ; and although the vale of Georgia,
as far as Tiflis, is considered equal to any part of Italy
in fertility of soil and softness of climate, this change
continues to deepen until even at Tiflis vegetation is only
maintained by means of artificial irrigation. The rain-
fall on the Tiflis side of the Suram Pass is three times
less than on the Poti side.
Half an hour's ride from Poni brought us to the exten-
sive camp at Suram, where many thousand troops are
maintained in the fresh and invigorating climate of the
highlands. Russia maintains the principal part of the
army of the Caucasus in and aliout Tiflis, and the valley
stretching uj) to the Suram. Food is everywhere abun-
dant and cheap there, and by keeping the men well in
hand in a central spot she can throw them forward to
Kars, or right and left respectively to the Black Sea and
the Caspian. At the station next to Suram, Michaelova,
the train stopped long enough for the passengers to par-
take of dinner at the excellent buffet, and then there
were no more prolonged halts till we got to Tiflis. It
was quite dark when we left Michaelova, and if we had
not returned the same way we should have missed the
beautiful scenery extending between it and the Georgian
'CAUCASIAN BEAUTIES. 123
capital. Vineyards and maize fields, villages and riiined
castles, mark the entire coiirse. At alltlie stations grapes
can be liad for two or three farthings a pound, and a cap-
ful of pears or peaches for a penny or twopence. In the
Caucasus there are nearly 300,000 acres devoted to the
culture of the vine, and the quantity of wine produced
every year does not fall far short of 35,000,000 gallons. Of
this more than a third is grown in the Eion region. The
wine is pronounced by experts to be of excellent quality,
although it is not manufactured with sufficient skill to
enable it to keep long. Throughout the Caucasus it is
transported in skins, and is sold at the innumerable wine-
shops from sixpence a bottle upwards. Although fond of
wine, I must admit I rapidly grew tired of it, and while
at Baku preferred the Eusso-Bavarian light beer, brought
from Astrakhan and Kazan. In all parts of Eussia the
wines of the Crimea and the Caucasus can be bought very
cheaj), and are invariably unadulterated. The Eussians,
as a rule, despise them, although recent investigations
have revealed that much of the French and German wine
sold throughout the country at a heavy price is nothing
more than the native article, adulterated and labelled
with foreign brands.
Our train became very crowded as we approached
Tiflis, and we had plenty of opportunities of studying
the varieties of natives with whom we came in contact.
If dress and demeanour afford any criterion of the civili-
zation of a country, Georgia is ahead of any other j^art
of Eussia ; on no other line in the Empire will the
traveller find so many respectable and intelligent people
in the second and third-class carriages as during the
journey from Poti to Tiflis. The men of the Caucasus
are proverbially handsome. Some of them I saw were
superbly beautiful. I am sorry I cannot say as much of
the women. I did not see a pretty face the whole time I
was in the Caucasus. As for the women in Georgia, they
124 BATOUM TO TIFLIS.
seem to have been grossly overrated ; their round flat
caps and Roman noses had the aggravating effect on me
that Dickens ascribes to Pip in " Great Expectations."
We had left in the morning Batoiim deluged with rain ;
we arrived at Tiflis just before midnight, and found the
place parched with heat and overwhelmed with dust.
The phaeton that conveyed us and our luggage to the
London Hotel (Gostinnitza London) stirred up dense
clouds as it rattled over the ill-paved streets. Like all
Russian stations, that of Tiflis is situated right outside
the town, and we had a couple of miles to drive before
we reached our destination, and made ourselves comfort-
able for the night.
125
CHAPTER IX.
TIFLIS AS A POLITICAL AND MILITARY CENTRE.
Tiflis in the Autumn — Development of the City — One's Impressions of
the Place depend upon whether one is i^roceeding East or West —
The Administrative District of the Caucasus — What it Cost to
Conquer it — Political and Strategical Position of Tiflis — Table of
Annexations during the various Russian Sovereigns' Reigns — The
Conquest of Central Asia— Tiflis compared with Indian Centres —
The next War in the East — Value of Russian Assurances — The
Approximation of Russia and India inevitable— Lesson taught by
the Annexation of Merv — The Principal Fact to be Remembered
gard to Tiflis— The Armenians : their Present and Future
— Xot so tame in Spirit as commonly imagined— Russian Interest
in the Ai-menian Question — The Caucasus Deficit.
As nobody goes to the Caucasus without paying a visit
to Tiflis, that city has been so often and so well described
that there is no need of my devoting much attention to
it. Situated 1,350 feet above the level of the sea, and
oxposed to the dry winds from the east, it is naturally
inclined to aridity ; a defect which has been increased by
denuding all the mountains round about of trees. The
morning after our arrival the wind tore with such force
down the valley, and carried with it such clouds of grit,
that we were cruelly reminded of a dusty March wind at
home. Hot and dry in summei', Tiflis, however, is a
delightful place in winter, and its mild and bracing atmo-
sphere then is calculated to have an invigorating effect
on the ofiicials charged with the government of the
Caucasus.
126 TIFLIS AS A POLITICAL AND MILITARY CENTRE.
"We found plenty of progress observable. The builder
is busy in every part of tlie city, and not only are old
houses being replaced by new ones, forming handsome
thoroughfares, but suburbs are being developed on a very
extensive scale. Situated on an unnavigable mountain
torrent, which cuts too deeply into the rock to allow of
the water being any ornament to the city, Tiflis straggles
over a considerable space of ground, and is never at any
point very far away from the country. All around it the
mountain sides are bare and brown ; nothing grows on
them but a little camel thorn and here and there a juniper
bush. Even in the town itself cultivation is only main-
tained by an elaborate system of artificial irrigation ;
not a tree or a shrub can be kept alive in the arid soil of
the place without being daily attended to with the water-
ing-can or water-cart. Thanks to this, Tiflis has a some-
what desolate look, which would be appalling but for the
boulevards of stately poplars and the green gardens in
the German quarter. The care which these Teuton
settlers display in keeping fresh the verdant aspect of
their colony contrasts remarkably with the apathy of the
Russians, who do little or nothing to extend cultivation
in the Georgian capital. Except where the Germans
abound, the city is dry and dusty, and a most imdesirable
place of residence in the summer months. During this
period hot arid winds often blow across the hill-sides
upon Tiflis with a desiccating force, which I can only
compare to a concentrated easterly wind. These produce
an unceasing longing for drink and a cooling bath — the
latter a luxury almost unattainable, owing to the Kura
river being little more than an open sewer. When there
is no wind at all the atmosphere is cool and agreeable.
Happening to point out to a Russian officer the generally
arid aspect of Tiflis, he said that one's impression of the
Georgian capital depends largely on the direction from
which the traveller arrives. Coming from the Black Sea
CONQUEST OF TRANSCAUCASIA. 127
coast, wliere constant rains clrencli the Anatolian and
Caucasian ranges, and encourage the growth of magni-
ficent forests and rank vegetation of a semi-tropical
character, Tiflis strikes the traveller as having a
scorched and withered aspect. But if he arrives from
the south or the east, from Erivan or Baku, where the
country is almost entirely devoid of verdure, and nothing
grows without irrigation except the camel thorn, the
impression is altogether different. So far from seeing
no vegetation, his eye seeks out and is refreshed by
the trees and shrubs scattered here and there — the
German colony seems to him quite a little paradise.
This will account for most travellers arriving at Tiflis
from the Caspian or Persia describing the place as
" enchanting." Those who touch it in journeying the
other way, from west to east, mostly, so far as my
memory goes, either discover no attractions in Tiflis, or
else ignore them.
The administrative district of the Caucasus consists
of the region north and south of the Caucasus range,
from nearly the mouth of the Don to Batoum, and from
the mouth of the Kuma to the Persian border, and pos-
sesses an area (186,000 square miles) half as large again
as the British Isles. This is exclusive of the territory
newly annexed beyond the Caspian, the boimdaries of
which on the Khivan and Turcoman side are not exactly
determined, but which comprise, if we add Mangishlak
and other districts governed from Tiflis, an a i-ea of about
the same dimensions. Thus the Governor-General at
Tiflis rules an area larger than Germany and the British
Isles put together, with England a second time tiirown.
in ; and a population, inclusive of the Turcomans, of 6^
millions, or not quite twice the population of London.
To conquer this area took Eiissia more than 150 years ;
it cost her from beginning to end the lives of more troops
than we spent in acquiring the whole of our Empire ;
128 TIFLIS AS A POLITICAL AND MILITARY CENTRE.
and to maintain order slie keeps witliin its boundaries
to-day a force considerably larger than the English army
in India, involving, with other expenses, an annual deficit
of not less than a million sterling.
Several circumstances contribute to render Tiflis the
proper capital of this appanage of the Eussian Crown.
It has the largest population by a long way of any of
the towns lying south of Eostoff, at the mouth of the
Don, and Astrakhan, at the mouth of the Volga. If we
leave out Bagdad, which lies too far south to be included
in these comparisons, it is larger, in point of inhabitants,
than any town in Asiatic Turkey ; Erzeroum, the only
extensive place lying between it and Constantinople,
having less than half the population. Added to this,
it occupies a good central position, politically and com-
mercially, being situated at the cross road of the trade
flowing from the Caspian to the Black Sea, east and
west, and from Asia to Europe in a northerly direction
via the sole split in the Caucasus ridge from sea to sea —
the Dariel Pass. It was this strategical quality that so
greatly facilitated the conquest of the country, once
Eussia had occupied Tiflis. In 1800 she took possession
of the town " in the interests of humanity and order."
Once settled in Georgia she pushed out down the valley of
the Kura to the Caspian, and conquered all she now holds
from Persia. Afterwards she turned her arms the other
way, down the valley of the Eion to the Black Sea, and
annexed all her present dominions there from Turkey.
Transcaucasia conquered from sea to sea, she set to work
at the rear to subjugate the Caucasus itself — a tough bit
of business, seeing that from the Black Sea to the
Caspian the mountains were 700 miles long by 100 broad,
and covering an area nearly half as large again as Eng-
hmd. For thirty years a quarter of a million troops were
employed on this undertaking, and in the end Eussia
only attained her aim by annihilating or expelling the
RUSSIAN ANNEXATIONS.
129
population. The struggle came to a close in 1862, and,
excluding the column the Caucasus sent to co-operate in
the Khivan expedition eleven years later, the army
enjoyed a rest until the war of 1877. This war increased
the area of the Caucasian territory by the addition of
Ears and Batoum, and then came the three years'
conflict in Turkmenia, resulting in the annexation of
Askabad and the opening up to the Tiflis officials of a
grand vista of political influence in Central Asia.*
While Eussia had been conquering the Caucasus, she
had also been engaged further east, on the confines of
her Orenberg base, in conflicts with the Kirghiz and other
steppe tribes. Directly the Caucasian struggle ended,
fighting in earnest commenced in Central Asia, and
continued with but very few breaks almost up to the
Turkish war. The residt of that conflict was the forma-
tion of the province of Turkestan, a province which
attracted an extraordinary amoimt of attention in Eng-
* The following table shows the relative annexations in the Cau-
casus made by various Russian sovereigns : —
Sovereign.
Date.
Territory Annexed.
Area in
sq. versts.
Elizabeth
1748
Osetiu Country
1,900
Catherine II....
1783
Kuban
58,700
Paul
1801
Georgia
44,600
Alexander I. ...
1803
Mingrelia
9,500
1804
Imeretia
14,200
1810
Gouria
1,900
1813
Ganjin, Karabah, Baku, Der-
bent, &c.,byGulistan Treaty
66,800-
1817-23
Tchetchni and Kabarda
16,200
Nicholas
1828
Erivau Nakhitchevan, &c., by
Treaty of Turkman tclii . . .
23,300
1829
Poti, and other Turkish terri-
tory, by Treaty of Adrianople
4,900
Later annexations
55,100
Alexander II.
1857-59
Daghestan
9,400
1859-64
Tcherkess Country
13,600
1878
Batoum and Kars
23,000
180 TIFLIS AS A POLITICAL AND MILITARY CENTEE.
land in the course of its development, overshadowing com-
pletely the Caucasus ; but which, since the conquest of
Geok Tepe in 1881, has fallen out of the race and pro-
voked but little interest. The Transcaspian region,
which stretches up to the confines of Khiva and Afghan-
istan, is administered from Tiflis, not from Tashkent.
It is from this base that any future movements will be
made in the direction of India. Turkestan and Tashkent
may be treated with a certain amount of indifference for
the moment, but we are bound to keep a watch upon the
Caucasus and Tiflis, because the oflacials there control
Eussia's relations with Afghanistan, Persia, and Asiatic
Turkey, and their forces may some day be set in motion
against Herat, Teheran, or Constantinople.
Tiflis is thus a place of the future. It will figure
largely whenever the Central Asian or Eastern Ques-
tions crop up afresh in an active form. The Caucasus
cannot stand comparison in population with India, but
it holds its own against the neighbouring states. Tiflis
has 105,000 inhabitants : we have twenty towns with a
larger population in India. After Tiflis comes Tekater-
inodar, with 32,500 people. Including these two, the
Caucasus possesses only twenty-one towns of more than
10,000 inhabitants. We have 1,360 such towns in India.
But while the Caucasus, the possible base of future
operations against India, is so insignificant in point
of people and developed resoiu'ces compared with the
English dependency, it compares favoui-ably with Persia,
Afghanistan, and Asiatic Turkey. The Governor-
General rules more people than cither the Shah or the
Ameer, and nearly as many as the Sultan does in his
Asiatic dominions. These three States are bitter
enemies to one another, and would never combine. The
Caucasus is thus qualified to crush each of them in
succession.
But it is a mistake to regard the Caucasus as figuring
VALUE OP RUSSIAN ASSURANCES. 131
single-handed in the next conflict in the East. From
■what I have said of the growth of Eussia's fleet at
Sevastopol, we may expect to see, in the course of a few
years, the Tsar powerful enough to keep the Turks from
quitting the Bosphorus. In that case, all the ports and
garrisons of South Eussia, and the new fleet of trans-
ports growing up in the Black Sea, could co-operate in
any movement upon Asiatic Turkey or EoTimelia for the
seizure of Constantinople. When we get to the Caspian
I trust to be able to clearly demonstrate that, thanks to
the development of the railway and steamer service in
that region, Eussia will be able herself to render power-
ful assistance to the Caucasus in any operations either
against Persia, or, through Afghanistan, against India.
I do not wish it to be supposed that I accuse Eussia of
nourishing at the present moment aggressive designs
against our supremacy in the East. Throughout the
whole of my journey in the Caucasus I was everywhere
assured, and assured by all classes, that Eussia had no
wish to invade India. The same was repeated to me
over and over again by the most eminent Eussians of
the day I came in contact with at the Tsar's coronation.
I should be sorry to cast any doubt upon the genuine
character of these assurances. But the policy of great
States is determined, not by the good wishes or the good
intentions of individuals, but by the exigencies of
national growth, the aspirations of races, and the idiosyn-
cracies of statesmen. When a nominal settlement of
the Central Asian Question was arrived at in 1881, by
Eussia annexing Askabad and fixing the Persian
boundary on one side of the region, and by England
withdrawing from Candahar on the other, we were told
there was to be no more meddling with the interveni n g
country by either Power, and that both England and
Eussia were to do their best to avoid any departure from
the new arrangement. What has been the actual result ?
K 2
132 TIFLIS AS A POLITICAL AND MILITARY CENTRE.
Eussia has observed the compact by suddenly seizing-
Merv ; Eussian travellers and secret agents have pene-
trated to Herat and Cabul ; and reconnoitring columns
have been pushed out close to Sarakhs. England, on her
part, has given a subsidy of ,£120,000 a year to the
Ameer to bring him under her influence ; she has
strengthened her outposts beyond Quetta, which place
further she has annexed, and she has estabhshed a
protectorate over Beluchistan. When such a pacific
Emperor as the present Tsar is believed to be does these
things, and such a violent defender of Masterly Inactivity
as Mr. Gladstone follows suit, the question naturally
arises whether it is possible to prevent by earthly means
the apparently inevitable gravitation of the frontiers of
the English and Eussian Empires towards each other in
Central Asia ? All that is left for poor mortals to do,
who have no influence on the issue of the game, is to
hope that the junction may be effected by peaceful means,
and that good may come to both countries from the
contact of the Sepoy and Cossack.*
• The sudden annexation of Merv demonstrated pretty clearly the
value of good wishes and assurances, and the English public is not
disposed to give heed to them any more. During my interviews with
Russian statesmen and generals in 1882, nearly all of them ridiculed
the notion of an early annexation of Merv. The crowning triumph
of Geok Tep^ had rendered the Merv Tekkds sufficiently well behaved
for Russian purposes. Yet, without any actual provocation, for the
Merv Tekk^s were becoming a tranquil tribe, the Tsar suddenly sent
a military force to within striking distance of Merv, and, by the
sudden apparition of this force, at a moment when the Merv Tekk^s
believed peace to be prevailing, and were unprepared for war, coerced
them into submission. To talk of "voluntary submission" under
Buch circumstances is to utter a deliberate untruth. Merv was carried
by a coMj) de main. How little even Russians themselves anticipated
such a bold stroke on the part of their Government, was illustrated by
a letter I received from a Russian author at Tiflis the day before
the annexation, in which, after informing me he had read my " Rus-
sians at Merv and Herat," he proceeded to point out the groundless-
ness of my charges of aggression— " Russia," he said, "had uo desire
FUTUEE OF THE ARMENIANS. 133
I hope I sliall be excused for dwelling upon the politi-
cal aspect of Tiflis. The city has been excellently de-
scribed archaeologically by Commander Buchan Telfer
in his " Crimea and Transcaucasia ; " General Valentine
Baker, Major Marsh, Mr. Mounsey, and many others
have recorded their impressions de voyage ; and both Mr.
O'Donoyan and Mr. Grallenga have given clever word
pictures of the place in their books. But the political
features of Tiflis have been, without exception, wholly
ignored since Tashkent came into prominence, and much
blujidering has arisen in the management of otu* relations
with the East from English statesmen mixing up Turk-
menia with Turkestan, and treating it as an aj)panage
of the latter, instead of belonging to the Caucasus. If
I have made it clear that Tiflis is the capital not only
of the Caucasus, but of the Caspian also, and the region
beyond the Caspian stretching to Khiva and Merv, I
shall be successful, perhaps, in persuading politicians to
leave off concerning themselves too much about Tash-
kent and Samarcand, and focus their whole attention
upon Tiflis, Krasnovodsk, Askabad, Sarakhs, and Herat
— the real highway of Russian operations against India.
But if the future of the Central Asian Question is
largely in the keeping of Tiflis, the fate of the Arme-
nian people is still more so. Before the commencement
•of the present century, Tiflis was the capital of the
kingdom of Georgia. Politically it has siace been the
capital of the Russian appanage of the Caucasus.
Racially, however, it is really the caj)ital of the Arme-
nian people, and in the future it will play an important
part in connection with this aspect. Of the 105,000
inhabitants of Tiflis, the Georgians number 23,000, the
Russians 30,000, and the Armenians 37,000. The
whatever to meddle with Merv, or to advance a step further towards
India." Events the next morning proved pretty conclusively to the
.contrary.
134 TIFLIS AS A POLITICAL AND MILITARY CENTEE.
latter have the commerce of the place in their hands ;
they control five- sevenths of the votes in the municipal
council ; and through their representatives in the army
and administration they exercise a powerful and increas-
ing influence over the administration of the Caucasus.
There are also several thousand German settlers at
Tiflis.
The latter are descendants of a number of Wurtem-
bergers who migrated to Russia to escape religious oppres-
sion, and founded what is now the finest and the most
flourishing quarter of Tiflis. They still speak their own
language, wear their own Teuton dress, and display the
same hostility towards Russians generally which is a
common feature of German colonists in the Tsar's
dominions. Equally difficult to assimilate or absorb is
the Persian element, occupying the lower and dirtier
part of Tiflis, constituting in point of crowdedness and
squalor as great a contrast to the German quarter as St.
Giles to Belgravia. The Armenians are quite different
from the Gei-mans and Persians. They readily adopt
Russian ways and Russian dress. With few exceptions
they speak Russian as readily as their mother tongue,
and many of them have even discarded the latter for the
guttural language of their conquerers. So far as I can
gather, this conformation of the Ai-menian race to the
Russian is in the main entirely spontaneous. As a
matter of fact, the Armenians are a race without a
nationality and without a head. Fnlike the Persians,
they have no Shah to look towards to encourage them
to resist assimilation, and they have not that keen love
of the Fatherland which keeps the Gennans in Russia
from denationalizing themselves. Too weak to form a
State of their own, even if they had any political ten-
dency that way, which they have not, their only course is
to throw in their lot with that of Russia. Some wi-iters
have described them as the Jews of the Caucasus, owing
CHAEACTERISTICS OF THE ARMENIANS. 135
to their love of trade, and an alleged dislike for warlike
pursuits. But the comparison is not a good one. In the
first place, the Armenians, generally speaking, possess a
fine physique, which the Jews rarely have, above all in
Russia ; and this cannot but secure them respect from
tlie Russians. In the second place, the Armenian is far
from being as mild as the Hebrew, and is apt to return
an insult with a telling backhander. That writers are
wi-ong who speak of the Armenians as an oppressed
trading class, unfit for independence because unable,
owing to lack of spirit, to assert it, is proved with toler-
able conclusiveness by the number of excellent Armenian
Generals military operations have j)roduced in the
Caucasus. General Lazareff, who stormed Kars, General
TergoukasofE, who so ably led the Erivan column, and
General Loris Melikoff, who, after successfully controlling
the Russian operations, was summoned to rule Russia
itself, were all three of them Armenians. The best
officers, and the best officials Russia possesses in the
Caucasus are of Armenian birth. The commerce of the
region is almost entirely in Armenian hands. So rapidly
is the Armenian element in Tiflis gaining upon the others
that ere long Tiflis will fairly merit the title of being the
capital of the Armenian race.
Such being the case, it is easy for the reader to under-
stand the interest which Tiflis takes in the progress of
events in the Armenian provinces of Turkey. The most
oppressed and pacific people in Asiatic Turkey are the
760,000 Armenian subjects of the Sultan. The atrocious
treatment which they have experienced since 1878 at the
hands of the Turks, is too sorrowful and sickening a
subject for me to dilate upon here. They exercise no
power ; their development is checked ; and the hatred
they entertain towards the Turks renders them a source
of weakness to the country. In Russia and the Caucasus
there are 850,000 Armenians, who are treated as equals of
136 TIFLIS AS A POLITICAL AND MILITAEY CENTRE.
the Russians, enjoy every privilege tlie latter possess, and
can rise to any post in the State, as witness the autocratic
powers conferred on Loris Melikoff in 1880. Tiflis is the
centr* of their commercial and literary activity ; the
Presses there are continually turning out translations of
the masterpieces of European literature ; and they main-
tain four monthly reviews — the Ararat, Norclz, Aikikan,
and Ashkar, and four newspapers, the Mshah, Megoo, Psak,
and Gortz. The latter possess correspondents through-
out Asiatic Turkey, and serve as a mouthpiece for their
grievances. It is quite natural, therefore, that Tiflis
should manifest a deep interest in what goes on in our
Asia Minor Protectorate. To Tiflis, Erzeroum is a sort
of second Bulgaria, which the next conflict should place
in her keeping. The Armenians there watch events at
Erzeroum as keenly as the Russians used to regard them
in the Balkan provinces. Every Turkish outrage is
exaggerated, and made a peg for agitation by the
Armenian Press, and it is affirmed that the Russian
higher authorities are not altogether innocent of stimu-
lating the feeling against Turkey. As for the local
officials, a fresh crusade would be exceedingly popular.
The Caucasus is a grand military base for Russia.
Erom it radiate roads to the most important objective
points in the East. No barrier now exists to a direct
march from Tiflis and Kars upon Constantinople. By
taking a direction a little more to the south, a Caucasian
army can cut the trade routes of Asia Minor and occupy
the Euphrates valley, through which England will some
day require to make a railway to India. A third high-
way takes an invading force to Teheran to stamp out the
Persian monarchy, and push down to the Persian Gulf.
By proceeding due east, across the Caspian, two parallel
roads are open to a Caucasian advance upon Herat, either
via Astrabad and Meshed, or Krasnovodsk, Askabad and
Sarakhs ; and the reader does not need to be reminded
THE CAUCASUS BASE. 137
"where an army would ultimately get to, if it marched
beyond Herat.
The Caucasus base, garrisoned by 150,000 troops in
time of peace and 350,000 in time of war, is not main-
tained without a heavy drain on the Eussian Exchequer.
The deficit, as I have said, is never less than a million a
year. But this large figure could be easily reduced to a
considerable extent by carrying out the long jiromised
administrative refoiins. Besides having to support a
huge army, the Caucasus is required to maintain a swarm
of heavily j^aid fimctionaries, several times in excess of
its wants, and notorious even in Eussia for possessing the
worst traits of an iU-regulated bureaucracy. The Oren-
burg base was " revised " in 1880, and after a host of
incapable and corrupt officials had been pensioned or
punished, the staff was cut down, and the annual deficit
extinguished. Last year Turkestan underwent a similar
purging, and although in this case the deficit was not
altogether removed, still it was very much lessened, and
the administrative service rendered of greater utility to
the natives. The turn of the Caucasus wiU come next.
One of these days a Senator will go forth from St.
Petersburg armed with full powers, and those officials
who have been lazy and corrupt will shake in their shoes
and have a veiy bad time of it,
138
CHAPTER X.
FROM TIFLIS TO BAKTJ.
The New Railway from Tiflis to Baku — Strategical Results of the
Construction — Departure from Tiflis — Transformation Scene the
next Morning — Views of the Elisavetopol Steppes — The Caucasus
Range — Mount Ararat — Refusal of the Armenians to believe that
any Man has ever attained the Summit — Delights of a Morning
Meal off a Water-melon — The Melon as a Fruit— A free-and-easy
mode of Railway Travelling — Atrocious Pace on the Transcaucasian
Railway— Deficit in working the Line— The Valley of the River
Kura — The Transcaucasian Irrigation System— German Colonies
in the Elisavetopol District — Adji Cabul, and the projected
Russian Railway to Teheran— The Line described— The future
Railways to the Persian Gulf and India— Alayat, the Second Ter-
minus on the Caspian — A Kight Ride along the Caspian Coast to
the Apsheron Peninsula.
When tlic war of 1877-78 broke out between Eussia and
Turkey, it took the former Power nearly a montli to
move troops from tlie Caspian littoral to Tiflis. A few
months later, when the tribes in Daghestan rose against
the Eussians and menaced the security of the region
about Petrovsk, it occupied a relieving force three weeks
to get from Tiflis to the Caspian, even with extraordinary-
efforts on the part of the commanding general. A few
months ago the new railway to Baku was opened for
traffic, and all this hard travelling was at once reduced
to a matter of twenty-two hours. In this manner, the
journey from one sea to the other, across Transcaucasia,
which a decade ago occupied, travelling express, nearly
a fortnight, has been reduced to thirty- six hours, and
THE RAILWAY TO BAKU. 139
might, if the present slow service were accelerated, be
shortened to within the limits of a day. In the interval
Turkey has done nothing to improve her communications
between her capital and Armenia. Eussia, therefore, has
increased her power in Transcaucasia to an extent that
must tell with crushing effect on the issue of the next
campaign. This circumstance alone would almost justify
the deficit incurred by constructing the railway from
Batoum to Baku. But the new railway has done some-
thing more than merely enable Eussia to throw her
military resources with equal facility towards the Caspian
or Black Sea, and ahead into Armenia — it has laid open
to Europe the immense petroleum supply of Baku, and
secured Eussia the market of the world for it. It was a
misfortune for me, perhaps, that I saw the Baku railway
rather early in its career. It had only been opened a
month or two, and while the old Persian goods' traffic
had been suddenly snatched from it by the suppression
of the European transit trade across the Caucasus, the
arrangements for the despatch of petroleum had not
been sufficiently matured to allow of the deficiency being
made good. Hence we travelled the 341 miles from
Tiflis to Baku with only a score of passengers, and met
only a similar return consignment and a couple of oil
trains the whole of the way — traffic insufficient to pay the
expenses of the odd forty-one miles, let alone the remain-
ing three hundred.*
* In four years the traffic has increased so rapidly, and to such a
volume that the railway is quite unable to cope with it. Irrespective
of the petroleum traffic, goods now pour along the line from Turkes-
tan and Persia, while the products of the Caucasus are largely ex-
ported to Europe. The export of corn to Europe last year blocked
the line for weeks and attained a total of nearly 200,000 tons, and of
manganese ore over 60,000 tons were shij^ped from Poti. The traffic
in 1883 amounted to about 280,000 tons ; in 1884 it had gro\vn to
400,000 tons ; in 1885 to nearly 600,000 tons, and in 1886 to more
than 900,000 tons ; about two-tliirds of the latter consisting of petro-
140 FROM TIFLIS TO BAKU.
The train from Batouin arrives at Tiflis at 10.25 at
nigM and leaves at 11.11. The greater part of the pas-
sengers quit it there, and the few that go further on
alight for the most part at the town of Elisavetopol.
We had no diflSculty, therefore, in securing excellent seats
and making ourselves comfortable for the night. The
carriages on the line have an ingenious arrangement for
sleeping, which might be easily copied in our English
can-iages. The cushioned back lifts up like the leaf of a
table, and enables a person to lie down full length above
the ordinary seat. These we found such excellent
couches that we passed Elisavetopol at half -past six the
next morning fast asleep, and did not wake until we
were approaching the Adjinaoor steppe, a couj^le of
hours later on.
Quite a transformation scene greeted us when we put
our heads out of the window. We were jtraversing a
country which bore no resemblance to anything we had
previously passed through since our departure from
London, Around us was a sort of plain of fuller's
earth — so dry was the loam that it seemed as though
one might dig for yards without coming upon a vestige
of moisture. Dotting it here and there were small
straggling oases of trees, enclosing a thatched village,
and connected one with the other by a low ridge running
across the plain, marking the course of an irrigation
canal. Now and again we passed one of these canals,
the turbid waters of which were sluggishly moving at
the bottom of a deep and arid cutting. Occasionally
flocks and herds could be seen browsing on the scanty
grass close to the oases, the shepherds protected from the
leum products. In 1883 the traffic receipts reached 3,458,000 roubles ;
in 1886 the sum exceeded 8,500,000 roubles. "When the Transcaspian
railway is finished to Samarcand, the Transcaucasian line will be the
regular highway between Central Asia and Europe. Already Panjdeh
fleeces are sent via Baku and Batoum to Marseilles.
ON THE ELISAVETOPOL PLAINS. 141
fierce rays of the sun by a thatch over a dwarf conning
post constructed on the trunk of a tree. The plain itself
bore no vegetation, except a little camel thorn, on which
alongside a track camels from a halted caravan could be
seen at times feeding. Once or twice we passed horsemen
riding across the country — fierce and swarthy men, with
Eastern khalats, or robes like dressing-gowns and a huge
black sheepskin buzbee. Most of them carried a rifle,
and all of them a dagger, for the lower valley of the
Kura is stOl notorious for its brigandage, owing to its
proximity to the tmsettled Kurdish border of Persia.
Such was the aspect of the plain which stretched away
on both sides of the railway to a mountain ridge ; one
of them — the Caucasus — running in an even course
parallel with the line, and the other, flanking the Persian
side, more broken and intermittent. The Caucasus had
a very different appearance from what it had borne
before. It was brown, bare, and treeless; the cones
were no longer green, but seemed to reflect the sun with
a silvery lustre. A person inexperienced in mountains
would have calculated the distance of the ridge from the
railway at ten or fifteen miles. In reality, it was between
sixty and seventy. One of the cones we had just passed
was the Kamatzna Dagh, 11,445 feet high, and in front
was the Bazar Douz, rearing its head above the level of
ocean 14,722 feet.
Mount Ararat, which lies a few days south of Tiflis,
is only a little more than two thousand feet higher than
this. Travelling in our carriage was a young Armenian
engineer, who was reading a recently published Armenian
book upon Moiint Ararat. The cause of its issue had
been the publication of a work at St. Petersburg by a
Eussian professor, describing his partial ascent of the
mountain. The Armenian book, written by one of the
Armenian monks on the spot, denied the truthfulness of
the professor's statements, and asserted that no one had
142 FKOM TIFLIS TO BAKU.
ever placed his foot on the summit. This, by the way,
the Armenians have repeatedly asserted since Parrot first
effected the ascent in 1829. Since then Aftronomoff,
Behrens, Abich, Seymour, Tchodsko, Khanyloff, Stuart,
C. C. Tucker, and Bryce have either stood on the actual
summit, or at a height within a few feet of it. Still,
prejiidice is hard to kill, and the Armenians having made
up their minds that the mountain has never been
ascended since the time of Noah, and that its summit
will never be attained by mortal man to the end of time,
are ready to argue the matter against all comers in the
face of the clearest evidence to the contrary.
The Armenian was a very intelligent fellow. He was
beino- trained at Moscow by the Government as a railway
engineer, and was gaining experience during the vacation
by travelling with a free pass over the Caucasian rail-
roads. Some day, when these railroads push their way
into Persia, Afghanistan, and Turkey, the Government
will possess in the person of this Armenian and others of
the same nationality, skilled engineers capable of making
all the arrangements with the natives of the districts
through which the lines will pass.
Had we been up early we should have been able to
have breakfasted at Elisavetopol Station, where the train
stops for twenty minutes, at an excellent buffet. As it
was, we were only able to get a glass of tea and a stale
roll at one of the small stations. This, however, was
better than nothing, considering the sultriness of the
morninc ; and when we followed it at the next station
with a capital wash and brush up in the solitary waiting-
room, and then in the roomy carriage attacked with our
pen-knives a huge water-melon, weighing eight or ten
pounds, and bought for a penny, I was quite ready to
admit the force of C.'s remark — could luxurious travel-
ling be carried to further lengths in the East ?
Throughout the Kura Valley I do not know any fruit
PLENTIFULNESS OF WATEE-MELONS. 143
that surpasses the water-melon. Grapes which can be
"bought for ahiiost nothing with their delicate bloom on
in the humid valley of the Rion, too often reach the
traveller in the dusty valley of the Kura gritty and fly-
blown. It is unpleasant also to eat grapes after they
have been packed in dirty baskets and handled by dirty
Asiatics. But the dust and the fly cannot get at the
water-melon ; its tough skin is proof against bruises and
dirt, and it retains its freshness long after the pear and
the apricot have become stale and rotten. Gently
removing the top, we helped ourselves to thick horizontal
slices, and I think the friends of C. and myself would
have been amused if they had seen us afterwards,
sleeves turned wp, holding the slices with both hands out
of the window and taking huge bites at the pulp, while
the juice descended in showers on the dusty earth below.
When we had eaten of it till we could eat no more, we
replaced the toj) and stowed the melon away in a cool
corner of the carriage, whither we resorted whenever we
felt thirsty — it being impossible closer to Baku to get
water-melons at the stations. At Baku itself they are
again abundant, being brought by barge-loads from the
Volga. Throughout the whole of South Eussia water-
melons are wonderfully abundant. Generally speaking,
they may be bought for Id. or 2d. apiece, although they
cost 6d. to Is. 6d. at Moscow and St. Petersburg, and I
have often seen half-a-crown demanded at Covent
Garden. In some parts of South Eussia, as, for instance,
in the province of Tamboff, where I lived six months
among the peasants some years ago, the water-melon is
used as an alternative crop — wheat being sown the first
year, millet or buckwheat the next, and water melons or
cucumbers the third. In the Caucasus they are com-
monly grown amidst the maize. The people of South
Eussia practically live on bread and melons during the
summer, and this is the case all the way to Merv. At
144 FKOM TIFLIS TO BAKU.
the close of the season they are salted in tubs for winter
eating. The water-melon is essentially a fruit for a hot
climate. On a hot day it is simply delicious. But it
never seems to me palatable in cold, dull weather, even
in Asia, and I always avoid it in England, where it is
not only out of place in our chilly climate, but never
possesses the juiciness and flavour of the water-melon of
the East. As a rule, the hotter the climate the better
the water-melon. It attains its largest size, I believe, at
Merv, the Turcomans having been accustomed for genera-
tions to grow it on manure heaps. To those who have
never seen the water-melon in perfection, the sweet
melon of the English hothouse can convey no idea of the
fruit ; the two are as widely dissimilar as the pear and
the grape. The sweet melon is only occasionally grown
in Russia and the Caucasus, and is eaten as a luxury, not
as a quencher of thirst and article of diet, like the
water-melon.
The free-and-easy ^mode of travelling on the Baku
Eailway was very pleasant. There were not more than
a score of passengers in the entire train, and one could
walk from one end to the other through the almost
deserted carriages and enjoy every variety of seat, win-
dow, and travelling companion. The abundance of un-
occupied seats about me made me feel as though I were
journeying in an empty church. At the stations we took
up no passengers, and set (none down. Half a dozen
officials were usually on the platfonn to meet us, and
when the train stopped half a dozen alighted from it —
supervisors inspecting the different branches of railway
organization. These chatted and gossiped for five minutes
and then they got into the train, which went on slowly
again. The regular j^assengers for the most part slept ;
they only concerned themselves about the station when
a buffet was there. All the stations, as also the watch-
houses along the line, are beautifully built of fine
SLOW RAILWAY TRAVELLING. 145
grey marble. Most of the former liave comjnodious
waitmg-room.s, fitted with, lavatories and mirrors,
luxuries of wHcli the trains themselves on this line are
deficient.
The pace we went at was atrociously slow. Including
stoppages, the average rate from Tiflis to Baku was
little more than fifteen miles an hour. It has not been
improved since, and there is no prospect at present of
any alteration for the better. The Transcaucasian Rail-
way is notoriously ill-managed. The greater portion of its
shares are held by a group of Eussian bankers, who con-
tent themselves with the Government guarantee and care
very httle for the efi&ciency of the line. The 341 miles
from Tiflis to Baku cost 34,000,000 roubles (^3,400,000),
or about =£10,000 a mile, including <£1,005,447 spent on
rolling-stock and metals, ordered by the Government of
various Eussian firms. The rolling-stock on the line was
altogether insignificant in September ; but arrangements
are now being made to extend it. But the extension will
be less in the shape of passenger trains than cars for
conveying petroleum. For some time to come the pas-
senger service will remain as it is. The Transcaucasian
Eailway, with its ramifications, has an extent of about
640 miles. Over this in September last it only carried
68,653 passengers ; the united fares of which were
under ^89,500, The total receipts of goods and pas-
senger traffic were ^£32,612, or on an average ^1,087 a
day. This is a mere trifle for a line costing altogether
^67,000,000 sterling to construct, and which will need
two or three millions more to render it thoroughly
efficient.
The Kura valley, down which we travelled, occupies
what was once a fiord or inlet of the Caspian. Ages ago
the southern part of the Caucasian isthmus, now fonning
the Eussian province of Transcaucasia, probably consisted
of little more than a narrow ridge of mountains, with the
L
146 FROM TIFLIS TO BAKU.
Caspian running close in towards it on tlie one side and
the Black Sea on the other. Two things are tolerably
clear in connection with this opinion. Pliny's account
of the trade that used to pass across the ridge from the
Caspian to the Black Sea indicates that there were great
water facilities on both sides of it, while modern observa-
tion has shown that the rivers occupying the two inlets —
the Eion and the Kura — are yearly becoming more and
more clogged in their course, and thrusting out their
deltas further into the Black Sea and Caspian. In
ancient times the Rion was navigable for 100 miles : at
present it has barely two feet at low water, and during
the flood season can only be ascended by small craft for
thirty miles. The delta of the Kura encroached fifty
square miles on the Caspian during the period from 1830
to 1860.
As far as Tiflis, the Kura is little more than a rapid
mountain stream, with a rocky bed formed in a very deep
cutting. Afterwards it rapidly increases in size, and from
450 miles from its mouth is navigable for vessels draw-
ing four feet of water. Viewed from the railway, the
lower valley of the Kura has a desiccated appearance,
the arid loamy plain possessing vegetation only alongside
the river or the canals running out from it. The dis-
charge of the Kura, with the Aras, is 25,000 cubic feet
per second in summer. If this were distributed over the
Mogan and Karabagh steppes, 5,000,000 acres of rich
soil would be rendered fit for cultivation.
In ancient times the valley was intersected by a whole
series of irrigation canals, one of which was nearly 100
miles long. The invasion of Djengis Khan, and the sub-
sequent raids of the mountaineers, laid the whole of
them in ruins. More recently, the wholesale destruction
of forests has led to a further desiccation of the country.
The environs of Tiflis, formerly woody, have now the
aspect of a desert. A recent Eussian report cited nearly
THE EUEA TALLEY. I'lT
100 settlements in Transcaucasia which had been aban-
doned, owing to the failure of the water supply in their
respective districts. One of these settlements, now a
waste, contained formerly 2,000 inhabitants. The serious
character of the evil has frequently engaged the attention
of the Government during the last twenty years. In
1860 the Governor-General of the Caucasus, Prince
Bariatinsky, availed himself of the services of two
English engineers, Messrs. Bell and Gabbe, who spent
six years in surveying the valleys of the Kura and Aras,
and drew up an exhaustive report on the irrigation of the
country, which still excites the admii-ation of the Russian
engineering profession. Messrs. Bell and Gabbe (the
latter is now dead) divided the scheme into three sections,
and provided for the gradual irrigation of about 5^
millions of acres by means of 3,000 miles of irrigation
canals ; but nothing has been done to carry their project
into effect. Climatically, the Kura vaUey is altogether
Persian in its characteristics. Rain rarely falls, drought
prevails for months together, and vegetation is only
maintained by ceaseless activity in keeping in proper
order a vast system of irrigation. In the valley where
there is water there is life ; willows and pollards grow
along the watercourses, poplars and plane-trees give
shade on their banks, and inside the area, enclosed by
the outer main irrigation canal, a ramification of channels
carries existence to maize fields, orchards, and vineyards.
The soil is everywhere of a splendid quality — the arid
plain is just as rich as the greenest spot in the oases ;
but without water nothing can grow except the camel-
thorn. If the mountain streams supplying the irriga-
tion canal system of the Kura valley were dammed up,
and their water diverted for a week or two, the whole
country would become as dreary a waste as the Kara Kum
in Central Asia. On the other hand, if the Government
would repeat on a larger scale what has already been
L 2
148 FROM TIFLIS TO BAKU.
done in tlie Elisavetopol section of it, the valley could
support many millions.
The whole surface of the province of Elisavetopol is
dotted with tree-rimmed oases; hidden away in the
foliac^e and vegetation of which are the wood and mud
dwellings of the natives. The herds and flocks of each
settlement graze on the plain outside. Where so much
water is needed to preserve alive the vegetation, and the
supply is so limited, constant quarrels may be expected
between villages situated on the same main irrigation
canal. If the higher villages take too much water the
lower ones have to go short, and in the same manner if,
of the quantity drawn off from the canal for the village
supply, one family takes more than it ought, other
families have to suffer. Hence conflicts are of constant
occurrence in Elisavetopol, and the jCossack gendarmes
controlling the agricultural districts have ever to be on
the alert. Yet there is conclusive evidence that with a
little better supervision on the part of the authorities,
these quarrels might not only be prevented, biit also such
a supply given to the country as would put an end to
all competition. Scattered about Elisavetopol are a
number of German colonies. In these colonies quarrels
for water are unknown, and they never experience
drouo-ht. This is ascribed to the excellence of their
water arrangements, and the care they take to maintain
an independent supply of their own for the summer by
establishing reservoirs to catch the winter rains. A little
while ao-o an irrigation commission was sent from Eussia
to report upon the water supply of the whole country
between Tiflis and the Caspian Sea. In its report the
members declared that with a more scientific system of
rain-storino" and irrigation, the cultivable area of Elisa-
vetopol might be easily trebled, and this without resort-
in» to the expensive underground canals or Jcarezes, at
present largely employed to preserve the water from
I L u -I _j II 1 u I
THE FUTURE OF ADJI-CABUL. 149
the prevailing desiccating -winds from the Caspian. Some
day their recommendation will, no doubt, be carried into
effect.
Although the hot season was virtually at a close, we
found the weather extremely warm towards the middle
of the day. On the platform the heat of the sun was
almost unendurable. At half-past three we arrived at
Adji-Cabul, where the train stopped twenty minutes for
the passengers to dine. The station is a particularly
fine one, and the platform is well shaded by a handsome
roof running from one end to the other. The buffet,
however, is very indifferent, the food being cooked in a
coarse and greasy manner, and the cook using his dirty
fingers, instead of a fork, in serving out the cutlets. This,
and the swarm of flies, took away the little apj)etite the
heat had left me.
Adji-Cabul lies close to the junction of the Aras with
the Kura. Fonnerly the two rivers entered the Caspian
by separate mouths, but in comparatively modem times
they coalesced, and every year push their outlet further
into the Caspian, forming loamy plains like the Mogan
steppe. Adji-Cabul is a place with a future, although
to-day it consists only of a station and barracks for the
employes, and a track or two, disappearing across the
plain in the direction of distant villages. From here, at
some future period, will run the railway to Teheran.
The establishment of direct railway communication be-
tween the English and Persian capitals may seem at
fii'st sight a long way off, but in reality it is more within
measurable distance than many people imagiae, as a few
facts will show.
From Adji-Cabul to Eesht the distance is about 350
miles, the country the whole way being very rich and
fertile, and in the first section, through the Mogan steppe,
petroleum running all over the ground, and having the
reputation of being as plentiful as at Baku. The engi--
150 FPvOM TIFLIS TO BAKU.
neering worts would not be of a very serious character,
on account of the line following the coast. From Eesht
to Teheran, 200 miles, a French company has a conces-
sion for running a line, and a short time ago was reported
to be making preparations for carrying out the scheme.
In the event of its falling through, the Russians would
be willing to construct the section.
In this manner, by constructing a line 550 miles long,
at a cost of between three and four millions, Teheran
would be joined by railway with Tiflis and Batoum, and
steam communication would be established between the
capital of the Shahs and the civilized world. From Lon-
don to Teheran the journey would occupy eleven days,
which might be reduced to nine if the Russian seiwice
were accelerated. Apart from the Persian traffic the line
would attract to the Transcaucasian Railway, the Rus-
sians are sanguine that a very large trade would be done
in exporting Baku oil to Persia. The Hue would be
cheai:)ly worked, one of the heaviest items in railway
expenditure, fuel, being obtainable for next to nothing at
Baku, and lubricating oil, another expensive item, being
abundant also at a nominal price.
Of course, there would still remain the break between
the Transcaucasian-Teheran Railway and the Russian and
European network. Two schemes exist to join them
together. One would extend the Vladikavkaz line direct
to Tiflis, and the other turn off east to the Caspian at
Petrovsk, and then proceed along the coast to Baku. The
first would be the shortest, but the passage of the Cau-
casus range is attended with enormous engineering diffi-
culties. The 111 miles needed to connect the two points
would cost ,£4,250,000 sterling, or nearly ^£40,000 a mile,
and would involve the construction of a series of tunnels,
of which one, 8| miles long, would be the work of years.
In its present mood the Russian Government is decidedly
averse to the undertaking. On the other hand, only last
FUTUEE OF PERSIAN EAIL\\'AYS. 151
autumn tlie whole country from Vladikavkaz to Baku
was sui-veyed for the alternative route, which although
three or four times longer, would not cost so much, and
besides opening up a rich and fertile country, fit for
Eussian colonization, instead of mountain peaks, would
afford a fresh outlet for Baku petroleum, the unlimited
conveyance of which to Batoum, as already stated, is
impeded by the difficult Suram Pass. When General
Possiet, the Minister of Eailways, was at Baku last
November, he intimated to a deputation of petroleum
firms that the Yladikavkaz-Petrovsk line would be one
of the first to be taken in hand, so impressed was he
with its importance. The line would be constructed by
the Eostoff- Vladikavkaz railway company, and would
thus in no way draw upon the energies of the Trans-
caucasian company, and prevent its attention being
directed towards Eesht and Teheran.
Without being unduly sanguine, we may regard a
Eussian railway to Teheran as a certainty in the course
of a few years. This will bring North Persia completely
under Eussian influence, and no doubt give Eussian trade
a preponderance in that region. Further extensions are
not sufficiently near consummation to be scanned at
length. They would be two — from Teheran to the
Persian Gulf, and from Teheran to Herat and India.
Eespecting the former, via Ispahan and Shiraz to Bushire,
714 miles long, which would create a new road from
Europe to India, my impression is strong that it would
be some time before Eussia would push such an enter-
prise, because it would open up Persia to English influ-
ence and trade from the Persian Gulf. The second, from
Teheran to Meshed (550 miles), and thence to Herat
(230 miles), or, in all, 780 miles, would be equally dis-
countenanced by Eussia; since it would pass through
Persian territory and solidify Persian mle, while being
257 miles longer than the Hnk necessary to join the
162 FROM TIFLIS TO BAKU.
Transcaspian Eailway at Kizil Arvat with Herat via
Saraklis. Until the Russian Transcaspian Eailway is
completed to Herat and India, Eussia may therefore be
expected to give no suj^port to the extension of the Per-
sian railway system beyond Teheran.
Whatever may be the development of the railway
network in the Caucasus region, one fact stands out sky-
high above cloudy controversy — that is, that the Baku
petroleum region occupies a grand position for supplying
the lines with fuel and light and lubricating oil, to say
nothing of trade with the towns and villages of Persia.
Adji-Cabul acts as the station for Shemakha, a town
which ruled the Baku region until destroyed by an earth-
quake. Prom there to Baku, a distance of seventy-two
miles, petroleum exists nearly the whole of the way.
After leaving Adji-Cabul, the country loses almost all
traces of settlement, and we traversed a barren expanse
for an hour. We then reached the shore of the Caspian
at Alayat. This' is another place of the future. The
railway touches the Caspian there before sweeping round
to Baku, fifty miles distant; the intention being to
establish a port on the site of Alayat Bay. The Trans-
caucasian Eailway will then have two outlets in the
Caspian Sea — Baku and Alayat, corresponding with the
two in the Black Sea, Poti and Batoum. There is a cer-
tain amount of activity observable at Alayat, owing to
the operations of a French company engaged in boring
for oil. In excess, 400 plots of petroleum ground have
found purchasers in the locality. There is a small buffet
at the station, where an excellent tea may be made.
Afterwards there are no refreshments until the train
reaches Baku.
From Alayat to Baku, three hours' journey, the country
is a sheer desert. The ground consists of a little sand
or loam, thinly spread over the rock, and produces only
the prickly camel-thorn. The mountains running towards
CKAWLING INTO BAKU. 153
the Apsheron peninsula bear every evidence of volcanic
origin. At one place thei'e is a very remarkable monu-
ment of an earthquake, the plain having opened at one
period and thrown up thousands of blocks of stone,
closing afterwards and leaving a structure like the break-
water at Suez, lying along the flat plain with an extinct
mild volcano at each extremity. Numerous salt lakes are
passed — the salt glistening in the parched depressions
like snow. Here and thei-e are black blotches, marking
the site of a petroleum spring. In constructing this
section many navvies perished from the excessive heat
and dryness ; just as many perished at the other ex-
tremity of the line near Batoum from the opposite cause.
Often for six months together not a drop of rain moistens
the parched rocks of Baku.
After the intense heat of the day, it was pleasant to
gaze at the waves breaking on the Caspian shore, and
sniff the fresh breeze blowing from the sea. Not a ship
or boat, or any evidence of human activity, could be
detected on the sea ; the only sign of life was a few water-
fowl flying along the shingle. The stations we stoj)ped
at now were as desolate as their surroundings. I don't
think we took up a passenger the whole fifty miles.
After a while it grew dark, and we began to see in the
distance the lights of Balakhani. The ozone from the
sea gave place to the smell of naphtha ; the plashing of
the waves was succeeded by the shrill piping of myriads
of crickets ; and above us we saw for the first time the
magnificent Oriental array of stars, affording such a>
lovely canopy at nights to Eastern deserts — not simply
shining overhead as at home, but reaching almost down
to the ground on every side, and j)Ossessing a brilliancy
never seen in England. While we were still engaged
admiring them the train began to slacken speed, and a
few minutes after eight we slowly crawled into Baku.
154
CHAPTEE XI.
BAKU AND ITS PETROLEUM SUPPLY, FKOM THE EARLIEST
TIMES.
Night and Morning Impressions of Baku — Hotels — The Shipping in
the Bay — The Real Russian Base of Operations against India —
Proposal for supplying the Town with Water from the Volga —
Life at Baku — Stephen Gulishambaroff — The History of Baku —
The Ancient Fire-Worshippers — Baku Petroleum during the
Zoroastrian Period — Marco Polo and Baku Oil in the Middle Ages
— Conquest of Baku by Peter the Great, and the Export of the
Oil up the Volga — Jonas Hanway's Account of the Industry in
the Time of George the Second— The Worship of the Everlasting
Fires — Cooking Food and burning Lime with Hydro-Carbon Gas
— Natural Kerosine— The Deposits on Holy Island and Tcheleken
— Various English Travellers ac Baku since the beginning of the
Present Century — Descriptions of the Place by Major Marsh,
General Valentine Baker, Mr. Arthur Arnold, M.P., General Sir
Fredei-ic Goldsmid, Mr. O'Donovan, Mr. Gallenga, Professor A. H.
Keane, and others — Reason assigned for giving such Prominence to
the Statements of so many English Authorities.
My first acquaintance with Baku was not of a very en-
couraging cliaracter. The train dropped xis at a wretched
little shanty station in the midst of a wilderness, and,
confiding ourselves with great misgivings to a Tartar
phaeton-drivei", we were bumped for a couple of miles
over a perfect curiosity in the way of bad roads, the sur-
face consisting of alternate sand and rock, full of fearful
ruts and undulating like a sea. When at length we reached
the town, the driver took us through gloomy streets of
low, forbidding houses, and lauded us at an hotel, the
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BAKU. 155
Londou, of wliicli perliaps tlie least said tlie better, since
it proved to be a villanous cafe chmitant, and as dirty a
gostinnitza as it has been my fortune, or misfortune, to
put up at in the course of my many travels in Eussia.
But, in justice to Baku, I must say that we saw it under
very disadvantageous circumstances. An Italian, arriving
in London in a dense November fog, and putting up for
the night in Wapping, would not send off by the next
post a very flattering or very accurate account of the
metropolis. As regards Baku, a railway terminus is now
completed close to the town, which, for beauty of design
and excellence of accommodation, is one of the finest in
Eussia. From the station to the best part of Bakxi a
regular stone-paved road is being constructed, and if the
traveller remembers to ask for the Hotel d'Europe (Yev-
ropaisky Grostinnitza), or the Hotel Dominique (Grostin-
nitza Dominik), he will find at either very decent accom-
modation. Of course, Baloi being so far east and its
civilization so new, he cannot expect to be as well lodged
as he would in London ; but at either of the two hotels
I mention, and particularly as regards the former, he will
find spacious and tolerably comfortable rooms, and a
cuisine which might be worse and is gradually becoming
better. That we should have gone to such a den as the
London at all, was due to an ill-natured passenger who
travelled with us from Tiflis, and who, I think, must have
maliciously misled us.
But the next morning, when we got about a bit, we
found Baku to be a very different place, not only from
our bad impression of the night before, but from the
good impressions previously prevailing.
Baku, indeed, fairly amazed me. The numerous re-
ports that had appeared in the Eussian Press of late
years, describing and extolling its progress, had prepared
me for a spectacle of rapid development, but I must con-
fess that I had no idea Baku was such a large place. To
156 BAKU AND ITS PETKOLEUM SUPPLY.
most English people, the Caspian is a sort of Dead Sea.
They think there is little or no activity there. They for-
get that it is the natural outlet of the stream of life, of
commerce, and of progress flowing down the Volga — the
main artery of the Russian Empire. To such people a
glimpse of Baku would be what Dick Swiveller would
term a " regular stunner." What was ten years ago a
sleepy Persian town is to-day a thriving city. There is
more building activity visible at Baku than in any other
place in the Eussian Empire. It possesses more shipping
of its own than Odessa or Cronstadt, and it has com-
menced the construction of a fine stone quay, of which
about a mile is open for trafiic, which beats the quay of
the Neva at St. Petersburg, and is no unworthy rival of
the Thames Embankment. Already the principal town
and port of the Caspian, Baku in a few years' time will
be the leading commercial centre of the Caucasus, and a
dangerous competitor of Tiflis. How significant a bear-
ing its development has on the future of the Central
Asian Question may be seen by a glance at the map.
Krasnovodsk is often spoken of as the base of the new
Transcaspian movement towards India, and being a small
place that movement is decried. But this is a miscon-
ception arising from putting the base on the wrong side
of the sea. Baku is the base of the new movement, not
Krasnovodsk. It is from Baku that troops are sent, sup-
plies despatched, and munitions of war fiirnished for the
garrisons in Akhal and Merv. Krasnovodsk is only a
point en route. Baku people refer to it as merely " across
the water," a trifling run of sixteen hours by steamer ;
isolated and distant a few years ago, but now " as close
as in the palm of your hand ; " having a telegraph cable
to join it to Baku, a Government ferry service, and a rail-
way beyond to carry on troops to within a short distance
of the outposts of Central Asia.
Baku is situated on a magnificent bay, in the shape of
PROGRESS OF BAKU. 157
a crescent, seven miles across from point to point, and
about fifteen in circumference. Across the mouth, of the
bay, well out to sea, is disposed an island, much in the
same fashion as the Plymouth breakwater, thoroughly
protecting it from adverse winds, and enabling it to
give secure anchorage to thousands of vessels. I was
astonished at the amount of shipping lying in the bay.
Several hundred vessels were riding at anchor, and a laro-e
number of big steamers, many 200 feet long, were taking
in oil or other cargoes at the twenty-five long piers which
stretch out into various parts of the bay. Starting from
the extremity of the Black Town, where the petroleum is
refined, one can walk a good eight miles along the strand
or quay, with shipping always on one side and buildings
on the other ; and everywhere there is just as much
activity as on the strand of the Volga at Nijni during the
busy period of the Great Fair. From one end of the
town to the other, we saw the character of Baku being
transformed. Everywhere old houses were being pulled
down and new ones being built ; streets were being laid
out in regular lines, and paved with stone or asjjhalte ;
the wretched booths of the Persians were being replaced
by spacious Eussian shops ; and the great old Persian
fortress was being exhumed from the mass of surround-
ing buildings, and laid bare to the gaze of the world.
Much of this improvement had been in j^rogress before
the Batoum railway was opened, but the movement has
been accelerated since, and in two or three years, Baku
will be a new city, with most of the comforts and luxuries
of civilization, including even tramways, for the con-
struction of which a syndicate is now being formed in
Eussia. As the place develops, its disadvantages — the
heat, dust, absence of good water, rainlessness and the
want of vegetation — ^will be largely mitigated. In regard
to the water, for instance, Ludwig Nobel has offered that,
for a moderate sum, his oil steamers shall bring back
158 BAKU AND ITS PETROLEUM SUPPLY.
fresh water from the Volga, which, on arrival, could be
pumped into a reservoir, purified, and distributed
throughout the town. The adoption of such an arrange-
ment would provide Baku with an abundant water-sup-
ply, and not only enable the inhabitants to use it freely
in their homes, but permit of the irrigation of gardens
on an extensive scale.
At Baku one can make himself tolerably comfortable
during a short stay, and obtain anything in the shops he
may have forgotten in starting on his journey. Amuse-
ments there are none, beyond spending the evening over
cards or billiards in the select town clubs — to which ad-
mission is readily obtained — located near the Governor's
house. The bay is full of fish, and there are j^lenty of
craft to sail in. Moored off the new quay are the
Caspian Baths, an excellent roomy structure, where for a
few pence one can bathe under the most favourable cir-
cumstances, or make it a base for a pleasant swim in the
bay. The water in the Caspian is clear and salty, and
for the greater part of the year maintains just the tem-
perature that suits most people's taste. There are
only two drawbacks — the bay is so full of fish that one
never loses the impression that he is in an aquarium ;
and when the wind lies in a particular direction, it blows
inland the oil spouting up to the surface outside, causing
a black scum to gather on the top of the water and pre-
vent bathing for a day or two. The Governor's house is
situated on the quay, and his Excellency is always ready
to receive any day travellers visiting Baku. Such visits
should be made in the morning, and it is better that the
caller should wear a di*ess-coat — Russian ofiicials in the
Caucasus being more particular on this point than those
at St. Petersburg or Moscow. Close to the Hotel
d'Europe is the Baku branch of the Imperial Eussian
Technical Society, where maps of the petroleum region
and all the books published dealing with it may be seen.
CAUSE OF THE PEOSPEEITY OF BAKU. 159
and the stranger placed in communication with the prin-
cipal experts in Baku. Equally close is the office of
Nobel Brothers, the creators of the prosperity of modem
Baku, the manager of whose concern, Mr. Gustav
Tomudd, will not only afford the traveller every
assistance in viewing the huge establishment under his
control, but will impart to him clearer 'and more im-
partial information respecting the local petroleum in-
dustry than any other manager in the place. Mr.
Tomudd was once at Penn's engineering works, and
speaks Enghsh fluently. The leading authority on Baku
petroleum, Gospodin Stej^hen Gulishambaroff, is at
present residing at Tiflis. There is probably no writer
living who has a wider Iniowledge of the petroleum in-
dustry of the world than he has. A few Americans may
have a better acquaintance with their own special
industry, but none of them know anything about Baku.
Gulishambaroff, on his part, has not only investigated
the American oil region on behalf of the Russian Govern-
ment, but has visited the petroleum districts of Galicia,
&c., as well, besides having compiled a bibliography of the
works in various languages dealing with petroleum, which
is a masterpiece of its kind.
The cause of the progress and prosperity of Baku is
oil — petroleum or rock oil, than which there is not a more
copious or older known supply in the world. In England
we are accustomed to regard the petroleum trade as a new
branch of the world's commerce ; yet for 2,500 years
Baku has been famous for its marvellous springs of petro-
leum, and we have historical evidence that for nearly
1,000 years its oil resources have been drawn upon for
the benefit of surrounding nations. It is noteworthy
that at every epoch its petroleum supply has been spoken
of as enormous and inexhaustible, and that there has
never occurred in the region any phenomenon calculated
to provoke or sustain the belfef that the supply is
160 BAKU AND ITS PETEOLEUM SUPPLY.
intermittent, limited, or likely to rapidly come to an
end.
Various reasons contributed in ancient times to draw
tlie attention of the eastern world to the marvellous
deposits of j)etroleum in the Apsheron peniusula, of
which Baku is the principal centre. Baku, in the first
place, boasts of the best harbour in the Caspian Sea.
Practically speaking, it is almost the only good natural
harbour of any size on the Caucasus coast, and it is
situated opposite what was once the outlet of the river
Oxus into the Caspian, or of some j)artial waterway from
Central Asia formed by the Balkan bay running inland a
considerable distance further than at present, and by the
Oxus pursuing a more westerly course than to-day to
meet it. The Indian trade iu Pliny's time made its way
to Europe by this route, and there is hardly a doubt that
Baku rendered considerable service as a transit port.
Such advantages of position naturally attracted the
ancients to the place ; but, apart from Baku bay, the
peninsula of Apsheron was calculated to thrust itself
upon the notice of the world by a phenomenon which
excites wonder even to-day. The peninsula juts far into
the Caspian. At its extremity, and on the islands which
stretch beyond it, petroleum gas has flared for countless
ao-es, arresting the attention of navigators at sea, as well
as of people travelling by caravan on land, by its lurid
glare at night. Such a phenomenon could not but excite
the wonder of the superstitious East, and it is probable
that the " Eternal Eire " on the peninsula was an object
of devotion on the part of the natives, even before the
worship of fire became the rehgion of the Persians.
According to Jonas Hanway, the fire -worshippers from
India, who flocked in his day to Baku, had a tradition
that the Eternal Fire had flamed ever since the Flood,
and that it would last to the end of the world.
Speaking on the subject of its antiquity, Mr. Arthur
FIRE ■\VOESHIP IN THE CASPIAN KEGION. 161
Arnold, M.P. for Salford, wlio visited Baku in 1875,
says : — " Twelve versts from Baku we came upon one of
the oldest altars in the world, erect and flaming with its
natural burnt-offering to this day. Surakhani is the
ancient seat of probably one of the most ancient forms
■of worship. For unnumbered ages the gas which is
generated by the subterranean store of oil has escaped
from the iissures in the limestone crag, and the fire of
this gas has lighted the prayers of generations of priests,
as it blazed and flared away to the heavens. Fire-wor-
ship in Persia, of which, until the eighteenth century,
Baku formed a part, is older than histoiy. It may be
that the fire in this temple at Surakhani has been unex-
tinguished for a period extending from before the time
of Cyrus (about b.c. 600), the fire-worshipping j)eriod
being older than Cyrus."*
Dr. Haag, a celebrated professor of Sanscrit at Munich,
says that " under no circumstances can we assign
Zoroaster, the founder of fire-worship, a later date than
B.C. 1000, and one may even make him a contemporary of
Moses." If this were correct it would indeed give Baku
petroleum an antiquity; but the generality of English
and German scholars concur in fixing the commencement
of the Zoroastrian period about b.c. 600, or nearly 2,500
years ago. The petroleum fires of the Apsheron penin-
sula being well known to the people of Persia, and the
district forming part of the Persian dominions, and being
easy to get at, the assumption is fair that from the
•earliest years of the Zoroastrian period the worshippers
of fire I'esorted to Baku, to pay their devotions to the
petroleum flames springing naturally from the soil.
" Baku," says Kinneir,t " was a celebrated city of the
* "Through Persia by Karavan." London. Tin.sley Brothers, 1875.
Page 131.
t " Geographical Memoir of the Persian Emjjire." By J. M. Kinneir,
Political Assistau to Brigadier- General Sir John Malcolm in his
Mission to the Court of Persia. London, 1813. Page 359.
M
162 BAKU AND ITS PETROLEUM SUPPLY.
ancient worsliippers of fire, and before the conquest of
the Saracens" (a.d. 636) "was annually visited by
thousands of pilgrims."
" The peninsula of Apsheron," says another authority,*
" has been celebrated for many centuries, in all eastern
countries, as a sacred soil, and the fire-worshii^pers still
make pilgrimages to adore the fires which there issue
from the earth, arising from the ignition of the naturally
formed naphtha. In ancient times Baku was held in the
highest veneration by the Guebers, or Parsees, and was
frequented by thousands of pilgrims."
" On the site of the modern town," states the Hon.
George Keppel, who visited Baku in 1824,t " once stood
a city celebrated in the times of the Guebers for its
sacred temple, on the altars of which blazed perpetual
flames of fire produced by ignited naphtha. To this
place thousands of pilgrims paid their annual visits, till
the second expedition of Heraclius against the Persians,
when he wintered in these plains and destroyed the
temples of the magi " — the priests of the Zoroastrian
sect.
The naphtha or petroleum fires of Baku were thus in
the zenith of their fame, when the mighty military sway
of the Persians, extending to Constantinople, was shat-
tered by the Emperor Heraclius. In a.d. 624, according
to Gibbon, Heraclius wintered in the Mogon steppes, at
the mouth of the river Kura, 70 miles south of Baku.
There, says Gibbon, " he signalized the zeal and revenge
of a christian emperor. At his command, the soldiers
extinguished the fire and destroyed the temples of the
magi."J
* "Imperial Gazetteer," vol. i. Articles "Ap.sheron " and "Baku."
London, 1855.
f " Personal Narrative of a Journey from India to England by
Persia, the Western Shore of the Caspian, (Sic, in the year 1824."
Vol. ii. page 214.
Z " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," vol. iv. chap. xlvi.
PILGRIMAGES TO THE ETERNAL FIRE. 163
Twelve years after this (a.d. 636), Persia was van-
quished a second time by the Arabs, who, at the edge of
the sword, converted the people from fire-worship to the
Mussulman faith. Here and there, however, remnants
of the ancient sect secretly performed their rites in South-
East Persia, and large numbers fled to the island of
Ormuz and thence to India, and gave origin to what are
now the Parsees of Bombay. Although Mahomedan
Persia intervened between the survivors and the Eternal
Eire, many still continued to make their way annually to
Baku. " Even as late as the 12th century pilgrimages
were made to Baku, that Mecca of the Gruebers, the
purest fount of their sacred element."*
While we have historical evidence that petroleum gases
have been flaring away for more than 2,500 years on the
Apsheron peninsula, we have no direct testimony that
the petroleum was exported as an article of commerce
earlier than the 10th century, although there is no reason
to disbelieve that it was used before then as light and
fuel by surrounding nations. In the year 950 the Arab
writer Masudi wrote a brief description of the fire-breath-
ing mountains of " Baki " ; and then we have a gap until
the time of Marco Polo.
" On the confines towards Georgine," wi'ote that
traveller, in the 13th century, " there is a fountain from
which oil springs in great abundance, inasmuch as a
hundred shiploads might be taken from it at one time.
This oil is not good to use with food, but 'tis good to
bum, and is also used to annoint camels that have the
mange. People come from vast distances to fetch it, for
in all cotmtries round there is no other oil."t
Eeferring to this in a note. Colonel Yule, who is
* " A Journey through the Caucasus and Persia." By Augustus
Mounsey. London, 1872. Page 329.
+ " The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian," edited by Colonel
Henry Yule, C.B. London : Murray, 1871, book i. page 4.
M 2
164 BAKU AND ITS PETEOLEUM SUPPLY.
regarded as one of the foremost scliolars of the day in
matters appertaining to ancient Oriental geography,
says : — " Though Mr. Khanikoif (the celebrated Russian
traveller) points out that springs of naphtha are abundant
in the vicinity of Tiflis, the mention of sMjdoads (in
Eamusis indeed, altered, probably by the editor, to camel-
loads) and the vast quantities spoken of point to the
naphtha wells of the Baku peninsula on the Caspian.
Eicold speaks of their supplying the old country as far
as Bagdad, and Barbaro speaks of their practice of
anointing camels with oil." This view is taken also by
the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" (vol. iii. page 259).
By the 13th century, therefore, crude petroleum was
already an extensive article of Export from Baku. Persia,
which had formerly prized the place on account of its
petroleum gas, creating the phenomenon of the Eternal
Eire, now began to value it on account of its oil.
" Previous to its incorporation in the Russian Empire,
Baku and its naphtha springs were long an apple of
discord between the Persian shahs and the Armenian
emperors."*
When Peter the G-reat commenced his series of con-
quests, having in view the conversion of the Caspian into
a Russian lake, he took particular pains to secure Baku,
on account of the valuable trade in petroleum it carried
on with Persia. On finally annexing it in 1723, he gave
special instructions for extracting the oil and exporting
it up the Volga to Russia.
After his death, Nadir Shah recovered a deal of the
Caspian littoral, and, to jout an end to the costly struggle
with him, Russia restored Baku to Persia in 1735. A
few years later the Caspian Sea was invaded by a number
of English pioneers of commerce, and one of them has
* " Russia ; Past and Present." Adapted from the German of
Lankenau and Oelnitz by H. M. Chester. London, 188L Page 337.
JONAS HANWAY's visit TO THE CASPIAN. 165
furnislied us with a work containing a valuable description
of the petroleum industry under Persian rule.
This was penned by Jonas Han way in 1 754, under the
title of " An account of British Trade over the Caspian
Sea," a work which is still a standard one on the Caspian
region. In his time, the reign of G-eorge II., the mer-
chants of England were excited by the prospect of open-
ing up trade with India and the East via the Caspian
Sea. A number of schemes were broached ; the all-
powerful Turkey and Eussia Companies fought for the
concession of the trade ; the matter was made the sub-
ject of diplomatic discussion between England and Eus-
sia; and finally, in 1741, Parliament gave the monopoly
to the Eussia Company. Captain Elton, who had long
been in the Eussian service, and had explored the Caspian
three years earlier, was sent with a consignment of goods
to the Persian ports of the sea, with Captain Woodroffe
as commander. These ofl&cers neglecting the interests of
the Company for those of Nadir Shah, one of the most in-
telligent and sagacious of the partners, Mr. Jonas Hanway,
was deputed to proceed to Persia to investigate affairs.
On his return he published a bulky work, in which he
not only embodied his own experiences in the Caspian Sea,
but also the surveys of Elton and Woodroffe, and a mass
of historical data taken from the archives of the Com-
jjany to which he belonged.
" What the Guebers, or Fire-worshippers, call the
Everlasting Fire," he says, " is a phenomenon of a very
extraordinary nature. This object of devotion lies about
ten English miles north-east by east from the city of
Baku, on a dry rocky land. There are several ancient
temples built with stone, supposed to have been all dedi-
cated to fire. Amongst others is a little temple, at which
the Indians now worship. Here are generally forty or
fifty of these poor devotees, who come on a pilgrimage
from their own country. A little way from the temple is
166 BAKU AND ITS PETROLEUM SUPPLY.
a low cleft of a rock, in which there is a horizontal gap,
two feet from the ground, nearly six long, and about
three broad, out of which issues a constant flame, in
colour and gentleness not unlike a lamp that burns with
spirits, only more j)ure. When the wind blows, it rises
sometimes eight feet high, but much lower in still
weather. They do not perceive that the flame makes any
impression on the rock. This also the Indians worship,
and say it cannot be resisted, but, if extinguished, will
rise in another place.
" The earth round the place, for above two miles, has
this surj^rising property, that by taking up two or three
inches of the surface, and applying a live coal, the part
which is so uncovered immediately takes fire, almost
before the coal touches the earth ; the flame makes the
soil hot, but does not consume it, nor affect what is near
it with any degree of heat. Any quantity of this earth
carried to another place does not pi-oduce this effect. Not
long since eight horses were consumed by this fire, being
under a roof where the surface of the ground was turned
up, and by some accident took flame. If a cane or tube,
even of paper, be set about two inches in the ground,
confined and close with earth below, and the top of it
touched with a Uve coal, and blown upon, immediately
a flame issu.es without hiu'ting either the cane or paper,
provided the edges be covered with clay ; and this method
they use for light in their houses, which have only the
earth for the floor ; three or four of these lighted canes
will boil water in a j:»ot, and thus they dress their victuals.
The flame may be extinguished in the same manner as
spirits of wine. The ground is dry and stony, and the
more stony any particular part is, the stronger and clearer
is the flame ; it smells sulphuroTis, like naphtha, but not
very offensive.
" Lime is burnt to great perfection hj means of this
phenomenon, the flame communicating itself to any dis-
THE EM3RLASTING GAS OF BAKU. 167
tance where the earth is uncovered to receive it. The
stones must be laid on one another, and in three days
the lime is completed. Near this place brimstone is dug,
and naphtha springs are found."
" Baku," he continues, " supplies Ghilan and Mazan-
deran, and other countries contiguous with naphtha." In
his days, " the chief place for the black or dark-grey
naphtha " was " the small island Wetoy, now uninhabited,
except at such times as they take naphtha from thence."
By Wetoy he meant Sviatoi, or Holy Island, off the ex-
tremity of the peninsula of Apsheron. Describing the
operations of the petroleum exporters, he says : — " The
Persians load it in bulk in their wretched vessels, so that
sometimes the sea is covered with it for leagues together.
When the weather is thick and hazy, the springs boil up
the higher, and the naphtha often takes fire on the sur-
face of the earth, and runs in a flame into the sea, in
great quantities, to a distance almost incredible. In clear
weather the springs do not boil up above two or three
feet : in boihng over, the oily substance makes so strong
a consistency as by degrees almost to close the mouth of
the spring : sometimes it is quite closed, and fonns hil-
locks that look as black as pitch, but the spring, which
is resisted in one place, breaks out in another. Some of
the springs, which have not been long oj)en, form a mouth
of eight or ten feet in diameter.
" The people carry the naphtha by troughs into pits or
reservoirs, drawing it off from one to another, leaving in
the first reservoir; the water, or the heavier part with
which it is mixed when it issues from the spring. It is
•unpleasant to the smell, and used mostly amongst the
poorer sorts of the Persians, and other neighbouring
people, as we use oil in lamps, or to boil their victuals ;
but it communicates a disagreeable taste. They find it
burns best with a small mixture of ashes. As they
obtain it in great abundance, every family is well supplied.
168 BAKU AND ITS PETROLEUM SUPPLY.
They keep it, at a small distance from tlieir houses, in
earthen vessels undergroimd, to prevent any accident by
fire, of which it is extremely susceptible."*
Sviatoi, or Holy Island, seems to have been selected by
the Persians as the principal place for extracting the oil,
because the beds were close to the shore and on a level
with the sea. The island, however, has the drawback of
indifferent harbour accommodation, so that once the petro-
leum trade assumed considerable proportions, it became
obviously better to extract the oil from the mainland close
to the splendid port of Baku. There is no reason to be-
lieve that the supply on the island has in any way dimin-
ished since Jonas Hanway's time. The only European
traveller who appears to have visited it since is John
Osmaston, an English tourist, who landed there in 1861
with a German, who was putting up a refinery. " The
naphtha beds," he says, " lie on the west of the island,
and are of very considerable extent. They are nearly all
on a level with the sea, and of a uniform black colour,
nothing growing upon them, and the surface flat, with
pools of black-coloured water upon it. In several places
gas was bubbling up through the water, and on a calm
day it will easily ignite. Stones had been piled round
one of these bubblings, forming a little chimney round
it. On applying a lighted stick the whole chimney was
filled with a pale yellow flame, which would continue
burning for any length of time, if not extinguished by
wind or raiu. The depth of the bitumen beds is un-
known."t Baron Thielmann, in describing his journey
along the Caspian to Baku in 1874, speaks of passing
through a number of islands impregnated with naphtha in
* " An Historical Account of the Briti.sh Trade over the Caspian
Sea." By Jonas Han way, Merchant. London, 1754. Vol. i. page
264.
t " Old Ali, or Travels Long Ago : An Account of a Journey to
Persia in 1861," by John Osmaston. London, 1881, Page 231.
PERSIAN TRADE IN PETROLEUM. 1G9
approacliing the Shako if point of the Apsheron penin-
sula.
Besides getting black naphtha from Sviatoi Island, the
Persians also in the last century obtained white naphtha
from the peninsula of Apsheron.
This is a sort of natural kerosine, found even at the
present day. Jonas Hanway describes it as " of a much
thinner consistency than black naphtha. The Eussians
drink it both as a cordial and medicine ; but it does not
intoxicate. If taken internally, it is said to be good for
the stone, as also for disorders of the breast, and in
venereal cases, and sore heads ; to both the last the Per-
sians are very subject. Externally applied, it is of great
use in scorbiitic pains, gouts, cramps, &c., but it must be
put to the part affected only ; it penetrates instantane-
ously into the blood, and is apt, for a short time, to create
great pain. It has also the property of spirits of wine
to take out greasy spots in silks or woollens, but the
remedy is worse than the disease, for it leaves an abomin-
able odour. They say it is carried into India as a great
rarity, and being prepared as a japan, is the most beauti-
ful and lasting of any that has been yet found."*
Petroleum was also exported in Hanway's time from
the island of Tcheleken, on the opposite coast of the
Caspian. "VVoodroffe was sent by Nadir Shah to survey
the place. In his diary is the following record: — "Sep.
14, 1743. — We weighed and came in close under the east
side of Naphtonia, as the Eussians call it. The Persians
caU it Cherriken. The coast is difficult of access, being
high. It contains about 36 families, who have 28 large
boats, with several wells of naphtha. The people subsist
entirely by piracy. To remedy this evil, Nadir Shah
some years ago offered to forgive all that was past, and
to receive them into his favour, if they would come and
settle about Astrabad Bay, where they might have lands
* " British Trade over the Caspian Sea." Vol. i. page 265.
170 BAKU AND ITS PETROLEUM SUPPLY.
and sell their naphtha to the inhabitants of that quarter.
This they accepted, and carried on a brisk trade for
about two years, selling their naphtha to the Persians,
Turcomans, &c. ; but getting tired of this way of living,
returned to their trade of piracy."* O'Donovan described
it in 1879 as " teeming with petroleum."
In 1801 Baku was re-annexed to Eussia. J. M. Kin-
neir, who shoi'tly afterwards accompanied Sir John Mal-
colm's mission to Persia in the capacity of political
assistant, gives us the next description of Baku, in a
well-known geographical memoir published in 1813 : —
" The quantity of naphtha produced in the plain to the
south-east of the city is enormous. The oil is drawn
from wells, some of which have been found by a compu-
tation of the inhabitants to yield from 1,000 to 1,500 lbs.
a day. These wells are, to a certain degree, inexhaustible,
as they are no sooner emptied than they again begin to
fill, and the naphtha continues gradually to increase until
it has attained its former level. It is used by the natives
as a substitute for lamp-oil, and when ignited emits a
clear light, with much smoke and a disagreeable smell.
The whole country around Baku has at times the
appearance of being enveloped in flames. It often seems
as if the fire rolled down from the mountains in large
masses with incredible velocity ; and during the clear
moonshine nights of November and December a bright
blue light is observed at times to cover the whole western
range. This fire does not consume, and if a person finds
himself in the middle of it, no warmth is felt."t
The Hon. George Keppel, who visited Baku in 1824,
during an overland journey from India to England, via
Persia and the Caspian, observes that " the principal
productions of Baku are b!ack and white naphtha, which
are found in such abundance that the wells are said to
* " British Trade over the Caspian Sea." Vol. i. page 89.
t " Geographical ^leiimir of the Persian Empire," i)age 359.
THE FLAMING APSHEEON PENINSULA. 171
produce 1,500 lbs. a day." According to Colonel Yule,
"the quantity of naphtha collected from the springs
about Baku was in 1819 estimated at 241,000 poods, or
nearly 4,000 tons, the greater part of which went to
Persia."*
Shortly before the Crimean "War, Dr. F. Wagner and
F. Bodenstedt visited the Caucasus, and published a work
in which they thus referred to Baku : — " In the neigh-
bourhood of Baku large cpiantities of naphtha are found.
It is burnt instead of candles, but the smell is very
unpleasant. The whitish-yellow flame worshipped by
the Indians exudes from the ground, and appears to be
alimented by hydi'Ogen gas."t
In McCuUoch's works, and indeed in all others of the
period, stress is laid upon the extensive character of the
Baku petroleum deposits and the importance of the trade.
In October, 1860, Baku was visited by Mr. Osmaston.
As he approached Baku at night he saw from the steamer
" a bright light reflected behind the town, proceeding from
the naphtha fires about seven versts off in the moun-
tains." This was the same phenomenon which, centuries
earlier, had awed the navigators of the Caspian Sea.
" The soil all round for two or three miles exudes this
gas, for if the earth be loosened, or a small hole made,
gas immediately bubbles up, which can easily be
ignited."
Describing the fire-worshippers, he speaks of a naphtha
manufactory at Surakhani, and another "not far from
Baku, where 117,000 roubles is its annual rent to the
Crown, which shows of itself the magnitude of the
undertaking." As in Jonas Hanway's time, a hnnrlrpd
years earlier, the people still used the gas exuding from
the ground to burn their lime. While staying at Baku
* "The Book of Marco Polo.' Book i. page 4.
f " Schamyl." Translated from the German of Dr. F. "Wagner
and F. Bodenstedt by Lascelles Wraxall. London, 1854. Page 27.
172 BAKU AND ITS PETROLEUM SUPPLY.
lie was taken to witness what has since become a notori-
ous sight of the place — the sea on fire. This has been
described by Mr. Arnold, Mr. Mounsey, Mr. O'Donovan,
and many others. Osmaston thus records what oc-
curred : —
" In the evening I made an expedition with Colonel
Fragank to see the naphtha fires on the sea. Fragank
had his long boat manned with ten men, and he and
several of his friends and myself left the quay just as
the sun went down. We were soon out far in the open
bay, and then rounding a long promontory, entered
another, and in half an hour more we reached the spot.
Gas was bubbling up in several places near the boat, the
water looking as if it were boiling. The distance from
land is about half a mile, and the depth of the water full
three and a half fathoms. A strong odour of naphtha
pervaded the air. One of the sailors then threw out a
piece of lighted tow, and after one or two ineffectual
attempts, the waves were wrapt for several yards in flame.
It was quite dusk, so we saw it beautifully. It was a
most extraordinary sight ; the sea as though it were on
fire ; a patch of bright flame burning upon its cold bosom.
Setting the Thames on fira one had heard of, but I never
thought I should really witness the sea in a blaze. We
rowed round it, and then away, but the flame could be
seen dancing up and down with the waves till we had
gone neai'ly a mile distant. The wind then blew stronger
and extinguished it, for it suddenly disappeared. There
are several other spots in the Caspian where naphtha gas
bubbles up in the same way."*
Tn ISfifi Baku was visited by Mr. Augustus Mounsey,
Second Secretary to Her Majesty's Embassy at Vienna,
on his way home from Persia. " The whole country for
several miles roimd Baku," he writes, " would seem to be
* "Old Ali, or Travels Long Ago." London: Hatchards, 1881.
Pages 233-250.
SETTING THE SEA ON FILE. 173
underlaid by reservoirs of petrolemn. Close to the
Tndian temple tliere is a large mantifactory for the purifi-
cation of it. The naphtha sjiurts like gas from a gas-
pipe, and bums in like fashion -n-herever a hole is driven
two or three fathoms into the soil."*
In his book on " Eussian Metallurgical Works," pub-
lished in 1870, by Herbert Barry, for many years engineer
in Eussia, he says (page 70) : — " Petroleum exists in
great quantities on the borders of the Caspian near Baku.
Its quality is considered equal, or even superior, to the
American oil."
Major Marsh, who rode through Persia and Afghan-
istan to India in 1872, tarried on his way at Baku. " The
afternoon" (September 14th, 1872), he writes, "was
devoted to the great natural wonders of Baku — j^etroleum
and the everlasting fires. At Surakhani the whole
country is saturated with petroleum ; on making a hole
in the ground the gas escapes, on lighting which it bums
for a very long while — one of the few spots on earth
where this extraordinary phenomenon can be seen.
AYhen there is no wind the flame is dull and small, but
in a gale it roars and leaps uj) eight to ten feet. There
are two naphtha refining establishments at Surakhani,
the furnaces of which are entirely heated by the natural
gas, which is collected as it rises out of the ground in
iron tanks, and laid on by pipes. At night the whole
place is lighted in the same manner, by ordinary gas-
burners attached to the waUs. On returning home in
the evening we saw the silent waste lit up by various fires,
each sun-ounded by a group of wild Tartars, cooking
their food by its heat. The naphtha springs or wells are
about five miles off, and the oil is brought in casks, in the
crude state as it is pumped out of the wells — a thick,
b.ack fluid. The engine that works the Government
* "A Journey through the Caucasus and the Interior of Persia."
London : Smith, Elder & Co., 1872. Page 330,
174 BAKU AND ITS PETROLEUM SUPPLY.
patent ' slip ' uses this naphtha, instead of coal, for fuel.
The oil is brought out of a tank by pipes and is blown
into the grate by the force of steam, the heat and flame
being regulated with the same ease as a gas-lamp, and
steam can be got up in the large furnaces in a quarter of
an hour. It is cheap, and has the advantage of being
clean and easy to manage."*
A month later Baku received a fresh visitor in the
person of Lieutenant Baron Max Von Thielmann,
Secretary of the Imperial German Embassy at St.
Petersburg. " The whole of the soil of the peninsula
of Apsheron," he observes, " is saturated with naphtha.
The most powerful spring lies near Balakhani, and rises
to a height of 85 feet. Other less important springs are
utilised by the Tartars, who collect the naphtha in jugs,
which they bring to the distilleries. Besides the Kokereff
distillery there are other large establishments, those of
Meerzoeff, &c. The supply of gases is so abundant, that
in the Kokereff manufactory not only are the steam-
boilers and distillery apparatus heated by them, but the
jets used for lighting the courtyard are left burning in
the daytime."!
The following year General Valentine Baker passed
through Baku, in proceeding on a surveying expedition
with Captain Gill to the Perso-Turcoman frontier. He
speaks of the " apparently inexhaustible supply of
naphtha which is found in the neighbourhood of Baku,"
and refers to " gas in extraordinary quantities bubbling
up to the surface of the Caspian Sea." When proper
steam machinery on a large scale was in working order,
he predicted that the naphtha " would be i:)roduced from
* "A Kide through Islam." London: Tmslej' Brothers, 1877.
Pages f>4 and 55.
t "A Journey in the Caucasus, Persia, &c," By Lieutenant Max
Von Thielmann. Translated by C. Heneage. London : Murray, 1875.
Vol. i. page 7.
GENERAL VALENTINE BAKER ON BAKU. 175
the wells at an almost nominal cost." " It promises to
have a great effect in facilitating steam communication
on the Caspian. The discovery of the immense supplies
of naphtha at Baku, and its simple application to steam
purposes, has obviated the disadvantages which previously
existed through the high price of coal. The pure naphtha,
as drawn from the wells, is not used ; it is the refuse
after distillation which is found so valual^le for steam pur-
poses. This is not highly inflammable, and its use seems
perfectly safe and thoroughly under control. Vessels
originally fitted for burning coal can burn this naphtha
with \ery little alteration. The naphtha is forced into the
furnace in the form of spray mixed with a jet of steam.
One stoker is sufficient for a large steamer. All the
engineers of the vessels burning naphtha speak in the
highest terms of this fuel."*
Here then, we have, a series of travellers, of different
nationahties, concurring in representing the petroleum
deposits at Baku as enormous and inexhaustible, at a
period when it was to the interest of no one to extol the
place for selfish reasons. Up to 1872 the extraction of
the oil was a close monopoly. In 1873, about the time
of Baker's visit, it was thrown open to the world ; but
it is a curious circumstance that, so far as I am aware,
no Englishman has ever attempted to exploit the Baku
petroleum riches. The task of doing so has been left to
Russians and Swedes.
Mr. Arthur Arnold, M.P., called at Baku during a,
journey to Persia in 1875. "Baku," he wrote on his
return home,t " has ' struck oil,' and before many years
are past the world wiU hear much of this obscure town
— this Petrolia in Asia. The engines of the Constantine,
the ship in which the Shah traversed the Caspian, were
* " Clouds in the East." London, 1875. Page 351.
Through Persia by Caravan." London: Tinsley Brothers, 1877.
Vol. i. pages 128-131.
176 BAKU AND ITS PETROLEUM SUPPLY.
driven witli petroleum. Coal, the captain told us, cost
18 1 roubles per hour, while petroleum costs only 1^
roubles, — a reduction from fifty shillings to four shillings.
In a few years Baku will be united by railway with Tiflis
and the Black Sea, and then probably all the steamships
on the Euxine will be supplied with the same inexpensive
fuel. For two or three miles along the shore of the bay,
the many buildings in which the oil is refined by itself as
fuel, pour forth dense smoke, and at eight miles from the
town are the springs. The average depth at which the
oil is touched seems to be about 150 feet. The wells are,
for the most part, nine inches to a foot in diameter.
From the first well we visited, a small steam engine with
most primitive gear was lifting about 400,000 lbs. of
petroleum a day. The oil is of a greenish colour, and as
it is drawn up is emptied into a square j)it dug in the
surface, from which men take it in buckets and pour it
into skins or barrels, the charge at the wells being at the
rate of l|d. per 50 lbs. weight of oil."
Major-General Sir Frederic Groldsmid, C.B., K.C.S.I.,
B'itish Commissioner for the settlement of the Perso-
Baluch frontier in 1870, and the Seistan Boundary iu
1873, visited Baku about the same time as Mr. Arnold.
The natural petroleum gas fires, which, as I have pointed
out, have been flaring more than 2,500 years, he describes
as " marvellous, and worthy of classification among
natural wonders. There is a large tract of ground near
the sea, out of which gas issues in profusion. The whole
soil appears to be impregnated here with naphtha. The
fires of Baku have attracted much attention from Caspian
and Caucasian travellers, and are really well worthy of
more general discussion and intimate acquaintance by the
scientific world."
Mr. O'Donovan, the special correspondent of the Daily
Neivs, spent some months at Baku between 1879 and
1881, and gave graphic descriptions of the place. " All
MR. GALLEXGA ON BAKU. 177
around Baku," lie wrote, "the ground is sodden with
natural issues of naphtha. In himdreds of places it
exhales from the ground and bums freely when a light is
applied. Only a couple of months before my visit its
volatile products produced a remarkable effect a few
miles from Baku. A large earth cliff fronting the sea
was tumbled over as by an earthquake shock, and, as
I myself saw, huge boulders and weighty ships' boilers
were thrown a hundred yards. In view of the immense
supply of natural petroleum, as yet only very slightly
developed, and its application to the railway from Tiflis
to Baku, I think this subject is worthy of every atten-
tion. Yet there are proprietors of large tracts of petro-
leum-bearing ground whose capital rests unproductive
because of a want of demand."*
Mr. Edward Stack, of the Indian Civil Service was at
Baku in August 1881. " The out-turn of the naphtha
springs at Baku," he says, "was about 160,000 tons last
year, and is increasing yearly. DiflB.culties of transport
hinder this trade to a certain extent, but these will be
largely surmounted if the American plan be adopted. . . .
At present the naphtha is transported chiefly by water.
A hundred and fifty vessels lie in the harbour, mostly
schooners of 90 to 200 tons ; but some three-masted
steamers belong to the port, the largest being of 1,000
tons burden, l^obody can spend haK-an-hour in Baku
without seeing that it is a very rich and flourishing place.
I envied it for India. "t
Another well-known special correspondent, Mr.
Gallenga, of the Times, made a journey through the
Caucasus in 1881. Describing Baku, he observes: —
" What is said of the capabilities of the country in
* "The Merv Oasis." By Edmond O'Donovan. Loudon: Smith,
Elder & Co., 1882. Vol. i. pages 32-:39.
t " Six Months in Persia." Loudon : Sampson Low & Co., 1882.
Vol. ii. page 209.
N
178 BAKU AND ITS PETROLEUM SUPPLY.
petroleum seems almost to exceed all credibility. Petro-
leum, it is asserted, in enormous subterranean lakes and
reservoirs, underlies tlie Caucasian region from sea to
sea. It is largely found beneath the steppes, both north
and south of the mountain chain. At Baku, and the
peninsula of Apsheron, at the end of the chain on the
Caspian, naphtha has its main sources. The princess with
whom I parted at Petrovsk, was not indulging her poetic
fancy when she told me that ' Naphtha bursts forth in
copious springs, sendingup tall liquid columns not unlike
the geysers in Iceland.' Up to this time the difficulty of
conveying the material has stood in the way of the full
development of this marvellous source of wealth."
Eeferring to the scheme to convey the oil through a pipe
from Baku to Batoum, he continues : — " But, by whatever
means the liquid may be conveyed from Baku to the
various seaports and railway stations of the world, it
seems likely to effect little less than an economic revolu-
tion. There is scarcely any use, domestic or social, that
naphtha cannot be put to. Could the liquid be made to
travel so cheaply as to undersell English and other coal
in countries like Italy, Spain, and other Mediterranean
regions, where coal sells at three guineas a ton, it would
be hardly possible to reckon what enormous wealth would
accrue to the people of the Caucasus."*
It is particularly worthy of notice that none of the
travellers who have visited Baku since the time of Peter
the Great have expressed any doubts as to the durability
of the petroleum supply. So far as I am aware, neither
in Eussia nor out of it has any person familiar with the
region questioned either the unlimited character of the
supply or its excellence. The geographers are at one
with the travellers on this point. Eeclus, the foremost
geographer of the time, calls Baku a " great natural
* "A Summer Tuur in Russia." London : Chapman & Hall, 188-3.
Pages 318-320.
EMINENT GEOGRAPHERS ON BAKU. 179
^orksliop. The flames from the petroleum gases of the
peninsula at times burst forth spontaneously, and
during boisterous nights the hillsides are swept by sheets
of phosphorescent light. Even in the middle of the sea
the naphtha streams di'ibble up, clothing the ripples far
and near with a thin iri-idescent coating. The legend of
Prometheus, who stole fire from heaven, may in the
popular fancy be possibly associated with the flaming
hiUs and waters of the region. To the internal pressure
of the gases is due the rising of the naphtha, which is
forced uj^wards through the sands and shingly layers
below the superficial tertiary strata. ... So far, the 700
naphtha wells sunk in the neighbourhood of Baku show
no sign of exhaustion. But immense loss is caused by
the ignorance of those engaged in the trade. Thus a
well at Balakhani, yielding 4,800 tons of naphtha daily,
ran waste for four weeks before a reservoir could be
prepared to receive the oil."*
In Stanford's " Compendium of Geography," the
volume of which on Asia was compiled by the eminent
geographer Professor A. H. Keane, and edited by Sir
Eichard Temple, the opinion is expressed that, " the
inexhaustible naphtha springs promise to prove a future
source of permanent wealth to the country" (page 362).
" Baku is the centre of the most productive naphtha
district in Asia" (page 381).
John Geddie, another geographer, writes t : — " The
whole peninsula is saturated with najjhtha, and the oil
which exudes freely from the soil at various s^Jots forms
the chief riches of Baku. One of these naphtha wells
has sometimes been known to catch fire by accident and
to continue to burn for years, thro-ft-ing up its j)illar
* " The Eartii and its Inhabitants." London : J. S. Virtue cS; Co.,
1883. Vol. vi. page 108.
t "'The Russian Empire: Historical and Descriptive." By John
Geddie, F.R.G.S., Loudon : Nelson & Sons, 1882. Page 378.
N 2
180 BAKU AND ITS PETROLEUM SUPPLY.
of flame to moiYk the furthest outpost of the Cau-
casus."
Two more opinions may be cited to clench the case.
" The potential productiveness of the Baku oil region is
incomparably superior to that of Pennsylvania," said
Professor Mendalaieff, the celebrated Eussian scientist,
after a visit to Baku in 1882. " Comparing the results
achieved in the two countries on one side, and the
average depth and total number of wells on the other, it
may be justly stated that the natural petroleum wells of
Baku, as far as our knowledge goes, have no parallel in the
world." Such was the opinion expressed by the British
Vice-Consul at Batoum, Mr. Peacock, in a consular trade
report published the same year.
I have been at pains to quote a large number of
English authorities, even at the risk of being called a
compiler, because commercial men are invariably so
incredulous and suspicious in their attitude towards new
ideas, that my assertions unsupported might have failed
to have carried weight. In this chapter I have given
almost all that has been published in English works on
Baku petroleum. In the succeeding ones the matter will
be original and derived from innumerable Eussian
sources. But even before proceeding to examine this
mass of modern Eussian data, the conviction should have
taken root in the reader's mind that the old deposits of
Baku are of a very extraordinary and wonderful
character.
181
CHAPTEE XII.
THE PETEOLEUM DISTKICTS OF RUSSIA.
Official Estimate of the 'Area of the Peti-oleum Region of Eussia —
Localities where the Oil Abounds — The Crimean Deposits — The
Supply in the Taman Peninsula — Operations at Novorossisk, in
the Ter and Tiflis Districts, and near Petrovsk — The Caspian
Deposits^Setting the Sea on Fire — The Transcaspiau Oil Fields —
Enough to Supply the whole Russian Empire — A Modest Annex-
ation — Description of the Baku Oil Region — The Surakhani and
Balakhani Plateaux — Quantity of Petroleum Extracted up to
now — Geological Characteristics of the Caspian Petroleum Region
— Erroneous Deductions of Scientific Men — Ludwig Nobel's
Theory of the Petroleum Deposits — Instances of Variations in
the Supply of Oil from Contiguous Wells — The Vastness of the
Baku Supply beyond the reach of Controversy — Its Inexhausti-
bility — Relative Positions of the Baku and Peunsylvanian
Supplies from Ports Accessible to European Ship^^ing.
The compiler of Spon's "Encyclopaedia of the Industrial
Arts," an authoritative work of reference, speaks of the
Russian official estimate of 14,000 square miles compos-
ing the area of the petroleum territory of the Russian
Empire, as "obviously exaggerated." I do not see what
grounds exist for such a sweeping statement. Petroleum
aboimds in the Yistula province, in the Governments of
Samara and SaratofE on the Volga, in the Petchora
region of the distant North, and in the territory of
Ferghana, on the confines of Afghanistan. But, exclud-
ing all these, and restricting ourselves entirely to the
Caucasus and Caspian, we have there oil strata running
-direct from the Crimea, across the Caucasus, and under the
182 THE PETROLEUM DISTRICTS OF RUSSIA.
Caspian, to the Balkan Hills beyond — a distance of 1,500
miles, which, with a hypothetical breadth of ten miles,
would alone give more than the area referred to.
The petroleum sj^rings in the Crimea have never been
worked or investigated to any extent, and I am told they
are too far from the coast to pay at present the specu-
lator. Crossing the sea of Azoff, we come to the Taman
Peninsula, famoiis even in classical times for its petro-
leum springs. These are described as most resembling
those of Pennsylvania, the oil, compared with the Baku
supply, being meagre and soaking into the wells, rather
than forming huge cellular reservoirs, or underground
ponds, as in the case of Caspian petroleum. But, as a
matter of fact, the petroleum fields of the Kuban region
have never been thoroughly explored, and it is not im-
probable that the supply may be more copious than is
generally imagined. It was in this district that the first
spouting- well, or oil-fountain, made its appearance in the
Caucasus, foi-ming, in 1866, on Novoselt self's estate an
immense lake, which overflowing, penetrated to a branch
of the river Kudako and ran out to sea. Ten years ago
there were twenty-two wells and tubes in operation, pro-
ducing 1,500 tons of oil annually. In 1875 there were
forty-two wells, producing 4,000 tons. Latterly, as I
have already stated, a French company has successfully
bored for oil sixty miles inland of Novorossisk, and
pumped it through pipes to a kerosine refinery on Novo-
rossisk bay. Except for Baku, this petroleum region
would probably have undergone considerable develop-
ment, but while crude petroleum can be delivered at the
Baku railway station for transport to Batoum for a few
pence the ton, it will not pay to exploit the oil in the
rocky, woody, roadless region of Kuban.
Proceeding further east, the next place where the
petroleum is extracted to any extent is in the Ter and
Tiflis districts, where also the oil has been used for ages.
PETROLEUM IN THE TAMAN PENINSULA. 183
In 1874 there were 113 wells in the former, producing
400 tons, and in the latter fourteen producing nearly
2,000 tons. Later statistics I have not been able to ob-
tain. Further east still, there are wells in Daghestan
giving a few hundred tons of oil annually to the moun-
taineers, and then we come to the Apsheron peninsula,
jutting into the Caspian, which, when its oil fountains
are playing 200 or 300 feet high, might not unfitly be
compared to a huge spermaceti whale. From the mouth
of the Samur river at the north of the peninsula, to the
mouth of the Kura in the south, a distance of 200 miles,
the whole of the region may be regarded as oil producing
countr\\ In this manner the entire chain of the Caucasus,
720 miles long, possesses petroleum, scattered for the
most part sporadically over the surface of the interior,
but welling up in vast quantities at the two extremities
— the Taman peninsula in the Black Sea, and the Apsheron
peninsula in the Caspian. Between these two points the
oil is found at an altitude of 9,000 feet above the sea
level, and 600 feet below it.
Eespecting the Apsheron peninsula and its chief oil
producing districts near Baku, I shall say more directly.
Let me, as briefly as possible, dismiss the Caspian.
From the extremity of the Apsheron peninsula to Kras-
novodsk, a distance of 200 miles, a mountain ridge runs
under the sea, sustaining an old local tradition that ages
ago, before it was depressed by some volcanic action, it
divided the Caspian into two lakes. This ridge, there is
every reason to believe, is full of oil. At any rate, where-
ever it juts up to the surface oil flows from the reef.
Eussian sailors call these projections " Oil Eocks." The
extent to which they eject petroleum seems to depend
upon the weather. Holy Island, which lies a few miles
off the extremity of the Apsheron peninsula, abounds
with petroleum, which was once regularly exploited by
the Persians. Tcheleken Island, on the opposite side of
184 THE PETROLEUM DISTRICTS OF RUSSIA.
the sea, was famous in classical times for its springs of
oil, and, according to Russian surveys T have by me, is
literally a soddened mass of petroleum and ozokerit. Be-
tween these two islands there are numerous spots, where
oil floats up to the surface of the Casj^ian, and a still
larger number where the petroleum gas bubbles to the
top. In Baku bay, between the Bailofl: and Shikhoff
promontories, there was a spot, now converted into a well
by extending an artificial peninsula to it, where the gas
used to come to the surface with sufficient force to iipset
boats passing over the eddies. The well was won from
the sea by Sehm Khan, and is called the Selimkhanoff
well. It is situated close to the village of Shikhoff. If
a light be api:)lied on a calm day to the gas bubbles in
parts of Baku bay, acres of water become covered with
flame, the size of the phenomenon being dependent, it is
said, on the direction of the wind previously prevailing.
The flames do not give out any very great heat, as Mr.
Ludwig Nobel once found when, by way of experiment,
he drove his steam launch right through the water while
thus ignited.
The Caspian traversed, there is a brief interval of
desert, followed by the Balkan hills, where, since the
final annexation of the region by Russia in 1881, extra-
ordinary deposits of petroleum have been discovered.
That oil existed there was long known, for the Turco-
mans used to extract it from wells and convey it on
camel-back to Khiva. But it was not until 1881, when a
party of engineers, while searching for water for the new
railway, suddenly alighted iipon the " Nai)htha Hill,"
that Russia became aware of the value of what the Duke
of Argyll used to designate her " barren and costly ac-
quisitions." This hill lies sixteen and a half miles south-
west of the Tageer wells, and fifty-three from the rail-
way, with which it is connected by a Decauville miniature
railroad. Shortly after it was discovered, a Baku oil
THE TRANSCASPIAN PETEOLEUM EEGION. 18i
exploiter— Prince EristofE — quietly staked the whole
property as his own, and began to make preparations for
working it. The Governor of the Transeaspian region,
General Eohrberg, however, heard of this annexation,
and sent a geological engineer to the spot to survey it,
when an estimate was made that the ozokerit and oil in
the hill thus coolly appropriated were worth de35,000,000
sterling. Upon receipt of this news the Governor had
Eristoff's stakes pulled up, and the Decauville raiboad
removed from Bami to the spot, so as to enable the loco-
motives to obtain their own supply of petroleum fuel
from the locality, instead of importing it from Baku.
At present there is only one well bored, giving ten tons
of petroleum daily, which is amply sufficient for the
wants of the railway. Konshin, the mining engineer in
charge, reported last year that there were 20,000 acres of
petroleum land round about the hill, which could easily
furnish 1,000,000 tons of oil annually ; that is to say,
enough to light every lamp, grease every machine, and
drive every locomotive in the Eussian empire. Other
deposits exist in the neighbourhood, which have not yet
been surveyed. When the Transeaspian railway is ex-
tended further in the direction of India, as it will some
day be, this " Black California," as the Eussians call the
place, will not only provide fuel for the Hue, but also fuel
and kerosine for the people of Khorassan, Afghanistan,
and Central Asia, who experience much suffering and in-
convenience from a deficiency of both. The deposits will
thus acquire immense importance. At present, while
Baku is giving such a copious supply, we may regard the
Transeaspian deposits as a reserve.
In this manner there are three great outlets for the
Caucasus-Caspian petroleum deposits — the Taman and
Apsheron peninsulas at the two extremities of the chain,
and the districts of Tcheleken and Black California,
which we may couple together, on the east side of the
186 THE PETROLEUM DISTRICTS OF RUSSIA.
Caspian. Tlie latter constitute tlie extremity of the
strata, no more petroleum being found further in that
direction, so far as my knowledge of Central Asia extends,
until Ferghana is reached, quite 1,000 miles beyond.
Returning to the Apsheron peninsula, a glance at the
map will show that it extends 60 or 70 miles into the
Caspian Sea. Baku is situated where the projection
begins to break away from the coast line of the Caucasus,
The peninsula there is about 20 miles broad from sea to
sea. The oil plateau imder exploitation lies midway
between the two flanks of the peninsula, at a height of
175 ft. above the level of the Casj^ian Sea. The wells are
thus sufficiently elevated to almost allow of the oil find-
ing its way by gravity to the refineries situated on Baku
bay, six or eight miles from them. There are two great
groups of wells, the Surakhani and the Balakhani. The
former exist on the site of the old Fire- Worshippers'
temples, where the petroleum gas has been issuing from
the ground from the pre-historic period. Only two or
three companies carry on operations here. The majority
are gathered at Balakhani, or, more correctly, on the
Balakhani- Saboontchi plateau. Formerly all the oil was
extracted at Surakhani ; then a start was made at
Balakhani, six miles to the west, where a more copious
supply was discovered, and drilling operations were found
to be more easily carried on. By degrees the oil fields
grew till they encroached iipon, and covered the
Saboontchi j)lateau also. The collective area of the two
plateaux under exploitation is now about a couple of
square miles. Most of the 400 drilled wells of the
Apsheron peninsula are collected on this small patch of
ground, the properties being mingled together in appar-
ently inextricable confusion. The wells are most incon-
veniently crowded, but the Eussians and Armenians
prefer to continue working the plateau to seeking oil
elsewhere beyond its limits. On the plateau they are
COPIOrSNESS OF TEE WELLS. 187
sure to get oil, but they are not so sure of oil outside it,
and when the price of crude petroleum rules at 3d. or
4d. per ton there is no temptation for speculators to go
sinking wells on virgin ground. If it be remembered
that none of the wells have yet got lower than 825 ft., in
spite of the temfic outbursts of oil, and that this lowest
distance is the distance when American borers only begin
to think of finding a supply of oil, it will be seen that
the Balakhani well-owners have no temptation whatever
to resign their sites, however crowded they may be, for
others elsewhere. This pohcy does not imply any dis-
belief in the existence of rich oil-lands outside the
present boundary. On the contrary, there is plenty of
evidence to support the opposite view. Thus, there was
a time when the Balakhani plateau alone was exploited ;
the same overcrowding existed in it ; but although land
could be had very much cheaper on the contiguous
Saboontchi plateau, no one attempted to avail himself of
the opportunity. At length, step by step, the Balakhani
oil fields encroached upon the Saboontchi plateau, and it
was found that it had a richer supply than Balakhani.
Since then the biggest fountains have occurred in this
neglected locality, and land which might have been
bought for a trifle a few years ago is now literally worth
its weight in gold.
Six miles to the west, across the Boyook salines, are
several wells at the village of Binagadi, at the foot of
the moimtain Boyook Dagh ; and a couple of miles
south-west of these is a well or two close to an extinct
mud volcano, alongside a lake of asphalte. When the
market for petroleum increases, these latter, as well as
other points imdeveloped yet, will become as active as
Balakhani. At present oil is such a di-ug that nobody
has the heart to go boring for what no profitable sale
can be found for, after it is got to the surface.
The peninsula, with its shoulders, possesses an area of
188 THE PETEOLEUM DISTRICTS OF EUSSIA.
1,200 square miles of oil-bearing land. Of tliis area not
more than three square miles have yet been developed.
Were this oil extracted from strata, it might be affirmed
that in working the three square miles the well-owners
were exhausting the land lying outside the area. But
the fact of the oil existing, not in beds or strata, but in
countless cells, disposes of any such fear. The borers
exhaust only the ground immediately below them ; they
do not interfere at all with the oil lying a short distance
beyond. Throughout these three square miles the boring
rods have never yet penetrated deeper than oil usually
begins to be foimd in America. Yet the amount the
wells have furnished since 1832 reaches the enormous
total of 4,000,000 tons of petroleum. This quantity
from 400 wells looks prodigious ; yet, on the other hand,
if spread over the three square miles, it would not repre-
sent a layer deeper than eighteen inches.
Geologically, little or nothing is known about the
Caspian petroleum region. It has been ascertained that
the oil rests in Tertiary beds overlying Miocene, but,
beyond this simple fact, science is mute or at fault, and
even the engineers working the wells confess themselves
ignorant of the conditions regulating the supply of
petroleum. Twenty years ago Baku was visited by a
very eminent savant, Professor Abich, who possesses a
wide celebrity on the Continent. Abich explored the
Apsheron peninsula several times, and from his observa-
tions deduced certain theories, many of which have
proved to be more or less wrong. He predicted, for
instance, that no petroleum would be found after a depth
of 60 or 70 feet, and counselled the Baku engineers to
bore no lower. But practice has proved his i)rediction
to be lamentably inaccurate. As far as 70 feet, wells
give only from a few hundredweight to a couple of tons
of oil per diem. Dissatisfied with this result, the Baku
people disregarded Abich's advice, and boring 300 feet,
OIL ALWAYS FOUND AT BAKU. 189
found oil flowing at the rate of 150 tons a day. In
Group XTV., at Balakhani, a fountain was struck at 250
feet, yielding 250 tons every twenty-four hours.
A few years later, in 1873, when more data were forth-
coming to guide the savant, Trautschold visited Baku,
and declared that no oil would be found of any value
below 200 feet. After 140 feet, he held that the oil
would lose its virtue. But events proved him to be alto-
gether wrong. Cnide petroleum has been obtained from
a depth of 825 feet, quite as good as that exuding
naturally from the surface.
Later on, Professor Mendelaieff made a journey to
Baku. No Eussian savant has a higher place in the
esteem of English scientific men than Mendelaieff. In
1882, the Eoyal Society conferred upon him the Davey
medal for his researches. On his return from Baku,
Mendelaieff wrote a monograph upon the American and
Caucasian petroleum fields ; but there is nothing in that
which has proved of any great value to the petroleum
borer. He declared the region to be incomparably richer
than that of America, which he also had visited, — but
that was known beforehand, and was no new discovery ;
and he penned a brilliant essay on the origin of petro-
leum, which the Baku engineers and chemists, in common
with a large number of scientific men, do not believe in,
and which, whether right or wrong, has been of no
service in accurately determining the conditions under
which petroleum may infallibly be obtained. Eeceiving,
thus, no aid from science, or, what is worse, repeatedly
misled by exponents of it, the Baku people have had to
bore for oil by guesswork. It has been quite a lottery.
Oil has always been found, but it has been altogether a
matter of luck whether at 100 feet, 200 feet, or 500 feet.
With the exception of Nobel Brothers, none of the firms
keep any record of the geology of their weUs. There is
consequently an absence of adequate data for the savant
190 THE PETROLEUM DISTRICTS OF RUSSIA.
to work upon. Nobel Brothers have, I believe, geological
records of the whole of their wells, and the theory held
by Ludwig Nobel, deduced from them, seems to me the
only one to meet the case. This theory is, that the oil-
bearing strata, originally running regularly in an almost
diagonal direction, became dislocated and thrust hither
and thither horizontally during some volcanic disturb-
ance, and a sort of irregular cellular character given to
the petroleum deposits.
No other theory seems to me to satisfactorily explain
how that the 400 wells and fountains existing at present
at Baku should display, except in a few instances, no
connection with one another, although most of them are
disposed close together on less than a thousand square
acres of ground. The independence of the wells shows
unquestionably that although the subterranean fluids
may at some time have been collected in one vast series
of reservoirs, in regular strata, they must now be con-
fined in innumerable sub-divided basins, having no con-
nection between them. Let me give a few instances.
Near the village of Strikhoff, at Bibi Aibat, a short time
ago there were four wells giving oil within a few yards of
one another — yet all at different depths, the first at 259
feet, the second at 560, the third at 280, and the fourth
at 350. Close to them was a more striking instance. An
old well existed, 70 feet deep, which for generations had
furnished petroleum. The engineers set up a derrick a
few yards from it, expecting to get oil readily at about
the same depth, but did not strike any until they had
penetrated 420 feet. At Surakhani, Meerzoeff sank a
well 700 feet deep before reaching oil, although close by
there were several pits giving oil at the depth of 100. If
the oil were collected in a single reservoir, or in basins
joined to one another, it is obvious that the fountains
that often occur would exhaust the surrounding localities.
The Droojba fountain, for example, which I saw in Sep-
UNDERGROUND LAKES OF OIL. 191
tember spouting oil at the rate of two million gallons per
diem from a depth of 574 feet, would have ruined all the
neighbouring wells of a lesser depth had the reservoir
been a general one. As a matter of fact, while it was
shooting its oil 300 feet high, the wells a stone's throw
off were giving their daily supply of petroleum, totally
unaffected by it. Many pumping wells have been worked
for years without the level of the oil being lowered in the
slightest degree, or the wells in any way affected by dis-
charges from adjoining fountains proceeding from greater
or lesser depths. The peninsula of Apsheron is probably
honey-combed with thousands of oil cells. One of these
cells, belonging to Kokereff, has already given a million
and a half of barrels of oil, and yet the pump draws the
oil as freely and as readily to the surface as when the
basin was first tapped by the boring bit years ago.
The subterranean basins vary considerably in size, but
while well-filled cells are often found close to the surface,
experience seems to show that the deeper the Baku people
bore the more copious the supply. At any rate, the Baku
firms are boring deeper every year, and every year the
fountains become more terrific. The rule is, when a cell
is tapped, to let the oil flow to the surface— if it does
flow — until it ceases running, and then to pump it.
When the cell is sucked dry, the engineers begin to bore
again, and go on boring till another one is reached. This
process goes on continually until some copious supply is
reached, which is sufiicient to last for years. This, as in
the case of the Kokereff well, sometimes assumes a per-
manent character. In America, a depth of 1,000 feet is
thought nothing of in boring for oil ; a man is not par-
ticularly discouraged if he penetrates as far without
discovering petroleum. In Baku, however, an engineer
begins to look for it at 100 feet, and no well has yet got
lower than 825. In 1883 two flowing wells in less than
a month upheaved nearly 30,000,000 gallons of oil apiece
192 THE PETROLEUM DISTRICTS OF RUSSIA.
from a deptli of 700 feet, aud when they were finally
plugged, to " cork up " their sujDply for future use, they
were still flowing at a rate of about 20,000 gallons of oil
per diem. Nobel Brothers have got 14 such wells
" corked up," because crude petroleum will not fetch
more than a few pence a ton at Baku just now. Yet the
deepest of these 14 basins, crammed with oil, is less than
800 feet from the surface. In America there are a
number of wells in the Bradford region 2,000 or 3,000
feet deep, and one in West Virginia which will soon be
5,000.
That the Baku supply is immense is a point that is
beyond the reach of controversy. Nobody has ever
questioned it. It is therefore really unnecessary to
defend what has never been attacked. As regards the
inexhaustibility of the supply the case is different. One
or two cavilling cries have been raised against Baku.
But these have not proceeded from Eussian experts at
Baku, or from foreign exjjerts who have visited the region.
In a word, nobody who knows anything personally of
Baku has ever entertained any doubts on the subject.
The cry has simply been raised by importers of American
oil, angry at the impending lowering of the market by
the inrush of oil from Baku. I do not desire to carry
conviction to these, but from the facts I have given, the
public will shrewdly gather that if the petroleum cells in
the three exploited sqviare miles of Baku are suflBcient to
supply the whole of Europe with oil, there must be
enough left in the basins lower than 825 feet, and in the
untouched 1,197 square miles of the Apsheron peninsula,
to stock the markets of the world for ages.
With regard to the accessibility of the supply, the
Baku deposits lie about the same distance from the Black
Sea coast that the American oil-fields do from the Atlantic
littoral. If the Suram pass of the Lesser Caucasus acts
as an impediment lacking in the case of America, it
UNDERGROUND LAKES OF OIL. 193
shotild be remembered that steps are already being taken
to remove the obstacle ; and that, further, Baku possesses
in the Caspian and Volga a splendid water-way, close to
the oil fields, surpassing the commvmications of Pennsyl-
vania. To this should be added, that for the last four
years the crude oil has been selling on the spot at Baku
at the maximum rate 14 times cheaper than on the spot
in Pennsylvania, while the minimum rate prevailing last
autumn was 112 times cheaper than that of the Ameri-
can oil. It is obvious that such cheapness allows a very
wide margin for profit.
194
CHAPTER XIII.
A DRIVE TO THE OIL WELLS.
The Phaetous at Baku— Driving to Balakhaui— The Salines of the
Apsheron Peninsula — Passing the Black Town — The Gardens and
Vineyards of the Peninsula— Asj^ect of the Great Droojba
Fountain from Baku — The Pipe-lines— Too Clever by Half —
Baku Oil Transport before the Pipe-line Period— Grandiose
Schemes for Pipe-lines to Europe — The Projected Oleoduct to the
Persian Gulf — Duty on Iron Pipes — Capacity of the Pipe-lines —
Aspect of the Balakhani Oil Plateau — How America Gained Upon
and Beat the Old Baku Oil Supply— Statistics of the Monopoly
Period— Present Free Trade Enjoyed by the Industry— The
Excise Period — Recent Revolutions in the Trade— Stimulus
Given by the Swedish Engineers— Robert and Ludwig Nobel —
Prices of Crude Petroleum for the last Twenty Years— Number
of Drilled Wells— Effect of the Batoum Railway upon the
Industry.
The petroleum wells lie eiglit or nine miles distant from
Baku. The journey is mostly clone by phaeton. It may
also be accomplislied by railway by means of the Petro-
leum Branch (Neftiani Ootchastok) of the Transcau-
casian railroad ; a train running from Baku Station to
Surakhani at 11.45 a.m., arriving there at 12.28 p.m. and
returning in the afternoon at 2.15. To Saboontchi and
Balakhani two trains run daily, at 9.25 a.m. and 5.10 p.m.,
doing the distance in half an hour, and returning respec-
tively at 10.25 A.M. and 6.25 p.m. But a phaeton drive is
far preferable to the railroad. To get to Baku Station,
in the first place, one must take a phaeton, the road being
too bad for walking, and when the Saboontchi or Surak-
EXPLOKING THE OIL WELLS. 195
jbani Station is readied another phaeton is needed to con-
Tey the traveller through the oil fields. The best plan,
therefore, is for him to step out from the hotel, and,
having selected a good phaeton, bargain vrith the driver
for the trip. If the suburban streets in Baku are
horribly paved, or rather not paved at all, consisting
simply of jutting rock and shifting sand, there is an
excellent set-off in the superiority of the vehicles. These
"phaetons," as they are locally designated, are roomy
and furnished with splendid springs ; and in most
instances are drawn by a pair of horses, which for vigour
and endurance afford a marked contrast to the horse-
flesh we are accustomed to in our London streets. The
drivers are Tartars, and a superior class of men compared
with the isvostcliiJcs usually met in Russian towns. The
charge for driving to any part inside Baku is 15 copecks,
or 4d.* The journey to Balakhani or Surakhani occu-
pies more than two hours. For going there and back,
and waiting at different points while his fare inspects the
wells, the driver expects three or four roubles. As no
refreshments are to be had on the road or at the wells,
the traveller should take something with him, particularly
something to assuage his thirst, the journey most of the
year round being a warm and dusty one. In inspecting
the derricks, he can hardly escape having his helmet and
coat splashed with oil, and even if he turns up the bottom
of his trousers he is sure to soil them in traversing the
• This is for two persons ; for three or four the charge is 20
copecks. By the hour the charge is 50 copecks. To the Black Town,
as far as Nobel's Works, the fare is 50 copecks, and 50 copecks back.
To the railway station the fare is 20 copecks for two persons, and 30
copecks for four ; to the goods' station 30 copecks for two persons,
and 40 copecks for four ; from the railway station to the town 30
copecks for two persons, and from the goods' station 40 copecks.
Luggage, not carried in the hand, is charged 15 copecks extra at the
end of the journey. The fares are fixed by the town authorities.
After two o'clock in the morning the driver may charge double fare.
o 2
196 A DRIVE TO THE OIL WELLS.
sand, ankle-deep, and moist with oil, round about the
wells. It is a mistake, therefore, to go out to the wells
too well dressed. Should he do so, however, and spoil
his clothes, there are several tailors' shops opposite the
Hotel d'Europe where the grease will be extracted as
cheaply and as thoroughly as in England.
If the weather be not too warm, the journey to the
wells is not an unpleasant one, even for anybody unac-
customed to a good hard bit of travelling ; the novelty
of the drive provoking an interest rendering him insen-
sible to the dust and the heat. The track, for there is
no road, lies the whole way across sheer desert. The
surface consists of rugged limestone, the ruts and the
jagged projections being eased here and there by a layer
of dust. "Vegetation there is none, save the everlasting
camel-thorn, which, when thick, imparts occasionally a
green tint to the landscape. Now and again a black
patch is seen ; this is one of the numerous petroleum
springs dotting the Apsheron peninsula. Close to Balak-
hani depressions are observed, covered with a dazzling
white efflorescence ; these are salt lakes, of which there
are any number in this part of the Caucasus. When one
gets into Balakhani itself, the white lakes are replaced by
black ones — lakes of crude petroleum oil, in many of
which there is plenty of room for boats to row. These
lakes are often set on fire and burnt, to get rid of the oil,
while millions pine for more light and fuel in Western
Europe.
The town of Baku left behind, the traveller has on his
right the Tchorni Gorod, or Black Town, where the 200
refineries are situated. These stretch along the bay, and
belch forth smoke like a concentrated Birmingham.
Afterwards the ground rises, and while the phaeton is
crawling up it, there is a fine view of Baku Bay. If the
wind be blowing from the sea, the breeze is pleasant, and
moderates the intense heat of the sun, shining from a
THE PIPE-LINES OF BAKU. 197
turquoise-blue firmament upon the rugged Apsheron
peninsula. Further on, the railway is crossed, and then
a whole bunch of pipe-lines are met running in a higgledy-
piggledy fashion towards the Black Town, conveying the
crude oil thither from the wells. The hills about are
dotted with reservoirs, containing thousands of tons of
oil. No villages or settlements exist between Baku and
Balakhani, and not a structure is seen the whole dis-
tance, except a rmned stone watch-house at intervals,
erected by Ludwig Nobel to protect his first pipe-line
— ^the first in the country — from the infuriated Tartar
carriers, whose lucrative pursuit was cut short when the
pipe-line superseded the conveyance of oil in barrel.
But although there are no habitations, there is plenty
of trafiic along the track. Crowds of donkey-boys are
passed, with panniers crammed with grapes, going to
Baku, or returning with empty ones from it. Most
travellers describe the Apsheron peninsula as a total
desert, but this is a mistake. On the northern side are
many miles of gardens stretching along the shore, one
strip — from the village of Gerodeel to Beelgia — having
a length of twelve miles with a breadth in one place of
five. This lies on the neck of the peninsula exactly
opposite Baku, about twenty miles by road, and from it
■every day hundreds of camels and donkeys are sent to
the town, laden with fruit and vegetables. For two or
ihree copecks, the donkey boys will part with as many
.grapes as the greediest person could desire on a very hot
day.
After driving a few miles, the traveller sees before him
a whole series of wooden sentry-box looking structures,
clustered together. These are the 400 derricks sur-
mounting the wells of Balakhani. Should a fountain be
spouting, a black cloud will be observed hanging over
•one of the derricks. The Droojba foimtain, which
during the first few days spouted 300 feet high, I saw
198 i. DRIVE TO THE OIL WELLS.
easily witliout a glass from some rising ground near
Baku eight miles distant. It had the aspect then of the
conventional eruption of Vesuvius. The roar of the oil
could be distinctly heard two or three miles before I
got to the derrick.
Following the pipe-lines, the phaeton approaches closer
to Shore Ozera — a saline lake five or six miles long by
a mile and a half broad, flanking Balakhani, and then
makes a sharp detour round it to the well-region on the
other side. Only one pipe-line follows the road in this
winding, the rest go straight across the lake on stone
supports. With the exception of MeerzoefE's pipe, they
sprawl across the ground anyhow ; winding and twisting
over the imdulations of the desert, bridging chasms on.
the roughest of piers, and stretching stark across the
road without any attempt to bury themselves in the
surface out of the way of the traffic. But there is
method in this apparent madness. While five of the
lines run anyhow, the sixth is soberly laid on iron chairs
on masonry supports the whole way from Balakhani to
Baku town. For nine miles it is stretched as straight as
a telegraph wire, and the level is sought to be maintained
by cutting ditches through the hills and raising the
ground in the depressions. " What a model to the rest ! "
exclaims the novice, as he views this elaborate piece of
engineering, " it must sure belong to Nobel Brothers " —
for one of the first things he learns when he arrives at
Baku is, that Ludwig Nobel's organization is perfect in
every respect. But, on the contrary, Nobel's lines run
with the untidy ones, and when these are examined it is
found that while none of them leak at all, or only to a,
trifling extent here and there, Meerzoeff's level pipe-line
exudes oil at every joint. The cause is readily explained.
The pipe is laid down too stiff and too straight to expand
or contract, with the result that after costing twice as
much to place in position as the other pipe-lines, it
THE PIPE-LINE AND THE BAREEL. 199
causes its owner ten times the loss in leakage. MeerzoefE's
pipe-line was erected immediately after Nobel had demon-
strated the system to be a financial success ; but some
ultra-technical Russian engineer thought he could im-
prove on the lesson taught Baku by the practical Swede,
and in his anxiety to construct a handsome and regular
work forgot all about expansion.
Six pipe-lines run from Balakhani to the Black Town
of Baku. Another extends from Balakhani to Surakhani,
and thence to the outer part of Baku Bay, close to Sultan
Point, to the kerosine refinery of the Zikhski Association.
This belongs to the Baku Petroleum Company, and not
being always reqmred for oil, is often employed by Nobel
Brothers for pumping water from the bay to their wells.
The total length of the seven pipe-lines amounts to over
60 miles.
Pipe-lines are quite a modem institution at Baku,
having only been introduced by Nobel Brothers during
the last few years. Previous to that the oil used to be
conveyed in barrels down to the coast. Mr. Arthur
Arnold, M.P., who visited Baku in 1875, gives an inter-
estiag account in his " Through Persia by Caravan," of
what the system was then : — "All day long petroleum
rolls into Baku in carts of the most curious pattern
imagiaable. A Neapohtan single-horse two-wheeled
carriage for fifteen people is unique, but it is common-
place in comparison with an oil cart of Baku. Few
men would have the courage to import a Baku oil cart
and drive it even for a very high wager through Eegent
Street or Pall Mall. Where is the man who would dare
to pose himself there, perched and caged in a little rail
cart big enough to hold one barrel of petroleum, and
lifted so high on wheels seven feet in diameter, that
another tub can be slung beneath the axle, the whole
thing being painted with all the colours of the rainbow,
and creaking loudly as it is drawn by a diminutive horse,
200 A DRIVE TO THE OIL WELLS.
the back of which is hardly up to a level with the axle ?
Yet the exploiteurs say that already they pay collectively
not much less than ^100,000 a year for the cartage of
oil in carriages of this sort." When Nobel Brothers
commenced refining operations in 1875, thousands of
arbas or carts were employed in this operation. To
diminish the expense, and insure a larger and more rapid
supply, the Swedes endeavoured to persuade the Baku
firms to combine and lay down a pipe. But jealousy and
want of enterprise have always been the characteristics
of the Russian and native firms of Baku. They refused.
Thereupon the Swedes laid down the pipe-line themselves,
at a cost of =£10,000, and recovered the outlay the first
year. This was the death knell of the arbas. Other
lines were laid down in rapid succession by rival firms,
or combinations of them, and the oil carts almost entirely
disappeared from Baku. Pipe-lines have now become a
recognized institution in the district. Not only is all the
crude oil conveyed from the weUs to the refineries by
them, but they also join the 200 refineries one with the
other and with the piers in the bay. Local feeling at
present runs riot the other way. Grandiose schemes are
constantly being discussed for conveying the oil to
Europe. One of these, in favour several years ago, was
a pipe-line a thousand miles long, running from Baku
across the Caucasus to the railway system in South-East
Eussia. Another extended from Baku to the Black Sea
at Poti or Batoum. This may be regarded as the most
practicable, and if any pipe-line ever be laid down from
Baku, this will inevitably be the one. At present there is
a deal of talk of running a pipe-line from Baku to the
Persian Gulf, with the idea of securing Baku the exclusive
control of the markets of Asia. This would be 1,200
miles long, and could only be constructed with foreign
capital.
Before ridiculing such schemes, it should be borne in
THE PROJECTED OLEODUCT THROUGH PERSIA. 201
mind that in America the Standard Oil Company controls
nearly 4,000 miles of pipe-line, or enough not only to
pump the oil from Baku to the Persian Gulf, but beyond
to the principal bazaars of India. A section of the
Standard Oil Comj)any's pipe-line, 2,500 miles long, would
be sufficient to pump the oil from Baku to London.
The average diameter of the pipe-lines at Baku is sis
inches. The average cost of a six-inch pipe-line is
reckoned at 8,000 roubles a verst, or .£800 for two-thirds
of a mile. Nobel Brothers' two pipe-lines, with pumping
stations, cost collectively <£ 76,000 to lay down. The
l^ipes are made in Russia or Germany, and are conveyed
by rail to the Volga, whence they are despatched by
steamer to Baku. Now that the Batoum railroad is open,
it ought to be cheaper to buy them in Western Europe
and send them to Baku by that route. The duty on iron
pipes of foreign manufacture however is very heavy, and
an estimate has been made that the duty on pipes for a
line 500 miles long, from Baku to the Black Sea would,
amount to more than haK a million sterling. A six-inch
pipe should stand, I am told, a pressure of at least 1,000
lbs. to the inch, but none at Baku are worked above
200 lbs. Petroleum fuel is used in all the pumping
stations ; Blake's pumps have the preference, and many
Tangye boilers are at work in the district. The Balak-
hani wells being situated 175 feet above the level of
the sea, no intermediate stations are needed between
the wells and the refineries. The total capacity of the
seven pipe-lines is estimated at two million gallons of
oil every twenty-four hours. The railway possesses two
stations, east and west of the Balakhani wells, and a
third at Surakhani, thus enabling it to convey crude
oil in tank-cars from the wells to the refineries, or, if
necessary, direct to the Black Sea. In 1882 the follow-
ing quantity of crude oil was pumped through the
pipe-line or conveyed by tank-car to Baku : —
202 A DRIVE TO THE OIL WELLS.
Pipe-Lines.
Gallons.
2. Nobel Brothers, 2 pipes
... 77,254,324
3. Fedoroff and PavloEF
... 28,654,460
4. Lianozoif and Co.
... 15,312,484
5. Meerzoefl Sons
... 14,720,142
6. Baku Petroleum Company ...
... 13,426,240
7. Caspian Company
... 12,008,000
161,375,640
Railway
... 50,544,180
Total
... 211,919,820
The two 2)ipe-lines of Nobel Brothers have a united
capacity for despatching annually 4,000,000 barrels of
crude petroleum to the coast. The pipe-line owners not
only pumj) their own oil from the wells, but also that of
other persons who have no other means of transport.
Apart from the seven principal pipe-lines, all the 200
refineries at Baku are interlaced between themselves, the
25 piers, and the reservoirs of the pipe-line proprietors,
by a regular network of pipes, the aggregate length of
which I have never seen stated, but which must run into
some hundred of miles.
The detour round the salt lake of Shore Ozera effected,
the traveller finds himself on the Balakhani-Saboontchi
plateau, with a panorama spread before him of dingy
tall derricks, low one-storey Persian stone buildings, log
shanties, iron reservoirs in shape like gasometers, and
greasy wooden engine sheds, mingled in groups in inex-
tricable confusion, and having no visible mark or barrier
to separate the one property from the other. Through-
out the plateau, no intelhgible road exists. In place of
highways are innumerable paths and tracks, and these
seam the oil-soddened surface in every direction, and
with a network of pipe-lines, petroleum channels, and
ponds and lakes of oil, utterly bewilder the stranger.
To make confusion worse, many of the well-owners, and
particularly Nobel Brothers, have not got their wells all
ON THE BALAKHANI PLATEAU. 203
in one spot, but possess several in different parts of the
plateau, -which for administrative purposes, is divided
into about 20 " groups " of wells. To the west of the
plateau is the village of Balakhani. This consists of
several hundred white one-storey stone houses of the
Persian style of architecture, and is large enough to
claim the designation of town. A considerable number
of people employed at the wells live there.
The first thought that strikes the observer as he
stirveys the lakes of oil before him is — ^Why Baku, hav-
ing the richest supply of petroleum in the world, worked
ages before the American oil was touched, should have
nevertheless allowed the United States to take possession
of the markets of both hemispheres, including for a time
the very important one of Russia itself. The matter is
susceptible of easy explanation. Until the Russians
completed railway communication between the Black Sea
and the Caspian, Baku was severed from the world. In
summer it was not a very difficult undertaking to get to
the place via the Volga ; but when that river was frozen
over in winter, Baku was practically cut off from the
European system of communications. The only way to
reach the place was to proceed to Vladikavkaz or Tiflis
by rail, and post the rest of the distance through the
Caucasus to Baku. This was not encouraging for
capitalists, especially if it be remembered that it was not
until 1878 that the last traces of independence were
crushed out of the Caucasus, and the region delivered
from further fear of tribal insurrection.
But there is another explanation which goes more
deeply to the root of the matter. One of the first things
the Russians did when they acquired Baku from the
Persians in the early part of the century, was to make
the extraction of the oil a crown monopoly, which they
farmed out to a merchant named Meerzoeff.
Experience in all countries, in all ages has shown that
204 A DRIVE TO THE OIL WELLS.
nothing is more fatal to the development of an industry,
than for the State to render it a close monopoly. The
petroleum industry at Baku was no exception to the
general rule. The protective system of the Eussians,
following upon centuries of free trade under the Persians,
stunted the growth of the petroleum trade. The industry
grew, but its development was nothing like what it
would have been, had there been no Government restric-
tion.
The fatal monopoly check upon foreign and native
enterprise was not removed iintil 1872, that is to say,
twelve years after the American oil had already secured
a foothold in the European market.
When the petroleum industry was at length emanci-
pated from Meerzoeff, the Government instituted a fresh
impediment in the shape of an excise duty. This latter
obstacle was also removed in 1877, and now no tax is
levied on the industry, nor is there any restriction in the
shape of official supervision or disabilities in regard to
foreigners. It would be impossible for a business to be
less meddled with. The Eussian Government has cer-
tainly made up for its past errors on this score. There
is not an industry in Eussia to-day where the laisser faire
doctrine is carried to such lengths as in the Baku petro-
leum trade, and in this respect it will stand comparison
not only with that of Galicia, but with the freest portion
of the United States' oil-fields.
From 1821 to 1825, Meerzoeff paid the Government
131,000 roubles revenue, and afterwards, up to 1839,
from 76,000 to 97,000 roubles a year, or, at the high rate
of the silver rouble then prevailing (ranging between six
and seven roubles to the pound sterling), on an average
about c£10,000 or ^612,000 a year. During this period
the production of crude petroleum rose steadily to more
than a million gallons. Afterwards the output was as
under : —
THE MONOPOLY PERIOD.
205
Revenue in
Tons.
Roubles.
1840
3,565
105,000
1841
3,421
117,000
1842
3,470
124,000
1843
3,434
119,000
1844
3,443
125,000
1845
3,432
100,000
1846
3,480
93,000
1847
3.490
94,000
1848
4,351
108,000
1849
3,340
100,178
During these ten years, it will be seen, there was
scarcely any advance, and in the end an actual falling
off. In 1849 there were about 130 pit wells in operation.
Between 1850 and 1863, petroleum yielded a total revenue
of 1,195,000 roubles. From then to 1867 the average
revenue yearly was 162,000 roubles, and afterwards until
the abolition of the monopoly in 1872, 136,000 roubles.
The production in the meanwhile was as under : —
Production of Crude Petroleum during the Monopoly Period.
Tons. Tons.
1863 5,484 1868 ... 11,900
1864 8,700 1869 27,180
1865 8,900 1870 27,500
1866 11,100 1871 22,200
1867 16,100 1872 24,800
While the production of Baku had thus been only
slowly advancing, America had completely established
her industry, and flooded not only Europe but the whole
of Eussia with her cheap burning oil. That an oil only
recently discovered should gain upon and surpass in this
prodigious manner an older oil, the existence of which
had been known for 2,500 years, which had been regu-
larly sold for 500 years, and for fifty years had been an
exported commodity controlled by the State itself, was a
most galHng circumstance for Eussia. Urged to action
206 A DKIVE TO THE OIL WELLS.
by the indignant clamour of tlie press, the Government
appointed a commission to inquire into the petroleum
industry, and at the end of 1872 the monopoly was
abolished and the trade thrown open to the world.
A few figures will give an idea of the industry when
this impediment was wisely removed. Total production
of petroleum in 1872, 24,800 tons ; number of pit wells,
415 ; number of drilled wells, 2 ; price of crude oil per
pood, 45 copecks, or, at the rate of exchange then pre-
vailing, about <£3 10s. Od. per ton — it is now a few pence
per ton; Grovemment revenue from the same =£17,000 a
year ; number of refineries 50 ; quantity of oil refined
6,450 tons.
When the monopoly was abolished, there was at once a
rush to acquire oil property and develop it. The ground
belonged to the State, and was sold on a freehold or
leasehold tenure, or was given to high ofiicials as a
reward for their services. Of the former 1,836 acres
were sold in 1872 for ^£30,000 ; as much as ,£3,500 an
acre being paid for some of the plots. The rent fixed
for the leased land was on an average ten roubles the
desiatine, or about 7s. 6d. the acre. Some of the Cau-
casus ofiicials received large plots. General Lazareff, who
stormed Kars, getting, for instance, ten acres of the best
land, which is now worked by his son. Other officials
sold their property for a trifling sum as soon as they
received it. For a time fancy prices were paid for plots,
but of late years, owing to the oil becoming a drug, it
has been easy to obtain land on very favourable terms.
Meerzoeff, of course, stood at the head of the trade
when the monopoly was abolished. He bought of the
Government forty desiatines, or about 115 acres, for
^130,000 ; and having two large kerosine refineries, re-
tained for a moment the monopoly of the export market.
But he did not hold this position long. In 1873 the
Khalify Company, in boring for oil, struck the first foun-
BAKU SUKPASSED BY AMERICA. 207
tain at Baku and became the possessors of the largest
flow of oil. So fast grew the stock that the price dropped
from forty-five copecks to five copecks per pood, above
which it has only advanced occasionally since. A year
later the Transcaspian Trading Company was established,
with a capital of half a million sterling, to develop the
resources of the Caspian region, and transforming itself
into the Baku Petroleum Company, took the lead in the
oil business. Finally, in 1875, Robert Nobel started a
refinery at Baku, and, in conjunction with his brother
Ludwig, organized in a few years a huge concern which
overshadows not only Meerzoeff and the Baku Petroleum
Company, but the whole of the well owners and oil
refiners put together.
In most countries reforms are never so sweeping as
they ought to be. In the case of that at Baku the
monopoly was removed, but an excise duty was imposed,
which involved a fresh check upon the industry. StiU it
rapidly advanced, and a considerable amoimt of capital
was throvni by Russians into the undertaking.
Production and Price of Crude Petroleum during the Excise
Duty Period.
Price
Tons. per Ton.*
1873 64,000 7/9
1874
1875
1876
1877
78,000
94,000
194,000
242,000
6/3
15/6
7/9
12/6
It will be seen that there was a considerable fall in
price from the M 10s. exacted the last year of the
* Since the Crimean war the rouble has fluctuated so much in value
that it is impossible to give the exact English equivalents throughout.
I have reckoned the rouble from 1872 to 1877 at the average value of
half a crown. The Russian prices were :— 1872, forty-five copecks
the pood ; 1873, five copecks ; 1874, four copecks ; 1875, ten copecks ;
1876, five copecks ; and 1877, eight copecks the pood.
208 A DRIVE TO THE OIL WELLS.
monoply period. In 1877 the excise duty was abolished,
at the recommendation of a special commission presided
over by Prince Leuchtenburg, and the industry left with-
out any tax or restriction. The following statistics will
give an idea of the industry when this revolution was
accomplished. Total production of crude oil in 1877,
242,000 tons ; number of drilled wells 130 ; price of
crude oil 12s. 6d. per ton ; excise duty paid throughout
the whole period from 1873 to 1877, 1,245,954 roubles or
about ^160,000 ; number of refineries 150 ; quantity of
oil refined 74,000 tons.
Rid of the monoply and excise, the industry at once
rapidly advanced with acclerated speed ; but its progress
would have never been so remarkable as it has been, but
for the marvellous system of transport organized by two
Swedish engineers, Robert and Ludwig Nobel.
These colossal exploiters had already commenced
operations in 1875, anterior to the abrogation of the
excise duty ; but it was not until afterwards that their
operations began to exercise any mai'ked effect upon the
output of oil. The revolution they accomplished inaugu-
rated what Russians call the Nobelevski, or Nobel period,
extending up to the present day.
Production and
Price
OF Crude Petroleum
Period.
DURING THE NOBEL
Price
Tons.
per Ton.*
1878
320,000
8/8
1879
370,000
6/3
1880
420,000
3/8
1881
490,000
2/6
1882
680,000
2/6
1883
800,000
... 2/6to0/3i
* Since 1878 the rouble, on an average has been worth about 23.
The Russian prices for these years were : — 1878, seven copecks the
pood ; 1879, five copecks ; 1880, three copecks ; 1881 and 1882, two
copecks ; and 1883, from two copecks to a quarter of a copeck the
pood.
THE NOBEL PERIOD.
209
Production of Eefined Petroleum.
Tons.
Tons.
1878
97,550
1881
183,000
1879
110,000
1882
202,000
1880
150,000
1883
206,000
The number of drilled wells lias increased as
under : —
Wells.
Wells.
1871
1
1876
101
1872
2
1879
301
1873
17
1882
370
1874
50
1883
400
1875
65
From the present year will probably date a fresh epoch
in the petroleum industry — the Batoum period. Up to
the summer of 1883 Caspian petroleum only found its
way to Europe via the Volga and Western Eussia,
traversing more than 2,000 miles in steamers and tank-
cars before reaching the holds of foreign vessels. The
construction of the Batoum line reduced this distance to
560 miles at a stroke, and laid the industry open to the
civilized world.
210
CHAPTER XIY.
THE OIL FOUNTAINS OF BAKU.
IN'uniljer of AVells in Baku and America Compared — One Baku Well
Yielding More than all the American Wells Put Together — A
Million's worth of Oil from a Single Well — Description of a Baku
Petroleum Fountain — The Droojba Spouting Well — ]Mode of
Boring for Oil. The Balakhani Drilled and Pumping Wells —
Cost of Sinking a Well — Price of Land at the Oil Fields— The
Kalpah, or Well-stopper — Storing the Oil — The History of the
Oil Fountains during the last Ten Years — Subterranean Explo-
sions — Six Hundred Thousand Gallons of Oil in Twenty-Four
Hours — Enormous Waste of Petroleum — The Fire at Krasilni-
koff's Wells — A Sand Volcano 400 Feet High — Account of the
Droojba Fountain — A Liquid Grindstone — Gagging the Wells at
Baku — Statistical Account of the Oil Wasted by the Droojba
Fountain — Science and the Oil Fountains at Baku — Their Effect
on Commercial Men — Necessity of Placing the Fountains Under
the Control of the State.
In America there are over 25,000 drilled petroleum vrells.
Baku possesses 400. But a single one of those 400 wells
has thrown up as much oil in a day as nearly the whole
of the 25,000 in America put together. This is very
wonderful, but a more striking fact is, that the copious-
ness of the well should have ruined its owners, and
broken the heart of the engineer who bored it, after hav-
ing yielded enough oil in four months to have realized in
America at least one million sterling.
" In Pennsylvania that fountain would have made its
owner's fortune ; there's =£5,000 worth of oil flowing out
Plate 13. — Ax Oil Fuvxtaix at Bakl . Xoble Brothers' Xo. 25 Well.
SOMETHING LIKE A WELL. 211
of the well every day.* Here it has made the owner a
bankrupt." These words were addressed to me by an
American petroleum engineer, as I stood alongside a well
that had burst the previous morning, and out of which
the oil was flying twice the height of the Great Geyser
in Iceland, with a roar that could be heard several miles
round. The fountain was a splendid spectacle — it was
the largest ever known at Baku. When the first outburst
took place the oil had knocked off the roof and part of
the sides of the derrick, but there was a beam left at the
top, against which the oil broke with a roar in its upward
course, and which served in a measure to check its velo-
city. The derrick itself was seventy feet high, and the
oil and the sand, after bursting through the roof and
sides, flowed fully three times higher, forming a greyish-
black fountain, the column clearly defined on the southern
side, but merging into a cloud of spray thirty yards
broad on the other. A strong southerly wind enabled us
to approach within a few yards of the crater on the
former side, and to look down into the sandy basin formed
round about the bottom of the derrick, where the oil was
bubbling and seething round the stalk of the oil-shoot
like a geyser. The diameter of the tube up which the
oil was rushing was ten inches. On issuing from this
the fountain formed a clearly-defined stem about eighteen
inches thick, and shot up to the top of the derrick, where
in striking against the beam, which was already worn
half through by the friction, it got broadened out a little.
Thence continuing its course more than 200 feet high, it
curled over and fell in a dense cloud to the groiind on
the north side, forming a sand bank, over which the
olive-coloured oil ran in innumerable channels towards
This was a rough guess. The actual value was over £11,000.
The quantity then flowing was 400,000 or 500,000 poods a day, which
at 28 copecks a pood, the quotation price in Pennsylvania at the
moment, would have realised from 112,000 to 140,000 roubles, or at
the least £11,200 a day.
P 2
212 THE OIL FOUNTAINS OF BAKU.
the lakes of petroleum that had been formed on the sur-
rounding estates. Now and again the sand flowing up
with the oil would obstruct the pipe, or a stone would
clog the course ; then the column would sink for a few
seconds lower than 200 feet, to rise directly afterwards
with a burst and a roar to 300. Throughout the previous
day a north wind had been blowing, causing the oil and
sand to fall in a contrary direction from that pursued
while we were there. Some idea of the mass of matter
thrown up from the well could be formed by a glance at
the damage done on the south side in twenty-four hours
— a vast shoal of sand having been formed, which had
buried to the roof some magazines and shops, and had
blocked to the height of six or seven feet all the neigh-
bouring derricks within a distance of fifty yards. Some
of the sand and oil had been carried by the wind nearly
100 yards from the fountain — the sand-drenched roofs
of the adjacent buildings showing how far the cloud of
matter had extended. From this outer boundary where
the oil lay an inch or so deep on the ground, the sand-
shoal rose gradually, until at the rim of the crater it was
about twenty feet deep, the surface being hard and sod-
dened, and intersected with small channels, along which
the oil was draining off to the lakes. On the opposite
side a new shoal was forming, and we could see the sand
as it fell drifting round the neighbouring derricks and
burying all the outhouses in the way. Here and there
gangs of men were at work with wooden spades, digging
and clearing channels round about the mouth of the
well, to enable the oil to flow away. Their task was no
easy or agreeable one. Upon their heads and shoulders
oil and sand never ceased to fall, and they had to be
careful to avoid being drawn into, and engulphed in the
vortex round the base of the crater. Luckily no stones
of any size were being thrown up with the oil. Some-
times blocks weighing several pounds arc hurled up from
BOEING FOR PETROLEUM. 213
the depths below, and then it becomes a dangerous
matter to approach a petroleum fountain. Standing on
the top of the sand-shoal we could see where the oil
after flowing through a score of channels from the ooze,
formed in the distance on lower ground a whole series of
oil lakes, some broad enough and deep enough to row a
boat in. Beyond this, the oil could be seen flowing away
in a broad channel towards the sea.
It may be asked how a magnificent oil fountain of
this description should be able to make its owner a
millionnaire in one hemisphere and a bankrupt in another.
The answer is simple enough. The fountain belonged to
a small Armenian Company, the Droojba, having ground
enough to establish the weU iipon, but nothing to spare
for reservoirs. Consequently, all the oil was flowing
away upon other people's property, and the amount
subsequently caught and saved upon the waste lands afar
off was being sold at such a low price, as to be altogether
inadequate to meet the claims for compensation from
those whose houses and shops had been engulphed, and
their derricks hindered from working, by the sand thrown
up from the well. Had the Droojba possessed plenty of
land round about their well to store the oil, they would
not have been so badly off, but their well happened
to be in the midst of several hundred estates covering
the Balakhani plateau, and hence the damage done ruined
them.
Boring for petroleum is a simple and interesting pro-
cess. A wooden derrick, of planks and boards, like a
huge sentry-box, is erected over the spot selected for the
well. This is about 20 feet square at the base, 60 to 80
feet high, and tapering upwards until the top is only
3 feet square. Here rests a heavy beam, to which the
boring apparatus is rigged, much in the American
fashion ; an iron bit, gouge-shaped, being fitted to a bor-
ing bar about 10 feet long, and successively increased by
214 THE OIL FOUNTAINS OF BAKU.
other leugtlis as the depth of the boring increases. The
Armenian companies usually bore by manual or horse,
or use primitive machinery, but ISTobel Brothers and other
large firms employ engines heated by oil. In general, all
the Baku firms model their operations upon those of
the Nobels. Every innovation Ludwig Nobel makes is
imitated more or less successfully by the Russians and
Armenians. The latter make no effort to inaugurate any-
thing fresh themselves, or even to keep themselves ac-
quainted with what is being done in America. Ludwig
Nobel, on the other hand, is always improving his mode
of operations, either availing himself of his own engin-
eering skill or that of his employes, or introducing fresh
ideas from the United States. He is thus the connecting
link between Baku and Pennsylvania ; between, one
might also say, Armenian and Russian backwardness and
American progress and enlightment. Without going
into technical particulars, Nobel Brothers' mode of work-
ing may be defined as the American system intelligently
modified and adapted to the peciiliarities of Baku. If
the stranger visits Nobels' wells, accompanied by Mr.
Sandgren, the very intelligent Swedish manager, and
then goes the rotmd of the remainder, he will find that
while none come up to theirs in efficiency and simplicity
of working, a large number are merely caricatures, or
just emerging from the old primitive modes of exploita-
tion. I am not saying this in a carping spirit. I am
only stating an actual recognised fact. In justice to
them all, I must observe that they display the utmost
readiness to show the stranger over the wells, and give
him any information he requires. It is only in the kero-
sine refineries that anxiety is evinced to safeguard techni-
cal secrets.
In America the bores often run small, but in Baku the
tubes are invariably large — that is to say, from ten to
fourteen inches. The thickness of the tubes runs from
THE DROOJBA CATASTROPHE . 215
I inch to y\ iuch. The 400 pit wells do not exceed fifty
feet in depth ; the 400 drilled wells run from 300 to 800,
The average depth of di-illed well in 1882 was 350 feet.
It increases every year. The deepest at Balakhani in
1883 was 825 feet. In America wells run from 600 to
1,800 feet in depth, and there are a number exceeding
2,000 feet. Packed together as the Balakhani wells are
in such a small area, they natiu-ally have an exhausting
effect on the supply immediately below them, and have
consequently to be constantly deepened. The deeper
they go, the more prodigious the supply. The result is,
as I have already said, that although every day they
become more cramped for room, they have no inducement
to go elsewhere.
Balakhani seems to have been selected as the principal
place of operations, because the surface there, in the old
shallow-pit days, was the easiest to work. The ground
consists of mingled rock and sand, and curious enough
the sand often occasions the greatest trouble and expense ;
containing small boulder stones which move aside when
the boring-rod passes through the soil, and fall into and
clog the channel on its being removed to insert the tubing.
When the oil is touched there is usually a prolonged dis-
charge of impure hydro-carbon gas. Sometimes this
pours up the pipe with terrific force, roaring so loudly
that nothing can be heard alongside the well. As often
as not grit is carried up with it, and finally comes the oil.
Directly the gas begins to blow, all haste is made to with-
draw the boring rod and fasten a Kalj^ak, or iron cap,
over the orifice. This is fitted with a sliding valve to
regulate the passage of the gas and oil. Should the
well be successfully capped over, the chief danger of an
irrepressible fountain is removed, but it often happens
that the oil follows too fast, and then nothing can be
done to check the outburst of petroleum until its force
moderates. A well of this character, which shoots its
216 THE OIL FOUNTAINS OF BAKU.
own oil to ttie surface and requires no pumping, is known
in America as a " spouting " or " flowing" well ; in Baku
it is called d^fontan, or " fountain." Last year, wlien the
engineers at Nobels' No. 25 Well struck oil, the gas ex-
ploded and blew into the air 500 feet of boring rod before
it could be removed. Formerly the tubes were sunk
without any packing round the top. The consequence
was that when they were capped the pipes burst. To
obviate this, it has been the custom for some years past
to dig down twenty or thirty feet rovmd about the mouth
of the well, and fill the hole up with a concrete or
asphalte setting. K this be well done, it will resist the
strongest pressure, in spite of a filtration through it, as
occurred when the Droojba fountain was stopped last
December. With but a few exceptions, every care is
taken by the well borers to prevent the wells becoming
fountains beyond control. The Droojba catastrophe was
due to an accident. The well was properly capped over,
and it was while improving and strengthening the cap
that the oil suddenly blew it ofE, and spouted 300 feet
high. It then became, of course, beyond control. In a
few days the grit carried up with the oil groiuid to pieces
the huge and massive beams at the top of the derrick.
When a good supply of oil is tapped, and properly
placed under restraint, it usually flows for a considerable
period without requiring any pumping. As soon as it
ceases to do this, tubes are used to raise the oil to the
surface. These are of a cylindrical shape, about ten feet
long and ten inches broad, and have at the bottom a
valve which opens on touching the ground, and closes
when the tube is lifted. About two minutes are required
to lower and lift the tubes, which bring about fifty gallons
of oil to the surface each sti-oke. When the supply
begins to show signs of exhaustion, the cylinder is re-
moved, and the engineer recommences boring. The pro-
cess of "torpedoing," common in America when a well
THE DEOOJBA CATASTROPHE. 217
gives eyidences of sterility, is never resorted to at Baku.
The owners know they have only to bore a little lower to
find a good siipply afresh.
To sink a well costs from ^£1,000 to ^£3,000, according
to the depth and difl&cnlties encountered. The people
employed at the wells are mostly natives — Tartars and
Armenians — and receive about =£2 a month wages. The
foremen get dglO a month, and a commission of 3s. upon
every foot bored. Most of the emj^loyes live at Balakhani
village, but Nobel Brothers lodge theirs in extensive stone
barracks, close to their work, where they enjoy more
comfort than they would elsewhere. All the same, a
more dreary place than the oil fields it would be difficult
to find. Bound about it the country is an arid desert,
without a tree, shrub, or blade of grass. The landscape
on which these employes have, many of them, looked for
years, is made up of an undulating tract of rock and
sand, with a conglomeration of several hundred dingy
black derricks in the middle, interspersed with sand
mounds marking the sites of extinct foimtains, inky-look-
ing petroleum lakes, and huge iron reservoirs. But for
the ever-beautiful sky above, existence would be intoler-
able.
Having no well-defined boundaries, and sub-divided
as the ground is into innumerable small plots, many of
which idiots belong to associations of shareholders, the
complications arising from the tenure of the land are
fruitful of lawsuits. The seventy derricks owned or
leased by Nobel Brothers are scattered throughout the
entire area of the Balakhani plateau. Within this area
it is difiicult to get cheap land, and impossible to pur-
chase plots of any size. G-round at present sells at from
10s. to £2 the square sajine, or Eussian fathom (seven
feet). The proximity of the land to a good well or foun-
tain naturally enhances its price. Outside the area under
exploitation, where no wells have yet been boi'ed, large
218 THE OIL FOUNTAINS OF BAKU.
plots of ground can be had for 10s. tlie square fathom.
No great difficulty is experienced just now in leasing
■wells or buying them outright.
When the oil reaches the surface, it is allowed to run
along wooden pipes to channels outside the derrick,
whence it makes its way to ponds, or reservoirs, as they
are called. These are little more than hollows scraped
in the ground, or natural depressions with banks of sand
around them. A certain amount of oil is wasted by
absorption in the sand, but once the soil becomes satu-
rated it acts like clay, and opposes a further passage to
the petroleum. There are any number of these ponds of
petroleum scattered over the Balakhani plateau ; some so
large as to merit the designation of lakes. Many are the
product of the terrific fountains of the last five years.
In the aggregate they contain many million gallons of
oil, spoilt for want of a buyer. When the oil has stood
a while in the ponds and cleared itself of the sand and
water brought up with it from the well, it is sucked
through pipes into iron reservoirs, and thence pumped
through the pipe-lines to the refineries on the coast.
Nobel Brothers possess the largest iron cisterns on the
Balakhani plateau. One of them holds 1| million gallons
of crude oil.
A feature of the American oil supply is, that while
there are many wells yielding thousands of gallons of
petroleum daily, the larger proportion give only hun-
dreds. The richest well on record, I believe, has not
exceeded 200,000 gallons a day. At Baku the wells are
nearly all of them what Americans would consider
extremely copious ones. A well yielding only a few
hundred gallons of oil a day, a Baku firm would not con-
sider worth working. This is not remarkable, seeing that
the richest of the Baku wells has yielded 2,000,000
gallons, or ten times the largest yield in America, in
twenty -four hours.
AMEKICAN WELLS BEATEN BY BAKU. 219
It is difficult to convince people of such extraordinary
copiousness, and I have come across one or two Americans
v?ho have declared it to be impossible. But the facts of
the Baku petroleum industry are too clearly defined, and
the evidence to support them too substantial, to admit of
their accuracy being impugned. There is not a state-
ment about the industi-y which I have not carefully
tested, both on the spot and by light of the materials
that have reached me since. Since I retiirned from Baku
in September, there have been conferences of oil well
proprietors to discuss how to extend their transport, open
up fresh markets, and, above all, to frame regulations for
putting a stop to the fearful waste caused by fountains.
If I mention that all the Baku well proprietors hate one
another, and that the only sentiment they have in
common is a general hatred of Nobel Brothers, it may be
inferred that during these discussions — the reports of
which now lie before me — the facts of the industry have
been exposed to a very close sifting, and all exaggerations
corrected either by jealous rivals or by the local press.
In connection with the fountains, the Mayor of Baku
invited all the proprietors to furnish an account of what
had occurred to each of them, and these reports, with the
discussions upon them, I have found of great value in
guiding my remarks upon these remarkable oil geysers,
which are causing so much talk just now in the English
scientific world.
Flowing wells yielding from 40,000 to 160,000 gallons
of oil every day, of rare occurrence in America, are quite
common at Baku. The ordinary yield of the pumping
wells is from 10,000 to 25,000 gallons. It is common for
these pumping wells to be worked for years, without the
supply diminishing. Gospodin Kokereff has one which
has already produced 60,000,000 gallons of oil, and still
continues to yield at the same rate as at the outset. In
Group VIII. is a flowing well belonging to the Baku
220 THE OIL FOUNTAINS OF BAKU.
Petroleum Company, which for two years has given a
regular supply of 40,000 gallons daily from a depth of
252 feet, without showing signs of exhaustion.
Owing to the low price of crude petroleum, which such
an abundant supply has occasioned, Nobel Brothers have
plugged up fourteen fountains at Balakhani, imtil the oil
rises in value, preferring in the meanwhile to buy what
they reqtiire from neighbouring well proprietors. One of
these fountains spouted 112,000 tons of petroleum in
about four weeks on the oil being struck. Occasionally,
a fountain is opened to examine its condition, when it is
always found that the supply is as prodigious as when
capped over.
The first fountain at Baku occurred in July, 1873,
when the Khalify Company, an Armenian concern, in
boring for oil, suddenly penetrated a reservoir, from
which the liquid spouted with a fury nothing could
restrain. Mr. Arthur Arnold, M.P., who visited Baku
two years after, says the stalk of the fountain was nine
feet in diameter, and the fountain itself forty feet high.
This fountain caused the price of crude oil to fall from
forty-five to five copecks the pood. Since then it has
never risen higher than ten copecks. For want of storage
room a large quantity of oil from the Khalify fountain
was lost.
In 1874 there was another fountain, in Group XIV.,
spouting from a nine-inch well. Commencing on the
25th Jtily it continued playing until the end of the year.
It then became an intermittent spouter for six months,
and finally decayed into a piimping well. Every effort to
stop the outflow of oil failed, and millions of gallons were
wasted.
In 1875 there was a third fountain, in Group XIII.,
which spouted 600,000 gallons of oil every twenty-four
hours. This belonged to the Company of Petroleum
Participators, which has had a number of fountains in
THE FIRST FOUNTAIN AT BAKU. 221
the course of its career. In 1874 the well, which was
196 feet deep, and had been giving 8,000 gallons a day
for some time, began to diminish. Boormeister, the
German engineer, thereupon began to bore deeper to
obtain a fresh supply. At 280 feet he lost oil altogether,
although plenty of gas came to the surface. At 315 feet
he reached a bed of rock. This was so hard that he had
to put on eight men to drill through it. Suddenly, on the
26th of October, the boring tool broke through the roof
of the subterranean reservoir, and only one man was then
needed instead of eight. To ascertain the cause of this
sudden facility of working, the tool was withdrawn, when
a small fountain of oil began to spout. This ceased after
a few minutes, and then the gas began to roar, accom-
panied by a sort of explosion below, producing percep-
tible trembhngs of the earth round about the well.
Afterwards oil and gas spouted at intervals. To keep
both down a cap of half- inch boiler plate was placed over
the tube ; but in the night the oil suddenly broke it off,
and began to spout forty feet high. The next day oil
flowed at the rate of 600,000 gallons in twenty-four hours.
Four huge lakes of oil were formed in the course of a
month, the fountain not being closed over until the 23rd
of November.
The following year the same company had another
fountain. This was 280 feet deep, the tube being 6|
inches in diameter, and composed of ^ inch iron.
Directly the oil was touched it burst up into a fountain,
with a force of four atmospheres, lasting three months,
during which it formed a lake which still exists to this
day. None of the oil was sold, there being no market
for it. The foimtain spotted about 270,000 gallons of
oil daily for ninety days, and it was estimated the lake
contained twenty -four million gallons of crude petroleum.
In common with most of the wells bored up to this time,
the tube was passed through the surface without anything
222 THE OIL FOUNTAINS OF BAKU.
being done to strengthen it at the top. Hence it was
impossible to close the fountain, because directly this
was attempted, the oil burst through the sides of the
tube. Taught by experience, Lentz, an expert in sinking
wells, dug down twenty-five feet round the top of the
tube, and packed the hole with cement, clay, stones, &c.,
well stamped down, to resist the pressure. After this an
iron cap was successfully fitted over the top of the tube,
which did not burst.
In 1877 Orbelovi Brothers had a great fountain from a
well 210 feet deep, with a bore of lOi inches. The oil
spouted shghtly a few days, and was then capped, but in
making some improvements afterwards to the cap the
pressure below burst it off the tube, and the petroleum
issued with a fury nothing could check. In half an hour
a reservoir holding 40,000 gallons was filled, and then
the oil ran all over the place, forming a series of lakes.
This fountain never spouted less than 40,000 gallons of
oil a day, and sometimes attained 1,200,000 gallons. The
total quantity of oil lost before the fountain was subdued
was forty million gallons.
A less striking but more valuable fountain in 1877,
was MeerzoefE's No. 5, in Group IX. The oil was first
touched in 1876. The following spring, in deepening the
well to 340 feet, the oil began to spout at the rate of
80,000 gallons daily ; the gravity being 0-865. After a
while it was successfully capjied, and has since then given
a permanent supply, amounting up to the end of 1883 to
16,000,000 gallons.
In 1878 the Caspian Company had a fountain from a
depth of 462 feet, giving 160,000 gallons daily. Alto-
gether the well spouted nearly ten million gallons of oil,
of which six millions were sold for liquid fuel, and the
remainder lost. Several remarkable fountains occurred
the following year. One of those was in Group V., and
belonged to Gospodin Mnatsakanoff. The well was 294
OIL SPOUTING EIGHTEEN MONTHS. 223
feet deep, with a tube of No. 12 iron, ten inches in
diameter. The first month "water and gas issued, then
the sand started to spout, and played for four hours,
followed by petroleum, bursting off the cap that had
been successfully fixed. For 120 days the oil spouted
without cessation day and night, the average flow being
120,000 gallons daily — a record which the most copious
well in America has never been able to maintain beyond
two or three weeks. The total quantity of oil thrown up
was fifteen million gallons, of 0'868 specific gravity. Of
this, 2,000,000 gallons were sold at half a copeck the
pood, or between 7d. and 8d. the ton ; 600,000 gallons
were sold to the Caspian Company for 800 roubles (=£80)
for the entire quantity ! — being used for fuel ; and the
remainder was burnt or allowed to sink into the soil.
The tube, costing ^500, was completely worn to pieces.
In the same group another well also spouted throughout
the latter part of 1879. This belonged to the Ararat
Company, and was 280 feet deep, with a 10|-inch bore of
y\ iron. On reaching petroleum-sand the boring tool
was withdrawn, but the oil refused to rise. Boring was
then resumed, and pierced 15 inches of rock, when oil
started to spout. With some difficulty the boring rod
was extricated, and a Benkston cap fixed on, but the pipe
cracked under the pressure, and the oil shot through the
orifices in a sufficient quantity to supply all the require-
ments of the firm. The well spouted for a year and a
half, the highest level maintained being 40,000 gallons.
The total quantity of oil ejected was 40 million gal-
lons. Of this quantity 16 million gallons were sold at
7d. or 8d. the ton ; 8 million gallons given gratis to
Kolesnikoff, as a set-off for damage done by the oil
flowing on to his land; and 16 millions penetrated to
Lake Zabratsky, and was lost. Beginning at a gravity
of 0-867, the oil ceased at a gravity of 0-872.
Still in the same Group V., a third fountain occurred
224 THE OIL FOUNTAINS OF BAKU.
the following year, 1880. This belonged to the Sun
Company, which had a plot next to that of the Ararat
Company, and, undisturbed by the fountain owned by
the latter, began boring a new well, 12 inches in diameter,
of J inch iron. Infusing energy into the operations, the
engineers reached oil sand at 266 feet. Clay followed
this, and then water-sand. Believing they would next
reach the stratum of the Ararat fountain and suck the
oil from it, they suspended operations while they got
ready the top of the well for the anticipated outburst.
Digging out the soil for a depth of 20 feet round about
the head of the tube, they filled the hole with concrete,
well packed and tightly rammed round the tubing. This
done, they started working night and day, and on the
eighth night suddenly struck oil. It was then at once
seen that the well had penetrated the reservoir feeding
the Ararat fountain, for the latter immediately ceased
playing. When the valve of the cap over the Sun well
was closed the Ararat fountain started afresh ; when it
was withdrawn the latter left off spouting. An effort
was made to get the two companies to combine, but with-
out success, and the wells were worked against each other
for two months, when the Sim well burst off its cap one
day, and all control over it was lost. During these two
months from 60,000 gallons to 160,000 gallons were
sold daily ; the total thus disposed of being 4,800,000
gallons, at two copecks a pood (2s. 6d. the ton). The
third month 8,000,000 gallons flowed to Lake Zabratsky,
and was lost. Afterwards, both it and the Ararat well
ceased to spout; the two together having thrown up
nearly 53 million gallons of oil. Since then, both have
been regularly used as pumping wells, giving 24,000
gallons apiece daily.
In 1881 Gospodin Mnatsakanoff began deepening a
12-inch well, which had exhausted the oil at 294 feet.
Having reached 434 feet, oil was touched again. Great
FAMOUS OIL FOUNTAINS. 225
pains were taken to pack round about the tube, and fix a
good cap to resist the pressure, but after a few days the
oil broke through all impediments, and spouted. From
September 13 to JSTovember 1 a total of 3,320,000 gallons
issued, which was sold for 18,000 roubles (^1,800). The
fountain was then placed under control. The following-
year, from Feb. 19 to the end of the navigation season,
the well was allowed to spout, and ejected 18,000,000
gallons, which was sold for 86,000 roubles (=68,600). The
fountain began to lose its force then, but in February,
1883, it played a third time for a fortnight. Very
little of the oil was lost. When first struck the oil showed
gravity of 0-876, but from April, 1882, it stood at 0-881.
The same year Krasilnikoff had two foxuitains. One
was at Shaitan Bazaar, where a well was completed his
engineers had been working upon at intervals since 1877.
At a depth of 378 feet sand began to shoot up the tube,
and after a time oil flowed at the rate of 160,000 gallons
a day ; the gravity being 0-850-51. Eleven days elapsed
before a cap could be fitted ; the loss during the interval
being 800,000 gallons. After the well was capped it
gave an abundant supply under firm control from the
same depth for 15 months. In the case of the second
fountain the depth of the bore was 504 feet, and the well
gave 80,000 gallons a day. The total outflow was 4,800,000
gallons, of which 1,600,000 were sold as fuel and the rest
allowed to run to waste in Lake Saboontchi. On the 3rd
September the fountain caught fire, and flared with
terrific fury for ten days, when it was extinguished.
Afterwards the well spouted afresh.
The same year Lianozoff Brothers' No. 9 well became
a fountain. The depth the oil was touched at was 329
feet ; the tube was 12 inches thick, of Jy-inch iron. The
fountain played three months, and threw up 7,200,000
gallons, of 0-860 specific gravity. The greater propor-
tion was cauffht in reservoirs.
226 THE OIL FOUNTAINS OF BAKU.
At Sliaitan Bazaar Orbelovi Brotliers liad an enormous
fountain at their No. 2 well. The engineers began boring-
it by hand in 1877, and completed it in 1881. The tube
was 12 inches in diameter, diminishing to lOL At a
depth of 490 feet oil was struck, and spouted 4,000,000
gallons in a week. The stem of the fovmtain was over
200 feet high, and a strong wind blowing at the time
carried the oil spray 500 yards to the office of the Baku
Petroleum Company, the manager of which lodged a
complaint against Orbelovi Brothers, affirming that there
was a serious danger of the establishment being set on
fire. The oil flowed into a saline depression, and was
there burnt to get rid of it. When the fountain ceased
playing, the tube was found to be choked and ruined.
Since then the well has remained unworked.
In the case of Nobel Brothers' No. 25 well, which
during the summer spouted sand over 200 feet high, on
the oil being tapped at 682 feet the gush carried away
the whole of the boring gear, weighing more than a ton.
When the engineers proceeded to clear the tube of sand,
the oil spouted so furiously, that not wishing to have a
fountain and waste the oil the engineers capped it over.
Since then it has been left untouched as a reserve.
In 1882 the Company of Petroleum Participators had
a fountain at their No. 9 well, from a depth of 476 feet.
The tube was 10 inches in diameter, and was composed
of J|j-inch iron. Its installation was effected under the
supervision of Lentz, whose system of concreting round
about the upper part of the well had proved so successful
on a previous occasion. The fountain lasted twenty days,
during which it carried to the surface 8,000,000 gallons.
The average was 400,000 gallons a day. Of this 1,600,000
gallons were sold, and 5,200,000 gallons lost. A cap was
fixed on the sixth day. The well has since proved one of
the most productive at Balakhani.
The same year the Baku Mining Company had a fouu-
A SAND VOLCANO FOUR HUNDRED FEET HIGH. 227
tain from a well 450 feet deep. The tube was 14 iuches
in diameter. In September it spouted 400,000 gallons iu
12 days ; in December, 1,200,000 gallons in 6 days ; and
early in January, 1883, 400,000 gallons in 2 1 days. Of
the total of 2,000,000 gallons, only 640,000 gallons were
sold, at f copeck the pood (about lid. the ton). The
sj)ecific gravity of the oil was 0-867.
The Baku Petroleum Company struck a foimtain the
same season at a depth of 305 feet, the tube being of ^
inch iron, 14 inches in diameter as far as 217 feet, and
12 inches the remainder of the distance. Eight million
gallons of oil, of a gravity of 0-870, came to the surface,
and most of it was sold for 3s. 8d. the ton.
Last year was remarkable for the size of the fountains.
The firm of Lionozoff had two on their estate. The first
occurred in connection with their No. 15 well, which was
begun in November, 1882, and completed in May, 1883.
The tube was 12 inches in diameter. At 420 feet there
was a terrific outburst of gas, which was repeated at 490
feet ; the oil each time mounting to the surface, but dis-
appearing after the cap was fixed. The third time, at
546 feet, the explosion of gas was terrific, hurling the
pumping cylinder into the air, and smashing the top of
the derrick to pieces. Afterwards dry sand began to
spout with terrible force, forming a fountain of grit from
350 to 400 feet high. Bits of rock were hurled so high
as to be lost to sight. All the windows of the neigh-
bouring engine-houses were smashed, and the metal roof
of a boiler-house was broken through by a falling stone.
This " sand- volcano " lasted 45 minutes, and was suc-
ceeded by a blast of gas which poisoned the atmosphere
at Balakhani the rest of the day. After considerable
time a cap was fixed on the tube, and directly afterwards
the oil began to spout. There being no demand for
crude petroleum just then, Lionozoff stopped the flow,
and left the well capped over. The pressure of the oil
Q 2
228 THE OIL FOL'NTAINS OF BAKU.
and gas below was subsequently relieved by a second
lO-inch well ; which was completed about the same time,
and at 560 feet penetrated the reseiToir of ISTo. 15 and
gave another outlet for the gas. Both wells are now full
of oil, and spout whenever the caps are opened ; but
there is no extensive sale for petroleum, and the owner
benefits little by his success.
The Nazareth, or Nazaret, fountain was a curious
instance of the uncertainties attending well boring. The
well was commenced by Abayantz and Co. in 1879. only
manual power being used, and by the end of 1881 a
depth of 581 feet had been attained without any signs of
oil. Despairing of success, the owners left the well un-
touched for a couple of years, when they leased it to one
Nazaret, the head of a private company, consisting of
Tooniaeff and several other Armenians, on the condition
that he was to bore at his own expense and share with
Abayantz and Co. half the profits whenever he reaped
oil. Nazaret only bored seven feet deeper, when he
touched a reservoir, and the sand began to spout. The
tube was a 10-inch one, diminishing to seven and a half
inches in diameter, and soon got clogged iip. After a
fortnight spent in digging away the sand-shoal round
about the mouth of the tube he cleared the latter and
the oil spouted freely. The gravity of the oil was 0"862
at first, increasing to 0"870. About 3,200,000 gallons of
oil were ejected, of which a deal was sold for fuel. The
pipe was ruined, however, and the well is now useless.
A considerably larger one than this was MeerzoefE's,
occurring at their No. 14 well. The tube was 14 inches
in diameter. Oil was reached at 441 feet, and spouted
from 20,000 to 40,000 gallons a day at first, increasing to
400,000 gallons, and then diminishing to 40,000 again.
Altogether it spouted during the summer 10,000.000
gallons, of which 6,000,000 gallons were despatched to
Meerzoeff's refinery at Baku, and the rest stored in a
THE GEEAT DROOJBA FOUNTAIN. 229
lake, where it is now sold for fuel. The well is still
full of oil, and spouts whenever wanted.
A very remarkable fountain was Nobels' No. 9 well,
which spouted from a depth of 642 feet 112,000 tons, or
nearly 30 million gallons of oil in four weeks. The
height of the fountain was 200 feet, and it threw the oil
and sand for a distance of 200 feet round about the
derrick. Thanks to the extensive means of the company,
only 1,000,000 gallons were lost out of the 30 millions
spouted, and of the latter 20 million gallons were at once
converted into kerosine and other products, and the
remainder stored in reservoirs. After the pressure in
the well had fallen, so that the orifice could be con-
veniently plugged by mechanical means stifficiently tight
to resist the force below, the delivery of oil was still at
the rate of 600 barrels per hour. Another fountain at
their No. 25 well threw up nearly two million gallons of
oil daily from a depth of 582 feet. The pressure on the
tube, ascertained by scientific instruments, was about 200
pounds to the sqviare inch. The well now yields a million
gallons of crude oil per diem.
But the great foimtain of the year, and one whose
renown j)enetrated to every part of Europe, was the
Droojba. The maximum pressure of gas in previous
fountains had not exceeded four atmospheres, but in the
case of Nobels' No. 9 fountain and the Droojba it ex-
ceeded thirteen. I have already described in the open-
ingpart of this chapter what a magnificent spectacle it
was. Had the well been situated at the bottom of the
Monument it would have spouted higher than the golden
ball at the top. The " oil-volcano " threw up, according
to the estimate of the local experts, Mr. B., an American
petroleum engineer, who chanced to be at Baku, the semi-
official newspaper BaJcu Isvestie, and a number of other
authorities, 400,000 or 500,000 poods, or from 1,600,000
to 2,000,000 gallons of oil every day for some time after
230 THE OIL FOUNTAINS OF BAKU.
the first outburst, which occurred on the 1st of Sep-
tember. In the middle of November it was still spouting
240,000 gallons a day, and a three-inch iron boiler plate
was ground to pieces in an attempt to divert the stalk o f
the fountain.
This was not the first case of the kind at Baku,
although exaggerated reports of the incident penetrated
even to England. When the oil is projected, it carries
with it grit with such force as to convert its volume into
a sort of liquid grindstone. If an iron plate be placed
in contact with the stream the sand in the oil literally
grinds it to pieces in a few hours. The first caps that
were used at Balakhani were completely destroyed in this
manner. Nobel Brothers have one at their office in Baku,
preserved as a curiosity, which was worn into holes in a
few hours, although three inches thick. It was this cir-
cumstance that led to the invention of a special kind of
cap fitted with sliding valves, which is capable of gagging
the strongest fountain, if only it can be fitted on the
tube in time.
A gagged fountain has now become one of the sights
of Baku. The visitor is shown a deserted derrick, in
which, he is told, a JcaljxiJc keeps down, with the grip of
a vice, millions of gallons of oil in the cellular basin 600
or 700 feet below. On removing the slide of the cap
there is a furious blast of gas, followed by an out-rush
of petroleum a considerable height ; which is suppressed
with equal ease by gradually closing the slide again.
When Admiral Shestakoff, the Minister of Marine,
visited Baku last autumn, he was taken to see one of
Nobel Brothers' gagged fountains. For ten minutes the
gas roared so loudly that nobody could hear each other
speak, and then the oil spouted higher than the derrick.
When the Minister's curiosity was gratified the oil foun-
tain was turned oft" as easily as the water fountains of
Trafalgar Square.
A million's wokth of oil from one well. 231
Witli regard to the Droojba, in consequence of the
prodigious outflow of oil, the crude article lost its value
for the moment. Fedoroff filled his reservoirs with
2,800,000 gallons of oil for 300 roubles, or £S0. No one
would give more than \ copeck the pood for what had
previously fetched 2 or 3 copecks. Thousands of tons
were burnt outside the district to get rid of it ; thousands
were led towards the Caspian ; huge lakes of oil were
formed near the well, and on one occasion the liquid
suddenly flowed into a distant engine-house, and, but for
the promptness of the engineer in extinguishing his
peti'oleum furnace, the whole locality would have been
ablaze. Houses were completely buried by the sand
cast up by the oil ; all efforts to stop the fountain on the
part of Baku experts were fruitless. The indignation in
Russia at the waste of oil was unbounded ; at Baku all
the well-owners formed themselves into a congress to
decide upon means for checking the fountain. Finally,
the Government at St. Petersburg was appealed to, and
2,000 roubles were assigned to equip two engineers to
Baku. On the 10th of December the fountain suddenly
stopped of its own accord — the pipe had got blocked —
but after three hours it burst out afresh with increased
violence. At length, on the 29th of December, Zorge, a
neighbouring well-owner, succeeded in fixing a cap, and,
in spite of a strong filtration round the tube, the oil
remained under control the whole winter. Directly the
outburst was stopped a great disturbance took place in
Nobels' No. 14 well, showing a connection of both with
the same reservoir. The depth of the Droojba well was
574 feet. The quantity of oil spouted is reckoned to
liave ranged between 220,000 and 500,000 tons ; which in
America would have yielded from ^616,000 to ^£1,400,000
sterling.*
* The following is the calculation made by Zorg^ and Stchastlivtseff
two neighbouring well-proprietors, of the quantity ejected : —
232 THE OIL FOUNTAINS OF BAKU.
Such a prodigious outflow of oil was without parallel,
not only iu the annals of commerce, but in the records of
science. The old Eternal Fire, and the Mazing water at
Baku, sink into insignificance comj^ared with such a.
marvel. To the man of science the oil fountains of the
Apsheron peninsula promise to become a source of
permanent interest. Now the oil fields are more de-
veloped there are plenty of curious facts that need eluci-
dation. One of the most striking of these is, that the
fountains always play the fiercer after a north wind.
Why this should be the case no one has yet satisfactorily
explained.
But if the oil fountains of Baku are likely to prove a.
magnet to the savants of Europe, they may be expected
to exercise a more powerful influence upon commercial
men. Ten thousand jjounds a day wasting itself on the
desert air, and a railway close by to take the oil to the
ships of Europe — what a tempting bait to the cupidity
of the world ! The owners of the Droojba, foi want of
capital to grip their good fortune, let a million sterling
slip through their fingers. GaribofE the engineer, appalled
by the havoc, and vainly trying to check it, broke his
heart. But had the Armenian firm been a rich European
company, with the engineering resources of the West at
its command, the result would have been very different.
roods.
Aug. and Sept. (O.S.), 43 daj's at 200,000 poods a day = 8,000,000
October 31 „ 100,000 „ 3,100,000
November 30 „ 50,000 „ 1,500,000
December 11 „ 40,000 „ 440,000
115 roods 13,640,000
Or, about 55,000,000 gallons, or 220,000 tons of crude oil. This was.
the lowest estimate, and avowedly fell short of the reality. The
quantity spouted varied. Thus, in November it frequently rose to
80,000 gallons a day. The average for that month was sti'uck by
basing calculalions on the quantity pumped away from the well by
the Baku Mining Company.
APPALLING WASTE OF PETROLEUM. 233
The Droojba oil well would have been more valuable
than many a gold mine.
These are the scientific and commercial aspects, but
there is another and a higher one. Such a waste of the
world's resources ought not to be tolerated for a moment.
Oil fountains promise to become a j^ermanent feature of
Baku ; in fact, they are that already, for with the com-
mencement of the season of 1884 several fountains have
had their caps removed, and are spouting afresh as lustily
as ever. Among them is the irrepressible Droojba, which
recommenced playing on the 22nd of March. Bureau-
cratic supervision is always to be deprecated : officials in
every country are a nuisance. Were there any guarantee
that the oil would be as little wasted as in the case of
Nobels' wells I should be the last to support the agita-
tion that has been set on foot at Baku to place the foun-
tains under Government supervision. But when a
single man pricks the earth and wastes for ever 50,000,000
or 100,000,000 gallons of good oil — enough to supply
London for years — then there is an end to the common
sense of the laisser /aire doctrine, and the State ought
to step in and suppress the outburst at the owner's cost,
even though that cost be confiscation.
234
CHAPTER XV.
THE CASPIAN OIL REFINERIES.
The Black Town of Baku— The 200 Refineries of the Caspian— The
Smokelessness of Petroleum Fuel depends upon the Apj^aratus, and
Care in Using it — A Lesson in Geography for English Statesmen
— The Eefinery of Nobel Brothers-^Consumption of Kerosine in
America — The Growth of the Trade — Qualities of the Various
Kinds of Refined Petroleum Manufactured at Baku — Agitation
for a Uniform Standard — Mode of Refining Petroleum — Table
Showing the Productibility of 100 Gallons of Russian Crude
Petroleum — The American and Baku Oil Compared — Mr. Bover-
ton Redwood's Analysis of Russian Kerosine — Condition of the
Industry at Baku — The Fittings of a Refinery at Baku — Russian
Lubricating Oil — Export of Kerosine to Europe — Future of the
Lubricating Oil Trade— Medical Properties of Petroleum —
Ozokerit Deposits East of the Caspian — Barbarous Waste of the
Lighter Oils — Petroleum Dyes and Colours — Hydro-Carbon Gas
at Surakhani — Natural Gas Stoves.
One of the most striking portions of Baku is the district
lying on the bay to the north of it, called the Black
Town (Tchorni Gorod). It is here that the crude petro-
leum, sucked up or allowed to spout from the bowels of
the earth at Balakhani, and pumped thence from
reservoirs through pipes to the shore of the bay, is dis-
tilled into burning oil and other products for the markets
of Europe. Altogether there are nearly 200 refineries in
the Black Town, and as almost all of them, except
Nobels' Works, emit vast volumes of oil-smoke, life in
that locality is as bad as confinement in a chimney-pot.
All day long dense clouds of smoke, possessing the well-
THE BLACK TO^VX OF BAKU. 235
known attributes of oil- smoke, rise from hundreds of
sources in the Black Town, and either hang like a pall
overhead, fouling the fair sky, or drift lazily with the
breeze backwards or forwards, inland or out to the sea.
A more noisome town than the Black Town it woxdd be
difficult to find. The factories cover several square miles
of ground. For the most part they consist of low stone
buildings of the heavy Persian style of architecture,
enclosed or connected one with the other by grim stone
walls. The buildings are black and greasy, the walls are
black and greasy ; the roads between consist of jutting
rock and drifting sand, interspersed with huge pools of
oil-refuse, and forming a vast morass of mud and oil in
wet weather. Inside the greasy entrances to the refineries
gangs of natives may be seen at work, haK naked ; their
bodies and their ragged clothes saturated with oil. Not
a tree, not a shrub, not a flower or a blade of grass, not a
single object to raise or refine a man is to be found in
this wretched hole, where Russians and Swedes,
Armenians and Persians, distil the oil that bums in the
lamps of Russia. Along the shore for a mile or two are
a line of jetties, stretching far out into the bay, at the
head or at the sides of which huge steamers may be seen
receiving aboard the oil to convey it to the Volga. Here
the piers and the steamers are dirty and greasv, the sea is
covered with oil-scum, the strand contains more pools
of oil than of water, and stretching along it are huge
embanked reservoirs holding milhons of gallons of oil
refuse. For Mr. Coxon, who penetrates to this infernal
region as a change to the monotony of buying beautiful
Persian carpets in the bazaar, it is a new and practical
lesson in geography to observe in the Caspian Sea
steamers from his own native river ; and as he reahzes it,
I cannot help wishing I had in his place the Duke of
Argyll and other disbelievers in Russia's growing power
in Asia, to press home to them the conviction that a
236 THE CASPIAN OIL EEFINERIES.
country which in a few years can despatch a score or two
of steamers — 150 to 250 feet long, from the Tyne and
from Stoekhohn to the Caspian Sea, by means of a mag-
nificent canal system, is not likely to be much hampered
in transporting the largest army across that sea for an
attack upon India. For Mr. Coxon, as a representative
of Newcastle, there is also another lesson to carry back
to his fellow-townsmen. The steamers of the Caspian
once burnt wood or coal. They bum now nothing but
oil, and there are fifty of them constantly running between
Baku and the Volga. In the Black Sea the steamers at
present burn chiefly English coal. But the time is not
far distant when the millions of tons of crude petroleum
and petroleum refuse, wasting uselessly amidst the rocks
and sands of Baku and Balakhani, will be cheaply con-
veyed to Poti and Batoum, and drive English coal out of
the Euxine. The Black Sea steamers and towns and
factories will get their fuel from Baku, instead of from
Newcastle, and another market will be closed to the coal
trade of England.
To the blackness and smoke, and to the dirt and dis-
order of the Black Town, there is one very notable
exception. This is the refinery of Nobel Brothers. The
two hundred other refineries are buried in smoke ; the
atmosphere above Nobels' place is not polluted by a single
whiff. The squalor of the 200 is appalling — Nobels'
establishment is kept as clean and as bright, considering
the nature of the business, as any English barracks.
Yet Nobel Brothers refine more kerosine than all the
other firms put together, and can now furnish a sufiicient
sujiply to equip aU the year round half the lamps in
Russia. The difference is simply due to good appliances
and good discipHne. A badly-constructed lamp or a
good lamp turned up too high will inevitably smoke ; but
when an apparatus is used like that of Nobel Brothers'
at Baku not a particle of smoke need issue from petro-
STATISTICS OF RUSSIAN KEROSINE.
237
leiim fuel, and, as a matter of fact, does not. Hence,
while all the Black To-wn fussily perspires and smokes,
Nobels' place at the uttermost extremity is as calm and
as bright as any part of old Baku itself ; and misled by
the absence of sooty clouds, a stranger might travel past
without being aware that inside the stonewalls a band of
Swedes were quietly " turning out" a larger quantity of
kerosine than any other refinery in the world.
The present consumption of refined petroleum, or
kerosine, in Eussia is about 250,000 tons a year. The
first refinery was established in 1859. At the time of
the abolition of the monopoly in 1872 there were fifty at
work. Now there are about 200, the number constantly
changing with the opening, closing, or amalgamation of
establishments. The following has been the growth of
the refining trade during the last twelve years : —
Tons.
Tons.
1872
16,400
1878
97,550
1873
24,.500
1879
110,000
1874
23,600
1880
150,000
1875
32.600
1881
183,000
1876
57,100
1882
202,000
1877
77,600
1883
206,000
Most of the oil refined at Baku has a gravity of
0'822. The following is a list, showing the differences
in the gravity of the kerosine refined by the different
firms. The flashing point is determined by Abel's
apparatus.
BAKU EEFIXED PETROLEUM.
Firm.
Gravity.
Flashing Point.
Tsobel Brothers
0-8200 ...
... 32deg. C.
Meerzoeff Sons
0-8201 ...
... 28 „
Fedoroff
0.8222 ...
... 28 „
VagirofiF, No. 1 sort ...
3.8280
... 36 „
» 2 „ ...
0-8203 ...
... 27 „
TaraefF
0-8228 ...
... 23 „
238
THE CASPIAN OIL REFINERIES.
Firm.
Gravity.
^'lashing Point.
Pasha Beg
0-8214 ...
.. 33 deg. C.
Palashkovsy, No. 2 sort
0-8244 ...
.. 33 „
1 „
0-8155 ...
.. 28
Caspian Company, No. 1 sort
0-8180 ...
.. 27
» " 2 „
0-8207 ...
.. 26
Baku Petroleum Co. ,No. 1 „
0-8190 ...
.. 26
2 „
0-8194 ...
.. 26
Kagieff
0-8130 ...
.. 12
ToomaefF
0-8199 ...
.. 23
Tagieff, No. 1 sort
0-8198 ...
.. 34
2 „
0-79G5
.. 12
It will be seen from the above tbat the flashing point
ranges fi'om twelve degrees to thirty-six degrees Celsius.
The first is obviously a dangerous, inflammable oil, but
the last is fit for the hottest cHmate. Taking the entire
quantity of Baku petroleum refined, the average of the
flashing point is thirty degrees. This will explain why
it has attained such a rapid success in the German mar-
ket. Nobel Brothers are sending Baku oil sustaining a
flashing test of thirty-two degi-ees, whereas the average
American oil breaks into flame at twenty-one degrees
Celsius. Measures are now being taken by the Eussian
steamboat and railway companies, in conjunction with
the principal Baku firms, to secure a uniform high
standard in the refined petroleum exported from Baku ;
and there is very little doubt that the inferior kerosine,
which, it should be strictly borne in mind, is but a trifl-
ing fraction of the entire quantity manufactured, will
before long be entirely eliminated from the market, or
confined to local consumption at Baku. The Technical
Society at Baku recommends that the standard for the
best Baku burning oil should be fixed at not higher
than 0-821, with a flashing point not lower than twenty-
five degrees Celsius (Abel test), and that further, it
should be water-white and have a pleasant smell. At
present the adoption of a unifonn standard is under dis-
cussion, and there, is a disposition in some quarters to
ADULTERATION OF KEROSINE. 239
refuse to follow any rule laid down ; but this feeHno-
simply prevails among the smaller firms. The larger ones,
who have dealings with foreign countries, recognize the
necessity for a standard, and as their oil is already within
the limits suggested they have no reason for opposing
the plan.
I have already said that the crude petroleum, after
standing awhile in ponds on the surface, to rid itself of
the sand, is sucked into reservoirs and pumped through
the pipe-lines to the Black Town, where it enters fresh
iron reservoirs. One of these, belonging to Nobel
Brothers, holds 1,200,000 gallons of oil. On issuinff
from them the petroleum is heated, and then passes into
the retorts to be distilled. The process of distillation
varies in most refineries, and is attended with trade
secrets which the firms are very loth to have exposed.
Meerzoeff Sons exclude strangers from their refinery,
but in the case of ISTobel Brothers, although their system
is simpler and more perfect, no restrictions are enforced.
The distillation is conducted at a temperature commenc-
ing at 140 deg. When no more oil comes over at this
heat the result is withdrawn, and the temperature in-
creased by ten degrees. This second result is also laid
aside, and the heat being again increased, a third distilla-
tion is carried on, until no further easily-evaporated liquid
remains. This last constitutes the best quality bumino-
oil. In the case of the large firms it is this oil which
finds its way to the market ; Nobel Brothers, who supply
the greater part of Eussia with lamp-oil, vend no other ;
but nearly all the small firms, while distilling perhaps an
excellent oil originally, largely adulterate it with the
lighter product. It is said even that a large quantity of
bad oil is sent to Eussia and sold to merchants there to
mix with ISTobel's kerosine. It is to check these mal-
practices that some sort of restriction on the export of
dancrerous oil is advocated.
240
THE CASPIAN OIL EEFINERIES.
The gravity of Baku crude petroleum varies from 0"780
to 0-890. According to Gospodin Gulishambaroff, the
following are the component parts of it, and the theoreti-
cal evaporative power per pound of fuel.
bi
t3
'-M
a O
pug
o
p;
.2"^
c3
>.
0-2
5*3
Petixiloum.
g
^ 3
O
a
^•
"3
Sr^i
V.'^
pQ
be
§^"3,
oj-j
y.
CO
o
a
O
W
H
lb.
Russian light oil
0-884
86-3
13-6
0-1
22-628
17-4
„ heav'y oil
0-938
86.6
12-3
i-1.
19-440
16-4
„ petroleum refuse
0-928
87-1
11-7
1-2
19-260
16-2
Pennsylvanian crude liea\'y
0-886
84.8
13-7
1-4
19-210
16-2
Some time ago Mr. Ludwig Nobel gave the subjoined
analysis as indicating the various products obtainable
from Eussian crude petroleum. The Table was a
practical, not a theoretical one, and was intended to give
a general idea of the results derived from refining Baku
oil.
Productihility of 100 Gallons of Eussian Crude PetroUum.
Gallons.
Gravity.
Flashing
Point.
deg.
Benzine, light oil
1
0-725
— 10
Gasoline, „ ...
3
0-77.5
+
Kerosine, burning oil
27
0-822
+ 25
Soliarovi, lubricating oil
12
0-870
+ 100
Veregenni, „ „
10
0-890
+ 150
Lubricating, ,, „
17
0-90.5
+ 175
Cylinder, „ „
.'')
0-91.5
+ 200
Vaseline,
1
0-925
Liquid fuel ...
14
Lost in refining
10
Total
100
DETEEIOKATION OF AMERICAN OIL. 241
It will be seen from this that the Baku oil gives only
27 per cent, of kerosine, as compared with the 70 to 75
per cent, obtained from the Am.erican product. Theo-
retically 30 per cent, should be obtained, but 27 per cent,
represents the practical working. It is an obvious dis-
advantage that Baku petroleum should give less than
half the quantity of kerosine obtainable from the
American oil ; but, on the other hand, this is counter-
balanced by the prodigious quantities of the crude article
to be had for a few pence per ton, the circumstance of
double the quantity of the more valuable lubricating oil
being derivable from it, and the advantage of the burn-
ing oil being in many respects better than that imported
into Europe from America.
Eespecting the yearly deteriorating quality of this,
there have been universal complaints of late, resulting,
in effect, in such a clamour that the Standard Oil Com-
pany has been compelled to send a commissioner to
Europe to investigate the charges. The importers in
England declare the American oil is becoming every year
worse ; the Standard Oil Company throw the blame upon
the deterioration in the quality of the wicks. Wherever
the truth may lie, the fact certainly remains that there is
a widespread feeling against the American oil, and a
general desire for a superior article. That article is to
be found in the kerosine exported from Baku, which,
apart from the individual merits of the different firms in
the Caspian region, possesses in general j)eculiar advan-
tages of its own over the American refined petroleum.
With a view to putting this matter on a clear basis, Mr.
Boverton Eedwood, Chemist to the London Petroleum
Association, instituted tests a short time ago with some
refined petroleum of Nobels' brand, which had found its
way to this country from Baku. In a report he after-
wards drew up he says : " In colour and odour the oil
compares favourably with the ordinary oil refined in the
242 THE CASPIAN OIL REFINERIES.
United States, the colour being, in fact, but little darker
than that of many parcels of so-called water-white
American petroleum. The flashing point usually ranges
from 86 deg. to 88 deg. Fahr. (Abel test), which is con-
siderably higher than that of the ordinary American
oil. The high specific gravity (in some cases as much
as 0"822) is a characteristic feature of the product,
and arguing from experience gained in relation to Ameri-
can petrolexmi, it has been erroneously asserted that
such oil would require a special form of lamp for its
satisfactory consumption. These experiments were there-
fore directed to the determination of the burning quality
of the oil in such lamps as are commonly used in this
country. As a preliminary step the oil was first tested
roughly by burning it for lengthened periods in various
forms of lamps, both cheap and costly, including those
with single flat wicks, two parallel flat wicks (Duplex),
and circular wicks (Argand). No difficulty was ex-
perienced in obtaining a flame of good size and
character in each form of lamp, and the flame pre-
served those features until the whole of the oil con-
tained in the lamp reservoir had been consumed. Ordi-
nary American oil, in fact, exhibited marked inferiority
to the Russian oil in the size of the flame after some
hours' burning, the most noticeable features being
that the Russian oil was consumed with remarkably
little diminution in the size and illuminating power of
the flame, and that the wick exhibited a very small
amount of charring. To the tmaided eye of the ordinary
observer there was, on the whole, little, if any, difference
in the light-giving power of similar lamps, charged
with Russian and American oil respectively, burning
side by side. The practised eye could, however, with
some of the lamps detect somewhat less brilliancy in the
flame of the Russian oil during the earlier hours of the
burning, but at a later period, when much of the oil had
RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN OIL COMPARED. 243
"been consumed, these conditions became reversed. In
the cheap form of lamp, with a single flat wick, so
largely used by the poorer classes constituting the btdk
of the consumers, the Russian oil gave, on an average,
the same amoimt of light as was yielded by the American
oil."
Summing up his prolonged and exhaustive experiments,
Mr. Eedwood came to the conclusion that : "1. The
Eussian oil possesses advantages over the ordinary
American petroleum oil of commerce, in respect to colour
and odour. 2. Although the photometer indicates that
the ordinary American oil is capable of yielding in the
test-lamp a greater amount of light, irrespective of the
quantity of oil burned (especially when the lamp has
"been recently filled and trimmed), than the Eussian oil
affords in the same lamp ; yet the latter gives (A)
what the consumer would call a good light, not only at
first, but also after several hours' burning, and actually
furnishes (B) more light per gallon of oil than is afforded
in the combustion, imder similar circumstances, of three
out of five samples of ordinary American oil examined,
and (C) but little less light than is yielded by an equal
quantity of the American water-white oil tested."
The result of these experiments, without touching
upon those that have been made at the instance of the
Geiman Grovemment, and which have led to an almost
identical opinion, is sufficient to put beyond cavil the
merits of Baku kerosine, even apart from the fact that
it is the principal lamp oil now burnt in the Eussian
Empire, and is rapidly taking a hold upon the German
market. The testimony of a large number of scientific
experts, of European celebrity, is imanimous in affirming
the crude-petroleum to be a first-class product, having
many qualities superior to the American oil, or in which
the American oil is quite deficient. This cardinal point
satisfactorily determined, the ciuestion of the quality of
244 THE CASPIAN OIL EEFINERIES.
the oil refined from it is simply one of manufacture, the
standard of which can be readily raised by introducing
improved modes of distillation and refining. If the
Baku kerosine, which is in its infancy, can stand such a
favourable comparison with the American refined oil, it
is clear that there is a great future before it ; since it is
a matter of fact that the quality of the oil has been
improving every year, owing to improvements in manu-
facturing it. In Nobel Brothers' refinery, where there
are forty-two retorts constantly at work, nothing that the
engineering or chemical skill of the world can offer is
treated with indifference. The Swedish manager, Mr.
Tornudd, is an engineer of comprehensive mind as well
as of practical skill. Now that the refinery, after piece-
meal construction ranging over several years, has reached
completion, every effort is being made to simplify the
process of refining, and turn out the finest oil. The
other firms show less readiness to march with events and
improve their processes, although several of them have
skilled German engineers and chemists. This want of
enterprise is one of the causes that contributed to the
success of the Americans years ago in establishing a
monopoly in Eussia, and which in more recent times has
enabled Nobel Brothers, more vigorous and energetic, to
replace that monopoly with one of their own. Their
refinery is situated on rising ground occupying an area
of more than a square mile. The establishment is very
compactly arranged, and thoroughly organized in every
detail. It is able to turn out nearly a quarter of a
million gallons of the best refined petroleum per diem.
Kerosine is the principal product to which Baku at
present devotes its attention. A large demand for the
burning oil exists, and as the distillation and purification
of it can be conducted on a small scale with relatively
trifling capital, the Eussians and Armenians readily go
into business. The appliances needed are very simple.
FITTINGS OF A BAKU REFINERY. 245
They comprise a gasometer-like iron reservoir to receive
the oil, a still heated by liquid fuel obtained in distilling
the oil itself, an iron cooling tank, and purifying tanks to
cleanse the refined fluid with sulphuric acid and caustic
potash. After these come an iron reservoir to store the
kerosine, and another the dregs or liquid fuel. All the
reservoirs and tanks are connected by a network of pipes,
and the oil is pumped through them by small pumping-
engines. Such are the simple fittings of an ordinary
Baku kerosine refinery, differing from the large ones
simply in point of size. The Ust is completed with two
more pipes, varying in length from a hundred yards to
two or three miles, to carry away the kerosine and the
liquid fuel to the piers or the establishments of other
:firms stretching along the bay.
When a Baku refinery simply distils kerosine it has on
its hands afterwards two products — a large quantity of
the Hght oil, evaporated during the first distillation, and
-comprising benzine, gasoline, &c., and a large quantity of
heavy oil, fit for extracting lubricants from, remaining
after the kerosine has been secured. For the former
there is very little demand, and it is therefore in most
instances allowed to run into the sea. In the case of the
second it is pumped with the rest of the dregs through a
pipe to the manufactories devoted to the extraction of
lubricating oil, or else is simply sold as liquid fuel. The
extraction of lubricating oil requires more extensive
appliances, and greater skill, than the ordinary firms are
willing to devote ; hence it remains in the hands of a
few firms. Such firms, and particularly a large firm like
Nobel Brothers, have thus an immense advantage over
the smaller ones. Besides being able, owing to superior
organization, to extract the kerosine more cheaply, they
utilize in various forms the light oil the refiners cast into
the sea, and reap a considerable profit from the lubricat-
ing oil, which latter they extract from their own oil or
246 THE CASPIAN OIL REFINEKIES.
else buy from the small firms in a condition fit for extrac-
tion at a price ranging from Is, 6d. to 3s. a ton. Thanks
to these circumstances, they are enabled to sell their
kerosine at a lower price than the small firms, and their
quality usually being better they are rapidly reducing
the number of the latter. Eveiy year the kerosine trade
of Baku displays a greater tendency to pass into the
hands of a few great firms, and even these to disappear
before the colossal competition of Nobel Brothers.
After allowing for a fair profit, and general charges, the
refiners are able at the present moment to sell the finest
kerosine at Baku for a penny per gallon.
The total production of refined petroleum at Baku in
1883 was 206,000 tons, or double that of 1879, and
nearly ten times as much as the output of 1873. Now
that such a vast system of transport is beiag established,
the production, in response to the demand, cannot but
increase very rapidly, the output being restricted of late
years by the low prices prevailing on the spot. Thanks
to Nobel Brothers' widespread system of distribution,
the Eussian refined oil finds its way to-day to every town
in European Eussia touched by a railway, and west of
the Polish frontier as far as Vienna and Berlin. East of
Baku the kerosine is exported to Askabad; south of
it as far as Teheran; south-west to Van in Turkish
Kurdistan ; and west of the Caucasus, via Batoum, to
Alexandria (where a shipload was delivered a few weeks
ago), Constantinople, Trieste, and Marseilles. If it can
be conveyed 2,500 miles by river and railway, and under-
sell the American oil in the Berlin and Stettin market,
it clearly has a grand future in the south of Europe — a
railway rim of little more than 500 miles being all that
is needed to convey the oil to the shipside at Batoum,
The Batoum line was opened in June, 1883. From then
to the end of the year 3,356,298 gallons were conveyed
to Batoum to be shipped abroad, and 3,715,992 gallons
RUSSIAN LUBRICATING OIL. 247
to be despatched to the Black Sea ports of Eussia.
There were also large shipments from Poti.
If the crude petroleum of Baku gives less kerosiue
than the American oil, it affords a veiy much larger
quantity of lubricating oil, and of a quality throwing the
American article completely into the shade. Being a
highly viscous fluid, completely free from any tendency to
freeze within wide ranges of temperature, or to oxidise,
it has already become highly appreciated in many
countries, particularly in France, to which there is a
large export from Baku. It is almost unnecessary to
point out its very abundance renders it extremely cheap,
and makes it a serious competitor to the American
article. At present it is produced only by the larger
firms at Baku, Nobel Brothers, Meerzoeff Sons, Shibaeff,
&c., all of whom are now exporting considerable quanti-
ties to Europe via Batoum and Libau. Much of it is
sent abroad in a crude condition, to be there worked
up into the various varieties of lubricants needed in
the arts and manufactures. In this manner there is
a large anonymous sale of the oil, unsuspected by the
general public. Of late years the production of lubrica-
ting oil has assumed large dimensions, and it must be
expected to rapidly increase from two causes : the open-
ing up of a great export trade vid Batotun, and the
establishment at Baku of factories by European capitalists
to manufacture on the spot refined lubricants. Messrs.
Nobel Brothers, who are able to turn out 27,000 tons of
lubricating oil annually, have already devoted their
attention to this branch, and may be expected to secure
a large trade for it before long.
In 1883 over 4,000,000 gallons of lubricating oil were
exported from Baku. During the period the Batoum
Railway was opened last year the export of crude lubri-
cating oil was 418,410 gallons, and refined 788,211
gallons. If Baku kerosine is destined to compete
248 THE CASPIAN OIL REFINERIES.
severely with. American refined petroleum in Southern
Europe and on the Continent, a future may be said to
await the lubricating oil throughout the world. An
immense foreign trade is anticipated for this article,
once it becomes generally known that Baku can produce
a better series of lubricants than Pennsylvania, at a
price rendering American comj)etition hopeless.
The beavy oils tei'minate in vaseline, which has the
consistency of jelly. I saw some beautiful samples of it
at Baku, although at present the demand for the article
is not veiy great. The discovery of the medicinal pro-
perties of petroleum is by no means so recent as the
advocates of vaseline, or petroleum jelly, wanted the
world to believe a few years ago. Marco Polo wrote in
the thirteenth, century that it was " used to anoint camels
that have the mange," and 140 years ago Jonas Hanway
found the Russians drinking the white petroleum — a kind
of natural kerosine found in certain parts of the
Apsheron peninsula — both as a " cordial and medicine."
In America, also, the medical properties of petroleum
seem to have been known to the Indians, who were in
the habit of resorting to the springs to cure themselves
of skin diseases.
On the opposite side of the Caspian, on the island of
Tcbeleken and in the Balkan hills, there are whole cliffs of
ozokerit, or earth-wax, of which so much is used nowa-
days in the manufacture of paraffin candles. At present
there is only a limited demand from abroad, but this may
be expected to increase when the existence of the deposits
and the excellent facilities for transporting the product
are better known. A purer form of solid parafiin is also
obtainable from ordinary petroleum, and already prepara-
tions are being made for despatching large consignments
to this country. Factories for making kerosine candles
are projected at Baku and at St. Petersburg.
Of the lighter oils a deal is either barbarously allowed
BARBAROUS WASTE OF THE LIGHT OILS. 249
to run to waste or is used to adulterate good kerosine.
All the small firms at Baku are more or less addicted to
this practice. At one native manufactory I saw as much
as 17 per cent, of the light oil running away like water
to the Caspian, the firm having no means of utilizing it.
About a quarter of a million gallons of benzine were
sent up the Volga in 1883. There is also an export to Persia.
At Nobel Brothers' works large forgings are made by
means of gasoline. The property possessed by benzoline
to take out greasy spots in cloth was noted so long ago as
1745 by Jonas Hanway. He also says : "They say it is
carried into India as a great rarity, and being prepared
as a japan, is the most beautiful and lasting of any that
has been yet foimd."
This trade would seem to have ceased some time ago,
for I could find no traces of it ; but, none the less, Baku
petroleum has a great future before it in the manufacture
of dyes and colours. The tars, at present wasted, con-
tain volatile benzole, from which the beautiful aniline
colours, mauve and magenta, can be made, and also the
solids, naphthaline and anthracene, from which can be
prepared the alizarin, the red colour of madder, and also
indigo, the staple blue dye. At present no dyes are
manufactured in Russia, although the country imports
3,240,000 lbs. of alizarin yearly from Germany, and
648,000 lbs. of anthracene, paying the Germans ^6200,000
a-year for them. When the petroleum trade at Baku
becomes a little more developed Russia will probably
drive these dies out of her market, and prove a serious
rival in turn to the madder industry of Holland and
Turkey, and the indigo trade of India. In the Kura
Valley, south of Baku, immense quantities of madder
grow wild, but no attempt has been made to utilize the
plant, as there would be no chances of success against
the petroleum product.
Except at Surakhani, no use is made of the petroleum
250 THE CASPIAN OIL EEFINEKIES.
or hydro- carbon gas, whicli escapes to the extent of
millions of cubic feet from various parts of the penin-
sula. At Surakhani, as has been the custom for centuries,
tubes are stuck into the ground, and the gas passes up
them to any part of the building a light is wanted, where
it flares away night and day. Lime is still burnt by
taking off the crust of the ground and piling the stones
upon one another in the hole. A light is then applied to
the gas issuing naturally from the earth, and in a few
days the lime is ready for use. The workmen cook
victuals by sticking two or three tubes in the ground and
placing an iron pot over them, after the manner of a gas
stove. At some of the factories at Surakhani the hydro-
carbon gas is conducted in a like manner to the furnaces
and employed instead of oil refuse for fuel. Finally,
after the crude petroleum has given mankind hydro-car-
bon gas, kerosine, lubricating oil, vaseline, candles, dyes,
and colours, a valuable product still remains in the dregs,
which is used as fuel by all the steamers and locomotives
in the Caspian region ; but this is such an important
article that it deserves a chapter to itself.
251
CHAPTEE XVI.
LIQUID FUEL.
Petroleum Furnaces no Novelty — Use of Oil Fuel in Ancient Times —
Enormous Supply Available at Baku — The Early Use of Hydro-
Carbon Gas — Bricks of Oil — Invention of Oil-Burning Appliances
in America — Aydon's Furnace — Shpakovsky's Discovery of the
Value of Steam as a Pulverizer — Why Liquid Fuel has not been
Adopted in England and America. The Piracy of English In-
ventions by Russian Engineers in the Caspian Region — The First
Liquid Fuel Steamer in the Caspian — Shpakovsky's Success —
Improvements Effected by Lenz, the Inventor of the Apparatus
now Generally in L^se on Board the Caspian Steamers — Flat flame
Pulverizers — Account of the Vessels Using Lenz's Apparatus —
The Oil-burning Locomotives on the Transcaucasian Railway —
Brandt and KarapetofTs Pulverizers — The Rival Advantages of
Oil and Coal — Experience in the Caspian — Crude Petroleum may
be Safely LTsed as well as Oil Refuse — Extension of the Use of
Petroleum-burning Locomotives on Russian Railways — The Dis-
covery of Oil in Beluchistan, and its Effect on the Russian Rail-
way to India — Liquid Fuel in the Black Sea— Summary of its
Merits — Prospects of Petroleum Fuel in the East— Satisfactory
Results Already Achieved.
If it be true that one half the world does not know how
the other half lives, it is still truer that one half the
world is ignorant of what the other half does. In
Western Europe engineers are constantly peddhng with
petroleum furnaces, and putting forth liquid fuel as a
novelty. In India the authorities undertake experiments
with amateur squirts of oil and steam, with a view to
proving whether oil will burn in furnaces or not, and
treat the whole question de novo. If a London newspaj^er
252 LIQUID FUEL.
l^ublishes a leading article on the substitution of petro-
leum refuse for wood or coal, it regards the matter as a
purely speculative idea ; feasible enough maybe, but still
for the moment merely an interesting topic for dilettante
writing. Yet liquid fuel for heating furnaces has been
for years an established institution, and the barbarous
distant Caspian region, associated in the public mind
with Turcomans, scorpions, shifting deserts, and slow-
paced caravans, is able to act through it the part of in-
structor to the engineers of the woi'ld.
In the Caspian basin petroleum refuse is the only fuel
used in the furnaces of steamers, locomotives, and fac-
tory engines. Liquid fuel has throughout this region re-
placed wood and coal, and the use of it is now extending
as far as Moscow to the north, Teheran to the south,
Merv and Khiva to the east, and Batoum to the west.
Baku is the centre of the liquid fuel system. It is the
Newcastle of the Caspian. Ere long it promises to be-
come the fuel source of the Euxine also ; in which case
there will be an end to the export trade of English coal
to the Black Sea.
From the account given of the fountains of Baku it
will have been seen that enormous quantities of crude oil
are wasted every year. But it is not the original petro-
leum that is most advantageous for fuel, although it can
be readily utilized; but the residue after the refining
operations. This is called by the Russians astatJci, which
is simply the word for " dregs." In Baku the Tartar
word mazoot is more commonly used. It means the same
thing. Astatki, or neftiani astathi, however, is the term
that has become adopted by commercial men throughout
Russia, and is evidently destined to be the permanent
designation. Of this astatJci, countless millions of gallons
have been wasted during the last ten years. In 1883 the
aggregate export of astathi to Russia by all the Baku
firms was 281,000 tons. On the other hand, the produc-
EARLY OIL FURNACES AT BAKU. 253
tion was estimated as exceeding liaK a million tons ;
leaving, after making allowance for the consumption in
the refineries, perhaps as much as 200,000 tons, or 50
million gallons, undisposed of. Owing to this glut the
price for years has fluctuated between a few pence and
half-a-crown a ton, varying according to the demand and
the distance of the product from the coast ; while enormous
quantities have been allowed to run away to waste.
During the last few months Nobel Brothers have com-
pleted the organization of their refijiery, and for the
future expect to turn out oil refuse at the rate of 1,300
tons a day, or 450,000 tons in the course of a year. As
in a good hydro-carbon furnace one ton of oil-dregs goes
as far as three tons of mineral fuel, it follows that this
single establishment alone will produce annually the
equivalent of 1,350,000 tons of coal.
From time immemorial petroleum has been used as
fuel in the Caspian region. The earliest Persian records
refer to its utilization for heating purposes. The works
of travel of Arabs of the eighth century constantly men-
tion this fact. In Marco Polo's time Baku exported petro-
leum for fuel as far as Bagdad. When the Russians
first burst their way into the Caspian they found the ex-
traction and shipment of the oil a regular branch of Per-
sian commerce. But it must be admitted that the use of
the liquid fuel was on a very limited scale. In the
Apsheron peninsula it was never employed when hydro-
carbon or petroleum gas, issuing naturally from the
ground, could be more easily obtained ; nor did the
natives possess any apparatus for burning the liquid fuel.
They simply mixed it with dirt and ashes. When the
Transcaspian Trading Company established a kerosine
factory at Baku, in 1858, they did not do what is the
regular custom to-day — construct the refinery on the
coast at the Black Town, and use crude petroleum or oil
refuse in the furnaces — but chose Surakhani as the site.
254 LIQUID FUEL.
on account of the supply of hydro-carbon gas afforded
spontaneously by the soil. This gas was allowed to accu-
mulate in gasometers, placed over the crevices in the lime-
stone, and was then conducted to the furnace. It was
not until three years afterwards that the refuse oil was
used instead. The first to introduce this innovation at
Baku was a mechanic named Werser, employed at a
refinery which a German, Herr Witte, had established on
Holy Island. He adopted various contrivances for burn-
ing the oil, but ultimately settled upon an apparatus,
consisting of a series of grates or griddles, amidst which
the liquid trickled and burnt. In 1867 he took out a
patent for this, and many firms adopted the apparatus,
but it was so wasteful that they relinquished it the
moment better contrivances came into use.
In the meanwhile a whole series of eminent men, in
various countries of Western Europe, had advocated the
utilization of oil refuse as liquid fuel. Cochrane urged
its employment in this country quite fifty years ago. But
it was not until about the sixth decade of the present
century that the inventor came to the aid of the man of
science ; the occasion being created by the opening up of
the petroleum deposits of America by Drake's new system
of boring wells for oil. John Bidley took out a patent
in the United States for an oil furnace for steamers in
1862, and Shaw and Linton six months later. The first
was a very unsatisfactory invention, and nothing practical
seems to have come of it ; but in the case of the second,
the United States Government appointed a commission to
examine its merits. Their report was distinctly favour-
able to the employment of liquid fuel, and the interest
excited penetrated even to Eussia ; where, at the time,
the naval authorities in the Caspian region were trying
to use in the furnaces petroleum bricks — the oil worked
into masses of pitch-like consistency, and thrown into
the furnaces in the same manner as ordinary coal. In
INVENTION OF THE STEAM PI'LTEEIZER. 255
1864 the Scientific Committee of the Eussian Admiralty
recommended that the Eussian consular agent in America
should be instructed to furnish reports of the progress of
liquid fuel, and send home drawings of any appliances
that might come into use there. The same year experi-
ments were also carried on at Woolwich Dockyard with
the Eichardson apparatus, invented in this country, and
of which much was expected; but directly it became
apparent that a demand might arise for waste oil, the
latter, which up to then had possessed no value, rose to a
price that placed competition with coal completely out of
the question.
In this simple fact may be detected the principal cause
of the ill-success that attended the advocacy of liquid
fuel in England and America. In both countries coal
was abundant and cheap, and the advantages of oil fuel
were less apparent than in the Caspian region, where the
Eussian territory bordering on the sea contained neither
wood nor coal, and where as much as =£5 a ton was some-
times paid for anthracite. The difficulties attending the
dispatch of coal from the Don valley to the Caspian
region compelled Eussia to resort to the use of liquid
fuel, and this explains its rapid development once a good
apparatus had been invented to consume it.
The honour of inventing this must be divided between
two persons, Aydon, an Englishman, and Shpakovsky, a
Eussian. Both hit upon the idea about the same time,
of making an apparatus to pulverize the oil, and blow it
into the fumace in the form of spray. This principle is
the main feature of all the appliances in use in the Cas-
pian region to-day. But the iitility of the idea rested
upon the means adopted to carry it into practice, and
when we come to examine this point we see at once how
the two inventors assisted one another. Professor Men-
delaieff has claimed, I believe, that Aydon copied his
invention from Shpakovsky's, and supports this view by
256 LIQUID FUEL.
stating that the latter had the precedence of three and a
half months in registration.* But during this period
Shpakovsky's drawings were deposited in the Patent
Office, where Aydon had no access to them ; while further,
Shpakovsky simply put in a sketch, and Aydon a com-
plete and elaborate set of practical designs. Then,
again, Shpakovsky used a blast of hot air in his pul-
verizer, while Aydon employed a better agent— super-
heated steam. Afterwards, Shpakovsky certainly improved
upon the latter by adopting ordinary steam, but still the
idea of using steam at all rested with Aydon. Aj^art
from this, Aydon' s apparatus was the first of the kind to
be shown in a working condition, and in this manner first
placed the employment of pulverized petroleum on a
satisfactory basis. In his appliance the oil was allowed
to run through a small orifice, about | inch in diameter,
in a continuous stream at the rate of about three gallons
per hour. As the oil fell vertically it was met by a jet
of superheated steam, which forced it into the furnace in
the form of a cloud of exceedingly fine spray, at the
same time converting it into vapour, which took fire and
was consumed.
Grospodin GulishambarofE, after examining the claims
of the two inventors, says: — "Aydon's was the first
attempt at a steam pulverizer for petroleum, which gives
such brilliant results to-day; only the apparatus has
undero-one considerable modifications, and is still in a
state of transition. One of its greatest defects was the
employment of superheated steam, which was a source of
inconvenience, and the heat was not maintained at a
regular temperature." But for the moment it was not a
question of a pulverizer so much as of the agent used to
inject the oil into the furnace. In replacing the hot
blast and superheated steam with ordinary steam, Shpa-
kovsky hit upon the best solution of the problem.
* Shpakovsky's pulverizer was registered in England June 27,
18G5 (No. 1,711).
THE FIRST OIL-BURXING STEAMERS. 257
But here we see what an important effect a real demand
for an invention exercises upon its development. In
England there was no pressing need for liquid fuel fur-
naces, and Ay don's apparatus simply remained a curiosity.
This may be said to have been the case with most English
patents of the kind. New ideas were constantly being
registered in England, but for want of means of applying
them they simply stagnated and died out. On the other
hand, those same ideas, which in Western Europe were
bringing their inventors no profit, were being adopted
and improved upon in the Caspian region, and gradually
conducing to the development of the apparatus now in
use.
The first liquid fuel furnace of the pulverizer descrip-
tion employed in the Caspian region was the Kamensky
furnace, in the early part of 1869. Kamensky was the
government engineer of Baku port. The petroleum fields
had not been greatly developed then, and Baku owed its
importance mainly to the presence of the dockyard there,
the head-quarters of the Caspian fleet having been shifted
to the place a couple of years earlier from Astrakhan.
Kamensky obtained plans of the apparatus which Henri
DeviUe had brought out in 1868, and fitted to the 60
horse-jDower engines of the Le Pouehla, one of the yachts
of the Emperor of the French ; and making one or two
alterations, passed off the invention as his own. In
Erance Deville obtained a great reputation by the ener-
getic and elaborate manner he dealt with the subject of
liquid fuel ; but his apparatus was a failure. Kamensky,
on his part, was equally unsuccessful with his copy of it,
and the Baku naval authorities after a while refused to
sanction any more experiments with the thing.
In the meanwhile, the Caucasus and Mercury Company,
the State-aided steamboat company running vessels on
the Caspian, had been making equally unsatisfactory
trials with liquid fuel at their dockyard at Astrakhan. At
258 LIQUID FUEL.
the close of these the directors thought the best thing to
do woiild be to send their principal engineer on a torn-
through Europe, to pick up all the ideas he could on the
subject. Grospodin Lenz accordingly repaired to England
in 1869, and saw Aydon and Dorsett, and afterwards to
France, where he made the acquaintance of Deville. The
French apparatus pleased him the most, and he brought
back with him to Eussia drawings prepared by Deville
for the Berjavin, one of the Company's steamers. This
proving a failure Lenz grafted the best features of
Aydon' s apparatus upon it. The composite apparatus
worked for a couple of months and gave the Berjavin the
right of being regarded as the first steamer worked with
liquid fuel in Eussia ; but the experiment was none the
less a failure, and the apparatus was not used after the
close of the season of 1870.
All this while Shpakovsky, Aydon's rival, had not been
idle. For several years he had been improving his
apparatus, and within a day or two of the stoppage of
the Berjavin a steamer appeared on the Volga fitted with
it. This was the Alexai, belonging to the Lebed Com-
pany, an unsubsidized steamboat corporation competing
with the Caucasus and Mercury Company on the Caspian
Sea. The experiment with the Alexai was sufficiently
successful to justify its more extended application, and
in May 1870 the first petroleum-burning steamer appeared
on the Caspian — the Iran, of 45 horse-power, engined by
Perm. This had low pressure engines, with a couple of
furnaces. Shpakovsky fitted each of the latter with
three pulverizers, and replaced the coal bunkers with six
oil reservoirs, each holding seven or eight tons apiece,
and two extra ones in the bow, containing ten tons apiece.
The expenditure of oil fuel was found to be not more
than seventy pounds an hour. The apparatus was a
great success, and to Shpakovsky must certainly be
assigned the honour of having solved the problem of
APPARATUS GENERALLY USED IN THE CASPIAN. 259
employing liquid fuel, since, apart from his early dis-
covery of the advantages of steam as a pulverizer, his
apparatus was the first to stand the test of permanent
practical use. The Iran has been running now with
Shpakovsky's apparatus fifteen years, during which period
she has made on an average sixteen trips annually from
Baku to the Volga and back. Two hundred and forty
voyages constitute a prolonged experiment, placing all
cavU agaiast the employment of liquid fuel completely
out of the question, especially when I add that the fire
bars of the Iran have only been changed three times
during the whole period, and the boilers cleaned once a
year.
In 1871 the Company had the Russia fitted with Shpa-
kovsky's apparatus, in 1873 the Helma, and finally in
1879 the Baghestan and Pir-Bazaar — the latter having
engines of 80 horse-power. To diminish the intensity of
the flame jutting to the extremity of the furnace, the
inventor lined the end of it with bricks — not fire-bricks,
but made of the ordinary clay at Baku. As these last
a long time, Gulishambaroff is of opinion that the
alleged ruinous effects of the heat upon the boilers in
using the Shpakovsky apparatus are exaggerated ; but,
all the same, the Lebed is the only company using it.
The apparatus is obviously a good one, or it woTild not
have been retained so long in use by that pushing com-
pany ; but it is admittedly not the best. The most perfect
appliance, and the one most generally used in the Caspian
Sea, is the invention of Mr. Lenz.
We have seen that Lenz had failed completely with his
combined Deville-Aydon apparatus. This so discouraged
him that he dropped the matter for several months. The
success of Shpakovsky's Alexai however, revived his
energies. In the Shpakovsky furnace the oil was in-
jected with steam ; to do this, it was necessary to first
get up a certain amount of steam in the boiler — a task
s 2
260 LIQUID FUEL.
accomplished by burning a little wood. An examination
of this arrangement suggested to Lenz the idea of re-
placing Deville's patent furnace with an ordinary wood-
burning furnace, as adopted by Shpakovsky. When the
Deville pulverizer still continued to give unsatisfactory
results he replaced it with the Aydon pulverizer, which
worked very much better. After this he set to work to
improve upon the latter, and finally in 1872 produced the
apparatus which is now commonly employed in the steam-
boats of the Volga and Caspian.
This is a copy of Aydon's apparatus, but with many
advantages. It consists of two horizontal pipes, thrust a
little way inside the furnace. The upper one is fed with
oil, and the lower one with steam ; each pipe being
regulated by a cock by which the supply can be cut off.
The two fluids enter the pulverizer, but are prevented
from mingling by a diaphragm. This contains notches
filed in the lip of it, through which the petrolcTim
trickles, to be blown off by the steam escajjing from the
under side. Besides following Shpakovsky instead of
Aydon in using ordinary steam ip. lieu of superheated
steam, Lenz introduced an improvement in regulating the
flow of oil and steam — placing the check, not previous to
the passage of the fluid into the pulverizer, but where it
issued from it, which led to easier and steadier working.
The pulverizer was also subjected to numerous altera-
tions, and after many experiments he adopted a flat flame,
instead of the conical flare or the ring of jets common to
most other appliances.
Lenz's apparatus having become the most generally
adopted, may be said to have experienced the severest test
of all. It was first fitted to the Turcoman, belonging to
the Caucasus and Mercury Company, in 1873 ; and soon
afterwards to the Bariatinshj, of 120 horse-power ; the
Michael, of 100 horse-power; the Volga, of 70 horse-
power ; and the Armenian, Caspian, and other vessels
PETROLEUM-BURNING LOCOMOTIVES.
261
belonging to the same company. In 1874 the Russian
Government decided to adopt it for the Caspian Fleet,
and gradually fitted the whole of the vessels with it.
Year
Adopted.
1874
Engine-power.
1875
1876
1878
1879
60 horse-power.
40
160
70
100
60
22
Name of
War-vessel.
Khivenets
Araxes
Kasr-Eddin Shah
Sekeera
Ural
Persianin . . .
Lotsman
Griboyadoff, Pestchal & Legki. Various.
Other vessels have been fitted with it since.
Besides the Caspian Fleet, there are over forty steamers
belonging to the Caspian mercantile marine using this
pulverizer, or close imitations of it, and upwards of 100
steamers on the Yolga. These steamers are not trifling
ones. The Spinoza, 245 feet long, carrying 750 tons of
oil cargo, and having engines of 120 nominal horse-power,
will give an idea of the dozen steamers possessed by
Nobel Brothers alone, without touching upon the flotillas
of other companies.
As soon as his apparatus proved a success Lenz left the
Caucasus and Mercury Company, and set up as an en-
gineer on his own account at Baku. Recently he has
endeavoured to apply his apparatus to locomotives, but
has been less fortunate in this ; the alleged objections
being that it destroys the tube sheet, starts the tube ends,
and does not heat the fire box equally all over. But he
is continually experimenting, and may yet in course of
time overcome these defects.
Since Lenz achieved his original triumph a number of
rival appliances have been invented, and every year sees
fresh additions to their numbers, Benkston, an engineer
in the employ of the Caucasus and Mercury Company,
brought out a pulverizer a few years ago, on the Shpa-
262 LIQUID FUEL.
kovsky principle, -which, is now used in the engineering
establishment he subsequently started at Baku. Sand-
gren, another engineer of the same company, who suc-
ceeded Lenz, patented in 1878 a pulverizer which has
been fitted to several vessels. Brandt, the head of an
engineering firm at Baku, has devoted himself chiefly to
locomotives, and his pulverizer has been adopted for the
Transcaspian railway, and is now being introduced on the
Transcaucasian line.
This is described as a very ingenious arrangement,
distinguished from all the preceding ones by having an
all-round discharge, so that it gives a tubular flame. The
petroleum enters through the central pipe, and over-
flowing on to the diaphragm, trickles down to the lip,
where it meets the steam, and is driven off in spray.
The regulation is efiiected by cocks from the foot-plate,
while the burner stands in the centre of the fire-box,
and delivers a sheet of flame, which is carried upwards
by the draught, and impinges upon all the plates very
equally.
Some time ago it was tried on the Transcaucasian rail-
way, but Karapetoff, the engineer of the line, reported
unfavourably of it. But the fact of Karapetoff himself
having his own appliance in use largely accounts for this,
the more independent and less biassed Baku Technical
Society having declared in its favour. In the steamers
of the Caucasus and Mercury Company, and in the
stationary engines of the Baku refineries, Brandt's pul-
verizer has proved a great success ; and lately the Trans-
caucasian Eailway Company, in spite of Karapetoff' a
report, has ordered a number of locomotives to be fitted
with it.
Karapetoff's arrangement, which is in use in the loco-
motives running between the Caspian and the Black Sea,
is simply an imitation of Lenz's. The pulverizer is
fixed in the fire-box door in such a way as to throw a
SAVING EFFECTED BY OIL FUEL. '263
flat flame on to a refractory brick bottom, wticli soon
attains a bigli temperature, and thus aids in inflaming
the small bubbles of petroleum which may reach it un-
consumed. Were Lenz's pulverizer placed in an inclined
position over a brick bottom the result would be the
same.
The year before last Ludwig ISTobel brought out a
pulverizer, reminding oae at first sight of Brandt's, but
containing several improvements upon it. By cutting
one or more spiral grooves in the conical head he gives
the flame a rolling motion, which sweeps it along the inner
surface of the cylindrical boiler flue. Various other
modifications render it one of the most economical ap-
pliances in use at Baku. Not that this is a special
recommendation in the Caspian region. Oil refuse is so
cheap that it is almost a matter of indifference whether an
apparatus is wasteful or not. The further the distance
from Baku, however, the more important becomes the
feature of economy. Lenz reckons that his apparatus
ought not to consume more than six pounds of oil an
hour to each horse-power ; but the furnaces of the
different steamers vary considerably in point of con-
sumption, and the actual practice with Lenz's apparatus
is said to range from eleven to seventeen pounds.
Ludwig Nobel estimates the expenditure of his appa-
ratus at from five to seven pounds per horse-power per
hour.
Quite as much seems to depend upon the engines and
boilers of the vessel as upon the apparatus itself, and
even when both are satisfactory the mechanic may waste
the fuel. Some instances will show how diverse the re-
sults are, and the perfection that may, in spite of them,
be attained by liquid fuel. The war vessel Ural, of 100
horse-power, used to burn thirty poods of anthracite an
hour ; on being fitted with a Lenz's apparatus it burn;
twenty-eight poods of liquid fuel. The gunboat SeJceera,
264 LIQUID FUEL.
of seventy horse-power, consumed exactly as much, liquid
fuel as it had previously done coal. The same was the
case with the Khivenets. The war steamer Tchikishlar
was allowed by the regulations to burn fourteen pounds
of coal per horse-j^ower every hour ; its consumption of
astaiki was eleven and three quarter pounds. This was a
little better. In the case of the schooner Pistchal the
proportion was fourteen and a half pounds of liquid fuel
to fourteen pounds of coal. But in most of these cases
the engines and boilers were of ancient construction,
the pulverizers were of early make, and there was no
check placed upon the consumption of fuel, so long as it
did not exceed the regulation quantity of coal. On the
merchant steamers of the Volga, where a restriction was
imposed by the enhanced cost of the fuel in conveying it
to that river from Baku, the results were of a very
different character. The Constantine Kaufmann burns
only five and one-third pounds per horse-power per hour ;
the Alexander Janclre burns six and a half pounds ; and
the Peter the Great, a large passenger steamer of 200
horse-power, has the reputation of burning least of all.
Its consumption is only four and three-quarters j)ounds
of liquid fuel per horse-power per hour.
Theoretically a ton of liquid fuel ought to go as far as
two tons of coal, and as a matter-of-fact, in the more
economical furnaces a proportion of one to three is often
attained. This feature is of extreme importance away
from Baku ; but at Baku itself the firms, like the
Government, are quite content if a ton of astaiki goes as
far as a ton of coal. It is easy to understand this, when
it is remembered that a ton of astaiki is thirty or forty
times cheaper than a ton of coal, and never exceeds in
the dearest times the price of half-a-crown a ton.
Practice has demonstrated that petroleum refuse is a
perfectly safe fuel ; being, indeed, safer even than coal.
One or two scientific men, among them Professor Lisenko,
OIL FURNACES PERFECTLY SAFE. 265
of St. Petersburg, have declared the crude oil to be
dangerous, but Gulishambaroff proves this to be a fallacy.
Says Lisenko : — " Petroleum dregs constitute, owing to
the difficulty of setting fire to them, a material perfectly
safe for river steamers. This, however, cannot be said of
crude petroleum, which ignites more readily, and hence,
owing to its dangerous qualities and the irrationality of
making use of it when dregs will do as well, its use
ought to be prohibited on rivers." Gulishambaroff,
arguing from practice, combats both these opinions.
He asserts it is quite safe, after standing a little while in
the air, and he rightly opines that if there is a strong
demand for the article as fuel, and the crude oil is
forthcoming in large quantities, the question of " irra-
tionahty " ought not to be made a ^cause for official
prohibition.
" Crude petroleum," he says, " only needs to stand in
the open air for a few days, and then a firebrand may be
safely thrust into it ; men may be often seen doing this
in the oil lakes of Balakhani. In summer it clears itself
of its inflammable qualities very rapidly, which is proved
by the fact that oil thrown up by the Baku fountains,
and forming lakes, loses in a few days ten to fifteen per
cent, of its gravity. This operation may be accomplished
in winter by heating the oil in open receptacles. The
flashing point of crude petroleum, fresh from the well,
and having a gravity of 0-870, is 40 degrees Celsius ; the
flashing point of petroleum refuse ranges between 80 and
170 degrees Celsius. But the same crude oil that flashed
at 40 degrees on issuing from the well will not flash
under 60 degrees if allowed to remain in the open air a
week ; while after a fortnight the temperature must be
70 degrees for it to ignite."
Abundant proof might also be cited from the experi-
ence of the last ten years at Baku. Thousands of tons
of crude petroleum, thrown up by the fountains and
266 LIQUID FUEL.
allowed to spoil in tlie surface lakes, have been used as
fuel, without any mishaps. For years also the locomo-
tives of the Petroleum Branch of the Transcaucasian
Railway have been running daily from Balakhani to
Baku, with trainloads of crude oil freshly drawn from
the wells, without a single case of explosion. So much
for the crude article. As for the safety with which the
dregs may be carried and used on any kind of steamer,
there should be sufficient proof afforded by the fifteen
years' practice in the Caspian to set all fears at rest.
What test could be severer than its employment on
steamers loaded from head to stern with hundreds of
tons of inflammable kerosine ? Yet hundreds of voyages
have been performed by the floating oil-cisterns of the
Caspian, without a single case of destruction from the
ignition of the vessel by its liquid fuel, or its refined
petroleum cargo.*
To-day not a single steamer or locomotive in the Cas-
pian region burns wood or coal. Astatlci is the exclusive
fuel employed. Having established itself thoroughly in
the Caspian Sea, the product is rapidly pushing its way
up the Volga and along the south-east Russian railways.
Experiments conducted in 1883 on the Griazi-Tsaritzin
Railway showed that the cost per verst of a train driven
by a petroleum-burning locomotive was 11-64 copecks, as
* Petroleum refuse is so safe that the municipal authorities at Baku
use it to " water" the streets with. The latter liquid is both scarce
and dear at Baku, and even if otherwise it would be of little use to
allay the dust during the hot season, most of the streets containing
shoals a foot or more tliick. The ordinary watering cart would only
mitigate the evil for a few minutes, whereas a dressing of petroleum
refuse soddens the sand and renders it too heavy to rise for a month
or so. In April this year Meerzoeff Sons made a present to the town
of 400 barrels of petroleum refuse, to " water " the streets with in
this manner. It answers the purpose capitally ; but it has one draw-
back : when any dust at Baku settles on one's clothes the heat of the
sun causes the oil to penetrate into them, and no amount of brushing
will remove the stain.
OIL-BUKNING LOCOMOTIVES ON RUSSIAN RAILWAYS. 267
compared with 26-35 copecks expended on anthracite
coal. The effect of this upon the company is displayed
in a letter which Mr. Thomas IJrquhart, M.I.M.E.,
locomotive superintendent to the railway, addressed to
Engineering in March this year, with reference to an
article of mine in that paper upon petroleum. I may
state that I know nothing of Mr. Urquhart personally,
and was quite unaware that there was any English
engineer on the railway.
" Out of 131 locomotives on the Griazi-Tsaritzin Rail-
way, 72 are now altered and burning petroleum refuse as
fuel, and by October this year the whole of the locomo-
tives on the line (465 miles) will be burning petroleum.
From fully a year's experience with petroleum as a fuel
on a large scale with passenger and goods' engines of
various types, I ventui-e to state that petroleum refuse is
the best and most convenient form of fuel ever used for
locomotives or mariue purposes. Space will not admit of
enumerating the many advantages this fuel possesses,
but a few will suffice to show the saving in time and
money which is possible by its use, on sea or land ; cer-
tainly only in cotmtries where it abounds in large quanti-
ties, and at prices favourably compared with other forms
of fuel. A practical evaporation of from 12 to 13|
pounds per poimd of petroleum is quite possible in loco-
motives under ordinary conditions. A cold locomotive
can be fired up to eight atmospheres in from 50 to 55
minutes ; and in engines in daily service where the water
remains warm steam can be made to eight atmospheres
in from 20 to 25 minutes. Water and fuel can be taken
at the same time by simply having the water and petro-
leum tanks or columns conveniently arranged, the latter
being required only at engine dej^ots, say from 100 to 150
miles apart. From three to four tons of petroleum
carefully measured can be run into the tank on the
tender in about four minutes, requiring the presence of
268 LIQUID FUEL.
only one fuel attendant. The combustion is smokelessly
complete, leaving no soot or other residue in the tubes or
furnace. A cast-iron plate, having simply a two-inch
sight-hole, is fixed over the firing door, thus virtually
having no door whatever. The main obstacles hitherto
encountered when aj^plying petroleum as a fuel for loco-
motives are completely obviated by new and improved
appliances especially designed for the purpose, a saving
of nearly fifty per cent, in weight as compared with coal
being attained in regular practice. Besides locomotive
consumption, petroleum has become quite general as a
fuel for pumping and other engines at the several
stations and works on the line."
Tsaritzin is the fij'st railway point touched at on the
river Volga, and is 318 miles higher up than Astrakhan.
Sailing vessels are chiefly used to convey the oil refuse to
the mouth of the river, where it is pumped into barges,
and thence tugged north as far even as Nijni-Novgorod.
The following is the average cost of a ton of astatki
delivered at Tsaritzin.
s. d.
Price delivered on board ship at Baku 4
copecks the pood or ... ... ... 2 6 the ton.
Freight to mouth of the Volga 3 copecks the
pood or .. 1 11 „
Freight to Astrakhan at 2 copecks the pood
Freight to Tsaritzin at 4 copecks the pood
1 3 „
2 6 „
Total 13 copecks the pood, or 8s. 2d. the ton.
The maximum cost last year was sixteen copecks, or ten
shillings the ton, but the increase of shipping lowered
freights in the autumn. Some exjjerts at Baku are of
opinion that the price will fall lower than eight shillings
per ton ; but it is obvious that there is a point below
which it would not be worth while to carry it, and if the
THE DISCOVERY OF PETROLEUM AT QUETTA. 269
complaints of the shippers have any real basis, that
point is already almost reached. Thanks to its cheapness,
it is a severe competitor of Russian coal, which had
begun to be developed in the Donetz valley. Most of the
South Eussian railways are experimenting with petro-
leum-burning locomotives, and there is hardly a doubt
that the example of the Tsaritzin line will exercise an
important effect on them. The total quantity of coal at
present used yearly on all the Eussian railways is about
a million and a quarter tons ; which is chiefly absorbed
by the southern and western lines, and is for the most
part imported from abroad. Baku could readily supply
the equivalent of this in liquid fuel. The amoimt of
wood used on the railways is 650,000 cubic sajines, or
seven-foot fathoms. Where wood is abundant and cheap
the competition with astatki is severe ; but such localities
are becoming rarer every year. In Moscow English coal
was the only fuel used on a considerable scale a few
years ago, in excess of the native wood. Now petroleum
refuse has been adopted by a considerable number of
firms.
The Caspian is thus rapidly becoming a fuel provider
for Eussia proper. South of the Caspian Sea the use
of astatki extends as far as the Persian capital. Fifteen
hundred tons of astatld and crude petroleum are des-
patched from Baku to the Persian ports yearly, and this
supply will develop enormously with the extension of the
Eussian railway system in the direction of Teheran.
East of the Caspian it is the exclusive fuel used on the
Transcaspian railway, and in the forts and barracks of
the newly-annexed Turcoman region. I have already
referred to the immense demand that will spring up
when that railway extends to India. At present the gap
between Kizil Arvat, the Eussian terminus, and Sibi, the
English terminus, is 1,122 miles. This will be reduced
to 1,037 miles with the completion of the Quetta section.
270 LIQUID FUEL.
and again to 902 miles with the extension of the Eussian
line to Askabad, which is simply a question of a year or
two. When these two sections are finished there will only
remain 900 miles of line to construct to join India with
Europe by railway, and no power on earth can prevent
the ultimate junction of the two systems in this direction.
When this is brought about the railway will use nothing
but liquid fuel — no other is available in Central Asia ;
and it is a remarkable circumstance that not only do
enormous deposits of oil exist at the starting-point of the
Eussian railway from the Caspian, but a great quantity
has also been discovered recently in proximity to Quetta.
How large the Beluchistan deposits are has not yet tran-
spired, but, for the moment, it is satisfactory to know
that this great railway of the future is amply secured in
point of fuel. Further eastward an extensive supply has
been found in the Punjab, covering an area of 102 miles
long by 88 miles broad. What has been achieved by the
marine of the Caspian and the railways of the Caucasus
and South Eussia in replacing coal with oil may yet be
repeated in the immediate future on board the steamers
of the river Indus and the locomotives of North-west
India.
As for the European outlets in the Black Sea, by means
of the present one, via Batoum and Poti, and the future
additional one when Baku is connected with Novorossisk,
via Petrovsk and Vladikavkaz, the prospect is equally
encouraging. The Transcaucasian Eailway Company
charges, I believe, the same rate for astatki as the more
valuable burning oil ; which renders its cost delivered at
Batoum for the moment not much under twenty-six
shillings the ton. Eussia imports yearly to the Black
Sea about 300,000 tons of coal, chiefly from England.
The price of this ranges from £2 to £S a ton. Petroleum
fuel is thus two or three times cheaper than English coal,
or, if we reckon that it goes two or three times as far, a
GKAND FUTURE FOR LIQUID FUEL. 271
ton of petroleum fuel, costing at Batoum twenty-six
shillings, is equal to M — ^£9 worth of coal ; ^£4 being
the minimum and ^£9 the maximum. The price of
English coal long ago reached its lowest price in the
Black Sea ; it is unsusceptible of further reduction.
The present price of petroleum refuse, however, is only
at its maximum point, and as the Transcaucasian railway
develops its resources, and the ramifications extend to
Novorossisk, the charge at Batoum may gradually fall to
ten shillings a ton. This is apart from any question of
a pipe-line to pump the residue to the Black Sea. Some
persons at Baku hold this scheme to be impossible : the
sediment would be too great, they say ; but I have been
assured by an American engineer, thoroughly con-
versant with pipe-lines in the Pennsylvanian region, that
this difiiculty could be easily overcome by the employment
of electricity and other means.
The Eussian Government has recently been conducting
experiments with liquid fuel at Sevastopol, with a view
to using it instead of English coal for the men-of-war of
the Black Sea fleet. It is contemplated to reduce the
Caspian fleet to the proportions of a police flotilla, and
place it under the control of the naval authorities of the
Black Sea. This will render Baku dockyard a branch of
the Black Sea naval establishment, and the Caspian will
certainly prove a nearer source of fuel supply than either
Newcastle-on-Tyne or Cardiff. When petroleum fuel has
spread to the Black Sea its extension to the Mediter-
ranean is but a mere matter of time. The expensive
English coal will be hardly able to compete with it there.
But it is through the Suez Canal, along the Eastern trade
routes, that the greatest triumph of liquid fuel may be
expected. Every mile adds to the cost of English coal in
that direction, and renders competition with astafki
shipped from Batoum more difficult. Erom Malta to
Singapore Baku will be able before long to keep every
272 LIQUID FUEL.
coaling station abundantly suppKed witli inexpensive oil
refuse. From Singapore to China the task of maintain-
ing the cheap oil supply could be undertaken by British
Burmah, which possesses enormous deposits of petroleum
gradually being opened up. Baku and Rangoon could
readily furnish enough petroleum fuel for all the trade
routes of the East, and may, in fact, be expected some
day to do so, once its advantages are generally recog-
nized.
Those advantages are more important than is com-
monly imagined. The fuel is perfectly smokeless, which
is a very great merit on board cruisers and men-of-war.
Burned in locomotives on the Metropolitan Eailway it
would put an end at once to the greatest difficulty ex-
perienced in working the line — the annoyance to the
passengers caused by the smoke. If petroleum-burning
engines ran on the Underground line, as they run on the
Transcaucasian railway, there would be no need for
hideous smoke holes ; and if employed in the projected
Channel Tunnel, the necessity for using an elaborate and
problematical system of ventilation would be done away
with at once.
Another great advantage is the absence of any stoking,
and the ease with which the fire can be lighted or sup-
pressed at a moment's notice. Few people realize the
miserable life led by stokers afloat, particularly during
the passage through the Suez Canal and Eed Sea. The
sufferings of thousands of unfortunates would be sus-
pended at a stroke by using liquid fuel, which, being
burned in the form of a huge gas jet, requires no stoking
or personal attendance of any kind, and maintains what
is impossible to secure with coal — a steady even tempera-
ture. The fire can be manipulated to any degree of
intensity by simply touching the cock of the feeding
pipes ; and the sole bit of trouble — burning a few hand-
fuls of cotton waste or wood in the first instance to get
ITS ECONOMY. 273
up a little steam to start pulverizing the oil (the work of
ten minutes or a quarter of an hour) — is abolished in
the recently perfected Walker furnace, in which some
hydro-carbon gas is kept stored for this purpose. Instead
of there being a stoker or two to each furnace, a single
man can look after a dozen or twenty furnaces, and as a
matter of fact, does so in the Caspian oil refineries. This
is a very important economy. So simple is the fuel to
use, and so reliable is the action of the pulverizer, that
the English and the Russian engineers running the
steamers from Baku to the mouth of the Volga told me
that having turned on and adjusted the flame at starting,
they concern themselves no more about their fires until
they reach their destination, in a couple of days' time.
The fuel is clean to use, and there is none of the dust
arising from coal or wood, which is a great nuisance on
board passenger steamers.
Equally important is the economy gained in storage
room. A ton of liquid fuel can do the work of two or
three tons of coal ; thus a steamer can either take two or
three times less fuel, and utilize the bunker space for
cargo purposes, or it can go two or three times as far
without stopping to coal. But there is an additional
economy beyond even this. A ton of oil refuse, I believe,
takes up very little more than half the space of a ton of
coal. In this manner, in the more economical liquid fuel
furnaces, 1,000 tons of oil refuse not only goes as far as
3,000 tons of coal, but takes up only the bunker space of
500 or 600 tons of coal and allows the balance of 2,500
tons to be applied to passenger or cargo purposes.*
* General Valentine Baker, Mr. Arthur Arnold, M.P., and other
eminent travellers who saw the petroleum-burning steamers of the
Caspian when the use of oil was in its infancy, speak in the warmest
terms of the advantages of liquid fuel. In America, where there has
not yet been anything like the development observable in the Caspian,
and the use of the fuel is still in a crude experimental stage, the
following are the advantages claimed by Chief Engineer Isherwood, of
T
274 LIQUID FUEL.
Altogetlier, therefore, without touching upon minor
advantages, liquid fuel compares so favourably with wood
or coal that Baku would appear to be fully justified in
anticipating such a great future for her inexhaustible
stores of the article. If it be remembered that during
the last two centuries upwards of 2,000 improvements
have been registered in bringing the present oil lamp in
use to perfection, the progress achieved by fifty inventors,
in England and Russia, France and the United States, in
creating in the course of a little more than twenty years
a furnace capable of satisfactorily burning liquid fuel in
steamers and locomotives, cannot but be regarded as re-
markable ; and affords grounds for sanguine expectations
of further advances in the mode of utilizing the product.
Such advances will not only be to the advantage of Russia,
but of India also ; for there is little doubt that some day
liquid fuel will be extensively used throughout the
peninsula. Progress at Baku is thus calculated to react
favourably on the development of the pertroleum deposits
of British Burmah, the Punjab, and Beluchistan, and
add to the prosperity and comfort of the people of India.
the United States Navy, for liquid over snlid fuel :— " 1. Reduction of
40-5 per cent, in weight of fuel. 2. Eeduction of 36-5 per cent, in
bulk. 3. Greater facilities in storage. 4. Reduction of number of
stokers to a quarter. 5. Greater speed in raising st«am. 6. Fires
can be extinguished instantly. 7. No smoke, no ashes, no waste. 8.
No loss of heat from opening furnace doors to feed with coal. 9.
AbiHty to command increased temperature without forced draught."
The Russian authorities are beginning to use it instead of wood to
heat the public buildings and barracks in the Caucasus.
PLATK 11.— POKTKAIT UF LUDUIG NoBKL.
275
CHAPTEE XYII.
THE OIL KING OF BAEU.
The Most Important Factor of the Baku Oil Trade — " Eeyond the
Sea a Chicken may be Bought for a Farthing, but it Costs a
Pound to Bring it Home " — Career of Ludw^g Nobel— Origin of
the Kobels — Invention of the Torpedo by Emmanuel Xobel, and
of Dynamite by Alfred Kobel — How Ludvrig Nobel Acquired the
Fortune with which he Started Operations in Petroleum — Com-
mencement of the Enterprise at Baku — Laying Down the First
Pipe-line — Replacing Barrels with Cistern Steamers — Account of
the Oil Fleet— The " Nine-Foot " Shallows of the Volga— Trans-
porting the OU. from Baku to Tsaritzin — Inaugurating the Tank-
Car System — EstabEshment of the Petroleum Network of
Depots Throughout Russia — Mode of Distributing the Oil in the
Provinces — Not a Drop Sold except for Cash — Baku Kerosine in
Germany — Prospects of the Trade Abroad — Statistical Descrip-
tion of the Present Position of Nobel Brothers' Petroleum Pro-
duction Company — The World Does Not know its Greatest Men
— Russian Hatred of Foreigners — Character of Ludwig Nobel —
His Remarkable Talents as an Engineer.
The factor exercising the greatest influence on the past,
present, and future of the Caspian petroleum industry is
that of transport. Baku controls a larger supply of crude
petroleum than America. It can turn out a cheaper
kerosine and a better lubricating oil, while possessing ia
addition an enormous quantity of liquid fuel. For all
these products there is a great and growing demand.
This is particularly the case with kerosine. If the
reader lives in London, where refined petroleum is only
used as a casual substitute for gas, this fact may not be
sufl&ciently realized by him ; but he can hardly go away
T 2
276 THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
from that great city without observing the demand for
good cheap lamp oil that prevails in the village, the road-
side cottage, and the country railvray station. In many
parts of the Continent, where gas-lighting is less
developed, the demand for burning oil is still greater.
Out of the total of 101 millions composing the present
population of the Russian Empire, probably ninety-five
m.illions are dependent on other light than of gas. In
the suburbs of all Russian towns lamps are used —
Moscow, one of the best lit cities in the Empire, having
no less than 8,000 kerosine lamps in use in the streets.
Consequently in Russia alone there is a great home
demand for Baku petroleum oil, without touching upon
foreign markets. But a cheap and abundant supply of
good kerosine in the Caspian is of no use to Russia,
unless it can be placed in the lamps of the people at a
price accessible to all. That price is entirely dependent
upon the cost of the transport. The Russian people have
a proverb that " beyond the sea a chicken can be bought
for a farthing, but it costs a pound to bring it home."
Applying this to kerosine, it is no source of satisfaction
for Russia to have kerosine at a penny a gallon at Baku,
if its carriage to Moscow adds three or four shillings per
gallon to the cost.
There was a time, however, when this condition of
things existed, and when it was cheaper for the merchants
of the upper course of the Volga to get their oil from
America than from the Caspian Sea. Even so recently
as last year, Tiflis, up to within a few weeks of the open-
ing of the Baku railway, drew her supply of lamp-oil
from America, a distance of more than 8,000 miles, in
spite of countless millions of gallons of petroleum run-
ning to waste 341 miles from her doors. For years
America literally controlled the entire petroleum market
of Russia. How at length her sway was overthrown,
and her power attacked in turn in Austria and G-ermany,
ORIGIN OF THE NOBELS. li/<
forms one of the most interesting episodes of modem
industrial progress. The revolution was due to Ludwig
Nobel, the Baku oil king. The manner in which it was
effected can be best described by giving an account of
himself and his brothers.
The father was a Swede of great ingenuity and skill,
thoroughly devoted to his jjrofession, who, in the hope
of finding wider scope for his talents, proceeded to
Russia in 1838, carrying with him the models of two
torpedoes of his own invention — one for naval and the
other for land purposes. These so impressed the Eussian
Government that it gave him a sum of money for the
patent, and assisted him in establishing a workshop to
manufacture them. As he spoke no Russian, a young
Finnish engineer, speaking Swedish and Eussian, was
placed at his disposition by the authorities. This indi-
vidual, General Baron Stan dertskj old (pronounced Stan-
dertsheld), is now head of the Government Small Arms
Factory at Toula, and in subsequent years proved a
staunch friend to Emmanuel Nobel's sons in assisting
them iu the petroleum enterprise. In 1842 Ludwig
Nobel, then a boy of twelve, proceeded with the rest of
the family to St. Petersburg — his elder brother Robert
had already preceded him and entered the business.
Seven years later Ludwig also became an apprentice ;
and it can be well understood that under the guidance of
a father who possessed the characteristics which have
made the Stephensons a proverbial tyj^e, he had every
opportumty of becoming a clear-headed, ingenious, hard-
working, practical engineer. Ere long the Crimean war
broke out ; and the father and the sons had their hands
full of making submarine mines for Cronstadt and
Sveaborg. The task of placing them in the water to
hamper the Allied Fleets also devolved upon them, and
involved a constant exercise of ingenuity.* It woixld be
* The mines occasioned more annoyance than injurj^ to the AlKed
Fleets, but this was due to causes beyond Emmanuel Xobel's control.
278 THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
interesting to describe these operations more fully, but
they are hardly relevant to the present work ; and what
I have already said on the subject will be suflScient to
indicate the genius of the Nobel family : — Emmanuel
Nobel, the father, was the inventor of the torpedo, and
of his sons, Alfred Nobel discovered dynamite, and
Robert and Ludwig Nobel became the twin organizers of
the Russian petroleum industry.
In the second year of the Crimean war the Govern-
ment built a powerful fleet of gimboats and floating
batteries, and Emmanuel Nobel was encouraged to con-
struct engines for them. This was a very onerous
undertaking, as there was no skilled labour forthcoming,
and the Swedes had to train the workmen as well as
supervise them. For a whole year Ludwig Nobel worked
as a blacksmith with the men to get out the large
forgings recjuired. This necessity for practically creating
an organization out of the most unpromising materials
gave both Robert and Ludwig Nobel a mobility of mind,
energy, readiness of resource, knowledge of human
natvire, and patience in elaborating success in face of
ignorance, prejudice, and stupidity, of immense use to
them in after years. Between 1855 and 1858 the Swedes
built three pairs of engines of 500 h.p., and five of
200 H.p. ; from 1857 to 1862 they constructed fifty
steamers, for the most part for the Volga, many of which
are running to-day. By the year 1860 the engineering
At Sveaborg, for instance, he -n-anted to lay them down sufiBciently far
from the forts to prevent the Allied Fleets approaching near enough
to bombard the latter. The Russian authorities, however, thought
that if this were done our sailors would fish them up and steal them.
They, therefore, had them placed close under the guns of the forts, so
that the artillery might protect the toq-iedoes. The result was what
might have been expected. The Allied Fleets approached near enough
to the forts to bombard them, without advancing sufficiently close to
experience injury from the strings of mines placed across the channel.
The latter, consequently, proved of no use.
GENIUS OF THE NOBEL FAMILY. 279
works had developed into an extensive establishment —
one of the largest in Eussia — and in anticipation of
lucrative Government contracts Emmanuel Nobel sank
a considerable amount of capital in still further extending
it. But a period of retrenchment ensued, the promises
of orders were not realized, and in the end the firm sus-
pended operations. The father retired with broken
fortunes and broken health to Sweden, to die there, and
the prospect seemed black indeed for the three sons,
although two of them are now millionnaires. But if their
capital was gone, they had what was ultimately destined
to rebuild their fortunes — an exceptionally vigorous
and practical engineering training, The manufacture of
the submarine mines, and the laying of them down in the
roadsteads of Cronstadt and Sveaborg, had taxed the
ingenuity of the Nobels for months together. After the
war, for years they had been engaged making steamers
and machinery at a period when improvements were out-
racing one another, and it was no easy matter to keep
pace with the times. Ludwig Nobel, in particular,
enjoyed a great reputation for engineering skill, and when
the firm became bankrupt he was asked by the creditors
to continue carrying on the works for a while as manager.
Eobert Nobel went to Grermany, and in course of time
began to take an interest in the petroleum industry, the
rapid development of which in America was then the talk
of Europe. Alfred Nobel applied himself entirely to
chemical pursuits, and after a while discovered dynamite,
the explosive that has since revolutionized warfare and
shaken thrones, and rendered him a millionnaire.
Ludwig Nobel carried on the business for the creditors
for a couple of years, and then, with .£500 saved during
the interval, began life on his own account. In little
more than twenty years that simple sum of money has
developed into a princely fortune, bringing in .£500
a-day !
280 THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
Establisliing a small engineering works, he took a series
of contracts from the Government for casting shot and
shell, converting guns, and manufacturing rifle stocks,
which rapidly carried him on to affluence. It has been
said that he rendered himself a millionnaire exclusively
through Baku petroleum. This is a mistake. When his
brother Robert, enamoured at what he had seen of the
oil industry during a journey to the Caucasus in 1874 in
search of walnut wood for the rifle stocks manvifactured
by him, urged him to co-operate in the enterprise, he was
already worth d8400,000, realized during his twelve years'
operations. Aided with capital by his brother, Robert
Nobel began operations as a petroleum refiner in a small
way at Baku in 1875. At that time there were more than
120 refineries at work there, and hence he started in face
of as severe a competition as any pessimist capitalist might
expect to find to-day. The Swede did not concern him-
self, however, with concessions, subsidies, and other
similar crutches dear to the heart of the company pro-
moter. He simply settled down in an ordinary way at
Baku, as any quiet plodding capitalist might from
England to-morrow ; and commenced the campaign, con-
scious that success lay in replacing the desultory, primi-
tive, and wasteful oj^erations of the native firms with the
resources of engineering, chemistry, and commercial
organization.
As soon as Robert Nobel began to refine the crude oil
from the wells at Balakhani he revolted against the
practice of carrying the oil in barrels as beiag slow,
wasteful, and costly. But the other firms would not con-
sent to co-operate in placing a pipe-line, and Ludwig Nobel
therefore had to be applied to. For ^£10,000 a pipe was
laid down eight miles long, from Balakhani to the Black
town of Baku, and paid its expenses the first season.
This gave Robert and Ludwig Nobel a widespread rejm-
tation, and by inciting other firms to do the same, laid
REVOLUTIONS EFFECTED BY THE NOBELS. 281
the basis of tlie modem activity and enterprise at Baku.
As for the thousands of carriers who had made dglSO.OOO
a year in conveying the oil in barrels to the refineries on
the coast, a death-blow was struck at their trade, and to
protect the pipe-line from their fury watch-houses had to
be built the whole distance every few hundred yards.
To-day all the oil is pumped through pipes to the coast,
and a carrier's cart is scarcely ever seen. This was the
first revolution in the industry effected by the brothers.
Having got their refinery in working order and a pipe-
line laid down, the Nobels began to think of securing
their own oil supply. Ground was purchased, and the
Swedes at once decided to improve upon the primitive
Baku system of boring for oil. Six petroleum borers
were brought over from America, and Eobert Nobel set
them to work boring in the Pennsylvania fashion. This
was not found to be altogether suited to the requirements
of the Apsheron region, and a number of modifications
were introduced by the brothers, and the " composite
system " adopted, such as is in general use to-day through-
out Balakhani. For some time the Nobels were very un-
lucky with their wells, and even began boring for a
cheaper oil in the island of Tcheleken ; but at length
they triumphed over difiiculties, and for years have had
more oil than they have known what to do with. The
improved system of boring, resulting in an unprecedented
copious supply of cheap oil, was the second revolution
effected by the Nobels.
In the meanwhile a fresh problem had arisen, requiring
to be solved. The Kobels had got a good supply of crude
oil at Balakhani, a pipe-line of their own to convey it to
the Black Town of Baku, and a well-organized little
refinery there to convert it into kerosine. What was
now needed was an improved means of conveying the re-
fined oil thence to the consumer in Eussia. The system
in vogue at the time was to put it in barrels, and convey
282 THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
it by steamer and railway to tlie home market, 1,000 to
2,000 miles distant. This was a very inconvenient and
costly mode of transport. In the first place, there was
no wood in the locality to make barrels of, and to bring
it from the Volga occasioned a serious expense. Barrels
were so expensive that many firms purchased the empty
American ones for Baku, and even then the barrel was
considerably dearer and more valuable than the oil it con-
veyed to market. In the second place, owing to the ex-
treme dryness of the Caspian region half the year round,
the leakage from the barrels was very great ; and ia the
third, the steamboat and railway companies exacted heavy
freights for conveying such inconvenient cargo to Russia.
To do away with them altogether, Nobel Brothers sug-
gested to the Directors of the Caucasus and Mercury
Company that they should fit up a steamer or two with a
cistern, so that the oil might be conveyed in an unbar-
relled form to the river Volga. In return for doing this
they offered them a lucrative contract for carrying oil for
a term of years. The Caucasus and Mercury Company,
however, has always been notorious for want of enter-
prise. Making a handsome percentage yearly by means of
the State subsidy, no incentive exists to exertion. The
offer, therefore, was refused, and Nobel Brothers were
compelled, in default of any other means, to decide upon
constructing a fleet of steamers themselves.
And now were displayed the advantages they possessed
over other Baku firms in having an engineering establish-
ment on the Neva, where steamers could be planned and
built, machinery manufactured, and apparatus and appli-
ances tested by skilled engineers before being sent to the
Caspian. With the engineer, Robert Nobel, on the spot,
the engineer and financier, Ludwig Nobel, controlling
operations at St. Petersburg, and the talented scientific
investigator. Aired Nobel, to refer to in chemical matters,
the firm possessed advantages which rendered serious
o
SUCCESS OF THE CISTERN STEAMERS. 283
rivalry from ill-educated and apathetic Eussians or
Armenians impossible. In making the first steamer, one
or two difficulties of no mean order were encountered.
The Caspian Sea is liable to sudden tempests, and it was
necessary to take every precaution against the insecurity
of such a shifting cargo as oil. Wiseacres in Russia
asserted, that as the gifted Americans had never deemed
it feasible to bring oil to Europe in cistern-steamers, it
was sheer folly for any one to attempt it in the Caspian
region. However, Ludwig Nobel was by birth an
inventor, and he schemed out a steamer, after a consider-
able amount of thought, in which the cargo was kept
under control by an elaborate and peculiar system of
water-tight compartments, without in any way interfering
with the rapid loading or unloading of the vessel. The
trial steamer proved a complete success. As might have
been expected, it paid for itself the first season. Having
got the start, the Nobels kept it up. They added to their
fleet as fast as they could, getting the steamers cheaply
constructed in Sweden. The profits were relatively
enormous. With their steamers they beat the barrel
transport so completely that the other firms had no
chance against them, and as the j)rofits were swiftly ap-
plied to extending the business, the company in a few
years became a gigantic concern.
The first " liquid transport " or " cistern-steamer "
appeared on the Caspian in 1879. There is now a
regular fleet of them. Nobel Brothers possess twelve —
the Mahomet, Tatarin, Bramah, Spinoza, Darwin, Talmud,
Koran, Calmuck, Zoroaster, &c. The dimensions of the
Spinoza will give some idea of the class of steamer com-
posing the fleet. The vessel is steel-built, 245 ft. long,
27f ft. broad, and when laden with kerosine has a draught
of 11 ft. The engines are of 120 nominal horse-power,
steaming at ten knots an hour. They burn petroleum
fuel, the bunkers containing a supply calculated to last
284 THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
six days, i.e., sufficient for the journey from Baku to tlie
mouth of the Volga and back. The cistern-hold accom-
modates 750 tons of kerosine each trip. Some of the
other vessels vary slightly from these dimensions. The
Koran and Tahmicl are each 252i ft. long, and 28^ ft.
broad, and carry passengers as well as oil.
Owing to the splendid canal system connecting the
Neva with the Yolga comparatively little trouble was
experienced in conveying the Swedish steamers to the
Caspian. In the case of the larger ones they were cut
amidships to facilitate the passage ; the open extremities
being filled with iron bulkheads before entering the
canals, and the vessel being put together again at Astra-
khan. Altogether Nobel Brother have simk over ,£400,000
in establishing their petroleum fleet, and possess a
regular dockyard at Astrakhan to repair the Caspian
transports and the flotilla of smaller steamers on the
Volga.
Directly Ludwig Nobel's cistern- steamers proved a
success other firms hastened to purchase similar ones for
the Caspian, most of them ranging from 150 to 250 ft. in
length. Some of these were built by Mitchell & Co., on
the Tyne. Up to now about forty or fifty have been
added to the Caspian marine, and twenty more are to
arrive at Baku this season. The creation of such a fleet
is an exploit of which any engineer might be proud, and
Ludwig Nobel may certainly claim credit for having, by
the substitution of the steam-propelled 200,000-gallon-
floating-oil-tank for the 40 gallon wooden barrel, effected
the third great revolution in the Caspian petroleum in-
dustry.
The mouth of the Volga is too shallow to allow of the
passage of vessels of deep draught, and the large
steamers were therefore restricted to seiwice in the
Caspian. The transhipment of passengers and cargo is
usually effected at a locahty 80 miles below Astrakhan,
THE YOLGA OIL FLOTILLA. 285
known as "Daivet Foot " — " Nine Feet," from the depth
of water at the spot. This is not an ordinary river bar,
but a fan-like shoal extending for miles beyond the delta
of the Volga. Here, twenty miles or so from land, the
transhipment staff of the various steam boat companies
live on hulks for eight months out of the twelve, retir-
ing to Astrakhan in the winter. Following the general
practice, Ludwig Nobel arranged that the oil should be
pumped into light draught cistern-steamers or large
barges at Daivet Foot, and tugged up the river. This
involved the formation of a second flotilla.
The vessels of this range in size from 60 feet to 150 feet,
and convey the oil from the Nine Foot shallows to
Tsaritzin, the first railway point on the river Volga, 400
miles distant. Nobel Brothers have about a dozen such
vessels, costing ^£6,000 or so apiece, besides eleven iron
tank-barges for kerosine, four wooden ones fitted with
128 iron tanks, and twenty-eight wooden barges for the
liquid fuel. Thanks to these vessels, the oil can be con-
veyed from Baku to Tsaritzin with wonderful raj)idity.
From the storage reservoirs at the refinery at Baku the
kerosine descends by its own gravity through an eight-
inch pipe to the head of the pier on the bay, and pours
into the cistern- steamers at the rate of 100 to 200 tons
per hour. Nobels' large steamers, containing 750 tons of
oU, can be loaded in this manner in four and a half hours.
The cistern full, the steamer proceeds to the mouth of
the Volga, pumj^s the oil into the barges, and returns
again with water ballast, the journey there and back
being done in four and a half days. Water being scarce
at Baku, and in fact more precious than oil, it is pumped
from the steamer into reservoirs, and is either used at
the refinery, or for irrigating the park at Villa Petrolia
which Ludwig Nobel is having laid out for his employes
on the shore of the bay a short distance north-east of it.
In the meanwhile, the smaller steamers run oil up the
286 THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
Volga to Tsaritzin in a couple of days, and pump it into
reservoirs for storage alongside the railway, from which,
it is ultimately sent to every part of the Russian railway
system, and to Middle and Western Europe.
In all there are twenty-five piers for loading oil at Baku,
most of them large enough to accommodate several ves-
sels at a time. Only the best steamers are employed to
carry the kerosine, the conveyance of liquid fuel being
confided to wooden sailing vessels, or any kind of craft.
These latter, however, are now being rapidly replaced by
steamers. Thanks to the tank-steamer service between
Baku and Tsaritzin, kerosine, which in the barrel days of
the industry could not be sold at the latter place under
ninepence a gallon, now realizes a profit at Ifd.
It was a great achievement for Nobel Brothers to have
covered the Caspian and Volga with a fleet of steamers,
conveying the oil in floating cisterns instead of barrels to
the starting point of the Russian railway system at
Tsaritzin, but a deal more remained to be done. At first
the oil, on reaching Tsaritzin, was barrelled and sent in
that form to various parts of Russia ; but after a while
Nobel Brothers sought to replace the truck loads of in-
convenient and leaky barrels with regular oil-waggons,
or tank-cars. As with the Caucasus and Mercury Steam-
boat Company, so with the Grriazi-Tsaritzin Railway
Company, the directors pooh-poohed the idea of carrying
the oil in a " liquid " form ; they refused to add a single
tank-car to their rolling stock, in spite of the offer of
an advantageous contract. Thereupon the courageous
Swedes set to work to make hundreds of these tank-cars
themselves, and before long had 1,500 in operation, con-
veying kerosine to every part of Russia at a price render-
ing competition on the part of the barrelled oil impos-
sible. This was the fourth revolution effected.
When the tank-cars began to run Nobel Brothers
found they needed depots, and here again the Russian
THE OIL TEAINS ON EUSSIAN RAILWAYS. 287
railway companies refused to give any assistance. If
Nobel Brothers reqxiired oil sidings, they must build
them themselves. So, besides placing their own oil trains
on the Hne, they had to purchase lands at various com-
mercial points and build stations for themselves. That
they should have never been discouraged by the opposi-
tion they met at every step they took, from Baku firms,
steamboat companies, and railway companies, is a re-
markable testimony to the unflinching courage and
irrepressible perseverance of Ludwig Nobel. By this
time the finn had undergone considerable changes.
Stricken in health, Eobert Nobel had quitted Baku and
Eussia, after firmly laying the foundations of the oil
industiw, and Ludwig Nobel, from merely taking a sleep-
ing interest in the speculation, had embarked in it a con-
siderable portion of his wealth and become the soul of
the enterprise. In 1879 the business became a joint-
stock concern, under the title of Nobel Brothers' Petro-
leum Production Company (" Tovarishchestvo Neph-
tanavo Proisvodstva Bratieff Nobel ") ; the chairman
being Mr. Ludwig Nobel, and the directors General
Bilderling, Count Tatischeff, and Mr. Beliamin, of St.
Petersburg, and Mr. Alfred Nobel, of Paris. Hence-
forth, the control of the organization centred in Ludwig
Nobel at St. Petersburg, who devoted himself entirely to
the development of the concern from the Eussian capital,
while Mr. Tomudd, the manager, armed with autocratic
power, supervised the operations in the Caspian region.
In Eussia " Nobel Brothers " is only the ofl&cial designa-
tion ; the public always evinces its recognition of the
master mind controlling the firm by ascribing every
movement or innovation to Ludwig Nobel.
We have seen that the firm sunk, between 1879 and
the close of last year, over ,£400,000 in placing " float-
ing cisterns " on the Caspian and Volga. A further sum
of ^£275,000 was also sunk between those two periods in
288 THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
placing 1,500 tank-cars, or sixty trains of twenty -five cars
each, on the Eussian railways. Tsaritzin was made the
starting point. Here wharves and reservoirs were built,
nxunerous sidings constructed, barracks erected for the
employes, and a factory fitted with barrel-making
machinery for casking lubricating oil. To facilitate
operations at night, the whole of the area from the
wharves at the water-side to the rearmost reservoirs on
the lofty bank of the Volga was furnished with the
electric light. The united capacity of the storage tanks
is now 5,000,000 gallons. That of the other depots and
stations is as follows : —
Gallons.
Central depot and station at Orel ... Tanks for 18,000,000
Depot and station at St. Petersburg -.. „ 2,300,000
Two depots and stations at Moscow ... „ 2,300,000
Depot and station at Warsaw „ 1,800,000
Saratoff „ 3,600,000
Twenty-one various smaller stations and
depots „ 2,800,000
Total storage capacity, including Tsaritzin „ 35,800,000
The construction of this ramification of depots has
involved an outlay of more than a quarter of a million
sterling.
The organization of the petroleum network, the extent
of which will be appreciated by a glance at the map I
have given, has occasioned an enormous amount of
thought and care, and only a man of the Lesseps or
Ludwig Nobel order, possessing peculiar and rare talents,
could have ever carried it out. In winter the Volga is
frozen over, and no oil can be carried for four months
from Baku to Tsaritzin. In summer, on the other hand,
when the boats can run freely, twilight prevails all night
long, and the public needs no kerosine. As a result of
this, it was necessary to form in different parts of Eussia
great storage depots, where the oil could be collected in
o
NOBELS' OIL DEPOTS. 289
summer, and from whence it could be distributed in
winter. The central place chosen for this operation was
Orel, which is conveniently situated in Middle Eussia for
distribution in the most populous districts. Here the
reservoirs were made to hold 18,000,000 gallons of
burning oil at the time, and with the oil station, the
sidings, and the repairing shops for the tank-cars, cover
several himdred acres of groimd. Four other large
depots were erected at Moscow, St. Petersburg, Warsaw,
and Saratoff. Scattered between these, and between the
Baltic and Black Sea on the one side and Germany and
the Volga on the other, were twenty-four smaller depots.
In this manner, in the summer the sixty oil trains run
from the Volga to the twenty- sis depots in every part of
European Eussia, including Poland and Finland, filling
up the reservoirs ; and in winter they change their base
of operations from Tsaritzin to those depots, and convey
the oil to the various intermediate railway stations where
a demand exists for kerosine. No barrelling is carried
on by the firm. They sell the oil by the train-load to the
petroleum dealers in provincial Eussia, who bring their
own barrels to the railway station, and carry it away in
this form to their stores. A fortnight is allowed for this
operation. A remarkable fact is, that although Nobel
Brothers are able to send to Eussia over 200,000 tons,
or more than 54,000,000 gallons of kerosine every year,
not a drop is sold except for ready cash ! By arrange-
ment, the railway companies undertake to receive pay-
ment for oil consigned to any station, receiving a small
commission for their trouble, and until the money is paid
to the booking clerk the petroleum dealer is not allowed
to touch the oil. At St. Petersburg large scale maps are
kept in the central office of Nobel Brothers, and a clerk
is posted in charge, whose duty is to receive telegrams
from the guards of the various trains, and note with
flags on the maps their whereabouts. All the year round
xr
290 THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
the sixty oil trains of Nobel Brothers are continuing run-
ning over an area twenty times larger than Great Britain,
yet at any moment of the day Ludwig Nobel can go into
the office and see at a glance the actual whereabouts of
every one of them.
The tank-cars hold about ten tons of oil apiece.
Twenty-five make a train, which thus conveys 250 tons
of oil each trip. A tank-car can be filled in three and a
half minutes, and the whole train in a little more than
an hour. The cost of a tank-car is about d8200. None
of the other fiiTas at Baku possess tank-cars of their own.
Recently the G-riazi-Tsaritzin Railway has added 300 to
its rolling stock and about a couple of hundred are nin-
ning on the Transcaucasian Railway. None of the other
lines have any.
Thanks to their petroleum network, Nobel Brothers
have practically secured a monopoly of the Russian kero-
sine trade. Refined petroleum conveyed by railway in
barrel from the Volga has no chance whatever against
them. Possessing vast resources, they can raise or
depress prices in that quarter, and not only drive the
American oil completely out of the market, but undersell
all Russian competitors likewise. It is but fair to say,
however, that up to now they have never abused their
position, and have always displayed generosity towards
rivals, seeking of their own accord to enter into friendly
arrangements with them rather than ruthlessly expel them
from the field.
Stimulated by the profits Nobel Brothers have realized
from their tank-cars, the railways have been discussing
of late the expediency of adding them to their regular
rolling stock, A short time ago the Griazi-Tsaritzin
Railway applied to the Minister of Ways of Communica-
tion for permission to increase its capital to purchase
tank-cars, but for some reason or other the proposition
fell through. The Baku firms, oa their part, have raised
MONOPOLY ENJOYED BY NOBEL BEOTHEES. 291
an agitation that the transport of oil should be mider-
taken by the State, and rendered a Crown monopoly.
But, although the authorities have responded to the
clamour and discussed the idea, nothing has come of their
deliberations, nor is any action apprehended. As a
matter of fact, the cheap and expeditious transport of oil
is not a task that can be efaciently undertaken either by
a railway or by the State. The market needs to be care-
fully watched, so as to concentrate oil on a particular spot
at a given advantageous moment, and this is a matter
which is not likely to be well performed by a Government
oflScial or the traffic manager of a railway. A railway, in
fine, can only properly look after the oil on its own line,
which is but a fraction of the entire Eussian network ;
and besides, only two or three railways, situated close to
the Volga, have evinced any inclination to supplement
Nobels' transport with a service of their own. In this
manner it is very improbable that the Eussian G-ovem-
ment will burden itselE with oil transport, or that the
Eussian railways will do more for the moment than add
a few trucks to their rolling stock. In the meanwhile
Nobel Brothers, having estabhshed their organization
and got the start, may be expected to develop into a
Eussian Standard Oil Company, if, indeed, they are not
that already ; and, stimulated by the new trade they are
opening up with Austria, and Germany, and England,
assume proportions which will render rivalry of any kind
in Eussia completely out of the question.
Until last year Nobel Brothers confined themselves
to Eussia; they were fully occupied completing their
organization, and, further, the home market was a better
one for kerosine than Western Europe, where the
American oil was less handicapped by a duty and the
trade was more thoroughly developed. However, last
summer a train-load of Baku kerosine successfully
undersold American refined petroleum at Bromberg, and
u 2
292 THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
out of the sensation created by tliis new invasion has
sprung up what is daily becoming a larger trade. At
first the German buyers held aloof, but, practice re-
vealing Nobels' brand of kerosine to be as good as the
best American, a company was fonned with a capital
of 1,500,000 marks (.£75,000), in 300 shares of 5,000
marks each, to import the oil. The Deutsch-Eussische
Naphtha Import Gesellschaft in November last con-
cluded an arrangement with Nobel Brothers for dis-
tributing Baku kerosine, and preparations were made for
erecting at the various railway points on the German
frontier large barrelling depots, the German regulations
forbidding the transport of the oil in tank-cars.
However, these regulations have since been abolished,
and arrangements are now in progress for nmning oil
trains on the German railways. As the oil can be pumped
from a Eussian oil train into a German one (the differ-
ence of gauge rendering the circulation of the Eussian
trains on German lines impossible) in a little more than
an hour, the expense of transfer will be a mere nothing,
and render the Eussian article able to evict the American
oil from the German market. If a similar arrangement
can be entered into with Austria, where there is already
a considerable trade in Eussian oil, and if no obstacles
be raised against the "liquid" form of oil transport by
other States, we may see, in the course of a year or two,
trains laden with Baku petroleum circulating from one
end of Europe to the other, and carrying consignments
from Tsaritzin, Saratoff, Samara, and other railway
points on the Volga to the leading cities of Germany,
Austria, France, Switzerland, Belgium and other States.
While the Continent is thus being opened up by railway,
Nobel Brothers and one or two other finns are shipping
oil products from Libau to German and French ports,
and to England. Libau is likely to become a great
outlet for Baku oil, and it is said that Nobel Brothers
A BAD LOOK-OUT FOR AMERICA. 293
contemplate running a cistern-steamer service between
it and Western Europe. They have also purchased
land at Batoum, and project similar operations there.
In this manner, while the tank-car trains running from
the Volga will attack American oil in every coimtry on
the Continent, flotillas of cistern-steamers issuing from
the Baltic on the one flank, and from the Black Sea on
the other, will do battle in the northern and southern
ports.
Such a prospect is most alluring to Eussia ; although
I must admit that many unenterprising and dim-visioned
firms at Baku — sighing for State aid, increased duty on
imported kerosLne, and other crutches — do not yet realize
it. The remarkable growth of Nobel Brothers' business
may be cited against those who consider the picture over-
drawn. Nine years ago Nobel Brothers had not devoted
any attention to petroleum ; they were simply engineers.
They began in a very small way, simply with a view to
giving Robert Nobel a chance to make a fortune, Ludwig
and Alfred having already in other spheres of life accu-
mulated wealth ; and it was not for three or four years
that Ludwig Nobel began to take a direct interest in the
industiy. They never had any support from the State,
they received every discouragement from the people at
Baku, from the shipping and railway companies and the
transport trade generally, and they were constantly being
assailed by the Panslavist Press because they were
foreigners. Yet these two Swedes, Robert and Ludwig
Nobel, have as completely revolutionized the Russian
petroleiun industry, and the Russian industrial and
political position in the Caspian, as Alfred Nobel has
transformed mining operations and the art of war, and
given incalculable power to democracy, by his discovery
of dynamite.
Nobel Brothers' Petroleum Production Company now
control a capital of <£!, 500,000 sterling, paying on an
294 THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
average a dividend of twenty per cent. At tlie oil fields
of Balakhani thej liave over forty wells, of which fourteen
are " fountains." One of the latter, as I have already
said, yielded last year 112,000 tons of crude oil in a
month. Two pipe-lines, each eight miles long, and able
to convey 4,000,000 barrels yearly, connect the wells with
the refinery in the Black Town of Baku. These cost,
with the branches and pumj)ing stations, over =£75,000
to lay down. The refinery covers more than a mile of
ground, and is able to turn out daily in the busy season
220,000 gallons of burning oil, 80 tons of lubricating oil,
and 1,300 tons of liquid fuel ; equal to a yearly production
of 65,000,000 gallons of illuminating oil, 27,000 tons of
lubricating oil, and 450,000 tons of liquid fuel. Each of
its large refuse reservoirs holds 4,000,000 gallons of liquid
fuel at a time. On the Caspian the firm have twelve
large cistern-steamers, costing over .£250,000 sterling;
twelve steamers and forty barges on the Volga, and a
dockyard at Astrakhan, costing collectively .£180,000 ;
besides which they charter a large number of schooners
and barges every season from other owners. At Tsaritzin,
and twenty-six other points in Russia, they have estab-
lished depots for 85,000,000 gallons of kerosine, at a cost
of nearly d8300,000, and have placed on the railways
1,500 tank-cars, at a cost of more than .£275,000. The
railway freight alone they pay yearly exceeds a quarter
of a million sterling. Altogether their organization gives
employment to no less than 5,000 people, and at times
this has been raised to double the number. If it be borne
clearly in mind that Eobcrt and Ludwig Nobel came
quite fresh to the petroleum trade in 1875, and that the
growth of all this vast organization practically dates from
the close of the Turkish war, I think my readers will
agree with me that few enterprises will compare with
what has been so successfully accomplished in such an
amazingly short space of time by these talented Swedes.
SUMMARY OF LUDWIG NOBEL's ACHIEVEMENTS. 295
It is often said tliat tlie "world does not know its greatest
men. To my view, if Mr. Smiles were to examine the
story of Ludwig Nobel's achievements, he would find that
in far-off Russia a practical example had been furnished
of engineering genius, inventive talent, capacity for
organization, power of patiently pressing down obstacles,
and by sheer force of character commanding success, such
as he would readily give honourable prominence to in a
revised edition of his " Self Help."
In that popular work Mr. Smiles gives many remark-
able instances of industrial enterprise and success, but it
seems to me that there are few that sui-pass what Robert
and Ludwig Nobel have achieved. The story of their
career would make a most interesting book — I have
simply been able to give a silhouette of their achieve-
ments. And in connection with their success there is a
very striking fact. Russia is notoriously a corrupt
country. There are few commercial fortunes made there
that would bear a public examination. The Nobels have
amassed their fortune by an honesty and broadness of
principle rare even in England to-day.* Their generosity
towards their employes is remarkable. Outside Baku a
handsome suburb is rising on the coast of the bay. It
is really a walled park, to contain when complete fifteen
beautifully designed stone bungalow-villas, with lodgings
for several hxmdred persons. These are surrounded by
hundreds of trees brought from the Volga, and irrigated
by fresh water conveyed thence by the oil steamers on
their return journey. This suburb is Villa Petrolia,
where Nobels' chief employes will form a colony and live
Tinder conditions of comfort which many an English
* A5 an instance of this, I may mention that the moment Ludwig
Nobel acquired sufficient money he paid off all the liabilities his father
had contracted when he became bankrupt, a duty \Yhich was certainly
not incumbent upon him, and which only a man with a rare, chivalrous
eeiLse of honour would have thought of discharging.
296 THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
capitalist might copy with benefit to those beneath him.
A public library is being built for them, billiard-tables
have been sent to amuse them, and a sort of co-operative
princij)le has been introduced enabling the employes to
invest their money in and participate in the profits of
the firm.
The feeling of enmity and jealousy of the Baku rival
firms towards the Nobels is easily tmderstood, but I could
never get at the bottom of the hostile attitude of the
Russian Press. Probed to the depths, the only reason I
could discover was an ultra- Slavonic foreign-hating spirit.
It is a feeling Englishmen cannot understand. A short
time ago Sir William Siemens, a German located in this
country, died, but the circumstances of his nationality,
and the fact of a large proportion of his employes at
Charlton — several hundred I believe — being G-ermans,
did not prevent England honouring him with a funeral
service in Westminster Abbey. Not a word was uttered
against him on the score of nationality. Ludwig Nobel
holds a position similar to that of Sir William Siemens.
He found the Russians unfitted for his enterprise, and
employed Swedes instead. The fact of his being a
naturalized Russian, speaking Russian like a native, and
having a sincere sympathy for Russia, has been no excuse
for this crime. While I was at Baku a Russian special
correspondent visited the petroleum district. Nobels'
manager gave him every assistance, and at the end of his
investigations asked him what he thought of the industry.
The Russian replied : "Your organization is splendid — it
is perfect ; but there is one thing that provokes my regret
— what a pity it is not Russian." The reply was charac-
teristic. " Russian or Swede, what does it matter, so
long as Russia gets good cheap oil ? You say the Baku
firms dislike us. We cannot help that : but if you can
find in Baku any man who can jjrove we are dishonest,
cheat, adulterate, or refuse to redress substantial griev-
LUDWIG NOBEL A REMARKABLE MAN. 297
ances, we will confront an inquiry in your presence ; and,
i£ guilty, make amends."
Generally speaking, there is very little that is attractive
in the careers of millionnaires. Giants in their own nar-
row money-grubbing domain, they are insignificant, and
too often contemptible out of it. Men enriched by
shoddy, by patent pills, by sharp practice on the Stock
Exchange, and other modes of spoiling the public, are
not worthy of much notice, and the less literature has to
say about them the better. But there are miUionnaires
and millionnaires. No shoddy feature is to be found in
Ludwig Nobel's career. His wealth is due not to specu-
lations favoured by the exceptional cheapness of oil in
the purchasing market, and the exceptional deamess in
the selling one — if that had been the case, himdreds of
Eussians and Armenians already in the trade when
Eobert Nobel started operations in 1875 would have stood
an equal chance of becoming millionnaires — but to the
genius that planned a vast transport organization, the
engineering skill that carried it into effect, and the
integrity that raised the quality of the product trans-
ported from a debased and despised condition, crushed
by foreign superiority, to a position fit to compete in turn
with that superiority and overcome it. Only a man of
rare and remarkable talents could have done what Ludwig
Nobel has achieved ; and if his success has brought him
immense wealth, he has the proud consciousness that not
a voice can be raised against the genuine ring of every
penny of it. But without dwelling any further on his
character — the facts I have given chant their own praise,
and need no additional eulogy from my pen ; there are
one or two more points connected with his success, which
possess considerable interest. Times are very bad, we
are daily told, and for years past the opportimities are
alleged to have been few for piling up a fortune. Yet
Ludwig Nobel's wealth has been chiefly formed since the
298 THE OIL KING OF BAKU.
Eusso-Turkish war, during the severest period of com-
mercial depression Eussia has experienced for generations.
Again, most fortunes are of slow growth, and are the
outcome, as it were, of a man's whole existence. This
cannot be said of the fortune Ludwig Nobel has realized
from Baku petroleum. Up to 1874 he had never taken
the slightest interest in the product ; until 1879 the
attention he gave was only of a casual and intermittent
character ; and when at length he took in hand the
organization of the industry, ninety-nine out of a hun-
dred people would have said that the development of the
petroleum trade was more the task for a city man, a
clever financier, than for an engineer whose life had been
spent amidst machinery. Yet it was the engineer, and
not the trader, who was destined to reap in five or six
years such a fortune from oil that the most covetous or
sanffuine merchant might be elated with.
299
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE FUTURE OF THE CASPIAN PETROLEUM TRADE.
Repeated Crises of Late Years at Baku— Their Cause— Production of
Russian Refined Petroleum by Nobel Brothers and Other Firms
—Russia Beginning to Push the Petroleum Industry— New Com-
binations on the Volga—Statistics ;0f the Import of Ameiican
Oil into Russia— The Russian Petroleum Trade and the Markets
of Germany and Austria— Prospects of Rivalry with America-
Projected Railways to Transport the Oil to Europe— Petroleum
Traffic on the Transcaucasian Railway in 1883- Export from
Batoum and Poti— Progress of the Various Branches of the Trade
— New Markets in Southern Europe and the East that may be
Expected to Fall to Russia Once the Batoum Route is Developed—
The Cheaper the Oil the Larger the Consumption— English Enter-
prise of the Past and the Present— Whether we participate or not
the Baku Petroleum Region is sure to be developed.
The success of Nobel Brothers lias not been unmarked
with suffering on the part of other interests at Baku.
There are always two aspects to a victory — the radiant
triumph of the conquerors, and the groans and grief of
the vanquished. The success of George Stephenson's
locomotive meant ruin to hundreds interested in stage-
coaches, and in a like manner the improved methods
introduced by the Swedes have reacted adversely upon
the fortunes of those wedded to old ways. Thus, the
introduction of the pipe-lines at Bakii caused the collapse
of hundreds of carriers who conveyed the oil in barrels
from the wells to the refineries. When cistern-steamers
were introduced many coopers at Baku found the demand
for barrels gone, and with it a very lucrative business.
Before the petroleum fleet reached its present propor-
tions Nobel Brothers gave handsome freights for the
carriage of oil products to the Volga. This led to over
speculation in the construction of oil schooners, and when
the steamers arrived the former were left anchoring idle
at Baku, their occupation gone. The success of the
300 FUTURE OF THE CASPIAN PETROLEUM TRADE.
Nobels in boring for oil also, accompanied with a succes-
sion of extraordinary spouting wells, brought down the
price of crude petroleum to a few pence a ton, and re-
duced to insignificant proportions the income of those
who had lived exclusively upon the money realized from
the sale of the produce of the wells. Worse than all,
however, was the crushing competition which the 200
other refiners experienced at the hands of the Nobels.
The cheap transport of the Swedes brought down prices
everywhere in Kussia, while the 200 firms having no
organized transport of their own, and having to rely upon
the careless, shiftless, exacting railway and steamboat
companies, could not possibly deliver oil at a price that
would enable them to compete with the Nobels. It is
true that after a while they bought steamers of their
own, but in the meantime they had lost their hold upon
the market. Besides, Nobel Brothers not only delivered
oil cheaply, but the quality was unfailingly good, and
improved every year, while the supplies of less organized
and scrupulous firms could not be relied upon. The sub-
joined table of the production of Russian refilled petro-
leum during the last twelve years will show how severely
the battle has gone against the non-Nobel Baku firms.
PRODUCTION OF RUSSIAN REFINED PETROLEUM.
Tears.
Nobel Brothers.
All other Firms.
Total.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
1872
—
16,400
16,400
1873
—
24,500
24,500
1874
—
23,600
23,600
1875
—
32,600
32,600
1876
100
57,000
57,100
1877
2,500
75,100
77,600
1878
4,550
93,000
97,550
1879
9,000
101,000
110,000
1880
24,000
126,000
150,000
1881
50,000
133,000
183,000
1882
72,000
130,000
202,000
1883
106,000
100,000
206,000
BAKU CAN SUPPLY THE WHOLE WORLD. 301
Thus in a few short years Nobel Brothers' production
has progressed until it has completely surpassed that of
the 200 other oil refiners at Baku put together. By
further additions to their refijiery they have rendered
themselves able to turn out this year 232,000 tons of
refined oil, or nearly enough to supply the whole Eussian
market. All this will explain why for several years past
there have been several so-called crises in the Baku
petroleum trade, and a considerable amount of outcry at
times about the industry going to the dogs. As I have
already pointed out, the industry, generally speaking, has
been prosperous and progressive enough, but this im-
provement has been mainly due to the enterprising
Swedes, whose rapid and unprecedented success has been
the innocent cause of stagnation, arrested growth, and
even ruin in individual cases. There has been nothing
whatever during this period to warrant any pessimist
views with regard to the general future of Baku petroleum.
Baku contains enough oil to supply the whole world.
The markets of that world lie open to it, and the success
of Nobel Brothers in the limited sphere of Russia is a
suflBcient demonstration of what may be done by other
foreign capitalists in the hundreds of other markets in
Europe, Africa, and the East.
Already Russia herself is beginning to participate in
the extension of the enterprise. The Caucasus and
Mercury Company is arranging for the conversion of old
steamers to oil-carrying purposes, and the construction of
new ones, with a sufficient aggregate capacity to convey
120,000 tons of oil during the season. The company
will build its own reservoirs at Baku, and convey oU of a
uniform quality to Tsaritzin. Here a newly-formed
Russian company, called the " Neft," or " Petroleum,"
with a capital of .£200,000, will receive it in reservoirs
and convey it in tank-cars to different parts of Russia ;
the Caucasus and Mercury Company, the " Neft," and
302 FUTUEE OF THE CASPIAN PETROLEUM TRADE.
the Griazi-Tsaritzin Eailway worked a througli traffic in
oil by a mutual arrangement with each, other. This
combination will not oppose very serious rivalry to Nobel
Brothers, because its rates are high, and the manage-
ment divided ; but it will enable other Baku firms to send
oil to Eussia under more favourable conditions than
hitherto, and probably result in the complete expulsion
of the American oil from it.
The following shows the import of American oil into
Eussia, compared with the growth of the refined petro-
leum trade from 1871 to 1880, beyond which year no
official statistics are forthcoming. It is known, however,
that the import of American oil has still further decreased
of late years. The figures are in poods, each containing
4| gallons : —
Imported from
Produced at
Total Quantity used
America.
Baku.
in Russia.
1871
1,720,418
380,000
2,100,418
1872
1,790,334
400,000
2,190,-334
1873
2,701,093
832,800
3,533,893
1874
2,.524,160
1,336,675
3,860,835
1875
2,653,126
1,990,045
4,643,171
1876
2,662,486
3,145,075
5,807,561
1877
1,701,502
4,594,766
6,296,268
1878
1,989,034
6,255,910
8,244,944
1879
1,711,811
6,963,658
8,675,469
1880
1,445,558
7,858,750
9,304,308
Total ...
20,899,522
33,757,679
54,657,201
Now that Baku kerosine is from 80 to 100 per cent.
cheaper than American refined petroleum at St. Peters-
burg the latter product can hardly be imported into
Eussia much longer, especially as it is weighted with a
duty of 40 copecks the pood. Besides the new transport
service just mentioned, a large number of barges and
steamers are to be added this year to the Volga flotilla
THE VOLGA OIL ROUTE. 303
as well as to tlie Caspian marine, and consequently the
Volga outlet for Baku petroleum will rapidly attain its
fullest development. Wlien this is accomplished, and
cheap oil floods the Russian market, there will naturally
be an overflow into Germany, Austria, and other states.
At Berlin Baku petroleum is being sold for one rouble
twenty-four copecks the pood, as compared with one
rouble forty-three copecks asked for the American oil.
At Stettin it can be sold for sixpence per gallon,while the
price of the American oil is 7^d. per gallon.* Germany
imports over 100,000,000 gallons of oil from America
every year, and Austria at least half that quantity. In
Austria for some time past the Eussian oil has been gaiu-
ing ground, having been conveyed thither by sea, from
Batoiim to Fiume, as well as overland via the Volga.
Without going further west, the reader will see at once
that an extensive market for the oil exists immediately
outside the confines of Eussia. From Libau large
quantities of lubricating oil are being shipped to London.
As already stated, this port promises to be the Baltic
outlet of the Caspian petroleum trade, Nobel Brothers
* Cost of the refined petroleum delivered at Tsaritzin on the
Volga, including general charges and a reasonable profit,
per gallon ... Ifd.
RaUway freight for conveyance in Nobel Brothers' tank-
cars from Tsaritzin to Libau, per gallon ... ... ... l|d.
Extra charge for wear and tear of the tank-cars ... ... Jd.
Freight from Libau to Stettin |d.
Proportionate cost of barrel at Stettin, with storage, dis-
charging, leakage l|d.
Total cost per gallon "... ... ... 6d.
Actual selling price of American petroleum per gallon at
Stettin 7H
Selling price of Baku petroleum .. ... ■ 6d.
Difference in favour of Baku l^d.
304 FUTUKE OF THE CASPIAN PETEOLEUM TRADE.
taving already established an exporting depot there, and
other firms beginning to follow their example.
Summing up the Volga route, we may expect to see
during the next few years not only a continual develop-
ment of the steamer service at the same remarkable rate
that has characterized its growth since Robert and Lud-
wig Nobel showed how cheaply oil could be conveyed in
floating cisterns, but also a rapid increase of the rolling
stock of the railways ; the result being a large export of
Baku oil from the Baltic ports, in excess of the inrush
of the article across the frontier into Germany and
Austria.
To overcome the disadvantage occasioned by the freez-
ing of the Yolga four months out of the twelve, a proposal
has been put forward by the Minister of Railways to
extend the Russian railway system from Vladikavkaz to
Petrovsk, on the Caspian. Petrovsk is only a day's run
by steamer from Baku, and once railway communication
established vessels could carry the oil thither, and tank-
cars convey it thence to every part of Russia, including
Rostoff-on-the-Don, where it could be shipped to South
Europe. It would thus comj)ete with the Tsaritzin route
on the one hand, and with the Batoum route on the
other; giving facilities, as a third route, for the addi-
tional export of from 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 gallons of
oil from Baku every year.
During the autumn of 1883 a party of Government
engineers surveyed the ground for this undertaking. The
length of the line was found to be about 160 miles, and
the cost estimated at a little over one and a half millions
sterling. The strategical value of the railway has been
so often insisted on by military experts that the Baku
refiners entei'tain reasonable hopes that the line will be
early taken in hand. In connection with this scheme
there is another, to which I referred in my description of
Novorossisk, for extending the Vladikavkaz Railway to
OIL TRAFFIC TO BAT0U5I. 305
the Black Sea at that point. This would give the oil a
better European outlet than Rostoff-on-the-Don, which
is frozen up in winter. There is also a third scheme for
extending the railway from Petrovsk to Baku, and link
that place with the Russian railway system. When
this is carried out the tank-cars will convey the oil direct
from Baku to every part of Europe.
In the meanwhile, pending the constitution of these
lines, the Baku-Batoum railway is the most accessible
outlet for Europe. The opening of this line is calculated
to exercise a remarkable effect upon the development of
the trade, bringing the oil at a stroke into a region where
the American article can only be sold at a high price,
and whence it can be readily despatched to the Mediter-
ranean for the southern European ports, and, via the
Suez Canal, to India and China, The markets most
advantageously situated for Baku, and the least open to
American competition, by this new route, are as follow :
appending thereto the quantity of fine petroleum they
imported from America in 1882 : —
Tons.
Austria (Trieste and Fiume)
42,592
Italy
52,340
Algeria
4,903
Malta
775
Greece
2,920
Constantinople
9,912
Other Turkish ports
13,829
Egypt
10,181
Gibraltar
4,276
African Coast
11,718
British India
93,967
China
82,410
Japan
55,717
Bangkok
1,230
Indian Archipelago
44,763
Australia and New Zealand
47,173
Total
478,706 tons.
Or about 3 500,000 barrels.
306 FUTURE OF THE CASPIAN PETROLEUM TRADE.
"Witli the advent of a cheaper oil the consumption in
these countries would rapidly increase, as in the case of
Russia, where in the days of dear petroleum in 1871 only
9,000,000 gallons of kerosine were burnt, while last year
the amount exceeded 40,000,000 gallons.
Nobel Brothers have already secured the monopoly of
the Volga oil route, and there is very little probability of
foreign capitalists interfering with them there, but the
Batoum oil route still remains to be developed. Although
no organization has yet been established, an encouraging
trade has already sprung up, as the kerosine oil traffic
returns of the Transcaucasian Railway for last year will
show.
REFINED PETROLEUM TRAFFIC ON THE TRANSCAU-
CASIAN RAILWAY, 1883.
In Barrel.
In Tank-car.
Total.
Gallons.
Gallons.
Gallons.
January
—
—
275,962
February
—
—
297,293
March
—
—
97,452
April
—
—
117,710
May
453,335
337,500
790,835 i
June
397,386
480,870
878,256
July
427,928
496,913
924,841
August
515,601
365,175
880,776
September
718,227
695,340
1.413,567
October
505,993
Cl:^,S00
1,119,793
November
1,000,940
248,525
1,249,465
December
1,790,725
943,200
2,733,925
Total ...
5,810,135
4,181,323
10,839,875
These returns do not include the exports of Messrs.
Bunge and Palashkovsky, the constructors of the Baku
Railway, who for some reason have kept their ti'affic a
secret, and have been allowed to do so by the Govern-
ment. Of the kerosine exported between August and
December 80 per cent, went to Batoum, and 5 per cent.
BATOUM AS A PETROLEUM OUTLET. 307
to Poti ; tlie remaining 15 [per cent, was absorbed in its
passage over the line, 7 per cent, being taken by Tiflis,
and the rest by other towns and stations en route. From
August to December 1,300 tons of lubricating oil were also
transported from Baku, of which 450 tons went to
Batoum and 650 tons to Poti; the remainder being
delivered at Tiflis and Shamkhor. During the same
period 1,200 tons of liquid oil were transported; 350
tons to Batoum, 250 tons to Poti, 450 tons to Tiflis, and
the rest to intermediate stations. As regards crude
petroleum, only 140 tons were carried by the railway, and
of this only half a ton penetrated to Batoum. These
figures, which Gospodin Grulishambaroff has been at great
pains to collect, are not put forward by him as perfectly
accurate. The Customs' returns at Baku, as well as the
traffic returns on the Transcaucasian Eailway, are not
kept with sufficient care to be treated as altogether
reliable ; but they give an approximate idea of what has
been done in the way of the export of oil from Baku,
via the Black Sea ports, since the railway was opened.
The returns of the Batoum Custom House supplement
the above figures by including the products sent abroad
by Palashkovsky, and making good other omissions.
EXPORT OF BAKU OIL PRODUCTS FROM BATOUM TO
FOREIGN COUNTRIES FROM MAY, 1883, TO JANUARY
1, 1884.
Gallons.
Refined petroleum 3,356,298
Crude lubricating oil ... ... 418,410
Refined lubricating oil ... ... 788,211
EXPORT OF BAKU OIL PRODUCTS FROM BATOUM TO
RUSSIAN BLACK SEA PORTS DURING THE SAME
PERIOD.
Gallons.
Refined petroleum ... ... 3,715,992
Crude lubricating oil ... ... 22,378
Throughout the autumn of 1883 great dissatisfaction
X 2
308 FUTURE OF THE CASPIAN PETROLEUM TRADE.
existed at Baku at the inadequate transport service of the
new railway, and the slowness in despatching oil to the
Black Sea. A consignment of oil rarely reached Batoum
under three weeks. In reply to a deputation, the traffic
manager of the Transcaucasian Eailway excused himself
on the grounds that no reservoirs existed at Batoum, thus
preventing the despatch of oil in large quantities, while
no organization had been yet established to ship the oil
regularly to Europe. He did not think it was the duty
of the company to construct reservoirs or to provide tank-
cars ; although he admitted that the despatch of the oil
in barrels was detrimental to the trade. The following,
in his opinion, were the measures needed to establish the
export trade on a proper basis : —
1. To build a port at Batoum.
2. To establish a large tank-car service between Baku and Batoum.
3. To form a fleet of cistern-steamers to convey the oil from
Batoum to Europe.
4. To reconstruct the Suram section of the railway, so as to do
away with the congestion occasioned by that pass.
5. To enforce a uniform standard in the kerosine exported from
Baku.
Shortly afterwards General Possiet, Minister of Eail-
ways, visited Baku and Batoum, followed by General
Ostrovsky, Minister of Crown Domains, and Admiral
Shestakoff, Minister of Marine. All held conferences
with the Baku petroleum firms, and one of the results
was the decision of the Government to constnict at
once a port at Batoum. The formation of a tank-car
service and a fleet of steamers was left to European
enterprise, but a promise was made to construct a tunnel
under the Suram pass as soon as circumstances would
allow.
Since the begianiag of the year there has been a rapid
increase in the export of oil from Poti and Batoum.
From the former port no less than five vessels were sent
PROSPECTS OF A TRADE WITH EUROPE. 309
away with cargoes of kerosiue duTing the first ten days
of February. Already the trade has increased beyond
the limits of convenient shipraent at Batoum, but this is
being remedied by the steps taken to create a great
commercial port there, to accommodate the traffic. In the
meantime, it is stated that a number of temporary jetties
are to be erected to provide for the shipment of oil.
When a pipe-line is laid doAvn between Baku and Batoum,
to carry the kerosine to the Black Sea coast, as is confi-
dently anticipated will be the case in the course of a
few years, the oil trade of the Caspian will assume vast
proportions. Such a pipe-line would not seriously inter-
fere with the traffic of the railway, as the tank-cars would
still be needed to convey the lubricating oil and the liquid
fuel to the Black Sea.
For the crude petroleum a large export is neither ex-
pected nor desired. To utilize this, refineries would have to
be erected in Western Europe, and as the principal products
can be more cheaply extracted on the spot, the present
disincUnation of the European petroleum trade to make
use of it may be expected to continue. A curious in-
stance of this occurred a short time ago. Instructions
were given by a Eussian export house to despatch a ship-
load of petroleum refuse to Western Europe for the use
of lubricant manufacturers. The Baku agents, having
no dregs on hand, concluded that crude oil would do as
well, and consigned a shipload as directed, with a result
that the vessel had to go begging from one country to
another before a purchaser could be found for the article.
But there is no need for this mistake to be repeated, or
for the inference to be drawn from it that the market for
Baku petroleum products is in any way restricted.* For
* America only exports 2 per cent, of crude petroleum. A strong
feeling prevails in Russia against allomng the oil to be exported
except in a manufactured form, so as to retain for Eussia the profit of
refining it.
310 FUTURE OF THE CASPIAN PETROLEUM TRADE.
the kerosine there is an immense future, particularly in
the East, its high flashing point rendering it superior to
the American oil in hot climates. The crude lubricating
oil has already found large purchasers in France and this
country, and for this product and the refined article there
is likely to be a very large sale in England, owing to its
extreme cheapness and excellence. The oil refuse is also
in great request, and apart from its employment in
various manufactures there must be an immense export
of it, at no distant date, from Baku to the Black Sea and
the Mediterranean, for purposes of liquid fuel. The
estabhshment, on a large scale, of kerosine candle manu-
factories and dye-extract works at Baku is only to be
expected when the industry has become more mature.
Nobel Brothers have taken the lead in the opening up
of the Baku oil supj^ly, and, excited by their success,
capitalists in other parts of Europe are turning their gaze
towards the Caspian Sea. Some have already done the
wisest thing under the circumstances — gone direct to
Baku to see the state of affairs with their own eyes, and
are no doubt now reaping the benefit of their journey.
Up to the present moment England is the only country
that has held aloof from participating in the enter-
prise. This is a very curious circumstance, since the
English were the first to open up and survey the Caspian
for Russia, and sought for many years in the reign of
Elizabeth, and again in the time of George II., to estab-
lish a trade via the Caspian Sea with India. Of late
English entei-prise has withered in that corner of Asia,
but there is no reason why it should not revive, once the
importance of the Baku petroleum trade is realised. Mr.
Peacock, the British Consul at Batoum, wi'ote to me early
this year : — " The petroleiim riches near the Caspian are
so great, and the wells yield so much more than the Baku
traders are in a position to work or send raw to market,
that the question of exhaustion for at least many years
PROSPECTS OF A TRADE WITH EUROPE. 311
to come need create no fear among people directly or in-
directly connected with the Baku petroleum industry. It
is almost painful to observe the total absence of English
merchants at Baku. I know the drawbacks of the
country very well, but I daresay they were as numerous
and perhaps more aggravating in the time of Jonas
Hanway, described in your pamphlet on Baku, and still
our merchants risked penetrating to the wildest comers
of the world." If we do not act as the carriers of petro-
leum from Batoum the future fleets of cistern-steamers
wiU be in other nations' hands. A regular line of
steamers has already been established by the Germans
between Hamburg and Batoum. We cannot retard the
development of the industry by holding aloof, nor is the
industry, like problematical mines, of such a character as
to involve serious risk to those who participate in pushing
it. Whether the lucrative export trade of Baku oil vid
Batoum shall be taken up by English merchants, or revert
to Continental rivals, depends entirely upon ourselves. I
have done my best to describe the industry impartially,
and the option of acting upon my information rests with
the community at large.
312
CHAPTER XIX.
OLD PERSIA NEW RUSSIA.
Sermons Preached by the Rocks at Baku — The Slovenly Persians of
To-day — Will the EngHsh Some Day become Pariahs in India ?
— Russia Growing Towards Our Eastern Empire — We are Only
Sojourners in India, the Russians are Settlers in the Caspian —
The Material Growth of Russia More Fraught with Danger to
Our Rule than her Military Operations in Central Asia — Russia
becoming More Unassailable in Central Asia, while We continue
as Vulnerable as Ever in India— The Shortsightedness of English
Statesmen — The Caspian now a European Lake — The Widening
of the Boundaries of Europe — Its Significance — The Waterway
between London and Baku — The PojDulation of Baku ; Remark-
able Growth — TchernayefF's New Road to Central Asia via the
Mertvi Kidtuk and Khiva— Discovery of Petroleum along it
— The Traffic on the Volga — Russia's Progress towards the Persian
Gulf — Fate of Persia — The Baku Road to India — Statistics of it
— Disappearing Obstacles — The Cossack Approach to India —
Impossible to Prevent an Approximation of the Two Empires —
The Duty of all Englishmen.
Old Persia — New Russia : what deep meaning exists in
those words ! What visions they conjure up of the
extension of the White Tsar's dominions towards our
Eastern Empire ! Twenty-five centuries of Persian
priests mumbling their prayers at the Surakhani altars,
day after day, year after year, and in the intei*val the
great Persian Empire expanding to its fullest — stretching
from the Indus in India to the Bosphorus in Europe,
and embracing at times Afghanistan, modern Persia, the
Caucasus, and Asia Minor — and then contracting, break-
ing up, and becoming bit by bit what we see it to-day — a
WILL ENGLAND SOMEDAY EOT ? 313
mere Khanate, dependent for its existence upon tlie nod
of the Emperor of Russia. If the rocks at Baku could
speak, what tales they could tell the slovenly slippered
Persians, loafing about the bazaars under the eye of the
bearded, heavy-booted Eussian policeman, of the great
creed and great empire of their ancestors. As they pass
me chattering — a sapless, effeminate, dirty rabble — I
regard them vrith curious interest. To think that these
should be the children of men, proud citizens of a great
and warlike empire — who once upon a time used to
resort to the Surakhani altars, to thank the great Fire
God that they were not as other people, poor cowardly
oppressed creatures, but warriors and statesmen respected
from Delhi to Constantinople. It is not the past, how-
ever, that engrosses all my thoughts. What if I could
penetrate a few centuries into the future ! I might then
see some curious traveller watching with similar intei-est
ragged loafers in the bazaars of Bombay and Calcutta,
and asking himself — can these possibly be the children of
the gifted English warriors who once possessed the most
magnificent empire the universe had ever seen ?
But the world rolls faster to-day than it used to do in
olden times. Empires rise, ripen, and rot more rapidly.
Our Eastern empire is growing towards Eussia ; Eussia's
empire is growing towards ours. In a few short years
the two will touch, and then humanity will see whether
the Eussian empire will swell beyond the line of demar-
cation, and break up our empire as it has already broken
up and sucked the saji out of the Persian empire ; or
whether the superior vitality of our empire will stem
any further advance in the direction of India. More we
cannot hope for. The Eussians can break up our power
in India — they can trip us off the backs of the natives :
we cannot break up their empire in Asia. The English
are only sojourners in India : the Eussians are settlers in
the Caspian region. Generations hence, unless the
314 OLD PEBSIA — NEW RUSSIA.
character of our rule cliange, we shall still be merely
casual residents in the East, while the Caspian region,
from being on the outskirts of the Russian emj)ire, will
be as much within its limits as Novgorod and Penza ;
and the Russians dwelling there will exercise the influ-
ence attaching to numbers which we cannot hope for in
India. The English will be then, as now, but a drop in
the ocean of Indian humanity. The Russians, on the
other hand, will be the main element in the Caspian
region. While a mere handful of white faces will be all
that ,will represent English suzerainty at Benares and
Allahabad, Merv will be a busy Russian mart — another
Kazan or Orenburg — and Baku, with a population of
half a milHon or more Russians, the all-powerful metro-
polis of the Caspian.
Hence, the rocks of Baku have sermons to preach to
Englishmen as well as to the degenerate children of
Iran. We are citizens of a great Empire. The jewel of
that empire is India. We know, although there are
traitors in our midst, ever whispering suggestions to the
contrary, that the greatness of England is largely bound
up with the maintenance of her rule over that grand
dependency. We know it to be the set purpose of
Russia, who is already at the gates of India, to strive to
expel us from the peninsula next time we openly thwart
her ambitious plans in Europe. Yet though we see the
vigorous roots of Russia deriving sustenance from the
vitals of Tartary, Persia, and Turkey, and every year
thrusting out suckers further and further east, we make no
attempt to check that growth or set our empire in order.
To my view, the material growth of Russia is fraught
with more danger to our rule in the East than the exten-
sion of her armament towards Herat and Candahar.
We are developing India enormously. I do not know
anything more calculated to make an Englishman proud
of his empire than the rapidity with which we are open-
OUR WEAK HOLD ON INDIA. 315
ing up the resources of that splendid country. But
"while commerce grows and wealth accumulates the num-
ber of Englishmen ruling and defending India shows no
sign of increase. Excluding women and children, and
including the army, administration, and mercantile
classes, there cannot be more than 150,000 English in the
country. All these regard themselves as strangers in a
foreign land, and look to some day returning home ;
none are encouraged to settle in India. Quite the reverse
is the case with Russia. The Caspian Sea, which not so
long ago was a purely Persian expanse, is now becoming
as much a Eussian lake as Ilmen or Ladoga. The pea-
sants of Middle Russia are colonizing the steppes at the
foot of the Caucasus. Soldiers are settling down in
colonies in Transcaucasia. Baku, Tiflis, Batoum — once
strongholds of Persia, Georgia and Turkey — are assum-
ing the aspect of Eussian towns. Officials, soldiers, and
traders come and go, but there is always a proportion,
and a significant proportion, that permanently settles
down in the country. Twenty years hence the 150,000
English in India will have received only solitaiy addi-
tions to their numbers; they will still be strangers in
Kurachee and Calcutta, Delhi and Madras. On the
other hand, by that time Baku will have become as
thoroughly Eussian as Odessa, and the Persian element
will have disappeared from the Caspian as completely as
the Turkish element from the Sea of Azoff. In plainer
language, while we shaU be still as liable as now to be
shaken off the surface of the 250 millions of India, by
means of a judicious manipulation of the discontented
elements there, it wiU be beyond the power of any mortal
man to expel Eussia from the Caspian. Therein lies the
great significance of the Eussian advance. Eussia, as
she settles down in Central Asia, becomes more and more
unassailable. England, on the contrary, remains just as
vulnerable as ever.
316 OLD PERSIA — NEW RUSSIA.
Our statesmen have neitlier imagination nor memory.
Their foreign policy always reminds me of the classical
imbecile, who sat down by the waterside, and deferred
crossing until the river should run dry. They are
always exj)ecting that the Russian advance shall some
day cease. The expansion of Russia has never halted
from the time of Ivan the Terrible, and never can arrest
its course until the Sepoy-guarded frontier of India be
reached ; but with a persistent foolishness, indifference,
stupidity, or any other epithet the exasperated reader
may choose to apply to it, the larger proportion of
English statesmen have always treated an approximation
of the two empires as impossible in our generation.
Although their views of Russian progress have always
been falsified by events, they have never allowed them-
selves to be influenced by the teachings of history. Lord
Salisbury used to think that the Turcoman barrier would
last his time. The Duke of Argyll ridiculed the notion
of the Russians establishing a great base in the Caspian.
The one was as short-sighted as the other. The Cossack
is now far in front of the Turcomans, the Caspian has
become the grandest military base in the world, and
yet, although Merv is in the Postal Union, and Mr.
Gladstone can send a penny post-card to Sarakhs, the
day is still regarded as far distant when the Russians
or the English will be ruling Herat and Candahar, and
free communication will be established between Europe
and India.
It is but the other day that the Caspian was a distant
Asiatic Dead Sea. It is now a busy European lake. In
maps published in the early part of the century the
frontier of Europe is drawn along the Volga to Tsaritzin,
and then down the Don to the Azoff and Black Sea.
Orenburg and Astrakhan, the plains of Stavi'opol and
the valleys of Transcaucasia, belonged to Asia. The
Russians have changed all this. They have dealt as
RUSSIANIZING ASIA. 317
roTiglily with geographers' maps as with statesmen's
treaties. Bit by bit the Asiatic border has been thrust
back, Tintil all these towns and districts have become
included in the European system. And this removal of
Asia from the Don to the Persian ports of the Caspian is
not a mere academic freak, but a significant fact. The
population of Russia has expanded with the frontier,
until Astrakhan and Orenburg, and the towns of Cis-
and Transcaucasia, have as much right to be regarded as
members of the European system as Odessa and Sevas-
topol, . St. Petersbixrg and Cronstadt — all four cities
founded by Russia long after we fii'st made our appear-
ance in India. Madras and Calcutta, Bombay and
Kurachee, which have grown up under our fostering care,
are admirable instances of Indian progress, but they are
not English towns. On the other hand, Kars and
Batoum, Tiflis and Baku, Mei-v and Samarcand will
have become quite Russian in another lifetime. There
are men living who remember when Odessa was a
wretched Turkish fort. There are boys living who, long
before their beards have grown, will see Afghanistan
wiped out as completely as Tartary, and trains running
from opposite Baku to the Burmese limits of India.
Fatuitous and frothy politicians of both parties will
perhaps ridicule such a prediction, but the revolution
that has taken place in Central Asian affairs since 1880
should put the reader on his guard against such traitors
to his interests. There was a time when similar men
tended the Eternal Eires at Surakhani. Did they ever
tell the crowds of prosperous Persian devotees that their
Empire would some day succumb to the forces from
vdthin and without, and their sacred altars be ultimately
turned into greasy stills for stewing lamp oil ? For
years, fatuitous and frothy priests. Conservative as well
as Liberal, have been tending the sacred flame of Gabble
at St. Stephen's, assuring their infatuated admirers that
318 OLD PEKSIA NEW EUSSIA.
all was well and ever would be well with the Empire ;
and even now that the Eussians have left the Caspian
far behind them, and are jjosted at Merv and Sarakhs,
we have them still asserting, in solemn chant, that Eussia
will never meddle with India.
As I rested against the newly-erected stone embank-
ment at Baku, which always reminded me of the Thames
Embankment, and looked over into the water splashing
against its base — water stretching in never ending ripples
all the way from the one embankment to the other, from
Baku Bay to the Eiver Thames — I used to wish I could
take one of the fleet of Casi:)ian steamers, and proceeding
direct via the Volga, the Neva, and the Baltic to West-
minster Bridge, turn on a steam [roarer and roar a few
facts into the ears of the chatterers.
One of which facts would have been this : Growth of
the population of Baku, the future metropolis of the
Caspian region : —
1870 12,191 people
1879 15,105 „
1883 50,000 „
Baku, which ten years ago an English diplomatist
passed through and " saw nothing of interest " (English
diplomatists, by the way, never do seem to see, or say
anything of interest), now possesses 5,000 houses and
1,500 shops, and an immediate prospect of rapid and
indefinite extension. When we contrast Eussia's in-
dustrial and mercantile development in the Caspian with
our mud-pie progress at Quetta, it is impossible not to
feel that we are being beaten out and out in every factor
of the great game of Central Asia.
Even Eussians themselves are only now finding out the
resources they possess in the Caspian region. They have
looked so far ahead in the direction of India that many
advantages existing under their very noses have remained
unseen. It is only the other day that the expedition took
THE SHORT ROAD TO KHIVA. 319
place against Khiva. We all remember what difficulties
beset the march of the various converging columns, and
how that one succumbed miserably in the Kara Kum
sands, and two others were only saved by a miracle. Yet
all the while there was a simple easy road from the
Mertvi Kultuk Bay, opposite the mouth of the Volga, to
the oasis of Khiva, which, if it had been known, would
have saved Eussia htmdreds of lives and millions of
roubles. This road merits a few words of description,
because since I began to write this chapter petroleum has
been discovered at the starting point.
When General Lomakin was desei-vedly thrashed by
the Turcomans at Geok Tepe, in 1879, the whole of the
Transcaspian steppes became exposed to their raids, and
Yaniushin, a Eussian merchant, accustomed yearly to
despatch caravans of goods from Khiva to Krasnovodsk
for the Great Fair at Nijui-lSTovgorod, was obliged either
to suspend his operations, or else strike out for a safer
point further north. He had some idea of making for
Fort Alexandrovsky ; but the Kirghiz were restless, and
the route thither long and arduous, and so at last he deter-
mined he would attempt a short cut direct from the
oasis to the Caspian, immediately opposite the mouth of
the Yolga. To his surprise the road proved to be the
best he had ever traversed ; it was tolerably level most
of the way ; it had plenty of water, fuel, and forage ;
and at its extremity the Dead Bay was found to yield a
very accessible harbour to the Yolga steamers.
Tidings of the new road penetrated to Orenburg, and
Gospodin Eajeff, agent for the Eussian Transport Com-
pany, who had hitherto conveyed goods from Bokhara
and Turkestan to Orenburg, via the Kirghiz deserts
north and south of the Syr Daria, decided to despatch a
consignment in that direction from the upper part of the
Oxus. He also, in his turn, found the road as superior
to the Kliazala-Orenbura; road as Yaniushin had found
320 OLD PERSIA — NEW EUSSIA.
it to be to the Krasnovodsk one, and adopted it as the
regular caravan route for his Company. This decision
got known in time at Tashkent, and General TchernayefE,
to ascertain whether the road would be equally practic-
able for troops, desj^atched Colonel Alexandroff to survey
it. Alexandroff's report was eminently satisfactory, and
led Tchemayeff himself to adopt it when he proceeded
to the Tsar's coronation last year. Tchernayeff, finally,
was delighted with the route, and had a scheme drawn up
for running a railway to Khiva, so as to render it the
chief highway to Turkestan.
A few months ago he fell in disfavour, and his enemies
at once seized the opportunity to ridicule his Kultuk-
Khivan railway scheme. " Tchernayeff's road to Central
Asia," as it was called, although it was really Vaniushin's,
was pitilessly assailed by the innumerable enemies he
had made by his reforming zeal in Turkestan. How-
ever, roads with a destiny, hke men with a destiny, can
never be killed by ridicule. The traders stuck to the
road they had opened up (and such unbiassed preference
was worth a bushel of staff officers' reports), and now a
peculiar importance has been given to it by the discovery
of petroleum springs near the Mertvi Kultuk Bay.
Should these prove to be of a copious character, the rail-
way to Khiva (an inevitable undertaking of the future)
will possess its own fuel supply, and another reserve will
be afforded for Russia, should in distant ages the Baku
oil supply begin to fail.* It is not improbable, indeed,
* A few particulars, condensed from reports by Vsevolod Krestov-
sky(Tchernayefi's private secretary), Vaniushin, RajefF, and others, may
not be without interest to experts. The new highway runs from
Bokhara to Ustik Kurgan, on the Oxus, 60 miles, with crowded settle-
ments and cultivated fields all the way, except one break of 18 miles
of sands. Ustik Kurgan is a small Bokharan fortress ; has a good
descent to the river, and plenty of ferry boats. The journey thence
to Kungrad, 443 miles, occupies six or seven days going down the
river, and a fortnight or three weeks ascending the stream. This
KEW ROUTES. 321
that other discoveries of petroleum may be made when
the mining engineer investigates more closely the Trans-
caspian Steppes. Only so recently as the winter of 1883
Konshin, in one of his surveys, came across a hill fifty feet
high, amidst the Kara Kum sands, containing at least
eight million tons of the finest brimstone.
Such discoveries of new routes and fresh resources bid
us to anticipate a wide development of Eussia's power in
the Caspian in the immediate future. Besides yielding
inexhaustible quantities of petroleum, the Caspian is the
seat of the most flourishing of Russian fisheries. Ex-
cluding the thousands of tons of sturgeon, over 200
million herrings are caught off the mouth of the Volga
every year. Then there is the increasing trade with
Persia, between .£300,000 or =£400,000 of goods being
conveyed from the Persian ports to the G-reat Fair every
season.* Afterwards we may glance at busy Astrakhan,
would be lessened when the steamers arrive of the state-aided Oxus
Navigation Company, wtdch is now being formed at Moscow, with a
capital of £100,000, to work the river traffic. The water has a mini-
mum depth of 4^ feet as far as Kabakli, and 9 feet to Kungi-ad.
From Kungrad to Port Yaman Arakti is a distance of 292 miles,
occupying ten or twelve days ; a wheeled transport service already
exists along it. A pier at Yaman Arakti, erected by the Russian
Transport Company, runs out into 5 feet of water. There is a house
for travellers ; saksaoul fuel abounds ; the Kirghiz are settling down
round about ; and a detachment of troops has been located there
(May 1884). The minimum depth of water in the Mertvi Kultukbay
is 6| feet in summer and 9 in spring. The distance from Astrakhan
is three days for a tug, and forty-eight hours for a passenger steamer.
Using the Kultuk-Kungrad route, troops from Fort Petro-Alexand-
rovsky, in Khiva, can reach Astrakhan in fifteen to seventeen days ;
by the old route the journey to Kazala occupied twenty-eight days,
and to Orenburg thu-ty days, or in all, fifty -eight days. Troops were
sent to Kliiva by the route in May this year, and 3,000 tons of cotton
despatched bj' it from Khiva to Astrakhan.
* In 1883 the total was 3,763,225 roubles or £376,323. Among the
articles were : raisins and kishmish, £126,525; lambskins, £51,400 ;
cotton, £48,500 ; millet, £33,090 ; nuts, £25,625 ; almonds, £18,750 ;
T
322 OLD PERSIA NEW RUSSIA.
that great emiiorium at the mouth of the Volga. In
1882 the trade of this port was estimated at <£5,350,000
sterling. Formerly vessels of more than three or four
feet of water could not pass between Astrakhan and the
Caspian, owing to the shoals in the outlets of the Volga.
During the last two or three years, however, the Bakh-
temir channel has been deepened to eight feet, and now
a large number of steamers run regularly between the
upper Volga and lower Caspian, without transferring
goods at the mouth of the river.
Finally, the Caspian is the receptacle of the Volga
itself — that grand waterway, wholly enclosed in the
Eussian dominions, draining with its affiuents and the
Caspian an area of 6,823,000 square versts populated by
32,364,000 people. The traffic on the Volga amounts to
over 10 million tons annually, conducted by 650 cargo
steamers, and 3,000 barges with a united capacity of
nearly 3,000,000 tons. The value of these steamers and
barges is estimated at 8 millions sterling. In excess of
the 3,000 permanent barges of 1,000 tons capacity each,
there are hundreds of temporary ones constructed to
convey cargoes to JSTijni-ISrovgorod or other destinations,
and then broken up. On the Volga and Kama 100 such
barges are yearly constructed, with a cargo capacity each
of from 300 to 500 tons, and 200 with a capacity of from
5,000 to 8,000 tons. These huge vessels, and the 300-
foot pei-manent barges, are too large to pass through the
canal system to the river Neva, the locks and shallows
of which do not admit of the passage of craft exceeding
in length 147 feet, and in breadth 27i feet; hence 1,000
smaller barges, 100 feet long, and having a capacity of
200 or 300 tons apiece, are yearly constructed simply for
the transport of goods from Eybinsk on the Volga, to St.
silk, £1,860. The Persian merchants remitted home 15,000 gold half-
imperials and £3,000 in paper roubles ; the remainder was expended
in Russian goods for the Persian market.
RUSSIAN DESIGNS ON THE PERSIAN GULF. 323
Petersburg on the Neva. Steps are now being taken to
improve the canal system, which, as will be obseiTed, is
already on a magnificent scale, and ultimately vessels
300 feet long will be able to float from the Neva to the
Volga. Besides the extensive shipbuilding referred to
above, 4,000 barges, wherries, fishing boats, and other
craft are annually built on the Volga for the lower course
of the river and the Caspian Sea. The central point of
the traffic on the Volga is Nijni-Novgorod, where there
is an annual turnover at the Great Fair of from twenty
to twenty-five millions sterling. The traffic passing
through the mouth of the Volga amounted to a million
tons in 1882.
These, then, are some of the resources which could be
directed upon the Caspian through the new eight-foot
channel with the greatest ease, the flowing stream bear-
ing them swiftly down the river to the great outlet-basin,
with the magnificent concentrating point of Baku Bay on
one side of the sea, and the equally splendid harbour of
Krasnovodsk on the other. The great trade-route be-
tween Baku and St. Petersburg is already well organized
— there is a water-channel the whole way. The trade-
route from Europe to Baku via Batoum I have already
dwelt upon. Two others are now left to be examined :
from Baku to India, and from Baku to the Persian Gulf,
Let me deal with the latter first.
Bearing in mind the high pitch of organization the
trade on the Volga has already attained, and the rapid
development of Russia's commerce in the Casjiian Sea,
I think that there can be hardly a doubt that ere many
years are over our heads the Russian traders will be
pushing their way to the Persian Gulf. The distance
between the Caspian and that gulf is altogether insig-
nificant compared with average distances in Russia.
From Baka to Rybinsk, where vessels leave the Volga for
the canal journey to the Neva, is over 2,100 miles. On
T 2
324 OLD PERSIA — NEW EUSSIA.
the other hand, from the decks of the Eussian steamers
in the southern Casjiian, to the Persian Gulf, is only a
matter of 900 odd miles.
The recently published opinion of a Eussian official is
not without interest on this subject.* In describing the
ultimate extension of Eussia's trade to the Persian Gulf,
Gospodin Yogel observes : —
"A mere glance will be sufficient to show that the
newly-opened Baku-Batoum railway does not fulfil the
requirements of Transcaucasia, and that another line
must be built to run down the Aras valley from Erivan
to some port in Lenkoran. The Caspian is a natural
extension of the river Volga : the Persian Gulf is a
natural continuation of the line of communication run-
ning from north to south via the Volga, the Caspian,
Persia, and the Persian Gulf to the Indian Sea. From
the Caspian to the Persian Gulf all that would be needed
would be a railway 700 or 800 miles longt to complete
this highway of communication with India. In course
of time there is very little doubt that such a line will be
constructed, and it is indispensable that Eussia should
take timely measures to secure the control of the branches
that converge upon the Caspian."
If we bear in mind the fascination which the trade of
the East exercises over Eussia, and the growing ambi-
tion of the officials in the Caspian region, we can hardly
consider Persia's independence destined to be long lived.
Persia is assailable at a hundred different j)oints, and the
prestige Eussia enjoys throughout the country is such
that a heavy blow swiftly struck at Teheran would lay in
* An Investigation of the Volga and the waters of its riverine
territory, founded on official and local data. By N. B. Yogel, ex-Chief
of the Kazan Circle of Ways of Communication. St. Petersburg,
1884.
t By the existing caravan road the distance from Resht to Bushire
is 933 miles.
AFGHANISTAN MUST DIE OUT. 325
dust for ever the rotten remnants of the old Persian
monarchy. Seven million people, scattered over desert
or mountain-severed provinces, susceptible of being easily
broken oif the Shahdom in detail, and possessing neither
national vitaKty nor ardent love of liberty, do not con-
stitute a very formidable community for a power to crush
and annex, which has already robbed it of the Caucasus and
Caspian. To go into the past and present of the rival
politics of Eussia and England in Persia is beyond my
province on this occasion, but two short opinions may be
expressed. As regards the past, I do not think that any
Englishman can carefully read the history of Persia for
the last thirty years without being amazed at the persis-
tent imbecility of English diplomacy, and the credulity
of a large projiortion of English political writers in imag-
ining that Persia could offer any check to the material
and military progress of Eussia. As regards the present,
although the coast of the Persian Gulf lies to-day as
closely under the English guns as the shore of the Caspian
does under the cannon of Eussia, yet there is one very
essential difference. A great Eussian colony is growing
in the Caspian, which wiU spread its roots southwards,
finding nothing to check their course till they touch the
ports of the Persian Gulf. We have no such colony or
settlement developing in the Persian Gulf, nor are we
striving to create one with the resources of India.
Hence, when the ramifications of Eussia reach the
Persian Guff, I cannot see any other prospect for
English influence than that it should droop and die.*
* Such a development need not imply a costly conquest of Persia,
although Russia is quite willing to pay a good price for territorial
extensions or predominant influence in the Shahdom. In March, 1884,
died at Shusha an uncle of the Shah, Bahmen Meerza, who fled from
Teheran during the troubles of 1848, and had never left his place of
exile in the Caucasus. Russia maintained him as a convenient pre-
tender to the throne in case of necessity, and allowed him a pension
of 36,800 roubles a year. Altogether, from the time he arrived from
326 OLD PERSIA — NEW RUSSIA.
K Baku is destined to play an imiDortant part in the
opening uj) of direct relations between the Caspian and
the Persian Gulf, still greater is her future in connection
with the Russian Cossack and Caravan advance upon
India. Russia's present policy of seeking to attain the
Indian confines for political and commercial purposes
from the Caspian basis is sometimes spoken of as a new
and novel movement. In reality, it is only the revival of
an old one. I have already referred to the time when
the wares of India used to make their way to Europe
via the Caspian and Transcaucasia ; and to the mania that
possessed English merchants a hundred years ago to
despatch goods from London to India via the Baltic ports
of Russia, the Volga, the Caspian, and across Persia or
the IQianates of Central Asia. Ignoring both these
movements, English statesmen when they evacuated
Candahar treated intercourse between the Caspian and
India as a matter that would never ripen in their time.
Since then, most of the obstacles, geographical and
political (the greater portion existing only in the fancy of
English statesmen) , have disappeared ; and Russians are
talking freely of the time when the great trade-route of
the j)ast will be re-established.
In effecting this re-establishment, Russia will doubtless
be largely aided by the enterprise and public spirit of her
merchants. Russian caravans followed immediately in
the track of the Cossack when Merv was occupied in the
early part of the year. And this energetic action was
accompanied by a circumstance which deserves to be
recorded in these pages. The oasis of Merv is peculiarly
well adapted for the cultivation of cotton, of which there
has always been a slight export to Bokhara. Moscow
draws several thousand tons of cotton yearly from
Persian until his death he received £135,000 from the Eussian Govern-
ment. He was very fond of marrying, and bequeathed to Russia
15 wives and nearly 1 00 children.
HAED FACTS FOR MASTEELY INACTIVITY FANATICS. 327
Central Asia, and lias long advocated an extension of its
cultivation. But Russian merchants are not like many
English ones— continually talking of public spirit, and
never displaying it. When the occupation of Merv had
been effected, the first act of the Moscow cotton spinners,
Konshin and Morozoff, was to distribute gratis several
tons of American cotton seed among the Turkomans,
knowing that this was the most effective way of realizing
the wishes of Moscow. Sawa Morozoff did not rest
content with Russian subjects, but adopted a similar
course with those of Persia, distributing a ton and a half
of seed gratis at Meshed and 900 pounds in Deregez.
Such enterprise will make short work of the trifling
obstacles to trade existing between the Caspian and
India.
How slight these are we may realize by examining a
few hard facts. From Calcutta to Quetta is about 2,000
miles. When the Quetta railway, now in course of con-
struction, is complete, there will be railway communica-
tion the entire distance between the two places. From
St. Petersburg to Baku is a little over 2,000 miles, with
steam communication complete almost the whole way.
Baku and Quetta are thus about the same distance from
the respective Capitals of Russia and India. Now, cross-
ing the Caspian Sea from Baku to Port Michaelovsk, we
find that the distance thence to Quetta is as follows : —
Miles.
Michaelovsk to Sarakhs „. 464^
Sarakhs to Herat 202^
Herat to Candahar ... ... ... ... 369
Candahar to Quetta ... ... ... 145
Total distance from the Caspian to Quetta 1,181 miles.
That is to say, it is only about half as far from the Cas-
pian to Quetta as from Baku to St. Petersburg. This is
not calculated to damp the ardour of Russian traders
328 OLD PERSIA — NEW EUSSIA.
very much. But if we uncoil this fact further, we find
other points of greater significance wrapped inside it.
From Michaelovsk to Kizil Arvat there is a railway to
facilitate intercourse ; hence we may knock ofE 144 miles.
From Kizil Arvat to Askabad is a wagon service along an
easy, safe, and well supplied road ; hence we may reduce
the figure further by 135 miles. From Askabad to
Sarakhsthe distance of 185^ miles is similar to the last in
characteristics, and will be organized for trade in a few
months' time. We may therefore eliminate from the
general total this section also. Thus, from Sarakhs to
Quetta all the distance the Eussian trader has to traverse
is 71 6| miles, or a trifle further than from St. Petersburg
to Nijni-Novgorod. Perhaps I lack the penetration of
statesmen of the Gladstone school ; but I certainly can-
not detect in this insignificant distance any bar to the
almost immediate establishment of commercial intercourse
between the 101 millions of the Eussian empire on the
one side of the vanishing Afghan zone, and the 250
millions of the Indian empire on the other, especially if
it be borne in mind that only two slightly fortified towns
bar the intervening high road the whole way — Herat with
50,000 people, and Candahar with a poj)ulation of 60,000
souls.
Should the Eussian trader put off direct intercourse
with India for a while, and confine his operations to
Afghanistan, five easy marches will take his caravan from
Sarakhs to Herat, and if he goes beyond, the distance
from Herat to Candahar is less than from Tiflis to Baku.
From Sarakhs all the way to Candahar is only ten miles
longer than from Baku to Batoum.
Hence, apparently the time is not far distant when the
Parsees will be back again at Baku, not to worshijD the
Everlasting Fire, but for the purpose of buying lamp oil
for the bazaars of India, and other commonplace objects.
What will be the effects of such intercourse I have no
MOTTO FOR BOTH LIBEEALS AND CONSERVATIVES. 329
sjiace to discuss in tliis work, but some suggestions as to
their character may be found in the Apjjendix. We
cannot prevent this intercourse. The past and present
policy of Mr. Gladstone's Government, of making a
Chinese wall of Afghanistan to keep out the Russian
trader and Russian tchinovnik, is so appallingly stupid
that one cannot wonder at the statesmen of St. Peters-
burg holding our ministers in such high esteem. Even
now that Russia is upsetting things right and left in
Central Asia, they still continue to hope that a couple of
towns held by a rabble will indefinitely separate the two
empires. Yet nothing on earth and nothing in heaven
can prevent the apjjroximation of Russia and India. If
we do not secure at once a strong frontier to defend
India, Russia will organize a strong frontier to assail it.
And when she gets that strong frontier, England will
have to be on her good behaviour in the East.
On this account, with the Cossack entrenching himself
at Merv and Sarakhs, and Kerosine revolutionizing affairs
in the Casj^ian, the time has arrived when we should
leave off being, like the Guebers of old — mute devotees
before the Altar of Everlasting Talk — and ourselves
fashion and impress a sound patriotic policy upon our
rulers. The Empire first, Party afterwards — this should
be our motto ; nor can I conceive a loftier aim than that
all should combine to uphold that Empire against those
forces which have made Old Persia a jjrey to New
Russia, and given over to the sway of the Cossack the
magnificent resources of the Region of the Eternal Eire.
330
CHAPTER XX.
1884-1887.
Rapid Development of Baku since 1884— Apathy of the British
Petroleum Trade — "The New Wonder of the World"— Fountains
at Baku of Late Years — The 11,000-Ton Gusher — TagieETs
Fountain — The Great Fountain of 1887 — Production ofj Crude
Oil — New Pipe-lines — Growth of TrafBc on the Transcaucasian
Railway — Trade at Batoum — The Conflict between the Crude
Pipe-line and the Kerosine Pipe-line — The Pipe-line over the
Suram Pass — Policy of the Russian Government — The Burmese
Oil Fields— One Thousand Million gallons of Lamp Oil manufac-
tured every Year— The "Moloch of Paraffin" — Growth of Rus-
sian Power in the Caspian — The Afghan Boundary Settlement —
" A Clerk in Epaulettes " — Russia and the Helmund.
Three eventful years have elapsed since I penned the
foregoing chapters on the condition and prospects of
Russia's power in the Caspian region, and there is
hardly a forecast I made in 1884 that has not been
realized in a manner not only amazing to the world
at large, but to myself also. To-day every petroleum
merchant knows something of Baku, and Russian oil
maintains its place side by side with the American
article in every market in Europe. Tet only three years
ago Baku was practically unknown, and I had to argue
and prove over and over again in the press that a large
supply existed there at all. The copiousness of the wells
I had seen was ascribed to ephemeral volcanic agency,
and prophets hastened to declare that Baku would be
played out long before she became a rival of Pennsyl-
vania. That a single Baku well should spout more oil in
BAKU QUITE COMMONPLACE NOW.
331
a day than all the wells of America put together, was a
statement smilingly described as a " traveller's tale/' and
my appeal that England should take a prominent part
in the development of the new industry, in advance of
foreign rivals, apparently feU dead upon the pubhc ear.
Had Baku been situated in some inaccessible and iso-
lated region, my fate might have been that of Bruce,
Marco Polo, and other travellers, but being placed mid-
way between England and India, and occupying a central
position on the Euro-Indian railway system — a system of
which only a few hundred miles, from Merv to Quetta,
remain to be constructed to complete railway communi-
cation between London and Calcutta — it came into promi-
nence as soon as Russia began breaking down the sole re-
maining obstacles to a re-opening of the great highway of
commerce of the past between Europe and India, via
Poti, Baku, and Herat. In a couple of years Baku was
visited by more Enghshmen than during the whole of its
previous history. The Lumsden Mission, after passing
through it, on its way to the Afghan frontier, maintained
communication with London by means of couriers and
detached officials, who constantly halted at Baku. Gaze
and Cook, adopting my suggestion, escorted thither bodies
of tourists. Of mihtary officers anxious to see (at their
own expense, a la Bumaby) what Eussia was doing in
the Caspian, at least a dozen must have paid a visit to
Baku. The accounts these and other visitors gave of the
wonderful oil deposits of the Apsheron Peninsula, fully
confirmed all I had said, and England began to think
that, really, after aU, there must be some money lying
latent in Baku oil. Then the English and the United
States' Grovemments sent consuls thither to report, and
the scientific bodies of this country set a good example to
somnolent Chambers of Commerce by promoting discus-
sions on the future of Eussian petroleimi. Finally, the
importation of Baku oil into Austria led to an acute
332 1884-1887.
ministerial crisis at Yienna, which secured a wide adver-
tiseraent for Baku, and revealed to England that while
she had been sleeping the Germans, Austrians, . and
French had been going largely into the trade, and making
money out of it.
In 1884 the Swedes were the only non-Russians ex-
ploiting Baku, and it is no secret that they would have
welcomed the co-operation of Englishmen. To-day the
industry is attracting the attention of every country in
Europe, and, unless England displays promptness and
energy, the Petroleum trade, not simply of Baku, but of
the whole world, will slip through her fingers. All along
I have hoped, and continue to hope still, that England
would shake off her lethargy, and make up for the deca-
dence of old branches of commerce by developing new
ones. A business into which the proverbially cautious
Rothschilds have thrown themselves with vigour, invest-
ing nearly =£2,000,000 in the Baku industry since 1884,
surely cannot be considered unsafe for Englishmen.
The copiousness of the Baku oil supply is now a point
thoroughly established, and my views in regard to it have
been confirmed over and over again, by fountains pouring
forth prodigious quantities of oil, in a manner that
renders Baku, to quote the expression used by Professor
Tyndall in a letter to me on the subject, "the new
wonder of the world." The Droojba fountain, spouting
in 1883 upwards of 8,400 tons of oil a day, or more
than all the 25,000 wells of America put together, had
been looked upon as a phenomenon that would never
occur again. However, i^ sul)sequent years, there were
numerous other fountains, although not so prodigious,
and then, in 1886, a climax was reached with one that
spouted the almost incredible quantity of 11,000 tons of
Petroleum per diem. In other words, from a single orifice,
ten inches wide, there spouted more oil than was being
produced throughout the whole world, including therein
SO-METHING LIKE A WELL. 333
the 25,000 wells of America, the thousands of wells in
Galicia, Eoumania, Burma, and other countries, and the
shale oil distilleries of Scotland and New South Wales.
On the 6th of October 1886, the Russian oJOacial news-
papers published the following telegram : — " Baku, Octo-
\)QY 5. — ^At Tagieff's wells a fountain has com m enced
playing at the rate of 500 tons an hour. Its height is
224 feet. In spite of its being five versts from the town,
the Petroleum sand is pouring upon the buildings and
streets." The news was aU the more interesting, because
the Tagieff spouter was the offspring of quite a new
locality. As described in this volume, most of the great
fountains had occurred in the Balakhani district. The
new one, however, was situated three miles to the south
of Baku, and eleven or twelve from Balakhani, on the
promontory of Bybyibat, forming one of the jaws of
Baku bay. Here Gospodin Tagieff had commenced
boring in 1884. Petroleum was reached in due course,
but after a while the flow subsided, and the oil had to be
pnmppd to the surface. Later on, the yield diminishing,
Tagieff resumed boring operations. At its best the well
had never yielded more than 16,000 gallons a day, which
is not enough to excite competition at Baku, and hence
Tagieff had no rivals to speak of at Bybyibat. On the
27th September the boring tool found oil at 714 feet, and
the oil began to spout with a force unparalleled in the
annals of Baku.
" From the town," said the BaJcu Isvestie, " the foun-
tain had the appearance of a colossal pillar of smoke,
from the crest of which clouds of oil sand detached them-
selves and floated away a great distance without touching
the ground. Owing to the prevalence of southerly winds,
the oil was blown in the direction of Bailoff Point " (on
which Baku dockyard is situated), " covering hill and
dale with sand and oil, and drenching the houses of
Bailoff, a mile and a half away. Nothing could be done
334 1884-1887.
to stop the outflow. The whole district of Bybyibat was
covered with oil, which filled up the cavities, formed a
lake, and on the fifth day began pouring into the sea.
The outflow during three days was estimated at 5,000 or
6,000 tons daily. On the sixth day the wind freshened,
and the oil spray began flying all over the town. The square
in front of the Town Hall of Baku was drenched with
petroleum, which even fell on houses in the outskirts to
the north. The loss of oil was prodigious. On the eighth
day the maximum was reached, the oil then spouting at
the rate of 11,000 tons, or 2| million gallons a day. To
prevent the petroleum being totally lost, attempts were
made to divert the stream flowing into the sea into some
old wells. After the tenth day it began to diminish, and
by the fifteenth day the engineers had so far got it under
control that the outflow was only a quarter of a million
gallons a day. Altogether over 10 million gallons of oil
came to the surface, and most of this was lost for want of
storage accommodation. Had the owner had a cap ready
in time he might have saved the whole until wanted. As
it was, the oil simply poured itself uselessly into the
Caspian Sea, and was lost for ever to mankind."
In the spring of this year the copiousness of the new
locality was attested by another " gusher," known as the
Zubaloff Fountain. This occurred on ground belonging
to the Crown, and denominated " G-roup 20." It had been
leased to the firm of Jakelli and Co., who in turn sublet
it to ZubalofE. The latter started boring in 1885, and
penetrated to 567 feet, when from discouragement and
other causes he suspended operations. The success of
Tagieff, however, whose 11,000-ton spouter was situated
close to his own, caused him to start boring afresh in
November, 1886. The depth reached when the fountain
burst forth was 672 feet, the 16-incli diameter tube reach-
ing 196 feet, the 14-inch to 392 feet, the 12-inch to 623 feet,
and finally the 10-inch to 672 feet. The Tagieff Fountain
GUSHING 8,000 TONS A DAY. 335
had not spouted until a depth of 714 feet had been
attained.
At seven o'clock on Sunday morning, March 20, petro-
leum began to spout freely, and soon attained a height of
350 feet. Stones were thrown up in great abundance,
some weighing over 201bs. The wind being light and
blowing from Baku, the sand and stones fell on and round
about the well and did no great damage. At eleven
o'clock in the day there was a perceptible falling olf in the
strength of the fountain, the height of the stalk being
only 200 feet. Gangs of men were set to work and
directed the stream in the direction of some reseiwoirs
ZubalofE had been constructing. These the oil filled in
course of time, broke down the earth walls, and forced its
way into the Caspian. From the 20th to the 24th the oil
spouted without intermission, when it suddenly ceased for
four days, the tube becoming clogged with stones and
sand. On the 28th the fountain began- playing afresh,
and gushed with great violence for several days, after
which the tube became completely blocked. Nearly the
whole of the oil was lost.
This year, the Balakhani plateau, as if to revive its
dimmed prestige sprung a fountain which for weeks ex-
• cited the wonder of Eussia. The well belonged to the
Baku Mining Company, and on the 13th of August
began spouting at the rate of 7,000 or 8,000 tons daily.
In a couple of days it had already f oinned a crater of sand
14 feet high. The force exercised was prodigious, the oil
shooting 400 feet high at times, and the spray falling,
when the wind blew fresh, 12 versts (8 miles) away. In
other words, the oil spouted twice as high as the Monu-
ment, and sprayed from it as far as Woolwich Arsenal is
from the City. All the holes and depressions near were filled
with oil, which finally flowed away for miles. The sand
buried houses two or three hundred yards off. The gas
emitted was so powerful that it was dangerous to approach
336 1884-1887.
the fountain, and not a fire could be lit for miles round
about. Yet one day a heedless sightseer from Baku
nearly provoked a universal catastrophe by attempting to
strike a match to light a cigarette. The fool, very luckily,
was seen by some workmen, who knocked the match from
Tiis fingers, and would have lynched him on the sjDot by
hurling him into the oil lake but for the opportune arrival
of the manager. After this the fountain was surrounded
by Cossacks to keep ofE idiotic intruders. Day a.fter day
the fountain played for more than six weeks, the volume
gradually decreasing to about 2,000 tons a day. At last
the patience of the Russian Government was exhausted,
and permission was given to the rest of the firms at Baku
to seize and lynch the well. Availing themselves of the
power given, Messrs. Nobel, theEothschilds, &c., assembled
their best engineers on the spot, and after a few days
managed to fix a cap on the well and throttle the foun-
tain. The amount of oil wasted was almost as great as
that of the Droojba — 50 million gallons.
These three fountains completely falsified the prediction
of those who, after the Droojba Fountain of 1883, had
argued on the flimsiest grounds that Baku would speedily
play itself out. " See," these pessimists said, " they have
to bore deeper for oil every year." Of course they did,
for it is the inevitable experience everywhere. There is,
however, this all-important difference between Baku and
America — the deeper Baku bores the greater the gush of
oil, which is not the case with her Transatlantic rival.
Then the margin is altogether in favour of Baku. In
America it is quite common to bore 2,000 feet for oil, and
many wells attain a depth of very much more than this.
At Baku a well 700 or 800 feet deep is considered by
croakers a deep one, and last year the average depth of all
the wells was only 462 feet. Considering that the Apshe-
ron Peninsula has been bleeding oil 2,500 years, and that
every season is characterized by gushers of a more and
FIFTY GALLONS OF OIL FOR A PENNY. 337
more extraordinary description, it is difficult to believe
that 500 prickings in an area of three or four square
miles should cause the entire oil area of 1,600 square
miles to dry up in a few years. Of the two it is rather
America that is becoming exhausted than Baku.
As a result of the copiousness of the fountains, the crude
oil has been selling at times at the rate of fifty gallons for
a penny, and there is every reason to beKeve low prices
will be maintained for many years to come. Of course
the development of the industry has been accompanied
by niunerous crises, and ignorant observers have mis-
taken these " growing pains " for symptoms of a collapse.
But, although this collapse has been " going to occur "
several times it has never yet come off, while at the end of
every year the industry has been found to have forged
ahead considerably. The growth of large firms usually
means the ruin of many little ones, and Baku has been no
exception to the general rule. In 1884 there were about
200 refineries at Baku, now there are 121, comprising 36
large ones and 85 small. On the other hand the output of
oil has immensely increased, demonstrating that al-
though many of the small Asiatic refiners have been driven
from the field, the industry generally has developed.
Production of Crude Petroleum.
Tons.
Tons.
1883
800,000
1885
1,780,000
1884
... 1,43.5,000
1 1886
2,000,000
In 1883 the quantity of kerosine, or refined oil, manufac-
tured, was under 60 million gallons. In 1886 the quantity
exceeded 150 millions.
As might be imagined, the bulk was produced by
Nobel Brothers ; after them coming Messrs. Rothschilds,
who own large refineries in the new suburb that has
grown up beyond Villa Petrolia. This has been dubbed
White Town, in contradistinction to Black Town. The
latter in time may become white also, since the Baku
z
338 1884-1887.
authorities now rigorously prosecute any refiner who fails
to consume his own smoke. The firm of Meerzoeff has
disappeared altogether.
The six pipe-lines running to the refineries from the
oil fields in 1884 have developed to fifteen, having a total
length of 100 miles, and valued at ^6400,000. It is
encouraging to note that many miles of these iron pipes
have been supplied by the firm of Messrs. A. and J.
Stewart, of Glasgow. The unexpected benefits that
proceed from pushing business in new markets is
strikingly illustrated in the operations of this entei'pris-
ing firm. The reputation which it obtained in supply-
ing Baku with oil pipes led the Russian Grovernment to
order at a stroke 23 miles of pipes, to be laid down as a
wa,ter pipe-line along the Transcaspian Railway in the
direction of Kizil Aiwat. The idea of piping water
across the desert being adopted by the British Govern-
ment also, the same firm received an order for 55 miles of
pipes, to be laid down along the Suakin-Berber Railway.
This order was executed at the rate of a mile a day,
without interfering at all with the ordinary business of
the firm, and the quantity might have been doubled or
trebled per diem, if necessary, without unduly straining
the resources of the establishment. People sometimes
talk of the proposed pipe-line between Baku and Batoum,
600 miles long, as an undertaking of extraordinary difii-
culty ; but from the foregoing it will be obvious that the
whole of the pipes needed could be manufactured by a
single British firm in a little more than six months. As
in the future many ramifications of pipe-lines will extend
from Baku, it is to be hoped that the good name Glasgow
has secured there as a producer of iron pipes will cause
the bulk of the orders to fall into British hands. At any
rate it will pay us to keep a sharp eye upon Baku.
The great drawback the petroleum trade of the Caspian
has all along had to contend with has been a deficiency of
THE OIL EXPORT SINCE 1883. 339
transport. Every year the means of exporting tlie oil
have improved, but on the other hand the production has
always kept ahead of the improvement. In 1883 there
were forty tank steamers plying on the Caspian Sea ; the
number is now 100, and is yearly increasing.
In 1883 the export of refined oil from Baku to Russia
via the Caspian Sea was under 60 million gallons. In
1885 it exceeded 87 million gallons. In 1883 the export
of astaiki by the same route amounted to 281,000 tons;
the total in 1885 was 460,000 tons.
When I described the Transcaucasian route in 1884
there were only a few hundi'ed tank cars i-unning on the
line from Baku to Batoum. There are now several
thousands. In the interval the transport of oil by the
railway has developed as under : —
Total op Peteolecii Products coxveted by the Transcau-
casian Railway.
GaUons.
Traffic Pieceipts.
1883
14,000,000
£50,600
1884
25,500,000
£108,200
1885
41,000,000
£163,800
1886
71,000,000
£241,200
lost (
)f the oil conveyed consisted of kerosine.
Kerosiue
Lubricating Oil.
GaUons.
Gallons.
1883
11,700,000
812,000
1884
20,200,000
2,268,000
1885
34,600,000
3,092,000
1886
62,500,000
3,868,000
As the limit to traffic imposed by the clogging in
the Suram Pass is estimated at 80 million gallons, it is
clear that the traffic in 1886 — 71 million gallons — almost
reached this margin. To improve matters the Russian
Government in the summer of 1887 decided to allow
a kerosine pipe-line to be laid overl the pass, the idea
being that tank cars should run the Baku oil to one side
z 2
340 1884-1887.
of the Lesser Caucasus ridge, and tank cars take it on to
Batoum from tlie other, the intermediate stage of about
40 miles across the pass being done in pipes. As the
pipe line will increase the traffic power of the railway
from 80 to 130 million gallons at a stroke, this decision
gave great satisfaction, and before long will exercise a
favourable influence on the export from Batoum.
Baku oil was only just beginning to percolate through
that port to Europe when I visited it in 1883. By 1885
the export had so far grown that it comprised 24 million
gallons of kerosine, 330,000 gallons of lubricating oil,
and 532,000 gallons of astatki, making a total of 25 mil-
lion gallons of petroleum products altogether. Last year
the total exceeded 45 million gallons. This did not in-
clude oil shipped from Batoum to Odessa and other
Russian ports.
In 1883 the oil was shipped from Batoum solely in
barrels, and there was not a single tank-reservoir in
the place. Now there are forty-five, capable of holding
20 million gallons of oil. Instead of being conveyed to
Europe in barrels, the oil is shipped in tank or cistern
steamers, of which there are now more than a dozen run-
ning regularly to various European ports. At Odessa,
Smyrna, Fiume, Trieste, Genoa, Marseilles, Antwerp,
Bremen, Libau, and other European ports, iron reservoirs
have also been erected to store the oil in bulk.
When I pubhshed " The Eegion of the Eternal Fire " in
1884, many pooh-poohed my prediction that in a few
years tank- steamers would be plying in European waters
and running oil in bulk across the Atlantic. Such
steamers, I was assured by naval men, could not stand
the huge Atlantic waves, or the rough waters of the Bay
of Biscay, although they had weathered many a squall in
the Casjiian ; while the members of the petroleum trade
of this country, who, almost to a man, are as devoid of
general intelligence as they are of enterprise, assailed me
GERMAN PIONEERS AND ENGLISH RODSNArS. 341
with abuse as a dreamer. However, while they were still
declaring, with all the vehemence of Podsnaps, that
tank-steamers never could come into use in Europe, the
Eussian tank-steamer Sviet brought a cargo of 1,700
tons of kerosine across the Bay of Biscay from Batoum
to London, and directly afterwards the English-built, but
German owned, tank-steamer GliicJcatif arrived at Bremen
with 2,600 tons of oil from New York. After this, tank-
steamer succeeded tank-steamer — Messrs. Sir William
Armstrong, Mitchell and Co. constructing haK a dozen in a
year, and now the conveyance of oil in bulk is regarded
as a matter of course. It is true that what I chiefly
aimed at — that the revolution from barrels to tanks
should be accomplished by England, and the bulk trans-
port of oil on the ocean highways of the world pass
wholly into her hands — has not come to pass, but England
cannot complain that she was not warned in time.
While English merchants have been sleeping, or lec-
turing to workmen on the advisability of removing the
existing depression of trade by the universal adoption of
technical education, the revolution has been allowed to be
accompHshed mainly by the Germans, and these enter-
prising rivals promise to control the whole of the petro-
leum carrying trade at no distant date.*
It is not simply that English merchants refuse to open
up new markets of their own accord, but they assail with
abuse those travellers and consuls who attempt to point
out the advantages to them. In the autumn of 1886 I
drew attention in the press to the fact that the Eussian
Government contemplated giving permission to home or
foreign capitalists to lay down a pipe-line, 600 miles
* A pamphlet I published in 1886 on tliis movement, entitled " The
Coming Deluge of Petroleum," was twice translated into German ;
my views eagerly discussed and acted upon by German merchants ;
yet, notwithstanding several hundred favourable reviews in the English
press, the petroleum trade of London did nothing.
342 1884-1887.
long, between Baku and the Black Sea. For merely
describing this, I was attacked as a " secret agent of the
Russian Govei'nment " by one of the City Podsnaps. Yet
it was surely to the interest of the petroleum trade to
know every movement that was taking place in the
Russian industry. This question of the pipe-line to
the Black Sea was one that had attracted a good deal of
attention just then, and it may be useful if I say a few
words about it for the benefit of those who, like the more
cultured merchants of G-ermany, consult this work for
the purpose of assisting them in their business.
To overcome at a stroke the difficulties of transport,
the proposal has frequently been made that a pipe-line
should be laid down from Baku to Batoum, or some
other point on the Black Sea, through which the oil would
be piped direct to the piers of the sea-going steamers.
The engineering difficulties are of no great importance,
for there are several pipe-lines 300 miles long in America,
where, in all, 9,000 miles of pipe-lines are in use ; so that
600 miles of line from Baku to BatoTim would not in the
least be very wonderful. As I have already said, a single
British firm, such as Messrs. A. and J. Stewart, of Glas-
gow, could manufacture all the pipes for this line in little
more than six months. A pipe-line of the capacity
sanctioned by a committee appointed by the Russian
Government, would allow of the j3assage of 160 million
gallons of oil yearly, and enable Baku to completely beat
the American oil supply.
Up to 1886 the Russian Government opposed all pipe-
lines, on the ground that, having to meet the guarantee
on the Transcaucasian railway, it could not allow the
traffic on it to be destroyed. Towards the summer of that
year, however, it became clear that the traffic provided by
Eastern goods, and corn, wine, manganese ore, and other
local products, was ample enough to occupy the energies of
the railway, and a committee of officials from the different
THE CRUDE OIL PIPE-LINE. 343
ministries was appointed to formulate a general scheme
for a concession. This was accordingly done ; but before
the Russian Government could even adopt the scheme,
fresh considerations arose which involved another investi-
gation. The chief of these was the Cjuestion, whether the
line laid down should be reserved for the passage of crude
oil or for that of the refined product. Not so important,
but still serious enough, was the demand of the Tiflis au-
thorities that the terminal point of the line should not be
Batoum, but Poti ; to which port they recommended the
whole of the jDetroleum export trade should be shifted.
Messrs. Nobel and other large refiners at Baku opposed
the proposed crude pipe-line scheme, because they feared
that rival refineries would spring up on the Black Sea
coast, which, being able to disjiose of all their residual
products, and thereby make a larger profit, would be able
to seriously compete with, and perhaj)s ruin, the refining
industry at Baku. This probability was admitted by
those who advocated the crude pipe-line scheme ; but
they urged that national interests were more precious
than private ones, and that it was intolerable for
Eussia that millions of gallons of residual products (30
millions in 1886) should be barbarously wasted in the
Caspian region every year, for want of a market, when, if
the refineries were situated at Poti or Batoum, the bulk
could be sold to European consumers. To construct a
kerosine pipe-line meant a rapid increase to the refinery
development of Baku, but, at the same time, a propor-
tionate increase of the waste, which already excites the
indignation of the scientific men of Eussia.
It is difficiilt at present to say which side will win. If
anything, the chances are rather in favour of the kerosine
pipe-line. The promoters of it, at any rate, have secured
a start. Until the spring of this year the Transcaucasian
Eailway Company enjoyed the right of ininning only its
own tank-cars on the line. In consequence of the con-
344 1884-1887.
stant complaints of Baku respecting the deficiency of
rolling-stock, tlie Government then gave permission to any
refiner to run tank-cars. The jDrincipal refiners imme-
diately availed themselves of this privilege, and the
natural, and perhaps anticipated result was, that in a few
months there were so many tank-cars running that it was
impossible for the whole of them to circulate over the
Suram Pass. A fresh clamour thereupon arose, and the
Government had to give permission to the refiners to lay
down 40 miles of piping over the Pass.
When this kerosine pipe-line is in working order the
oil pumped to the top of the ridge from the tank-cars on
the Baku side of the Lesser Caucasus will be able to
flow by its own gravity much of the distance towards
Poti and Batoum, the former of which is only 78 miles
from QuiriU. It is already foreseen, therefore, that the
question will soon arise — why not allow the Suram kero-
sine pipe-line to run on to Poti or Batoum, instead of
transferring the oil a second time to tank-cars at Quirill ?
If the Government yield to this agitation, the refiners
will then demand — why, seeing that one-third the dis-
tance from Baku to Batoum is traversed by a pipe-line,
not allow the remaining two-thirds to be put down ? In
this manner, by degrees, it is hoped that the kerosine
pipe-line will win the race.
Such is the state of affairs in regard to the pipe-lines.
The financial side of the question — the expenditure of
two millions sterling on the crude piiDe-line scheme — on
which stress has been laid by ignorant persons, is really
the least difiicult part of the affair ; for a Government
which has already sanctioned the exj)enditure of a million
stex'ling on the Suram tunnel, and finds millions to
make lines to the heart of Central Asia, would not
stoj) short of giving financial support to the pipe-line
scheme, if the problem were not confused by a variety of
distracting issues. A wrong policy might ruin Baku
WHY NOT EXPLOIT BURMA OIL. 345
■without giving proper corapensation in tlie shape of
another refinery town on the Black Sea, or it might place
the industry under the control of a few firms, who
might check its development, as Meerzoeff did diu-ing the
monopoly period. The Russian G-overnment, therefore,
wisely maintains an expectant attitude, and it is really
only persons ignorant of the historical march of events
who mistake this for financial impotence.
As the construction of the pipe-lines would involve
large orders for pipes, pumping-machinery, and reservoirs,
I have always maintained that England should keep a
vigilant watch upon the Russian petroleum industry.
Years ago, when the first tank-steamers were appearing
in the Caspian Sea, I urged that England should compete
with the Swedes ia supplying them. My recommendation,
repeated time after time, fell on deaf ears, and ultimately
not only were nearly the whole of the 100 steamers now
there built by Sweden, but when an English finn sent an
agent to Baku a year ago it was found that the Swedes
had too firm a control over the market to be dislodged.
I am well aware that a disinclination exists to invest
money in Eussia, but trading is a very different thing
from investing, and my charge against the petroleiim
trade of this country is, that not only has it held aloof
from the Russian market, and allowed the foreigner to
lay the basis of a future monopoly of trade, but has also
ignored advantages existing within the limits of the
Emj)ire. Upper Burma, annexed two years ago, contains
in the valley of the Irrawady and elsewhere enormous
deposits of petroleum, potentially as copious as those of
America, and, perhaps, as those of Baku. Yet, although
situated alongside the river, and within 60 miles of the
Eangoon-Prome railway, and although possessing a repu-
tation as old as that of Baku, if not older, no attempt has
been made to open up the deposits by the merchants and
capitalists of this country. In this volume I have des-
346 1884-1887.
cribed the wonders tliat tlae development of tlie petro-
leum industry liave achieved at Baku. There is no
reason why similar wonders should not be rejpeated in
Burma.*
Every year the petroleum industry becomes more and
more important. The world now consumes nearly one
thousand million gallons of petroleum lamp oil every year,
and the consumption is rapidly on the increase. t Liquid
fuel, a novelty when described in 1884, is now largely
used on steamers, on railways, and in manufactories in the
United States, and has become one of the conmionplaces
of engineering. That it will supersede coal in countries
where coal is cheap and oil is dear, may be doubted, but a
wide sphere of usefulness may be predicted for it where-
ever the reverse is the case.
Simultaneously with the progress of Russian petroleum
in the Caspian, the political and military power of our
rival in that region has developed in a manner fully fore-
shadowed in this work, but which at the time was as
much vmheeded as my forecasts regarding the future of
Baku oil. So long ago as 1881, I published maps in my
" Merv the Queen of the "World " in which, in large type,
* For an account of the Burmese oil fields, see " England as a
Petroleum Power." (London, R. Anderson & Co., 14, Cockspur Street,
price One Shilling.)
t Unfortunately this increase is accompanied by an increase of
fatalities, arising from the use of the oil in dangerous lamps. In the
United Kingdom nearly 200 people meet an agonizing death, and
several thousands are injured through lamp accidents every year. To
check this evil I issued in 1886 a iiamphlet, entitled "The Moloch
of Paraffin" (R. Anderson & Co., 14, Cockspur Street), in which I
specified the conditions of danger and safety in lamps, and described
those that should be avoided. Only one lamp — the Defries Safety
Lamp — reached the standard of safety I established. Now that
public opinion is aroused, I trust the time will not be far distant
when the ravages of the Moloch of Paraffin will be stayed, either by
law, or by people resolutely refusing to use any other lamj^s than
those wliich can be proved to be in every essential absolutely safe.
THE BETRAYAL OF HERAT. 347
I indicated that tlie " annexation of Merv would infallibly
lead Eussia to Penjdeli " — Penjdeh being then a point
heard of for] the first time in this country — and recom-
mended that the frontier line should be drawn from the
Oxus to Sarakhs while there was yet time for England and
the Ameer to arrange their interests on the Murghab, in
advance of the Russian occupation of Merv. This and
other recommendations fell on deaf ears, and in due
course Eussia annexed Merv, occupied the " no man's
land " I indicated, and a conflict occurred for Penjdeh
which no really patriotic and impartial Englishman can
look back upon without a feeling of humiliation and
shame. The Afghan frontier delimitation must ever
remain a stain on two administrations — on that of Mr.
Gladstone, which for years made no attempt to anticipate
the clearly foreshadowed movement, and finally, after
swallowing humiliation after humihation during the seizure
of Merv, Sarakhs, Pul-i-Khatun, and Ak Eobat, submitted
to the expulsion from Penjdeh; and on that of Lord Salis-
buiy, which, after a show of firmness, suddenly surrendered
to Eussia the district of Badghis. The latter act, in many
respects, transcended in pusillanimity and perfidy the
surrender of Penjdeh; because Sir West Eidgeway
quitted the ranks of those brave mihtary men — G-eneral
Sir Charles MacGregor, General Valentine Baker, Colonel
Burnaby, and others who had made eveiy sacrifice to
stem the Eussian advance, and, for the paltry credit of
having successfully negotiated a paper treaty, supported
the concession to Eussia of a camping ground within
80 miles of Herat. For the first time in my writings
on Central Asia, I had to brand a British officer as a
traitor to the Empire. It is hard to be deceived by a
Eussian ; but to be deceived by one's own coimtryman
is a miserable ending to the gallant efforts made by
a host of military men to keep back the Eussians
from laying their hands upon Herat. As a soldier
348 1884-1887.
himself, Sir West Eidgeway might have left it to some
poltroon of a party politician to betray to Russia the
Key of India.
But there are soldiers and soldiers. One cannot
examine the lives of Skobeleff in Eussia and General Sir
Charles MacGrregor in India, without feeling that both
m.en were patriots in the truest sense of the term, since
they were ever ready to sacrifice their career to promote
the interests of the country, and resolutely refused to
truckle to time-serving officials and ministers when those
interests were in danger. Speaking of one of these to
me once, Skobeleff, in reply to my remark that the person
under discussion was a " general," exclaimed, with
withering contempt, "phoof, a clerk in epaulettes."
Burke has finely said that "great empires and little
minds go ill together." If England sends little minds to
represent her Imperial interests, whenever such matters
as the Afghan frontier question are under discussion, she
must not be surprised if the envoy fails as miserably in
safeguarding them as Sir West Eidgeway did in the pre-
sent year of grace.
Tear after year Eussian power is extending in the
Caspian region at a pace which is fraught with serious
danger to our rule in India. Already her ability to attack
is so far ahead of our ability to defend, that she can place
her home troops in front of the fighting position of Can-
dahar, i.e., on the river Helmund, in advance of any home
troops we may send there to assist our Quetta garrison,
and it is not easy to see how the covmterpoise can be re-
established. Still, the problem is one that wiU have to be
faced, and faced resolutely by the statesmen of this
country ; and no evasion of our duties as citizens to-day
will save us or our children from the ruin that will befall
England should ever our Eastern Empire succumb to the
foi-ces that menace it from within and without.
APPENDIX.
1. — Skobeleff's Project for Invading India.
2. — Skobelepf on the Russian Position in Central Asia
3. — The Russian Invasion of India in 1877 and 1874.
4. — Russia's power of Seizing Herat.
5. — The Russian Annexation of Merv.
6. — What the Annexation of Merv means.
7. — The Caucasus View of the Invasion of India.
SKOBELEFF'S PEOJECT FOR INVADINa
INDIA.
At various times small extracts have been given from
tlie correspondence of the late General Skobeleff, contain-
ing his views of the practicability of a Russian invasion
of India. The subjoined is the first complete document,
however, that has yet been published on the subject.
Its authenticity is beyond question. The italicised
passages exist in the original : —
Letter from General Shobeleff to a near relative, on the
invasion of India, recently found among the papers of
the late Prince Tcherhasshy.
" I thank you heartily for your unchanging remem-
brance of me. I am thankful, but not surprised ; it was
by your co-operation that I began life in the military
arena, and I am indebted to you for the first impressions
of independent military service. To a certain degree I
boldly express my conviction that you will henceforth
take an interest in me, and assist me to continue to serve
exclusively for war, which (after the success I have
350 SKOBELEFF's PEOJECT for invading INDIA.
acliieved it lias now become manifest) is for me in life
not a means but an end ; and, moreover, the only one
wbicli causes me to value life. In this is really included
the exclusiveness of my ambition, not always intelligible
to everybody. Tou, who with discernment supported me
more than twelve years ago, will probably now not refuse
my petition, it being of a perfectly identical character ;
of course, conformably with fresh circumstances and
position, as that with which Cornet Skobeleff, of the
Horse Guards, stood before you. However, my petition
is not altogether of an unconditional character. If I
have decided to trouble you, it is because I am firmly
persuaded that we have nothing to expect of a decidedly
serious nature on the part of the inhabitants of Turke-
stan in the event of a war with Turkey, and that if we
are going to fight exclusively with Turkey, or that the
idea of the terrible, offensive, decisive, significance of
Turkestan in the event of hostilities with England
has not yet come to maturity in the highest spheres, it
would be too severe a trial to remain here during the
war.
" The object of this letter is to partly remind you of
m.yself and my recent responsible fighting, but chiefly to
express to you with the fullest frankness what in my
opinion ought to be and could be undertaken by Turke-
stan for the glory and greatness of Russia, in the event
of a decisive rupture with England. The aim to which I
point possesses a great, a world-wide significance. Every
Russian, acknowledging the possibility of success, and
placed by fate near the affair, cannot fail to display the
very significant means which, I allow myself to say, our
authorities have accidentally amassed in this country,
and with which, with corresponding decision and timely
preparations, we could strike not only an effective blow
at England in India, but also crush her in Europe. All
this I repeat in the presence of the full control we have
over the Turkestan region, and its perfect security as a base
of operations. In the latter I firmly believe, and I have
too many facts not to be convinced of the absolute
character of our strength and prestige here, of course
subject to the condition, more essential in Asia than else-
where, ' not to waste words where force should be em-
ployed.' Impressed with the indispensability of fulfilling
my duty to Russia at such a critical moment, I gave in
HOW TO CRUSH I'S IN EUEOPE. 351
my notice to the Governor-General on the 27th of
December, 1876, wrote to Uncle Sasha, and now write to
you, without thought of the consequences to me of what
I have done, but only praying God that attention may be
given to that terrible offensive power which we possess in
Central Asia.
" I was appointed Governor of the Namangan district
on the 22nd of September, 1875. A detachment was
confided to me which had been assigned for defensive
operations in the expectation of the reinforcements that
were to arrive from the Empire in the spring of 1876.
The condition of affairs on our frontier at that time was
very serious — very unfavourable for us ; in proof of which
may be cited the fact that eighteen companies, eight
sotnyas of Cossacks, and fourteen field guns, not reckon-
ing the cannon for the fortifications, were assigned to
defend the department.
"Directly after the departure of the main body for
Khodjent on 16th of October, 1875, under the command
of the head of the troops of the district, the whole of
the seriousness of the position of the detachment con-
fided to me became at once apparent. The enemy in all
his strength burst upon the unfinished fortifications of
Namangan on the 23rd of October, and from that time
commenced a series of incessant conflicts with him. The
results were at first the storming of Namangan and the
purging of the Namangan district of the presence of
hostile bands, and afterwards, when the troops had
secured supplies, a period of active operations, comprising
the routing of all the available forces of the former
Khanate of Kokand, in number more than 40,000 men, at
Baluiktche, on the 12th of November, 1875, and a whole
series of more or less bloody confhcts (I will name those
of Goor-tiube on the 28th of November, and Uladjibai
on December 2, as being the more important of them),
after which the Namangan active force stoiraed Andijan
for a second time on the 8th of January, 1876, crushing
at Assake the remaining forces fixmished by the war
party, compelling the surrender of the leader of that
party, Avtobachi, and laying, after a six months' compaign,
the whole of the Khanate of Kokand at the feet of the
Emperor. All this happened a year ago, and with this
period coincides my appointment as military governor of
the province of Ferghana. As may be imagined, there
352 skobeleff's project for invading india.
remained many unsettled elements in the province. With
a view to finally pacifying them, the troops were directed
upon the Alai, where, resigning myself to exclusively
peaceful aims, I acted quite in a different manner from
before. The Alai expedition did not cost Russia a single
drop of blood, and the rebels were compelled to throw up
the inaccessible positions they had occupied by the exclu-
sive employment of strategy, by which I consider was
fulfilled to the utmost degree the will of an Emperor who
values so much the blood of his subjects. What was
done under orders you had an opportunity of seeing
from the announcement of the Governor-General after
his inspection of the province of Ferghana. By rights I
ought not to concern myself at such a time with my fate,
but leave it to my superiors to decide where it is best I
should serve. I reveal to you my heart on every occasion,
and announce to you beforehand my desire to go on active
sei'vice, at any moment, and in any position whatever. I
can still less, I repeat, unconditionally beg leave to quit
this region, firmly believing in its mighty offensive
significance in solving the Eastern Question.
" More than once has the warning been uttered that
Russia can menace from Central Asia the dominions of
the English in India, and that it is indispensable in
consequence to take measures to check the advances of
the Russians in Turkestan. In reality, if we look
around, we shall see that our position in Turkestan is
extremely threatening, and the apprehensions of the
English not without foundation. We have formed a
strong base in Central Asia, with an army of about
40,000 men, from which we can always set apart for
operations beyond Turkestan not less than 10,000 or
12,000. Besides, we can rely on the tranquillity of the
country, the more so, since up to now there have been no
serious indications whatever of any connection between
the Mussulmans of Turkey and those of Central Asia at
the present political moment. If the military means of
Turkestan could be reinforced from Western Siberia by
say six companies, with as large a number of Cossacks
possible of the Siberian anny, and a battery and three
regiments of Cossacks could be sent from Orenberg, a
corps could be formed, the approximate strength of which
would be from 14,000 to 15,000 men. Such a coi-ps,
thrown across the Hindoo Koosh, might achieve a good
OUR POWER IN INDIA SHAKY. 353
deal. Everybody who has ever concerned himself with
the question of the position of the English in India has
declared it to be unsteady, that it is only maintained by
absolute force of arms, that the European troops are only
sufficient to keep the country quiet, and that the native
soldiers are not to be depended upon at all. Everybody
who has concerned himself with the question of the pos-
sibility of a Russian invasion of India would declare that
it is only necessary to penetrate to a single point of the
Indian frontier to bring about a general rising.
" It may be said that an enterprise against the English
in India is a hazardous one ; that it might end in the
destruction of the Russian force. I imagine it to be only
right that I should admit that the undertaking is a haz-
ardous one. It is only necessary to remember, however,
that in the event of the complete success of our enterprise
we might crush the British Empire in India, the results
of which it would be impossible to estimate even in Eng-
land itseK. Competent peojjle in England acknowledge
that a defeat on the Indian frontier might drag in its
train a social revolution in the metropolis itself ; since
for the last twenty years identical causes and effects in
all the relations with France (including unfitness for war)
have bound England of to-day more than any previous
period of her Indian possessions. In a word, the fall of
the British power in India would be the heginning of the
fall of England. In the event of an incomplete success
on our part, i.e., should a mutiny not take place in India,
and we should not be in a condition to invade her terri-
tory, we should, nevertheless, tie the whole India army to
Hindustan, and prevent the English transporting any
part of it to Europe ; nay, we should even compel Eng-
land to send some portion of her European troops to
India. In a word, we should, to a considerable extent,
paralyze the land forces of England for a war in Europe,
or for creating a new theatre of hostilities from the Per-
sian Gidf to Tabreez, and on to Tiflis, which has been
the aim of English military men ever since the Crimean
war. The indispensability of the participation of Turkes-
tan in the impending events is demonstrated by the fact
that we should be compelled, in the event of ill-success
in war, to evacuate the country or restrict our position
there. If we, even in the event of a complete failure of
our undertaking in Europe as well as in Asia, displayed,
A A
354 skobeleff's project for invading india.
through an unfortunate spirit of enterprise, all the pos-
sible menace of our present position in Central Asia, we
might have the alternative, should we be compelled to
conclude an unfortunate peace, of buying ourselves off
with Turkestan, which would have risen in value. There
can be no comparison between what we should risk, in
deciding to make a demonstration against the English
in India, and those universal consequences that would be
the outcome in the event of the success of our demonstra-
tion. The vast difference in the results of success between
ourselves and the enemy should urge us to go boldly for-
ward.
" On the declaration of war with England, operations
ought to commence by sending immediately an embassy
to Cabul, and by the formation of an active detachment
(to give it more prestige I would call it an army) at
Samarcand, consisting of ten battalions, fourteen sotnyas,
and about forty guns ; in all from 10,000 to 12,000 men.
This to be the minimtim, and to consist, moreover, of our
very best combative forces. The object of the mission
would be to draw Shere Ali into alliance with us, and
enter into league with the disaffected elements in India ;
and in order to enable the negotiations to attain their
end it would be indispensable, after forming the detach-
ment, to march it without delay via Bamian to Cabul.
If Shere Ali, in spite of all this, remained the ally of Eng-
land (not very likely ; the invitation of him amon^g the vassals
to Delhi to the festivities on the occasion of the proclama-
tion of the title of ' Empress of India ' was not accepted,
and in general he expressed his dissatisfaction at the
insult he considered was done him by this invitation) —
if he remained the ally of England, then the pretender to
the Afghan throne, Abdur Rahman Khan, who lives at
Samarcand, should be sent foi-ward, and through him a
civil war sown in the country — Persia in the meanwhile
being secretly encouraged to renew her pretensions to
Herat. By turning Persia's attention towards Afghani-
stan we should draw her away from the Caucasus : and
since the movement of Persian troops towards Herat
would demand supplies and transport on a vast scale,
this, among other things, would paralyze in the most
effective manner the English plan of marching from the
Persian Gulf upon Tifiis. The active force having left
Samarcand, a fi*esh detachment should be formed there.
HOW TO MANIPULATE THE AMEEK. 355
comprising two battalions of infantry, a battery, and
sixteen sotnyas of Cossacks, to occupy supporting points
on the line of communications, and in general for service
in the rear. Without going into details, the campaign,
in my opinion, ought to fall into two periods — first, that
of swift action and diplomatic negotiations with Afghan-
istan, the latter to be supported by pushing forward our
active corps towards Cabul. The second period after the
occupation of Cabul would be one of waiting, when we
should have to enter into relations with all the disaffected
elements in India, and convert them to our interests.
The main cause of the failure of the rebellion of 1857
was the fact that the insurgents were not properly
organized and led. And, finally, it would be our chief
duty to organize masses of Asiatic cavalry, and, hurling
them on India as our vanguard, under the banner of
Blood and Eapine, thus bring back the times of Tamer-
lane.
" To define the further operations of the Eussian
column from Cabul in the plan of the campaign would be
sheer guess work. If circirmstances favoured us, our ope-
rations might end with planting the Russian banner on
the walls of Benares. If the contrary were the case, the
column might with honour retreat upon Herat, and meet
troops pushed forward from the Caucasus. Such an
operation would involve several battalions and about six
guns to every 1,000 men. An Asiatic enemy, above all,
the Turcomans — is not very terrible in the open, and even
the victorious Enghsh anny would melt away to a con-
siderable extent in marching upon Herat.* In the present
condition of the British army, the English could not move
beyond the borders of India more than 25,000 men, of
whom a considerable number would have to be left at the
supporting points. Besides, it must not be forgotten that
Tui'kestan would lie on the enemy's flank, and that our
means would increase in proportion as we approached the
Caspian. I have already said that the whole undertaking
would be a risky one, but it is justified ])y the greatness
of the aim and the immensity of the results. If the
results be kept in view, there can be no talk on the part
♦ It Ls a fact beyond dispute that the acclimatized troops of Russia
are better fitted to endure the hardships of a Central Asian campaign
than the English. (See " HLstorj' of the War in Afghanistan." By
John AVilliam Kave. London : 1S51.)-Skobeleff.
A A 2
356 skobeleff's project for invading india.
of Russia of risk, and nothing at all is worth while saying-
about Turkestan. From the troops that would be fortu-
nate enough to participate in such an expedition more
should be exacted than self-sacrifice, even in the highest
sense of the term among military men. The Hindoo
Koosh once crossed, I believe the conviction would be
kindled in the breast of each combatant that he had come
to Afghanistan to conquer or die. This the Emperor
demands of him, and there would be no rejoroaches made
if our banners remained in the hands of the foe beyond
the Hindoo Koosh after every Russian soldier had
fallen.
" Such consciousness, such a decision on the part of the
entire corps, could only be brought about in the Russian
army, in my opinion, by the undoubted feeling of all of
boundless attachment and love for their Sovereign. The
difficult task of animating a corps to a degree propor-
tionate with the character of the enterprise might be best
accomplished by sending one of the Emperor's sons with
the expedition, who, when the proper time arrived, would
proclaim to the troops what their Tsar and Russia
expected from them. I firmly believe that a corps made
happy by the presence of a son of the Emj^eror would
not under any circumstances soil the name of a Russian.
During our ten years' stay in this region the Turkestan
trooj^s have worked out for themselves an entire system
of military operations (founded on the knowledge of local
conditions, of the character of the enemy, always the
same in Mussulman Asia, but chiefly on the consciousness
of its own aptitude for fighting) which enables them to
clearly define military undertakings corresponding with
the present military means of Turkestan. It may be
said that there exists no longer any invincible barrier in
Central Asia if we go on acting with our Turkestan force
as we have done vip to now. Masses of Asiatics can only
disturb us ; they cannot prevent us in the least from carry-
ing out our intentions. We have now reached a point,
thanks to which defined and systematic operations can be
carried on by a corps, j^ossessing arms and supplies
relatively far exceeding the requirements of any European
campaign, against almost any enemy in Central Asia, in
the open as well as behind walls, and this, I rejjeat, with
scarcely anything like the losses in the past. In fine,
with our present experience, our plucky troops, and in
WHY RUSSIA IS TAXNIXG THE ASIATIC FLEECE. 357
Qiy opinion our very considerable military resources, there
is nothing in Asia that could really prevent us from
carrying out the broadest strategical schemes.
" Our policy during the last ten years has given a
world-wide importance to Russia. The sublime activity
of our Government in the opinion of Englishmen and
Asiatics has no bounds in Asia. This -presticje serves in
a principal degree to render our position secure. Not
long ago, while reading Lieutenant-Colonel Cory's
work — ' Shadows of Coming Events ; or, the Eastern
Menace. London: 1876' — I was struck at his not
imagining to himseK the power of Turkestan, otherwise
than connected by a railway ninning from Tchardjui on
the Oxus to Moscow. Asiatics believe to this very
moment that our troops spit fire when they rush with
hurrahs upon them.
" An acquaintance with the country and its resources
infallibly leads to the conclusion that our presence in
Turkestan in the name of Russian interests can only be
justified hy hastening to our own henefit the solution of the
Eastern Question. Otherivise the Asiatic fleece is not worth
the tanning, and all our efforts in Turkestan will have
been in vain. To prevent this it is very essential for us
to take care lest by our inactivity here in Central Asia
at the decisive moment in the West we display to the
enemy all the casualness of our conquests. This would
infallibly lead in its train the diminution of our prestige,
and demand in the futui'e still greater fruitless sacrifices.
I repeat, that with a minimum army of 40,000 men,
knowing how to operate, it would be possible not only to
keep the Turkestan region in order, with Kashgaria and
Bokhara acting against us, but also, I dare to affirm,
enable us to evacuate Turkestan and conquer it over
Again. In case of need we could draw into Turkestan six
Siberian Cossack cavalry regiments (thirty-six sotnyas),
several companies from West Siberia, a battery of eight
guns, and perhaps three regiments (eighteen sotnyas)
from Orenburg. It must not be forgotten that, even
after throwing from 16,000 to 20,000 men across the
Hindoo Koosh, with proportionate artillery, of which
there is any amoimt in Turkestan, there would still remain
with the above-mentioned reinforcements 31,800 men for
the defence of Turkestan, and this without touching the
effective forces of the Amu Darya district (two battalions,
358 skobeleff's project for invading india.
four sotnyas, eight field guns), and without reckoning the
forces in the Transcaspian region.
" There are no doubt many trials in store for us in
Central Asia, but for them to attain a head it is necessary
for the Mussulman race to first come to maturity, and that
a whole class of influential men should rise knowing us
well, and thoroughly realizing the mainsprings of our
power and success. The well-known Nana Sahib was
brought up in the midst of Europeans, and he was
admitted into the highest English circles, and for that
reason alone was able to be such a menace to the English.
Elements of that sort have not yet formed among us.
Therein lies one of our absolute advantages over the
English, a.nd when once events in the West attain a cul-
minating point, this fact, together with many others,
should impel us to get from Turkestan the whole of the
benefit it is in a condition to accord.
" En Asie, la, oii cessent les triomphes commencent les
difiicultes (Lettre du due de Wellington a lord Auckland,
gouv. des Indes, 1839). This is indisputably true — in a
political sense we are outliving the epoch of triumph, and
must therefore make the utmost use of it. Yovi see how
much I anticipate from our might in Central Asia. It
can be easily understood that having had the fortune for
a long time of sharing the trials of war with the Turkes-
tan forces, I cannot wish to exchange my fighting services
here for any other ; but it would be rather hard to be
here doing nothing when the greater part of our army
was shedding blood in the West for the fatherland.
Hence I beg you again not to forget me in the event of
any declaration of war. — ^Tour affectionate and grateful,
" Michael Skobeleff.
«< P.S.— A few orders of the day to the troops of the
Ferghana District to give you an idea how we live here.
Ecad them through, and do not refuse to share with me
your impressions, which I prize so much."
" I have just received the Golos, No. 358, of December
29, 1876. On reading the leading article I see that a,
declaration of war on the part of Eussia against the
Ottoman Porte constitiites the desired event of our
enemies, that Europe has made a muddle of the c^uestion.
CENTRAL ASIA THE BEST WAR BASE. 359
and trusts to tlie pi-ecipitaney of Russia, so unfavourable
for her (Russia) ; and, finally, tliat events have got in
such a tangle that a decided and speedy unravelling of
them is altogether out of the question for the moment.
Already in the third decade of the present century. Field-
Marshal Count von Moltke pointed out the imj^ossibility
of obtaining rapid and decisive results in European
Turkey, and acknowledged it would be exceedingly diffi-
cult to carry on war there without having a powerful
fleet and the absolute dominion of the Black Sea. As is well
known, even Field-Marshal Prince Varshavsky in 1829
expressed a doubt respecting the significance of aggres-
sive operations in Asia Minor, on account of the lack of
a decisive objective point. The only advantageous one
he could see was the trade route joining Bagdad with
Scutari ; but this has now lost its importance with the
opening of the Suez Canal. And thus one might almost
decide on saying that, however happily a campaign might
be carried on in European and Asiatic Turkey, it would
be difficult to find in those seats of war a solution of the
Eastern Question. A frank behaviour on the part of
England, conformable with the views of our Grovernment,
would, of course, so far as I understand the question,
lead to the satisfaction of our legitimate requirements.
However, we ought not to lose sight of the chance of a
war with England. That country might not declare war
formally against us, but by sending her officers to the
ranks of the Turkish army, and by helping Turkey with
means, would virtually be at war with ns.
" Would it not be better to make use of our new,
poioerfid, strategical position in Central Asia, our better
acquaintance than before with the routes and means in
the extended sense of the term, in order to strike at our
real enemy a deadly blow in the event (doubtful) of the
evident signs of our determination to operate against the
line of operations most sensitive to the English failing to
cause them to entirely give way to us ? This state of
affairs is, obviously, very serious, and therefore we might,
having resolved to remain on the defensive on the Danube
and in Asiatic Turkey, place a corps of 30,000 men at
Astrabad to co-operate with the troops of the Turkestan
mihtary district against Cabul. By doing this we might
spare our Russian army in Europe and Asia Minor those
insuperable difficulties it has had to contend against un-
360 SKOBELEFF's PKOJECT for invading INDIA.
successfully several times every century. It is, of course,
not for me to decide by what means Transcaucasia should
be defended against an invasion of a Turkish army, or
how far the helpless condition of the Christian inhabi-
tants of Turkey would allow the Danube army to main-
tain a purely defensive attitude, in the event of war being
proclaimed ; but in any case I will presume to put on
record my convictions.
"1. That if an invasion of India with a force of
18,000 men, in the present condition of the English
power in Asia, is a rather hazardous feat, but all the
same a possible and desirable one, then such an inva-
sion with 50,000 troops would be without any risk what-
ever.
" 2. That in the Caspian Sea, from the early spring, we
possess all the means for the rapid concentration at Astra-
bad of a body of 30,000 men, and the furnishing of them
with supplies.
" 3. That the country from Astraliad to Herat and
Cabul is in every respect favourable for the passage of
considerable forces. By exercising adequate political
pressure on Persia, Khorassan might be rendered a base
for supplies — Transcaucasia, Transcaspia, and Persia fur-
nishing the transport.
"4. That the Turkestan military district having been
reinforced with six regiments of Siberian Cossacks, three
regiments of Orenburg troops, six companies of infantry,
and one battery from Western Siberia (the troops might
arrive in Turkestan — i.e., Tashkent, towards the sj^ring),
it could push forward 18,000 men with corresponding
artillery to march upon Cabul.
" 5. That it is possible to march from Samarcand to
the foot of the Hindoo Koosh, and that the passage from
Khoolum, across Khebek, Kurem, Bamian, and the
passes of Kara Kotel, Deutan-Sheken, Ak-Kobat, Kalui,
Hadjikak, and IJnna, into the valley of the river Cabul,
is likewise feasible. Although it has been shown that
field artillery (battery guns) could be conveyed across these
passes without special appliances, still, all the same, in
order to he prepared for the worst, I have occupied myself
with the question of those appliances necessary to ensure
the complete success of the passage of field artillery over
mountain tracks.
" Already I can confidently say that the simplest method
SKOBELEFF SUMS UP HIS SCHEME. 361
tas been discovered, a new conveyance,witli a four-pounder
slung underneath, having proved on experiment yesterday
a success. However, a final judgment as to its merits,
and consequently as to its being able to cross any kind of
mountain, can only be given after a practical march with
two trial guns across the snowy mountains on the confines
of the province, which we have decided shall take place
in February.
" 6. That Shere Ali, the successor of Dost Mahommed,
cannot but long for the possession of Peshawar, and that
in general it would not be difficult to raise all Asia against
India, in the name of blood and rapine, and revive the
times of Tamerlane.
" 7. That Shere Ali is dissatisfied at the present moment
with the English.
" 8. That the English troops in India do not exceed
60,000 men, with corresponding artillery, and that the
native army is more a menace than a support to its
rulers.
" 9. That even the contact of an insignificant force
with the frontier of India might lead to a general insur-
rection throughout the country and the collapse of the
British Empire.
"It wovild appear to be opportime at the present
moment to give heed to all that has been written above.
"Kokand, Jan. 27 (O.S.), 1877, 12.50 a.m."
362
GENERAL SKOBELEEF ON THE EUSSIAN
POSITION IN CENTRAL ASIA.
The preceding letter of G-eneral Skobeleff's was writtea
before the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78. The sub-
joined was penned aftei-wards, in 1879. It was published
this year in the Russ by Gospodin Aksakoff, the well-
known Panslavist.
Letter from General SJcoheleff to a Russian Diplomatist
abroad in 1879 : —
"In accordance with your wishes, I venture to com-
municate to you an abridgment of my Report to General
Kaufmann on the question, ' What to do in Turkestan in
the event of war between Russia and England ? ' wi-itten
in Kokand, Dec. 25, 1876, and afterwards completed from
data furnished by the unpublished ' Manuscript Maga-
zine' compiled by Colonel Soboleff in 1870.
" You yourself are good enough to observe that cur-
rent events in Central Asia are in no way a surprise to
those of us in both camps — Russian and English — who
have followed the question of the probable conflict
between Russia and England, in its decisive phase, which
can only take place on the eastern and western slopes of
the Indian Hindoo Klioosh. The chief aim of the policy
which is called by the party of action in England ' Impe-
rial' consists mainly in employing every effort to turn
the balance of chances, in view of a war in Asia Minor
and Cetitral Asia, decidedly in favour of England. The
near future will show us, I believe, that England is
about to make in this direction a series of attempts and
efforts, bearing at first a purely commercial character, but
which will eventually result in our borders being threat-
ened by a mighty offensive force of Mussulman elements,
armed and organized in European fashion, but none the
niS VIEW OF RUSSIAN PRESTIGE. 363
less inspired by that spirit of religious fanaticism so
characteristic of the people of Asia, and so dangerous in
fighting them.
" The occupation of Cyprus on June 4, 1878, the Ex-
pedition to Afghanistan— taken together and coupled
with the consideration of the great strategical import-
ance of the points occupied — constitutes more than the
prologue to the first part of the British programme.
This advance will be finally completed when English
influence is confirmed by the estabhshment of military
General-Consulships and other such-like institutions in
Erzeroum, Diarbekir, Mossul, Bagdad, Bussora, Candahar,
Cabul, and even Herat, if, unhappily, we allow the latter
to be thus controlled — and when the railroads which are
already being surveyed for, join the Gulf of Iskanderoon
with the Euphrates (the waters of which will be cut by
thousands of steamers), with Kurachee al large naval
port, and with Bombay ; when railroads stretch far away
to the north from Kurachee through Candahar to Ghuz-
nee and Cabul in one direction, and to Herat in another.
" All these suppositions, fictitious and fantastic as they
seem — and the realization of which would indeed be
beyond the power of any other State— will, unhappily for
us, only too soon enter the domain of fact, unless England
meets on her way serious obstacles. The gigantic works
undertaken after the terrible Mutiny of 1857 to establish
the network of Indian railways may be cited as convinc-
ing evidence. The result will be the weakening ofoiir
influence and diminution of the security of our Asiatic
frontiers, the extent of which is so enormous.
" When once these results, attained by the fulfilment
of this first part of the programme, are sufficiently estab-
lished, I am convinced that even with the most peaceable
—if such an expression is permissible — with the most
Gladstonian Ministry, England will be drawn into the
paths of invasive action — at first, perhaps, indirectly —
against our possessions in the Caucasus and in Central
Asia, and also against the preponderating influence which
guaranteed the observance of the Treaty of Turkment-
chai for us both at the Court of Teheran and throughout
Persia, and which neither our reverses in the Crimea
nor the victorious campaign of England in 1857 could
shake.
"At the same time, our position in Central Asia can
364 SKOBELEFF ON CENTEAL ASIA.
only be considered comparatively secure so long as our
influence meets no rival. Our uninterrupted successes
during ten years in this country liave been attained not
merely by numbers and tlie strength of our battalions,
but mainly by the unquestioned nature of ovir influence.
When Greneral Romanoffsky took Oura-Tioube by storm
in October, 1866, the elders of the town who were brought
before him kept asking, ' But where are the giants who
breathed out fire ? ' The General wisely answered them
that he had sent the giants back to Russia, but would
recall them at the first necessity. At the present moment,
after General Kaufmann's abortive attempt of last year,
when the natives have found out that there are fire-
breathing giants on the other side, too, of the Hindoo
Khoosh, who might even compel us to turn tail, our in-
fluence must inevitably be shaken, and may even be
transferred to the English. From the moment that this
occurs, security within our own boundaries is at an end.
The Mussulman population of those districts, mastered
by us, but still quivering feverishly, will remain submis-
sive to us only in proportion as it believes that might is
still on our side,
"If we have hitherto been able to encounter and sup-
press the outbursts of Mussulman fanaticism amongst
the population of the conquered provinces with our
extremely limited fighting means, we are indebted for
this success, in the first place, to the state of dependence
on us in which we have placed the Khan of Khiva, the
leaders of the Turcoman tribes (except the Akkal Tek-
kes), the Emir of Bokhara, the Begs of Shahrisiab,
Karategin, and of the Kara Kirghiz of Alai, and the
consequent impossibility of making these districts the
centres of political and religious opposition. How clearly
the danger of such a turn of affairs was evident to all
persons standing at the head of our Central Asian ad-
ministration is shown by the fact that when Kashgar,
under Yakoob Beg, tried to raise the standard of the
Prophet, it was understood in Tashkent it was absolutely
necessary either to conquer Kashgar by force of Russian
arms, or give it over to the Chinese hordes. As is well
known, the last alternative was chosen. In the second
place, we were much assisted by the dissensions existing
between all these petty Mussulman princes, who out of
selfishness, envy, and fear of our arms, quietly looked on
RL'SSIA AND THE MUSSULMAN. 365
■when we attacked their neighbours (in 1866, war with
Bokhara alone ; in 1868, war with Bokhai*a, when the
Ambassador of the Khan of Khokaud, Ivhudoiar-Mirza-
Khakim-Paiinanatsky, as representative of the Khan,
was present at the battle of Tchupan-ata and Zera-
bulak, and at the capture of Saniarcand ; in 1873, war
with Khiva, when the Emir of Bokhara, Musafar-Edin-
Khan, allowed onr troops to cross his territory, and fur-
nished them with provisions ; finally in 1875-6, war with
Khokand, when Kashgar, Bokhara, and Khiva displayed
a calm neutrality) .
" One man alone in Central Asia understood then that
unity was the pledge of power, and that was Yakoob
Khan. When, in January, 1876, I was driven to hazard
the storming of Andijan by the fact that the position of
affairs had become doubtful, at the beginning of our
advance my spies brought word that Yakoob Khan had
sent emissaries to the Emir of Bokhara with the object
of inducing him to enter into an alliance for maintaining
the independence of the Khanate of Kliokand.
" Some time afterwards GTeneral Kaufmann warned me
to the same effect. It was affinned then that troops were
already concentrating on our frontiers. The successful
storming of Andijan put an end to all these attempts.
But even now, when Yakoob Khan is dead, the danger
continues to exist. The eldest son of the Emir of Bok-
hara, Katta-Tiura, exiled from Bokhara and shut out by
our influence from successive dreams of revenge, finds for
his restless energy a field not only in Afghanistan, but
even beyond the Indian frontier. Personal bravery and
a life full of adventure have made him in some sort the
unquestioned leader of the Mussulman Party and repre-
sentative of Mussulman fanaticism. In the hands of
the English such a man may become a powerful and
dangerous weapon. The idea of an alliance of the
Mussulman rulers and peoples in Central Asia, destroyed,
apparently, by our military successes, may spring up
once again, and with greater vitality, under English
influence, which will certainly make itself felt after the
conquest of Afghanistan, thanks to the financial and
military power of England. The treaty of 4th June,
1878, giving the Sultan into the hands of England, by
that also gave the latter influence over all the orthodox
Mussulmans of Central Asia.
366 SKOBELEFF ON CENTRAL ASIA.
"What must not we Eussians fear in Central Asia,
seeing that England has succeeded in entangling with _a
thousand snares him whom the orthodox of Central Asia
consider to this day their leader in war, and the repre-
sentative of the Prophet ?
" What position ought we to take up in view of Eng-
lish intrigues, which have already placed us on the de-
fensive ? Ought we to oppose force to force, and answer the
English invasion of Afghanistan by a movement of Eus-
sian troops in the same direction ? Although our military
forces in Turkestan have remained untouched, and the
army of the Caucasus has recovered its freedom of action,
I believe that at present it would be enough: — 1. To
oppose to the future English base of operations (Cypms,
Iskanderoon, the Euphrates, the Persian Grulf, the
Arabian Sea, Kurachee, the railroad, Kandahar), a Eus-
sian base of proportionate dimensions, and also furnished
with steam. Moscow, the Volga, the Caucasus, the
Caspian, Krasnovodsk, a railroad (or at least a tramway)
uniting the Caspian and the Aral, and navigation on the
Oxus about as far as Kerki.
" 2. To lean this base against a fortress able to resist
present means of attack. In choosing the locality the
preference might be given to Samarcand, on account not
only of its strategic position as available for defence as
for offence, but of its spiritual and religious significance
in the eyes of all the Mussulman peoples of Asia.
" 3. To the advance of the English, who will very soon
endeavour to tuna our present vassals into open enemies,
and will threaten the security of our own frontiers, we
ought to oi)pose at any cost a point whence we could (a)
sever the independent Khanates on our frontiers from
Afghanistan (under British influence), by the exercise of
material force and moral influence ; and [h) secure Herat
from sudden seizure— the "Key of India," as the English
call it, and the possession of which would liring with it
inevitably a complete predominance of English influence
at Teheran, and — more important still — a military organ-
ization of the Turcoman hordes. This point should be
Merv."
367
THE EUSSIAN INVASION" OF INDIA IN 1877
AND 1884.*
BT CHAELES MARTIN.
We recently gave a translation of a project drawn up by
General Sk'obeleff in 1877 for a Eussian invasion of India,
and pointed out that the Eussian position had completely
changed since then, rendering the enterprise incomparably
more feasible. On this occasion, we can hardly do better
than illustrate this change by showing what would have
probably been Skobeleff's scheme of operations to-day
had he been still living. We should remark beforehand
that extreme historical significance attaches to the project
of 1877. It was not simply a bit of military speculation,
interesting only on account of being the production of a
gifted and popular general, but it was the basis of those
operations against India which marked the following
year. SkobelefE advised that an envoy should be first
sent to Cabul, followed by an army, and that a supporting
column should operate from the Caspian to divert the
Turcomans and Persians from the force, and sustain it if
it fell back by way of Herat. It is not generally known
that directly after the Eussians invested Constantinople
in 1878 a council of war was held in camp to arrange a
scheme for attacking India, at which Skobeleff was
present, and that his project of 1877 was accepted with-
out any vital alteration. Even two of the officers were
sent from this Council of War — Stolietoff and Grodekoff,
the foi-mer being accredited envoy to the Ameer and the
latter receiving the post of the chief of Kaufmann's staff.
Eussian diplomatists constantly represent Skobcleff as a
hot-brained general, whose projects exercised no influence
on the Eussian Government and were unworthy of the
notoriety they excited in England. Here we have a clear
* Morninrj Post, April 17, 1884.
368 THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF INDIA.
illustration to the contrary, the march of Kaiifmann's
column to Djam in 1878, en route for India, and
Lomakin's expedition to Khoja Kala against the Turco-
mans, being the practical outcome of the brilliant general's
scheming while acting as Grovernor of Ferghana. Up to
the moment that StolietofE appeared at Cabul and Kauf-
mann set off from Tashkent towards India, there were
two cardinal points Liberal politicians always adhered to
— one that Eussia would never meddle with Afghanistan,
the other that she would never undertake such a fool-
hardy enterprise as an invasion of India. After the
military and diplomatic operations of 1878, the public
were able to judge who had been wiser — Conservative or
Liberal statesmen ; and their perception has increased _ a
hundredfold since with the rapid unfolding of events in
Central Asia. To be plain, it is only fools or fanatics
who hold to-day that Eussia will never seek to upset our
sway or otherwise injure our rule in India. In 1877 the
Turcomans constituted an effective barrier to a Eussian
advance from the Caspian at Krasnovodsk ; further, the
road by way of Askabad to Herat was believed to be
impracticable for an army. Hence, what is now known
to be the easiest and the shortest road to India does not
figure at all in Skobeleff's project. Napoleon's highway
of invasion, from Astrabad on the Caspian to Meshed
and Herat, running parallel with the above, passed
through the territory of a Power which was undoubtedly
more hostile to Eussia than England in 1877._ A Eussian
army could not have landed at Astrabad in that year
without rimning the risk of rendering Persia a foe; and
this was a more serious matter than appears at first sight,
since in 1877 the Caucasian tribes were not quite pacified,
and attacked the rear of the Eussian forces located on
the Perso-Turkish border in 1878, while an advance to
Herat parallel with the Turcoman region would have
brought down the Tekkes on the Eussian flank. To-day
Persia is virtually the vassal of Eussia, the city of Astra-
bad could be occupied without fear of displeasure and
with every probability of active co-operation ; and finally,
there would be no Turcomans to worry the flanks of the
invading force. Skobeleff was so impressed with the
difficulties existing in this direction in 1877, that he
limited the Eussian operations from the Caspian base to
simply the movement of an auxiliary column. Placed as
THE POSITION IN 1878. 369
Eussia was in 1877, Turkestan was her best base of opera-
tions, and Skobeleff's project was accepted by the Russian
Grovernnient, although it would have taken six months for
reinforcements to have reached Samarcand from Orenburg ;
and the army of invasion, besides having to march 700
miles over desert and mountains, would have had to cross
the broad and rapid Oxus, ill-provided with boats, and
the passes, 15,000 or 20,000 feet high, of the Hindoo
Koosh. Skobeleff's project contains frequent admissions
of the difficulty and risk of the enterprise. It was bad
enough to march troops to the Turkestan outposts with-
out taking in hand any operations beyond. There was
even a fear that Turkestan itself might rise against
Russia. Despite all these drawbacks, the Russian
<3rovernment authorised Skobeleff's project to be prac-
tically tested, and enough was done to indicate the
outlines of the proposed attack. Had the Congress
at Berlin been a failure, Stolietoff's arrival at Cabul
would have been followed by Kaufmann's army, and
there can be no doubt that the Afghan conflict in conse-
quence would have worn a very different complexion.
Whether active or passive, the Russians at Cabul would
have been a serious menace to India. If active, their
attacks, in conjunction with the Afghan tribes upon the
forces disposed along the Indian frontier, would have
been extremely harassing ; if passive, the intrigues they
would have fomented in the rear of those forces in India
itseK would have been still more disagreeable. Our
Government would have been in constant fear of a
m^utiny. How far Skobeleff carried his hatred of Eng-
land in time of peace is shovpn in Grodekoff's recently
published history of his last Turcoman campaign, in which,
it is stated that after the fall of Geok Tepe, Skobeleff,
in order to raise Russian prestige in Central Asia, sent
emissaries to the bazaars of Khorassan to spread about
the report that it was Russia who had caused England to
evacuate Afghanistan. This is a mild specimen of the
intrigues the Russians would have resorted to in India in
1878 after occupying Cabul, and which there is every proba-
bility they will carry on from their new outposts at Merv
and Sarakhs. In the event of defeat Kaufmann would
have evacuated Cabul and fallen back, not on Turkestan,
where a rising was to be apprehended, but on Herat, to
join on the way a succouring force fi-om the Caspian.
B B
370 THE EUSSIAN INVASION OF INDIA.
Every step the Russians took would have brought them
closer to fresh resources, while the English column of
pursuit, weakened every march by the extension of the
line of communications, must in the end have given up
the chase. Even if the Russians had simply caused us
to concentrate our military efforts to protect India, the
disablement to our power of offence in Europe this would
have occasioned would have been worth the defeat, nay,
even the annihilation of the Turkestan force. Were
Russia to reopen the Eastern Question again this year in
the some sudden manner she has recently reopened the
Central Asian Question by the totally unprovoked an-
nexation of Merv, General Kuropatkin (who is looked
upon as the best disciple of Skobeleff in the Russian
army, and is a noted Turkestan officer) would have to
draw up quite a totally different plan of operations
against India. The road would lie, not via Orenburg,
Samarcand, and Bokhara to Cabul and the Khyber ;
but fi-om the Caspian, through Krasnovodsk, Askabad,
Sarakhs, and Herat, to Candahar and the Bolan, with
perhaps an auxiliary force operating along the Astrabad
and Meshed track. The road would be different, the re-
sources different, and the diplomatic campaign would
have to be waged in a different manner. Let us discuss
them a little in detail.
The Russian Empire may be compared to an octopus,
with feelers stretching out to the various seas encompass-
ing the great plain of Europe inhabited by the Slavs.
Moscow and the adjacent governments foi'm the body,
with a solid mass of orthodox Russians, 60,000,000 in
number; and these control the rivers running to the
White and Black Seas, the Caspian, and the Baltic. The
Russians first pushed their Avay out from this central
position to the Baltic, then sovith-east along the great
river Volga to the Caspian. This was in Peter the
Great's time. Catherine the Great pushed down the Don
and Dnieper to the Black Sea ; and Alexander I. and
then Nicholas, working round the south of the Caucasus
to Tiflis from the Caspian and the Black Sea, incorporated
the Caucasus and laid the foundations of that great base
of operations in Asia. Alexander II. started a fresh
advance from Orenburg, and thrust out a large wedge
into Central Asia to Khiva and Bokhara. This gave
Russia her second base in Asia, the one Skobeleff meant
THE KEW THIRD BASE OF OPERATIONS. 371
to have utilized against India. More recently tlie present
Emperor, who evidently possesses all the ambition of his
predecessor, caused the Turkestan and Caucasus bases to
be joined by the annexation of the Turcoman region, and
this incorporated territory is now to be formed into a
separate administrative centre, and constitute a third base
against our Eastern Empire. This new province will
comprise the coxmtry from the Atrek mouth in the Caspian
Sea to Askabad, Old Sarakhs, Merv, and Khoja Sala on
the Oxus, thence along that river to Khiva, and back
again in a straight line to the Caspian, opposite the
mouth of the river Volga. The new base is thus situ-
ated at the head of the g'reat Volga highway, and can be
nourished by the resources of that river, without drawing
in the least on the strength of the Turkestan base on the
one hand and the Caucasus base on the other.
All these resources are available for despatch to the
very extremity of the Volga waterway at Port Michael-
ovsk, where commences the railway to the Turcoman out-
posts. Skobeleff's base in 1877 was distant from four to
six months' steppe marching from Orenburg, the ex-
tremity of Russia's resources in that direction. The
resources of the new base are only six days distant from
Askabad. The result is, that instead of Russia having
to commence a campaign with a large force concentrated
beforehand in Turkestan, with a gap of nearly half a year
separating it from its reinforcements, she can start opera-
tions with a small force severed only a few days from the
mammoth resources of the Volga basin, and pour those
resources in a continuous stream in the direction of
India. In 1877 it was a question whether 18,000 men
could be despatched from Turkestan to India. With 50,000
SkobelefE thought there could be no doubt of a successful
Russian invasion, but he admitted that Turkestan could
only manage to send 18,000. In 1884, however, it would
be possible to despatch not merely 18,000 or 50,000 from
the Caspian base, but 180,000 ; and provide it with sufl&-
cient food and transport to carry it to the Herat valley,
where enough supplies could be had for a further advance
ujion Candahar.
In the event of the advance of such a force upon
Herat, Candahar, and India, by the easy road through
the Turcoman region, the waiting game Shobeleff pro-
posed playing at Cabul could be carried on in the first
B B 2
372 THE KUSSIAN INVASION OF INDIA.
instance at Herat, and afterwards at Cabul or Candaliar,
Herat, on the showing of the best Russian and English
experts, contains ample sustenance for an army of at
least 100,000 troops. Such a force Eussia, even in her
present condition, when she has not yet completed the
organization of the Merv oasis, could concentrate at
Herat with far greater ease than we could concentrate
100,000 men at Quetta. And even if we did succeed in
gathering such a force on the Indian border, we should
have one serious disadvantage to contend with. Eussia,
with the head of her army protruding to Herat, would
be absolutely free from any attack, and having her troops
massed in a single district could strike with concentrated
force at any point along the border line, several hundred
miles long, of the Indian frontier, to defend which
frontier our force of 100,000 troops would have to be
broken up and scattered. It is a pojiular delusion,
shared, we regret to say, by many politicians even, that
there are only two cracks in the Indian frontier by which
Russians can enter India — the Bolan and the Khyber ;
instead of which the Intelligence Department possesses a
list, we believe, of 298 passes, all fit for the passage of
camels, and many capable of being readily adapted for
vehicular traffic. With a Eussian force of 100,000 troops
posted at Herat, and able to move iipon Candahar in one
direction and Cabul in another, and from either of these
points force a passage of the border by a score of passes,
aided by the Afghans, the position of the English army
on the present frontier would not be a very enviable one,
and most probably, indeed, would prove disastrous.
Herein really lies the significance of Herat as a place at
arms and basis of operations. There is no place near
where Eussia could concentrate such a large army as we
have referred to. By keeping her out of Herat we re-
strict her initial advance to 40,000 or 50,000 troops. By
letting her have it, or by leaving it open to capture by a
coup de main, as is the case at present, we place it in her
power to mature there a huge army to attack and expel us
from India.
To sum up, while Skobeleff would have used only the
Turkestan base for the principal attack in 1877, he would
have chosen the Transcaspian one to-day, but drawn
more largely upon Turkestan and the Caucasus. What
he said about Turkestan's power of offence possesses just
THE RUSSIAN EESOUECES SUMMED UP. 373
as much force as ever. Turkestan could easily send
18,000 troops in the direction of Cabul, and carry out
Skobeleff's plan of operations from that point. Bokhara,
in 1877 an imreliable feudatory, has since become so
friendly that the Russian General, no longer fearing any
rising m Turkestan, could even still further reduce his
garrisons and enlarge his force, or take with him 10,000
or 20,000 Bokharan levies. Such would be the fighting
capacity of the Turkestan base. As regards the Trans-
caspian, Russia could concentrate in the Caspian and
despatch to Herat a force of 100,000 or more troops,
brought via the Volga from the depots of Middle Russia ;
and finally, the Caucasus base could send at least 50,000,
and could readily add to their strength if necessary.
Such troops might be despatched from Baku to Astrabad,
and thence to Meshed and Herat, feeding themselves on
the resoixrces of Khorassan, and giving Russia, on their
arrival at Herat, an overwhelming force for operations in
Afghanistan. If the Ameer refused to co-operate or
remain neutral, the Russian tactics would be the same
SkobelefE proposed availing himself of in 1877— setting
up a pretender against Abdvirrahman Khan, and, under
the threat of civil war, coercing him into becoming an
ally. Diplomatic operations of any kind would be all
the more easy with Abdurrahman Khan, because he has
a great personal liking for the Russians, who treated him
well when a refugee ; and, further, because he is loyally
regarded by only a small portion of his father's subjects.
With three bases to operate from instead of one, 180,000
troops to manipulate instead of 18,000, and a starting
point six days ahead of the resources instead of six
months, Russia possesses advantages to-day over her
position in 1877 which gives a significance to Skobeleff's
project English statesmen cannot lay too closely to
heart.
374
EUSSIA'S POWEE OF SEIZING HEEAT. AND
CONCENTEATINO AN AEMY THEEE TO
THEEATEN INDIA.*
by charles marvin.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am going to demonstrate to you to-night the
importance of the annexation of Merv, not by elaborately
describing Merv itself, which I have sufficiently done in
my works already, but by imitating General Tchernayeff,
and giving you a realistic sketch of a Eussian invasion
of India. You will remember that, during the last war
in the East, Eussia concentrated vast forces on the
Turkish frontier, overran the Balkan peninsula, and
finally, after a series of bloody struggles, settled down
in front of the defences of Constantinople. This great
army of Eussians moved along the western side of the
Black Sea. Their total number was nearly half a
million men. Another army moved along its east side,
besieged and conquered Kars, occupied Erzeroum, and
was ready to march on to Constantinople when peace
was concluded. The strength of this second ai-my was
100,000 men.
Now, I want you to imagine a condition of politics in
which Eussia should declare war against England, with-
out previously imdertakiug any operations against Turkey.
It was an opinion held by the late General Skobeleff,
and it is shared by many generals now in power in Eussia,
that the simplest way to finally accomplish the conquest
* Lecture delivered before the Balloon Society, February 29, 1884.
Although hastily prepared, it was the first attempt that had been
made since the evacuation of Afghanistan to analyze the effects of the
new annexations beyond the Caspian upon the Russian military
position in Central Asia.
EESOURCES ON THE CASPIAN. 375
of Turkey is to upset our sway in India. The idea is,
not that Russia should take over the control of India,
but that, posing as a benevolent Power, she should help
shake off from the backs of 250,000,000 natives 150,000
tyrannical, money-grubbing Englishmen, of whom those
oppressed natives are heartily sick. Tou probably
imagine that you are doing India a real service by i-uling
the country. It is a view I myseK share. But Russians
in power consider that you are an unmitigated set of
blood-suckers, and that they woidd be rendering India a
service by helping the people to get rid of you. They
are persuaded the people would rise if they had a chance.
To cjuote Skobeleif's words, "The main cause of the
failure of the mutiny of 1857 was the fact that the
insurgents were not properly organized and led." Russia
would supply that deficiency. If she succeeded, she
believes your commerce, and with it your power, would
crumble to dust. She would then be left alone to work
her sweet will uj^on Constantinople.
Let us imagine war declared, and Russia bent upon
concentrating the whole of her efforts upon an expedition
to India. Of course, England blockades the Baltic and
Black Sea, but Russia takes up a passive attitude there,
and our fleets are unable to effect much injury — at any
rate, not sufficient to coerce Russia from her imdertaking.
Russia begins operations by concentrating her armaments
in the Caspian, where, as you know, no power can get at
them. In 1877 and 1878, 500,000 troops, with an enor-
mous amount of military stores, were directed upon
Constantinople — let us imagine only a fraction despatched
to the Caspian, and the whole of Russia's efforts concen-
trated in giving them transport. The railway system
touches the Volga at four great points — ISTijni-Novgorod,
Samara, Saratoff', and Tsaritzin. It would be an easy
matter, therefore, to get the troops to that river — incom-
parably easier than getting them to the Danube in '"11 .
On the Volga is abundance of transport : 700 steamers,
and thousands of barges 100 to 300 feet long. The
Volga is the great highway of Russia. It may be a new
geographical fact for some of you to know, that if you
were to set out in a steamer 150 feet long from London
Bridge to-morrow — no, not to-morrow, but a little later
on, when the Volga is free from ice again — you could
go with that steamer all the way to the Caspian Sea. I
376 Russia's power of seizing herat.
saw, two or tliree months ago, a mimber of large oil-
steamers at Baku that had made their way to the Caspian
from the Tyne. The through voyage was accomplished
by means of the magnificent canal system joining the
Neva with the Caspian, thanks to which Eussia could
despatch any number of transports to the Caspian Sea.
But these would not be needed. On the Caspian Russia
has forty or fifty powerful steamers, and twenty more
from 150 to 250 feet long are to be added this year.
This rapid growth of the Caspian marine is due to the
development of the Baku petroleum region, incomparably
the richest in the world. I wish I had more time to
describe Baku. That is the point I fix upon as the base
of any operations against India. Ten years ago an
English official passed through Baku, and saw nothing of
interest. Ten years ago an English officer passed through
and saw only one wooden jetty. The town that has risen
there since has a frontage of six miles along the bay ;
7,000 vessels enter and leave the port every year ; the
port owns twenty-five piers, with an aggregate accommo-
dation for 100 steamers at one and the same time ; the
200 oil refineries contain any amount of engineering skill
— a valuable adjunct to an army ; and a railway, opened
a few months ago, enables any portion of the army of the
Caucasus, 150,000 strong on a peace footing, to co-operate
at Baku with the forces arriving from the Volga against
India. Without experiencing anything like the difficulty
she encountered in 1877, Eussia could assemble at Baku
an army quite as large as she invaded Turkey with
then ; it would have better transport, the troops wovild
arrive at the base in better trim, and they would have the
enormous food supply of the Volga basin to sustain them
in their campaign.
So much for the concentration at Baku. Erom there
across to Krasnovodsk is a sixteen hours' run. I have
told you Balai possesses pier accommodation to load 100
steamers at the time. There would thus be no difficulty
in ferrying the army across the Caspian, nor yet in con-
veying it in tugged barges to Michaelovsk, should the
railway from Krasnovodsk to that point be not then
finished. At Michaelovsk the army would come in con-
tact, for the first time, with the immense deserts which
the dressing-gown school of English politicians used to
regard as a barrier to the Eussian advance, and whick
THOSE MOLES, ENGLISH STATESMEN ! 377
even now, in these days of enlightenment, certain Rip
van Winkles still believe in. Ladies and Gentlemen, will
you believe me ? You can take a third class ticket for
4s. 4d., and a second-class ticket for 8s. 8d., across this
great desert barrier ; and when you get to Kizil Arvat
station, at the extremity of the Transcaspian railway,
you have not got a bit more desert, in the strict sense of
the word, all the way to India. From Kizil Arvat to
Herat you have in the Akhal and Atak oases and in the
valley of the Hari Eud a magnificent soil alongside the
highway the whole distance, either pi-oducing extraordinary
crops or capable of producing them when tilled by Eus-
sian peasants. Mr. Gladstone will tell you that many a
year must elapse before the region between the Caspian
and Herat will be peopled by Russian colonists. I retort,
What about Baku ? Look at Merv ! Three years ago
it was one of the most inaccessible spots in the world.
Even Lord Sahsbury regarded it as a barrier likely to
last some years. Yet, in a few weeks' time, Merv will be
in the Postal Union, and if any of my Russian friends
go there I shall be able to send them a letter for 2-od. H
you will turn up the Candahar debates and the Candahar
speeches, you will find that there is hardly a prediction
made by the present Government in regard to the
Russian advance that has not been falsified by events,
which ought to have been foreseen, and, as a matter of
fact, were foreshadowed by more than one Conservative
statesman.
The Russian railway system — for the Transcaspian
railway is a natural extension of the Baku-Batoum rail-
way — tei-minates at Kizil Arvat, 144 miles from the
Caspian. Now, I should like you to remember a very
great fact, and one which I hope you will never allow
any gammon-monger to humbug out of your memories,
and that is this. Russia's steam communication ter-
minates at Kizil Ai-vat. From her home provinces she
can send to that point as large an army as she invaded
Turkey with, and an incomparably larger anny than you
can ever hope to send to India ; but whereas — and please
remember this — but whereas that anny could be conveyed
thither without any enemy being able to molest a single
man, or even to report its movements, for in time of war
the Russians would cut off all telegraphic communications
with abroad, your army of defence would be open to attack
378 Russia's power of seizing herat.
the whole of the way to India, for a period of three weeks,
by means of cruisers and disguised torpedo-boats. Now
that the Merv Turcomans are annexed, Eussia has no
enemy to fear the whole way to Herat ; and while you
must guard every inch of your road to Indiana serious
drain on your resources — she need not detach a single
Cossack to defend her forces the whole of the distance to
Herat.
From Kizil Arvat to Askabad, 135 miles, there is a
wagon service in operation. Turcoman settlements ex-
tend the entire distance, forage and food are plentiful,
and travelling is as easy as in any part of Russia. The
garrisons along the road at present number 7,000 troops,
who are encouraged to settle down in the country on the
expiration of their term of service. I wish I had with
me, to show you, some photographs of Askabad I saw at
Baku. Askabad, which was as troublesome to get as
Merv three years ago, now possesses all the features of a
prosperous Russian town. Before long the railway will
be extended thither. To extend it the whole distance
from Kizil Arvat to Herat will only cost Russia d£2,192,000,
or a quarter of the sum she has expended in connecting
Batoum with Baku. The political and strategical effect
of the Russians running a locomotive into the Key of
India would be worth ten times, nay, twenty times, that
outlay in hastening the solution of the Eastern Question,
the existence of which exercises such a disastrous, such
a paralyzing effect on Russian progress, Russian trade,
and Russian finance.
At Askabad we first come face to face with Merv, dis-
tant 200 miles from it by a direct road across the desert,
which is impracticable, or by another extending straight
ahead to Kahka, and then striking off at right angles via
the Tejend oasis. This is a little longer. You have
recently been told over and over again by certain howling
dervishes of Parliament and the Press, that Merv does
not lie on the road to India. Well, it does not require
one to be a Cabinet Minister to realize that fact. Merv
was on the road to India when the Russian advance lay
through Turkestan. As you are probably aware, and as
General Tchernayeff has just found to his cost, there are
two Russian advances towards India, two Rixssian move-
ments — one from Turkestan managed from Tashkent, and
the other from the Caspian controlled from Tiflis. Now,
HOW TCHERNAYEFF TUKNED BOKHAEA. 379
I do not profess to know all the secrets of the Kussian
Government, but I believe I am not far wrong in ascrib-
ing the annexation of Mei-v and the downfall of General
Tchernayeff to a large extent to the jealovisy and the
rivalry between these two administrations. Experts in
Enssia have long foreseen that whichever administration
first hooked Meiw would secure to itself all the good
appointments connected with the encroachments proceed-
ing from that base, and the opening up of relations with
India. Bokhara was a barrier between Tashkent and
Merv. While the Emir was alive it could not be decently
annexed ; so General Tchernayeif opened up a new
road for his province from opposite the mouth of the
Volga to Khiva, and thence up the Oxus, which com-
pletely turned the Bokhara impediment, and brought
the Turkestan ofl&cials into direct contact with Merv
and Afghanistan. This manoeuvre was deeply resented
by the Caucasus officials. I heard all manner of angiy
ridicule cast upon it while I was in the Caucasus. And,
to be beforehand with Tchernayeff, General Komaroff,
Governor of Askabad, set on foot those secret coercive
measures which resulted in the Merv Tekke _ chiefs
hurrying to his head-Cjuarters and giving in their sub-
mission.
Here, then, you have an illustration of the clangers
arising from the two rival Russian administrations in
Central Asia, which, by the way, the Government jvimbled
up most confusedly in 'the House of Commons the other
night. If Tchernayeff had annexed Merv, the oasis
would certainlv have been upon the road to India, either
from opposite the mouth of the Volga or from Turkestan.
That the road might not have been a good one is quite a
different matter. We need not concern ourselves with
that. All we need bear in mind is that Tchernayeff would
have found Merv a splendid base for encroaching upon
Afghanistan.
Merv fell to the Caucasus administration, and it does
not require one to have the superlative genius of the
Duke of Argyll to see that, to an army advancing from
Askabad, Merv did not lie tipon the road to India. In
that narrow sense, as General Grodekoff — for whom I
have the warmest personal esteem — explained to me
before his brother-officers" two years ago, Merv is not the
Key of Herat. Sarakhs is the stepping-stone to Herat
380 Russia's power of seizing herat.
to an army operating from the Caspian. But, until
Merv was annexed, Russia could not turn the corner
at Sarakhs and advance along the Hari Eud to Herat
without exposing her flank to the attack of 50,000 of the
finest horsemen in the world. And now you will begin
to realize the importance of that annexation. Russia,
instead of having to protect her army against those
50,000 Turcoman cavalry, will carry along with her that
force to occupy Herat and fight you at Candahar or at
Quetta. Russia has, in a word, broken down the only
living barrier intervening between the Caspian and Herat,
and she can now, thanks to the annexation of Merv,
march an army all the way to Herat without meeting a
single enemy to molest her scouts. I think you will,
therefore, agree with me that the annexation of Merv is
something more than the " mere annexation of a few
mud huts," as the Duke of Argyll defined it a few years
ago, and that England has beeu perfectly justified in
regarding the annexation with unqualified resentment
and alarm.
And now let us get back to our invading army, which
we left at the railway station at Kizil Arvat. From this
point runs an easy road, via Askabad, the Atak oasis, and
round the corner at Sarakhs, all the way to Herat. The
distance is 523 miles, and the only obstacle to be encoun-
tered the whole way is the passage of the Barkhut hills,
near Herat, 900 feet above the surrounding level, or
roughly, three times the height of St. Paul's Cathedral.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the terrific mountain barrier
protecting India from the Russian — three times the height
of St. Paul's Cathedral, and which even in its present
condition is as easy to cross, for artillery and wagons, as
Shooter's Hill. You have thus no living obstacle and no
geographical obstacle to prevent a Russian army marching
into Herat whenever it likes. The stages are three in
number. The first is from Kizil Arvat to Askabad, 135
miles, along the oasis of Akhal, where the Russians have
already established a vehicular jDOstal service, and organ-
ized the road for the passage of an army. The second is
from Askabad to Sarakhs, 185^ miles, where Russia has
to turn the corner. Of this 185 i miles of road, 47 miles,
from Askabad to Baba Durmaz, belong to Russia — the
remainder, as far as Sarakhs, passes througli what is
called the Atak oasis. This is a fertile band of country
FKOM SARAKHS TO HERAT. 381
running alongside the road, witli plenty of settlements,
and capable of considerable development. It belongs
to Persia by rights, but Russia, in order to get to Merv
via the Tejend, and to organize the road of invasion of
Herat, has semi-officially declared she means to annex it
with Merv. Here, then, you have another of the signi-
ficant results attending the annexation of Merv ; for
what does the incorporation of the Atak mean but that
the Cossack will be brought to within 202| miles of the
Key of India — i.e., within a week's march of Herat.
Once the Russians occupy the Atak they will organize it
as they have Akhal, and means will be established for
the passage of the vast invading army we started with
from the Volga.
And now for the last stage — from Sarakhs to Herat —
202 1 miles. Last week, on the day of the Merv debate,
the Pall Mall Gazette published a map, with an article
criticising a pamphlet I had issued to the House of Com-
mons to give life to the discussion, in which it declared
that the alarmist party consisted only of myself and Mr.
Ashmead-Bai-tlett. My words, it declared, fell on deaf
ears ; nobody, it said, cared about Merv. Well, before
that night was over, I had the pleasure of seeing both
sides of the House of Commons, with my pamphlet in
their hands, admitting that my words cUd not fall on
deaf ears, and that both the Grovernment and the Opposi-
tion really did entertain sincere alarm at the Russian
advance. So much for the rash article of the Pall Mall
Gazette. Now for its map. Sarakhs, as you know, is a
Persian fortress, laying on the west side of the Hari Rud.
Russia does not mean to touch it. She means to turn
the corner on the opposite side of the river, and move
along the east bank to Herat. By annexing Merv she is
annexing the Atak and the Tejend oases, both leading up
to this corner, and there for the moment lies the whole
pivot of the Central Asian Question. On this map pub-
lished by the Pall Mall Gazette you will find a most
terrific barrier raised to the Russian advance. And that
is this : — From the Miirghab, or Merv river, a line is
drawn across to Sarakhs, and all the country up to
Herat is marked in awe-inspiring characters — " Afghanis-
tan." The inference is, that if this great Russian army
gets to Sarakhs, the mere fact of a line being drawn
across the map, claiming the land south of the turning
382 Russia's power of seizing herat.
point as Afghan territory, will deter it from going any
further. Well, such an obstacle may do for men whose
life is spent in dressing-gown and slippers, but I do not
think it would exercise much effect on the good-humoured,
blustering, unscrupulous giants composing the Russian
army. It is no use chalking a line on a bit of paper, and
expecting the Russians, after occupying Merv, to scrupu-
lously refrain from crossing it. Russians, as you know,
have no scruples. From Sarakhs up to within a short
distance of Herat there is not an Afghan to be seen.
The country has been so harried by the Turcomans that
it is quite depopulated. Such being the case, can you
expect Russia, after getting to Sarakhs, to the point where
the Persian and Afghan frontiers theoretically touch —
can you expect Russia to refrain from sending her Cos-
sacks roaming all over the country south of it ? And
can those Cossacks be prevented from dropping into
Herat to get their vodky and tobacco. You must pay the
Sepoy alongside Sarakhs if you want to keep the Cossack
back.
To occupy Candahar from Quetta, hilly country, infested
by fierce tribes, has to be traversed ; but Russia can
march from Sarakhs to Herat, over the plain, without
exchanging a shot with an enemy ; and when she gets to
Herat she can bombard the town into submission in a
few hours, in its present condition of defence. I do not
see how England can possibly make Afghanistan swell
out to Sarakhs so as to prevent the Russians turning the
comer there. If the country is left as it is, unpopulated,
the Russians will certainly overrun it, and, the land being
well adapted for cultivation and colonization, they will
organize it in a few years for the passage of an army.
In this manner, the country from Askabad to Herat, 388
miles, which is already adapted for the passage of a
powerful expedition, will be rendered fit for the passage
of the largest army necessary for turning you out of
India. A railway to Herat would render the preparations
complete.
You do not need to be reminded that the valley of
Herat contains resources for sustaining the largest ai-my.
No argument can make you believe that a Russian army
cannot attack India from Herat ; because only three years
ago, Ayoob Khan, marching from Herat with artillery,
thrashed you well at Candahar. If I can demonstrate
OUR MUD PIE POLICY. 383
that the Russians can occupy Herat whenever they like
■with a powerful army, I claim to have jjroved to you that
India is susceptible of attack, if not invasion.
And every year this operation is becoming more simple
for Eussia to effect, more difficult for you to repel. You
cannot appreciably c[uicken your steamboat communica-
tion with India. It will always occupy two or three
weeks. I know plenty of Russians who would undertake
to sever that communication altogether by secretly dyna-
miting the Suez Canal. On the other hand, every year
Russia is growing stronger on her Asiatic confines, every
step she advances with her railway renders her better able
to [shake your power in India. Take last year : by the
completion of the Baku-Tiflis railway she reduced at a
stroke the time needed to transport troops from the Tiflis
to the Caspian from twenty-one days to twenty-two hours — •
in other words, she rendered available the 350,000 men of
the Caucasus army on a war-footing for rapid operations
against India. And what did England do as a counter-
poise? England, ladies and gentleman, showed her
appreciation of the crisis by sending a few Sepoys to mend
the caravan track in the Bolan Pass.
The other night, as I sat under the Gallery of the
House of Commons, I was very much interested in the
declaration the Government would make as to its measures
for counteracting the effects of this new Russian annexa-
tion. I have only had time to-night to point out part of
the significance of the annexation of Merv. You have
seen that it brings the Cossack to Sarakhs, 202| miles
from Herat, beyond which there is nothing to prevent
him securing the Key of India whenever he likes. Merv
itself is 240 miles from Herat, and the annexation of the
Sarik Turcoman tribe, which is practically confirmed by
news from Tashkent, brings the Cossack up the Murghab
to within 140 miles of Herat. As Quetta is 145 miles
from Candahar, Russia, as soon as she has organized her
annexation, will be able to occupy Herat from her new
Merv base before you can even occupy Candahar. This
is a very serious matter, even if we exclude the incorpora-
tion of Kliiva, now at length consummated, and the
enclosure of the Ersari Turcomans, between Merv and
Bokhara, thus giving the annexation of a "few mud
huts " the true proportions of the annexation of a province
as large as France, with 100,000 splendid horsemen
384 Russia's power of seizing herat.
witliin a few days' marcli of Herat. These considerations
liave evidently produced a very powerful effect on Her
Majesty's Government ; they displayed their anxiety
clearly enough the other night. But how do they propose
to meet the situation? They have annexed Quetta.
Quetta was practically annexed beforehand, so that this
is no new measure. They have established a protectorate
over Beloochistan ; but we have practically exercised a
protectorate for two or three years, so that this also is
nothing as a set-off against the Russian advance. The
only other measure I could catch, and I hardly think you
will consider it meets the situation — the only other
measure was, that Government would lay papers before
the House as soon as possible.
Now, to my view, we must do something more than
this, and that something is, that we should get back to
Candahar as soon as possible. Go back we must some
day, and it would be only right that a Government that
blundered so terribly in giving up that city should itself
acknowledge and repair its error. The Government, let
me say in its defence, trusted too much to the advice of
the Duke of Argyll, who is now, thank heavens, out of
the Cabinet, and who has become utterly discredited by
the progress of events in Central Asia. You have heard
what I have told you to-night of the growth of Russia's
power in the Caspian ; let me quote what the Duke of
Argyll said on January 10th, 1881, when the country was
agitated about the retention of Candahar : "We are told
by the late Government that the danger they wished to
guard against was the danger of a new military basis to
be formed by Russia on the Caspian. I hold that to be
one of the wildest dreams ever entertained." Well, in
three short years the Russians have established that new
military basis the Earl of Beaconsfield wished to guard
against, and the " wildest dream " has become a practical
reality.
Another point politicians of the Argyll and Northbrook
school were continually parading was, that the Russians
were only annexing deserts in Central Asia. But a desert,
or rather steppe-land, for many of these so-called deserts
are prairies half the year round — a desert, I say, is not
always a valueless possession. Let me give you an
instance, without reminding you what you already know,
that in annexing the desert inhabitants of Merv, the
ONLY ANNEXING DESERTS. 385
Russians have annexed the finest breed of horses in the
world. The instance I will give you is this : — A short
distance inland of Michaelovsk, on the Caspian, in the
midst of one of these barren Russian deserts, a Russian ex-
ploring party two years ago came upon a hill sodden with
petroleum and ozokerit, computed to be worth thirty-five
millions sterling. While I was at Baku I met a Russian
official who had recently returned from this locality. He
told me that it furnished sufficient oil-fuel for all the
locomotives on the Transcaspian railway, and that con-
signments were being exported to Khiva. This locality
was only one of a series that was being discovered ; yet
it contained sufficient deposits to furnish annually
250,000,000 gallons of ci'ude petroleum, or enough to
light every lamp, grease every machine, and drive every
locomotive in the whole Russian Empire. Yet you are
requested by professional purveyors of humbug — Russian
as well as English — to believe that Russia is only annex-
ing dry sand and scorpions in Central Asia.
Bearing, then, these things in mind, you have got to
take measures, not only against the present position of
Russia in Central Asia, but against her prospective posi-
tion. Five years ago Herat was cjuite safe from sudden
seizure ; even Merv was practically secure. Before this
year has run its course you will have Russians posted not
only at Merv, but closer to Herat than your Quetta
garrison is to Candahar. In face of this great revolution,
can any one seriously pretend that Russia cannot occupy
Herat whenever she likes, in defiance of all our threats ?
Do you know that the presence of only 7,000 Russian
troops in the Transcaspian region is more significant
than 70,000 ? And why ? Let me answer in the words
of a Russian general, with whom I discussed the matter
during one of the balls at the Tsar's coronation. " We
have now," said he, " such a good road to the heart of
Afghanistan, and our communications with the Caspian
base, and from the Caspian base to Askabad, are so per-
fect, and admit of such a ready movement of troops,
that we only need a handful of men to garrison the
Turcoman region. It is cheaper to maintain 70,000 men in
the Tiflis district than at Geok Tepe and Askabad, and we
can throw them from the one point to the other at a
moment's notice."
c c
386 eussia's power of seizing herat.
Sucli was his opinion, expressed perfectly good-
hiunouredly, and without any desire to give offence. Let
me, as a final word, clench it with a very serious fact.
You know that Eussia invaded Turkey from Kishineff in
1877 with a force that ultimately grew to half a million
men. Now, from Kishineif to Constantinople the troops
of the Shipka column had to march 750 miles, and of
the Sophia column 970 miles. Eussia, as I have told
you, could assemble on the Caspian a similar army with
greater ease than she coiild at Kishineff. Treating Kizil
Arvat as a Kishineff, the distance thence to Herat is only
523 miles, as compared with the 750 and the 970 traversed
by the Eussian troops in 1877. But, perhaps you object
to Kizil Arvat being treated as a Kishineff. Then start
from the Caspian, from the decks of the steamers at Port
Michaelovsk. The distance even then is only 667 miles
as compared with the 1,000 miles many Eussians trudged
on foot before they got to Constantinople. And, mark
this difference. Eussia, in invading Turkey, had Austria
to threaten her flank. There would be no such enemy in
the Caspian. Eussia, further, had to cross the Danube —
one of the largest rivers in Europe — in face of the Turks ;
she had to encounter large armies at Plevna, and traverse
the almost impregnable Balkan range, meeting on the
other side armies again before she got to Constantinople,
In the case of Herat, nothing of the kind exists. There
is not a single river of any magnitude the whole distance
from the Caspian to Herat. There is no mountain range
whatever — only a few hills that the fattest alderman could
toddle up without difficulty. And, instead of great
armies, the Eussians would meet no enemy, but sweep
along in their course 50,000 Turcoman cavalry to assist
them in their undertaking. Finally, the Eussians, instead
of having to commence operations from Kishineff, 800 or
900 miles from the objective point, would be already
posted at Merv, within 240 miles of it ; at Sarakhs,
within 202| miles ; and at Penjdeh, within 140 miles of
the Key of India. Such being the case, I hold you have
entered upon the most critical period of the Centra.
Asian Question ; and unless you insist upon a firm, clear,
decisive, patriotic policy on the part of the Government,
you will have a repetition of the Egyptian muddle, with
this difference, that your opponents will not be the sheep-
HERAT QUITE OPEN TO RUSSIA. 387
like fellalieen, but men who will take advantage of every
blunder — and your statesmen, at the best, are sure to
blunder a good deal — to seek to accomphsh their schemes
of aggrandisement in Europe by upsetting your power in
India.
c c 2
388
THE ETJSSIAN ANNEXATION OF MEEV.*
BY CHAELES MARVIN.
Taking advantage of a moment when England's hands
are full with complications in Egypt, South Africa,
* This was penned for the debate following upon the annexation of
Merv, and circulated in a pamphlet form. Respecting it a Loudon
correspondent wrote to the Nnvcastle Daily Chronicle, February 28,
1884 :— " I have read your admirable re\'iew of Mr. Marian's pam-
phlet on Merv, and it has occurred to me that the circumstances under
which it was produced and the influence it exercised on the debate
may interest your readers. Mr. Marvin had contemplated issuing a
pamphlet this week, as announced in the Athcmntm, and was taken by
surjirise on Thursday morning to find the debate fixed for the next
<lay, and not later on, as generally anticipated. At eleven o'clock
nothing was ready but the MS., but Messrs. Allen placed the whole of
their resources at his disposal, and, thanks to the rapid photo-engi'aving
process and the never-ceasing energy of all concerned, 25 advance
copies of the pamphlet, with the three maps and the frontispiece of
Merv, were comi^leted by seven o'clock at night, and witliin an hour
were circulating in the London press and in the House of Commons.
In connection ^vith the wholesale distribution of copies in the House
the next day a difficulty now presented itself. The whole edition
could not be finished in sufficient time to ensure its delivery by post
by the time the House assembled. This obstacle Mr. Marvin overcame
by making an arrangement with one of the lobby messengers, who
agreed to distribute them by hand. By one o'clock the next daj' the
messenger already had the batch, and soon after the House assembled
half the persons in the lobby might have been seen with the orange
pamphlet in their liands. As the House filled, a demand arose for
copies on the part f)f minor members who had not received them, and
to meet this, Mr. Marvin, who was in the lobby, despatched a special
messenger for a hundred more. In this manner, when the debate
actually did come off, nearly everybody used it as a handbook, and
there can be hardly a doubt that it exercised a very important effect
upon the speeches ; observable in the unanimity with wliich the
members of both Parties insisted on the necessity of trusting Russia
no more, and the imperative need of a firm attitude and decisive
measures on the ]>art of the Government. During the debate, Mr,
Marvin eat under the gallery watclung the effect of liis i^amphlet."
rXSCRUPULOSITY OF THE EMPEROR. 389
Madagascar and Tonquin, Eussia has suddenly annexed
the oasis of Merv. That a cotip of this description had
been long meditated was well known to experts, but the
general public reposed implicit confidence in the pacific
and anti-aggressive manifesto ushering in the Tsar's
reign, and believed Alexander III. had chosen a different
pobcv from that of his father. Even experts were sufl&-
cientlv impressed by the Imperial assm-ances to doubt
whether Eussia would openly seize the long-coveted oasis.
Eimiour favoured the belief that the annexation would
be masked by coercing Merv into accepting the suze-
rainty of the Khan of Khiva. But these expectations
have not been realised. At a moment when the Merv
Tekkes were quiter than they had been for ages, and
when Eussia at least had no cause for complaint against
them, the people have been compelled to accept her direct
rule, and His Imperial Majesty has proved himseK as
little to be trusted in his Central Asian policy as his
aggressive and unreliable father. Merv has been won,
but Alexander III. has lost what he can never regain —
the confidence of the English people.
That a formal protest will be entered against this fresh
and unwarrantable advance towards India is too much to
expect from a Ministry which has involved England in
humiliation in eveiy land, and a Parliament too infatu-
ated with extreme views of Party allegiance to demand a
bolder and more patriotic attitude on the part of its
leaders. But the annexation of Merv is something more
than an act merely calKng for condemnation. Herat, the
Key of India, is placed in peril. The Cossack is brought
into actual contact with the Afghan, and England is com-
pelled to decide, and to decide at once, whether the future
frontier separating the two empires in Asia shall be left
to the exclusive selection of Eussia, or whether she shall
take instant measures to render the annexation of Merv
the final step in the Eussian advance in the direction of
India. The public have to face this fact, and it is a fact
which no amount of web-spinning can deprive of its sig-
nificance, that if we do not immediately take in hand the
safe-guarding of Herat, that key of our Indian Empire
will be annexed in a few years' time as surely as Eussia
has now incorporated Merv.
Yes, the conquest of Merv is something more than the
annexation of a mid-desert oasis. It means the complete
390 THE RUSSIAN ANNEXATION OF MERV.
junction of the military forces of the Caucasus (nearly
150,000 men in time of peace) and Turkestan (27,000),
itself a political fact of great magnitude. It means, with
the annexation of Akhal, the absorption of 100,000 of
the best irregular cavalry in the world, at a week's march
from the city of Herat. It means the meeting, for the
first time, of the Cossack and the Afghan. It means the
complete enclosure of Khiva within the Russian Empire,
and the reduction of Bokhara from the independent jjosi-
tion of a border State to the dependence of an incorpo-
rated province. It means the acquisition of more than
200,000 square miles of territory, and the addition to the
Russian Empire of a region as large as Prance. It
means the completion of the conquest of the Central
Asian deserts, and the commencement of the annexation
of the great fertile mountain region of Persia and
Afghanistan. It means the deliberate occupation of a
strategical point, fraught with political entanglements of
such a widespread nature, that, whether Russia desire it
or not, she will inevitably be led, unless forestalled or
checked by England, to Meshed, to Herat, to Balkh, and
Cabul. And she will not remain there. She will con-
tinue her swift advance until she triumphantly lays down
her Cossack border alongside the Sepoy line of India.
What question can be more approj^riate than that
which Alayar Khan, one of the Perso-Turcoman border
chiefs put to General Valentine Baker in 1873 : " How do
you expect to prevent Russia from taking Herat when
once she is at Merv? The Murghab river runs from
Afghanistan to Mei-v. You know well that, in this
country, where there is water, troops can move. The
banks of the Murghab are fertile. How near to Herat
along this river do you intend to let Russia advance and
settle ? "*
Prom Merv to Herat, via this Murghab road, is 240
miles.
Prom Quetta, our present outpost, to Herat is 514
miles.
The Russians, then, being nearer Herat by 274 miles
than the English, can the latter let themselves be deceived
by political web-spinners and excusers of the evacuation
of Candahar into the belief that the Key of India is safe
from a Russian co^lp de main ?
* " Clouds in the East." London, 1875
ROADS FROM MERV TO HERAT. 391
On this point tlie opinion of General Valentine Baker
is worth a whole session of Parliamentary discussion :
"Mei-v, with its water communication nearly complete,
lies only 240 miles from Hei*at, to which place it is the
key. There can be no doubt that Merv is the natural
outwork of Herat, with the advantage of a water-supply,
all the way between the two cities. Strategically, the
Russian occupation of Merv would be, so to say, the
formation of a lodgment on the glacis of Herat. It
would place Herat completely at her mercy."
Undeterred by the splendid success achieved by the
Russian army, in face of fearful difficulties, in crossing
the Balkans in the winter of 1878, compared with which
crossing the Paropamisus ridge, separating Merv from
Herat, would be child's play, politicians exist who con-
sider this ridge a sufficient barrier between the two strate-
gical points. Let us humour such men, and treat the
direct road along the Murghab and over the Paropamisus
as non-existent. "VVliat then? There is another, alto-
gether practicable, only twelve miles longer.
Of this General Sir Charles Macgregor, the Quarter-
master-General of India, wrote in 1875 : " A Russian
authority M. Tchichacheff, declares that Herat would be
in no danger, even if the Russians were in possession of
Merv, because the road between these places lies over an
impracticable range of mountains. I must, however,
take leave to deny this statement in the most decided
manner. I have been to the Herat valley, and have fol-
lowed a considerable part of one of the roads to Merv,
and I have made the most careful inquiries from people on
the spot who were in the constant habit of riding over
the rest of the distance. Yet there is so little impression
of difficulty in my mind that I would undertake to drive
a mail coach from Merv to Herat by this road."
This opinion of a general, who may well be described
as the Skobeleff of India, was pooh-poohed at the time
by Radical politicians, and has since been totally ignored
by Radical Cabinet Ministers ; but the opinion was a
true one, and has been altogether confirmed by the
Russian engineer explorer, Lessar, after a personal exami-
nation of the road in question. He says : " The entire
length is 252 miles. It entirely avoids the Paropamisus
range, the pass across which has caused the road from
Merv to Herat to be regarded as unfit for wheeled traffic,
392 THE RUSSIAN ANNEXATION OF MERV.
and traverses the Barkhut liills at Chesmeh-sebz by a
l^ass similar to tliat of Khombou, 900 feet above the level
of the surrounding country, which is quite fit, even in
its present condition, for wagon traffic. The section of
100 miles, including the passage of the Barkhut hills, is
exactly of the same character as the country through
which our Russian railways usually run — flat in some
places, slightly undulating in others. The hill crossings
for a railway would be of the easiest descrijDtion. There
would be engineering works, of course, but of rapid
construction. Where essential, sharp inclines could be
made that would not delay the rest of the line to Herat."
" Herat," therefore, to quote Macgregor's words, " is
easily accessible from Merv, for guns, cavalry, and
infantry. How soon 5,000 men could be transferred
from one place to the other I leave my readers to work
out for themselves. All I contend is, that to do so,
would be a perfectly feasible, nay, an easy military opera-
tion."
There is, thus, no physical difficulty to prevent Eussia
occupying Herat from Merv at any moment. We could
not possibly prevent her. Let us see what kind of base
Merv offers for such an operation.
According to the latest Russian surveys of Alikhanoif,
Lessar, and others, the oasis possesses an area of 1,600
square miles under cultivation. The soil is famous
throughout Central Asia for its fertility, and yields wheat
20-fold, sorgo 200-300-fold, countless melons — the staple
food of the hardy Tekkes, and a large article of diet of
the South Russians themselves — and sufficient cotton
to be able to export 54,000 lbs. annually. The popu-
lation consists of 48,000 kihitkas or tents, or 240,000
souls ; and its wealth comprises 160,000 sheep, 7,800
camels, 12,000 horses, 24,000 donkeys, and 48,000 head
of cattle. The fortress of Merv has a circumference of
five miles, and a height of eighty feet. It contains thirty
cannon taken from the Persians. By developing the
irrigation system the oasis could be largely extended, as
the country for hundreds of miles round consists of the
same soil as the oasis itseK, lacking simply a broader
diffusion of water to give it life.
Mei-v is thus well adaj^ted as a place of arms. But
the annexation of Mei'v does not mean simply the annex-
ation of the oasis itself — 1,600 square miles — nor yet the
RESOrRCES OF MERV. 393
tens of thousands of square miles of steppe land and
desert stretching away from Merv to Khiva and Bokhara.
Eussia, in incoi-porating Merv, takes with it the country
of the Sarik Turcomans, lying along the Murghab rivei
in the direction of Herat. The Sarik Turcomans num-
ber 13,000 tents, or 65,000 souls, gathered at Youletan
and Penjdeh ; the former thirty-five miles from Mei-v,
the latter sixty-five from Youletan. After the fall of
Geok Tepe in 1881, they sent a deputation offering to
submit to Russia, and since then they have manifested
the friendliest feelings towards them. Having no riders,
and no notion of nationality, it is a most improbable
circumstance that Eussia will encourage them to remain
independent after occupying Merv, and thus we have to
face this fact : — ■
That the annexation of Merv, being inevitably
ATTENDED WITH THE INCpEPOEATION OF THE SaEIK
Turcomans, will extend Eussian utile 100 miles up
THE MUEGHAB TO PeNJDEH, AT THE FOOT OF THE
Paeopamisus, oe to within 140 MILES OP Herat.
England at the same time being still posted at Quetta,
514 miles from Herat.
This is a fact which no amount of Eussian diplo-
matic perfumery will keep from stinking in the nostrils
of England. The coup cle main that has captured Merv
has, in reality, virtually hooked Herat.
Posted at Penjdeh, 140 miles from Herat, what will
intervene between the Eussians and that city ? The two
tribes, the Djemshidis and the Hazaras, unwillingly
acknowledging the Ameer's rule, and having no tribal or
national feeling to prevent them falling under Eussia's
influence. Besides, the Eussians will be alongside them,
while their suzerain will be twenty days' distance from
their tents. If the Ameer can hardly maintain his rule
at Herat, what must be the character of his sway over
the wild tribes outside it? The Djemshidis number,
according to Grodekoff, who was the last European
among them, 5,000 families ; the Hazaras, 4,000. Collec-
tively they can put in the field 2,000 badly-armed horse-
men. What barrier is that to a Eussian force crossing
the Paropamisus to enter Herat ? Yet it is the only
living obstacle lying between the Eussians at Merv and
the " Key of India."
But suppose they fall in with the Duke of Argyll and
394 THE RUSSIAN ANNEXATION OF MERV.
the Nortlibrook school, and treat the trivial barrier of
the Paropamisus ridge, with its 2,000 horsemen, as im-
practicable ; they have then, as I have pointed out, the
Barkhut road, surveyed by Lessar, which is only twelve
miles longer. By using this they could penetrate to
Kusan without meeting a soul, and in traversing the
fruitful Hari Rud valley to Herat, a matter of two
marches, the Russian troops would encounter only a few
well-disposed villagers.
" Herat," wrote G-eneral Grrodekoff in 1879, after sur-
veying the place, "Herat contains nothing that would
call to mind the fortifications of a European city. It is
not in a condition to defend itself against a European
army, since at a mile to the north it is commanded by
heights from which it could be bombarded by artillery."
In a word, there is nothing to prevent a small raiding
party of Russians from taking Herat whenever they
choose. The sudden seizure of Merv is a proof that the
present Emperor and his Ministers are not to be trusted
not to do it, whenever they care to exercise their own
sweet will upon this undefended side of Afghanistan.
But the incorporation of Merv is accompanied by a
declaration which ushers in danger in another quarter.
The Journal de St. Petersbourg, the organ of the Russian
Foreign Office, declares the Atak to be Turcoman and not
Persian territory, despite a title as clear as Russia's own
title to the possession of Moscow. This Atak is a natural
extension of the Akhal oasis annexed by Skobeleff in
1881. It is a long narrow oasis stretching along the foot
of the Khorassan highlands, commencing near the Rus-
sian outposts beyond Askabad and terminating at
Sarakhs. This Sarakhs is another outpost of Herat,
202| miles from it. It is garrisoned by a Persian force.
Russia magnanimously assures England that she is not
going to take Sarakhs, "to which English strategists
attach so much importance," and therefore England may
profoundly bow and express her thanks. Russia is not
going to take Sarakhs, no, she is only going to occupy all
the country (Turcoman steppe-land and the Atak oasis)
up to its walls, so as to be able to turn the corner there,
and advance along the Hari Rud whenever she likes !
The Merv Tekkes recently established settlements close to
Sarakhs, on the east side of the river. These will become
Russian proj^erty by the submission of " all the Merv
MERV AS A BASE OF OPERATIONS. 395
Tekkes," and Russia will acquire a lodgment 202 i- miles
from Herat at this point, as well as at Merv and Penj-
deh. This is the real significance of the annexation of
the Atak. Once it is realized, the assurances about
Sarakhs disappear into the dej)ths of bunkum.*
Russia cannot maintain good communications with
Merv without annexing the Atak. The surveys of Ahk-
hanoff and Lessar have shown that the direct road to
Merv from Gryaoors, avoiding the Atak (210 miles), is
impracticable. It is necessary to proceed fifty-seven
miles beyond Gyaoors to the Atak settlement of Kahka,
and then strike off across the steppe to Merv by way of
the Tejend oasis. From Kahka to Merv is 143 miles.
The Tejend oasis, which is touched at the fiftieth mile
from Kahka, is "almost larger than that of Merv," to
use Ahkhanoff's words. It contains 25,000 people, and
their number is daily increasing by arrivals from Merv.
This Tejend is the same river that washes Herat, called
by the Afghans the Hari Rud. From the Tejend oasis,
itself a base that can be made as good as that of Merv,
troops can march all the way alongside water to Herat
itself. The Russians accepted the submission of the
Tejend Tekkes in 1881, and have treated the oasis as
Russian territory since, repeatedly sending reconnoitring
parties thither to assist the people in extending the irri-
gation canals, and, while sui-veying the country as far as
Merv, establishing firm relations with the people. The
final settled point of the Tejend oasis is distant only
thirty miles from Sarakhs, or 232| from Herat. Lessar
computes the entire distance as consisting of eight
marches. The Tejend oasis is distant ninety-five miles
from Merv ; Sarakhs seventy. Caravans are constantly
crossing the intervening expanse.
Connecting as Merv does Bokhara, Khiva, Afghanis-
tan, and Turkestan, it must become a great commercial
centre. General Abbott designates it " the granary " of
the country stretching up to Herat ; Colonel Burnaby a
" magnificent etojje " ; Captain TerentiefE " a splendid
base of operations against India." In his minute on
Candahar in 1880, Lord ISTapier of Magdala said : " If
the Russians are about to occupy Merv, of which they
* My anticipation that Russia would annex Old Sarakhs was justi-
fied Ijy events. The English Government have thus no excuse that
they were not forewarned.
396 THE RUSSIAN ANNEXATION OF MERV.
make no secret ; if they have an easy road to Herat,
which is a fact well known, and a fortress there before
them, in a fertile country, held by a people without unity
and without leaders, who that regards the course of
Russian progress can doubt that, if we are timid, apa-
thetic, or consenting, a few years will see them in posses-
sion of a fortress which, in their hands, will be rendered
impregnable, and will command the road to India with a
facility for aggression which may be measured by Ayoob
Khan's rapid march to Candahar ? "
And now, respecting the roads to Merv. There are
three : from opposite the mouth of the Volga to Khiva,
and thence to Merv ; from Krasnovodsk, via Askabad
and the Tejend ; and from Samarcand through Bokhara
and Tchardjui. The last lies too far away from Euro-
pean communications to excite much attention, and, my
space being limited, I will concentrate what I have to say
upon the two Transcaspian routes. The first, from the
Mertvi Kultuk bay, opposite the mouth of the Volga to
Kliva, is the new route to Turkestan opened up by
General Tchernayeff last year. It is fit for wheeled
trafiic all the way, and the Khan of Kliva has boimd
himself to provide transport animals to keep it up.
This year the recruits for the Turkestan army are to
be sent by this route instead of via Orenburg. The
entire distance from the Caspian to Merv by it is a little
over 600 miles. Kouropatkin's siiccessful march with
the Turkestan column from Khiva to Geok Tejie in 1880
proves that forces can be thrown into Merv from this
direction.
The second is from Krasnovodsk, opposite Baku, where
a vast industrial centre is rising, owing to the develop-
ment of the Apsheron petroleum deposits, the richest in
the world. The army of the Caucasus on a peace footing
consists of nearly 150,000 men, mostly gathered near
Tiflis. From Tiflis to Baku the railway train can take
troops, at the slowest pace, in twenty-two hours. At
Baku there are twenty-five piers for shijjping oil, &c., all
accommodating several vessels apiece. On the Caspian
are fifty steamers ; twenty new ones are being added
every year. There is thus transport for the largest
army without touching the 700 steamers of the Volga.
From Baku to Krasnovodsk is sixteen hours' run. Thence
to Michaelovsk, the railway starting-point across the bay,
WHAT WE LOST BY EVACUATmO CANDAHAR. 397
is a few hours' jouniey in smaller steamers, From
Michaelovsk to Kizil Arvat is 144 miles' railway jouniey,
which can be perfonned in six or seven hours. At this
point the soldier leaves steam behind him, and he has the
following distances to do on foot : —
Miles.
Kizil Arvat to Askabad ... ... ... ... 135
„ „ Sarakhs 3204
„ ,, Merv 368
„ „ Herat 523
The country as far as every one of these places is flat ;
the only elevation to cross is the Barkhut Hills, 900 feet
high, in penetrating Herat. Ai-riving in three days from
his Caucasus base, the Russian soldier can rapidly move
from Kizil Arvat over the fertile oasis-plains of Akhal,
Atak, and Tejend, to his destination.
But what about Tommy Atkins, who is to confront
them at Herat ? England's steam communication termi-
nates at Sibi, at the entrance of the Bolan pass, more tlian
three iveeJis' instead of three clays'' distance from Iter shores.
He has then before him the difl&cult Bolan pass, and a
whole series of heavy hilly roads to Herat, taking him
twice as long to do the 600 miles of marching as the
Russian soldier.
Mile.s.
Kizil Arvat to Herat 523
Sibi to Herat 599
Thanks to the evacuation of Candahar, we stand in
this position : that though we may protest, we cannot
enforce compliance with our wishes. Had we retained
Candahar we could have held over Russia's head the
threat of occupying Herat, as a retort to the occupation
of Merv. That power is gone from us for ever. The
Gladstone Government flimg it heedlessly away, together
with all other fruits of the ^18,000,000 sterling invested
in the Afghan War. The threat to occupy Herat is a
weapon which is now in Russia's hands. Before a single
sepoy could arrive before Herat to defend it, Russia even
now, before she has posted a garrison at Merv, could
thanks to the Transcaspian Railway and the annexation
of Askabad, be mistress of the Key of India an entire
fortnight, any fraction of which period would be sufficient
to put the fortress in a condition to resist an EngKsh
398 THE EUSSIAN ANNEXATION OF MERV.
sieg;e ; while, at the same time, Russia could pour i-ein-
forcements into Herat from the Caucasus a clear month
of English succour arriving on the scene from this coun-
try, in this manner, Herat is already more within the
control of Russia than within the control of England;
and her occupation of Merv will render the control com-
plete.
The Russians posted at Merv, 240 miles from Herat,
the Russians posted at the Sarik Turcoman stronghold of
Penjdeh, 140 miles from Herat, the Russians posted
within sight of Sarakhs, 202^ miles from Herat — what
power on earth can prevent those Russians from meddling
with the Key of India ? It is a question I have been
asking for years ; it is a question I am sick of asking.
Not without reason did a great Continental wi'iter point
out to me in 1880, after a brief stay in London, the
inutility of writing political works : "I am amazed at
your political leaders," he said; "they all of them
possess most positive opinions about Central Asia ; but
they really know nothing about it. Every one has his
views about Merv ; but when I question them they have
no idea of what Merv is Hke, where it is actually situated,
and what relations the people have with Afghanistan.
I have not met any statesman yet with a grasp of the
Central Asian Question based iipon clear and accurate
information. It is no use advising ; your statesmen will
not listen. It is no use writing books ; your statesmen
will not read them. The future of your Empire appears
lost in the conflict of party — public opinion is of no
avail. English statesmen never read, but always pass
opinions ; the public always read, but possess no opinions
to pass."
" The Central Asian Question is all humbug.' These
historical words of Skobeleff to the writer are acquiring
a fresh significance. The Central Asian Question is all
humbug to England. But I cannot decide in my mind
whether England is more humbugged by her own states-
men or by those of Russia.
No ; it will not do to persist in attempting to build up,
in a mud-pie fashion, a sohd independent state _ in
Afghanistan. Russia will never allow it ; and Russia's
power of disintegration in Central Asia is infinitely
stronger than our^power of creation. Posted as we are,
by the will of God and the folly of Gladstone, so far
CENTRAL ASIAN QUESTION ALL HUMBUG. 399
from Herat, wliat can we do to check the intrigue and
the unscrupulosity of Eussian generals P
It is only a few months ago that the writer touched at
Kertch, on his way to visit the Caspian region. While
waiting for the steamer to proceed, he went ashore, and,
accidently enteiing a jeweller's shop, came across
a man who had acted as interpreter to a recent secret
Eussian mission to Cabul. Early in 1882, he and two
other persons — Captain Venkhovsky, of the Engineers,
and Prince Khilkoff , head of the Transcaspian Eailway
— left Askabad in disguise, and successively visited Merv,
Bokhara, Herat, and Cabul. The Ameer, to whom we
are giving <£10,000 a month, received the Eussians well ;
and not only entertained them, and carried on negotia-
tions with them, but offered his assistance in surveying
the road to Candahar ! And what was worse, this mis-
sion went to Herat and Cabul, and stayed at both places,
and England never heard of it. There were rumours,
indeed, that certain secret Eussian agents had been to
Cabul ; but if a series of chance coincidences had not
brought the writer in contact with Samuel Gourovitch at
Kertch (of all places in Eussia) we should have never
been able perhaps to have defined one of them at least
with precision, until Eoberts went a second time to Cabul,
and discovered there another " Secret Cabul Corres-
pondence " between the Ameer and Eussian Generals.
The discovery of this mission proved that the Eussia
of the present Emj^eror is not to be trusted in not tam-
l^ering with Afghanistan ; the sudden annexation of Merv
demonstrates that no stronghold in Central Asia is safe
from a covp de main. " Eussian assurances to respect
the integrity of Afghanistan ! " Only Englishmen who
consider the honour of England unsullied after Majuba
Hill and Sinkat can put up with any more kid-gloved
mendacities like these.
" If the Central Asian Question does not enable us in
a comparatively short time to take seriously in hand the
Eastern Question itself, why, ^ the Asiatic fleece is^not
worth the tanning,"
" The Eastern Question will be partly solved behind the
walls of Akhal Tekke. It is a great link in our chain."
"It is my conviction that if England and Eussia
should have to knock against each other, the nearer the
better."
400 THE RUSSIAN ANNEXATION OF MEEV.
Sucli convictions of SkobelefE, expressed at different
times, ouglit to sink deep into the heart of every English-
man. What they really meant he exposed in his plan of
invasion of India, published a few weeks ago.
" We have to consider, in the event of our enterprise
wholly succeeding, that we could destroy the British
Empire in India, which for England would involve incal-
culable consequences. But, even in the event of our en-
ter[)rise not wholly succeeding — that is to say, if India
herself does not rise, and we do not manage to get into
the country — we shall, nevertheless, tie the whole Indian
army to Hindostan, and prevent the English from trans-
porting part of the army to Europe — nay, we should even
compel England to send some portion of her European
trooj)S to India. Without going into details, the cam-
paign, in my opinion, ought to fall into two periods —
first, that of swift action and diplomatic negotiations
with Afghanistan, the latter to be supported by pushing
forward our active corps towards Cabul. The second
period after the occupation of Cabul would be one of
waiting, when we should have to enter into relations with
all the disaffected elements of India, and convert them to
our interests. The main caiise of the failure of the re-
bellion of 1857 was the fact that the insurgents were not
properly organized and led. And, finally, it would be
our chief duty to organize masses of Asiatic cavalry, and,
hurling them on India, as our van- guard, under the
banner of ' Blood and Rapine,' thus bring^back the times
of Tamerlane. The Hindoo Koosh once crossed, I believe
the conviction would be kindled in the breast of each
combatant that he had come to Afghanistan to conquer
or to die. This the Emperor demands of him, and there
would be no reproaches made if our banners remained in
the hands of the foe beyond the Hindoo Koosh after
every Russian soldier has fallen."
To sum up : the annexation of all the Merv Tekkes
and the Sarik Turcoman tribe gives Russia three points
whence she can fall on Herat at any moment, the nearest
being within 140 miles of the Key of India ; it gives
her the control over a sufficient native cavalry force, aided
by a few guns, to carry the place by a co^ip cle main ; and,
finally, the means of insidiously decomposing the in-
fluence of the Ameer and of England throughout the
whole of the contiguous part of Afghanistan. If we
WHAT IT REALLY MEANS. 401
take no measures to counteract tliis advance, we shall
enter upon the next Eastern conflict fettered hand and
foot in India, and unable to stretch forth a hand to
protect our interests in Europe.
The time has arrived to leave off discussing the
Central Asian Question, and to apply ourselves to decisive
action. We must complete our railway to Quetta at once.
We must exact from the Ameer, as a return for the
,£10,000 a month we are giving him, the permission to
extend the railway to Candahar. We must abrogate the
foolish Grovernment regulation forbidding EngHsh officers
entering Afghanistan. We cannot keep the Russians
out on the Herat side, and the simplest way to nullify
their influence is to let English officers go wandering
about on the Cabul side ; we shall at least get to hear,
then, of the movements of Russian secret agents. Ignor-
ing Cabul for the moment, we must insist upon England
being represented by a political resident at Herat ; em-
ploying a trustworthy Indian prince, if an English officer
be too obnoxious to start with. At Saraks, either the
Foreign Office must place a consul or the India Office an
agent, to watch the Russian operations at Merv, Penjdeh,
and the Atak ; and Colonel Stewart must be kept stationed
at Khaf , to watch them at Herat. Finally, a diplomatic
note must be presented to Russia, informing her that
what England has hitherto regarded as the true boundary
of Afghanistan on the Turcoman and Persian side must
be scrupulously respected, and that any attempt to occupy
the country beyond it, or to enter Herat, will be treated
as a cas7is helli.
WHAT THE ANNEXATION OF MERV MEANS.
Russia has annexed Merv.
But Merv is merely a " mud fortress," says the Duke
of Argyll ; " why, therefore, be ' mervous ' about it ? "
To annex Merv, however, the surrounding region must
be annexed also.
In reality, therefore, Russia in annexing Merv has
made a whole series of annexations : —
Enumeration and Area.
1. The Merv Oasis.
2. The Tejend Oasis (as large as Merv).
D D
402 THE RUSSIAN ANNEXATION OF MERV.
3. The Atak Oasis, as far as Sarakhs.
4. The Sarik settlements, to within 140 miles of
Herat.
5. All the stej)pe and desert lying between Merv and
Persia.
6. All the steppe and desert lying between Merv and
Khiva.
7. All the steppe and desert lying between Mei-v and
Bokhara.
Total area annexed ; more than 200,000 square miles,
or a j^rovince as large as France,
PoPtTLATION.
Peojile.
1. Merv Oasis 240,000
2. Tejend Oasis 2.5,000
3. Atak Oasis 20,000
4. Sarik settlements 65,000
5. Ersari Turcoman settlements between Merv
and Bokhara, &c 250,000
600,000
This population is not scattered over the desert, but
is massed in oases within striking distance of Herat.
Collectively it can place over 100,000 horsemen in the
field.
Between the new Russian frontier and Herat, the only
impediment to the attack of these 100,000 horsemen upon
the Key of India is the 2,000 horsemen of the Djemshidi
and Hazara tribes subject to the Ameer.
Distances to be Remembered.
Miles.
Russian post at Penjdeh to Herat ... ... 140
Quetta to Candahar ... ... ... ... 145
Quetta to Herat ... ... ... ... 514
The country between Penjdeh and Herat, via the Bark-
hut Hills, being easier than the country between Quetta
and Candahar, Russia will be able to occupy Herat before
we can even occupy Candahar.
403
THE CAUCASUS VIEW OF THE INVASION OF
INDIA.
Considerable attention was excited in May this year
bv the appearance of the foUomng article in the semi-
official Tiflis newspaper KavJcaz (April ^j, 1884), which
may be said to have represented very frankly the views
on the subject of Prince Dondukoff-Korsakoff, the
Governor-G-eneral of the Caucasus. It should be noted
that it was published after the announcement in the
same paper of the annexation of Sarakhs, and when
that advance was therefore known to the official writer of
the article.
" Our readers cannot have failed to observe the happy
coincidence that at the very moment when England, in
her endeavours to get hold of the Suez Canal, has en-
tangled herself in difficiilties in Egypt and the Soudan,
so as to be almost compelled to abandon General^ Gordon
at Khartoum, a victim to the exasperated natives, our
Prince Governor has started for Merv with the absolutely
pacific object of organizing the civil administration of
that territory, the population of which has hitherto sup-
ported itself only by marauding expeditions against the
surrounding countries.
" It is impossible not to applaud such a wise direction
of our policy in the distant depths of Southern Turkestan.
It is quite enough for us that we take our stand upon a
line of frontier, for the inviolability of which the neigh-
bouring State can answer to the same degree that we in
future answer for the peaceable conduct of our new sub-
jects the Mervis and Tekkes. Even this simple task
presents not a few difficulties. Opposite Merv, on the
upper reaches of the Murghab, and more particularly of
the Hari-rud (Tejend), on the borders of Afghanistan,
404 CAUCASUS VIEW OF INDIA.
dwell the Mongol tribes, the Hazaras and Djimshidis,
which were not only able to defend themselves against
the attacks of the Mervis, but not unfrequently made
raids upon the latter in turn. It is obvious that in
future the Afghans must divide with us the responsi-
bility for the good conduct of the Hazaras and Djim-
shidis.
" As to India, it is our decided opinion that its posses-
sion is in no way necessary for the development of our
national prosperity. India is rich in wheat, cotton, tea,
dyes, and spices. But with the present extension of the
productive area of the Kirghiz Steppes (where the black
earth zone, just as in Little Russia, attains a depth of
three-and-a-half feet, and extends from the Rivers Ural
and Tobol almost to the Ai-al Sea), we shall not know
what to do with our own wheat ; and as to cotton, the
utmost demand can be met with ease by developing irri-
gation in the Caucasus and in Turkestan.
" Then comes tea. But what hinders us even now
obtaining it from India, where it is prepared by machinery,
and not, as in China, by an objectionable use of the feet,
as observed by "Dr. Pyasetsky, whose testimony will doubt-
less be confirmed by the Potanin Expedition, now on its
way thither ? Even if we were to conquer India nobody
would give us tea for nothing, and our countrymen would
have to pay all the same for this national beverage.
Besides, the question of tea-planting in the Caucasus
must now be considered settled in the afifirmative as far
as theory goes, and it wants only enterprise on the part
of our capitalists to put it into practice,
" Then we come to dyes, of which indigo is the most
important ; but in all probability aniline dyes, obtained
from petroleimi refuse, will destroy the indigo trade as
they have already destroyed with us that of madder. It
follows therefore that India will retain but one unques-
tioned product — spices. But is it worth while for that
alone to think seriously of imdertaking the conquest of
this country, with its 230,000,000 inhabitants ? With-
out a doubt we could take India, but what would be the
effect on our Budget ; and what difficulties should we not
have to overcome to maintain the country in subjection ?
We have only to remember its open coasts and the want
on our side of a fleet comparable with that of England.
" Besides we must do justice to the English. India
EEAL CHARACTER OF THE RUSSIAN MENACE. 405
at the present moment has reached a very considerable
degree of civilization. The English have covered it
with a wide network of railways (20,000 versts — i.e., as
much as we have in Eussia), in-igation canals of enor-
mous length, and telegraphs. They support three Uni-
versities, &c.
" In oiir opinion, therefore, our approach to India is
important only in the sense that we have at last achieved
a position that will enable us at any time, in case of
absolute necessity, to strike a blow at England, which has
hitherto been so far as we were concerned simply invul-
nerable. It is evident that by far the most advantageous
policy for us to pursue in regard to India is not that of
conquest, but of freeing the Hindoos from the British
yoke. Such a policy, too, is morally a much higher one
than that of mere conquest, which could only be justified
by the irresistible force of circumstances.
" Taldng our stand at Merv, on the borders of Afghan-
istan, we are near enough to India for our purpose — that
is : to strike a blow at England if necessary. Afghani-
stan, which separates us, may be compared in position to
Roumania, which in like manner separated us before the
last war from Turkey.
" The one did not prevent our movement on the
Danube, nor will the other stop our march to the Indus.
" Thus the conquest of Afghanistan is also quite un-
necessary — the more so, since in regard to our position at
Merv and on the Oxus that country is more defenceless
than on the side of British India. The population is
about equal to that of Roumania — some five milhon souls
all told.
" The whole of the available strength of this population
can be concentrated against India, but not against us.
There are two roads leading from Turkestan into Afghan-
istan — the one from Bokhara through Afghan Turkestan
straight to Cabul ; the other from Merv to Herat and
Cabul. The first is available only in summer, since in
winter, owing to the deep snows in the lofty Hindoo-
Koosh, all communication between Mazar-i-Sherif or
Balkh and Cabul is inteiTupted, and Afghan Tui'kestan
in consec|uence isolated. On the other hand, its connec-
tion with Cabul by the side road through Maimene and
Herat we can always cut without much trouble. Besides,
owing to local physical conditions, it is much easier for
406 CAUCASUS VIEW OF INDIA.
US to invade Afghanistan by way of Herat tlian for the
English to do so by way of Quetta ; they would have to
scale mountains, we merely to work along the sides over
the spurs of them. It seems to us, therefore, that the
subsidies paid by the Enghsh to the Afghans are merely
so much money thrown away. Owing to its natural
position Afghanistan must inevitably take sides with a
powerful army, which, advancing upon India, should
reach Herat from the North- West."
THE END.
Woodfall & Kinder, rrintcrs, 70 t 70, Long Aero, London, W.C.
POPULAR EDITION.
The Region of the Eternal Fire;
Travels in Russia, the Black Sea, Caucasus, and
THE Caspian.
BY CHARLES MARVIN.
With 1 6 Maps, Plans, and Illustrations, Crozon Svo, 406/^/.,
price js. 6d.
Opinion of the Right Honourable the Earl of Ravensworth,
President of the Institution of Naval Architects.
"It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce that we have
present to-day the distinguished traveller and writer, Mr. Charles Mar-
vin, the author of that most interesting book — more fascinating than
any novel I know of — ' The Region of the Eternal Fire.' " — Confereruc
of Naval Architects, Livei-pool, July 2-jlh, 1SS6.
Opinion of The Right Hon. Sir Lyon Playfair, K.C.B., M.P.
"The accounts given of Baku, by jNIr. Charles Marvin, have made
the district familiar to us. A formidable competition to American oil is
arising in Russia." — Good Words, Fcbntary, 1SS4.
Opinion of Arminius Yambery.
"The leading authority of the English Press on the Central Asian
Question is Charles Marvin, a man of iron industry, who has wielded
his comprehensive knowledge of the region in such a manner as to
render eminent service to his country."
Opinion of Professor A. H. Keane, Yice-President of the
Anthrpoloogical Society.
*' Charles Marvin is unquestionably the leading authority of the day
in all matters appertaining to the operations of Russia in Central
Asia. He has no equal, and can hardly be said to have any rival."
Opinion of Colonel Malleson.
" Charles Marvin's services in respect of the Russo-Afghan Question
have been invaluable. He has heard with his own ears the opinions
expressed on the subject by Russian generals and diplomatists, and, fur
the love of England, has spent his own money to warn England's
people." — 1 he Russo-Afghan Question, p. jj.
Opinion of Alderman A. B. Forwood, M.P. (First Secretary to
the Admiralty).
" His writings and his works are so well known, that I have only to
mention the name of Charles Marvin, the Russian traveller, and writer
on this great question, to ensure him a warm welcome to Liverpool." —
Speech, May 4, iSSj.
Opinion of Commander Yerney Lovett Cameron, C.B.
" Charles Marvin stands out prominently to-day as the representative
of non-party public feeling in England on the Russo-Indian Question."
Opinion of the Chief Surveyor, Lloyd's.
" Almost every day I am having applications addressed to me, with
regard to Petroleum steamers, from English shipbuilders, and I find
that the inspiration is invariably due to Air. Marvin's ' Region of the
Eternal Fire.' " — Mr. Martell {Meeting of the Lewisham and Black-
heath Scientific Association, May 3, 1SS6.)
Opinion of the Imperial Russian Technical Society.
" Charles Marvin has been elected Corresponding Member of the
Imperial Russian Technical Society, in recognition of his writings on
Petroleum." — Academy, August 6, 1SS7,
The Gold Medal of the Balloon Society.
" At a meeting of the council of the Balloon Society held yesterday,
it was resolved to present the gold medal of the society to Charles
Marvin, in recognition of his valuable writings on petroleum, and his
unwearied efforts to establish the industry in Burma and other parts of
the Empire." — Daily Chrotiicle, Jan. ^, 1SS8.
Opinion at the Society of Arts.
" I need not tell the members of this Society of the inexhaustible
stores of oil at Baku, as this information has already been given in a
masterly manner by Charles Marvin, whose patriotic labours merit
national xecogmiion."— Lecture by J. B. Hannay, Nov. 30, 1887.
Opinion of Sir Henry Tyler, M.P.
" " No one is more entitled to speak on matters connected with Cen-
tral Asia and Afghanistan than Charles Marvin, who has made a special
study of those points which have a particular interest at the present
moment." — Speech, March 6, 188,5.
Opinion of the Special Correspondent of the " Illustrated
London News."
Mr. William Simpson (attached to Sir Peter Lumsden's Mission)
specially recommends " The Region of the Eternal Fire," in his articles
on the Baku oil region, in the Illustrated London Nczus, June, 1 886.
Opinion of English Working Men.
"At a meeting of the Portsmouth Working Men's Club, Feb. 29,
1884, a resolution was passed expressing hearty sympathy with Charles
Marvin in his works and lectures on Central Asia, and trusting that he
would be supported by working men throughout England."— /'i?^/^-
mouth Times, March is, 1884,
Charles Marvin and his Policy.
"Charles Marvin's political mission has been summed up by himself
in one word—' To Imferialise the working man. ' Pie says : ' The
working man has the largest vote, and the welfare of the Empire is
largely in his keeping.' His object in life is to create a consciousness
of Empire in his mind— when this is done, the masses will insist on a
strong foreign policy, and the federation of the Colonies with the
Mother Country will follow as a matter of course. He does not write
for any Party, but for the whole people, and he always strives to keep
himself in harmony with the national %Qx^\xa&nV—Nnvcastle Examiner.
University of California
SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 30095-1388
Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed.
^ 0^ \ \\> ^^^
^ \.
