Across Coveted Lands | Page 7

houses, and votka-drunken people in undue proportion to the

population. Votka-drunkenness differs from the intoxication of other
liquors in one particular. Instead of "dead drunk" it leaves the
individuals drunk-dead. You see a disgusting number of these
corpse-like folks lying about the streets, cadaverous-looking and
motionless, spread flat on their faces or backs, uncared-for by
everybody. Some sleep it off, and, if not run over by a droshki,
eventually go home; some sleep it on, and are eventually conveyed to
the graveyard, and nobody seems any the wiser except, of course, the
people who do not drink bad votka to excess.
Rostoff stands at the head of the Delta of the Don, a position of great
strategical importance, where of course the Russians have not failed to
build strong fortifications. These were begun as early as 1761. Now
very active ship-building yards are found here, and extensive caviare
factories. Leather, wool, corn, soap, ropes and tobacco are also
exported, and the place, apart from its military importance, is steadily
growing commercially. The majority of shops seem to deal chiefly in
American and German made agricultural implements, machinery and
tools, and in firearms and knives of all sizes and shapes. The place is
not particularly clean and certainly hot, dusty and most unattractive.
One is glad to get into the train again and steam away from it.
As we get further South towards the Caucasus the country grows more
barren and hot, the dust is appalling, but the types of inhabitants at the
little stations become very picturesque. The Georgians are very fine
people and the Armenians too, in appearance at least. The station sheds
along the dusty steppes are guarded by soldiers, presumably to prevent
attacks on the trains, and as one gets near the Caspian one begins to see
the wooden pyramids over oil wells, and long freight trains of
petroleum carried in iron cylindrical tanks. The wells get more
numerous as we go along; the stations more crowded with petroleum
tanks. We are nearing the great naphtha wells of Baku, where at last we
arrive, having travelled from Tuesday to Sunday afternoon, or five days,
except a few hours' halt in Kiev, Kharkoff and Rostoff.
[Illustration: The Baku Oil Wells.]
The first-class railway fare from Warsaw for the whole journey was

fully covered by a five-pound note, and, mind you, could have been
done cheaper if one chose to travel by slower trains on a less direct
route!
CHAPTER III
Baku--Unnecessary anxiety--A storm--Oil wells--Naphtha spouts--How
the wells are worked--The native city--The Baku
Bay--Fortifications--The Maiden's Tower--Depressing
vegetation--Baku dust--Prosperity and hospitality--The Amir of
Bokhara--The mail service to Persia on the Caspian--The Mercury and
Caucasus line--Lenkoran--Astara (Russo-Persian
boundary)--Antiquated steamers.
So many accounts are heard of how one's registered baggage in Russia
generally arrives with locks smashed and minus one's most valuable
property, and how unpunctual in arriving luggage is, and how few
passengers escape without having their pockets picked before reaching
their destination--by the way, a fellow-passenger had his pockets
picked at the station of Mineralnya Vod--that I was somewhat anxious
to see my belongings again, and fully expected to find that something
had gone wrong with them. Much to my surprise, on producing the
receipt at the very handsome railway terminus, all my portmanteaux
and cases were instantly delivered in excellent condition.
The Caspian Sea steamers for Persia leave Baku on Sunday and
Tuesday at midnight. There was a fierce sand storm raging at the time
and the steamer had returned without being able to land her passengers
at their destination. I decided to wait till the Tuesday. There is plenty to
interest one in Baku. I will not describe the eternal fires, described so
often by other visitors, nor tell how naphtha was tapped for the first
time at this place, and how in 1886 one particular well spouted oil with
such tremendous force that it was impossible to check it and it deluged
a good portion of the neighbourhood. A year later, in 1887, another
fountain rose to a height of 350 ft. There are myriads of other lesser
fountains and wells, each covered by a wooden shed like a slender
pyramid, and it is a common occurrence to see a big spout of naphtha

rising outside and high above the top of the wooden shed, now from
one well, now from another.
The process of bringing naphtha to the surface under ordinary
circumstances is simple and effective, a metal cylinder is employed that
has a valve at the lower end allowing the tube to fill while it descends,
and closing automatically when the tube is full and is being raised
above ground and emptied into pits provided for the purpose. The
naphtha then undergoes the process of refinement. There are at the
present moment hundreds of refineries in Baku. The