22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



wild growths of walnut forests. The best trees for veneer purposes 

 come from the district of Gooda-oot and Sukhum, one hundred to 

 two hundred miles north of Batum and from the shore line back 

 twenty miles or more. The best colored wood grows high in the 

 mountains and in some cases apparently out of solid rock. The trees 

 growing in such places are small but of a very fine color, with 

 strong light and dark contrast. 

 The trees growing in low places 

 are larger and more free from 

 defects, with less color, mostly 

 brown, similar to Turkish wal- 

 nut. 



I was able to get a good pic- 

 ture of one of Mr. Hoffmann's 

 producers, a genuine Circassian. 

 TJhe revolver and long knife are 

 always in evidence and the Cir- 

 cassian gentleman is most care 

 ful of his dress and quite a 

 dandy. The costume is never 

 complete without the knife and 

 revolver. Across the breast are 

 two diagonal rows of cartridges, 

 a relic of former grandeur. The 

 laws forbid real cartridges, so 

 all now wear wooden imitations 

 with inlaid silver or carved bone 

 tops. These producers go back 

 in the country districts to small 

 villages, buy a few trees from 

 one man and a few from another, 

 sometimes only one tree being 

 bought. The logs are collected 

 and hauled by oxen or water 

 buffalo to the nearest stream 

 and as soon as the logs are dry 

 enough to float, they are sent 

 down to the coast. Very often 

 there is no stream and the logs 

 are hauled miles over the rough 

 mountain roads. Small sailing 

 vessels carrying about fifty tons 

 bring the logs to Batum or Poti, 

 where the exporters receive and 

 sort them. The day we reached 

 Batum, a small ship was unload- 

 ing, the boat could not get 

 nearer the beach than one or 

 two hundred feet, so the logs 

 were thrown overboard and two 

 men up to their arm pits in 

 water, tied ropes around them 

 while twelve or fifteen men 

 pulled them out on the beach. 

 It would seem a very slow and 

 expensive process, but labor is 

 cheap (about seventy- five cents 

 per day), and time is never con- 

 sidered when ' ' east of Suez. ' ' 



The burls have been in great 

 demand for many years and are 

 practically exhausted. Burl 



hunters now go across the Caspian as far as Bokhara. It is necessary 

 for a log buyer to speak several languages or dialects for the manner 

 of speech changes in almost every section. The gentlemen in this 

 picture, with almost no education, speak four languages and many 

 dialects. It is easy to see how difficult it would be for any Ameri- 

 can to travel and secure logs from the natives. 



The logs arrive in Batum just as they are felled, with bark and some- 

 times limbs on them, and it is here, in the sorting and trimming 



THE BE.\rTii'Tr. i;i:(iU(:iAN hh.vd, the milit.\ry pass main- 

 tained ACROSS THE CAUCASUS BY RUSSIA. 



yards, that the wondciful adze men do such beautiful work. . It is a 

 study to watch them hew and adze these logs. They never seem to 

 make a miss cut and the log when finished looks as though it had been 

 planed. A large ]icr lont of the log is wasted as most of the sap has 

 to bo cut off and many thousands of feet have thus gone into 

 (•hi]ps. Ill these yards work Turks, Armenians, Persians and Tar- 

 tars, all with long knives, often 

 to the outsider, apparently ready 

 to kill each other; but, I under- 

 stand, not much quarreling and 

 very little fighting occur. The 

 Turks are very devout and stop 

 work at certain hours, wash face, 

 bands and feet, go through their 

 prayers right on a log or any- 

 where they happen to be — it 

 makes no difference to them how 

 many spectators they have. 

 One of Mr. Hoffmann 's yards is 

 in the Turkish part of Batum 

 and entirely surrounded by Turk- 

 ish homes, and a poorer class of 

 people it is hard , to imagine. 

 The women seemed industrious 

 and were quite often about the 

 yard drying clothes on the logs 

 iir picking up chips for the fire. 

 Their faces were always covered 

 with a black mask or shawl, not 

 even their eyes showing. It is a 

 mortal sin for any man other 

 than their husbands to look on 

 their faces, and they guard them 

 most carefully. 



Circassian walnut has been 

 u.?ed locally for many years and 

 some of the oldest furniture is 

 made of solid walnut. The work- 

 manship is crude and as cabinet 

 makers the Circassians do not 

 excel. Batum is the principal 

 port for exporting walnut, and 

 while some logs are sold in 

 Europe, America now takes a 

 very large percentage. The gov- 

 ernment imposes a heavy export 

 duty on all shipments and this, 

 together with the high freight, 

 forms a very considerable part 

 of the cost. Add to this the 

 fact that the exporter njust buy 

 entire lots from the producer 

 and often has to receive logs he 

 launot ship. These poor logs are 

 an entire loss for there is no 

 market in Batum for inferior 

 logs or lumber. It can readily 

 be seen that these conditions 

 will cause Circassian walnut to 

 remain one of the most expensive 

 of woods. 



The scenery of the Caucasus 

 is wonderful. There can be no more beautiful coast than that of 

 the Black sea with the snow-capped mountains that rise majestically 

 from the water. This old country has many wonderful advantages 

 and some day its natural beauty and resources will advance it to a 

 great place among the sights of the world. Then Switzerland and the 

 Canadian Rockies will have to take second place among the famous 

 scenic countries. 



Many strange and interesting sights are seen on the streets of 



I'REETS OP BATUM. 



