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The transit trade through Trebizond and Bayazid between Europe and 

 Persia has of late years increased very considerably, and is carried on 

 by the old Genoese route, and probably by that traversed in the time 

 or the Roman empire. 



The coast east of Trebizond extends for about 130 miles. The 

 view of it from the sea is very picturesque. The mountains rising 

 almost immediately from the shore to between 4000 and 5000 feet, 

 are clothed on their lower slopes with dense forests of chestnut, beech, 

 walnut, alder, poplar, willow, elm, ash, maple, box, and occasionally 

 dwarf-oak, and on the upper parts with fir. Short mountain streams 

 sometimes swollen to torrents furrow the declivities, down which they 

 leap rather than flow into the sea. The forests supply charcoal, fire- 

 wood, and timber for the construction of houses and of the boats 

 used in the coasting trade and in the fisheries; but timber although 

 so abundant is not exported. The country though wooded and moun- 

 tainous does not produce corn enough for the population, yet whatever 

 level land there u, indeed every spot capable of cultivation, is tilled, 

 and corn-fields may be seen hanging on the precipitous sides of the 

 mountains at which no plough could arrive. The ground is tilled by 

 a two-pronged fork peculiar to the country. The corn usually grown 

 is maize, bread made of which forma the principal food of the inhabit- 

 ants : the deficiency in the home produce is made up by importations 

 from the adjacent provinces of Russia. The inhabitants consist chiefly 

 of the Laz (the descendants most probably of the ancient Lazii) and 

 the Oflis, both of whom are described as bold, hardy, and laborious 

 tribes, and 'as having a high reputation as soldiers. They are particu- 

 larly expert in the use of a short rifle which every man carries slung 

 upon his back wherever he goes. The Laz who possess the greater 

 part of the coast live in cottages scattered singly over the country. 

 They have no towns, but at different points on the coast there are 

 bazaars with a few coffee-houses and a khan or two, and here markets 

 are held weekly. The Laz of Surnienah and Yomuroh, districts near 

 Trebizond, coming frequently into contact with the townspeople, ore 

 more civilised than the Laz generally. The Of country touches the 

 coast for about five miles between the Laz districts of Vomuroh and 

 Rhizah, but inland it extends more widely, and stretches southward 

 nearly to the Choruk which flows along the southern base of the 

 Lazistan Mountains. The Oflis are said to be wealthy; they have 

 towns and houses of a better description than their neighbours. They 

 are a fierce and independent race, handing down blood-feuds from 

 father to son ; their character and the general inaccessibility of the 

 country causes them to be seldom visited by strangers. Rhizah the 

 Laz district east of Of is fertile and has a mild climate, oranges and 

 lemons growing in the open air and requiring no winter shelter as 

 they do at Trebizond. Shirting made from hemp is largely manufac- 

 tured in this district At Khopah, an open roadstead about 50 miles 

 east of Rhizah, goods are sometimes landed for Atvin, a small manu- 

 facturing town on the Choruk; but generally goods are landed at 

 Datum, the only safe harbour along the whole coast eastward from 

 Trebizond. There are however many summer anchorages. The 

 I.arisUn Mountains are composed chiefly of limestone, and are said to 

 contain lead and copper. There are some passes over them which are 

 practicable only in summer, but even then merchandise is never 

 tran*]>orted by these routes. In winter the mountains are deeply 

 covered with snow. All communication with the interior is then 

 interrupted ; along the coast it is kept up priuci|dly by sea, as there 

 are no roads in the country. Other products of this region besides 

 those mentioned above are honey, bees-wax, hazel-nuts, butter, Ac. 



At the eastern end of the l.i*jn Mountains the Choruk enters 

 the sea on the western side of the bay of Datum. In the neighbour- 

 hood of Batum abundance of fruit is grown, comprising pomegranates, 

 "8* f n f tm i citrons, and lemons. To the east of Datum (which though 

 a small place has lately become of some importance for its trade, and 

 will be noticed separately) the coast-country consists of a hilly district 

 backed by toe Kolowah-Dh, an offshoot of the Perengah-Dagh, and 

 to the north of it a wide plain, only a small portion of which cut off 

 by the ShefkatiUS.i belongs to Turkey. The Shef katil-Su and the 

 crest of the Perengah-Dagh here separate Russia from Turkey. A 

 steep high bank of shingle along the coast protects the plain from the 

 encroachment* of the sea. Several small streams flow from the moun- 

 tains in sluggish currents across the plain, which after heavy rains 

 they convert into a marsh, and empty themselves into the sea by deep 

 breaks in the shingle bank. Beyond the plain a woodland extends to 

 the base of the mountain district about four or five miles. 



Bonn of Ikr Cfcorwb. From the Perengah-Dagh a long range of 



mountains runs southward through the pashalik of Kara, forming the 



watershed between the Black Sea and the Caspian, separating tho 



basin of the Choruk on the west from the basins of tho Kur and the 



' on the east, and terminating southward in the Suvanli-Dagh, 



. which is part of an irregular mass of mountains that 



nn east and west in a broken line, and form the eastern continuation 



"? l f n of the Antit *rus, separating the basin of the Choruk on 



* north from the upper basins of the Kara-Su and tho Araxes which 

 ar comprised in the central table-land. The Choruk drains all the 

 M western and northern sides of these two mountain 

 nages respectively. 



To. Chorak (written al Jorokh, and Churuk), the ancient 

 Akampsis and probably the Bathys of Pliny (lib. vL c. 4) rises 



in the mountain mass that bounds tho central tiil.l.' lm.1 on the 

 north. Its course at first is southward through n narrow ravine, 

 from which it emerges on approaching the road from Trebizoml to 

 Kiv-rum ; it then makes a semicircular sweep westward roun 

 base of the mountain in which it rises, and traversing the valley ( 

 Marsat-Dereh passes the town of Baibut. A few miles below Baibut 

 it receives on the left bank a considerable feeder from the Almali- 

 Dagh, and taking a decided north-eastern course it runs in this direction 

 for above 100 miles through a fertile basin screened by lofty wooded 

 mountains to Atvin. In this interval after the junction of tin- tributary 

 from the Almali-Dngh which passes the village of Balahor on the 

 Trebizond and Erz-rum route, the river receives no feeders of any 

 considerable length on the left bank, the Lazistan mountains 

 descending rapidly and shedding their surface waters in short rapid 

 streams. On tho right bank the valleys are longer, and two feeders of 

 considerable magnitude join tho Choruk, one about midway between 

 Baibut and Atvin, the other a few miles above tho latter town. Delow 

 Atvin the Choruk flows toward the north-west in a narrow valley, on 

 emerging from which it receives the Ajerah from the east, and crossing 

 a small alluvial plain enters the Black Sea a little west of Batum. On 

 account of its falls and rapids the Choruk is not navigable, but rafts 

 of timber are floated down from Atvin to the sea in three days. Some- 

 times, but rarely, rafts are tracked up the river to Atvin in ten days. 

 The alluvial deposits of the river, which in spring like most of tho 

 rivers of Armenia is subject to heavy floods, nave formed the tract of 

 land that bounds the bay of Batum on the west ; in fact but for t hi- 

 deposit there would have been no harbour at Batum. 



The Kolowah and Perengah mountains which screen the valley of the 

 Ajerah on the north, are furrowed on their northern slopes by wild 

 and beautiful gorges, and clothed with forests of the same descript i< m 

 as those of Lazistan, but the trees are of for larger dimensions on the 

 plain along their base and on their lower slopes. Maize, mill' 

 some rice are grown ; the winters are not severe but the summer ami 

 autumn are wet, so much so that sometimes the crops do not ripen. 

 The mountains are crossed by one or two difficult passes leading into 

 the Ajerah valley. They rise to between 4000 and 5000 feet above the 

 sea. On their upper slopes the long winter of nearly eight months' 

 duration and the wet summer are very unfavourable to agriculture ; 

 the arable land ia of small extent and at best yields only about six 

 months' consumption; neither are cattle and sheep very num 

 owing to the difficulty of procuring fodder during tho long winter. 

 The inhabitants arc a very fine race with a strong mixture of Georgian 

 blood. They speak Georgian, and but few of them understand 

 Turkish. Every man goes armed with a rifle and a double-edged 

 knife, called a khommah. Tho roads through these mountain forests 

 are mere tracks. 



The northern slope of the Kolowah-Dagh ia covered with magnificent 

 beech forests, except toward the crest where on I r and 



stunted juniper grows. The pass over it, into tho district nf Akho in 

 the Ajerah valley, is extremely steep in its upper jiart. The forests 

 on the southern side of the mountains consist principally of dwarf-oak 

 with Scotch and spruce fir, and a few birches and aiders. The Ajerah 

 is formed by numerous small streams that flow down ravines from 

 the Perengah-Dagh and the long range that connects it with the 

 Suvanli-Dagb. Its basin has a temperate climate and a fertile well- 

 cultivated soil, yielding rye and maize, but not much wheat ; a small 

 quantity of silk also is produced. At Kulah, the principal village in 

 the valley, grapes ripen and some wine is made. Tho village has 

 about 60 houses and a bazaar. Goods are conveyed from Batum to 

 Akhalzik by tho valley of the Ajerah. From Kulah to the village of 

 Danesvoroldh near tho head of the valley the ascent is rocky and 

 steep. The range between Kulah and Akhalzik rises to tho height of 

 about 6000 feet ; on its upper slopes are extensive nine forests and 

 luxuriant Hummer pastures, but the winters are long and severe ; 

 birches and alders on the higher slopes put out their hinls .mly in tho 

 beginning of June. On these pastures and those of the Perengah- 

 Dagh the cattle of the valley of Ajerah are fed during the open 

 - I ML 



Bantu of the Ar and tht Arpa.Qn the eastern side of tho 

 mountain range the country is open, Moping away towards the north- 

 east with the Kur and the Arpa, The tatter however on reaching tho 

 frontier near Gumri or Alexandropol turns southward to the Araxes. 

 This port of the pashalik of Kars presents a succession of high plains 

 and well watered valleys, entirely without wood except in the recesses 

 6f the mountains, but well adapted for the growth of corn and for 

 grazing. The inhabitants here, who are mostly of the true Annerian 

 stock, live as their ancestors lived in the time of Xcnophou in under- 

 ground habitations with one owning for the cattle and another for 

 the human inmates. In the plains are several marshes and small 

 lakes. Between the plain of Pashkov, the most northern part, of thin 



. and the plain of Ardahan, which is watered by the Km 

 is a high bare range, frequented by Turkoman tribes in summer for 

 iU pastures. The upjxT part of the plain of Ardahan is marshy, and 

 serves merely to pasture largo herds of cattle ; the lower part is well 

 cultivated and productive. Ardahan ia an underground village near 

 the source of the Kur ; it formerly had about 300 houses and was 

 defended by a castle, \\lmh won dismantled by the Kussians in 1830. 

 Between this place and Kars the plain abounds with excellent past urea 



