TIFLIS AND ITS INHABITANTS 71 



Tiflis is said to contain more Armenians than any other 

 city on earth save Constantinople, though the casual 

 passer-by might be inclined to rank Manchester ahead 

 of both. But — a big But — we cannot get past statistics. 

 The baths are in the Tatar quarter, and Kenneth, 

 who sampled them, told us that you pay by the hour, 

 and it is just as cheap for two people as one person — 

 that is, if you get in together ! Soap and towels are 

 " extras." The water was very hot, and, after being 

 parboiled, the bather is expected to lie on a table 

 whilst an animated Tatar dances a war-dance all 

 over him. 



The name Tiflis, pronounced Tiflees, accent on the 



" ees," is derived from the Georgian word, Tbilisi, 



which means hot. Whether the comprehensive 



appellation refers to the intense heat of the ovenlike 



place in summer, to the warm sulphur baths, or to the 



character of what I will call the Soho areas is rather 



hard to determine. All three are of an equal torridity. 



The amount of poor-class drinking shops in Tiflis 



almost outnumbers the myriad saloons in Butte City, 



U.S.A., surely the most thickly sprinkled town on 



earth. Here in these filthy cabaks, or duchans, the 



man in the street (I suppose this mysterious synonym 



finds his illustration in the Caucasus as elsewhere), 



drinks the native vodka, a bitter unsweetened gin, 



and a variety of beer which tastes like bad vinegar. 



All the wine shops worthy of the name have the 

 most grandiloquent titles, opulently eastern in tone. 

 The patrons of " Rose of the World " kept us awake 

 with the distant sound of revelry by night, and 



