A RIDE TO TEHERAN IN 1888. 311 



been lost about September 1st, on the Ullu-auz 

 glacier. 



Next morning I left by the new railway connecting 

 the Black and Caspian Seas. The scenery is delight- 

 ful ; and on the succeeding day at three in the after- 

 noon the train entered Baku, or Bawkoo. Owing to 

 the expected journey of the Tsar and Tsarina the 

 line was guarded for a distance of many hundred 

 miles by soldiers, camped alongside the track in di- 

 minutive tentes d^abri^ to the number of one every 

 hundred yards. 



Naphtha had previously been sprinkled between 

 the rails in order to keep the dust from annoying 

 the Imperial party, and of this we had the advantage. 



As we steamed into the station the Imperial train 

 was just steaming out on the way to visit the natural 

 fire temple of the ancient fire- worshippers at Sul- 

 hakhane, which had been "arranged" in its ancient 

 style with some Parsees specially imported for the 

 occasion. Wonderful was the crowd which thronged 

 the streets ; the rich rank odour of petroleum, as 

 might be expected, pervaded everything; Eussian 

 officers and officials of every grade in uniform ; Geor- 

 gians and Transcaucasians in picturesque attire, with 

 long hair, several daggers in the belt, and a row of 

 ammunition pockets across the breast; Turkomans 

 with great sheepskin bonnets ; and Persians in tall 

 black lambswool hats. In the evening the town was 

 illuminated, the letters A M being almost the sole 

 and universal design. The only bed I could obtain 



