202 TIFLIS. 



completely concealing man and beast. The caravan 

 was on its way to Persia, and was the only one 

 of the kind I ever saw, though trains of camels and 

 carts are of frequent occurrence between Batoum 

 and Tiflis. 



Karias, or the black summer, is a name which 

 this steppeland has earned for itself by the excessive 

 virulence of the fever which raged there after the 

 introduction of artificial irrigation. It is some 

 thirty-five or forty versts from Tiflis, and, besides 

 being the preserve of the Grand Duke and the 

 refuge of Tiflis outlaws, it is the home of several 

 bands of Tartars and one German planter. 



It was to the home of this latter that we turned 

 our horses' heads, after being ferried over the broad 

 dark waters of the Kur. All the road between 

 Tiflis and this ferry had been bare and uninterest- 

 ing: low grey hills, looking parched and lifeless 

 on our right, a grey dusty steppe at our feet, and 

 on our left the bare unlovely banks of the Kur, 

 with here and there a huge vulture sitting gorged 

 and sullen on its shore. By the ferry a belt of low 

 woodland lent some interest to the scene ; but this 

 was left behind as soon as the river was crossed ; 

 and far away on every hand stretched the level 

 steppeland, so bare of succulent herbage as to 

 appear anything but pleasant pastures for the 

 many flocks of sheep and herds of antelope that 

 roam over its surface. 



