236 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



The Russians, I am told, are spending 

 much money and labour on the construction 

 and extension of military works about the 

 town, and ere long Batoum will be a strongly 

 fortified and first-rate port. 



At Batoum wind and weather were again 

 unfavourable to our voyage to Golovinsky, so 

 that we were obliged to spend day after day 

 waitmg for a steamer that never came, until 

 very little more time for sport was left us. 

 Moreover, since there was very little sport to 

 be had near Batoum, except in a swamp 

 where the Mussulman population of the town 

 seemed invariably to pass the greater part of 

 the morning, my friend and I spent a good 

 deal of our time at the hotel, so that ease and 

 good feeding softened our hearts and made us 

 a trifle disinclined for further hardships. 



Any long expedition into the hills round 

 Batoum is out of the question, as those hills 

 are full of bandits, as bold and grasping as 



