76 TEANSCAUCASIA. 



very quiet, but shortly afterwards its peace was disturbed 

 by a tragic incident. A Mussulman fanatic, either mad 

 or drunk, took it into his head to run-a-muck through the 

 bazaar, and so far succeeded in his horrid purpose, as to 

 stab no less than seventeen people before he was himself 

 waylaid and despatched with a poleaxe by a discreet 

 butcher. Eleven of his victims died of their wounds. 

 These outbursts of fanaticism sometimes occur amone: a 

 Mahommedan population, but they are quite exceptional 

 phenomena, and as a rule your person and pocket are far 

 safer in an Eastern city than they are in London. 



In the afternoon we climbed by a steep path to the Elag- 

 stafF Hill, behind the town, which commands a very good 

 view of the coast and the mountains of the interior. The 

 brow was covered with the most wonderfully smooth turf, 

 like an English lawn. On the way down we turned aside 

 to visit a very curious rock-hewn church, decorated with 

 frescoes, some apparently of great antiquity. We left at 

 6 P.M., and at daybreak next morning were in the harbour 

 of Batoum. The weather had cleared during the night, 

 and, to our great surprise and delight, we found ourselves 

 for the first time in the presence of the ' mystic mountain 

 range ' of which we had talked and thought so much, but 

 of which we as yet practically knew so little. 



As we looked from the deck of the steamer, our eyes 

 followed a long line of snowy peaks, the most western of 

 which rose directly above the waters, like a ship at sea 

 when only its white sails are visible. Next to these came 

 a cluster of fine rocky peaks, which reminded me of the 

 Dolomites as seen from Venice ; in the centre the outlines 

 were tamer, but on the east was a very massive group, pro- 

 bably Koschtantau and its neighbours, which stand midway 

 between Elbruz and Kazbek. The harbour of Batoum is 

 the only safe one at this end of the Black Sea ; it is 



