OFFICIALISM. 107 



When lie refused to fight a duel, because the pistols 

 provided for him had not been made at Birmingham, the 

 mirth of the audience reached its climax. The rest of 

 the time, not occupied in making arrangements for our 

 further journey, we spent in some tempting shops of the 

 European style near our hotel, where a greater choice was 

 to be found than in the bazaars, though the prices were 

 somewhat higher. Our window furnished an amusing 

 lounge at spare moments, for the wood-market was held 

 in the square below, and from an early hour in the morning- 

 it was filled with carts, drawn by scraggy buffaloes, and a 

 constant jabber of bargain and sale went on all day, wet 

 or dry. Once we saw a funeral pass : the coffin-lid was 

 carried first, then the open coffin; the body was gaily 

 dressed, and covered with flowers, and the priests who 

 accompanied it raised a fine chant as the procession 

 moved onwards. 



We arrived at Tiflis on May 13th; but as Mr. Moore 

 was not to join us till June 20th, we had five weeks at 

 our disposal, and determined to employ them in a run 

 into Persia, combined with a visit to and, if possible, an 

 ascent of Ararat. 



Before we could feel ourselves in order for this journey, 

 much had to be done. Only those who have been in 

 Eussia can understand how officialism may be brought to 

 bear on every detail of travel, and a man must go to the 

 Caucasus to appreciate how a great system like the 

 Russian post, which would be admii'able if carried out 

 properly, can become, by imperfect organisation, and gross 

 incapacity and dishonesty on the part of those employed, 

 a positive hindrance to travellers. 



Our most important needs were to have oui- passports 

 properly signed for leaving and re-entering the Russian 

 dominions, and to obtain an order for horses, without 



