THE POSTAL SYSTEM. Ill 



Caspian, or the Persian frontier ! A more enlightened 

 spirit now haj)pily prevails in high quarters, and the 

 Lieutenant of the Caucasus has ordered the construction 

 of roads to Kutais, and to Erivan, while the highway of 

 the Dariel is almost completed ; but the dawn of intelli- 

 gence is late, and light spreads but slowly through the 

 dense mists of jobbery and peculation which impede, if 

 they cannot stifle, the coming of a better day for this as 

 yet undeveloped region. 



In no country has the transition from utter want of the 

 means of transport to the facilities of a large railway 

 system been so sudden as in Russia, and the extent of 

 the change likely to be produced there during the next 

 few years can scarcely be exaggerated. Amongst its 

 smaller results will doubtless be the sweeping away of 

 those petty but troublesome safeguards with which police 

 and post officials combine to hinder and render disagree- 

 able all travel in the interior of the country. 



