THE OLD POST-ROAD FROM TIFLIS TO 



ERIVAN 



By Esther Lancraft Hovey 



THREE hours by rail east of Tiflis, 

 in Transcaucasia, lies the little 

 hamlet of Akstafa, which has 

 been the northern terminus of the post- 

 road to Persia by way of Erivan since the 

 completion of the Transcaucasian Rail- 

 way. It is a wretched village, and what 

 little importance it has enjoyed for some 

 years will soon disappear, since it is far 

 away from the line of the railway which 

 the Russian government is about to open 

 from Tiflis to Kars, one link of the great 

 chain which is to stretch through Erivan 

 to Tabriz and the Persian Gulf. The 

 advent of the railway will render easily 

 accessible a picturesque and interesting 

 region which is now rarely visited by 

 tourists, and will eventually make fa- 

 miliar to many the marvelous beauty 

 of the Mountains of Ararat. 



Our party for the journey across 

 Russian Armenia consisted of several 

 members of the great International 

 Geological Congress which met in St. 

 Petersburg in 1897. We gathered at 

 ■ Akstafa early one beautiful morning 

 late in September to begin our long 

 ride southward to Mt. Ararat, our ob- 

 jective point. When we finally sallied 

 forth from the post-station our caravan 

 consisted of four comfortless carriages 

 and a baggage wagon, under the protec- 

 tion of a military guard of six Cossacks 

 in full equipment. We had been warned 

 that traveling in this part of the world 

 was dangerous, and we could well be- 

 lieve it when we saw the armament of 

 these men. In addition to the regula- 

 tion rifle, short sword, and ornamental 

 powder pockets, they wore belts fitted 

 with ball cartridges and two or three 

 extra revolvers in the most convenient 



places for instant use. The most con- 

 spicuous part of their dress was the 

 basJi-kil, which is a simple hood made 

 of scarlet cloth, with long streamers. 

 This was usually worn with the stream- 

 ers crossed over the breast and tied at the 

 back, the hood hanging on the shoul- 

 ders. The bash-kil is a very useful 

 article of dress in a climate subject to the 

 sudden extremes which occur in Arme- 

 nia and the Transcaucasian Mountains. 

 After sundown the hood is drawn over 

 the head beneath the fur cap, while the 

 streamers are wrapped around the throat 

 to keep out the sharp winds. 



The Cossacks form a kind of semi- 

 volunteer military organization, their 

 services exempting them from certain 

 items of taxation. The governor of the 

 district is obliged to furnish a Cossack 

 guard to travelers demanding protec- 

 tion, and this guard is supposed to serve 

 gratuitously, but we noticed that when 

 we changed guards, which took place 

 about once in two hours, our leader 

 handed the head man of the band a 

 handsome fee. The changing of the 

 guard was always accompanied by much 

 saluting and some maneuvering. 



For several miles our ride across the 

 plain was dusty and uninteresting, ex- 

 cept for the exhibition of fine riding 

 given us by our Cossacks, who look;ed 

 very picturesque with the streamers of 

 their bash-kils floating in the wind. 

 From time to time we met strange vehi- 

 cles, and as we began to enter the moun- 

 tains, following the valley of the Akstafa 

 River, we encountered villainous-look- 

 ing gypsies who had to be beaten away 

 from our carriages by the guards, so per- 

 sistent were they in their demands for 



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