Persia: The Awakening East 



361 



campments, where they are at liberty to 

 satisfy their own ideals of comfort and 

 sanitation. 



Most of these workmen in the oil- 

 fields are Mohammedans, and, strange to 

 say, their piety is a source of constant 

 annoyance to their employers. In view 

 of the recent controversy in the Amer- 

 ican newspapers concerning the oil- 

 "tainted" contributions of a well-known 

 magnate to the funds of a foreign mis- 

 sionary society, the following incident 

 of our visit to the oil-fields of Bala- 

 Khane may not be without interest. As 

 we were being shown through the 

 pumping-house belonging to a Russian 

 company, our guide, a sturdy Dutchman 

 from the oil-fields of Pennsylvania, sud- 

 denly came upon a Tatar workman lying 

 prostrate, his face toward Mecca, on a 

 strip of greasy carpet among the idle 

 machinery. Without giving him time to 

 struggle to his feet, our friend raised 

 him more suddenly than gently with a 

 well-applied kick : 



"Choist look at dese fellows!" he ex- 

 claimed, indignantly ; "ve haf to vatch 

 dem or dey pray de whole tarn time !" 



"Vat mit Mohammedan feast days and 

 Russian saints' days ve get no work done 

 at all. Vat ve need is a cargo of good 

 missionaries to convert de whole tarn 

 lot." he added vindictively. 



Here is a new aspect of the missionary 

 question, which has, perhaps, never been 

 given proper consideration at home ! 



Shortly after the commencement of 

 the Japanese war a general strike broke 

 out at Baku, and the wild workmen of 

 Bala-Khane marched on the town, leav- 

 ing behind them, in place of the scene of 

 busv industry I have described, the fire- 

 blackened ruins of a few pump-houses 

 and the burning craters of hundreds of 

 oil-wells. Thus in the short space of a 

 few hours the petroleum industry of 

 Baku was literally wiped from the face 

 of the earth. But while the oil-fields 

 have never recovered their former pro- 

 ductiveness, the damage is now being 

 gradually repaired, and Russian oil once 

 more supplies the markets of southern 

 Europe and the middle East. 



RUSSIAN enterprise; in northern 

 PERSIA 



The road leading from the shores of 

 the Caspian to the capital of Persia has 

 been open to general traffic for several 

 years. Considered merely as a financial 

 investment, the million and a half dollars 

 expended by the Russians in building 

 this fine highway may seem out of all 

 proportion to the returns, but there can 

 be no question as to the important part 

 it has played in forwarding Russian in- 

 terests in northern Persia. Its fame has 

 gone abroad through every caravansary 

 of the middle East, and where a railroad 

 would have disturbed a host of ancient 

 customs and privileges dear to the in- 

 habitants of the country, this new way 

 has only lightened the difficulties and 

 hardships that once beset travelers and 

 traffic on the old caravan road. New 

 villages are springing up everywhere 

 along the route, and the Russians take 

 good care that the inhabitants should 

 know that to Russian enterprise alone 

 this happy change in their fortunes is 

 due. 



The engineering work of the Resht 

 post-road has been carried out in a thor- 

 oughly durable manner. Often hewn 

 from the solid rock of the mountain side 

 or crossing deep ravines by girder 

 bridges of the most modern construc- 

 tion, it forms a striking example of the 

 Russian policy of "peaceful penetration" 

 that owes its inception to the real "strong 

 man" of Russia, Serge de Witte. 



Following the natural path of least re- 

 sistance, sometimes high above us on the 

 mountain side, sometimes winding along 

 the valley below, I could make out the 

 fading gray streak of what was once the 

 old Persian caravan track. Erom time 

 immemorial this ancient road had been 

 the great commercial highway between 

 the shores of the Black Sea and the rich 

 provinces of northern Persia. Most of 

 the trade of Khorassan still follows this 

 route until it reaches the Russian rail- 

 ways in the Caucasus, while merchandise 

 transported from Russia is sold in every 

 bazaar as far as the AfsTian frontier. 



