THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



275 



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Photograph by M. O. Williams 

 A BLIND FORTUNE-TELLER IN KOKAND 



In the practice of his profession the soothsayer uses small pebbles to divine the fate of his 

 patrons. To the left is a native cobbler at work. 



countless worshipers in the Great Mosque 

 at Delhi. It is a long, long trail. Timur 

 traveled it to his tomb. 



THE STORY OE BAKU 



How Russia's collapse will affect the 

 tribes of Turkestan cannot be foreseen. 

 But the outstanding event in the whole 

 Turanian field is the landing of the Brit- 

 ish at Baku — the city of fire and blood. 

 Baku is more cosmopolitan than Bokhara, 

 for Bokhara is only cosmopolitan in an 



Asiatic sense, while Baku contains Euro- 

 pean influences and inhabitants as well. 



From one end to the other, the Cau- 

 casus is a vast mine of copper, iron, tin, 

 zinc, and other metals. In the lovely 

 Alazan Valley of Kakhetia some of the 

 world's finest wine is grown, and the 

 North Caucasus is a granary where 

 American agricultural machinery has 

 reaped rich harvests ; but at the east end 

 of the Caucasus it is oil that has made 

 modern historv and made Baku a familiar 



