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the waterside, and water full of rank sea-weed and sewage, it offers no inducement to tempt Russians, who are good judges of luxury, from resorting to Nice, Mentone, Eastbourne, and Ostend. The only Russians who really visit it are people who cannot afford to go farther in search of a watering-place, or like a couple on board, deceived by a fictitious reputation and "taken in." Perhaps, in the distant future, Theodosia may become a clean and thriving little port; but there is at present no speedy likelihood of its attaining afresh the wonderful pitch of prosperity and power it enjoyed under the Greeks and Genoese.

After a couple of hours' stay the steamer quitted Theodosia in the direction of Kertch. The view of Theodosia as one crosses Kaffa Bay is very fine. Besides the panorama of the port, there are to the right and left magnificent configurations of the Crimean mountains, which dwell on one's memory many a day. I do not know what impressions the scenery had on the Russians, but knowing the North well, I could not help asking myself-How can men be content to dwell on the sullen and marshy shores of the Baltic when they have such a splendid sea in the South? To have asked the question of the passengers, however, would have been cruel, for the "splendid sea," directly we got away from the shelter of the mountains, began to tumble the steamer about, and before long the bunks were full, and nobody was left to enjoy the lunch but the English passengers on board. In the afternoon the wind almost blew a gale, and the deck passengers had a miserable time of it. After passing Cape Tash Kyryk the cliffs diminished in height, and became grey and sullen, like those of Dorset. The only striking bit of scenery the whole afternoon was the curious Ship Rocks, lofty sharp masses of rock starting out of the water a couple of

miles from land, and appearing in the distance exactly like a ship in full sail. The Tartars call them the Sytchan Kaleh, or Rat Fortress. When we got well into the Straits of Yenekale the sea grew calmer, and the passengers began to troop on deck, to find dinner over and cleared away, and the steamer abreast of the fortress of Petropavlovsky.

This fortress was erected after the Crimean War, on the site of the batteries silenced and captured by the Allies, when they invaded Kertch in 1855 with 15,000 troops. It has been described as a combination of masked batteries and covered ways extending over two miles, the casemates being masked by massive earthworks supported in their rear with buttresses of masonry. At the foot of the cape are a number of embrasure batteries, at present mounting 150 guns; and at the top is the citadel, Fort Todleben, whence the fire is directed by means of telegraphic communication, the entire view to seaward being comprehended in a camera. In the opinion of Commander Buchan Telfer, R.N., "fortifications one-fifth of the size of Petropavlovsky, and a few torpedoes, would have sufficed to defend the entrance, half a mile in width, between the Touzla bank and the works. When it is considered that this fortress might be invested by an enemy without a mighty effort, and the supply of water at the rear cut off, it is difficult to conceive the object with which these enormous defences have been erected, defences necessitating in time of war a garrison of many thousand men. A second Sevastopol has been raised, without the advantages of a good port."

During the Turkish War the defences of Kertch were left untouched by Hobart Pasha, who evidently thought them too strong for his ironclads, and the only event of the campaign was a court-martial on a number of officers

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of the garrison, caught removing some of the guns and ammunition from the batteries, and selling them to a professional receiver of stolen goods at Kertch. The inquiry into this little peccadillo extended over a long period; but revelations being threatened compromising the higher authorities of the place, it was suddenly suspended, and the delinquents let off, except, of course, the small fry the watchmen, carters, and so forth, who were promptly deported to Siberia. "Just like Russia!" exclaims the reader. But such abuses of justice are not peculiar to Russia alone. The rich and the powerful of all countries are privileged thieves. In every land the petty pilferer, whose chief incentive to crime is his poverty, is heavily and wrathfully punished, while the nobleman who steals common-land, the official who receives bribes or appropriates public funds, and the capitalist who thrives on bubble companies, are invariably allowed to enjoy their plunder.

Two miles beyond the fortified cape lies Kertch. On our way we passed thirty steamers, mostly English, idling in quarantine.

F

CHAPTER V.

A SECRET RUSSIAN MISSION TO CABUL.

Kertch and its Greek Antiquities-A Discovery Made, not Classic, but ModernThe Jew who had been to Cabul-How he participated in Skobeleff's Campaign against Geok Tepé-Alikhanoff's Journey to Merv-Persons Composing the Secret Russian Expedition to Cabul-Their Route through Central AsiaSamuel, the Interpreter, bound to Secrecy-What he saw at Cabul-English Soldiers with the Ameer's Troops-Loot from Geok Tepé-Caution Displayed by Venkhovsky-Samuel's Description of Cabul-Afghan Opinion of the Russians-The Massacre after the Capture of Geok Tepé-Women Ravished "It is Better to be Silent in this World "-Description of a Secret Survey of Merv-The true Bearings of the Discovery of the Mission-Skobeleff's Memorandum on the Invasion of India-Russia now possesses a Survey of the direct road from Herat to Cabul, which we know little or nothing about.

NOBODY goes to Kertch without writing about its Greek antiquities, or carrying away some of them with him. A pleasant little place, it contains enough Greek remains in the vicinity to satisfy the most inveterate archæologist. By mounting to the top of the limestone slope on which the town is built, a fine view is obtained. of a range of hills running away inland seven or eight miles, studded with tumuli. Every bit of elevated ground for miles and miles round Kertch possesses these excrescences, and as a large proportion have been excavated at some time or other, they remind one of the barnacle growth on oysters. The panorama of the bay is grand, and it is flattering to the Englishman's pride that most of the year round nearly all the large shipping in it should fly the Union Jack; to the Greek or Italian, however, the spectacle must be full of melancholy. There was a time when all the shipping was

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Greek. There was another epoch when most of it hailed from Genoa. Now the English flag prevails, although the Russians have held the place a century. In course of time, when the coal of the Donetz valley and the iron beds of Kherson are more developed, the Russians may build their own iron ships, and themselves carry their wares to foreign markets. For the moment, the foreign transport trade of the Don and the Azoff is chiefly in English hands.

Kertch has never forgotten that it was once the capital of the Kingdom of the Bosporus. In its traditions it is far more Greek than Russian. Everybody has something to say about King Mithridates, whose "arm-chair" is one of the most prominent features of the locality; and near which antiquities are constantly being brought to light. Few places have yielded more Greek treasures, or a richer and finer assortment than Kertch. They, however, are not to be seen there, but at St. Petersburg, where they constitute one of the sights of the imperial Hermitage. The small museum at the town itself is only a sort of temporary depository-the antiquities exhumed being kept in it until the accumulation reaches a certain point, when the treasures are carefully overhauled and the pick of them sent to the Russian capital. Many people make a livelihood by digging for antiquities, which are still plentiful, in spite of successive rulers, Khazars and Tartars, Genoese and Turks, and finally Russians, having pillaged the tumuli for centuries.

It was seven in the evening when the Grand Duke Michael was made fast to the jetty at Kertch, and as the steamer did not leave for the coast of the Caucasus until midnight, those passengers who were bound for Batoum were able to pass a pleasant evening ashore.