CHAPTER II

BATOUM  TO  BAKU

The returning dawn showed us an open country
quite brown and bare, with the river Koura running
by the side of the line. The train stopped for a
few minutes at Mshket, which is also the last station
on the post-road from Vladikavkas to Tiflis. We
got a glimpse through the rain of the old Cathedral
on the opposite side of the river, and learnt from
our guide-books that this decayed old-world place
was once the capital of Georgia ; and then we were
off" again, and by 9.15 found ourselves not very
much behind time at Tiflis. It is just as well not
to be behind time there if you happen to have
ordered your drosky, for the ishvosniks of Tiflis are
entitled to charge for the wait, and the trains are