Around the Black Sea / Asia Minor, Armenia, Caucasus, Circassia, Daghestan, the Crimea, Roumania

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Around the Black Sea, by William Eleroy Curtis
Transcriber’s Note
Larger versions of most illustrations may be seen by right-clicking them and selecting an option to view them separately, or by double-tapping and/or stretching them. Links to larger, higher-resolution versions of the maps at the end of the book are shown below those maps.
A complete map of the Black Sea and surrounding country will be found affixed to the inside of the back cover of this book.
ASIA MINOR, ARMENIA, CAUCASUS, CIRCASSIA DAGHESTAN, THE CRIMEA ROUMANIA
BY WILLIAM ELEROY CURTIS
AUTHOR OF “TURKESTAN: THE HEART OF ASIA” “BETWEEN THE ANDES AND THE OCEAN” “TODAY IN SYRIA AND PALESTINE” “MODERN INDIA,” ETC., ETC.
HODDER & STOUGHTON NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
Copyright, 1911 , By George H. Doran Company
THIS VOLUME IS COMPOSED OF NEWSPAPER LETTERS WRITTEN DURING THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1910 AND IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE CORNELIUS McAULIFF, MANAGING EDITOR OF THE CHICAGO RECORD-HERALD
There are several lines of steamers on the Black Sea, sailing under the Turkish, Greek, Russian, German, French, Austrian, and Italian flags. The steamers of the North German Lloyd Company, which sail from Genoa and Naples, through the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, are best, but they visit only the ports on the northern coast. The Austrian Lloyd steamers, which come from Trieste, are second best, and we were fortunate in obtaining cabins on the Euterpe , which is old-fashioned, but comfortable. The captain is an Italian of Trieste, who speaks English well, as do two of the under officers; the steward is thoughtful and attentive and the cook is beyond criticism.
The passengers were a perfect babel, representing all the races and speaking all the tongues of the East, with several Europeans mixed in, each wearing his own peculiar costume. There were Turks of all kinds and all classes and all ages wearing fezzes of red felt; there were Persians, wearing fezzes of black lamb’s-wool; Albanians with fezzes of white felt, and Jews with turbans and long robes, such as they used to wear in the days of the Scriptures. We had several Turkish army officers to amuse us, and one big, blue-eyed general, who looked like a philanthropist, but is said to be a fiend of a fighter. There were English, German, and French tourists and rug buyers on their way to Persia and Turkestan; a very fat Austrian woman who was going to visit her son, consul at Batoum, and several Russians who had been visiting Paris and the Riviera and were on their way back to their homes in the Caucasus.