Distances and Difficulties of Travel, Transportation and Communications.

For the convenience of the closely occupied who have not time to study as they read, I have thought it well to condense the information above referred to in a paragraph, which can be taken in at a glance, in connection with the map.

The one great port of Asia Minor is Constantinople. To reach the centre, known as Anatolia or Armenia, there are two routes from Constantinople. One by way of the Mediterranean Sea to Alexandretta, the southern port or gateway; the other by the Black Sea, to reach the northern ports of Samsoun and Trebizond, lying along the southern coast of the Black Sea. There is no land route, but a “pony post,” like the overland days of California, takes important dispatches for the government, or money. The way is infested by brigands.

There are no regular passenger boats, but Russia, Austria, France and Greece have dispatch—in reality, coasting boats—one of which aims to leave Constantinople each week, although at first we found it at least two weeks between the times of sailing and irregular at that.

The time from Constantinople to Alexandretta is eight to ten days. From Constantinople to Samsoun, two days. From either of these ports the interior must be reached by land.

These journeys were made by horse, mule or donkey, over mountain paths, rocks and precipices. Only in comparatively a few places are there roads allowing the passing of a wheeled vehicle of any kind, even the passing of a horse along the steep declivities is sometimes dangerous.