Chapter I: Front Matter

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AROUND THE BLACK SEA

A complete map of the Black Sea and surrounding country will be found affixed to the inside of the back cover of this book.

AROUND THE BLACK SEA

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

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I Cruising in the Black Sea 3

II The Ancient City of Trebizond 29

III Railway Concessions in Turkey 60

IV The Caucasus 85

V The City of Tiflis 105

VI Mount Ararat and the Oldest Town in the World 129

VII The Armenians and Their Persecutions 154

VIII The Massacres of 1909 168

IX The Results of American Missions 185

X The Caspian Oil Fields 214

XI Daghestan and its Ancient Peoples 228

XII The Circassians and the Cossacks 252

XIII The Crimea 265

XIV Sevastopol and Balaklava 292

XV Florence Nightingale and Her Work 313

XVI Odessa, the Capital of Southern Russia 325

XVII The Kingdom of Roumania 348

XVIII The New Régime in Turkey 379

XIX The Emancipation of Turkish Women 411

XX Robert College and Other American Schools 430

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Map of the Black Sea _Opposite title page_

A Turk of Trebizond 10

Coffee peddler on our steamer 10

Group of Lazis, Armenia, ready for a dance 53

The city of Batoum 56

A Georgian beauty 88

A Georgian prince and his sons 88

Head dress of a Georgian lady 94

The native costume of Georgia 94

Section of the road in Dariel Pass 95

A Georgian gentleman and wife 100

A Georgian peasant 100

Principal club at Tiflis 106

Floating flour mill, Tiflis 110

A Georgian cavalier 114

Palace of the viceroy, Tiflis 120

Patriarch of the Georgian Church, Tiflis 126

A Georgian prince 126

Mount Ararat 131

Nakhikheban, founded by Noah on the slope of Ararat,
the oldest town in the world 142

Entrance to the monastery of Etchmiadzin, Armenia 155

Kibitkas of the nomadic tribes 160

Persian quarter, Baku 213

A mosque of Baku 213

Temple of the fire worshippers near Baku 216

Domes of the Persian section of Baku 224

Prince Schamyl; “The Lion of Daghestan,” and his sons 228

City Hall, of Vladicaucasus 249

Type of the old-fashioned Circassian 252

A Circassian gentleman 257

Type of Circassian beauty 257

Gateway to Aloupka Palace, Crimea 266

Villa of the Czar at livadia, Crimea 284

Villa at Livadia in which Alexander III. died 290

Grafskaya Pristan, Monumental Landing, Sevastopol 294

Memorial Church, Sevastopol 294

The village of Balaklava 304

Chamber of Commerce, Odessa 328

Municipal Opera House, Odessa 332

View of the Bosphorus; ancient castle of Mohammed
the Great in foreground 392

Robert College, on the Bosphorus 432

AROUND THE BLACK SEA