The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-03 00:00:00

BRISTOL, AUG. 2.

STOCK EXCHANGE.—The prices to-day were lower, and
Bristol and Exeters were don. at 982 ; Great Westerns,
; Midland Stock! 67 ; North British, 34; and Taff
Vale, 1341.

KARS, July I.—On Wednesday morning, at an early
hour, General Guyon started with several of his staff to
reconnoitre the strength and whereabouts of the Rus-
sians, and I very gladly availed myself of permission to
accompany them. After gaining the summit of the first
Yong slope from Kais the ride lies over one of the finest
expanses of plainland which I have yet seen in Asia
Minor. Luxuriant grass rising to the horses' knees
attests the fertility of the soil, and suggests what this
magnificent country might be under a better rule, its
productiveness for nearly every kind of crop being, in
fact, all but unlimited. For miles and miles we rode
on over this splendid waste of meadow land, struck
more and more as we advanced with the multiplying
I signs of its natural richness, and meeting only—at long
intervals—an odd herd of bullocks, tame buffaloes, or
the small broad-tailed sheep of the country ; of crops
or human habitations we saw none. Five hours
and a half brought us to Subitan, a miserable village
of two or three hundred inhabitants, as perfect in its
filth and apparent wretchedness as any other Turkish
collection of holes in the earth, which goes by the
same cumulative name. An advanced camp of some
four thousand men, however, gives it a little present
importance, and deprives it at the same time of all means
of supplying the simplest want of the passing traveller.
Here we rested for au hour or two, during which I endea-
voured to procure some sort of refreshment ; but " for
love or money" I could get nothing better than a morsel
of hard black bread, against which bad. teeth and (as
yet) a slender_ appetite equally rebelled. This unin-
viting morsel, however, became less despisable when I
learned from Ismail Pacha (General Binetty), who came
in while we were there from the outposts, that he had
not tasted food of any kind, except some wild cock-
sorrel, for three _days. From. Sabitan. General Guyon
took a strong escort of lancers, to be prepared against,
contingencies, and with this we pursued our journey to
the north-east. Before as, at a short distance, lay the
hills of Georgia ; whilst, away some. 30 miles on our
right, uprose the broad and anow-crowned summit of
the lonely Mount Ararat, overtopping in its solemn
majesty, and eclipsing in interest, every other mountain-
height in view. Between Subitan and the frontier we
passed several deserted villages, whose inhabitants have
been driven to seek protection and sustenance near Erze-
roum ; two or three dogs—mere peripatetic anatomies,
which contrive to exist on I know not what—were the
only signs of life which lingered about the desolate
and crumbling huts. As we had ridden slowly, it
was late in the afternoon when we approached the Bashi
Bazouk outposts, and came in sight of the Karstchai,
which at this point divides Asiatic Turkey from the ter-
ritories of the Czar. I then learned from the general,
for the first time, that we were to spend the night al
fresco, and take the advantage of sunrise to make the
intended reconnaissance—a piece of .intelligence, by the
way, which was far from agreeable, as I was without
cloak or extra covering of any kind. However, it was
too late to draw back, and grumbling at what cannot be
mended is, at the best, but a poor philosophy. Accord-
ingly, after a short halt and a subsequent ride along the
banks of the river, during which nothing was to be seen
more formidable than some distant Cossack piquets who
were not thought worthy of a shot, we returned and
bivouacked for the night on an open spot which had the
very uncomfortable characteristics of little grass and a
soft surface. I must be effeminate enough to confess,
that dinnerless and supperless as I was, the prospect of
such a bed, after nine or ten hours' ride, was not over
pleasant. However, there was no invidious distinction
in the way of accommodation ; from the general himself
to the trumpeter of the troop it was the same ; so down
I lay, like Don Juan and his shipwrecked tnessmates,
" With nothing but the sky for a great coat."
Unpleasantly cool, however, as was this sub-Jove
resting place, it had one advantage over every other I
have yet met with since I stepped upon Turkish soil—
fleas and bugs there were none, and this negative luxury
went far to counterbalance the discomfort of the heavy
night dew above and the damp earth beneath. Of the
extent to which these two classes of vermin—especially
the former—torture one in this country, few but those
who have suffered from. their_ lacerations can form an
idea. lam much inclined to think that if home insur-
ance companies knew of their terrific voracity, they
would charge a weighty extra premium to all policy hol-
ders travelling in (especially Asiatic) Turkish territory.
No language of mine can describe the misery they occa-
sion, or the duration and painfulness of the wounds they
inflict; let thOse who doubt this statement make a week's
experiment, and I'll forgive their previous unbelief.
By dawn we were again on horseback, and commenced
preparations for the reconnaissance. The best point for
this being the summit of a small mountain close upon the
river, we wound round it, and after nearly an hour's
scrambling reached an elevation, whence a perfect view
could be had of the Muscovites in camp, and of Giunri
beyond. The encampment consists of between four and
five hundred tents, and lies on a small plateau, about.
the same number of perches on the Georgian side of
the Karstchai, presenting altogether but a poor ap-
pearance when compared with the imposing array at
present collected at Kars. The entire Russian force in
camp at this spot and in Giunri is supposed to be
about 25.000 men, an army which could be numerically
beaten at an hours' notice from this alone without draw-
ing a man from the outposts or advanced camps. Why
it and the supplemental rabble of disaffected irregulars,
which may double its number, have not been driven
back over the Caucasus at leapt two months ago, it
puzzles every one but the Mushir to understand. After
a lengthened observation of the points above mentioned,
and of those at which a passage across the river—which
is narrow but deep—would be practicable-for a large
body of troops, we descended the mountain, and began
our return to Kars, which we reached only as the sun
was sinking behind the north-western hills. Speaking
for myself, lean confidently vouch that a two-days' fast
—for having unwisely declined the bread at Subitan, I
saw no more till we returned—to say nothing of a night
upon an open field—is a spareness of diet
not to be re-
commended, especially in conjunction with an interim
ride of more than sixty miles.
To these brief notes of amateur soldiering, I have only
to add, as symptomatic intelligence, that since the date
of my last letter, between three and four thousand
(Arab) Bashi Bazouks have arrived, and will be sent on
to the frontier immediately ; that one regiment of in-
fantry (the 6th Anatolian) marched for the same point
this morning ; and that General Guyon leaves to-
morrow for another reconnaissance, and to mark out
some field works at the outposts—movements which,
with other local signs, render me confident in predicting
early "fun." Before the present moon is out I hope to
date from Georgia.