The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1877-05-26

BLOOD AND WOUNDS thus may be epitomis-
ed the 90 situation - in the East, at the latest
dates brought by the Australian Steamer, which
come down to May 7th. In a more general
style, we may state that the shedding of human
blood has begun in earnest, and Russians and
Turks were keen for the sanguinary work of
war. The engagements which had taken place
on land between the hostile forces, were fought
upon Asiatic ground, at Batoom, in the imme-
date neighborhood of the famous Turkish fort
ress of Kars, and at Bayazid. The latter Turk
ish place is poorly fortified and is reported to
have been occupied by the Russians, the Turks
having retired in good order. The Russian
operations before Kars have had a very different
issue; they were twice repulsed in their assault
on the Notifications and were forced to retreat
with many losses. Bayazid is about $50 miles
east-south-east of Erz-er-room, to which Pash-
alic it belongs. Here, in 1854, the Turks were
defeated by General Wrangel. 1t is not capable
of being well defended, and on this occasion the
Turks very wisely fell back and concentrated at
Kars. This is the great frontier fortress of the
Turks in that part of their Empire. 1t is about
forty miles from Alexandropol, a Russian forth
fed place on the frontiers. Kars is memorable
for the splendid stand it made, under the gal
liant British General Sir Fenwick Williams ad-
vice, in 1855, surrendering only when driven to
the last extremity by famine. The deed of sur
render has at its foot two names, Williams and
Kaufman, the latter of which has become
famous since in Central Asia. The chief of the
medical Staff of General Williams, DR.. Sandwich,
gave an interesting account of Kars at that time,
described as &" a picturesque, mud-built, old city,
situated at the foot of the cliff, with a fine
medieval castle browning a craggy hill in the
centre, and a river running though the city, and
through a deep cleft in the hills behind. On the
dusty plain just before the city were hundreds of
tents, covering an army estimated at about 3d.
600, but in reality of only half that number.
This army had undergone many strange vicissi-
tudes. The castle of Kars is q most picturesque
model of a feudal stronghold. Built on a crag-
gy rock, which rises abruptly at the entrance of
a deep gully, it commands the whole city, and
its grey old walls seem to blend with the sharp
rocks and precipices on which it is built. At
the foot of its rocky foundations, the Kars Chat,
a ~brawling mountain river, crossed by an ancient
stone bridge, rushes over its stony bed. A
curious circular tower or tomb stands near the
castle, and fine remains of Persian architecture
rise from amidst this city of mud huts. The
domestic architecture of Kars scarcely differs
from that of ErzerOom, except that good houses
are less frequent here"
Besides the fighting at Kars, where the Rus
slams were defeated with heavy loss, and their
successful occupation of Bayazid, without oppo-
sition it seems, there has been a hard fight
between the belligerents at Batoom, where both
sides claimed the victory, but the Turks apparent
ly with most reason. Batoom is a Turkish seaport
on the Black sea; consequently the Russians
acted or the offensive. in attacking it. 1t is well
fortified, and has a population of 5000. Here
we may explain from a strategic point of view