Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1881-02-04

Lettings OF Travel
NJ. III.

I-Lti4Ss ei 4raVeI
NJ. III.
FROM Ti:rnI2oxD TO CoSsrASrIS"rlE
There are four weekly lines of steamers
running between CoEstantinop!c and lrehs-
zond. Only one line il Turkish The Other
three are owned and run ly French Austrian
and I.ussian companies Each of these gov
crnments has IL postoiicc in lreh'zond' 50
that 4 business not more than one fourth that
of Burlington is divided up among Tour
offices.
We had planned to 60 on from Irebiloud
by the French steamer which leaves on sat
urday, but our driver who would not HIM
self be driven nor even hurried, did bol
deliver us in Trebizand ill late Friday
evening and We were unable before the next
morning 10 rcnrsani.e, and adapt ourselves
to the new conditions Of travel. Our road
furniture must be packed away ready l"r
future occasion, and certain degree OF
renovation was necessary 10 fit us Tor the
more civilized portion OF mankind.
We therefore remained over for the
Russian steamer Of the following Mon
day The Russian steamers run 20 Ba,oum
and only stop a few hours on their way at
Trebizond. We took passage in the second
cabin which VIC thought was reasonably
comfortable, and as further item Of econo-
my we kept up the Turkish custom Of board
ing ourselves, laying in agood stock oil cook
ed provisions and fresh fruit, AMI carrying
apparatus for making our own tea AMI coffee.
buyiug whatever hot food We needed from
the steward of the cabir. We were most
troubled to find common language. No
one of the steamer officers, except the purser,
knew Turkish or Armenian, and, strange to
say, no one seemed familiar with French.
But one was found who knew something Of
English, which shows that English among
the Russians is mote popular than French.
The scenery along the southern COAST
Of the Black Sea is lovely in the ex-
IRENE The shore at nearly every
and is cut into deep and picturesque gorges,
the sides Of which are covered with green
fields of corn and groves of trees, with here
and there white cottages with red roofs The
SUBMITS of the mountains, little inland,
are covered with beautiful forests, and neat
villages along the waters edge add an ever
changing beauty. The water Of the Black
Sea is much darker than that of the Meditcr-
: -, la,
fine weather the jelly fish rise 10 the surface
and porpoises play antics about the steamer,
shooting cut Of the water and diving in again.
running along at rapid pace just under the
surface or plunging under the steamerto come
cut on the opposite side. These porpoises
are generally from four 10 six feet long are
fat and sleek in appearance, and always
move in schools of from five TO twenty in
number The natives capture these fishes
and produce from them an inferior oil. The
meat is not palatable.
II was always source Of great amusement
to watch the operations, at every landing
place There are no wharves to which a
steamer may tie up, the passengers quietly
walking ashore. Instead of that the steamer
anchors about quarter OF mile from the
shore, and is at once surrounded by dozen
or twenty small boats. Some of these are
loaded with freight and go up to the freight
gangway, others are filled with passengers
and their baggage, and crowd up to the stair
way which leads up the side of the steamer
TO the deck If il is city where there is
quarantine station no communication with
the steamer is permitted until the steamer
papers are examined by the quarantine ply
sician and his flag goes up on shore announc-
ing that all is right Then there is great
rush for the stairway, the rough boatmen
savagely knocking each other TO the right
and left, some clambcring up the side OF
the steamer by means of ropes in
order to Guido their fellows. The noise anu
tumult are terrific, a novice imagines the
heavens are about TO fall, and looks uncon-
scously at different ones to discover how
many throats have been ruptured. But no
body seems to be harmed, in few minutes
all is quiet, and those boatmrn, who, little
while before. were ready 10 dig ont each
others eyes, are lovingly pulling their oars
side by side. Very rarely does an accident
occur, though | once saw the mast of small
boat catch in rope of the steamer which
was still moving so that the boat was grad
ually pulled over until it began TO dip Wa
ter and at last went down with its cargo of
beans The men were picked up by other
boats.
When going into the Black Sea the steam
ers carry iron, kerosene, alcohol, and dry
goods, and returning they load with hazel
nuts, walnuts, beans, raw hides and dried
meat But the chief profit CT the steamer
traffic is from passengers. There are few
cabin passengers, frequently none in the first
cabin Int the decks are generally covered.
Sometimes steamer takes thousand deck
passengers each one paving about six dollars,
As nothing is furnished these deckers but
water, the So, 900 income is clear profit.
We had little rough weather, which
made the passengers keep very quiet for one
dav, but Otherwise the passage CT four days
was very pleasant one, and we passed the
Bosphorus and came TO our anchorage in
the Golden Horse in all the splendor of an
eastern morning sun. NJ Z. T.