Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-18
A Russian Account of natoum.

Inc oiOSCOW Gu~SNo puDIlSneS the lOllOW-
ing account of the town and port of Ba-
toum. 1t begins by saying that the Cars
edict abolishing the free port was published
there on the 18th of July, and that it pro-
duced a great sensation. At the time
when Batoum was declared a free port in
1878 most of the Turkish inhabitants emil
grated thence to Trebizonde leaving behind
only a sparse population of 1000 souls,
which has since increased to 10000. The
Greek clement preponderates, but there is
also large number of Armenians. The
Russians, small minority, are lost in the
variegated crowd CT foreigners. From being
purely Asiatic town, as it was eight wears
ago, Batoum has become quasi European,
Notwithstanding the mosques and minarets
which have been left standing. The houses
are built of wood or bricks imported from
Marseilles, and rooted occasionally vita
zinc as a preserYative against the prevailing
humidity. In recent buildings, however,
especially the Custom-house and railway
station, which are the finest e6ifces Of the
place, stone found in the province has been
used. The handsomest quarter is that of
the Nouria, situated on the sea-shore at the
foot of a hill clothed in yerdure Its prin-
cipal feature is an esplanade, where the
local society resort for promenades and
bathing. The barriers of the free port cut
the town into two distinct parts, isolating
the one from the other. In the one
reigned q feverish activity, in theoher (the
suburbs and enyirons) calm and tranquility
prevailed. The prices of commodities DIFF
fered exceedingly on the two sides Of the
barrier In the Spacious faubourgs, sparselv
inhabited by the poor, they were very low;
i'll the town, properly so-called. where the
pressure of population was great, the price
OF land close to the sea varies from 70 to 100
rubles the sagene $50 square feet, but even
in the less considered quarters the rate is
never lower than % rubles for the same
quality. Consequently the rent of houses
and shops is very high, A miserable hold
ing of the latter class is let for 500 TO coo
rubles, and q lodging Of two rooms cannot
be had for less than 200 rabies Manual
labor is at premium, and fetches four and
even five times what it does in purely Rus
sian towns. The wages of a simple Go-
mestic range from 10 to Is rlbleS month
In the meantime petty spectators, desti-
tute of capital and credit, have monopo-
lied the entire trade and inundated the
town with the refuse Of foreign manufact-
ures. 1t is noteworthy that not a single
commercial firm of repute, whether Rus
sian or foreign, has established branch
agency in the free port of Batoum. AS re-
CARDS the Inconvenience caused by the bar
riers in the matter of provisions coming
from the surrounding districts, much has
been said and written without exaggerating
the evil. 1t is clear that the situation was
abnormal, the activity morbid, a state of
things which will be changed by the sup
preston of the free port. The central
meeting-place for transacting business is q
cafe facing the sea. The conversation
there is limited 10 Turkish affairs, Turkish
10 only ri
smoked but Turkish tobacco, Gambling
goes on in the open air, and tables for play
ing games of hazard extend along the foot
path. Despite all difficulties, however, the
future of Batoum is assured as well by the
superiority OF its harbor as by its geograph-
zeal position. 1t is the best port in the
Black sea, it has depth Of water close in
shore of from thirty to forty fathoms, and
its area would accommodate fifteen war
vessels without counting vast number of
merchantmen. Neither should it be for
gotten that Batoum forms the outlet to a
railway eight hundred versts in length,
connecting two seas, and transporting goods
not only from Baku and Jifhg, but from
our Transcaspian conquests. The krasno-
vodsk-Mery line will supply it with copsid-
cradle quantities of cotton and silk for
transportation. Persian wheat is already
N0AltCd tAlitHS4 III SC
with naphtha from Baku. There IS ques-.
ton of constructing a canal from the latter
town by which its naphtha might flow I'M
interruptedly from the place OF production
to the place of shipping. Locomotive and
cistern trucks already exist fer the carriage
of this important article of commerce, the
demand for which is on the increase. 1t is
possible. nay, even probable, that the
whole trade of Tihis this is probably
misprint for Poti) whose decay is noiori-
Gus, will pass over to Batoum. Thus the
Development of Batoum, justly called the
Gate of the Caucasus, in no way depended
on its being free port. It is to be hoped
that the adventures and wretched mer-
cAandise imported by them will soon make
way for Russian merchants and Russian
goods. We must not omit to say that the
town, beautifully situated in the midst OF
mountains and forests, on the borders of
the sea, when the marshes are drained, will
offer many inducements to settle there. The
mineral waters of Makhindjaour are ia
nous in the locality.