VI THE WATERSHED OF THREE SEAS 61
of November. Then people drive in sleighs to Bayazid. Now we might at any time expect a heavy snowfall, and for this reason the baggage was ' divided between two waggons, which might very possibly be snowed up in Bayazid till next spring ; that is one of the causes of the high tariff for vehicles at this season.
Beyond Nebuchar - khani the watershed between the western Euphrates and the Araxes is passed, and we are now in a country which is drained to the Caspian Sea. Again we meet long trains of creaking carts drawn by
black buffaloes — jamush. Telegraph - posts follow our route thus far, and inspire me with a longing for regions cut off from civilization. One wire runs through Zivin to Kars, the other to Bayazid. The road is now good again, hard and macadamized, and beside it arable fields stretch along the broad level valley begirt by low hills. In its trenches the water flows eastward like two canals. Kurujuk is a small lonely village of greyish mud cottages, with an impoverished and ragged population.
Following the brook Kale-su, a tributary of the Araxes, we come to the town Hassan-kale, situated at the foot of a small knoll, with a picturesque ruined fort perched on its top, which gives its name to the town. Here I was kindly received by the kaimakam of the district, the corn-mandant, and the district engineer, who all three spoke good French. They took me a short walk through the town, where bazaars and several solid stone houses with balconies stand in the main street. The paving is sporadic, uneven, and loose, and is interspersed with deep holes and puddles of mire and dirt, smelling of rotting refuse. Even when the road is as dry as a bone out in the country, the streets of the town are filthy with all the refuse and dirty water thrown out, and gutters and drains are considered superfluous. Only close along the house walls can one make one's way fairly dry-shod. Outside the village is the burial-ground. Great pains are taken with the graves ; each resting-place is adorned with two upright gravestones. Hassan-kale has about 7000 inhabitants, and a garrison of 40o men, mostly cavalry, with a battery.
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