'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎64] (95/714)

64
PERSIA
eyen greater consternation than the magic of the Colchian princess.
As the line ascends, clinging closely to the bed of the stream
almost to its source in the watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. that separates the Caspian
and Black Sea drainage, the scenery becomes more imposing.
The mountains climb to an airier height, and the train creeps
tortuously through solemn gorges and magnificent glens. The
station platforms are crowded with wild Georgian urchins—true
sons of the mountains—anxious to exchange foi a few kopecks long
strings of chestnuts or bunches of miniature grapes. Stately
bearded figures, close pinched at the waist by the tightly fitting
tcherhess or Circassian pelisse, and wearing a curled lambskin
bonnet, tall leather boots, and a small armoury of damascened
weapons, attend the arrival and departure of the trains with mili
tary regularity, and survey the scene with stalwart composure.
The railroad from Batum to Tifiis, a distance of about 220
miles, or at least from Poti to Tiflis, has now been open for many
years ; but the Russians have for some time been engaged
Tunnel upon extensive alterations upon a section of the line
works between the stations of Rion and Michaelovo, where the
existing rails climb the steep and laborious gradients of the Suram
mountain at a height of 3,000 feet above the sea. The alterations
involve not only the piercing of a tunnel three miles long through
the mountain, but the entire realignment, at a more practicable
level, of the railroad for a distance of several miles, an under
taking which necessitates the construction of new bridges and
viaducts, as well as an immense amount of cutting, stonework,
and embankment. A large number of workmen were engaged
upon this task when I passed a year before. In the interim a
great advance had been made. The spring of 1890 was named as
the period when the works would be finished, but it was not till
October that the tunnel was opened, after the Russian fashion,
with a religious service; nor did that mean the completion of the
whole undertaking. The Russian Government is putting itself to
an enormous outlay in this quarter, a fact which illustrates the
importance attached by it not only to secure, but to easy and rapid
rail communication in the Caucasus. 1 The works struck me as
being conducted on a large and worthy scale, and as being marked
by great strength and solidity. The Suram Tunnel is remarkable
1 It has since been announced (November 1890) that a military railway has
been authorised, connecting the fortress of Kars with the main line.