with ample skirt of many pleats.

I have mentioned the Persian porters who are seen at Baku; they are also
to be found at Petrovsk and Astrachan, and are generally preferred to
the local labourers, who, in common with their class in Russia, take a
long drink once a week, often unfitting them for their work the
following day. The Persians are of sober habits, and can be relied upon
for regular attendance at the wharfs and loading-stages. They have
learnt, however, to take an occasional taste of the _rakivodka_ spirit,
and when reminded that they are Mohammedans, say that the indulgence was
prohibited when no one worked hard. These porters are men of powerful
physique, and display very great strength in bearing separate burdens;
but they cannot work together and make a joint effort to raise heavy
loads, beyond the power of one man. Singly, they are able to lift and
carry eighteen poods, Russian weight, equal to six hundred and
forty-eight pounds English.

In the newspaper correspondence on the burning Armenian Question, I have
seen allusion made to the poor physique of the Armenian people; but as
far as my observation goes in Persia, Russian Armenia, and the Caucasus,
there is no marked difference between them and the local races, and on
the railway between Baku and Tiflis Armenian porters of powerful form
are common, where contract labour rates attract men stronger than their
fellows.

Though much of the wealth which has come out of the Baku oil-fields has
been carried away by foreign capitalists, yet much remains with the
inhabitants, and the investment of this has promoted trade in the
Caspian provinces, and multiplied the shipping. There are now between
one hundred and eighty and two hundred steamers on the Caspian, besides