Tiflis has a large and important garrison, but is not fortified.  Its topographical depot is one of the best in Russia, and I managed, not without some difficulty, to obtain from it maps of Afghanistan and Baluchistan.  The latter I subsequently found better and far more accurate than any obtainable in England.  The most insignificant hamlets and unimportant camel-tracks and wells were set down with extraordinary precision, especially those in the districts around Kelat.

There is plenty of sport to be had round Tiflis.  The shooting is free excepting over certain tracts of country leased by the Tiflis shooting-club.  Partridge, snipe, and woodcock abound, and there are plenty of deer and wild boar within easy distance of the capital.  Ibex is also found in the higher mountain ranges.  For this (if for no other reason) Tiflis seems to be increasing in popularity every year for European tourists.  It is now an easy journey of little over a week from England, with the advantage that one may travel by land the whole way from Calais.  This route is via Berlin, Cracow, Kharkoff, and Vladikavkas, and from the latter place by coach (through the Dariel Gorge) to Tiflis.

The purchase of a warm astrachan bonnet, a bourka, [C] and bashlik, [D] completed my outfit.  It now consisted of two small portmanteaus (to be changed at Teheran for saddle-bags), a common canvas sack for sleeping purposes, and a brace of revolvers.  Gerome was similarly accoutred, with the exception of the portmanteaus.  My interpreter was evidently not luxuriously inclined, for his impedimenta were all contained in a small black leather hand-bag!  All being ready, eleven o’clock on the night of the 12th of January found us standing on the platform of the Tiflis railway station, awaiting the arrival of the Baku train, which had been delayed by a violent storm down the line.

I received a letter from the governor a few hours before my departure, wishing me bon voyage, and enclosing a document to ensure help and civility from the officials throughout his dominions.  It may seem ungrateful, but I felt that I could well have dispensed with this, especially as I was leaving his Excellency’s government at Baku, a distance of only ten hours by rail.

It was again snowing hard, and the east wind cut through my bourka as if it had been a thin linen jacket.  Seeking shelter in the crowded, stuffy waiting-room, we solaced ourselves with cigarettes and vodka till past 2 a.m., when the train arrived.  Another delay of two hours now occurred, the engine having broken down; but the carriages, like those of most Russian railways, were beautifully warmed, and we slept soundly, undisturbed by the howling of the wind and shouting of railway officials.  When I awoke, we were swiftly rattling through the dreary monotonous steppe country that separates Tiflis from the Caspian Sea.