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From Tiflis our traveller proceeded across Georgia to Redutkali; whence she made her way to Kertsch, on the shore of the Sea of Azov; and thence to Sebastopol, destined a few years later to become the scene of an historic struggle. She afterwards reached Odessa, one of the great granaries of Europe, situated at the mouth of the Dniester and the Dnieper.
Another bad night; nothing but wind and rain. How I pitied the poor, sick fellows, and even those who were well, exposed to this weather on the deck. Towards noon we arrived at Kertsch; the town can be seen very well from the sea, as it stretches out in a semi-circle on the shore, and rises a little up the hill Mithridates , which lies behind.
One cried, "How shall I shelter my sugar-loaves?" another, "Oh, my meal will be spoiled." There a woman complained that her bonnet would be full of spots; here, another, that the uniform of her husband would certainly be injured. At some of the smaller stations, we had taken on board sick soldiers, in order to carry them to the hospital at Kertsch.
Besides the Mithridates, there is no hill or mountain to be seen. Kertsch lies partly on the spot where Pantikapaum formerly stood. It is now included in the government of Tauria; it is fortified, has a safe harbour, and rather considerable commerce. The population amounts to 12,000.
Before finishing my account of Kertsch, I must mention that there are naphtha springs in the neighbourhood; but I did not visit them, as they were described to me as precisely similar to those at Tiflis. The next part of my journey was to Odessa. I could go either by sea or land.
Bordering on Circassia are the Atkans, who inhabit the coast country between Mingrelia and Circassia, and are also wild and given to plunder. Mithridates lived in Pantikapaum. The hill at Kertsch is called to this day "Mithridates' Seat."
On the 17th of September, at 9 in the morning, the steamer arrived, and an hour afterwards I was seated on the deck. The vessel was called Maladetz; it was 140 horse power, and the commandant's name was Zorin. The distance from Redutkale to Kertsch is only 420 miles in a straight line, but for us, who continually kept close to the shore, it amounted to nearly 580.
The passage from Redutkale to Kertsch, I was told, then frequently occupied twenty days. The sea is so rough that it is difficult to reach the stations, and sometimes the ship lies for days opposite them. If it should happen that a poor soldier has to proceed the whole distance, it is really a wonder that he should reach the place of his destination alive.
I therefore hastened to the commandant of the town to have my passport signed, and to request admittance to the ship. Government steamers ply twice every month, on the 1st and 15th, from Redutkale to Odessa, by way of Kertsch. Sailing vessels rarely offer an opportunity of passage.
Even when prohibited, however, the traffic was carried on by means of small craft which under protection of Russian papers obtained at Trebizond under pretence of going to Kertsch for grain, braved the dangers of the winter voyage when from the inclemency of the weather the Russian cruisers had been withdrawn from the coast of Circassia, and taking in their precious cargo of souls landed it at Sinope or Samsoun.
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