All depends upon the latter, for no vessel can enter if it is blowing hard.

There is a dangerous bar with a depth of barely five feet of water across the mouth of the harbour, and several Europeans, impatient of waiting, have been drowned when attempting to land in small boats.

"I frequently have to take my passengers back to Baku," said Captain Z---- at the meal he was pleased to call breakfast; "but I think we shall have fine weather to-morrow." I devoutly hoped so.
Little did I know what was in store for us; for the glass at midday was falling-fast, and at 2 p.m., when we anchored off Lenkoran, it was snowing hard and blowing half a gale.
The western coasts of the Caspian are flat and monotonous.

There are two ports of call between Baku and Enzelli--Lenkoran, a dismal-looking fishing-village of mud huts, backed by stunted poplars and a range of low hills; and Astara, the Russo-Persian frontier.

Trade did not seem very brisk at either port.