The Transcaspian now open for passengers and goods is the chief commercial route between Europe and Turkestan.
In the near future there will perhaps be a second route along the Persian frontier connecting the South Russian railways with those of British India, and that will save travelers the navigation of the Caspian.

And when this vast basin has dried up through evaporation, why should not a railroad be run across its sandy bed, so that trains can run through without transhipment at Baku and Uzun Ada?
While we are waiting for the realization of this desideratum, it is necessary to take the steamboat, and that I am preparing to do in company with many others.
Our steamer is called the _Astara_, of the Caucasus and Mercury Company.

She is a big paddle steamer, making three trips a week from coast to coast.

She is a very roomy boat, designed to carry a large cargo, and the builders have thought considerably more of the cargo than of the passengers.

After all, there is not much to make a fuss about in a day's voyage.
There is a noisy crowd on the quay of people who are going off, and people who have come to see them off, recruited from the cosmopolitan population of Baku.