in time. If, a hundred and fifty years ago, the ships of Peter the Great were enabled to besiege Azof, at the present time vessels are forced to wait until the south wind heaps up the waves and gives them ten or twelve feet of water under their keels.
But our travellers were there in 1882, not in the year 2000, A.D., and were obliged to accept hydrographical conditions as they then existed.
Meanwhile the chaise descended the slopes, which trend down to Yenikale, disturbing, as it rolled on, flocks of bustards from the high grass. The travellers stopped at the principal hotel, and then Seigneur Kéraban awoke.
"Is this the relay station? Are we having them put to?" he inquired.
"Yes; relays of Yenikale," replied Ahmet simply.
All the travellers alighted while the carriage went on to the posting-house. Thence it would be conveyed to the quay, where the ferry-barge was lying for the conveyance of travellers on foot, or on horseback, or in carriages, and even for the transport of whole caravans, which pass and repass between Europe and Asia.
Yenikale is the headquarters of a lucrative commerce in salt, caviare, tallow, and wool. The sturgeon and turbot fisheries occupy a large proportion of the population, which is almost entirely Greek. The sailors engaged in the coasting-trade pursue their avocation in small, lateen-sail boats. Yenikale occupies an important strategical position: that is why the Russians fortified it after seizing it in 1771. It is one of the ports of the Black Sea, which hereabouts has two keys of safety: the key of Yenikale on one side, and Taman on the other.
After a halt of an hour Seigneur Kéraban gave his companions the signal to proceed, and they walked towards the quay, where the ferry-barge was waiting for them.
Suddenly Kéraban glanced right and left, and uttered an exclamation.
"What is the matter, uncle?" asked Ahmet, who was not quite at his ease.
"There is a river yonder," said Kéraban, indicating the strait.
