But at the very outset a frcsh disappohitment awaited him. It was already five o’clock in the afternoon. They intended to start on the following morning, 13th September. Of Poti, then, Van Mitten could only see the public gardens, in which are the ruins of an ancient fortress; the houses (built on piles), the abodes or some six thousand or seven thousand people; the wide streets flanked by ditches in which frogs croaked incessantly; and the harbour, weIl-filled with shipping, which is guarded by art excellent lighthouse, a guiding star of the first magnitude.
Van Mitten could only console himself for having so little time in which to make these observations, as he had to leave the town so quickly, by recollecting that it s situated in the midst of the marshes formed by the Rion and the Capatcha; and that by his rapid departure he would run no risk of the fever which is so prevalent there.
While the Dutchman was thus abandoning himself to all these kinds of reflections, Ahmet was busying himself in endeavouring to replace the chaise, which would have still done good service but for the indefensible imprudence of its proprietor. Now to find another post-chaise, new or second-hand, in the little town of Poti vas not to be expected, A pereclad-naïa—or Russian araba—might indeed be obtained, and Seigneur Kéraban's purse was available to pay the cost, whatever it might be. But the available vehicles in fact were only more or less of a cart-like and primitive character, very uncomfortable, and had
