Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/74

 22 FROM THE BLACK SEA TO THE CASPIAN

Amazon queen, who is portrayed as the embodiment of all that was noble and high. With all her prowess, peace above war was her aim, example and practice more than precept were her ideal, and her face seems to show combined gentleness and strength, if I may judge by a photograph I obtained from a painting on my earlier journey. Legends of the virtues of Tamara still live in the hearts of the Georgian people, and we know from the annals of her long reign (1184-1213) that her historic achievements entitle her to a prominent place among the number of women who have ruled the fortunes of a nation well.i

A dangerous mishap to our horses and carriage occurred about a mile beyond Tamara's castle, and it might have brought our journey to a disastrous close. At a rickety bridge over a stream our horses suddenly bolted and plunged into the water, dragging the carriage over the string-piece, though luckily we sprang out of the vehicle in time to escape the fall. It seemed a miracle that the horses were not killed, but by the merest chance they had leaped into a spot where the water formed a deep pool between the jagged rocks, so that they escaped being dashed to pieces. The struggling animals were finally rescued, and the wagon was restored to the highway. We took good care on the homeward road to watch the skittish span at every doubtful point, and reached the city safely in time to depart for Tiflis, two hours after sunset.

The route by rail from Batum by the way of Tiflis to Baku traverses the ancient historic ground of Colchis, Iberia, and Albania, on the classic maps, answering in later times to Georgia and the surrounding districts, and in modern times to the whole territory known as Transcaucasia. The journey, which took weeks in ancient times to accomplish, is now easily

1 See HoUdack, Von der Sage und on Tamara in Shoemaker, Heart of

dem Reich der Grusinischen Konigin the Orient, pp. 40-64, New York,

Tamara, Leipzig, 1906 (dissertation), 1904. and consult the interesting chapter

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