It is, moreover, clear from a comparison of the accounts
that the movement is complicated by a general rising of the Mohammedan tribes. They are fierce fighters, they have a traditional hostility to the Russian overlordship, and, stimu- lated probably by the rumours of Russian defeats, they' have raised the green flag, and have summoned their co-religionists from beyond the border. Risings are reported at BatOuni, the other side of the isthmus, in the province of Elisabetpol, and at Tiflis, the capital. A great part of the Caucasus, in fact, has to be reconquered, a work which, owing to the formation of . the country, is one of such extreme difficulty that it is believed "troops from Kharbin " will be recalled in order to effect it. If the movement spreads, as is • quite possible, into Central Asia, and the Mohammedans find a leader, Russia will have a second considerable war upon her hands. The Armenians, though they demand protection, are as hostile to-the Govern- ment as the Tartars, and loudly declare that the origin of the trouble is due to the late Viceroy, Prince Galitzin, who, lacking the usual force of troops owing to the war in the Far East, stirred up the Mussulmans and Christians against each other. The rising, of course, will be crushed presently in blood; but it adds much to the difficulties of the Treasury and to the unrest in Russia, and has, it is stated, already induced the Czar to widen the suffrage on which it is proposed to elect the Duma. It is curious to note that the man who is hailed everywhere in the disturbed region as the most efficient is a young Scotch " oil manager " named Urquhart, who by his ability and nerve rescued four English- men besieged by the Tartars in the great suburb of Baku.
