At Odessa we found that a less expensive, and more comfortable, though perhaps half a day longer route, lies by Warsaw.

On that line there are fewer changes, and only one Customs examination, whereas by, Oderberg there are two examinations, Austrian and Russian.

Moreover, through tickets are issued _via_ Warsaw, a convenience not provided _via_ Oderberg--fresh tickets and re-booking of luggage being necessary there, and again both at Pod Voloczyska and Voloczyska, on the Austrian and Russian frontiers.

We came in for a crowded train of first-class passengers going from the Vienna direction to Jalta, a favourite seaside place in the Crimea, which has two fashionable seasons--spring and autumn.

These people were making for the accelerated mail-steamer, which leaves Odessa for Batoum every Wednesday during the summer service, touching at Sebastopol, Jalta, and Novorossisk.