CAUCASUS. 



613 



sect. 





ers takes notice of a project winch it seems Seleucus 

 ' Nieator hud formed, of joining the Kuxine and Cas- 

 pian seas by a wall. Tins project, it is said, was ex- 

 ecuted under Antiochus Soter, or Antiochus Theus, 

 but the wall sunk iiuo ruin after the fall of th 

 leucidx. It is upon the mountain of Caucasus that 

 the ancient mythologists report that Prometheus was 

 bound as a punishment for his crime of having stolen 

 fire from heaven ; in which state of durance, they 

 add, he renuined till released by Hercules. Strabo, 

 and some other historians, relate, that the rivers of 

 this mountain brought down gold-sand, which it was 

 usual to collect in sheep- skins. And it is stated by 

 different writers, that even at those early periods, 

 the inhabitants of these mountainous regions were 

 very numerous, consisting, according to some, of 70, 

 according to others of 300, different nations, who 

 spoke various languages, and subsisted upon the 

 flesh of wild beasts, fruit, and milk, having, on ac- 

 count of their uncultivated and savage manners, no 

 intercourse with one another. 



Of the whole range of the Caucasian mountains, 

 extending in the manner that has been already deli- 

 neated, from west to east, or rather in a direction be- 

 tween north-west and south-east from the Euxine to 

 the Caspian, the length is stated to be about 350 or 

 400 English miles. As they approach the seas on each 

 side, these hills decline very much in height. Through- 

 out the range, where the elevation is greatest, there 

 is a tract, of about five miles in breadth, which is 

 covered with eternal ice. The breadth of the whole 

 chain on the northern declivity, extends at most to 

 50 miles, and runs along on the prodigious northern 

 plain which, taken in the quadrature, measures 1000 

 English miles, being bounded on the east by the Si- 

 berian, and on the west by the Valakhian mountains. 

 To the northward and southward of this tract of 

 mountainous ground, the country, in all directions, is 

 generally Bat and level. The Marshal Von Bieberstein, 

 who remained in these regions a considerable time, and 

 was at the greatest pains to ascertain precisely every 

 circumstance of consequence concerning them, states 

 the extent of the Caucasus in length, from its wes- 

 tern extremity at Ghaekse to Targhu, to be 95 Ger- 

 man miles ; its breadth, on the side adjoining the Cas- 

 pian Sea, to be 53 ; in the middle, where the river 

 Terek to the north, and Arakui to the south, form 

 a division between its eastern and western parts, 96 ; 

 and on the western side, along the Porta Cumana, a 

 celebrated pass, 150 miles. The icy ridges of this 

 mountainous tract, and indeed its ridges in general at 

 their highest points, consist usually of granite. Im- 

 mediately adjoining to these, both on the northern 

 and southern sides, are mountains of slate. Farther 

 on are hills of limestone or chalk, which terminate in 

 sandhills. The main mountain, or rather the high 

 ridge of the main mountain, from which the whole 

 declines and sinks towards the two seas, seemed to 

 Guldenstadt to be not more than from five to seven 

 versts in breadth. This he describes as a granitic 

 stratum, consisting mostly of a line of mounts, of a 

 truly Alpine height, which, by reason of their lo- 

 cal elevation, particularly in some open fissures, con- 

 tain everlasting snow and ice, generally exhibit bald 

 rock, without any covering of earth or plants and 

 trees, and in some parts pierce into the clouds. The 

 extension of this principal ridge towards the two 



sides, measured from north to south, or right across, CaueMO* 

 he reckons, on an average, to be 70 verst* ; and the Wp "Y" ll ~' 

 north side, he observes, is visibly steeper or higher 

 than the southern, as it declines in a far narrower or 

 smaller breadth, or rather only sinks down toward* 

 one part. The limestone mountains mentioned, run 

 in a flat clayey field, of 20 miles in breadth, gradu- 

 ally declining till they end in a promontory 10 milts 

 broad, which consist almost wholly of sandstone, and 

 that again runs out afresh in a clayey plane about eight 

 miles broad, in which there occur numerous sand- 

 stone hills. In this plain there abound common salt and 

 natron, and in the promontory, and its continuations, 

 there are found sulphur, sulphur-pyrites, warm sul- 

 phureous springs, iron-stone, vitriol, petroleum, rock- 

 salt sources, nitrous salts, bitter salts, magnesia, vi- 

 triolata, alum, selenite, &c. ; also some petrifactions, 

 chiefly in flint. Specimens of lead and copper are 

 rarely seen in the promontory, but often in the 

 higher mountains. The slate of this district con- 

 tains alum. There appears in it also ceruse of lead, 

 in which there occurs silver and copper pyrites, in 

 courses of quartz and spar. Courses of bleyglantz 

 are seen in particular situations, likewise other 

 lead ores, and various ores of other kinds. In the 

 upper regions, it is remarked that the river Hip- 

 pus, in Iberia, yields gold ; that the mountains in 

 these parts are very rich in minerals, and that the 

 gold mines at Cumana were wrought by the Roman*. 

 The mountains on the Kura, especially in the district 

 of Azghur, likewise contain very rich ores, and in 

 the plains adjacent to that river, there are found fine 

 marble, coal, and warm springs. In the mountains 

 bordering on the Terek, as far as the village Steph- 

 antzminda, there occur lead, silver, and iron ore. In 

 the Georgian province Somghetia, rich silver and iron 

 ore, marble, and jasper, are met with ; in the circle 

 of Quoetsh, copper ore; in the principality of Tarn- 

 blut, rich lead, silver, and gold mines ; in the prin- 

 cipality of Lori, considerable copper- mines and good 

 mill-stones ; in the principality of Unsular, rich cop- 

 per-mines ; in the parts about Akdale, gold, silver, 

 and copper ; and in the province of Albania, marble 

 and alabaster, iron, warm baths, petroleum, and rock 

 salt. Thus it appears that, in the highest points, 

 the Caucasian chain of mountains is covered with 

 snow and ice ; and that this chain having its highest, 

 middle, and fore-mountains or promontories, the sides 

 of it generally are very rich in minerals; and, pro- 

 bably, in those parts which are now added to the 

 Russian empire, contain a treasure of the precious 

 metals. The elevation of this ridge is, on the whole, 

 very considerable, and many of the rocky parts are 

 extremely steep and prominent. 



Professor Pallas, in his observations during a jour- 

 ney along these mountains, takes notice somewhat 

 particularly of three of them that occur, two in the 

 immediate vicinity of each other, and the th'rd at a 

 greater distance, and which rising one above another 

 in height and importance, may be considered to 

 exhibit specimens of the principal altitudes that oc- 

 cur in this tract, as the account of them may be 

 of use towards giving a more accurate idea of the 

 conformation and aspect of the range of country. 

 The lowest of those heights to which he has had oc- Mountain 

 casion to advert, is the Metshuka, situated, he re- of MeA*- 

 marks, on the common and extensive basis of the 



