CAUCASIA AND ITS PEOPLES 45 



above Suram. Still the strong chain held taut. No 

 army crossed it. 



JEons before Christianity dawned on the world, ad- 

 venturous Greek merchants, probably from the colonies 

 on the Black Sea, or Pontic, coast, explored the 

 marshes of the Phasis, now called the Rion, and 

 followed the river to its source. They came back to 

 tell of rivers running gold, rivers wherein the natives 

 laid sheepskins in which to enmesh the precious metal 

 as it came down stream with the cataracts ; of fertile 

 valleys where grapes and peaches grew wild ; of pro- 

 lific orchards and rich mineral lands, an Eldorado, the 

 Ultima Thule of dreams. 



Instantly the strongest principle of the Grecian 

 nature, imagination, created a new and necromantic 

 world. That fecundity of fancy which adorned all it 

 touched, and draped every occurrence with high 

 fantastical illusions, peopled the Caucasian solitudes 

 with glorious shapes. Up the ancient Phasis Jason 

 sailed the Argo to gain the Golden Fleece, and in 

 Colchis ploughed his acres in the Field of Mars. In 

 the caves and gorges of the vast unexplored peaks 

 fire-breathing griffins dwelt, and one-eyed Arimas- 

 pians waged eternal war together. To the Caucasus 

 journeyed Hercules to wrest the magic belt from Queen 

 Hippolyte, the girdle whose witching power made the 

 Amazons, who lived in Daghestan, such redoubtable 

 foes. Over the endless northern steppes poor tor- 

 tured lo wandered, beset by Juno's gadfly. 



^schylus, the most sublime of Greece's tragic poets, 

 laid the foundation stone of this beautiful imagery. 



