238 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



And how it has been held ! 



After passing Lars, quite an imposing post-station, 

 a storm of hail and swinging whips of rain drove against 

 us, and in the mist the rate at which we travelled was 

 not without its dangers. Often the conveyance shot 

 down into a black-mouthed cave from which there 

 seemed no outlet or escape ; then a little winding 

 riband opened in the rocks and led on to a slumberous 

 valley a-fire with crimson poppies, many-hued gen- 

 tians, and beautiful fern fronds waving amid the stones. 



So to the open steppe country whereon lies Vladi- 

 kavkaz, which important town we reached in the late 

 evening, just as the sun was setting, tinting the white 

 summits on the northern side of the range to pinnacles 

 of gold. 



Kasbek lifted his snowy crest 14,000 feet above us, 

 and far away to the westward gleamed mighty Kosh- 

 tantau, in the ascent of which, when the peak was 

 known as Dykhtau, the two English climbers, Messrs. 

 Donkin and Fox, lost their lives in 1888. Since their 

 day Russian geographers have transposed the mountain 

 monarchs, and that which had been Dykhtau became 

 Koshantau, Koshantau, Dykhtau. 



Our train for Suvorovskaya, on the line to Rostov, 

 was not scheduled to leave Vladikavkaz until nearly 

 midnight, so we sampled the most pretentious hotel 

 in the place and had a real clean up, and dinner. 



Then we strolled down the wide cobble-stoned 

 streets to the Boulevard laid out by the side of the 

 Terek River, to which the fascinations of a droning 

 band had attracted a motley crowd, who wandered 



