CAUCASIA 277 



forests, and one which denotes at once a more generous 

 climate and a less troubled history than those of western 

 Europe, is the variety of forest trees and shrubs. With 

 the several kinds of oaks, hornbeams, plane trees, chest- 

 nuts, walnuts, lime-trees, beeches, maples, horse chestnuts, 

 cherry trees, cherry laurels, with an admixture of several 

 Mediterranean representatives such as the laurel, fig- 

 tree, and sumac, of varied conifers such as pines, firs, 

 and spruces, and their wealth of beautiful shrubs, vines, 

 and climbers, the west Caucasian forests, often impene- 

 trable, avoid the monotony of those of western Europe 

 and, to a certain extent, recall the conditions prevailing 

 over the south-western part of the continent prior to the 

 onset of the Ice Age. 



Rising towards the central range, one notices the dis- 

 appearance, one by one, of the more delicate species of 

 trees and shrubs and the gradual change to the more 

 monotonous aspect of our western forests, until conifers 

 alone remain; but there is ample compensation in the 

 development of exuberant meadows with grass 6 to 7 

 feet high. They are packed with many tall and strong 

 herbs of broad and delicate foliage and profuse flowering. 

 Above the conifers, at 6,500 feet, extends a belt of shrubs, 

 richly blossomed rhododendrons, cotoneasters, &c., which 

 lead up to the shorter-set but scarcely less beautiful 

 alpine meadows and pastures, abundantly watered by the 

 snow-fed torrents and the mists. 



Quite different is the scenery of the eastern half of the 

 range, which is much drier, and where woods play quite 

 a secondary part. The northern slopes, even in the west, 

 are more uniformly, less profusely, wooded. The broad- 

 leaved forests are mainly composed of oaks with an 

 undergrowth of hazel, for conifers do not extend over 

 the eastern portion of the range : indeed, woods seem to 



