296 TOUR TO CIBELDA. 



tation. A walk round the edge of the plain turned 

 towards the river afforded always new views, entirely 

 different from all the preceding, and of a sublimity 

 and beauty baffling all description. 



The return-journey to Sukhum-Kale we made by 

 the same way as the journey to Cibelda, but in con- 

 sequence of the previous experience with less difficulty. 

 Unfortunately, I had now to pay my tribute to the 

 dangerous climate of this incomparably beautiful 

 country. Already in the Russian fort, where we again 

 passed the night, I felt ill. The young military doctor, 

 who accompanied us, at once perceived that I had 

 caught the dangerous fever of that region, and applied 

 without delay the usual remedy. Before the fever 

 had fully developed I received a powerful dose of 

 quinine, which caused severe singing in the ears and 

 other unpleasant sensations, but brought down the 

 fever to a mild form, so that I was able to complete 

 the journey. The fever in the district of Sukhum- 

 Kale is a tertian ague: on the third day I therefore 

 had to take a second, some\vhat weaker dose, with 

 the direction to take after further three days a third, 

 still weaker one. The fever was thus cut short; I 

 often suffered however in aftertimes of intolerable 

 pains in the side, as the doctor had prognosticated. 



In former years I had repeatedly suffered of in- 

 termittent fever, which obliged me to take small doses 



o 



of quinine for several months, thereby seriously im- 

 pairing my health. In the Caucasus . where climatic 

 fevers occur often and in the most varied forms, the 



