370 TEAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPOET. 



the chestnut, though left entirely to himself, slipped 

 his hind foot, lost his balance, and went clean over 

 thirty feet perpendicular, performing a somersault in 

 the air, and landing upon a quantity of sharp rocks. 

 Of course we expected to find that his back was 

 broken for although the height was not great, there 

 had been nothing whatever to check his fall. To our 

 amazement, however, he got upon his feet, and 

 though he was evidently much bruised, and bled a 

 good deal from the mouth, he managed to scramble 

 through the remainder of that tremendous day's 

 journey, and lived to undergo the horrors of Omer 

 Pasha's campaign. A few yards after this, and even 

 the Circassians were obliged to dismount. Recent 

 rains had made the path so sticky and muddy that 

 the ponies were soon utterly exhausted, and we 

 plodded up beside them, our progress being much 

 retarded by long jack-boots reaching to our thighs, 

 and to which adhered many pounds of pertinacious 

 clay indeed, during the whole of this day's journey, 

 some of our party scarcely ever mounted their horses 

 at all. We must have ascended, in the course of 

 three hours, about three thousand feet, and as this 

 was the second range we had crossed since the morn- 

 ing, we arrived at the top thoroughly exhausted. But 

 we were amply compensated for our toils, by one of 

 the most magnificent views it was ever my good for- 

 tune to behold. 



Upon our left rose in majestic grandeur the snowy 



