242 EN ROUTE FOR DAGHESTAN. 



as soon as horses could be procured, we were 

 under way again. 



The roads of the Caucasus are always execrable, 

 but there is still a degree of evil of which that 

 traveller knows nothing who has not travelled 

 from Gungha to the next station. The only thing 

 the road can be compared to is the dry bed of a 

 mountain cataract. Huge boulders strew the path 

 incessantly, and the arms of the miserable passen- 

 ger over it are continually almost wrenched from 

 their sockets by the leaps and bounds of the post- 

 cart, for it is almost needless to say that nothing 

 but a determined grasp of your seat will ensure 

 fixity of tenure for a moment. Across the road 

 at intervals we came upon the beds of those streams 

 whose winter fury had so bestrewn the road with 

 souvenirs of the mountain homes from which they 

 sprung ; while right and left of us frequent corn- 

 fields showed by their springing crop that the 

 mountain stream brought good as well as evil in 

 its train. 



After the second station from our last start- 

 ing-point, the view became really beautiful. The 

 stony steppe grew narrower, and on either side 

 high mountain ranges showed themselves, snow- 

 capped and bright in the clear atmosphere of what 

 was quite an autumnal morning, though we were 

 now well into December. These distant peaks were 

 those of Shusha and Lesghia respectively. 



