82 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



place was wrapt in mist, througli which the 

 faint rays of the newly risen sun were dif- 

 fused, giving a peculiarly wild look to the 

 whole. Along this double crest runs a stream, 

 the Tchaouri, of deep clear water on a bed 

 of silver sand, with an exceedingly sluggish 

 current, in which we were told large quan- 

 tities of trout were to be found ; trout, too, 

 not such as are generally found in mountain 

 burns, but grand fellows of from four to six 

 pounds' weight. But though I looked care- 

 fully, and, thanks to considerable practice on 

 the Colne, am by no means slow to mark a 

 rising fish, I never saw a rise, either here or 

 elsewhere, in the three months I was in the 

 country. 



Not very far from where the road crosses 

 it, this stream disappears, axid after a sub- 

 terranean course of several versts ag-ain 

 emerges. At either end of the subterranean 

 passage the country folk say the trout swarm. 



