VI PREFACE. 



as yet discussed principally by unskilled witnesses, 

 and still awaiting the decision of a competent judge. 



The exploration of the passes and glaciers of the 

 Central Caucasus, and the ascent of its two most 

 famous summits, formed the chief aim of our journey, 

 and are the main subject of the present volume. I 

 trust that the record of our adventures in the moun- 

 tain fastnesses may prove of sufficient interest to draw 

 the attention of our countrymen to a range surpassing 

 the Alps by two thousand feet in the average height of 

 its peaks, abounding in noble scenery and picturesque 

 inhabitants, and even now within tlie reach of many 

 ' long-vacation tourists,' When tlie Caucasus, as yet 

 less known than the Andes or the Himalayas, becomes 

 a recognised goal of travel, this work will have fulfilled 

 its object, and will be superseded by the production 

 of some author better qualified, both by literary skill 

 and scientific attainments, to treat of so noble a theme. 



The reader will not find in these pages any pohtical 

 speculations, for which so rapid a journey afforded 

 scant opportunity ; he may more justly complain of 

 the absence of ethnological details concerning the tribes 

 of the Caucasus. My excuse is, that information filtered 

 through an uneducated interpreter is difficult to obtain 

 and little trustworthy ; the subject, moreover, has been 

 fully treated of by German travellers, in w^orks al- 

 ready translated into English, and accessible to those 

 in whom the present account of the natural features of 



