KUTAIS. 83 



tliere was notliiiig to divert onr minds from the perpetual 

 croaking- of the frogs, till, like Dionysus in the play, we 

 wished they and their ' quack ' might perish together, by a 

 fate similar to that we had seen inflicted on their brethren 

 at Batoum. 



Halfway, one of our horses had to be shod ; this caused 

 further delay, and we only reached Kutais at 1.30 a.m. 

 A slight descent leads into the town. J?assing a barrier, 

 and crossing the Rion by a fine bridge, beneath which its 

 waters gleamed in the moonlight, we drove up to the Hotel 

 de France, where, after our week's confinement on board 

 steamers, we were glad to install ourselves in a large and 

 comfortable bedroom. 



"We spent the next two days at Kutais in roaming 

 about, and making arrangements for the drive to Tiflis, 

 where we were anxious to arrive as soon as j)ossible, in 

 order to catch some of the officials and residents to whom 

 we had letters, before they all dispersed for the summer 

 to the numerous retreats in the hills, whither they fly 

 from the heat of the Caucasian capital. 



The situation of Kutais, which stands at the j)oint where 

 the Eion emerges from the hills into the plain, is extremely 

 pretty, although the low wooded eminences which surround 

 the place shut out entirely the snowy chain. The view look- 

 ing southwards, across the Rion basin to the ranges on the 

 Turkish frontier is, in a favourable light, very beautiful. 

 The main part of the to^vn, including the bazaar and the 

 public gardens, is on a level space on the left bank of 

 the river. The houses are all new within the last twenty, 

 and most of them within the last ten, years ; the streets 

 are straight, and the shops, fitted up with glass windows 

 in the European style, are under arcades. The principal 

 native articles of manufacture seemed to be silver-work 

 (of which, however, the display is inferior to that at 



g2 



