AZALEAS. 91 



faithfully to forward them that evening, by a German 

 carrier. The weather was most lovely, and we set out in 

 high spirits, for our vehicle had springs enough to save 

 us from any painful jolting, and the road, for the first two 

 stages, is excellent. Passing the Grovemor's house, we 

 emerged on to a common, golden with wild azaleas in full 

 blossom, the perfume of which was delicious. Sharj) zigzags 

 led down the oj)posite side of the hill to a narrow stream, 

 over which a new bridge was being constructed. The 

 road now ran over low wooded hills, the last spurs of the 

 Caucasus, and offered a succession of charming views 

 toAvards the Turkish or (to use a convenient name sug- 

 gested by Mr. Palgrave) Anti-Caucasian chain "^ — large 

 rounded mountains, not unlike the Tuscan Apennines. 

 The whole scenery was delightful, and the country vividly 

 green and s^n-ing-like — a striking contrast to the bare 

 brown regions, too common in the East. The azaleas, 

 however, formed the distinguishing feature of the day's 

 drive ; the commons were bright with them, the oak-woods 

 sheltered a dense undergrowth of them, and higher in the 

 hills their golden blossoms mingled with the purple 

 masses of the rhododendron, the white flower of the 

 laurel and the hawthorn, pale yellow brooms, and beds 

 of the bluest forget-me-nots. We dipped into a pretty 

 wooded glen, and then came suddenly on the first station — 

 a low white building, which overlooks the basin of the 

 Quii'ili, a gTeat tributary of the Rion, believed by geo- 

 graphers to be the ancient Phasis. The postmaster was 

 a surly and impudent little monkey, and refused to give 

 us horses, on the ground that our ' podorojno ' was 

 made out for two, instead of four, persons. We declined 



* German geographers seem to have adopted the epithets Great and Little 

 Caucasus, to distinguish the ranges south and north of the basins of tlie Rion 

 and the Kur. — See Peterman's ' Geographische Mitthciiunger." 



