92 TKANSCAUCASIA. 



to bribe liim, and eventually, by the threat of returniiio- to 

 Kutais, to lay a complaint before the Governor, brought 

 him to his senses. His object was to make us take an 

 extra cart with three horses for the servants, by which 

 mancBuvre he would have been paid for six horses instead 

 of three. 



The second stage was along the right bank of the Quirili, 

 which now flows through undulating country. Snowy 

 peaks, bold in form but of no great height (perhaps 1 1 ,000 

 feet), rose in the distance on our left. Near Simonethi, 

 the second station, we saw numerous clusters of the clean 

 white tents of the Russian soldiery. Up to this point the 

 line from Poti will probably soon be opened ; but unless the 

 works are pushed with greater vigour than is now shown, 

 it will be long before the iron road pierces the Suram chain, 

 and reaches Tiflis. The earthworks are being constructed 

 by the soldiers, who, besides being, as a rule, weak fjliysi- 

 cally, are sufficiently enlightened to appreciate the prin- 

 ciple of a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, and naturally 

 hold that two copecks a day is amply repaid by a very 

 little work and a great deal of shuffling. 



The road now enters the Suram chain of hills, which 

 separate the basins of the Eion and the Kur, and form 

 the watershed between the Black Sea and the Caspian, 

 and the connecting link between the Caucasus and the 

 mountains of Armenia. The Georgian highway, which is 

 very rough and bad for several stages, follows to its head 

 one of the main sources of the Quirili, which has found 

 itself a way through a long and tortuous valley. The 

 scenery consequently changes every minute, and is addi- 

 tionally varied b}-- frequent glimpses up lateral glens. An 

 old castle guards the entrance of the valley ; higher up 

 the vegetation becomes richer ; box, laurel, and bays clothe 

 the banks, ojid the beech grows to a great size. A steep 



