94 TRANSCAUCASIA. 



have all one feature in common — an absence of comfort 

 paralleled in England only in second-class railway refresh- 

 ment-rooms. 



May 12th. — In the morning our rug-straps were 

 missing, a warning that honesty was not a common virtue 

 here, and at 5 a.m. we were obliged to depart without 

 them. The road, which from this place to Suram is very 

 good, continues to follow the narrow valley, although, 

 leaving the stream, it winds along the northern slopes, 

 making from time to time a long circuit to cross the 

 ravine of a lateral torrent. The hills were covered with 

 timber, resembling that of an English copse, and the 

 azaleas perfumed the morning air. Clusters of untidily- 

 built wooden cottages crowned the knolls on the opposite 

 side of the valley. We met long files of camels carrying 

 merchandise down to the seacoast ; many of the young 

 animals were frisking about by the side of their dams, 

 others, too young to walk, travelled strapped on to their 

 mothers' backs, where they seemed more comfortable than 

 might have been expected. 



After changing horses at a village close to the top of 

 the pass, we drove over the green ridge, and looked for 

 the first time into Georgia. The day was mist}^, but I 

 doubt if the view is ever very fine, as higher hills must 

 shut out the great chain on the north. The road, which 

 had been well engineered for the last stage, made itself 

 supremely ridiculous in the descent to Suram, by wan- 

 dering aimlessly baclcwards and forwards on the hillside, 

 in enormous and ill-constructed zigzags, by means of 

 which the bottom, with great waste of time and trouble, 

 is reached at last. Suram was in view from the top — 

 a small town, gathering round a castle perched on a 

 bold rock, which stands in the middle of the valley. The 

 station is beyond the town, at the junction of the branch- 



