96 TRANSCAUCASIA. 



worship in Mingrelia. We also noticed villages of odd 

 "underground houses, or rather burrows, marked onlj bj a 

 brown dome of earth, and approached by steps descend- 

 ing to a sunken doorway, somewhat like that of an ice- 

 house ; a hole, lined with basket-work, serves as the 

 chimney to these dreary abodes, and, as rran9ois remarked, 

 one of the little pigs which swarm hereabouts might 

 easily tumble down and be boiling in the pot before he 

 well knew where he was. Gargarepi is a large village 

 buried in fruit-trees, with a handsome church. The 

 drive into Gori was hot and dusty ; the road crosses the 

 Kur, halfway, by a long wooden bridge. 



The station at Gori is on the right bank of the river, but 

 the town lies about half a mile distant, on the opposite side ; 

 it is picturesque, at a distance, owing to the bold outline 

 of the castle-hill, and the contrast of colours between the 

 cool grey of the houses, the bright-green church-towers, 

 and some red-roofed buildings in the foreground. We 

 walked into the bazaar in search of novelties, but dis- 

 covered nothing specially worthy of notice, except a glass 

 paper-weight with the word ' Balaklava,' and a picture of 

 our Light Brigade 'sabring the gunners there,' which one 

 would scarcely have expected to find in this pai-t of the 

 world. We visited a small chapel, built of ruddy stone, 

 the front decorated with a large carved cross. In the in- 

 terior we were shown a finely -illuminated missal, and a 

 silver reliquary with figures of the Four Evangelists. 



At Achalchalaki we forded a stream, which now covered 

 only a portion of its wide stony bed, and the track then 

 took for a time to the hills on the southern side of the Kur. 

 The sky was clear, and, to our great delight, our constant 

 search of the northern horizon was rewarded at last by 

 the first appearance of Kazbek. The mountain towers 

 far above all its neighbours, and, seen from the south, 



