102 TRANSCAUCASIA. 



make up a fair list of nationalities, and a member of each 

 would probably be met with in a five-minutes' stroll. 



One of our first business visits was to the Topo^aphical 

 Department, which was in the same square as our hotel. 

 From the ofiicials there we met with unvarying courtesy, 

 and no difficulty was made in allowing us to purchase any 

 sheets we liked of the Ordnance or (as it is generally 

 called, from being on the scale of five versts to the inch) 

 the Five Verst Map. We inspected with great interest a 

 beautiful relief model of the whole Caucasus, constructed 

 on a large scale, a copy of which has lately been presented, 

 by the Czar, to the Geographical Society of St. Petersburg ; 

 and we were also glad to add to our collection a pano- 

 ramic outline of the chain, giving the heights of the prin- 

 cipal summits. These works are most creditable to the 

 officers engaged in them, especially when the scanty time 

 and means at their disposal are taken into consideration. 



We had brought with us several letters of introduction, 

 explaining the object of our journey, to the officials 

 attached to the Court at Tiflis, and we were disappointed 

 to find that the Grand Duke had already left for Borjom, his 

 summer residence, taking of course half Tiflis society with 

 him. We were fortunate, however, in meeting Monsieur 

 Barthelemi, Attache for special missions to the Grand 

 Ducal Court, who was living at the time in our hotel ; and 

 through his kindness, we were introduced to the Russian 

 and German gentlemen then resident in Tiflis, who were 

 best acquainted with the natural features of the country. 

 We had the good fortune to catch Herr Abich, on the 

 eve of his departure for Germany, from whom, in the course 

 of a half-hour's conversation, I obtained two hints, which 

 were both afterwards of the greatest service to us — namely, 

 that there was a very lofty neve-plateau, at the northern 

 base of the summit of Kazbek, and that Elbruz might be 



