170 THE GEORGIAN HILL-COUNTRY. 



It was pleasant to find a clean room and a good fire, over 

 which some mulled wine was quickly brewed, and proved 

 most acceptable after our wet and cold ride. 



J%me 16th. — The mists clinging to the bare hillsides 

 around reminded me irresistibly of Scotland, and the 

 first part of our ride was through scenery very like that 

 of the Grampians. We followed the post-road for some 

 distance down the valley ; occasionally, near a village, a 

 clump of trees broke the hillsides, but the general cha- 

 racter of the country was unchanged. Several versts before 

 reaching Kischlak, the next station, we turned over a 

 brow on the left, and entered a side- valley, which runs up 

 into the hills in a direction at right-angles to our previous 

 course. We soon came to a village, tidier and more 

 habitable-looking than the wretched places we had seen 

 since leaving Etchmiadzin. Above this the hillsides were 

 thickly wooded, a fact we appreciated the more from having 

 seen no natural timber either in Armenia or Persia. 



A rough cart-road led us over a grassy ridge, the summit 

 of which was covered in mists, and it was not until we had 

 descended some distance that we gained our first view of 

 Gergeri, a large village situated in a secluded basin, and 

 surrounded by finely-timbered hillsides. Our horses waded 

 with difficulty, through horrible mud, into the military can- 

 tonment, which is a short distance from the village. We 

 found shelter from the incessant rain in a small cottage, 

 built after the Russian style, and bearing evidence, in its 

 fittings, of inhabitants more civilised than the Georgian 

 peasantry. Pictures, mostly of a religious type, were pasted 

 on the walls, and there was an old family Bible on the table. 

 Having learnt with satisfaction that Djelaloghlu, our 

 sleeping-place, was only ten versts distant, we, after a short 

 rest, proceeded on our journey. The road ascended a 

 small valley, with bold hiUs on the left, for some distance. 



