180 THE KRESTO\YAJA GORA. 



line taken by tlie post-road. Before reaching Msclieti 

 we had to cross the Aragui, a large tributary of the Kur, 

 one of the branches of which the Kreuzberg road follows 

 almost to its source. On our return, two months later, the 

 long wooden bridge had met with the usual fate of bridges 

 in this country, and was so much damaged by floods as 

 to be rendered impassable. 



Mscheti, if we may believe Georgian chronicles, is one of 

 the oldest towns in the world. It is asserted to have been 

 founded by Mtskethos, son of Karthlos, who lived in the 

 fifth generation after Noah, and who chose this site on ac- 

 comit of its beauty and natural strength. A little below it, 

 on the top of a green hill, are the remains of an extensive 

 church and convent, from which it is said that a mystic 

 chain used once to extend in mid-air to the cathedral tower 

 of Mscheti, and serve as a means of mutual communica- 

 tion for the saints of either church. We drove close under 

 the walls of the old fortified cathedral, where we joined 

 the post-road which crosses the Kur a mile higher up, 

 and has to return some distance to the town. The Aragui 

 here flows at the base of high bluffs, along the sides of 

 which the road is carried. For this stage and half the 

 next workmen were employed on the construction of the 

 new and still-unfinished macadamised roadway, which, as 

 soon as the river allows it, descends to the level ground. 

 Sukan, the second station, is situated in the centre of a 

 fertile basin, encircled by well- wooded hills, purple as we 

 saw them in the fading sunset. Although not travelling 

 with post-horses, our 'podorojno' gave us the right to lodge 

 in the stations. Our reception, however, was at first any- 

 thing but hospitable ; we were even told to turn out, until 

 the master found we were willing to pay for rooms and to 

 order supper, when he became less bearish in his manners. 



The stations on the Dariel road are very different to the 



