194 ASCENT OF KAZBEK. 



exaggerated fears of their native guides, and their own lack 

 of proper mountaineering gear — such as rope, ice-axes, and 

 spectacles. Hence we found in the Caucasus a wide- 

 spread belief in the inaccessibility of the peak, and we 

 were regarded at Tiflis with a mixture of amusement and 

 pity, as ' the Englishmen who were going to try and get 

 up Kazbek,' and had the audacity to expect to succeed, 

 where Captains, Colonels, and even Generals of the Im- 

 perial Russian Service had failed. 



We spent a pleasant hour on our lofty perch, and then, 

 by a ' rapid act ' of what may be called ' snoAvmanship,' 

 rejoined Paul and Alexis. The snow being in excellent 

 order, we sat down, one behind the other, at the foot of 

 the rocks, and letting go, slid with great velocity to the 

 base of the peak, where our companions were waiting 

 for us. They, never having seen such a performance 

 before, were horror-struck at our apparently headlong- 

 descent, and could scarcely believe their eyes, when the 

 confused heap, in which we landed, resolved itself into 

 its component parts, apparently none the worse. By 

 2 P.M. we were back at the posthouse, and were de- 

 lighted to find that the Governor of Tiflis had arrived, 

 accompanied by Colonel Soubaloff, the Commandant of 

 Duschet. They had come thus far to welcome the two 

 Grand Dukes, who were about to pass on their way to 

 Tiflis. The acquaintance of the Governor of Tiflis we had 

 already had the pleasure of making, and both he and the 

 Commandant entered heartily into our plans, and ren- 

 dered us all the aid in their power in makmg our aiTange- 

 ments. 



The most experienced mountaineers of the village were 

 at once summoned — to wit, three aged men, all more or 

 less lame or blind, who in the way they nodded their heads 

 together, and by their occasional outbursts of eloquence. 



