208 THE TEURK VALLEY. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 



THE VALLEYS OP THE TEREK, ARDON, AND RION. 



A Geographical Disquisition — The Upper Terek — Savage Scenery — Fero- 

 cious Dogs — Abano — A Dull Walk — Hard Bargaining — An Unruly Train 

 — A Pass — Zacca, on the Ardon — A Warm Skirmish and a Barren Victory 

 • — An Unexpected Climb — The Lower Valley — A Russian Road — Teeb — 

 The Ossetes — The Mamisson Pass — Adai Khokh — A Shift in the Scenery — 

 — Gurschavi — The Boy-Prince— An Idle Day — View from the Rhododen- 

 dron Slope — Glola — The Pine-Forests of the Rion — Chiora. 



July Zrd. — It was less than a week since we had left 

 Tiflis, and already the first piece in our programme was 

 accomplished, and the most formidable of the two great 

 peaks we had pledged ourselves to attack successfully 

 disposed of. We had now to turn our thoughts to the less 

 imposing, but really far more drSicult, task of making our 

 way along the foot of the main chain of the Caucasus, 

 from Kazbek to Elbruz, a distance, as the crow flies, of 

 120 miles. Before leaving England we had studied 

 German maps, which, although shown, by better acquain- 

 tance with the country, to be often inaccurate, yet gave a 

 sufficiently correct idea of the disposition of the upper 

 valleys, on either side of the watershed, to enable us to 

 form a plan for our proposed ' high-level route.' Since 

 landing at Poti, we had learnt that the Mamisson, one of 

 the passes we intended to cross, was well known to, and 

 occasionally used by, the Russians, as a route between 

 Vladikafkas and Kutais. Beyond this we could gain from 

 the officials little information, and the plan of the journey 



