■212 THE TEREK VALLEY. 



had been procured, but that they could not go with us 

 beyond Res, the highest village in the Terek valley, 

 the pass from which into Dwaleth, as the Upper Ardon 

 valley is called, was said to be impracticable for laden 

 animals. The rain-storm having passed over, we set out 

 on foot, with our baggage packed on the two horses, 

 which were accompanied by their owners. 



The portion of the valley immediately above Kobi is bare 

 and uninteresting ; long and steep grass-slopes shut in the 

 view, and no snowy peaks are visible. We walked along 

 swampy meadows as far as a spot where the valley forks, 

 and the main torrent comes out of a narrow opening on 

 the left. Our path then followed the left bank of the 

 Terek, through a long and savage but scarcely picturesque 

 defile. Huge avalanches had fallen in spring down the 

 gullies, and in many places still covered the path ; from 

 the traces we saw here and elsewhere of their ravages, 

 far exceeding the devastations caused by similar agency 

 in the Alps, we were led to suppose that the winter snow- 

 fall is heavier in the Caucasus than in Switzerland. 

 Mineral springs abounded, some of which were impregnated 

 with iron, and coloured the ground for many yards round 

 their source. An abominable stench which pervaded one 

 part of the defile probably arose from a sulphur spring, 

 although Paul tried to persuade us it was caused by the decay 

 of the vegetation lying amongst the debris of the avalanches. 

 We emerged, after a time, into the upper valley — an open 

 basin perfectly bare, and surrounded by uniform slopes 

 capped by rock-peaks of a very commonplace character. 

 The nearer beauties of nature were more conspicuous, and 

 the carpet of flowers, which almost hid the grass under our 

 feet, consoled us for the rather disappointing tameness of the 

 general scenery. As we suddenly turned a corner, we 

 came upon a group of natives sitting on a bank of turf, 



