A SHIFT IX TIIH SCEXERY. 229 



it a bold peak, evidently belonging to the mass designated 

 Adai Khokli in the Five Yerst Map, shot up in the most 

 alarming way through the clouds. Before beginning the 

 final zigzags the road makes a wide sweep to the right, to 

 cross the stream flowing from a small glacier which fills 

 uj) the angle between the ridges at the head of the glen. 

 The snow had entirely covered all the excavated track near 

 the top, and had not a path been by this time trodden out 

 of the steep drift which had accumulated under the actual 

 ridge, our horses might have had difficulty in getting up. 

 Owing to the position of the pass, there is little distant 

 view to the west, and the Rion valley is still hidden ; but 

 the head of a glen, containing one of the sources of the 

 Glola-Squali (one of the feeders of the Eion) was at our feet, 

 and above it rose the stupendous eastern peak of Adai 

 Kliokh, towering above several neighbourmg summits. A 

 very st'?ep and much-crevassed glacier, the largest we had 

 seen since leaving Kazbek, poured down into the valley, 

 and we agreed that there was little prospect of any 

 successful climbing in this direction. A heavy shower 

 soon blotted out the view. The road descended in a 

 series of very long and gentle zigzags, now obliterated by 

 snow ; the winter-fall had been heavier this year than 

 usual, but it is probable that, should the carriage-road 

 ever be established, this part of it will have to be roofed 

 over with galleries, which there would be no difficulty in 

 making with so much wood close at hand. We jumped 

 across the small stream, and on its opposite bank passed a 

 well-built house, erected for the accommodation of the 

 officers in charge of the soldiers who traced the road. I 

 met one of these officers afterAvards, and he descanted 

 eloquently on the hardships he had endured Avhile living 

 for three months (as he phrased it) on a glacier. The 

 stream tumbled quickly down into a deep ravine ; the road 



