2.38 THE RION VALLEY. 



the point where the largest tributary of the Glola-Squali 

 flows out of a glen running deep into the heart of the main 

 chain, road and river are again on a level. The afternoon 

 was beautiful, and we enjoyed a superb view of the two 

 peaks of Adai Khokh, which exactly fill the opening. The 

 right-hand ridge of the eastern peak, seen from here, is a 

 most exquisitely sharp and thin snow arete, and its sides 

 are of a steepness appalling to anyone who has ever 

 allowed the idea of climbing them to enter his head. 



An artist might sit down at this spot within ten yards of 

 the road, and paint a perfect picture, without putting in a 

 foreground, or in any way improving on nature. The foam- 

 ing torrent, and the rich foliage near at hand, the wooded 

 slopes in the middle distance, and the gigantic mountain- 

 forms which close and crown the view, are worthy of a 

 master-hand, and the rough outline sketch, which was all 

 we could carry away with us, can give but a faint idea of 

 the scene. Every bend in the road opened some fresh vista 

 of wood, water, and snow. The floor of the valley had now 

 widened, and the forest soon gave way to hayfields, in 

 which parties of women and girls were at work. Having 

 brought on the scene the far-famed beauties of the Cauca- 

 sus, this would, I feel, be the place for romance. Unluck- 

 ily, like one of our American friends, who, being called on 

 to admire an Egyptian sunset, declared ' skyscapes were 

 not in his line,' descriptions of female beauty are not in 

 mine, and I have the further plea that in this instance 

 I should have, not to describe, but to invent. The forms 

 and faces of the women who left their work to stare at the 

 unprecedented sight of three English mountaineers, had 

 lost, by exposure to weather and field labour, any traces of 

 comeliness, and the group, but for certain details of dress, 

 was just such as might be met with in any Swiss valley. 



Before long Glola came into sight on the opposite side 



