irjl CAUCASIAN GLACIERS AXD FORESTS. 



but we had a good view of the ranges on its right bank.* 

 Opposite rose a high and steep mountain-wall ; higher up, 

 looking in a south-easterly direction, an odd tower-shaped 

 rock appeared in front of a long curtain of ice, surmounted, 

 on the right, by a tall gracefully-shaped peak, and on the 

 left by a serrated ridge, in which tooth succeeded tooth in 

 the most formidable array. Following with the eye the 

 course of the ice-stream, to the point where it made a 

 sudden plunge into a branch of the valley of the Uruch, 

 we looked over the great waves which marked the com- 

 mencement of the fall, and saw, beyond and far below 

 them, a tolerably wide valley. Its slopes were wooded 

 with firs, and we could distinguish some cultivated 

 land ; the nortliern horizon was formed by rugged peaks, 

 too low to carry perpetual snow. The summit of one of 

 them bears a striking resemblance to a castle with a tall 

 turret at one of the angles. 



Our position was much the same with regard to our 

 proposed pass as that of a traveller at the Montanvert 

 intending to cross the Col du Geant. We had ascer- 

 tained that the great glacier marked in the map existed, 

 and was in reality far larger than it was represented ; 

 but we could see nothing of its upper portion, and could 

 only be certain that it poured out of a gap just visible 

 on the right of the great snow-peaks. These offered 

 us a puzzle, which our united endeavours failed to 

 solve, as it was impossible to identify them with any of 

 the summits we had studied from the south, while we 

 found it hard to believe that such lofty peaks did not 

 form part of the watershed. This problem was left to 

 time to solve, and we came to the conclusion that, 

 though we had gained no positive information as to the 

 possibility of crossing the chain by the great glacier, 



* The torrent issuing from it is called the Karagam, a name which seems the 

 most appropriate for the glacier. 



