•262 CAUCASIAN GLACIERS AND FORESTS. 



been on the other side ; then the slope suddenly steepened, 

 and we recognised for the first time our exact position. From 

 our feet a glacier, a small portion of the outflow of the 

 ' shining tablelands ' we had been traversing, poui^ed down 

 into the glen, the torrent of which joins the eastern Eion 

 at Glola. We were, in fact, standing on the very snows of 

 which we had caught a glimpse when entering that village 

 a few days before. The natural course was to find a way 

 down this glacier ; but after a few hundred feet of easy 

 descent, it toppled over in a tremendous icefall, apparently 

 as long as, and a good deal steeper than, the one we had 

 ascended with so much difficulty. Once entangled in this 

 complicated labyrinth, there seemed little prospect of 

 getting free of it before dark, even if the passage proved 

 practicable at all. We took therefore what, although its 

 adoption disgusted me at the time, was, I believe, the 

 only sensible course, and deliberately returning to the Col 

 moimted the slopes to the east, and crossed a snowy head 

 which projected above the top of the icefall. 



There was still a moot point to be decided — whether we 

 should endeavour to get down the mingled rocks and snow- 

 slopes on the left of the icefall into the glen leading directly 

 to Glola, or whether we should bear still more to the east, 

 and descend into one of the branches of the wide valley 

 which leads up to the base of Adai Khokh. Whichever 

 course we decided on, it was necessary first to traverse 

 diagonally a series of steep slopes, overhanging ground 

 above the glacier, which might for all practical pur- 

 poses be considered as a precipice. The surface was 

 soft, and we had no trouble in step-cutting ; but Lhe snow 

 more than once showed a disposition to crack and slide 

 downwards ia masses, leaving bare a substratum of ice, 

 which, to anyone versed in mountaineering craft, was 

 unpleasantly suggestive. We instinctively held our axes 



