THE DESCENT. 263 



with a firmer grasp, and congratulated ourselves that 

 there was no weak brother, or lumbering' porter, likely to 

 test the power of a slip in carrying down with a run the 

 whole upper layer of snow. We were well pleased to reach 

 a rib of rocks, and to clamber down them for some little 

 distance ; and having by this time decided at any rate to 

 examine the descent into the eastern valley, we made our 

 way over some safer slopes to the crest of the ridge in that 

 direction. 



The fall of the ground on the eastern side was undeni- 

 ably steep, and an extremely ugly-looking ' couloir,' 

 opening immediately at our feet, did not offer a temj)ting 

 exit. Fran9ois promptly pronounced against this side of 

 the ridge ; I was not satisfied with the grounds of his 

 verdict, and untying the rope scrambled down a few feet 

 to gain a better view. My investigation was rewarded by 

 the discovery of a second snow-gully, which ran up and 

 terminated against a buttress a hundred feet below, and, 

 after falling for some distance in a direction parallel to 

 the ridge we were on, turned sharply at right-angles and 

 was lost to sight. As far as could be seen, it offered not only 

 a practicable but an easy line of descent, which I pointed 

 out to Fran9ois, who suggested the possibility of the 

 lower portion being precipitous. We agreed, however, 

 that all the indications went to show this to be extremely 

 unlikely, and that no more promising way out of our 

 difficulties offered itself. 



The view before us had been, during the last hour, 

 one of surpassing beauty ; while we slowly descended a 

 projecting buttress, our position gave us a raking view 

 of the peaks of the main chain, and we were at the 

 same time at a sufficient elevation to overlook the 

 whole of the southern sub-Caucasian district. The Ead- 

 scha lay at our feet, a labyrinth of green ridges and 



