■29S SUANETIA. 



some pleasure to dismissing them, and making a fresh 

 start. We hoped to spend several days at Jibiani, and to 

 make it our headquarters for the exploration of the 

 surrounding mountains. The Five Verst Map showed us 

 that behind the watershed of the main chain, situated on a 

 northern spur, stood two great peaks, Koschtantau and 

 Dychtau, respectively 17,096 and 16,925 feet in height — 

 both therefore higher than Kazbek ; and our object was 

 to gain the watershed, at some point whence we might 

 enjoy a view of these giants, and of the glaciers surround- 

 ing them. It was therefore with feelings of pleasure, 

 unmixed with any apprehension, that we hailed our first 

 glimpse of Jibiani, Tschubiani, and Murkmin:, a community 

 known collectively by the name of Uschkul. 



Most of the villages in Suanetia are in clusters of two to 

 four, and go by a collective name, distinct from the indivi- 

 dual appellation of each knot of houses. Adisch is, I think, 

 a solitary exception to this rule. Jibiani and Tschubiani 

 are built on the projecting brow above the junction of the 

 Quirischi with the infant Ingur, which has here run but afew 

 miles from its cradle in the glaciers of Schkari and Nuam- 

 quam, at the base of the great chain. Murkmur is a little 

 lower down, and on the opposite or right bank of the 

 united torrents. The appearance presented by these 

 hamlets was most strange and picturesque. The meadows 

 at our feet were dotted by an array of stone-built towers, 

 irregularly grouped — some of them white, but the majority 

 of various shades of dinginess. In the three villages, 

 all of which were in sight at the same time, there 

 cannot have been less than sixty towers. The only com- 

 parison which will give an idea of the appearance from 

 a distance of these fortified Suanetian villages (for they 

 are all alike), is to picture a group of square-sided armless 

 windmills, closely crowded together, and surrounded by 



