THE MUSnALALIZ. 317 



rug-g-ed, broken, and picturesquely wooded witli firs, pines, 

 birch, and asb. The track wbich leads from tbe upper glen 

 to tbe lowervallejs makes a very long and steep ascent, in 

 order to avoid tbe circuits tbat would otherwise be necessary 

 to cross lateral ravines. A characteristic of the paths run- 

 ning parallel to the course of tbe Ingur, from tbe upper 

 to the lower end of Suanetia, is tbat they are always up- 

 hill ; at least, the ascents are so numerous and long, that at 

 tbe end of tbe day, the impression left on the mind of 

 tbe traveller by tbe intervening descents is almost effaced. 

 The track, passable for sledges, along which we were now 

 strolling, in the wake of our baggage-horse, rises steadily 

 towards a solitary tree wbich stands up as a beacon on 

 a projecting brow, marking tbe limit of the forest, and 

 tbe point at which a sudden sweep must be made to the 

 right, to avoid a series of deeply-cut water-channels, which 

 fall into the gorge of tbe Adisch-Tsbalai. From hence 

 we could see, in the distance, tbe hamlet of Suni, one of 

 tbe community of Tzurim, the resting-place for the 

 night chosen by our horseman and porters. It was 

 j)erched on a meadow-terrace, high above the junction of 

 tbe Adisch-Tsbalai and tbe Ingur, both of wbich flow 

 through deep wooded gorges. In this direction the dis- 

 tant view was closed by the snowy beads of the Leila range. 

 Still maintaining our height, we wound above tbe heads 

 of the ravines, until we found ourselves on tbe watershed 

 between the northern district of Musbalaliz, the largest 

 and most thickly-populated of all the Suanetian vallej's, 

 and the glens of the Adisch-Tsbalai and Ingur, on the 

 south. Tbe ridge separating the two basins sank at our 

 feet into a densely-wooded brow, broken away into pre- 

 cipitous ravines on tbe south, but falling more gently 

 towards Musbalaliz on tbe opposite side. Several miles 

 further west the ridge again rose into gracefully-shaped 



