330 SUANETIA. 



in advance, apparently gazing in a state of astonish- 

 ment, that for the moment rendered them nnable to ex- 

 press their feelings, at some castle in the air. 



On reaching my companions I was at no loss to discover 

 the cause of their emotion. Due north, above the low wood 

 of the adjoining hillside, shot up two towers of rock, one 

 slightly in advance of the other, forming, as regards height, 

 steepness, and outline, beyond all comparison the most 

 wonderful mountain mass we had ever beheld. Tier above 

 tier of precipices rose straight up from the valley, cul- 

 minating in two tremendous towers, separated by a deep 

 dej)ression. The twin summits resembled one another in 

 form, and appeared to be long roof-like ridges, falling away 

 in slopes of mingled rock and ice of terrific steepness. 

 The idea of climbing either of them seemed too insane to 

 be so much as suggested, and even the lower spurs of the 

 mountain above the meadows of Betscho are so tremendous 

 that it looked as if a stone dropped from the top of either 

 of the peaks would scarcely stop rolling before it reached 

 the valley. There was no mistake about it, the Caucasian 

 Matterhorn was found at last, only here we had one Mat- 

 terhorn piled on another, and then multiplied by two. It 

 was a sensation scene of Nature's own devising. The 

 name of the mountain was unknown to us at the time ; 

 it was unmarked on the map, and our horsemen were 

 sulky and uncommunicative. We learnt afterwards that 

 it is generally called Uschba — ' usch,' in Georgian, means 

 rain or storm, so that this seems to be a parallel instance to 

 the Swiss Wetterhorn. The two peaks also resemble one 

 another in being great promontories projecting from the 

 main chain and immediately overhanging the valleys at 

 their feet, so that they are likely to be the heights round 

 which clouds first gather. 



Our natural course was to descend as soon as possible to 



