.332 suanp:tia. 



slopes, which are composed of a very friable slaty rock, 

 in which every torrent has cut itself a deep channel. The 

 constantlj^-recurring necessity of making the circuits of 

 these ravines renders the walk from Doli to Pari extremely 

 laborious. 



The afternoon was hot, and the succession of hay and 

 cornfields, dotted with j)oor-looking stone houses, through 

 which our road lay, was a bad exchange for the timber to 

 which we had become accustomed. The j^ath climbed 

 higher and higher, till at last it crossed a bare slate-bank, 

 which broke the uniformity of the hillside, and gained a 

 knoll, whence we looked across a Avide and tolerably level 

 terrace, watered by a torrent and supporting several vil- 

 lages. Pari, however, was not amongst them, and the 

 meadows had to be crossed and a second brow gained 

 before the resting-place to which we had been looking for- 

 ward for the last few days came into sight. Between us 

 and it was another deep ravine. Two of the party tried a 

 short cut, with the usual result, and reached the torrent 

 only after a stifi" scramble through thickets which were 

 very nearly impassable. There was no bridge, and some 

 waded through the water, while others rode over on one 

 of the horses. Close to the torrent a ferruginous mineral 

 spring, slightly effervescent and very palatable, bursts 

 from the ground. 



A last ascent brought us up again to the level of 

 Pari, and we reached the hamlet — for it is nothing- 

 more — tired and hungry, about 4.30 p.m. Its position 

 is surpassed in beauty by many of the villages we had 

 lately rested in. The Ingur flows out of sight at the 

 bottom of a deep gorge, and the hillside on which Pari 

 stands is capped by rocky summits little exceeding the 

 snow-level. The horizon is formed on the west by a long 

 spur of tlie main chain, which runs out at right-angles 



