342 FROM PARI TO PATIGORSK. 



over the cliffs on the opposite side, from a glacier only a 

 portion of which was visible. In this direction our porters 

 asserted a pass to exist, leading to the villages on the 

 headwaters of the Kuban, in the Karatchai district. 



It was only midday, but our lazy troop wanted to halt 

 for the afternoon, alleging that it was impossible to cross 

 the pass before evening, and that if they went any further 

 they should be frozen during the night. With much per- 

 suasion we prevailed on them to follow us for two-and-a-half 

 hours more. A sharp ascent, marked w ith the last traces of 

 a path on this side of the pass, brought us to the level of an 

 upper valley, for some distance bare of herbage, and covered 

 with the snow and rocks of spring-avalanches. The direc- 

 tion of this trough is for about two miles due east, when it 

 splits into two glens, running respectively north and 

 south, of which the former is the most considerable. 

 Having crossed the stream by a snow-bridge, we came to a 

 grass-slope, broken by projecting boulders, just at the 

 junction of the glens. It was diiScult to find a plot 

 of turf for the tent, and we were obliged to dislodge the 

 porters from a noble bivouac they had appropriated to 

 themselves under a huge boulder, where alone the ground 

 was level. When the tent was put up the space proved 

 ample for all. 



The view from our ' gite,' which was entirely surrounded 

 by snowy mountains, was very grand. Deep beneath us 

 lay the lower Nakra valley, the range on its western flank 

 crowned by a fine ice-coated peak, occupying the position 

 of the Tan Borkushel of the map. The stream we had 

 lately crossed had run but a short course since leaving its 

 cradle — a glacier flowing round the base of a very remark- 

 able mountain, the perpendicular cliffs of which were over- 

 hung by an ice-cornice of enormous thickness. The head 

 of the glen, on the north, was also closed by a glacier ; 



