348 FROM PARI TO PATIGORSK. 



denlj, and is succeeded by green meadows, amongst wliicli 

 stand several groups of buildings, answering to Alpine 

 chalets. They were long, low, and irregular-shaped huts, 

 built of very massive unsmoothed fir-logs, with flat grass- 

 grown roofs. The first we came to were uninhabited. 

 The Baksan valley, after running for some distance north- 

 east, bends northwards, and then again resumes its former 

 direction. At the elbow it is joined by two tributary 

 glens — one on the right, running up towards the main 

 chain ; another a mile lower on the left, which leads to- 

 wards the foot of Elbruz. Opposite the first opening 

 there was an exceedingly striking view of a cluster of 

 snowy peaks, remarkable for their fantastic forms and 

 close grouping. 



A farmhouse, apparently the highest permanent habi- 

 tation in the valley, is situated opposite the mouth of this 

 glen ; in a small enclosure at the back, potatoes and other 

 kinds of vegetables seemed to flourish. We kept along 

 the left bank of the Baksan, and presently crossed the 

 powerful torrent which flows from the eastern icefields of 

 Elbruz, but the gap out of which it flows is not wide 

 enough to admit of any view of the great mountain. We 

 succeeded in finding an old man at one of the huts built 

 beside the torrent, and in obtaining a bowl of fresh milk 

 — a rare luxury in the Caucasus, where it is generally 

 turned sour directly, and is then very unpalatable. The 

 lower portion of the walk from this point to Uruspieh is 

 undeniably dull, the principal feature being a bold rock- 

 wall on the right-hand side of the valley, which rises just 

 above the snow-level. The mountain-sides are no longer 

 wooded, and have an arid burnt-u]3 appearance. An 

 enormous barrier, abutting on the northern chain, very 

 similar in form to the Kirchet above Meyringen, blocks 

 the valley, and the path has to climb over it. From the 



