356 FROM PARI TO I'ATIGORSK. 



journey, lie will ride over two northerly spurs, descending 

 between them to cross the valley of the Malka. By either 

 route Utschkulan can be reached on the third day. The 

 Malka is the stream which rises in the northern glacier 

 of Elbruz, and it is from its head that most of the Rus- 

 sian explorers have viewed the mountain, and that the 

 first and most famous attempt to reach its top was made, 

 by the expedition under the command of General Em- 

 manuel, in 1829. There was a report in the village that 

 some Russian officers had lately been seen on the Malka, 

 and we felt some alarm, lest the news of our success on 

 Kazbek had stirred up the officials to endeavour to antici- 

 pate us by a prior assault on Elbruz. We never heard 

 anything further of our supposed rivals, and if there was 

 any truth in the story, it referred, I believe, only to a 

 pleasure-party who had come up from Kislovodsk to look 

 at the mountain.* 



The princes promised that the necessary attendants for 

 our expedition should be ready early in the morning, and 

 also that they would supply us with large loaves, better fit 

 for carrying than the small crumbly cakes usually eaten in 

 the villages. The terms asked by the men who were to 

 a,ct as porters were two roubles apiece for each day, to 

 which we made no objection. In the evening we were 

 amused by the athletic sports of the youngsters who were 

 gathered outside our door. Two boys began wrestling, 

 and were incited to the most valorous struggles by the 

 promise of a twenty-copeck piece to the winner. The 



* Any monntaineers who visit the Caucasus are likely to go to Uruspieh, and 

 I may therefore, while on the subject of the routes leading to it, suggest an ex- 

 pedition which, in point of interest and fine scenerj', ■would, I am sure, repay a 

 mountaineer, and is very unlikely to prove impracticable, or even difficult. 

 It is to ascend the valley opening due south of the village, and, turning to the 

 ri»ht from its head, effect a pass over the glaciers into the glen, the toiTent of 

 which joins the Baksan halfway between Uruspieh aud its source. 



