HISTORY OF PATIGORSK. 38l 



CHAPTEE XII. 



PATIGORSK AND THE TCHEREK VALLEY. 



The Caucasian Spas — Their History and Development — View from 

 Machoucha — The Patients — Essentuky — Kislovodsk — The Narzan — 

 Hospitable Reception — A Fresh Start— A Russian Farmhouse — By the 

 Waters of Baksan — Naltschik — The Tcherek — Camp in the Forest — A 

 Tremendous Gorge — Balkar — A Hospitable Sheikh — The Mollah — Gloomy 

 Weather — A Solemn Parting — Granitic Cliffs — Karaoul — A Mountain 

 Panorama — Sources of the Tcherek — The Stuleveesk Pass — Koschtantau 

 and Dychtau — A Noble Peak — Our Last Camp. 



August 5th to 9th. — We spent five days very pleasantly 

 in resting from, our fatigues, and enjoying tlie good things 

 brought within our reach in the Caucasian Capua, of 

 which I must now give some account. The history of the 

 mmeral waters to which Piitigorsk owes its existence is 

 curious, as illustrating the state of the country during the 

 last century, and the gradual steps by which the Russian 

 conquests have been extended and consolidated. In 1717 

 the court-physician of Peter the Great reported on the 

 rumoured existence of mineral springs in the country of 

 the Tcherkesses, but no Russian could then visit them. In 

 1780 the fortress of Constantinogorsk was established, 

 four versts from the present site of Patigorsk, to check 

 the constant raids of the Tcherkesses. 



Klaproth visited the sulphur-springs in 1807, and gives 

 a vivid and amusing description of the troubled lives led by 

 the poor patients at that time. During the day the bathers 

 sojourned in huts built round the source, which was 



