THE CAUCASIAN SPAS. 383 



worthy to rank with those of Western Europe. It is not, 

 however, the only spot where mineral springs have been 

 brought within the reach of the invalids ; the ' Eaux mine- 

 rales du Caucase ' comprehend three other groups of sources 

 — Geleznovodsk, ferruginous springs ; Essentuky, alkaline ; 

 and Kislovodsk, acidulated carbonic. Our visit to the 

 two latter I shall presently have occasion to describe. 

 Geleznovodsk we did not see ; it lies at some distance 

 north of the others, and nearer the base of Beschtau ; on 

 the road to it, the colony of Karras, once inhabited by 

 Scotch missionaries, is passed. The threatened extinction 

 of the original stock led to the introduction of some 

 German Lutherans, between whom and the Scotch such 

 internal feuds arose, that the Government withdrew their 

 support from the mission. In 1858 there was only one 

 living representative of the original colonists, named 

 Galloway. 



Piitigorsk itself is one of the most curious phenomena 

 of the Caucasus, and its incongruities were perhaps more 

 apparent to us, coming upon it, as we did, fresh from 

 the mountains. The first feature about the place that 

 strikes one with surprise is, that, though standing far 

 away from the last swells of the great range, in the centre 

 of a bare and featureless plain, it yet contrives to be 

 pretty. Its attractions are due to its position on 

 the side of a lofty isolated hill, Machoucha by name, 

 which has been planted of late years with wood. The 

 Podkumok flows round the southern base of the hill, on 

 the lower slopes of which the town is built ; the hotel 

 and best quarter are sufiiciently high to command from 

 their windows a noble panorama of the snowy chain — 

 from Elbruz, standing out like a sentinel on the west, to the 

 more distant summits of Dychtau and Koschtantau, on the 

 east. The distance to Elbruz is about the same as that of 



