394 THE TCIIEREK VALLEY. 



featureless plain ; the road — a mere track, converted into a 

 sea of mud in winter, enveloped in a dust-cloud in summer 

 — is often rendered wliollj impassable hj unbridged and 

 flooded rivers. Some sucb reflections passed through our 

 minds as, having left behind us five minutes before the 

 handsome rooms of the ' Hotel de la Couronne,' we found 

 ourselves, after fording the Podkumok, plunging into the 

 mud on its further bank. As far as Zonitzki, we drove 

 along the same track as that bj which we had arrived ; 

 thence we struck more to the east, and at last, after being 

 refused admission into one farmhouse, on the very reason- 

 able ground that the owner had that day buried his wife, 

 we came to a halt, shortly before midnight, at another on 

 the banks of the Malka. It was inhabited by a family of 

 colonists, kind homely people, like most Russian peasants 

 not connected with the postal service. The ' tarantasse ' 

 was put up in a shed in the yard, while we were introduced 

 into the best room of the farmhouse, which was clean and 

 tidy, but terribly close and hot, where we passed the short 

 portion of the night still remaining. 



August 10th. — At 5 a.m. we were again on the road. 

 The sky was overcast, and we saw nothing of the moun- 

 tains all day ; but the absence of oppressive heat was a 

 great comfort, and almost reconciled us to the loss of 

 view. Crossing the Malka by a bridge, the track led us over 

 low bare hills, until the banks of the Baksan were reached, 

 where at a walled Cossack station, a remnant of past and 

 more turbulent times, we learnt, to our dismay, that the 

 bridge had just been carried away, by the floods caused 

 by the previous night's rain ; it was, however, suggested 

 that if we could wait a couple of hours, it would probably be 

 made passable. In a shop opposite the station, we found 

 a room in which we sat down, while the ' samovar ' was 

 heated, and some eggs boiled. More than the appointed 



