KARAOUL. 409 



were left beliind, and we followed the Tcherek for many 

 miles, through a deep and trough-shaped valley, which 

 almost deserved the name of a gorge. Tall granitic cliff's 

 rose on either side of us too steeply to admit of any 

 glimpse being caught of the gigantic peaks to which we 

 knew them to serve only as foundations. The shelves and 

 slopes were covered with dwarf firs, but the general 

 aspect of the scenery was stern and savage. Barriers, 

 formed of debris brought down by torrents pouring out of 

 lateral ravines, stretched across from side to side, and 

 made as it were steps in the vallej^, the level of which 

 rises very rapidly, as it penetrates deeper into the moun- 

 tains. The landscape was more Swiss in its character 

 than anything we had lately seen, but, owing to the absence 

 of villages or chalets, it was more savage than the 

 generality of similar Alpine scenes. A slight turn in the 

 course of the valley brought into view a graceful snow- 

 peak, rising above the fork of the two glens which contain 

 the sources of the Tcherek. We crossed a strong tribu- 

 tary flowing out of a cleft in the western hillside, which 

 has its birth in a glacier (invisible from below), clinging 

 to the cliffs of Dychtau. 



Skirting the steep shelving bank of the river, we 

 drew near the meeting of the two torrents, immediately 

 under the spur projecting between the glens ; on the right 

 bank of the united streams, the mountains leave space for 

 a broad and flat meadow, where herds of horses and oxen 

 were grazing. The word ' Karaoul,' meaning (Paul said) 

 ' guard,' printed at this spot on the Five Verst Map, 

 had hitherto puzzled us, but we now learnt its purport. 

 The pasturages at the head of the valley feed, in summer, 

 numerous flocks, and it is worth the while of the com- 

 munity of Balkar to maintain a guai'd at this point, to 

 prevent any predatory expeditions, on the part of their 



