THE GUAEDIAXS OF THE FLOCKS. 415 



climb along the hillside. Tucker's horse here stumbled over 

 some rocks, and, but for the rider's quickness in getting 

 clear of the animal, he might have had his leg crushed and 

 been seriously hurt. Happily, he escaped with a cut knee 

 and a severe shaking. The course of the upper glen was 

 now nearly due east and west; the birch-wood gradually 

 ceased altogether, and the ridge of the Stuleveesk Pass 

 closed the view in the distance. On the hillside numerous 

 flocks and herds were feeding, and we passed the quarters of 

 the shepherds, who, as usual in this country, content them- 

 selves with a temporary shelter built up of a few branches 

 covered with sheepskins. On our right a steep broken 

 slope supported the glaciers of the main chain, far less 

 precipitous in this portion than further west or east ; it is 

 here that the known pass to the Rion valley crosses the 

 mountains. We met two of the guardians of the district : 

 one, an old gentleman, who looked as if he ought to have 

 retired from active service, irritated us by descanting to 

 our horsemen on the difficulties before them, and the im- 

 possibility of getting horses over the snow, except in the 

 early morning while the surface was still frozen. 



In the teeth of such remonstrances, we had some diffi- 

 culty in persuading our men, always on the look-out for an 

 excuse for halting, to go on, and when we finally suc- 

 ceeded, the old guardian and his companion came with us, 

 to give their aid in the perils they declared we must 

 inevitably encounter. The head of the eastern Tcherek 

 is a wide pasturage, into which pour streams both 

 from the central chain and from the recesses of the 

 northern range, the summits of which are exceedingly 

 bold rock-peaks, lofty enough to support a considerable 

 amount of snow and ice. The highest source issues 

 from a mass of old avalanche debris, covering the end 

 of a small glacier falling from the upper snowfields. 



