A rOOR TIA^rLET. 425 



l^uarded bj a few stakes, according to the character of the 

 owner. 



Styr DigoY, where we intended to make our midday 

 halt, is the principal place in the valley ; but our horsemen, 

 for some reason we were unable to comprehend, had made 

 up their minds to go on to a comparatively small hamlet, 

 an hour's ride further down. The backward view of the 

 semicircle of ice-clad peaks and the rich pastoral fore- 

 ground was very fine. At the hamlet of Moska, we found 

 only an old woman, who had nothing to offer us but eggs, 

 and even these she had some difficulty in collecting, as her 

 hens had apparently mislaid them. After a shorter halt 

 than usual, and having exchanged salutations with a priest 

 in the orthodox clerical attire of a long sack-shaped coat 

 and soft felt wideawake, we rode down the valley, anxious 

 to get as far as possible on the road before nightfall. 

 During our halt the beauty of the day had departed, and 

 the clouds had rapidly swept up over the range, threaten- 

 ing rain, which began to fall slowly later in the afternoon. 

 The path again descended to the banks of the Uruch, and 

 the glen of its first considerable tributary, the Karagam, 

 opened on the right. "We looked out eagerly towards its 

 head for the great glacier by the side of which we had 

 bivouacked a month ago, when we had crossed the main 

 chain from the valley of the Rion. The glen was longer 

 than we anticipated, and nothing could be seen except the 

 snout of the ice-stream on the upper portion of which we 

 had spent so many hours. 



The valley of the Uruch, having run thus far east and 

 west, or nearly parallel to the chain, turns sharply to the 

 north, and the scenery becomes less interesting, though the 

 rich woods and broken crags of the continuous defile 

 through which the river flows would attract the admira- 

 tion of travellers in any region less richly gifted with 



