THE GATE OF THE MOUNTAINS. 429 



a brow crowned by one of the usual tall Mabommedan 

 tombstones, capped by a stone-wrougbt turban. 



Although expecting to see from this point something 

 of our onward course, we were quite unprepared for the 

 unique beauty of the landscape which was suddenly spread 

 before our eyes. Standing, as it were, in the gate of the 

 mountains, at a height of probably not less than 3,000 

 feet above the level of the Uruch, we looked out over the 

 low country which lies to the north. A broad hilly district, 

 clothed in the densest primeval forest, here separates the 

 mountains and the steppe. In the clearings, few and far 

 between, a thin wreath of smoke revealed the existence of 

 human dwellings ; but the country seemed very little re- 

 moved from a state of nature, to the continuation of which 

 the insecurity and lawlessness, consequent on its position 

 as a border-ground between the Eussian posts on the 

 steppe and the inhabitants of the mountain recesses 

 has chiefly contributed. The immense extent of undulating 

 woodland stretching to the horizon, and the rivers — which, 

 unbridged and unconfined, converting their immediate 

 banks into swampy jungles, wander like bright flashes of 

 light across the green landscape — convey to the traveller's 

 mind the impression of a rich virgin country, such as 

 he would rather expect to meet with in the New World 

 than in the Caucasus, the supposed cradle of his race. 

 We remained for some minutes riveted in admiration of 

 the scene, and unable to think of anything within our 

 experience of more civilised countries with which to com- 

 pare its rich yet melancholy efl'ect. In this extraordinary 

 spot we bade farewell to the mountain fastnesses of the 

 Central Caucasus, and it would have been difiicult to quit 

 that no longer mysterious region by an exit more calculated 

 to leave on our minds imperishable recollections of its 

 sublimity. 



