436 RETURN TO TIFLIS. 



frequented byways of the Caucasus, we waited, with a 

 faith not destined to disappointment, the arrival of Fran- 

 9ois and the luggage. 



August 22ncl to 24i/t. — Yladikafkaz, which means, in 

 Russian, tlie Key of the Caucasus — or Terek Kala, the 

 Castle on the Terek, as the Ossetes prefer to call it — is the 

 centre of the military position which Russia has occupied, 

 for many years, at the northern foot of the Caucasian 

 chain. Equidistant between the Black and Caspian 

 Seas, its fortress served as a check on any junction and 

 combined action between the tribes of the Kabarda and the 

 still more formidable mountaineers of Daghestan. When 

 it is remembered that Vladikaf kaz is also the key of the 

 Dariel Pass — the great road across the chain, known from 

 Roman times, which, rather to the discredit of modern 

 enterprise, still remains the only one between Anapa and 

 Derbend practicable for wheeled carriages — its strategic 

 importance is at once explained, and the visitor is at no loss 

 to understand the reason of the great piles of barracks 

 which form the principal feature of the place. 



The town is prettily situated, on level ground, on both 

 banks of the Terek — open on the north, but sheltered on 

 the south by wooded hills, behind which rise the steeper 

 slopes and higher summits of the Caucasian chain. The 

 place has a thoroughly Russian air. Our hotel stood in an 

 open square : on one side was the bazaar, a row of covered 

 arcades filled with stores, in which Ossete fur-caps were 

 the most tempting wares ; on the other stretched a long 

 boulevard, with a shady and graveled walk down the 

 middle. The houses along this are neat buildings ; the 

 rest of the town consists of large government stores, offices, 

 and barracks, dropped here and there in the mud, amongst 

 whitewashed cottages, which stand back modestly from 

 the road, as if they felt out of place in such company. 



