440 RETURN TO TIF LIS. 



encountered, the engineers shrink from the bold course that 

 would be taken by the peasants of any Swiss commune, 

 and either climb over the top, or creep round the foot of 

 the obstacle. The latter course had in the present instance 

 been adopted, and it was but the natural result that the 

 Terek, swollen by heavy rains, undermined and swept 

 away the ill-constructed embankment on which the road 

 was carried. The soldiers had done their best, under the 

 circumstances, by throwing down stones and piles of fagots ; 

 but the place was only just passable, and our horses had 

 to be taken out, and the heavy carriage dragged across by 

 the men, who left their work for the moment to aid us. 



At Lars — the second station — the scenery, hitherto 

 rather tame, suddenly assumes a sterner aspect, and the 

 neat whitewashed buildings of the posthouse look out of 

 keeping with the grim crags that tower above them. 

 There is an ascent of nearly 3,000 feet from this place 

 to Kazbek. We required six horses, the Russian family 

 twelve ; but as we had arrived a few minutes first, and the 

 stables did not contain the number of animals required for 

 both parties, our fellow-travellers were compelled to wait. 

 The old gentleman was naturally angry, and produced a 

 ' crown-podorojno ' ; but, fimding that our conductor — by 

 whose readiness we had got the start of him — was possessed 

 of a similar document, he submitted, with much gain- 

 saying, to fate and the law of the post, that when the 

 ' podorojnos ' are of a similar class, first come shall be first 

 served. His family, more philosophically disposed, seemed 

 to care little for the delay, the governess and her charges 

 setting out on an expedition up the nearest hillside, with 

 a spirit which excited our hearty admiration. 



The famous Dariel gorge differs from most of those 

 traversed by Alpine carriage-roads in one essential feature. 

 It is not so narrow but that the road finds place alongside 



