COMPARISON WITH THE ALPS. 449 



ness of the Caucasian compared to the Alpine chain. I 

 do not mean that it is one long snowj wall, and nothing 

 more. It is single contrasted with the Alps, in the same 

 way that the Pennines are a single chain, although they 

 possess spurs like the Weisshorn, and minor ranges like 

 those that form the southern boundary of the Yal Pelline. 

 This characteristic is proved from the fact that, from 

 elevated points north or south of it, the same summits are 

 generally visible, whereas, as is well known, the observer 

 at Milan or Lucerne, Salzburg or Venice, sees from each 

 an entirely different range of snowy summits. From this 

 cause the panoramas seen on the highest peaks of the 

 Caucasus differ from those of the Alps, in the fact that 

 the portion of the horizon occupied by mountains is far 

 less in the former than in the latter. Whether this is to 

 be considered a recommendation, or a fault, must depend 

 on individual taste ; but no one can deny that if it had 

 been desired to enhance by contrast the stern beauty and 

 bold outlines of the central chain of the Caucasus, no 

 better means of doing so could have been found than by 

 putting beside them the boundless plains of the steppe, 

 or the wavelike ridges of the Mingrelian hills. 



Let us now descend from the mountain-tops, whence we 

 have naturally begun our survey, and take a closer view of 

 the individual features of the country. As a whole, Cau- 

 casian must, I think, rank above Alpine scenery. There is 

 nothing in Switzerland or Tyrol that can compare with 

 the magnificent grouping of the Suanetian ranges, or with 

 the gorges cut by the northern rivers through the lime- 

 stone ridge which bars their way down to the steppe. In 

 the Caucasus the slopes are steeper, and the usual charac- 

 ter of the peaks is that they shoot up from the valleys at 

 their base, in unbroken walls of rock and ice, to which the 

 cliffs of the Wetterhorn afford the nearest parallel. 



G G 



