470 TRANSCAUCASIA. 



toj) of wliicli, a bold bluff commanding the valley, is 

 crowned by a fortress. It was to gain possession of this 

 position that the Turks, under the leadership of a Pasha 

 more brave than prudent, gave battle to the Russians in 

 the winter of 1853, and suffered a signal defeat, only pre- 

 vented from becoming a disastrous rout by the bravery 

 and promptness of some English officers with the Turkish 

 army, who, by a judicious use of two field-guns, put a stop 

 to the Russian pursuit. 



Immediately south of the town (3,376 feet above the 

 sea), the bare slopes rise to a rounded summit, 8,402 feet 

 in height. We found sleeping-quarters in a restaurant, 

 chiefly frequented by Russian officers. Being a saint's 

 day, the bazaar was shut up, and, cut off from this 

 source of amusement, we took refuge in the never-failing 

 public garden and band. Although one of the tracks 

 leading to Abastuman, a bathing-place in the mountains 

 which divide this district from the basin of the Rion, is 

 called a post-road, we heard such bad accounts of its 

 condition that we preferred to dismiss our ' diligence ' and 

 procure horses to take us all the way to Kutais — an addi- 

 tional inducement to this course being that we were more 

 sure of obtaining the requisite number of animals here 

 than at Abastuman. 



September 1st. — It is at Achaltzich that the greater part 

 of the silver filigree-ware sold in the shops of Tiflis is 

 fabricated, and one of the workmen brought some of liis 

 goods to show us in the morning. They were exceedingly 

 pretty, and nearly a third less in price than at Tiflis, 

 but there was not so large a supply to select from. 

 The man with Avhoni we had, without any difficulty, made 

 a bargain for horses, appeared in due time, and we set out, 

 on some ungainly but enduring animals, for our ride 

 across the hills to Kutais. The first day's journey was to 



