474 TRANSCAUCASIA. 



ridge, not only the vast basin of the Phasis lay spread 

 beneath, but beyond, and standing out sharp and clear 

 against the northern horizon, the icy wall of the Central 

 Caucasus met our eyes, distant at its nearest point eighty- 

 five miles. By following the ridge a few hundred yards 

 to the west, we gained a brow, whence Kazbek, previously 

 hidden by a neighbouring eminence, was added to the view, 

 and then sat down to examine more fully the details of 

 the vast panorama. 



The foreground was of exquisite beauty ; forested ranges 

 fell gradually from our feet to the Mingrelian plain, which 

 was flooded by a transparent purple haze. On the further 

 side an army of green hills clustered round the knees of 

 the snowy giants of the central chain, which were ranged 

 in line along the horizon. Directly opposite our view- 

 point was the great wall of rock and ice which towers 

 over the sources of the Ingur, terminated on the west by 

 the graceful snow-cone of Tau Totonal. Equidistant from 

 this mass rose, on either hand, the clustered peaks above 

 Gurschavi, and the solitary Uschba. The latter mountain 

 looked taller and more terrible than it does even when 

 seen close at hand, where its gigantic proportions, and 

 the comparative insignificance of its neighbours, are not 

 so fully revealed. Elbruz, huge and rounded, asserted as 

 usual its supremacy, at least in height, over all the other 

 summits. Further west there was only one jDcak, a 

 remarkable obelisk of rock, which attracted our attention. 

 In the far east, the snowy sides of Kazbek, bathed in a 

 flood of morning sunshine, gleamed on us for the last 

 time. 



We had before us a panorama, extending over 150 miles, 

 of the Central Caucasus, Kazbek and Elbruz being each 

 105 miles distant in a direct line. These fio-ures ffive but 

 a weak idea of the extent, and tell nothing of the splen- 



