480 . TRANSCAUCASIA. 



after a career of usefulness, short even for this country, 

 the unhappy structure had been left standing high-and- 

 dry, while the river flovv^ed in a new channel fifty yards 

 further south. To judge them by their works, Russian 

 engineers seem incapable of anything thorough, and the 

 amount of money wasted during the last few years in the 

 Caucasus would be difficult to calculate. Even the late 

 Czar Nicholas is said to have sighed over the constant call 

 for fresh grants for the construction of the Dariel road, 

 which is not finished yet. With more skill and less jobbery 

 a Swiss canton would have made it in a quarter of the 

 time, and at half the expense it has cost the Imperial 

 Government. 



The Quirila was fortunately not in flood, and we waded 

 without difficulty through its broad clear -flowing current. 

 The hard road into Kutais is half completed, and follows 

 the left bank of the Rion at no great distance from the 

 river. The journey divides itself naturally into two stages ; 

 the first across the marshy lowlands, from which a steep 

 bank leads to an upper level covered with dense oak copses, 

 through which the track runs straight as an arrow for 

 several miles, until, bending to the left, it descends into 

 Kutais. The first view of the town from this side, with its 

 large white -walled green-roofed buildings and domed 

 churches, set in a framework of hills, and watered by the 

 rapid stream of the Rion, is exceedingly pretty. We trotted 

 through the streets, and dismounted at the door of the 

 ' Hotel de France,' where we found Fran9ois, who had 

 arrived safely with the luggage two days previously. 



There was some difficulty in finding rooms, for the hotel 

 was crowded ; the Grand Duke Michael, after escorting the 

 Grand Duchess to the seaside, had returned to Kutais, and 

 set out from thence early on the previous day to ride 

 through the Radscha and over the Mamisson Pass to 



