440 The Hunting Grounds 



not sufficiently powerful to penetrate the atmosphere. 

 For some time I was too much bewildered and over- 

 powered by emotion to fix my mind attentively on 

 the grand panorama stretched before me, but after a 

 time I distinguished, in the south-east, the lofty peak 

 of Mount Kasbec, towering high above ranges of 

 mountains, rising one behind another, and diversified 

 with the richest colouring. To the westward, over- 

 looking the ranges of mountains we had passed, lay 

 the blue expanse of the Euxine, glistening in the light 

 of the sun like a sheet of burnished silver ; and far 

 away, in a north-easterly direction, over fields of 

 eternal snow, vast glaciers, and a sea of mountain- 

 ranges, intersected by deep, dark, densely-wooded 

 ravines, were the plains of the Kuban, veined by 

 shining rivers. To the south-east, on the verge of the 

 horizon, was a dense mist, which, notwithstanding the 

 distance, I have no doubt hung over the Caspian. 

 It was a glorious sight; and I remained gazing as 

 long as I could endure the biting cold, notwithstand- 

 ing that I felt half blinded . by the strange reflection 

 of the sun from the snow, for the broad peak of my 

 hunting-cap had no effect in keeping out the glare ; 

 and we were each obliged to fasten a strip of my silk 

 handkerchief across our eyes, in order to enable us to 

 see the way. Having refastened the ropes we com- 

 menced the descent, and had made our way a con- 

 siderable distance down the first ridge, by following 



