Prof. H. Sjogren — Valleys of the Caucasus. 



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than 6500 feet ; in the summit of Salatau, which lies about three miles 

 from the gorge, it reaches nearly 8000 feet ; the bed of the river 

 Sulak at its entrance below Gimri is about 1000 feet and at its exit 

 near Tjirkei about 600 feet above the sea. The huge cutting has 

 therefore a vertical depth of from 5000 to 6000 feet, while its 

 breadth is so small that the river leaves no room for a proper road, 

 and scarcely enough for a narrow horse-path, which is itself im- 

 passable at certain seasons of the year. The walls of the defile, 

 which mainly consist of a compact dolomitio limestone and show 

 the lines of stratification with unusual distinctness, rise almost per- 

 pendicularly into the air and are altogether unscalable. For this 

 reason the valley of the Sulak, which forms a hydrographic link 

 between Inner and Outer Daghestan, is as a means of communication 

 between the two divisions of the province of no significance what- 

 ever. The road between Temir Chan Schura and Gimri is carried 

 over the 6000 feet to which the intervening range of mountains here 

 rises instead of being taken through the river gorge. This circum- 

 stance is sufficiently indicative of the wildness and inaccessibility 

 of this transverse valley. 



Before going farther, I had perhaps better give a short sketch of 

 the orographical structure and hydrography of Daghestan. 



Sketch-map of Daghestan, N. Caucasus. 



Daghestan lies entirely on the N. slope of the main chain of the 

 Caucasus, though for administrative purposes it is included in Trans- 

 caucasia. A reason for this arrangement may be found in the fact 

 that thei province is bounded on the N. also by a continuous range 



