60 E. H. Roicorth — Absence of Glaciation in 



when these burst their bounds, great masses of stone are carried 

 along the Terek Valley as far as Wladikawkas. Abich mentions how 

 the great earthquake in 1840 which destroyed the village of Arguri 

 in the district of Ararat, was followed by a great rush of waters 

 which bore along great masses of rock much larger than those now 

 to be seen in the Terek Valley. Similarly, he says, great blocks of 

 250 to 300 feet in circumference have been carried from the district 

 of Ararat for a distance of seven versts over an inconsiderable slope. 



Abich goes on at some length to show that the moraines and 

 other glacial phenomena of the Caucasus are very local and confined 

 to the upper valle3's, and do not protrude out into the open country 

 in the way they do in the West of Europe, and that they are the 

 obvious handiwork of the existing glaciers, and do not point to 

 a glacial period. I prefer to quote his conclusion in his own words. 

 " So liige denn in diesen Moriinen des Gyoal Don, die einzigen 

 von so bestimmten Charakter und solche Grosse mit in Kaiikasus 

 bekannt gewordenen, ein auniiherndes Maass fiir das Maximum 

 des Gletscherwerkungen von, wie sie seit dem Begunt und dem 

 Verlaufe der alluvialzeit bis zur Gegenwart, hier durch lokale mit 

 der Entstehuug des Kasbek zusammenhangende physikalische Con- 

 figuration der Kamm region bedingt worden, niemals aber das 

 Privilegiura eiuer besondei'en etwa eine allgemeine erhtihete 

 Gletscherbildung bedingenden, oderauch nur begiinstigenden Epoche 

 fiir das Kaukasus gewesen sein konnen " (Mems. St. Pet. Acad, 

 vol. vii. pp. 519-523). 



The same conclusions were arrived at by Mr. J. F. Campbell, 

 whose wonderful appreciation of glacial phenomena is specially 

 apostrophized by Professor Judd. As he neared the Kaspes peak, 

 he says, " We drove over undulating plains of clay and passed a lot 

 of large stones ; but I could find no scratches. In the evening I 

 walked to the right bank of the river and found a great ridge of 

 clay which I took for a moraine ; but even here I could find no 

 scratched stones. I believe it to be part of a delta, I sketched and 

 inspected brick-pits, and reluctantly gave up my Caucasian glacial 



hypothesis We drove up a beautiful gorge with well-marked 



terraces of rolled stones at the mouth of it, and with many very 

 large stones scattered about; but I saw nothing glacial in the gorge." 

 Speaking of the route between Kazbeg and Tiflis, he says : " The 

 outlines of the mountains are due to weathering. Except large 

 stones I could find no trace of glacial action in the whole journey of 

 202 versts (133^ miles) .... After a careful search in the valley 

 lower down than Zalkan all the large stones that I could find 

 were smooth water-worn pebbles taken out of the clay and out of 



great beds of rolled stones which there make large hills If 



ever glaciei's worked in the range, their traces have been almost 



entirely obliterated I could find no signs of glaciers even on 



the remnants of the old surface through which the water has dug 

 a couple of thousand feet or more." Speaking of the only lake in 

 Daghestan, the water of which is dammed by a dam of angular 

 gravel, which may be a terminal moraine, he says: "I could find no 



