456 Journal of a Tour through Georgia, [Sept. 



figure is a common appendage to sacred persons in every creed ; and 

 the angels above, as well as the groupes on either side, are of frequent 

 occurrence. 



IV. — Journal of a Tour through Georgia, Persia, and Mesopotamia. By 

 Capt. R. Mignan, Bombay Eur. Reg.'F.L. S. andM. R. A. S. 

 [Continued from p. 339.] 



It was a fine morning when we quitted our encampment en grande 

 tenue to descend to the shores of the Araxes. On reaching its banks, 

 we found its width about three hundred and fifty feet, and we crossed 

 it by a stone bridge of fifteen arches in a very dilapidated state. The 

 vestiges of a second stood a short way up the river, and in its ruined 

 condition presented one of the most deserted scenes that could be 

 imagined. A little to the eastward lies the extensive plain of Mogaum, 

 which during summer is rendered nearly impassable from the innumerable 

 heaps of snakes which cover its surface. I saw several of their cast 

 skins, which resembled the Cobra di capello. This sufficiently establishes 

 the account given by Plutarch of Pompey the Great, who after having 

 overcome the Albanians wished to follow the enemy to the shores of 

 the Caspian, but was reluctantly obliged to abandon his design in con- 

 sequence of the snakes which occupied the intervening plain. Gibbon 

 doubts the account of the existence of venomous reptiles in this coun- 

 try as related by Pliny. — (Gibbon's Roman Empire, vol. iv. chap. 46, 

 note 5). 



On leaving the Araxes, or according to the present appellation, the 

 Arras, the country assumes a wild aspect. It consists generally of high 

 mountains, divided by narrow valleys, or plains environed by elevated 

 hills, accessible only by narrow passes and defiles. Hence, it is one of 

 the strongest countries in the world, and its inhabitants have always 

 preserved a partial independence. They have been often defeated, but 

 never subdued ; and although tributary to Abbas Mirza, the Governor 

 of Azerbijan, are in general free. In fact the country is almost im- 

 practicable, and of very easy defence. Having traversed a narrow 

 plain on the river's border of about three miles in extent, we arrived 

 at the foot of a steep bank, which we ascended, and travelled on a 

 farsang, or four miles further in a direction S. S. E, when we gladly 

 saw the village of Khomorlu, situated upon a deep ravine, between 

 steep calcareous and barren mountains. The inhabitants, who dwell 

 in wretched hovels scooped in the ground, are notorious plunderers 

 and assassins ; but excuse their own depredations from a conviction 



