( 210 ) 



A DILETTANTE IN THE CAUCASUS. 

 By Captain Malcolm Burr, D.Sc., F.L.S., E.Z.S. 



There are few regions on the earth that offer such a variety 

 of absorbing interest as the Caucasus. The biologist and the 

 geologist, the meteorologist, ethnographer and geographer, the 

 student of politics, the soldier, the mining engineer, sportsman 

 and man of business, the artist and the mere tourist, all will find 

 there enough to satisfy their most exorbitant demands. 



The Natural History of the Caucasus has received consider- 

 able attention from a number of eminent men of science, and 

 the general lines, and in some cases the details, of the geology, 

 botany, and zoology are fairly well known. But the problems 

 are so varied and so intricate that the Caucasus will remain for 

 many years a happy hunting-ground for all inquirers. 



Diversity is its greatest charm ; the main range extends 

 from the corner of the Sea of Azov in the north-west to the 

 Caspian Sea in the east, forming a mighty barrier, spread like 

 a curtain between Europe and Asia. This crest, with the two 

 famous mountains of Elbruz and Kazbek, which put the Alps 

 to shame, contains more than half-a-dozen peaks higher than 

 Mt. Blanc. In it occur a number of interesting vertebrates, Bear 

 and Boar, Maral Deer, four peculiar species of Capra, the grand 

 " Zubr " or Bison, the Chamois, Wolf, Lynx, Wild Cat, and 

 Leopard. Properly speaking, the name Caucasus is applied to 

 this main range only, but practically and politically it covers a 

 far wider area, with a great variety of physical features. The 

 great corn-growing plains of the Kuban and Ter provinces on 

 the north of the crest have much in common with the steppes 

 of Southern Kussia. Here the Saiga Antelope has not yet 

 disappeared. To the south of the watershed, in the Trans- 

 caucasus, we have the range of the Maly Kavkaz, or Lesser 

 Caucasus, nearly parallel to the main range, from which it is 

 separated by the valleys of the Bion and Kura. Ararat and the 



