A DILETTANTE IN THE CAUCASUS. 211 



mountains of the northern part of Asia Minor belong geo- 

 graphically to the same district ; on the east, the heights of 

 Karabagh, and in the extreme east, south, the uplands of 

 Talysh, where the Tiger still lingers, have a frankly Asiatic 

 character, but form part of the Caucasus. The western portion, 

 corresponding roughly to the government of Kutais, circuit of 

 Batum, and Black Sea littoral, enjoys a moist and warm climate, 

 thanks to which a most exuberant vegetation nourishes. As we 

 go east the climate becomes drier and drier, until on the burning 

 plains of Azerbaidjan we have a mirror of the great steppes and 

 deserts of Central Asia. 



The traveller from Europe generally arrives at Batum, but 

 if he comes from Eussia he usually leaves the train at 

 Vladikavkaz and drives to Tiflis over the Georgian Military Boad. 

 This is one of the finest mountain drives in the world, unfor- 

 tunately little visited by English travellers. It has been my 

 good fortune to drive over this pass four times, once in August, 

 1912, and three times in June-July, 1915. On every occasion, 

 unfortunately, I had no choice but to motor ; it is preferable to 

 ride, or take a carriage and travel more slowly, the better to 

 appreciate the beauty of the scenery. 



On approaching from Vladikavkaz the traveller is abruptly 

 plunged from the plains into the narrow rift of the Terek ; the 

 calcareous rocks are thrown into a razor-edge escarpment, 

 dipping at about 45° to the north, by the uplift of Kazbek. 

 Crumpled and contorted shales soon replace the limestone rocks ; 

 the vertical joints give them a real saw-edge against the sky, 

 while fluted masses of basaltic intrusions stand out boldly 

 against the vertical walls. In the milder part of the gorge, 

 before the stantsia of Kobi, Swallows and House-Martins flit 

 about. I saw three Goldfinches (shchegdl in Bussian, Carduelis 

 carduelis cardaelis L., or C. carduelis brevirostris, Zarudny). 

 But soon the traveller enters the forbidding Gorge of Darial, 

 where it seems as though all life ceases. The naked rocks rise 

 sheer on either side, without trees, without scrub, while the 

 Terek roars and boils, smashing over the stones so violently that 

 not even Trout can live in it. The effect is oppressive, and the 

 crushing sensation was as powerful on my fourth visit as on my 

 first. At one spot an isolated rock stands like a buttress in the 



