230 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



At Petrovsk the line leaves the sea, turning abruptly to the- 

 west ; this town owes its importance to the fact that it is the most 

 northerly Caspian port which does not freeze in winter. 



The early morning air presents a splendid panorama to the 

 traveller by rail as he approaches Mineralnya Vody from the 

 east ; the jagged snow clad crest extends right across the sky- 

 line, like the Pyrenees as seen from Pau, but more than half 

 as high again. The mighty Elbruz himself, standing head and 

 shoulders over his neighbours, reaches a height of almost 

 19,000 ft. ; the snow on his flanks is spotless and smooth, and 

 his profile, seen from the train, shows up clearly his twin peaks 

 and the concave flanks. Mineralnya Vody is a station, a 

 junction, and nothing else ; most travellers associate it with a 

 a change of trains, a meal in the open, and illustrated post- 

 cards — it is, in fact, the threshold of the Caucasus. Its raison 

 d'etre is the fact that it is the junction for the Group — that is to 

 say, the series of watering-places which nestle in an outlier of 

 the mountain range. These watering-places are famous all over 

 Eussia, and they deserve to be known far over her frontiers. 

 Kislovodsk (" Sour Waters ") is a charming place, and is certainly 

 the queen of Eussian resorts ; it is well planned and well built, with 

 excellent restaurants, theatres, music, and shops. 1 The place 

 where the health-seekers drink the waters is a fine colonnade, 

 where all sorts and conditions walk about, sucking chalybeate 

 waters through a bent glass tube, just as they do at Spa. The 

 chief town of the Group is Piatigorsk, the Five Mountains, with 

 memories of Lermotoff ; another is Essentuki, whose table- 

 waters are drunk all over Eussia ; less known are Zheleznovodsk 

 (" Iron Waters "), a charming little spot, and Beshtau, which 

 is the Tartar form of Piatigorsk. After thirty-six hours in the 

 train from Moscow, the weary traveller is glad to get out and 

 stretch his legs at Mineralnya Vody, and takes his breakfast in 

 the cool morning air ; but after an hour or two, he is equally 

 glad to leave it, whether it be for the shady towns of the 

 Group nestling in their mountain valleys, or for a few more 

 hot hours in the train, to Vladikavkaz and the Georgian 

 Eoad. 



