360 
Saturday, 10th October. 
1 set out about seven o'clock in the morning in a 
W.N.W. direction, across some hills; then turning to 
the west upon a level country, I passed through Ka- 
denkhan, a village a little larger than Ladik, about nine; 
and at half past eleven crossed a bridge, under which 
flows a river of very clear water. At one o'clock I halted 
with my suite at Elquinn, a small village surrounded 
with gardens, at the foot of the mountain. 
Seeing that, notwithstanding the promise of my guide, 
our march was too slow to enable me to arrive at the ap- 
pointed time, I threatened to punish him myself, or to 
get him punished, if he did not use more diligence. Fear 
operated upon him more powerfully than interest had 
done, and from this day he began to hasten the march. 
Immediately after dinner each person mounted his 
horse, and we left Ekfuinn at two in the afternoon. 
After having traversed a river that empties itself into 
a lake at a short distance to the north, and more than 
half a league in diameter, the weather became so cloudy 
that I could not possibly discover in what direction we 
proceeded. I judged, however, that we were journey- 
ing generally towards the west. At half past five we 
were at the village Arkitkhan, beyond which there 
is a small river that we had to cross, after night-fall, 
when we passed near several villages; at length, about 
a quarter past eight, we arrived at Akschier, a small 
town on the slope of a mountain, so abundant in springs, 
that their waters form a streamlet, and sometimes a 
small river in each street of the town. All these streams 
empty themselves into a lake about a league distant to 
the N.E. Akschier contains some ruins, which seemed 
to be the remains of an ancient cathedral. 
