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CHAPTER XV. 
Dispatches at length arrived from the Governor General of Georgia, 
announcing his intention to proceed to the frontier to treat for peace. 
The Ambassador in consequence left the city, and we departed on the 
7th of September to join the Prince Royal, who proposed to wait at 
Ak Tappeh for the General. As the country over which we travelled 
is new in geography, I shall make no apology for describing our daily 
progress through it. 
Our first stage was to the small village of Barunj, situated at the foot 
of the red hills, that overlook Tabriz; and the next day we arose at 
dawn, and immediately commenced our ascent over them, upon a 
tolerable road, until we reached their summit, when the pass became 
rather difficult. Without much descent we entered at once upon a 
region of wild and barren mountains, the face of which was only diver¬ 
sified by the extravagant disposition of their strata. From a consider¬ 
able height we observed the salt river Agi, flowing in a deep valley 
below, which a little while after we crossed at a ford, close to a pic¬ 
turesque bridge of three arches. This bridge is only used at the peri¬ 
odical swelling of the river, which, except at that time, is in general a 
very shallow stream. In many parts of the road we remarked large 
masses of rock, the surface of which appeared to have been worn away 
by the action of water, as if they had been situated on a sea coast. 
Indeed, the whole tract, as far as the eye could reach, had the ap¬ 
pearance of having been recently abandoned by the sea, and formed 
one irregular, broken waste, which might be compared to the waves 
of the sea, changed into earth, at the height of their agitation. 
We encamped at Khajeh, a village situated on a hill, with a mud 
wall running on one side of it. We found the water very brackish; 
and in fact the soil of this region is in general so salt, that all the 
streams partake of that quality. On the 9th we reached the small 
village of Sheherek. We observed a gradual ascent during the whole 
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