DERBEND. 
705 
reached one of the great keys of this country, a close mountain- 
pass called by the general name for such places in this part of 
Asia, Derbend. The one we now entered presents a very nar¬ 
row passage, not more than a few feet across, between two per¬ 
pendicular buttresses of the native rock, but evidently formed 
into such smooth altitude by the labour of man. A strong pair 
of gates might easily lock up the passage, A little cottage under 
the brow of its frowning cliffs, and a gallows before its very door, 
are now the citadel and dungeon-keep of the place. The former 
is garrisoned by two men, whose general occupation supplies 
travellers with coffee ; and the latter, constituted of a couple of 
huge posts, with their transverse beam armed full of spikes and 
crooks, stands ready prepared for the instant reception of what¬ 
ever thieves may be caught in its vicinity. This business is 
very summary ; no trial being necessary, but the moment the 
culprit is seized he is hooked up by any convenient part of his 
person that first presents, and is there left to expire of want and 
his wounds. I enquired whether this horrible punishment often 
took place, and was answered—“ Yes; seldom a year passing with¬ 
out two or three executions of the kind.” I believe my entertainers 
have the honour of being the hangmen ; the report they made 
carrying an air of great self-satisfaction. After marching through, 
I may call it, the portal of the glen, we gradually opened into a 
wider valley; and during our course, passed a khaun or caravan¬ 
sary, a style of building not very common in this part of the 
Turkish empire. It is estimated at half-way between Turkul and 
Amassia, our next halting-place. For a short time, from that 
point, we found a little cultured fertility ; but that past, the road 
carried us again over a succession of hills covered with dwarf-oak 
woods. Two hours’ travelling amongst them brought us to a second 
4 x 
VOL. II. 
