46 
GEORGEWESK. 
Mozdock (the gate of my entrance into Asia), to those at Wlady- 
Caucasus, the key of the mountains, and, above all, an order 
for the indispensable escort. Not anticipating his absence, I 
had no credentials to deliver to the civil governor, whose good 
offices might in this dilemma have supplied to me the place of 
the commandant. However I determined, as soon as I had 
taken possession of the quarters my Cossack officer had provided 
me, to be my own passport, and pay my personal respects to the 
governor. My quarters were in the house of a person who had 
attended General Yarmolloff in his last route across the Cau¬ 
casus ; and from him I learnt, that the present time of the year 
was the best for undertaking that perilous journey, provided the 
season were not rainy in the low country; for, in that sort of 
weather, snow always fell in the mountains, and the dangers of 
travelling were consequently augmented. From the lateness of 
the hour I could not with propriety call that evening on the 
governor ; but early in the following morning I paid my visit, 
and stated my embarrassment. He expressed ready zeal to sup¬ 
ply all that I might have expected from the commandant; and 
while his secretary was preparing the requisite papers to be my 
convoy, he detained me to dinner, (which was at one o’clock;) 
and still more seasoned his prompt hospitality, by expressing his 
pleasure at the opportunity I had given him of serving a stranger 
and an Englishman. I must here observe, that alacrity to oblige 
foreigners, while travelling in the Russian empire, is universal 
in the heads of cities ; and when that foreigner comes from 
Great Britain, it is not merely politeness, but friendship that 
receives him. Mr. Malitzky fills the station of civil governor at 
Georgewesk; and having passed many years of his life in 
Georgia and the neighbourhood of the Caucasus, during the few 
