102 
ARTISKALL. 
allies trod it at pleasure; and, trampling on the great lords, their 
former pay-masters, soon reduced a people who had such ineffi¬ 
cient leaders. From that time, the country sunk lower and 
lower, under the weight of oppression ; till the peasantry, entirely 
giving themselves up to a kind of idle despair, the present pos¬ 
sessors of the province found them in that mortal state of the 
human mind, from which it will require years of European 
knowledge, example, and patient energy, to rouse them into new 
life, social and political. 
On quitting Duschett, the valley opens with a considerable 
expanse for a few wersts, crossing several tolerably cultivated low 
hills. A lake lies to the westward of the road, which, I was 
informed, contains a variety of good fish: one species is very 
large, shaped like a salmon, but when dressed it is not the same 
in colour, being white instead of yellow. Leaving the direction 
of this fine body of water, after an hour or two’s march, we re¬ 
gained the banks of the Aragua, along which we pursued our way 
for the remainder of our day’s journey. A valley on the oppo¬ 
site shore was pointed out to me as the only avenue still prac¬ 
ticable, by which the Lesghees can repeat their inroads into the 
country. A Russian guard, consisting of a few infantry and 
Cossacks, keeps station there; and it is sufficient for the ordinary 
defence of the pass, the old invaders not attempting, now, 
descents of any power. They are seldom seen but in marauding 
parties, small enough to escape pursuit, as easily as they elude 
vigilance in making these incursions. It is only in time of war, 
when the Russian soldiers may be drawn to more distant duty, 
that they come down in hundreds, spreading rapine and misery 
in every direction. 
Towards dusk, we reached a post called Artiskall, where we 
changed horses ; and leaving our chasseurs, took an escort of 
