TIFLIS. 
116 
are, still seem to threaten the passenger below. A more inti¬ 
mate acquaintance with the town, gradually effaced the impres¬ 
sion of the general dreariness of its aspect; but the effect of the 
circumjacent scenery always remained the same ; a vast prison, 
if I may so express myself, of high and beetling rocks broken 
into deep clefts, black and bare, and projecting in a thousand 
rugged and savage forms! And on these bulwarks of nature, 
apparently sufficiently incarcerating of themselves, we see every 
where the time-destroyed additions of man: towers and battle¬ 
ments, lying in huge grey masses of ruin on every pointed steep ; 
while old mouldering walls, track the declivities till their bases 
touch the town, or end in the bed of the Kur. From the 
situation of the town, at the bottom of a ravine like this, it cam 
not be supposed a very desirable abode for persons used to freer 
space, and wider prospect. Hence the Governor-general has 
chosen his place of residence at a short distance from the body 
of the city; on the gentle slope of a hill, fronting the river, 
and a fine view of the Caucasian mountains. When the house 
is finished, for it is now undergoing a repair, it will be distin¬ 
guished by a large portico, and exterior ornamental figures 
■sculptured in stone. 
This building, with the arsenal, hospital, churches, and a few 
villas in the neighbourhood, are the only erections, in or near 
the place, that remind one at all of Europe. The rest is purely 
Asiatic ; but very different from the idea, commonly received in 
Europe, of that term,-—gay minarets, painted domes, and gilded 
trellice-work. Here was a collection of low, flat-roofed dwel¬ 
lings, built of dun brick, mingled with stones and mud; the 
doors and windows exceedingly small; the latter covered with 
paper, glass being in little use from its scarcity and dearness: 
