160 
SCENERY IN CAUCASUS. 
perpendicular chasm, through which the river flows. The 
mountains shoot up, beyond these abrupt walls of rock, to a 
great height; and, both in outline and surface, resemble those of 
Derbyshire ; not in altitude, for ours are but hillocks when com¬ 
pared with these giants of the earth. All along the valley, I 
observed the same variety of hue, and projection, amongst the 
rocks, as in the vales of that celebrated spot in my native land. 
Large masses of red, and grey granite, present themselves from 
the sides of the mountains, in a thousand romantic shapes ; ruins, 
castles, churches, mingling their embattled and Gothic spires 
with the thick foliage of the woods, which hang from steep to 
steep, and clothe the mountains to a vast extent. 
As we travelled on to the south-east, the tracts were pointed 
out to me, where the silver mines were formerly worked ; the 
mouths of the shafts of several being still to be seen. The 
rocks which form them are of a yellowish sandy hue. Indeed 
the whole of this part of Georgia is rich in ores of different 
kinds, and particularly in copper, a very fine sort of which is 
produced near Lori. Leaving these vestiges of exhausted 
wealth, or rather traces where it may yet be founds at about four 
miles from the precipice of the Bambek, we crossed that river 
through a deep and rapid ford, the water dashing and roaring so 
as to try the mettle of both men and horses. On gaining the 
shore, we followed its winding line, with the river, through the 
whole of the rocky chasm ; sometimes, almost encaved by the 
projecting cliffs ; at others, as completely over-shaded by the 
fine trees, which bent forwards, from both sides of this really 
beautiful dell. High over our heads, to the southward, rose a 
succession of heights $ and, on the summit of one of the boldest, 
we saw the monastery of Akpet, an extensive building, dedicated 
