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110 THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS
the final slope to the Pass. A few yai-ds before reaching it
the road traverses a spring avalanche track, where, for want of
a short galler}^ it is apt to be blocked for several weeks after
the snows have left it elsewhere free.
The ridge of the Caucasus is here a smooth flowery bank,
the direction of which is north and south, or nearly at right
angles to the general direction of the chain. The height
of the
pass is 9282 feet, or about 200 feet higher than the Stelvio. In
the immediate foreground a slender rock -pyramid dominates the
small glacier which feeds the eastern source of the Rion. To the
left the eye rests upon a maze of. green hills, ringed by the dark
pikes of Shoda and its neighbours. Far away to the west the
mountains of Suanetia, the giants
of the Central Group, raise their
pale crests through the golden haze. The distant is prospect much
extended by following the gently rising crest southwards for a
few hundred yards.
The first zigzao's lead down into a narrow glen : where
this
opens on the lower valley the woods begin, not to cease again
before Kutais is reached. Beside the torrent, and perhaps half
a mile from its glacial source, is a substantial building, which
was constructed for the use of the engineers of the road. I
understood on seeing it what one of them had meant when he
infoi'med me that he had lived for four months 'on a glacier'!
It had been allowed— a la Russe— to fall to ruin, and we found
in 1889 bare boards and broken roofs. In 1895 the house had been
restored, or a new one built. It will be of no small sei'vice to
travellers, who should use it as headquarters while they explore
the neighbourhood. From all the high green ridges or pastures,
fi-oin all the glades where the creamy rhododendrons blossom
between stately pines, delightful prospects of rock, snow and forest
are enjoyed. Perhaps the most varied views are those gained in
a stroll over the hill west of the Hospice, a spur of which is
called Zitelta (9254 feet) on the new map. Above the last birches
—the Caucasian birch grows to stately proportions and far out-
climbs the pines — the grass is enamelled in July with mountain
flowers. Snowdrops and crocuses pierce
the still brown turf in