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112 THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS of any artiticial decoration, l)ut depends on the absence of human adjuncts. An analogy may, perhaps, be found in poetry : some of the noblest poetry represents the feelings produced by the direct reflection of Nature on man's consciousness, without reference to human interests or passions. On our return from these untrodden pastures to the highroad we found a second series of zigzags to lead us down from the bare upland glen of the Hospice to the woods. For several miles the road accompanies the torrent down a deep valley. Snowpeaks flash between tall pines, beeches and alders, which frame between their branches frequent vistas of side-glens. The ruined towers and brown cottages of Glola are passed on the opposite bank. Presently a stronger torrent, flowing from the opposite direction, meets ours. This is the Rion, the ancient Phasis, coming down from its source, some twelve miles to the west among the snows, still known as the Pasis Mta.^ The united streams turn at right angles to their previous courses, and the road follows them through the narrow trench that here divides the slate range. As the elbows of the mountains retire, and the woods leave place for open and cultivated fields, where maize and vine mark the approach to a milder region, we come to a road-side dukhan, or drinking-shed, and a few cottages. This is Utsora ' one of the Baths ' (3500 feet), of the Caucasus. Here in early summer come families from the lowlands, to drink the iron springs and shake off their fevers. Dr. Radde was informed that there have been as many as six hundred to one thousand visitors in a summer. I suppose I was too late to see the fashion of Utsora. There are only a few sheds for its accommodation. The bathers lodge, as our ancestors did on Tunbridge Wells Common, in temporary booths or under canvas, bringing with them often their own provisions and poultry. Through fields of barley and maize, and under a burning sun, we approach Oni, the only assemblage of buildings having any pretence 1 This name was applied by Dubois de Montpereux to the high peaks of the Central Group, which he saw from the lowlands only. Hence Pasis Mta has been treated as the name of a great mountain. It is really the designation of a pass.
THE M AMI SON PASS AND GEBI 113 to the title of a town iu this region. It is the capital and ceiatre of the Racha, or middle valley of the llion. This is a broad and spacious basin, which lies geologically between the slate range and the outer limestone belt, through which the Rion has carved a series of comparatively shallow gorges. The condition of the country up to the middle of this century was that of Europe in the Middle Ages. Feudal princes ruled a population of serfs, bandits haunted the roads, every man went armed, and every nobleman was accoutred in the gayest colours and resplendent with the precious metals. Even in 1868 a gentleman did not ride into Kutais without sword, dagger and pistol at his waist and a gun over his shoulder. He wore a tall Circassian sheepskin hat, or wotind rotmd his head a h((shl(k twisted into a turban, with the tails flaiaping over his shotUders in a fashion made iamiliar to us in old Flemish pictures and stained-glass windows. Oni itself is a farmers' and a peasants' town without dignity or picturesqueness. The ordinary houses are two-storied wooden shanties with balconies ; Swiss cottages devoid of style or ornament. The low, white-washed Russian bungalows have nothing to recommend them to the seeker for the picturesque. The inns are no better than drinking-shops, where you can spread a matti'ess on bare boards. We spent a tepid Atigust night on an open balcony. The gaiety of the inhabitants and the quarrels of their dogs gave little chance of sleep, and we were astir hours before the old Jew who was to find us horses for the ride to Kutais had brought together our cavalcade. That Jew still haunts my memory. Tall and spare, with wild iiangiug locks, gestui'es of the most primitive and tragic force, and an expression in which avarice and contempt and longsuffering in tmu predominated, he strode in front of us, for the best part of a long summer's day, the ' in the flesh. Wandering Jew The Jews of the Caucasus—Mountain Jews, the Russians call them— are a race apart. ^ They are found in small conununities ' See in Hahn's Aus dem Kaiikasus a most interesting sketch of this race, based on the Russian work of M. Anisimoflf, himself a member of it. In the whole Caucasus there are reckoned to be .38,rX)0 Mountain Jews. VOL. I. H '
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THE M AMI SON PASS AND GEBI 113<br />
to the title of a town iu this<br />
region.<br />
It is the capital and ceiatre<br />
of the Racha, or middle valley of the llion. This is a broad and<br />
spacious basin, which lies geologically between the slate range and<br />
the outer limestone belt, through which the Rion has carved a series<br />
of comparatively shallow gorges. The condition of the country up<br />
to the middle of this century was that of Europe in the Middle<br />
Ages. Feudal princes ruled a population of serfs, bandits haunted<br />
the roads, every man went armed, and every nobleman was accoutred<br />
in the gayest colours and resplendent with the precious metals.<br />
Even in 1868 a gentleman did not ride into Kutais without sword,<br />
dagger and pistol at his waist and a gun over his shoulder. He<br />
wore a tall Circassian sheepskin hat, or wotind rotmd his head a<br />
h((shl(k twisted into a turban, with the tails flaiaping over his<br />
shotUders in a fashion made iamiliar to us in old Flemish pictures<br />
and stained-glass windows.<br />
Oni itself is a farmers' and a peasants' town without dignity<br />
or picturesqueness. The ordinary houses are two-storied wooden<br />
shanties with balconies ;<br />
Swiss cottages devoid of style or ornament.<br />
The low, white-washed Russian bungalows have nothing to recommend<br />
them to the seeker for the picturesque. The inns are no better<br />
than drinking-shops, where you can spread a matti'ess on bare boards.<br />
We spent a tepid Atigust night on an open balcony. The<br />
gaiety of the inhabitants and the quarrels of their dogs gave little<br />
chance of sleep, and we were astir hours before the old Jew who<br />
was to find us horses for the ride to Kutais had brought together<br />
our cavalcade. That Jew still haunts my memory. Tall and<br />
spare, with wild iiangiug locks, gestui'es of the most primitive and<br />
tragic force, and an expression in which avarice and contempt<br />
and longsuffering in tmu predominated, he strode in front of us,<br />
for the best part of a long summer's day, the '<br />
in the flesh.<br />
Wandering Jew<br />
The Jews of the Caucasus—Mountain Jews, the Russians call<br />
them— are a race apart. ^<br />
They<br />
are found in small conununities<br />
' See in Hahn's Aus dem Kaiikasus a most interesting sketch of this race, based on the<br />
Russian work of M. Anisimoflf, himself a member of it. In the whole Caucasus there are<br />
reckoned to be .38,rX)0 Mountain Jews.<br />
VOL. I. H<br />
'
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