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lU THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS
or separate villages; their customs and beliefs— described at length
by Professor Hahn— are peculiar and primitive. They are possibly
a remnant of the Jews of the Captivity, banished moi-e than two
thousand years ago by the Babylonian monarch, as Russian Non-
conformists are banished to-day, to a frontier-land. There are
the lowest
many of them in Daghestan ; they have occupied
hamlet in Suanetia from time immemorial ; a small colony is
found at Urusbieh.
Beyond Oni true movmtain-sceneiy is left behind. The hills
are lofty, their slopes are well wooded, the timber and under-
growth indicate the approach to a more temperate
climate. Wal-
nuts surround the villages ; lime-trees spread a broad shade ;
poplars grow beside the water. The road when I last passed was
unfinished. A more motley crowd than the labourers— it scarcely
seems the right word for the peasants who were lounging in a
leisurely way with inefficient implements over their work, or
chatting noisily over the most frugal meals—would be hard to
find. Pei'sians in skull-caps were mixed with every variety of
needy peasant from the valleys that send their streams to the
east end of the Black Sea.
A long morning's ride brought us to the point where the
ridges
that form the outer zone of the Caucasus close in on the
river, and serve as a picture.sque gate to the Racha. Here, not
far from a large church of the last century, the old direct hoi'se-
track leaves the new road and the valley of the Eion to cross
the limestone ridge of the Nakarala by a pass of 4000 feet. The
slopes on the ascent to Nikoi-zminda, celebrated for an eleventh-
century church that rivals that of Gelati, are bare, and the land-
scape is unattractive. It is, however, a region of natural curio-
sities. There is an ice-cave similar to those found in the Jura,
whence Kutais is supplied in summer. The river, after the fashion
of streams in limestone districts, disappears for miles underground.
Presently, after passing a deep blue pool reputed to be bottomless
and inhabited by fabulous trout, we entered a most romantic
wood. The broad limestone u]>land is clothed with great pines
and beeches, box-trees and alder, evergreen-oaks and wild fruit-