Untitled

THE MAM ISO.\ I'ASS AND GEBI 115
trees. Creepers hang from the branches ; underneath spi-eads a
tangle of rhododendi'on and haurels. As we rode through it in
the hite hours of a perfect summer it evening seemed an enchanted
land, a fittinof home for hiofh romance. Now and ao-ain between
the tree-tops one of the distant Adai Khokh peaks flashed a red
sicrnal from the skies : then as the liyht faded we came out on
the crest, and looked far westward over solemn, vaporous folds
of blue and purple hills, into the heart of the fiery after-glow.
-i F.IRM NEAR KLT.IIS
It was strange next morning, on waking at the foot of the hill
in a shanty dignified by the name of the '
Gostinitza London,' to
find oneself confronted with rails. The coal-mines of Khibuli have
brought a light line to the base of the forest ridge.
The Nakarala range is the last effort of tlie mountains. The
rest of tlie ride to Gelati and Kutais lies over low foot-hills.
On the spurs, fringed with oak and chestnut copses, the land-
scape, spacious and sunny, is illuminated by distant glimpses of