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142 THE EXPLOKATJUX OF THE CAUCASUS August, and as on the Bigi in old days the pilgrims have a double object, bodily as well as spiritual advantage. The Ossete we had found camped by the Zea Glacier seemed a solitary survival of tlie old habit, unless, Indeed, a party of young women, whom we discovered bathing in a clear spring, were also pilgrims. But on this point I can say nothing certain, for they disappeared among the bushes with a promptitude equal to that of our first parents, and for a similar reason. Fi'om the corn- fields of Zea we saw the sun set behind the higher of the double-headed peaks, we nearly missed the cart-track below the villages in the gloaming, and an hour after dark were being Cossacks of St. Nikolai. warmly welcomed by the friendly Clouds vexed us, as they have other travellers, in crossing the Kamunta Pass, and we felt bound not to put off the search we had set before us by lingering about the magnificent mountains of the Karagom. The next, and last, instructive view I had of the Adai Kliokh peaks was from Donkin's bivouac on the rocks below the UUuauz Pass. The peaks were seen in outline at a distance of from thirty to thirty-five miles, and I summarised what I saw in a sketch-map issued in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society for 1889. But this sketch, though since confirmed in essentials, was, to a certain extent, hypothetical and without detail. It was a means and not an end. In 1890 the end was attained. The orography of Adai Khokh was made clear, its highest j^eak and its finest belvedere, Adai Khokh itself and Burdjula, were climbed, and the scenery was illus- trated by the superb photographs of Signor Sella, and by some views, very valuable from a tojiographical standpoint, taken by Mr. Holder. I must briefly summarise the work thus done by mountaineers. Signor Sella has given, in the Bollettino of the Italian Alpine Club for 1892, a very clear and instructive account of his expeditions and discoveries. He and his caravan descended from the Kamunta Pass (8000 feet) to a bleak pastoral basin on the headwaters of a tributary of the Urukh. Here they ascertained that the Skatikom of the natives is the glen w^est of that so named on
Till-; ADAI KlluKll GROUP 143 the tive-verst map. The latter is locally known as Songuta and its important glaciers remain unexplored. Like all its visitors, S. Sella was overcome with admiration at the picturesque splendour of the scenery round the lower part of the Karagom Glacier, in the vicinity of which he camped for many days, and made several expeditions. He climbed the two summits, Zikhvarga and Burdjula, on either side of the Gurdzlvsek Pass ; and obtained photograplis revealina: all the secrets of the Karagom snowfields. About the same time two English mountaineers, ^Ir. Holder and Mr. Cockin, starting THE MDKAINi; OF THt KAKAcidM CLACIER from a camp in the Rion basin, climbed Burdjula by its southern face, and after traversing the great snowfields reached, without difficulty, the triangulated peak of Adai Khokh. They satisfied themselves of its predominance, and ascertained the existence of a curious twist in the watershed (see map), which allows the western slopes of the peaks south of the highest summit of Adai Khokh to drain towards the Rion. Clouds hindered more minute observations. Mr. Mummery also, from the Zea Valley, penetrated into the hitherto unexplored north-westei'n neve of the Zea.' He describes ' ilr. Woolley in 1895 photographed Adai Khokh from this side.
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Till-; ADAI KlluKll GROUP 143<br />
the tive-verst map. The latter is locally known as Songuta and<br />
its important glaciers remain unexplored. Like all its visitors,<br />
S. Sella was overcome with admiration at the picturesque splendour<br />
of the scenery round the lower part of the Karagom Glacier, in<br />
the vicinity of which he camped for many days, and made several<br />
expeditions. He climbed the two summits, Zikhvarga and Burdjula,<br />
on either side of the Gurdzlvsek Pass ; and obtained photograplis<br />
revealina: all the secrets of the Karagom snowfields. About the same<br />
time two English mountaineers, ^Ir. Holder and Mr. Cockin, starting<br />
THE MDKAINi; OF THt KAKAcidM CLACIER<br />
from a camp in the Rion basin, climbed Burdjula by its southern face,<br />
and after traversing the great snowfields reached, without difficulty,<br />
the triangulated peak of Adai Khokh. They satisfied themselves<br />
of its predominance, and ascertained the existence of a curious<br />
twist in the watershed (see map), which allows the western slopes<br />
of the peaks south of the highest summit of Adai Khokh to drain<br />
towards the Rion. Clouds hindered more minute observations.<br />
Mr. Mummery also, from the Zea Valley, penetrated into the<br />
hitherto unexplored north-westei'n neve of the Zea.' He describes<br />
'<br />
ilr. Woolley in 1895 photographed Adai Khokh from this side.