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150 THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS
On the north the basin ot" Kamunta is shut in by a high
crest of the limestone ridge known as Kion Khokh. This should
be a fine panoramic point ; it is interesting also to the glacialist,
for on its shoulders, at a height of 10,000 feet, M. E. Favre
found grranite erratic boulders.
Kamunta stands on a tributary of the Urukh. A path leads
along the stream, down the valley. As the weather improved,
we caught from time to time glimpses of the great Songuta
Glacier. We determined, therefore, , to take the hill-path which
leads to Zinago, a hamlet close to the foot of my old acquaintance,
the Karagom Glacier. We camped in a narrow valley, the
true Skatikom, between two grass-passes. Signor Sella gave
some days to the exploration of the higher ridges which separate
the glaciers of this glen from the Karagom. He found the Kosh
owner a person of strong commercial instincts. He was selling his
sour milk to some families who had come up for a '
cure '
after the
local fashion I have already noticed. He even made a charge to
Signor Sella for each day his horses were turned out to pasture.
The climb to the next pass was over an interminable meadow,
glorious with unmown and unpastured flowers. Loud were the
lamentations of our Swiss followers on the waste of natural
wealth involved in the absence of herds. When at last we
gained the ridge, we saw far beneath us the open valley
of the
Urukh, framed between its granite walls and shadowed by the
clifts and glaciers of Laboda. Clouds had not yet obscured the
distant heights : beyond
the broad saddle of the Shtuluvsek the
great peaks of the Central Group met our eyes. The descent
brought us into a most picturesque region. Waterfalls dashed
down the crags on our left, forests climbed up from the valley,
glaciers gleamed in the hollows above the deep
trench where the
frozen fiord of the Karagom still lay hid. Even in the villages
conspicuous towers shot up above the horizontal grass-roofs.
We halted at Zmago to examine the curious group of tombs
here figured. They are small oblong edifices with convex curved
roofs and ledges along the sides, on which trophies of the chase
are laid as oft'erings. They thus resemble, on a small scale, and