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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
THE VALLEY OF THE rRTKH 151 with less ornament, tlie classical tombs of Asia Minor, and ditler entirely in type from the elongated Tartar headstones found elsewhere on the north side of the Caucasus, on whicli the horse, arms and accoutrements of the deceased are often depicted in low relief These tombs may perhaps be taken to represent a transitional stage between the simple heap of stones or pyramid which formed the first human monument and the elaborate edifices of later civilisations. The shelf which serves to support the trophies OSSETE IOMU.S Al /.lNA(;u of the chase— chiefly horns of the Tur or Caucasian ibex— left as otierings to the departed, may have suggested the carving of animals' heads as an ornament on the structure itself in after times. The district of Digoria, named from the Ossete tribe who inhabit it, was at one time a debatable land. After the Turkish hordes had occupied the steppe and driven in the borders of the old Ossete dominion, they proceeded to take possession of the valleys of Chegem and Balkar and to spread their influence into Digoria. The people are now mixed, and their religions are confused, though the Ossetes and a nominal Christianity still prevail. The arrival of so important a caravan drew the usual Caucasian
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THE VALLEY OF THE rRTKH 151<br />
with less ornament, tlie classical tombs of Asia Minor, and ditler<br />
entirely in type from the elongated Tartar headstones found elsewhere<br />
on the north side of the Caucasus, on whicli the horse,<br />
arms and accoutrements of the deceased are often depicted in<br />
low relief<br />
These tombs may perhaps be taken to represent a transitional<br />
stage between the simple heap of stones or pyramid which<br />
formed the first human monument and the elaborate edifices of<br />
later civilisations. The shelf which serves to support the trophies<br />
OSSETE IOMU.S Al /.lNA(;u<br />
of the chase— chiefly horns of the Tur or Caucasian ibex— left as<br />
otierings to the departed, may have suggested the carving of<br />
animals' heads as an ornament on the structure itself in after times.<br />
The district of Digoria, named from the Ossete tribe who<br />
inhabit it, was at one time a debatable land. After the Turkish<br />
hordes had occupied the steppe and driven in the borders of the old<br />
Ossete dominion, they proceeded to take possession of the valleys<br />
of Chegem and Balkar and to spread their influence into Digoria.<br />
The people are now mixed, and their religions are confused, though<br />
the Ossetes and a nominal Christianity still prevail.<br />
The arrival of so important a caravan drew the usual Caucasian