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IlIK VAIJ.KV OF THE URUKH 1.53
porised structures. Four stout posts
forked at the end are stuck
in the ground, ci-oss-bars are laid over them, and a roof and walls
wattled in closely with beech-boughs, vnitil with the aid of a bourka
or two a snug and almost w-eather-tight retreat is provided.
The following day was one of unmixed enjoyment. We mounted
through a romantic wood beside the tongue of the great Karagom
Glacier. In the hollow under the eastern moraine we found a
substantial empty hut, constructed for the people of the country
on their way to the Gurdzivsek, the pass to Gebi. Then we
crossed to the wooded bank under the ice-fall, where 1 had camped
twenty-one years before. The scenery Avas sublime, the weather
perfect ; old memories were vividly called up, the sti-ange seemed
familiar ; I could hardly believe 1 had only been for a few hours so
lono- asfo amidst these shining ice-falls. 1 seemed to hear once more
old Francois's cheerful verdict as we first looked up at the great
passera toujours, mais avec beaucoup de travail.'
s^racs, ' On
Our next halting-place was Stir-Digor, a large Ossete com-
munity, surrounded by corn-fields, and lying in a broad valley
closed by the singularly graceful mass of Laboda. In front of the
Tana Glacier rises a low, wooded, conical hill, which adds much to
the effect of the landscape. The weather had turned rainy, and
we were quartered in a room whicli in an English farm nuight
have been called a shed, and would ha\e been declined by any
respectable horse as a stable. The floor was moist mud, only
made tolerable by comparison with the slush outside. The villagers
were unattractive. Our Cossack secured us reasonable civility,
but hardly reasonable prices.
From Stir-Digor there is a good horse-path up the valley.
The views of the peaks of Ziteli and Laboda, the Wetterhorner
of the Caucasus, with their glaciers, are very striking. Mr. Dent
and Mr. WooUey, who climbed the former peak in 189.5, were
delighted with the region of flowers and fruits they passed through
on the ascent. Over the glaciers east of these summits, there is a
second pass to Gebi. The path to the Shtuluvsek mounts thi-ough
a ravine, above which lies one of those long, level, smooth-
sided troughs often left behind by ice. The great cliffs of the