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1()4 THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS us forest trees clung to every available inch of ground ; looking upwards, the character of the defile was more savage. The foaming waters of the Cherek, crossed three times by bridges, filled the bottom of the trench, the sides of which were perpendicular walls, succeeded by shelves capped in their turn by a loftier tier of preci- pices. The path, a mere ladder of broken stones, brought us by a, rapid series of zig-zags to a UlE l.uUl.li III- THE CULKl.k most extraordinary spot, where the overhanging cliffs meet and form a natural bridge over the river, which can barely be seen at the bottom of its deep bed. Seen from this point, the toi'- rent to all appearance plunged directly into the heart of the mountains, and it was impossible to discover how it found a way out. The savage grandeur of the scenery here attained its height, and so far as my own and my companions' experience goes, there is no gorge in the Central Caucasus of equal gran- deur. Henceforth the cleverly con- trived rock-staircase which con- nects Balkar with the outside world finds room—now on one side, now on the other— to creep along the base of the cliffs at the river's edge ; until at last, just when the careless observer would think it was hopelessly defeated, it crawls across the face of an overhanging bluflF by a gallery, partly cut into the rock, partly built out from it. We next wound over barren and disintegrated slopes, broken occasionally by stone-capped earth-pillars, similar to those we had seen before on the Ardon, in the Caucasus, and to the well-known examples in the Val d'Herens in Switzerland.
BALKAR A^'D BEZINGI 1()5 At last the clifliculties are left behind, the cliti's draw back in two arand curtains, and the cultivated basin of Balkar, studded with human habitations, opens in front. A castellated farm or fortress watches the exit from the defile. The lower —no slopes longer cliffs, for we have passed from the zone of limestone to the crystalline schists—are bright with corn; but not a tree is visible on the vast, monotonous green downs. The only incidents in the landscape are stone boundary-walls and stones in heaps or scattered. The heaps ai-e villages, the scattered blocks mark graveyards. The people of these villages belong to a race numbering in all about 13,000 souls. They describe themselves as Mountain Turks, and claim to be a branch of the tribe who conquei-ed Constantinople. In olden days they were ruled, in a more or less patriarchal manner, by chiefs whose authority was hereditary in the family and whose policy was directed by travelled Mollahs, who in their turn got their ideas from Stambnl or Mecca. Stam- bul was their world's centre ; thither went adventurous youths, in the hope of ending their lives as pashas, and occasionally adventurous young women, not averse to becoming pashas' wives. Now these avenues for ambition are closed ; orders have to be taken from Naltshik or Vladikavkaz, and the native appointed Star- shina by the Government may exercise authority over the old village chief. Their home-life and They occupations are little varied. are rich in flocks and herds, cultivate much barley and brew an abominable substitute for beer, which an infatuated German (Klaproth), famous for Ins inaccuracies, once described as equal to the best London stout ! One of their chief occupations is to collect brushwood for fuel, for which purpose they employ innumerable donkeys. They hire southerners, Mingrelians or Suanetians, who come in crowds across the glacier-passes to mow their hay-crop and for other labour, while they themselves enjoy sport and society after the manner of the country. Capital walkers, keen hunters, they are still keener conversationalists. Subjects for conversation being naturally limited, they make the most of what material they have. Their legends extend from Prometheus to
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1()4 THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS<br />
us forest trees clung to every available inch of ground ;<br />
looking<br />
upwards, the character of the defile was more savage. The foaming<br />
waters of the Cherek, crossed three times by bridges, filled the<br />
bottom of the trench, the sides of which were perpendicular walls,<br />
succeeded by shelves capped in their turn by a loftier tier of preci-<br />
pices. The path, a mere ladder of broken stones, brought us by<br />
a, rapid series of zig-zags to a<br />
UlE l.uUl.li III- THE CULKl.k<br />
most extraordinary spot, where<br />
the overhanging cliffs meet and<br />
form a natural bridge over the<br />
river, which can barely be seen<br />
at the bottom of its deep bed.<br />
Seen from this point, the toi'-<br />
rent to all appearance plunged<br />
directly into the heart of the<br />
mountains, and it was impossible<br />
to discover how it found a way<br />
out. The savage grandeur of<br />
the scenery here attained its<br />
height, and so far as my own<br />
and my companions' experience<br />
goes, there is no gorge in the<br />
Central Caucasus of equal gran-<br />
deur.<br />
Henceforth the cleverly con-<br />
trived rock-staircase which con-<br />
nects Balkar with the outside<br />
world finds room—now on one<br />
side, now on the other— to creep along the base of the cliffs at the<br />
river's edge ; until at last, just when the careless observer would<br />
think it was hopelessly defeated,<br />
it crawls across the face of an<br />
overhanging bluflF by a gallery, partly cut into the rock, partly built<br />
out from it. We next wound over barren and disintegrated slopes,<br />
broken occasionally by stone-capped earth-pillars, similar to those<br />
we had seen before on the Ardon, in the Caucasus, and to the<br />
well-known examples in the Val d'Herens in Switzerland.