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TRAVEL AND MOUNTAINEERING IN SUANETIA 239
There is nothing in the Alps to compare to the view from the
ridge above Adish ; on one side Shkara and Janga, on the other
the ideal glacier, that wonderful ice-fall which pours down in one
unbroken cataract from under the white pyramid of Tetnuld, a
mountain as high as Mont Blanc and as graceful as the Weisshorn.
And as a background to this magnificence there is a wide western
view over leagues of rolling hills and delicately curved spurs,
where, ringed in by peaks too numerous to be named, Ushba and
the Laila first catch the eye, the leaders of a host once strange
and indistinguishable, now shapes and names familiar to many of
our countrymen.
The Italian side of Monte Rosa is cut up into sections by the
high lateral ridges that divide the valleys and abut against it.
The southern faces of Shkara, Janga, and Tetnuld are only separated
by such low banks as the Col de la Seigne, and from any eminence
they come into view together.
No doubt the asjDects of nature viewed by the pi'isoner between
high mountain walls are often extremely impressive. But most
of us, I think, in the long-run prefer the broader landscapes, which
admit all the infinite variety
of light and shadow, of atmosphere
and distance. Space, light and shadow are the characteristics of
Suanetia. Its scenery has no pai-allel in the Alps, or elsewhere in
the Caucasus. The traveller feels his senses inadequate ; he longs
for a memory to carry away more of the beauty that is set before
him in such profusion.
I have been tempted for convenience of contrast to throw
together my two visits to Ushkul. The rest of my Suanetian
experiences I shall deal with in chronological order. In 1868,
after escaping from our barn, we were led by a native, who must
have had an exceptional number of vendettas on hand, by a curiously
circuitous path as far as Latal. In place of following the direct
track down the main stream of the Ingur, or crossing into the basin
of the Mujalaliz, we were taken up the glen of Kalde, not, however,
by the proper path, for the villagers of Iprari were among our
horseman's numerous enemies. Perhaps we did well to avoid them,
for they were the men who treacherously slew two Russian officers