Untitled

THE DlSCUVEllEUS OF THE CAUCASUS 9
once undertook to prove to me that there are no glaciers at all
in the Himalaya. In the Caucasus there have heen of late
years not a few such
'
specialists,' and their contributions to
Caucasian literature have been considerable. They make the
most of theli- own expeditions — generally failures— above the
snow-level. Those who are more successful they describe as
'
mere tourists.' They see very little and what ; they do see is
frequently out of focus. Their ignorance of movmtain phenomena
and the terms properly applicable to them often renders their
narratives misleading. They constantly boast that their facts
and descriptions are 'scientific,' forgetting that a statement whicli
is neither accurate nor intelligible cannot be made scientific by
any
initials attached to the name of its author.
who misuse the name of Science !
Enough of these pretenders
I have dealt with some of them individually elsewhei-e. I need
not waste my readers' time by pursuing in detail their divagations.
The only errors T shall correct here are those into which
serious students and writers of authority have been led in past
years by the impei'fect material at their disposal and the partial
character of the exploration of the snowy chain. Let us turn
back to some of the statements found in works of authority
current at the date of my first journey. The 1860 edition
of Keitli Johnston's Dictionary of Geography contained these
very remarkable assertions, the first of which was repeated in
1877 :—
'The mountains of the Caucasus are eitlier Hat or cup-shaped; the
existence of glaciers is uncertain.'
The doubt as to glaciers was shared by Agassiz. The erroneous
information as to tlie main features of the geological structure of
the mountains given by Kupffer in 1830 was still current in 1868,
and Sir Roderick Murchison was eager for information on this point.
The existence of erratic blocks had been denied by Abich and his
;
assertion, after he had corrected it himself, was repeated by Tchiliat-
chefF, a Russian traveller of considerable reputation. There was
similar uncertainty as to the existence of mountain lakes or tarns,