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THE DISCOVERERS OF THE CAUCASUS 17
from the Jiper Pass, to the Darial Road, not less than 625 square
miles.
This unconscious propagation of error shows no sign of coming to
an end. In vain, it would seem, have I been engaged for years iu
settincf out, to the best of mv abilitv, in the Alpine
Journal and
the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, the physical
facts ascertained by my friends and myself, or by the labour of the
officers employed under General Shdanov while putting together
the material for a new map. In vain has M. Mikhailovsky, in the
Proceedings of the Moscow Naturalists' Society, recently taken up
the same task with great care and industry, if with some lack of
local experience.^ "We find a new, and in many respects excellent
guide and road-book to the Caucasus, issued in 1894 at Paris,
reproducing from Eeclus old scraps of the five-verst map, and
particularly those parts of which M. de Dechy and I had years before
most clearl}^ demonstrated the entire inaccuracy ! The author,
M. Mourier, is consistent, for he liorrows also from Pieclus's
Geographic the passage I have already quoted with regard to
tiie formation of the chain and the extent of its neves.
The repetition of errors, although for the purpose of correction,
is an ungrateful task. To the minor writers already referred to
in general terms, I have purposely paid no attention : acting on
the principle corruptio optimi pessima, I have dealt only with
authors of eminence and deserved authority. Enotigh jjrobably
has been said to convince my readers that an accurate account of
the peaks, passes, and glaciers of the Central Caucasus is called
for, and that, if I correct some previous authors, I do so with
good reason. Amongst my corrections will be several of errors
into which I have myself fallen. The evolution of Caucasian
orography has necessarily been gradual ; and it is still in progress.
My successors will doubtless find many facts to add to those brought
forwai'd in these volumes, and not a few mistakes to put right both
in my text and map.
' See Alpine Journal, vol. ix. p. 182 ; xi. p. 471 ; xii. p. 320 ;
.\iii. pp. 353, -lOO ; xiv.
pp. 1, 314, 436. ProceaUnys of the Royal Geographical Society (N. S.), vol. x. pp. 325, 677 ;
xi. p. 351 ; xii. p. 257 ; xiv. p. 100. Bulletin de la S. I. des Xaturalistes de Moscou, 1894.
VOL. I.
B