Untitled

the (lid
TiiK i)isc()vi:i;i:i;s or tiik Caucasus 19
jiass near the snuree nt" the Itidii, N'isitcd the lun'thern
glaciers of the Central Grou|i and the western Hanks of Elhruz.
and descended to the Black Sea over the Nakhar Pass, and
throtio-h the forest -wilderness of the Kodor, where they all had
the misfortune to catch the fever of the country.
Wars and rumours of war intervened, and it was not for some
years that English mountaineers again
looked eastwards to the
contines of Europe and the summits of the Caucasus.
Meantime M. d(> Dt^chy, a Htmgarian gentleman, took uji the
task of exploration. In 1884, 1885, and 188G, he made three
extensive journeys in the range.
In 1884, accompanied hy two
Swiss guides, one of them the well-known Alexander Burgener of
Saas, he climhed Elhru/; and a Hue peak near the Mamison Pass.
In the cotu'se of his wanderings he made tlie Hrst passage by
travellers of several native glacier passes and collected a consider-
able amount of scientific information with regard to the glaciers and
tlie snow region. He also took a very large number of most valuable
photographs of the scenery and people, thus making himself the
pioneer in Caucasian I photography. am indebted to him for some
of the most interesting illustrations in these volumes.
In 188G Mr. Clinton Dent and Mr. W. F. Donkin, with
Burgener and Basil Andenmatten, made a rapid onslaught on the
snows from the northern side, and, following Mr. Grove's suggestion,
climbed one of the peaks of the Central Group, named
Gestola, 15,932 feet in height.'
In 1887 M. de Dechy joined company with me for a sliort
journey. 1 had witli me Francois Devouassoud and two of his
relatives, Chamonix guides. We crossed together two high passes
over the main Suanetian chain, and 1 climbed several summits,
amongst them Tetnuld (15,918 feet), the beautiful peak which
lifts its silver horn above the forest glades of Stianetia.-
The year 1888 was marked by great mountaineering activity
and success, and by a inost lamentable catastrophe. The late Mr.
'
Alpine Journal, vol. xiii. pp. 220 and 242. Mr. Dent, mistakenly, at first called tlie peak
lie climbed Tetnuld.
-
Froceedinijs of the Royal Geographical tSociety, Kew Series, vol. x. pp. 325 and G77.