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50 THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS trunks which fall everywhei'e, and slowly get buried after having yielded life to innumerable epiphytes, large and small, ferns, mosses, lichens and fungi. Something quite analogous to this burying of dead trees in the forest goes on in the mountain meadows, w^here the masses of giant plants, left to themselves and seldom ti'ampled by herds, droop in the fall of the year and give back to the ground the elements of their future renewal. ' No matter how rich a soil may be, however, it can never lengthen the stem of a cornflower, a poppy, or a tulip, beyond a certain limit. Something more is needed to exjslain the exti'aordinaiy height of these monkshoods, cephalaria, mulgedia, and groundsels of the Caucasus, among which men on horseback might play at hide and seek without stooping, as among the cardoons [Cynara cardunculus) of La Plata. These gigantic dimensions date neither from yesterday nor from a thousand years ago, but are a legacy, an inheritance, of still earlier times. We are really dealing with survivals of the giant flora of past ages, of which a certain number of characteristic species have been preserved, owing to specially favourable conditions of soil and climate. These ancients of the Earth— if the expression may be — pei-raitted are the true indigenes, and determine the chai-acter of the accidental intruders who have come amongst them. It would make a most attrac- tive subject for research to determine exactly the number of these veterans and their mode of association, to study them from one end of the chain to the other, and to distinguish what are the essential and what the accidental elements of the The great screen of forests, spread along the outer northern flank of the chain, has been less frequently described. The steppe, except in the sunk river-beds or round the villages, is treeless ; but no sooner does the ground begin to rise than wild fruit- trees appear, soon to be succeeded by dense groves of beeches. Azalea and rhododendron— the common lilac vai'iety {iwnticxmi) — flourish under their shade. The glades are bright in summer with millions of golden flowers, probably the Telekia speciosa, which the ordinary traveller may easily mistake, as I did at
THE CHArxACTERTSTICS ()F THE CAFCASUS 51 first, for wild suntlowers. In old days these woods were deliatable ground, and they long served as one of the chief protections of the mountain tribes. The Turkish tribes on the Cherek and and Baksan held the fastnesses in their rear. North of Chegem them, on the edge of the plain, lay the Cossack sttmitzas. On their skirts hung the bands of robbers, led by Jighits or liraves. The word survives. I was myself once saluted as a Jiyhit on the crest of the Caucasus by some grateful Turks wluiui I had relieved of the labour of step-making in soft snow. A characteristic saying of Schamyl's has been reported : — ' Would that I could anoint the forests of the Caucasus with holy oil and pour libations of honev on its mud and mire, lor these are the best protectors of its independence.' But even before Russian times the forests had served as a barrier. Tlie Turks or Tartars who live behind them have little connection with the Kabardans of the outer hills. They were driven into the mountains by the latter. The Turkish highlanders are broad, big men: the chief of Bezingi stands 6 feet 3 inches at least: the Kabardan is of a diffei-ent build, slighter and darker, keener-look- ing, but sometimes efieminate. The Urusbieh princes are of mixed blood, and arguments based on their appearance or manners might be misleading. The forests extend to the upper end of the limestone gorges. Above them the crystalline schists are bare. Every beam the house-builders of Bezingfi and Balkar use must be drawijed a journey of several hours. The shepherd's fires are fed on the twigs and roots of the Rhododendron caucasicwn, and in consequence the plant has in places become almost extinct. To this barrenness of the upper northern glens, however, there are exceptions. The head-waters of the Baksan and the Urukh, the Bashil valley, and some of the side glens of the Ardon, possess fir and pine woods. Nothing is moi-e striking in the Central Caucasus than the suddenness of the change from woodland to barren scenery. The natural causes in soil and climate of such changes are extremely obsciu-e, and human agency and the ravages of herds further complicate the considerations that have to be
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THE CHArxACTERTSTICS ()F THE CAFCASUS 51<br />
first, for wild suntlowers. In old days these woods were deliatable<br />
ground, and they long served as one of the chief protections of<br />
the mountain tribes. The Turkish tribes on the Cherek and<br />
and Baksan held the fastnesses in their rear. North of<br />
Chegem<br />
them, on the edge of the plain, lay the Cossack sttmitzas. On<br />
their skirts hung the bands of robbers, led by Jighits or liraves.<br />
The word survives. I was myself once saluted as a Jiyhit on the<br />
crest of the Caucasus by some grateful Turks wluiui I had relieved<br />
of the labour of step-making in soft snow.<br />
A characteristic saying of Schamyl's has been reported : —<br />
'<br />
Would that I could anoint the forests of the Caucasus with holy<br />
oil and pour libations of honev on its mud and mire, lor these<br />
are the best protectors of its independence.' But even before<br />
Russian times the forests had served as a barrier. Tlie Turks<br />
or Tartars who live behind them have little connection with<br />
the Kabardans of the outer hills. They<br />
were driven into the<br />
mountains by the latter. The Turkish highlanders are broad, big<br />
men: the chief of Bezingi stands 6 feet 3 inches at least: the<br />
Kabardan is of a diffei-ent build, slighter and darker, keener-look-<br />
ing, but sometimes efieminate. The Urusbieh princes are of mixed<br />
blood, and arguments based on their appearance or manners might<br />
be misleading.<br />
The forests extend to the upper end of the limestone gorges.<br />
Above them the crystalline schists are bare. Every beam the<br />
house-builders of Bezingfi and Balkar use must be drawijed a<br />
journey of several hours. The shepherd's<br />
fires are fed on the<br />
twigs and roots of the Rhododendron caucasicwn, and in consequence<br />
the plant has in places become almost extinct.<br />
To this barrenness of the upper northern glens, however,<br />
there are exceptions. The head-waters of the Baksan and the<br />
Urukh, the Bashil valley, and some of the side glens of the Ardon,<br />
possess fir and pine woods. Nothing is moi-e striking<br />
in the Central<br />
Caucasus than the suddenness of the change from woodland to<br />
barren scenery. The natural causes in soil and climate of such<br />
changes are extremely obsciu-e, and human agency and the ravages<br />
of herds further complicate the considerations that have to be
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