Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2008 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation Iittp://www.arcliive.org/details/explorationofcau02fresuoft THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS VOLUME II e J Eh til THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS BY DOUGLAS W. FRESHFIELD LATELY PRESIDENT OF THE ALPINE CLUB FORMERLY HONORARY SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY VOLUME II SECOND EDITION LONDON EDWARD ARNOLD 1902 AH rights reserved EDiNBrRnii : rRiNTF.n nv t. and a. constahlk TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTKR XIII. PACK THE ZANNER PASS AND UKIU, 1 CHAPTER XIV MOUNTAINEERING IN 1888, 21 DYKHTAU AND KATUINTAU, hy H. W. HOLDER. CHArTER XV. MOUNTAINEERING IN 1888: Continued, 38 SHKARA, JANGA, AND USHBA, hy J. G. COGKIN. CHAPTER XVI. SEARCH AND TRAVEL IN 1889, 59 CHAPTER XVII. THE ASCENT OF KOSHTANTAU, 93 By HERMANN WOOLLEY. CHAPTER XVIII. CHEGEM, 115 CHAPTER XIX. THE PASSES OF THE BAKSAN, 133 CHAPTER XX. URUSBIEH AND ELBRUZ, 149 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER XXI. PAGE THE SOURCES OF THE KUBAN, 174 B.V MAUliWE DE DECHY. CHAPTER XXir. THE SOLITUDE OF ABKHASIA, 191 APPENDICES A. THE PHYSICAL HISTOKY OF THE CAUCASUS, .... 223 Rij PROFESSOR T. d. BOyXEY, n.Sc, LL.D., FJi.S. B. TOPOGIiAPHICAL AND TKAVELLKKS' NOTES AND CLIMBERS' RECORD, 233 C. TABLE OF MEAN TEMPERATURES AND RAINFALLS, . 277 D. HEIGHTS OF THE LOWER TERMINATIONS OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL CAUCASIAN C4LACIERS, .... 284 E. NOTES ON THE M.M'S .\NI) ILLUSTRATIONS, .... 287 F. A SHOHT LIST OF I!OOKS RECOMMENDED TO THOSE INTERESTED IN THE CENTRAL CAUCASUS, . .289 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT SUBJECT OF ILLUSTRATION Photographed by rage Tetnuld from the North, W. F. Donkin Frontispiece The Sources uf tlie Bezingi Glacier, V. Sella 7 The Zanner Passes, W. F. Donkin 10 View from Camp looking up Bezingi Glacier, U. do Duchy 13 The Chief of Bezingi and his Friends, W. F. Donkin 14 The Bezingi Defile, V. Sella 25 The Missess Kosli, H. Woolley 27 Looking down the Bezingi Glacier, V. Sella 47 Ulliiauz Bashi from the Ulluauz Glacie )» 64 Giulchi, 5) 69 Mingrelian Haycutters on the March, )l 70 The Milkman, Karaul, . 1) 72 . 84 Looking East from above Karaul, )J The Mishirgi Glacier and Ukiu, W. F. Donkin 89 The North Face of Mishirgitau, M. de Dcchy 91 The Fytnargyn Glacier, . V. Sella 95 Nuamkuam from the Dykhsu Glacier, H. Woolley 97 Koshtantau and Khrumkol Glacier, )» 99 The Range above the Mishirgi Glacier, with Shkn a Ix-y ontl V. Sella 105 The Shaurtu Glacier and Salynan Pass, M. de Dechy 122 On the Tuiber Pass, j» 134 The Dongusorun Pass, . V. Sella 136 140 Mazeri, )> The Dadish Kilian's Castle, Mazeri : Exterior, ., 141 The Dadish Kilian's Castle, Mazeri : Inner Courr ») 141 Porters on the March, . W. F. Donkin 143 145 View from the Mestia Pass, . M. de D^chy Urusbieh, V. Sella 152 The Ladies of Urusbieh, H. Woolley 154 Mountains South of Urusbieh, )) 155 The Terskol Glen, .... V. Sella 157 Dongusorun from the Bivouac, ,, 158 159 The Terskol Glacier : Ice and Lava, ., ' The Grand Plateau ' of Elbruz, . »» 161 Glaciers West of the Klukhor Pass, S. Sommier 176 177 Ice-Lake near the Klukhor Pass, . M. de Dechy VI] 1 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT UB.IECT OF ILLUSTRATION, Photograplied by Page From the Klukhor Pass : The Asian Side, S. Sommier 179 Elbruz from the West, M. de Dechy 181 Prince Bekerby Dadish Kilian, V. Sella 192 Pari, „ 193 Camp after a Storm, „ 196 Shtavler, „ 197 Caucasian Goats, „ 199 The Mountains of the Kodor from above the Dongusorun Pass, . „ 203 Suanetians, ............ „ 209 A Camp at a Kosh, M. de Diichy 222 A^IGNETTES CHAP. XIII. Suanetian Porters. XVIII. A Northern Valley. XIV. A Halt in the Forest. XIX. Cattle crossing the Tuiber Pass. XV. A Caucasian Crest. XX. A Bridge on the Baksan. XVI. The UUuauz Pass and Koshtantau. XXI. Elbruz from the Karatshai District. XVII. On the Heii:hts. XXII. In the Forest. The vignette to Chapter XVI. is from a photograiih by Mr. H. Woolley, that to Chaj)tcr XXJ. from one by M. de Dechy. The remainder are all from photographs by Signor V. <S'c(Za. MAPS Map iif the Klukhor Group, To face page 190 Geological Map of the Central Caucasus, „ 232 Map of the Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers of the Central Caucasus, At end. ; CHAPTER XIII THE ZANNER PASS AND UKIU ' Nihil liio auribus iiiolestum esse potest, nihil iinportunum, nulli tumultus ant strepitus urli;ini, millae hominuin rixae. Hie in prufiimlo et religioso niiodam silentio ex prai'altis montium jiigis ipsam fere caelestium, si quae est, orbium harmoniain exaudire tibi videberis.' — C. OESNER, A.D. 1555. FOUND our second night under the boulder beside the Nageb Glacier less comfort- able than the first. The un- certainty as to the morrow and the whereabouts of our comrades, perhaps, interfered somewhat with my slumbers but there was also a physical cause — a cold breeze which poured down from the frozen lieights, and found its way into the cranny where we were lodged. In place of star - gazing overnight I ought to have insisted on the guides building a low wall to windward. We breakfasted sparely, for we felt bound to husband our provisions, and at about 5 a.m. we set off. There was an hour's descent to the junction of the two glaciers. AU the water run- ning on the surface of the ice had frozen hard in the night. To keep a footing on the slippery surface we found almost impossible. One after the other we were on our backs, and our stiffness from the long snow-tramp of the day before was soon supplemented by various bruises. However, we were none of us much the worse for our tumbles when we reached the rank herbage on the right bank of the Zanner ice-fall. There was no VOL. II. A 2 THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS trace of a path among the steep screes and bushes. But it was not many minutes before Francois's keen eye detected footmarks. Our doubts were thus happily set at rest. M. de Dechy and the Cossack had succeeded in starting with the troop of porters, and the caravan must be ahead of us somewhere on the upper glacier. Devouassoud, who up to this time had had serious misgivings as to our baggage-train being really on the road, was now content, and sagaciously suggested that we need not hurry to overtake it, as we had well deserved to have our steps made for txs across the snow- fields. The Chamoniards were all heavily laden, and even at home guides called on to act as porters across the Col du G^ant the day after climbing Mont Blanc might be excused for feeling somewhat slack. Franjois, it must be remembered, was no longer young, and his brother Michel was beginning to suffer—though he stoically concealed his wounds till the following night—from a frost-bitten foot. It was an hour's steep climb beside the ice -fall up to the brow overlooking the Eismeer of the Lower Zanner Glacier. Here, at 8500 feet, on a patch of level ground, we found the relics of M. de Ddchy's camp. A large boulder had accidentally masked the fire from our view. A few downward steps placed us on the ice we were not to leave for so many hours. But for the moment we were very much inspirited. The morning sunshine danced through the delicate moimtain air. On either hand the pyramids of Tetnuld and Gestola crowned a noble avenue of snowy heights. Mr. Donkin's camera has recorded the fleeting vision of the northern face of Tetnuld he gained on reaching the shoulder of Gestola. This aspect was now before us, foreshortened at first, but displaying as we advanced its full seven thousand feet of icy armour. Hardly any rocks appeared, and what could be seen were plastered over with the debris of ice -aval- anches. Here the glistening slopes swelled into an overhanging boss of neve; there smooth, riven sheets of snow clung to the wonderfully steep face of the mountain. Tt was a peak to be proud of. The glacier, which flowed at first towards us with a south- THE ZANNER PASS AND UKIU 3 westerly direction, turned in its u[)per course more due east and west. Far ahead, a broad high ice-fall poured down on the left from an upper basin, over which, as we knew, both by the position of Gestola and the view from Tetnuld, our pass must He. For an hoiu' or more I thoroughly enjoyed one of those bits of easy glacier walking, which are as amusing to the mountaineer as a cross-country burst is to the fox-hunter. Each takes his own luie ; now the guide in the hollow gets the lead, then he is stopped by some ice-ditches, and his comrade on the moraine forges ahead. One can practise small jumps and gymnastics, or, successful in some 'speculation'—as Francois disapprovingly calls my short cuts— sit down comfortably on a glacier-table and rejoice in the s^slendour of the shining landscape until the guides, made more cautious by their loads, come up. On reaching the foot of the second ice-fall, we cut a few steps in its lower portion, and then took to the rocks on its right (western) bank. There was no way up them except by crossing slopes of very steep and hard screes, where it was not expedient to slip. Near the top, solid crags offered a welcome scramble. There were as yet no traces whatever of our caravan's passage, and I was beginning to feel j^erplexed when a shout from Joseph, who was ahead, told the good news that it was sighted.