Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/265

Rh CAUCASUS 253 the raountaiu cliain, begins in the neighbourhood of Anapa on the Black Sea, where it rises at first merely as a chain of hills of moderate height, but gradually assumes more and more of a mountain character, until the highest summits attain to an elevation of 9000 to 10,000 feet. It is not, however, till they approach the neighbourhood of Elbruz that they pass the limit of perpetual snow; but the central chain, from the 41st degree of longitude eastwards, is almost constantly covered with snow, and throughout the greater part of the year exhibits a lofty range of snow-clad peaks, that can find no parallel in Europe, except in the Alps. Throughout this western portion of the Caucasus, the central chain forms a very distinct line of watershed, at no great distance from the Black Sea, but gradually receding from it, and thus leaving a wider interval between its shores and the main ridge. Even at Sukhum Kaleh, however, in longitude 41, the central chain of the mountains is not more than 30 miles inland in a direct line as measured on the map. The whole of the intermediate space is filled up by the underfalls and subordinate ranges of mountains thrown out from the great chain, extending for the most part quite down to the sea, so as to constitute a coast line of a singularly rugged and inaccessible character. For a distance of nearly 200 miles from Novo Rossisk to Sukhum Kaleh there is nothing like a harbour, while the dense forests with which the mountains are still covered contribute to render the interior impassable. From the proximity of the central ridge to the sea, in this western portion of the Caucasus, it naturally follows that no rivers of any importance are to be found on the southern slope of the mountains, though it is furrowed by numerous mountain torrents, which add to the impracticable character of this part of the country. On the northern side, on the contrary, the mountains slope more gradually towards the plains of Russia, and here several considerable streams are found, all of which pour their waters into the Kuban, which itself takes its rise in the glaciers of Elbruz. Among the most considerable of these streams may be mentioned the Urup, the Laba, and the Bjelaia. 2. The great central mass of the Caucasus, extending from the neighbourhood of Elbruz to that of Kazbek, or from the source of the Kuban to the pass of Dariel, a distance of about 130 miles in a direct line, is at once the most important and interesting part of the whole chain, and is that which has of late years been the most fully explored It is here that are found all the most lofty summits of the whole range. Besides the four above mentioned, there are at least five other peaks in this part of the chain that attain to not less than 15,000 feet, viz., Gumaran Khokh and Adai Khokh, which, according to the Russian survey, measure respectively 15,672 and 15,244 feet in height, while three others, not found in the survey, are estimated by the practised English mountaineers as follows : Tungzorun, 15,000 feet; Tau Totonal or Tetnuld, 15,500; and Uschba (one of the most remarkable mountains in the whole of the Caucasus), not less than 16,500 feet. But it is not merely that isolated summits attain to these great altitudes, but the whole line of the watershed or central ridge, from a point south of Elbruz to the group of Adai Khokh, on the west of the Ardon valley, is an uninterrupted line, which nowhere sinks below 10,000 feet, and is traversed only by glacier passes, some of them extremely rugged and difficult, others comparatively easy, but still presenting an extent of snow and ice equal to that of the well-known pass of St Theodule in the Alps. There is here, therefore, an unbroken mass of glacier and perpetual snow of nearly 100 miles in length, or as far as from Mont Blanc to the St Gotthard. It nowhere, however, attains to any great width, nor do any of the glaciers that descend its flanks equal in extent the largest of those in the Alps. Eastward of the Adai Khokh group the ridge is intersected by the upper valley of the Ardon, but the range of snowy peaks is continued after this interruption by the lofty summits of Tau Tepli and Gumaran Khokh on to Kazbek, where the whole chain is deeply cut through by the gorge of Dariel, and the corresponding depression of the pass between Kobi and Mleti. But while the series of peaks just referred to may be considered as the continuation of the true axis of the chain, the watershed, which has for so long a space run nearly from W.N.W. to E.S.E., bends suddenly due south, and sinks to the comparatively low gap of the Mamisson Pass, which is about 9400 feet in height, and entirely free from glacier. After a few miles it resumes its former direction, but without recovering its elevation or grandeur, the peaks of this part of the chain rising only to 11,000 and 12,000 feet, while the passes which traverse it range from about 9000 feet to less than 8000 feet, the elevation of the Krestowaja Gora, where the watershed is traversed by the high road from Vladikafkaz to Tiflis. In this part of the chain, therefore, we have a watershed of com paratively small altitude, with a parallel range to the north of it of much more lofty mountains. The central mass, on the contrary, from Elbruz to Adai Khokh, presents a lofty medial range of granitic structure, on both sides of which, but especially on the south, rise secondary chains of lime stone mountains, preserving in a general way parallel courses with that of the main chain. Hence the upper valleys are troughs, bounded on both sides by lofty mountains, through which the upper waters of the streams that take their rise in the glaciers of the central chain are compelled to flow, until they make their escape by deep gorges cut through the lateral ranges. The most important of these parallel trough-like valleys is the upper valley of the Ingur, forming the district known as Suanetia, which is between 40 and 50 miles in length, and will thus bear comparison with the two great valleys of similar structure in the Alps, the Yalais and the Yalteline. It may naturally be expected that so great a mass of glaciers and perpetual snow should send forth a number of considerable streams, and in fact all the principal rivers of the Caucasus have their sources in the district now under consideration. Commencing with those on the south side of the chain, which flow towards the Black Sea, we find (1.) the Kodor, a considerable stream, which enters the sea about 12 miles south of Sukhum Kaleh ; (2.) the Ingur, a much more important river, which rises in the great glaciers of the Central Caucasus, near a place called Jibiani, and, after flowing for nearly 50 miles in a course parallel to the great chain (as already described) and receiving in its course the outflows of numerous other glaciers, turns abruptly to the south-west, and after pursuing that direction for above 60 miles, discharges its waters into the Black Sea at the little town of Anaklia; (3.) the Zenesquali, which rises in the mountains almost immediately east of the sources of the Ingur, and in like manner flows at first nearly due west, then turns towards the south-west and south, and joins the Rion about 30 miles above its mouth at Poti ; and (4.) the Rion itself, the most important of all the Caucasian rivers that flow into the Black Sea. The Rion has a very circuitous course, having its source at the foot of the mountain called Pasi Mta, very near the sources of the Zenesquali, and flowing at first in a south easterly direction, past the little town of Gebi, about 8 miles below which it receives an affluent from the Mamisson Pass towards the north-east ; it then turns about south-west till it has passed the village of Oni, after which it flows for a considerable distance (above 30 miles) nearly due west, through one of the parallel valleys above described, and then again turns due south until it has passed under the walls of Kutais, the capital of Imeritia, A few miles