Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/266

254 CAUCASUS below that town it emerges from the hills into the broad and level valley that separates the underfalls of the Caucasus from the ranges to the south. It here receives a tributary called the Quirilha, which brings down the waters from the Suram range (the transverse ridge that unites the Caucasus with the mountains of Armenia), and then again turning to the west, pursues a winding course, but retaining the same general direction, till it enters the Black Sea at Poti, about 50 miles in a direct line from its junction with the Quirilha. The Rion is in the lower part of its course a deep and rapid stream, and is navigable for steamers as high as Orpiri, where it receives the Zenesquali, but unfortunately a shallow bar at its mouth prevents the entrance of large steamers from the sea. It is the river so well known in ancient times under the name of Phasis, and connected by Greek legends with Medea and the voyage of the Argonauts. All the streams that take their rise on the southern side of the Central Caucasus, east of the Mamisson Pass, are tributaries of the Kur, and discharge their waters into that river, which itself, however, does not derive its origin from the Caucasus, but flows from the mountains of Armenia, and receives its first Caucasian affluent, the Lachwa, at the town of Gori. The most important of these tributaries is the Aragwa, which has a course almost due north and south, from its source above Mleti to its junction with the Kur at Mscheti. It is up the valley of this river that is carried the highroad from Tiflis to Vladikafkaz, which turns off at Mleti to cross the pass of the Krestowaja Gora, and from the natural facilities afforded by this line of route, it has been from the earliest ages frequented for the same purpose. The rivers that flow from the Central Caucasus north wards have much longer courses than those on the south side, both from the more gentle slope of the mountains in that direction, and from the extent of the steppes beyond, through which they have afterwards to find their way to the sea. By far the most important of these rivers are the Kuban and the Terek, which receive as tributaries all the minor streams. Of these the Kuban takes its rise in a glacier at the foot of Mount Elbruz, immediately below the watershed of the main chain. It flows at first in a northerly direction, and preserves this course till it has altogether quitted the mountains, and entered the steppe of the Nogai Tartars, when it trends first towards the north-west and then abruptly towards the west, which general direction it pursues till it enters the Sea of Azoff by one mouth and the Black Sea by another. Its whole course is estimated at above 400 miles. During the latter part of its course, from east to west, it receives the waters of all the smaller streams that descend the northern slopes of the Western Caucasus. The Terek has its source in the central chain, where it issues from a small glacier at the foot of Zilga Khokh, its head waters being separated from those of the Ardon only by a pass of moderate elevation. Its upper valley, like so many others, has a direction parallel to the main range, so that it is compelled to flow towards the south-east as far as the village of Kobi, where it turns to the north-east, which direction it holds to the village of Kazbek, and from thence pursues a course almost due north, traversing the famous ravine or gorge of Dariel, until it Imally issues from the mountains at Vladikafkaz. From thence it takes a north-westerly direction, which it follows for a distance of more than 70 miles, receiving on its way numerous affluents, the last of which is the Malka, after its junction with which, near the town of Jekaterinograd, it turns abruptly to the east and pursues its course in that direction through a tract of steppes and marshes for 200 miles to its mouth in the Caspian Sea. All the mountain streams that flow northwards from the great glaciers of the central chain, between the Kuban and the Terek, discharge their waters into the latter river. The most important of these are (proceeding from west to east) the Malka, the Baksan, the Tchegen, the Tcherek, the Uruch, and the Ardon, all of them large and rapid streams, which flow through deep valleys in a generally northerly direction, until they emerge from the mountains, and successively unite their waters with those of the Terek. The Kuma alone pursues an independent course through the steppes to the north of the Terek, but this stream does not rise in the central chain of the Caucasus, but has its sources in the detached and outlying group of mountains near Pjatigorsk the highest summit of which, the Beschtau, does not attain to a height of more than 4600 feet. Hence its waters, not being fed by perennial snows, are absorbed in the sands of the steppe before they reach the Caspian. 3. The Eastern Caucasus may be considered as com- Eastern, prising the whole of the main chain from the Pass of Dariel to the Caspian, together with its various ramifications, which are considerably more extensive than in the other portions of the range. It is at once the most complicated and the least known part of the whole, the highest portions not having yet been explored by any of those adventurous travellers who have added so much to our knowledge of the Central Caucasus. But it is certain that, while none of the summits in this part of the range equal those further west the highest of them not attaining to 15,000 feet there is nevertheless a long succession of snowy peaks, rising to a height of from 10,000 to 14,000 feet, which extends from the Pass of Dariel as far as Baba Dagh, in 48 E. long.. the last of these Jofty summits proceeding eastwards towards the Caspian. At the same time there is no great connected mass of glacier similar to that found in the Central Caucasus ; indeed no considerable glaciers exist in this part of the range at all. The watershed is, however, continued at a high elevation (after passing the depression traversed by the pass of the Krestowaja Gora) as far as Mount Schebulos, from whence it sends out a considerable branch towards the north-east, known as the Andi Moun tains, from the village and valley of that name, which forms the northern boundary of Daghestan, and separates it from Tschechnia, or the country of the Tchetchens. The main range retains its general direction with little variation, from about north-west to south-east, and still presents many peaks of considerable elevation, the highest summits being Sari Dagh at the head of the River Samur, which attains to 12jOOO feet, and Schach Dagh (called also Bazardjusi) which rises to 13,950 feet. The last of these lofty peaks is Baba Dagh (11,934 feet), from which the main chain descends gradually as it approaches the Caspian, and sinks into hills of moderate elevation before reaching the shores of that sea at Baku. The Peninsula of Apsheron, which here forms a promontory projecting into the Caspian, may be considered as forming the last faint prolongation of the Caucasian chain. But while the axis forming the main watershed of the range thus preserves a pretty regular course, it throws off towards the north and north-east a number of offshoots, filling up the greater part of the space between the main range and the Caspian. It is here that is formed the remarkable country known as Daghestan, which is in fact a great mountain plateau, sloping gently towards the Caspian at an elevation of not "less than 7000 to 8000 feet, furrowed by deep valleys or ravines, cut by the streams that descend from the central range. It was this peculiar conformation of the tract in question that so long enabled the mountain tribes of this part of the Caucasus to defy the arms of Russia. Gunib, the last stronghold of Schamyl, is a

mountain that rises to 7742 feet, with precipitous sides;