Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-01-03
THE RUSSIAN TYROL.
Riding ut Break-Neck Speed Over the
Passea of tho Caucanus.

Caucasus, the bloody road Of the debuts
OF the conquest Night falls suddenly,
augmented by storm which opens upon
us the sluices of heaven. A vail Of fog
fills space, but our ride in the mountain
becomes all the more fantastic on that
account At full speed we rush along
the unsafe road, across swollen cascades
which the horses jump bravely. Sheets
Of mist float over our heads; from time
to time through rent in them, we per-
ceive the black bar of the overhanging
walls OF rock At our feet the Terek
roars. Sudden apparitions stretch out
their arms in the fog; these are oak
trees or poplars. Ny Cossack puts his
bugle to his lips and blows a blast that
the echoes repeat. ! now understand
the use OF his instrument. Itwarns the
carriages that are coming at full speed
in the opposite direction around the
sharp bends, and it makes those which
we pass clear the way. At the sound OF
this trumpet of doom, terrified phan-
toms flee before us-Teherkess horse
men OF spectral mien, clad in bdchIik or
6ourkd;: herds of horses that are return
ing to the plain; heavy 0ssete carts,
with whole Mussulman families con-
cealed beneath their canvass awnings.
We still mount higher and higher; the
darkness grows thicker and thicker in
this sort of funnel, as it were the walls
of well, and meetings become more
rare. Below us the torrents roar deep
ly; on the peaks the snow presents con-
fused white masses; torrents and snow
reverberate a dilfused brightness; you
feel that there is pale fragment Of
moon somewhere behind the clouds. At
the post stations where we stop to
change horses two sounds alone trouble
the majestic silence-the rush OF water,
and the wind that roars through the
gorges-"the Russian wind, come from
the steppe, folding its cold wings" as
Lermontot says. We cross precipices
at gallop over frail little bridges. The
air becomes singing, sharpened by the
cold of the neighboring SHOWS. The
storm increases in violence, and obliges
us to halt at the inn at the Kazbek Pass,
and wait there until dawn.
Day breaks in bright clear sky
cleared by yesterdays rains. 1t seems
If one could stretch out ones hand
and touch the first glaciers Of the Kaz.
bek, that giant of the Caucasus, which
lifts its bald head more than $1,000 feet
high.
AS we advance along the road cut
across an amphitheater with walls Of
granite and basalt, notice several Of
these half-ruined villages dominated by
a square tower. Here was the refuge Of
a small Christian feudalism which
throughout the Middle Ages defended
itself in these haunts against Mussul
man invaders and against the Persian'
who were masters of the southern val
leys The descendants Of these Georgian
clans till the poor mountain fields with
primitive pillow. They dwell in hut'
builtof stones without mortar or plas
ter, and so low that they can hardly BE-
distinguished from the rocks with which
their brown color confounds them. 4
miserable race which has been hunted
down for centuries, now by the enemy
from the south, and now by the enemy
from the north, and which hides it
dens with the instructive ruse of thu
wild beasts We round the foot of tn,
Baidar, and every vestige of human lif'
disappears; the first rays of an invisible
sun fix little pale gold on the SUNNI
of the walls of ice. Before reaching tn,
Goudaour Pass, 74O0 feet, the roat
plunges into a trench cut right through
the snow; the eye sees nothing beneath
thu heavens but this white shee
stretched from one peak to the other.
While we are changing horses at tn
, Goudaour station, dip on my right an,
on my left in the two rivulets tina
trickle from the partially congeale
snow. The first will join the Terek an
water our Europe; the second will go
form the Aragva, which runs in the va
leys Of Asia which we see spread out be
fore our eyes Another step and we ar
in new world. From this point the dc
scent begins; at the commencement it
: very steep; the road goes down in il
Vulnerable zigzags, and yet our littl
horses rush forward with the swiftnes
o of whirlwind., How we reach the bO
tom without breaking our bones hui
dred times is the concern of Allah, til
God of this side of the mountainc, tn
r God of the fatalists n .t.-s.
The deserted monasteries and the di
mantled castle of Mtzchet are reflecte
in the waters of Koura which carries il
4 tumultuous waters to the Caspian, alon
!. the great central valley between tn
!, Caucasus and the Anti-Caucasus. TIL
1 road opens out into this valley and turf
;. westward, and soon we perceive til
e houses of Tifiis, clinging to the sides
S the hills on both banks Of the Koura.-
:. Vicomte Eugene Melchior de Vogue,
Harper's Magazine.
For the benefit OF English visito
the Paris Scion catalogue this YET
f. translations of the names of the FrenC
d pictures, ami very curious are some
y the results. For instance the hare al
tortoise fable is labeled, THE Hare ar
l the Turtle;" for the fitting of lances a
% pears "Tilding of Lances;" craft goiI
If to sea is rendered THE Disappears
, Boat" "An Aim" is placed beneath a