THE EXPLORATION
OF
THE CAUC ASUS
BY
DOUGLAS W. FRESHFIELD
LATELY PRESIDENT OF THE ALPINE CLUB
FORMERLY HONORARY SECRETARY OF THE
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
VOLUME I
SECOND EDITION
LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
1902
IN . <...> MEMORIAM
W. F. D.
1888
Mens nive candidior, niviuin depingere sollers
Effigies vivas, sole juvante, manus:
Rupibus aeriis ingens ubi Caucasus horret,
Quam procul, heu patriâ, dulcis amice, jaces
Nulla suburbano posuit te pompa sepulcro,
Nec tibi snpremum vox pia dixit Ave.
Discretes cineres cingunt candentia mundi
Mœnia; custodes sidera sola loci:
Cornpuit gremio dignum Natura miniatrum;
Pro tumulo pictæ stant monimenta nives. <...> White soul, in lands of purer light
Who caught the secrets of the snow,
For you no priest performed the rite,
No hireling led the funeral show;
Lost on the far Caucasian height,
We know not how; we only know
The guardian stars their vigils keep,
The mountain walls their ward extend,
Where Nature holds in quiet sleep
Her own interpreter and friend. <...> It has been my object to make my chapters such a series
of sketches of the Central Caucasus, its scenery and its people,
as may stir pleasurable memories, or anticipations among
travellers, and also interest that great body of readers who love
mountains and like to hear about their exploration. <...> The
arrangement of the book is in the main topographical: that is to
say, I have abandoned chronological order and continuity in the
narrative of particular journeys in order to bring together the
facts concerning each district, or portion of the chain, into
single, or consecutive, chapters. <...> The method has its drawbacks;
but on the whole these have seemed to me in the present
instance to be more than counterbalanced by its advantages. <...> In the
body of the work I seem to myself to have given too much
space to my own doings. <...> In the
course of three journeys — in 1868 and again in 1887 and 1889
— it has been my good fortune <...>
The_exploration_of_the_Caucasus2_ed._Vol._1.pdf
THE EXPLORATION
OF
THE CAUCASUS
BY
DOUGLAS W. FRESHFIELD
LATELY PRESIDENT OF THE ALPINE CLUB
FORMERLY HONORARY SECRETARY OF THE
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
VOLUME I
SECOND EDITION
LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
1902
Стр.1
IN .MEMORIAM
W. F. D.
1888
Mens nive candidior, niviuin depingere sollers
Effigies vivas, sole juvante, manus:
Rupibus aeriis ingens ubi Caucasus horret,
Quam procul, heu patriâ, dulcis amice, jaces
Nulla suburbano posuit te pompa sepulcro,
Nec tibi snpremum vox pia dixit Ave.
Discretes cineres cingunt candentia mundi
Mœnia; custodes sidera sola loci:
Cornpuit gremio dignum Natura miniatrum;
Pro tumulo pictæ stant monimenta nives.
White soul, in lands of purer light
Who caught the secrets of the snow,
For you no priest performed the rite,
No hireling led the funeral show;
Lost on the far Caucasian height,
We know not how; we only know
The guardian stars their vigils keep,
The mountain walls their ward extend,
Where Nature holds in quiet sleep
Her own interpreter and friend.
D W. F.
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TO THE MEMORY OF
WILLIAM FREDERICK DONKIN
THESE VOLUMES ARE
INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHORS
Стр.3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION..................................2
CHAPTER I THE DISCOVERERS OF THE
CAUCASUS......................................................................4
CHAPTEE II THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
CAUCASUS....................................................................28
CHAPTER III CAUCASIAN HISTORY AND
TRAVEL..........................................................................60
CHAPTER IV CAUCASIAN HISTORY AND
TRAVEL..........................................................................81
CHAPTER V THE MAMISON PASS AND GEBI......105
CHAPTER VI THE ADAI KHOKH GROUP ..............126
CHAPTER VII THE VALLEY OF THE URUKH.......145
CHAPTER VIII BALKAR AND BEZINGI .................155
CHAPTEE IX THE PATHS TO SUANETIA...............177
CHAPTER X SUANETIA.............................................196
CHAPTER XI
TRAVEL
AND
MOUNTAINEERING IN SUANETIA (1868-8789)
..................................................................................225
CHAPTEE XII THE ASCENT OF TETNULD............254
1
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PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
IN these volumes I have endeavoured to bring together
much material previously scattered and difficult of access to the
public. It has been my object to make my chapters such a series
of sketches of the Central Caucasus, its scenery and its people,
as may stir pleasurable memories, or anticipations among
travellers, and also interest that great body of readers who love
mountains
and like to hear about
their exploration. The
arrangement of the book is in the main topographical: that is to
say, I have abandoned chronological order and continuity in the
narrative of particular journeys in order to bring together the
facts concerning each district, or portion of the chain, into
single, or consecutive, chapters. The method has its drawbacks;
but on the whole these have seemed to me in the present
instance to be more than counterbalanced by its advantages.
The record of adventure may be less vivid, but the pictures of
the country and its people should gain in definiteness, and it
ought to be easier to select characteristic facts from among
trivial details.
The Appendix records every New Expedition which
had come to my knowledge at the date of its compilation. In the
body of the work I seem to myself to have given too much
space to my own doings. If I have erred in this direction, it has
been partly in order to preserve some literary unity, partly
because I have travelled in the country more widely and at
longer intervals of time than most of my countrymen. In the
course of three journeys — in 1868 and again in 1887 and 1889
— it has been my good fortune to traverse the main chain of the
Caucasus eleven times by eight different passes, and to cross in
and out of Suanetia eight times by seven different routes. I have
taken part in the first ascents of three of the great peaks, Elbruz,
Kasbek, and Tetnuld, and of several lesser summits, as well as
in many other glacier expeditions of greater difficulty than any
of these ascents. My travels have led me, I believe, into almost
every considerable glen at the foot of the main chain between
Elbruz and Adai Khokh, and I have penetrated the pathless
2
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