the Baba-dagh in 48° 25′ E., a distance of 230 m., the Caucasus attains its greatest breadth. For the whole of that distance the main range keeps at an average elevation of 10,000 ft., though the peaks in many instances tower up 2000 to nearly 5000 ft. higher, the altitudes increasing towards the east. As the main range approaches the Caspian its granite core gradually disappears, giving place to Palaeozoic schists, which spread down both the northern and the southern slopes. The glaciers too decrease in the same proportion both in magnitude and in extent. Here the principal peaks, again found for the most part on the spurs and subsidiary ranges, are the Tsmiakom-khokh (13,570 ft.), Shan-tau (14,530 ft.), Kidenais-magali (13,840 ft.), Zilga-khokh (12,645 ft), Zikari (12,565 ft.), Choukhi (12,110 ft.), Julti-dagh (12,430 ft.), Alakhun-dagh (12,690 ft.) and Maghi-dagh (12,445 ft.). On the main range itself stand Borbalo (10,175 ft.), Great Shavi-kildeh (12,325 ft.), Murov (11,110 ft.), Ansal (11,740 ft.), Ginor-roso (11,120 ft), while farther east come Trfan-dagh (13,765 ft.) and Bazardyuz or Kichen (14,727 ft.). In the same direction, but again outside the main range, lie Shah-dagh (13,955 ft.), Shalbuz (13,675 ft.) and Malkamud (12,750 ft.).
But the most noteworthy feature of this section is the broad highland region of Daghestan, which flanks the main range on the north, and sinks down both eastwards to the Black Sea and northwards to the valley of the Terek. On the north-west this rugged highland region is well defined by the distinctive transverse ridge of Andi, which to the east of Kasbek strikes off from the Caucasus range almost at right angles. The rest of the Daghestan region consists of a series of roughly parallel folds, of Jurassic or Cretaceous age, ranging in altitudes from 7500 up to 12,500 ft., separated from one another by deep gorge-like river glens which cut it up into a number of arid, treeless plateaus which have something of the appearance of independent ranges, or rather elongated tablelands of a mountainous character. The most prominent of these tablelands is Bash-lam, which stretches east and west between the Chanti Argun and the Andian Koisu, both tributaries of the Terek. Upon it rise the conspicuous peaks of Tebulos-mta (14,775 ft.), Tugo-mta (13,795 ft.), Komito-tavi or Kachu (14,010 ft.), Donos-mta (13,560 ft.), Diklos-mta (13,740 ft.), Kvavlos-mta or Kolos-mta (13,080 ft.), Motshekh-tsferi (13,140 ft.) and Galavanas-tsferi (13,260 ft.). Farther east come the Bogos tableland, stretching from south-south-west to east-north-east between the Andian Koisu and the Avarian Koisu and rising to over 13,400 ft. in several peaks, e.g. Antshovala (13,440 ft.), Botshokh-meër (13,515 ft.), Kosara-ku (13,420 ft.) and Addala-shuogchol-meër (13,580 ft.); and the Dyulty tableland, reaching 12,400 ft. between the Kara Koisu and the Kazikumukh Koisu. On some of these peaks again there is a considerable amount of glaciation, more particularly on the slopes of Diklos-mta, where the glaciers descend to 7700 ft. on the north side and to 8350 ft. on the south side. In this section of the Caucasus the passes run somewhat lower than those between Elbruz and Kasbek, though still at appreciable heights, fully equal to those that lead up from the Black Sea to the valley of the Kuban in the western section of the range. The best known are the Krestovaya Gora (7805 ft.) on the Georgian military road, south of Darial; Kodor (9300 ft.) and Satskheni, leading up from Telav in the upper valley of the Alazan; and Gudur (10,120 ft.) and Salavat (9280 ft.), carrying the Akhty military road from the valley of the Samur up past the Shah-dagh and the Bazar-dyusi to the valley of the Alazan.
The flora of this section bears a general resemblance to that farther west. Ample details will be found in Dr G. Radde’s (1831–1903) monographs on Daghestan, quoted at the end of the present article.
4. The Eastern Section of the Caucasus gradually dies away east of Baba-dagh (11,930 ft.) towards the Caspian, terminating finally in the peninsula of Apsheron. It is, however, continued under the waters of the Caspian, as stated in the article on that sea, and reappears on its eastern side in the Kopet-dagh, which skirts the north-east frontier of Persia. In this section of the Caucasus no peak exceeds 9000 ft. in altitude and the crest of the main range retains no snow. The most frequented pass, that of Alty-agach, necessitates a climb of not more than 4355 ft.
Slopes of Range.—Between the northern and the southern sides of the range there is quite as great a difference in climate, productions and scenery as there is between the Swiss and the Italian sides of the Alps. In the south-western valleys and on the south-western slopes of the Caucasus, where a heavy rainfall is combined with a warm temperature, magnificent forests clothe the mountain-sides and dip their skirts into the waters of the Black Sea. There not only the littoral from (say) Sukhum-Kaleh to Batum but the inland parts of the basin of the Rion will bear comparison with any of the provinces of Italy in point of fertility, and in richness and variety of products. But farther inland, upon proceeding eastwards towards Tiflis, a great change becomes noticeable on the other side of the transverse ridge of the Suram or Meskes mountains. Arid upland plains and parched hillsides take the place of the rich verdure and luxuriant arborescent growth of Imeretia, Svanetia and Mingrelia, the districts which occupy the valleys of the Ingur and Rion and the tributaries of the latter. A very similar change likewise becomes noticeable in the higher regions of the Caucasus Mountains upon proceeding north of the pass of Mamison, which separates the head-waters of the Rion from those of the Ardon, an important tributary of the Terek. The valleys of the two streams last mentioned, and of others that flow in the same direction, are almost wholly destitute of trees, but where the bare rock does not prevail, the mountain slopes are carpeted with grass. Freshfield’s description of the valley of the Terek above Kasbek will apply pretty generally to all the valleys that descend on that face of the range: “treeless valleys, bold rocks, slopes of forbidding steepness (even to eyes accustomed to those of the Alps), and stonebuilt villages, scarcely distinguishable from the neighbouring crags.” But, austere and unattractive though these valleys are, the same epithets cannot be applied to the deep gorges by which in most cases the streams make their escape through the northern subsidiary range. These defiles are declared to be superior in grandeur to anything of the kind in the Alps. That of Darial (the Terek) is fairly well known, but those of the Cherek and the Urukh, farther west, are stated to be still more magnificent. And not only do the snow-clad ranges and the ice-panoplied peaks which tower up above them surpass the loftiest summits of the Alps in altitude; they also in many cases excel them in boldness and picturesqueness of outline, and equal the most difficult of them in steepness and relative inaccessibility.
Hydrography.—Nearly all the larger rivers of Caucasia have their sources in the central parts of the Caucasus range. The short, steep, torrential streams of Mdzimta, Pzou, Bzyb and Kodor drain the country west of Elbruz. The Ingur, Tskhenis-Tskhali, Rion and its tributaries (e.g. the Kvirila) are longer, but also in part torrential; they drain the great glacier region between Elbruz and Kasbek. The Rion is the Phasis of the ancients and flows through the classic land of Colchis, associated with the legends of Medea and the Argonauts. The Lyakhva and Aragva, tributaries of the Kura, carry off the waters of the main range south of Kasbek, and other tributaries, such as the Yora and the Alazan, collect the surplus drainage of the main Caucasus range farther east. The other large river of this region, the Aras, has its sources, not in the Caucasus range, but on the Armenian highlands a long way south-west of Ararat. The rivers which go down from the central Caucasus northwards have considerably longer courses than those on the south side of the range, partly as a consequence of the gentler versant and partly also because of the great distances to which the steppes extend across which they make their way to the sea. The most important of these are the Kubañ and the Terek; but it is the latter that picks up most of the streams which have their sources among the central glaciers, e.g. the Malka, Baksan, Chegem, Cherek, Urukh, Ardon, all confined to deep narrow glens until they quit the mountains. The Kuma, which alone pursues an independent course through the steppes, farther north than the
