the airy vision developed into
forest-crowned mountains, deep shadowy gorges, and domes clothed with
mists. Our minds were almost overwhelmed with a multitude of emotions,
excited by the prodigal nature before us, the magnificent vegetation,
and the various hues of forest and mountain, peak, crag, ravine, and
snowy summits. It was beautiful, superbly beautiful, and then it was the
Caucasus! The Caucasus--a name associated with so many grand historic
memories, with the earliest traditions and most fabulous creeds--the
abode, in the world's grey morning, of the races whence have sprung so
many famous nations. Around it hangs all the vague poetry of the ages,
visible only to the imagination through the mysterious veil of
antiquity."

* * * * *

At Georgief they rested on the threshold of the Caucasus. Thence they
proceeded to Piatigorsk, celebrated for its mineral waters. On the road
they fell in with a troop of Circassians. "I shall never forget," says
Madame de Hell, "the glances which they flung on our Cossacks as they
passed by, though it was only in looks they durst manifest the hatred
that seethed in their hearts against everything Russian. They were all
fully armed. Beneath their black bourkas glittered the sheen of their
pistols and their damasked poniards. I confess their appearance pleased
me most when they were just vanishing from sight on the summit of a
hill, where their martial figures were outlined against the sky. Seeing
them through the mist, I began to think of Ossian's heroes."

Piatigorsk is not so much a town as a pleasant cluster of
country-houses, inhabited for some months of the year by a rich
aristocracy. All about it is gay and pretty, and everywhere are those
signs of affluence which the Russian nobles love to see around them.
Nothing offends the eye; nothing touches the heart; there are no poor,
no squalid huts, no indication of the wretchedness of poverty. It is a
terrestrial Elysium, where great ladies and princes, courtiers and
generals, look out upon none but agreeable images, selected from all
that is charming in art and nature. Thermal springs are found on most of
the surrounding heights, and the works that afford access to them do
credit to the skill of the Russian engineers and the liberality of the
Russian government. On one of the loftiest peaks rises an octagonal
building, consisting of a cupola resting upon slender shapely columns,
which are encircle