[62] "Unfortunately the author of this heroic act is unknown. It is believed from some hearsay accounts to have been performed by a private soldier of the Tenguinisky regiment of infantry. The results of the inquiry instituted on the subject will be published hereafter." (Note of the Russian journalist.)
[63] This was written in 1844.
[64] There is indeed a road by way of Daghestan along the Caspian; but it is still more impracticable than that by Mozdok, and besides it is too long to be of use to Russia in her dealings with the Asiatic governments. As for the maritime routes by the Caspian and the Black Sea, their utility is greatly limited by the intense frosts which block up the ports of Odessa, Kherson, Taganrok, Kertch, and Astrakhan during four months of the year.
[65] We do not mean these remarks to apply in any respect to the Mussulman tribes, of whom we will speak hereafter. The Christian and the Mahometan population balance each other in the trans-Caucasian provinces; they both number about 400,000 males.
[66] The mountains that divide Turkistan from Affghanistan are covered with perpetual snow; some of their peaks are 6000 yards high. Hadjigak, which was crossed by A. Burnes, is 4000 yards above the sea.
CHAPTER XXXII.
A STORM IN THE CAUCASUS—NIGHT JOURNEY; DANGERS AND DIFFICULTIES—STAVROPOL—HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CAUCASUS AND THE BLACK SEA COSSACKS.
At four o'clock on a dull morning we left Piatigorsk of charming memory, to strike once more into the mountains, where by the by, in less than an hour, we were met by one of the grandest and most violent storms I remember ever having witnessed. We had to endure its force for two long hours; and our situation was the more critical, since our yemshik (coachman), though quite familiar with the road, seemed almost at his wits' end. It was only by the gleam of the lightning he was able to make such brief observations of the ground as enabled him to guide his horses. This was certainly a very precarious resource, but there is a special providence for travellers. Lost in the midst of the mountains, and our sole hope of safety resting on the coolness and skill of a peasant, we escaped, we scarce knew how, from a seemingly inevitable catastrophe. A furious burst of rain, the last expiring effort of the storm, at last cleared the sky, which became coloured towards the west with purple bands, that contrasted gloriously with the darkness of the rest of the firmament. A magnificent rainbow, with one end springing from the highest peak of the Caucasus, whilst the other was lost in the mists of evening, gleamed before us for a few moments, and gradually dissolved away.
At half-past seven we reached the station, wet, weary, stupified, and very much surprised to find ourselves safe and sound after having passed through so many dangers. Nevertheless, this recent alert by no means made us forego our original plan of travelling all night in order to reach Stavropol the next day. Nothing is so soon forgotten in travelling as danger. One is no sooner out of one scrape than he is ready to get into another, and a worse one, without giving a thought to his past alarms. You must get over the ground: that is your ruling thought. As for taking precautions, calculating the good or the bad chances of the journey, or troubling oneself about dangers to come, by reason of those already incurred, all this is quite out of the question. We were quite bent on travelling all night, but the idea was totally discountenanced by the postmaster and the Cossacks whom we fell in with at the station. They told us there was a fair at Stavropol, and that the road was always somewhat dangerous on such occasions, particularly after sunset. A night or two before, several persons returning from the fair had been surprised and plundered by the Circassians, in spite of the many military posts along the road. Several other ugly stories were told us, in a tone that at last shook our resolution, and we were beginning very reluctantly to give up our project, when an unexpected incident made us recur to it again.