Miscellaneous. A RIDE FROM EUROPE INTO ASIA.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7821, 13 August 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

Miscellaneous. A RIDE FROM EUROPE INTO ASIA.

A writer in Harper's 3£at/azine gives the following description of the military road built by the Czir across tho Caucasus :— The highway from VladiKavkas through the Caucasus was built by the Ozxt in 1859, and it is said to be the finest mountain road in the world. It ia ao wide that two pont waggons, drawn by four horses abreast, can pass at full speed at any place by night or day. The macadam road-bed ia graded like a railway, and its surface is as hard as the boulevards of Paris. It was by this celebrated military thoroughfare that wo entered the Dariel Pasa. The horses dashed around a bend in the road, and suddenly stopped before a post-station. The toll for transportation is one and a half cents a verst— a distance of about two-thirds of a mile. Eaoh passenger is supposed to have a permit, or way-bUl,from the Governj raent, which he must show in addition to his regular passport. This imperial order for horses is supposed (o enable one to travel with little delay ; but the postmasters along the route always mate it a point to compel one to wait as long as possible, and unleas liberal fees are given, one rusy be detained one or two days at a station. We had travelled but ton miles ; yet the character of the springleas vehicle was such that wa folt as if we had been pounded by machinery. An officer of tho Government who was travelling with U3 ordered fresh horaes harnessed at once, and in a few minutes their steel shoes were ringing on the road. The scenery grew rapidly bolder, and mountains that seemed lofty but half-an-hour before sank out of sight as we ascended the canon. In pLci s tho roadway was a mere groove cut in the sides of appalling precipices, with the river breaking Into foam a thousand feet below. As our horses galloped around one of these buttresses a mighty ampithoatro opened directly before us, on one side of which a little notch was seen midway batwoen the river and the heavens. It was the road. Looking across the measureless abyss, we saw a caravan of freight waggons toiling up thU channel, chiseled in the side of the mountain. All the artillery waggons and the great siege guns that thundered - against Kars and the heights of Soubatan passed over tbis road. More than 2000 vehicles were moving between "Vladi-Kavkaa and Alexandropol. They stopped for nothing but avalanches and dead horses ; neither darkness nor storm delayed their progress. Some were loaded with powder and shells ; others carried clothing and medical supplies. But none of these great waggons nor swiftly running post-borses impeded us. The magnificent boulevard over which wo were travelling was often broad enough for three teams to pass. Sometimes, however, a line of two-wheeled Asiatio carts drawn by bullocks refused to yield the customary share of the road, and as tbe post-waggona swept by them the Tartar drivers lashed the Arabs in the face with their Cossack whips, and acsompanicd tho sting with epithets and laughter. A solid well-laid wall of masonry, two or three feet thick and three feet high, prevents careless teamsters from tumbling into the rivor a half mile below. As the mountains grew loftier the road was really more secure, and the artificial fountains built along the route were a delightful surprisa to the European traveller. When the wind was low, their feathery spray fell like dew on the mountain sides, wherethe greatest of grass softened their wild gmndeur. The gigantic walls increased in height and vaslness until about noon, when we unexpectedly an cpt into the bed of a new and terrible amphitheatre, with mountains rising from the poet station to an altitude of 15,000 ft., and atleast 11,000 ft. above ihe station, in one vait and perpendicular wall of rock. The In vses crossed the river on a splendid Iron bridge, and baited at the station of Kuzbjk. Fresh horses were at last obtained, and once more wo resumed our way. Tho ascent, though of an even and consistent grade, became heavier, and after crossing a substantial iron bridge we began" to climb the watershed that separates Europe and Asia. Tho river, the village, and the tall towers sick into the depths of the canon, but behind us Kozbek, the omnipresent, seemed to rise in the heavens is wo advanced. As we went from him he approached. Tho accent soon brought us in'o the region of avalanches, yet the road continued as smooth as a Swiss turnpike. Innumerable ox-curts filled the pass, boys not more than 10 years old, with mothers, fathers, nnd children, walked beside the patient bullocks. Strangely-fashioned yoke 3, such as are found in no part ot Europe, galled the liecks of th c poor beasts, and often, to hold down the tongues of the loaded carts, the boys sat on the yokes between the oxen, apparently unconscious of danger or of the yawning chasm beside them. The scenery assumed an imposing character. A glacier, green and glasay, filled the world before U9 and streamed from the mountain tops into the profound abyss at our feet. The travellers were dumb, the road disappeared, and nature assumed its most terrible aspect ; but presently we entered a tunnel, and continued our journey direotly under the glacier. Lamps illumined the pasnage, and we began to realise tho despotic power of Russia. We noon passed abova the line of vegetation, and at dusk reached the summit of the Great Chain. Lighted candle?, hot tea, and a warm fire made every heart happy, and when the officer told us that we would have fresh horses and at midnight begin the descent into Asia, we were eager with expectation. At intervals the mist was entirely blown away, and then the groat moon appeared, shedding splendour over the wilderness of snow. We were now approaching the land of the Georgians, where the mountains faced the hot plains of Armenia, and the melting glaciers are inexpressibly beautiful. There were doubts about the propriety of making the descent during the eight, but an official assured us that the road wac broad and well guarded by a heavy wall. Always ready, the word was given and before ire wero fairly Boated, bells jingled and the horseß were off at their top speed. Just after leaving the station on the summit a succession of faint distant lights appeared In tho void beneath us. "What are they— hunters' fires?" we asked. "It is Hie moon shining on the river Aragra, 15 versts bolow," said the officer, and by Btraintng our eyes a ribbon of lace-like film appeared and disappeared in the bottom of the dark abyss. It was the celobrated river Arago, of ancient history, but its roaring waters were tpo far away to be heard. Our wild midnight ride was too exciting for dozing, yet it was not loDg before the strain on our nerves prodnced a reaction, and sleep soon followed. It continued for three Lours, but it ■, seemed only a few minutes. There' was a brief little dream of falling down strange mountains, then a sudden awakening' by yells from the driver. The station Mleti had been reached, and with wondering thoughts we alighted under an arch of clibming jasmines. Tho air was perfumed with pleasing odours, the architecture of the houses was picturesque, and we were in a strange country. All tbe caravans had vanished, The quaint Georgian vUUngo

of Mletl lay in a sweet Ktile valley at oar right. Nature was asleep, and even tho dogs did not bark. The cold mountain moon had given place tt a moon of Italy, whose soft mellow light filled the valley with a kind oE delicious enchantment, for right over our heads a frightful precipice arose into the sky, and the saramit seemed inaccessible. It entirely shadoyed the Georgian village. "D.> you see that ' overhanging crag in tho clouds ? " asked the engineer, pointing upwards to a far-away peak. " Yes." " That is the place we left at midnight." This statement seemed incredible, but it was true, for on our roturn trip in the autumn we ascended this most marvellous of all roads, and found that from iis summit one could to&j an apple into the very streets of Mleti, A finer example of a military road up a mountain is yet to be found. Still it is a remarkable fact that the edupa'ed engineers who blasted out tha zigzajf channels for the road-bed up and down the precipice saw all the grading done with ordinrry wooden shovels of Asia, which are only tipped with steel. Wooden shovels, military schools, dynamite and springleS3 post- waggons fairly illustrate the paradoxes of RisjiVi civilisation.