The repetition of errors, although for the purpose of correction,
is an ungrateful task. To the minor writers already referred to
in general terms, I have purposely paid no attention : acting on
the principle corruptio optimi pessima, I have dealt only with
authors of eminence and deserved authority. Enough probably
has been said to convince my readers that an accurate account of
the peaks, passes, and glaciers of the Central Caucasus is called
for, and that, if I correct some previous authors, I do so with
good reason. Amongst my corrections will be several of errors
into which I have myself fallen. The evolution of Caucasian
orography has necessarily been gradual ; and it is still in progress.
My successors will doubtless find many facts to add to those brought
forward in these volumes, and not a few mistakes to put right both
in my text and map.
^ See Alpine Journal, vol. ix. p. 182 ; xi. p. 471 ; xii. p. 320 ; xiii. pp. 353, 499 ; xiv.
pp. 1, 314, 436. Proceedings of the Boyal Geographical Society (N. S.), vol. x. pp. 325, 677 ;
xi. p. 351 ; xii. p. 257 ; xiv. p. 100. Bulletin de la S. I. des Naturalistes de Moscou, 1894.
VOL. I. ^



18



THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS



T^venty-eig■ht years ago, in 1868, I first went to the Caucasus
with two companions, Mr. Comyns Tucker, afterwards a Fellow of
University College, Oxford, and the late Mr. Adolphus W. Moore,
C.B., of the Political Department of the India Office, a public
servant of rare ability and a true-hearted and unfailing friend,
whose premature death, in 1887, was felt as a national as well as a

private loss by all who had come
intimately into contact with him.
