The first zigzags lead down into a narrow glen ; where this
opens on the lower valley the woods begin, not to cease again
before Kutais is reached. Beside the torrent, and perhaps half
a mile from its glacial source, is a substantial building, which
was constructed for the use of the enoineers of the road. I
understood on seeing it what one of them had meant when he
informed me that he had lived for four months 'on a glacier'!
It had been allowed — a la Russe — to fall to ruin, and we found
in 1889 bare boards and broken roofs. In 1895 the house had been
restored, or a new one built. It will be of no small service to
travellers, who should use it as headquarters while they explore
the neighbourhood. From all the high green ridges or pastures,
from all the glades where the creamy rhododendrons blossom
between stately pines, delightful prospects of rock, snow and forest
are enjoyed. Perhaps the most varied views are those gained in
a stroll over the hill west of the Hospice, a spur of which is
called Zitelta (9254 feet) on the new map. Above the last birches
— the Caucasian bii'ch grows to stately proportions and far out-
climbs the pines — the grass is enamelled in July with mountain
flowers. Snowdrops and crocuses pierce the still brown turf in



THE MAMISON PASS AND GEBI 111

the hollows, from which the snow has but just disappeared.
