'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎158] (213/905)

158
LEZGlSTAN PASS OF DARIYEL.
[CHAP. VII.
The preceding, however, does not include the tribes, such
as the Lezgi, and others still fighting for their independ
ence.
Lezgistan lies between Georgia and Daghestan, along the
two sides of the Caucasus. Including both the northern and
southern slopes of this portion of these mountains, it has a
surface of about 10,000 square miles, which is occupied by the
Avars, Zerkers and other tribes, who are subject to the Lezgi.
The great central road leads from the western side of
Georgia by the celebrated pass of Dariyel, 1 which is so named
from a fortress situated on a rock washed by the river
Terek.
The Caucasian Dariyel, called by the Georgians Shevis Kari, or the Gate
of Shevi, is, without doubt, the celebrated Caucasian Gate ; a
prodigious work of nature, says Pliny, formed by abrupt pre
cipices, and having the interval closed by gates with iron
bars. Beneath the rocks runs a river, 8 which emits a strong
smell. 3
Features of the The remainder of the countrv mav be described as a suc-
provmce. .
cession 01 narrow valleys or ravines, separating steep, lofty,
and wooded mountains. These valleys, together with the few
patches of table-land occurring here and there between them,
are in general cultivated, and produce wheat, barley, millet,
oats, &c., although not sufficient for home consumption. The
people, therefore, chiefly depend for subsistence on their nu
merous flocks of horned cattle, sheep, goats, and hogs, and on
the occasional supplies of grain brought from the fertile dis
tricts of Georgia.
That part of the country which is occupied by the Ossetes
is distinguished by features which are strongly marked, and
it is covered with beech wood, interspersed with walnut trees.
Darjol means a narrow pass, from the Tartar Dar, or Thar, and jol, a way.
—Klaproth's Travels in the Caucasus, p. 217
2 In Georgian, the Thergiss, the Terek, or Tergl.—Ibid., p 371.
3 Pliny, book VI. sec. 12. " Ab iis sunt portse Caucasise, magno errore
multis Caspiae dictse, ingens naturae "opus, montibus interruptis repente, ubi
fores obditae ferratis trabibus, subter medias amne diri odoris fluente, citraque
in rupe castello (quod vocatur Cumamia) communito."
Extent of
Lezgistan.