the
other churches in Georgia, and it doubtless served as a pattern for
most of them. The inside has been tastefully decorated in modern times,
and produces a pleasing effect, although it seems small to anybody
who is familiar with the cathedrals of Europe. In front of the altar
is the Cross of St. Nina, formed of two vine branches bound together
with the saint's hair; this cross has always been the most sacred
relic in Georgia. There is also a modest tomb, which contains the
body of Prince Tsitsishvili, a Georgian who was appointed Governor
of the Caucasus by Alexander I., and who, after a glorious career,
was foully murdered outside the walls of Baku by the treacherous khan
of that city.

From the cathedral the way to the European quarter leads through
the so-called Armenian Bazar, one of theis no village there. While
waiting for horses we saw in the yard a camel; there are plenty of
these amiable animals in Tiflis, but I did not think they went so
far north as the Aragva.

The scenery continues to be of the same character as far as the
station of Dushet, some distance from the garrison-town of that name,
which lies in rectangular regularity on the hillside, like a relief
map; it is a place of some military importance on account of its
position at the entrance of the narrow part of the valley, but it is
as uninteresting as any Russian provincial town. Near it is a lake,
said to cover a Caucasian Sodom; the traveller looks at the lake with
more attention than he would bestow upon it if it were in Switzerland,
for lakes, like