The path gradually led us through rocky
passes, over torrents spanned by snow among the magnificent mountain
range; and although the march was, rather long for a hill country,
we found no fault with it until about the last three kos, when it
was getting late in the day, and although fast becoming hungry,
we saw no immediate prospect of getting anything to eat.
The last few kos we find invariably longer than their fellows;
one kos by DESCRIPTION, at this stage of the proceedings, being
generally equal to two in reality. Asking a native, how far we are
from a halting-place, is invariably answered in one of two ways:
either THOREE DOOR, not very far, or NUZDEEK, close. THOREE DOOR means
generally about four miles, while NUZDEEK may be translated five at
least. A kos too, which ought to be from one and a half to two miles,
means here anything between one mile and seven. Delaying as much as
possible, to let our servants up, we reached Pandras at last, and
found all the inhabitants turned out to see our arrival; they were
dressed in long woollen coats and sheepskins, and looked something
between Russians and Tartars, with a strong flavour of the Esquimaux,
as depicted by Polar voyagers.
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