Armenia, Travels and Studies (Volume 1 of 2): The Russian ProvincesLynch, H. F. B. (Harry Finnis Blosse)
History
Armenia, Travels and Studies (Volume 1 of 2): The Russian Provinces
Lynch, H. F. B. (Harry Finnis Blosse)
Armenia
Where else except in London will you see clever driving? Is not England
the only country where you can trust your coachman to shave his corners
and keep his team in hand? With four horses abreast the process is
perhaps not easy, especially down a fairly steep incline. We were
pursued by a landau which contained some Russian officers who had
been spectators of our photographic and hypsometrical operations on
the summit of the pass; our driver became inspired with the spirit
of rivalry, and within a few minutes the trot had developed into a
canter, the canter into a headlong career. On the left hand a deep
abyss, on the right a mossy bank, and the post of danger occupied
by our plump little dragoman who sat on the left-hand box seat! The
carriage grazed the bank and, before we had time to pull the Armenian
to us, struck and overturned. No damage to the horses or to the rest
of the company, but the unfortunate dragoman, moaning and sobbing on
the road! Happily his contusions were not serious, and a draught of
brandy almost restored him to the possession of himself. Assisted by
our kind acquaintances, who were the unwitting cause of the disaster
and who had hurried to the scene, we conveyed him down the slope to
where a gay picnic party were regaling themselves with cakes and tea
and a variety of strong liqueurs. At once the ladies busied themselves
with the bruised and dust-covered youth, whose numbed senses quickly
revived under their care. But the incident delayed us, and it was
night before we arrived at the outskirts of Abastuman, situated in
the pine woods some ten miles south of the pass, at an elevation
of 4278 feet. We were tempted to pitch our tents above the village,
on the banks of a pleasant stream; but the darkness as well as the
lateness of the hour decided us to have recourse to a crowded hotel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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