At 9 o'clock we were in Essentuki, where the cabman decided to give the horses a rest, and we, having quickly drunk some tea, went to the park to look at the “watery” public and drink the saving meth No. 17. Essentukov! The park is the only place in the generally sultry summer of Essentuki, convenient for spending time on this most boring, but perhaps also the most healing, group of mineral waters. The most common patrons of this group and, therefore, the permanent inhabitants of the park are obese and respectable gentlemen—this group is called “general”—who, during their perhaps not entirely modest and abstinent life, had to put on an extra 3-4 pounds of fat, or get stomach catarrh. The first ones usually come here to drink 5-10 or more glasses of water No. 17 every day, which dissolves fats and makes those with PH lose up to half a pound and even up to a pound of their weight; and the latter drink this water in sips of - 2 times a day from early childhood. kom and iflnuyu, and, on the contrary, irtubr® melt a few pounds into the web and lose their catarrh. Razgau sez0na zfei pon mfeyats; and at half-July in Kesentuki, as a rule, no one is sick anymore, because the heat that sets in by this time forces us to run to Kislovodek, or Zhel®znovodek. Life in Essentuki is cheaper, but in other groups groin: for 15-20 rubles you can get an apartment in Moscow that is quite comfortable and not too far from the center. The table costs no more than in other groups, i.e., 15-20 rubles.
From Essentuki to Kislovodek the road follows the river. Podkumka, presenting a very picturesque view, among high and steep limestone banks and a very meandering river flow, overgrown with green trees and bushes. In many places the highway *) is laid over the cliffs of the river itself; in others it approaches the rocky ledges of its steep bank, or descends to the riverbed up to two yards away from the water, quickly and noisily rushing through the reeds or root tangles of trees. Sri moving® through Podkumok, 6 zeretakhs from Kieslovodek, one cannot help but notice the very characteristic appearance of three mountain terraets, or ledges, symmetrically located along both banks of the river. From the point of view of a geologist, this is one of the best materials suitable for demonstration in elucidating the formation of similar phenomena in nature. From a botanical point of view, it is characterized by the fact that on a small level of vegetation, the peculiarity of the flora, sunny spots, shaded and river beds, sometimes forming urethra, is strikingly striking. While the first, i.e., the slopes facing the sun, are completely bare of vegetation, for which it is difficult to withstand the terrible dryness of the calcareous soil, the second contain very thick grass, or on the northern slopes of the beams there is a succulent tree growth containing a rich eve-like flora and, finally, the latter - the river bed - is a floodplain a meadow in which, in addition to tree forms, there are areas with rich and very diverse grass.
At two o'clock in the afternoon we drove into Kislovodek, towards which at the same time dark rain clouds were rushing from the direction of Elborus, threatening to burst into rain. Rain in the Knelovodek area is an almost daily phenomenon from the beginning of spring to July. In the summer mornings it is quite fresh; The thermometer often shows only 6° L. heat. By noon the air heats up to 171-200/. (and even 25-27° at the end of July 1), and by two o’clock it will certainly rain. After two or three hours the rain stops, the sky clears, moisture quickly flows down the hard flint soil into the beams, and that’s it.
*) Since the medical season of 1898, the building has been opened to the railway line.