58 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



veyance, lacking the saving grace of polish and cleanli- 

 ness. But — what have I to do with idyllic carriages ? 

 I, who keep nothing more pretentious than a wheel- 

 barrow. And did not Schiller tell us that — " No man 

 should measure by a scale of perfection the meagre 

 product of reality." I expect he meant " woman," 

 also. 



We lurched past some really beautiful turn-outs as 

 we raced down the hill. Such a medley of conveyances ! 

 Carriages of Hyde Park variety, splendidly horsed, 

 trotted past lethargic buffaloes drawing primitive 

 native carts, made up of a mystery of tangled baulks 

 tied together with knotted ropes, clattering wooden 

 wheels, and a general air of abandon which called for 

 the pencil of a Lawson Wood. 



Imperturbable donkeys, moving beneath vast loads 

 of charcoal, scarce made way for a great automobile — 

 a pioneer, from the excitement it created — autocratic- 

 ally " Teuf-teufing " behind. A quartet of two- 

 humped Bactrian camels, stately and aloof, carried 

 mountainous burdens of bright-hued carpets, and 

 behind, a little apart, as though to emphasize class 

 difference, strode a majestic dromedary like a ship in 

 full sail, loaded to the gunwale with embroidered 

 cushions. 



Down the centre of the wide roadway came the 

 quaintest figure imaginable, a jester in motley. Touch- 

 stone to the whole. A little black tent, with a waving 

 red pennon at its apex, trotted along on four slender 

 legs, and as the perambulating structure neared us we 

 saw that it disguised a Tatar, mounted on a donkey. 



