TO THE HUNTING GROUNDS 85 



The very sound of the word " Cossack " has a mar- 

 tial ring about it, but these particular examples were 

 bucolic to a degree. Ali Ghirik, who since his strenuous 

 days with Schamyl, and, in spite of a most warlike 

 appearance, had joined the Peace Society, would have 

 us think of Cossacks as uncontrollable fiends. In fact, 

 according to our henchman, all soldiers are but a trifle 

 better than Lucifer himself. A most amusing heresy ! 

 For, if anything, soldiers the world over are better 

 than most men of other gregarious communities. We 

 are all creatures of environment, and every army 

 worth calling an army has traditions, traditions which 

 honour honour and shame dishonour ; examples, also, 

 which teach respect to betters, discipline, self-restraint, 

 and other wholesome lessons. Human nature is the 

 same wherever we find it, but what influence environ- 

 ment has works for good in a soldier. The worst of it 

 all is that the best soldiers are too occupied to let the 

 world know the good there is in them. This by the way ! 



The outstanding quality in Cossacks, transcending 

 their powers of riding and endurance, is an over- 

 whelming desire to know, to discover. Graceful sub- 

 mission is the only way out of it, evasion merely 

 prolongs the interrogation. The first question is 

 always the same — how old are you ? The parrying 

 of this embarrassment with us was always unsuccess- 

 ful. Truth in the Caucasus requires solemn proofs to 

 press her down, and the wildest Cossack is man of the 

 world enough to know that women have two ages, the 

 number of years that have passed since birth, including 

 all the summers and winters, and the age they wish 



