ii6 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



pay heavily, was a mixture of one part grain and three 

 parts tiny stones, bits of stick, and earthy debris. I 

 don't know if Caucasian ponies are fitted out with 

 helpful gizzards, but the tough diet in no way upset 

 their equilibriums — they ate the whole mangerful to 

 the last pebble. 



In the vineyards all around us, and at house 

 doors, stood colossal dull - coloured jars in which 

 the grape juice ferments at vintage times. These 

 great receptacles, called " kuf skins " by the Tatars, 

 and " kwewris " by the Georgians, stand higher 

 than the tallest man, and are four feet or so 

 in circumference, with a holding capacity of six 

 thousand bottles. In one fine vineyard a row of these 

 empty mammoth pots bordered the path to a black- 

 mouthed cave room, excavated from a hill-side — a 

 scene from The Forty Thieves. The largest thief 

 would lie safe hidden in the smallest kufskin ! 



At vintage time the big jars are buried to their necks 

 in the ground for greater convenience of filling. Save 

 in the case of a very limited number of careful vintners 

 the wine manufacture and methods of straining are 

 primitive to a degree. In fact, the so-called straining 

 process appears, from all accounts, to be a sort of 

 general stir-up from which the liquor never clears. 

 From the vast pots the wine is drawn off into the 

 bourdyouky, or buffalo skins, prepared with the 

 naphtha dressing which makes each carcass water- 

 tight and the drink so strongly flavoured. 



Signakh — which means " City of Refuge " — hangs 

 on the hill-side like a bee on a heather bell. Seen 



