TRIP TO VLADIKAVKAZ AND KARBARDA 221 



Irakli was on the throne when the Persians sacked 

 Tiflis in 1795, and to the sanctuaries of Ananaur the 

 valorous Georgian fled after his defeat by the vast 

 forces of Aga Mahommed Khan. From Ananaur the old 

 King sallied forth to gather together the remnants of his 

 army, whom he led to victory, re-entering ruined and 

 desolated Tiflis a month after its capture by the invaders. 



We had ordered our tarantass to be ready by 7.30 

 a.m., counting on the usual dilatoriness of the country, 

 and lo ! the conveyance was ready for us only a 

 quarter of an hour behind time. So we boarded the 

 torturer again, still very stiff from the effects of the 

 shaking the day before. 



Every nation has its representative word or sentence. 

 With the English it is the pervading " All right ! " 

 The Caucasian equivalent — a present from Russia — is 

 " Sayetchass ! " meaning "At once" or "Directly." It is 

 used as a pacifier under all circumstances of haste and 

 requirement and conveys simply nothing. Unless you 

 have what the Bard calls " the soft grace and sovereign 

 aid of patience," you had better not travel in the 

 Caucasus at all, " for " Sayetchass " will drive you to 

 desperation or home. The amiable lower-class Russian 

 who harnesses up at the post-houses is the slowest 

 moving thing on earth next to the tortoise. 



The ascent of the beautiful valley ahead taxed our 

 horses considerably, poor miserable bags of bones that 

 they were. One longed to turn them loose in the great 

 harvest tracts of rye which curved up the sides of the 

 hills in a belt of gold to the timber line where beeches, 

 oaks, and birch trees grew in serried ranks. 



