252 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



Riding astride, of course, was the only method 

 suitable for such wilds, and we made this possible by 

 slipping off the skirts in which we contrived a civilized 

 appearance en route, when we stood equipped, as 

 Rosalind said, " all points Hke a man." Our shooting 

 suits would have much contented us as a permanent 

 fashion, but English ladies in " bifurcated garments," 

 as our advocates of sex equality always describe the 

 sartorial developments of the oppressor, would look 

 odd in Vladikavkaz, for instance, although in Dagh- 

 estan, and such corners, our knickerbocker kit did 

 not strike the native eye as anything untoward. How 

 could it — when all the fair ladies wore trousers ? 



It was a difficult business to afhx our imported 

 saddles to the horses, who were thin as rails. Fashioned 

 for the portly equines of England, even the top girth 

 hole was far too loose when tried on the spidery 

 skeletons of Karbarda. 



Following a guide, who gave the signal to start, 

 Cecily and I set off ahead of the rest, taking a narrow 

 way through a deep canon with a river rushing down 

 its centre, and wonderfully dense woods on either side. 

 The shade was refreshing after the dust of the day, 

 and now and again an ice-touched wind played through 

 the forest. 



Higher we climbed, impeded often by fallen trees 

 and giant reeds, tough as could be, and ever and 

 again we passed beneath umbelliferous blooms, which 

 blossomed at a height of ten feet or more. 



The route widened to a great vale of rolling land 

 where oaks of vast girth and ancient beeches stood 



