TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 349 



civilised regions, and urged in forcible and moving 

 language the folly of our thus perilling our valuable 

 lives through mere curiosity. For his part, he said, 

 he had seen already far more of the detestable coun- 

 try than was at all agreeable. He declared that no 

 pecuniary considerations justified the risk he was 



now running of depriving Mrs L of her better 



half. If it were any comfort to him, we assured 

 him we should be as much distressed at his untimely 

 end as Mrs L , for there never was a more amus- 

 ing and serviceable fellow. During those long pauses 

 before dinner, he poured forth in quaint and glowing 

 language the varied information he had acquired from 

 Circassians during the day, with a running commen- 

 tary of his own, full of shrewd common-sense and 

 originality. He had an insatiable curiosity, un- 

 flagging energy in the acquisition of knowledge, an 

 eager readiness to impart it, an intense love of the 

 marvellous, unbounded good temper, and anxiety to 

 oblige ; nothing short of a ducking in a river, or a 

 roll down a precipice, damped his ardour ; and now 

 that he had undergone both, he was but temporarily 

 subdued. He appealed to the old Circassian who 

 was taking care of him, whether the route we were 

 to pursue on the morrow was not even more danger- 

 ous than the one we had already traversed, and was 

 overcome by hearing us express a determination to 

 proceed, in spite of an answer in the affirmative. 

 This old man was the patriarch of the party, a 



