380 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



tsualta or moccasins. In fact, if the truth must be 

 told, Hadji Mustapha was an incorrigible beggar, 

 and kept himself supplied with clothes very cleverly. 

 His wardrobe gradually expanded during our resi- 

 dence in camp, and I used constantly jto see garments 

 transferred from the backs of other servants to his 

 own. He was such a universal favourite, and so 

 ready to do good-natured things, and take any amount 

 of trouble, that he deserved all he got. Poor Hadji ! 

 I gave him a character, in which I endeavoured to 

 describe his merits, and recommended him to Misserie's 

 good offices at Constantinople, but I fear he will not 

 again find an English master. There is a difficulty 

 in communicating with him, which will operate as 

 a serious objection. Nor could any bystander have 

 understood the jargon of Turkish, English, and Cir- 

 cassian, which formed a sort of language of our own 

 invention, and by which we held communion. 



We had now reached the south-eastern frontier of 

 Ubooch. There is a narrow district intervening 

 between this province and Abkhasia called Djikethie, 

 inhabited by a tribe who speak the Asgar language, 

 and who were reported by our guides to have Russian 

 sympathies. They decidedly objected to the idea 

 of our travelling through the interior of this pro- 

 vince, and indeed we had had quite enough of clam- 

 bering over successive ranges ; so we bent our steps 

 seaward, and, passing the Russian fort of Mamai, 

 followed the coast to Ardiller. At Soucha, another 



