CRASNOI LAIS. 25 



summer and early autumn fever rages here, and 

 even now every man and woman that we pass in 

 the streets has a yellow wizen face that tells of 

 the ravages of this Asiatic curse. Here at last 

 everything is genuinely Asiatic except the build- 

 ings. The grotesque combinations of top hat and 

 long boots are not seen here. The denizens of the 

 streets are tall Cossacks with high sheepskin hats, 

 with a crown all scarlet cloth and gold braid ; 

 short broad-shouldered Tartars, in loose blue gar- 

 ments, belted at the waist with bright-coloured 

 shawls ; women in short petticoats and high boots 

 with bashliks over their heads. The shops are 

 most of them open magazines, with no glass front, 

 but instead an awning in front of them, and inside 

 a broad counter, on which the proprietor sits 

 cross-legged with cigarette or long pipe in mouth. 

 The wares for sale consist chiefly of pelts brought 

 in by the Tscherkesses from the neighbourhood; and 

 here, in the examination of them, my friend and I 

 spent no small time, as a great deal of the natural 

 history of the country may be gleaned from these 

 middlemen, and many a good guide and hunter 

 be secured from among their clients. 



I shall pass over the two days we spent here 

 as shortly as possible. My friend had his work 

 to do, and my own time was filled up by chatting 

 with the officers who frequented the hotel at 

 which we were staying. It was whilst thus 



