72 THE RED FOREST AND 



journey's end, was a most melancholy fellow, and 

 regaled me for the first hour or more with stories 

 of horrible murders and atrocities which had lately 

 taken place in or near Ekaterinodar, and would 

 have made the fortune of ' Lloyd's Weekly.' They 

 spoke little for the efficiency of the police in the 

 Caucasus ; but then a more miserable lot than the 

 Russian police generally, I never saw. They are 

 the smallest and worst men (physically) in the 

 army, and, as such, are drafted into the police 

 force. They wear a sword which they use to pro- 

 tect themselves against dogs, attacking small curs 

 with this formidable weapon with the greatest 

 ferocity. I speak here of what I have seen. If 

 they have a chance they are, I am assured by Rus- 

 sians, more likely to assist thieves than to hinder 

 them, and the following true story, which came 

 under the knowledge of a British Consul, may serve 

 to illustrate their ordinary conduct when applied 

 to as protectors of person or property : 



' A certain lady, resident in the Crimea, but not 

 a native, found her silver forks rapidly disappearing 

 in a manner difficult to explain. These forks were 

 twelve in number, and marked with a crest or mo- 

 nogram. One only remained at last, and in despair 

 she searched the box of a Russian servant in her 

 employ, whom she had reason to suspect of dis- 

 honesty. Here she found the eleven missing forks, 

 and, without disturbing them, sent for the police, 



