86 THE RED FOREST AND 



of expression, so extremely animal in their appear- 

 ance, as to almost warrant the Turks' conclusion 

 that they possess none but physical properties, and 

 are as soulless as they are insipid. Moreover, 

 they are most of them so wonderfully alike that 

 cases of mistaken identity must be common, even 

 with the most devoted husbands. 



By the way, Tscherkess and Cossack are fre- 

 quently used amongst the Russians as terms of 

 reproach, equivalent to robber and swashbuckler 

 respectively, and no Circassian ever calls himself 

 Tscherkess. 



Here at Enem I got the first insight into my 

 companions' ideas of travelling. We had perhaps 

 been on the road a couple of hours, and had break- 

 fasted as heartily as men can do, yet here we were 

 doomed to repeat the process. And to save further 

 reference to it I may say that our vast supply of 

 stores was by no means unnecessary. Every two 

 hours throughout those three days we had a grand 

 feed, while in the intervals the ' plunger ' nibbled 

 and nipped, the Cossack only nipping and smoking 

 perpetually. If these fellows require as much 

 food campaigning as they do travelling, they must 

 be a difficult lot to provide for. 



At Enem we hoisted ourselves into our Tartar 

 or Cossack saddles, things in which you sit as it 

 were in a narrow deep valley between two gables, 

 your feet thrust into things like a couple of fire- 



