RETURN TO KERTCH. 173 



merry at their leisure. There seemed in this par- 

 ticular instance to be a chorus of old women 

 engaged to sing, dance, and otherwise become 

 objects of ridicule. These hideous old crones 

 gained the goodwill of the guests, as well as 

 innumerable drink-offerings of neat vodka, by 

 singing lugubrious chants, to my uneducated ear 

 more fit for a funeral than a wedding. This they 

 supplemented by indecent antics on their hind legs, 

 and a great deal of coarse buffoonery. The only 

 musical instrument was one in great favour 

 amongst the moujik class I mean the concertina. 

 As for the other guests (for I presume the old 

 women were invited and not paid jesters), they sat 

 down steadily to gorge and to drink, and so well 

 did they stick to their self-imposed task of making 

 beasts of themselves, that the wedding supper 

 lasted until the morning of the third day, when its 

 drunken harmony was finally marred by one 

 drunkard beating a girl, and another breaking a 

 bottle over the head of the first, at which crisis the 

 law stepped in and took the supper party under its 

 own protecting wing. 



On Wednesday, November 13, I gladly shook 

 the dust of Duapse off my feet, and embarking in 

 one of the Russian Company's steamers, passed 

 pleasantly thence to Novorossisk. I was obliged 

 to return to Ekaterinodar to recover my luggage 

 and to obtain any letters which might have arrived 



